-Mega Man Battle Network
--Shadows of the Past
---Chapter 6: The Electopian Job, Part 1
Employment Opportunity
Greetings future employee of the World Wide Watchers. We've decided to invite you to our corporate headquarters to discuss your working hours. The address is enclosed. This requires your immediate attention. We await your arrival.
-World Wide Watchers Inc.
Yeah, that was the e-mail I got a couple of days after I got back from the hospital. It was a Sunday, and since immediate was underlined I made up an excuse that I needed to go for a school project and headed toward the address enclosed in the e-mail. It was some factory outside Dencity. It would take me a bus ride, and walking several blocks before I came up on the dusty factory gates. A faded sign hanging over the main entrance read "World Wide Watchers". The WWW's front for the time being.
There was a camera hanging from a street light and once it stared at me for a couple minutes. A green light switched on under the lens causing the gate to slowly roll open. I was shaking by the time I made it to the factory entrance. When I grabbed the knob for the door, Shadow Man spoke up and nearly scared me half to death.
"Rio... Please..."
I didn't respond and entered finding a long hallway with a heavy looking security door. It began to open as I approached and I entered the room it protected. This room was completely opposite of the derelict factory setting outside. It had a long furnished table, comfy chairs, and complete with a big screen. At the far end of the table sat Mr. Match, a woman, and a man who all looked at me with cocky faces, enjoying my helpless position.
"Rioichi, come on down. Sit right here." Mr. Match pointed to a seat next to him. "I want to introduce you to Madd and ide."
They all had to be fake names if they were giving them to me like this. Madd had a pretty wild hairdo, her hair put up into pom poms or something. She was pretty causal wearing a yellowish outfit and sneakers. Burnside wore a leather jacket with slick black hair and looked like a professional racer. He had to be Turbo Man's operator. There was no doubt. I took a seat and just continued to listen.
"Look, he's a loss for words." Madd teased me.
"Don't be like that Rio. It's either this or rather unfortunate circumstances befalling your parents. This way no one gets hurt." Mr. Match encouraged. "Now, the boss has liked this idea and now we're going to set it all up."
Basically what followed next was me spilling my guts to the people who were threatening me. The truck was going to begin in a warehouse next to an antique shop in Dencity. It was going filled to the brim with battle chips. All kinds. Rare ones, basic ones, everything under the roof. The big semi would be escorted by some Official NetBattler cruisers to the Center where my dad had been visiting for awhile where they would unload and finish the job. I felt sorry for my dad. He wanted to make me proud and told me every detail... He put so much trust in me...
"Well, you said you would do it. So what's your plan?" Mr. Match asked after my presentation.
"The guys driving the truck are from my dad's company. They know who I look like. They'll probably just think I'm visiting. I'll be easy to jack Shadow Man into the control systems while they are loading. I just need to know where to bring the truck."
"BZZZZ! Wrong!" Burnside shouted out suddenly. "You can't let the officials escorting the truck following you. So it'll clearly call for some WWW know how."
"I've had previous experiences with traffic signals." Ms. Madd explained. "That'll slow some of the escort cars down."
"Burnside, you can provide some moving barriers with Turbo Man can't you?" Mr. Match asked leaning back in his seat.
"That's a big 10-4. Heh heh. It'll be like stealing super programs from an oven. Instantaneous."
They all began to talk amongst themselves making adjustments here and more planning there. I just took it all in like Mr. Match told me too. From the looks of it, he was the coordinator and the other two were simply there for help. Me? I was the insider. It wasn't long until I learned that Madd's Navi was Color Man, so it made sense he would be hacking traffic signal codes. I was right on about Turbo Man's operator and Burnside planned to steal some cars, infect them with viruses and make them moving missiles.
"All right Rioichi. You come down to the warehouse tomorrow. We'll e-mail you when we're ready."
"Wait. Tomorrow? But, I have to go to school tomorrow! How am I going to get out of that?"
"Tell them you haven't recovered from your car scare yet." Burnside winked.
I wanted to smack him so hard... But if I did, I probably wouldn't hear the end of it. Right now my goal was to cooperate as fully as I could with these guys until this was over. Slowly, I nodded and stood up going to leave. It would be all over soon... Soon... But it didn't help me sleep, the night was rough and every so often I would wake up for no good reason just staring up at the ceiling. What a messy situation I was in. It was so messy that I was stuck by myself.
The next morning was Monday, and I generally enjoyed Mondays. Since I didn't sleep too well, I had gotten up before my parents. Helped myself to breakfast and then took the earliest bus ride down to Dencity. I still hadn't got any e-mails from them so I decided to kill some time at the antique shop next to the warehouse before the truck showed up.
"Rio, please. Just walk away from this right now. Tell the NetBattlers, just don't do this." Shadow Man tried to reason with me. "Don't you remember what I told you before?"
"No." I lied to him. "So shut up about it."
"You are troubled, aren't you?" I heard a voice call out to me from the backroom of the shop.
The next thing I saw was a girl come out from the back carrying a chest and setting it down on the floor somewhere behind the counter. She wore a scarf of some kind on her head with a skull on it. The rest of her clothes were pretty dark looking, kinda reminded me of a fortune teller or something. But I wasn't concerned about that, I was concerned about the fact that she might have overheard something.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"The shop owner, Miyu. Who are you?"
"The troubled one." I answered sarcastically.
"Sarcasm implies weakness." She answered simply. "Skull Man and I know all about that."
Hmm maybe she was on to something... No. I don't think so. How could I be weak going through all this torture provided by the WWW? I wasn't the strongest person, but I deserved some credit. I sighed admitting it without saying it. She smiled slightly, but only for mere seconds. She was awful creepy.
"So what are you hiding from?" She asked again.
"Really nosy questions." I countered, we weren't getting out on the right foot I could tell.
"Well you certainly like hiding from people who can help you."
Now she was really ticking me off. I wish she could just sit there and watch me look over her antiques instead of interrogating me. I turned away from her and looked out the window trying to spot the truck when it showed up. But Miyu there still wouldn't keep quiet.
"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" She asked this time rather gently.
"No. Just... leave me alone."
"Oh you are alone. You are very alone. Alone with one's enemies." She told me in a low voice.
I sighed again and slowly turned around before walking up to her counter and leaning forward.
"Look, I'm being a jerk, that's obvious. I've never met you before, I've actually just moved here. But if we don't stop talking... I could be in trouble, I mean my family could be in trouble." I explained bleakly.
This time she didn't say anything and just stared at me. Maybe I scared her? No, that didn't seem right. She freaked me out plenty and all I was doing was listening. Eventually, I turned around back toward the door just in time to see the truck roll up next to the warehouse. I exited the antique shop. Now they would begin loading, and just before they finished, I would put Shadow Man into the truck controls. Then he notified me of an e-mail. Well a couple.
Ready, One of Three
Hello, Inferno here. Just wanted to tell you that I've gone to see a movie or two before the real show starts.
-Inferno
Also known as Mr. Match, I thought to myself. He must be talking about the movie theater down the street.
Set, Two of Three
Hey kid. I got ready for today early so with my extra time I went across the street to have some lunch.
-Picasso
Madd who was probably sitting at the restaurant ready to cause chaos with the traffic lights.
Go, Three of Three
Whoa! I had a rough night at the track so I checked out a hotel room. It's a really nice hotel, I got a room facing the intersection and everything. Ready, Set, Go, kid.
-Andretti
Burnside most likely, looking out the window of a building. And with that I was off toward the truck. Reading over the e-mails took enough of my time to make me catch the truck at a perfect time. The two guys loading the truck were dressed in blue suits of the shipping company and moved a rhythmic pace. Just before I reached them, some guy in a gray uniform stopped me on the street. An Official NetBattler, damn!
"Excuse me. What are you doing?" He asked me harshly.
"Rioichi! Hey guys! Look, it's Mr. Lon's son! Let him through Richards." One of the men called out spotting me.
Whew, that was close. But at least my prediction held true. The NetBattler went across the street and back into a cruiser. I moved up to the men and recognized one of them. Larry was a friend of my dad. He was a heavily built guy but really nice. He came over all sorts of times at my old town. Larry was always recognized easily because of his long black beard. Inside I was glad to see him, but there was also another dagger driven through my heart that I was going to lie to him too.
"What's going on Rioichi? Or do you still like to be called Rio?" He greeted me cheerfully.
"Yeah it's Rio. Is this that big shipment my dad was telling me about?" I gestured to the back where there was a huge amount of boxes stacked up.
"Sure is. This is a major investment. It'll be great for everyone when we've delivered it. It's also very top secret yes?" He nudged me.
"Yeah... Say, can I look at the place where you drive the truck?"
"Sure can," He responded with a smile. "But would you know it. Electopia is so smart they have autopilot for most vehicles so the truck drives itself!"
I think I looked sick when I turned away from him and climbed into the truck cab. I saw the jack-in port and put Shadow Man into the truck network. He just stood there and turned toward me.
"Last chance Rio." He told me.
"You do what I tell you to!" I hissed at him. "Kill the autopilot, take control of the truck, now!"
He lowered his head but eventually nodded drawing his sword and moving up to the green human looking programs that made up the truck autopilot and controls. In a constant graceful motion, he deleted all the programs with in seconds. They didn't even know what hit them. I looked up to see Madd on the corner, she had moved position and was skillfully jacking into the traffic system without anyone noticing. I heard the back close up and I looked down at Shadow Man.
"Go!"
The trucks wheels spun furiously as it began to move away from Larry and the other mover. The NetBattlers instantly jumped into their patrol cars once seeing the truck take off without the guys in it. I had a head start and as soon as I got through the intersection, the lights went haywire and signaled green in all directions. Cars began to pile up screeching to a stop and creating an impenetrable blockade for the patrol cars. I couldn't help but smile knowing I had gotten away with it. It was over between me and the WWW.
The next light was normal and I told Shadow Man to act calm now. He had full control of the truck, but looked like he was ashamed of himself or something. I looked away angrily. This is what he was designed for! Why wasn't he happy?
"Why are you so down? We got away didn't we? Well didn't we?"
"Take a look to your left." He muttered.
When I did so, I could see Lan, Yai, Mayl and Dex all staring at me from across the street. They stood in front of a museum of some kind. Oh hell, I forgot. Fieldtrip today. That freaky girl from the antique shop, Miyu, pointed at me while muttering something to them. Some of them were using their PETs for some reason. But all of them looked utterly shocked beyond disbelief. Lan and Mayl looked the most... I can't say that... I wasn't really... betraying them... Not by my own choices... Was I? I soon heard the passenger door open and Mr. Match got in.
"Great work kid! Great work! Now, let's go back to the factory."
"Right..." I responded through my teeth.
That's when we heard sirens. NetBattler patrol cars were beginning to head toward us from directly ahead. I looked back to Miyu with a furious expression. She told them! They knew everything and they notified the officials! They blew this whole operation! We... I was going to get caught! Through my anger I didn't notice Mr. Match jack in and put his Navi Heat Man into the truck systems.
"What are you doing?"
"The heat is on now. The WWW needs some professionals on the job."
Almost instantly, Shadow Man turned the controls on over to the box looking Navi Heat Man. He looked more frightening than Fire Man. Most of his body was made of flames. The truck roared to life and began to take off pushing the cars in front of us to the side. I could hear yelling now, Lan and the rest of them were trying to sprint across the street yelling out to me. There was no way of telling if they were angry or shocked but I didn't care. They... They ruined everything! EVERYTHING!
