Chapter 8: Intonations of gray
07:18 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday October the 12th…
"This is the place! Took some effort to find it! I know I should've told aibou but… I'm not sure if my transmissions could be detected! These guys are careful but not enough… Or is that my impression? A trap…? Hmpf! I won't run away like a coward…"
A guy was hiding between some stacked boxes near a warehouse somewhere one foggy morning and muttering as they stared at the looming warehouse.
"Eisei Aaron ain't gonna run away like a neophyte…!"
His approximate age was 16 or 17 and his eyes were blood red.
His green hair was messy, and grew until the base of the neck.
He had an accessory over his hair, which was a purple plastic piece forming an arch starting over the ears and extending backwards.
His shirt's color was a shade of gray and it had a partial vest integrated with it colored using two shades of purple, one brighter and one darker.
The brighter bands of purple ran across the sleeves starting atop the shoulders, and extended until the wrists-
They also drew an external edge for the partial torso-only vest.
This vest started at the neck and shoulders but only reached until a third across the height of the upper body.
Seen from the front it had a form reminiscent of the Alphabet character "U" turned upside down.
His vest included two small yellow squares with what could plastic clips colored orange/red attached to their lower end from below.
His pants were plain purple, and he had gray knee protections.
He wore fingerless grayish gloves over his hands as well.
The sneakers had gray soils into them while the main body was white.
Their design was plain and had no Velcro straps or strings.
A thin yellow stripe ran across it, climbing upwards as seen from the front edge, to then climb downwards.
He carried a silver and purple-colored Link PET the emblem of which was a gray-colored spheroid of energy with thunderbolts emerging from it and aiming for all eight cardinal directions; the rim was black.
"Alright… It's all or nothing…"
He came out of his hiding and crouched to enter through an air duct that lacked its cover.
He noiselessly slid inside and dragged his body through it, and reach the end of it.
He emerged into a small room piled with worn down and empty cardboard boxes of all sizes and colors.
He stood up and stretched before silently heading for the door and gluing his ears to the wall.
Too silent. They don't use it often? Nobody's home? Or are they inviting me inside…? Guess the latter. Whatever. I'm not going to be that impressed to begin with.
He slowly turned the doorknob and stepped out into the main wing, which was reconverted into a small prison with cells extending across its length.
This room was on the NE corner and wasn't a cell and the NW room had the "CONTROL ROOM" banner.
He silently crossed the corridor (taking profit that the overhead lights of the warehouse were off) and entered the control room.
There was a console with a hologram, security cameras' footage, so he began to study them and counted them.
"Let's see… Out of 16 cells, only 1 is being used… What! Sieg! Damn it: these bastards…!"
One of the prisoners of the cell was a guy who could be around Leon's height and age, very similar to him in face.
His white hair was way more uncared for than Leon's.
"And the other one…? Urateido!"
Urateido had blackish hair, which was combed in a neat manner and it extended until the base of the neck.
Both were either fainted or asleep.
"Is it really them…? Or is it a trap…? If it turns out to be the weaklings that attacked our base the other day then I alone should be able to take them out… Let's go." He muttered.
The other cells were empty but several had bloodstained wall writing on them.
He reached the cell in question, which had a card reader set to the right of the entrance.
He drew a screwdriver and unscrewed the machine's cover.
Once he removed it, he noticed a small button labelled "EMERGENCY UNLOCKING" set on the bottom of the circuit board.
He pressed it and the door unlocked, so he stepped in to see that both guys were lying face-up on the beds and were butt naked.
They each had those bracelets Kisei had been attached the other day and they were orange in color.
"… Guys. It's me."
"… Eisei?"
"That you?"
"By the way… What's Kyutora?"
"Kyutora?"
"Enough acting. It's you guys, the Unlucky Greeks. Fight me if you've got the damned guts."
"You fool…"
"You walked into the trap…"
"I knew it was a trap. But I ain't a coward."
The fake guys stood up and reverted to their normal Navi forms while drawing Elec Swords.
Eisei was unimpressed and he drew his PET while glancing over his shoulder just in case.
"I'm Rho the 13th!"
"And I'm Kappa the 13th!"
"Fine. Denpa – Henkan! Eisei Aaron, On Air!"
The energy was released from the PET and both merely took a step backwards as Eisei's Denpa – Henkan form was revealed.
"I, Gray Thunderbolt, will fight you lot!"
Gray Thunderbolt's face skin was dull olive green, and the eyes' irises were blood red.
His hair was orange and spread out from behind the helmet in a wild flock, reaching until the base of his neck.
The gray helmet's center had a drawing, the same as in Eisei's PET, surrounded by a golden edge.
A golden horn formed above the drawing and aimed vertically.
The horn had four black grooves running down its faces.
The ear-pads had lightning bolts drawn over a black background and eight orange cones emerged from the silver edges of them.
Three circles stacked atop each other protected his neck.
The gray chest armor was coated in gold and had the purple letters "GT" written vertically on it.
The rest of the body was covered in thick gray "skin" but had no armor.
His forearms, elbows and wrist were covered by golden armor too; each shoulder had golden armor covering them.
The black signs "Plus" and "Minus" were set vertically across the outer faces.
His hands and fingers were wrapped in golden "skin".
His golden boots had black grooves running down each face starting below the knee and stopping at the ankles.
The soils of the boots were thick, and black in coloring.
"Eat this!" An eager voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"Hmpf! I knew it. There was someone behind me. I could hear the hum of a Copy Roid engine."
"Shit. Why didn't it work?"
"I'm named Gray THUNDERBOLT. Moron."
"Shit. It's Elec!"
"Who are you?"
"Epsilon the 13th!"
Another man-model Normal Navi tried to stab an Elec Sword into him from behind but it did nothing; Gray Thunderbolt began to form electricity on his arms.
"Heavenly Thunderbolt!"
He formed a gray spheroid of energy and tossed it into the air, causing for thunderbolts began to rain at random around the area and he forced the enemy Navis to dodge them.
He used the chance to draw his own Elec Swords and ran forward while keeping them crossed in an "X" shape to spread his arms left, right, and aiming backwards.
He cut the heads the forward Navis' heads, and their Copy Roids stopped functioning.
Gray Thunderbolt turned away and directed a glare that could kill at the remaining Navi who began to step backwards.
The Navi emitted an electrical discharge before he self-destructed.
"This fool felt fear and wanted to run. Those who succumb to fear are unworthy of the new world order. Thus they die." A voice rang out.
"You're Spiral, aren't you?"
"Correct, Eisei Aaron! I designed this strategy to lure you in with the rumors about this being one of our main bases. I analyzed that you would rather check it out alone and hope to redo your image in front of your leader so that he would acknowledge you are still competent and worthy of being his right arm." "Spiral" calmly explained.
"Hmpf. I knew it! You're the real deal. Those are distractions, easily disposable pawns."
"Indeed!"
"And you're going to use a proxy to fight me!"
"In that you're wrong. I'm different from those amateurs. I'll fight you myself… With THIS!"
The north end shutter opened and a large non-human figure walked in while some mechanical sounds rang out.
"Witness! Battle Body System! Codename… "Infinitum"!"
"What!"
The "Battle Body System" was a robot about two meters tall that had the general shape of a man yet black armor covered the body.
Instead of a face, it had a laser gun mounted there.
A Vulcan gun (the real deal) set on the right arm's end plus a chainsaw on the left one.
The legs above the knees contained missile launchers, which also existed on the shoulders.
"Feeling the despair yet? Its power is the real deal! We've tested it against real jets and tanks!"
"Devil." He cursed.
"Consider it an honor… I, Spiral, Lord Void's right arm, will turn you into pieces! Jamming devices: on! No – one will get on the way of this battle, Gray Thunderbolt!" Spiral's voice rang out through a speaker set on the neck.
The machine hummed as the warehouse's AC system turned on and the temperature began to drop all.
The ground began to water and then it slowly began to freeze so the robot formed slides on its feet and ignited boosters placed on the back to run for Gray Thunderbolt.
He jumped to the right to dodge and ducked to avoid a strike by the right arm.
The robot jumped, spun on the air and shot all of its missiles at Gray Thunderbolt who only had time to deploy a Dream Aura to block them.
"Shit!"
Smoke generated on contact and it clouded his sight, but he heard the sound of the Vulcan gun being shot and dashed for a wall to kick it and bounc off to land atop the cells.
The robot landed to his left while having the chainsaw on, so he only had time to throw a Big Bomb at it to stun it while he flipped and tried to put up some distance.
Damn. This thing's fast, gotta admit it. Any distraction and I'm gonna be pulverized. Feels like a Gundam, even! Or a Metal Gear! I see why he cooled the place! To avoid overheating. And to hinder my movements and all because the body reacts badly to cold environments. I can't call for help and I can't warp out of here either. Wait. Maybe I can lure it to the north end! Then I can make it destroy the wall or the shutter to escape! Don't think so. The guy's a pro. If he could predict my motives like that, he can predict my moves too. Shit. This is BAD.
"What's wrong? Ran out of ideas?" Spiral taunted.
"You're the one who's copying Liquid Snake!"
This guy gives the feeling of being former military and all. Maybe former Special Ops of some nation… Danger level: max! No kidding, man!
"Rocket Knuckles!"
"Hmpf. So you can bite! EM field!"
The robot hummed and the Rocket Knuckles (copies of his forearms that flew using a built-in booster) deviated from their course and ended up flying into the walls of the warehouse, as the robot shot forward and loaded up the laser gun.
"Fuck it."
Gray Thunderbolt deployed a Curse Shield while he ran away.
The laser bounced off the Curse Shield but the EM field broke it down into smaller lasers that ended up dispersing due to their low power:.
The missiles began to chase Gray Thunderbolt next so he used a Tornado Battle Chip to trap them in and have them attack each other.
He purposely slid across the ice as well and the robot was relentless, as it crouched and jumped to land ahead of Gray Thunderbolt, to stop him from reaching the north end of the warehouse.
"Nobody will notice the scandal. The walls look simple but have sound-insulating fabric inside. No sound will come out of this building. I replaced all windows for wall as well. The shutters have the same fabric built inside of them too. The ceiling too." Spiral calmly described.
"Damn it!"
"Feeling the fear? Then you're also a weakling that doesn't have a place in the new world we'll build!"
"You may beat me…! But aibou's another tale! And so are Serenade, Slur, Andy and XY!"
"XY? The ghost? Are they powerful?" He didn't seem too surprised.
"Hmpf! Almost as strong as Slur, even!"
"However, as long as I have this body then they won't be able to fight back. Once I take some time to properly review the battle data then I'll add the modifications that are necessary to improve Infinitus' battle strength. I'll bring your head to my Lord in a golden platter! You had better have a Will ready, brat! DIE!"
"… Now! Gray… THUNDER!"
"What?"
Gray Thunderbolt managed to load up energy on both arms and focus it on a growing sphere of energy.
He shot a powerful wide and tall beam of energy straight for the chest, where it hit it fully and bended the armor of it, so some fluid began to leak out and the seams of a mobile cover became visible as well.
"Hmpf! I absorbed up your EM field while you were chatting! I see why the chest didn't have any weapons! The cooling systems are there and so is the cover of the pilot's cabin! So it can't be as thick as the rest of the body! I'll let you know that I have knowledge, too!"
"Damn it all! To think you could do that…!"
"I'll release that EM field I've been powering up! GO~!"
Gray Thunderbolt roared and the robot's guns and body began to move and act at random while its whole body frizzled.
"At last! Gray! What happened?" Kuroban called out through the radio.
"I found a base of these guys and I've somehow managed to avoid being killed by a Gundam wannabe piloted by that Spiral rascal…"
"What in the…"
"Damn it! This isn't the end!"
"Ran away, at last! I'm heading back to the base NOW!"
He didn't see the white figure looking from a steel beam higher up…
08:39 AM (Japan Time)…
"Nothing like a hot coffee cup to begin the day. Any news, Victor, my fellow?"
"See, Holmes, it'd seem that there was some ruckus at a warehouse in Yokohama… Details are scant at the moment, Joel – kun."
"I see."
"Agoras. Morning."
"Good morning, Takehara – kun."
"See ya at the classroom!"
"Indeed."
A guy had been enjoying a hot coffee cup in a cafeteria's terrace, part of a college's campus.
This guy, Agoras, appealed to be close to 20 years of age and having a height of about meter and eighty centimeters.
His hair's color was a bright brown one and it was rather messy and forming flocks there and there while a pair of reading glasses hid his eyes.
His choice of clothing happened to be a white shirt with a collar having four buttons on it plus a teal brown coat over it, which was open in the middle.
He finished the set with a pair of grayish wool pants and simplistic brown shoes.
"Mail from Legato – dono…"
"My, my. What is it?"
"It'd seem that the Yokohama thing is related to Shadow Nova…"
"I see."
Victor, his Navi, was projecting through the PET's holographic display since he'd placed the PET on the table atop a book about chemistry.
His helmet's surface was covered in a grid of brown tiles separated by black rows and columns.
A bright yellow jewel was set on the center of the forehead.
The ear-pads had his initial, the Alphabet "V" letter colored golden, drawn over them.
Blue transparent shades protected his eyes, colored brown.
His main body had that same pattern printed over it and his chest emblem's edge was colored red, green and blue in different percentages while the golden "V" was set against a white background.
His shoulders had eight-pointed stars drawn over them colored red, green and blue at random.
His arms also had the grid pattern printed over their skin.
The forearms were navy blue, with dusty brown bands circling around their length.
The legs kept on using the grid pattern over it and the boots had the Alphabet initials "RGB" with each letter printed on their corresponding color, set over them.
"Our fellows will do something about it, I guess." Agoras calmly guessed.
"I can guess that. It'd seem there are only 3 of those imposters left to beat! I don't think they'll show up here! We're little known and nobody knows our association…" Victor whispered back.
"Indeed."
"Found ya!"
"Who…? Napalm Man! Don't scare me like that. Don't yell, either. What do you want?" Victor sighed.
"Did ya know?"
"What?"
"Golden Leo's become Super Golden Leo!"
"And what if? Do I need to know that?" Victor questioned.
"Ya never know! It might come in handy!"
"Burner Man says you can't beat his racing record."
"What! Marchando Man! Wait a min, ya!"
"Shook him off."
"Another lil bit and our efforts to not to stand out would've been busted by him… Really…" Agoras grumbled.
"He can be annoying, truly."
" It's 8:50 so I must get on the move."
He finished his coffee and stood up.
He grabbed both the PET and the book and whistled a tune as he headed for one of the campus buildings.
He seemed to frown and turned around, surprised, but only saw other students heading towards their respective classrooms.
Agoras was humming a tune and Victor was scanning the area while looking concerned or worried about something.
"That's odd. I had the feeling someone was staring at me since a while ago yet…"
"A fan-girl?" Victor joked.
"How original, Watson." He drily replied.
"You never know, Holmes."
"My paranoia, I guess."
"Guess that."
He entered the building, and climbed up the stairs along with some other small groups of 2-3 students that were chatting amongst them.
He ignored them and entered the 3rd floor corridor to then head down in and to the left into a classroom.
There were 4 rows of seats with desks on them and the teacher's desk was set on a platform to be able to look over the students.
A panel to display images through a projector had been set on the furthest wall.
Agoras sat down on his seat on the first row (there were 6 seats per row) and opened his textbook while taking out some sheets of paper from inside as well, where he wrote the date on the upper left corner.
"See you later." Victor whispered.
"Later."
Victor left the PET and entered the campus' Cyber World.
He walked through its avenues and stopped along with other Navis in front of a stand that projected the covers of the main newspapers and was essentially a virtual kiosk.
Obviously, nothing on the printed editions. Maybe tomorrow! Guess the digital editions must have something but must lack details. I can ask Beta X later on if he knows anything.
"Pst! Over here…" Someone whispered.
Victor saw a normal Navi (woman-model) waving at him from the entrance of an alley.
Victor frowned, mistrusting, but he followed her nevertheless into a storage room.
"What do you need, Miss?"
"… Your head! Gotcha! I'm Xi the 13th!" The Navi suddenly laughed.
"One of you lot…!"
"Too late! Die!"
She drew a Long Sword and ran for Victor but he jumped into the air and flipped to land behind her so the attack failed as he drew the Hell's Burner Battle Chip and shot.
The flame burst hit her back and she yelped before turning around and running for Victor again.
He ducked and dived for the left to roll and dodge while putting some distance between them.
The ceiling broke in a spot and another woman-model jumped inside with a Long Blade drawn.
"I'm Chi the 13th!"
"Chi! This isn't your mission! It's mine!"
"What the heck! It's mine!"
"You two! This is MY mission!"
"Oh come on!"
A third woman-model Navi dropped in having a Wide Blade drawn.
"Pi the 13th will cut off that weakling's head!"
"Lord Spiral will have your head!" Chi told Pi.
"That's YOU!" Pi countered.
"You gals' heads!" Xi fumed.
"Are you going to fight or discuss?" Victor challenged them.
"DIE~!" They all charged at once.
"Tank Cannon 3!"
The blast from the Tank Cannon sent them flying across the air to then crash against the far wall.
Victor didn't mind the recoil from the gun and looked up to see that they all had grave wounds and parts of their armor had been shattered.
"Impossible! We're invincible!"
"That's what you're led to believe. You're no more than suicide corps to begin with." Victor fumed.
"DIE~!"
"Stubborn! Train Arrow 3!"
Victor drew a bow and shot a string of 3 arrows at the central Navi thus piercing through her and causing her to explode.
The other 2 didn't mind it and continued their attack.
"Elec Pulse 3!"
The wide radius of the Elec Pulse 3 paralyzed and inflicted damage to them, causing their cores to emitt bursts of energy before blowing up and taking them out, so Victor sighed and lowered the weapon.
"So this marks the end of the "Unlucky Greeks"… Which means that the real deal is about to come… At last."
He exited the place and saw that no – one else had noticed the commotion in the first place, so9 he continued his stroll as if nothing had happened to begin with.
Alright, Shadow Nova… What'll you do next? Hmmm?
"News, de puku! The Outlanders will beat the Inlanders 5 to 0! Stakes are on the rise, de puku!"
Bubble Man was prowling around there and trying to see if others noticed.
Wwhat would your info source be? I'm sure you've only come to try to scam some people. I don't see what others saw on you! You did have interesting info years ago but demanded a ridiculously high amount of money in exchange. You ended up telling it nevertheless.
"News, de puku! The Bubbling Bubbles will win, puku!"
What the heck is that? Anywya… That attempt to call for attention pretending to be Blues was ridiculous and a stain to his pride. Makes you wonder if he ever found out about it! Maybe his enmity for Legato – dono eclipses that to begin with.
"I'm the King of Bubbles! De puku! News, de puku!"
09:35 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Any news, Akemi?"
"According to Beta X… It'd seem something happened in Yokohama but they don't know the details yet. Marta – chan!"
"I see."
"Suzuki – san! Is everything ready?"
"Chief! It'll soon be. In 20 minutes I'll do a re-check of the make-up and that's it."
"True. There's still time. I thought it was later. Later!"
"Later, Chief!"
A girl was talking to her Navi while sitting inside of a small office, which had a desk and a chair as well an open make-up tools case, while she'd placed her PET atop the desk.
The girl, Suzuki, appealed to be in her late teens and had long brown hair reaching past her shoulders and up until the waist.
Her eyes' irises were brown too.
She wore a simple white sleeveless t-shirt with the Empire State drawn into it, jeans and white socks plus a pair of white sneakers.
Her Link PET was colored teal brown and yellow and had the Alphabet "A" character colored golden, set inside of a brownish-edged circle as emblem.
"Why! It's Victor."
"Agoras – kun's Navi?"
Her main body color was teal brown accompanied by greenish irregular stains across her bodysuit.
Her helmet had the drawing of a flower on the forehead and her eyes' irises were green emerald.
Her forearms and boots had three consecutive greenish rings drawn across them.
Each ring had some small yellowish stains scattered inside of them at random.
Some greenish hair flowed out from behind her helmet and reached until the shoulders.
"I've come to tell you there's no need to watch out for those mimics anymore! I took the last of them." He told them.
"I was getting tired of having to use the IR app on everyone I met the whole time… The nerves!" Suzuki sighed in relief.
"Stubborn guys?"
"More like girls. They competed for the glory."
"Classical."
"That's all. I'm going to warn the others. I came in person just in case they were on the look-out for our transmissions. I'll go warn the others about it as well."
"See you."
"To bust the time… Let's listen to some comedy."
"M & F, you mean? Alright. Here it is."
"V! B! N! On Air! Today… The Nightmare! Chapter 2! Start!"
"Ms. Ofelia delivers papers to the agents! "Agent Mondoguíllez! The day's orders!"…"Agent Mortadelo. The day's…!" A needle stabbed into the hand! "S-see! I placed a paper stabber under the nose! That way I don't nod and I don't see the nightmare!"…"EAT NEEDLE! EAT STAB! EAT THIS!"…She chases him with a giant fork and M uses a turtle disguise! "Devil! Stab it on your noses and think you're stabbing a Jumbo plane's nose!"…"No needles! Let's go."… Forgets about him, and tries F next! "Agent Filemón, the day's…! * shatter * * zap *"
"… What's next?"
"…"I'm BURNT up!"… She broke some glasses and stabbed a light bulb into the hand! "I placed a lamp under the glass! It flashes every 10 seconds so that I remain awake!"…"EAT FLASH! EAT THIS!"…"Leave that traffic light alone, man! You look like a signal buoy!"…"You should copy me! Use a book and read it to remain awake! This one! Let's see…"Superintendent Vicente's memoirs…!" * snores *…"
"Is it THAT boring?" Akemi gasped.
"You look at the title and fall asleep! What a great example, ma'am. Truly a great example." Suzuki ironically muttered.
"…"I'm the lil butterfly flying around!"…"Lil butterfly? More like a Pteranodon!"…"Looks like it's going to rain! The first drops have come: I'll take shelter on that hut! Hi! Can I take shelter from the rain?"…"Oh my, the owner sings! Must be good-humored!"…CREAK! "Hi~! Hi there~! What a nice house! A tight and upright butler!"…"
"Guess it's the contrary and it's supposed to be a horror scenery."
"Sure thing."
"…"Fellow! You're one of those modern types, right? Your cutis is a mess! Do you wash it with raisin juice?"…" I…"…"Wait! I've got a regenerative spray! I'll do wonders!"…"I've got no eye lids and…!"…"Wrong spray! Personal defense was the one I applied!"…"What's up?"…"My eyes are burnin'!"…"No big deal, man!"…"Of course it is! SEE!"…"Cleanse 'em on the sink!"…"I'm so gonna have that fatty pay back!"…"What ugly nails! They should be shorter! I'll trim them in a second! I'm a specialist on that! See! What do you think?"… She trimmed off his fingers as well! "What a yelp! It makes your skin go white!"… "Can't nap! Let's see what's going on!"…"KILL!"…"What's up, man?"…CRASH! A Dracula F wakes up from the coffin! When Freddy trikes to attack him, he becomes a bat to dodge and Freddy meets Ms. Column! "Lil bird! Come!"…"
"Dracula version? His evil self." Suzuki joked.
"Truly!" Akemi played the impressed.
"More like his "shadow"? As in Persona 4!"
"…"I'm gonna suck out this fatty's blood!"… She draws an oven and uses it to smack him! "Dunno if it's a bustard or some exotic bird but it flies! Let's cook it!"…"Gemme outta 'ere!"…"My! It was a parrot!"… "KILL!"… Freddy tries to strike Frankenstein monster M from behind! His claws break! "Feelin' itchin' in the back! Mosquitoes!"…"My! What a handsome! Reminds me of someone."… "I kill you!"… "You love me? How lucky!"… "N-no! I said "matar" not "amar"!"… Goes down the spiral stairs! "My! You're leaving? How timid!"…"
"Another Spanish pun…" Akemi sighed.
"They look alike a bit but Ofelia must be pretty hard-hearing to mistake them…"
"Frank curses! Dracula escapes from the oven! "When I catch that fatty! Another target! I'd say about 17 liters of blood! Let's suck!"…"Feelin' itchin' on nape! Mosquitoes more annoyin' than election ads!"…"These abandoned castles are boring! There's no – one!"…The 3 of them show up "The lime fatty! I'll give you yet!"…"Fatty threw me off stair! I crush 'em!"… "The fatty that tried to cook me up! Gonna suck your blood!"…"
"Trouble."
"As expected."
"…"And now you'll meet the staff, Ms. Minister. Active, worker, untiring workers…!"…"I see! Golden medal to productivity!"… * collective snoring * "Gotcha! Gonna beat you!"…"Gentlemen, wait! I was first! I'm older!"… "Nope! I see first! I destroy!"…* scream *…"Wake up, you marmots! Devil! What are you doing to Ms. Minister?"… "If that's how you treat us then you're going to hear from us!"…"Horror!"…"
"Now this IS trouble." Both girls muttered.
"…"Conspiracy against the government! Two guys and a gal suspected of being Jewish – Masonic or Popular Party or something else, attack Ms. Minister and turn her bones into an unpacked state worse than a cargo carriage! The police is searching them in the Mato-Grosso of Brazil and…"…"You three! We're all sacked! Wait and we'll TALK about it!"…" "…"He's catching up!"…"Faster, you moron!"…"Tell the fatty to get down or I'm going to do a fallen legs strike!"… And thus ends this chapter!"
"V! B! N! Off Air! See you next time… At the GS Nerds! Ciao!"
"It's 9:48 now so I've still got 7 minutes. As long as everything goes punctually then no problem. My job is valued and that's all I need! It was always my dream to work as make-up assistant in the DNN. Speaking of which… There's a rumor circulating around here, right? What's it about, exactly?" Suzuki glanced at her wristwatch while chatting with Akemi.
"That those "Shadow Nova" guys are involved with the Yokohama warehouse of this morning! One of the cameramen dispatched there said that the police was already cordoning the place and thus they aren't allowed to see what's inside! The fact that the warehouse lacks windows makes it stand as suspicious! It's said that a powerful EM field was fired there! All electronics on a 15 meter radius are fried and beyond repair."
"Hmmm… Something tells me Shunoros is involved there. The only one that comes to mind that could generate an EM field is Eisei, the Prince's right hand man…" Suzuki guessed.
"Could be. Guess that once they get confirmation then we'll get the news from the HQ."
"09:50. Good. I'll be on my way to the set."
"OK."
Suzuki grabbed the case and exited into the corridor.
She headed up it and stopped after crossing an open empty office's door, where she backed up and looked inside but there was nothing.
"Oh come on. Paranoia." She sighed.
She resumed her walking and reached the back entrance of a set, where two newscasters were getting ready for the 10 AM news by going over their papers.
"Excuse me. Make – up."
"Suzuki – chan. Go ahead." The woman newscaster greeted with a smile.
"I hope I look good." The man newscaster sighed.
"Don't be defeatist, Tanaka – san."
"I'll try."
"Alright! We're going to begin the tests!"
"Background: on!"
"Cameras: calibrated! White balance: OK! Lighting is OK too! All green! Ready to roll!"
"Emit the screensaver with the countdown!"
"Sound channel 3: high! Ready channels 1 and 2! Number 4 too! 1 and 2 must always be higher than 4 so that the voices are louder than the BGM!"
"Roger!"
"Radios on: be ready to act upon any instructions!"
"Everything is ready!"
"Good! Don't lower the guard!"
"The usual routine, you know!"
The gears are on the move.
Suzuki looked on from close to the rear exit with some other staff members.
"Later."
"Sure."
She headed back for her office room and she walked past the office room, shrugging her shoulders as if telling herself it was mere paranoid.
She failed to notice the white figure standing on the middle of it with the arms crossed and doing nothing…