Falling Stars

by Achamo

Nova is on the final stage of its master plan. The distractions fall away one by one; this is the end of the line. So why can't Kaita, Meiru, and their friends shake the feeling that something isn't right? Anime-continuity futurefic set five-ish years after the events of Beast. Bits of RockxRoll, hints of EnzanxMeiru if you squint.

18. Too Far

[content warning: hostage situation, no-name character death/injury]

"What do we have here?" wondered Black, examining the code of a program that had caught his eye. "Oh, that's cool." He uploaded it to his laptop, deleting the original. "Useless... Useless... Pretty large, I can break that down... Useless... The Neko Virus, seriously? They still have that thing? Man. Well, I could use a souvenir. Useless... Useless..." He frowned, noticing that the number of files in the main control server had dropped to zero. "Punk, I think it's time you headed over to the research room. We're finally done here."

"Typhoon's in the research room, isn't she?" asked Punk.

"Yes. That means there's nothing for you to worry about," Black said with a smirk. "None of the scientists here are avid Netbattlers. I'm told Meijin-san's Gateman is something to watch out for, but his Operator's a little held up."

The Net Saviors, both of them knew, weren't even a faint concern. This involved guns, not busters; it was too dangerous for the police to send them in. There was always the chance that they would try to be heroes, but Black had planned for that by insisting on having the day be a Wednesday. Enzan was at work; even though Nova had been in the building for a good chunk of the day, Meiru had only just gotten out of school. He had all the time in the world, and little chance that they would be dumb enough to throw themselves on Arrow's energy bursts—all that remained of the old Dimensional Generators. The vast majority of the people he cared about keeping safe were safe, the people he cared about who were in danger were too important to wind up dead, and everyone he was ambivalent on or he didn't care about keeping safe was in hot water. Meanwhile, he was left to gather data and otherwise shake up the Ministry undisturbed.

Black leaned back in his chair and smirked. When he was right, he was right.

"Meijin, huh?" Punk asked.

"Yes. Navi specialist. Bit odd, but who isn't. It's strange that he only has a Custom Navi now..." Black scrutinized Punk for a moment, leaning forward in his seat. "But I told you, he's held up with the rest of the lobby people. He's not in the scientist pen. We won't see any of him."

"Right," Punk said, sounding strangely relieved. "I'll head over t' the research room, then."

Black stretched his arms over his head, flexing and curling his fingers. "Good man." While Punk got to it, Black checked in on the other members of Nova. "Atsuki, you done with your sweep?"

"As far as I can tell, they're all in the research room with Rammy," Atsuki reported. "Do you want me in your building, or do you want me patrolling the lobby?"

You know, I really don't have any place I need you right now," Black said, narrowing his eye as he thought. "Get a couple memory sticks, go through the labs, take what you can. I know it's not as easy as if you had Burnerman, but—"

"Hey, just because I'm not the expert doesn't mean I haven't picked up a thing or two," Atsuki said. "I'm on it."

"Thank you." Black couldn't call on Yumi as unnoticeably as he had Atsuki, and he didn't want to distract her when she was holding off a bunch of larger, stronger men. He doubted she'd fire the gun, even to defend herself. That left the Navis and one other person. "Everything quiet, Burnerman?"

"Bo-ring," the firey Navi reported. "You're almost finished. Nobody is going to come. Can't you just let me set the eco lab on fire? It's in the opposite corner to your building!"

"The minute you leave, someone is going to get in here," Black said with some amusement. "That's always the way it works. You can destroy the eco lab when we're leaving."

"Aw, come on..."

"Is it just as 'bo-ring' for you, Arrow?"

"Pretty much," the green archer said. "There's been a news helicopter, but I scared that away hours ago."

"Atta girl," Black said with a grin. "Typhoon?"

"They're making quite the verbal fuss, but there have been no attempts to overpower Master Montaile or surreptitiously plug in," reported Typhoon.

"So your Operator wouldn't mind if I got in touch with him directly?" asked Black, already finding the number on his PET.

"I think he'd welcome the break."

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"I really don't think all this is necessary, Montaile," Yuuichirou said, calm and patient as ever.

"Tell that to the bigwigs in Kingland," snapped Montaile. "I never stepped out of line, and look where it's gotten me! Only an assistant, when I was working on so much more—!"

"You were taken on as an assistant because you lacked the education necessary to work here as a full-blown scientist," Yuuichirou reminded him. "I believe that was explained to you at the beginning...?"

"But you must have heard!" countered Montaile, a pleading whine in his voice. "About what I was working on, about everything—"

"The scientific community heard plenty about the accident. I didn't think pinning the blame on you was fair, but this isn't helping your case." Yuuichirou added, "And it's not my decision to make distinctions between different levels of experience—this is a government-owned facility, and we do have to compromise with them. The substantiation laws, for example."

"Oh, come off it, Montaile," interrupted a young man's voice. "And report."

"Things are going fine, thank you," Montaile said haughtily, lifting his PET and leaving his gun arm to shake about unfocused. "The scientists are mostly under control, and—"

"Drop your arm. You're an accident waiting to happen."

"Someone's cranky today," Montaile said, still doing as he was told. "Or is this the fabled 'villain face?' Really, I'm quite unimpressed." He then peered at the closest monitor. "Mind telling me what Punk's doing here?"

"We're almost through. As soon as Atsuki and I finish—Montaile, eyes on your flock—" Montaile swept the gun around, getting the scientists to sit back down. "I'm finished with the centrally stored data. It's all either mine or deleted." That really got the scientists to take a seat. Some of them buried their heads in their hands, while others stared up at Montaile in horror. "All I have is this room and whatever labs Atsuki hasn't hit, and we're done."

As the other scientists complained about the damage Nova was doing, Yuuichirou's eyes darted down to his PET. On the small monitor, Rockman gave him a thumbs-up before finding cover a few yards from where Typhoon patrolled and Punk sorted through years' worth of work.

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Kaita trudged through the woods, occasionally stopping to give Mary time to safely navigate the roots and vines that spread in a tangle underfoot. "You really think they won't notice the back door?"

"I don't think they'll see us as quickly," Mary corrected him. "There isn't much space between the woods and the back of the building, as far as I can tell, and there must be an exterior port. All we have to do is get our Navis in, beat whatever's making those satellite dishes act up, and—"

"And then what?" Kaita and Mary turned to see Enzan further back in the trees, Meiru at his side. "You'll have to move fast from there—Nova will realize you've come, and either race to intercept you or start shooting hostages."

Kaita blinked at him, wide-eyed—he hadn't thought of that. "Uh... Then we'll do something else!"

"Uh-huh." Meiru sighed, "I'm guessing you're not planning on just turning around."

"We've taken care of plenty of Nova's stuff," Kaita pointed out. "It's not like before. We won't hold you back, promise!"

"It's not Netbattling we're concerned about," Enzan said, turning from his observation of the building. "To be able to manipulate the old Dimensional Generators that way, they've done something to the security—or worse."

"Nova's not playing around this time," Meiru said patiently. "The threat's in the real world, and we can't just blast our way out of it. I don't want to see you get hurt or killed over this."

Kaita couldn't think of many retorts to that which wouldn't end in the older duo's playing of the Experience Card—and that was a sure way to get him and Mary sent home. To Kaita's surprise, it was Mary who spoke up. "But we've faced plenty of threats that affected the real world," she explained. "We've nearly gotten blown up because of Atsuki, and other people have been trying to hurt us, too." Now, the Net Saviors looked a lot less skeptical.

"It's not like they're entirely different people—we know the Nova Navis. We'll still be able to help by beating them. And even besides all that stuff, they're all in different places, and the Ministry's huge. You could use more people," Kaita realized.

Mary nodded. "We split up, so they don't have time to anticipate our attacks—"

"One of us freeing the hostages, one finding the scientists, and two stopping the real mission Nova's running," Enzan finished.

"Right. Now, it's just a matter of who's doing what," Meiru added.

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Black was startled out of his work by an alert—Roll and Blues were fighting Arrow. "What are you doing here? This is grown-up business." He pulled up the security cameras and nearly swore. Meiru and Enzan were accompanied by their younger counterparts, three of them piling into the elevator while Meiru made a beeline for the lobby. "I told you to stay away," he told Kaita's image, annoyed. "And Beat, too? You both should know better..." The elevator halted, Enzan giving some kind of final instruction to Mary before she nodded and left with Beat. Enzan and Kaita continued alone to the basement level. "And now you're coming here. Lovely."

"What's going on?" Atsuki asked.

"Nothing important," Black said tersely. "Burnerman, your wish is coming true."

"Sweet," Burnerman said. "I'm beyond ready."

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The lobby was quiet as Meiru pushed open the main room's doors. "Plug in, Roll," she whispered, beaming her Navi into the panel next to the door. As she went further into the room, she noticed dark droplets on the floor. But when she looked up, she couldn't see anything. "Maybe that's a good thing," she said to herself, looking around the room nervously. When she saw the left side of the room, she nearly jumped out of her skin. "A—Aah—"

The receptionist was very, very dead, but her half-open eyes were fixed on the other side of the room. It almost seemed like they were staring at Meiru.

"Meiru—" echoed Roll's voice from the overhead speakers. "Meiru, behind you!" Meiru ducked in time to miss Yumi's fist swinging through the air—with something metal in it. She kicked behind her, producing a yelp and a sudden weight on top of her as Yumi fell forward. The gun clattered out of the Nova member's hands, and Meiru pushed it away with her hand to skitter across the tile.

"Hold still—" muttered Yumi. Then, she stopped. Meiru looked behind her to see that the woman's gray eyes had caught on the receptionist. "F-fuck—" Yumi was on her knees in a heartbeat, her hands clamped over her mouth as if trying not to vomit.

Slowly, so as to not startle the other woman, Meiru scooted far enough away to get to her feet. "Who did this?" she asked.

"Atsuki," Yumi said, tears forming in her eyes from the shock. "It must've been Atsuki—"

"Shh," Meiru said, carefully kneeling down to put a hand on Yumi's shoulder. "It's going to be okay."

One of the side doors opened. "Meiru—" Before Meijin could do anything more to break the silence and draw Yumi's attention away, Meiru held up her other hand.

"I can make sure Atsuki is unable to harm you," Meiru said soothingly. "You just have to trust me, okay?"

"I really wanna come with you, but—I can't just leave the Boss with those two..." Meiru didn't like the idea that Nova didn't have complete control of its most visible members. Coupled with how this attack was almost certainly a retaliative move, she was starting to realize just how much of a risk she and Enzan had taken by going after the Nova base.

"All right," Meiru said. "But promise me you and your Boss will come here as soon as it's safe, okay? If they're this dangerous, I don't want you two getting hurt."

"I—I'll do the best I can, I swear," Yumi said numbly.

"Thank you." It was better than nothing, and at least kept the offer open. "I just need to know one more thing, okay?" Yumi's numbness was starting to fade back into panic as she regained the ability to look around. Meiru put a hand on her shoulder, returning her focus; she nodded. Meiru said, "I need to know where Atsuki is now. He could be doing even more harm somewhere else in the Ministry."

"He'd probably be helping Black steal data out of the labs," Yumi said. "His role was to assist wherever needed, and with you guys here, Black'll want to speed things up. But Burnerman won't be with him. He's acting as a first line of defense before Black in the server room." It had been a good idea to send both Enzan and Kaita toward the Main Room, then. "Montaile's holding the rest of the scientists in the Research Room."

"That's what we figured," Meiru said. "Thanks. And just remember—whenever you and your Boss need protection, we'll be here to help."

Yumi didn't seem entirely convinced, but she didn't seem like she was going to turn down the offer, either. "Right." Meiru helped her stumble to her feet. Immediately afterwards, she bolted from the scene.

With Yumi gone, Meijin walked to Meiru's side. "What are you doing here, Meiru-chan?"

"I know, Meijin-san, I'm such a kid," Meiru joked weakly, though it sounded out of place to her even as she said it; Meijin didn't even say anything about the suffix she'd used in return. "I'm getting you and the others out of here." Meijin looked over her shoulder, and she said, "You don't want a closer look."

He'd seen enough to cringe. Quickly, Meijin's attention returned to Meiru. "Are you all right?"

"I've seen worse." Regal's dried-out corpse wasn't something Meiru had easily forgotten. Though this was honestly just as disturbing, she knew she'd have time to get upset about it later. "More importantly, is everyone back there okay?"

"They're all unhurt. I'll help get them moving."

Meiru managed a smile. "Thanks." She took her PET out. "Roll, go to the labs and up their protection. The least we can do is make sure Atsuki doesn't take everything."

"Right!"

"So long as they don't find the underground backups, we'll ultimately be all right," Meijin reassured the Net Savior pair. "But it'll take us months to get back up to speed. We need to stop them now, so it doesn't come down to that."

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The Ministry hallways seemed endless and cold, filled with nothing but the faint echoes of Mary's footsteps. Beat flew alongside her, goggles faintly glowing as he scanned the area. Inside her PET, Ring was doing the wave to remember the directions Enzan had told them. "To the left," she half-sang once they'd reached a fork, "to the right—"

"Pi pi," whispered Beat, pointing them toward a room and holding a wing over his beak. Mary ducked inside, and Ring fell silent.

"Nothing's happening, my ass," came Atsuki's voice from a little ways away. In her head, Mary thanked Beat for the early warning. "What's that gaggle of people doing swarming out the front door? Where's Yumi? Little as she knows, it wouldn't do to have her interrogated by the old Commissioner." There was a pause. Right next to Mary and Beat's side room and heading to their left, Atsuki said, "It doesn't matter how close we are. We have to make an impression here, and this won't do it." Another pause, before Atsuki said further away, "No. She can throw a barbecue out in the woods for all I care, I need to be defending you if—" Irritated, he said, "Fine. I'll round her up."

Beat stared at the corner of the room with his glowing goggles. Finally, he whispered, "Pipi pi!" Mary waited another moment before heading back into the hallway, just to be safe.

"It's this door," Ring recalled while Mary opened it to find a smaller hallway, "and through here..."

Mary nudged the door open and peered inside. There were the scientists... and right in front of them was Montaile, clearly not the bumbling assistant he'd appeared to be. He was also in front of the computers, which would've made it hard to plug Ring in had he not been distracted. "He's just an assistant Navi!" Montaile griped at his PET. "Hey! You do something, too!" Behind him, Yuuichirou gave Mary a smile and a nod.

She whispered, "Plug in, Ring! Transmission!"

When Ring arrived in the research room server, Mary saw what had Montaile so surprised. Jumping over Punk's mace and twisting around the water burst fired from an unfamiliar female Navi was Rockman. In midair, he formed his buster and fired twice, nailing the goggles-wearing Navi. However, Punk sidestepped the buster shot aimed for him.

"Ah, Ring!" Rockman greeted upon landing. "Sorry, I'm a little rusty..."

"If that's rusty, I don't wanna know what well-oiled looks like," Ring said. "Incoming!" She and Rockman jumped away from a pair of lightning bolts that came down from the air. Punk didn't make the same mistake twice; he snapped his cable around Ring's foot in midair instead of Rockman's and knocked the blue Navi over with his partner when he landed.

"You two should've stayed far away from here," Punk said, detaching and throwing first one shoulder plate, then the other. "Double-Go-Round!"

"Yipe!" said Ring, ducking under the attack. She stayed down, anticipating the return trip.

Meanwhile, Rockman calmly jumped back, forming his blue cannon. He dropped to a kneeling position as he took aim and the spiky discus sped closer. "Charge Shot!" It hit the inside, sending the shoulder plate spinning backward.

"Mega Cannon, slot-in!" Ring did the same with hers, forcing Typhoon to dodge.

"Impertinent children," the petite Navi said scornfully. She hurled the now-fallen shoulder plate back to Punk with both arms, then proclaimed, "I'll bring this to an end this time! Great Typhoon!"

While Typhoon talked, Rockman quietly explained, "She's exposed in the center of it. But it'll be tougher to get up there with two opponents..."

"We can take care of that," Mary said. "Battlechip: Meteor!" At Ring's command, a swarm of meteors smashed into the far ends of the battlefield, knocking Typhoon out of the forming twister and to the ground.

Montaile drew out a pair of Battlechips. "Satellite, double slot-in!" Rockman and Ring also had to contend with Punk's Mad Roller flying at them. Their jumps away separated them, and the Satellites coming toward them split up as well. At center, Punk was speeding right, toward Rockman. Ring ran to assist, but got a jolt from her Satellite for her efforts.

"Rrgh—Ring Boomerang!" The Satellite was cleaved in two, stopping the shocks. In the meantime, Rockman had destroyed his with his Rockbuster, but that meant losing time evading Punk. His leg soon sported a cut where one of Punk's spikes had scraped him.

"Battlechip: Ojizousan—" A sudden crash tore Mary's attention from the battle. Montaile's chip dropped from his hands as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Behind him stood one of the scientists, wielding a chair and a triumphant expression.

"I don't think you needed to use so much force, Koetsu, but good job," Yuuichirou said. Koetsu gave him a thumbs up before pointing Montaile's limp wrist at the computer and hitting the button on the underside of the PET that would manually plug Typhoon out. To Ring and Rockman, he said, "Now, you only have the one opponent!"

Punk had no time for words now. He sprang into his Mad Roller and aimed for Rockman. Mary realized why after Rockman had executed a perfectly-timed backflip over the red ball that was Punk: Ring didn't even dare step into the line of fire of Punk's powerful attack, since her Battlechips would have no effect and she knew her chances of avoiding it were slim. Meanwhile, Rockman dodged each attempt to strike him down with jump after graceful jump. His skill would make him difficult to deal with whether Hikari-hakase carried Battlechips or not; to make things easier, Punk would probably want to take him down first.

Punk came out of his shell just as Rockman jumped away again. The rust-red Navi's gray cable shot toward the smaller Navi, who twisted around to shoot his buster at Punk. It wasn't enough to keep Rockman from getting his leg snagged by his opponent, just as Punk's shield couldn't protect him from a Mega Cannon blast courtesy of Ring.

"Face it, you're outnumbered," Ring said with a grin. "Just get out already—" Punk got back into his Mad Roller, and Mary realized the other downside of the Ring-Rockman team: Rockman had no Battlechips, making it hard to stop Punk from protecting himself and going straight for Ring.

"Area Steal!" Ring vanished, but had to throw herself away as Punk's mace shot behind him to nearly sock her in the gut. He leapt for her, mace shooting ahead again, shield ready to block any buster shots Rockman tried to make.

"Ring, hang on!" Rockman took a running leap and slid past, buster charged. Even as Ring stumbled backward, hit across the face by Punk's mace, her attacker recoiled as Rockman's precise shot hit just under his shield.

"Punk, retreat for now," came Black's voice. "We have what we need."

"If this would've continued, you two wouldn't look so happy," Punk said, but followed orders.

Ring ran to her partner's side. "That was pretty cool, Rockman!" she said. "Are you secretly a ninja or something?"

"I used to Netbattle a lot, that's all," Rockman said, rubbing the back of his helmet. "It's nothing that special, honest..."

"Hey, wait a second," Ring said, her eyes lighting up. "I bet you're the Rockman from-"

"You've done well, Rockman," Yuuichirou complimented, saving his Navi from answering. "Plug out." He then turned to Mary. "As did you, Mary, Ring. I suspect it'll be safer outside for now, until the Net Police get here."

"The people in the lobby are already out," Mary reported. "I suppose it would be smart to join them..."

"Do we haul this guy out with us?" Ring asked, pointing to Montaile. "He looks pretty heavy."

"Pi pi pi-pipi?" Mary couldn't understand the exact words, but she got the sentiment.

"Beat's right... We need to hurry–there's someone still prowling around out there," she explained to Yuuichirou and the scientists.

"He'd slow us down, and there's no telling what trouble he'll cause when he's awake..." Yuuichirou nodded. "We need to focus on staying safe. Let's go."

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"Central Control's really all the way over there?" Kaita asked, looking across the walkway to the building on the far right.

"It's a security precaution. The Ministry network is nothing like the real-world layout—that makes it difficult for enemy Navis and their Operators to find their way." As they crossed the walkway, Enzan put his hands in his pockets. "Of course, it also means you should never ask a new staff member to get things done if you want results in a reasonable amount of time, but..." He shrugged.

"It must be worth it—it seems like there've been a lot of attacks here recently," Kaita noticed. "Imagine how much worse it could be..."

"No, it's always like this. It doesn't matter how current we keep the security, someone determined enough to get in will always come along." When they reached the end, Kaita pushed the elevator button, but Enzan said, "I'd take the stairs."

"You think they put viruses in there?" Kaita asked.

"Almost certain."

They went down the first half of the fire escape in silence. "How many of these do we have to go down, anyway?"

"The room we want is on the ground floor," explained Enzan. "Do you need to stop, or can we keep going?"

"No, I'll be fine," Kaita said. "Let's keep going." Though the boy was completely out of breath by the end, it did save them a lot of time. When Enzan stepped onto the ground floor, he found the promised viruses; the copier was spitting sheets, and a coffee machine further down was overflowing and staining the carpet, already sodden and smelly from the sprinklers going off earlier, a dark brown. There was also a man who had been shot in the chest. As soon as he saw that, Enzan grabbed Kaita's shoulder and steered him in the opposite direction. "Huh? What's wrong with that way?"

"Nothing. Central Control's this way." But they didn't even get close before Burnerman's laughter sounded from the P.A. speakers.

"How sweet," echoed Burnerman's mocking voice. "But there's more where that came from—wait 'till you see what we've done with the lobby! And you'll love my little surprise... Don't worry, I was nice to him. He hid in a room full of gas tanks, I could've used something really nasty... But I went for nitrogen. You should thank me."

"What's he talking about?" Kaita asked, with the sort of dread that meant he halfway knew.

Figuring it was better Kaita learned from him than Burnerman, Enzan explained, "Burnerman suffocated someone in the chemical storage room." Kaita looked around with wide eyes, drawing a little closer to the older Netbattler. "I don't think this building stores enough gas to fill the entire floor with it."

"He's right, kid," Burnerman said, sounding disappointed. "But I'm creative! I'll find something else to do to you. This place is full of neat toys."

"Not if I can help it," Kaita said. There was a nearby door lock for a side hallway, sealed shut. Kaita lined his PET up. "Maybe you should go ahead of me. If you get done with Black first, do you think Burnerman'll go away with him?"

Enzan hated to leave Kaita to find any more victims Nova had left around, but time was of the essence, and what lay in wait further ahead had the potential to be even worse. "He might. Just stay where you are, all right? There's no telling what's around here."

Kaita nodded quickly. "I won't move, promise!"

With that taken care of, Enzan walked swiftly toward the room housing the central computers that most of the Ministry's network and files were based in. He figured Black would be expecting him; sure enough, the brunette turned from the computer with a calm, "Hi, Enzan. I've gotten what I needed already. Punk's not even plugged in any longer."

"So you just stayed here to ask after me?"

"Not really. I was just leaving." A little irritation was slipping into Black's calm as he said, "And you're one to talk about sticking around in weird places. Don't you realize how dangerous this little rescue mission could've been?"

"You endangered a facility critical to the operation of the Net Saviors," Enzan reminded him, his disapproval coloring his voice. "Our coming here was completely justified, considering what you've managed to do already."

Black smirked, weariness in his eyes. "You were warned against entering our base, and you did it anyway. You brought all of this on yourself."

Enzan couldn't believe that was the sole cause of the day's destruction. He demanded, "We didn't even find anything in your base! What would make you think this is necessary?!"

"You made us pack up and move, which was a bother. And the new place doesn't have much of a view. I really liked the view from our old base." Enzan fixed Black with a glare, and the infuriatingly easygoing tone was replaced by an even more annoying and fake icy one. "You can't scare my boss like that—he's just a kid and he's paranoid enough already. This ensures that you won't go after us in person again."

"There are ways to do that which don't involve killing," Enzan spat. "How old is your boss—twelve? Thirteen? Just try to tell me he was the one who wanted you using lethal force. Try to tell me this wasn't more your plan than his." Black mutely stared at him, his eye wide; it was all the answer Enzan needed. It sickened him to know he was right. "Better yet, why don't you go tell the families of that man in the hallway and those police officers outside that those people aren't coming home."

"Stop it," Black said, his voice quiet and weak.

"No, I don't think I will," Enzan continued furiously. "How many other bodies did you all leave out there, seeing as the whole crew seems to be here? I always thought Atsuki was the more violent of you two—how many more people do you think he's killed? How can you even try to blow off the consequences your actions today have had?!"

"Stop it!" Black's scream was loud and shrill enough to startle Enzan off his tangent. "I can't keep everyone safe! I have to decide who matters more—I hate doing it, but that's how it is!"

When Enzan next spoke, he was more careful to remove the judgment from his tone. "It doesn't have to be."

"I can't come with you," Black said miserably. "It'll just make everything worse."

"And I can't do nothing," Enzan told him. "Especially not if it means you and Atsuki are free to do things like this."

"Then that's all there is to it," Black said shakily. He stared down at the floor for a moment. "Do you think everything can still turn out okay?"

"I know it can," Enzan said with certainty.

"Then I'll believe you," Black said with a sad smile and a stilted laugh. "'Cause I don't know what to think anymore." Enzan heard the door slam open and turned to see Atsuki. Behind him stood Yumi, her eyes on the ground, and Montaile, looking peeved.

Atsuki shot Enzan a murderous look before grabbing Black's hand. The smaller teen stumbled forward from the force. "Come on," Atsuki told him. To Enzan, he added, "You're lucky I consider this a lost cause."

"Same to you—I'd hate to see your plans ruined before they went anywhere." Enzan tensed, ready to avoid any swings taken at him. But Atsuki just gripped Black's arm harder, ignoring the startled gasp that produced, and marched them both out the door.

Enzan was left alone to think over what had been said. From this point, he knew it was just a matter of time before someone else made a move. And when enough time had passed, Black's scheme, with its creator's warped logic guiding it more than any action Enzan could take, would reach its ugly, inevitable conclusion. "This is coming to an end whether you like it or not," he said to the empty space in front of him. Then, he went to find Kaita and the others.

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After they'd sent the kids home and the Net Police had begun combing the facility to scope out the damage, Meiru and Enzan were sent to the research room to evaluate just how much permanent damage Black had done. "I can't believe he got this far," she said. Now, the enormity of what had transpired that day was starting to sink in for her, and the idea that Black had been this competent all along was almost mind-boggling. "I can understand getting information from Montaile, but the way he handled security..."

"Maybe Montaile asked one of the other scientists for it," Enzan said. That troubled look that had mostly gone away since the tournament was back in full force. Meiru completely understood—Nova had never seemed this powerful before. "Black must need a lot of energy for this thing, if even the files in Central Control weren't enough."

"Who is he?" Meiru wondered.

"Montaile? He was part of a major Kingland think tank before he was involved in an accident. Got two of his colleagues permanently disfigured."

Meiru looked at him, surprised—Montaile had obviously been a small fry in this plan. Why would Enzan think she'd want to know about him? "I mean Black. Why is he doing this? He helped us before, and now he practically leads Nova into all of this?"

"It doesn't matter," Enzan said, looking darkly into the monitor's readout. "Nova's got information on the Ministry of Science, home of the biggest threats to them. I don't doubt he'll be sent back here when his weapon's finished."

"It doesn't matter?" Meiru repeated disbelievingly. "He's a genius, sure, but he's not even that opposed to us. If we knew more about him, we could stop him before—"

"Why should he care? It's not like we've been that successful against him. And Nova clearly holds him in high regard. He's got no reason to turn on them." It wasn't just because of Enzan's swiftly-spoken interruption that Meiru had stopped talking.

When she thought about it, he'd been on edge since the tournament—since he'd met Black in person. He'd been so proactive in finding the Nova base; and when they'd gotten there, Black had essentially laid all blame for what was coming at Enzan's feet. And he wouldn't talk about Black's motives to her, even though his position in Nova was a safe topic. She'd finally figured out where all of that secretiveness was coming from. "Where do you know him from?"

Enzan seemed surprised for a fraction of a second, then closed his eyes and sighed. "I can't explain it to you."

Meiru's eyes narrowed. "We both know now how dangerous he is. And he already knows way more about my personal life than I'm comfortable with. You've trusted me before, and this isn't any different. I need to know what you do, so we can both do the best we can to stop him."

"If I were to tell you what I suspect," Enzan said, looking at her carefully, "you would reject it. In fact, that's exactly what he wants—"

"It doesn't matter what he wants anymore, or what you want!" Meiru stood, tears of frustration and hurt forming in her eyes. "You shouldn't have hidden something this important from me in the first place! Now all those people have died on our watch, and Black's gotten away consequence free because you wanted to protect him!"

"I'm not trying to protect him! That's the last thing on my mind after today!" Enzan stood as well; this was clearly not going the way he'd hoped. In a way, Meiru was glad; that was what he got for keeping something this big from her. "It's not that I want to hide it from you, Meiru—"

"Then don't!"

"—it's that I can't explain something I don't fully understand. You shouldn't hear it from me—"

"Fine! If you won't tell me, I'll find out for myself!"

Meiru stormed out, avoiding Hikari-hakase and the other Ministry staff who would know her. Once she'd stepped outside into the peaceful spring evening, her nerves were able to calm a bit. As she wiped away her tears, her confusion overtook her frustration. All she'd ever thought of when it came to Black was how annoying he was. What was underneath that? What did Enzan see?

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"Rockman?"

Rockman looked up from the firewall. "Oh! Enzan, I didn't hear you come in!" Any attempt at cheer fell away after Rockman saw the grim preoccupation that drew lines on Enzan's face. He sat in front of the monitor heavily as Rockman asked, "What is it?"

"What do you remember happening to Netto?"

Nobody ever mentioned Netto around Rockman. He blinked in bewilderment. "I... He died in a subway accident."

"That's not what you said back then."

"It wasn't true," Rockman said sadly, recalling the explanation from long ago. "It was a glitch brought on by the trauma of the accident. What really happened-"

"I don't care about what really happened," Enzan interrupted. "Tell me what you saw."

Rockman stared at Enzan for a moment. "There were men," he said blankly as it all started flooding back. "Men wearing identical black suits. The first bombs knocked out the cameras, and then they just kept coming and coming into the car. They surrounded Netto. He tried to fight, but there were too many, and they held him completely still. One of them took out a knife and cut his arm open. I yelled for help, and one of them dropped my PET to the ground and crushed it under his shoe..." Even though he knew it wasn't real, it still made him want to cry. Rockman shook his head quickly. "I, I have to get back to the firewall—"

"Who were those men?" wondered Enzan, his mind in another place. "Where are they now? Why weren't they here today...?"

"You believe me?" Rockman asked, stunned.

Enzan's piercing blue eyes snapped up to meet Rockman's green ones. "Of course I do," he said. "And why shouldn't I? You were the only survivor. Thank you, Rockman."

He was still troubled. Still thoughtfully regarding a danger only he could see. It worried Rockman more than any number of attacks could. "Enzan, what do you think we're up against?"

Enzan looked away for a moment longer before meeting Rockman's eyes again. "Something much larger than a single crime syndicate."