Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Presage – Chapter 70
Originally Written: Thursday, April 13, 2017 103AM to Friday, April 14, 2017 231AM
. . . . .
Janyuu Wong held in a sigh as he narrowly missed another person curious of Albedo's whereabouts. Since Albedo had actually lived in his apartment for a time, and somehow managed to woo his way into his youngest son's heart, just about every high ranking individual at Hypnos had their eyes on him. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or his paranoia speaking, or if it was actually so, but he couldn't help but feel he couldn't walk around Hypnos without some plumber looking at him with some variation of a guarded expression.
How many people knew about his son and Albedo anyway? Wasn't there some protocol about spreading information about a potentially dangerous criminal without a care in the world? There was a reason police all over the world utilized anonymous tip calls.
He shifted his grip on his briefcase, holding it tightly in an effort to make sure it didn't fall. His laptop was in it, and if what he had found analyzing Juggernaut's programming was correct, he really did not want to drop it or lose it.
He passed by a group of low ranking plumber guards making their rounds. It wouldn't do any good to freak out, even if he couldn't get Henry's poor screams out of his head. He just knew he didn't want to hear that sound again. So he'd do what he'd need to to make sure he didn't. Surely anything he could find on why Henry hadn't wanted him to tell anyone where Albedo was would help everyone in the long run.
He passed by an office on floor B4. He looked in the next room. There he was. For some reason, he was one of the first to come to his mind when he found what he had from studying Juggernaut's ever progressing program.
"Janyuu, what a surprise." Rob McCoy, a.k.a Dolphin of the monster makers stretched in his seat. "What brings you around?"
Dolphin wasn't around Hypnos often, but when he was it usually was for analyzing the Digital World or Juggernaut.
Janyuu closed the door behind him. He ignored Dolphin's look and set his bag on the desk. "You're either going to find this fascinating, utterly terrifying, or think I'm nuts."
"Oh boy," The redhead sighed, "Juggernaut?"
"Ask me that later," Janyuu pulled out his laptop and set it on the desk.
"Janyuu."
"I'm not sure who to show it to. I'm not even sure if you'll be able to see it." He sighed softly. "You're going to think I've lost my mind. I was analyzing Juggernaut's program the other day. A little after Henry's doctor's appointment."
"The one where he conked out a few days back?"
"Yes...And I found this file on the main computer." He clicked through some files. "No one else seems to have commented on it being there."
"That's a huge file." Dolphin looked at him.
"It's a video."
"A video? On the computer we use to analyze Juggernaut?"
"Mhm."
"Which one."
"It's on all of them." Janyuu spared a look at him. "That's why I'm confused as to why no one on the project has commented on it."
"So you copied it to your laptop?"
Janyuu shook his head, "I found it after I went home. I tried looking at it then, too. I was able to see it at Hypnos, but when I tried it at home, my laptop crashed. Blue screen of death and everything. When I restarted, the file was gone."
"Janyuu...?" Dolphin raised an eyebrow.
"I know I know." He held up his hands, "It sounds like I'm nuts, or I should be scanning my computer for viruses, but just bear with me, okay?"
"Only because you're my friend, Janyuu."
"And I'm so grateful you are." Janyuu gave Dolphin a stern look. "I came to you because you're a horror, gore fanatic."
"If this is some kind of terrible prank-"
"Just. Just watch." Janyuu clicked open the file. Dolphin liked the darker side of entertainment, his love for it getting even stronger ever since his dear niece Alice disappeared, but Janyuu couldn't stomach it. After lowering the volume, he turned around, and folded his arms.
"Wha...? What?"
Janyuu just nodded as he counted seconds.
"When? When was this? What happened to that building?"
"Mhm. Just watch." He tapped his foot against the floor. He took a deep breath and waited a few more minutes.
"Waybig? Are those American stores?"
"He's in Bellwood."
"How?"
Janyuu noticed his friend had paused the video. "He didn't really go to Bellwood." He looked at him, "Just watch, okay? And don't turn the sound up, it gets very loud near the end."
He listened to Henry's bout of terror; Terriermon calling his son; his son finding Terriermon and Albedo...
"A dream?"
"There's a time stamp in the top right corner."
He heard them talk for a few moments.
"That's the date of Henry's appointment."
"Mhm."
Janyuu knew the exact moment XLR8 and Fourarms showed up.
Dolphin rolled his chair far back in surprise.
"What in the world!?"
And that Echo Echo alien just did its screeching thing. Janyuu covered his ears. He could hear Dolphin's heavy breathing as he murmured questions.
"I never want to see another XLR8 in my life." Janyuu murmured, "At least, for right now."
"Ben Tennyson..."
Janyuu looked at Dolphin.
The male shook his head. "Why would Albedo dream about Ben Tennyson killing him? How did he even...Juggernaut." Dolphin paused the video and looked at him with wide eyes. "Juggernaut's in Albedo."
Janyuu nodded. "It's synchronizing between them. When it synchronized during the appointment, it somehow dragged Henry into Albedo's nightmare. Since it's in Terriermon as well, he also was pulled into the nightmare. Meanwhile, it recorded it."
"Janyuu, this is huge. If he's been dreaming about this since he met Henry-"
"No. The way Henry screamed, I would be surprised if Albedo or Terriermon didn't scream as well. I would have known if Albedo was dreaming like this while he was at my apartment. So we can conclude the dreams started at the earliest when Albedo returned to Bellwood. At the latest, after Albedo was apprehended this most recent time."
"Hm, Terriermon did say he didn't want to die again, indicating it's happened before." Dolphin folded his arms. "But what do we do? Tell someone?"
"That's the problem. So far, I've found that the video won't crash my laptop as long as it's played while the laptop is in Hypnos. However, I tried to show the video to Riley, but the video crashed. So to test it, I tried to show it to a random low ranking guard. Crashed again. Five to ten seconds in."
"You mean to tell me it's configured to only show to certain people?"
"Apparently so."
"How the hell is it doing that?"
"Hypnos' lower levels have DNA scanning equipment. In addition," Janyuu pulled up the webcam on his laptop, "While it plays I noticed my webcam program opens up in tasks, but the light indicating it's running doesn't turn on." He demonstrated that the camera was indeed active on his laptop, "Theoretically, it would use the camera to detect those it knows through Henry, if that doesn't work, it double checks with Hypnos' database. This is all done while the video plays."
"And that takes about five to ten seconds to do."
"Mhm."
"I'm impressed it hasn't triggered your antivirus or anything."
"Only you," Janyuu shook his head, "At the moment, I have no clue who Juggernaut has allowed to see the video. We could attempt to analyze the code, but I'd rather not risk Juggernaut outright deleting everything."
Dolphin leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. "Well, we know Ben Tennyson clearly didn't attack him in real life. And for now, we can assume that Juggernaut doesn't trust everyone when it comes to Albedo in addition to Henry and Terriermon."
"And it wants us to do something. The question is what?"
"For now, we finish the video. Maybe it's updated it somehow, and there's some kind of clue at the end?" Dolphin looked at him.
Janyuu closed his eyes.
"How bad is it?"
"I couldn't watch to the end."
Dolphin stood and motioned for Janyuu to sit, "As good a time as any."
