Netto blinked and turned slowly to face Enzan, "Why?" he asked quietly.
Enzan and Laika weren't quite ready for this reaction from Netto and it threw them for a loop. "Well… we were just curious."
Netto gave them a strange look and then he sighed. "Saito… was the name of my older twin," Netto said. "He died at the age of 18 months from a heart condition called HBD. Now why on earth do you want to know something like that?"
Laika and Enzan exchanged quick glances, "We…" Laika said trying to think of a good excuse that Netto would buy. "We were looking up old news paper articles and found a 'Saito Hikari' mentioned and we wondered who he was."
"Oh," Netto said, "Well now you know."
"Come on, we need to get our new mission," Enzan said, trying to change the subject.
Netto instantly came back to earth with a plummeting crash, "Awww, a new mission already. Didn't we just spend 45 minutes trying to delete a massive wave of viruses yesterday?"
Enzan gave Netto a small grin, "Come on, it either this or Net Mafias."
Netto sighed, "Okay, point taken." Netto turned around and walked off the balcony into the main building.
"So, we don't mention this again?" Laika asked quickly.
Enzan nodded and Netto yelled from inside, "Hey! You guys are coming!"
Enzan and Laika both walked into the interior room together and followed Netto into the elevator.
They went down stairs into Manabe's office where they waited for a few minutes as she finished off some paperwork. "Well, time for another job. Are you three ready?"
"I guess," Netto muttered.
Enzan and Laika both shot him reprimanding looks and nodded stiffly.
Manabe gave them a small smile and opened a file on her computer. "There's a virus attack on 49th street, the unit I sent is being overwhelmed and if they're not stopped soon they could get into the city's electrical base and potentially cause a city wide black out."
All three on them stared at her. "So, I'd appreciate it if you would hurry," she finished.
"All right!" Netto said, trying to muster as much energy as he could. "Let's go!"
Enzan and Laika both exchanged glances at Netto's seemingly random mood change. "We'll finish it as soon as we can," Laika said to Manabe.
"I trust you," she said, "Now go."
They nodded and left the room. "Netto-kun, are you okay?" Rockman asked Netto quietly.
"I'm just tired of fighting viruses, that's all," Netto said. "I kinda wish I didn't have to fight all the time."
Rockman nodded, "Yeah I know."
"What are you two talking about?" Enzan asked while jogging to catch up with Netto.
Netto stuck his tongue out at Enzan playfully, "That is none of your business," he said and ran outside.
Enzan glared at Netto's back but didn't say anything to retaliate.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
They ran into the area that was having the most trouble, "We're here for backup," Laika said to the team leader.
He looked at Laika gratefully. "Oh thank god, now maybe this will end," he said looking at the various pieces of equipment that were starting to crackle with an over surge of electricity. "It's all being concentrated here; if this lasts much longer I don't know what will happen."
"Then let's stop it!" Netto said and plugged Rockman into the nearest net appliance. "Aqua Sword battle chip, slot in!" he yelled and Rockman instantly deleted ten electrical viruses in a fire hydrant.
Laika and Enzan both nodded at the man and spread out to different areas, plugging in their navi's as well.
Saito hovered just above the action keeping a careful eye on Netto. It was just typical that Netto would be in the area that had the most viruses concentrated in it, even if he probably didn't do it on purpose.
Above where they were battling the viruses the stop lights started to crackle with electricity. "Oh no," Saito muttered.
"Rockman!" Netto yelled out as his navi was struck dead on by an electric attack. His navi screamed out in pain and Netto quickly slotted in a HP recovery chip.
"Thanks, Netto-kun," Rockman panted.
"Just… be careful, these viruses are tough," Netto muttered.
"Don't need to tell me that twice," Rockman grinned as a sword formed around his hand, battle chip curtsey of Netto.
Above them the stop light continued to crackle and sag under the pressure of too much electricity going through it.
"Netto, look up," Saito hissed softly. He knew he couldn't let Netto hear him but it was just too much.
Enzan chanced a glance at that moment to see how Netto was doing. "Hey Netto, look out!" he yelled.
Netto turned around to look at Enzan and Saito took the chance, he quickly flew down and tripped Netto so that it looked like he tripped over his own feet, just as the stop light exploded and glass rained down where Netto was a second before. "Netto-kun, be careful!" Rockman yelled.
Saito gave a sigh of relief and continued to keep his eyes open for any other mishaps.
"Kid, come on, we need to get back to the Main Hall," a voice said behind him.
"I'm staying here," Saito said tightly.
"Saito… we don't have time for this, come on!" Adrian said.
"I'm staying here," Saito repeated.
"Lady Eleanor is going to have your Angelic Power if you don't follow her directions," Adrian growled warningly.
"I don't care," Saito hissed. "I'm staying here to protect Netto-kun."
Adrian cast a wary eye on the battle scene below. "Saito, I'm not joking."
"Neither am I!" Saito said. "Look, I'm staying here and finishing my job, then I'll go, okay?" he said heatedly.
Adrian sighed, "All right kid, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"I know," Saito said and turned back to what was happening below them.
Adrian glared at Saito, "Fine, then," he said huffily and vanished.
Saito looked a little put out but gave no further sign that he was upset at all by the decision he made.
"Blues, to your left!" Enzan yelled and Blues cleaved a virus clean in two.
"They just don't end!" Netto yelled while furiously slotting in a Vulcan battle chip.
"Heh, don't worry Netto-kun, I'm sure this will be over soon," Rockman said while taking out a large section of viruses.
"Yeah right," Netto muttered while giving Rockman another battle chip. "This will end in about an hour, then tomorrow we'll do the same thing, and the day after that. Why? Because Manabe and Kifune want us where they can see us, for our own protection."
"Netto-kun," Rockman said while sticking the Aqua Sword he was given through a large virus, "We've made a lot of enemies, they just want to make sure we're safe," he said.
"I know," Netto sighed and gave Rockman several mini bombs to escape from a nasty looking virus. "But this is getting old, fast."
"No kidding," Enzan murmured into his PET.
"Just a little bit more," Rockman said.
"Right!" Netto said with as much energy as he could muster. "Just a little bit more."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Later that evening Netto fell onto his bed. "Just a little bit more, huh?" he asked Rockman in a tired voice.
"Well… we stopped a city wide black out," Rockman reminded him.
Netto grinned, "Right."
"Tired?" Rockman asked.
"No… you?" Netto replied.
"No…" Rockman said slowly.
Both of them looked at one another and burst into fits of laughter. "You look exhausted," they said to each other at the same time.
Netto got up from his bed and went over to his computer. He plugged in the PET and began to repair Rockman's damaged files. "Netto-kun, you can wait until tomorrow," Rockman said.
"Nah, get it done now then we can go have some fun tomorrow," Netto said.
Rockman grinned at his net op, "Sounds great."
Netto nodded and yawned, "Yeup," he agreed.
Rockman looked at the digital clock installed in his PET, "But now you need to sleep," he said to Netto.
"Only if you go into sleep mode," Netto retorted.
"Fine," Rockman said.
Netto walked over to his bed and slid into the sheets. "Night, Rockman."
"Good night, Netto-kun," Rockman replied.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The next morning Netto woke up fairly early on his own. Of course, fairly early meant that he was up a 9:45 instead of his usual aim of noon. "Good morning, Netto-kun!" Rockman greeted him.
"Morning," Netto said sleepily. "Well, I said we'd hang out, what do you want to do?" he asked Rockman.
"Why the hurry?" Rockman giggled.
"Before we get another mission," Netto pointed out.
"Point taken," Rockman said. "Do you want to go to the park?" he asked.
"Sounds nice," Netto said. He picked up his PET and walked out of his room with Rockman in hand.
"After you eat breakfast," Rockman said.
"Aw," Netto groaned.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Netto stretched and walked through one of the hiking trails in the park. "Heh, I thought you meant the park across the street," Netto said.
Rockman shook his head, "No, this is nicer," he said.
Netto nodded his agreement and looked at the canopy of leaves stretching out above him. "Pretty," he sighed.
Rockman looked up and sighed happily, "Its quiet here."
Netto started to nod when an argument reached his ears.
"Look kid, you're making things worse for yourself by delaying it!" a male voice said harshly.
"I don't care!" another, younger voice retaliated. "I'll go back when she summons me."
"Why on earth are you so stubborn!" the guy yelled.
"Why are they yelling in the middle of a forest," Netto said. "It's not like they're the only ones here."
Rockman nodded in his PET.
"Just, leave me alone and come back when Lady Eleanor has summoned me," the younger voice said huffily.
"Saito, you're just delaying the inevitable," the older voice said.
"What did he just say?" Netto mused and walked towards where the voices were arguing. Netto walked into a clearing of trees and saw two people facing one another looking very upset. Netto blinked once just to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing and when he opened his eyes the man had vanished leaving the one whom he had called Saito still standing there. "No way," Netto gasped.
The boy turned around in a quick pivot and lost his footing. He fell into the ground and Netto walked over to where he had fallen. He towered over him and gazed down at his mirror image, "Who are you?" he asked.
Saito stared up at Netto and resisted the urge to face palm. 'Oh no,' he thought.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yay! Update! Don't worry… this one will be quite the crack fic eventually XD