Chapter 18: The Arbiter of Noise
The strange video appeared on every social network at roughly 3AM. Within twenty minutes of its posting, the evacuation sirens rang out throughout Tsubasa City… not that they were necessary. After the last days of terrorist activity, the appearance of a divine being instructing them to seek guaranteed safety was taken at face value.
The camera appeared shaky at first, focusing on a purple haired man with white wings wearing traditional white jinbaori. "Nasu-san, just look over here!"
He cringed as he heard the words, but his eyes focused towards the viewer's screen.
"Humans of Tsubasa City… it is I… your…'Samurai Angel'".
He coughed loudly. "That… isn't accurate… I am in fact a Seruva…"
"Ah, Nasu-san, just give em' the warning!"
As Kiyoteru carried his duffle bag through the crowds marching to the nearest shelter, he heard the sounds of a child crying. "Mama, papa, where are you!?"
Kiyoteru finally spotted the source of the sounds – a little brunette girl with pigtails, wearing a red nightgown and hastily-thrown on sneakers. He recognized her at once. "Kaai-chan!"
The sobbing girl smiled through her tears as she saw him and ran towards her teacher. "Hiyama-sensei!"
"Did you get separated from your parents?" he asked.
She nodded her head.
"Well, I'm sure they're waiting for you in the shelter," he said in his most comforting voice, "Why don't we go together? I'm certain we'll find them when we arrive."
As he entered the tunnels, Yuki's hand tightly clutching his, he spied a woman with wings. Her long white hair tinged with pink towards the bottom, she clutched an elaborate golden lance.
"Your city is in grave danger. Tonight war will reach its boundaries, a war between twisted members of my race… and the humans who've hurt us."
His face appeared stern. "But do not be afraid. I've brought help to ensure every one of you is safe."
As he spoke, several people with white wings moved into the frame with him. "If you evacuate to your shelters, my people shall meet you there and protect you from all harm."
"IA, you made it!"
"Yukari!"
The white haired girl greeted her purple-haired classmate as the girl rushed over to her in the crowded shelter. "Man, you sure took off in a hurry… everyone's going nuts about the Samurai Angel!"
IA looked wistful. "He was in my dream when I was captured…" she said dreamily, "I'm certain he saved me then too."
She looked to the white haired boy with wings at the entrance, his hand firmly on his sword and his eyes forward and scanning for threats. Though he appeared somewhat apprehensive, when he glanced into the room, his eyes met hers for just a moment. "What's your name?" she asked.
The boy hesitated for a moment. He looked so young… "I am Piko."
IA gave him a trusting smile. "Thank you for protecting us, Piko."
"For a long time, we feared your kind. Even I was frightened of humanity."
He smiled in spite of the danger he spoke of. "But… my time amongst your kind has revealed to me that human lives are worth protecting."
His expression grew darker. "And tonight… I intend to stop the war for good. Both the threat of those twisted by darkness… and the humans who perpetuated that darkness."
Lola scowled as she and her husband marched into the armored R&D lab. "The nerve of him… he murdered our men in cold blood!"
Leon seemed unconcerned. "Don't worry… once we have this problem dealt with, we'll release all our footage of him. Once they see what kind of a monster he really is, they'll listen to reason."
He nodded his head to acknowledge the presence of his two specialists, Mayu and Flower. Mayu was happily laying out a variety of sharp implements on a surgical cart, Flower calmly going over her checklist as she tapped each piece of the Advanced CV equipment with a pencil.
"Did we knock him out?" Lola said as she saw the sleeping form of their "trump card" strapped to the operation table, laying on his stomach.
"The birdy passed out in his cell," Mayu said, sounding disappointed, "But don't worry… I'm sure he'll wake up once the surgery begins."
Thanks to the Seruva, they didn't have time to use anesthesia to put him under. He'd need to be functional ASAP. They couldn't chance him still being unconscious when the installation was complete. She hoped that his state wasn't a sign that he would be too weak to survive the surgery. It was hard to imagine such a fragile creature was the key to their total domination over the Seruva.
"These are the crimes of the present."
The visions flew past Kaito's consciousness so much faster now. At once he saw the familiar rows of cells that he now recognized as part of Mirror's research facility. Every one of them held another of his kind. He saw the cell doors open as armored humans roughly grabbed them in groups, marching them away. He followed them into a massive room filled with people in white coats, surrounded by surgical implements. Kaito ran past the people he followed inside, examining the machinery. He recognized several of the metal pieces at once… the same ones attached to Neru's body. A sickening feeling settled in his stomach as Kaito recognized the blonde woman barking out orders to her scientists.
"Hurry, hurry! We need an army of birdies!"
Though humans performed the deeds, they moved as if they were machines, grabbing each struggling Seruva, shocking them into submission, then quickly and emotionlessly attaching machinery to their bodies as they begged for mercy.
Soon Kaito stood in a familiar cavern, staring at the very rift he now remembered being used to steal his memories from him. Meiko stood in front of it, spreading her arms wide. "We must not be afraid to take any measures necessary! The Seruva will never be safe until the world below is free of them!"
Kaito recognized several of the warrior caste, people he'd trusted with his life. "If she is helping the Seruva's greatest traitor, then she must be purified first!"
He saw Commander Lily being held fast by black chains in front of the rift as Meiko drew black energy out of it, forming it into the shape of a ball and hurling it at her.
The warrior writhed in place as it latched onto her, her brilliant wings turning pitch black, familiar red markings running along her face as her body became more bird like. In moments, she was calm and the chains released. "I am your servant, Master," she proclaimed to Meiko as she stood tall.
"There's… there's no difference between us anymore…" Kaito murmured, "No matter what happens, we're being carved up into monsters…"
Finally he saw himself in the skies of Tsubasa City, watching as the human-mutilated Seruva fought to the death against Seruva corrupted by Noise. Not a single human needed to fight – they'd simply crafted a war in which the Seruva would simply bleed each other dry.
Again Kaito sat on the throne, the man in white and the man in black watching him intently. "You must judge them, Arbiter," spoke the man in white.
"The judgement is execution," spoke the man in black.
"I'm not killing anyone!" Kaito shouted, "I'm going to find a way to end this! If I destroy the Noise… it all ends!"
Both men remained emotionless at Kaito's emotional proclamation. "You cannot abstain, Arbiter," spoke the man in black.
"You cannot abstain, Arbiter," spoke the man in white.
A dissonant melody played around him as they repeated their statements again.
"You cannot abstain, Arbiter." "You cannot abstain, Arbiter."
You cannot abstain, Arbiter.
As Kaito came to, he was aware of lying face down on a metal platform and of binds around his limbs. The shock collar was gone, but as he blinked and craned his neck, he saw several soldiers with guns pointed straight at him. There would be no great disappearing acts this time.
His jacket, scarf, and shirt had been stripped off, exposing his back. He shuddered as he saw a familiar blonde woman bounce into the room with him. "You've had quite the experiences, haven't you birdy?" she cooed.
Kaito kept his silence, refusing to grant her a reaction. He heard a wheeling cart and watched as an odd woman with white and black hair in a frizzy ponytail entered with various surgical tools and equipment. In a flash, Kaito realized what they were planning to do to him.
"I wouldn't try singing a song here either, birdy," Mayu chirped, "Or we'll pump you full of paralysis serum."
Kaito tried to think of some way out of their machinations for him. As the dissonant melody crawled through his mind, he feared having no defense over it. Worse… if the equipment they intended to install in his body generated Noise somehow…
Arbiter. You cannot abstain.
What was going to happen to him?
"You don't understand…" he pleaded, "The Noise wants everyone dead… it doesn't care if it's a Seruva or a human… you can't control it…"
"There's nothing I can't control," Dr. Flower said flatly, turning to a glass observation window. "Right, Mr. and Mrs. Heart?"
Kaito craned his neck further to try and see the two people responsible for everything happening tonight. For the war reigniting. For the oncoming end of the world. He couldn't make out their faces behind the frosted glass, but he could see their silhouettes.
"Flower, begin the operation."
Arbiter. You cannot abstain.
"Aaaaand… Aircraft guns are DOWN!" Gumi announced, "Security systems are starting to go offline!"
With that warning, Gakupo turned to Lily and nodded. Scooping up Luka, he, his former Commander, and roughly a dozen other warriors took to the skies and began their flight towards the Mirror research towers.
Bullets sprayed the air as several magical shields appeared at once. Gakupo carefully chose his flight path to keep away from the projectiles – suddenly losing his flight could put him at a major disadvantage. Clearly the humans working with Mirror were ready for him. But this was just part of his plan – they would divert their forces to the front of the structure to stop him from entering. He just had to break through that line.
He kept his eyes on the doors Gumi informed him were the most direct point of entry. Above all else, that's where he needed to target his flight path, then allow his allies to protect himself, Luka, and Gumi as they moved inside. Gumi, naturally, seemed to be taking advantage of most of the eyes being on the air. Gakupo heard the scooter rev up and watched her zoom underneath him. On cue, he sang a shield ballad for her, her entire body and vehicle covered in a moving purple dome.
Gumi had called it a "hamster ball attack", whatever that meant. She let out a wild yell as she plowed through the soldiers on the ground. After the first several rows went flying from the force of the impact, they began to scatter as she weaved her way around the ranks. The shield wouldn't stay up forever, but Gumi was actually counting on that as she made her way to the doors…
"That's right, you clowns! Ranka-chan, show them no mercy!"
Approaching the front, Gakupo let out a cry and the shield exploded in a shockwave of energy, blasting them off their hinges.
So far…. so good.
Luka covered the two of them in a pink dome as they descended. Now the real battle was beginning.
He looked over his shoulder to the skies and saw them filled with black-winged attackers. The war had already begun. "Gakupo… who are they!?"
Luka was pointing at the skyward approach of white-winged Seruva but something was different about them… they had pieces of metal affixed to their bodies and they flew in an eerie pattern…
"Those are Flower's…" Gumi growled, "Found em' under her CV Project. Didn't get all the data on em' but… it's probably the same stuff they're doing to Blue and the twins right now…"
Gakupo clenched his sword hilt. "Not if we stop them first."
"Here they come!" Luka shouted, prepping another shield as the corridor filled with armored personnel.
"Keep em' busy, I'm going to hack into their security!" Gumi shouted, "Just keep pushing forward!"
Gakupo looked over his shoulder to see Lily and her troops holding the line behind him, preventing a pincer attack. Such a glorious battle awaited him this day…
Miku was slammed into a long metal platform, her hands and ankles quickly bound in place. She briefly tugged against the bindings, but the computer system clearly had them locked down tight.
With that, she noticed one of the scientists removing the collar from around her neck using an odd device that made her think of the tag removers she'd seen at department stores. While for a moment she felt relief, the attachment of electrodes to her forehead made her realize why they'd pulled the collar off. Kaito had said they would take it off… when they intended to torture him.
A long-haired blonde entered, wearing a pair of yellow reflective goggles, a yellow coat, and a black bodysuit and boots. She clutched Miku's sword in her hands.
"We're ready when you are, Security Chief Cyva," said a man manning a control panel covered in odd buttons and levers.
The woman moved towards the bound Miku and regarded her coldly. "Hatsune Miku?"
The woman spoke Japanese with a rather thick American accent. "Right now the Seruva are attacking Tsubasa City… it's all-out war."
Miku swallowed. So Meiko was finally acting on all her threats. She only hoped everyone outside was safe…
"You'd best start divulging any information on them that you were given… I'm authorized to use force if you don't talk."
She wouldn't tell anyone at Mirror anything. "I already saw how you treated Rin and Len!" Miku shouted.
This "Cyva" person appeared unmoved by her pleas. "The Geminis are Mirror property. Now, out with it. What's the Seruva's strategy? What enchantments did they put on this weapon?"
Miku clammed up immediately. Nothing she could say would change anyone's opinion. The woman sighed and nodded to someone at a control panel.
As a lever was pushed, Miku felt a course of electricity shoot through her body, causing her to cry out. As the pulses ended, her integrator didn't miss a beat.
"We've already scanned your body. They've performed no enhancements to your form," Cyva continued, "But there WAS something done to this weapon."
Her sword was so close… if she could only break these binds, Miku could escape and start freeing Kaito and her friends…
"Don't tell me they won you over to their cause?" Cyva said, annoyance in her voice.
Miku's silence seemed enough of an answer.
"Give her another jolt."
This time Miku clenched her teeth to try and stop from shouting. She didn't want this awful woman to know she was in pain. She needed to keep her strength up if she was going to escape. "Where's Kaito?" Miku asked as the electricity switched off.
Cyva appeared confused. "Kaito? Is that the blue-haired Seruva's name?"
She adjusted her goggles. "By now he's on the top level undergoing Advanced CV conversion."
'Advanced CV?' Miku shuddered. She didn't want to imagine seeing Kaito covered with machinery and treating her like a stranger… but she'd already seen something similar done to her best friends.
Mirror had no concern for the lives they ruined.
Cyva placed a hand to an earpiece as Miku vaguely heard shouting into it. "Wait, WHAT happened?!"
'That better be Sempai and Gakupo…' Miku thought hopefully.
Rin felt as though she was awakening from a dream. She blinked as she tried to realize where she was, but all she could see was the glass door of the tight steel capsule she was in. She vaguely remembered being told she and her brother were being put in hibernation before her mind became a blank as it filled with one order.
Go to hibernation.
'That's right! That's how it happened when Len and I were being controlled before… My memories were all fuzzy!'
… so why wasn't she being controlled now?
She decided it didn't really matter – if she was awake… maybe Len was too. And if Len was awake… he'd want to escape as badly as she did. She pounded on the glass and after a few moments she heard someone else pounding as well.
She closed her eyes and tried to focus only on her heartbeat. On feeling Len's heart beating with hers. As she felt that familiar sensation, she thought of the will to escape and summoned a ballad…
Lightning exploded outside of the capsules, knocking Rin's over with her inside. She let out a shout as she was rolled around, but fortunately the door popped open as it came to a standstill. Rin gingerly stepped outside. "Len? You okay?"
She heard her brother groaning from across the room and hurried over to his capsule, helping him up. "I'll be fine…" he mumbled, "Let's just patch ourselves up…"
As Rin helped her brother stand and sing the ballad of healing, she noticed some odd hardware on the back of his neck, just under the collar of his white shirt and his ponytail. A casing seemed to be covering some kind of node or chip.
"Len! Your neck! Check your neck!"
He patted down the back of his neck as Rin felt under her brown hoodie and her hair and placed her fingers on something metallic as well. "Crap! That's how they're controlling us!" Len said, "We gotta get these off somehow…"
Rin tried prying hers off with her fingernails. No matter how much it hurt, she couldn't get it to move. "Maybe Oliver would know how to get these off?"
"Ollie? You know where Ollie is?"
Rin stood stone still as a familiar voice spoke to her. She slowly turned her head to see the two people she wanted to see even less than her parents. Big Al and Sweet Ann. In seconds, Rin and Len were at each other's sides, hands grasped tightly. "We're…. we're not scared of you!" Rin said, her voice shaking.
Big Al looked at her in utter confusion. "We're… not trying to scare you?" he said quizzically, "We just want to know where Oliver went. Normally he wakes us up."
He rubbed a hand along his broad chin. "Of course he was acting so very unusual during the last mission… needs of the many and all that…"
Rin remembered how the duo had spoken so highly of Oliver. Right now neither twin had any allies they could count on here – and they had no idea when their minds might be controlled again. She turned to Len, who seemed to be arriving at the same conclusion. "The Hearts said they were 'salvaging' Oliver. Whatever that means."
"WHAT?!" Big Al roared, "They wouldn't… they… they…"
He and Sweet Ann took one look at each other, then back to the twins. "Tell us where he is, at once!" Sweet Ann barked.
"How should I know?!" Len shot back, "I've never been here before!"
"Big Sweet" seemed utterly flummoxed. "Then… if he's not in hibernation with us…" Big Al mused aloud.
"… oh! Of course! Med Bay is where they always operate on him, they'll probably salvage him there too!" Sweet Ann finished.
Without even waiting for the twins to say anything else, the monstrous pair charged through the solid metal door like it was paper. "Ollieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! We're COMING sweetie!"
Rin blinked. "Um… I hope we did the right thing…" she said.
"Well they should keep our folks busy before…"
Len's voice trailed off as his face turned to a blank. Rin was about to ask why before she felt that force overwhelm her mind again, driving her true self to the background and binding her to only one order.
Kill all intruders. Kill the samurai.
"Kill all intruders. Kill the samurai."
Miku watched as Cyva kept yelling instructions into her phone. "Are the Geminis back online!? Good, send a security team down to the CV bay… he ripped through the reinforcements already?!"
She paced back and forth as her temper flared. "Get another squad there, those CVs are worthless if we can't get the hardware installed!"
Clearly the situation was going far out of her control. She started tapping Miku's sword on the ground. "… the FX units are trying to break into Med Bay?! Get the security walls closed, those walls are 3 feet thick, even the FX's can't punch through it… and get that virus dealt with before…"
Miku felt the metallic bindings around her limbs suddenly loosening. She was free! And everyone was too distracted with the situation outside her interrogation to notice! She had to make this count…
Quickly Miku pushed herself into a flying somersault, kicking at Cyva as she passed over her. She felt her foot impact the woman's back, sending her and the sword flying.
Miku rolled along the floor as she caught her weapon and ran for the door, grasping the shock collar implement as she ran through. Before the door guard could turn and shoot at her, she knocked him out with the butt of her sword and burst out of the lab.
She tried to make sense of the layout in front of her. Kaito was on the top floor… she needed an elevator… or someone that could fly safely…
'… Cyva was talking like the CV bay was around here… maybe they haven't taken control of all those other Seruva yet!'
Miku could hear Cyva shouting about her escape… she had to hope she wasn't about to run into reinforcements with only a samurai sword to defend herself…
As Oliver struggled to maintain his composure as another attack seized his body, he tried to fight off the fear of the death he was about to face. He'd already been strapped into a chair and hooked up to an IV.
This death was right, he thought. He'd hurt so many innocent people… regardless of why, he saw his hands as too stained by blood. He'd failed to protect his siblings in the end… and he'd failed Al and Ann.
But the staff seemed rather pre-occupied by some events going on around them. He tried to make out the chatter around him to figure out what was upsetting them so much that they'd delayed his execution. Then he became aware of a pounding noise in the building. As if someone was breaking through solid walls.
'Shouldn't they have put up the security barriers by now?' he thought to himself.
Unless… Gumi had already gotten his drop… and turned off the security barriers…
A loud pounding shook the room as a crack appeared in the wall across from Oliver. The few armed people inside pointed their guns at the wall. "Why isn't the voice synthesis working?!" one of them cursed.
"It's offline! Just like the barriers!"
Another pounding and the wall nearly buckled right there. All sounds aside from Oliver's involuntary choking ceased as everyone stared at the wall in fear.
This time the wall exploded in a burst of cement, wood, and metal. As dust blew through the room, Oliver heard gunshots fired, but he doubted any one of them hit.
"Set me free, can't you see that I'm fracturing?!"
Oliver smirked in spite of his coughing fit.
"Set me free can't you see that I'm gone?!"
In seconds pure chaos erupted as bodies flew through the room. "Ollieeeeeeeee! Where are you?!"
As the dust settled, Oliver couldn't be happier to see "Big Sweet" staring right at him. "There you are! You're still safe and sound!" Ann looked pleased with herself, then shot a glare to a cowering scientist. "Take him out of that contraption at once!"
The frightened man nodded and quickly pulled out Oliver's IV needle and unstrapped him from the chair. He dusted the boy off and helped him to his feet. Then he shot a fake smile to the stitched up duo staring him down. "All… all yours!"
He then ran for his life out of the hole in the wall, following the other fleeing (conscious) staff as Big Sweet approached Oliver. "To think they'd pull such a devious trick on us!" Big Al said, "It almost worked too! But we thought there was something weird about your voice."
Sweet Ann giggled. "It was just too mechanical, you know!?"
Oliver felt dizziness starting to take him and stumbled as he tried to step forward. Ann grabbed him and held him steady. "I'll… I'll be fine…" he said, "Where are Rin and Len?"
"Oh, we just passed them!" Big Al said with a huge grin, "They woke us up and told us about you… oh and they wanted your help with something pressing! Hmph, wonder what it was?"
"And then they flew away!" Sweet Ann finished, "I didn't know they could fly!"
'It must be something Flower did to them…' Oliver thought, 'Maybe they wanted me to disable her equipment?'
He wasn't an expert in removing the surgically attached nodes she'd placed on them, but he did know which piece to break to at least grant them free will again. "Where did they fly to?"
"I don't know, but one of them said something like… Kill the samurai?" Big Al said.
Oliver sighed. "I guess we'll just have to start heading towards the main entrance and hope they're fighting him up there…"
At least he could fix one of his mistakes. He grabbed a surgical knife and shoved it in his pocket.
As the latest wave of guards collapsed in front of Gakupo and Luka's attacks, she quickly took stock of her team. At some point Gumi had grabbed a grenade – something that easily shocked Luka given the girl's wild side.
She quickly sang a healing ballad to clean the wounds of herself and Gakupo, who'd naturally been taking the brunt of the attacks. Even as the two Seruva pressed on, Gumi barely seemed to engage with the chaos around her as she kept working at the laptop, somehow balancing it in one hand while typing with the other. "They're runnin' scared now…" she muttered, "That's what they get for thinking they could stop the Great Gumini!"
"I don't suppose you've figured out where Kaito or Miku are? Or if we're about to get attacked?"
"Well I was hacked into their Noise control circuits for a bit but they kicked me out… so we might be about to get messed up by Shortstuff and Creampuff…"
"Wait… Noise Circuits?! They're using Noise to control the Kagamines?!"
To think the twins were getting their heads filled with Noise to keep them compliant… then surely the same technology was also controlling the strange mechanically enhanced Seruva outside…
Her heart raced as she tried to think of what would happen if Kaito were implanted with such a device. She'd already learned from observation that Sujata Hama wasn't a traditionally summoned spirit, but something the Spirit Caller had to transform themselves into.
… then Sujata Raka… must be the same.
If Sujata Raka created Noise… then Kaito being controlled by Noise could very well spell the end of all life if it summoned the black winged destroyer…
"You have to admire these human's insistence on just smashing dark magic into everything they can think of without regard," Gakupo quipped, "After all, what could possibly go wrong?!"
At least Gakupo still had his sense of humor. As the two of them rounded a corner, a bolt of lightning slammed into the wall in front of Luka. She turned quickly to see Rin and Len. She cursed her luck – she hadn't wanted to fight either of them, but their eerie emotionless faces told her they were back under their parents' control. "Gumi, can you interrupt the program controlling them!?"
Gumi ducked behind the corridor out of sight. "I'll do my best, but I haven't been able to get access to those controls yet!"
"They're just going to slow us down…" Gakupo muttered, "But we can't leave them behind either… not again…"
Luka unleashed a barrage of arrows to try and disrupt their melodies. She had to hope somehow the three of them could wear the twins down and maybe get the equipment off of them…
Miku followed the sound of screaming, as she had a hunch what was going on. She couldn't save Kaito alone and she needed allies. She just had to hope they were still of sound mind.
She burst into a laboratory and felt sick just seeing the staff holding concious Seruva down. "Let go of them! Now!" Miku shouted, holding her sword threateningly.
A spray of bullets sent her running – the room was not unguarded. She charged towards the nearest conversion station and saw the black-haired Seruva from before, her back bleeding from the surgical cuts. The staff holding her backed off as they saw Miku's approach and she slipped the girl the collar removal tool. "Use this to get that stupid collar off!" she said, before ducking another round of gunfire.
A group of men charged straight towards her with batons and Miku held out her sword, hoping it would slice through their armor. She hadn't intended to kill anyone tonight but… Gakupo had taught her to do exactly that. One by one she disarmed the guards of their weapons, trying not to inflict lethal damage. She kept looking for an opening to knock them out when she heard the click of a gun behind her.
A bright green dome of light formed around Miku's body as she heard a woman's voice around her. Within seconds, the bullets intended for Miku ricocheted off of it. The dome began to glow with light and then exploded around her, knocking them away. Miku rushed in the direction she'd heard the gunfire coming from, knocking the weapon away from the dazed man and grabbing him gruffly by his collar. "Where's the top level research lab?! Where are you keeping Kaito?!"
He snarled at Miku. "You think Leon Heart wouldn't find some way to make me pay for talking?!"
"It's his funeral if he thinks he can control Kaito…" Miku threatened, putting her blade in the man's face again, "Now… talk. Or I could just let the Seruva in here deal with you lot."
She glanced around the room as her new ally had already begun letting the other Seruva loose along with herself. The scientists and staff cowered in fear of their victims suddenly gaining power over them.
"… He doesn't pay me enough to get torn apart by flying rats."
Miku dragged the guard back to his feet. "Good. Show me the way."
She turned to the other Seruva. "How many of you can fight? I… I need your help."
She looked to their faces for some kind of trust but all of them looked at her much the way Kaito had when she first met him – frightened and defiant. Miku took a deep breath. "My name is Hatsune Miku. I know none of you have any reason to trust me… because I'm human and humans have done nothing but hurt you."
She tried to meet the eyes of the one person that had taken steps to help her. "But… right now, Kaito, your Spirit Caller, needs help. I promised I'd always protect him. I'll go by myself if I have to but… I don't know what I'm going to face."
The black-haired woman stepped forward. "You are... a friend of Kaito's?"
"… more than a friend…" Miku said, blushing deeply.
The woman looked around her before stepping forward. "I will accompany you. My name is Avanna, of the priest caste. It is my sacred duty to protect the Spirit Caller."
She looked to the other Seruva, who nodded their approval. "We… we'll come too…" spoke a girl with red hair and a side ponytail, "You're the only human who's ever been kind to us… and I just want to go home."
Miku gave a thumbs up. "Don't worry! Once Kaito's safe, that won't be a problem!"
The girl looked apprehensive, but she approached Miku with courage. "My name is Cul. Lead the way."
Kaito tried to block out the incredible pain as piece by piece his body was altered by Mayu and Flower. They'd finished the joints on his arms and begun operating on his back. But as they kept carving him up, only one question remained in his mind.
"… why are you so afraid of us?" he gasped out.
Mayu giggled, but said nothing. Flower remained her unemotional self. Finally, a female voice spoke from the intercom of the observation area. "Because of what you can do."
Kaito cried out as he felt metal rods pressed into his spine. Clenching his teeth, he tried to force out another question. "I would never… harm… a human…" he said through pained breaths.
"There's only one way we can be sure of that," Lola continued, "In the great extinction event, a single Seruva killed a million people across the globe… in hours. Right as we speak, your kind are trying to tear this city apart."
"You started the war again!" Kaito shouted, "We just wanted to be left alone! Why wasn't that enough for you?!"
"My wife and I have spent our entire lives ensuring that the Seruva can never repeat their genocide," Leon answered, "They wrote prophecies that a black bird would destroy the world. The End."
Kaito remembered the former Heralds he'd met beyond the veil warning him of the End. Was that truly as close as Leon and Lola seemed to believe?
Arbiter.
… did the Noise intend him to create that End with his own hands?
Kaito heard movement as several Mirror troops began to brace the door to the room. "That lock is controlled in this room. That virus in our systems won't be able to open it. Once we know he's ours… we'll have him clean them up."
Leon sounded positively bored by the apparent chaos. Kaito only hoped his friends would reach him before Leon turned him against them… or before "The Arbiter" overtook him…
Gakupo tried to maintain his focus on his and Luka's fight with the Kagamines. He'd been forced into a stalemate – neither side possessed enough power to take the other out. With the time he wasting trying to get the upper hand on the twins, he feared the remainder of Mirror's forces cornering him and taking them in. As a lightning blast separated him from Luka, he also acknowledgde that he was holding back. He didn't want to hurt them. He never wanted to be responsible for harming a loved one again. "Gakupo! There's something on the back of their necks!" Luka shouted.
Gakupo tried to fly around to get a better perspective. He only managed to stay behind the twins for a moment but he finally spied strips of metal on the back of Len's neck… one of the pieces gave him an eerie sensation. As if he could sense…
… dissonance.
The sound of gunfire broke him out of his concentration. Too slow, he felt bullets pierce his wings, knocking him out of his flight pattern. "Gakupo!" Luka cried out, casting a shield around him.
"No! Luka! Shield yourself!"
Exactly what he'd been trying to avoid… an attack on multiple fronts. He tried to form a shield of his own but he saw the Kagamines beginning to get in position around him. He didn't think he could close a dome around himself and Luka in time. As he finally caught sight of a squad of human troops, Gakupo saw Gumi throwing a metal ball. "Nasu-san, BOOK IT!" she shouted, as he saw her holding the pin…
He tried to fly away, luring the Kagamines with him as the hall erupted into chaos, the explosion scattering the men firing on him. He coughed as smoke filled the hall…
… and then he heard the last sound he'd wanted to hear during this entire operation.
"Once I was made for war game, my job was hit the bother! My boss was as cold as ice, so he thought of me as "defective"!"
All other threats ceased to be important as he tried to make out where the voice was coming from.
"But now I "rebirth" as your diva, fever lots believer, chance will come soon, so stand up! All soldiers!"
"Aha! You ALMOST managed to pierce my skin with those bullets!"
As the smoke cleared, Gakupo was surprised to see Big Al and Sweet Ann… fighting his enemies. He almost felt sorry for the humans now. The duo practically walked through them and set their sights on the Kagamines.
"Oh! Ollie, I found them!" Ann chirped.
Apparently now even the twins were confused as to their targets. "Just hold them and I'll deal with the Noise Circuits!"
Gakupo heard the voice of a child in the hall. He stood in a defensive posture as he started healing his wings with a ballad in his second voice. "Who are you!?"
A boy stepped forward, wrapped in bandages around his face and limbs but otherwise well dressed and groomed. He couldn't be more than twelve years old. "Don't worry! They work for me… we're here to help!"
That seemed to finally cause the twins to attack "Big Sweet" instead. Despite Gakupo being rather distrustful of the duo, he switched his strategy to trying to overpower Rin and Len. Naturally, Big Sweet attacked as they always did – with overwhelming force and no regard for personal safety. In seconds Rin and Len were forced into simply casting shields to stop the flurry of punches and kicks coming their way.
Gakupo looked to Luka and she seemed to understand. He felt her heart beating with his as he extended his arm for an arrow…
In a flash of brilliant purple and pink light, two arrows shattered two shields. Gakupo winced as each member of Big Sweet dove forward and pinned down one of his friends. The young boy immediately rushed to their sides, holding a scalpel in one hand. "You have a sword… just do the same thing I do!"
Gakupo approached Rin and smiled softly at her. "I'm going to set you free, Rin-chan…" he whispered to her…
Len finally snapped back to consciousness… just like the last time, his head swarmed with memories of what he'd been forced to do as the orders flooded his mind. Unlike last time, he was being pinned down by a very familiar person. "HEY! Let go of me, you crazy rag doll!"
"Now now, that's so rude!" Sweet Ann scolded, "You asked for help before, remember?!"
"AH! Gaku-niichan, you're okay!"
So Rin was back too… Len tilted his head in the direction of her voice to see Gakupo standing over her, pulling his sword away from the back of her neck. Len was able to make out a deep puncture in the device attached to her body… had Gakupo done the same for him as well?
"Len… do you remember what happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Sempai!" he said with a smile as he laid eyes on Luka, "You guys busted in here by yourselves?!"
"Pffft…. Not entirely by themselves, Shortstuff."
Of course Gumi would be here to rub it in.
"Ann… Al… you can let go of them now. We've severed the Noise circuits binding them."
'That voice…'
As Sweet Ann released him, Len bolted to his feet and turned to see the one person he never thought he'd see again. His brother. Oliver.
"It's… it's really you…" Len whispered.
Oliver looked not a day older than the last time Len had seen him alive. His face was surprisingly stoic. Before Len could get another word out, Rin rushed forward and tackle hugged the poor boy. She began to cry as she held him, Oliver looking stunned at her reaction. "Oliver… they said you died…"
Oliver finally allowed himself to hug Rin. She was actually taller than him now. "I almost did… they used me in cybernetics experiments to keep me alive…"
Len didn't want to wreck the reunion but he needed a question answered. "Oliver… Leon and Lola said you worked for them…"
The boy winced. "I… I did. 'Big Sweet' works for me."
Rin let go and looked to the odd duo as the monstrous pair waved cheerfully at her. "And we wouldn't have it any other way!" Al called out.
"Waiiiit… they take orders from a small fry like you?" Gumi said in surprise.
Oliver looked to the duo and nodded his head. "When I was going to be salvaged… these two were on the chopping block with me. We became friends. And they broke loose from the staff when they heard I was taken away..."
He smiled faintly. "I talked them down. I was the only person they'd take orders from. So… I started handling the Heart's off-the-books operations."
Just as quickly, that smile faded. "I… I used to manage the Seruva that came in for processing… I planned the retrieval ops… I oversaw the distribution of the Noise Generators… I even sent them after your friend."
He clenched his fists. "Everything I did… I did to protect you two from them… I knew what you were and what the Hearts wanted with you… I didn't want you to end up a slave to them too."
He looked up to Gumi. "If I hadn't found you and your blog… I wouldn't have had anyone I could trust to use my information to stop them..."
Gumi's eyes widened. "FINCH!" she shouted, "Holy cow, I knew you were in deep but… this is AWESOME!"
Oliver grasped at his chest and began coughing. Len reached forward to steady him as he appeared to lose his balance. As the fit passed, Oliver tried to regain his composure. "I'm sorry… I've no right to be your brother anymore…"
Gakupo scoffed. "We've all got debts to repay," he said sternly, "Right now, you can repay yours if you help us rescue our other friends. Where would they keep Miku and Kaito?"
Oliver's mood shifted to pure focus. "They'd be separated… Miku's probably being worked over by Cyva for intel… and Kaito would be getting converted into an advanced CV…"
"They're going to turn him into a robot?!" Rin exclaimed.
The boy nodded. "It's up to you which one we save first… the R&D lab they'll put Kaito in would be on the top level and reinforced from the inside… we'd need to break our way in full force."
Gakupo looked to Luka. "We should probably try to get Kaito first if we can given what they're planning to do to him… he's a greater threat right now. Miku isn't weak either."
"You think she'll break out on her own?" Luka asked.
Gakupo laughed. "I certainly taught her enough maneuvers for that! I wouldn't be surprised to meet her on the way up!"
Miku looked up the stair well to the top levels. Obviously the elevator wasn't an option – those were locked down. It would be a long walk…
"I'll fly you up. We'll be there in seconds."
Miku turned to Avanna and smiled. "Thank you…"
The woman gripped Miku tightly and took to the air, maneuvering through the winding stairs and past dozens of security doors. The other Seruva that chose to come surrounded her. "How are we going to get through these doors?" Cul asked.
"We'll have to try and blast them with magic… that's all I've got!" Miku shouted as the floors rushed past.
She hoped she was approaching Kaito in time… she hoped she was going to be able to save him…
Arbiter. You cannot abstain.
Kaito couldn't block out the pain in his body anymore. The most painful attachments had been the ones affixed to his forehead and running down his spine. Now he understood exactly how much Neru had suffered in her brief rebirth.
Their cruelty is without mercy nor purpose.
"Poor little birdy… does it hurt?" Mayu ran a finger along Kaito's face. "Soon you won't feel anything though. Soon… you're going to be our pet and crush all the other birdies."
She giggled maniacally. "And then there won't be a single Seruva left that we won't control."
Kaito weakly tried to speak in spite of the overwhelming agony he felt. "I… I told you… it doesn't… care… human or Seruva… the Noise… will consume everything…"
"No. You will. Or rather… you would."
Leon laughed. "But now you're company property. Just like the Geminis."
'Rin… Len…' Kaito thought mournfully.
Their crimes are endless and inflicted by greed.
"Activate the Mesmeratic Override," Lola commanded.
"No… please…" Kaito pleaded one last time, "You don't know what's going to happen…"
"Noise Circuit… engaged."
Kaito's mind flooded with the dissonant melodies, the screeching, clawing, scraping, banging sensations. He felt his sense of self disintegrating, trying to obliterate anything that could not be turned to the will of his orders.
You serve Mirror. You are a tool. Arbiter, you cannot abstain.
'I… I can't tell them apart anymore!' he thought in a panic. He wanted to shout, anything to try and reassert himself… there were two melodies warring for control over him, and he was being torn apart. Unable to stop them, to sing the ballad to center himself, he had no ability to fight for his own identity anymore.
Tool. Arbiter. Tool. Arbiter. Tool. Arbiter.
White streaks like paint began to form into elaborate patterns along his face and body as his wings turned a deep black color…
"This looks like the top level!" Miku shouted, "Full fire on those doors!"
Avanna let out a force wave ballad, shaking the door but not breaking it. Cul followed, and soon several more force ballads began to press against it. The hinges shook – it would not withstand this much longer…
Leon watched the doors in alarm. Someone was trying to break in!
"Leon! I just got a report from Cyva!" Lola exclaimed, "The human got out and broke out our last batch of CVs before they could be converted! On top of that… Big Sweet is loose, the Geminis Noise circuits are dead, and the 'Harbinger' cut his way through the center of the facility. We're being attacked on all sides!"
Leon waved to the soldiers surrounding Kaito. "Reinforce the door! Open fire on anyone that gets through! Mayu, Flower, to me!"
Flower and Mayu obeyed at once, slipping into the room and closing the reinforced doors. "I'll ensure our Advanced CV deals with anyone that makes it through," Flower spoke with certainty.
All Leon, Lola, Mayu, and Flower could focus on was the shaking and trembling of the door. Had they been more alert, they would have paid attention to their prisoner as he began to sing a twisted, dissonant ballad. Lightning burst around him, shattering his restraints to the table. They turned to see him, now covered in odd white symbols, his eyes pale white.
"I… am the Arbiter of Noise…" he murmured, "I… must render judgement… against all injustice…"
"Flower! Turn him off!" Leon ordered.
"I… I'm trying! CV, stand down! CV, you belong to US!"
He twitched a moment, but shrugged off her commands. "I… I can't shut off the Noise Circuit! It's not responding anymore!"
"Open fire on him!" Lola shouted.
A barrage of bullets and tranqs flew in the direction of the self-proclaimed Arbiter… only for the Seruva to place up a protective dome of black energy, absorbing every single hit. When their ammunition appeared exhausted, he shouted and the energy exploded into a massive shockwave, slamming the guards into the walls.
The Arbiter began to summon black balls of energy as even Leon could hear the dissonant melody building in the room… they'd tried to protect themselves from the wrong foe…
As the door burst open, Miku charged inside, flanked by her Seruva allies. "Kaito!" she shouted, praying she wasn't too late.
She saw him shirtless, holding a massive swirling vortex of Noise in his hands. "No! What have they done to you!?" she cried, observing the attachments and white patterns on his body.
"I judge you… guilty."
He released the energy in a massive explosion, targeting the observation room that held the Hearts and their staff. Miku heard Avanna and Cul forming a shield around the other Seruva and herself, protecting themselves as everything came down around them…
In moments, the blast cleared. Kaito's attack had blown off the roof and most of the walls, exposing the lab to the outside. "Kaito! Please, it's me! It's Miku!"
He turned to see her and for a moment she thought she saw recognition in his eyes. Yet that vanished as he took to the air, perching on a wall and surveying the battles taking place in the sky. Miku cringed as she saw Meiko's black winged Seruva engaging in battle with Mirror's CVs.
She turned to the ruins of the observation room and saw… nothing.
Kaito… had killed the people who hurt him. He'd left nothing of them, unraveling them into the Noise in an instant.
"The endless war… humanity and Seruva alike are guilty…" Kaito murmured, "I must render judgement."
Miku clutched her sword tightly. She needed to find some way to help Kaito break free of the power holding him fast. Twisting him into this awful creature.
"MIKU!" cried out a familiar voice. Her sempai!
She turned to see Luka and Gakupo flying up the stairwell. Rin and Len followed up behind them, each one holding onto Gumi… as did Big Al and Sweet Ann, who simply jumped out of the inside. Sweet Ann was holding a small boy with bandages…
"What's going on!?" Gakupo called out as he saw Kaito.
"They… they tried to control him with that equipment… I don't know why he turned into this though… he… he killed the Hearts and…"
Miku stopped when she saw the look on Rin and Len's faces. They couldn't have any love for their parents at this point, but surely they still didn't want to kill them for it…
"I… am the Arbiter of Noise…" Kaito declared, turning to face the assembled Seruva and Vocaloids, "Do not interfere or I shall judge you next."
Miku took a deep breath. "Okay guys… just like with the Harbinger… We treat this like a Herald… just like a Herald…"
The Arbiter awakens.
Meiko had seen the explosion and felt the wave of Dark Notes flying out of it. So she knew where Kaito was. Where her true target lay.
She began to fly towards him, intending to observe. If he was finally going to step up and destroy humanity on his own… she would not interfere. If he proved weak again… then she would ensure the power of Sujata Raka did not stay contained within so weak a vessel.
Claim the power you deserve!
'I shall!'
Her heartbeat quickened as she realized how preciously close she was to finally destroying humanity.
Tear the world asunder!
A/N:
I am going to hate being in the position to keep leaving you guys on these hellish cliffhangers week after week. There's only two chapters left though, and obviously that only leaves me with one more chance to throw a curveball at you! Ah, I can't believe it's so close to over!
This chapter was CAMEO CITY for tons of Vocaloids that have and haven't shown up yet. The only one I didn't call out by name was Maika – I just had to get in one of the Spanloids! But this whole thing was the hardest chapter to write because of how complex all the subplots running together turned out to be. It took so much longer than most of the other chapters at this point. Chapter 19, by comparison, took about a week. I'm in the process of writing the final chapter and the worst delay you guys might see is another where the chapter goes up later in the day on Saturday instead of right at midnight.
Song Credits: Of COURSE Big Sweet got to sing one last time! Big Al sang Ms Constantine's "Fracture" and Sweet Ann sang "Never Afraid." The Engrishy nature of the lyrics are because the songwriter is Japanese, and I debated trying to correct them but… it's Sweet Ann and she'd absolutely sing a song that doesn't make sense in this story ;)