It was easy to pick out Nova's base from the other buildings on its street; it was the only one whose doors weren't boarded up. First, most of their twenty-member crew of Net Police, then Meiru and Enzan, and finally the rest of the policemen filed in.

It took a few moments for Meiru's eyes to adjust to the light. When they did, she saw a large, dusty, and very empty room. It was devoid of any furniture, its walls and floor plain concrete. A large curl of old wallpaper sat near the window, and a few piles of rubble had fallen under holes in the ceiling.

"They wouldn't use this floor," Enzan thought aloud. "There would be too much of a chance of someone wandering in off the street. We're looking for a basement or access to a higher floor."

The Net Policemen began to spread around the first floor, knocking on walls and tapping on the floor to hopefully discover anything hidden. Meiru and Enzan walked around the first floor themselves, Meiru beginning to wonder if this was really the Nova base. It looked like a perfectly normal building, albeit one that probably should've been demolished years ago.

Just when they'd reached the other end of the building and Meiru was about to voice her concerns, one of the Net Policemen called, "I've got something!"

Meiru and Enzan ran down a small side hallway to find the Net Policeman kneeling next to an open pit that contained stairs down to a basement level. Another small hallway, this one missing most of a wall and letting the sunlight stream in, was beyond it. The rest of the Net Policemen entered. "You two stay up here while we check this out," the first Net Policeman told the two Net Saviors. To his partners, he called, "Let's go!"

"Yes, sir!" The Net Policemen filed down the stairs, leaving Meiru and Enzan up above.

They stood there for a short while before Meiru said, "That was almost too easy."

"I know. I wonder if there are any other entrances and exits?" He continued down the hallway, Meiru following. The sun felt nice after the cool, dark interior of the building. It was hard to say whether that was due to air conditioning or just a lack of sunlight pouring in to heat the building. She ducked her head outside to see a flat wall; there weren't any hints to be found there. But when she looked up, she saw windows. It was hard to say whether there were people inside them or not, but a surprising number of them were intact, and there were two floors where none of them were boarded up. Two floors of looking, more or less, like an ordinary office building. Beyond that, cracks and wooden boards were scattered among the intact windows.

She ducked back in and ran ahead to where Enzan was, at the end of the hallway. "We're missing something," he said, his hands in his pockets, regarding the large room where they'd started.

"I know. This building is a lot less run-down than it looks," Meiru reported. "Even on the outside, the third and fourth floors both look like they've been repaired."

"If that's where they are," Enzan said, "those Net Policemen just walked into a trap." While they were running, Meiru tapped one of the underside PET buttons to bring up a holographic keypad and punched in the lead policeman's number; there was a worryingly long pause, and then the words she'd hoped wouldn't be on the display: Number Out of Range.

"Something's jamming their signals," she told Enzan as they came to a halt over the basement opening.

"Blues, about how long have they been down there?" Enzan asked.

"Approximately five minutes," Blues reported.

Meiru felt a chill that had nothing to do with the building's temperature. "Well, we can't just leave them down there," she decided. "You should probably stay up here, in case whatever got the Net Police is still down there." With somewhat forced cheer, she added, "I'll shout if I need anything!"

"Be careful," Enzan said. Meiru solemnly nodded back, then descended the stairs.

Right away, she could tell what had floored the policemen. "Meiru-chan, there's sleeping gas in here!" She looked over to see a machine at the far end of the room with wisps of white smoke scattering out of its vents. Drowsiness was already starting to set in—it must have been running this entire time, to have increased so much in concentration. She plugged Roll in, then ran back up the stairs.

"Sleeping gas," she reported, nearly stumbling over the last step before Enzan caught her. "I don't think they're venting the room—I didn't see any of the officers in there, but that stuff almost got me..."

"Meiru-chan, I've broken the communications lock," Roll reported. "But there are lots of viruses protecting the gas dispenser!"

"Aqua Tower, slot-in!" Roll cleared away most of her attackers with that initial strike, then followed up with a Heart Slash to finish off the rest. "But it'll still take a while for the gas to air out, won't it?"

"More importantly, they must already know we're here," Enzan said. "Blues, get us backup."

"Right away, Enzan-sama," Blues said, disappearing from the screen while he got in touch with Kifune.

Roll wasn't finished with her discoveries. "Meiru-chan, this is connected to the rest of the Nova network," she reported. "Don't plug me out—I'm going to break in so we're ready for the Net Police to come in."

"Good idea," Meiru said.

"The gas'll be spreading up the stairs, if it hasn't already," Enzan said. "We can look in other places while we wait." As they began walking away, he added, "Though the more I think about it, the more I have the feeling that the stairs we want are in that basement..."

"Don't you ever get tired of that?" cut in a disdainful, muffled voice. Meiru and Enzan turned to see Atsuki, wearing a gas mask, standing behind them. He tossed two more masks to Meiru and Enzan, who caught them. "I'd go mad, being the partner of someone who's always right, every time." Meiru and Enzan were reluctant to follow Atsuki, but he said, "You have an appointment with the Boss, now that you've chosen to walk in. We can do this the civil way or the hard way. I don't mind either one, but I figured you should have the choice."

As they started walking, Meiru noticed Blues's return out of the corner of her eye. She was glad he was tactful enough to remain silent. Atsuki wasn't about to stop on his trip down the stairs; she quickly pulled her gas mask on, then descended.

The gas mask lowered her visibility somewhat, but she could still see the machine, and retrieved Roll. "What's going on?" the Navi girl asked. "I was almost through—"

"That would've left her right on top of Burnerman," Atsuki said. "And I know that Navi of yours isn't powerful on her own. Though at least I can say she's a step up from those Net Police Navis..."

There were golden patches of light coming from the next room, scattered on the walls like small spotlights. Even prepared as she was, Meiru had to bite back a gasp; the Net Policemen were scattered all around the floor, some on top of each other. She knelt next to one of them and felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was faint. "We can't leave them like this," she said, looking up at Atsuki's mask-covered head. "Can't you at least disperse the gas?"

"Not until you're gone," he said. Meiru could almost hear the smug smirk he had to be wearing. "Or, I could just ensure they don't make it out now, if you prefer to give them some company..." Her hands clenching into fists, Meiru got to her feet. Whether they were virtually prisoners or not, she intended to give Atsuki a piece of her mind if he started stalling.

It wasn't a flight of stairs that connected to the upper floors. The three of them managed to fit into a small service elevator, which Atsuki set to arrive on the fourth floor. As Meiru had suspected, this floor showed no signs of being in an abandoned building. It had a plush, wine-red carpet, and its walls were painted black. Dim lights were set on the hallway walls, but not near windows. The offices they passed by looked empty to Meiru; just furniture, with no papers or people within.

"As you can probably guess, we've been preparing for your arrival." Atsuki pulled his mask off; the Net Saviors followed suit. "Everything has been backed up and deleted, any computers we could move have been moved, all nonessential personnel have left," Atsuki said, his disdain for those 'nonessential' Nova members clear. "Not bad for two days' notice, eh?"

"I'm just surprised they came," Black said from his position leaning against the only closed door Meiru had seen so far. "I'd think that such clever little Net Saviors would realize that a move as telegraphed as this is a waste of time! But, then, they've never been as smart as they like to make themselves sound..." He looked at them—no, Meiru realized, at Enzan, a strange sort of tiredness appearing in his eye. "I'm disappointed in you." Then, an arrogant flippancy took over. "But it doesn't matter now, does it? What's happened has happened." He pushed off the door, then turned to slowly, almost ceremoniously, pull it open. "The Boss will see you now," he said, gesturing them past him and into the room with an insincere smile and a bow.

The only things Meiru made out were what might have been a desk and an array of monitors before Black slammed the door, loud as a gunshot, leaving the Net Saviors in total darkness. Meiru tried to activate her PET's flashlight function, but either it was disabled in this room or the buttons weren't where she thought they were; from the direction they'd come from, she heard the clicking sound of what had to be Enzan trying the locked door.

"Oh, no," their host said, his voice echoing from what seemed like everywhere. "You aren't leaving until I'm done with you!"

"Are you the Boss?" Meiru asked, the question sounding thin and weak in the darkness.

"Of course," the Boss said. "It's not like those two lackeys of mine know much about me or my goals."

"Why did you wait around for us, if you knew we were coming?" Enzan asked.

"Because I wanted to give you a message, maybe," the Boss said. He sounded kind of like a child, Meiru noticed; Kaita's age, maybe a little older. "You really gave me a scare, you know," he said, sounding hurt. "I didn't think you'd just bust into my base like this!" He said, "I didn't want to have a fight on my hands so soon. But if you're going to be this much trouble..."

"If you didn't want trouble, maybe you should've kept those 'lackeys' of yours on a tighter leash," Meiru said. "They're harming ordinary people!"

"Oh, yeah? And how many of those ordinary people have harmed others? How many of their fellows have they stepped over to have their nice little lives? You don't know, do you?" The Boss's sigh crackled through the room. "You know, you're not even outright mean," he said. "Just ignorant." His voice taking on more of an edge, he told his guests, "But I think ignorance is just as bad as cruelty."

Meiru wondered, "Is this because you've been hurt by someone? We can help you—"

"You police types don't help," the Boss said angrily. "All you do is make everything worse!" He announced, "This place is going to collapse into rubble in about ten minutes. Maybe a little more. Maybe a lot less. You have everything you need to get out in time... if you can put it all together."

For him to say that, Meiru realized, the desk had to have a computer. Or the door, or both—it was just a matter of finding it. "I think the lock's controlled from that desk in the center of the room," Enzan said.

"I was thinking the same thing," Meiru said. "I'm heading toward it right now—whoa!" Her foot caught on a string, and she pitched forward. She nearly didn't put her arms in front of her in time to catch herself. "I'm fine!" she called. "Just be careful when you walk over here, there's a tripwire!" She hated to think of how bad it could have been if her reflexes hadn't been as sharp. Carefully, she got to her feet. She kept her steps slow and low to the ground, in case there was something else waiting. But her hands were soon touching what had to be the edge of the desk, and she followed it to find a monitor. "Get us some lights, Roll! Transmission!" She was glad she hadn't found and used the office chair at the desk when Roll turned the lights on; its seat was covered in tacks. The office seemed much smaller in the light; she had a feeling most of its more impressive features had been stripped out and moved.

Enzan was quick to step over the tripwire and join her. "Plug in, Blues! Transmission!" The lock program was on the area's edge, next to a long drop that was probably programmed to act bottomless—an instant death for any unfortunate Navi it claimed. Before Roll and Blues could get anywhere near, a storm of bullets fell down on them. Meiru recognized the attack—it seemed that systems weren't the only things Nova backed up.

"We're new." Blues evaded an array of diamond-shaped projectiles; this, Meiru hadn't seen.

"We're improved." The new voice, identical to the other, came with a quartet of shots that Roll dove away from.

As Meiru had expected, the twin voices belonged to twin Navis in blue and purple armor. They sped to the center of the room and chorused, "We're Geminiman."

"I bet they want to unlock the door, huh, Geminiman?" asked one of the Geminimen, plucking the two diamonds off the back of his armor and sweeping them through the air in front of him, creating countless more to fall to the ground and stand on their points.

"It sure seems like it, Geminiman," the other said, using the same move.

Rather than let them send their projectiles straight at her and her partner, Roll called, "Heart Slash!"

The Geminimen scoffed as they pointed at the Net Savior Navis. The projectiles rose off the ground and sped toward Roll and Blues, shattering the Heart Slash attack into dust on their way.

"Dream Aura, slot-in!" called Enzan. Blues lifted his hand in the face of the incoming blizzard of diamonds.

"Ah, ah, ah," one Geminiman said as the diamonds made impact—and the Dream Aura immediately cracked.

"Barrier-piercing," the other Geminiman told them as the Dream Aura shattered, leaving Roll and Blues at the mercy of the diamond swarm.

The two Geminimen merged. Meiru knew what was coming even before the combined Navi shouted at his opponents, still struggling to their feet: "Gemini Laser!"

When the light cleared, Roll and Blues were sprawled a few feet apart from where they'd started. Geminiman split apart again, but this time Meiru didn't plan on leaving her Navi unarmed. "Wide Shot, slot-in!"

"Neo Variable, slot-in!" It was probably a good thing Blues had a weapon that would hold for a while; Enzan's PET phone was ringing. Meiru glanced over to see that it was the backup Blues had called for them. They would probably get the unconscious policemen away, and she and Enzan would only have to worry about saving themselves.

Meiru didn't focus any more attention on that, though; there was still a Netbattle to fight. One of the Geminimen, standing on the left, had fired the opening shot that would disperse into the bullet-rain attack. Roll and Blues sent their attacks out in return; the Wide Shot was dodged, but the Neo Variable hit. "Let's round them—" There was a low rumble, and Meiru's heart leapt into her throat as the building shook. "Okay. Playtime's over. We'll get you both in one shot! Kanketsusen, slot-in!"

Roll sent out the chip with a yell of, "Kanketsusen!" The bursts of water kept the Geminimen moving-and that meant they weren't constantly attacking. Blues took off from his and Roll's position, darting around the Kanketsusen's blasts with ease until he was behind the leftmost Geminiman.

"Bamboo Lance, slot-in!" Roll turned to her right to send this chip out. The other Geminiman stumbled forward rather than get impaled by the staggered poles of sharpened bamboo. "Area Steal! AkaTsunami!" Roll next got behind Geminiman and sent out the wave of lava, keeping Geminiman moving—until she had ridden another Area Steal back to her starting position and he was running toward her. His twin was being chased to center by Blues. "Yo-yo, slot-in!" Roll's Yo-yo bound the Geminimen into an immobile package, but she knew that if they merged they'd be able to slip free.

"Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!" Enzan called. The resulting Program Advance was quickly put-together, but no less capable of serving its purpose; even as Geminiman merged and began to crawl out of his now looser bindings, Blues swung down.

The Net Saviors didn't even bother confirming that Geminiman was deleted; there were more pressing matters at hand. The lock program clicked open as a second tremor knocked both Operators to the floor. "Plug out!" Meiru frantically called, scrambling to her feet and running for the door, Enzan next to her. The trip back to the elevator—Meiru would've preferred stairs, but she had a feeling that they were either well-hidden or nonexistent—was short by necessity; the Net Saviors caught their breath as the elevator zoomed back down. In the basement, the last of the Net Policemen were being swiftly carried outside by their fellows. Meiru, Enzan, and those policemen got clear just in time for the building to list sideways from another explosion inside; it finally collapsed seconds later.

01101100011000010111001101110100011000110110100001100001011011100110001101100101

The meeting was almost a non-event. Nova was not the average band of criminals, and this proved it; they'd learned nothing new, really; and wherever the Nova base was now, it was probably far away from where it had been.

But Meiru couldn't help remembering just how upset the Nova Boss had been. "What's he going to do now?" she wondered.

"Whatever it is, we'll have to be as prepared as we can," Enzan said. "They know where to find us; the only question is what they'll do next..."