Act Two
I can't say that anything is going to be alright
I lie here and look at you on my side
Wait for night to let the earth turn
And not take anymore
The stage was set; everything had gone according to plan. The children were here, they'd brought their digivices, and it hadn't broken out of its confinement yet. Yamaki hoped it wouldn't anytime soon. Timing was everything and if it didn't agree… he didn't want to think of the consequences.
He could feel the distrust of the children, especially the one called Hirokazu. Every time that child looked at him the something resembling guilt rose up and threatened to disarm him. However, no matter how guilty or responsible he felt, there was no one else to carry out these tasks. He was the only one, if he failed everything fell. Logically he should have been crushed under the pressure of it all, but he was never one for logic.
He had had several reports of the crisis the city appeared to be in, the power had been out for almost fifteen hours now and people were becoming hysteric. The backup generators could last them at least another day, after that the children would have to fend for themselves. To think, one simple virus could cause so much damage. Yamaki was sure not even a nuclear bomb had this much potential to cause destruction. So many lives were riding on his back, on those six children's backs. One wrong move and it could wipe out an entire nation.
Yamaki, however, was not one to think of the consequences of such actions. Instead he focused his attention on the wall of monitors on which the map of the digital world was displayed. At this very moment his technicians were hooking the children's digivices up to the main hard drive. They wouldn't have to hold on for too much longer now, a few minuets was all it had to take. From then on it was smooth sailing; everything was in their young, experienced hands.
"Sir, digivices one through six have been uploaded to the hard drive, tracking has begun."
Yamaki nodded up at Reika who was too absorbed in her search to notice.
On the screen six multicoloured dots began to flash, the digimon had been located. Everything was going according to plan.
"You found them! Look Lee, they found them!" The small girl bounced next to her brother excitedly, pointing her miniature finger towards the towering wall of monitors. So small, so young, so innocent; did she have any idea the fate of humanity rested on her shoulders? Of course not.
"Begin preparations to send the retrieval unit," He stated calmly to the bustling room, "There is no time to waste."
Immediately several workers began fussing over a single computer. Technicians, computer nerds, coffee woman, all began moving and talking at once; the sound was strangely calming. In mere minuets the retrieval vessel would be sent into the digital world and the digimon recovered. The burden would be shifted and he would be no more than an idle watcher; the responsibility no more his.
"How much longer do you think this is going to take?" Hirokazu asked his bespectacled friend, "I'm starting to get hungry."
Yamaki felt like laughing at these children's innocence. He should have felt guilty at handing such a burden over to such delicate creatures; that would have been the human thing to do. But he wasn't, if anything he was guilty about the fact that he wasn't guilty for placing the blame onto something so helpless as a group of children. Even then the guilt was completely nondescript; there was no emotion behind it, only duty.
"Preparations complete, beginning transfer of retrieval vessel." Megumi said from somewhere above him.
Involuntarily his eyes flicked to the single, blank monitor in the top corner. It was still contained and he hoped it stayed that way until the digimon arrived. It certainly wouldn't be any good if it escaped at a time as crucial as this. Just the thought of what havoc it could cause; what possibilities lay open made Yamaki shudder. He couldn't forget, until the digimon arrived it was completely his responsibility.
"Retrieval vessel had breached the barrier, beginning retrieval." Reika stated distractedly
A few more minuets, that's all it would take. If they just held out for a few more minuets everything would be just fine.
Yamaki wiped his brow and his hand returned drenched in sweat. The pressure was getting to him, and with pressure came exhilaration. A small, rueful smile pricked at the corners of his mouth. Indeed, it was a sweet as he remembered; the stress, the possibilities, the responsibility but more importantly the adrenaline.
His mother would be ashamed to know he got his jollies out of the possible genocide of the human race, but his mother had been a boring woman.
"Digimon two and three located, entering retrieval vessel."
They were falling behind schedule.
Again his eyes flicked towards the black monitor, no signs of change were evident. Just a few more minuets
"Digimon one and four located, entering retrieval vessel."
Not much longer now, not much longer at all
"Digimon five and six located, entering retrieval vessel. Retrieval complete; beginning return."
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen; the fate of the human race now lies solely in the hands of a group of six children. How do you feel?
Slowly Yamaki let his hands, which had at some point bunched themselves into painful fists, relax. His breathing returned to normal, his heart rate slowed, the adrenaline slowly ebbed away. The fun was over, the potential threat almost non existent. All that remained was the battles but that was a completely different story.
"Is there a cafeteria around here somewhere?" Yamaki turned his attention to Hirokazu. What a childish question but one could never be too prepared to fight for humanity.
"Yes, you may break now. Kitsugiri," Yamaki waved one of the coffee women over, "show these children to the cafeteria,"
Kitsugiri nodded and began leading the children out of the room, or she would have if she, and the children, hadn't been distracted by the deafening blare of the first siren. In a moment the screen changed from the agonisingly slow plodding of the retrieval unit to a warning that filled the whole wall of monitors.
"Deleting"
"It's out!" He vaguely heard Reika scream from above him, "Oh my god it's deleting the hard drive!"
"It's breaching the barrier! It's entering our world!"
After that Yamaki heard nothing, only a slight ringing in his ears and the sound of blood rushing at a painful speed around his body. It was out; there was nothing that could be done. He had had his top, very top IT men working tirelessly to contain it. There was no doubt they knew the consequences of letting something like this out, they probably knew better than him. They couldn't be blamed, only he could.
In an instant the warning screen flicked back to the map. The sirens still blared and the workers still screamed; the worst hadn't even begun. Now, however, instead of the retrieval unit, It had displayed itself as it casually penetrated the hole meant for the retrieval unit. She hadn't lied; it was indeed invading their world.
Silently, Yamaki scoffed to himself; it sounded like a badly written horror movie. Invasion of the Killer Computer Virus; maybe that was it, though, maybe this was all just a dream. Things like this never happened in real life, did they?
"What happened to the digimon?" He heard himself ask, his voice was loud, angry and laced with hysteria.
It really was a dream; at least, he saw it like a dream. Himself, in the middle of a crisis laughing like a madman at the infortune of his life, did this make him crazy? A voice, so young yet so real brought him out of his madness back to reality. Hirokazu was yelling at him. No, not yelling, screaming like the child he was.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
"It's broken through its bindings, its coming." He replied simply, calmly. How could he still remain so composed through something like this? He had single handily brought the downfall of humanity, what should someone feel at a time like this?
"What's broken through, what's coming?" The boy's voice was no longer demanding, only scared. Yamaki looked down at him and saw him for the very first time.
The boy was relatively tall for his age, but the way he cowered, the way his frame shook with fear made him seem so much shorter. His eyes were filled to the brim with fear, laced with tears and pleading. If there was a definition of fear he was it.
That was when it came, the guilt. Never in his life had he felt something so powerful, so all-consuming. It rose up and fell on him like a tsunami, almost crushing him with its weight. If he hadn't been paralysed by it he would have fallen to his knees and begged the boy for forgiveness. But how could he be forgiven, how could they, the world, forgive him for bringing them the apocalypse? Murders and rapists and thugs surely couldn't feel half of what he felt at the moment. Complete, utter, helpless, guilt.
"It's not coming is it?" The boy asked in the smallest, mortally frightened voice.
"What?" Yamaki asked out of habit. He had an idea of what the boy was going to say
"The D-Reaper."
"No…" Yamaki started, but stopped himself. It really was the D-Reaper all over again, wasn't it? "It's…"
"It's what?" The boy pleaded his eyes growing larger and more fear filled by the minuet
"A virus."
"I knew it!" The boy exploded in a wave of tears and fear and anger, "I knew you lied, why would anyway want to collect data at a time like this? What sense does it make? You wanted us to destroy it! We were the only ones who could repent for you weren't we?" He stopped for a moment to wipe his eyes dry, his fear had been replaced by a rage so defined Yamaki could smell it resinating off the boy, "Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you just tell us what was coming? We could have prepared, we could have warned others. What do you expect us to do now? For all we know our digimon have been destroyed and that, that thing is coming and there's nothing you or anyone else can do. For Christ's sake we could have had a chance to say goodbye to our families before they were destroyed by you and that… thing."
The short green haired boy whose name Yamaki had never taken the time to remember came up behind Hirokazu and placed his hand on his shoulder. His face was neutral, hidden behind his thick glasses. To Hirokazu he whispered
"Hiro, please, calm down. I'm sure everything will be okay, we don't know our digimon are really gone, they could still be coming."
Hirokazu didn't answer him, only clenched his fists at his side and glared hatred at Yamaki which threatened to burn holes in his own eyes.
"Guys," Hirokazu was interrupted by a yell from one of the other children, who had left the room and was now standing watch at the wall of windows next to the corridor which gave a stunning view of the city, "its coming!"
Hirokazu was led over to the other children, leaving Yamaki numb and speechless. Everything Hirokazu had said was right, it was his entire fault. Because of him countless people would be killed, families destroyed; cities, nations desecrated. Reika walked up beside him, but he was dumb and deaf to anything that happened around him anymore. Guilt was the strongest emotion he had ever felt; at it had rendered him useless.
He was The Fourth and the apocalypse was nigh.