Chapter 4: The Past is Bleak, Fight for the Future!
Keiko helped Taikei to his feet "what the hell was that all about?" Taikei asked Keiko, Keiko was about to answer when Taikei's Digivice went off. Taikei answered it, it was Moriymoto "attention Agents Taikei and Keiko, meet me at these coordinates for your next assignment and formation of your new team" Taikei looked at Keiko "tell me later okay?" Keiko nodded and they took off towards their objective. Taikei and Keiko arrived to find an old abandoned subway entrance, bramble covered the edges of the entrance and the steps and walls were lined with dirt and dust "what is this place?" Taikei questioned, Keiko replied with a shrug signaling that she didn't know either. The two walked down the steps only to be greeted by a light above a red metal door, Taikei and Keiko looked at eachother with uncertainty, Taikei decided to open it. Taikei peered in to see a fully furnished room with a large flatscreen TV, an L-Shaped couch, a glass coffee table, and a lazyboy chair at the end of the couch "whoa, nice digs" Taikei uttered.
Taikei and Keiko fully stepped in and paced around the room inspecting things, Keiko looked up at the lights that were illuminating the room "this place was furnished recently, the walls are completely new and there's not a speck of dust anywhere" Taikei responded "who did it though?"
A voice from behind them answered "The Director" Taikei and Keiko looked towards the voice and Akira was standing there now wearing casual clothing consisting of a purple and white horizontal striped long sleeved shoulderless top with a black tanktop underneath, her top was tucked into her dark blue high waisted jeans and she wore purple and black high top shoes. Taikei approached her "how did he do all of this?" Akira answered "the Director can do anything" a voice behind Akira called her out "what she means is the Director commissioned for this place to be furnished and redone for our little project" Taikei looked past Akira to see Aiko, she was wearing a red blouse with blue jeans and red wedges, she was also sporting red rimmed glasses. Aiko continued "actually, the Director didn't need to do much since this place was already commissioned to be refurbished months ago".
Aiko led Taikei and Keiko around the facility where she showed them the briefing room, the hangar, and peculiar holes in the wall of the hangar "this place was the very first DATS headquarters back when it wasn't such a necessity, the hangar only held personal vehicles of the agents" Taikei looked at the holes, they were filled with tech that he didn't recognize "hey, what are those?" He gestured towards the holes "oh, those, well considering how they're often late and the time of the call, you should have your question answered...now".
A light from the tubes erupted and there stood Mamoru and Daichi who were visibly sick "whoa man, that was..." suddenly Mamoru threw up on the floor with Daichi nearly doing so himself. Akira laughed while Aiko looked sickened "those are Access Tubes, they were used to get Agents to and from the base quickly and efficiently, regular DATS HQs don't have them because of costs but this place does because it was used to test them" Taikei nodded while Keiko seemed visibly uneasy which Taikei took note of.
Taikei and the others arrived at the briefing room where a large screen turned on and Moriymoto stood there "hello agents, unfortunately I can't be there physically as I am at the regular HQ, as of now Agent Keiko shall be the commanding officer of this team, she will inform you of what we're fighting against" Keiko stepped up "thank you Director" she then turned towards the others "this mission could spell the destruction of our world and the world of Digimon, speaking of, you should probably get your partners out so they can hear this" everyone nodded and brought out their partners "now look, I honestly have no idea what we're up against, the threat I faced before might be completely different now as time has shifted since I got back so I have no idea how much time has passed for our enemies". Taikei stepped forward "sorry to interrupt but what are we up against Keiko?"
Keiko sighed "I guess it's about time I told you" her eyes began to glow as she thought back "it felt like a week ago but in truth, it's been thirty years, back then a strange virus appeared within the Digital World driving Digimon mad then after enough time had passed they would expire, sometimes it would make them Digivolve into horrid creatures that knew nothing but carnage, we dubbed this virus, the X-Virus".
Keiko kept her cool as she elaborated further "and for two years our best minds worked endlessly to create a vaccine. Their hardwork paid off because we successfully created a vaccine and began to treat the infected, unfortunately the virus was spreading faster than we could cure it and nearly sixty percent of Digimon were infected, we had to find the source and our investigation led us to the exact lab, some part of me wish we hadn't found it...my team was the best so we were sent in to take care of it and when we found out what was behind it...it all went downhill when we got walked through those doors."
Keiko wiped her eyes "as it turns out, the man behind the virus had developed a strain...that infected humans" the room suddenly felt heavier and Aiko decided to finally speak up "Ms. Keiko, the X-Virus reports I've read have told me that the virus attacks Digital Code and corrupts it, how can it do that with organic life that has no Digital Code?" Keiko walked up to Aiko "use your DNA Charge" everyone felt tense when Aiko slowly lifted her hand and activated it.
Keiko grabbed her wrist "this is how it attacks, it targets DNA, Genetic Code and twists it, mutilates it until being human is the furthest thing from your existence" she released Aiko's hand and Aiko rubbed her wrist in pain, Keiko continued "my team was sent in under the pretense of discovering the source, and destroying it, then using a dispersal device, to wipe out the surrounding infection" Keiko began to quiver and she averted her eyes from the others.
Keiko breathed in deeply to gather herself "we found it, and the man who was responsible for creating it, we were all set to apprehend him when he exposed my teammate Mirio to the virus" she suddenly raised her voice as the memories flooded in "it twisted him in a way that I can't even describe, I don't blame Isadora for losing her will after that" Keiko swallowed the lump in her throat, her face was flushed in a red hue "she was next, she tried to approach Mirio and she was... consumed by him".
Moriymoto decided to interject "that will be all Agent Keiko" Keiko argued back "with all due respect Commander, they need to know all of it" Keiko cleared her throat "after that our team leader Dante convinced me and the Digimon with us to retreat, despite my protests I conceded and we attempted an extraction, as you can see, I was the only one to make it."
Taikei looked down at his feet and saw his own knees shake uncontrollably, Keiko finished "this strain is most likely more advanced than before, when we encountered it, when Mirio was infected it was obviously a prototype version of the virus. not yet fully able to affect the coding of a human, it's very likely that there are new strains of the virus, not just a refined organic version, but a more refined Digital version, that Greymon was infected with the virus, I could tell and despite being more advanced, it seems that it is still not able to spread through contact" Taikei and Veemon looked at eachother with an air of relief from that statement.
Keiko then stood tall wiping her tears away "looking at this team and what we know, you all might have some reservations about our chances of beating back this threat and getting rid of the virus that took my team and many innocent Digimon since its creation". Taikei looked in awe at Keiko's confidence after her outburst, he felt her resolves and he could see the others faces change as Keiko motivated them.
Keiko asked the group to stand in a circle "activate your DNA Charges" she instructed with wveryone nodding and activating it "now put your hands forward and let them mix, this is the closest team members can be...I did this with my old team so it might be cursed but hey, what do we have to lose?" Taikei made a snarky remark "the world, probably" Keiko smiled at him and Taikei did the same at her. Everyone stuck their hands in and their DNA began to swirl and become brighter and created a large whirlpool of color, Keiko put her hand in and she caused the DNA to disperse "there, now we are officially a team".