Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Here's the second chapter, the third one may not come for a few days or so, considering that I'm going to a place where there is no internet.
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Chapter Two: Shattered Glass
Hikari Netto found himself wondering why he could never get a break. He'd just returned from a mission, now he was setting out for another. And he'd totally missed out on Meiru's birthday, he wondered if he could make it up to her. Netto then sighed. Probably not, Netto grumbled unhappily.
"Netto! You're almost there!" Rockman told him, having been directing Netto to their destination.
Netto nodded though his navi could not see it, he swerved around a corner, passing a long line of shops.
"Good morning, Netto-kun!" Saloma waved. She was standing in front of Miyuki Kuroi's shop, the fortune teller observed from the window.
"Good morning, Saloma-san, Miyuki-san!" Netto waved back, but continued on. This was something important; Enzan would probably kill him if he detoured.
But, then again, when had he ever cared about what Enzan would do?
He skidded to a halt and hurriedly skated back.
"Netto-kun—" Rockman cried, startled.
"What are you doing over here?" Netto asked Saloma as he reached her.
"Oh, just helping Miyuki out with a few things. Why are you in such a hurry?" Saloma smiled.
"Assignment," was Netto's only answer, and Saloma nodded knowingly.
"I'm not one to pry so I think you should hurry along, don't want to be late!" Saloma told him and glanced back as the door opened with a tinkle of a bell. Miyuki walked up to Netto, her crystal ball cradled in her hands.
"Time," she murmured, her eyes boring into his own, "is of the essence. Do you dawdle, or do you avoid?"
Netto blinked and stared at her, confused.
"I'm not avoiding it, I just came to say hello." Netto huffed.
"But it looks that way." Rockman pointed out.
"You too, Rock? Fine, I'm going, I'm going!" The boy cried, spinning around and skating off, his visage but a blur.
Saloma watched until he disappeared around another corner, "Something's wrong." She muttered to herself.
"Time is wrong; Netto and Rockman are in grave danger." Miyuki's smooth, mysterious voice seemed to mix with the breeze as it floated by.
"Danger?" Saloma stared at the fortune teller in surprise.
"There is nothing we can do now; a wrong step has been taken. Time is now trying to fix it, a machine finished that wasn't supposed to be. One has been awakened not meant, all we can do is hope Netto and Rockman will be able to do this on their own." Miyuki murmured and begun making her way back into her shop. Saloma gazed after, wondering what the fortune teller had meant.
She turned back and looked up into the clear blue sky, clasping her hands together.
Please stay safe, the both of you.
The clock on the wall in Miyuki's shop chimed twice, second hand ticking as it halted at nine.
-
Today was the day. The day when everything would turn out as it should, and he would become filthy rich. His boss would be pleased, and he could finally be promoted, where he would be away from the dweebs he called partners.
Deguchi Goro peered smugly around the severely trashed room, perched on a swivel chair in front of a large, flat screen computer. On the floor beside him was the scientist Mikuro Tadao who lay tied and gagged on his side. In a chair not far off was another man, scraggly and in need of a shower. His knotted brown hair dangled to his chin, and he had his arms crossed over his chest, conversing with his Navi from the grey PET.
"What do you mean they're not doin' anything? We sent the message; they should be draggin' bags of yen out to us by now!" His partner, formally known as Drug, yelled.
Coinman, Drug's cash register-shaped Navi, glanced nervously around his PET. "Ye-yes, well, that is what they are doing, Drug-san."
"Well, shit. What we gonna do, Deguchi?" Drug looked over, and Deguchi frowned. "Where's Mik?" he asked. Drug shrugged, "Dunno, he somewhere in 'ere."
Deguchi sighed, Mik was the newest recruit in their boss's group of followers, and he would repeatedly scurry off to some unknown location without their acknowledgement. Deguchi had told him to buzz off, but not literally.
Mikuro squirmed below him, screaming into the gag.
"Shut up, you bad excuse for a scientist!" The fugitive leaned down and lifted the scientist up by the collar of his lab coat. "I'm going to ask you again, where'd you hide the Eradicate?"
Mikuro's forehead wrinkled and he looked as though he wasn't going to say anything.
"Hmph," Deguchi threw him to the floor, and Mikuro skidded across it, "fine. We'll just have to find it ourselves. Drug, get Mik and tell him to get his ass over here."
Drug did so reluctantly, telling Coinman to contact Mik's Navi, Sliceman. Coinman's data scattered across the screen and disappeared, Drug looked up just to see Deguchi lean back and place his biker boots on a stool across from him.
"The boss is going to be so pleased with me." He grinned gleefully.
"Us," Drug corrected heatedly.
"Us, then. The boss is going to be pleased with us." But Deguchi couldn't help but say under his breath, "But I'm the one that's going to be promoted."
-
"Do we have all the money?"
"Yes, Enzan-sama, but we still don't know what this 'Eradicate' is. What should we do about that?"
Enzan, Meiru, the just arrived Yaito, and about ten officers huddled around one square-shaped table. Diagrams on graph paper lay scattered across the surface, as though they had been looked at thousands of times. It had been twenty minutes since the transmission demanding money and the mysterious 'Eradicate' had been sent to them. Netto still had not arrived, but that was to be expected, he was late for everything.
"I don't know. Has anyone sent for Dr. Hikari?" Enzan questioned and one officer nodded, "Just a few minutes ago. He should be arriving shortly."
"Good," Enzan nodded to himself and glanced around the room, "I suggest that as soon as we figure out what this 'Eradicate' is, we should send someone in with the money. Officers should be positioned around the whole building in case he or she is in need of backup." All who stood in the room nodded in agreement.
The flap of the tent they had set up for the meeting was yanked open and everyone turned to look. Netto stood there, breathing deeply and panting. "S-Sorry I'm late!" he cried breathlessly.
"Better late than never, I say." Dr. Hikari Yuuichirou appeared behind him, holding up the flap for his son.
"Papa!" Netto smiled up at his father.
Meiru frowned deeply as Netto stood next to her; he looked around the tent, avoiding her eyes.
"All right, now down to business," Yuuichirou pulled out his laptop and placed it on the table, "the suspects are demanding something called the 'Eradicate', am I right?"
Enzan nodded, and the scientist began to type. His fingers moved swiftly, bringing up dozens of windows.
Yaito, Meiru, and Netto peered over the laptop, trying to see what he was doing.
After a few anxious minutes, Yuuichirou looked up, satisfied but frowning nevertheless.
"Well?" Yaito asked him curiously.
"It seems the 'Eradicate' is a failed experiment created by the now retired Mikuro Tadao. The source doesn't go into much clarification on what the machine actually does, but Mikuro explained to the board that it was a first attempt at a time machine. The demonstration was to send a rabbit into the future then bring it back. This did not work, however, and the rabbit ended up dying. Because of this, the man lost his job." Yuuichirou explained.
"A time machine?" Netto's eyes widened.
"But if it was a failed experiment, why would these criminals want it?" Meiru asked.
"Maybe Dr. Mikuro was able to fix it." Rockman suggested from Netto's PET.
"But that's impossible; no one known to mankind has ever been able to create an operational time machine." Enzan pointed out, folding his arms over his chest.
"Even with the technology now, Enzan is correct. But with what has happened, I'm willing to bet that Rockman's right." Yuuichirou shut the laptop and looked around the room.
"Then what should we do?" Meiru asked worriedly.
"Don't worry," Yuuichirou grinned, his glasses flashing in an almost crazed way, "I have a plan."
-
Okimasa Mik jerked his head up and down, trying to see through the black paper that covered the windows. The barely visible red lights were still flashing ominously, Mik giggled. This was so cool! The police were all over the place, he'd never done something so big before!
Mik was only fifteen; the youngest a member could be to join their boss's ranks. He was childish and found chaos hilarious, his old therapist had once called him a "special case", but Mik just thought he was one of a kind.
"Mik-kun, Coinman has a message for you." Sliceman, a cactus-looking Navi, reported from Mik's yellow PET. He had pressed it against the window, and the screen was facing the windowpane so the Navi could not see.
"Oh, what does he want?" Mik pouted, flipping the PET over.
The email icon that had been hovering beside Sliceman on the screen opened, and Coinman appeared.
"Drug-san and Deguchi-san want you back at the lab this instant. They say they have something to discuss." The email ended, closing itself automatically.
Mik sighed, turning to peer out the window once more, and giggled as he made his way up the stairs.
-
"What's taking him so long?" Netto demanded, squirming in his place hidden behind a police car.
"Be patient, Netto! Enzan-kun knows what he's doing." Meiru glanced at the anxious boy and rolled her eyes.
Yuuichirou's plan was simple: leave the money outside, and wait until someone came to claim it. When this happened, they would hold that person at gunpoint. If the plan didn't work, and the criminals demanded that they bring it in, Enzan would be the one to do it, informing them when he needed them.
Netto was resentful, he'd been called out here to help, and yet, here he was, hiding behind a car and not doing anything. Netto grumbled and chewed his lip.
Rockman, however, would be getting all the action along with Roll, Glyde, and Blues. They had been sent into the house's electrical systems, and they were now waiting at the far corner of the systems. The four had been ordered to attack if noticed.
Yaito was still back at the tent, feeling that it was safer there. Netto spotted Enzan's snow white head and watched as he placed the four bags of fake money on the cracked doorstep. He took a step back, waited for a moment, and begun walking back to the pack of police cars. Yuuichirou stood out in the open, unlike most of the officers who also hid behind their vehicles, and waited patiently with his hands on his hips for some sort of reaction.
Enzan stood beside Netto's father and looked up at the oddly shaped building as well. All was quiet, no one made a move. Netto fidgeted restlessly.
-
Inside Dr. Mikuro's computer systems, Sliceman and Coinman appeared five feet away from the four Navis, scanning their surroundings for the intruders.
Blues jerked his head towards the two, and Rockman nodded. He looked back at Roll and Glyde, they nodded as well.
The red Navi shot off like a bullet, jumping into the air behind Coinman and ramming his sword into the Navi's head. The sword made a dent, but that was all and Blues jumped back. Coinman howled, staggering forward, and Sliceman twisted around just as Rockman ran in front and blasted him with his canon.
Rockman and Blues backed away slightly as the two Navis gathered back their bearings.
"So, you are the two who've infiltrated the systems!" Sliceman cried, grinning maniacally and looking quite excited.
"But you two cannot possibly be alone. Viruses!" Coinman called and they did appear; metools and other viruses of the sort gathering ahead of the Navis. They advanced on the place where Glyde and Roll still hid but did not get far as a "Roll Flash!" was heard and five metools were deleted.
Glyde began fighting back as well, using his expensive and rare chips to aid him. Satisfied that they would be fine, Blues and Rockman turned their attentions back to Sliceman and Coinman.
"Well, c'mon. You wanna fight, let's fight!" Sliceman cried, darting forward and throwing out his needles. Rockman dodged them and let out another blast from his canon. Blues began his onslaught as well, Coinman scattered gold coins around the field and Blues dodged them as they exploded on contact.
-
It had been five minutes and still no one came for the bags. Netto frowned and jumped as his PET beeped. He looked down, a malicious looking man materialized onto the screen.
"Hah! You think we'd fall for that! Well, if you did, than you are gravely mistaken. Give us the real money or your Navi," a smaller window appeared beside the man's, and Netto could see Rockman being thrown about, thin needles sticking out of his limbs and torso, "will suffer the consequences!" The man laughed and ended the transmission. Netto shot up and began skating towards the building, ignoring the surprised cry of Meiru, and pushing past the bags so as to reach the door.
There was no time to waste, Rockman needed him. He gripped the doorknob and turned it.
-
"What do we do now, Deguchi?" Drug asked uninterestedly, kicking at a torn book.
"We wait." Deguchi answered. Mikuro was beginning to struggle again. The man sighed.
"If only this thing would end already. This is a waste of my time."
"I think it's cool!" Mik piped up, and Drug placed a hand on his head. The boy was seated beside Drug's chair, and so it was rather easy to reach down and snag his little noggin.
"Only you would, kid." Drug murmured, and Mik tried to squirm out of his grip.
Deguchi placed his cheek on his fist and sets his elbow on the many buttoned panel. He heard a soft click, and Mikuro uttered a loud, muffled scream.
"What the…?" He stared at screen as it flashed the color of blinding light.
"What's going on?" Mik asked, and both males stood. The monitor was starting to tremble, the lights flickered. Deguchi pushed himself away from the computer and quickly stood up, knocking the chair over and almost hitting the scientist.
Then, suddenly, a loud bleep was heard and words materialized on the screen.
Eradicate—activated
All four in the room gasped, and their eyes widened as a bright flash of light exploded out of the screen and covered them.
-
Roll and Glyde had logged out, their energy completely spent and in considerable danger, but Rockman and Blues still fought on.
Rockman fell to all fours, panting and sporting all sorts of bruises and scratches. Blues was backed into a corner, barely fending off Coinman.
Systems flush—commenced.
"Wh-What?" Rockman cried, and all the Navis watched with wide eyes as they were suddenly enveloped in white.
-
Netto, having just made it into a kitchen that had a plug, was just about to send a battlechip when he too was encased in white light. The phenomenon stretched out, forming a bubble around the building and then further, seizing everyone outside as well. The whole area could not be seen, basked in a glow so harsh on the eyes that if one looked at it for more than five seconds, they would be blinded.
At Miyuki's shop, Saloma hung a fern in a corner of the room. She heard a small cracking sound and turned her head to look. Miyuki had her hands on each side of it as she always did, but it wasn't her that was making the cracking sound, oh no, it was the crystal ball. A crack had formed and was inching its way across it. But it was unable to finish its journey. The crystal ball suddenly began to shake and unexpectedly blasted into thousands of pieces.