"Hm…" Yuichiro put a hand to his chin, looking over the report in front of him. "This is bizarre…"
"Yep. As we've both said many times before." Zero crossed his arms. "Only conclusion I'm coming to is that it has to be a net navi letting those viruses into ovens. Viruses of the variety that have been reported aren't exactly common. Not to mention they would need help to wreak havoc like they have."
"Yes… only problem is we don't have evidence of such being the case." Yuichiro ran a hand through his hair. "Which the Net Police do not want to hear for the umpthteenth time. And the other thing is… why though? I know solo navis can be mischievous but they usually keep to themselves, they don't interact that much with humans unless provoked. They have nothing to gain with doing harm however. So… if anything, it would have to be a navi and netop causing the problem… but again… we don't know who… and we don't even know if that is the case. For all we know it's just an increase in virus population."
And goodness knows we've dealt with solo navis who thought they were tough before...
"Ugh… my circuits hurt."
"You two should head home."
Yuichiro jumped, whirling behind him to see a net navi that was dressed in blue armor and had a labcoat on. To anyone else, it would be shocking to see a net navi walking in the real world. To Yuichiro, especially with this particular navi, this was nothing to be alarmed by.
He brought a hand over his heart.
"X, a little more warning before speaking, eh?"
X chuckled, crossing his arms.
"Not possible with how engrossed you get with your computer."
"Ehehe? And no, X, we still have work to do."
X narrowed his eyes.
"Then at the very least take a break. You've been analyzing that Net Police data for hours. Don't ruin your eyes more than they already are."
Yuichiro gave a flat look, adjusting his glasses.
"Haha, very funny."
"You know I love you, Little Bro."
"Yeah, yeah, you too. Seriously though, I can't put this down." Yuichiro narrowed his eyes. "It wouldn't be-"
"Responsible of you to pass out on the floor and have Haruka, Hub and Lan worried sick." X cut in. "Go. Home."
Zero gave his own stern look.
"We wouldn't hear the end of it from Haruka and Airisu."
Yuichiro threw his hands up.
"Alright, alright, I get the picture. Zero and I will pack up and go home."
X nodded.
"And just so you don't get any ideas. " He gave a flick of his hand, the data screen going right to him. "I'll be taking this and looking it over myself."
"Fine, fine." Yuichiro jacked out Zero, powering off his computer. "Haruka's cooking sounds nice anyway."
Ping ping!
"Hey, Yuichiro, there's an email for you." Zero gave a perplexed expression as he looked at it. "Huh? That's weird."
"Hm? What is it?"
"It just… a message with an image on it. A "W" with a "3" under it." Zero showed it on the monitor of the PET. "Does that mean anything to you?"
Yuichiro looked at it carefully.
"No…" Yuichiro showed it to X. "Any thoughts?"
X put a hand to his chin.
"Hm… I don't believe it matches any logos I know in my database but I will look into it." X pulled up another screen, copying the logo onto it. "I'll report when I find out what it means as soon as possible."
"Thank you, X." Yuichiro closed the email, putting Zero's PET into its holder, stretching. "Make sure Mikhail and Genji don't blow up SciLabs while I'm out."
"Yes, yes." X gave a wave of his hand. "Aile and Vent will help keep them and their navis in line. Now. Go. Home. Before I lock you out of your computer."
"Yeesh, don't need to come for my life, X."
Yuichiro left without another word, leaving X alone in the lab area. The navi shook his head, chuckling.
"Some things just never change."
"Yuichiro, go to bed."
"But brother! I'm almost got this code cracked-"
"Bed. Now. Or I'm locking your PET."
"Okay! Okay!"
X looked at the logo again. It seemed familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. All he knew, was seeing it, made his circuits go slightly cold.
And I'm not sure why… but I'm going to find out.
oooooo
"Hm…" Lan narrowed his eyes at the screen. "I wonder…"
Megaman was waiting patiently, checking the house's network for anything odd. It was looking to be one of their usual evenings.
He's been at this for about an hour… Calling it now, snack break in five seconds.
Lan drummed his fingers on his desk, mumbling a bit under his breath.
"What's wrong?"
"This… stupid… coding homework! No matter what I do, the rig breaks!"
Megaman winced.
"I told you to skip that class until next semester but you insisted."
"Ap ap! No. We are not doing this." Lan took a deep breath, grabbing up his PET. "We're getting a snack."
"Knew it." Megaman crossed his arms. "Though you better not eat too much. Your mom's coming home in a little while, right?"
"Yeah, grocery shopping with Airisu-"
Lan stopped at the top of the stairs, eyes going wide in alarm. There was smoke drifting up through the hall that lead to the kitchen.
Before Megaman could warn him against it, he was down the stairs, grabbing up the fire extinguisher.
Oh, please tell me it's not-
"Lan, careful, the oven!"
Just as he feared, the oven was engulfed in a raging inferno that was starting to spread to other areas of the kitchen, the flames drawing closer to the wooden cabinets above the stove.
He started spraying down the fire with the extinguisher.
Soon as this is out I'm checking that chip…
Lan broke into a small coughing fit from the smoke, but it wasn't long until the fire was subdued but it was still threatening to grow in size again.
"Megaman?" He asked, lifting his PET up. "Care to find out what's causing this?"
He nodded, a serious look coming to his gaze.
"On it."
Lan quickly jacked Megaman into the oven's system.
"Jack in! Megaman power UP!"
Megaman soon appeared in the oven's mainframe, eyes widening in alarm at system being up in flames and the amount of viruses present that were tearing it apart. CanDevil and Meataur viruses to be exact.
Oh… heck no.
Megaman held out his arm, it transforming into his MegaBuster.
"Get out of my house, you viruses!"
Megaman started blasting away, deleting viruses left and right. As each one was destroyed, the flames started lower bit by bit.
Come on, almost there!
Megaman took out one last virus, the flames soon dying out. The net navi let out a sigh of relief… though perked up as he noticed there were still some flames present in a part of the mainframe. He looked over, noticing a shadow amongst the flames.
Megaman squinted his eyes, trying to make out what it was. It looked like it could possibly be a net navi but he wasn't entirely sure. He moved a little closer, though stopped as a voice was heard.
"Stay out of the way, blue boy or get burned."
The figure faded and as did the flames, leaving Megaman alone in the system.
"What was that…?"
Megaman shook his head.
I'll worry about it later.
"Lan?" Megaman called out. "How are things on your end?"
"Fires out." Lan answered. "Is the mainframe clear?"
"Yeah. You can jack me out now… Though maybe I should stay, just in case."
"Good idea."
Lan slumped against the counter, sliding down to the floor.
"That was too close…"
"Lan!?"
Lan perked up, seeing both his parents now present, mortified looks on their faces.
"Oh… hey…" Lan gave a sheepish look. "Um… I can explain…?"
Haruka an Yuichiro ran right to Lan, bringing him into their arms.
"Are you okay? Any injuries? Did you breathe in too much smoke?" Haruka started to ask, rapid fire.
Airisu appeared in the oven's mainframe, immediately giving Megaman the same treatment.
"Any damaged data? Broken main frame? Cyber burns?"
"Mom/Airisu I'm fine, really!"
"Lan/Mega!"
The boys both groaned, letting them finish looking them over.
"I promise, we're okay." Megaman insisted. "Lan didn't get too much smoke and neither did I. And I didn't get burned."
"Neither did I."
Airisu and Haruka both sighed before they pulled the two close to them.
"Just don't scare us again." Haruka kissed her son's head, holding him tighter. "I'm glad you put the fire out but next time, please just run out of the house. Whatever is in here isn't worth your life."
"Mom…"
Yuichiro ruffled his hair, giving him a gentle look.
"You did good, kiddo. You took care of things."
Lan looked up, smiling sheepishly.
"I tried." He sighed in relief, slumping against his mother a little. "Though… something tells me we're not having dinner any time soon, huh?"
"Oh you." Haruka ruffled his hair.
"To be fair, that whole thing interrupted my mid homework snack!"
"We'll clean this up and order in tonight." Haruka glanced at the oven, narrowing her eyes. "And… Airisu? Care to write me up a "lovely" email for that company that was supposed to service the oven?"
"Already ripping them a new one!" She called, typing with one hand on a data screen, her other arm still around Megaman.
"Airisu…"
"Just a minute!"
Zero appeared, looking around the system, eyes wide.
"Oh dear… Hey, Yuichiro? Remember that report we were looking over?" Zero brought up a screen, showing the mainframe to Yuichiro. "Look familiar?"
Yuichiro frowned, nodding.
"Yeah, it does. Almost an exact match to the photos we were given by the Net Police."
"Huh?"
Lan and Megaman gave Yuichiro and Zero confused looks. Both gave a wave of their hands.
"We'll talk about it later. Right now, our main priority is keeping our home safe." Yuichiro said.
"Yep… besides." Zero smirked. "Airisu is not going to be letting go for awhile.
Megaman pouted.
"Airisu…"
She brought both arms around him, kissing his head.
"You're my baby, let me fuss."
He let out a long sigh.
"Okaaaay."
"That's my little boy."
Megaman shrugged.
"Guess I'm not helping Lan with his homework tonight."
Immediately, Lan looked to his father, with a puppy eyed look.
"Uh… X told me to take it easy tonight."
"Uncle X doesn't get to decide what happens during that though." Lan whimpered a little. "And I almost died."
"Gah! L-Lan no that'd be irresponsible-"
"I could've had smoke inhalation… or gotten burned."
Yuichiro flinched, before he hung his head.
"Okay, okay! Emotional blackmail… It works!"
"Yes! Thanks Dad, you're the best!"
Besides… get his mind off of what happened…
Yuichiro started to lead Lan upstairs, glancing back at the kitchen with a curious look.
I just hope this isn't a sign of things to come…