*California, America: Before the raid on the Ocean Turtle*
Inside an office building up on the top floor in an office a blond haired man was currently logged into his AmuShere. The VRMMORPG he was playing happened to be GGO, this man is the leader of the team that was fighting Kirito and friends before Kirito was attacked and placed into the underworld. The man's name inside VR is Subtilizer but IRL it's Gabriel Miller, when Gabriel logged out and removed the AmuShere from his head a light emerged from his desk.
He touched the panel, "Mr. Miller the people from the NSA are here." a female's voice came through, "Send them in." Gabriel answered and not 2 minutes later, 2 men dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses walked in and they took their seats on the sofa in the room. Gabriel got up from his chair and walked to the seat on the other side of the NSA agents. "What brings you here?" Gabriel asked, "Mr. Miller, we have recently heard of a piece of technology called Soul Translation." One of the men said, "I've never heard of it." Gabriel said, "That's because a Japanese company called RATH developed it, with this technology RATH can not only read souls they can clone it." The guy said, "A human soul?" Gabriel questioned, "Yes the project is code named ALICE and its goal is to create a true AI to pilot military drones." Gabriel did not know what to think of this information he was getting from the NSA. "That's hard to believe." He said, "Yeah, and with them having that kind of tech then that could disrupt the military advantages in East Asia." The man said, "Needless to say the U.S is concerned and wants the NSA to give you a top secret mission." Said the other, "Go on, what is the nature of the mission?" Gabriel asked as he rested his head on his hand.
"RATH's headquarters is on a mega float in the middle of the Pacific it is near the Izu Islands, it is called the Ocean Turtle, we need you to infiltrate the facility, secure the Soul Translation Tech, and bring it back." The other man continued, "You want us to raid a Japanese facility one of our allies?" Gabriel said, "We have a contact within the JSDF and they will have a window open for you on the day, use any methods necessary just know that this is off the books you won't have any help from the U.S if you get caught." Said the second man, "Alright then I will assemble a team and lead this mission myself." Gabriel said with a smile.
*Ocean Turtle: 40 minutes After the raid; Main Con*
"Say that to my face Critter!" Vassago roared as he healed a blond dude up by the collar of his jacket, "Sure Vassago, they have the system locked uptight. I could try to get in with the laptop we brought but you would die of old age before I got in." Critter said as he gasped for air, "That's not all you said, you also said we would have got in sooner if we weren't so slow getting in here. Instead of waiting for the all clear, you're coming upfront with us you wuss!" Vassago said as he tightened his grip on Critter, "What if I did?" Critter said then, Gabriel stepped in, "Stand down Vassago," Vassago looked back and the blond haired man, "Come on bro let me put this worm in his place, " Gabriel shook his head and walked forward. "I said stand down." He repeated, Vassago let go of Critter, "Alright here's the situation, we stormed the place 40 minutes ago now it's 14:47 local time, we have been locked out of the system and we weren't able to capture any RATH staff to help us unlock it. A minor set back now all we have to do is try to infiltrate the sub controls room and try from there." Gabriel said before Vassago said.
"Yeah and if we can't get into the system then we can't get what we came here to get and when that ship outside figures out what's, what then we will be up to the brim with soldiers!." Vassago sounded mad that the RATH staff had locked the system and about the Asahi standing by outside. "Don't worry the client assured me that they have a contact within the JSDF and that we would have a 24 hour window before the ship rolled in," Gabriel said before he turned to the bald man on his right, "Well Brig is it possible to cut through the Bulk Head door?" The bald man known as Brig shook his head, "Not with the gear we brought if we have to be out of here in 24 then the portable saw ant enough we need something bigger and sharper." Gabriel then looked at the dirty blond on his left, "Hans can we use C4 to blow it?" The guy known as Hans shook his head, "We could but I don't recommend it the chamber with the light cube cluster is on the other side, If we blow the door it could damage the light cube cluster along with everything in it." Gabriel then looks back at the rest of the group, "Somehow we need to find a light cube in a vault of thousands, we have the cubes ID but since we can't get past the Bulk Head door." Gabriel said, "Well if we can't get through the door then maybe we can do it from the inside at least we brought Senior Dork along for the ride all that BS about hacking the pentagon if you were really that good then you would have had this thing open by now." Vassago said, Critter scoffed he was not amused that Vassago said that. "Listen to the super soldier by now the only combat you've seen is the virtual kind." Vassago was mad now in fact he never liked Critter. "You idiotic nerd!" Vassago stepped forward with his hand pulled back in a fist as he brought it forward someone then caught his fist.
"Do you want to go back empty handed and instead of getting a big fat bonus get laughed at?" Vassago got his arm free from Gabriel, "No," he said, Gabriel turned to Critter and said. "Are you going to let some average programmers lock you out?" Critter shook his head, "No," Gabriel turned to the rest of the group, "Then think damn it and prove that you have more than oatmeal in your skulls." When he said that everyone's expressions changed and they were ready to get to work.
Critter sat down at the computer and started to try and get into the system again while the rest except Vassago and Gabriel went to help guard the main control room in case RATH wanted to try and take back the control room. "Admin privileges can't open the system all I can do is bring up a visual of the underworld so that we can see what all the flucktlights are doing, technically we can see them living their lives in their little fairy tale kingdom." Critter said as he brought up a visual of the Underworld.
"Wait are those Goblins?" Gabriel asked as they watched the Goblins wrestle each other, "You know like your fantasy troops caption." Critter said, "They seem to be too big to be regular goblins, yeah those are Hob Goblins." Vassago said, "Critter are those creatures apart of the system like NPCs?" Asked Gabriel, Critter shook his head. "Not from what I'm seeing they all have light cube dedications which means they're in the cluster, they all have souls." Vassago was as confused as ever but was still excited. "Wait they all have one? Hey, look to see what the other flucktlights are doing. Maybe Alice is one," Vassago said as he banged his hand on Critter's head.
"Have a look, the Underworld is split into the Human Empire, where you know humans live and on the other side of the mountains is the Dark Territory where all the monsters are." Critter said as he pulled up more visuals of the Underworld. "And with a name like Alice, she's both female and human." He continued, "Well if they live in a civilization they can talk so just drop me in there and I can ask around until I find her." Vassago suggested, "OMG hearing from you I don't know if I'm a fan of the idea anymore." Critter chuckled, "But it will take you a while to find her since there are a lot of people living in the Human Empire." He continued, then it hit him, "Maybe unless you are a person with some rank and authority." Critter said as he thought really hard, "How about I log in as a general or president I'll give the order to find Alice and let the grunts do the work." Vassago said with excitement as he remembered the days he spent as a guild leader.
"Critter see if the RATH staff set aside some special accounts," Gabriel said and Critter started typing again then different options of super accounts appeared. "Your right caption the RATH peeps had to of set aside some accounts to use so that they could tweak the world from inside." Just as he said that the Human Empire super accounts started to disappear because Higa put a lock on those accounts so that the hijackers could not use them.
"Dang it," Critter said, "There goes that idea." Vassago said sadly, "Wait, Critter look and see if there are special accounts outside of the Human Empire." Critter looked at Gabriel confused, "Ok but the chances of Alice being in monster land is almost nil." Critter said, "Yeah I know but if the two sides are only separated by mountains they can be crossed." Gabriel said, "And that's why you're in charge." Critter said as he started searching for accounts outside of the human empire and he found some contenders.
Critter whistled, "Look I think that I found a couple of contenders," Up on the screen two accounts showed up for the Dark Territory. "No password required gents." Critter said, "Speaks look good, it's classified as a Dark Knight, and its object control authority is at 70 it's bad to the bone." Vassago was liking the sound of being a dark knight. "Aw Yeah that one is right up my alley, I call dibs on the dark knight," Vassago said happily, "I found another account we can use," Critter stated, "This one doesn't have an object control authority or durability. The only setting is its name. Emperor Vector," Critter continued, "That guy is the king of the monsters, change my mind I'll be him." Vassago said but Gabriel stepped in, "No I'll use that account." he said, "Alright bro, you be the emperor and I'm good with being a dark knight." Vassago said, then he turned to Critter who was looking at the logs and kept rereading a term he's never seen before. "Come on four eyes what do we have to do to log in?" He asked but Critter was still quiet. "Speak up Critter," Gabriel said, "I keep seeing the same term in these logs." Critter said, still looking at the screen with the log. "What term?" Questioned Gabriel, "The Final Load Test." Answered Critter that left everyone confused.
*Sub control room*
"Like I said before he is doing really well but his neural network still isn't fully healed. It's halfway there though. But when I checked his fluctlight again he was very active yet it seems like he's yearning for something or someone but I can't put my finger on who or what." Higa said, "What do you think we should do now?" Renko asked, "I do not know he is still connected but he is not himself." Higa answered, then they heard the sound of heals coming their way and the only person that could be was Asuna. The chestnut haired girl looked at the 3 adults in front of her. "Send me, I'll go in there." She said shocking all 3 of them but she still had hope that they would log her in so that she could help Kirito. "Asuna," Renko said, Asuna walked closer to them. "I'll go, I know he needs me, we have been through so much and I know that he is yearning for me like I'm yearning for him." Asuna said as tears started to fall down her face. Kekouka turned to look at her,
"Alright you can go we have another STL that you can use within the room where Kirito is. Since I had a feeling that you might ask, but just know that the Underworld is in a critical stage right now it is scheduled to enter the final load test soon, the final stage in the experiment." Kekouka said, "The Final Load Test? What's that?" Renko asked, "The eastern gate that separates the Human Empire from the Dark Territory will fall when its durability hits zero then the monsters will invade the human side. If the humans can get their numbers up in time they could drive the monsters back to their side, it's a 50, 50 shot since Kirito pretty much destroyed the Axiem Church and the ruling body there since his flucktlight is not damaged he could help them get ready with more troops." Higa said,
"And there is a good chance that Alice could be killed in the fight." Kekouka said, as they were chatting Asuna dried her tears. "The only way that Alice can be saved is if we send some back up so that they can help Kirito get her to the World End's Alter and by using the terminal there they can eject her to this control room." Kekouka said, "So that's why you told Kirito to take her there to eject her." Renko said, "He would have done it by now if he was close enough to it. You heard what he said she was right there with him." Kekouka said, crossing his arms.
"Time is accelerated there so by now months have passed do you think that they're still together even now?" Renko asked, Higa then chimed in. "I think they are and personally I think that Asuna should go since she has the exact same experience as Kirito when it comes to combat and VR, she can help him protect Alice," Higa said.
"You don't need to remind me about that, ok let's find her an account to log in with." Kekouka said then Higa started to type on the keyboard, "Sure I have tons of options." As he said that the options that he locked from the idiots in main con showed up. "You can log in as a general or a noble but whatever you pick will have high status Asuna." Higa said then it hit Renko, "Wait what about the guys in main con? What if they have the same idea we do?" she asked, "There are two STLs over there that they can use but the pass codes I put on these accounts are tough and they won't have time to crack them if they do send somebody in they can only go in as a level one person..." Higa's voice trailed off and seemed like he forgot about the dark superuser accounts. "What's wrong Higa?" Renko asked, "Aw it's nothing." Higa replied, "So Asuna what account do you want?" Kekoka asked, Asuna smiled and said. "Do you have any goddess accounts?" Kekoka and Higa nodded then Higa got to work in order to find the goddess account he knew was going to be perfect for Asuna.
*Upper shaft STL room*
Asuna was standing by Kirito's side again but this time she was in a garment similar to his but pink on the other side of the room Nurse Aki was getting an IV drip ready since Asuna, was going in the same way Kirito did and wanted to be prepared for the worst since now she was going to watching both Kirito and Asuna, Asuna also had her phone in her hand she was going to be letting the others know that she was going to get Kirito. Asuna looked at Kirito, she was sad that he was in that state but was happy that she was going to be helping him out. Asuna pressed the send button on her message, then she walked over to Nurse Aki. Asuna sat down on the table then gave her arm to Aki, the nurse used an alcohol wipe to clean inside of Asuna's forearm where the radial bone in her elbow was located since that was where the IV was supposed to go.
Aki looked at Asuna and said, "Are you ready for this?" Asuna nodded, "Yeah ready as I'll ever be."
*Sinon's school library*
Sinon was asleep on the table with her head resting on her arms, she wasn't really having a pleasant dream. In fact, the dream she was having was technically a flashback from the previous BOB where she got her but kicked by Subtilizer, in the dream Sinon was running away from the blond man and was waiting for the best time to take him out but he was too quick for her to handle. He was able to find her and take her out but not before saying a very creepy line of, "Your soul will be so sweet." After that was said Sinon's avatar was taken out.
Sinon opened her eyes quickly and saw that she was still in the school's library. She sat up, "Not him again," she whispered to herself then her phone chimed, she looked at it and Sinon had just received Asuna's text about going in to save Kirito. Sinon grabbed her glasses that were on the table, she put them on so that she could see the message clearly and who it was from. "Asuna," Sinon said, but she never got the chance to read the text from her chestnut haired friend because a soft voice of a little girl came through the phone. "Hi, Sinon I have something important to tell you and others could you log into ALO right away?" Said Yui, the adorable AI daughter of Kirito and Asuna.
Sinon did not understand why Yui needed them but she got up from her seat, grabbed her phone, bag, and jacket before leaving school, and headed to her apartment so that she could log into ALO. 'I wonder what Yui needs to tell us and what was up with that text from Asuna?' Sinon thought as she arrived at her apartment building, she unlocked the door and walked in before closing the door and locking it. Sinon took off her shoes before heading over to the table and placing her school bag, jacket, and phone on it. Sinon went over to her bed, sat down, removed her glasses and placed them on the table by her bed, she then grabbed her AmuShere and placed it on her head. Sinon laid down on her bed then said, "Link Start!" Sinon was then transported to the world of ALO.
*ALfheim Online: Sylph Territory; Sylvan, ALO gang meeting room*
"Thank you all for coming, I'm sorry that this was so sudden," Yui said sadly, Liz shook her head. "No your ok Yui, what's up?" Yui took in a deep breath before explaining why she asked them all to meet her in ALO. "Well didn't you all get a message from Mommy?" Everyone nodded, "Yeah about that, what was it about?" Klein asked, "To summarize it, Mommy is going to be diving into the Underworld to get Daddy. She also said that his fluctlight is halfway healed and the reason for it not being fully healed is because he is yearning for her so that is preventing his flucklight from healing fully. I really want them to be safe, also she said that they do not know Daddy's underworld condition so she is also going in to see how he is." Yui explained, "Wow they actually let her dive in with him?" Leafa asked, "Yes and she was very happy about it." Yui said, "But if I see a big problem within the Underworld I will be calling you all for back up so for right now you all are on standby." Everyone nodded, "Don't worry Yui, Asuna will find Kirito and also find a way to bring him back so that you 3 can be a family again." Sinon said, Yui looked at the teal haired Cat Fairy with little pecks of tears in her eyes, "I know I'm just worried about them." Yui said, "We know Yui but we just have to believe in them." Liz said the black haired pixie nodded and just silently prayed that her parents were going to be ok.
*Ocean Turtle; lower shaft STL room*
Gabriel was at STL 2 while Vassago was at STL 3, they both were laying down on the table on the STL they were at and already had their eyes closed. Outside was Brig and Hans they were going to be guarding the door to the room so that no RATH staff could go in and stop the dive from happening.
"Fasten your seat belts gents." Came Critter's voice over the intercom, then the visors on the STLs came down and covered the male's eyes logging them into the Underworld. During Gabriel's login sequence he saw someone from his past, it was the spirit of a little girl in an orange dress and she had long dark blond hair. Gabriel reached his hand for the little girl who was reaching out to him, "Alisha," he said before fully entering the Underworld.
*Underworld: Dark Territory; Obsidian Castle*
A man with light brown hair dressed in a dark blue uniform was sitting on a sofa in his chamber when the door opened to reveal a woman with light purple hair dressed in dark purple knight armor, she kneels and says. "Thank you for seeing me my lord, I Lipia Zonkale bring news." She said, "Come in and sit down." He said, "Thank you my lord." Lipia stated before getting up and walking over to the sofa on the other side of the table, "There's no need to be so formal." The man said he was Shasta the commander of the dark knights and Lipia was his vice commander. "Well officially I'm still on duty." Lipia said as she sat down, "Have it your way," Shasta said, giving in to her calling him lord instead of his name.
"I found out that the Pontifex of the Axiem Church is dead," That statement shocked Shasta out of his socks, "That immortal being is no more?" He questioned, Lipia nodded. "I was shocked when I found out as well so I spent the last week confirming it." Shasta then smiled, "Perfect," Lipia was taken back by his statement, "I'm sorry perfect?" Shasta nodded, "For peace," Shasta had always had a feeling that the Dark Territory and Human Empire could one day be at peace and not having to hate each other. "Is that even an option? Will the order of Integrity Knights be up to peace negotiations with us?" Lipia questioned, "Since the Pontifex is no more I have no doubt that old man Bercoali is in charge now, I may hate him but he is reasonable." Shasta said, "But what about our council of ten my lord? I know we have always had this thing for peace but what about the other 9?" Lipia sounded really worried about the other 9 of the council of ten for the Dark Territory.
"Not all of them are against peace, just 4," Said Shasta, "You can take on the Goblin and Orc chefs since they are no match for you but the dark mage leader, who knows what kinds of spells she has up her sleeves!" Lipia cried as she stood up from her spot, "That's why they must die." Lipia was even more scared now, "But my lord you can take on the Orc and Goblin chefs like I said but the mage leader what about her?" She asked, Shasta couldn't lie to himself he had no way of taking out Dee Eye Ill the dark mage leader, but he also didn't like when Lipia was all worked up.
"Lipia, how long have we been together?" Shasta asked out of the blue, Lipia's expression changed as she thought for a moment, "Since the day I turned 21, so 4 years now." Lipia answered, "That long, I've made you wait too long." He said, now Lipia was confused. "I was thinking maybe we should make it official and become husband and wife." Lipia was shocked that he just asked that but she was happy, she then started to cry happy tears when she wiped them the purple haired knight nodded then a guy with orange hair ran into the room in a hurry catching the couples attention. "Emergency," He cried, "Come to the throne room the chain on the door is trembling!" He continued, now the couple was confused but obeyed just so that they could see what was happening.
Down the hall the chain on the door to the throne room shattered and the door opened, Gabriel now in control of the Dark God Vector account sitting on the throne and Vassago now a dark knight and they were waiting to get the war started to that they could find Alice and get there big fat bonus.