Chapter 8: Encounters
09:18 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday January the 23rd…
"… Good morning, Obihiro – kun."
"Good morning, Meijin – san."
"San wa iranai!"
"I know, sir. Here's the report, sir."
"Excellent! Good job, as usual."
"Thank you, sir."
Meijin walked into a Science Labs office where Obihiro Shun was working at with a laptop: Obihiro turned the chair around to greet him and handed him a USB pen: Meijin pocketed it on his coat's right pocket.
"By the way. Would you like to come with me to Maha Ichiban's at lunch time? We'll time it so that there's not many customers."
"Of course, sir. Their curry is excellent."
"Good. That's the positive mood I want to see!"
"Good morning…" Yuuichirou joined them while looking rather sleepy.
"Hikari – hakase, sir… Did you go to sleep late?"
"Yes… There was an old movie that I wanted to see along with my wife… Casablanca…"
"Ah yes. You'd said it was one of your favorites, sir."
"Is the ramen application done?" He suddenly asked.
"Huh? Excuse me, sir? Ramen application?" He frowned.
"Huh? Did I say ramen?" Yuuichirou gasped.
"You did, sir."
"Crap. My mistake. I mean the vector application." He corrected.
"Almost. I'm debugging it."
"Good. Did you check on the new workers?"
"They all behave and do the job in an efficient manner."
"Perfect. Keep it up, Meijin… Oh! Obihiro – kun. I hadn't seen you, sorry. Good morning."
"It's nothing, sir. Good morning, sir."
Meijin's PET beeped and he checked it out: a Police Navi appeared onscreen and saluted.
"Meijin – san: a visitor. His name is Colonel."
"Patch me to him: I need to ask him one thing."
"Roger, sir. Here you have, sir."
"Hello there." Colonel calmly greeted.
"One question, Colonel… You've got a superior named General, no?"
"No. I don't."
"Good. Then you're the real one. A fake would most probably take it literally and reply "yes"." Meijin told him.
"I heard about Neo Gospel plotting to reuse Desert Wraiths technology: and I found a quick method to disable it…" He reported.
"Excellent! What is it?"
"EM pulses. Like the Destroy Pulse Battle Chip…"
"Good. I'll let everyone know." Meijin nodded.
"Did you check if there's nothing out of place in the Time Space Tower, Colonel?" Yuuichirou asked.
"I did, of course. There was nothing. He and I searched every nook and cranny. Real world included. I think Twilight is afraid of coming closer to here seeing what happened last time." Colonel explained.
"Serves the rascal well." Meijin muttered.
"Truly. I did check the surroundings of the Science Labs' outermost firewalls but found nothing unusual. If you allow me then I'll check the insides as well."
"Please do so. Laser Man did so yesterday but you never know."
"Fine. Leave it to me."
"Thanks for the help."
"It's nothing. I don't want those to get away with it, either."
Colonel moved elsewhere and Meijin pocketed his PET: he nodded to Yuuichirou and both headed out so Obihiro resumed working while humming a tune.
"Dr. Hikari…? Ah. He's already left?"
"Ah. Dr. Regal, sir. Good morning, sir."
"Ah. Obihiro – kun. Good morning."
"Hikari – hakase was here not even 2 minutes ago. I think he's headed for his lab, sir."
"Good. Thank you."
Dr. Regal walked in from a door at the left and Obihiro greeted him: he greeted back with a smile and looked around: Obihiro told him where Yuuichirou had gone at so he waved good-bye and walked out through the front door.
Let's not focus on creating the GUI… According to the planning, it must have this look and the type of letter must be a Serif type…
He checked some papers, which had sketches and mock-ups of the GUI along with some hand-written notes on the corners: Obihiro calmly began to program it and didn't notice someone looking at him from the side door which was slightly opened.
Huh? There's some air current… The AC isn't on, either. Is there some door open? Maybe Dr. Regal forgot to properly shut the side door? Yeah, looks like it's the case indeed…
Obihiro stood up and headed for it: the figure calmly and silently slipped away before he could reach the door: he was about to shut it when he frowned and looked into the corridor: it was brightly illuminated, as usual, and there were some doors plus a flight of stairs leading to the basement level: shrugging, he shut the door.
I had the feeling there was someone there but… It's got to be my imagination… Maybe I'm still a bit edgy given what happened not too long ago… Paranoia won't lead anywhere: let's resume the work!
He sat back on the chair to work and also sipped some water from a glass nearby: he kept on humming a tune and didn't see how the front door opened (because his desk was facing the wall) by a slight margin: Obihiro frowned and changed the angle of the screen: he purposely did a momentary stop to blacken the screen and have it act like a mirror: he could see the slightly open front door.
It wasn't my imagination! I'm sure it's none of the employees: they're all very serious and passed strict tests…
"Who's there?" He quickly stood up, turned around, and called out.
"Hmpf… I'm the envoy of Hell…" A distorted voice rang out.
"Trying to imitate Gray Fox?" He challenged.
"Maybe yea maybe nay. Depends on the mood of the day!"
"You wouldn't be Anaya Maria, right?"
"Unfortunately for you… I am!"
The door was pulled open and Anaya was there: she'd put on a researcher coat, a blue wool jumper, jeans, socks and sneakers
She'd also put on a couple of plastic frame glasses.
"What do you want from me?" He demanded.
"I was just looking on. You interest me because we share a common enemy… Well, now that the jerk's busted I couldn't care less but…"
"Get out of my life. You witch." He hissed.
"So that's your true self… Good, good… Your "shadow"…" She smirked.
"Like I care. Get lost in the world of the Midnight TV!"
"You're interesting… When you reveal that anger and hatred sealed inside of you… Just like the "shadows" of those kids…"
"Don't make fun of me! I've had enough pain!" He closed his right fist.
"Yeah… That face of hatred, anger, and humiliation… It's something only a true ruler can really experience…! When you have the power to make others tremble! When you can turn others into merchandise!"
"Get out of here! Leech! Witch! Villain!"
"Heh. They used to call me Leech Queen…" She smirked.
"Then you'll become that same monstrosity Dr. James Marcus became!"
"WHAT?" She got annoyed.
"You said it yourself." He taunted.
"Why the nerve of this brat! I'm gonna teach you a lesson!"
"Hmpf. Twilight might actually be working for the DIA, you know?"
"NO WAY~!" She turned white on the spot.
"You never know. Betrayal is the path of the Sith, no?"
"B-b-but…! N-no! It's a trap! Ki~h!"
"What's this ruckus?" Dr. Regal questioned as he showed up behind Anaya.
"Dr. Regal! Call security! It's Anaya!"
"WHAT?"
"Sheesh. Time to scram! Eat this!"
She suddenly drew a cigarette from her coat's chest pocket and put in on her mouth to then blow air into it: some gas hit Dr. Regal's face and he was momentarily dizzied: Anaya made a run for it with Obihiro chasing her down the main corridor: they ran past the lobby and outside where a blue navy van was waiting with the engine on and with Izono on the pilot's seat: she jumped into the cargo area and it sped away: Obihiro made a grimace.
"Disappear." He icily muttered.
"Cough, cough… Stinking gas! What a villain!" Dr. Regal caught up, coughing.
"Truly, sir…! They don't know when to give up!"
"We need to strengthen the real world security or else they will begin to walk in and out whenever they feel like it!" He grumbled.
"Indeed, sir… Maybe we could use materialized Navis or so…"
Obihiro silently nodded in agreement and closed both fists…
09:09 AM (Scotland Time)…
"… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… die."
"… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… die."
"… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… die."
"… The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… die."
"… How annoying. Like broken cassette tapes. They can only repeat the same thing over and over again, Anderson – sama."
"I know, Annihilator Man. Four of them and they only know to say that… Bapgei must feel like annoying us to make a mistake. But we won't fall for such a childish trap."
A Navi named Annihilator Man was fighting against four copies of Darth Bapgei (wearing that odd outfit).
Annihilator Man's face was colored in a teal brown color and his eyes' irises were a mix of purple and black.
His helmet's forehead had an eight-pointed black and white jewel set on it: three purple stripes travelled from behind to the front.
The Navi was colored white with some black spiral patterns travelling up the arms and legs.
He had two gun-like objects colored black and white respectively and connected to something on his back by thick tubes.
His hands had purple octahedron-shaped patterns on top of them.
His emblem was the Kanji hametsu (annihilation) colored white and set against a gray background plus having a purplish edge.
His feet's fingers ended in claw-like extensions.
He seemed to be close to two meters tall.
"Eat this!"
He began to load energy using his guns: a purple beam and a white beam clashed and gave birth to a very transparent gray spheroid: it slowly grew in size and stopped once it was stabilized.
"Be gone."
He shot a thin gray beam from the spheroid at one of the enemies as it ran towards him with the blades drawn: the blast hit him and a small shockwave ensued: the enemy was neatly deleted in just an instant: the other three didn't react and rushed for him.
"Light Beam! Dark Beam!"
Annihilator Man shot his white cannon first: a white beam of light hit the enemy and the heat it carried along set it on fire: the purple cannon shot a mass of purple and black particles glued together: it hit another enemy and attached to them while causing the enemy to be frozen in place: Annihilator Man then rushed towards there and delivered a kick with the right foot to beat the paralyzed enemy and tackled the burning enemy with the left shoulder to toss them into the ground and delete them as well: only one was left and it formed countless knives hovering in the air in front and to the sides: they flew for Annihilator Man but he merely turned on a Dream Aura and they were all neutralized: Annihilator Man then switched the cannons for swords having the same coloring as each respective cannon: the enemy drew the short blades and rushed for Annihilator Man as well: the second was faster, though, and simply sliced the enemy in four pieces by performing an "X" shaped attack: he then looked around.
"Any other signatures, Anderson – sama?"
"No. But I'm sure something else's coming."
His Operator window opened to display Anderson, his Operator.
He was about sixteen or seventeen years old: had purple eye irises and silver-like hair.
From what it could be seen, he wore a thick red wool jumper.
"I don't think that it's Freeze Man in person. He got a taste of my abilities some months ago." Annihilator Man guessed.
"Of course not. It'll be a proxy."
"Or not!" A voice rang out.
"That's… Cosmo Man, huh?" He recognized.
"Indeed… I've come to show you the power of the Universe! Shudder!"
"Sounds like that's above Twilight's."
"HUH! I meant… T-hat's… Hum… Well… The power of the Universe granted to me by Twilight – sama!"
Cosmo Man showed up there and made a proclamation so Annihilator Man pointed out he sounded like he was stronger than Twilight: Cosmo Man got nervous and improvised a correction.
"Ah. I see. Nice improvisation?" He wasn't surprised.
"Grrr…! Why these mice!"
"So? Feeling the Sharo winter in your Caucasus hideout?"
"Caucasus? Who said we there?" He was surprised.
"The MI6 in a special Westminster Parliament meeting when questioned by the opposition regarding if they'd advanced in their search for you lot… That you're near the Black Sea…" He shrugged.
"Hmpf! Pathetic! And you believed a blatant lie aimed at satisfying a bunch of politicians?"
"Who knows? Maybe I thought it was a useful taunt."
"What?" He grumbled.
"If you don't have anything better to do then flee."
"Who will flee?" He got annoyed.
"Yamato Man says so. He claims he's a genius!"
"Damn it! Yamato Man. You're one to TALK!" He grumbled.
"Cosmo Man…!" Freeze Man hissed.
"Yikes! W-what is it, sir?"
"Behave like a man! Not like a rookie!"
"R-roger, sir! Cosmo Gate~!"
"Nice special effects. Did you hire Marvel studios to produce them? Their MCU movies are very good at VFX, you know!" Annihilator Man taunted with a smirk.
"Wha~t? Impossible!"
Cosmo Man opened the Cosmo Gate but nothing happened: Annihilator Man dully glared at it for a second before facing Cosmo Man again who gasped in disbelief.
"Cosmo Man…!" Freeze Man fumed.
"Ah! I forgot to gather energy to form the planetoids…!"
"You didn't "forget"! You got confident and rushed it! Navis don't forget and Darkloid don't either! Your files are where they should be at: no – one switched their folders!"
"I am deeply sorry!"
"Do SOMETHING! ANYTHNG! Or we'll be LAUGHED at! AGAIN!"
"Y-yes, sir! The Cosmo Gate failed but…! I've got this blade…! The Absorber Blade! Activate!"
He unsheathed the blade and it gleamed before it turned black and began to absorb system electricity: it began to glow in a dull red color yet it steadily turned brighter before it became crimson red.
"Get ready… Crimson Slash!"
He swung the blade and a series of 5 "Sonic Boom" colored crimson shot out towards Annihilator Man: the first one was powerful enough to overcome his Dream Aura yet the other 4 missed him and were repelled towards the sides: Cosmo Man gasped as Annihilator Man simply began to run for him with his blades drawn: Cosmo Man ran for him as well and swung yet Annihilator Man ducked and dodged before stabbing the purple blade into the left hip and the white blade on the right hip: they got through some of the armor and Cosmo Man used an Area Steal to warp behind Annihilator Man: he was about to attack when the earlier "Crimson Slash" energy formations converged on him from behind and easily cut through most of his rear armor: Annihilator Man quickly turned around and tackled Cosmo Man with his right shoulder to make him recoil: he stepped into a mine placed under his feet and the explosion knocked him off the ground, into the air, and then back into the ground in face-up position: Cosmo Man warped to some meters away.
"Claymore…!" He grumbled.
"Blame your petty master for giving us the idea." Anderson taunted.
"Sheesh. I knew it wasn't a good idea yet…!" Cosmo Man grumbled.
"Stop complaining! Fight!" Freeze Man ordered.
"Roger, sir…! Giga Count Bomb! Have this!"
Cosmo Man formed the Giga Count Bomb and threw it at Annihilator Man while rushing for him but stepped into yet another Claymore and his attack was cancelled: Annihilator Man shot his Light Beam at the bomb to detonate it mid-air: Cosmo Man began to rise but a powerful beam suddenly attacked his back and pierced through what remained of his rear armor: he roared as purplish energy began to leak from inside of his body and into the outside: he whipped around and found that the attacker was Guilty Spark 343.
"No interlopers shall damage this ring!" He proclaimed.
"Damned it all. The eyeball got in the way! And it can fight!"
"Vexation! Vexation! Vexation!" Spark got annoyed.
"Enough, Cosmo Man! You're leaking energy, your Dark Generator is damaged and you lack rear armor. Critical condition!"
"R-roger, sir! Grrr! One day you shall become spatial dust!"
"Come anytime. Smug Mister Cosmos." Anderson challenged.
"Sentinels! Expel the intruder!" Spark ordered.
Cosmo Man snarled something and made his escape: Annihilator Man shrugged and Anderson sighed in relief.
"Phew. We shook the guy off."
"But then again that wasn't their real power. Like we discussed with the members the other day… Maybe they're distractions so that they can pull something from the real world again. Maybe it's related to Anaya's intrusion into the Science Labs. Like how Laser Man told us." Annihilation Man argued.
"Yeah. Father did tell me. Let's inform him of this too."
"I shall return to the Control Room. Vexation! I am not an eyeball!"
They must aim to attack from the real world! Where and when? Hope it's not something like last time! We barely won that time!
23:34 PM (Honolulu Time), Monday January the 22nd…
"… So, Liquid – chan… Is the plot progressing?"
"Yes, my lady… I'm writing it on paper to be on the safe side…"
"Good. Did Naomi tell you to dance?"
"Excuse me? Ms. Naomi Hunter, you mean?"
"Gotcha. It was a joke!"
"… Yes, my lady… As you command…!"
"That defeated face… Truly exquisite!"
"As you wish, my lady…"
Twilight had been writing stuff in a paper placed atop several others including schematic print-outs, arrows, circles, crossed, annotations, exclamation marks and question marks: Anaya crept into him from behind since the door was behind him: she began to pull silly jokes on him and he sighed, resigned.
"But I think that those guys will catch up… That intrusion into the Science Labs might've been a bad idea, my lady…"
"Huh? Why would it be?"
"Could make them think our tactics insofar are diversions and the real deal will come from the real world…"
"Crap. I was eager to examine the kid and…!"
"Can't be helped, my lady. What's done is done. But at least they must think that it's very probable I'm aiming for kyoudai."
"Good. Maybe we could make a blunder and let out a hint that makes that sound highly probable."
"Yeah. Maybe they'll think that my hacking there was a test to see if it was possible to intrude."
"Perfect. Let's go with that plan!"
"But there's no 100% guarantee. They might still think it's a decoy."
"Huff. You're right. But we can't make it too obvious either."
"Exactly. I'll manage it, somehow."
"By the way… Is it me or Bapgei is taking a lot of breaks as of late?"
"Could be. To compensate those he does intense training sessions, more than needed… He wants to know his limits and try to figure if there's a way to go over those."
"Hmmm… Well, if you say so…"
"My lady. Bapgei is loyal."
"I don't question that. It's just that… Nothing. I'm being paranoid. The guy needs his free time too. That's all." She shrugged it off.
"He joined of his own will. And he's not "scandalized" because he's taken part in the stuff plenty of times."
"Of course. That's what makes him loyal. And his rivalry with Nelaus fuels him up too." She grinned.
"Yes, my lady. Exactly."
"Good. Let's focus on "Global Winds", the name of the operation."
"I'm still worried that it feels like a tell it all."
"Could be. Maybe they'll think it's a decoy name to lure their attention elsewhere. We could carry out a diversion attack elsewhere one or two days before and claim "this is Global Winds! You fell for it!"…"
"Could work. I apologize for the tone but taking into account that there's the Committee backing them…"
"I know. However, maybe it's worth a try. No?"
"Allow me a few hours to think it over and decide a place. Maybe a windmill power plant… To spread fear and terror…" He suggested.
"It'd fit with the name. We could make them think it means something big but turned out to be something small. Let's frustrate them. I want to see them struggle!" Anaya smirked.
"As you desire."
"Did the Princess of Desire ask you out for a dance?"
"No, my lady. I know no such person."
"Kidding. They don't exist!"
"I am sorry."
"I did tell you not to take all of my statements literally, no?"
"It's that… We were having a serious talk, my lady, so…"
"Fine, fine. Let's not fight over that. Remember my orders: don't meddle with the women… I'll handle them. You take care of the men. And never insult a woman." She commanded.
"Have I ever done so?" He asked back-
"No, as far as I know. However, I felt like you need a reminder. A strict Boss must remind the subordinate of what he's supposed to do and what he's not supposed to do." She calmly replied.
She drew a package of mint-flavored chewing gum; she began to munch it while Twilight picked the schematics and checked them again; he then picked another hand-drawn plan of some buildings and a perimeter: some letters were placed in one position and others in an alternate position.
"So most of us would take care of the front attack, the diversion attack, while Bapgei intrudes and gets the prize…" He exposed.
"Good. Tee, heh, heh. Time to settle the score with these guys… There are some excellent preys there too… However, it will be hard to catch them during the attack… Maybe Bapgei can pick one for me… Will do for a change of airs…" She made a sinister smile.
"As you wish." Twilight calmly acknowledged.
"My lady?" Izono knocked on the door.
"What's up, Polo?"
"… A message from Mr. Opoulos… He lured the FBI to Italy next… They still believe anything he says, my lady." He reported.
"Excellent. What about the CIA and the others?"
"Discussing with each other about who finds us first. And who gets the glory and to rise to being the one with most budget…"
"Good, good! That means we needn't worry about them getting in our way… That's their real nature… Envious of each other! Hah!"
"Indeed. In the world of wet-works and espionage… No – one trusts each other… They are always eager to stab each other to death! By the way! Polo! Find me a Mongolian steeps ice-cream!"
"There is no such thing, my lady…!" Izono groaned.
"Pity. They could've invented them!"
"Yes, my lady…!" He sighed.
"You can leave. And check out Playboy!"
"M-my lady! I…!" He protested.
"It's a joke, man!"
"As you order, my lady…!" He resignedly muttered.
Twilight was rolling his eyes in the meanwhile and inwardly sighing as if he was getting tired of the whole deal as well.
"And I can guess something. Mr. Smiles will divorce Ms. Grins!"
"HUH? I fail to see the point, ma'am."
"There's none."
"Then why…?"
"It's a joke, man." She laughed.
She pulled his right ear and Twilight grumbled something under his breath but said nothing: she let go and giggled.
"Beware! Mike will beat Platinum in the madness duel!"
"M-madness duel…? Please." He found it absurd.
"Maybe we need to bring them back here to see them yell at each other, no? That would be fun to see!"
"I don't think Mr. Opoulos would approve…"
"Of course I don't intend to! I was kidding, man!"
"Excuse me."
"I'll leave you to work out the details. I'm going for a stroll. See ya. And beware of rolling drum-cans!"
Twilight merely sighed in defeat as Anaya left the room: she walked down a corridor and ended up in a control room having a radar (currently inactive) and radio equipment: a large viewing window allowed one to see the whole central shaft: there was a round large hatch at the very top which was currently closed: Anaya looked out and spotted Cloud Man and Swallow Man arguing in Platform 2: she interacted with the controls and the speakers relayed their discussion.
"You go saying I'm a useless idiot!" Cloud Man was grumbling.
"Hah! You go saying I'm slower than an Albatross!"
"You half-a-duck moron!"
"You drunkard-loving moron!"
"Say it again!" Both yelled to each other.
"Half-a-duck moron!"
"Drunkard-loving moron!"
"STOP! Go patrol! Now! Before I turn you into mindless puppets!" Freeze Man ran in, totally annoyed.
"Y-yes, sir! At once, sir!"
Both dematerialized and Freeze Man snarled something: Anaya merely giggled under her breath and was amused.
"Maybe Marvel's "Civil War" storyline has influenced them! Idiot will fight idiot, such is the rule of nature!" She muttered aloud.
"I'm so tempted to go and…!" Freeze Man was grumbling to himself.
"Boil your CPU a bit, Freezin' Man." She joked.
"Grah! I'm going to speak with Twilight – sama! This can't keep on anymore! By my might! I prefer the Cut Man Brothers to those, even! They were stupid, yes, but at least they're competing! If only there was a way to make them stronger! We could use them as a distraction to keep some of them busy! Sha~h! "
The Cut Man Bros, eh? Who'll create Super Cut Man Bros. and beat Super Mario Bros! Just you wait, Vadous… You're gonna fall for my excellent trap! This time around it'll be our greatest victory! Nyah!