K: Tales of Midnight
Chapter Nine: Infiltration
The room was chock full of high-ranking members of Scepter 4. Everyone was buzzing about the recent incidents surrounding Jungle. Following the attack at the Crosswalk and Rei Kiyoka's subsequent strike and ultimate defection from Jungle's ranks, the followers of Hisui Nagare had since become unhinged, wreaking all kinds of havoc throughout the city, as though their former actions weren't enough.
According to Kiyoka, this was all a part of Nagare's ploy. Chaos is a favorable distraction when concealing one's motives. Fortunately enough, those of Scepter 4's high command knew something of Nagare's plans, thanks to Kiyoka's efforts. Yet even so, the Green King was not one to follow through with all that was expected of him. King also of deception, there was ever the possibility that he had something else in mind, a well-known contingency that Blue King Munakata and his right-hand men and women sought to undermine with every procurable resource at their disposal.
Thereafter, it was Scepter 4's objective to flush out the insurgents behind these sporadic bouts of aggression springing up all over the city and to restore peace, meanwhile confirming Nagare's ultimate goal by infiltrating Jungle's network using the device that Fushimi expertly retrieved from Hirasaka Douhan in the Underworld a few days earlier. But these things were easier said and done. Jungle's system was highly impregnable and the attacks themselves far more numerous in volume. Moreover the insurgents seemed to greatly outweigh those then flooding through the halls of Scepter 4. If this was any evidence, it could only mean one thing: Nagare was indeed planning something, and it was just as big, if not bigger, than Scepter 4 had anticipated. Now more than ever, discovering his mission was imperative to stopping him.
In Scepter 4's Operations Room on a cloudy afternoon, every monitor flashed something different. Breaking news segments, search modules, lines of code, voice and face recognition software, and surveillance camera footage kept the Blues heavily occupied.
In the general throng, seated more or less together toward the rear of the room, Akiyama, Dōmyōji, Hidaka, Fuse, and Benzai were working diligently on their laptops while Fushimi did his own work separately nearby. Also present, seated alone in the back corner near Fushimi was Rei Kiyoka, the only non-member of Scepter 4 working on the case.
Unlike the others, clad in crisp blue uniforms, Kiyoka donned her tailored suit of midnight black, her long sleek trench coat worn atop her fitted dress and knee-high boots, her jet black waves cascading down her back - a not-so-regular contrast and a stark peculiarity that merited not one or two, but countless pairs of shifting eyes that all appeared to say the same unspoken thought, though none seemed keen to voice that thought aloud.
She was seeming more and more her old self – that is, her imperious, terrifying self that always looked as though she thought it might be fun to overthrow the world, or that at any moment, she might unleash her midnight aura, partnered with her deadly induced power, and proceed to slaughter everyone in the room. Perhaps that's why the others kept their distance. Perhaps that's what she wanted. But then again, perhaps not.
She wore at her waist her glistening rapier, much like the others of Scepter 4, who donned their sabers constantly. Only they didn't look quite so unpredictable with theirs. She didn't care, though. It didn't seem to matter to her that she stood out, that others tried their hardest not to stare at her outright, yet did so openly when they thought she wasn't looking. She was used to the attention – rather the scrutiny and judgement – of others by now.
Draping herself lazily in her seat, arms crossed, feet propped up on the table, her eyes were closed as though she were asleep, despite the overt bustle of the room. Beside her on the table sat an open laptop, screen filled end-to-end with neon green as lines of code ran rampant like a never-ending ribbon, seemingly to nowhere. Kiyoka merely sat back, unperturbed, allowing it to run on uncontrolled. All the while, her cohorts were beyond themselves, the whole of their department set on high alert for hours since, and every member brimming with an endless stream of work. As such, the pensive looks cast onto Kiyoka morphed considerably to those of disapproval as the afternoon wore on, the general air about the room conveying that Rei Kiyoka's lax demeanor marked the laissez faire attitude of an outsider. No longer did it speak of hopeful wonderings of the advantageous stranger who appeared to them with vital information and a willingness to help.
Through a set of open double doors, Lieutenant Awashima marched headlong into the room, one hand resting firmly on her saber. "Alright, everyone! Listen up!" She ordered in her crisp, commanding tone. The others, having rushed about their business, paused to offer their attention.
"As you know, Jungle is our top priority," she emphasized. "Our mission is to gather as much intel as we can. I want to know where they are, what they're planning, and how many people are involved. I want you to get inside their head's, people! Learn everything you can! It's absolutely vital that – " She stopped abruptly, issuing a sigh of agitation. "Excuse me, will someone please wake her up?" She sniped, motioning to the darkly-clad delinquent to her left.
All eyes then descended onto Kiyoka. Slowly, she peeked one eye open, then the other, to look at the Lieutenant.
Awashima donned a heavy frown. "I do not appreciate your blatant disregard for protocol in high-alert affairs, Rei Kiyoka," She declared derisively, "nor the laziness with which you present yourself. You may not be a member of Scepter 4, but while you're in the building, you will show it the necessary respect it deserves. Do I make myself clear?"
Kiyoka didn't seem the least bit phased. Picking her feet off the desk, she rose, stuffing both hands in her pockets, and sashayed out the door without so much as a word.
The Lieutenant's mouth dropped open and her right eye gave a noticeable twitch. "What do you think you're doing?" She shot out at her. "Get back – !"
A ding erupted from Kiyoka's laptop, cutting her off. The serious frown she harbored magnified, her focus redirected to the laptop.
Fushimi, having barely struck an interest in the feud that Awashima seemed insistent on rekindling, then found his senses piqued. Closest to the laptop, he reached a hand and spun the screen around.
The Lieutenant took a step in his direction, eyeing the computer. "What is it?" She asked.
"It's Jungle's network," he said, scanning it. "She got in."
Like a rush of wind, the former air of disdain flooded back to awe as shuffling gasps and gestures of confusion struck the members of the scene.
"How is that possible?" Hidaka rose, stunned as all the rest.
Beside him, Akiyama stared, his own confusion spreading like a sheet across his face. "But wasn't she asleep that whole time?" He asked.
"She didn't even move," Benzai confirmed, looking around skeptically.
Awashima thought a moment, setting her long fingers on her chin. "So then all that time, she was just…"
Fushimi finish for her. "Well, I guess we know now why she wasn't listening, Lieutenant," he conveyed, straightening his glasses and so hiding his approval. Sharpening his focus on the screen, he buckled down and started typing deftly at the keys.
"Lieutenant," Akiyama went on, sidling up to the Lieutenant. "Jungle's network is impossible to crack," he said covertly. "We've been trying it for weeks. Ever since they upgraded their system, no one's been able to come even close to breaching it. How'd she manage to do it? And so quickly, too?" He added, almost to himself.
Fushimi, having heard him, found this interesting. Apparently the Captain hasn't told them yet, he realized. Even though she's openly working with us, they still have no idea who she is or what's going on – not the truth of it, anyway.
Amused, he set the thought aside to cut in, saying, "It doesn't matter how she got in. All that matters is she did. But we have to act fast." Focusing his sights, his fingers worked a mile a minute, pixelated flickers dancing wildly on the lenses of his glasses.
Fuse stole this moment's chance to offer up a tone of disapproval, partnered with an all-consuming frown directed at Fushimi. "You don't seem very surprised by any of this," he probed.
"I'm not," came the reply.
"So then, how'd you –?!"
"Look, if you want answers, ask someone else," Fushimi parried, keeping his eyes locked on the computer screen. "We only have about five minutes before Jungle kicks us out, which means five minutes of absorbing as much data as we can."
"Can't you just run a download of their files?" The Lieutenant questioned him.
"It doesn't work like that," he countered, his typing speeding up. "Jungle's a constant open network of postings. Whenever a mission goes live, a player can respond to it, hitting the 'Accept' button. Once it's completed, the post is erased as new ones pop up automatically. Think of it as Jungle's way of covering its tracks. I can't go back and look at prior postings. All I can do is run a sweep of the current ones and all the players who are active. By doing that, we might be able to identify some of the users and figure out their targets. We can intercept them before they carry out their missions – plus, maybe catch a glimpse of Nagare's other plans while we're at it."
"Then hurry up and get it done," Awashima ordered.
"What do you think I'm doing?" He returned, no less delicate.
Another moment of incessant typing from Fushimi and intense anticipation from the others brought a high-pitched beeping from the laptop. The others looked up with alarm but Fushimi kept his cool. "Well, they know we're here."
The Lieutenant journeyed up to him and peered around his shoulder. "I thought you said we had five minutes."
Fushimi scanned her briefly. "All they've done is realize that we're here," he said, sliding several inches from her. "It'll take them a few more minutes for them to initiate a full-system lockdown. We've still got time."
"Access the control room and flag their user network as corrupted," came Kiyoka's creamy voice behind them. Somehow managing to escape the other's notice, she had slipped back into the room and was then leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed, observing them.
Both Hidaka and Dōmyōji looked to one another, baffled, and, turning to Kiyoka, Dōmyōji was the first to speak. "You mean setting off another alarm? What would be the point? They'll just shut us out even faster."
"They'll assume there's another hack coming from the user log-ins, and all remaining power will be routed to that one specific point," she explained, nearly bored. "They'll shut down user access, cutting off their currently active players from the system without fully kicking them out. It would need them inside to narrow down who the intruder is. So while Jungle's investigating them, so can you."
"Meanwhile, you can access the bulk of their internal database and set the parameters of their reboot to ensure another lockdown is impossible – at least until their servers are back online. Essentially, it'll lock the central mainframe out of its own program." She didn't bother looking up but rather turned to scrutinize her nails held up before her. "That should buy you enough time to gather everything you need," she offered, flipping her hand back and forth to certify her nails were up to par.
The Lieutenant gave Kiyoka an irritated look, but turning to Fushimi, she said, "Can you do it?"
"Huh," he mumbled, and the Lieutenant froze.
"What is it?"
"She's right. By tripping the user access alarm, we can trick the system into thinking there are two intruders instead of one. It won't be able to fix them both at once, so it'll go to whichever one it sees as the bigger threat, which, in this case, would be a user hack. We'll just be seen as a part of the internal mainframe attempting to reset itself, and the system will revert to shutting down the user access module instead."
"Eventually, though, the user network will reboot itself and you'll be rediscovered as the primary intruder," Kiyoka warned him. "At which point, it'll resume the former shutdown of the mainframe, but not before you have a chance to sweep the entire network for intel."
By this time, everyone had gathered around the Lieutenant and Fushimi to watch. Fuse came alongside also, facing Kiyoka. "How is it you know all this?" He asked, his eyebrow raised disdainfully.
Hardly moved, and as though it were obvious, Kiyoka replied, "Because I built it."
"Re-built it," Fushimi clarified, "using the Kawaguchi Algorithm."
Fuse, as well as the others, locked their eyes now on Fushimi, then Kiyoka yet again, all of them dumbfounded. Only the Lieutenant appeared less than pleased by this announcement.
"You mean you're the one who stole the Algorithm?" Akiyama asked.
In a quick response, Fushimi said, "She built that too."
"Hold on," Benzai said, waving a hand out in the air. He squinted tightly, thoroughly confused. "I thought you said that you two were competing for the Algorithm, meaning you were on opposite sides. You're telling me she's actually been with us this whole time?"
"She's also good lying," came Fushimi's terse reply.
Kiyoka grinned at this. "There you go again, Sashimi – "
" – Don't," he stopped her.
"There he goes…what?" Dōmyōji asked, shifting hesitating eyes between the two.
Fushimi shook his head. "You're just encouraging her," he grumbled, but Kiyoka paid no heed to him. Turning to Dōmyōji, she smiled. "Complimenting me," she answered brightly. "He says he hates it, but he does it all the time."
There was a momentary pause, though in the midst of stricken revelations, the Lieutenant stepped between them, eyeing Kiyoka coolly. "If you built this system and the Kawaguchi Algorithm, why'd you waste valuable time in leaving when you could have stayed and done all this yourself?"
This was yet another discovery for Fushimi. Not even she knows everything, he realized, suddenly wondering if, in reality, he really did know more than he thought.
Kiyoka shrugged, her boredom not so hidden anymore. "I told you before I didn't want to be here. I want to be out there, gathering intel," she said, nodding toward the door. "Not in here, playing kid's games. Besides, I already said I was leaving you in capable hands."
Startled momentarily, Awashima took just enough of a break from her scowl to widen her eyes briefly with a twitch. Slowly, she glanced sideways to observe the minor slant of Fushimi's lips curved upward in a slightly twisted manner as he stared down at the screen.
"Got it!" he declared, and all at once, the high alarm from the computer ceased. "We're in."
Kiyoka gave a little hmph, peeling herself off the wall. "See?" She said, popping her brow, and just as swiftly as she came, she was gone.
The others gathered closer to the desktop, each one more in awe than the next. Even Awashima, angry as she was, could not contain the stunned look on her face. Instantly, she started giving orders, the room a buzzing scene just as before.
Fushimi couldn't hear them, though. Instead, he eyed the door from which Kiyoka left, all those thoughts surrounding her a whirl inside his head. They rose up, growing louder, louder, forcing their way out until he couldn't keep his silence anymore.
He leapt out from his chair, making straight for the door. The others paused their efforts, watching as he did. Perhaps they even called to him. He didn't hear, nor did he care. More than anything, he knew he had to talk to her. Now, for once, he was going to get some answers.
Chapter Ten: Answers