Serena looked out the window of the Industrial Illusions transport as it
flew across the sky back to Fader's estate. She and Evo left Adora and
Shadi at the temple so that they could go through the tablets that weren't
destroyed and see if they could find anything out about Sin or what his
intentions with Adora's brother were.
Adora was dispondant as tehy left, which wasn't surprising at all. She had witnessed he brother get brutally murdered right before her eyes by a man who wore the face of someone who was supposed to be on thier side. A man who bore the same visage as the man that Serena loved. It was that fact that was causing much of Serena's own discomfort. For all her denial and desire to the contrary she had lied to Sin. She did see Fader in his eyes. And she hated herself for it, but for a second that she let herself believe that it was Fader who was kissing her.
"We're here," Evo said, touching her shoulder. "We should be touching down on the Fader property within a few minutes."
"Thank you Evo, or whoever you are." She paused as she stared at him.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"It's just very disconcerting. I still don't know how to react around you. You had me kidnapped, almost killed and then you save my life twice the next time I see you."
"Miss Kaiba, nessesity is the mother of intervention," Evo told her. "There are dark times ahead that require some very drastic choices that must be made. Whether I like it or not you and I are both to be affected by this event, so I made the choice to help you."
"And what are you going to do now?" asked Serena.
"I'm going back to the Industrial Illusions head office outside of Domino in the Duelist's Tower. Jaina is there right now, and I must confer with her about what has happened and what is going to happen. It was her Millennium Necklace that led me to Fader's estate in the first place to prevent the attack there. It was also a vision from her Necklace that led us to Egypt and to the Tomb-Keeper's sanctuary, though it was my Millennium Ring that honed in on the Millennium Items and revealed the exact location."
"Jaina?" Serena said with shock. "She has a Millennium Item? One that can see the future?"
Evo nodded. "That is correct."
"And you're telling me that she saw the events of the past few days? So you knew that Edam was gonig to get killed?"
"She did not say anything about the murder, nothing about Sin at all, or his power."
"Why not?"
"I do not know yet. I can only imagine that she did not know. The dark energy that fuels Sin's power must cloud her visions. Which is why I must head back to my offices to look into this matter. We must investigate this with all the resources available to us. Shadi agreed with me which is why he and Adora remained in Egypt to study the ancient scriptures. Jaina and I will use her Necklace and my historians to discover what we can."
"And you want me to return to Kaiba Corp?"
"No," Evo said shaking his head. "If I did I would have taken you there directly."
"But you brought me back to Fader's estate"
"Right. You must be here with Fader when he awakens. Some of the answers that we seek are locked away within the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle's mind. I am not convinced that whoever is working for Sin is finished in their attempts to eliminate him from the game."
The helicopter landed a moment later and Serena disembarked. With a final nod to Evo she turned to the house. By the time she reached the door Evo's helicopter was a dot on the horizon. She turned the handle and stepped inside the house, where she was greeted immediately.
"Welcome home," Beezy said to her as she shut the door. "We have a problem."
"What is it?" Serena asked. "What happened to Fader?" Her heart racing as she asked the second question.
"Fader is fine," Beezy said, reassuring her. "He's still in a coma though. Right where you left him. I'm afriad there's been no change."
"I want to see him," she said stepping past Beezy and into the house. She had only been away from him for a few days, but it felt like much longer to the young woman. After her encounter with Sin she needed assurance that he was safe.
Beezy grabbed her arm as she walked past him. "Serena," the teen told her. "There's still the problem I told you about." Serena looked at him puzzled. "Tha Kaiba Corporation has been calling practically non-stop for the past two days."
"What's the problem?"
"They won't tell me," explained Beezy as he shook his head. "They keep telling me that there is an SOE status at Kaiba Corp and they need to speak to you. That's it."
"SOE Status?" Serena said with a confused and concerned expression on her face.
"That's what they said. What does it mean?"
"SOE is a State of Emergency status, but there are only a few reasons why such a condition would be declared. In fact there hasn't been one in over seventy-five years. Since...," her voice trailed off.
"What? Since when?"
"The End. The last time an SOE was implimented was during The End." Serena's thoughts became turbulent. This couldn't be a coincidence. Her visit to Egypt, the Millennium Rod, Edam's death, Sin's arrival and now a State of Emergeny at Kaiba Corp. Serena moved to the staircase so she could deposit her things in her bedroom, when there was a ringing chime. Serena paused in mid-step and turned to Beezy.
"That's going to be them," he told her. "They've been calling pretty much every hour on the hour."
Serena quickly made her way up the stairs and into Fader's office. Tossing her bag to the ground beside the desk, she plopped herself into the heavy leather chair. She turned the chiar to the back wall of the office, and a circular disk that was placed on top of a pedestal. She activated a panel on the desk. "This is Serena," she said as a hologrphic image of an older man with graying temples appeared in front of her.
He was obviously surprised to see her. "Miss Kaiba! Thank goodness I've finally reached you."
"Calm down Beltran. I've already been told of yor attempts to contact me. Now explain why the SOE was declared."
* * *
"What the hell is a DMORPG?" Beezy asked after Serena explained the nature of her conversation with Beltran.
"It's the Duel Monsters Online Role-Playing Game," replied Serena. "A virtual world, part of my grandfather's legacy. With my own modifications of course."
"Sounds interesting."
"My grandfather's original design was for players to plug into a world with their dueling deck and face monsters in a real world environment. In my game the players cease to be duelists but instead take on the characteristics of a single Duel Monster of their choosing. We went public with it just after the Battle City Tournament. We were hoping it would be mainstream by winter."
"Explains why I haven't heard anything about it yet."
"We were keeping it pretty quiet initally while we made sure everything was working."
"It sounds fun, I imagine that based off the sucesses of Duel Mosnters and Dungeon Dice Monsters that another form of entertianment would be needed by people and be well recieved."
"That was the plan, but there's been a problem."
"The State of Emergency? It's because of Duel Monsters Online? I can't imagine an emergency because of a game."
"Normally I'd agree with you, but there seems to be some dangerous developments." Beezy rasied an eyebrow, concern showing in his face. Serena took a deep breath. "Twelve people are dead, thewnty-nine others are injured."
"How? It's just a game isn't it?"
"Yes, it's just a game," Serena replied gravely. "But it's a virtual world where your mind makes it real. There are safety procedures in place though, if a character is injured the game automatically disconnects and the player wakes up."
"So what's gone wrong?"
"A virus. Some errant program has appeared and has disabled the security protocols and is attack the player characters."
"Can't they just shut down the game servers?"
"The shock of the spontaneous disconnection would kill any players still active in the game."
"How many people are still connected?" Beezy asked, the wavering in his voice making it obvious that he didn't really want to know.
"Seven hundred and eighty-one."
"I hope the corporate big-wigs at Kaiba Corp have a way to stop the virus?" Serena nodded in response to his question. "What is it?"
"Viral elimination. In game characters will find the virus and destroy it within the game itself," she explained.
"What characters?"
Serena smiled. "You and I. We're going in."
Adora was dispondant as tehy left, which wasn't surprising at all. She had witnessed he brother get brutally murdered right before her eyes by a man who wore the face of someone who was supposed to be on thier side. A man who bore the same visage as the man that Serena loved. It was that fact that was causing much of Serena's own discomfort. For all her denial and desire to the contrary she had lied to Sin. She did see Fader in his eyes. And she hated herself for it, but for a second that she let herself believe that it was Fader who was kissing her.
"We're here," Evo said, touching her shoulder. "We should be touching down on the Fader property within a few minutes."
"Thank you Evo, or whoever you are." She paused as she stared at him.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"It's just very disconcerting. I still don't know how to react around you. You had me kidnapped, almost killed and then you save my life twice the next time I see you."
"Miss Kaiba, nessesity is the mother of intervention," Evo told her. "There are dark times ahead that require some very drastic choices that must be made. Whether I like it or not you and I are both to be affected by this event, so I made the choice to help you."
"And what are you going to do now?" asked Serena.
"I'm going back to the Industrial Illusions head office outside of Domino in the Duelist's Tower. Jaina is there right now, and I must confer with her about what has happened and what is going to happen. It was her Millennium Necklace that led me to Fader's estate in the first place to prevent the attack there. It was also a vision from her Necklace that led us to Egypt and to the Tomb-Keeper's sanctuary, though it was my Millennium Ring that honed in on the Millennium Items and revealed the exact location."
"Jaina?" Serena said with shock. "She has a Millennium Item? One that can see the future?"
Evo nodded. "That is correct."
"And you're telling me that she saw the events of the past few days? So you knew that Edam was gonig to get killed?"
"She did not say anything about the murder, nothing about Sin at all, or his power."
"Why not?"
"I do not know yet. I can only imagine that she did not know. The dark energy that fuels Sin's power must cloud her visions. Which is why I must head back to my offices to look into this matter. We must investigate this with all the resources available to us. Shadi agreed with me which is why he and Adora remained in Egypt to study the ancient scriptures. Jaina and I will use her Necklace and my historians to discover what we can."
"And you want me to return to Kaiba Corp?"
"No," Evo said shaking his head. "If I did I would have taken you there directly."
"But you brought me back to Fader's estate"
"Right. You must be here with Fader when he awakens. Some of the answers that we seek are locked away within the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle's mind. I am not convinced that whoever is working for Sin is finished in their attempts to eliminate him from the game."
The helicopter landed a moment later and Serena disembarked. With a final nod to Evo she turned to the house. By the time she reached the door Evo's helicopter was a dot on the horizon. She turned the handle and stepped inside the house, where she was greeted immediately.
"Welcome home," Beezy said to her as she shut the door. "We have a problem."
"What is it?" Serena asked. "What happened to Fader?" Her heart racing as she asked the second question.
"Fader is fine," Beezy said, reassuring her. "He's still in a coma though. Right where you left him. I'm afriad there's been no change."
"I want to see him," she said stepping past Beezy and into the house. She had only been away from him for a few days, but it felt like much longer to the young woman. After her encounter with Sin she needed assurance that he was safe.
Beezy grabbed her arm as she walked past him. "Serena," the teen told her. "There's still the problem I told you about." Serena looked at him puzzled. "Tha Kaiba Corporation has been calling practically non-stop for the past two days."
"What's the problem?"
"They won't tell me," explained Beezy as he shook his head. "They keep telling me that there is an SOE status at Kaiba Corp and they need to speak to you. That's it."
"SOE Status?" Serena said with a confused and concerned expression on her face.
"That's what they said. What does it mean?"
"SOE is a State of Emergency status, but there are only a few reasons why such a condition would be declared. In fact there hasn't been one in over seventy-five years. Since...," her voice trailed off.
"What? Since when?"
"The End. The last time an SOE was implimented was during The End." Serena's thoughts became turbulent. This couldn't be a coincidence. Her visit to Egypt, the Millennium Rod, Edam's death, Sin's arrival and now a State of Emergeny at Kaiba Corp. Serena moved to the staircase so she could deposit her things in her bedroom, when there was a ringing chime. Serena paused in mid-step and turned to Beezy.
"That's going to be them," he told her. "They've been calling pretty much every hour on the hour."
Serena quickly made her way up the stairs and into Fader's office. Tossing her bag to the ground beside the desk, she plopped herself into the heavy leather chair. She turned the chiar to the back wall of the office, and a circular disk that was placed on top of a pedestal. She activated a panel on the desk. "This is Serena," she said as a hologrphic image of an older man with graying temples appeared in front of her.
He was obviously surprised to see her. "Miss Kaiba! Thank goodness I've finally reached you."
"Calm down Beltran. I've already been told of yor attempts to contact me. Now explain why the SOE was declared."
* * *
"What the hell is a DMORPG?" Beezy asked after Serena explained the nature of her conversation with Beltran.
"It's the Duel Monsters Online Role-Playing Game," replied Serena. "A virtual world, part of my grandfather's legacy. With my own modifications of course."
"Sounds interesting."
"My grandfather's original design was for players to plug into a world with their dueling deck and face monsters in a real world environment. In my game the players cease to be duelists but instead take on the characteristics of a single Duel Monster of their choosing. We went public with it just after the Battle City Tournament. We were hoping it would be mainstream by winter."
"Explains why I haven't heard anything about it yet."
"We were keeping it pretty quiet initally while we made sure everything was working."
"It sounds fun, I imagine that based off the sucesses of Duel Mosnters and Dungeon Dice Monsters that another form of entertianment would be needed by people and be well recieved."
"That was the plan, but there's been a problem."
"The State of Emergency? It's because of Duel Monsters Online? I can't imagine an emergency because of a game."
"Normally I'd agree with you, but there seems to be some dangerous developments." Beezy rasied an eyebrow, concern showing in his face. Serena took a deep breath. "Twelve people are dead, thewnty-nine others are injured."
"How? It's just a game isn't it?"
"Yes, it's just a game," Serena replied gravely. "But it's a virtual world where your mind makes it real. There are safety procedures in place though, if a character is injured the game automatically disconnects and the player wakes up."
"So what's gone wrong?"
"A virus. Some errant program has appeared and has disabled the security protocols and is attack the player characters."
"Can't they just shut down the game servers?"
"The shock of the spontaneous disconnection would kill any players still active in the game."
"How many people are still connected?" Beezy asked, the wavering in his voice making it obvious that he didn't really want to know.
"Seven hundred and eighty-one."
"I hope the corporate big-wigs at Kaiba Corp have a way to stop the virus?" Serena nodded in response to his question. "What is it?"
"Viral elimination. In game characters will find the virus and destroy it within the game itself," she explained.
"What characters?"
Serena smiled. "You and I. We're going in."