33
Towards Collision
"Of its origin, apart from the erratic and unbelievable tales extorted from the captured members, absolutely nothing was to be discovered; hence the anxiety of the police for any antiquarian lore which might help them to place the frightful symbol, and through it track down the cult to its fountain-head." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"
Daisuke emerged from his apartment building just as Taichi, Hikari, and Yamato were about to head towards the Izumi residence without him.
"Finally," Taichi said, already feeling irritable.
"Sorry. Jun and Caprimon wouldn't get out of the bathroom—"
"Well, never mind," Yamato interrupted. "We should get going."
They had not been walking long when Daisuke spoke up again.
"You know, I think I may have dreamed last night."
The other three stopped walking and turned to look at him. Daisuke couldn't quite decipher their expressions, largely because they weren't sure of how to react.
Daisuke swallowed. He had thought that maybe they had been short with him because he was the only one of them who hadn't been having the dreams. His dream, if that was really what it was, had been brief and vague, but it had been unpleasant, and he hoped it might count as a nightmare. As he had told Chicomon the night before, he felt guilty, like he wasn't sharing the same burden as the others because they had to deal with the dreams and he didn't.
After a brief silence, Taichi responded.
"What was it like?"
Daisuke fumbled for words to describe it, feeling suddenly embarrassed.
"Well, I didn't really see anything, but – there was a big crack, like something broke open, and it was cold and – and wrong…" He trailed off under the weight of their stares.
"I wonder what it means," Hikari murmured eventually.
"Well… It probably wasn't anything," Daisuke said sheepishly. Then, with more alacrity, "Let's hurry up and get to Koshiro-san's place."
They started off again, each with his or her own thoughts. There was no further conversation until they arrived at their destination, though there may have been if Iori had been present to hear Daisuke's nocturnal impressions.
Koshiro's bedroom quickly became crowded as his friends arrived. First there was Jou, who shared the building with him. Takeru, Miyako and Iori took longer to appear, and shortly after their coming the Yagami siblings showed up with Daisuke and Yamato in tow. After them was Sora, who lived in the same vicinity but had been delayed by placing the call to Mimi. Then there was only Ken to wait for.
Jou's demeanor was subdued. He and Koshiro talked little during their wait for the others. There were long pauses in conversation, during which Jou would usually look down and seem to contemplate his left leg. Nothing of any importance was said, and the elder boy didn't mention what he had found upon awakening – the thin, red scratch just barely visible where his dream's Bakemon had seized him. He couldn't swear that it hadn't been there the previous day, and even if it hadn't been, he knew the mind had a powerful control over the body. He had heard once of test subjects who were blindfolded and told they would be branded. Ice cubes had been applied to them instead, but the skin still burned.
The new arrivals hardly brightened the mood. With so many people in the room, the temperature began to rise, but no one noticed with the chill of the worry numbing them. While the ten of them waited for Ken, Koshiro scanned the faces arrayed before him. How often had they gathered like this in the past two years? Sometimes the faces would be thoughtful at those times. Sometimes there would be signs of righteous anger or determination. Sometimes there were even smiles. But this time was different. They didn't look resolved. They looked haunted.
There still wasn't much talking. For the most part they exchanged the horror stories that each had heard of on the television or radio concerning the previous night's attacks. A few mentioned their dreams, but did not go into detail. When the topic was first broached Sora crossed her arms and ran her hands along them as if chilled, and Taichi and Yamato cast odd glances at their respective siblings.
At last Ken made his appearance, and Koshiro finally launched into what Gennai had told him.
"That would be great!" was Daisuke's reaction to the plan. "It'll be just like last time."
The others liked the idea as well. The ghost of a smile played around Taichi's face, and Miyako's expression brightened perceptibly. The Digimon, who were feeling fine except for their concern for their partners, also smiled at the thought of taking the fight directly to the enemy. Only Takeru did not react in quite the same way as his companions. He looked down at his right hand, thoughtfully curling it into a fist as he remembered the previous night's dream.
"From what I've seen of Gennai's code it should be doable," Koshiro continued. "Even if we can just narrow it down to a smaller area it would help immensely."
Daisuke and his team were given their instructions on where they would find the partner Digimon, who could be sent to the human world just as they had been for Christmas last year. Once all the details were settled, Miyako held up her D-3.
"Digital Gate! Open!"
Hiraga contacted Sato as the morning drew on. The mercenary was surprised not to have heard from his employer, considering the excitement of the night.
His reason for calling was twofold. First, he wanted to make sure that everything was still running smoothly; the lack of communication grated on him as something irregular. Secondly, he had finally decided to voice a few of his misgivings.
"My colleague tells me things went well," Sato said without preamble. "I've been busy making preparations for the day or I would have consulted you earlier. I assume everything is progressing smoothly on your end?"
"Everything is… fine, I guess. Though I was wondering exactly how you expect me to keep those monsters under control."
"Is that a genuine concern?" Sato asked, his eyes narrowing.
Hiraga hesitated for a moment before replying.
"Some of them… brought back souvenirs," he said.
"What do you mean?"
Hiraga sighed.
"Living souvenirs."
Hiraga was not a squeamish man by any stretch of the imagination. He had done many jobs over the course of his career that would disrupt the sleep of a more sensitive person, but there had always been a point to his actions, something to be gained by whoever was currently paying him.
These Digimon, on the other hand, had taken prisoners merely for their own entertainment. For the most part, all the members of Sato's organization stationed within the building were as cold and callous as Hiraga, but none of them had any objection to Hiraga's proposal to move the demons' quarters into an unused section of the basement farther removed from the computer lab.
"You may be able to hear them through the connection," he said as an afterthought. It had been quiet for several minutes now, but Hiraga wasn't sure the Digimon had tired of their diversions. Intermittently throughout the past few hours an exceptionally loud scream would reach through the walls. Everyone was understandably on edge.
"Have you tried asking them to put an end to it?" Sato asked. When Hiraga turned his head aside and looked down at the floor, Sato continued. "If you're going to be any use to me, Hiraga-san, you need to be comfortable working with the Digimon. I've given you full authority in your world, and I can't have you afraid to exercise it."
Hiraga looked up again, abruptly.
"How am I useful to you, Sato-san? This has been a well-paying job for me, but I don't seem to be doing anything. I'm afraid of wasting your time and money doing something that any of your other employees could do just as well if not better."
He realized that his admission might lead to the end of a very comfortable situation, but his general paranoia and the stress of the morning had put him in a mood to complain. Sato was looking at him searchingly. Again Hiraga felt the urge to avert his gaze, but didn't act on it. Yes, the man on the screen had access to strange regions. He was apparently wealthy, part of a worldwide network no one dreamed existed. The mystique of the unknown and the alien hung about him, as though he had been to a place which no one but he had returned from. But he was still just a human, and Hiraga refused to be awed by anyone of his own species.
"As far as I'm concerned," Sato said at last, "every being has its purpose. When I hired you I was still in the early stages of my operation. You were useful then. Maybe, as you pointed out, you aren't as useful now. But I never let go of a living resource. You live on the fringe of human society, and serve as a bridge between the human world and us, the Outsiders. Sometime soon I may be able to find a job for you more worthy of your particular talents, but for the moment, you will just wait, and you will get paid."
Hiraga did not reply. He couldn't tell if Sato was unusually perceptive or if the parallels between their thoughts were just coincidences.
"It would be best if you didn't let the Digimon get bored," Sato said, changing the subject. "If you don't want them making a mess at headquarters you should send them out to do something productive."
"Maybe you have a suggestion?" returned Hiraga.
Sato leaned back in his chair and was silent for almost a minute. Eventually he seemed to reach some sort of decision and nodded, then answered.
"Send them after the Chosen Children. There should be five in the city today. We'll need to take them alive eventually, and it may as well be now."
"I know their addresses," Hiraga said. "I could easily secure them myself."
Sato smirked at the suggestion.
"I sincerely doubt it," he replied. "By now they will know that there are hostile Digimon in the human world. If they haven't brought their own Digimon over yet, they will very soon. Set Lilithmon's group on them instead."
"All right," Hiraga said evenly, hiding his irritation. "I'll let them know." Before he could turn to go, Sato spoke up again.
"While they are doing that, I want you checking all incoming flights to Tokyo for a passenger named Tachikawa Mimi. I'll send you her profile. Have someone stationed at the airport to intercept her if and when she arrives."