Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman Battle Network or any of its related properties. Capcom does. All other characters are the mental property of the Chaos Coalition.
Author's Note: Another week, another chapter. This one was easy to write, especially because of the way the middle portion is structured, so I was able to finish it on time, for once. On the other hand, next week's is a huge fight scene, and so far those have been hard to do. To top it all off, I'm going on vacation from Monday to Wednesday, and I won't be able to do any writing while there. So, if I don't bring out another chapter next week, that's why, and I won't take a week's break after the satellite crash either as I said I would. Enjoy!
-
Shroud, Matthias, and Link climbed down the ladder into the depths of Mount Belenus. The volcano had been the headquarters of several evil forces over the past several years, including the Dark Union, but they hoped that their efforts today would cause the world to see Mount Belenus in a brighter light: as the newest home of the Chaos Union. The Chaos Union had previously been staying in offices at NAXA, where Matthias' father worked, but after the numerous attacks by the Dark Union, the scientists there were pushing for their eviction, and they were quite close to making that push a reality.
Shroud himself was one of the reasons for that eviction. While under the control of his DarkSoul, he had formed a group known as the Dark Union to attack the Chaos Union from both without and within, ceasing only after he and his netnavi Shadow X had been simultaneously defeated by Matthias and Galaxyman, courtesy of their powerful Full Synchro. The final blow destroyed Shroud's darkness, and caused it to revert into his psyche rather forcefully, nearly killing him. He'd been in the hospital for a week or two recovering, and had discovered once he'd returned that while Link and Matthias were both his lieutenants, Matthias had clearly begun to stand out as the higher ranked of the two. It was a good shift in the balance of power, one that Shroud might find useful in the days to come.
But for today, they both were needed, because if the Chaos Union was to move here, all three would be needed, to vote on whether or not it would be a good move. They needed to move out of NAXA soon, or they'd be out on the street. Since he and the others were paid only on NAXA salary, (and a pitiful one at that) real estate was out of the question, unless they could find either a mysterious benefactor or an unsettled island in the International Archipelago...or both. Therefore, using the inside of the volcano as a headquarters was a good plan, as long as it remained dormant. That, of course, was what they were here to find out.
"It doesn't seem to be active," Matthias noted, studying the walls of the cavernous chamber as they descended. "It never ended up exploding fully during the Nebula crisis a year or so back, and it didn't show any prior indications of activity before then, not for decades."
"So what's with the earthquakes recorded around here?" Link retorted. Matthias and Link had taken interestingly opposing stands on the issue, in multiple contexts. The normally thoughtless Link was advocating caution while his contemporary was eager to begin building down here. On the other hand, Link's caution could be due to a juvenile fear of the volcano, in which case he was perfectly in character.
"Nothing more than aftershocks," Matthias cooly responded as they reached the bottom of the rope ladder. "And besides, if this thing's going off, we'll be the first to know."
"You all right down there?" A voice called, one Shroud had learned to recognize as that of Leon Ocari, a friend of Link's who hailed from Netopia, and previously, his homeland of Hyrule. The powerful warrior was apparently the elder brother of Link's betrothed, and was stopping in to check up on his little brother-in-law-to-be. In the process, he'd been inducted into the Chaos Union just in time to face the threat of the Dark Union, and was now a probationary member. He'd insisted in flying them to the Mountain, and since Matthias' pilot's license wasn't validated yet, they'd accepted.
"Yep," Shroud called up to him. "Link'll hold the rope ladder for you so that you can climb down here." Leon nodded, and he and Link went to work, the former descending quickly while the latter held the rope taut. As he and Matthias hurried into the base, Shroud began to study the headquarters he'd apparently used as the leader of the Dark Union. The base had been fixed up, no longer scarred and pitted by lava, and apparently fully operational. They reached the central chamber, where Matthias and Shroud had battled in both the real world and the net, and jacked their netnavis into the central computer, to assess the status of the base's server while Matthias began studying the data on the volcano that the computer was collecting.
"Everything seems fine," Matthias said as he skimmed through the documents.. "Temp's a little higher than average, but that's to be expected. I think that we can start checking out the base now."
"Excellent," Shroud said, and he began to turn around and look at Link and Leon, who were now entering the room bickering, when he saw the faint steel glint of a dagger behind Matthias' throat. "Matthias, down!" he cried, throwing a shuriken from his belt even as he spoke, praying that his friend would move before it sliced through his heart.
Matthias dropped almost instantly, his reflexes as good as ever, and the throwing star imbedded itself in his assailant's chest. Unfortunately, sparks began to fly from the wound, and as Shroud and the others watched, a robot stepped into the light, its arm moving back to toss the dagger in its hand at Shroud. A shuriken to the neck stopped it in its tracks.
The faint sound of clapping came to their attention, and Shroud whirled around to see that a man was emerging from the shadows, wearing a dark cloak and a black mask, which covered his eyes and the surrounding areas, making him impossible to identify. "Excellent work, Shroud. You've managed to destroy one of the robotic drones I have under my command. But can you destroy more?" As he spoke, a dozen robots stepped into the light behind him, and Shroud heard the sound of Link and Leon drawing their blades from behind him.
"Who are you?" he asked, fearing the answer.
"My name is Shade," their new opponent said, brushing aside his cloak to reveal a katana at his waist. "And I am the human leader of the new Dark Union." With that, he struck, drawing the blade and rushing at Shroud in the same movement.
Matthias moved to block the blow, Cyber Slashers extending rapidly from their position sheathed against his arms, but the robots moved faster, four or five of them blocking his path. The remainder swarmed Link and Leon, and then this left the apparently defenseless Shroud against this 'Shade'. But Shroud truly did have a defence, and he pulled it from his belt, the seemingly bladeless hilt of a sword of his own. It seemed useless, but as he flipped a switch, liquid metal began to drip from the hilt. With a flick of the switch and a quick upwards slash, the blade hardened, and brought itself into the path of Shade's katana, now a rapier strong enough to parry the blow.
Shade's eyes opened in disbelief as he looked at the blade attempting to break past his own, and Shroud smiled. "Like it? It was a gift from a friend." Shade stepped backwards and resumed the attack, trying to break what he seemed to assume was a weak blade. However, the alloy of steel and magnometal seemed to prove itself mighty, and the blade refused to break no matter how many times that the two struck each other. However, Shade soon realized this, and feigned a powerful swing at Shroud's balde, instead striking at his side. Shroud managed to block a direct hit, but the sword still managed to slice across his side, and the unexpected blood loss so soon after his injury here a few weeks prior caused him to stagger, and Shade managed to score a few more slices across his arms and legs, although no grieveous wounds.
Leon, Link, and Matthias tried to break past and help Shroud as they saw him fall, but their efforts proved futile, as more robots appeared to quickly subdue them. This left Shroud alone, and he was quickly losing the battle. "Why...why are you doing this?" he asked as Shade began to push him backwards. "Why are you working with Master Shadow?"
"The power, of course. And revenge, of course, but I think that reason will be dealt with quite soon." His attack continued, pushing Shroud backwards towards the wall, where he could quickly be pinned and defeated. Realizing this, Shroud decided to try something risky, and dropped his sword after a tough parry, crumpling to the ground before Shade.
"All right, Shade...you win." His right hand reached towards the wound at his side, seemingly trying to hold the blood in. "Let us go, and we'll never confront the Dark Union again."
"Nice try," Shade replied, pointing his sword at Shroud's heart, "but I couldn't trust you. Not after what you've done to me. Killing you is a much better alternative. Goodbye, Shroud." His arm swung backward to lop off Shroud's head, but Shroud managed to strike first, pulling the dagger out of his belt and jabbing it upwards, slicing into Shade's side. His foe fell back, clutching at his wound, and Shroud managed to fight his way to his feet, using his sword as a crutch.
"Don't worry, you got lucky. I don't think that I managed to fatally wound you...as long as you recieve some medical attention in the next half-hour." Shade began to back away, but Shroud assumed he was going for an exit, he didn't feel as if he could fend him off any longer.
"It doesn't matter!" Shade shouted, a bit too loudly. "Your death was not the primary objective of this mission! Master Shadow, show them!" In something bordering on horror, Shroud's eyes were drawn to the large screen where he and Matthias had jacked in their navis. On it, he saw three things. One: Matthias' netnavi, Galaxyman, lying on the ground, presumably unconscious. Two: a netnavi that was presumably Master Shadow, cloaked in blackest darkness with his hands around the neck of a netnavi. Three: the face of his netnavi Shadow X, as Master Shadow deleted him with a slight squeeze of his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Shroud," Master Shadow said, the data of the fallen netnavi swirling around him. "I trust that my newest ally hasn't traumatized you more than I have?"
"What?" Shroud was barely able to speak. Shadow X, the fabled lost warrior navi of Nation Z, a netnavi so strong that the military had killed his mother and caused his father to go into hiding in an attempt to claim it for themselves, and his constant companion for the last seven years, had been deleted, without scarcely any energy on the part of his murderer.
"Oh, I see that he hasn't removed his mask yet. Shade. Off with the mask. Now." Shade looked reluctant, but his loyalty seemed stronger than his resentment, and he whipped the mask off in one fluid motion. Shroud hadn't thought he could be more surprised. The face that stared back at him was a familiar one, one he recognized even though he hadn't seen it in years. The face was his own, and it belonged to his twin brother, Siota Ryu Taruka.
"Hello, brother," Shade said bitterly. "Surprised to see me?"
Sickeningly realizing that his past was coming back to haunt him again, and that he had lost more blood than was healthy for him, Shroud began to collapse, falling into a deep blackness as his brother turned and ran haltingly, escaping easily as the Chaos Union fell yet again to the might of darkness.
-
Chaotic We Stand
-
Chapter 11: Excessus
-
-- Wednesday, April 9, 2: 34 PM, X's Office, Core Building, Neo Arcadia --
Shroud knocked hesitantly on the door to X's offices, having been summoned to speak to him regarding the mission. They were supposedly leaving tonight, but no one knew where they were being sent to as of yet, and X hadn't told them anything lately except that he had read their proposal and liked it. Still, he'd told Shroud that he'd made some minor changes to it, and that was why he was here, instead of spending time with his family.
The door opened, and Shroud walked in to see X sitting behind his desk, as always. "You wanted to see me?" he asked rhetorically, awaiting X's permission to sit.
"Yes, yes, sit down." Shroud did so, and then X passed him a folder full of papers related to the mission. "There's the improved mission plan," he said absently while typing something else. "I didn't change a lot, but you'll notice that you're actually going up into space preemptively, so that we don't lose a second."
Technically, that would work. As soon as the weapon was adjusted to become one, they would know, and be able to destroy it. There was only one problem. "Sir, we don't have a space station to go to. Are you planning on us wasting fuel just jetting around space?"
"Not at all," X replied. If you'll read the information on pages eight and nine, you will see that I have made provisions for you to dock at a space station."
Shroud quickly flipped through, and found a page with a picture that looked strikingly familiar to the one he had shown to the Chaos Union several days prior, of the space station and two satellites that the Vile 5 was most likely to use. However, in this version, the space station was circled in red, and the page opposite detailed the space stations specs, and instructions for docking procedure. "How are we to dock on this station? Aren't there people there?"
"No one is currently on the station, and I have negotiated with our allies to allow you to fly up there this one time only, in order to prevent catastrophe. You will dock there and wait for one of the two satellites to begin falling, at which time you will train the station's short-range lasers to fire upon it and destroy it. Make sure that you break it into very small pieces so none will hit us on accident."
"But Lord X," he said, now more confused than anything, "what if the station is the one to drop out of orbit?"
"Well, that will make it that much easier, won't it?" he replied. "Set the self-destruct and fly out. At any rate, your shuttle will be docked at SANA, on Runway 2. That's in Tau Complex, so make sure you make it on time. The shuttle leaves at six, and you'll arrive sometime around three in the afternoon tomorrow."
Shroud sighed, but said nothing, instead flipping through the folder. "Sir, it does also say that the shuttle will only hold nine people."
"Yes, because I set aside the shuttle before Matthias' injury. There were nine of you then."
"But now there's ten of us!"
"I can't change that now, Shroud, and to be honest, I don't think I would. We only have one shuttle larger than that, with a capacity of twelve, and only that one. The capacity would be lower if we had only one of these as well, but luckily another nine-seater was built a month or two ago. So one of you is just going to have to stay home."
"Well, in that case, I would assume that we get Synchro Chips?"
"Yes, in the end, Harpuia did convince me to allow you to bring Synchro Chips. However, you must be very careful not to break them. We cannot make a great number of them and have already lost two as of late, no thanks to your friends Pavo and Chris. Anything else?"
Shroud gritted his teeth and stood abruptly, pulling some papers from his coat that he threw onto X's desk. "Just this."
X raised an eyebrow, and then looked over the pages that were now strewn about his desk. "And what is 'this'?"
"My two-weeks' notice."
X just stared at him. Good. He'd been hoping for that expression on his face. "You're quitting? Shroud, I will not allow this. You and the Chaos Union are--"
"Are what? Important to you? A good bargaining chip? Your only hope of fighting back nations like Electopia and Netopia?" Shroud was angry now, and his short temper was beginning to fray. "I'm done with this country. For over seven years I've lived under your rule, and in the last few weeks, I think that I've learned who you are for the first time. I was so grateful for your aid that I closed my eyes to the truth: that you are nothing more than a dictator. So if you want someone to defend your country for you, you'd better start asking the rest of the Chaos Union, because I'm finished with you."
He grabbed the folder X had given to him and began to walk out, despite X's cries. "You can't go back to Electopia, Shroud. They'll kill you. You're only safe as long as you're here."
"That's funny," he replied, stopping and half-turning to face X. "Just last week I came closer to death than I have in years. Why? Because you'd rather have me a martyr than a confederate. I won't be your martyr, X. That's why I'm leaving. If I need to die, I will die for the people I care for, and you aren't one of them." With that last parting shot, Shroud pushed the door open and walked into the elevator, never looking back again.
-- 5: 54 PM, Gate 2, SANA, Tau Complex, Neo Arcadia --
Matthias looked sadly at the others, foolishly wishing that his legs would permit him to join them on their mission. They were all preparing to board, standing right in front of the gate onto the shuttle, each saying goodbye in their own way. Shroud held Seitoka in his arms while talking to Saishi, who really didn't understand what was going on. Jules continued to argue with a concerned Mikoto, who wasn't happy to be left behind, as if she was useless. Link's kids were strangely still for a moment as he spoke solemnly to them, and Raymond was talking with Alistor, to discover if he knew anything more of the Vile 5. Chris and Golex were simply talking amongst themselves, having no family present, but SH came over to sit beside him.
"Sorry you're not coming with us, Matthias."
"It's all right," he replied, trying not to look too wanting.
"No, it's not," SH said, causing Matthias to look over at him in surprise. He'd forgotten how blunt SH could be. "I know what it's like to be crippled. When I got this thing attached to me," and here he lightly tapped the computer fused with his neck, "my parents forced me to stay bedridden for a month, to make sure that the assimilation went well. When I finally was able to move about again, I realized that if my nerves hadn't fused properly, I might have become completely paralyzed, from the computer down. So just because something seems bad now doesn't mean that it's all bad."
"Well, I may not recover from my own paralysis, SH," Matthias retorted, a bit irked by SH's offhandedness. "Irine's shot only works a percentage of the time, and I haven't shown much improvement yet, after a week."
But SH only smiled. "I know you, Matthias. You'll heal." He gave him a light tap on the shoulder and walked back towards the others. He didn't know it, or perhaps he did, but that simple visit had encouraged Matthias enough to try to move his legs. They twitched slightly, and a grin began to appear on his face. That was good enough for now.
-
"I cannot believe that you agreed to this without even consulting me! I am as much a member of the Chaos Union as you, Jules. Why is it that you go while I stay?"
"Miko…" Jules didn't really have an answer for her. Shroud had called him at their hotel and asked him to meet with him at his house. Once there, Shroud had told him that either he or Miko could come, but not both. Apparently, it was due to a lack of seating, but he presumed that Shroud thought much like himself, in that he didn't want to see Miko harmed. So, Jules had agreed, hoping that Miko wouldn't be too angry with him; she was.
"I just don't understand. Why me? Why not someone else?"
"Because we love you, Miko." She stopped talking, as surprised as if she had never heard it before. "Shroud is a family person, and you're family. And you're my wife. I would rather die than let you be hurt, and this isn't necessarily going to be an easy mission. That's why I decided to make you stay. Because if anyone else dies up there, their children will have a mother to care for them. But if you and I go up there, and we both die, Kitsune has no one."
Miko looked away from Jules and allowed herself a quick sniffle before looking back up at him with reluctantly teary eyes. "I'm sorry, Jules. I didn't mean to get angry about it. But…Don't die on me, or I'll kill you!" she said, that last with a furious energy. Then he kissed her, for what he prayed would not be the last time, and nothing else mattered.
-
"Dad, why can't we come? You can just tie us to the wall if you're worried about the whole G-force thing." Link looked over his two children and smiled lightly, remembering when he was their age.
"Sorry, you two, but this mission isn't for little kids. Now, I know that you think that you're all grown up now that you're seven and four…"
"13 and 10!"
"Oh, that's right, how could I forget?" Dakota and Jade giggled as usual, and Link began to laugh for a minute as well, before becoming solemn again. "But listen, you two. Dakota, I was about your age when I joined the Chaos Union, so I understand exactly how you feel. It's like you're invincible. But that's not the way that the world works. Someday, I won't be here anymore, and the same goes for your mother. You have responsibilities as our children to Hyrule, and I think that you need to start accepting those responsibilities."
"But Dad, I'm younger than Dakota!" Jade protested. "Why do we have to start at the same time?"
"Jade, you are a princess. You started your job from the minute you were born. Someday, you will lead the Council of Sages, and some young hero will come along to marry you. So, when you return home, your mother is going to begin teaching you how to really be a princess, and teach you to rule Hyrule with the wisdom and grace I know you have."
"What about me, Dad?" Dakota asked. Link knew that he knew his role, because he had already begun training his son in the art of swordplay. But it was good that Dakota had asked, because Link intended on changing the manner of his training.
"Dakota, you are my son, but because of that, you will have no status amongst the Sages, and will only be a member of the royal family, never a ruling member. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, you must be ready to defend our kingdom from injustice. But unlike your mother, I don't think that you can learn to do that in Hyrule. That is why you are not returning home. When Jade and your mother leave Neo Arcadia to return to Hyrule, you will do to Electopia and join the Officials. I have made arrangements for you to stay in their dormitories, and you will become an Official Netbattler, as I was. Then, once you have received a Synchro Chip, you will be ready to defend our country."
Dakota's expression was interesting, a mixture of both shock and interest. Something else was in that expression as well, as if Dakota had known that he would join the ONB. But all he said aloud was, "Thanks, Dad," before giving his father a hug. Jade gave him one subsequently, with a naively royal kiss upon his check as well. Link then stood and walked over towards his wife. "All right, they're all yours."
"Link…please be careful. I couldn't bear lose you." Zelda fell into his arms, and Link held her close against him.
"I know, my dear. I know."
-
Chris looked over all of the others while he leaned up against the wall. Not for the first time, he wished that Erika was with him again. Half the Union was married, and yet he'd given up that path for something else. What he'd gained in exchange for giving up Erika was good, and was worth gaining, but nothing had ever convinced him that losing her was a price good enough to pay.
"So, what are you going to do when this is all over?" Golex asked him. The enigmatic Golex had been a mysterious member back when the Chaos Union was active, but now Chris knew even less of him. He had disappeared after their disbanding, and his netnavi had been active a bit afterwards, becoming a thief of some kind who dwelt within the Undernet. But Golex himself he'd heard nothing of, and Chris liked to know as much as possible about the people he worked with.
"I'm not sure," he responded. "Maybe I'll go to Netopia or something. Someplace new. How about you?"
"I don't know," he replied. "I've been to almost every country now, but maybe I'll go island hopping in the International Archipelago, or something. Of course, I'll let Hyperion go again, since he's been bugging me a bit."
"What's up with your netnavi, anyways?" After all, Chris didn't remember Hyperman being as eager to leave Golex as this new Hyperion was.
"Personally, I'm not exactly sure. He must have gotten infected with some virus that corrupted his internal data. It gave him an upgrade and made him into Hyperion, but he left me afterwards, becoming a net criminal. I managed to capture him eventually, and made him swear that if I ever needed him, he would come, but he wouldn't be tethered to me any longer. I agreed, but only after he let me program the oath into his frame."
Chris simply shrugged. That made sense, he supposed. He considered checking to make sure that Golex was telling him the truth, but it didn't seem important enough. Finding out that Shroud hadn't died had been, but this certainly wasn't. Still, he touched his hand to the Chain of Argent around his neck, and began to think of the day he received it, and of what he had learned.
-
"When you comin' home, Daddy?" Saishi cried as Shroud passed off Seitoka to Irine. Shroud crouched down to talk eye to eye with him; he'd always appreciated that as a kid.
"Well, Saishi, I'll be back in a few days," he replied, praying that the words held truth. "But you've gotta be good for your mom until I get back, okay?" His son eagerly nodded, and Shroud let out a chuckle as he ruffled his son's hair. He stood, knees protesting at the effort, and turned to look at Seija and Irine, the latter of whom was attending to Seitoka at the moment.
"Dad…I'm sorry that I left Neo Arcadia without your permission," Seija said, looking much more sorry than he presumed she actually was.
"Don't be," he said, slightly startling her. "If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I was so worried about what might happen if you left Neo Arcadia, that I never considered what might happen if you stayed here. I promise you, things will be different from now on. We're leaving Neo Arcadia after I get back."
"What? But what about the bounty on your head? You can't leave, or people will hunt you down."
"Let them try," he replied. "We'll travel to a remote country, maybe one of the island nations, and they won't find us. Maybe the case could be reopened and I could be pardoned. But all I know is that we can't stay here anymore, and I think that it's time you got to see the world."
"Oh, Dad!" Seija nearly leapt into his arms, and gave him a large hug. As she let go of him, she moved to take Seitoka on some signal Shroud never saw, and Irine moved towards him.
"Promise me you won't die up there," she said, looking intently into his eyes. "Promise me."
"I can never promise that, Irine. I never have."
She shook her head, as if trying to ward off tears, and said, "I don't care. I won't let you die if I can help it."
"Irine, listen to me. Listen, please." He took her hands in his, and tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. "I love you, and I will always love you, even after death." Her lips moved silently, saying no, but he continued. "It needs to be said. If I die, I want you to be happy, whatever that means. My death will make you and the children safe again, so you can return to Electopia, as you've always wanted. But don't go on mourning forever. Will you promise me that?" She looked hesitant, but tearfully agreed, before kissing him for what might be the last time.
Then he let her go, giving her hand a quick squeeze before moving to the gate's entrance. He said nothing, but the others knew, and finished their goodbyes quickly to follow him. Brian and Pavo were the first behind him, and soon the others all followed single-file, Chris, Golex, SH, Raymond, Link, and finally Jules. As they took their seats in the cabin, Shroud waited at the door to the cockpit to address them.
Once they were all seated, he began to speak. "What we are about to do may change the course of history. Without our help, Neo Arcadia will be wiped off the map, and the war wanted by the Vile 5 will begin. But with our aid, we will destroy the weapon of the Vile 5 and defeat them, saving the city for another day. If there are any who feel that they do not want to work towards this end, please leave." No one moved, as expected.
"In that case, I would like to simply say that I am glad to have worked with you all again, despite the changes our lives have taken in the years since we have seen each other. Brian, now a businessman, Pavo, a politician. Two jobs I could never see you taking that you have fit perfectly into. Chris, graduating from the Setan Academy, a goal I never managed to achieve. Golex, living life to its fullest. SH, now living the dream, and working in repossessions as you always loved. Raymond, a teacher, and Link, a prince. J.G. now Jules, and married to another of ours, Mikoto. And Matthias, who has paid a great price for our safety, and the safety of this city's people. All of you are like family to me, and I pray that we return home as we left it, whole, and in one piece."
The others looked at him, listening intently to his speech. Shroud opened his mouth to find more words to say, and realized that there were only two. "Good luck," he said, before turning and entering the cockpit, turning on the shuttle and waiting for clearance to launch.
-
A man watched from outside SANA as the shuttle carrying the Chaos Union took off. That was it then. Their families and the members they left behind were already leaving, taking taxis or cars back to their domiciles, waiting for the mission to be over and their loved ones to be safe. He only hoped that could be accomplished, even without his aid.
He'd finally ditched the kid, only to discover later that his father had joined Shroud and the others, and he'd been hiding in a rundown apartment for nothing. Still, everything had worked out fine, and Shroud should be fine on the station, regardless of what satellite the Vile 5 chose to use. "That's right, just keep telling yourself that, it'll make you feel better," he muttered to himself as he slipped back into the shrubbery that surrounded the facility.
He supposed that he could go see Irine and the kids. He hadn't seen them since a little after Seija was born, despite his initial efforts to seek out Shroud. But after a while, he'd figured that the former Chaos Union leader would hide until he wanted to be found, and sure enough: he'd appeared several years later as a personal advisor to Lord X, leader of the recently formed nation of Neo Arcadia. After that, Shroud had been amongst the furthest things from his mind until he'd picked up that stray bit of information.
He'd recently been sent out to collect the bounty on a rebel Darkloid known as Aki Fuma, a criminal whose netnavi Frostman had been irrevocably corrupted, causing him to regret joining the Darkloids and try to flee. Unfortunately, the Darkloids didn't like that too much, and had hired him to hunt down the runaway and silence him. The criminal was easy to find, but once he'd been caught, some interesting information had been gleaned from his gibbering tongue.
"Please don't kill me, I'll tell you anything! Everything!" He could still hear the man's voice, plain as day, even though the event was weeks old. "The Darkloids are planning something big! An attack on Neo Arcadia!" The name had caused him to pause for an instant, and Aki took it as mercy. "They're working through some group called the Vile 5. They're starting a war between nations so that it'll be easier to infect netnavis! Please don't kill me!" He then proceeded to tell him the entire tale, as much as he knew, and he suddenly realized that he needed to find Shroud.
He hadn't killed him, of course. He rarely did kill his bounties, even if murder was requested, as it was in this case. He simply reported in the death, showcased a similar-looking corpse's head that had rotted a bit, and sold the captive to another country with an outstanding warrant on them. In this case, it had been Netopia, and he'd returned to his base in Nation Z worried over what Aki had said. Eventually, he'd decided to find out if Shroud still worked in Neo Arcadia, and went to ask the services of the Hurr Repossession Agency, who'd been friends of his way back when. The kid working there had given him a direct address to Shroud's house, but the resulting stalking made him wish he'd just flown right there without consulting an outside source.
No matter. Everyone made a mistake once in a while, and this mistake hadn't killed anyone, so it must have turned out decent. He was coming out of the bushes now, and could see the road leading outwards before him. The taxis, last to leave the base, were at the gate to the main road, the actual cars already gone. He wondered if they could see him, all the way up there, and if any recognized him. None did, and as he stood and watched them silently, they all drove off, leaving him alone.
As he began to move towards the motorcycle he'd stashed across the road, he caught a movement from his peripheral vision, and turned angrily, believing it to be the Hurr boy again. Instead, a woman appeared before his eyes, dressed in a light red skirt and a crimson blouse. It occurred to him that he had seen her once before, and tried to imagine where. Suddenly, as he remembered a young girl, and mentally aged her twenty or twenty-five years, he knew exactly who she was, and began to say her name.
The words echoed loudly to his ears, and he noticed a jabbing pain in his neck. Surprisingly slowly, he reached upwards to feel a small dart, and then realized the woman was holding a small tube close to her lips, a tube that she slipped back into her purse. "I knew that I'd find you sooner or later," she said to him in a voice he knew could not be her own. "As soon as my employers found out that their runaway had spilled the beans, they knew that you'd be here eventually. But I'm quite surprised that you waited this long. What good were you doing watching from behind the fence?"
He tried to mutter a response, but his mouth began to open and close soundlessly. A jarring pain cut into his hands and arms, and he realized that he had fallen to the ground. He couldn't move his head to see the woman he once knew, but could still hear her speaking. "Too bad that you didn't bring your netnavis with you. I had a nice ion discharge ready too. And don't worry about dying. This is only a sedative. Just don't expect to wake up in the next few days, all right?"
He faintly heard her say something else, and then, as he wondered how he had been so easily tricked, his world faded out.
-- Thursday, April 10, 3: 45 PM, Space Station Algebar --
Shroud exited the shuttle and immediately opened the door to the airlock, ushering the others in. They quickly passed through and entered the station's central lounge, where they would most likely be spending a majority of their time. He walked behind the bar and pulled out several bottles, before addressing the Union. "All right, since Brian and Chris drew the short straws on the way up, they're going to head up to the control deck and start monitoring the two satellites. In the meantime," he continued, uncorking a bottle of sake and pouring it into small cups that some of the others took. "drink up. We've got a long wait ahead of us."
"It's been a long time since I've had some of this," Link said, quaffing nearly the entire glass in one gulp, as always. "Odd that it's on a Sharoan satellite though. Isn't this usually made in Nation Z or Choina?"
"Sharo's invading Choina," SH responded soberly as Brian and Chris left. SH always knew how to kill a conversation.
"Are we sure that we're doing the right thing?" Pavo asked, sipping the sake slowly. "I mean, most of us are citizens of either Electopia or Netopia, and we're fighting for a country that is allying themselves with Sharo, the most prominent enemy of our nations. War hasn't officially begun, but technically, what we're doing is treasonous."
"It's too late to have second thoughts," Shroud replied smoothly, but he understood what Pavo was saying. Technically, his friends were the enemy, and they weren't doing their countries any good by helping him. Quite the opposite: crushing Neo Arcadia would give Sharo the incentive to attack, and Netopia and Electopia would probably succeed in an all-out war against Sharo. However, he couldn't sit back and watch a country die.
"You're right, Shroud," Jules responded. "So why don't we just blow both satellites out of the air? That'll get us home right away."
"No, because the treaty with Sharo hasn't been signed yet, right?" Raymond asked. "If we blew their satellites out of the sky they could just bomb Neo Arcadia and we'd be back where we were, except without any allies at all."
"Excellent deduction, my Chaos Union friends."
The entire team swiveled, looking towards the doorway that Brian and Chris had recently passed through. Unbelievably enough, the entire Vile 5 stood in the hall, Dr. Cain at the front with Drs. Doppler and Gate to his right and Weil and Lumina to his left.
"Now," Cain said, as Shroud's mind began to reel. "Why don't we start this show with a bang?"
Then the rest of the station reeled, as the rockets that had formerly pushed it into space ignited, throwing the Chaos Union to the ground as it began to fall towards Neo Arcadia.