Visitors
Eva paced in Kousuke's office, looking distraught and tired. " There is no use denying it any more Eva."
" I tell you that's impossible!" She turned back to him, glaring furiously.
" But all the evidence we have points to-"
" It's not him, Kousuke! There is no way, maybe someone else… someone who knows everything about him, where he had been, who he contacted…"
" Well then how do you explain what happened with you!" Kousuke stood up and pointed at her. " The scans were clear Eva, both William and Prof Oozora confirmed it! I doubt anyone could hack you that easily!"
" That… that means nothing…. Maybe they were traces left from before…"
" The timestamps say otherwise." The blond man fell back on his chair and leaned against his right hand. " Eva…"
The woman refused to look at him. " It's not him… he would never… not after everything we had been through…"
" How are you sure?" The blond asked her calmly and red eyes flung his way, trying to discern his words. " He said he couldn't assure he wouldn't do the same as years ago. He doubted himself. Why are you so sure?"
Eva walked up to the table and stared down at him. " Because that's what I should do. When he doubts himself, I'm the one who is supposed to clear his doubts and assure him he won't do it. That's practically my job as his older sibling." Kousuke looked away from her.
" We should tell Takuya and the oth-"
" We can't!" Kousuke's eyes met hers again and he could tell how much hard the few days had been for her.
" If you're sure it wasn't him then there is no reason for you to keep it a secret."
Eva took a few steps back and turned around, marshaling her thoughts before confronting the man again. " You're right, I'm not 100% sure it's not him. So in the slightest possibility of it being him, I don't want any of them to get involved in this. I will uncover the truth myself."
Kousuke shook his head. " That's too much for you. You need help… please."
She held his look before shaking her head slowly and marching off to the door. Kousuke let out a deep breath and leaned back on his chair. " She would be the death of me, that stubborn."...
Eva however didn't expect to come home to find visitors awaiting her arrival. " Ban, Jin, Elie…" she began when she stumbled into the living room and found all three of them talking with Jiiya. " I didn't know you already came back." She sat beside Elie and they hugged tightly.
" It's been a while and… I see you're doing a good job neglecting yourself," Elie said in a mixture of admonishing and delight at the meeting of her friend. " Well, it's about time I get to give you a makeover."
" Hold your horses." Eva laughed. " You've just arrived. Take it easy. Then…" she looked past Elie at the two other men. " How are things going in A Nation? Is everything fine? How did your validation go, Ban?"
The man bit down a groan and sighed. " Not very good."
" Eh? But the blueprints you showed me were great!" She protested.
" Yeah, there it comes the problem. I didn't even get the chance to present them."
" Why?"
" That's exactly why we decided to come by here first, Eva." Elie looked the blonde in the eye and Eva could take a guess at what was happening.
" It occurred there too, the power surge, in country A…" All three of them nodded. " For god's sake…"
The whistling of the teapot got their attention. " If you excuse me-"
" Nope, I will take care of that." Before Jiiya could even stand up, Elie was already by the kitchen door. Jin and Eva exchanged looks.
" How did she? I've been trying to beat Jiiya for years now!" Eva complained.
" Tell me about that, even I never got the kitchen before him," Jin admitted.
" I think maybe I'm getting old, I'm sorry for troubling you, Elie-san." Elie smiled at him as she came around with the set of tea cups.
" Not at all, I'm glad to be of help." As she served everyone and sat down, her eyes went to Eva. " Now, the most pressing question here."
" What's happening, Eva?" Ban asked. " It's not normal for a power surge to happen on a national scale, and on two countries that's."
" By now it will be international I bet…" She sighed tiredly into her cup of tea before her eyes met Jin's.
" You know something, right, Eva, judging by your state." She wondered why it was all but impossible to lie to him when he gave her that look. " Tell us."
Eva hesitated, she didn't know how much she should be telling them. Her eyes went to Jiiya, the only other one who knew of the situation. " Lady Evangeline, I think you better tell them. The young master and his friends would be of most help to you."
All three of them were looking at her expectantly. Could she trust them? Years ago, they were as devastated as she was when they heard of what happened, if anything, they should understand her feelings right now.
Closing her eyes to get her thoughts together, she laid down her cup. " You know that all electronic appliances were affected in some way during that power surge. All of them."
"Yes we do," Elie confirmed before her mind caught up. " Wait, does that mean…" Eva nodded at her.
" But are you alright?" Ban asked worriedly.
" Yeah, nothing is wrong with my AI chip, that's what prof Oozora said. But…" Her hand unintentionally reached for her head. " What happened felt strange, it was like a familiar warmth taking over my mind, a pleasant haze. At first, I didn't think much of it. But, as soon as we confirmed the possibility of the power surge being an attack, I… asked William to scan my Optima…" A moment of silence during which all three of them scooted closer to her, eager to hear the rest of it. With a deep sigh, Eva continued. " We asked for prof Oozora's help and used Tiny Orbit's quantum computer…"
" And then?" Elie was growing impatient, wanting to get to the bottom of it already.
" They found foreign traces on my AI chip."
" Foreign traces?" Ban quirked his eyebrow.
" To be precise… his traces…"
" Mizel?!" All three of them chorused and Eva nodded in affirmation.
" Wait… hold on…" Elie held her hands up as though trying to slow the flow of events. " But Mizel is…"
" I know." Eva sulked back. " Those government people made sure nothing was left. There is supposedly no way for it to be him."
Jin's eyes softened at her. " They could be from long ago, those traces."
" I thought the same. But prof Oozora says the timestamps are new."
" But… he wouldn't… would he?" Elie turned back to her brother and Jin, feeling uncertain.
" Theoretically speaking, Mizel is a program that could be altered. His own mind may change, which means it's not impossible for him to do it." Jin pointed.
" But!" Eva cut him yet Jin pressed on calmly.
" But that's all theoretical, experience is another thing. We know Mizel best, AI or not, I doubt he would try to launch a cyber attack on the world again, at least, not while in his right mind." His eyes met Eva. " I know it's hard for you the most Eva, the possibility that Mizel is acting wrongly again. But if it's the case, I'm afraid we can't just sit and wait."
" I know. And I have that much resolve to stop him already." Her fists balled tightly. " Because I'm his older sister." Jin gave her a small smile and a short nod.
" Who else knows about it?" Ban questioned.
" William and Prof Oozora of course." Eva ticked a list with her fingers. " Kousuke and Kirito. I made sure they wouldn't tell a soul. And I don't intend to let anyone else outside this room know of this."
" Eva…"
" I don't want to make a whole mess of this. I need to get it over with as quietly as possible."
Elie considered her thoughts for a moment before asking. " Wouldn't you tell Mirai or Hiro?"
" They have as much right to know as well," Ban added.
" There is no need to tell them. At least, not until we make sure of it. There is a possibility it's not him after all." Though slim of a chance it might have been, but they could see she was clinging to that small hope. She didn't want to accept that her younger brother might be plotting something against the world again.
" If it's the case, we're going to help," Ban announced firmly.
" We want to uncover this matter as much as you." Elie joined in.
" We won't be letting you deal with all of it on your own," Jin added.
" Thank you." Moved by their resolve to help her out despite the danger it may present, Eva was overwhelmed with emotions. Wiping away a tear as Elie patted her back, she soon regained her poise. " First course of action is to gather information about the whole mess. The power surge is still an ambiguity to all of us. Other than rebooting most of the electronic devices of a country, there could be other effects. Tracing them would lead us to the cause."
" If it's intel you're looking for then Otacross and the Hackers Army should be more than enough," Jin stated.
" Truly, that's what they're doing now. But they could go so far as to pinpoint the city where the attack started. If we need more intel, only one person comes to my mind." She reached back to her tea and looked sternly at them. " Naoki might be able to find more about this than Otacross and his guys."...