Chapter 2: Of nobles and barons
13:13 PM (Taiwan Time), Sunday December the 2nd…
"… Lord Hyde."
"What is it, my fellow?"
"My Master summons thou."
"Excellent! He must have a new request for me. Let's go, Shinobi! And don't forget your manners, my valet!"
"… Yes, Hyde – sama… That of the valet…!"
"Huh? Did you hush something?"
"N-no, Hyde – sama!"
"Hyde~… Don't get cocky, will ya?"
"Be quiet, you half-paid tabloid envoy!"
"Fine. But then don't say I didn't warn ya."
"Kuu, kuu, kuu… Chii… Chii…"
"Oh. Be quiet, Assassin. Go slaughter some cattle."
Hyde, human ID of Phantom Black, had been sitting in a tatami of an oriental-like room somewhere and reading Hamlet until a man who looked like a manservant came in, bowed, and made an announcement: Hyde glanced at a teen guy sitting across the table and he stood up as well while mumbling.
"Alright, Shinobi… Who was the composer of "Moonlight Sonata"?"
"Eh… Mozart, was it?"
"No! Beethoven!"
"Hyde~… What point is there to teaching that to Shinobi, anyway?"
"My valet must have some culture! And prove he's not a barbarian come from southern lands!"
Shinobi, the "valet", was a teen guy about Subaru and the others' height and maybe he was about their age too.
He wore ninja wool clothes which were a balaclava with an opening on the rear, a wool black sweater, pants, socks and sandals.
His hair was brown and it jumped out from behind in a spiky and wild manner.
His eyes' irises were red.
He carried a katana sheath on his back along with a leather band which stretched diagonally across his chest.
He now looked somewhat annoyed and defeated given Hyde's odd behavior: Phantom, the Mu Denpa Body, was hovering next to Hyde and sighing in defeat: another voice rang out.
"… Ushii… Ushii…"
The owner of the voice was another Denpa Body that hovered around Shinobi.
Assassin was reminiscent of a typical ghost, having a white body with no legs and a hood with a Halloween-like face carved on it.
Its "eyes" shone with reddish light.
It flew out through the open inner garden door and to the sky while Hyde and Shinobi marched forward, crossing a classical Chinese wood bridge over a small river: the garden had a Zen feeling to it and it was obvious that the owner of the mansion had to be pretty rich.
"Heh, heh, heh… Taiwan is good! It brings forth inspiration! Such as… The Taiwan Hamlet!" Hyde laughed.
Shinobi sighed in defeated and rolled his eyes as if being fed up with his master's eccentric ideas.
"The Baron is waiting. Do come in."
"Alright. Good morning, Mr. Baron."
"Mr. Hyde. I've got a new job for you. Insofar you've fulfilled all of them while others failed miserably. I expect a great success tonight as well."
"Tonight, eh? Where?"
"Japan. A government lab… But sit down and let's talk about the details in a comfortable manner."
"As you wish."
Both entered another room which had a balcony overseeing a densely forested valley with a town built on it some kilometers away: a man had been standing there and looking at the view before turning around and walking inside.
"Good. Remember, Mr. Hyde. I, the Night Baron, expect my agents to strike at nighttime, swiftly and blinding the security."
"I know, I know."
The man, Night Baron, wore a black suit along with a black necktie, a blue cloak that was open, a tall neck, a top hat and a white drama mask that had a creepy smile drawn on it and two creepy eyes as well: his normal eyes' irises were blue in color.
He could be over a meter and eighty tall, maybe closer to a meter and ninety tall.
He gave the impression of being someone powerful.
"Alright. The lab is small. There were 10 employees. One of them was an insider I sent but they got found out. Security is minimal: an electrical fence, cameras and 5 Battle Wizards."
"Piece of a cake! What's the catch?"
"New anti-Noise weapons…"
"Oho. Portable, I take it?"
"Indeed. That was as far as my insider got before he got discovered: the idiot tried to be too blunt and was suspected."
"My, my. They tried to look up to some police drama."
"Guess so. It's of no consequence. Anyway. I want you to get the schematics tonight at 11:30 PM."
"Won't the cops be expecting us?"
"No need to worry. That lab was disguised to pretend to be a civilian lab and such security is low. I called them and posed as an underground whistleblower and told them you'd go assault the larger, official lab 200 km NNE from there…" Night Baron chuckled.
"Oh! Splendid! As expected of Mr. Baron!"
"And they will be assaulted by a horde of Viruses that will keep them busy enough until you get the schematics and run out of there. Once you confirm that you are outside of their chase range then I shall recall the Viruses and leave them to taste bittersweet defeat."
"Bittersweet defeat…! Indeed!"
"Zing! Bring the facility schematics!"
"Yes, my Lord."
The manservant brought a suitcase which he placed atop the table: Night Baron made a dismissing command and the manservant left the room while Hyde opened the case and looked at some schematics accompanied by photos of corridors, Battle Wizards, password input panels, armored doors, one segment of an electrical fence, and so on.
"Hum. Your insider did a good job… No need for Shinobi to scout… I assume only the Battle Wizards will be there by then?"
"Indeed. All staff is still under investigation by the Satella Police: they got paranoid and now see spies everywhere."
"Heh, heh, heh. You deserve that, Akatsuki!" Hyde chuckled.
"Mere luck." Phantom muttered.
"Be quiet, you half-bribed evening tabloid envoy!"
"Yes, yes. Gotcha." He sighed.
Shinobi inwardly sighed and was seemingly trying to bear with Hyde's fancy insult words towards Phantom.
"Don't come crying at me later if you get into a pinch."
"Hmpf! Like I will. This'll be a piece of a cake. Thanks to Mr. Baron's resources… I shall fulfill this job!"
"I expect no less of you, Mr. Hyde. Well then. Other matters recall me so let's meet at 9:30 PM. I'll be out the whole afternoon and evening. Take your time to prepare the strategy."
"Alright. Good morning."
"Good morning."
Night Baron stood up and walked out of the room: Zing bowed as the man quickly strode away: Hyde began to check the schematics in detail and Shinobi looked at them as well.
"Just in case… Akatsuki is the prudent type. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ox guy or the Cygnus guy got placed as extra security. You'll sneak in, cause some ruckus, and rush out. During the confusion I'll get the schematics and run away. Let's then use the Sky Wave and hide in the Bermuda Labyrinth. From there we can go fetch the Cosmo Wave and get back here…" Hyde exposed his plan.
"Acknowledged. I could try to create a bunshin that looks like Master and make them believe we weren't expecting such security and we decide to pull out… They'll surely fall for the bait, Master."
"Heh, heh, heh… I'm a genius!"
"You just happened to find that fella who got easy jobs for ya."
"Be quiet! I, the descendant of London's Hyde Manor, order it!"
Both Phantom and Shinobi sighed in defeat.
"Get ready, Satella Police! I'll make you taste bittersweet defeat! Hah!"
15:55 PM (Japan Time)…
"… MALASAHA~H!"
"Whoa! What was that, Misora?"
"Dunno, Harp."
"Who was that?"
"Not me, Urakata – san!"
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. The curse of the Malasahah!"
"What's that? A Thailand Emperor?"
"Dunno."
"Pororon! I know that tune of voice. War Rock. Show your lion wannabe hide. Pororon!"
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Did ya like my newest gag sponsored by Black Demon – sama~?"
"Cha mean that Sigma brute, War Rock. I know cha."
"Yo! Misora! Did ya get the photo I sent?"
"I deleted it."
"Huh? Why? Queen Tia said that…"
"Sheesh. And now Queen Tia – sensei wants to make fun of "that"? What a lady: after all the trouble she had us go through…!"
Hibiki Misora had been writing down a draft of a new song in her change-room within Okudama Studios when a voice rang out across the building's speakers: Harp, her Wizard, fumed and called out for War Rock who showed up: Misora sighed and mumbled in an annoyed manner when War Rock brought up Queen Tia's name.
"Oho. Queen Tia wants ya to marry Subari~, then!"
"If you wanna think of it like that…" She didn't seem to care.
"Pororon! But if ya dare to make it public then ya get punishment: cha and that Sigma brute!" Harp warned.
"Mwah, hah, hah. We'll see 'bout that, by Malasahah!"
"COME AT FULL POWE~R!" A heavy manly voice rang out next.
"Whoa! What now!" Urakata Mamoru complained outside.
"Dunno." Shizuka muttered.
"Some troublemaker?" Ice wondered.
"Black Demon – sama says: Malasaha~h!"
"Not another prankster…! What's with the Security Wizards?" Urakata complained.
"Eh… Urakata – san… That troublemaker's level of power is way above us, sir, so…"
"Lovely!"
"Yo! War Rock! Ya were here… Hey there! Hibiki 'n Harp!"
"Sigma… They didn't tell ya it's rude to butt into people's rooms?"
"But Subari~ did it, didn't the guy?"
"Sheesh. He had a good reason! I forgot to give him the "Admission Card" so that he could come in! I should've told the Security Wizard but it slipped my mind! There was no other way around! There!"
Sigma, the newcomer Wizard, was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.
His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on the sides of the head.
These added a "demonic" look to him.
Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand.
Sigma was currently aiming at that sword towards the floor in a lazy manner.
"Brad Shad says: Shady Brady!"
"How original." Misora fumed.
"SIGMA~!"
"Yikes! Dr. Lartes!"
"I told you to check on security and you don't do that? Do you want another season shut down in the capsule or what?" A voice growled over a radio band.
"R-roger, I'm on my way!"
"You better be! Or else…!"
Sigma quickly jumped into the Wave Road using the Wave Station and rushed outside of the studio building: War Rock chuckled and Misora merely directed a dull glare at the guy before standing up, picking her coat and scarf, and getting out of the room.
"What's going on, Misora?" Urakata met up with her.
"No big deal, Urakata – san. Rock and a prankster buddy. But the buddy got scolded by his CO so he's going to resume inspecting outside security else he gets punishment… It's better to ignore them, sir." She quickly summed up with a sigh.
"Alright."
"I'm going for a walk. Be back in a while…"
"Fine. Some fresh air will do well."
"Sure."
Misora came out outside and spotted Sigma checking the tennis court as if making sure there wasn't anything weird there: he suddenly jumped towards a tree and grabbed something with the left hand before jumping back down: it was a Voltic Eye Virus.
"Gotcha, ugly! Akatsuki told me to be wary of these and the fella was right, by Malasahah! Confess! Did Hyde send ya?" He grumbled as he held it very close to his face.
"Did something happen, Sigma?"
"Here, Blood! This guy!"
"Ah! Good catch. I found one next to the pond but it fled."
"Hey. Blood Shadow. Been a while."
"Sure, Misora – chan."
Another Wizard met up with Sigma in the tennis court.
Blood Shadow looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.
He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.
His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.
His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.
"Beep. Laertes will poison Hamlet! Beep!" The Voltic Eye apparently played a pre-recorded message.
"Sheesh. And now Hyde makes a pun out of my name!" Dr. Lartes complained.
"Dunno why, but… I feel some déjà vu for some reason or another." Blood Shadow muttered.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Dr. Lartes fumed.
"Beep. Be quiet, you half-bribed morning tabloid envoy! Beep."
"Hyde still tells that to Phantom? I'm surprised Phantom hasn't ditched him yet." Misora muttered with slight surprise.
"Beep. I'm off through the noblemen's road. Beep."
The Voltic Eye suddenly self-destructed and got deleted so Sigma grumbled under his breath.
"Let's search for more of those!"
"Let me give a hand. Denpa – Henkan! Hibiki Misora, On Air!"
Misora performed "Denpa – Henkan" and became Harp Note: she began to search across the Wave Roads and headed for the Stunt Car: she used the "Cyber – In" feature to jump inside and explore its Cyber World: she soon stumbled upon 13 Voltic Eyes that seemed to be in hibernation status given their lack of activity.
"Found 13 of them here, in the Stunt Car Cybernetics…" She whispered over the radio.
"Good. We'll converge there. Be quiet, Sigma!"
"Alright, alright…"
The other two converged on Harp Note's position and they nodded to each other before jumping for the Voltic Eyes: they all woke up and began to try to attack them yet they dodged: Sigma gripped one with the left hand and a greenish glow surrounded its body.
"Nothing! It hasn't recorded anything. It only has an emitter and receiver and the frequency is encoded." He reported.
"Same over here…" Blood Shadow reported next.
"No luck either." Harp Note sighed.
"Beep! The Hyde Manor sentences you to… failure! Beep."
"Huff. Isn't that a parody of "The Court of Owls" in Bat-man…? And I feel some déjà vu." Sigma muttered.
"What's that? A foreign comic?"
"Huh? Ah yeah."
Blood Shadow seemed to direct a glare at Sigma as if telling him not to speak any further and Sigma merely shrugged yet the gesture did not escape Harp Note's sight.
"Beep. Continue your useless struggle as much as you want. Eventually you shall submit to me and you shall be exposed. Beep."
"Now Queen Tia – sensei uses these to send me messages? Sheesh: what a stubborn person!" Harp Note fumed.
"The gal…!" Sigma grumbled.
"Someone should psychoanalyze her." Blood Shadow groaned.
"They really should!" Dr. Lartes muttered.
"MALASAHA~H!"
"War Rock. That doesn't work anymore."
"Mwah, hah, hah. I've brought someone and no – one."
"Oh yeah?"
War Rock tried to scare them by yelling his stupid motto but none were impressed and even less by his silly joke that came next.
"Found you! Give me back the gardening scissors!"
"Oh come on. You had to drag Wolf Forest here?"
"Grrr! My blood's boilin'! Gimme the scissors!"
"And if I don't want? What'll ya do? Ring up Cousin Wolverine?"
"Dunno whaddya mean! THE SCISSORS!"
War Rock had apparently stolen Wolf Forest's gardening scissors and, as a result, he'd come to claim them back.
"I need scissors! 61!"
"Sheesh." Sigma apparently knew the source of the joke but wasn't in the mood for those now.
"Sigma…!" Dr. Lartes scolded.
"I know, sir, that I am a bad influence!" He admitted.
"Fine. At least you admit that."
"Yo! Wolf! Wolverine will steal ya screen-time!"
"I don't give a crap for that!" Wolf complained.
"Grrr! You've asked for it!"
"Beep. The wolves will eat themselves. And then there were none. Beep."
"Wasn't that a novel's title?" Harp Note frowned.
"A 20th century mystery novel by author Agatha Christie, yeah… Several persons trapped in an island begin to show up dead one after the other and no – one can be sure of who'll be next or who the killer is." Blood Shadow summed up in a few lines.
"Pororon! So! That message recorded in the Virus means to say that they'll all kill themselves." Harp guessed.
"Essentially."
"I heard there was a ruckus. What happened today?" Acid Ace rushed into the scene.
"This rascal stole my gardening scissors!" Wolf Forest yelled as he kept on chasing War Rock.
"Lovely. And what else?" He sighed.
"We found all of these but we can't figure out their control frequency due to the heavy encoding. Maybe Acid can do something about it?"
"Leave it up to me."
"Beep. Speakers of political intentions should stay away from sins of flesh and mind. Beep."
"Another message from Queen Tia? Sheesh. She does love to come up with ways to beat around the bush."
"Catch me, Wolf – chan!"
"GRRRR! MY BLOOD'S BOILIN'!"
"Hmmm… This seems to be a military encoding system… But some years old… Some pieces aren't properly assembled or compiled… Maybe it's a cancelled product that was almost complete… It might've gone over-budget and such was scrapped without being properly tested." Acid calmly analyzed.
"Somehow I don't see Hyde as the type to bother so much: I mean, he could've picked any actual protocol…" Blood Shadow muttered.
"Maybe K & K stole it time ago and Hyde stole it from them?" Sigma suggested.
"Ah. That makes more sense."
SLASH! RASH! THUD! OW! GRRR! A~U~H! GORRAWA~H! GRAWAH!
"Ignore those." Acid Ace told the others as the sounds from War Rock's and Wolf Forest's fight became louder.
"Roger. The origin of the signal seems to be somewhere in Taiwan."
"Taiwan! So that's where Hyde & Shinobi fled to…"
"I'm trying to narrow it down: it uses a LOT of repeaters and it clones itself every twice or thrice so it's getting harder to find the exact latitude and longitude." Acid informed them.
"Guess it's a system that K & K bothered to set up and Hyde stole it from them: he wouldn't have the patience to program something so complicated to begin with."
"Beep. My foreign valet shall teach you not to butt into my noble and gentleman affairs! Beep."
"Sure, sure." Blood Shadow drily muttered.
ZERYA~H! OUWA~H! GRAWO~H! RAOWA~H!
"Ulimateus Attackus of Deathus!"
"Dunno whaddya mean! Uppercut! Side-cut! Down-cut!"
"Ultimate Attack of Death? Sure thing." Sigma skeptically muttered.
"YO! YO! YO! The Claw Club is on the move! And there were a billion shoes in a shoe that fitted into my golden cauldron's bottom!" Moon Disaster showed up and began to sing some silly song.
"That's so stupid. Acid. Put on a hi-frequency filter to your audio input system so that you can't hear to that."
"Acknowledged. Filter: on."
"Let's do the same too." Harp Note whispered.
"I'm shutting down the channel. I'll monitor through video input. The system will subtitle all dialogues, anyway."
"… Xinyi Township area… Coming closer…"
"Good!"
"Beep. The Immortal Eternal Everlasting Orchestra shall overcome all living orchestras. Beep."
"How original." Harp Note muttered.
"Until the bearded guy didn't yelp "bearded!" there weren't bearded guys!"
"I dunno what the hell that's about! Shaddup!" Wolf Forest snapped back as he kept fighting.
"Ultimatus Rollingus Crashingus Attackus!"
"Oho – hah! YO! YO! YO! And here goes the Ultimate Rolling Crashing Attack!"
"Reports from other Battle Wizards… The other Cyber Worlds and Noise Waves had nothing abnormal on them." Acid reported.
"Are you getting closer?"
"Indeed. I seem to have seized the true stream. Here: 1 kilometer SSE of Mt. Yushan. Roughly in the center of Taiwan… Checking property registers… A city was established close by in the 22nd century and has been around for about one century… Several large houses… "The Red Lotus": property of a millionaire named Qing' Ban Zantanq." Acid finished his tracking of the signal.
"Excellent! Let's go report to the Chief and prepare a sortie: we'll surely catch Hyde with the pants down and be able to corner him and Shinobi: it's about time we gave them a lesson." Acid Ace smiled.
"Oops. It's almost time for me to be at the recording studio. I've got to record the song I finished a couple weeks ago… See ya!"
"I'll contact you later: it'd seem there'll be activity tonight."
"Roger, Akatsuki – san!"
"Alright. Let's bring some to the HQ: maybe our computer can figure out something else." Sigma suggested.
"I approve. The more we figure out about Hyde's plans the better."
"Let's have half and dispatch the other half to the Satella Police."
RA~RGH! GRU~WO~H! SLASH! THUD! PTAF! SMACK!
"Ugly! Thief! Old-timer! Me? That you! Say again!" They began to yell.
"YO! YO! YO! The Agonicus Battlus of Decadus!"
"Agonic Battle of Decade~? Shaddup!" Wolf snapped.
"The Colonel says ya go back: he'll do ya job instead! Nyah, hah, hah!"
"T-THIS CLAW RASCAL!"
"Let's go, Sigma. Ignore those guys. They look like pre-school, even."
"Sheesh. Guess I gotta learn how to behave…"
Setting that asides… I've got a bad feeling about this… My imagination…?