Black Mizel
Naoki's face was grim and sullen when he called them that night. Everyone swallowed as they sat to hear his report. " I'm afraid the results are quite… intriguing if not to say the least."
" Spit it already Naoki!" Eva's patience had run thin and she was too anxious to have to deal with any more delays. She wanted it over with already.
" It's better if you see it for yourself first, the virus code," Naoki said as he sent them a copy of the codes he had been analyzing all day. Eva quickly skimmed through them, her eyes jumping from one line to another before her jaws clenched upon reaching the end.
" I know it's hard to believe but…"
" Let me see." Kirito was growing impatient and couldn't bear not looking at the piece of coding sent to them.
" We're confused as well, we don't understand how it happened at all."
" Anyone cares to explain to us?" Elie was annoyed at being left in the dark. At that moment, Kirito clicked his tongue.
" It's… similar to the main program of Mizel, however…"
" The electronic signature is that of the World Savers." Eva continued, incurring befuddled looks from her friends.
" Mizel's main program, with the signature of the World Savers? What does this mean?" Hiro asked worriedly.
" It means the world's worst fear has come true…" Mirai stood up and glared down at the codes scrolling on the screen. " Mizel, one of the strongest AIs known to mankind up until now, is now used by terrorists."...
" Hm…" Deep within the darkness of the deep web, among the data floating from one bubble to another, most of them corrupted with a certain virus flowing within them, a sole figure floated in the sea of bits and numbers.
A glowing screen was displayed before him, showing statics and readings of the last operation while he held his chin, inspecting it carefully. " An intelligent method, I'm surprised not to say the least."
A smirk appeared on his face, feeling rather thrilled at the possible existence of a challenge. " Seems I no longer need to operate from the shadow."
The screen faded with a wave of his hands and the flow of data stopped before it changed direction, rushing around. " It's time humans hand over this world to the next race. And I will be…" With another wave, a hologram of the globe manifested with orbits around it. " … The comet that will wipe them out."
The truth hit them hard. Mizel and the World Savers, two threats thought to have been overcome, are brought back to the world.
They sat down in the living, unable to take in the new piece of information, trying to wrap their minds around the whole thing. " How…?" Ban finally muttered, unable to keep it all inside his mind.
" The government said there was no way to scavenge Mizel's data once more to make sure he wouldn't be used at all." Kirito ran a hand through his hair before he gritted his teeth. " But now we have a virus with Mizel's main program implemented into it. Those government people have a lot to explain."
" The World Savers though." Mirai shot up, looking at him. " Their leaders and members were apprehended, so how on earth…"
" Maybe some of them managed to escape," Elie suggested.
" It doesn't matter." Eva's voice came as loud and cold as it could ever be. " All that matters now is to stop them, the ones behind these attacks."
Everyone looked at each other and then at Eva, unsure what to say. A lot of things happened, a lot of feelings were mixed up and there was a lot to be said. Still, they couldn't find words to express them.
Mirai looked towards the blonde and opened her mouth as though to say something, but she was cut off by the ringing of their CCMs, surprised to find Takuya's ID on their screens. Kirito took it upon himself to answer for all of them. As he put the device to his ear, his expression shifted from befuddlement to confusion to utter shock as he listened to what the man had to say before he spoke. " Alright, guess we don't have a choice. We'll be there in a moment."
As he ended the call, he turned to them with a stern look on him. " We need to go to Tiny Orbit, right now."
" What's the matter, Kirito?" Ban asked, surprised at his sudden shift.
" Some… things happened," the boy explained as he stewed his CCM. " Apparently, we can't keep secret about what we discovered so far."...
Takuya was surprised to receive that call not to say the least. It had been a while since Secretary Kaios had last contacted him, and never had it been that a call from him didn't bear some seriousness in it. This time, however, it was rather worrying. So he had to dismiss the current meeting he had.
Takuya sat down at his desk and rubbed his forehead, further deepening the crevices that formed on it, a reminder of how old he had become and an urge to consider the future of his own company.
" Director." Takuya looked up just as Kirino walked in while holding her own tablet close.
" Kirino, what about Kirito and the others?" He asked his secretary. Despite how long he had known her, Kirino did never seem to grow old.
" They're waiting to see you, Director." When he gave her a nod, she bowed her head before promoting the doors to open, inviting them in.
Kirito and the rest then filed into the office and stood before the blond man, waiting for him to speak. Years of working under his secret organization, Seekers, made them look up to him as their leader and never dream of speaking before him.
" I had a call from NICS and it was rather, unsettling," he said leaning on his desk and bearing directly into Eva and Kirito's eyes. " Setting a number of things aside, I should say that I know of the current situation. The information we got our hands on is rather debatable, and I think that only you could confirm it to us."
" A call from NICS? Around this time?" Even Jin realized it was too much of a coincidence.
" What was it about?" Asked Mirai impertinently.
" Jessica and the others caught a rather peculiar man," Takuya told them, leaning back on his chair. " He claims to be a former member of the World Savers, a hacker to be precise. He said he was planted in the government, helping them with sneaking data. Apparently, he got picked for the international program for…" His eyes lingered on Eva for a moment then continued, knowing that they all caught on to what he wanted to say. " He says he managed to sneak Mizel out and reprogram him to work for the World Savers' case, however…"
" Let me guess," William said as he stepped into the room, how he knew they had a meeting there didn't seem to interest them or Takuya. " It went wrong and his life is targeted while the modified Mizel is threatening world peace." At Takuya's nod, William folded his arms with a head shake. " Too cliché."
" Regardless, we need confirmation. The man is said not to be in his right mind. His whole story seems rather farfetched. The only ones who could confirm this now are you, the ones who had been investigating this mess for a while."
They exchanged looks among themselves, not sure what to say. As if asking for permission, they looked at Eva. The blonde raised her eyes and leveled Takuya's. Something in his stare told her he was waiting for her to fess up.
" It's all true," she said calmly, not showing any feelings on her face. " Mizel's main program was hijacked and turned into some new virus used by the World Savers. He is the one behind the mess happening in the world as we speak. And as of the moment, he's got full control of the infinity net."
Takuya's eyes widened at her words. " By the time we figured out the reason behind the cyber attacks, it was too late to stop them. All we could do was identify the person behind it."
Takuya took deep breaths and closed his eyes as if by doing so, some of his stress would be relieved. He was very much mistaken in that regard considering how his scowl only deepened. " What does he opt for?"
Eva shrugged. " No idea there. We've only been focusing on identifying the attacker not why he attacked."
" That's quite inconvenient for us." His eyes once again found the red ones and he seemed hesitant.
" I will stop him, I have that much resolve already." Her words took him by surprise while the rest kept silent about it. Eva was serious, no matter what, she would be stopping Mizel with her own hands, from the very start they knew she would. However…
" Such admirable conviction, sis. I'm already glitching with fear." A voice resounded through the office, picking their attention as they tried to identify its source. It sounded as if it was coming from all directions at once, befuddling their senses. " To be honest, I wished to get this whole business dealt with in secret without having to announce myself to anyone, but seems I was very much mistaken. You really have proved to me again how annoying you pests could get. All the more reason to speed up my plans."
" This voice…" Kirino had a bead of sweat running down her face as she realized who was speaking to them and that was making her worry.
" Mizel, you should stop this nonsense!" Ban cried out into the ceiling as loud as he could before Elie joined him.
" This is wrong! You're not someone who would harm others! Not anymore! Please don't make Eva and Mirai any sadder!"
" Come on! Even if they had tempered with your program, I know you're still there, Mizel!" Hiro stepped forward as well. " Don't lose to them!"
" You managed to overpower Leviathan's hacking, I doubt you wouldn't be able to break free from whatever they cast upon you," William added.
A moment of silence went by during which they held their breaths, waiting to see if their words had reached him, if they were able to sway him. A sizzling sound was heard as if the speakers had malfunctioned. " Sis…" Eva's eyes went wide at his call. "... Help…" Unintentionally she placed one foot forward as though she wanted to get closer, to approach something she and only she could see.
Then a laugh echoed through the speakers and vibrated the air around them, loud and wicked that their faces screwed up into scowls as it hit them. " You thought that's what I would be saying! No freaking way! It's over, the Mizel you once knew is already gone, disposed of!"
The office went dark for a moment as the blinders were let down before it was dimly lit by a forming hologram that manifested right in its center. It slowly took shape and looked down at them derisively. It was almost, almost the same Mizel they knew when transformed, the glowing red eyes and the long hair floating all over the place, albeit, he had a dark purplish hue to his form, and his expression was that of sheer contempt. " Standing before you right now is none other than Black Mizel, the one who would bring about the end of the human era and create a new world for us to live in." He flung his arms dramatically when he said that.
" Us?" Kirito's eyes squinted at that particular word.
" Yes us." Mizel's smirk grew as he looked down at him. "It's time this world is passed down to the next chosen race, AI. We'll make better use of it than what humans have done. However, for our ideal world to become reality, we need you wiped out from the face of the globe." He snapped his finger and a screen appeared behind him, showcasing every satellite out in space orbiting Earth.
It took them a few moments to actually understand what the screen was showing them, yet by that time, Eva, Kirito and William were on the verge of panicking as they realized what could that only mean. " You're kidding me, you're not doing it!" Kirito shouted at the hologram as the boy looked back with a malicious smile.
"And what, may I ask, could stop me from doing so?"
Everyone realized that the trio was getting impatient and anxious all the same while facing the boy who kept on his smug smirk. " It's your mistake for not realizing it, the reboot didn't just serve for the restoration of Dream Future's old servers, it also helped me control each and every computer that was related to that network at a certain point, no matter how hard they tried to cut it off. Which means I truly behold the world's every device in my own hand. Needless to say, including the National Defense Base of country A and similar ones around the world."
" It can't be…" Now hearing those words and looking at the screen he had just shown them, Jin too managed to link the dots. " You're using those satellites to threaten the human race."
" Not threaten." Mizel corrected. " Demolish them, just like years ago. And my first target…"
The screen then zoomed onto a certain city. Ban's heart sank as he read the name out loud. " N… City…"
" The countdown for the humans' time in this world has started." With that said, Mizel faded away and the lights flicked back on.
" Kirino, I'm burrowing this!" Kirito shouted as he grasped the woman's tablet and promptly fiddled with it, face twitching and troubled with his teeth gritted. Ban and the rest quickly huddled up around him as he brought out a similar global simulation akin to that which Mizel had shown them a moment ago.
" What's it?" Hiro asked impatiently. He understood the air of anxiety that fell on them yet he couldn't understand the reason why.
" Where is it? Where is it?" Kirito muttered continuously as he kept swiping through the simulation of the globe before Mirai pointed at a certain dot on it.
" There!"
" What's this?" Elie asked as she took notice of the thing moving quickly through space and approaching Earth.
Eva clicked her tongue as she gave an answer. " A satellite, and it's dropping fast."
" Eh?!"
" Hold on, this…" Hiro's eyes went wide as he realized what was happening.
" Mizel will be dropping satellites on us, like… the meteors that wiped away dinosaurs before." William's eyes narrowed as he elaborated.
" And this one is directed at N City," Kirito stated only for Ban to quickly rotate the tablet towards him and inspect the simulation with his own eyes.
" Lilyan…"