Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Presage – Chapter 74
Originally Written: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 221PM to 407PM
. . . . .
"Janyuu!" Shibumi smiled warmly as he stretched his arms. "Heard you were looking for me."
"Yes, that's right." Janyuu stood outside his office at Hypnos, hands folded behind his back. Dolphin already sat in one of the extra two chairs inside the room. He smiled at his longtime friend. "I found something you might be able to make better sense of than me." Janyuu led him inside the good sized office.
Dolphin laughed a curt, short laugh. "If he can see it."
Janyuu nodded as he looked at Shibumi, "If you can see it."
"Oooh! A puzzle." The brunet pressed his hands together. "Always liked them."
Janyuu frowned. "I doubt you'll like this one. Have a seat." He took one seat while Shibumi took another. He explained the circumstances behind the picky video Juggernaut had left him. Occasionally Dolphin added his own thoughts.
Shibumi stroked his chin in thought, "What a crafty little program. It would seem this is the only way it has to defend Albedo. At least the only way it has that it would let anyone else know about."
"What are you talking about?"
Shibumi leaned over to them. He spoke softly, just a few touches about a whisper, "I overheard a while back, that shortly before Albedo ran off to who knows where again, he was placed into a Plumber prison cell." He leaned back as the two looked at him confused. "It not only threw him into a panic, but it was done in such a way that it riled up the other inmates. Apparently they dragged him there as though he were a lump of dough."
"What in the world?" Janyuu looked at Dolphin. The two look back at Shibumi.
"What would make them do that?"
"That's the thing." He held up a finger, "I also heard that the Plumbers who did it, may not be Plumbers at all."
Janyuu narrowed his eyes. "That's why Yamaki's so aggravated."
Shibumi nodded.
"How did you manage to overhear this?"
He grinned. "People tend to forget you're there if you're quiet enough. I've got a newfound love of quiet since my adventure." He leaned back in his chair, smug.
"Of course," Dolphin sighed as he shook his head. "This just gets weirder and weirder."
Janyuu lowered his head. That explained a good deal, if Shibumi had overheard the conversation correctly. Juggernaut had transferred that dream to Henry. It could easily have transferred other information to him from Albedo, including memories. No wonder Henry didn't trust the Plumbers anymore. From that last conversation he heard the day of his appointment, it seemed Henry didn't like them either.
Was whoever behind this trying to hurt Albedo, or were they just using him to ruin the Plumber's credibility. Could it be both?
"Janyuu." Dolphin said.
He jerked out of his thoughts. "Oh, right. Video." He turned to his simple desk, and his laptop. "Maybe since you overheard that, you'll be able to see it."
"How bad is it?" Shibumi questioned.
"Better to just see if you can see it for yourself." Dolphin replied.
"Alright then."
Both men turned to the screen. Janyuu played the video, and enlarged the window. He counted down 10 seconds as the video played with a low volume.
"Don't know if you're lucky or cursed." Dolphin muttered as the video continued to play.
Janyuu turned away from the screen. He took out his cellphone and sent a message while he waited. He looked at Shibumi. The male looked quite fascinated with the exchange. He wondered for how long that would last. Dolphin already looked a bit green.
"Janyuu." Yamaki knocked on the door.
Said male jumped. He looked at Yamaki. 'I forgot to close the door.'
The blond male's eyes directed straight to his laptop.
"Yamaki." If he were someone else who didn't know Yamaki as well as he did, he wouldn't have caught the act.
"Fascinating." Shibumi murmured.
Yamaki's blue eyes narrowed, "It's not what I came to ask, but your computer just crashed."
Janyuu spun around in his seat. A Blue Screen of Death displayed an error code while the computer counted down to a restart.
"That was fast." Dolphin spoke idly, "When you said your computer was having trouble, I didn't think it was that bad."
Janyuu gave Dolphin a look, hoping he hid his surprise well enough. Dolphin still looked a little pale. He nodded, "It's not looking good. I'm thinking I'll back up my files again before attempting another driver update." He looked at Yamaki, "Sorry about that, Yamaki. What do you need?"
"I was wondering if you had anything new on the latest analysis of Juggernaut's program." Yamaki folded his arms as he leaned against the frame. "I'm getting reports from Riley and Tally that while it's still active in short bursts like before, it's more than normal."
"What timing!" Shibumi pressed his hands together.
Janyuu thought he looked a bit like Jeri poised like that. That girl was as sneaky as they come sometimes.
"Oh?" Yamaki raised an eyebrow. A hand snaked into a pants pocket.
"That's just what we were talking about." Shibumi continued.
A familiar clicking sounded as the room's background noise.
"I called Shibumi and Dolphin to see if they could help me analyze some code. It looks like Juggernaut is attempting to upload some kind of video to the database we've set up for analyzing it."
"There's more than enough space for it still," Dolphin explained further, "but," he pushed glasses up on his face, "as you can see," he pointed back to Janyuu's computer, which had finished restarted, "what ever video file that was, crashed the computer."
"I've been trying to get it to play, but it's not having it. Blue screen every time." While Janyuu spoke, Shibumi opened up his laptop's error logs.
"A corrupted file perhaps?" Yamaki questioned, "It's possible that it's attempting to find a new way to synchronize with Terriermon. This method could have corrupted whatever media file it was trying to upload."
"Quite possible." Janyuu nodded, "We'll run some scans and try examining the file on another computer to see. I'll get back to you with the results ASAP."
"Right. I'll let the others know to keep on the lookout for any possibly corrupted files on the database. If it wouldn't be a problem?"
"No no." Janyuu nodded, "That will be fine. Thank you." He bowed a short way in his seat.
Yamaki waved a hand as he walked out the room.
The trio looked at each other, waiting in silence as the clicking of Yamaki's pristine work shoes faded down the hall.
"How much do you think he saw?" Dolphin whispered.
"If he saw anything he only saw Henry talking to Albedo in the alley, and that's about it." Shibumi replied.
"How long did it take to crash?" Janyuu took out his cell phone.
"Ten seconds. Just like you said." Dolphin answered.
Shibumi leaned back in his seat, "So, this means that Juggernaut doesn't trust Yamaki, right? What a pickle."
"Yea," Dolphin sighed, "How does it trust us, but not our, technically, boss?" Dolphin got up to close the door.
"It's because we're not Plumbers..." Janyuu looked at his cell, "You can set it up to play again. If it hasn't crashed with you the first time, it shouldn't crash again."
A reply from Henry, 'No, I don't think so. I haven't dreamed anything like that. Nothing like the other time either, since.'
"Yamaki is the definition of paranoid. We're not going to be able to hide this from him." Dolphin paced in the room.
"Which is why Juggernaut is doing it for us." Shibumi sang, "What an intelligent program."
"Reaper 2.0."
"Don't. Even." Janyuu snapped, glaring at him. Dolphin held up his hands. The trio sat in silence. Dolphin paced. Janyuu texted Henry, and Shibumi watched the video.
"Wait. What?" Shibumi spoke after a few moments of silence. "What was that?"
Janyuu looked back at him instinctively. Immediately he regretted it. He watched the blood pool around his son's body from a gaping wound in his torso. It was too dark to make out intricate details of the wounds, and for that he was glad.
Shibumi rewound the video, jumping back a few seconds. "I knew it."
Dolphin leaned up against the back of Shibumi's chair. "What?"
"See it?" Shibumi pointed to the screen at a particular alien.
"My-"
"Shhh." Shibumi placed a finger to his lips. "The building has ears. I think that's what it wanted you to see." He whispered behind his finger.
Janyuu looked at Dolphin. The male looked at the screen in surprise.
"You said this is a dream, right?"
Janyuu nodded dumbly, "I'm pretty sure it is."
"Well if it's a dream, then how'd it get there? I can't imagine that Albedo's mind would put it there itself. That's a ridiculously specific detail."
"It's possible it could." Shibumi countered. "Unlikely but possible. Unless it's been proven impossible, it should remain a possibility, no matter how improbable."
Janyuu shook his head. He sent another text message.
"But, why?" Dolphin sputtered. He held a hand out towards the computer screen.
"I can't proclaim to know the workings of an alien's mind, especially one that's connected to a computer program." Shibumi leaned back in his seat. "All we know is what we see here."
Dolphin huffed.
Another message from Henry, 'I know it's not, but I can't figure out who. Not well enough to convince him at least.'
Janyuu sent another message, "We can learn as much as we want, but I'm not sure what we can do to help."
"Gather evidence for starters."
"How?" Janyuu asked. A chill filled his being with dread. "I tried copying the file. Taking pictures of the video as it played. And separating the sound from the video. It stays put as long as I keep it on this device. The second I even try to move it to another device, it all deletes itself. You just saw it crash."
"We'll need to go about it much more carefully than you've been doing it, but it should be possible to determine who can see the video and have them watch. It'll get easier as more see it."
"Sure. We'll all watch, have nightmares, then go warn someone when we can't take anymore, and whoever or whatever is targeting Albedo and/or the Plumbers gets taken out the second we turn our backs." Janyuu sighed.
"You think something's attacking the plumbers too?" Dolphin looked at him, surprised.
"Have a little hope, Tao." Shibumi tapped his fingers on the desk. "It let us see for a reason."
Janyuu handed his phone to Shibumi.
Shibumi looked at the message from Henry. He frowned. "If that's who I think it is, that doesn't sound good at all."
'I think whoever it is could be trying to use him to attack you-know-who. Maybe they can't do it themselves.'
"Henry's with-," Dolphin cut himself off, making an odd gesture.
It took Janyuu a moment to understand. "He thinks he can do more there. Wherever he is." He looked at the screen. At his son and his son's lover. Both covered with blood.