.Hack//Relapse
A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached characters/concepts do not belong to me.
Notes: Takes place during Outbreak. Parentheses indicate thoughts, brackets indicate writing. Unfortunately I don't know BT's real name, and (as with Bear) very little of their real selves are seen on the show, so I'm liable to hem and haw over her in-person debut for just a little bit longer. With that in mind, any corrections or thoughts regarding her behavior or appearance would be appreciated; she's one of my favorite characters, I'd hope I could at least do her some measure of justice in fanfic form :)
Chapter 4 - Just the Facts
--------------------------
Dean clicked the button on the pen, causing the ball-point to slide out of its plastic sheath. He twirled the pen in his fingers briefly before pressing the point to the pad of paper before him. In his other hand, the cordless receiver for the phone, on and to his ear.
"There's a few things I've taken a more than passing interest in regarding 'The World'," said Dean, "and I'm pretty sure you can guess what they are."
"Go on."
"I need to know what you know about Morganna, Harold, and Cyber Connect. Specifically, how they're all related."
"Hmm. Well, one indirectly created the other and it intends to destroy the third, if that's what you mean."
Dean smirked. (Cute.) "Not exactly. Ryo told me that Morganna's behind everything that's going on with 'The World'. I'm trying to find out who's responsible for her creation, and what role Cyber Connect has been playing in this."
"That's quite a mystery," said BT. "Unfortunately, I doubt I could tell you anything that Ryo couldn't. If anything, he would know more than I; he was in contact with Tsukasa and the others far more often than me."
"All right." Dean idly scratched the pen on the paper, drawing invisible lines back and forth before the ink started to flow. "Then how about this; Morganna needed to corrupt Aura in order to take over or destroy 'The World', right?"
"Yes..."
[Aura = key] "And Tsukasa, who was trapped in 'The World' to cultivate Aura to her liking, escaped - preventing Morganna from using Aura towards that end, is this also correct?" He waited for an affirmative "Mm-hmm" before adding [Tsukasa = tied to, keeper of Aura] "Then would it be fair to assume that Aura could have been intended, by Harold, to stop Morganna?"
"I believe so; at least, that's how I understand it." [Aura = stop Morganna. Harold knew about Morganna, how did it get there?]
"Okay," he started, "let's talk about Harold. Do you remember..."
"Didn't you already ask Ryo about this?" she cut in.
"I did, but I want to hear your side of the story." Hearing no protest, he continued. "Ryo told me that you went to see Harold before he and his team could get there. What did he tell you?"
"N-nothing," she stammered. Her voice dropped in pitch by a note or two. "I... I told Ryo everything he told me."
"What did Harold say?" Dean asked again.
"I said nothing!" she suddenly exclaimed. "It's not important, it shouldn't..." she sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's all over now."
"It's not over, BT, and you know it," countered Dean, his voice neutral but firm. "People are dying. 'The World' is coming to pieces, and I got a hunch it's not gonna stop there."
There was a long pause; he could hear her breath over the phone, tight and strained, clearly uncomfortable. "Look," he said, choosing his words carefully, a deliberate softness to his tone. "I'll level with you; I know why you'd want to leave this all behind. God knows I wanted to, too; but I owe a friend of mine a favor. He's the one that's trying to get to the bottom of this mystery; I'm just trying to help him because he helped me, and he didn't have to."
His eyes closed, his throat tightening. "He risked a lot to help us out, even though we weren't exactly doing good things. It's because of him that we found out that there was more to this than meets the eye, that Cyber Connect knew about the problems in 'The World' and had done some very bad things on their own." He swallowed hard. "I told him I'd help him out, and I will, but you're my last lead. Nobody else has turned up anything for me, nothing that gets me any closer to finding out what the hell's going on, and who's responsible."
Dean sighed, opening his eyes once again, staring down at the pad of paper; his hand had since drifted off to one side, the pen slipping from his grasp and coming to rest on the paper, a light trail of ink drilled on its surface from where the pen had been standing. "Please," he said, "if there's anything... anything at all that you didn't tell Bear or the others... just tell me and I'll say "thank you" and hang up, and you won't hear from me again."
A voice in the back of his mind remembered that BT had called *him*, and that he didn't have her number or address, more or less making the statement less a truth than a mathematical certainty; a voice he ignored when hers spoke into his ear.
"He said... something about a lock."
Dean sat up straight, resisting the urge to ask the obvious follow-up question, instead waiting for her to continue.
"There was another name," she said slowly. "Something like... 'Seijiro'. It was hard to tell, his voice was... very unusual. A long echo, lots of reverb."
"Mmm," Dean murmured, his mind doing cartwheels at her mention of Seijiro. [Harold Hewick, Seijiro (Tanaka?) = connected via 'Fragment'. Harold knew Tanaka.]
"'Seijiro... your lock is broken.' Those were his exact words." [Aura = key, made by Harold. ??? = lock, made by Seijiro. Could be Morganna.]
He waited ten seconds for her to continue, then another ten, and then another. Realizing she had nothing further to add, he fought down the urge to ask any further questions, honoring his unofficial promise. "Thank you," he said, drawing the receiver away from his ear and reaching for the 'off' button.
"Wait."
Her voice was faint from distance, but he heard it. "Yeah?"
"Your name." She waited a moment before clarifying her statement. "In 'The World', what is your name?"
Caught off-guard, Dean cleared his throat and said, "Stolls," adding "I'm a Wavemaster," after a beat.
That quiet, short chuckle again; "Interesting," she half-whispered. A click, and the line died.
Dean reached over and set the phone down on the recharder, a little red light flashing on as it slid into place. (Interesting indeed,) he thought, smiling slightly. (Guess I should inform the troops) He dragged out the keyboard and opened his mail client, shattering the field of stars covering his desktop.
-
From: DStollis@mailserv.net
To: Kite@theworld.com
Subj: Seijiro Tanaka
Hey man. Found out some bits and pieces about that Seijiro guy you mentioned; it seems he was working with Harold Hewick, creator of 'The World' - or, at least, Harold knew him. My sources have hinted that Seijiro is somehow responsible for the A.I. entity that is behind the incidents in 'The World'; his program was referred to as a 'lock', whereas Aura is a 'key' of some sort.
Most of this is speculation, but it would explain why Aura is being pursued by those phases you mentioned. Regardless, I'm going to try and track down Seijiro and see if we can't get some answers. I'll have more for you soon. In the meantime, follow up anything on your end and let me know if you need anything else, or if you find out anything.
- Dean
-
(Officer Stollis... we meet at last.)
Masamoto opened the blank manilla folder in his hands, revealing several pages of information, still warm from the branding of letters upon them by the printer. He set the folder on his desk and pulled the chain hanging from the lamp, throwing a spotlight on the text before him.
The aging lieutenant skimmed over the introduction page, which highlighted the important parts of Sergeant Dean Robert Stollis' service record. The next few pages cited the events in detail, along with the testimony of other members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
(Good standing, was never late to work, always finished paperwork on time... no prior misdemeanors or felonies, no civil complaints... not exactly the most exciting record but it looks like he was a good cop.) He read further. (Awful lot of work; everything from undercover work to riot control. High marks in negotiation, marksmanship, surveillance... commendation from FBI and DEA.)
Masamoto smirked. (Where's the punchline?) He turned to the next page and found one.
[Excerpt from Incident D7-424
August 17, 2007
Summary: A large drug shipment on the eve of December 22, 2005, was successfully intercepted by LAPD officers; in the wake of Pluto Kiss, however, all records of inventory were lost, including the recently acquired shipment. It is believed this is what permitted several key LAPD and California State officials to participate in trafficking the drugs and laundering the money virtually unnoticed for almost two years (Incident D5-109). A combined Internal Affairs and FBI investigation revealed that fourteen officers and intermediaries were paid large sums of money for ther silence in the operation.
Conclusion: In regards to incident D5-109, Sgt. Stollis was one of the complicit officers. He was discharged from the LAPD August 18, 2007, charged with obstruction of justice and withholding evidence, and was sentenced to two years of incarceration at San Quentin State Prison. He served one year, and earned an early release on parole for good behavior.]
(So, that's how it happened... damn.) He frowned, shook his head. (Well, I guess he's paid his due. And then some, these past few weeks.)
*knock knock* "Lieutenant?"
Masamoto looked up to his door. "Come in."
The knob turned and the door swung open, allowing the young, uniformed officer behind it to enter. "Here's the info request, sir," he said, handing a clipboard to Masamoto.
Taking the board, Masamoto dismissed the officer with a wave of his hand. "That will be all. Thank you."
The door clicked shut as he eyed the single sheet of paper which decorated the clipboard. (Tanaka, Seijiro... let's see... employed at CC corporation from 2004 onward, head of research and development in artificial intelligence... doesn't look too out of... wait a minute...)
[1997-2004: U.S. Department of Defense
1999-2000: 'ARPANET' project leader
2001-2002: Envoy to United Nations; WNC administrator
2002-2003: 'Echelon' project leader (conjecture)
2004: Termination of employment]
Masamoto blinked. (He worked for the American government? What is all this about?)
With one eye on the line that read "last known address", he reached for the phone. (Something's not right here... if he worked for the government, then how did Cyber Connect pick him up? And for what?)
He brought the phone to his ears without remembering having dialed a number, though the ringing told a different story. "Hello?"
"Dean, it's Masamoto. I found something on Mr. Tanaka."
"Great! What'd you find?"
The lieutenant took in a deep breath. "I'd prefer to share it with you in person. I go off duty in an hour, meet me in front of the station."
-
"He worked for the Defense Department?!"
Seated in the passenger side of a tan Buick, Dean could only stare at the officer next to him, jaw slack and eyes wide.
Masamoto nodded. "That's right. He was a fed before Cyber Connect made him a better offer. He worked on ARPANET, Echelon... internet and surveillance, and the centralization of both."
"Hmm. How does that fit into 'The World', though? What would Cyber Connect want with him?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure why him, specifically, but he's got credentials and experience; I'm sure he was on a lot of short lists."
Dean idly scratched the back of his neck. "Hmm... 'your lock is broken'... your lock..."
"What was that?"
(If he worked for CC when Harold sold them 'Fragment'... he made the lock and Harold the key. Worked in internet technology and surveillance... administration... yeah.) "Yeah... yeah, I think he did it."
"Did what?"
Dean turned back to Masamoto. "Does it say anything about artificial intelligence on there?"
"Actually," he gave the paper another look, skipping over a few highlighted sections, "something like was on here somewhere. Where is it... ah, here. It says he was, or is, head of research and development for A.I."
"Son of a bitch. He did do it." Seeing Masamoto's confused look, he explained. "He created an A.I. called Morganna, and she's behind all that's going on in 'The World'."
It was Masamoto's turn to look surprised. "You've got to be kidding me. An A.I. is putting people into comas?"
"Where does he live?" asked Dean. "I'll explain on the way, but I think we need to ask him some questions."
Facing forward, Masamoto gave the ignition key a sharp turn. "I concur," he said flatly.
- End of Chapter 4
A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached characters/concepts do not belong to me.
Notes: Takes place during Outbreak. Parentheses indicate thoughts, brackets indicate writing. Unfortunately I don't know BT's real name, and (as with Bear) very little of their real selves are seen on the show, so I'm liable to hem and haw over her in-person debut for just a little bit longer. With that in mind, any corrections or thoughts regarding her behavior or appearance would be appreciated; she's one of my favorite characters, I'd hope I could at least do her some measure of justice in fanfic form :)
Chapter 4 - Just the Facts
--------------------------
Dean clicked the button on the pen, causing the ball-point to slide out of its plastic sheath. He twirled the pen in his fingers briefly before pressing the point to the pad of paper before him. In his other hand, the cordless receiver for the phone, on and to his ear.
"There's a few things I've taken a more than passing interest in regarding 'The World'," said Dean, "and I'm pretty sure you can guess what they are."
"Go on."
"I need to know what you know about Morganna, Harold, and Cyber Connect. Specifically, how they're all related."
"Hmm. Well, one indirectly created the other and it intends to destroy the third, if that's what you mean."
Dean smirked. (Cute.) "Not exactly. Ryo told me that Morganna's behind everything that's going on with 'The World'. I'm trying to find out who's responsible for her creation, and what role Cyber Connect has been playing in this."
"That's quite a mystery," said BT. "Unfortunately, I doubt I could tell you anything that Ryo couldn't. If anything, he would know more than I; he was in contact with Tsukasa and the others far more often than me."
"All right." Dean idly scratched the pen on the paper, drawing invisible lines back and forth before the ink started to flow. "Then how about this; Morganna needed to corrupt Aura in order to take over or destroy 'The World', right?"
"Yes..."
[Aura = key] "And Tsukasa, who was trapped in 'The World' to cultivate Aura to her liking, escaped - preventing Morganna from using Aura towards that end, is this also correct?" He waited for an affirmative "Mm-hmm" before adding [Tsukasa = tied to, keeper of Aura] "Then would it be fair to assume that Aura could have been intended, by Harold, to stop Morganna?"
"I believe so; at least, that's how I understand it." [Aura = stop Morganna. Harold knew about Morganna, how did it get there?]
"Okay," he started, "let's talk about Harold. Do you remember..."
"Didn't you already ask Ryo about this?" she cut in.
"I did, but I want to hear your side of the story." Hearing no protest, he continued. "Ryo told me that you went to see Harold before he and his team could get there. What did he tell you?"
"N-nothing," she stammered. Her voice dropped in pitch by a note or two. "I... I told Ryo everything he told me."
"What did Harold say?" Dean asked again.
"I said nothing!" she suddenly exclaimed. "It's not important, it shouldn't..." she sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's all over now."
"It's not over, BT, and you know it," countered Dean, his voice neutral but firm. "People are dying. 'The World' is coming to pieces, and I got a hunch it's not gonna stop there."
There was a long pause; he could hear her breath over the phone, tight and strained, clearly uncomfortable. "Look," he said, choosing his words carefully, a deliberate softness to his tone. "I'll level with you; I know why you'd want to leave this all behind. God knows I wanted to, too; but I owe a friend of mine a favor. He's the one that's trying to get to the bottom of this mystery; I'm just trying to help him because he helped me, and he didn't have to."
His eyes closed, his throat tightening. "He risked a lot to help us out, even though we weren't exactly doing good things. It's because of him that we found out that there was more to this than meets the eye, that Cyber Connect knew about the problems in 'The World' and had done some very bad things on their own." He swallowed hard. "I told him I'd help him out, and I will, but you're my last lead. Nobody else has turned up anything for me, nothing that gets me any closer to finding out what the hell's going on, and who's responsible."
Dean sighed, opening his eyes once again, staring down at the pad of paper; his hand had since drifted off to one side, the pen slipping from his grasp and coming to rest on the paper, a light trail of ink drilled on its surface from where the pen had been standing. "Please," he said, "if there's anything... anything at all that you didn't tell Bear or the others... just tell me and I'll say "thank you" and hang up, and you won't hear from me again."
A voice in the back of his mind remembered that BT had called *him*, and that he didn't have her number or address, more or less making the statement less a truth than a mathematical certainty; a voice he ignored when hers spoke into his ear.
"He said... something about a lock."
Dean sat up straight, resisting the urge to ask the obvious follow-up question, instead waiting for her to continue.
"There was another name," she said slowly. "Something like... 'Seijiro'. It was hard to tell, his voice was... very unusual. A long echo, lots of reverb."
"Mmm," Dean murmured, his mind doing cartwheels at her mention of Seijiro. [Harold Hewick, Seijiro (Tanaka?) = connected via 'Fragment'. Harold knew Tanaka.]
"'Seijiro... your lock is broken.' Those were his exact words." [Aura = key, made by Harold. ??? = lock, made by Seijiro. Could be Morganna.]
He waited ten seconds for her to continue, then another ten, and then another. Realizing she had nothing further to add, he fought down the urge to ask any further questions, honoring his unofficial promise. "Thank you," he said, drawing the receiver away from his ear and reaching for the 'off' button.
"Wait."
Her voice was faint from distance, but he heard it. "Yeah?"
"Your name." She waited a moment before clarifying her statement. "In 'The World', what is your name?"
Caught off-guard, Dean cleared his throat and said, "Stolls," adding "I'm a Wavemaster," after a beat.
That quiet, short chuckle again; "Interesting," she half-whispered. A click, and the line died.
Dean reached over and set the phone down on the recharder, a little red light flashing on as it slid into place. (Interesting indeed,) he thought, smiling slightly. (Guess I should inform the troops) He dragged out the keyboard and opened his mail client, shattering the field of stars covering his desktop.
-
From: DStollis@mailserv.net
To: Kite@theworld.com
Subj: Seijiro Tanaka
Hey man. Found out some bits and pieces about that Seijiro guy you mentioned; it seems he was working with Harold Hewick, creator of 'The World' - or, at least, Harold knew him. My sources have hinted that Seijiro is somehow responsible for the A.I. entity that is behind the incidents in 'The World'; his program was referred to as a 'lock', whereas Aura is a 'key' of some sort.
Most of this is speculation, but it would explain why Aura is being pursued by those phases you mentioned. Regardless, I'm going to try and track down Seijiro and see if we can't get some answers. I'll have more for you soon. In the meantime, follow up anything on your end and let me know if you need anything else, or if you find out anything.
- Dean
-
(Officer Stollis... we meet at last.)
Masamoto opened the blank manilla folder in his hands, revealing several pages of information, still warm from the branding of letters upon them by the printer. He set the folder on his desk and pulled the chain hanging from the lamp, throwing a spotlight on the text before him.
The aging lieutenant skimmed over the introduction page, which highlighted the important parts of Sergeant Dean Robert Stollis' service record. The next few pages cited the events in detail, along with the testimony of other members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
(Good standing, was never late to work, always finished paperwork on time... no prior misdemeanors or felonies, no civil complaints... not exactly the most exciting record but it looks like he was a good cop.) He read further. (Awful lot of work; everything from undercover work to riot control. High marks in negotiation, marksmanship, surveillance... commendation from FBI and DEA.)
Masamoto smirked. (Where's the punchline?) He turned to the next page and found one.
[Excerpt from Incident D7-424
August 17, 2007
Summary: A large drug shipment on the eve of December 22, 2005, was successfully intercepted by LAPD officers; in the wake of Pluto Kiss, however, all records of inventory were lost, including the recently acquired shipment. It is believed this is what permitted several key LAPD and California State officials to participate in trafficking the drugs and laundering the money virtually unnoticed for almost two years (Incident D5-109). A combined Internal Affairs and FBI investigation revealed that fourteen officers and intermediaries were paid large sums of money for ther silence in the operation.
Conclusion: In regards to incident D5-109, Sgt. Stollis was one of the complicit officers. He was discharged from the LAPD August 18, 2007, charged with obstruction of justice and withholding evidence, and was sentenced to two years of incarceration at San Quentin State Prison. He served one year, and earned an early release on parole for good behavior.]
(So, that's how it happened... damn.) He frowned, shook his head. (Well, I guess he's paid his due. And then some, these past few weeks.)
*knock knock* "Lieutenant?"
Masamoto looked up to his door. "Come in."
The knob turned and the door swung open, allowing the young, uniformed officer behind it to enter. "Here's the info request, sir," he said, handing a clipboard to Masamoto.
Taking the board, Masamoto dismissed the officer with a wave of his hand. "That will be all. Thank you."
The door clicked shut as he eyed the single sheet of paper which decorated the clipboard. (Tanaka, Seijiro... let's see... employed at CC corporation from 2004 onward, head of research and development in artificial intelligence... doesn't look too out of... wait a minute...)
[1997-2004: U.S. Department of Defense
1999-2000: 'ARPANET' project leader
2001-2002: Envoy to United Nations; WNC administrator
2002-2003: 'Echelon' project leader (conjecture)
2004: Termination of employment]
Masamoto blinked. (He worked for the American government? What is all this about?)
With one eye on the line that read "last known address", he reached for the phone. (Something's not right here... if he worked for the government, then how did Cyber Connect pick him up? And for what?)
He brought the phone to his ears without remembering having dialed a number, though the ringing told a different story. "Hello?"
"Dean, it's Masamoto. I found something on Mr. Tanaka."
"Great! What'd you find?"
The lieutenant took in a deep breath. "I'd prefer to share it with you in person. I go off duty in an hour, meet me in front of the station."
-
"He worked for the Defense Department?!"
Seated in the passenger side of a tan Buick, Dean could only stare at the officer next to him, jaw slack and eyes wide.
Masamoto nodded. "That's right. He was a fed before Cyber Connect made him a better offer. He worked on ARPANET, Echelon... internet and surveillance, and the centralization of both."
"Hmm. How does that fit into 'The World', though? What would Cyber Connect want with him?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure why him, specifically, but he's got credentials and experience; I'm sure he was on a lot of short lists."
Dean idly scratched the back of his neck. "Hmm... 'your lock is broken'... your lock..."
"What was that?"
(If he worked for CC when Harold sold them 'Fragment'... he made the lock and Harold the key. Worked in internet technology and surveillance... administration... yeah.) "Yeah... yeah, I think he did it."
"Did what?"
Dean turned back to Masamoto. "Does it say anything about artificial intelligence on there?"
"Actually," he gave the paper another look, skipping over a few highlighted sections, "something like was on here somewhere. Where is it... ah, here. It says he was, or is, head of research and development for A.I."
"Son of a bitch. He did do it." Seeing Masamoto's confused look, he explained. "He created an A.I. called Morganna, and she's behind all that's going on in 'The World'."
It was Masamoto's turn to look surprised. "You've got to be kidding me. An A.I. is putting people into comas?"
"Where does he live?" asked Dean. "I'll explain on the way, but I think we need to ask him some questions."
Facing forward, Masamoto gave the ignition key a sharp turn. "I concur," he said flatly.
- End of Chapter 4