.Hack: Relapse
A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached concepts/characters belong to Bandai and Cyber Connect.
Notes: Happens during Outbreak. (Thoughts), [text], {email domains}. Well folks, this is it for now, the last chapter of Relapse. I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. If not, then something is really wrong with you and you're different and strange. All your friends think .Hack: Relapse is great.
(Those of you who remember Doom II well will get the reference :)
Seriously, it's been a blast, y'all, and I can't thank you enough for putting up with me and my fuzzy update schedule, revising, and attempts at humor between the lines. Enjoy this chapter; kindly note that Chapter 14 has taken some dialogue tweaks which I thought fit better with the scene (as depicted in this chapter). Fire off any comments or critiques you have, and I'll see you fine people again soon!
Chapter 28 – Reciprocity
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[News: Shooting Suspects, Victim Identified
In a press conference Tuesday, police officials released several details regarding the shoot-out at the Tasugo warehouse two days ago, including the names of several suspects, and one of the individuals who was injured upon fleeing the scene.
An emergency call from within the warehouse prompted police response, and a passing patrol car reported shots fired within minutes of the call. Upon arrival, police were greeted with gunfire from members of the American Central Intelligence Agency, who had been using the warehouse as a base of operations. After the battle, some sixteen of the group's 24 members were dead or injured; five more surrendered, with three unaccounted for. Those three had taken off in pursuit of Los Angeles resident Dean Stollis, who had been kidnapped the previous day. Along with him was one Seijiro Tanaka, a programmer for Cyber Connect Corporation.
In the ensuing chase, two of the agents were killed, the third mortally wounded; although several bystanders were injured in related vehicular accidents, there were no other deaths or gunshot injuries reported. Stollis himself was wounded, and taken to St. Luke's International Hospital, where he remains in stable condition. Lieutenant Aniki Masamoto revealed that they already had four additional suspects in custody, also agents with the CIA.
Although the Prime Minister has given no official comment on the actions, government officials have angrily demanded to know the nature of the agency's operation. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one cited the act as "a blatant violation of international law." U.S. President Coleman, under fire from both the State Department and the United Nations Security Council, has agreed to a bipartisan commission to investigate the agency.]
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[From: DStollis {mailserv.net}
To: Kite {theworld.com}
Subj: The News
Hey man. I'm sure you've heard the big story by now. You busy? I think we need to commiserate. Lemme know when you get on, okay?
- Dean
-
As he neared the item shop window, he spotted the silver-haired Wavemaster, conversing with the NPC behind the counter, his staff resting calmly against the wall.
All around him, the Theta root town buzzed with activity, players going about their business as if nothing was wrong, as if the sky wasn't broken and the ground not dotted with ugly splashes of code. Some chatted about the game, some about the problems in the game, and one or two had even remarked on events in the real world.
"Dean?"
The magician stiffened when he heard the name, and disengaged from the shopkeeper to face Kite. A weak smile fell onto his lips. "Heya, Hiro."
The Twin Blade studied his face carefully; as always, Stolls had looked to be barely in his 20's, in stark contrast to the older, weathered face of Dean. Still, his face and posture hinted at the player's true nature, and more to the point that the player was tired.
"How are you feeling?" asked Kite, joining Stolls at the shop window.
"All right, I guess," was the reply. "Doesn't really hurt now... just feel sluggish, like I've been out too long, y'know?"
"Yeah... I'm sorry to hear about that."
The Wavemaster shook his head and waved dismissively. "Aww, don't worry about that. It's not the first time I've been shot. Could've been a lot worse."
Hiroshi shivered, briefly imagining what it felt like to be shot; he quickly changed the course of the subject. "I heard on the news," he said, "that it was a bunch of CIA agents."
"Yeah, they were." Stolls sighed deeply. "Seijiro Tanaka coded part of a U.S. AI program called Echelon that never panned out. He tried it with Morganna, and that seemed to set it off. CIA came in town to shut him up and make sure nobody found out about their connection to Echelon and, consequently, Morganna." He swallowed hard, and continued. "They came after me, and a few others who knew, who helped me find out... that's when it all happened. We got evidence to the cops about what they were doing and, well, the rest you probably heard on the news."
"I can't believe it," said Kite, his face darkening. "All this time, and someone knew why this was happening... it's just like we saw earlier..."
Stolls eyed Kite curiously. "You mean the email you sent me?"
Kite nodded. "Lios had me look into some things... BlackRose, Balmung and I went to this one field and found a note, and then just before we left, I saw a man with long, white hair, dressed in gray."
"That sounds like what I saw a while ago," Stolls interjected, turning away from the counter to stare across the nearest bridge, arms folded across his chest. "One of my informants had a recording of a guy that looked like that... a fragment of Harald, or of his memory, or something. He also mentioned Seijiro's name."
"This guy also seemed to be a fragment, and we found out later that he was a part of a program that the real Harald put into the game, when he tried to stop Morganna."
The Wavemaster nodded slightly. "I'm guessing it didn't work, then?"
"It doesn't look that way," was Kite's reply. "She split him into those fragments everybody keeps finding. BlackRose and I ran into that one later at Mac Anu; it told us about the AI it came from, but then it was like someone started to control it, and it attacked us."
"Jesus. What'd you do?"
"We managed to kill it... and that's when Lios showed up." Kite closed his eyes, speaking the details of the encounter as they emerged from his memory. "When we told him what we knew about Harald and Seijiro, he... he got really angry, and even kinda nervous. He said he would deal with the problem, and then left."
The gears ground in Stolls' head, putting two and two together. "I think our friendly administrator had a little chat with Mr. Tanaka," he said after a few seconds of silence. He glanced over at Kite, and half-smiled. "Heh, I thought it was kind of a sudden change of heart... looks like that's two I owe you, man."
Kiteopened his eyes and peered at the Wavemaster, confused. "Huh?"
Stolls shifted his weight, leaning slightly to his left against the counter. "The day before that shoot-out on the news, the CIA came and captured me, along with the woman who was helping me out. He said he felt guilty about it, which was a big change from the last time I talked with him. He helped us get the evidence we needed and escape." After a beat, he added, "more or less, anyway."
Turning away from Stolls, Kite stared past the shopkeeper NPC into the booth. He scooted to the right to make room as a pair of adventurers scrambled up to the NPC and began buying things. (So, even he felt bad about it...) "So what's going to happen now?"
Stolls waited for the couple to leave before answering. "Well, Seijiro is working with Cyber Connect again, telling them everything else he knows. Maybe they'll figure out a way to stop her, I don't know. As for me, well, with all that's going on in D.C. right now – and me kinda-sorta responsible for it – I think sticking around would be a good idea." He broke into a grin. "You could say I just outsourced my own job."
The Twin Blade's controller was familiar enough with the reference to get a chuckle out of it. Stolls grinned wider. "You like that? Took me six hours to think that up."
The two shared a quiet laugh before Kite spoke again. "Anyway, that's pretty much it."
A simulated breeze whistled as it drifted past the island, ruffling cloth and hair alike. Silent once more, they stared in opposite directions, Stolls towards the horizon, Kite into the back of the shop.
Stolls cocked his head back, gazing up at the sky. Reminded of the graphical glitch over his head, he frowned. "Guess things are only getting worse here, too..."
Kite turned away from the shop window, peering at the Wavemaster through a few loose strands of azure hair. "Yeah... but at least now we know what we're up against. That thing... Morganna... it really is behind all this."
"Looks that way," affirmed Stolls with a nod. "Guess it's just a matter of finding the boss and beating it then, huh?"
"Yeah," said Kite. "I think that's it. We just have to do what we think is right."
Stolls let out a deep, rumbling chuckle. "Only you, my friend, could make it sound so simple." He smiled. "You're right, too. I don't get much of this techno-junk myself, and politics is just as Greek to me... but this," he gestured vaguely with one arm, "adventuring, sleuthing, I can do that. And, I trust, so can you."
Kite smiled back. "I can, and I will."
The Wavemaster stood up, facing Kite. "Glad to hear it. You're a good man, Hiro."
He didn't have long to dwell on the praise; a glance at the clock in his display forced him away from the item shop. "Oh, I'd better get going. I promised I'd meet with BlackRose and Gardenia right about now."
Stolls' reaction was not unlike that of a cartoon character, eyes widening considerably and jaw agape. "THE Gardenia? You know her??"
Kite tilted his head, giving Stolls a puzzled look. "Yeah, we met back when I started playing. Do you know her?"
"By reputation," said the Wavemaster. "There's a ton of webrings to this game, one of 'em is this huge fansite her little groupies put up. Crazy stuff." A grin crossed his lips. "Guy gets into the game by chance, he's here a few months, and he starts rubbing elbows with legends and meeting girls left and right. I get into this, what do I get? I get shot, that's what I get. You suck, man."
Driving home the point was a smiling emote, which spurred Kite to reciprocate with one of his own.
"Speaking of which, how are things with you and that Heavy Blade, man?"
"Heyyyy! Kite!"
The shout was attached to a slender thorn-tattooed, pink-haired girl, two islands away. An obscenely large sword was slung over her shoulder, which she held with one hand. Her other gauntlet-covered arm shot out over her head, waving to get Kite's attention, and a closer examination would have revealed a smile on her tanned face.
"Oh, she's here!" exclaimed Kite as he began to sprint away. "I'll see you later!"
"What?! Wait a minute, what happened??" he heard Stolls shout after him. "C'mon, man, you're killin' me here!"
Kite stopped long enough to throw a wink back at the Wavemaster before resuming his departure. A few dozen steps brought him to the desired island, face-to-face with BlackRose.
"Heya!" he greeted, perhaps a little more enthusiastically than he meant to.
"So that's where you've been hiding," she said, a smirk forming in the place of her smile.
"Sorry." Hiro felt himself turn a slight shade of crimson. "I was just chatting with Dean."
"Ahh. Well, Gardenia's waiting by the gate. Let's go!"
Kite stepped up next to her; instead of her usual charging off, however, BlackRose walked at a casual, controlled pace, glancing back at Kite expectantly. The Twin Blade matched her step for step, and together the two leisurely made their way towards the Chaos Gate.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her arm moving, and instinctively guided his out to meet it. Without turning his head, his gloved hand found hers, giving it a firm squeeze, a gesture she soon returned.
"Thank you, BlackRose," he said, his voice soft and full of warmth.
He heard the smile in the Heavy Blade's gentle voice, and could imagine her player smiling too.
"You too, Kite."
- End