And while his navi looked through the computers, Enzan went to check on Netto. Only to find the room dark and completely empty! Enzan took a deep breath to keep himself calm, then went back out into the hall. Knowing Netto, the most likely thing was that the power had gone out, and he had gone to the aid's station to find out what was happening. He had probably gotten pushed into a corner in all the chaos and was just waiting for things to calm down...
And maybe pigs will fly over the moon Enzan though irritably. The reason he had left his current investigation and come to the hospital was because he'd had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and it wouldn't go away. Somehow he knew that Netto was in trouble, and the sooner he found the missing boy, the better.
"Blues, any luck?" Enzan asked, scanning the hall for any signs of Netto. The nurses and doctors were all to busy trying to restore order to help him any. Several of them had already told him to stay out of the way when he had tried to ask them if they had seen Netto.
"None, Enzan-sama," Blues said with a sigh. "And there is no sign that Rockman has been here within the last hour or so. One of the security programs did pick up a disturbance on the roof, but it has yet to be checked out.."
"Then we'll go check it out," Enzan snapped. "I couldn't find Netto anywhere in here, and something does not feel right."
"I didn't think so either, Enzan-sama."
Enzan nodded, very slightly, and found the stairwell that led up to the roof. When he got to the top he found the door open, which was very odd. There were footprints in the snow, one set small, the other slightly larger. And to one side there was an impression in the snow that looked like a body...
"Enzan-sama! Look, up ahead! There's something in the snow!" Blues shouted, alerting Enzan to an object half-hidden in the snow. He walked over to the object and picked it up, and felt a chill of fear and dread run through his body. It was Netto's Pet, and it had been severely damaged by what looked like a single gunshot.
"E-Enzan-sama. Is Rockman...?" Blues stammered, unable to finish the sentence.
"I don't know, Blues. Call Yuuichiro. Now. If Netto's Pet is here, then someone has taken Netto, and chances are that navi has something to do with it."
Even as he had given the order Enzan felt himself beginning to shake. He felt very cold, and it had nothing to do with the weather. There was no way he could tell if Rockman was alive, and even if he was he would be severely damaged. Netto had been taken, that was the only explanation Enzan could give for finding his Pet on the roof. Whether or not he was still alive... Enzan shuddered. He refused to think that his love could be dead. It would only send him into a panic, and that would not help anyone, especially Netto.
"Enzan-sama, Hikari-hikase is on his way, as are the NetPolice."
"Thank you, Blues."
Netto, Enzan thought silently as he looked up at the overcast sky. Please be alright.
Kyan walked into the radio station, carrying to boy over her shoulder. He was a heavy one for his size, that was for sure. Still, knocking him out was much easier than trying to carry him inside, since stuggling would have made things very difficult. He had been awfully still when she had picked him up to carry him out of the hospital, though she didn't think she had hit him that hard. He was still breathing, so he wasn't dead. Maybe he was just a deep sleeper. Not that Kyan cared in the least.
Unceremoniously Kyan dropped the boy onto the floor in one of the upper office rooms, causing the dark fog that had covered the room to swirl around before settling again. Standing in the center of the room was the demon navi, a dark shape in the dark fog, the only thing truly visible being his red eyes. He creeped Kyan out, but since she was being paid, she would ignore the feeling.
"Here's the boy," Kyan grunted. "Had to knock him out to get him here, though."
"That's fine. I shall have him awake soon enough. Here is your payment. I trust you know well enough to keep quiet about this."
"Of couse."
"Good. Then get out."
That was something Kyan didn't need to be told twice to do. She turned and left the boy with the navi, closed the door behind her and left the building without a second thought. Once she was gone, Nomde turned his full attention to the boy sprawled out in front of him. He would be waking up very soon and he would be finding himself in a world of pain and torment of more than one kind.
A movement in the boy's hand showed that he was coming to, and Nomde waited for the boy to open his eyes, which were filled with a great deal of pain already. There was also an air of loss? Maybe confusions, perhaps both. But both were laden with such pain that it filled Nomde with glee. Pain gave him strength, and the boy was feeding him energy already without even knowing that he was doing so. That was all the better for Nomde, in the long run.
Nor did he sense that annoying bond that had caused him so much trouble while he'd been draining energy to keep himself alive. Or rather, he couldn't sense it without trying hard to sense it. If the navi was alive, he certainly wasn't going to be in any position to come after his operator.
"R-Rockman?" Netto called out softly, his voice betraying his fear.
"Rockman isn't here," Nomde growled like a cat about to pounce. "I'm the only one here at the moment. And you aren't going anywhere."
"YOU!" Netto shouted, staggering to his feet. "You're the one that attacked me and Enzan in the hospital!"
Nomde grinned evilly. "Oh, I've been doing far more than that, you stupid brat. I've been slowly wittling down the police and Net Saviors until they've become exhausted and are to weak to stop me. Even now the dark loids are out making sure that none of them find you until I am ready. Which shall be soon."
Netto snorted and took a fighting stance. The idea that the boy was going to try to fight him was amusing to say the least. Still, he had a bit of anger to take out on the brat due to the Seer's escape, so he was going to get a sound thrashing either way.
"Oh, the brat wants to fight?" Nomde asked with a sneer. "Take your best shot then, boy. I'll show you just how much stronger I am."
Netto didn't have to be asked twice. he charged at the navi with fists flying, going at Nomde with everything he had...Only to be soundly knocked aside by a single flick of Nomde's wrist. The blow sent Netto flying into the wall, and before he could even begin to recover Nomde was in front of Netto, driving his knee into Netto's chest and knocking all of the wind out of the boy. Netto gasped for air even as Nomde lifted him off of the ground by his shirt collar, holding him up so that Netto could see into his eyes.
"That was for your cousin getting away from me. Not that I won't get her sooner or later. Now the real fun begins."
"W-what are you talking about?" Netto gasped, forcing air back into his lungs.
"Oh, you'll see," Nomde growled darkly, causing Netto to shudder. He did not like what that tone implied.
Nomde carried a still gasping Netto through the rooms of the empty radio station, into a large room full of computer monitors and several machines. In the center, connected to all of those machines by several large wires was what looked like a giant glass tube with a metal base and top, the top being open at the moment. There was also another navi in the room, Bubbleman.
"Everything is ready, puku," Bubbleman said, looking up at Nomde.
"Very good. Thank you, my friend. Now would you do me one more favor and make sure that no one comes into this area? I would greatly appreciate it."
"Of course, puku!" Bubbleman said, rather cheerfully.
Netto could only stare in disbelief as the blue navi left the room. How could he be in the real world without a dimensional area? Nomde he could have understood, as he assumed that was what that data contained that he'd had Enzan unlock. But how did Bubbleman get into the real world? As if he was reading Netto's mind, Nomde answered that question.
"Any navi serving me may come into this world in this building, because I have merged it with the Net. And very soon, I shall have merged the entire net with this world, and I shall rule both of them! And that, little human, is why I need you."
"Me?" Netto squeaked, sounding very frightened. "Why?"
"For the same reason I needed you before," Nomde purred. "For power. I certainly can't merge both worlds on the power I have, it would drain me of everything. On the flip side, if I hooked myself up to a powersource and filtered it through to the net, I would overload myself, and it would destroy me that way, since I am, rather annoyingly, more of a navi than I wish. Being made up of data is very inconvenient. You, on the other hand, are flesh and blood, and happen to be a very, very good source of power. It was so fortunate that Aleka was reborn into your body. It saved me a great deal of trouble."
Before Netto could say anything to that, Nomde tossed Netto into the glass tube and slid the top shut, locking it tightly. The demon-navi grinned at the stunned Netto and went over to one of the machines that looked like it might be a control pannel. He flipped a few of the switching, and Netto heard something begin to hum. He also saw what looked like sparks forming at the top of the glass tube! Panicked, Netto began to pound on the glass, but it held strong against his fists.
"Oh, I mustn't forget this," Nomde grinned, moving in front of Netto. He held out his hand to reveal an dark orb that pulsed menacingly. It radiated such evil that Netto reacted by pushing himself as far away from it as he could, though he couldn't move to far. "And I shall take the liberty to tell you that this shall hurt quite a bit. I'm looking forward to it, actually."
With a growl Nomde plunged his hand through the glass, shocking Netto with the fact that it went through without so much as cracking it! But Netto had no time to think on that, because the hand had not only gone through the glass, it had gone through him as well! He shrieked with pain as he felt something begin to burn inside of him, and as Nomde withdrew his hand, Netto could see, just barely, that the orb was gone.
That was all the time he had to think, because in the next second the sparks at the top of the glass tube began to connect with his body and began to react to whatever it was that the demon had placed inside of him. Pain drove any thoughts he had out of his mind, and he could see nothing but darkness growing around him! His screams were shattering, but if anything they only made the pain worse. Netto wanted desperately to drop to his knees and curl up into a ball, but he was frozen in place, unable to move.
"Excellent," he heard a dark voice murmur in his ears. "Now the world shall be mine."
