DISCLAIMER: The following story contains various themes and subject matter that may not be suitable for children under the age of thirteen. Viewer discretion is advised.
Digimon
GODFALL
By. Sonfaro
Chapter 18
A/N: Hey! Hindsight hiatus warning... too late? Crap. Here you are.
A/N2: Quick edit.
His hands are across my throat.
They've only been there a few seconds, and it's my own fault too. That doesn't make this any easier. My jaws are locked from the struggle, and my eyelids are fluttering from the strain. My hands are pressed against his chest, trying desperately to push him away. It isn't working. I try not to panic, despite the fact that my best friend in the world is trying to kill me.
No. That's not Tai. Datamon is trying to kill me.
Datamon has my best friend by the arm, hundreds of smaller wires darkly sprouting from the base of the single cord he foolishly plugged into himself, pumping god knows what into his system. Said cord remains connected to the girl we've been calling Rei for the past day or so. It hangs from her mouth like a freakishly long tongue, the deranged smile framing the wire as her red eyes continue to flash dangerously.
I try to keep calm, though it's a losing battle. I think I can go on for another twenty seconds without oxygen before I start to lose myself. In that time, there are some decisions to be made, decisions I'm not gonna like. Decisions that I'm gonna hate. Decisions I'm never going to be able to forgive myself for. Involuntarily my chest heaves underneath him, and a tear begins to form within my eye. You're my best friend Tai. I'm sorry. One hand reaches up to his face.
The other grips tight to the knife.
It hadn't taken Datamon long to subdue us without Tai. Agumon had been first, charging forward with a war cry in a vain attempt to save his partner, tears already streaming down his scaled face. The wire sprouted from the floor like a vine and caught him firmly by the leg before he could react, hauling our dragon friend into the air. He landed in a heap in the corner, knocked for a loop.
Gabumon tried launching a 'Blue Blaster' assault at the mutant hanging from the ceiling, but a wall of wire shot from a wall and shielded Data-Rei from harm. The boiling chemicals from the attack broke apart the data from the wired but failed to reach the target. He took a breath to fire again when a chord snuck up his leg like a constrictor snake and pulled him up into the air as well. He landed beside Agumon, both rookies attempting to gather themselves before Data-Rei-Tai could attack again.
I'd called to the both of them. They were too busy trying not to die. I'd looked around for something – anything – I could use to help.
And that's when my eyes caught sight of it, glimmering on the floor.
That same knife that had been strapped to the girls thigh only a few hours ago. The same knife that had sliced Tai's arm wide open. The knife had just been sitting there, glimmering in the faint light of the control hub: just waiting for humanoid hands to grasp the hilt. As Agumon and Gabumon struggled against the mutant, I kept my eye on the knife.
I hadn't been thinking. I didn't have a plan when I raced over and scooped the weapon off the floor. It had been instinct - my natural reaction to a dire situation. And while 'm not happy that it led to Data-Tai tackling me while Data-Rei continues to leer behind him, at least I tried to do something. I couldn't just sit there while my best friend was swallowed up by a computer. I just couldn't.
Which leads us to where we are right now: with my back to the floor, his legs straddling my chest, his hands across my throat, wires protruding from his right arm, the knife nestled loosely in the palm on my left.
I could try to cut through it. Maybe that would save him, right? Or it could trap Datamon inside my best friend instead, leaving a husk of my girlfriends clone and an enemy I'm not sure we'd ever be able to defeat. Or worse. It could kill him.
I'm scared. I'm more afraid than I've been since I left them all in the forest to be alone. It's a risk I'm not sure I'm ready to take. But I have to do something. I'm running out of… ti..time…
I can hardly think… my mind is starting to blur. I shut my eyes tight. I need to make a decision or I won't be alive much longer.
I grip the base of the knife.
"Matt?"
My eyes snap open.
"T-Tai?" I manage.
"T-T-T-T-Tai!" Agumon sputters from the corner.
"T-Tai, y-you're –", Gabumon tries to cheer, before he is run over by Agumon.
"You're alive! My partner's still alive! Yes! Yes! Yes! You're alive!" At that moment a vine shot towards them and our partners have to split apart to avoid being skewered.
But nearly getting splayed does nothing to remove the smile on Agumon's face.
Tai lets go of me with one hand, grinning at his very relieved partner with teeth shining. "Of course I'm still alive! No two-bit bad guy is gonna hold me d-"
"T-Tai…" I croak.
He blinks. "Matt?"
"Can't… Breathe…"
His eyes suddenly drift to his impaled arm, which continues to push heavily against my throat. The wires quiver with the movement, his fingers still squeezing the life out of me. "Geez!"
He heaves upwards, teeth crunched together. But there's no movement – his hand keeps the pressure on tight. It's not as bad as it had been when both arms were about to snap my neck, but I'm starting to slip.
"Tai, you unhand Matt this instant!" I barely hear Gabumon demand as he bounds away from the monster.
"I-it's not what it looks like," Tai insists. "I can't control it. It's like my hand has a mind of its own!"
"That's the excuse you used that one time I walked in on you with your –"
"Shut it Agumon!"
If I weren't oxygen deprived I'd have laughed. But this isn't a laughing matter – the only one doing so is the freakish monster who has possessed a human replica. Tai keeps shouting things to Agumon and Gabumon – I lose some of the words. I can't see him now. My mind is starting to black out. I feel Tai hovering over me, and I can feel him trying to pry himself away. The knife sits limply in the cradle of my fingers as my system begins to fall apart.
And then suddenly he's off, hand and all, and I take in a long hard breath via painful coughing fit. My senses flood back at once, a throbbing headache already taking over my skull. I reach a hand to my wounded chest and look up, trying to discern what suddenly allowed Tai to let me go.
Tai has a hand on the black wire drilled into his arm.
Several things happen after that which just weren't expected. First, there is no shock from Data-Rei, which I guess is good news. Of course the bad news is, well, odd enough. As soon as Tai's good hand wraps around the black wire jutting disgustingly above me, the infected limb whips up – fingers claw-like – and hovers in front of him. He has time enough to blink before his own hand latches onto his face like an evil octopus.
He panics, one hand trying desperately to fight off the other while my leader thrashes around screaming obscenities at a higher pitch than usual. I'd tease him about it if I wasn't worried my chest had caved in. Agumon and Gabumon attempt to shout encouragement as Tai literally puts up his dukes (duke?) against his own hand. A hand connected to a wire. A wire stuffed down the throat of Datamon's vessel.
I cough, rolling onto my side. My chest is killing me but I rise to a knee. I grit my teeth and try to fight through the pain, shutting my eyes for a moment. And then I focus them on the Digidestined of courage. He's struggling against our enemy, pulling the wire between them taught. I don't take my eyes off them as my hand lowers to the floor for the knife. Without another word I cross over to him, while our partners continue to distract Data-Rei. In seconds I am upon him, the knife at the ready.
"Hold still!" I shout at him.
He finally looks at me and nods an affirmation. His good hand holds off his currently evil hand by the wrist while his corrupted fingers twitch and reach for his face like a spider who's seen it's prey. He grits his teeth with the strain. I bite my lip, bringing the knife to the edge of the wire. We share a glance, Tai grits his teeth, and then I cut upwards. The sharp edge of the blade easily slices through the outer layer of the Dark Network's wiring, but the lines of information that make up the wires connecting fibers gets mangled by the blade and slows the cut. Tai yelps as a jolt is sent through him, and I know the next one has to be cleaner or he may go into shock. With a snarl I send the blade through the rest of the black encased wire, severing it completely. The live end sparks before dropping to the floor. With confidence, Tai flashes me a smile, grabs hold of the wire, and tosses it to the ground.
He immediately falls to his knees, swearing from the pain. But at least the wire is out.
The Rei-mon creature shrieks, his/her glowing red eyes rolling in the back of his/her head. The cord stretching from her throat snaps back into her mouth as quickly as I saw it shoot out just minutes ago, slipping through her lips like a line of Italian spaghetti. She/He/It actually swallows the severed wire, the protrusion visible as it rolls down her throat.
We don't have time to watch a horror show though. I slip the knife into the loop of my belt and catch hold of Tai by the shoulders, hoisting him back to his feet. We've gotta get moving. Datamon almost has a bead on us.
Of course he must have forgotten in the hub-ub. There are still four of us.
"Pepper Breath!"
"Blue Blaster!"
Our partners are back on their feet, rejuvenated by Tai's revival, and pissed off at the thrashing they've been getting. The monster gets it from both sides, gasping heavily as wires pop from every direction in an attempt to defend the mind of Datamon against two angry rookies. Tai shakes the cobwebs from his head as I try to lead him to the far wall to be safe.
"That was a hell of a thing…" he whispers to no one in particular. He watches with disgust as his end of the wire begins to dissipate into thin air, while holding tight to his arm to keep the limb from breaking up.
"Tai?"
"Nn… I'm fine, honest. Matt, are you al-"
"Look out!"
Gabumon's voice nearly comes too late. The both of us take a leap back as a wire slams hard into the ground we were standing on, sending fissures up the ancient stone. The mutant seethes at us before turning its attention back at blocking Gabumon's chemical fire and avoiding Agumon's claws. Tai absently rubs his arm as he glares in our enemies direction.
"He's pissed off."
I nod. "Yeah. And I'm all out of ideas.
"No need," he tells me. "All we have to do is wait for –"
He doesn't get to finish his statement. Before we know what hits us wires shoot straight up from around us, throwing dust into the air and forming a tight cage to keep us from running. I'm separated from Tai by a line of taut chords – I don't risk striking them to reach him. Agumon and Gabumon turn to try and help but both are caught in the coils of Data-Rei's wiring. At long last, the battle appears to be over. And we lost.
Snarling, the mutant digi-thing lowers itself to the floor. She/He takes a step forward, the wires in her legs and shoulders popping off and then replacing themselves with each stride towards us. Tai's jacket is still around her shoulders, punctured in at least eight places. He's gonna have a tough time explaining that to his professors.
If we make it out of here.
Datamon leans Rei's crimson eyes over to us, a sneer never leaving her face. She/He eyes me first, his frown deepening from his gaze. And then Datamon turns Rei's attention to Tai.
"HOW?" The creature growls.
He blinks. "Pardon?"
"HOW DID YOU DO IT?"
"Do what?"
"NO ONE… NO ONE HAS ESCAPED THE DARK NETWORK UNSCATHED."
At that Tai… smiles. It's one of those desperate, radically reckless smiles he gets when he's been backed into a corner. I don't see this smile often. I never like it. "Oh no? Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"WHAT?"
Tai sneers, cradling his arm close to his chest. "Don't remember? Don't worry. She'll be here."
His/Her face twists in confusion. "WHO?"
"It's alright. It's time to come out now."
"WHAT SORT OF INSULT IS THIS DIGIDESTINED?"
Tai blinks. His face has an owlish quality I immediately recognize – he's got a scheme working. A good one. He smiles back at the mutant still hanging in the center of the room. "Huh? Oh. I wasn't talking to you."
The creature shakes it head. "…WHAT DO Y-Y-YOOoouuuUU…"
Both human-ish hands fly to the mouth of the girl being controlled. It's red eyes were wide with shock. So are mine. Right in the midst of his/her questioning the sound lost its mechanical twine and retained a raspy, tainted voice I remember from earlier yesterday. I frown. So, she is awake.
Datamon tries to shake off the anomaly, forcibly twisting her head about and beating her temples with her own hands. But the more he fights, the lighter her eyes get, the blood red tint slowly bleeding into pink. And then white. Her clenched jaw slowly relaxes, and the wires connecting her begin to lose their buoyancy. It's in this brief fleeting moment that her head turns towards Tai.
"Ta-i-chi…"
Her words are sluggish, and it's quite possible she's suffering from a concussion from her ordeal. But she's aware of her surroundings, I think. At the very least she's aware of Tai. He smiles at her, that lopsided grin from long ago once again adorning his cheeks.
The walls around us fall through the floor, the wires limply dropping through their hidden compartments. Our partners are loosened from the wall, falling to to the floor with a grunt. I cough and look up to her. She hangs there, waiting. Rei has saved us. For now.
Tai takes a step towards her. "Hi Rei."
As soon as he takes that second step, Reis eyes snap back to red and she snatches her hand away. "NO!" The mechanical voice demands as Datamon brings Rei's scarred hands to the sides of her temple. He forces her to squeeze in an attempt to halt her awakening once and for all. It doesn't work.
"Yes." It's all she says. It's all she needed.
With that, the clone grabs hold of the wire in her neck with both hands, her crimson eyes shut tight from the coming pain. She pulls, hard, the sound of her voice merging with Datamon's as the pain flows through them both. The black wire begins to writhe in her grasp, trying to escape. Smaller wires spread from the base and enter her wrists violently, trying to pull her hands away. She struggles, taking a hand away from the base and pulling at the small strings in her wrists with all her might. The force yanks up both the wires and quite a bit of data from her skin. If we were in the real world there would be blood everywhere, I just know it. She screams, her voice tainted with the metallic drone of the Data monster fighting to keep her.
"He's gone crazy!" I exclaim.
Tai nods. "Two minds controlling one body will do that."
While Data-Rei fights itself to establish its true identity, Tai has the four of us regrouping and scrambling to salvage our mission. "We need to upload that program and we need to do it now."
"What about the survivors?"
He frowns. "We're not gonna be able to do anything for them as long as Datamon's still alive."
I nod. "Agreed."
"So what do we do?" Gabumon asks.
"We get Matt's digivice out and upload the program. After that we'll try to sort things out. Any objections?"
"None here," Gabumon shakes his head.
Agumon bares his teeth. "Let's kick his hackin' butt!"
"C'mon," Tai orders us onwards. "Lets upload this program and get the hell out of here!"
The four of us make another mad dash for the console, avoiding errant wires and trying not to get killed. Behind us we hear the screams of Data-Rei as his mind fights hers, wires snapping and smashing into walls. We keep going. This day is almost over, and we have just this one task left. That's all I can think about when we reach the console safe and sound. Once we're there though, my mind drifts to new problems.
I frown, deep with worry. My Digivice is still inside this thing. I look across the dead console for an ejection switch or something that could manually pop the slot back out of it's casing, but there aren't even screws on the stupid thing. I bite my lip, panic starting to set in. If I don't get that thing out then I'm in serious trouble. My fingers scratch against the consoles surface, but there s no way to dig beneath the terminal to retrieve it. "Tai! I… I can't get…"
Suddenly Agumon is beside me, with a claw raised. I've seen this before. I take several steps away from him.
"Razor Claw-Ayayayayayyayayayaya!"
The surge of electricity has Agumon dancing about in pain, but his fist has taken a chunk out of the cold surface of the terminal. With a little prodding I'm able to pop my digivice back into my hand. It's still as cold and light as the first day I held it.
"Thanks Agumon."
Agumon twitches. "Y-you're w-welcome."
I funnel my digivice back onto my belt strap and fish out a connecting USB chord from my pocket. I throw all my concentration into plugging that connector into my D-Terminal and bringing the program up to the LCD screen. With that done, I search for the matching USB driver on the console, thankful that computer systems in the Digital world aren't so dissimilar with those in mine. Before I connect the two devices, I take one last look behind me.
Rei is still fighting.
"DO NOT DO THIS!" Datamon pleads with her. "WE ARE SO CLOSE!"
But she fights back, if for nothing else but the guy in front of her. I can only watch with intrigued horror as she brings her wounded hands back to the chord in her neck and pulls once more with all her might.
The black wire slides out in a spray of her data.
"NO. I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED SO SOON. I AM TOO….TOooo… close…"
The last words slip from her lips like a quieting storm, the drone and mechanical whine grinding into a far more 'natural' sound. There's nothing natural about this girl, but at least her possession is over. You can almost see Datamon's influence draining out of her system: starting with the eyes, flowing through her neck, down her torso. Her fingers loosen and her arms fall to her sides. The wires protruding throughout her toned body begin to fall away – driven out of her digital skin with a sickening pop.
"Do it now!" Tai orders.
I nod. With determination I plug the USB chord into the matching driver. Within a few quick keystrokes everything will be over. I grit my teeth. "Uploading: Vaccine Program V!"
I press enter. The program flows through. In seconds the entire hub floods with light as the Dark Networks connections systems are overrun with antiviral software. The wires surrounding Tai and Rei spaz and vibrate uncontrollably, as their systems are destroyed from the inside out. There is a low moan of warping material and the eight pods containing the human captives – each connected at the top by wires hanging from the ceiling – begin to drop. They slam into the ground with a loud bang, kicking up dust and debris. The lights flicker violently before shutting off completely. And then everything is quiet.
The console is dead.
It takes a few seconds for our digivices to kick in, brightening the room with twin bright lights while a slight noise whines just loud enough for us to hear. I cough and shake dust off of my designer… aw who am I kidding? My tattered and ruined shirt that I'll have to throw away once we get home. While Tai's partner shakes off the electric current running through his system, I clip my Digivice back on my belt.
It's over.
I breathe a sigh of relief. I feel like lying down right now and just closing my eye for a bit, but I'm pretty sure that an idea like that is dangerous this far underground. It was hard enough finding my way here through the maze when there was power. Getting out is going to be a real mess. Especially with extra people to take care of.
Especially with her.
She stands in the middle of the darkness, legs quivering, fists clenched as she tries desperately to keep it together. Tai lifts his digivice to catch a better look at her. She looks rough. Her ginger-brown hair is tussled every which way, and her face is filled with pain. I hesitate, unsure of what to do. Tai does not. He takes a step forward, fueled on nothing but concern.
"Rei?"
"Ta… Ii… Chii…" Rei manages before slipping out of consciousness. Her body manages to stay on her feet for another secong before toppling over. Tai catches her in his arms before she hits the floor, his face a canvas of concern. I approach with caution. The girl is unresponsive, her breathing shallow and her hair a mess. The clothes she wore are tattered and ragged, particularly Tai's coat, which I'm sure he'll be getting an earful about if he can't find a way to replace it's missing data. I doubt he'd care. He doesn't care about the jacket. He cares about her.
Rei looks out of it, her face drowsy and tired. But her brown eyes are bright as ever… as haunting as ever too. Tai looks confident, in spite of it. He got her out. We got her out. And right now that's all my leader cares about. At least he thinks he does.
I'm almost positive though, that it isn't her he cares about most though.
I toss such thoughts from my head and clear my throat. "Is she okay?"
He doesn't look at me, his brown eyes totally focused on the unconscious girl in his arms. "I dunno. Rei? Rei."
"The wires are pulling back," Gabumon announces. Agumon shushes him for me.
"Tai, what do you want me to do?"
"Nn… Go... see if you can pry the humans out of their pods or… something. Gimme a minute here, 'kay?"
I frown but nod anyway. "Right."
I motion for Gabumon and Agumon to follow me. Gabumon does so without hesitation. Agumon hesitates for only a second, but follows without incident. The three of us make our way through the darkness towards the location of the fallen pods, careful not to trip over debris.
The pods themselves are cold, their casing made of some kind of Digichrome. Their surfaces are smooth, and it's hard to tell how the device is held together, as I can locate no nuts or screws keeping the glass door locked.
"I think we have to break it," Agumon sounds entirely too happy about that.
"You may be right." I nod.
"Razor-mmpph!"
Placing Agumon's snout on lockdown with my arms is never fun. For one thing his mouth is so darn wide I have to struggle to keep him from finishing his attack call. But at least I caught him before the lizard did something stupid. "I think you've punched enough for the day."
"MmmHmmHmmmNnmmm…" He glares.
"Matt's right Agumon," Gabumon explains to his friend. "We have to be delicate."
"That's right," I whisper. "No full powered attacks. We're trying to free these people, not kill them."
Agumon snorts but gives me an affirmative. I let go of his snout, and the three of us get to work.
We split up, each of us feeling around for a respective pod and trying to find a way to smash through the tough glass. Agumon and Gabumon of course have an advantage – both digimon are armed with incredibly powerful claws. I fiddle around on the floor and find a pretty solid piece of debries. It's heavy in my hand, rough on the edges. It'll have to do. I aim my digivice down to my chosen pod, hear grumbles from the Digimon who've been briefly deprived of my trinkets full light, focus on a spot and then, with focus, begin the process of shattering glass.
It takes three good hits for me to see the glint of a crack form. Four more and the liquid begins to pour onto the ground. Ifeel it through my knees down my shins – the flow of warm water. It smells a bit like clorox, which sends me scrambling out of the way to avoid any significant burns. Agumon and Gabumon give me grunts of celebration, having already popped their first pods open and moved on. I cross behind the pod and try to rock it, gently. The liquid seeps out little by little, until the human floating within becomes exposed to the air within the hub. I wipe my brow. He's half submerged in the weird liquid. But at least he's free.
Just as I'm about to reach in I hear her.
"T-T… Ta-i-chi?"
Her voice is low. I can barely hear it in the quiet of the hub. But I hear it. I turn my head back to Tai and Rei in the middle of the room. She's stirring, little by little, in his arms. I can't see his face (his back is turned to me) but his body language has softened, as if a huge weight had fallen from his shoulders never to be worn again. He makes an affirmative noise, nodding to her.
"Hey…"
"T-Taichi?"
"That's my name," he tells her. "What's yours?"
I see her look into his eyes for just a moment. She doesn't hesitate. "Rei."
"Rei?"
She nods. "Mm…"
I sigh. So the girl from the desert has returned. Thank the maker for small miracles.
"Can you stand?" I hear him ask.
She nods again. "Mm…"
Tai lifts her from the ground. She leans into him for support. I lift my digivice higher to give them more light. They both look terrible, Tai holding his arm rigidly, her attire torn and ripped everywhere. But they're alive. That's good. They approach the three of us slowly. Her expression brightens when she finally notices us.
"Matt!" She says with a smile.
"Rei." I say with a deep frown.
She looks at me and pales, and suddenly the memories of our day have flooded back to her completely. She looks to Tai and back to me, before finaly casting her eyes to the floor. "…I'm sorry."
I don't try to hide my distrust. I don't need to anymore. "We'll worry about the survivors first. Then we'll figure out what to do with you."
Tai frowns. "Do with her?
I nod. "She aided and abetted in a conspiracy against the Digiworld Tai. Even if she wasn't in control of her actions in the beginning, she's crossed a couple of lines."
His frown grows deeper. "That's not –"
"No, Tai. He's right."
He shoots her a glare she looks away from. But she otherwise stands her ground. "I was used in the deaths of several people, awoke a sleeping virus with a desire to destroy the world and I attacked the Digidestined. I have to be judged accordingly. Right?"
She looks to me with those browns. I nod. "…Right."
Tai can only roll his eyes and grunt with frustration. "Nn… We'll figure it out later. Okay?"
Her eyes flit from mine to his, before she nods in agreement. "Mm."
"The first one is up," I hear Gabumon call. I shoot Rei another look – softer this time – before turning and heading back to the first pod we opened. One of the older captives from the look of him. A skinny man with dark brown hair and a nebbish look to him. He's wrapped like the others – tiny little chords forming a makeshift toga around his torso and waist, covering him rather modestly actually. He looks like he has a massive hangover, whatever the case. And he's not too glad to see me.
"W-what happened…"
I clear my throat. "I'm Yamato Ishida. This is Tai Kamiya. We're Digidestined, and we're here to help. How do you feel?"
"M-my head hurts."
"Can you stand sir?"
The man grunts, which I take as an affirmative. I catch hold of his hand and pull him out of the pod. There's still slime covering his arm, making me long for my gloves again, but otherwise he seems alright. He steps out of the cocoon he was held in gingerly, bare feet hesitantly placing themselves on the hub floor. The man clears his throat, clearly bewildered. "Where am I?"
"The Digiworld," I explain. "You're safe."
He blinks in fear. "The Digi… Dear god, we're in the hub?"
"Sir, take a deep breath."
He shakes a panicked head. "You don't understand, we have to get out of here before-"
"It's alright sir, we've uploaded the Vaccine. Datamon is dead."
He catches me by the shoulder. "You don't understand. Those idiots weren't prepared for how advanced he was. The anti-virus only worked theoretically. It wasn't designed for a thinking program."
I frown, my heartbeat getting faster and faster. "What are you saying?"
He doesn't have time to tell me before things start going downhill for us.
It starts with the lights. The darkness we'd been accustomed to for the past few minutes is interrupted by the flicker of overhead lights. Everyone stops what they are doing and look up to see the floodlights in the hub fighting their way back to life. Tai gulps behind me.
"Uh… Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are the lights working?"
I don't answer. How can I? We uploaded the computer program. It hit Datamon like a ton of bricks. It sent the entire Dark Network crashing down. I would have thought that was it. That should have been it. But it isn't.
It never is.
Gabumon's voice is the first to pick up on what is going on. "Matt. The computer screen."
I frown, taking a step closer to the monitor. Despite the gaping hole in the console where my digivice used to be, the screen above continues blinking on and off, a single word spelled out in red every time it manages to be seen.
ERROR
I take a breath. "Well I'll be…"
"You see!" The man flops about, holding onto the wires that keep his extremeties from being exposed. "We're all in mortal danger-"
"Aw, put a cork in it." Agumon grumbles.
"Perhaps it would be best if you assisted your colleagues for now," Gabumon suggests more pacify.
"You don't understand, we have to-"
"Shut up for a second!" Tai barks. The man slinks back a little. I sigh. It's obvious he's frightened about something, and we're not helping.
"Please sir. If you could assist our partners in freeing your friends?"
The old man hesitates, unsure of where he should be going. He looks confused. Terrified. But he does what I ask, limping off towards Agumon and Gabumon to see if he can help pry the other survivors from their liquid prisons. Tai and Rei limp towards me, a worried expression on his face.
"What is it?" Tai asks.
I frown. "The computer is trying to boot up again."
"Datamon?"
I nod. "Datamon."
"He certainly is persistent," my leader observes. I nod again in agreement.
Tai takes a step forward, letting go of Rei and crossing closer to the console. She stumbles lightly, a hand catching my shoulder for support. I frown but say nothing. If she notices she doesn't show it. We're both more focused up front anyway.
"You're still in there, Datamon?" Tai taunts through clenched teeth. "Looks like the research team gets the last laugh after all doesn't it?"
ERROR
That's all the computer says in response.
ERROR
Tai turns back to me with a smirk. "I guess he doesn't wanna talk."
"He probably can't," I sigh, feeling each edge of my Digivice to ensure that there isn't a single scratch. "It's been hard enough straining to kill us. Fighting off a program designed to destroy you can't be easy."
Tai's humor has returned at least. He smiles, looping his good arm behind his head and stetching. "Serve's him right. Eh, Rei?"
"…"
"Rei?"
"T-that's right. "
I frown and turn to her. Here brown eyes are glued to the screen. "Something wrong?"
She shakes her head. "Just a… feeling…"
I turn to say something, but suddenly find the words caught in my throat. Tai Because two English words painted red suddenly have me very concerned.
SYSTEM RESTART
Great. Ishida luck strikes again.
I shake my head. "That's impossible."
Tai shoots his eyes towards me. "What now?"
"T-The systems coming back online."
"Now do you believe me!" The old man exclaims from across the room. "We have to get out of here!"
We ignore him, reading off the rest of the words with building apprehension.
SYSTEM FAILURE
EMERGANCY SEQUENCE INITIATED
ACTIVATING GAIA PROTOCAL.
And then everything goes to hell.
Steam erupts from the center of the hub, directly underneath where Rei had been floating and attacking us moments before. Agumon and Gabumon instinctively stand in defensive positions in front of the fallen survivors, trying to ignore the screams of the old man behind them. As for us, we back as close to the computer screen as we can, shielding our eyes from the flowing mist as the claxons continue to blare around us.
"What's going on?" Gabumon shouts over the noise.
I don't respond. As good as Gabumon is at hearing, in this noise, all he'd catch is my voice. Instead I look back to the computer screen, trying to discern what is going on.
WARNING! WARNING!
GAIA DOWNLOAD INITIATED
"What's it doing?" Tai asks.
"It says it's… downloading."
Tai makes a face. "Downloading what?"
I don't get to theorize. The computer answers for me, the blinking cursor typing off its letters slowly and painfully. But even I can sense the mechanical laughter that would be echoing around this room. The words fill me with dread.
MY NEW BODY –
Tai grits his teeth, his rage getting the best of him. "Not again. Why won't you die?"
We already know the answer. He's a Digimon. Death means nothing.
BEHOLD. The computer writes.
It looks human. It really does. Two legs, two arms, a waist, a head, a torso… If its skin wasn't blue and hair silver I would have thought it was another victim being experimented on. But it isn't human. It can't be. Not the way it's wrapped in that black tape. Not the way those wires hang from its body. Not the way it's eyes burn red.
One final word pops onto the computer screen, painted blood red. A word I know will haunt me for some time to come. A single name.
NEO.
GODFALL
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