0-0-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Chapter 50
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Wrecking Ball
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Okay, Karen, relax. Breathe normally, and try to concentrate."
It was two days since Karen had escaped, and a lot of brainstorming and research had led them to a complicated multi-part plan. She heard SAL's smooth, soft voice clearly, as it was the only thing she could hear other than her own heartbeat. The sensory deprivation chamber was lightless, soundproof, and she reclined in such a way that felt like drifting.
"You sure this will work?" asked Jalal. He was watching the process through a monitor, holding the journal with his thumb as a makeshift bookmark. Karl was watching in another room at a computer terminal with a keyboard, while Philip was at another monitor. Memory Crystals Alpha and Beta were behind him in the same room, and Dram was watching. He had already cast nine of the ten parts of a Chain Contingency, and needed only a second's notice to finish it.
Jalal's room was separated from Karl's by a pane of bulletproof glass. Jabels, Dolores, Viola, and Prospero were watching while monitoring other communication equipment, and Sofia was quietly doing so behind them.
"Hardly," replied Karl, "but I'm reasonably sure the odds are in our favor. The nanos in her system are receiving some sort of transmission from Antisthenes and sending their own back to him. To put it blunt, the nanos can hack the memory of a human in the same way they would the memory of a computer. He's likely using the same system Eden wants us to access.
"So, we're going to turn the tables on him. Fortunately, nanomachines are pretty dumb as far as robots go, so SAL can interpret their transmissions in the same way a parent would play Candyland with children."
"So, you're going to back hack him?" asked Dolores. "Using Karen as a living modem?"
"It's crazy enough to work," added Dram. "Alpha and Beta are like living computers themselves, and given how, ahem, preoccupied Antisthenes is with them, his system is at least attuned to the same style of technology, if not the same technology."
"If by 'preoccupied' you mean 'obsessed', I'd have to agree," added Jalal.
"Precisely, Alpha and Beta can act as a bridge. An educated guess, naturally, but a rather likely one."
"Antisthenesis using a system in another dimension," said Viola. "I assume that's way out of our broadband capacity."
"True," answered Karl, "but that works both ways. He wouldn't be able to send transmissions to his devices or vice-versa without some serious inter-planar communication technology, likely part of the same system. He'd need a portal for that, and given the advanced age of planar beings, he'd use one known for durability and permanence. So, we're going to use a little Shadowjack-style phishing.
"We'll just toss our line out in areas with documented permanent portals to the Grey Waste and hope to snag it. We'll start with Devil's Garden, then expand to others in Utah, then to others in the States, and so on. Karen will help guide the process through the nanos in her system, with SAL guiding her through it. The chamber is more restful than actual sleep, so the nanos are acting as they would for a resting host."
"Yes, self-replicating and refueling," noted Jalal.
"True, but hopefully their attention will be diverted long enough to find a path to the Prime side of his extra-planar transmission and access that rootkit. So be ready."
Jalal clutched the journal harder. His thumb was marking page 44, the one Eden had related to Karen. It was the first of three pages detailing Pentar the Terrible, the ninth Emperor of the Shantari Empire during what the journal called the Years of Healing. He looked up further information, and found that the journal was, at most, an abbreviation of a ruler whose life was rather complex. (He'd never heard of him or the Shantari Empire in general, but this clearly went back to the Bronze Age.) The info on those three pages was confusing, but at least the sentences were coherent.
"I thought you said Fanciullo was joining us," said Viola said to Jabels.
"I invited him," replied Jabels, "but we can't delay this any further."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Speak of the devil: "Mmm-hmm. Right. Okay Belbo."
Having been cooped up here for the past week, Tormento, Drago, and Picchiare were bored, the first two having gained weight from taking advantage of their erstwhile allies' hospitality. The phone call their boss got from back home ignited hope of something breaking the monotony.
He rolled his eyes as he hung up the mobile. "So, we gonna need to call a doctor, lawyer, or handyman when we get back?" asked Picchiare.
"Possibly a shrink if I don't get back and pick up that package," answered Fanciullo. "Nitro, find our host and tell him I'm going back to pick up the goods. Drago, you're coming with me."
"OOH, why does he get to go?" whined Tormento.
"Cause that's what I pay him for!" snapped Fanciullo. "He's the bodyguard, remember? And to be honest, you guys are starting to annoy me."
"That's right!" laughed Drago.
"Button it!" snapped Fanciullo, and the bodyguard quickly complied. He crossed his arms and looked at Tormento and Picchiare. "If you two need something to do, there's a Duel Computer down the hall. Go knock yourself out."
He snapped his fingers, and Drago followed him as he left. Nitro grinned at them and said "Zing!" before going the other way.'
"Well, I guess we could use some practice," said Picchiare.
"Yeah, you especially after that dumb move you made with the Spirit Reaper."
"How long you gonna keep reminding me?"
As they left, walking past a desk near the door, Maddie - who'd had her nose buried in a book as they were speaking - watched them leave, then shook her head as she rolled her eyes.
"Hey there!"
"Oh, hi Karen," she answered.
The realization hit her, and she leapt from her chair and spun around, almost tripping and falling.
She looked around. The library was quiet again. Of course, Karen wasn't there.
She sat down again and leaned on her forehead. She thought she had heard Karen's voice, but…
Her hand shook as she opened the book again.
"Maddie?"
This time she did fall over.
It was as if Karen had noticed she had nearly tripped and was offering to help. But she wasn't there!
She noticed she had spilled her deck on the floor this time. She slowly started to pick the cards up. What is going on? she thought.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
SAL's soft voice went on.
"Karen, start with the first thing you remember. Try to view it like a movie." Karen's response was a pleasant sigh, so the AI continued. "Try to picture the place they brought you and the people there."
Alpha and Beta started to hum and throb. As Karl continued to type, the phishing program starting, Karen sighed again.
"Think about Eden," she went on.
Alpha and Beta glowed brighter. A scale on his screen started moving past the halfway mark. "Looks like we got a nibble," he thought. "Keep going, SAL."
"Try to remember what she told you. What inspired you to find the way to escape."
The scale went to orange, and finally to red as a low beep started to sound.
"Well, what do you know?" said Philip.
"You found it?" asked Jalal.
Karl nodded. "Seems our friend is using a device to access the system used by the University of Utah. Know all those old cartoons where aliens learn about Earth by watching television? Seems Antisthenes is doing it the other way."
"So, you found his connection?" asked Jalal.
"No, I found the outlet of his connection. From here," he cracked his knuckles, "SAL and I can do what we do best." He started to type again, watching closely as a network on the digital map on the screen plotted the attack. He had never Shadow-jacked a target like this, but there was never a better time to learn."
"Karen, if you can hear me we're in the home stretch," said SAL.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"DAMN!" shouted Picchiare.
The exclamation came as Masked Hero Dark Law swooped upon Infernoid Piaty, slicing it in half. What he said when Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo charged at him was not fit for print.
(Picchiare: 0) - - - - - - - - - (Duel Computer: 6,800)
"I hate machines," he growled.
"Only cause they don't care when you threaten them," said Tormento, who was leaning against the wall while watching.
Picchiare didn't want to say it, but Tormento was right. He looked up at the thing - an orb-shaped device with two spindly arms - which had beaten him three times in a row.
"I swear this thing is rigged!" he shouted. "That deck it was using was practically anti-Infernoid!"
"That's because you have the memory feature on," said Maddie's voice.
The two mobsters nervously stepped aside as the young Shadowchaser walked in. "Uh," said Picchiare. "Is that bad?"
Maddie looked at him smugly, then at the device. "This thing chooses its cards at random the first time you duel it, but it can tell if it has the same opponent twice in a row. And then it adapts."
They looked almost dumbstruck as she went to the console below the device, and flipped a few switches, resetting it and disabling the feature she mentioned.
"Now try it."
"O-kay…" replied the assassin. He activated his Disk for the fourth time.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Got it!" exclaimed Philip.
"You found the rootkit entrance?" asked Jalal.
"Roger that," replied Karl. "Philip, Dram, now we get to the hard part."
The 'hard part' was, of course, getting past the multiple wards Eden had warned Karen of. This fortunately enabled Philip to devise a counter strategy.
Getting past the Katha's Random Dwemer would be the hardest part, but using Hornung's Guess could overcome it with a moderate chance of success, and would get past the There Not There with almost certainty.
Karl hovered the pointer over the files in front of him as Philip concentrated, one of them quivering slightly as he moved near it. He slowly clicked on it.
"See de moofin? Und here de boom-a-shootin!"
There was a loud "BOOM!" before Karl muted the volume. "Uh, okay, that was definitely not the right file."
As he hit the Close command, Karen started groaning a little. "Karl, wait," exclaimed Philip.
Karl remembered the third ward Karen had mentioned, the Nahal's Vortex.
"Okay, then, let's give it a bit of a cooldown. Then."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
A gout of flames spewed from Infernoid Attondel towards Jinzo, causing the android to briefly melt before shattering.
(Picchiare: 400) - - - - - - - - - (Duel Computer: 0)
"Sonuva bitch," said Picchiare.
"Congrats, you beat an overgrown iPhone," said Tormento, clearly not in a positive tone.
"Like you could do better," accused Picchiare.
"Well, computers are one thing," said Maddie, her voice turning sweeter and softer. "How about going up against a live one?"
"What, you?" asked Tormento.
Strangely enough, the young human who was half his size had spooked him.
"C'mon," she cooed, putting her arm around him as she did. "Don't tell me the big, tough guy is afraid?"
Tormento quickly pulled the hand away. "Naw, not 'afraid', lady, but when a woman gets that close to me she's usually looking for a place to jab a knife."
"Dunno, you looked kinda scared to me," said Picchiare.
Even though the bandages covering his face, Tormento saw the shit-eating grin.
"All right, fine, if it makes you happy."
He backed up, and Maddie lowered the D-Gazer. Even so, Tormento did see a twinkle in the eye he could swear wasn't there before.
The counters set and Maddie made five draws. The smirk disappeared as she went over the cards. Hmm, not as formidable as I hoped, but they will do.
(Maddie: 8,000) - - - - - - - - - (Tormento: 8,000)
"Well?" she said.
Tormento made the first draw, watching her carefully. Suddenly got a little colder in here, he thought, and I don't think it's the thermostat.
"Ready or not, I'm starting, and so is my Superheavy Samurai Magnet!"
As he used the card, a very, very large (and rather thick) robot fell from above with a crash that shook the room.
"I see the 'heavy' part, but 'Samurai'?" asked Maddie.
Indeed, this Machine didn't seem to suggest a Samurai at all. It was made of metallic blue armored plate, and its two stout arms had no hands, just stumps with a minus sign on the right one and a plus on the left. Its face had golden "anime eyes" and no mouth. A giant magnet pointed forward from behind its next, crackling with electromagnetism. (900 ATK)
"How about this one?" asked Tormento. "I can also use it to summon Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves!"
There was another crash as a second robot dropped down, and it did look vaguely like Japanese armor, just larger and squatter than usual, and each of its hands were bigger than its torso! (100 ATK)
"Doin' that moves his friend to Defense Mode." There was more crackling and sparkling, and Superheavy Samurai Magnet knelt. (1,900 DEF) "Your move, doll-face."
"I hate when you get in this sort of mood," sighed Picchiare.
Maddie, however, was much quieter as she drew a card, then used it, causing Panther Warrior to appear. (2,000 ATK)
"Then I'll apply the Axe of Fools," she said. The Beast-Warrior's scimitar disappeared, quickly replaced by an axe with a silly-looking face emblazoned on the blade. (3,000 ATK) "It not only makes him stronger, it nullifies his effect, meaning he can attack now. Destroy Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves."
"Sorry, kid, but you're about to see that my other guy's got a real magnetic personality, heh-heh."
As Panther Warrior lunged, the voltage from Superheavy Samurai Magnet grew more intense and pulled the Beast Warrior towards it. The axe still fell, crushing the Machine in a blast of sparks.
"Sorry, I just get a kick out of saying that."
"You must," sighed Picchiare, "you say it every single time you bring that guy out!"
Tormento grumbled a little. "See this, beautiful?" he said. He flipped a card around. "It's called Superheavy Samurai Soulbeads." He discarded the card, and a necklace of thick, scarlet prayer beads hovered in front of him. Superheavy Samurai Magnet reappeared, they odd beads positioning where his neck was. (900 ATK) "So he's back."
Maddie said nothing, but set two reversed cards, then nodded.
Huh, got quiet suddenly, thought Tormento. He drew another card, then pointed to the two Machines. "Hit the bricks, you two," he said, causing them to disappear. "Time for the big guy to come out, Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei!"
The shockwave that this monster caused when it appeared nearly knocked Maddie down. As its name suggested, it was big. Or rather BIG, towering half-again as big as even Tormento. While still clearly a robot, armored and bulky, it looked far more like Samurai armor, holding a long sasumata. (1,000 ATK)
"He's all sizzle and no steak," said Maddie.
"Think so?" replied Tormento. "Ever hear that the best offense is a good defense?" Big Benkei crouched in a squat as it moved into Defense Mode. (3,500 DEF) "Not only is this guy's defensive power a doozy, he can attack while defending, and use his Defense Score to attack!"
The huge Machine twirled its weapon, then struck the floor, causing a shockwave that Maddie felt in her teeth as it tore Panther Warrior to bits.
(M: 7,500) - - - - - - - - - (T: 8,000)
"I'm done. This still counts as defending, by the way, so try getting past that.'
Maddie drew a card, then used one, causing a reversed monster to appear. "Done," she said.
Huh, thought Tormento. I've gotten more lively conversations from those guys at Mount Athos! What gives?
If you had ever visited Mount Athos, a Greek island dominated by very secular and secluded Eastern Orthodox monasteries, you'd know this was an obvious exaggeration. Still, it was also obvious to him that this Shadowchaser was acting much differently than she had been ten minutes ago.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Okay, it should be safe now," said Karl.
Again, with Philip's spell channeling a Hornung's Guess, moved the pointer. It started to quiver again as he clicked it. The screen that came up seemed to be four lines of text, but with the letters haphazardly jumbled.
"Bingo, words warded by Fool's Speech," said Philip with a grin. "And this can be remedied rather easily." He switched to another incantation, focusing his own Fool's Speech on Karl. The jumbled words on the screen started to fog and blur in front of Philip, until they turned into comprehensive sentences.
"Success!" he exclaimed. "You two can take a breather, I have a trick of my own here."
He momentarily stopped typing, then closed his eyes and flicked both his wrists. He started typing again, not opening his eyes to do so.
'What are you doing?" asked Philip.
"He's adding a special backdoor to this page so we don't have to go through that again," answered SAL's voice. "This is where you cross the line from Shadowjack to Technomage."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"You want a piece of Superheavy Samurai Kabuto here?" asked Tormento.
Playing another card caused another huge Samurai robot to crash from above, not as big as Benkei was, and slightly slimmer, but still big and burly, holding a huge mallet. (1,000 ATK)
"To be honest, no," replied Maddie.
"Tough," said the gangster. "But before I use him -"
Like before, Big Benkei struck the floor with his weapon, the shock blasting through the floor and crushing the set monster. However, a low, spooky moan chilled the innards of the two mobsters as five… things floated out in place of the set monster, looking like Scapegoats, only creepier and… not as lively. (0 DEF x5)
"Zombie Scapegoats?" exclaimed Picchiare.
"Scape ghosts," replied Maddie.
"Yeah, well, tokens are Special Summons, which means I can use Kabuto's effect." The smaller Samurai made the same defensive crouch as Benkei. (2,000 DEF) "Not only can he defend on his own, he gets even stronger when he does!" (2,500 DEF) "But, seein' as I got Big Benkei on the field, all my Superheavy Samurai can attack like he does!"
The hammer struck, and while not as fierce as the first blow, the shock wave pounded through the floor and reduced one of the Scapeghosts to dust.
"Your move, beautiful, this might take a while, but hey, I ain't got nowhere to go."
"Your dueling is as sloppy as your grammar," replied Maddie. "I activate Nightmare Archfiends."
Her Trap lifted, and another Scapeghost disappeared, causing three gaunt, phantom demons to appear next to his two Superheavy Samurai. (2,000 ATK x3)
"You think those scare me?" he laughed.
"No," she replied, drawing. "That's what this is for." To show it, she used a card, causing Parasitic Ticky to appear.
"This Insect gains 500 Attack Points for each token. Three on my side, three on yours." (3,000 ATK) "Your monsters may have overwhelming Defense, but due to this Equip Spell it won't matter."
As she used the card, the Ticky just… disappeared, slowly fading away.
"Where'd it go?" asked her opponent.
"It's Opti-Camouflage Armor, it makes a Level 1 monster invisible. You see, Mr. Tormento, if you want to 'jab a knife' into someone, there are more subtle ways."
He was about to respond to that, but in the next second, the invisible monster struck.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Now let's see here."
Dram was a little less optimistic than Karl was, given the final ward Karen had mentioned. The spell he had prepared could cushion the blow from most Surges, but he wasn't sure about his ability to counter Hornung's Reckless Scourge. (It wasn't like he had practice. No Wild Mage had ever been willing to cast it simply to test a counter spell.)
"Okay, first question," started Karl. "Leader's name."
"I would assume, Pentar the Terrible," answered Jalal.
Karl started to type. After putting the name in, his cursor moved to the second one, with no indication of whether his first answer was correct or not. "Looks like this one plays for keeps," he said. "Second question, 'Leader's Alliance'."
Jalal skimmed the text. "Put in 'House Unicorn'," he answered.
Karl typed the name, and it went to the third. "Leader's specialty," he said.
Jalal went over the text again, reading to himself. "...'who called burning lightning from the sky with a potent song of fury'… Lightning bolts… Invocation, Karl."
Karl typed again, and finally, read the last one. "Leader's game."
Dram looked very uncomfortable here, but Jalal found that one quickly. "There's a few lines here about draughts, I think that's the answer."
Dolores was about to ask, but Viola answered quickly. "Checkers, it's been around a very long time."
"Everyone, cross your fingers," said Karl. He hit the enter key.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Okay kid, now I'm angry."
(M: 7,500) - - - - - - - - - (T: 5,000)
He drew fast, then pointed. "Big Benkei, squish that bug!"
The droid spun his sasumata over his head, and for the third time, struck the ground. This time, however, Maddie reacted, her Trap opening.
"I activate Magic Cylinder! It halts your attack and sends it right back at you!"
Big Benkei stumbled a bit as the attack fizzled, but Tormento only smirked. "Sorry kid, but in case you forgot, Big Benkei attacks with his Defense Score."
(M: 7,500) - - - - - - - - - (T: 4,000)
Kabuto followed suit, its hammer smashing the floor and crushing one of the three Scapeghosts. Parasitic Ticky quivered a little. (2,500 ATK)
"I'll move these three Nightmare Archfiends to Defense Mode," he continued. (2,000 DEF x3) "And it's your move."
"Tormento, you meathead!" shouted Picchiare. "You could have attacked with those things!"
"Uh, oops." he replied.
"Could have, but didn't," said Maddie. She drew. "I use Token Sundae."
Using the Spell Card caused two bolts of blue lightning to blast both the Scapeghosts, then two more struck and obliterate Kabuto and Big Benkei.
"Shit," he remarked.
While Ticky's attack fell further, Maddie used an all-too familiar Spell next, causing four regular Scapegoats to appear, and Ticky to soar to 3,500 points.
Then it blurred and vanished again to use the same stealth attack, but then, Superheavy Samurai Gigagloves appeared, ghostly and translucent, holding its huge hands forward.
"Not going to happen this time, babe, cause if I banish Gigagloves, I draw one card, and if it's a Superheavy Samurai, your monster falls to zero Attack Points."
He drew, and the ghostly Gigagloves slugged the big Insect as it was forcibly made visible, tumbling backwards towards Maddie. (0 ATK)
"You're either very lucky or very careless, Tormento," she hissed.
"Please," replied the mobster. He turned his Disk upward to emphasize the deck. "No luck involved princess, this pack is packed with Superheavy Samurai. No way to miss."
Maddie stopped for a minute to take that in. "No Spells or Traps at all?"
"Who needs 'em?" laughed Tormento. "At least these guys don't."
Maddie said nothing for a minute or two, then she set another card in her Spell Zone. "Quite a unique strategy. I end my turn."
"Unique?" said Tormento. He looked a little puzzled, still looking at her closely as he drew. "Okay, guess there's… nothing wrong with being unique. Watch and learn. I'll Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji."
This one didn't even remotely look like a fighter, or even a humanoid. It was sort of a robot torso with something on top that could pass for a head, stubby arms with two prongs on each, and four more prongs in place of legs. (800 ATK)
"But as you can see, his arms are pretty puny, so let's fix that. I'll take Superheavy Samurai Soulpeacemaker, and hardwire it to Big Waraji."
Playing the card caused a device that could best be described as a mechanical yoke with four robot arms, two on each side. It lowered onto Big Waraji with bolts fastening it in place with loud clanks and spouts of steam.
"Cause I did that, I can sacrifice both to summon back someone I'm sure you remember." The equipped Machine disappeared, and the floor burst as Big Benkei tore through it. (1,000 ATK)
"Him again," growled Maddie.
"Don't worry, once I summon Superheavy Samurai Drum, he'll be gone." He played a card, causing, well, a drum, to appear. It was the size of a barrel, made of steel, and the shape of an hourglass. (300 ATK)
"Course, that's because I'm gonna Tune them both to give you a super-heavy-duty ass-whooping!"
"The divine spirits of the living mountain form an immobile juggernaut of pain!"
(*1 + *8 = *9)
"Emerge, Superheavy Samurai Beast Kyubi!"
Picchiare started to light a cigarette as he watched, clearly not impressed. "You're trying too hard, Tormento."
Nonetheless, the Synchro that crashed from above this time was even bigger than Big Benkei. It was sort of humanoid, shaped like a centaur, but made of silvery, shiny metal. It had an eyeless face, and a burning mane of fire down its back to the tip of its tail. It held a long, kanabō made of the same material. (2,500 DEF)
Maddie didn't seem impressed either. "I activate this Trap Card, Card of Sacrifice," she said. "The card opened, and shimmered. "Your monster may only have 1,000 Attack Points, but my five monsters all have zero Attack Points, so I draw twice."
"Yeah, he doesn't look too impressive for a Level 10 monster," explained Tormento, "but his Defense goes up 900 points for every Special summoned monster you have!" (6,100 DEF) "And he can attack the same way Big Benkei does!"
The robo-oni lifted the weapon, rockets in its "hooves" igniting as it propelled itself towards the Parasitic Ticky….
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"G-22! N-43! BINGO!"
"Trite, but accurate," said Dram in response to Karl's observation.
"You got in?" asked Jalal.
"Did I ever," said the techno-mage. "From what I can see, I've just hacked into a repository of information unlike any the world has ever seen. This rootkit gives access to hundreds of yottabytes of information."
"Yottabyte?" asked Sofia.
Karl didn't stop typing as he started to explain. "Most mainframes use gigabytes, measuring data by billions of units, or terabytes for larger ones that measure it in trillions. Computers like Watson originally had about 16 terabytes of RAM, but upgraded later to about 50. Take a billion terabytes, and you have a zettabyte. The storage space of the entire World Wide Web is about two-hundred of those right now.
"Uhm, Karl," said SAL, trying to interrupt.
"A yottabyte is a thousand zettabytes," said Karl, too mesmerized to notice. "This system I just hacked into has a several hundred of them. Whatever computer I just hacked into has the accumulated data of entire worlds."
Sofia felt flushed, and Jalal noticed. "Calm down, Sofia, calm down."
"Yes, calm down," assured Karl. "True, finding what we need in this is a needle in a planet-sized haystack, but we can find it. We'll just have to be creative."
"Uh, Karl," repeated SAL.
As Karl typed, a picture from his own file that had been taken of the nanomachines appeared on the screen, magnified several million times. "Find the Path is a simple Divination, but casting it with techno-magic can search it out in a few hours. Once it does that, I can enact an info dump and all the info this system has on this plague will be in our possession."
"Not to rush, but try to be quick," added Jalal. "Antisthenes seems big on backing up his files, and once he discovers an additional intrusion, he may decide to just destroy the hard drives."
"The scariest part of this is," said Dolores, "Antisthenes is an outcast, he likely has far less storage capacity than most platonics."
"I'm trying very, very hard not to think of that right now," added Jabels.
"KARL!" roared the AI, having amplified her voice through his computer after setting the volume to maximum.
The room went quiet, as she went on in her normal voice, "Congratulations, but it I may get a word in edgewise..."
That was when they noticed Karen, who SAL had been monitoring, was grunting and sobbing, trying to struggle against the device.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Years ago, Tormento had competed in underground dueling clubs like the type Kaiser Ryu had frequented, many of which used the same painful shock collars. Given that he used a deck that focused on monsters with incredible strength, he rarely batted an eye to the often-brutal results. When you were in his business, feeling empathy towards a foe tended to throw you off.
The 6,100-point attack he had just delivered did not, under any means, convince him that this was a time to start. What freaked him was that, as brutal as it usually was, Maddie - who was smaller and more petite than any of those guys at the fight clubs - had barely even reacted.
(M: 1,400) - - - - - - - - - (T: 4,000)
"What the devil are you?" he asked.
Maddie closed her eyes and removed the D-Gazer, then casually wiped it with the edge of her shirt. "You're better than you look, Mr. Tormento, better, smarter, more competent than I had imagined."
Her voice wasn't Maddie's. It was male and sounded artificial. However, what really made Tormento flinch was when she opened her eyes, and they seemed to have turned dull brass. "Such a shame."
"I'll show you," he said. "Attack!"
The three Archfiend Tokens belched black smoke, eradicating three of the Scapegoat Tokens. Maddie replaced the D-Gazer and her Trap opened. "Remove Brainwashing," she said.
A rippling wave emitted, and the eyes of the three Fiends glazed over, pulled to her side of the field.
"Now it's my move." As she drew a card, her arm seemed stiff and rigid. "Let's continue, shall we? I activate the Spell Card, Junk Material."
The three Nightmare Archfiends disappeared, replaced by Blue Shepard, Pink Shepard, and Mystical Sheep #3.
"In exchange for summoning these three monsters, they have zero Attack Points and zero Defense Points, but I don't intend to keep them. I'll use the Overlay Network," a flash of light gave way to a vortex consuming the three monsters, "and summon Divine Shepherd Baathanius."
Baathanius was a stern-faced and serious man at the best of times, but this time, he seemed darker and more malevolent. (2,000 ATK)
"Because I used Mystical Sheep #3, I get to banish my second Scapegoat from my deck. And now for your monster."
The Divine Shepherd lifted his crook, and powerful eldritch magic cracked from it, striking the robotic yokai. When the smoke cleared, it had been replaced by a lamb with metallic wool.
Picchiare tried very hard to stifle a chuckle, but only made his reaction worse.
"Aw, shaddup!" yelled his partner.
"You should keep your eyes on the situation at hand, Mr. Tormento. Attack him directly."
The magical attack from the Spellcaster hit Tormento hard, but he was feeling far more rage and humiliation than he was pain.
(M: 1,400) - - - - - - - - - (T: 2,000)
Still, even as he discarded one of his cards, he tried not to lose his temper.
"Thanks to my little helper here, Superheavy Samurai Helper that is, I can bring back an old friend."
"'As you wish," replied Maddie, watching the now-familiar sight of the huge Samurai appearing again. (3,500 DEF)
She set one more card in her Spell Zone. "It's your move."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Karen was sobbing softly, unable to talk and barely able to see straight, the rather quick way she had been pulled from the device having been rather traumatizing. Edgar was holding her and feeding her strong coffee.
"Calm down," he said. "It's okay."
Karl had moved to a different terminal, his multiple programs on the previous one still running, and placed aside for now. It had become clear that Karen's escape had come with a dire cost.
"Amazing, the nanos in her blood stream created some sort of organic malware program designed to introduce a snarfing program to our system! She was like a trojan horse!"
"You're saying someone with access to an unearthly amount of computer memory tried to crash our system and failed?"
"I'm not sure he did fail!" exclaimed Karl. "The only reason we even detected his intrusion was because he tried to infect SAL and she can talk."
"If my antiviral programs have trouble handling an attack, I can feel it," said the AI, with an affirmative tone. "Like a brief coughing and sneezing. This was more like bronchial pneumonia."
"Oh, brother," said Karl. As he typed, two images of the nanomachines appeared on the screen, one with a Wind kanji symbol etched on it, and the other blank. As Karl typed, the blank one changed, acquiring the Earth symbol.
"This is big, big trouble. The nanos in Karen had been upgraded while she was prisoner into a 'smarter' model. It's capable of adapting after the element is set. We've got an advanced strain of the plague, and Karen is now a carrier."
"Like Typhoid Mary?" exclaimed Philip.
"Not quite," replied Karl. "Typhoid fever was a deadly plague, but wasn't a malevolent killer. Diseases can't think, and play no favorites. This is a plague under the direction of a sapient being. One who could, in theory, choose who it infects."
"Ma-dee," moaned Karen.
"Calm down, Karen," urged Edgar, "calm down, talk slower."
She grabbed hold of the coffee cup, downing the rest in large gulps. "Mad-die, she…"
"Maddie?" asked Jalal.
Karen nodded in reply. "Want… her…gonna… hurt..."
"She was in the library last I checked," said Edgar.
"Better check again now," said ordered Jalal.
He meant it. He would not let another of his men be snatched by these lunatics, not if he could help it...
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Listen to me, you little skank, I once had five slugs taken out of me by a doctor that wasn't allowed to buy anesthetic and had a knife wound patched up by a 'surgeon' in Crete who most folks there thought was a fishmonger, cause that was his usual job. No way am I being done in by Jed Clampett and a flock of sheep."
"Then by all means, bring it on," came the reply.
He fished a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his own shirt pocket, motioning to Benkei as he did. "Go on," he said
The Machine spun its weapon again, and as Tormento expected, Maddie reacted with her Trap Card, which was Staunch Defender. The blow veered towards the last Scapegoat, pulverizing it.
Tormento lit the cigarette, then shook the match out, and placed another card on his Disk widthwise. "Here we go," he said. "I'll Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter."
It was peculiar how many of these odd Machines only partially lived up to their names. This one sort of suggested a Samurai, or more accurately, an attendant to one, and it did have a trumpet. But the small cute robot didn't look "Superheavy" at all, looking doll-sized. (600 DEF)
"Now I'll use Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall, and equip it to Trumpeter." As he used the card, Trumpeter's right arm was covered with a green gauntlet that seemed to be made of snakeskin, with fringed edges. (1,800 DEF) "You move, kid."
"You shouldn't smoke, it will stunt your growth," she said, the irony of that comment clearly intentional. "I will move, and you will lose."
Maddie again drew with the same stiff movement, and a small wisp floated out of her Disk. "The Scapegoat card I banished last turn is now mine, and I'll use it."
Which she did, causing more tokens to appear. "You thought you were safe from Baathanius because you have two monsters, but they sure aren't, and I have Fairy Meteor Crush and United We Stand!"
She played both Equips, and Baathanius roared with fiery anger. (6,000 ATK)
Tormento's teeth clamped down on his cigarette, the Divine Shepherd pointing his crook at Trumpeter while preparing one mighty blast. He grabbed one of his cards, and made one more discard.
"I use Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall's effect! If I get rid of it, your attack is negated!"
Trumpeter lifted its arm to block the blow; the gauntlet was blown to little pieces, and Trumpeter itself collapsed to its knees in exhaustion. (0 DEF)
"But his Defense Score falls to zero."
"You are as persistent as your monsters are," remarked Maddie. "I end my turn."
"Comin' from you, I'll take that as a compliment," said Tormento. He drew, then grinned, took a long drag on his cigarette, then tossed the butt aside. Then, both Trumpeter and Big Benkei exploded into ten stars.
"A raging warrior charges into the mortal world like an unrelenting avalanche! Unrelenting brute power makes the land tremble under his might!"
(*2 + *8 = *10)
"Synchro Summon Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo!"
This time, there could be no doubt that the titan he had summoned lived up to its entire name. Almost as broad as it was tall, the enormous mecha was a giant set of Shogun armor with pistons on its elbows and knees, with a huge sword. Even as it sat lotus-style, it was overbearing. (2,400 ATK)
"And lookee what he can do!"
The Warlord made a savage cut with its blade, and the United We Stand equip shattered, plunging Baathanius to his base attack.
"Want to guess where that Spell went?" asked Tormento.
He pointed down, showing the card set behind his monster.
"Clever," said Maddie.
"I'll show you clever," he added. "The old geezer may have put Kyubi out of commission, but he's still there!" The card lifted, equipping to Warlord Susanowo. (4,000 ATK)
"Attack with Kusanagi Sword Slash!'
Two burning blades of energy sliced through the air, and ripped through the Divine Shepherd, a scream from Maddie echoing through the whole wing of the building…
(M: 0) - - - - - - - - - (T: 2,000)
Before he could do anything else, the door to the arena was kicked down. The leader of the Shadowchasers entered, followed by Wells, Edgar, and Philip.
"About time you guys got -" started Tormento, only to be cut off as the half-dragon grabbed hold of him and slammed him against the wall.
"That's enough, Tormento!" he ordered.
Behind them, Maddie collapsed, sobbing like a little girl. Philip ran to hold her.
"Get your mitts offa me!" shouted Tormento. "Picchiare, do something!"
"I'm kinda occupied here," grunted the assassin, as best he could with Wells and Edgar holding him down.
"Just keep your hands where I can see them, Tormento," ordered Jalal, "if that is indeed who you are."
Maddie was sobbing as Philip tried to comfort her. "It's okay, it's okay," he said, "it's all fine."
"Thanks for the help," she sniffed, "but I'd rather have a different type of help."
Philip barely had time to react to that sudden change of tone before she slugged him in the face. It came as quite a shock, as her punch was harder than any he had remembered. She yanked his gun from his jacket holster, then seized him in a headlock.
"My sincerest apologies, Mr. Tormento!" yelled Jalal as he let him go and turned to the real threat.
"Don't feel bad, Mr. Stormbringer, I had indeed intended to use him," said Maddie, her voice now unmistakably the platonic's. She pulled the cock-lever down. "Stay where you are."
"Let her go, Antisthenes," demanded Jalal. "There's no way you'll get far."
"I know," said the voice. "This female's willpower is rather poignant, but I can consider this a dry run for future endeavors. Still, I can simply will these two to die before then if I desire. It makes no difference."
"What do you want?" asked Jalal, still irked.
"I'm not unreasonable Mr. Stormbringer. I simply request a trade. Them for the two Memory Crystals."
Jalal's eye twitched. He was about to answer, but…
"What the fuck happened here?" shouted a familiar voice.
Jalal's eyes rolled in recognition, as Fanciullo stormed into the room with his bodyguard in toe. Draco was carrying the crate.
"You're out of line, mister," snapped Edgar. "In case you didn't notice, we have a crisis here."
"Wait!" said Jalal. He eyes the crate. "Is that -?"
"Yeah, we got your stupid 'super-happy-fun-ball-of-doom-whatever-it-is," sneered the mobster. "A fat lot of good it does."
Jalal looked back at the thing with Maddie's face, and his tone changed.
"Them for the two Crystals? Not a fair trade, fellah."
"Jalal!" shouted Wells.
The half-dragon lifted his hand. "If you're willing to release Eden as well, I might be willing to hand over those two and the third."
Maddie's hand quivered. Now it seemed whatever was controlling her was unsure. "She" looked at the crate.
"You drive a hard bargain," the voice replied. "I'd be willing to maybe… wager on that."
"So, let's hear the terms."
"I'll send a representative to Stonehenge in two hours. You send one of yours, and we'll settle this your way. I win, you relinquish Alpha, Beta, and Delta. You win, I will relinquish the gautiere and deactivate of the nanos."
"I accept! Two hours."
Then both Maddie and Philip collapsed, Jalal quickly went to them and felt a pulse.
"Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?" shouted Tormento.
"Don't be dumb, Tormento," answered Picchiare, "she's brainwashed."
"Not quite, Mr. Picchiare," said Voltaire's voice.
Like before, whether he had just come in or had been there all along was a mystery, much like anything about him. He was leaning against the wall with his arms cross, sternly watching.
"This wasn't brainwashing," he continued, "Maddie was a victim of remote body puppetry, and that is worse."
"Uh, you going to tell us the difference?" asked Jalal. "Edgar, get rid of this."
He handed the gun to him carefully, and Voltaire went on.
"Brainwashing and mind control alter a victim's perceptions and force obedience. If a human body was a car and the soul was the driver, a mage using mind control would position himself in the passenger's seat, point a gun at the driver, and order him to drive.
"In a case like this, the mage subdues and ties up the driver, places the victim in the passenger's seat, and takes the wheel himself.
"Now, however, it seems the doors and windows of two cars have been bolted shut with both the perpetrator and victim still inside…"
Jalal snapped his fingers in front of Maddie's face. "Get Tony up here," he said.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Thirty minutes later at the infirmary, a place that, unfortunately, had seen far more use than Jalal would have liked in the past few weeks. Maddie and Philip were still unresponsive and unmoving
It wasn't truly sleep, but they hadn't been rendered unconscious either. It seemed they were in some odd state between consciousness and sleep. Jalal had never seen anything like it.
Neither had Tony, but as he examined them now, he was far more astonished.
"Amazing," he said. "This is nano-biostasis."
"In layman's terms, doctor," replied Jalal.
"I heard of it too," added Karl. He was typing on his laptop that he had set up nearby, just as surprised and just as worried as everyone else. "It's only a hypothesis of medicine, at least in this world."
"Suppose you have a ten-year-old boy, let's call him Billy," started Tony. "He has a month to live, unless he gets a heart transplant. But as you know, that's easier said than done. All you could do is place his name on the already-long waiting list and hope a donor becomes available, 'donor' meaning 'victim of accident' who approved of such ahead of time. With the same blood type and a limited distance away. Poor Billy's chances aren't good.
"Nano-biostasis is a hypothetical medical process using nanomachines, if a patient had limited time to receive a difficult or chancy opt-ed procedure, the nanos would place said victim in a sort of temporal stasis."
"Like cryonics?" asked Wells.
Tony nodded. "It could be deactivated with little more than the turn of a switch, and more complex preparation could be made for more delicate surgery. Antisthenes was clearly having trouble controlling Maddie, and two victims at once would have caused even more strain, so he decided to just, at the risk of sounding callous, turn them off."
"Well can they be 'restarted'?" asked Jalal, rather upset that they had to use such terms.
"Working on it," said Karl. "But given how fast this infection spreads and evolves, he can likely do it again. For all we know, there's no limit to what these nanos could do. They could give a host strokes or heart attacks, inflict cancers or malevolent tumors, cause blindness, possibly even cause rapid aging. Worst of all, he could just leave them like this. Every nightmarish scenario that was ever perceived by critics of these devices could become reality, and many of them are ghastly."
It was a lot to take in. Jalal rubbed his chin and thought hard. Meeting this lunatic on his own terms in a place like Stonehenge was likely suicide. Still, the alternative was worse. Poor Maddie was still in there, helpless to act, like the bound passenger Voltaire had described…
"I need a volunteer. Seems we're going to keep this deal. For now."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Jemorille: Stormbringer prided himself on being able to make decisions on the fly. The one he had just made was one that, if successful, would strike a powerful blow against their enemy, rescue the two hostages, and possibly develop a usable cure. But he had made this plan using a great amount of guesswork, and knew it involved many risks.
He had no way of knowing it Maddie and Philip were conscious right now or not, whether they could hear or perceive what he said, as he metaphorically played dice with a malevolent entity, using them as his wager…
"Rhapsody of Fire" is coming soon.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Shadowchaser Files
Organizations: The Swiss Gnome Juncture
"My old mentor never said it would be easy. A hedge mage isn't like Gandalf or Merlin, not the type who can turn people into frogs or place a curse upon an enemy's first-born, so he's not the type to earn fame or power. Profit, on the other hand, was potentially greater, and a school of magic that was in demand more than most thought. When folks did run afoul of the type of mage who can cast vile curses, they always need someone to de-curse them. Which is where I come in.
"Still, my career was off to a rocky start, literally. The Duke of Bath (or maybe York, or one of those old dukedoms) needed someone who was discreet, as the situation was embarrassing. His son had flipped off someone in China who happened to be a noble of the House of the Raging Mountain.
"I admit, I had no idea how to restore someone who had been turned into a statue of jade, most such curses involved more common types of stone. I poured through my mentor's old books, and found a method, and it went downhill from there. The ritual claimed it required someone who desired nothing, who must recite the spell while his heart is burned in an urn containing his own blood.
"I nearly called them to offer my apologies, suggesting maybe their brat of a son deserved it. Ignoring the obvious ethical problems here, how can a man truly "desire nothing"?
"Then I noticed that the ritual didn't specifically state that a 'man' who desired nothing was needed. And this victim's parents did say money wasn't an issue…
"I needed someone who could think outside the box. Expensive as they were, the Swiss Gnome Juncture could figure out how an impossible task could be made doable. I hoped."
Emigrating from the Homeworld of Shadow is often a traumatic experience, and many Shadows who have done so claimed later that they thought for a while they had been killed somehow and wound up in Hell.
Some rare Shadows, however, believe our world is Heaven. Much like the Swiss Gnome Juncture.
Five gnomes who refer to themselves among humans as Gerund, Norton, Orville, Melvin, and Eustace (a clever acronym for a few years at least) with the surname Jeboron, they were siblings lucky enough to end up in the same place, a rare phenomenon for Shadows who make the trip. In this case, the place was Zurich, Switzerland. They also lucked out for three other reasons. The Swiss are rather accepting of outsiders, even those with odd and eccentric ideas, as gnomes tend to have, and didn't bat an eye in the least when these five strangers settled in. Second, no further than four languages are spoken in Switzerland, making gnomes, who are natural linguists, the perfect starting point in what is often an awkward situation. And third, all five had a weakness for dishes made with potatoes and cheese.
They started small, opening a small shop that sold wind-up toys, music boxes, and other do-dads, and later tried to market ideas that - they assumed - would be further reaching. Most of their inventions - like self-tightening belts and travel-sized whiskey mills - didn't find many interested investors. They had some luck selling their flashlight eyeglasses and motorized spaghetti forks, but to novelty companies. It is rumored they had far more success later, and that they own at least partial royalties to the Clapper, the Magic 8 Ball, and Big Mouth Billy Bass. Some other gnomes claim they were partners with the Hungarian engineer Ernő Rubik, and helped design the well-known Cube, although whether that is a compliment or an insult is subjective. (They will not comment.)
And eventually, some folks saw potential in a group that could think in such a way.
"It was simpler than I thought. First, I had to construct a bronze guardian, an automation built using a procedure like that used to build golems, but simpler. Such a mindless construct cannot desire anything. A bronze guardian's 'blood' is a chemical made using alchemy, which in modern times is inert. However, using older schematics and building an old-fashioned construct would require the original, volatile formula. The 'heart' is a special gemstone that is also crafted by alchemy and flammable. The construct can function without it, albeit not very well.
"As a bonus, after constructing it, I could use it to carry the equipment to the client's house, where I used a Magic Mouth to make it speak a recorded message, the words of the ritual. It worked like a charm.
"I hoped the son would be grounded for a very long time, but it's not my place to judge, I got my fee and left. Still, word of mouth, the only real advertising I had, spread fast.
"I still have the gnomes on speed-dial. After all, I owe them for getting my business off the ground."
Being able to think "outside the box" made the five brothers valuable as consultants to anyone who needed their unique thinking. In recent years, they've developed disaster relief programs for third world countries, done feasibility studies on artificial biospheres, and helped design new irrigation techniques for desert nations. They even brag that one government (they are not at liberty to say which) commissioned them to design a fully functional orbiting laser-cannon platform that (because rather exorbitant cost overruns) was never actually built.
The group even claims to have worked with I2 a few times, claiming to have sold Pegasus a pencil-sketch for something he later adapted into a card design and call Ancient Gear Engineer. (They'd really hoped the device could be truly built and used for excavation and demolition purposes, but it was better than nothing.)
Despite their success as consultants, the gnomes' first love will always be tinkering and invention, and they maintain their small repair shop in Zurich. Customers not scared off by the loud noises and odd smells find them as cordial and friendly as the typical old-fashioned repairman, and for all practical purposes, that's what they are. They can apply mechanical, electronic, structural, or even merely cosmetic repair to almost anything, given enough time, but can often put unwanted "improvements" on anything they fix, which can be either a blessing or a curse to a customer. (Dealing with gnomes and their idiosyncrasies always requires a lot of luck and even more patience.)
Story Ideas
Walk into any Walmart, Best Buy, or similar store, and see if you can find anything that makes you wonder, "who in the world would pay money for THAT?" but which seems successful enough for whatever company that produces it to make money. Like say, grilled cheese sandwich grillers or light bulb insect lanterns. (Stuff that claims to "make a perfect gift" often qualifies, as nobody ever buys this stuff for their own use.) It's easy to incorporate this into the Swiss Gnome Juncture's long resume of inventions. If they were at least partially responsible for the invention of silly things like drinking helmets and chattering toy teeth, they'd be proud of it.
Still, difficult research projects can be the beck and call of such a group. One or two of them could act as an escort for someone like Hank or Red Feather if research into a wilderness area is required for a larger storyline. Maybe they've heard stories of some rare herb or insect.
At extreme cases, they could show up in any story where the Machine of Lum the Mad is involved. Most gnome tinkers would spend their life savings for even a brief time to study the infamous device. They could be represented as a benign counterpart to villains like Milton the Mad Mechanic if he is ever a threat.
Deck Ideas
While the five gnomes are partial to Ancient Gears if the opportunity to duel arises, there are other cards they like. Machines in general fit their tastes, mainly ones of older or fanciful design, like Vehicroids, Gadgets, Geargia, or Machiners.
Decks like those used by Misawa are possible, but with less finesse than he had. (Gnomes have always had one problem with inventing, and that is subtlety.) They'd love Chemicritters, and anyone using this angle is encouraged to use fanmade cards with more elements and compounds added for the weirdest Chemicritters that can be conceived. (And likely, a lot of explosions.)