Chapter 13: Wiping off tension
10:11 AM (Japan Time), Thursday October the 20th…
"… I missed this thrill…"
"As masochist as always, Sieg!"
"Sure, Danna~…"
"And you don't even notice how I'm pulling these!"
"Or how I'm hitting your balls with the racket."
"It tickles! By the ugly fellow!"
"Good one!"
Sieg, Yanada, Urateido and Eisei were present in an underground room somewhere lit by purple candles, thus creating a creepy atmosphere.
The room's walls contained all kind of ropes, chains, and S&M accessories plus sexual toys.
The middle of it contained a triangular wooden horse with a metallic top edge and a thick spinning red silicon vibrator built into it.
Sieg was currently sitting atop the horse and the vibrator was plunging into his ass.
Sieg was naked, and tied in "turtle shell bondage" style using crimson ropes.
A couple of them extended from behind the neck, tightly tied around Sieg's wrists thus keeping his arms locked.
Sieg also had a black wool blindfold on followed by a small metallic cups on his nipples.
Each cup had a small 5kg weight attached to below it so that they would pull down the nipples' skin.
They were linked a by very thin chain emerging from each one and which conveyed into a small ring.
Another chain emerged from there and could be pulled.
His balls had some black leathers bands circling it from all sides and emerging from a small belt on the base of his cock.
His cock had a urethra vibrator stuffed into it, and which had four legs tied to the base of the cock as support.
Eight clothes pegs had been clipped on both the SE and SW corners of his balls as well.
Yanada was standing on a couple of metallic steps placed behind the horse and sliding his cock in and out of Sieg's remaining ass space.
Eisei was pulling the nipples' chain in the meanwhile while Urateido used a ping-pong racket to smack the sides of his balls.
"Samuel & company! Remember that the room must be free and cleansed before 10:40!" A woman called out from the outside.
"Gotcha, mom!" Urateido replied.
"Roger, Mistress." Eisei gallantly replied.
"Now that's the way I like being called. Good job, 50 Shades of Gray!"
"Mistress! That joke isn't funny!" He complained.
"Oh boy." The other three sighed.
"Who cares?"
"I do! Mistress! Please spare me!" He requested.
"Oh well. You beg so badly I might spare you."
"Might…? Oh come on…" He groaned.
"Why did you have to tell her my alias to begin with?" Eisei complained.
"I never did!" Urateido protested back.
"I just heard your boss calling you that one day." She let out with a giggle.
"Aibou…! Way to spoil it!" He grumbled.
"I'll be at the ground floor. Remember! All ready before 10:40! And you know I check the time!" She reminded them.
"Yes, ma'am!" The others replied.
"I know, mom!" Urateido replied.
"Good. See ya, Club of the Fallen Quartet!"
"How brilliant of ya, mom!" Urateido grumbled under his breath.
"Really… I know Sieg's the fallen noble but…" Yanada rolled his eyes.
"Is the Mistress always like that?" Eisei asked.
"Sure thing. ALWAYS. Thought you'd caught up by now."
"Guess I hadn't and I'm slow." Eisei fumed.
"Let's check the blog! They're going to have a break of M & F for a while and instead will publish some jokes! "The station's some clicks away from the village. An old stingy man stops a taxi. "How much to drive me to the station?"…"500 Z, sir."…"How much to drive the suitcase to the station?"… "Nothing, sir."… "Then drive the suitcase there and I'll go on foot."… Talk about a stingy guy indeed." Urateido read and chuckled.
"Subtle." Sieg laughed.
"Sure." Yanada snickered.
"Another one! "Hey! Danna! Is there a cop around?"…"Not as far as I can see!"… "OK! Gimme all your money!"… Turns out it's a prudent thief who wants to make sure there are no cops!"
"Prudent indeed." Eisei snickered next.
"They ask a student to guess a bird's type but the cage's covered with a cloth, only the legs can be seen… "Dunno."… "You don't pass. What's your name?"… The student sticks out a leg. "Guess it!"…"
"Revenge of the Danna!" Sieg made up some title.
"Why not?" Urateido chuckled.
"Coming!"
Yanada released inside of Sieg, so he stepped back and placed his cock back inside of his boxers.
He grabbed a string of anal beads and stuffed one inside before Sieg's ass muscles began to suck the rest up.
"I missed this feelin' too!"
"Another one… A hen walks into a very stingy guy's garden. "We could have it as lunch!" his wife suggests. "Wait 'till tomorrow. Maybe we'll get free eggs for breakfast!" the husband replies… Talk about stingy!"
"Yet another… A teacher asks a student! "Quote me from something from Don Quixote."… The students asks his pa! "Quote me something! I don't know anything about it!"…"Somewhere in La Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember…"…"Try to remember it or they're gonna tell me I don't pass!"… I'd heard of that Don Quixote! A very crazy parody of the knight tales. There's also a chain of stores named that, too!"
"I'd heard of it too. 11:29! We should wrap up and cleanse up to have it free by 11:40." Eisei checked the time using the PET's display.
"Alright. Off you go!"
Urateido released the belt on the base of Sieg's cock and pulled out the vibrator.
Sieg released several spurts that landed on his chest and let out an exhale signaling pleasure.
The guys began to take out the stuff and untied him.
Sieg took off the blindfold and blinked for a couple seconds to get used to the dim lightning.
He stood up and headed towards the south end, where his clothes were piled atop a chair.
He whistled as he dressed back while Urateido used a mop to wash the ground around the horse.
Eisei cleansed the vibrator and applied disinfectant alcohol to it using a cloth.
Yanada rolled up the rope and placed it on a box labelled "TO CLEANSE", followed by the blindfold.
Eisei cleansed and disinfected the cock bands and the vibrator while Urateido did the same for the clothes pegs.
"Alright. It's all clean and ready for the next session. It's 11:34 so let's move out. Time for a foursome in Mario Kart!" Urateido announced.
"Today I beat that Shizuoka racer!" Yanada laughed.
"Let that Sapporo guy show up: I'll raze the guy!" Sieg grinned.
"Let's go!"
They exited into a small hall and climbed up some stairs into the ground floor, which was a wide store having all kind of stuff related to sex.
They ignored that and headed for a door to the right of the counter to enter the house space.
They all took off their sneakers and put on slippers before racing upstairs into a room, which obviously was Urateido's.
"Racing time: on!"
"Let's go!"
"Kartin' time!"
They all sat on cushions placed in front of a Wii console and grabbed the remotes.
The game booted and each began to select their respective kart with the pilot.
"Mine's Koopa – sama!" Urateido announced.
"Mine's Charon! The bones guy!" Eisei exclaimed.
"An homage to Atarasei?" Sieg grinned.
"Sure thing."
"OK! Mine's King Teresa!"
"And mine's Koopa Jr.!"
"Course's the Wario Mines! It's golden minin' time! I'm Wario the King of Gold! And this is the Golden Mine of Mine Golden!"
"Good! 8 players online… From all across Japan… Let's go show 'em what the bad guys can do!" Urateido laughed.
"Not fair, Sieg! You should've thrown the red shell to someone else!"
"Too bad, Danna!"
"Heck! Eisei! That golden mushroom should be MINE!"
"Too bad! Junior! I'm Golden Man!"
"Bring it on!"
"As you wish! ORRA~H!"
"Marra~h!" A voice yelled from the outside.
"Mom!"
"Mistress…! Please! Don't spoil the mood! We did cleanse and leave it free on time, didn't we?" Eisei groaned.
"I like teasing you bad guys."
"Yes, Mistress…!" They sighed in defeat.
"Mom…! What have we done to deserve this?" Urateido asked.
"Nothing. Maybe you should blame a momentary mood. Maybe that Uncle Moriarty of cha guys is to blame?" She laughed in a weird way.
"Sheesh. Do you need to overhear all we talk 'bout?"
"Maybe yea maybe nay! I'm the Mata-Hari!"
"It's not fun, Mom! Please stop saying nonsense! SHEESH!"
12:32 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Uncle Merton brings news from the abode of news and not news!"
"Superintendent Oda…!"
"Oh boy."
"Obihiro – kun! Got some news for you! Your club has 333 members and they want to give you a golden mushroom as present!"
"Really? I'm flattered!"
"Meijin – kun! Did you start up that rock band?"
"I never said I would!"
"Sheesh. Lovely!"
"A joke! "Why are you so healthy?"… "I don't discuss."… "Surely that isn't the case!"… "Surely that isn't the case."…"
"So the point is that the healthy person doesn't know the why. Talk about "subtle"!"
Superintendent Oda walked into an office inside of the Net Police Cyber CID section and found Obihiro Shun (about 15 years old) working with a PC next to Meijin.
"Another one! "My father hasn't cut his hair in 10 years."… "Is he a hippie?"… "No, he's bald."…"
"Hippie… Sure… Someone build a shelter!" Obihiro groaned.
"A kid to a sailor! "When's hi tide?"…"Told you! 5:55 PM! Did you forget?"…"No! I like how your moustache moves when you say "5:55 PM"!"…"
"Bad kid, sure."
"The housewife to the governess she's hired… "Are you sure you know how to educate modern children?"… "Yes, ma'am! I only hit them in self-defense."…"
"You call that education? Hitting them? Oh come on."
"… Two kids stare at a train. "If that was made up of chocolate where'd you start to eat?"… "The wheels. So that it doesn't run away."…"
"How brilliant of him."
"…"Mom! Why is dad so bald?"…"Because he's smart and must think of many things."…"And why do you have so much hair?"…"Finish the soup."…"
"What kind of explanation is that? It makes it sound like she herself isn't smart enough." Meijin sighed.
"… "Dad! The thermometer's dropped!"… "A lot?"… "About 10 meters. It fell into the ground."…"
"So it did drop. Literally." Obihiro muttered.
"… The father to his children. "If you promise me that you won't smoke until you turn 21 then I'll give you 100,000 Z."… The eldest daughter, 17, rejoices. "100,000 Z! I promise, dad!"… The second son, 15… "I'll have to think about it! Still 6 years ahead of me!"…The father addresses the youngest, 10, who looks worried. "What about you?"… "Too bad, Dad…! Too late."…"
"Oh by the… He smoked at only 10 years old?"
"Surely must've been some bad influence by someone…"
"The mother to the child. "Go wash your face because your aunt's coming."… "But if I do that and she doesn't come, then what?"…"
"Good point. But washing your face is good, anyway, so…"
"A medic to the patient. "If you want to live longer than you'll have to drink more water than wine."…"I'd blow up if did that, Doctor! I already drink 5L of wine each day."…"
"5L of wine? How surprising that he's not drunk." Obihiro gasped.
"This one is too exaggerated to begin with."
"A patient to the surgeon before an appendicitis operation…"Can I play the guitar after the surgery?"…"Of course."…"Excellent! I never managed to play it before."…"
"So he thinks the surgery will allow him to play the guitar? Where'd he get the idea, anyway?"
"Dunno." Punk grumbled.
"I thought it would cheer you up but it doesn't seem to be the case. The tension is still too high." Oda sighed.
"T-that's…" They gasped.
"I think you're a bit slow to catch up. I bothered to memorize them for your sake and…"
"W-we're sorry. It's just that…"
"It didn't cross your mind. What do we know?"
"Not much. I've tried digging into Sharo archives but maybe Spiral worked there before the digitalization and therefore his file is on paper and kept in some archive. Maybe the man is older than we think and is on his 40s or 50s! Sounds like he'd been in some agency before the collapse and maybe he then drifted the world…"
"It's 2012. The collapse happened in 1989. That's a bit over 20 years ago. 40s seems like it! Maybe he was on his 20s when the collapse and sought job elsewhere…"
"Maybe the man is planning on making a move soon enough to go get back at that time's superiors! If they're still alive, though! Maybe some have died already… Or maybe they've retired from duty." Meijin guessed.
"Could be." Oda shrugged.
"Superintendent Oda. Good morning." Enzan came in.
"Did you find anything, Ijuuin – kun?"
"A connection."
"What connection?"
"Do you remember that, some time ago, we arrested an agent of the Seraphs who went by the codename Splinter?"
"I do. It was a brutal interrogator! Glad we caught the man in time!"
"I thought that since the man was Russian too then he might know…"
"And? Did you find something?"
"That man confirmed that Spiral had been one of his disciples when at the KGB in the early 1980s. He seems to think Spiral was on his 20s back then so he think he's on his 40s by now. When I played back quotes by the man, he admitted those were things he himself had taught Spiral. He doesn't know his true name. He was already Spiral when he joined the KGB and it was the custom that most of the recruits would use aliases for added security." Enzan explained.
"So Spiral is a name he made up long ago and it doesn't bear any meaning within Shadow Nova."
"Admitted that he'd suggested to him that he work for the Seraphs too, given how he was younger, and all they assigned him several missions across the globe! Last time they met was 6 years ago in St. Petersburg: Spiral said that most of Splinter's teachings had been correct. When questioned by Splinter he admitted that he didn't think that the Soviet Union was coming back. He said he'd become a mercenary and one day he'd manage to fulfill his words of back then…"
"And what were those?"
"…"One day robots will fight in the battlefields. Robots will crush and destroy our enemies. And robots will be the new tools of war."… The Army's top brass always laughed at him. Splinter never said what he thought of it to not to ruin their relationship. He hasn't seen or heard of him ever since then." Blues quoted.
"I see. Maybe he caught wind of Wily! Wily did try to find a sponsor to his robotics projects but no – one took him seriously!"
"Indeed."
"And, eventually, fed up with that, established the WWW to try to destroy the world. He died in the explosion of the Dream Virus 5 years ago."
"Speaking of which… Was the body found in the end?" Obihiro asked.
"It was. However, for some reason, it was deemed "Top Secret". Maybe they hoped that, by not confirming his death, they could lure WWW members into making a move and catch them! It later proved to be a waste of time and energies! The only ones that popped out where Elec Man and that Bomber Man guy… And they got deleted that same day."
"By the "other" Forte! I mean "other" in terms of personality, not of body…" Obihiro muttered.
"Had I known that then I'd immediately realized that the "Wily" onboard the Scherezade Symphony had to be a fake. Ironically enough, I ended up believing the rumor that he'd escaped by inches and had been lying low somewhere… I only found out a couple months ago after Chief Sorodo put some pressure… As if they feared that the corpse would come alive…"
"What useless paranoia." Enzan agreed on it.
"Wily's dead and so there's nothing to worry about the WWW! Elec Man's Operator, Count Elec, was found and arrested a few months later! The only ones we didn't catch back then were those 3 of the car names! No wonder, since they'd ditched the gang…" He shrugged.
"I'll keep on digging around to see if I can find any record in the Seraphs' databases regarding what Spiral did during the 90s and the past decade."
"Ring me if you need help with passwords." Obihiro offered.
"Delighted. Let's go, Blues. Time to slice some walls."
"…"Utterly Ugly Butterfly: delighted to ugly you!"… Why would this be on the Seraphs' Japan agents list, anyway?" Obihiro complained.
"My, my. Maybe Uncle Readout wrote that!"
"Sheesh. Why do I feel like it was some idiot who was bored?"
17:55 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Home, sweet home. Kei, Jake… You at home?"
"Yes, Father."
"You look beaten."
"We might've figured out that man's past but that brings us no closer to figuring out where he's at."
"I see."
"That's a pity."
"I swear upon my name that I'm not going to give up either… And that's Daikani Andros for you."
A man named Daikani stepped into a house's living room and sat on an armchair while sighing.
He looked on his late fifties, had blackish hair and brownish eye irises.
He wore a simple black suit, a blue tie and pants along with brown shoes.
"Did you know about that other man from before?"
"No, Kei. I know a proxy company of the Seraphs employed me. However, Prince Kuroban assigned me to lead the Charon Brotherhood. Actually, to keep watch over those two! I never knew what other agents there were out there."
"I see…"
There were two teens, who appealed as being his sons, sitting on a sofa.
Both wore high school uniform.
Kei had black neatly arranged hair and brown irises.
"Thought as much…"
"Why didn't you tell me, Jake?"
"That's… Kei – niisan… I thought it was pointless."
Jake, on the other hand, had black messy hair and brown irises.
"The man will eventually make a move! We only need to wait."
"Maybe he intends to focus all attention on him while the big boss works on something deadlier behind the scenes?"
"Good point. We still don't know anything about "Void", who they are and what they ultimately intend. Insofar everything seems spearheaded by Spiral, so… He must stalling for time…"
"Surely! Typical! They ready something deadly and highly destructive and unleash it to raze it all…" Jake grumbled.
"It's not too far-fetched."
Daikani's phone rang so he drew it and headed for the balcony door to answer it.
"What's the matter, Mr. President? What? Already? When, how? I see! We thought they would arm a scandal in the midst of the town but preferred to do it away from others' eyes! What's done is done. No use crying over spilled milk. At least, now we know the man will be going back the main campaign and will show up to challenge us! Understood. See you tomorrow."
"Trouble!" Kei and Jake apparently realized what had happened.
"… It'd seem the enemy is as fast as the wind…"
"Already?"
"The Sharo Army received a call. Someone heard explosions coming from a cottage about 1 kilometer away from a small village! They found the placed razed and six dead. One of their phones was still working so they could see that he'd gotten a mail from the cottage owner inviting him there. And it's assumed that the same happened to the other 5."
"So he gathered them in a quiet place and destroyed it with the robot! Talk about bold, indeed!"
"What did you mean by "away from others' eyes"?" Jake asked.
"We'd speculated he might force his way into the Secret Service HQ…"
"And make a display of power in front of everyone?"
"It'd seem that we miscalculated the man's intentions. Now we know he'll get back to the "main campaign" and do something."
"Have they done anything noticeable as of late?"
"Set fire to real-world warehouses to destroy all incriminating materiel and delete virtual warehouses as well. It'd seem that they realized using them made them easy to find so they'll be shifting to another way of storing materiel."
"Maybe containers?" Kei suggested.
"We searched a lot but found nothing."
"Maybe they use those storage rooms for hire that some companies offer: I've seen adverts of that from time to time on the street." Jake offered.
"Could be. They could be using proxy companies as disguise and give them sealed boxes disguised as common stuff! They entrust those to the company for a few days and then retrieve it! Maybe they pose as a store that keeps stock there before moving it to the store!" Daikani thought about it.
"Maybe it's worth a try?"
"I think so. I'll send a mail… Wait a minute."
Jake stood up and headed to the balcony to look out.
He saw nothing of interest and turned back to face Kei.
He'd barely taken two steps towards him when he brusquely turned around, but there still was nothing.
"What's wrong, Jake?"
"I had the feeling that there was something atop a roof…"
"Maybe it was a bird."
"Guess that."
He shrugged and headed out to the right as Daikani came back in while eating a cookie.
"I needed something. I had a scare lunch today! Lately we're very busy."
"Busy doesn't justify starving yourself, Father."
"I know. But it feels like there's no time."
"But isn't Zero the one who does the actual search?"
"Of course! However, we go over the results and check each place and company and all ourselves by going into the public registers… Zero gathers info and classifies it but is busy by gathering the info alone. Someone has to tell him what must go into the "further investigation" list and thus set some priorities." He explained.
"I see. But then again that doesn't mean you need to starve yourself: you're not like Holmes."
"Oh no! I never intended to imitate Holmes."
"Guess that, Father! By the way… Whose ideas was it? Your outfit of "Dread Baron"…"
Jake came back in, rubbing his hands with a handkerchief.
"The Prince claimed it was his, but… I think Eisei was involved at some point! At that time, Eisei was rather competent since he had a lot of pressure on him. I guess that the increase in members lead him to stopping caring about being competent."
"Dullahan must've been hard to handle."
"Dullahan! Don't get me started! Most stubborn man ever. Looked like a paranoid agent of some 70s movie! Always trying to make it look like Atarasei was up to no good and all. I'd been warned beforehand that he'd behave like that to begin with, so… I simply ignored him. It was hard, though, and the man got the best of my patience more than once. Instead of working, was trying to start trouble where there wasn't!"
"I saw it." Jake recalled.
"Glad that XY fellow decided to keep him! It was a bad element for the Prince's health as well. Had the man stayed there much longer I'm sure the Prince's nerves would be wrecked."
"By the way… Whose side is that XY on, anyway? He feels so enigmatic and contradictory… With the "Ghost Server" and all…"
"The "Ghost Server" was an experiment to measure the greediness and arrogance of people! A small-scale one. But also used it to benefit other parties like us or the Prince…"
"Sounds like the guy's not the usual type."
"So it'd seem. I don't know details either. I guess it's somewhat complicated and has its background."
"Guess that." Kei shrugged.
"Mail? Sheesh. Eisei. Speaking of the devil." Jake grumbled as his PET vibrated.
"What now?"
"…"Dig. (Deep meaning)"! Not another Nico Nico joke. They get tiresome."
"That and the mishearing jokes."
"What next? Sheesh. Dunno where he got this one… "If you'd gone ahead and transferred him then our hero would be inside of a wall in those ruins!"… "You promised to keep it secret, didn't you?"… Inside of a wall: GAME OVER! ...It surely can't be nice to suddenly find yourself trapped inside of a wall. This too much… Suggests that the best names for a couple of babies are "Crime" and "Punishment"!"
"The Prince will have another streak of rage. He doesn't deserve this to."
"Next time I see the guy I'll…! I'll turn the guy's hair PINK!" Jake cursed.
"Calm down!" Kei sighed.
"Easier said than done!"
18:28 PM (Japan Time)…
"Been a while since we'd gathered here, Yaito – chan. Did you grow up roses?"
"Roses? What for?"
"Who knows?"
"Are you trying to convey me some message?"
"Ask Gliding Butler."
"Ma'am! Please!"
"Gliding Butler? Oh come on. Meiru. Not again."
"He'll patent Gliding Butter."
"What a lame pun."
"Meiru – chan, you BAKA!"
"What was that? Rhapsody in Pink!"
"I HATE THAT NAME!"
"Is she the real one, Netto?"
"That's right, Dekao. She's human alright."
"And here I thought we could shake off tension! Why do these things always backfire on me? What have I done?"
"Oh boy."
The usual group of Netto, Saito, Meiru, Yaito, Dekao and Hikawa had gathered on Yaito's tree-house.
Meiru dully looked around before asking an odd question, followed by a pun.
Glyde gasped in horror, Roll was annoyed, Meiru countered with a nickname Roll couldn't stand, and a heated discussion began between the two of them.
"That "Queen" behavior of yours ain't gonna help you get better scores!"
"Who cares?"
"Your parents must do! They want you to be a successful student!"
"I decide that!"
"No, they decide!"
"Go play with that Grey guy!"
"THAT WAS RUDE OF YOU!"
"YOU SURE WANT SOME OF THAT!"
"… Let's wait outside. Follow us, guys." Saito sighed.
The guys left and Yaito remained as if trying to figure out how to calm them down.
"What do I do, Yaito – sama?"
"Just leave for now."
"I DON'T!"
"YOU WANT ROCKY – SAMA TO DO IT TO YOU! SO GO DO IT!"
"WHAT!?"
"Say! Meiru – chan… How old are you again?"
"18!"
"What? You're 16!" Roll frowned.
"… Are you really her or…?" Yaito got suspicious.
"Of course I am!"
"… Roll. IR vision."
"… She's human. It's not one of those wannabes!" Roll replied.
"… A human fake? Don't tell me that you're…!"
"Wait a minute! There's a weird radio wave being transmitted from close by and it seems to be synching with her brain at intervals! Someone's manipulating her!" Roll realized.
"What? Manipulating me?" She seemed to snap out of it.
"Who goes there?" Yaito questioned loud enough to be heard.
"The origin of the signal is close! Up!"
"Up? Wha…!? KYA~H!"
SLAM!
"What happened!?"
"U-u-up t-t-there!"
"Wha…? YIKES!"
"By all the…"
"Is that…?"
The guys ran back in and looked up to see a hovering human head lacking skin and with some of the muscle destroyed.
The eyes were lifeless, it lacked a nose, and the mouth lacked some teeth.
It was gross at a first sight, hence why almost everyone gasped at it.
"It seems to be a small robot of some sort emitting a wave… And it's emitting encoded Wi-Fi data too!" Roll exclaimed.
"Battle Chip, Yo-yo! Gotcha, ugly!"
"Legato!?"
"Noir – sama told me to roam close to you guys just in case something was to happen."
Legato used the Yoyo at the thing to catch it, and then locked it inside of a glass case.
"Cool!" Dekao whistled in admiration.
"Good. This cage is designed to nullify all incoming and outgoing signals so it can't be remotely self-destroyed."
"Don't tell me it's that Spiral guy." Netto grumbled.
"What a PERVERT!" Meiru fumed.
"Hmmm… Maybe it's another member. There could be a woman agent involved as well. I'm sure that that Spiral isn't a pervert who likes manipulating women's minds. I think that the only thing he cares about is his damned piece of junk in the first place."
"Wait. What about Jennifer?" Meiru asked.
"Tetsukai? On the brig."
"Check it out."
"Alright. Do you copy, Alex? Got a little job for you! Figure out if Tetsukai Jennifer is still on the brig or not."
"Roger that." Alex replied.
"Will take a lil while. I'll go deliver this at Purgatory while making sure to shut it down before warping there. I can remove the rear of the cage to access this panel… I gotta be fast… Now!"
He opened a panel set on the back of the head and found a switch along with a Compact Flash card slot, which had a card on it, so he shut the thing down and reformed the cage.
"Be right back. I ordered Burner Man to patrol the outside of the manor just in case. See ya."
Meiru exhaled and sat on the armchair while glancing at the window.
"Do you have strawberry milk at hand?" She asked Yaito.
"Of course! Who do you think I am?"
"Strawberry Heiress." She snickered.
"How funny." She drily replied.
"Sure thing." Roll sighed.
The guys rolled their eyes as Yaito fetched a bottle and handed it to Meiru, who drank a couple of sips before getting amused.
"By the way, Netto… When's it?"
"When's what?"
"You know it."
"That joke's stupid. And offensive." Saito grumbled.
"Just trying!"
"No loopholes."
"I know."
"Let's hope you do."
"Here's a joke! "I'm named werewolf 'cause I'm a mix of man and wolf. How 'bout ya?"…"Ya won't believe it."…"Try it, man!"…"I'm an ant bear."… "No way, man!"…"
"When you put it that way then it truly becomes unbelievable!"
"I'm back. Tetsukai is in the brig and it's the real deal."
"Then there must be some other woman we don't know about and who found it funny to manipulate me to start paranoia. Talk about a smug woman!"
Meiru fumed and stomped the ground with the right foot.
"Legato? I found something…" Zero radioed.
"What is it?"
"That there was a woman trainee that was under Splinter's instruction at the same time as Spiral. Codename was Seed."
"Splinter, Spiral and Seed. What a trio!" Yaito muttered.
"Triple S, even!" Hikawa grumbled.
"I just found because I was incredibly lucky on finding a scan of that list in a forgotten Seraph server in Vladivostok. It establishes Spiral's age at 41 and that woman's age at 40."
"Older than Jennifer! Could be my mom, even." Meiru muttered without too much surprise.
"I see. Excellent discovery, Zero. Continue looking into that! I retrieved a device that seems built by that woman. I was right! Spiral works as a smokescreen to hide others! Who else could be hiding behind the guy's smokescreen?"
"I'll check that list again and try to figure out what became of the other trainees of that time. Of the year 1986, that is. I'll need a while! It's pretty old data so maybe it's not digitalized."
"A new enemy! It's not like we didn't have enough of them. This town seems to be a magnet for all of them in the first place. Starting with that Wily old man and his petty Dream Virus." Netto sighed.
"Heck. Things have made a turn for the worse all of a sudden. You're right. Remember how Gospel followed up! And what they did."
"You needn't tell me, guys. Shit. Where are they hiding? Those lousy mice!" Legato growled aloud.
"In Andorra?" Meiru joked.
"Could be. For all we know." Legato shrugged.
"What was the name…? Rodon!" Dekao grinned.
"You mean "London"." Hikawa corrected with a sigh.
"It's pointless to speculate. We don't have any leads as of now. Let's hope we can find something soon. Wait there, you lowlifes!"
"How about you hire Bacterio to find them?" Meiru laughed.
"Very funny, Sakurai. Not in the mood for those." Legato sighed.
"Sheesh. Let's be rational here, shall we? We need to stay united!"