-Mega Man Battle Network
--Shadows of the Past
---Chapter 5: Switching Sides
"Ladies and gentlemen, our top story tonight is a recent virus attack sending a car speeding out of control. Witnesses reported the vehicle running red lights, tearing through people's lawn and treating the highway like a rally race. It was only until the vehicle reached Marine Harbor when it stopped inches from plummeting into the ocean."
I reached for the remote. Had to. Turn off. Tv now.
"Official NetBattlers investigating the incident have not released the name of the lone victim who was trapped in the car as it went on it's rampage. But we have received news that the victim is in good condition and suffered no critical wounds."
Click. Good, now I didn't have to hear another word of that nightmare yesterday. As of now, I was sitting in a Dencity Hospital Room waiting a follow up to see if there was any injuries I didn't know about. Well, my parents insisted it anyway. Right off, the four guys from school visited me to talk about it all. They weren't aloud to say much, but I could tell that each one of them knew who put the virus in my dad's car. Same people who tried to smother Lan. This hero bit wasn't looking to good anymore.
The room was the usual hospital room. White, really white, and quiet. The people went as far as to put me in one of those hospital gowns. One of the better parts was leaving my PET next to me on a table as I sat in the bed. Shadow Man looked much like his old self and was glad that I was ok. I had no idea how long I sat there when the door opened up and a doctor came in. Whoa, he looked really funky for a doctor. Bright red hair and a goatee to add on top of it. Still, he had an ID and everything.
The red haired guy came in the room and had his back to me as he picked up some x-rays and lifted them to the light. I couldn't make anything out, but he did one of those hums like he was examining something really important.
"Well Mr. Rioichi. You are a very fortunate individual. You have only suffered a torn ligament in your right leg."
"What? A torn ligament?" I was pretty surprised, but mostly because his voice sounded awfully familiar.
"Yes, it seems you slammed on the brake so hard you tore it."
That's when he turned around and I instantly got a bad feeling from him. The guy looked down right devious. His smirk was just unbearable. I heard the door lock automatically and he threw the x-rays onto a nearby table pretty carelessly.
"You know kid. Your also very unlucky." He added. "It's very unfortunate you would get a PET like the one you have there."
"Hey..." I said weakly. "Your not a doctor are you?"
He nodded and sat down at the edge of my bed putting his hands together and sighing. Oh my god! He was the operator of Fire Man! That's where I heard is voice from before! I was in a room with a criminal! With a broken leg! Then his name came flying back to me. Mr. Match.
"God! It's you! Mr. Match! Your the guy with Fire Man!" I yelled out "Someone help me!"
"Shut up!" He snapped at me. "No ones going to hear you. Even if they did, you'd be safe. But your parents wouldn't be. Besides, Fire Man is history. I got Heat Man now."
No. Please no. Now he was threatening my parents. I had to keep my mouth shut now. I didn't really feel like challenging this guy. I knew what he was capable of.
"What do you want?" I asked after a long uncomfortable pause.
"What do I want? Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to pass some information down to you. Have you ever heard of the WWW?"
"World Wide Watchers?"
This caused him to laugh out hysterically. He was laughing at my stupidity. That could be the only reason why he found it so funny.
"No no. That is merely a cover, notice the three W's in the name. What it really stands for is World 3. You see kid, you've stumbled into our operations. And because of that, your receiving a lot of our personal attention."
"Like that Turbo Man guy?"
He nodded and stood up heading toward my PET. I went to grab it when I saw him move but he was way to quick and snatched it up. There was instant tension in the room as he looked it over pressing some buttons. Eventually he put it at his side and looked back toward me.
"Do you know who this used to belong to kid?"
"Mr. Dark?" I replied uncomfortably.
"Did you know what he did for a living?" Mr. Match asked with a grin forming on his face.
"A mercenary..."
"A mercenary who used Shadow Man here to wipe out an entire country. Yumland. You've never heard of it have you? That's because Shadow Man deleted every single person who ever lived in Yumland. He deleted them all."
He threw the PET to me but I jumped back in fear of it now. That was what the auctioneer didn't tell me? Shadow Man wiped out some country on the net? What the hell was I doing with it? All those times... He was a killer. It made sense now. That's why he was so good against the measly Metool virus and that's why he hung Guts Man out to dry. And he got smashed by Fire Man cause he never crossed the people he worked with. Oh my god, what the hell was I doing with it!
"Your... your..." I stuttered.
Mr. Match let out a low laugh seeing I couldn't even get out the words to respond to him.
"Lying? Stupid kid." He laughed out again.
I wanted to say that, but what would be the point of lying to myself. Before Shadow Man could say anything I switched the PET off and threw it to the ground. I heard it clatter to a stop as it went under a table. Mr. Match slid his hands in his pockets and could only smile like there was no tomorrow.
"Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way. Now, tell your dad when you get home, that if you don't donate 1,000,000 zenny to a World Wide Watchers account that something very bad will happen to your family every day until you do pay."
"Hey! I didn't do anything..."
"Shut the hell up!" Mr. Match turned nasty. "You saved that brat Lan and you nearly deleted Turbo Man. Believe me, you've done plenty to deserve this."
I stuttered uncontrollably. Mr. Match waited patiently as I tried to think of some excuse. Something to make him go away and change his mind. But there was nothing, he was right, I had done plenty to earn their wrath.
"We don't have that kind of money!" I told him weakly.
"That's not my problem. That's yours." Mr. Match pointed out calmly.
"Damn! Come on... Please..."
With that he turned away and began to leaving heading toward the door. My mind was racing, I had to do something. Even if my father worked every day for the rest of his life I don't think we could recover from losing so much money. Then something snapped, I got angry.
"Stop! I'll make it up to you!" I cried out furiously.
Mr. Match stopped instantly and slowly turned around with his patented cocky grin. His hand lowered from the door knob and then he crossed his arms waiting for me to speak up.
"I'll... I'll..." I didn't want to say it. "I can get you a semi truck full of battle chips."
He wasn't impressed and turned back toward the door.
"Rare chips!" I tried harder.
"We all ready had someone like that. He was useless."
"Chips meant for Official NetBattlers!"
Ok, I now felt downright disgusted with myself. That was my dad's job. He worked for a shipping company. That's why we moved to ACDC Town, he was to oversee a huge shipment of battle chips to the NetBattler headquarters in Marine Harbor. But it was only chips, and that trade off was worth my family's life and livelihood. This managed to get Mr. Match away from the door and he took a seat next to the bed.
"Start talking." He commanded pointing a finger at me.
"My dad, he works for a shipping company. He tells me his jobs because he wants me to follow in his footsteps. That's why I moved here in the first place... I can get you in... I can get the chips for you myself."
He immediately got the drift of my explanation. What's that phrase? If you can't beat them, join them? I wasn't taking any more of this crap from him. I was going to make sure the WWW was never going to bother with me or my family ever again. This would be the perfect trade off.
"I have to run the idea by my boss. But... If everything is a go. We'll contact you."
The door unlocked and Mr. Match gave a nod before leaving the room. Slowly, I got out of the bed and hobbled up to the table where I had thrown my PET. I turned it back on and looked down at Shadow Man.
"Rio! What's going on? What did he do to you?" Shadow Man asked.
"Nothing's wrong." I told Shadow Man. "We've just had a... job offer. That's all."
"Rio! Don't do this!" He ordered me. "Your betraying everyone you know!"
"Nothing's wrong." I repeated a bit all too coldly.
If I didn't know better, I think he backed away from the screen in surprise. Why was he surprised? I'm not the one with the mysterious past. I'm not the professional assassin. If my Navi was designed to delete things, then let's delete things. I could feel tears forming around my eyes. What the hell had Mr. Match done to me? I was becoming heartless. I was no better than Turbo Man or anyone else who had hacked before.
"Rio, please listen to me. I might have done terrible things like he said. But that doesn't mean I have to do it again!"
My facial expression must have explained it all because he eventually lowered his head and nodded.
"I can't..." I stuttered. "I can't let them hurt my parents. They can do it, you understand. They can do it. Like they almost did to me."
"There has to be another way. We have to tell someone-"
"No!" I yelled cutting him off. "This is what I have to do. When the WWW gets the chips, they won't have to worry about me anymore."
"Rio, listen very carefully." Shadow Man began calmly. "They won't let you go. If you do this for them, they'll find another reason to come back. They'll force you to do it again and again until your just as dishonorable as they are."
I glared at him. He didn't know. They wouldn't bother with a kid like me again. And I wasn't being stupid. What could they possibly want me to do after this job? Nothing, that's what.
"With the little memory I still have from my past. I know that's what will happen. And Rio, if you don't pull through and get them the chips. Do you know what will happen then? Because I remember all too clearly what happened to Mr. Dark when he failed."
He was lying... he was lying... He was... He couldn't possibly...
