Disclaimer: See chapter 1 and as always, please don't flame.
Chapter 20: Have a Nice Day
"He is locked up in his citadel for the time being. He decimated half of the tournament. It took Enki, Yusuke and Hiei to bring him down. Kurama, watch your back."
Yoko growled in the back of his mind. /Yomi will be more unpredictable then ever. What about Mother/
Kurama closed the connection without saying a word. He bowed slightly to Batman and Batgirl as he grabbed up his book case. He jumped over the chasm with graceful ease, continuing down the tunnel to the Cave entrance with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his book bag slung over his shoulder.
o0o0o0o0o
Batman watched the outside monitors as Kurama came into view. The boy had a pensive look about him. Kurama was always hard to read but this time, this news shook him.
'What is going on in that mind of yours?' Bruce wondered, as the boy moved into the shadows and out of side. 'What are you afraid of?'
o0o0o0o0o
Early the next morning, a techno-geek supervisor at Wayne Enterprises sat down at his terminal, yawning. It had been a long hard night trying to break the code that had closed down the main frame at Wayne Enterprises. Most of the techs have been up half the night trying to by pass whatever the hacker had done to crash the system. The execs except for Mr. Wayne, who seemed quite calm over the whole situation, were having heart failure. Rumor had it several supervisors have been fired already.
As he typed in another string of useless code, his monitor went to black, but before he could react it came back online. A message read: "Be thankful the crisis is over. Have a nice day. -- Silver Fox". The mainframe came back on line as if nothing had happened.
o0o0o0o0o
Bruce found himself in a string of meetings with the tech boys about the recent crash when he got a note from Shuichi: "Mr. Wayne. Urgent matters came up and I have to leave. I should be back in a week. If you wish to press charges on me, I understand. I will turn myself over to you when I return. --SM. ps Please inform Barbara that I'm sorry I have to cancel our dates for this week."
"The Silver Fox has been making himself known in hacking community," said one of the supervisors, breaking into Bruce's thoughts. "He's more of a nuisance then vicious. Mostly, he just finds holes in security systems, forcing the company to re-evaluate their security. The FBI has a small file on him but they can't catch him. He's too slippery," one of the supervisors was saying.
"According to the Police, Gentlemen," Bruce said. "Besides us, Silver Fox went after the Riddler. He supplied them with evidence that he had been targeting several major corporations. The Riddler was cleaning out personal files, stock portfolios and insider deals. If it hadn't been for Silver Fox, he may have gotten in. We won't know for sure how much damage the Riddler caused before the crash. Gentlemen. Now that the system is back on line. Is there any damage to the main frame?"
"That's just it, Mr. Wayne. Except for some data lose, the system is running as if nothing happened."
He looked the file over, picking up the note he had from Shuichi and reread it. Again, Bruce asked himself, 'What is going on in your mind, Kurama? What are you afraid of? Why did Koenma's news rattled you so much? '
o0o0o0o0o
Bruce was going over some reports when a red head walked into his office. Barbara had been worried that Shuichi hadn't contacted her in over a week. She had been checking the data files from Spirit World but it only says that Kurama was last seen in the Makai.
A light knock heralded a soft familiar voice. "Hello, Mr. Wayne?"
"Shuichi, welcome back," Bruce stood, coming around his desk. "Everything taken care of?"
"Yes sir," Shuichi smiled slightly and bowed. "I have the information I needed. Did you enjoy your gift?"
Bruce chuckled. "Barbara and Dick have been accessing it nightly. They are fascinated and disappointed."
"Oh?"
"Seems, your Koenma blocked several files that they really wanted to get into."
"Ahh, yes. That would be frustrating."
Leaning back against his desk, Bruce signaled that Shuichi should be seated. "I do have several things to go over with you. Have a seat. This won't take long."
o0o0o0o0o
Shuichi didn't show that he was a little apprehensive for this meeting. He was pretty confident that he wouldn't be arrested, but he wasn't sure what's going on in the older gentleman's mind.
Yoko was sleeping in the back of his mind for which Shuichi was thankful. The past week had been hectic and a little disconcerting. He had to use a lot of the Kitsune's energy and form while he was visiting the Makai.
Forcing his mind back to what Bruce was saying. "Shuichi, there's a FBI file on the Silver Fox. Care to tell me about it?"
Wondering if this is the Batman talking or Bruce, Shuichi shrugged, rubbing his forehead. "What do you want to know?" he asked cautiously.
Bruce narrowed his eyes, as he continued, "I haven't decided if I should turn you in or not. I want to hear your side of the story, first."
Suichi stood and walked over to the window to look out, wishing Yoko was awake. He really wanted to respect this man and to be respected by him. The Samurai aura he projected was formidable. Strength was highly valued by demons. Yoko especially had been impressed so far.
After staring at the traffic below, Shuichi spoke. "You know what they say in the Makai? A bored fox is a dangerous fox. Yoko and I have been bored up until we met you and Barbara. Moving here with our family, leaving friends and familiar things behind. It's taken this long to finally be able to relax enough to make friends here."
Getting back on the subject, he continued, "As you know that breaking seals and codes is his specialty. The internet with its complexity fascinates him. When he learned about hacking, he had to try it. Well," he sighed again, as he looked down at the street below. "For the most part, it was the challenge that interest us than the material gain it would afford."
"I see. You are wanted by the FBI and Home Land Security."
Chuckling, Shuichi said, "I am not surprised. We found the biggest security breaches in their systems. The tightest systems are mostly major air traffic controls. Of course, I did manage to break into the White House's security a couple of times just to see if I could. Really Bruce. I have no need for anyone's secrets. It is just a game with major risks. I assure you."
"I believe you, Shuichi. According to the files, you've managed to report the problem areas that need to be fixed and helped bring several hackers to justice. The FBI isn't sure if they should arrest you or offer you a job."
Turning back to face Bruce, Shuichi smiled, "Well, what do you plan to do?"
o0o0o0o0o
Shuichi found himself packing up his small cubicle. The rumor mill was going crazy about who the Silver Fox was, why did the main frame crashed, and the firings. He was replaying the conversation with the billionaire in his mind. Very interesting. If he had been able to go through channels, then maybe he hadn't been compelled to crash the system and come to his attention. Besides, it wasn't his job to monitor the main frame, he was only suppose to have monitored step father's department. The fact that he had a link to the main frame at all was a bit illegal.
/What's up Red/
'We've been transferred-lashed-fired.'
/HUH/
'Seems Bruce has been thinking about our little bout with the Riddler and said that someone with our talents would be good doing consulting work for security firms to help fight against hackers. He's offered me an interesting deal.'
/What kind of deal/
o0o0o0o0o
cuteness: That's it for now. Who knows what's going to happen next. I'm not going to tell who's next. Just stay tune.
Until next time -- GF