SOL Technology – the most influential company in the country, or the former most influential company. There was a strange sense of satisfaction as Evan walked through the corridor and past the workers, most of which were new faces that he had never seen before, a sign that the company was trying to bury its shady history by getting rid of their old personal. It was such an obvious and stupid move that they made, trying to cover up their mistakes and immoral ways of doing business, rather than using them to solve their current crisis.
"Evan?" the young man stopped and turned around to see Akira walking toward him. "What are you doing in SOL Technology? I thought that Queen and you were on bad terms after LINK VRAINS."
"Yeah, we are." Evan nodded. "That's why I must talk to her. I know that she's your boss and everything, but I have reason to suspect that she's trying to take our rivalry to… a new level."
At those words, Akira narrowed his eyes. He was already familiar with the dark past of the company and that they were more than willing to use underhanded and illegal methods to deal with any rival. Akira frowned, he had the gut feeling that maybe it would be best to call security and have them escort Evan out, than to cause a scene, but he also realized that if Evan and Queen didn't talk now, whatever problems they had might escalate in the future, causing more harm for the company.
"The communication room is still in use, even though the technology used for it was already placed in my office. If you have to talk to her, so you can do so from the communication room." Akira suggested.
"Yeah, it would look bad if I called her using your phone, wouldn't it?" Evan joked. "So, how is the promotion? Does it feel good to be back in your old position?"
"All of my old team has been placed in other wings of the company." Akira sighed. "It takes time to get used to the new staff."
"Yeah… I guess it does." Evan chuckled. "I'll be on my way then. Sent my greetings to Aoi, will you?"
"Of course." Akira nodded.
Unlike the way the Greyson's relationship with Aoi evolved to be more positive after the fall of LINK VRAINS, Akira's friendship with Evan had a more bitterly turn. After Evan brought forty percent of the company, his relationship with SOL, in general, had become more hostile and even if he understood that SOL Technology wasn't in the right position to lead an aggressive policy against Evan's company, Akira was still working for them and had to put his personal opinions and beliefs on the backseat when it came to the situation with FullerCorp.
The door of the empty dark room slid open, letting Evan step inside. The room wasn't changed since the last time had been here, discussing business with SOL's higher-ups. A holographic menu appeared in front of him and he pressed several buttons, causing the scenery in the empty room to suddenly change and turn into a pool with small exotic trees located at the back and a woman with blue hair with green accents lying with a drink in her hand.
It seemed that she hasn't been expecting this call, as all she was wearing were short jeans and a bra, with black sunglasses covering her eyes. This was Queen, the strongest piece in SOL Technology.
"Ah, Mr. Greyson." Queen took off her sunglasses and set them aside. "What do I owe this - hardly pleasant – call to?"
"I think you already know that." Evan retorted. "There have been several raids on warehouses used by my company. So far, three hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars in hardware have disappeared because of these attacks."
"So that's why you're here." Queen chuckled like there was something fun in what was happening. Who knew, maybe there was something funny, but Evan couldn't see it. "Go look for the culprit somewhere else. Such moves are below our company's standards."
"Oh, is it?" Evan narrowed his eyes. "Your company doesn't seem all that big to me."
"And thanks to who is that?" The feeling of satisfaction had disappeared from Queen's voice and was replaced by not very well hidden hostility. "The rat that stole forty percent of SOL! Four hundred thousand dollars? You've cost our company billions!"
"I'm trying to save at least a part of your company!" Evan shouted back. "I warned you that the firewall we sold you needed to be updated regularly to avoid having someone hack it, but you ignored that! When the Knights of Hanoi ran around destroying LINK VRAINS, you didn't try to stop them! All that happened was your fault! Because of your ignorance at the time, now you had to sell more than half of your company just to pay for all of the lawsuits against you! The only thing that I did was buying forty percent of your company in the last ditch effort to save a part of your technology."
"Are you expecting of me to be grateful for that?" Queen asked.
"No, I'm expecting of you to understand why any plot you've got against me won't work," Evan said. "I'm started than you, Queen. I'm smarter than every one of you and more than that, I'm going to be the one to revive LINK VRAINS."
"What?" Queen asked. "You can't do that. The rights to LINK VRAINS belong to SOL Technology, if you try to build your own, we will sue you!"
"Oh, don't worry, it won't be my LINK VRAINS, it's going to be yours," Evan smirked. "So far, LINK VRAINS has been your main source of income, wasn't it? But now it's gone and even if you rebuild it, who will want to enter again a virtual reality run by a company that couldn't prevent the deaths of thousands of their users? What I'm telling you, Queen, isn't a suggestion, it's the only way you can get out of this trap you got yourself into. I'll build a new LINK VRAINS using SOL's technology, my company will run it and take responsibility for any inconvenience that arises, and your company will be the co-founder and have certain privileges, such as control over the servers. You will be able to continue your operations on searching for the Ignis, but if you cause chaos in the servers, I'll kick you out, understood?"
Queen didn't respond immediately. SOL Technology was in a bad position financially, the incident in LINK VRAINS has caused all of the reputations their company once had to collapse onto itself. As much as she hated it, the only way for them to bring LINK VRAINS back was if it was launched by another company.
"You think that you have won, don't you? You think that this is going to be the end - that I'll let you stay in control of me or SOL Technology? Mark my words, Greyson. You're going to fail the same way we did and when that happens, we'll take away everything you have." Queen said and the holographic screen disappeared, leaving Evan alone in the room.
A sinister smirk appeared on Evan's face. The conversation went as good as he expected, even better. The Greyson was prepared for a series of threats, but instead, he got only one, and how naïve Queen was to think that he would fail like them. None of them understood it, even though they created LINK VRAINS, they never saw all of the possibilities, a place so chaotic and stationary was too bland to be a place for communication. A place so dead as LINK VRAINS was perfect for a single purpose, and that was to serve as a battlefield.
But there was one more problem he had to deal with. He knew that the group behind the raids on his warehouses weren't connected to SOL Technology, but who else could it have been? The Knights of Hanoi? No, whatever remained of them has disappeared and attacking the warehouses of some company would be too risky for them.
There was a third group, newbies judging by their actions so far. They didn't understand the type of war they were entering, but Evan would be more than happy to explain all of it to them.
"So, I heard that you went to the pool together with the Greysons. Did something funny happen?"
Yusaku raised his eyes from the laptop screen in front of him and look at Vermilya, who had to sit down on the same table as him. He looked around for a moment, noting that there wasn't anyone else nearby, then turned back to the laptop.
"I almost drowned, but that wasn't funny," Yusaku answered the question. "Is there something you've got to talk to me about?"
"Come on, can't I just want to talk with a schoolmate?" Vermilya titled her head to the side.
"That's out of character for you," Yusaku replied.
Despite being distant to others himself, Yusaku was a very good judge of characters due to his calculative and serious personality. He had never allowed emotions to judge his view of people, or at least tried not to allow it to happen often. He has talked with Vermilya on several occasions before, she had always been a distant person who talked almost exclusively with the other members of her team. In a sense, she was similar to him when approaching people, so if he knew anything about himself, he would also know that Vermilya won't be so friendly unless she wanted something.
"Ok, you got me." And to the surprise of no one, he was actually right about her… "We need your help. Well, Evan needs your help, but he won't admit it, so I had to come and talk with you."
Yusaku paused for a moment, thinking if he wanted to hear Vermilya's request or not. On the one hand, he dueled only to get his revenge against the Knights of Hanoi, and now when they are no more, and the person that saved him during the Lost Incident was their leader, there was no longer had any purpose in dueling for him. On the other side, Evan, Vermilya and the other members of their team helped him a lot during the fight against Hanoi.
"Evan is a capable duelist, I'm sure that he would be able to deal with his difficulties," Yusaku replied.
"He would be if this had anything to do with dueling," Vermilya said back. "Someone has been stealing equipment as it was transported to Evan's company. Evan has talked the police into not releasing any information about these incidents to the journalists, but so far even the police weren't able to find any solid leads as to who or why is stealing all of that equipment. We've been following the market, as well as the black market, but no one is selling our equipment, which means that they have stolen it to use it. For all we knew, it could be a new Hanoi group, or someone just as dangerous."
"And how do you want me to help you out?" Yusaku raised an eyebrow.
"You and Kusanagi are hackers, right? We want your help tracking down the equipment and the culprits behind these attacks." Vermilya said. "Evan's problem isn't in the money that his company will have to spend getting replacements, but in the fact that a not small amount of the stolen equipment was meant for his Project Overseer. Our biggest worry is that they might be trying to take control over Overseer, which would mean gaining control over all computer-based security in Den City, and you realize the type of destruction such an act would cause to the city, right?"
"They can destroy the entire city…" Yusaku's eyes narrowed.
This was an extremely serious case and he had to get involved, not because of any other reason, but because this was his city, the city where Kusanagi and his brother, where Roxy and her friends lived. He couldn't turn a blind eye if there was such a serious danger looming over the city he grew up in.
"So, are you going to join?" Vermilya asked again. "We're ready to pay you for helping as well."
"I don't want you to pay me," Yusaku replied. "Den City is my city as well. I and Kusanagi will help you out with anything we can. But do you have any leads? Any information, even a small detail?"
"Sadly no." Vermilya shook her head. "As I said, they don't leave a trace behind themselves. No fingerprints, no footsteps, no nothing. We think that they might have some sort of technology to cover-up their tracks, but at the same time, the police were able to find that they have been using simple tools such as crowbars to open the warehouses and take out the guards. It's a miracle that no one has died yet, or else the media wouldn't leave Evan be."
"I wouldn't be able to help you out a lot if I don't know whose is targeting you," Yusaku replied. "We with Kusanagi will keep an eye out for anything that might pop up on the internet, but that's about it."
"Any lead you find will be vital for us," Vermilya said. "Only if Ai was still here, as an Ignis, he would have a much easier time searching for information than us, right?"
"He would either just stay at home watching soap operas or annoy me and Kusanagi while we are working." Yusaku sighed.
Despite being what both Revolver and his father viewed as a dangerous AI, a new completely virtual species that would destroy humanity, Ai was the most harmless creature Yusaku had lied his eyes upon. True, when the Ignis took on that monstrous form and began to devour people, Yusaku could see as to why the Knights of Hanoi were so afraid of its kind, but outside of those rare instances, Ai was just a lazy fool that couldn't see the most obvious things. It often forgot simple details and was unable to keep its attention to a single thing for more than two seconds.
But despite all of that, after Ai left, Yusaku felt that a part of him was missing. Maybe it was because Ai was designed after him and was a virtual recreation of the child Yusaku was before the Lost Incident. Maybe that was because, despite how much Yusaku tried to deny it in his mind, he viewed Ai as a partner. Even though he treated the Ignis as a disposable hostage after Evan defeated him and unlocked the lock that was keeping Ai locked to Playmaker's Duel Disk, the artificial intelligence choose to stay with him and fight together with Yusaku against the Knights of Hanoi.
"What are you thinking about?" Vermilya asked.
Yusaku didn't answer. He closed his laptop and placed it into his school bag before walking off, leaving the girl on her own. Vermilya frowned at the Cyberse Duelist's rudeness, but then, unknown to either Yusaku or Kusanagi, she smirked. Turning the conversation back to the Ignis caused Yusaku to fall into deep thoughts. Just like Evan was hoping, Yusaku was already starting to form a bond with Ai.
It was all going according to plan.
When it came to public security, Den City was among the most developed cities. Under the influence of SOL Technology and other rivalry companies, the city's technology has been continuously developing and evolving at a much faster pace than any other region in the world. Nowadays, technology was everywhere, it was keeping your house clean what you were out, it was driving you to work or meetings, it was even keeping an eye out for crimes and incidents, completely replacing the police patrols that once roamed the city to make sure that order was being kept.
And yet, despite all the hundreds of cameras that kept watch over the city, over every single corner of every street, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, twelve months a year, without need for break or sleep, they still couldn't spot the shadows moving through the dark of the night.
Once the day ended and all people retreated to the warm of their homes, the streets belonged to these shadows, these creatures of the dark ruled the city when there was no one else to oppose them. They hid away from prying eyes, sharing their plans in whispers, training and preparing to take down that new star that was shining brightly above Den City – the face of absolute need, of absolute evil.
The metal door of an abandoned building cracked open and the shadows all walked inside. The building they were using as their hideout was the type of place where usually troublesome teens would hang around, throw rocks at the windows and draw graffiti on the walls. It was the last place one would search for a group of criminals, even less so if the building was located in one of the few blind spots of the city's all-seeing security.
The largest of the shadows pulled three candles and light them up before handing them to the rest. There was no longer electricity running through this building and they were trying everything to stay under the radar, at least, until they were strong enough to challenge the star of the city. The three of them walked into what has used to be a guest room, with rocks, trash and broken glass all over the ground next to the windows. In the center of the room was a wooden table and three chairs, all of which were too clean to be furniture left behind by the old owners of that building.
"So, what's the reason that you called us here?" the smaller shadows turned toward their leader, the oldest among them.
"For an important discussion." The tallest shadow replied. "FullerCorp has been allowing us to steal their equipment for the last two months without increasing their security or doing anything to try and stop us. Even the police aren't after us. I don't like this kind of silence. It's like a calm before the storm."
"I agree that there's something fishy about all of this. Maybe the Greyson is trying to earn himself the sympathies of the citizens by using our raids as propaganda."
"That's why I think that we should lie down for a while. We've got enough parts to build project Titan, and I don't want to risk any of your safety with these operations. From now on, I want all of you to focus on assembling Titan, is that clear?"
The smaller shadows looked at each other for a moment, thinking it through. There was a growing pit of rage in all of their hearts. It was that hatred they all shared toward the person who caused the destruction of LINK VRAINS, the death of their closest family members and friends that resulted in them forming this team. With every day that passed without the criminal being brought to justice, with every public announcement Evan made, their rage grew more and more. All they wanted was to get their hands on the devil and tear his empire apart, piece by piece.
But they knew that they had to wait. They couldn't make their move just yet, not before everything was ready, or else, they wouldn't have a chance to fight back. They had to wait in the shadows, hidden in the darkest parts of the city, dreaming of the day when they could finally step back into the light and turn from shadows, back into humans.
One of the shadows turned toward their leader and began to make hand signs, silently, telling him what was on her mind.
"Indeed, the news about Den City's orphanage was very disturbing for me as well." The leader nodded in agreement. "For the entire place to get closed down due to financial difficulties only two months after Go Onizuka's brain death, it must have been planned."
"It makes me sick to listen to the police and how they could do nothing about the corpses of Onizuka's manager and the orphanage owner they found at the docks." The shadow slammed his arms against the table
"That's how it's going to be." The large shadow sighed. "Our fight isn't against a single human, after all, we fight against all of them. If the Destiny Gears are the light that will burn the world to ashes, then we'll be the darkness to keep everyone safe in our shadow. We're the only ones left to judge them for their crimes against humankind. Because of that, we should strike fear into them, make them know that they have become the prey now. I was originally against the idea of using silly names for our group, but as their hunters, I think there's only one suitable name for us to take. Starting today, we will be known as the Gear Hunters."
Back at his home, Evan was sitting on the sofa, his head hung back with eyes closed, and his legs placed on top of the fragile glass table in front of him. Vermilya had come earlier that night to tell him that the talk with Yusaku went as planned and he was helping them out. Of course, Evan didn't need the help of the Cyberse Duelist, he had already found out a way to track down his enemies and had reduced the possible hideous to only three abandoned buildings in the city. Built in the blind spots of Den City's security system, they were the perfect places for shadows like them to hide.
So, why hasn't he gone there and gotten rid of them? Because he needed conflict, he needed to show to the rest of the city that Overseer was needed for security and order to reign in the city. An important lesson he was taught long, long time ago was that the face of evil was always the face of total need. He needed an enemy to fight, at least until the Knights of Hanoi showed up again from their hiding spot and tried to eliminate the Ignis again.
The only problem Evan was faced with at the moment was how slowly everything was going on. LINK VRAINS 2 would enter public beta testing in a few weeks and there has been no sight of the other Ignis in the network yet. SOL Technology hasn't recovered enough yet to start a hunt for Playmaker and the Knights of Hanoi would need time to organize themselves before showing up, so the earlier Ignis activity began to appear, the earlier would the next stage of the plan commence.
Firera wasn't cooperating either, a part of her still appear to have a spark of hope left, even after she learned that Roxy wouldn't save her.
"You're in deep thoughts." Avice walked over to her brother, placing a cup of hot coffee on the table. "Anything alarming?"
"No, not at all." Evan shook his head. "Everything is just so… delayed. If I don't give the other pieces a push, we are going to lose momentum and our chance. I'm just wondering for ways to kick the hornet nest."
"Sometimes I wonder if you'll even be able to tame the beast once you unleash it." Avice sighed.
"Your fear, Avice, is irrational." Evan chuckled, finding the girl's worries to be funny. "The question is not, will they cause chaos, but how to force them into causing it. And perhaps, cutting the snake's head would be good enough to cause the body to counterattack. Don't you agree, my apprentice?"
The figure that Evan was talking to, did not respond. They stood next to the door and simply nodded meekly, a light blue hoodie with a yellow hood covering their identity, even though they were within the secure ground of their home.
"I'll give them time to finish Titan, make them think that they are on equal footing with me, before crushing their leadership." Evan stood up and walked up to his apprentice, a deck of cards in his hand. "This one is for you to use, we can't have you running around with a Gear deck, but you will find that the deck I've prepared for you works similarly to the one you've been trained to use."
So, this is another short chapter. This is part 2 out of 3 of the "In-Between" Chapters and this one takes place 2-3 weeks before Season 2, basically meaning that the final part will take place a few days before Season 2 starts.
But now that the timeline of these chapters is explained let's go over the chapter itself. First are the "Gear Hunters", who were in most part inspired by the song "Godhunter" by Aviators. The group that was introduced this chapter will play the role of "heroes" during Season 2. They will be the main enemy of Evan's Destiny Gears - sharing an interesting backstory with said group.
Second, a detail that probably only like 2-3 of you might have noticed, but the FullerCorp is named after Joseph Fuller, a name that was mentioned in an AU story as the Greyson's adoptive parent. The only real importance about this detail is that it confirms that the Evan Greyson of Destiny Gear's timeline is adopted.
Now, I want to thank Twiphase, Yagami Kari Hikari and blizzardblaze174 for following and favoriting this story. Also, thanks to catyscitty for favoriting.
I must admit, when I first started this story, I was doing it just for fun and didn't care that much about the quality, but now that I've got so many readers, I'm trying to put as much as I can in giving you good quality content.
Now to the reviews!
Twelfth Night101: Wouldn't the two "fan" negate each other, turning it into just fiction?
Insertname: Takuma's foolish idea was Evan's thinking, but I want to clarify, the part that Evan found foolish wasn't the idea of "Uniting the world, bringing all of humanity together in his wannabe paradise" itself, but that Takuma thought the rest of the Destiny Gears would sit back and let him turn them into his slaves, since "the power one dreamed to obtain, can reach only as far as the other's dreams" so the moment Takuma tried to take away every else's dreams by turning them into slaves, he became a fool thinking he could defeat the other Destiny Gears on his own.
I won't comment on Evan's anger, because where would be the surprise in that? As for him lying... I always view Evan as the type that uses dirty and cruel methods sparingly. In fact, I have always thought that in an AU where Evan was able to build his own empire, he wouldn't turn into a tyrant and would always search for balance between good and evil. A big part in the forming of Evan's character was Machiavelli's Conception of Rulership, so I think that googling that would give you a BIG idea about Evan's character.
Guest: My idea there was to show how Roxy, the most human character in my story, was just a robot with flesh, able to be controlled with a simple phase. But I guess someone else already had that idea before me.
And that's it. Thanks to you all for reviewing, following and favoriting, and thanks to everyone else for reading this. Until next time!