Chapter 6: Femme fatales
11:22 AM (Japan Time), Saturday January the 24th…
"The usual corridor…"
"…that curves…"
"…and circles…"
"Heh! You guys like to make up rhymes, eh?"
Netto, Saito and Nelaus walked down the curved metallic corridor they had been walking the other time: they headed towards a set of two double doors labeled "MESS HALL".
"There we go!"
The three of them stepped in: the room was rectangular and had various large picnic-like wooden tables set in four rows: each table had a large bench attached to it and all of them were fixed into the ground.
"Truly. A true mess hall. You don't see these much often!" Netto commented with some humor.
"Heh, heh, heh."
"Jeez. That joke's running old." Saito complained.
The far wall had two double doors with the banner "KITCHEN" above them: they headed for them and knocked on the door.
"Do come in." A gentle voice replied.
The three of them entered an industrial-like kitchen: there were two persons there.
They looked about a meter and eighty tall and in their late 30s.
They wore a goldenrod tunic and a brownish bamboo hat plus traditional wood sandals.
His hair was black and ended in a thin string behind his head, which had a Chinese-like decoration.
His eyes' irises were brown.
"Yay! And Uncle Confucius fought a Demon Mouse?"
"Truly, Honorable Trill - san."
Trill, the child Navi, had been speaking with him but he turned around to greet the guys.
"Good morning, Honorable Gentlemen." The man greeted with an old-styled reverence.
"Hey! 'Morning, Netto, Saito, Nelaus, Isaac!"
"Morning, Dragon – san and Trill!" All of them replied.
"Hey! Are we gonna play with the VR system?" Trill asked them.
"Roger!"
"The humble cook wishes good luck to the Honorable Gentlemen." He politely told them.
"Okay! Let's go!" Nelaus grinned.
The group of four departed the kitchen and crossed through the mess hall before emerging again into the corridor.
"So, Trill? How are things like onboard?" Saito asked him.
"Trill is happy! Dr. Lartes tells Trill good jokes! Dragon – san tells Trill a lot of interesting stuff! And the TV cartoon is fun! Yay! Cartoon is fun!" Trill replied.
"Heh. That's good!"
"As long as you are comfortable here… Then all will go well." Isaac added with a smile.
"Yay!" Trill smiled again.
The group reached the VR Room and got ready: Saito transferred out of his cyborg body, which he left resting on a chair there: the "Dimensional Area" engaged.
"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"
"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"
Both Netto and Nelaus performed "Cross Fusion" and stood ready along with Trill.
"Yay!"
They were soon "pulled" into the Cyber World of the VR Room and everything became white.
"Mission: begin! Yay!"
The three of them appeared inside of a deserted concrete corridor built inside of somewhere.
"Okay… This is a "Hard" setting mission. We will need to come up with elaborate tricks in order to dodge the guards. Trill: you know the drill."
"Yay! Leave it up to Trill!"
"I'll be covering our backs." "CF" Nelaus announced.
The three of them tiptoed forward walking with their backs grazing the wall: they stopped once they reached a corner.
"Trill. Have a look." "CF" Netto whispered.
Trill nodded and glanced at what was in the corridor.
"There are five Misters playing a card game!" Trill announced.
"It must be Trumps. Okay. Let's go for the "Literate" strategy."
"CF" Netto produced a magazine whose cover displayed the Ace of Hearts and the headline "HOW TO CHEAT AT TRUMPS".
"Military Post Service!" "He tossed the magazine where they were at.
"Whoa! I needed this!" One guard exclaimed.
"What the…! You wanna cheat and keep all the money for you, you freaking idiot?" A second cursed.
"Hand it over!" A third commanded.
"Shut the trap up. You're the Gunnery Sergeant: but that doesn't give you authority." A fourth snapped.
"Wanna brawl?" A fifth challenged.
Curses and other sounds began to ring out along with the sound of coins hitting the ground: punches and kicks echoed as well.
"It's begun!"
The three of them looked at the guards, who had formed a cloud of smoke because of the fighting.
"Chance!" "CF" Nelaus told them.
The three of them quickly slipped past the guards and climbed a set of stone stairs.
"Okay! First floor is clear. We have to climb another two floors until the top of this place." "CF" Netto announced.
"Let's keep going, then."
"Yay!"
The three of them quickly and silently made their way across until they spotted a Private guarding the door, which led to the 3rd floor stairs.
"Leave it to me." "CF" Netto announced.
He crept near the Private and cleared his throat.
"Private Johnson! You have been granted the Medal to the Private of the Year! Come receive it at the General's Office!" "CF" Netto announced with a rough, dry and cracked-like voice.
"Goodness! Yes, sir!"
The Private ran off towards the north. "CF" Netto followed him towards a door labeled "GENERAL'S OFFICE": the Private entered and "CF" Netto closed the door behind him, turning the key and taking it off.
"Battle Chip, Flame Sword."
He used the Flame Sword's heat to melt the keyhole and effectively lock the Private inside: he made a signal to "CF" Nelaus and Trill so that they knew that the coast was clear: they quickly climbed towards the 3rd floor while the Private was banging the door.
"There's no one in here! Avery! You tricked me! Lemme outta 'ere! I'm so gonna kick ya outta the Corps!" The Private yelled.
The three of them chuckled under their breaths until they reached the next floor.
"3rd floor: ugly guards, idiotic officers and obese big bosses!"
"Yay!" Trill giggled.
"There's gonna be a tough one around here. Let's stay sharp just in case: you never know. As long as they're not SWAT, though… Then we can handle those if things get noisy… But le'ts be careful." "CF" Netto warned in a hushed tone.
The group quickly walked forward and spotted two Elite guards keeping watch of a room's entrance.
"I'll get ugly if they spot us." "CF" Netto muttered.
"What do we do?" "CF" Nelaus asked.
"Trill. You know the drill." "CF" Netto instructed.
Trill grinned and materialized two large wooden sticks with platforms to lean the feet like the ones the clowns used: he then engaged a holographic disguise of an African warrior and walked towards the Elites at a quick pace.
"GROA~R!"
"It's a monster! I didn't sign up to fight monsters! Sheesh!"
"Run for your lives! I'm so gonna complain to the big bosses!"
The two Elites ran past the room, yelling in terror.
"Tee, heh, heh! A total success, yessir!"
Trill disengaged the disguise and the three of them ran into the room, which contained a black ragged flag with the word "GOAL" printed on it and colored purple: some 3D letters materialized into the air upon grabbing it:
MISSION COMPLETE!
The three of them "left" the Cyber World and returned to the real world: the "Dimensional Area" powered down and the two of them grabbed their Link PETs as the holographic screen with the results popped out:
VR SIMULATOR
MODE: INFILTRATION
SETTING: HARD
TIME: 04: 33
RANK: A
USERS: H. NETTO, ROCK MAN, N. RAINON, ISAAC & TRILL
HAVE A NICE DAY!
"Yay!" Trill giggled.
Netto returned Saito to his body and he awoke by letting out a yawn and stretching.
"It was a good way to do some exercise… Let's get back home."
"We should visit Iris before we go." Netto reminded them.
"I haven't seen her in a while. Let's go say hi." Nelaus commented.
"O. K., fellas!"
The group exited the VR Room and walked down the corridor towards the left until they reached a door with the banner "GUEST ROOM #7".
"Trill?"
The door opened and Iris stepped out before they could knock.
"Oh! Good morning… There you are, Trill. Were you playing with them, then?" The girl greeted and asked Trill next.
"Yay! Iris – oneechan!"
"Hullo, Iris! How are things like?" Netto asked.
"They're very fine, thank you, Hikari – kun. I'm a bit worried about the news of these unidentified weapons… It makes me remember our world and its war." Iris admitted.
"Everyone is, of course. But we now know that they're being manufactured in Germany. It shouldn't take much longer to find out the culprits behind this. And don't worry: it won't end up like in "Beyondard"."
"Hopefully so! We came to this world so that Trill can live peacefully!"
"What do you do to stay busy apart from keeping an eye on Trill, anyway?" Nelaus asked.
"Oh. I sometimes take part in some of those VR Missions, too! I also help Kir Osh – san by doing some maintenance. Other times I read up magazines to study about society of this world."
"Ah. That's a good way of helping others."
"Well! Let's get going to the surface. Will something happen today?" Isaac wondered.
"I've got that hunch." Iris muttered.
"Mwah, hah, hah… Hcnuh – hunch…" Sigma chuckled close by and made another of his lame jokes.
"Sigma – san…!" Iris fumed.
"Sigma…!" Omega grumbled over the radio.
"YIKES!" Sigma gulped.
"Saw it coming." Blood Shadow drily muttered.
12:29 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Can you believe it? The German Ministry of Industry claims that the company producing those things is strongly tied to right – wing radical parties. It seems too convenient."
"It obviously is a decoy. Man. Those bureaucrats always fall for the same stuff. The other day they said Turkey was to blame, too."
Davis and Lander were discussing as they walked down a street Internet City and discussing the latest happenings when a melody suddenly began to fill the air; everyone stopped, intrigued, and looked around to try to discern the origin of it; the melody sounded classical.
"This music… I've heard it before…" Davis frowned.
"It sounds like a classical opera, doesn't it? Not like I know much of it either but I sometimes hear it over the radio…" Lander offered.
Some clouds suddenly formed on the sky and opened to reveal Roman-style temples built on top of them: a rainbow appeared and formed a kind of bridge leading directly to the Internet City Coliseum.
"What the heck is that?" Lander uttered.
"I've seen that somewhere before, too…" Davis muttered.
Several silhouettes seemed to "ride" upon the rainbow bridge and land into the Internet City Coliseum so Davis and Lander hurried there: explosions and yells had started to echo.
"What the heck is going on?" Lander cursed.
"I wish I knew, too!"
They both entered the Coliseum and gasped when they spotted the panorama going on there.
"What!"
"What the heck?"
Half a dozen Navis riding horses were standing in the field.
They had armor colored blood red and helmets made of gold with silvery edges: they had a clearly female appearance.
All of them had red eye irises, which displayed no emotion, and golden hair fell down from behind their helmets.
They all had a single emblem: the initials "W.R." painted gold and set against a sea blue background.
"T-those are…!" Davis uttered.
"You know 'em?" Lander assumed.
"Sort of… They're Valkyries: from the Nordic mythology!"
"Then… What the heck is this opera music?" Lander asked.
"I remember! This is part of the set of operas know as Der Ring des Nibelungen… Die Walküre. And this signals Act III: the Walkürenritt or Ride of the Valkyries!" Davis explained.
"Now it's clearer than ever than these things were inspired by a German dude." Lander grumbled.
Two of the Valkyries suddenly landed in front of the two of them, crushing the benches and seats beneath them.
"Net Saviors. In the name of our masters, you people must be slain by our sacred swords." They both announced using an automated and emotionless voice.
"They're pre-programmed Net Navis, then?" Davis guessed.
"Dodge!"
Both of them barely dodged their sharp swords.
"Charles! The Monolith! Bring it out!"
"Sheesh! I need something to fight at close-quarters ASAP, Martin! Hurry it up, will ya!" Lander called out.
"Battle Chip, Monolith! Slot In!"
"Battle Chip, Tank Cannon! Slot In!"
A black tall rectangular slab with a totally featureless and smooth surface formed there and it repulsed one of the Valkyrie enemies before the back cover vanished: Davis ran in and the thing suddenly warped.
"Eat cannon!"
The close distance between him and one of the Valkyries made it impossible for her to dodge, so she met the shot head-on, sending her flying and crashing down into the central stage: Lander let the recoil push him backwards.
"Justice Sword!"
The "Monolith" reformed behind the other enemy and Davis jumped out of its insides: he clashed blades with the other Valkyrie: she seemed to have no trouble blocking all of his attacks with either her blade or her shield to begin with.
"Grah! I'm getting tired of this… Charles! Let's bring out the heavy guns!"
"Okay! Program Advance!"
"Program Advance!"
"Justice Sword, Triple Slot In!"
"Golden… Blade~!"
The powerful attack hit the Valkyrie fully and deleted her as she shrieked in agony.
"Phew! We managed to take it down… They're good at dealing with standard attacks, but they're not fast enough to react when dealing with powerful close-quarters attacks…" Davis commented.
"What do we do with the rest of them?"
As if hearing Lander's question, the Valkyries suddenly jumped towards the rainbow "bridge" and rode it towards the "temples".
"Whoa!"
They soon vanished and it looked like they'd never come were it not for the damage inflicted to the Coliseum.
"I know what those buildings meant… They were the Valhalla and the rainbow bridge was the "Bifrost"… It's totally themed after the German opera." Davis realized.
"Let's go tell the guys. Things are getting weirder and weirder with every passing day." Charles rolled his eyes.
"Hmmm? What's this?" Davis had spotted something on the ground.
He picked it up; the object was a tag, which seemed to have been part of the destroyed Valkyrie, and read "Project Walkürenritt Phase 4".
"… That's what it meant! The so-called "P. W." stood for "Project Walkürenritt"!" Davis realized.
"But the previous weapons didn't have any connection, did they?"
"Those weapons are intended for real-world warfare while these Navis are intended for Cyber World warfare… We can try to put the pieces of the puzzle together later. Let's go tell the Net Police." Davis replied.
They failed to spot a tall bulky Security Navi looking on from close by and being seemingly surprised but since the helmet covered their face and they had thick blue shades, their face couldn't be seen.
"Mwro~h… Past! Did ya see those gals?"
"Yeah. It'd seem the Germany trail isn't so much of a bad idea but it could be a German living outside Germany to begin with too."
"Heck. I don't wanna try to match my slow speed against them."
"I can see that… Let's write it down and dispatch it to Priest – sama! These guys have stopped fooling around and gotten serious at last!"
"Wruo~h! About flamin' time! I was tired of waitin' for 'em to move!"
"Yeah, but remember we cannot act. We're but observers!"
"I'm aware of it! Gruo~h! Let's pull out before someone asks questions!"
07:17 AM (Berlin Time)…
"… The Valkyries performed well. They met one or two troubles, but we will be able to quickly fix them for the next demonstration."
"Excellent, Herr Präsident. With this we will be able to close up the field testing part and begin producing them on our own factories."
Schneider was chatting with General Meta over the phone.
"By the way… The Ministry of Industry has fallen for it. We have nothing more to worry about them." Schneider added.
"I knew they would. We shall speak again soon enough, Herr Präsident. Auf Wiedersehen."
"Auf Wiedersehen."
Schneider finished the call and pressed a button on an interphone.
"Herr Präsident. What might I do for you?" A man's voice replied.
"Have you been able to find out anything important concerning our young Herr? Herr G. Ms. Viper requested us to look it up." Schneider asked the man.
"Well. I do believe his past is no more than a cover story built up by the Net Police. I have a hunch that he must have some secret origin and my hunches tend to be correct. Maybe Mr. Twilight could elaborate if he feels like it." The man replied.
"Fascinating. Please keep it up while you can. Now that the R&D work at the lab is over… You should have plenty of time to look into it, my good Herr G." Schneider instructed with a smile.
"You may leave it to me, Herr Präsident." The man assured him.
"Heh… Ladies and Gentlemen: the epilogue is about to begin. Please return to your seats and enjoy tonight's function." He announced as if he were the announcer of an opera house.
"Truly, sir. Such art… It's a pity only a few really appreciate it!"
16:25 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Wait. If these things were Phase 4, then the four-legged robots must've been Phase 3 and the flying things must've been Phase 2… What was Phase 1, then?"
"Dunno. Good point, though. We're missing something."
Vadous had been discussing with Omega the recent events and had managed to find some logic to the attacks of the different enemies.
"And this only reaffirms that someone in Germany is manufacturing and programming these things. Without more info we won't get anywhere: we'll keep on being stuck." Omega rolled his eyes.
"The guys behind this want to start a new type of warfare altogether."
"Something tells me that, next time, they're not going to be taken down so easily. Maybe they'll sell them to other nations too!" Omega warned.
"True! That'd be such a pain! I'm going to ring up Zero in the meanwhile."
"Good. Maybe he can find something now that we have a lead!"
"…struggling conflicting marching souls which…" Dragon's voice echoed.
"ME! ANGER! GOD!" Vadous grumbled.
"Ua~h! My prayer beads! Someone save me!" He suddenly yelped.
"Yay! Dragon – san runs like an athlete!" Trill's voice echoed next.
"Trill! Don't climb into the handrails!" Iris scolded.
"Ops. Sorry, oneechan!"
"Really…" Omega rolled his eyes.
"I agree with Iris: Trill shouldn't climb into the handrails."
"Well. Let's call Zero and see what we can dig up out there…"
"And maybe we'll stumble upon Legion 64. Guess one day he's going to send the whole of them to try to overwhelm us…" Vadous rolled his eyes.
20:20 PM (Seoul Time)…
"… Psst!"
"Huh? Whaddya want?"
A man was sitting inside of a bar somewhere.
He was on his early 30s and had a body-builder type of body frame: his height could be a bit shorter than a meter and eighty.
He had messy brown hair and some traces of a rather poorly shaven beard and moustache: his eyes' irises were brown too.
As clothing, he sported a brown open vest over a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
"Lemme speak… Don't worry, I don't want money!"
"Fine. As long as it's something reasonable, then…"
The man looked at his left to see another man on his late twenties.
He wore a navy blue raincoat, a gray hat with a red stripe and sunglasses.
He was holding out a rewritable CD case on his right hand.
"I'm just a useless bureaucrat… I wanna have payback on my bosses, so have this… I'm sure cha "buddies" would appreciate it. I'm an anonymous source."
The man with the raincoat quickly left the bar and while the first man frowned and pocketed the case.
"I should have a look at this and tell Charles 'bout it: he's itching for news…" The man muttered.
He paid for his drink and departed the bar: he looked around as he walked around the shadows cast by streetlights to make sure he wasn't being followed.
"Hum. Looks clean…"
But you can never trust first impressions, anyway.
He reached a hotel and climbed to his room on the 3rd floor: he opened the room and locked it from the inside.
"Let's see…"
He picked a laptop and booted it up; he then inserted the CD in the tray and ran an antivirus check on it.
"Doesn't seem to contain any malicious program… Let's check its contents." He muttered.
He began to type and looked at the files he opened: his eyes quickly jumped from line to line and he frowned.
"So… It's those guys' work, then… Should've expected it, really. We got too fixated with other candidates. No idea of who's the manufacturer: hinted at being someone of a high social position… What? Phase 1!"
He stopped to read and rubbed his chin with the right hand.
"So that's how they were able to come and leave so quickly and jump between worlds so easily… Charles and Davis know more about the technological stuff that I do, but this is enough… Let's make a copy of this, encrypt it, and sent it to Charles." He decided.
"Heh, heh, heh… So. Donkey Kong. Did you beat King K. Rool?"
"Jeez. Zoan Gate Man. Go tortoise and turtle in the Antipodes."
Zoan Gate Man projected a 3D image along with 4 Mettools labeled from "51" to "55" behind him.
"Name's Daniel Komero! Remember it!" He stood up and signaled him with the right hand's index figer.
"Komero. Daniel Komero." Zoan Gate Man made a joke.
"I'm fed up with the DK jokes and the Bond jokes: go joke with the Joker and see if he finds it funny to bathe you in acid!"
"I like how that sounds like. Heh, heh, heh."
He fled while Komero grumbled something under his breath…