Chapter 7
GP Intelligence Bureau, Katoki Division1057 Hours (10:57 AM EST)
"Agents Bladed Edge and Lord Maxwell?" asks Krakenhaus, stepping into the conference room as the two waiting men quickly jump to their feet.
"Sir!" they both yells in unison, saluting as Krakenhaus enters, followed by Wing Zero Alpha.
"At ease," says Alpha, "So, you two are the ones assigned to locating the Xeon base?"
"Yes sir," answers Bladed, as the four take a seat. Krakenhaus grimaces.
"I can't believe that idiot assigned only two agents…" he mutters under his breath, loud enough for Alpha to hear, but he ignores it.
"I know you two have only been working on this case for a few days now, but how much can you tell us?" asks Alpha, as Maxwell takes a folder and slides it to the Moderator. Alpha opens it, and inside is a picture.
"Yesterday we had a run-in with this man, Preventer Agent. He is a former member of GP Intelligence, and a member of Xeon," replies Maxwell.
"Yes, I remember him. He is the one who bombed the Tomino Military Genetics Building," says Krakenhaus, taking the photograph. It is an older picture; in it Bladed and Preventer have their arms around each other's shoulders, both wearing T-shirts and sunglasses.
"Were you two friends?" asks Alpha, turning to Bladed, whose face becomes unreadable.
"He was my partner. After a certain…incident…he was discharged from Intel and joined Xeon," explains Bladed quietly. Obviously, he didn't like to talk about it.
"Incident…? Oh…" replies Alpha, as Krakenhaus places the picture back in the folder and closes it.
"Yadate," he simply says.
"We ran into him last night," says Maxwell, cutting in, "at the Golden Gundam Bar, on the corner of 48th and 37th Streets. A gunfight ensued, during which four Xeon agents were killed." This time, Bladed slid the other folder to the moderators.
"They were killed by this man…" he says, opening the folder for them and revealing a mug shot of Draco, "Draco Starcloud. Age 26, born here on Katoki, he joined Pyrus' rebel army three years ago but was captured before the final battle at MO-II took place. After the war, he immigrated to GundamWatch and became a bounty hunter." Alpha picks up the photograph and studies the man's face.
"So, what was he doing back here?" he asks.
"Apparently, he'd decided to go after Preventer and claim the bounty on his head. He somehow tracked Preventer down to an alley off of East 142nd Street earlier this morning and got the shit beaten out of him," says Maxwell, as Bladed takes out a small business card from his pants' pocket
"Some good did come out of it, though. He happened to grab this off of Preventer while he had him pinned to the ground," says Bladed, staring at the blood-smeared card.
--
Twenty Minutes EarlierBladed happens to looks up from a file he'd been reviewing and spots a man step off the elevator, flashing a badge to one of the guards, and start walking in his direction. Bladed elbows Maxwell, who'd been looking at something on the computer. Maxwell stands up to take see and waves to the man, to Bladed's confusion.
"Hey, Max!" he says, walking over and shaking the psychic's hand.
"What are you doing here?" asks Maxwell, "Hey, wait a sec…did you get that promotion?"
"Yep," the man says, procuring a badge, "I'm a detective now."
"Congrats, man! Why didn't you say anything last night?" Max asks, as Bladed just stares at the two, trying to figure out who this person is.
"We were in the middle of a gunfight, remember?" he replies.
"Oh yeah," laughs Max, then turns to Bladed, "Hey, aren't you going to say hi?" Bladed stares at the tall, black-haired and brown-eyed man completely lost.
"…Do I know you?" asks Bladed.
"We met last night, remember?" Max's friend replies, but Bladed just stares him deadpan.
"You seriously don't know?" asks Maxwell, surprised. Bladed shakes his head, quickly trying to remember if he'd met someone else at the bar the night before. The man just smiles at Bladed, amused.
"Heh, it's all right. It's me, Mega Raptor," he says.
"What?! No way…Mega Raptor isn't…!" says Bladed loudly, jaw-dropping.
"Actually, I'm half human," says Mega Raptor, finishing the sentence, "That's why I can mode change to a human form."
"Oh…" replies Bladed, embarrassed now for not recognizing the voice, "How come you aren't in your other form?"
"It's easier to drive without a tail," he answers with a shrug, "Anyways…"
"Got it, I'll tell our higher-ups as soon as possible. Thanks for the tip," says Max. Both Mega Raptor and Bladed just stare at him for a moment.
"Um…what?" asks Bladed.
"I didn't even say it yet…" says Mega Raptor, and then the realization sinks in, "HEY!"
"What? I'm still not allowed to read your mind?" asks Maxwell with a smirk.
"You know, I'm REALLY thinking about getting psychic insulation implants…" says Bladed, as the detective hands him a small business card. A moment to read it and Bladed immediately realizes what has been, quite literally, handed to them on a silver platter.
"Where did you get this?" he asks.
"Draco Starcloud, he tried to catch Preventer and got his ass kicked. He's in the hospital, but beyond extensive bruising and profuse bleeding, he should be fine. From the way he looked, I'm surprised he didn't have some sort of internal injury…" Mega Raptor explains.
--
Bladed hands WZA the card, who looks at it curiously.
"This was given to us by a detective, one of Maxwell's friends," the agent explains, "It is the location of the Xeon base."
"What?! How can you be sure?" asks Krakenhaus.
"Simple, we hacked into this corporation's computers and scanned their files. Although it is supposed to deal with digital imaging for civilian purposes, guess what we found they really did," explains Maxwell.
"Mobile weapons manufacturing and human cloning," replies Alpha.
"Close, they're buying American-made mobile suits off of the black market, and we found documents referring to the theft of DNA samples from Tomino and Ookawara. We're positive it's them," says Lord Maxwell, as Krakenhaus looks at his watch.
"Boya should be arriving with the Pegasus fleet soon," he says, to no one in particular, standing up from his seat, "I'll contact him. Good work, agents." A quick salute and the Moderator leaves the room.
Boya…he's going to be here too? thinks Bladed, reminiscing for a moment.
Hey, no daydreaming now! We've got work to do!
Wha--?! thinks Bladed in confusion, then he turns to Maxwell.
"I said stop doing that!" he yells.
"What did I do?" his partner replies innocently.
--
Observation Deck of the G.P.S. Albion, Flagship of the Pegasus FleetReg stares out the large window into the deep darkness of space, the dinosaurian creature standing alone in the dark room. Silently, he puts his hand on the glass, studying the metallic cylinder floating among the sea of black.
"Katoki Colony…" he whispers, lost in his thoughts. For 10 months he's been living with Boya, the first human to befriend him, and has been living a somewhat normal life. But, below the sarcasm…he is empty, lost, and confused. For one thing, he doesn't even know what he is. Obviously not human, but not a Digimon either…what is Reg? Boya and the other Moderators have told him time and again not to think about it, that it doesn't really matter.
But, it DOES matter. The only memory I have before February 2001 is my NAME. Who am I? Where did I come from? Then…what I did at Yadate… thinks Reg, leaning his forehead to the cold glass as tears roll down his leathery-skinned face.
"How…how could they forgive me…? I…I…" he mutters between sobs, "Why…?"
--
Boya leans against the metal door outside the Observation Deck Reg is in, his sobs can be heard faintly from outside. The Moderator silently stares at the floor, breathing quietly and listening to his friend weep.
"Reg…" he whispers to himself. He'd known that what happened nearly a year ago at Yadate Colony had affected Reg greatly; he lives with him for god's sake! Late at night, while working on things for work, he could sometimes hear Reg quietly mutter to himself in the next room or even cry. But…he never said a thing. Boya didn't really know why either, it isn't like he's afraid to confront Reg and try to help him…it's just…
Boya's cell phone goes off; luckily it is set on pulse so it doesn't alert Reg to his presence. Somberly, he answers it.
"Hello?"
"Boya? It's Krakenhaus. Republic's agents have found the Xeon base, we're planning the attack now," replies Krakenhaus over the phone.
"Right…I'll get there as soon as possible," says Boya, hitting the end button and then staring at the Observation Deck door. Silently, he walks away.
--
Xeon Base of Operations"…99.8%…99.9%…100%! The fifth Moderator clone is complete!" announces Assistant Deng, now dressed in a lab coat as he punches in a few more commands into the computer. Behind him stands Preventer, who has shed his trenchcoat and now wears a white T-shirt along with his black pants.
"Excellent," he says with a smirk, as the large class container rises from the ground, revealing another naked clone.
"My life for our cause, to you goes my loyalty!" yells the clone of Moderator DHD. Quickly, scientists bring him a robe and escort him from the room below. With a groan, Preventer sits in a chair, takes off his sunglasses and rubs his eyes.
"I think you should get some sleep, sir…" says Assistant Deng, turning to him.
"No, I'm fine," Preventer replies, putting his sunglasses back on and heading for the door.
"Okay…should I begin the next clone?" he asks.
"Sure, whatever," replies Preventer, as the door closes behind him. He hasn't had a decent night's sleep for several days now, and it's beginning to take a toll on the Agent. First the gunfight in the bar, then the fistfight with the bounty hunter, and on top of that he's been overlooking the cloning of the Moderators.
Damn bounty hunter…that bastard smashed almost every sample before I even got my hands on the briefcase! At least we still have one left… he thinks.
"Hey, Preventer!"
…And now the last thing Preventer wants to see or hear has arrived: the ever-cheerful Reg clone.
"Not now, Reg…" he mutters, not caring to look back at him.
"You sound tired," the clone replies, following him to Preventer's dismay.
"Thank you for stating the obvious, now stop following me," he says, annoyed. To his surprise, Reg does exactly that: stop. Preventer turns and looks back at Reg, who stares at him with a frown, before turning and walking in the opposite direction.
Did I just see…Reg listen to me?! thinks Preventer, but then another thought comes to him, But…he was actually sad. Reg is never sad. Something is wrong…!
Preventer is about to go after him, to find out what had happened, when Agent Fire comes up behind him.
"Preventer Agent, what are you doing? Stop fooling around and get back to work," he says angrily. Preventer turns to him and yawns.
"I need some sleep. Assistant Deng can complete the rest without me, I'm heading for bed," replies Preventer, walking past his superior and heading for the elevator.