Notes: Don't expect updates this quickly all the time, but here's chapter two so long :)
Review Responses:
Nicole Silverwolf: Good guess. Spot on, in fact grin Thanks for the reviews:)
Lady Threarah: Thank you. Mostly, even I don't know if I'm going to continue or not. But chapter two is done, at least
E: Fast enough for you? grin
Summary: What everyone else was doing while the Puzzle spazzed. g
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Glitches Ch2: Ripples
PhonePhonePhone where was the damn phone? Blood pounded in the lanky blonde's ears as he broke the doors open one by one with panic-fueled hammer blows, moving down the hallway as quickly as he could. A spiky-haired brunette went through the doors on the opposite side.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrring
Both heads snapped up as one. Ahead of them trilled the sweet sound of salvation, echoing through the abandoned building.
"Go for it!" Jounouchi yelled as he slammed through the door, Honda hot on his heels. Honda plucked the earpiece out of its cradle and flickered out of existence even as it touched his ear.
Jounouchi grabbed the falling earpiece and clapped it back in its cradle. This was the part he hated most. Trapped, pinned down in the Matrix while Rex dialed again. His fingers twitched for his cards. Silent. So silent. No trace of the Agent that had pursued them, hounded them, tenacious as a bulldog. Only Honda's deadly aim had bought them a precious few moments. But there had been someone, a kid – poor kid, wrong place at the wrong time – standing on the sidewalk. Probably dead now, taken over by the Agent. So where was the Agent? Jou's neck prickled with unease. It was taking too long. Where the hell was Rex?
Heart pounding, Jou felt as if his senses were stretched wire-thin through the building.
Rrrrrrrrrri-
Faster than conscious thought, Jou had the phone to his ear and the world went black.
Upholstery beneath him. Rough clothes. Dry, recycled air, circulated a thousand times over by the machinery humming softly in the background. Home sweet home.
"Hey Jou," Honda threw out from somewhere to Jou's right.
"Jounouchi-kun, are you allright?" asked a grim female voice from right next to him.
"Yhe- Yeah, Mai, don' getcher nickers'n'a twist," he slurred, groping the back of his neck for the thick coil of wire hooked into his spine. "Whuzzup w'the phone – call was slow," he asked as he staggered upright to the affronted glare of the ship's captain. His Eye was aching, again. It always did after he left the Matrix.
"We don't know," she grudgingly allowed.
"Static," Rex spat from his post in front of the array of monitors, twisting around to look at them. "Some kinda freak phenomenon in the Matrix, like a bomb of static went off right close to you guys, had ta punch through a crapload of noise to get a connection. Stuff's still there."
"A new weapon?" Mai asked sharply, stalking over to look at the screens.
"Don't think so," Rex opined, "whatever it was wiped the Agent out too. Poof. No more Agent."
"It was probably a glitch then?" Honda asked uncertainly.
"…..Maybe," Mai replied.
"A glitch, eh…..?" Jounouchi repeated quietly. Well, that explained where the Agent had disappeared to, he thought. Somehow… somehow thought, he felt that this wouldn't be the last time they'd run across this particular 'glitch.'
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Black flickered in the corners of his vision. Black and glowing green that chittered softly. Pushing away from his computer, Kaiba Seto stalked away from his desk, ending up in front of the tinted window that looked out over Domino. Harsh streetlights and muted houselights spread out below him, radiating out from the foot of Kaiba Corp headquarters.
Even the usually soothing sight couldn't settle him tonight. It he were inclined to such garbage, he'd say that someone had 'walked over his grave.' There was a constant itch in the back of his head tonight, making the black flickers stronger than they'd been in a long time.
Seductively strong. It called to him, cajoling with half-understood promises of power the likes of which he'd never dreamed of. His hands clenched into fists and his back drew into a stiff plane of tension. No. He wouldn't surrender to it. Not now, not ever, not while-
"Nii-sama?" asked a young, sleepy voice.
Mokuba reflected in the glass, letting Seto see his young brother's tousled mop of black hair clearly.
"'S late, go t' bed already."
"I will," Seto said softly, "I just have to finish debugging this program."
"You said that last time," Mokuba pointed out as he approached Seto. "You were still awake in the morning."
Seto had no response to that, and the warm body of his little brother was very convincing. It might also, he acknowledged, be a good idea to stop working on his computer for the night, since his sensitivity to the black and green flickers was at its highest while he was coding.
"Allright," he capitulated, "let me turn off the computer, then I'll put you to bed," he almost-teased, "again." Only Mokuba saw this, the small part of Seto that was weak and soft. Only Mokuba wouldn't hurt him with it.
The computer screen had changed. The screen was completely black, and a single line of text glowed green at the top.
'Do you want to know what the Matrix is?'
Seto's eyes narrowed, the only outward sign of his immense displeasure. Reaching out, he tried to switch off the computer. The text remained. Somehow reaching with more than his hand, he turned the computer off again, letting a sliver of ice flow along the flickering black code of his arm. The screen blanked and the faint scent of fried circuitry wafted from it.
"Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked from where he stood in the doorway, waiting impatiently.
"Done," Seto said with something that was almost a smile. Dismissing his computer and ignoring the fading feeling of white noise from outside, Seto escorted his little brother back to bed.
VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA
Aboard a small ship in a dark room, a bronze-skinned woman with thick black hair looked at the bank of monitors. One screen was dark, broken. The others had static running along them in waves, shivering this way and that in a truly random pattern.
"Intriguing," she said, fingering the golden Tauk around her neck.
End Ch2