Chapter 45: Looming in the horizon

14:44 PM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 25th…

"… We're three days away from their intended 100% activation mark: what's happened insofar? Anything noticeable, Ijuuin?"

"Apart from the auctions and that "Origin" guy who seems to be a new member who doesn't show up around the HQ, then… Nothing spectacular has happened. Tozukana gwas re-admitted after having been severely scolded by her aunt and she seems to have cooled it down! Slur or, rather, the "secretary" also had a severe talk with her so…"

"Maybe you knew that we've been left out? Not only us, but all military forces… Only civilian agencies are allowed access to the auctions for access codes to use on those "nodes"…"

"I noticed. It's pointless to try to hack their way in because all attacking ISP – granted IP addresses are blacklisted and that means you gotta reprogram the whole network. Some heads have started to roll elsewhere."

Enzan was chatting with Laika over the PET while both of them were unimpressed at the current situation: Blues and Search Man kept their arms crossed, and were calm.

"By Merton! There's a fly contaminated with a terrible bacteria, which will make your back tickle without giving you a break! Bring out the fly-killer ASAP!" A voice rang out.

"Video Man!" Blues cursed.

"That's Video Man?" Search Man wondered.

"Capacity: close 97%!"

"No wonder." Enzan was unimpressed.

"So! Machete Man's newest victim has written its will already? They say he comes at 9PM sharp! To break the midnight cliché!"

"Machete Man? Who's that?"

"Your worst nightmare, Holmes!"

"By all the fucking… I ain't Holmes!"

"Uncle Moran says you are."

"That damned Noir fucker…!"

"Chat Noir, Ijuuin Enzan, Chat Noir…" He warned.

"Whatever!"

"The ever?" He made a pun.

"Not again with that pun!"

"The never-ending nightmare!"

"Enough! Who's that Machete Man?"

"Your imagination's worst foe, Ijuuin Enzan!"

"By all the… So it doesn't exist and you made the guy up out of the blue to try to scare me?" Enzan cursed aloud.

"Bravo!" Video Man taunted.

"I'm going to slice you up." Blues growled.

"Slice a pizza up to begin with, Watson."

"This guy is stupid or does he want to look like it?" Search Man groaned, fed up with his behavior.

"Good question, Comrade."

"Flee!" Search Man commanded as he drew his Scope Gun.

"O~h! What am I seeing…? The Dream Virus…!"

"What!"

Both turned around but Video Man snickered and used the chance to sneak away; both Operators and both Navis cursed.

I'm fed up with this suspense! I'll get to the core of this! My word!

15:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"…So! Who'd said that just by having me sit two meters across the room and look at you while you're blindfolded would turn you horny? Wan?"

"That's… Wasn'it obvious by now?"

"Amusing, truly."

"Man. I always fail at standing teasing."

"It's good to be honest with yourself, you know!"

Zarashe was sitting in a chair, stripped down to his black boxers ,and had a blindfold covering his eyes; his arms placed behind his back and his wrists were handcuffed; Ikada, dressed normally, was sitting in a chair across the room and looking at him, noticing the bulge of his cock against the boxers' fabric; she was rather amused while Zarashe was blushing by now.

"Good, good… By the way… Joanne looks like she had a transformation, didn't she? She came back while having lost that rebellious behavior and although she remains cocky, she tends to go by the rules… I guess the lesson was effective enough and that her aunt must've punished her pretty badly… But it had to be done, ya know."

"Y-yeah… Ikada – san…."

"By the way! Wouldn't you know? I figured out after a lot of analysis and such that the "secretary" happens to be Slur – sama."

"Wha!" Zarashe gasped.

"Yessir. There's no doubt. It'd seem she wanted to study the members' behavior from the real world so she came up with that disguise! Her way of speaking gave her away."

"Should've noticed earlier…!" Zarashe muttered.

"I'm sure Agoras has caught on that by now if he's dedicated any time to investigating the topic too."

"No doubt…"

"So! Have you ever had your ass penetrated?"

"No, not really…" He blushed.

"So that makes you a virgin?"

"I'm just 15! I'm trying to keep it legal!" He defended himself.

"It's about to rain prosecutors. Especially Mitsurugi – sama!"

"Rain prosecutors… Mitsurugi from Turnaround Trial, yeah, sure…"

"Beta X and Sandra went on separate ways to keep on with their hobbies… I wonder… Miquel has been too sneaky as of late along with VP Noir! I'd bet 25Z that they're on that Purgatory place putting the finishing touches to "Zero"… I heard it's supposed to be ready by the 28th and that's three days from now! There's going to be a conference on the 29th next… And all will be explained." She exposed.

"Sure thing… The guy is the type which comes and goes… Almost like he vanished into thin air…" Zarashe admitted.

Ikada stood up and walked over to him; she used the left hand to lift his chin while she slid the right hand's index finger across his cock's length: Zarashe blushed while Ikada kept at it; Zarashe began to groan and Ikada rubbed his head; Zarashe's moans began to increase in volume next.

"You're sensitive! This is going to be as fun as always."

"P-please… Don't tease me like that… It drives me crazy!"

"Don't worry… You'll soon be asking for more!"

"Oh crap… My masochist instincts are awakening!"

"I'm going to be a little cruel today. I feel like it!"

"Man… I always run into trouble!" Zarashe groaned.

"You're the one who began this! You begged to be my toy!"

"I know that! I'm not eluding responsibility! Just that…"

"What. You want to deny the pleasure? Come on! Be a guy and accept it!"

15:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"Take that! 600 yards, fog and wind but with the IR goggles on I hit the guy in the neck! Too bad!"

"… Not bad… My turn…"

"Has she learned the lesson this time around?"

"Sure thing… Her aunt is terrific when angered."

Tozukana was practicing sniping in the VR room, in her usual cocky mood; Qong was a dry as ever while Tom and Lily were chatting, standing in a corner.

"So. Is everything alright, ladies and gentlemen?"

"Keitai Denwa… So cha came."

"Yeah. I'd been running some covert jobs but that's ended and I wanted to see the mood around here…"

A man had come into the VR room.

He had messy brown hair and brown eyes; he also had traces of a beard.

He was about a meter and eighty tall

He was dressed in a simple brownish t-shirt, bluish jeans, blackish socks and white sneakers.

He could be on his 30s.

"Welcome back, then."

Tozukana cocked the rifle and put the safety on it before jumping into the observation balcony and shaking hands with him.

"Teacher. Been… a while."

Qong also placed the safety on his rifle and saluted.

"True, Felix. I see that you keep on improving. That's to be expected, given your earlier experience. However! Don't get overconfident!"

"Roger, teacher…"

"So! Cha know somethin' about what Boss and Miquel are up to? They're working with that super-computer thing?"

"I'm not privy to the details! Guess it's the case! I've got to go report to President Hades but I thought I'd drop by on my way there… Enjoy."

"Thanks."

"… Later."

"See ya 'round." Tom shrugged.

"Hit 'em hard." Lily improvised a motto.

"That's my style, yeah. See ya."

The man headed out; Tozukana jumped back into the platform to continue the exercise and watched how Qong managed to hit a guy riding a bike by correctly predicting when to fire by foreseeing how much time it'd take for it to reach his position; the bullet hit the man on the right shoulder and he soon collapsed, making the bike hit a fence and be knocked into the ground while the man fell into the pavement.

"Hit." Qong merely muttered.

"Not bad! But that's an exception: we really don't wanna have a traffic accident happen 'cause we hit the target when they were riding a bike or a car…" Tozukana grinned.

"See? Back to her old self…" Lily told Tom.

"Can see that, yeah…" Tom admitted.

"Let's ride the riding wave!" Video Man exclaimed through the PA speakers all of a sudden.

"Let's burn the burning wave!"

"Let's stab the stabbing wave! Shah, shah, shah!"

"Good. Morale's rising. Looking forward to the announcement!"

15:24 PM (Japan Time)…

"If I understand correctly, "Zero" is expected to reach 100% capacity in three days' time and then there'll be a conference about the nature of the project and such?"

"Correct, Tango – san. We'll record all what's said in the conference because we've got the feeling it'll be something important."

"Good. By the way… The Net Police's Cyber CID say Kage and Noir are rather absent as of late… Where are they?"

"We don't know, sir."

Suzuki and Akemi were speaking with their PSB contact while reporting the latest news; Akemi was sitting on a chair next to Suzuki and calmly rubbing her chin with her right hand's thumb and index finger as Suzuki distractedly scribbled something into a paper sheet.

"Could they be on the location named Purgatory?"

"We're pretty sure they are." Suzuki confirmed.

"Tozukana – san and Lily came back too."

"Oh! They did?"

"Yes, sir. It'd seem the scolding of Tozukana – san's aunt has been more than enough to remind her about the rules and how she's supposed to behave so…" Suzuki explained.

"I see. It's back to two snipers again… Have there been any more raids or field movements as of late?" "Tango" asked next.

"Not really. Things have been quiet with everyone doing their usual actions or going out to have some variety. President Hades has also been absent some days because he's busy with his other job and apparently must handle a deal which has to be done in person and can't be done remotely." Suzuki continued.

"And the "secretary"… I mean, Slur… Is she around? Has she made any special comments or announcements?"

"No. She just pops out to make sure nothing is going on and then vanishes! She seems to be fond of dramatics."

"And given her power…" Akemi trailed off.

"I see."

"Time for VM, BM and NM's daily show!"

"There they go again." Akemi rolled her eyes.

"Why! You managed to bring a buddy to read your memoirs aloud?"

"Don't laugh, Boss! It's a suspicious guy… I caught him roaming close to the airport!"

"But, come on… Why don't you think he's just a passenger about to ride into a plane?"

"Impossible, Boss! He's got a way too small travel bag… It wouldn't have fitted! So I'm gonna interrogate him."

"Like in the movies, eh? Do you need the lamp?"

"Nope. It breaks so quickly… I use a caliber 12 hammer!"

"What kind of logic is THAT?" "Tango" was baffled.

"And that of the lamp is silly too." Akemi muttered.

"He's confessed, Boss!"

"Did you have to use the hammer?"

"Nope! I just had to count his teeth!"

"C-count his teeth…?"

"Yes! See, see… When I reached seven he confessed!" Video Man proudly announced.

"You'll regret this! You'll regret it!"

"Note to the audience! Mortadelo began to use a pair of pincers to take out his teeth!"

"Wha~t? Oh come on! I knew it was a parody but nevertheless… What a brute, indeed!" "Tango" uttered in disbelief.

"Hey! Guys! Where are the riding stables?"

"Riding stables? What riding stables?"

"Ain't it obvious? The riding stables to store the herd!"

"Man! What "herd"? Are you "drunk" already or WHAT?"

"No! I'm not "drunk"! I'm not kidding! Mr. Super told me "Go and bring me those donkeys of Mortadelo and FiIlemón" so you gotta tell me where the riding stables are at and… Brutes! Imbeciles! I'll complain to Mr. Super! I want to see you mopping the pavements!"

"Note! M&F rammed a safe into the guy and placed a wood plank to keep him glued between the wall and the safe! This is gonna end right now! I won't tolerate any more insults from that jerk! Mr. Super! Did you name us "donkeys" a while ago?"

"Truly… Why? Any objections?"

"Oh no, none at all! Be~h!"

"Note! Mr. Super has a club on his hands, which he'd been peeling off with a knife! Mo puts on his sheep disguise and quickly steps away while Mr. Super brandishes the club!"

"By all the…" "Tango" cursed.

"That's the definition of "usual", sir."

"Man. I'm glad not to have to endure those."

"Well! I called for you because I've received an urgent and nerve-racking phone call… It comes from Beetles' Island, where the millionaire Ibañez-Poulos lives at… The gangsters must've gotten to him because the butler says that he's been abducted and that they are demanding lots of rooks and Persians in exchange! By "rooks", they must mean money and by "Persians" some exotic item or another… Your mission is to go the island, free him and catch the villains!"

"That sounds more logical."

"Alright! After a long and hazardous journey, they get to the island and spot the butler! He doesn't seem to understand what they're talking about, so F repeats the message! The butler explains that Mr. Super surely didn't understand him. The millionaire wanted lots of books and aspirins because he's bed-ridden with the flu!"

"No way…" "Tango" groaned.

"The original Spanish read like this: "Yo le dije que está acostado y pide libros y aspirinas en cantidad!"… Mr. Super understood "secuestrado y piden libras esterlinas en cantidad"… In short: "kidnapped and they want plenty of Sterling Pounds" while the original message is "bed-ridden and wants lots of books and aspirins"…!"

"Someone save us…" "Tango" moaned.

"Another sketch! M&F head for the back entrance of the "TIA" building and shouts the password: "It's almost 7 o'clock in Albacete!"… A pedestrian calls for his attention and begins to explain why the password doesn't make sense! He takes forever and F finally punches him in the right eye while tying him up and gagging him! When he tries to ask for help, another pedestrian says he's not interested into buying rope. The guard opens and then comments that the password should be changed because it doesn't make sense! F discharges a hit from a baton to his head. When they are ordered to "act", Mortadelo disguises as a Shakespearian character while pronouncing the magic words "Hum! I climbed to the palaces, I descended into the huts and in all of them I left behind…!" yet Mr. Super didn't like it."

"He never gets tired of that?" "Tango" exasperatedly asked.

"No, sir. Unfortunately enough, sir."

"He doesn't know when to stop!"

"One more thing: dolphins are gonna act like sea-taxis soon!"

"Oh come on! Why don't they do something more useful!?"