"Boss needs you."
With his thick legs up on the table, Atsuki didn't look inclined to spring to his feet. "Really? What for?"
Yumi crossed her arms. "You'll find out when he tells you."
"Oh, yes. Like Black and his llamas?" Atsuki sat up in his chair, his legs going back under the desk. "Exactly how much of his time do you plan to waste on these foolish larks?"
"It's what the Boss wants."
"You are driving him away from what he was hired to do," Atsuki said impatiently. "He's becoming too open, too careless. A few days of being left alone will allow him to focus again."
"Really? And what does Black say about that, huh?"
With a grace that was eerie on a man of his size, Atsuki soundlessly rose to his feet. "He doesn't have to say a word. I know what's good for him and what's not."
Yumi's eyes narrowed in disgust. "I thought he was in charge."
Atsuki padded to her side, regarding her with strangely bright brown eyes. "He may be in charge," he said, backing her against the wall, "but he'll listen to every word I say. Including how I think he should be treating certain peers."
"Back off," growled Yumi. "There's nothing stopping me from telling the Boss all about this."
"Just like there's nothing stopping you from having a little... accident. So I'd stick to fetching your Boss's coffee, girl." Atsuki swiftly returned to his desk, leaving Yumi backed against the wall in stunned silence.
She steadied herself on her feet again and started walking out, shoulders squared. "You know, I remember when Black first came to the base," she said after she'd reached the doorway. "He always had this blank look on his face. He never talked to anyone. It took months before the rest of the world could reach him. Personally, I prefer him distracted." She'd barely gotten two steps out of Atsuki's office before she added, "Oh, and it's not a 'lark' in your case. It's an order. So if you want to take it up with someone, take it up with the Boss."
Atsuki watched with complete unconcern as she stormed away.
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"Wow! That's a really poofy dress!"
Mary giggled at her friend's compliment. "Thank you, Kaita-kun!" She turned to see Kaita, dressed in his usual jumpsuit. "Um, are you sure you're okay with this...?"
"Sure I'm sure!" Kaita said cheerfully. "I mean, Akihara Tower has tons of cool stuff!"
"See? Told you it'd be fine!" Ring excitedly planned, "We can go to the arcade once Mum's done introducing you to whoever. And I'll totally kick your butt at anything and everything, Turboman!"
"You? Beat the king of the freeway? I don't think so," Turboman said confidently. "Why don't we get this show on the road, so I can show you a thing or two?"
"Sure thing! Except we can't right now," Ring said apologetically.
"Mum's probably going to want me here for another few minutes, while people are still coming in. After that, it gets... not to be rude, but..." Mary looked around, then whispered, "...a little boring."
Ring assured them, "We'll be able to slip off just fine then!"
"Then why'd you tell us to meet you here now?" complained Turboman.
"Because this is the last five minutes, when nearly everyone's here except the one person who insists on being fashionably late. There's one at every showcase. Anyway, this is the part where we need the company the most, " Ring explained. "So go on. Entertain us!"
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The front of Akihara Tower was plain in decoration but filled with a colorful array of people. All sorts of people were standing on the tan tiles, from couples to scene kids to bargain hunters to a man dressed in a trenchcoat and hat, which helped to hide goggles and a black jumpsuit that completely covered his head and extremities. He casually strode to the center of the area, putting his hands in his pockets as he regarded the traffic and shoppers who passed without a care.
Behind the mask, Atsuki smirked before taking a deep breath.
"Long live Nova!" He laughed long and hard as chaos erupted around him. The trenchcoat and hat were burned off by the flames that came to life around him. Everyone who still could was running as fast and as far as they could, but he didn't bother giving chase. He simply stood and laughed at all the pain and confusion around him, the blaze rolling off his jumpsuit and into the skies.
"Shall I... lock down the building?" Burnerman asked through his Operator's implanted communicator.
"Of course," Atsuki said. The flames intensified behind him. If the people inside Akihara Tower hadn't been trapped before, they certainly would be now; Burnerman would keep the flames pouring down in front of the doors for as long as it took. He looked around at the few planters of bland bushes, now crumbling to cinders under the power of the heat. He would be giving more people than just the unfortunates in Akihara Tower a lesson in the effectiveness of fire, one he couldn't wait to begin teaching.
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Kaita had barely heard the first syllable of 'Nova' before he shot to the window. Mary could faintly hear the familiar voice—and especially the tone, seemingly conversational but with an odd edge—of Atsuki explaining, "All right, everyone, listen up! I'm afraid Akihara Tower doesn't have much time left in its life, and there's nothing all you folks here in the street can do to stop that unless you agree to a couple things first."
Mary tried to follow Kaita to the window, but her mother came running before she could get far. "Mary, dear! Where are you going at a time like this?"
"That man down there's with Nova," Mary said. "Kaita-kun and I are going to stop him."
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" asked Angeline, her fingers toying with the pendant that hung over her chest.
"We've dealt with Nova before, Mum," Mary explained. "We'll be fine."
After a moment, Angeline smiled. "Then go on," she said, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Get them!"
Mary went to join Kaita at the window. Down below, Atsuki was continuing his speech. "Here's the deal: I've got four bombs hidden inside Akihara Tower. In fifteen minutes, unless I receive two million zenny, those bombs are going to explode. From there, my Navi and I will waste no time setting as many other fires as we can, until Akihara Tower is certain to collapse." Smugly, he added, "Any questions?"
Mary and Kaita didn't even have to agree to split up; they just looked at each other before hurrying in opposite directions. "Mary-chan, the bombs don't seem to be giving off any signals," Ring said. "Looks like this is another one where we'll have to just comb the whole tower..."
"Not exactly." Mary explained, "If I were Atsuki, I would be sure to plant a bomb on one of the lower floors, maybe the second or third. Plant a bomb in a higher spot, and you're only affecting a couple of levels..."
"But on a lower story, you'll bring the whole tower down if you're not careful!" After a moment's thought, Ring added, "...which might be the entire point."
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On the topmost level of Net Police Headquarters, a balding, heavyset man gritted his teeth at the sight of smoke wafting up from downtown. "Manabe-kun! Get me the Net Saviors on the line, immediately!"
"Understood, Commissioner Kifune." Manabe wasted no time placing the call. Moments later, images of Enzan in his office at IPC and Meiru's room popped up.
"I can see it from here, Commissioner," Enzan reported. "I'll be there right away."
"I've still got the smoke mask from my last fire-related mission," Meiru said, appearing in the camera's view with mask in hand.
"Same here," Enzan said.
"Good. Bring those along; both of you, meet with Superintendent Manabe in this area," Kifune said, forwarding an address to their PETs. "She'll have further details for you."
"Roger!" Both windows winked out.
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The corner of the department store Mary had chosen as one of the most likely hiding spots had a bin of teddy bears in the furthest corner. Mary wasted no time sifting through the bin, leaning over to plunge her arms in deep. "Maybe this isn't the right corner, Mary-chan," Ring said from her PET. "I mean, this floor's got four of 'em, and time's starting to run out."
Mary wasn't deterred from pulling out some of the stuffed toys to make the search easier. "I'm nearly certain it's here. It would make the most sense to—" Her hand brushed something hard, and she dug deeper to grab it. Upon pulling it to the surface, she found it was a black box with a port on one side and a decreasing number displayed on the top. "Eureka."
"Well, let's not just stare at it! Plug me in!"
"Right!" When Ring touched down inside the bomb's small system, Mary saw a quartet of Lava Dragons guarding a central control panel - undoubtedly the defuser. "Fire-element viruses..."
"Coupled with the plan itself... No surprises at all from that creep!" Ring said.
"Battlechip: Aqua Cross! Slot-in!" Ring sent her shot straight into the frontmost Lava Dragon's throat as it prepared to fire, hitting the virus behind it as well. While the targeted Lava Dragon was deleted, its fellow was still standing. Ring had to jump to the side of one Lava Dragon's flamethrower before another swooped toward her. "Aqua Sword, slot-in!" Ring cleaved the charging virus's neck in two, instantly deleting it. Then, she ran toward the other two.
"Ring Boomerang!" she called, sending her green rings in a swarm toward the weakened Lava Dragon. While it was deleted, the last remaining virus swooped toward Ring. "Don't you learn anything?" she chided. "That doesn't work on me!" With one last slash, the Lava Dragon was deleted. "Easy as pie!" boasted Ring, heading for the control panel.
Mary sighed in relief as the countdown stopped. "Plug out, Ring," she said.
"Let's find that other bomb fast so we can kick Atsuki's tail!" Ring said.
"Pulling a stunt like this that endangers so many people... that's unacceptable." Mary started walking out of the store she'd found the bomb in.
"Someone needs to teach him a lesson—and I'm betting it'll be us!" Ring's image moved to one corner of the display. "I wanna see how Kaita and Turboman're doing," she explained. "It might give us some idea of where the next place to look is."
"Mary-chan," greeted Kaita. "I just found one of the bombs!"
"Which corner?"
Kaita didn't seem sure of how to explain. "I went up behind the elevator..."
"The northeast corner," Turboman explained.
"Ours was in the southwest," Ring informed the others.
"Opposite corners to spread the damage! Of course!" Mary realized. "I bet all we need to do now is reverse directions!"
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The man in the fireproof jumpsuit didn't seem too surprised to be confronted by Manabe, her head encased in a clear smoke hood that let most of her face be seen. "Hello, Miss Officer," he said warmly. "How may I help you?"
"I would think that'd be obvious," Manabe said evenly. "I'm here to negotiate, as long as you deactivate the bombs and let the people in Akihara Tower go."
"And I'll listen, as long as you leave my fires alone for now."
Manabe had no intention of tampering with the setup, but the two Net Saviors slipping past the confrontation to be swallowed by the smoke certainly did. "This thing's been going for a while, hasn't it?" Meiru muttered behind her less fancy, but still functional smoke mask. "Those poor people..."
"The fire department can deal with most of this. It's already starting to run out of fuel," noticed Enzan, looking over at the dying flames in the planters. "That, on the other hand..." It was a roiling wall of fire cascading down over the doors and windows. What was visible of the glass behind it was melting away. But right next to it was a port, and that meant it was stoppable. "Plug in, Blues! Transmission!"
"Plug in, Roll! Transmission!" The two Navis touched down in a system with warped-looking panels and glitched objects—the heat was starting to take its toll on the small computer housing this area. Standing in its center, looking completely unafraid of the risk of the whole thing crashing in an instant, was Burnerman.
"Net Saviors?! Didn't Atsuki just tell you to leave this alone?" he chided.
"Let your hostages go, Burnerman!" commanded Blues, his sword out and readied for a fight.
"Hostages? They're only shoppers," Burnerman said. "Civilians. Wrong place, wrong time. They won't all die when this place goes down."
"We've got very different ideas of what makes a hostage, then," Roll said. The Net Savior Navis stumbled as the whole area twisted under their feet, while Burnerman leapt into the air.
"Burning Jet!" Roll and Blues dove to either side of Burnerman's attack. "I'd love to stay and play, but someone's messing with my bombs. You enjoy yourselves here."
"Bubble Side, slot-in!" Roll raised her arm to fire, but Burnerman was quick to access the warp panel. "After him! Area Steal!" Blues used his superior speed to get ahead, but Enzan wound up using an Area Steal of his own after another skip from the area told both Operators that the computer wouldn't be waiting for their Navis before suffering its meltdown. Blues and Roll were nearly on top of each other to access the warp out as textures dropped out across the area, leaving only the base vectors behind. Noise was beginning to overtake Meiru's screen. She sucked in a breath—the two Navis had looked like they were safe, but there was no telling with the computer in such a bad state.
"Just made it," Roll sighed as her Operator's display resolved itself.
"But where has Burnerman gone?" wondered Blues, who was scanning the area for any sign of their enemy. It was certainly problematic—the server was sectioned off into smaller areas for each store, as well as floor-by-floor. All of it was accessible by warp, but that didn't make trying to find a Navi in it any less like finding a needle in a haystack.
"I'd guess into one of the lower floors' areas," Enzan said. "Stay alert, Blues!"
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Pixels exploded around her as Ring's boomerangs returned to their owner. "Well, that's that settled!"
Mary smiled at her Navi. "Great job, Ring-chan. Plug out." Once Ring had returned to her Operator's wrist, Mary walked over to the cash registers. "Um... Mister? The bomb's disabled. It's okay now..." A tanned man crawled out from under the second register, still fearfully eyeing the black package they'd discovered in a shoebox. Shyly, she added, "You have gum in your hair."
A mighty boom sounded from just outside the sporting goods store, followed by screaming. Mary left the store to find that the pretzel stand was burning. "I bet that's Burnerman," Ring said. "Well, if he thinks he can destroy those pretzel people's life-long legacy of hot, cinnamon-covered pretzels, he's got another think coming!"
"I'm not sure if they only want to be remembered for pretzels, Ring-chan..." She got as close as she could to the nearest port and called, "Plug in, Ring-chan! Transmission!"
Sure enough, waiting for Ring was a bulky Navi armored in red and brown. "What'd you do that for, Burnerman?" Ring asked. "Y'know, maybe some people would've liked to have a snack while they wait for you to lose!"
"Well, with you and your little friend running around disabling our bombs, it's not like anything's going to explode without a little help from me!" Burnerman said. "But I might like this way better," he laughed, shooting a blast of flame at Ring. As she leapt out of the way, Burnerman said, "It's just bad luck that you got caught in our blaze... but I'll make sure you die quickly!"
"I don't think so." Mary called, "Aqua Whirl, slot-in!" Ring straightened her arms to either side and flipped her hands up as she rose off the ground and began to spin faster and faster. Burnerman zoomed out of the way with the help of his Burning Jet, but the typhoon that had encased Ring was fairly fast as well; Burnerman growled in annoyance as it rammed into him, dousing him in water and quenching his flames.
"How d'ya like that, Burnerman?" taunted Ring as the typhoon died away, depositing her on the ground across from her drenched opponent. "I guess you get lazy sitting around bullying people like you do!" Burnerman's only response was to fire a jet of flame from one of his long, cylindrical busters. Ring darted away from the attack, plucking her two bottom rings off her pigtails as she did. "Ring Boomerang!" she cried, hurling first one and then another in Burnerman's direction. She smiled as she received her next chip.
"You missed," Burnerman said snidely, ducking past one and staying well away from another. He turned to see Ring grinning as she slammed her fist into the ground.
"Aqua Tower!" With Ring at point-blank range, it shot up from under Burnerman. He landed in a sodden heap on the ground as the Aqua Tower crashed downward. "Ready to retreat?"
The two yellow bands around his head nozzles lit up - a sign that Burnerman's Operator had plugged in. "This fight hasn't even started! Fumikomizan!"
"Aqua Blade, slot-in!" Ring flinched away from the sudden crash of her blade against Burnerman's. That only helped the red-and-black Navi hurl her sword arm to one side before raising his arm to strike. Ring quickly brought her blade back up to parry, but Burnerman brought it around to aim at her side. All the yellow Navi could do was parry; her opponent's attacks were strong and relentless. "Area Steal!" Ring sighed in relief as she vanished, retreating further back.
"Area Steal!" called Atsuki. Ring was back to struggling to keep Burnerman from scoring a hit. "You know, I could do this all day, but I have better things to do," the blue-haired man said. "So I'll just have to give Burnerman the go-ahead—"
Burnerman drew his free arm back. "Burning Sword!" The flame went straight into Ring's side.
"—to delete that idiotic Navi of yours!"
"Ring-chan!" The Navi fell to the ground, her Aqua Blade disappearing as she clutched at her side.
"Considering what you said, I guess this is inevitable," Burnerman said, grinning. "After all, the bully always wins in the real world—"
"Oh, yeah?" Burnerman swiped his Burning Sword through the air, reducing a swarm of hearts to cinders. "Someone should've told us!" While Roll ran to assist Ring, Blues ducked Burnerman's sword arm and made a wide slash with his sword. Burnerman yelled in pain, sporting a new cut across his chest.
"You're here, too?" asked Ring as she got to her feet, the burn on her side healed thanks to Roll. "What a coincidence!"
"We were called here," Roll explained. She and Ring dashed toward the fight, where Blues was more than holding his own.
"Woody Tower, slot-in!" Blues got away from Burnerman just in time; the chip Atsuki had sent him started at his feet and spread its tree trunks in all directions, forcing all three Navis to dodge.
"Ring-chan, how about we show him a little girl power?" Roll said, her sweet tone of voice belying the grin on her face.
"Why, Roll-chan, I think I'll have to take you up on that one!" Ring replied.
"Battlechip: Wide Shot! Slot-in!" Meiru called.
"Elec Reel, slot-in!" Mary followed up. Once Roll had fired her Wide Shot, Ring electrified it with her Elec Reel. When it hit Burnerman, it paralyzed him on top of scoring what had to be a painful blow.
A triad of Cannons appeared around Burnerman and started firing to protect the red Navi. However, they couldn't save him from what was flying down from above. "Vroooom!" shouted Turboman as he landed on top of Burnerman, then jumped off to join the others.
"You're late!" Ring accused as Turboman straightened. Burnerman was left to log out battered and ignored as Ring ran to Turboman's side. "What did you do, make a stopover at the arcade?"
"I'm sure he came here as fast as he could, Ring-chan," Roll laughed.
"I did!" Turboman was quick to add. "It's just that the viruses on the last bomb took me by surprise."
"Well, that's no excuse. You're still late," Ring said adamantly.
"But I still helped—"
"Late!"
"And everything's okay now—"
"Late!"
Above the Navis' heads, their Operators were catching up as well. "I heard you guys took care of that city-wide prank a few days ago!" Meiru told Kaita and Mary. "Nice work!"
"It's a good thing you were there," Enzan agreed.
That made Kaita wonder, "What happened to you guys?"
"We got a fake assignment," Meiru sighed. "Missing documents in the Okuden preserve. It took hours for us to scour that mountain, and then we came down to find out we'd been wasting our time," she recalled sourly.
"I just wish we knew how the assignment itself got planted," Enzan said. "We have safeguards against that kind of thing."
"Maybe it was just someone's prank?" Kaita wondered.
"That would be kind of weird, though, to have two pranks happen at once…" Mary noticed.
"It can't be any less weird than two completely unrelated people causing trouble one after the other," Ring pointed out.
"Anyway, we're really glad you were here this time!" Kaita said brightly.
Because I managed to forget on Sunday and will probably forget again this Sunday, here's two chapters to catch us up!
Good to see you're still around, MI3! This is the big Black's Relations With Everyone story, so no worries there. As for backstory, that will depend on whether I want to post those unbeta'd chapters. (perhaps the way to go would be to post the chapters, then see when/if the more conclusive ending falls out? That way, everything that is actually finished gets out there, and then if I ever return to this long enough to do the ending, voila, everyone who's following the story gets notified.)