The Bronze Sword
By Zoram Selrof
Prologue: Sinister Deals08:19 AM (Spain Time), Sunday December the 4th, 2006…
"…Hmmm? Our buddy is calling! Guess that he's found the pro I charged him with finding! Excellent!"
Someone grabbed a cell-phone from a table and answered the call.
"E che passare?"
("What's up?")
"Capo. Già incontrare quello uomo."
("Boss. I found that man.")
"Bene, bene!"
("Good, good!")
"E dare la pasta."
("And I gave him the money.")
"Buona lavoro. E decire la plaza e la data?"
("Good work. And you told him the time and the place?")
"Claro, Capo." ("But of course, Boss.")
"Bene. Venire a la casa e discutire la otra parte dil plan."
("Good. Come to the house and we'll discuss the other part of the plan.")
"Si, Capo."
("Roger, Boss.")
"Non tardare, Luigiano."
("Don't be late, Luigiano.")
"Ciao, Capo."
("Good – bye, Boss.")
"Piece of a cake!"
"Obihiro – sama?" A voice called out.
Obihiro Shun looked up from a wireless phone he had on his right hand.
He wore a cyan top, blue jeans and white / red sneakers.
He sat on a chair next to a table, inside of a living room somewhere, lit by the fire burning on a stone fireplace.
A sofa occupied the whole length of the north wall and faced closed balcony doors.
A table had been set in front of it and it had a black laptop along with a purple Link PET set on it.
The Link PET's holographic projector engaged and a Navi displayed.
Black shades hid his eyes while a sturdy ivory helmet protected his head.
Three levels of red curved stripes circled its whole diameter.
His body's main color was ivory.
His forearms were colored forest green.
Random black diamonds scattered across his forearms and legs.
His emblem was a hollow diamond set in the midst of a red cross.
The insides of the diamond were ivory.
The Navi's right arm ended in a built-in one-barreled pump shotgun, which had some thin green stripes running across the length of it.
They glowed with a slowly increasing and fading green glow.
His boots were light brown and had two round circles set there.
"What's up, Hunter Man?" He asked him.
"I am making on progress on the front." He reported.
"Even if that fails… We have the backup plan, which is on the works. Luigiano, my secretary, is working on it. It was a good idea to play Godfather!"
"It'll be entertaining to see those persons breaking down. Maybe we could turn take advantage of it to manipulate them." Hunter Man suggested.
"I like the sound of it. It's logical."
"We could use it to force them to do wet jobs for us as well. We'd have two powerful pawns on our hands. What do you think of it, Shun – sama?"
"It's a deal. Keep working on it."
"By your orders, sir!"
Hunter Man returned inside of the Link PET while Obihiro stretched and walked into an adjacent kitchen.
He prepared a cup of hot chocolate and brought it to the living room as he sat near the fireplace.
"The weather forecasts were not off the mark! Given my proximity to the sea, it's no wonder temperatures are around 5 Celsius degrees by now…"
He drank some of the hot chocolate and relaxed.
"It's been two months! I still don't know what became of Ivan and Sergei. They must be hiding very well and hoping everyone will just go and forget about them. I'm still a bit unsure about going with the backup plan, but… However! I gotta prove my Bronze Sword organization is serious. I won't be as big as Silver Arrow but size doesn't matter here! What matters is what we can achieve." He sighed and sounded somewhat unsure.
He typed something into the PC and read a list of names that scrolled down from the bottom to the top.
"All of the freelancers have been caught. It matters not! They were all expendable, anyway. And I'm not gonna do the same stupid mistake they all did! No "Dark Chips". Not like I need 'em, anyway…"
He switched to another screen and brought up another website with a list of online manga to read.
"The newest chapter is out. There was a two-week break, but this one was worth the wait!"
He leant back on the sofa and began to read the pages while writing notes on a sheet of paper.
He finished after a little while and he finished his hot chocolate.
"Let's see tomorrow's weather forecast! Snow is going to fall on the north and zones over the 300 meters height quote! No big deal. I should remember tomorrow to order the deliveries! The Net Police won't be able to find me here: Ivan and Sergei were way too smart for you guys! We still have a pending score to settle, Hikari Netto… I'll bring upon a nightmare which not even Gauss Magnets could come up with back when he worked for Gospel! I'm a genius!"
"Obihiro – sama, things are proceeding as expected."
"Excellent."
"It'd seem a "tip-off" lead them to the Tres Torres district of Barcelona, making them believe "Torres" meant "hills" instead of "towers"…"
"Curious! Maybe it's Ivan and Sergei, who thought it was about time to feed those hungry wolves with something." He laughed.
"Sounds like Sergei – sama, indeed."
"I can imagine the face of frustration on Ijuuin once he realized he'd been trolled and had sent Blues to search a whole district of Barcelona in vain!"
"Indeed, sir."
"Then we have nothing to worry about! Ivan and Sergei will make sure to keep globe-throttling in vain!"
"And, in the meanwhile, they will learn to fear us! Sir!"
"Indeed! Glory to Bronze Sword!"
09:16 AM (Spain Time)…
… So?"
"Unfortunately, sir… There has been no progress. But we believe to have narrowed down the cause of the failures…"
"Tell me."
Someone kneeled inside of a circular chamber with no ceiling.
The skies were purple, with clouds moving across them accompanied by some faint reddish glows coming from outside and below the room.
The room's floor was made of crimson square tiles arranged like a mosaic across it and the walls had some fluorescent patterns drawn into them.
The only other object in the room was a black onyx throne connected to ground level by three stone steps facing forward.
"Yes, Yamikawa – sama."
A teenager was sitting in the throne.
He could be on his mid-teens, and over a meter and sixty tall.
His hair was colored silver and had a messy style to it while his eyes' irises were a mix of red and golden.
He wore a simple black tunic with a shooting star emblem colored purple placed on the exact center of the tunic's torso.
He sported black leather gloves and boots.
A purple cape hung from the back of his shoulders.
"Expose the reasons." He commanded.
"As you command!"
There was another teenager kneeling in front of the throne and lowering the head in respect.
His face also looked like he was on his teens but younger than Yamikawa.
His helmet had the blood red Kanji "Yami no Oukoku" or "Dark Realm" drawn into them and set vertically on the forehead.
Silver emerged from behind the helmet.
His eyes' irises were red and golden.
They displayed calm and obedience.
He had three parallel thin vertical blood red lines traveling down his body from the neck and shoulders to the hips.
His bodysuit was jet black.
The forearms and boots were purple color.
Blood red DNA patterns travelled across their length.
His emblem was a silver bow arrow aiming NE surrounded by a bronze edge and set against a black background.
"I'm afraid that our world's environment is not suited for proper stabilization and repairs of the data. We tried using a "safe zone", but we had no result either. I believe we will only be able to repair it within the outside world. We'd be in need of a powerful programmer."
"I see."
"Does Emperor S – sama know anyone capable of such a feat?"
"I know one. I was planning to approach him one of these days and make sure he became useful to us. His turn to shine has arrived. He's gotta be bored to death, anyway."
"Am I to approach that person?"
"That's right, Sidier. He might mistake you for someone whom I used as base to design you, but tell him you work for me. The announcement will set his mind straight. He won't refuse! He knows to fear me."
"By thou orders, my Lord."
"You won't deny that our little "expedition" was worth it!"
"Yes, sir. I now have more confidence on my abilities." Sidier confirmed.
"A warrior must know how to use all of his skill to ensure absolute victory! There's no rush, really. Rest for a while before approaching him. I'll give you his address."
"Roger."
Sidier bowed and stood up before he walked down towards the door and stepped through it.
Yamikawa stepped down from the throne and stretched.
"Obihiro Shun… Your turn has finally come. You will make a good show under my guidance. And you will soon realize how far my hand can reach to… I'm eager to know what the heck that broken data which we found a week ago is… It's gotta be totally worth it!"
"… Hullo, Sidier. What's up?"
"Kuroumi – dono. Good morning, sir."
"Say, Sidier… Why don't you drop the honorifics? The Fortress Temple guys do that! You've already been living with us for a while!"
"If you prefer to… Solo… It sounds rude."
"Not at all."
Kuroumi Solo was around the same age as Yamikawa was.
He had white unkempt hair.
His face had a red pattern on his right check, similar to a trail of lighting, running down from below the eye.
His irises were red, too.
He had two golden, hexagonal pendants attached to his ears.
He wore a simple black tunic with a purple drawing set over the chest.
That drawing consisted on two "S" letters with a slight inclined segment originating at the end of it.
Both were purple and set parallel to each other.
There was a small vertical rectangle between the start of each symbol.
"But… I mean…"
Sidier seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Jeez. I'm not your boss! I'm just your neighbor! Gotcha, man?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Mr. Mannerisms strikes back." A girl's voice rang out.
A girl walked up towards them while coming out of a wooden door labeled "Kagehi Somari".
She wore the same of tunic and had a purple musical note drawn on it.
Her hair was red well as her eyes' irises.
"Kagehi – dono. Good morning to thou grace."
"Jeez. Why can't you call me "Somari – chan" like Solo here or Saruba, your boss? We're all in the club!" She told him with a hint of annoyance.
Both men gulped and began to sweat as they stepped backwards upon seeing a twitch appear near Kagehi's right eye.
"Sidier… You screwed it up!" He scolded him.
"I – I am sorry!"
He kneeled and bowed.
"Hmpf! That's somewhat better."
"Thank you very much."
"Sidier… There was no need to do that!"
"What's this scandal this early on the morning?"
"Your little mouse, Saruba, is still old-fashioned. When are ya gonna fix that for good? I don't need a Sengoku samurai."
"Sidier! I told you there was no need to kneel in front of them!"
"But that would create a conflict with my manners protocol, sir!"
"I need to rewrite it, then! Come with me! We better fix this NOW or we're gonna get the "a – le – le" punishment."
He slapped his own face in defeat.
"Y-yes, sir!"
Yamikawa opened his room's door (set in front of Kagehi's) and both he and Sidier stepped in before closing it.
"See ya."
"O-okay."
She ran out towards the south while Kuroumi sighed in defeat as if he was too used to such scenes.
"By the way! Solo~!"
She ran back there, and Solo gasped.
"What?"
"Are you gonna ride on the Millennium Falcon?"
"For the last friggin' time! I ain't Han Solo!"
"I like pestering ya~."
"Man. Luckily enough you're not a sadist."
"No. Ophiucus Queen DS isn't either but she likes playing "dominatrix" with the Gemini Spark DS twins." She giggled.
"And Dia Iceburn DS loves to sneak on guys from behind and place a lipstick mark behind their right shoulders." He groaned.
"A sneaky witch, indeed!"
"When did she become a witch, anyway? Or is that because you treat her like a love rival?"
"Far from it!" Do we need to bring out the pantosymanos?"
"What's that?"
"My new motto: espantos y manos!"
"… "Scares & hands"…?"
"Sure thing!"
"That supposed to scare the guts outta someone?"
"Guess that, Mr. Basilisk."
"Mr. Basilisk… Oh come on." He groaned.
"I know! Adamante!"
"… Do you think Saruba will doggy-style Sidier?"
"What? No! Saruba wouldn't do that. I'm the one who usually is on top to begin with."
"Obviously!"
"I heard that, Somari – chan!" Yamikawa protested.
"What does "doggy-style" mean, sir?"
"Need Not To Know!" He snapped back with obvious annoyance.
"E-excuse me, sir."
"My bad. Somari – chan makes me get nervous. You're not to blame!"
"Well then… Enjoy. Bad boys. I'm off to the Bog Temple."
"That girl…!" Yamikawa grumbled aloud.
"Trouble… I guess…" Sidier timidly ventured.
"You don't know half of it, man." Kuroumi fumed.
"The less you know the better!" Yamikawa sighed.
What a crazy morning!
