Chapter 20: An Interesting First Day

As Sonnet left the apartment building and headed to the Chronos Japan building, she wondered:

Will I be informed of the events in Phoenix yesterday? I was examining the units that were stolen, and I worked in the building that has now been destroyed. Guess I'll wait and see.

Sonnet went to the front door of the Japan building and swiped her ID card through the reader next to the door, she also signed in at the Reception Desk, before going to the lift. The lift soon arrived and she entered. She then retraced her steps to Dr Balcus' office and knocked on the door. She heard the scientist's voice telling her to enter, so she opened the door and stood behind the chair. As the chair swivelled round, she noticed that the large screen behind it displayed what appeared to be a 3D image of Guyver Blue.

"Reporting as ordered, Dr Balcus."

"Good. Are you aware of the Guyver attack yesterday?"

"Yes sir, I saw a news report showing one of them near the former Phoenix building," Sonnet replied, feigning ignorance again, "The news wasn't very informative though; all I could gather was that the Phoenix building had been destroyed by one of the Guyvers."

"There is more to it than that. You were examining two recently discovered Guyver units before you were reassigned, weren't you?"

"Yes, they appeared to be just like the stolen units that Sho Fukamachi and Agito Makashima use. I didn't learn any special details before I left though."

"Yes, I've read the report you wrote on them about a month ago. The Phoenix branch sent me a copy of all your work when you were being considered for the job we offered you. Unfortunately, we won't be learning anything else about them now."

"Were they destroyed along with the building?"

"No, the three Guyvers stole them before you left America. One of them even damaged the lab they were being kept in, before she left."

"She? I thought the Guyvers all had male hosts?"

"No, they don't. The third Guyver is a female one. According to Zoalord Kushtar, the third Guyver calls herself 'Guyver Blue'."

Maybe I shouldn't have revealed my name to Kushtar. Sonnet thought, before asking:

"Does this mean that there will soon be five Guyvers instead of just three?"

"There is no soon about it, I'm afraid. There were six Guyvers involved in the attack that destroyed Chronos Phoenix."

"It sounds like a new type of zoanoid is needed quickly."

"Yes, there is a guard waiting outside who will show you to the area you will be working in. Your e-mail and computer files have been transferred here, so you can access any of your material if you should need to. I'll send you a list of requirements that we'd like to see in this new zoanoid, if possible, in about 20 minutes. Until then, get yourself settled in."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"Dismissed."

Sonnet nodded her head, and headed to the door. Before she opened it, she turned back to Dr Balcus.

Let's see if my new position allows me to learn more information. She thought as she said.

"Something I don't understand, sir."

"What?"

"You said that six Guyvers destroyed Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Even if they had hosts for the units they had stolen, there should only have been five Guyvers at most."

"Very perceptive. The two you were examining, were part of a group of three that we had found deep in the Amazon Rainforest. The third unit had already been examined and was kept in storage."

"Right, thank you for clearing that up sir."

Balcus simply reacted by turning his chair around to face the large monitor, indicating that Sonnet should leave. She did so, closing the door and informing the guard that she was ready. The guard lead her into a lift and pressed the 32nd floor button. On the way down to that floor, Sonnet remembered what she had seen on Balcus' monitor screen.

Looks like Kushtar was able to give them a pretty good description of me, she thought, Balcus will be shocked when he learns how powerful my weapons and abilities are compared to Guyvers 1 and 3.

The lift arrived on the 32nd floor and the guard walked out, followed by Sonnet.

Balcus didn't mention the upgrade unit that was also stolen, I wonder why? Maybe I'm not cleared for information like that. Sonnet noticed that they were approaching a Research Area; presumably her new workplace was nearby. The escort explained to her that she was to be working in an office, not a lab, in her new job. As she entered her office, she took note of the contents, there was a large wooden desk in the corner of the room, below the window, there was a computer on the desk, the office also had three chairs, an office chair facing the computer, and two wooden chairs on the other side, finally there was a small bookcase in another corner, that went up to her waist, behind the door. All in all, the office was similar to the one that Paul Kushtar had had in Phoenix, just a lot smaller. The guard then handed her an envelope that contained her details to allow her to access the computer network, and her e-mail account. After he had done this, Sonnet thanked him and he then left the room. Sonnet sat down in her chair behind the desk and placed her arms on the armrests, thinking,

This is good; it's comfortable and well equipped. I presume I won't actually be going into labs much. Unless I get ordered to help grow this zoanoid as well.

Sonnet then turned on her computer and opened the envelope, when she was prompted; she entered the details on the piece of paper and was then connected to the company network. The first thing she did was to check her e-mail, for which she had two new messages. The first, to her surprise, contained a summary of the attack on the Phoenix Building and a short casualty list. The second was from Dr. Balcus, supplying her with a series of passwords that would allow her to access the files on all the previous models, designs and types of zoanoid to date. It also contained the details of features that the Elite would like in the new zoanoid class, as Balcus said he would send her. Sonnet made a copy of all the passwords and stored them within her files; she also made sure that she could recall them from memory if she needed to. Sonnet then glanced around the office, wondering:

Are there any security cameras in here? There are probably at least two.

To satisfy her curiosity, Sonnet made her eyes able to see infrared signatures and looked around the office. She immediately noticed a small camera in the corner of the room, near to the empty bookcase, a second one above the window and a third, much smaller, camera located next to her computer monitor.

So Chronos wants to observe me, I wonder if they'll figure out that I know about their cameras and their locations? They must assume that I noticed that there was a camera almost every five metres in the corridors, but they may not suspect that I can see all of the ones in my office.

Curiosity satisfied; Sonnet started reading the list of requirements for the new zoanoid. The list included:

· Enzyme acid,

· Bio lasers,

· High strength levels,

· Durability to the weaponry of the Guyvers.

A little vague, Sonnet thought, I guess most of this is up to me. That could work against Chronos and in the favour of Ran and the others.

Sonnet turned to the portable drawing board on her desk and began developing possible shapes and attributes for the new zoanoid. Once, during the day, a Chronos trooper came into her office and handed her a key for the door, other than that, Sonnet had nothing to distract her all day. After filling up several pages with ideas, Sonnet consulted the clock on her computer monitor. To her surprise, it was 17.47. Sonnet assumed that it would be OK if she left and went home. She rolled up her ideas and placed them in a small gap between the bookcase and the corner of the room, knowing full well that the cameras would record her activities. Sonnet then left her office, locking it first, and went to the Reception Desk. She signed herself out before leaving the building and then decided to look around the area before going back to the apartment.

It might be useful later if I know the area as well as possible. If I have to fight here, knowledge of the area layout will be an advantage.

Sonnet wandered around Tokyo for about an hour, observing places to shop for food, clothes and where the cinemas and restaurants were. Sonnet decided that there were plenty of places to spend her spare time, what little she would have, in. As she reached the steps of the apartment building, she suddenly heard:

[Guyver Blue.]

[What's wrong, Guyver 1?]

[I was patrolling around Mount Narisawa, for Chronos activity when two Enzyme IIs jumped me. Guyver 5 is here, but she's badly injured, not used to having to fight. We could use your assistance.]

During the course of this conversation, Sonnet had reached the lift of the building. She entered, checking that there were no security cameras in the lift, which there weren't, before saying.

[I'm on my way.]

Sonnet then summoned her armour and teleported herself to a small lake on Mount Narisawa, using her sensor orbs to locate Guyvers 1 and 5. As her sensor orbs located them, she heard a loud scream in her mind. She knew, from what Agito had once told her, that that was what other Guyvers felt when one of them is killed. Blue wondered for a second who it might be, before activating her gravity orb and flying in their direction, thinking:

I hope the control medal of the victim is still intact!