AN: Standard disclaimers apply. This one is kinda long, and this is where the Gate Measurement system I developed will begin to be put to use. Hope you get to figure it out while reading. Just a few hints: There are eight units arranged from lowest to highest: Max Epsilon, Max Delta, Max Gamma, Max Beta, Max Alpha, Max Theta, Max Sigma, and Max Omega. Each unit is divided into 21 levels by 50s as ranks. (e.g. Max Gamma X, Max Gamma 50, Max Gamma 100, etc.) Also, this is where we get to see who the spy is, and who he picked. The identity of the unlucky FE GK, who ever he or she is, is practically a give-away. One more thing: PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE SEND ME YOUR REVIEWS!!! I need to know if you're still reading my stuff! I need your opinions! I'm spending at least 50% of my free time trying to finish this, leaving little time for me to study, you know.
Chapter 4: Unnatural Selection
Command Room, AEGIS FE HQ, Under Tategami High School, Jan 10. 1971…
It was just a few moments ago that the tracking system was able to detect a level Max Gamma 650 Gate emission from downtown Tokyo; the Business district to be exact. "I want a search and retrieval team out there now!" Shirei ordered, pointing on that location on the main screen map, "Bring him or her back here, and find out who he or she is working for." Max Gamma 650… That is almost an entire unit higher than Captain Ukiya's greatest output, Max Delta 800. He thought, It's not possible for any Gatekeeper I know to reach that level. Even the mysterious Houju would have a hard time doing so. Unfortunately for Shirei and all the other branches of AEGIS, the existence of the Templar Gatekeepers was kept a secret by AEGIS United. To the other branches, they were considered as regular Gatekeepers or just plain ordinary AEGIS members. They did not know that they were detecting the only the residual energies of Maya's Shift Gateway.
Suddenly, the area around Tokyo tower began to blink blue. "Sir," One of the technicians said, "A memory beacon appears to have activated."
"A memory beacon?" AEGIS had constructed the memory beacon system in order to save important map data that could have been left unattended to during a main screen conversation. It would automatically activate itself and show a replay of the signal in a blue highlight. "Display the data." Statistics and measurements replaced the map shortly as they scrolled up very quickly, until the point where it shifted back to its original state as a map.
One of the technicians looked up, "Sir, It was a negative Gate discharge. Calculations estimate it to be at Max Gamma 500 or higher." It was what was left from Goddarov's recent Gate Transit Action from AEGIS US HQ to Japan.
"First Max Gamma 650, now Max Gamma 500?" he pondered these matters momentarily, "Is it the same one?"
"No sir. This Gate's frequency is different from the other's." It was then that the faint sound of gunfire erupted fro somewhere in the base.
"Where did that come from?" Shirei inquired, frustrated at this unpleasant surprise. The map now changed to a green, translucent three-dimensional model of the base, with one area marked Block 17, blinking a fiery orange-red.
"Block 17, sir. There appear to be electromagnetic radio waves pulsating from the sector."
"So, the invaders have snuck into the base again, eh?" He was getting more annoyed than angry at them getting into the base again. Not at this crucial moment! He thought as he cursed mentally. "Lock the area down and send in security units three, six, eight, and 12."
"But sir, they're the last active security teams we have!" This technician was the worrywart and argued a lot with Shirei, although he didn't seem to mind. Shirei just looked at him piercingly for a few moments; until he finally complied with Shirei's command, "Yes sir."
A few moments later, at least forty armed guards hurried through the hallway in double file (can I say that?) towards the infected area.
==========
Hallway Intersection1, Block 17, AEGIS FE HQ, Under Tategami High School…
Shiro Takamiya, a guard, was at his post, reading the latest fashion magazine, his AS-12 automatic shotgun by his side, when he began to hear a strong and commanding voice in his head, Report on your ztatus. It said in a German accent.
I have completed my observations, and have selected the most potential candidate, he replied.
Good. Zend me zee invormation provile now.
At once, master. He took a small device the size of a golf ball from his pocket that had an even smaller screen on it, with numbers and jargon displayed. He pushed a petite, little red button on it, and the information scrolled up. The device then disappeared. It is done. Are there any further orders?
Eliminate all nearby zecurity unitz und return to zee ztaging point.
Understood. Setting the magazine aside, he looked at his partner, sitting beside him, reading the newspaper, and asked the man, "Did you ever consider early retirement?
The other guard was taken aback, "At this age? Are you nuts!?"
"Well actually, I was thinking… why don't you quit early. There has to be something you would like to do."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Hobbies maybe? Like fishing, following your dream and becoming a golf superstar, engage in ceramics?"
"Heh!" Shiro's partner smirked at his wild suggestions for how to spend his 'early retirement', "I'd rather work hard everyday, making sure the Earth is safe from invaders, than spending the my retired life always looking over my shoulder and fearing people who wear sunglasses." He went back to his 'informative' reading material.
"Well, as I see it, AEGIS Far East already has more than enough troops to act as backup in case our Gatekeepers fail. Know what I mean?"
"I guess so." The guard made a thoughtful hmm… as he got back into his conversation, "I think I will retire early. There's only one problem, though."
"What's that?"
"I'm practically broke! I don't have any money in the bank, I barely have enough food to feed myself everyday, and the bills keep getting more expensive by the month!" he began to sulk.
Shiro placed a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder, "Don't worry. I can help you."
"Really? How? Magic?" He said mockingly.
"No." Shiro tensed. "Human technology."
"What kind of human technology gets rid of people's problems?" he heard the pumping of a shotgun as a reply.
"This."
The man looked up to see Shiro's shotgun leveled at him, "Hey, man! You're kidding, right!?"
"Nope. I'm going to give you just what you wanted, early retirement."
"Shiro! What are you doing!?"
"Sorry, Shiro Takamiya is not available at the moment." His face became mad and twisted, his voice monotone and robotic, "Please leave a message after the beep." He made a sound that resembled an answering machine's beep.
"And why aren't you available at the moment!?"
"Because Shiro Takamiya never existed in the first place." He replied as he donned a pair of sunglasses with his left hand. (His right hand is holding the shotgun. Remember?) He transformed into a core invader, with five loaded holsters on either side of his torso, thus having a total count of 11 guns, the shotgun included.
"HOLY SHIT!" was the last thing the guard was able to say before it blew him away with a blast of buckshot.
Soon, a large group, about forty, of armed men rushed into the room, their rifles trained at the invader. Their faces turned bitter when they saw the other guard sprawled on the floor a few feet from where he once stood before Shiro shot him, all twisted and bloody. "You wanna fight?" Shiro asked them tauntingly.
"Open fire, men!" The captain ordered. A hail of bullets was unleashed at the invader, who dodged all of them with surprising speed.
Stopping to aim its shotgun at them, the invader said, "Now it's my turn!" it began to strafe from side to side while buckshot rounds, composed of nine lead balls packed into one round for scattering shots, effective against large groups, were launched at the crowd of AEGIS troops. They dropped dead, two at a time, until the point that it had used up all of its shotgun ammunition.
Again, the soldiers opened fire. "You wanna play tough, eh?" It drew out the pistols from the uppermost holsters, and began shooting blindly, as it evaded the AEGIS enforcers' bullets. It threw them away and picked up the next pair as soon as the first two were completely out of lead. This firefight continued until its last two pistols, revolvers, were almost out.
There were at least five soldiers left, most of them critically wounded, hiding in the hallway perpendicular to the invader's location. It was about to go around the corner and finish them off, when it heard a voice in its head, Zat's enough. Prepare to be tranzported.
Yes, master. It replied as an array of black rings appeared beneath it and gobbled it up.
==========
Command Room, AEGIS FE HQ, A few minutes later…
"Sir," One of the technicians piped, "The signal disappeared."
"Anything else?"
"We were also able to pick up what appears to be negative Gate signals on a scale of Max Beta 950 or higher just before the signal vanished."
"So they were being controlled by a negative Gatekeeper, eh?" He's detected enough high-level Gate signals this day to make him want to go home and hide under his covers.
"There was only one."
"WHAT!?" Is it possible for a single invader to do this much damage? "Find the video record of the battle."
"At once, sir." The technician tapped a few keys on his console, and the 3D map of the base was replaced with a video clip, showing the core invader running around, emptying bullets at the soldiers.
"Play the earlier file from before Electromagnetic Radio waves were detected." It switched to the scene where Shiro was sending the information away to his master; Shirei noticed Shiro's hand movements, "Pause it and magnify that area," He said, pointing at the general direction of the guard's hand. It enlarged to reveal Shiro holding a shiny silver ball, just about to push the button, "Play." The scene continued. Shiro pushed the button and had the conversation with his partner about early retirement, and just before the security squads rushed in, Shirei ordered that the file be stopped.
"Judging from his earlier actions with the ball, he knew he was an invader before the transformation signal is given."
"So?"
"Pull up his profile and social interaction observations. I want to see one more thing."
"Yes sir." The technician tapped several keys in a certain order, pulling up the Data on Shiro from the archives. His information showed up a little while later, with the observations as well.
"Impossible!" Shirei was shocked at something he saw under the social interaction observations.
"What?"
"According to this file, he was a completely nice guy!"
"So he's a Fukuowa type invader?" the technician asked for clarity.
"No. The human forms of both the normal and Fukuowa type invaders have negative social attitudes, thus classifying them as jerks. This property differentiates them from most normal humans."
"You're trying to say that—" Shirei cut him off…
"This is neither the normal kind or Fukuowa type invader. This is a whole new breed that knows what he is in human form and blends in socially. They know we are on to their problems in social interactions…"
"Sir?" another technician raised her hand.
"What is it?"
"Just a question; what are you going to name this new type?"
"I'll have to discuss this with headquarters. Transmit the information to AEGIS United."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Give me the casualty status of the battle."
The technicians began to work furiously on their consoles until one said, "Security unit eight has been completely wiped out, unit three's status is pending, units six and 12 have wounded and are not looking too good."
"Send in the medics."
"Yes sir."
Another technician piped in, "Sir, what are we going to do if the invaders attack?"
"Call in the Gatekeepers. We're going to have to nominate a Sentinel."
==========
Warehouse 36, Fujima Enterprises Warehouse District, Tokyo Bay Harbor…
Hans Cartegie's eyes were illuminated thanks to his Gate being used as a transport medium by his spy. A set of black rings was on the cemented floor, with half an invader's body already out. The Gate closed when it was completely out of the dark pathway.
"A job vell done, Zhiro!" Cartegie applauded.
"Thank you sir."
"Now for my end of zee bargain… Your revard."
"My reward, sir?"
"Yes, your revard." Cartegie opened his Gate and glanced wickedly at the surprised invader.
"What are you doing!?"
"Just az you said, I'm giving you your revard. You have served your purpose, zo now your revard is zis early retirement you have been babbling about! Guardian Vorm!" The ground just in front of Cartegie began to shake violently as a series of cracks appeared. Not a moment later, a huge purple worm with three separate lips (as in upper, lower, etc…) appeared and struck so quickly that nobody noticed it swallowing the invader whole. The worm made a discontented groan that sounded more like rumbling ground.
"Vhat's zat, boy?" Cartegie patted the massive creature on the head, " Ztill hungry?" the worm somewhat nodded, "Don't vorry. Vhen I find a zuitable opponent for you, I'm sure you vill be very zatisvied." The worm made another reverberating noise and sank back into the ground, the crevice disappearing above it.
Cartegie examined the sheet of paper he held in his hand; it had the picture of a young teenage girl. Konoe, Kaoru — Gender: Female, Age: 17, Height: 153 cm, Hair Color: Brown, Date of Birth: July 3, 1953, Gate Power: Close Combat, Negative Reciprocal (Calculated): Gate of Chaotic Power, Highest Gate Output: Max Delta 700, Emotional Weakness: Possible Jealousy, Profile Established When and by Whom: Jan. 4, 1971, by Takamiya, Shiro,— Civil Status: Single, Current Status: Alive.
Cartegie chuckled evilly at the thought of somebody with such potential under his command. His scheming daydream was interrupted, however, when Goddarov waltzed into the room, carrying a stack of comics, "Oh, so you got da profile already?"
"Yes." Cartegie replied blankly.
"Where is da spy?" Goddarov's head paced from left to right, scanning the room for Shiro.
"I finished him off. He has already zerved his purpose."
"Aw, too bad. I really wanted to meet him."
Cartegie then realized that Goddarov had been missing, "Vhere have you been, Alexei!?"
Goddarov racked his brain for an acceptable answer, "Eh… I was… uh… out to lunch."
"For zee past three hourz?"
"Well, uh… I commuted. Yes, dat's it! I commuted!" He was now just thinking of stupid excuses to make up in order to get Cartegie's probing thoughts off of him.
"You have a Gate, Alexei. Vhy didn't you engage in GTA?"
"I didn't want da Far East Branch to detect me."
"Zat vas a very poor excuse for an excuse. Vhat else did you do?"
"Alright! I… went shopping." Goddarov admitted.
Cartegie's face turned dull, "Shopping? For vhat?" he examined the pile of paper stacked up together. His eyes widened in irritation when he saw what Alexei had spent 10,000 yen on and exploded, "Manga!? You bought Manga!?"
"It's da latest issue of Doraemon! I like reading Doraemon."
Cartegie opened one comic and held it open, facing Goddarov, "How do you ekzpect to read Japaneeze vords, zee ztrip from right to left!?"
"Eh… I don't read da words. I just look at da pictures." He thought for a moment, "I didn't know dat Japanese comics were read from right to left. So dat's why da plot didn't make any sense."
Cartegie slapped himself on the forehead. "You are hopeless!"
Goddarov snatched the piece of paper from Cartegie and scrutinized it shortly, stopping to say, "So, dis is da one? Judging from her highest Gate output, I'd say we'd be doing better off widout her."
"Zat can be taken care of. I can alvays train her to truly master her Gate, zus making her a Templar Gatekeeper. Remember zat Templar Gatekeepers are ones who have truly mastered zeir Gates."
"But da question is, how do you convert her? What, are you going to do what Shadow did? Rape her?" he slightly paled at the thought of somebody as old as Hans Cartegie doing… That.
"No, I have a faster solution." He pointed upward with his right index finger. A second later, a small silver sphere the size of a golf ball materialized, which he grasped and held as though it was his most cherished possession, "Vith zis."
"What, you're going to hit her on da head and give her amnesia? She might even forget she dat she has a Gate!" Goddarov obviously didn't get the subject.
"No, you idiot! Zis is zee Negative Emotion Synchronism Emulator."
"What does it do?"
"It Emulates zee Synchronism of Negative Emotions."
"What?"
Cartegie decided to just demonstrate his fiendish little device's capabilities to his somewhat half-witted companion, "Do you mind standing over zere, Alexei?"
"No, not at all." Goddarov walked over to the area where Cartegie was pointing, and stood.
"Good. Now I vill show you vhat zis zing can do." Cartegie pitched the petite little orb at Goddarov. The Russian did not even notice the small gadget sink into his chest.
"What was dat?"
"Oh, nozing." Cartegie replied innocently, "I just vanted to zay… Boo!"
Cartegie's sudden outburst scared the living daylights out of Goddarov, although it was not normal for him to be such a fraidycat. That was mainly because the NESE was inducing pure, unfiltered fear into Goddarov's senses. He recoiled in total fear and made a mad dash towards the corner, where he just coiled up and cowered, shaking. "Get away from me, vile monster!" Goddarov shouted at the approaching Cartegie.
Cartegie stooped down and said, "You know, you look just like your grandmozer. Zpeaking of vhich, did you really know who killed her?"
"No, but I'd definitely love to crush da one responsible for it!" He was now being fed with anger and hatred by the NESE. It was true, he did not know who had done such a vile thing as murdering an innocent old woman such as Minka Pyotrich Goddarov who spent most of her life doing good things for the people of a small village in a desolate area on the banks of the Kotuy River in Siberia. It just didn't make any sense. Why? Why did it have to be his Babushka? She was so kind, gentle, loving. He never did find out who was responsible for this heinous act. Some said it was the Soviet army, taking the taxes' worth of 'sacrifice'. Others said that the raiders were getting cleverer, and still, some said that it was a local criminal.
"Vhat if I told you zat I did it?" Cartegie asked slyly, putting on a special Gate Measurement device he had developed by himself.
That last remark made Goddarov explode. He removed the gem from his ring, and shouted, "Unlock the Gate!" his eyes and inner Gate showed the amount of pure, unsiphoned anger that the NESE had added to the already great amount that resided in his heart. "Final Weapon! August Dream Blade!" A dark blue, crescent blade over a meter long materialized, the awkward handle in his grasp. "Dis is for Babushka!" He made a mad dash at Cartegie, who was tinkering with his gadget. The numbers and letters showing up on the eyepiece were measuring Goddarov's current Gate output.
"Max Beta 500; very good, Alexei." Cartegie evaded Goddarov's repeated slashes with accurate precision and ease. He jumped up and shouted, "Para Spore!" as he tossed a fluffy orb the size of a baseball, paralyzing Goddarov on contact.
"What da hell is dis!?" He tried to move his body, but to no avail. He just would not budge.
"Calm down, Alexei. Everyzing I told you just now vere all lies." He stretched his hand towards Goddarov, in his mind commanding the NESE to return to him. It jumped out of Goddarov, Cartegie catching it just before it would zip past him. He snapped his fingers, and Goddarov crumbled, drained of all his strength, his hat blown all the way across the room.
"What happened? Why did I react like dat?"
"Zat vas zee effect of zee NESE. A pervect demonstration if I might zay zo myself, und I do."
"So dat's how you're going to convert her?" he recollected his hat.
"Using zis," he said, looking at the prize in his hand, "Und vith a little psychological varfare." His tone became serious again, "I need you to do me anozer favor, Alexei. Zis is part of zee third phase of my grand scheme."
"What?" he fluffed up his hat like a little pillow.
"I vant you to go downtown und wreak as much havoc as possible. Draw out zee Far Eazt's branch's Gatekeepers." He began tossing the ball playfully.
"Den what?" He put his hat back on.
"Vatch out for zat girl, und bring her back here."
"And what about da oders?"
"Deal vith zem as you deem fit."
"Of course." He unlocked the Gate and disappeared into the Gate Transit Tear that appeared beneath him.
==========
The Mall, Downtown Tokyo…
Eve allowed Maya to rest on her lap. Generating something as energy consuming as a Shift Gateway must really be draining, especially for somebody as young as her. She looked up to see Kyle, who was picking up several Gate Frequencies in several areas with AEGIS's special Gate Tracking Devices.
"I've picked up some High-level frequencies here. There was a Max Beta 950 emission from AEGIS FE. Later, Max Alpha X, and Max Beta 500 waves practically exploded from somewhere by the harbor." He paused shortly to figure out what all of that meant, "Looks like we're up against the strongest, here."
"So you're tying to say that the enemy is powerful." Eve said, staring far at the distance.
"Yeah, and I've got a bad feeling about this mission." His watch communicator chirped. He answered the call to see who it was, "Donnehue here."
Bates was on the other side, "Listen, Kyle. We've received word just a few minutes ago. The spy has left the Far East Branch, and it's in total chaos."
"What? Just when we were about to go there and pound his ass? Damn!" he cursed, "How's everybody over there?"
"They've lost practically all remaining security teams and have considered nominating a Sentinel Gatekeeper from their party." In case of lack of security teams, AEGIS Commanders were given the authority to nominate a Sentinel Gatekeeper from their party to keep watch over the base during a major sortie.
"Wait a minute… what ever happened to total radio silence?" Kyle became suspicious of Bates' actions.
"Forget that! This is a mission redirect. Your new objectives are to find Cartegie and Goddarov and arrest them. Aid the Far East Branch if needed. But whatever you do, make sure they don't know that you helped them." Bates tensed, "I trust you, Kyle. I know that you won't let us down."
"No problem, Commander."
"Kyle, I want you to call me the way you used to before you joined AEGIS 15 years ago just one more time." Bates softened.
"Of course, I'll never forget about that … uncle." He slightly smiled as he said, "Over and out," as he closed the channel. He could remember the days he spent in New York, getting into fights in school most of the time, other people always picking on him just because he did things differently – deviant was the word to describe him. The only person in school who ever backed him up was his best friend, Mike. Then the time came when Mike had moved away, leaving him with what, nobody!
His parents encouraged him to take up martial arts for self defense when he was just seven, and that he did. Taking up several martial arts courses such as Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, and Aikido simultaneously, he had an extremely tight schedule that left little time for play. Having a hard time with these, he was not able to finish any of them at all until he was 14.
He was 13 at the time that he was running home late, seven o'clock to be exact, when he wound up in an alley, surrounded by five thugs. He was still having some trouble with his lessons and was not able to practice much at the time. Gangsters! He thought as he prepared for their attack.
"Hey, kid," One of them, wearing a black leather jacket and jeans said, "Don't 'tcha know?"
"Know what?" Kyle asked, aggravated.
"If ya pass through Jackass territory," said a Negro with a green punk hairdo and matching outfit.
"Ya gotta have some kinda tribute ready fer us!" another one, with a square face and red T-shirt finished the second's sentence.
Kyle only let out a huff, "Tribute? Parasitic lawbreakers like you don't deserve tribute!"
"What did you say!?" the second retorted.
"I'm only telling the truth." Kyle replied sardonically, "Besides, who'd want to give your so called 'tribute' to someone who looks like he's already robbed enough tribute's worth of money from the nearest bank?"
The third only growled at Kyle, who, for his age was appeared to be very audacious even when threatened by five hooligans with knives in a dark alley.
"Frisk 'im, Jigs!" The first one ordered irately. Another one, who wore a pair of brass knuckles, walked up to Kyle, shoved him to the wall, and began to search for some valuables he could have been hiding.
Apparently, the hoodlum found Kyle' wallet, and was just about opening it, when Kyle was able to slip free of his grasp, and throw a solid right at his face, knocking the surprised goon to the ground. Kyle did not stop there, however. As the latter slowly got to his feet, Kyle did a roundhouse kick that sent the unfortunate man sailing into his companions who had just realized what had happened, and were rushing to help.
The gang leader, the one in a jacket, shouted, "Dog Pile!" as the other three jumped at Kyle, who didn't expect something like that to be done about him, thus pinning him to the ground. They began to give poor Kyle an extremely raw beating.
Through abrasions and bruises, he could still call to mind and apply what he was taught. Do not ignore the pain, a voice rang in his head, it will only make the sensation worse. He continued to recall, Focus on it instead, so that the more you think about the pain, the more you will realize that it exists only in the mind. True pain is caused by severe damage to your body. Thus, bruises and cuts, although said to be painful, are only trivial sores on the strong wall that is your flesh. He began to focus on each punch and kick that made contact with his being. They no longer felt painful; only swift, soft pokes were felt.
Suddenly, a strange rush of energy flowed through him. He felt as though he was going to burst. He shouted at the top of his lungs just as a set of white rings appeared in his eyes and he was enveloped in a strange white light. That scared those crooks away. He weakly tried to get up, his orbs still holding the inner Gate, but collapsed. He had been found the next morning still unconscious in that alley by a passerby, and was brought to the police station for questioning.
They did not believe him when he told them about the light that protected him, "This isn't the Twilight Zone, kid," they said as he was sent home. Good thing it's a Saturday, today, he thought as he ambled down the front steps of the 6th precinct. He came home at ten o'clock; his parents worried sick, standing by the phone, waiting for the police to call again. They called up earlier and told the Donnehues that Kyle was found unconscious in an alley, although nothing was stolen from him.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home." He said solemnly.
"Kyle!" they said in unison, "What happened last night?"
"I was going home late last night due to a science project I have to complete, but some goons chased me into an alley. They tried mugging me, but I fought."
"It's a good thing we encouraged you to join those martial arts courses." Mr. Donnehue said.
"I know, Dad. Those lessons really paid off." Kyle answered, smirking.
Just then, the phone rang. His mother answered it, "Hello?"
Bates was on the other line, "Good morning Betty. I heard about Kyle. How is the young man?"
"Oh, it's you, Steve." She said in recognition, "He's fine. Why'd you call?"
"Oh, I just called to say that I'm going over there sometime next week to have a talk with you."
"That'd be nice."
"And Kyle."
"Of course! It's been five years since he last saw you! It's best that you come!"
"Has it been that long?" Bates laughed casually, "I must be getting too old to notice the time fly by!"
"Right."
"Well, that's all I have to say right now. See you next week. Bye."
"Bye." She put the phone down.
"Who was it?" Mr. Donnehue asked. He appeared tense.
"Oh, Josh, lighten up! It's only Steve!"
"Steve? When was the last time he came here? It's been so long I can hardly remember!"
"You'll see."
Bates, his uncle on the side of his father's mother, came over to their house the following week to recruit Kyle. "Government business – we'll be taking care of him from now on," was all he said as he and a couple of armed men escorted Kyle to a black limousine parked outside. He never saw his parents ever again.
"Kyle, we have a situation here. I'm picking something up!" The flow of memories of Kyle's childhood was interrupted by Eve's sudden statement.
"What is it?" Kyle glanced at the monitor of the laptop Tracking System, "Looks like an electromagnetic radio wave emission from somewhere nearby…"
==========
Rooftop Floor, Tameyaki Building, Business District, Downtown Tokyo…
He looked down on the streets below, filled with unsuspecting, though blameworthy people, guilty of the many crimes they had yet to commit. To Goddarov, they all had the same face: pale, robotic, shades-clad and hat wearing. In every person who was not a Gatekeeper, he saw the nameless, faceless conspirators that were part of the dark army, which was once used to take over the country.
He took a final glance around him to make sure that there were no witnesses, and asked himself, "Why send an invader to do a Templar's job?" he double-tapped the small device on his belt anyway. It began to produce a high-pitched sound that the nearby people on street level heard and began to react strangely to.
"Wh…what? R…return t…to my t…true self?" dropping his briefcase, a middle-aged man in a business suit clutched on his head as though he were going insane. He was hearing voices in his head, Awaken, slave, and perform what I bid! The voice commanded. He stood aloof a second later and donning a pair of sunglasses, said, "Resistance is futile." He transformed into a core invader just in time for a mass of other people to march by him like soldiers prepared for battle, "Commence the operation." He said. The people in the crowd simultaneously donned their own pairs of shades, revealing a group of invaders ready to strike.
==========
Command Room, AEGIS Far East Branch…
"Sir, detecting high levels of electromagnetic radio waves in the Downtown Tokyo Business District." One of the three technicians positioned at the console announced, "Orders?"
"Call in the Gatekeeper Party."
"What about the Sentinel, sir?"
"I've made my decision." He focused his attention at the blinking red dot on an area on the map that looked like a city, "Tell agent Konoe to remain in the command center after the others have left."
"Yes sir."
==========
AN: How'd ya like that? You'll see what happens next chapter!