By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Deal in the fog21:21 PM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 18th, 2012…
"… What a dense fog...!"
Someone was glancing around, standing in a corner of a street.
They were waiting for someone or something.
This person could be on his thirties and about a meter and seventy tall.
His irises were brown, and his hair was black.
He had a slim black moustache on his face.
He wore a gray cap, navy blue sailor's coat, jeans and black boots.
Fog crawled across the area, dimming the streetlights.
"… That man should be about to arrive…" He muttered.
A figure emerged from the fog across the street.
It was a tall man about a meter and ninety tall.
He wore a green raincoat and a red beret.
His hands were inside of his pockets.
He used brown leather boots as footwear.
The raincoat's neck hid his face beneath the nose.
"There he is…"
He stepped over to the soldier.
He raised his hands as if to prove that he wasn't armed.
The newcomer stopped a few steps away.
"Takashimi. Did you bring what we talked about?" The newcomer asked.
"Y-yes, sir! Here it is!"
He rummaged his right pocket and drew an empty crabmeat can.
It had a yellow label with a red crab's silhouette.
"It's empty. Can't enter that "special hold", as I told you…"
"Will do for now. We might be able to find traces…"
"You must uphold your end of the deal…!"
"Naturally. I have a car right there. Let's head there…"
"Also…"
Takashimi nervously looked around and ripped off a segment of the label.
He drew a pencil from his left pocket and quickly wrote something there.
The newcomer looked at it.
Takashimi tossed the can into a nearby litter and pocketed the label.
"There!" A gruff voice rang out.
The soldier drew a service revolver from his right pocket.
"Damn!"
Three silhouettes showed up in the streets converging there.
"Thought that you erased your traces, kid? You won't fool me!"
"Hell! It's the Captain!"
"Don't move! Else I'll shoot a bullet into your hips!"
The soldier aimed for the captain's direction.
He then aimed upwards and shot a warning shot.
"Heck! The cops will soon be here! Let's run, men!"
"Aye, Capt'n!"
"This way!"
The soldier and Takashimi ran away, too.
They reached a blue Honda parked there.
The engine was running
The soldier used his key to unlock it and both climbed in.
He quickly sped away as Takashimi sighed.
"There must've been another system on place!" He grumbled.
"Guess that they were careful, indeed…"
"I still can't figure out what that wannabe wants to do…"
"Wannabe?"
"He pretends to be a Captain but knows nothing about ships!"
"Guess that he landed there through some connection!"
"Surely! The previous Captain falling ill is no "accident"…"
"When was that?"
"A month ago, more or less…"
"I see. And that's when he "fortified" a cargo hold…"
"We used to carry car and truck parts, but then…"
"He suddenly brought in mysterious cargo…"
"If it was simple canned crab, there's no need for that security!"
"Agreed…"
"And then there's that odd "project name" that I found…"
"What was it?"
"GOD-ODIN…"
"God-Odin? Odin… The Norse God, father of Thor?"
"Guess that…"
"Feels like that man, indeed…"
"And these talks about relocating crew to another ship must be a lie…"
"Surely. Keeps the greedy fools and drives out rational folk…"
"That's why I tipped you off, because I wanted to protect myself…!"
"It's a logical choice. We also wanted data on what happens there…"
"How did you set your eyes on it, anyway?"
"The business that absorbed the one that owned this ship…"
"It's a cover for the mafia?"
"More or less…"
"Heck. Then it must be hard drugs!"
"Which is why we'll run a forensic analysis on this can, and…"
He quickly veered to the right as machinegun fire cut through the air.
"Machineguns!?" The driver cursed.
He glanced at the sidemirror to see a green car chasing them.
He quickly turned to the right, into another street.
The green car drove past and vanished into the fog.
"Must want to ambush us at the exit. Too bad!"
He stopped and switched to reverse gear.
He drove out of the street and headed away.
They cut through some other streets and reached an avenue.
"Agreed! They are Mafia, alright!" Takashimi cursed.
"We'll head to the police station. They won't dare come there…"
"Let's hope that!"
"There…"
They soon reached the station and stopped at the entrance.
A policeman walked over to the driver, who opened the window.
The driver drew a wallet with an ID card inside.
"A Net Savior!?"
"Yes. Send warnings. There are armed men in the wharf…"
"R-roger, sir!"
He quickly opened the barrier, and the car drove inside.
They parked and both stepped out.
Two policemen walked over to them, followed by an Inspector.
"We'll talk inside. I don't trust the outside…"
"Roger that…"
"Who's there!? ID yourself!"
They saw a policeman rushing towards the outer perimeter.
A figure ran away, and something hit the floor, bouncing and rolling.
"Cover!"
A grenade detonated a few meters away but did no major damage.
"We're lucky that it didn't hit the gas tank of a car!"
"Heck! Let's head inside and call for the SWAT!"
The group rushed inside and Takashimi panted, startled.
"I'll tell anything that you want to know! So please protect me!"
"Calm down. We'll take care of that, young man…"
"What have I done to deserve this!?"
"It's not your fault. Dangerous forces are involved…"
"Dangerous, indeed!"
21:51 PM (Japan Time)…
"… By all the bloody…! Excuse the language, sir, but…"
"I don't mind, Raika. No time to that, either…"
Raika was talking with the soldier over his PET.
He was sitting inside of a meeting room.
"Now we can be sure that they're hiding something there…"
"But feels too obvious, sir. Isn't it a dead end, sir?" He argued.
"Anything will do at this point…"
"I see. Pretend that we believe that it's important…"
"And lure them into becoming overconfident, prone to mistakes…"
"It could work, yes…"
"Take note of that "God-Odin" thing. Might be a lie, but…"
"Maybe it's a new type of weapon, even…"
"Or an improvement of those robots…"
"Those heaps of junk! They've been popping across the Middle East…"
"I know. As you know, some have hit military facilities across Sharo…"
"I know. And they also have hit NATO bases across Europe…"
"What became of that odd cat, by the way?"
"Hasn't been seen ever since then…"
"Which means that we still can't tell if they're a threat or not…"
"Unfortunately…"
"Anyway. I'll stay here and coordinate things…"
"Roger. I'll talk to the Commissioner and ready to raid the ship…"
"Be careful. They're armed…"
"I am aware, sir. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a robot or two, too…"
"Better take reinforcements with you…"
"I know, sir. Enzan and I can handle it. We can also have others ready…"
"Good. Take nothing for granted…"
"Yes, sir. After dealing with that fool's random ideas…"
"You become used to it? I can see the why…"
"We made no progress with those schematics ever since last year…"
"While most have considered it a dead end, that's probably the goal…"
"Yes. Since we found a bunch of keywords hidden in the files…"
"What are they?"
"Search Man. Report…"
"Roger, Lord Raika…"
Search Man projected from the PET.
"They are "Snake Eater", "Useful Cells", "Freaks", "Muscle Maniac"…"
"What a crazy mix. I can't see any correlation…"
"We tried many possibilities, but we feel like we lack something…"
"Or you're overlooking something…"
"Yes. The answer is probably very simple, yet it eludes us…"
"Didn't something similar happen half a year ago?"
"Yes. It's possible that something is blinding us again…"
"Alright. Be on your toes, Raika…"
"Thank you, sir…"
"We'll be in contact…"
"Good evening, sir…"
22:08 PM (Japan Time)…
"… I did well to keep tabs on that ship…"
"Must be full of fake rum bottles…"
"Very funny…"
"But how do we lure them out?"
"That's the issue, Shadow Man…"
Dark Miyabi laid on the ground inside a dark and empty space.
He was looking out through two small holes on the wall.
He could see a pier with a ship docked on its left side.
Two drones flew over the pier, projecting cones of light downwards.
"To think that we'd meet our old friend, the fridge, here…"
"Save me your "poetry". You mean LARK-C, the paper company…"
"That sold fridges loaded with Viruses across Sharo…"
"This is probably another ploy apart from that bomber thing…"
"Cleaning Bomber… Worth a billion Z…"
"I'd love to send that to them and see their faces of dread…"
"Dread Man was busy…"
"Anyway. We must think of a more practical approach…"
"How about we tip off our friend, the Eight Ship Leap?"
"Yoshitsune… Well. Why not. Could work as a distraction…"
"And, in the meanwhile, we ice Barbarossa…"
"This isn't Pirates of the Caribbean…"
"And throw the rum overboard to drive them to despair…"
"Fine. Have it your way…"
"They are careful, though. Invisible drones over the decks, too…"
"But they can't deal with these analog tricks…"
"Exactly. It drives them up the walls…"
"And it makes the hammers hum on them…"
"I still fail to see the point of it, and… Whatever. Matters not…"
"Let me guess. The Capt'n is the disgraced cousin of Deep Kabase…"
"Very original… Patent it…"
"Anyway. I agree that this must be a big deal…"
"What also concerns me is how that freak has been quiet…"
"I know. Guess that it's learnt how to use the head…"
"Which makes it more dangerous…"
"True. Next time, it'll be deadlier…"
Miyabi quickly sat up as a faint sound of a small bell rang out.
"The trap that I laid out on the ground floor backdoor…"
"Given how this building is abandoned…"
"Then it's no dweller…"
He quickly walked over to a rectangular, plastic water container.
He stepped atop it and pushed open a hatch on the ceiling.
He grabbed two handles on the wall and pushed himself upwards.
He closed the hatch and ran across the rooftop.
He reached a fire bar and used it to slide to the ground.
He slightly opened a manhole but then headed away, leaving it open.
An explosion rang out from the topmost floor of the building.
"A grenade… It's no amateur…"
"Must be the same that tried to attack a police station a while ago…"
"That man. Who else?"
He rushed away, next to the adjacent building.
He opened another manhole and left it open.
He then pulled a plastic tarp covering a bicycle.
He folded it and hid it beneath a heap of trash.
Another explosion rang out.
"Is still sweeping the floors of the building. Good for us…"
He also retrieved a folded black raincoat and covered himself with it.
He rode away as more explosions rang out.
"There! The sewers! Let's corner the man!"
The "Captain" issued orders to his men.
"Good. I knew that those fools would bite the bait…"
"And be reeled into the dwelling of a giant crocodile…"
"Sure, sure…"
He pedaled away and reached a major avenue.
Light rain had begun to fall, and people unfolded their umbrellas.
"Contact Needle Man through the D Channel and inform Yuriko…"
"Delighted…"
Miyabi eventually reached a bicycle parking and stored his bicycle.
He walked some meters away and headed for a dark house.
He walked to behind it and climbed over the wall.
He opened the backdoor and locked it behind him.
"Let's rest. We need to be ready to raid that ship…"
08:17 AM (Japan Time), Sunday February the 19th…
"… That Tesla! Does she think that she's the master of memes!?"
"It's hardly a surprise at this point, isn't it? Charlie…"
"I know, but…!"
"Humans are complicated…"
"It's an endless loop! I'll go mad! Is that what she wants!?"
"Don't ask me. Ask her…"
Airstar growled as he piloted the chopper.
Gyro Man was as unimpressed as ever.
"… "Charlie's Harlem of Carnage"… What kind of title is that!?"
"Dunno. Ask her…"
"I would! If I could! But she's always jumping from place to place!"
"Last time, they almost caught her in Shinjuku, Tokyo…"
"I guess that she'll keep playing the game of cat and mouse there!"
"But it's not like she comes attack you, right?"
"I know, but…!"
"Then I don't see what the issue is…"
"Humans are complicated!" He growled.
"See? In that, we agree…"
"I need an anti-Tesla spray!"
"Ask a genius chemist to make it…"
"I know! By all the bloody…!"
He sighed and shook his head.
"Why is it always me?"
"… I see. I did detect high levels of stress yesterday, but…"
Gyro Man crossed his arms, as if he'd noticed something.
"I did notice that most passengers were young couples…"
"Naturally! It was St. Valentine's!"
"And?"
"Everyone was there, showing off their "good fortune"!"
"But isn't that something immaterial and unquantifiable?"
"Doesn't matter to me! Feels like they're taunting me!"
"Isn't that an "inferiority complex"?"
"Maybe!"
"Boy. Today's going to be a long day, I can tell it…"
"Whatever. Let's tune into some radio station! Some pop music!"
He turned on the radio and switched to a random station.
Comfortable music rang out and his mood improved.
"Been a while since I heard this one!"
He hummed it as he looked at the city spreading beneath him.
He frowned as he saw a billboard atop a building's rooftop.
"What! "Shinra Electric Power Company"!?"
"Isn't that a reference to that Rufus man that we fought?"
"Sure is! I'll contact the Net Police about it…"
"Wise move. Let's avoid being dragged into trouble…"
"Agreed! Had enough last time!"
He sighed and shook his head.
"Let's get out of here!"
08:33 AM (Japan Time)…
"… This is the place. An abandoned building…"
"Reeks of a trap, sir…"
"I know, Prism Man. We'll begin by scouting the location…"
"Roger, sir…"
"Ready the scout drones…"
"Right away!"
Misaki and some officers looked up at a 5-story abandoned building.
The windows were boarded with wooden planks.
The entrance was sealed with bricks and concrete.
The officers formed a cordon to keep others away from the site.
"The business that owned it went bankrupt last year…"
An officer read up from a tablet.
"It was bought last month by "SEPC Inc" and meant to become offices…"
"SEPC? Shinra Electric Power Company… Classical!"
"The previous owner was a maker of syringes…"
"Syringes… Reeks of Clark's involvement…" Misaki muttered.
"The owner was a certain "Tsuda Seto"…"
"Wait. Meijin told me about that before… Prism Man!"
"Yes, sir. Checking records…"
Prism Man quickly went over the records.
"It's a joke on the actor Mr. Tsuda and the character Kaiba Seto…"
"Proved. Clark owned the previous business…"
"But why bother to bankrupt it and make another one?"
"Probably to hide it from automated search engines such as ours…"
"I see. Since they also cross-examine names to see if they're jokes…"
"SEPC can pass as a normal business name…"
"Makes sense, sir…"
"The drones are ready, sir…"
"Good. Let's begin…"
"… Are they searching for drugs?"
"Must be weapons smugglers…"
"Or maybe a wanted bank robber on the run…!"
"More like invading starvers!"
"What are those, anyway?"
Misaki glanced over his shoulder at a small group of onlookers.
There was a businesswoman with reading glasses and a black hat.
She also had a red trench coat over her clothes.
"Beware! It's the return of Clark, the invading starver!"
"I knew it! CLARK! I'll have you pay for that chagrin!"
Misaki suddenly called out to the onlookers.
The woman became furious and jumped over the "KEEP OUT" tape.
She ran for the building entrance, ignoring everyone else.
"Eat this fist! The chagrin of the Spatial Imperial Feast lunch box!"
She roared as she closed her right fist.
She hit the wall of bricks with all her might.
Her first "burst" through them and she lost her balance.
She fell and "tore" the wall on her wake.
"What in the…!?"
She fell inside of the lobby, and someone clapped.
"Bravo, Magnets. About time that you showed them how it's done!"
"Rufus Shinra!"
"Same one, Man Duped by the Woman in Black!"
"IT'S LAME!"
Rufus Shrina stood there, making a mock applause.
He looked over at Misaki and the officers and laughed at his stupid title.
The businesswoman hissed and managed to stand up.
Her hat had dropped, revealing her chestnut hair.
Her glasses had also broken, but they were fake to begin with.
It was Tesla Magnets herself.
"Want a piece of me? I'll be waiting upstairs, with Clark!"
"Wonderful! I'll turn you into canned buffalo meat!"
Rufus laughed as he ran upstairs, chased by her.
"T-the wall was a trompe l'oeil! An optical illusion!" An officer gasped.
"Which means that those boards are…?"
An officer looked up and flung a stone towards one of the windows.
The stone "tore" through the wooden boards and they gasped.
"The whole "sealed up building" is a farce!" He gasped.
There was a bang as the door to the rooftop was kicked open.
Rufus ran out, laughing, chased by Tesla, who had a survival knife.
Rufus walked backwards towards the right edge of the rooftop.
He then signaled his throat.
"Dare to do it? Do it! Show the world that you're Jess the Ripper!"
"I'll do that! And the world will fear me!"
She charged for him, but he laughed and dropped from the rooftop.
A jetpack became visible behind him and ignited to fly him away.
Tesla couldn't cancel her impulse and ran over the edge.
The officers quickly formed a circle and stretched their arms.
They caught her before she could hit the floor.
She dropped the knife from the shock and another officer grabbed it.
"Get lost, scum of the slums!"
Rufus formed a double-barreled shotgun and aimed at the onlookers.
They screamed and ran out in different directions.
Rufus dropped to the ground and ran towards a manhole.
It opened and he jumped down into the pit.
"Shit!"
Someone flung a grenade towards the group.
"Cover!"
They quickly took cover behind the patrol cars.
The grenade exploded a meter away from the cars, harming nobody.
"Same attacker as yesterday!" An officer cursed.
"Where's Magnets!?"
They saw a stunned officer and someone running away in a bicycle.
"Devil! Send a car after her, issue warnings, set up checkpoints!"
"R-roger!"
"What a morning!"
08:42 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Found it! This is the place!"
Tesla stopped the bicycle in an alley and glued her back to a wall.
She glanced over the corner at the street crossing before her.
The Sakurai and Hikari houses could be seen there.
"Fortunately, I came ready…"
She drew a black, long wig from inside the coat.
She also put on another set of fake glasses and a mask for the cold.
She additionally added an ID card hanging from the neck.
"… Maeda Sayoko, Ministry of Science (MOS) Security Officer…"
She giggled under her breath and walked out of the alley.
She climbed up the steps before the house and pressed the bell.
"Unfortunately, we do not want artists bothering us. You may leave…"
A man's voice rang out from the interphone, startling her.
"Artists!? I am a MOS officer, and…!"
"More like a fool that never paid attention in school…"
"What was that!?"
"Satellites are too small to hit the ground…"
"Satellites…?"
"You forgot the Yggdrasil Orbital Elevator Incident, I take it…"
She gasped and grimaced, sweating.
"I'd better flee before the angels come…"
"What "angels"!?"
"Charlie's Angels, but of course…" The voice chuckled.
"Charlie!? You're there!?"
She looked around, surprised.
The door unlocked and someone ran out.
"That's as far as you come, Tesla!"
"R-Rock Man!?"
Rock Man aimed his Rock Buster at her, and he was serious.
He pushed the door shut with his free hand.
"You'll have to make it past me, too, Magnets…"
"Dark Miyabi!?"
Miyabi appeared behind her, crossing his arms.
"You stole a police bicycle, equipped with a GPS tracker…"
"Mr. Misaki told us that you were headed this way…"
"And we readied a welcome committee…"
"Then that smart lass wannabe must be Ninja Man!"
"Shadow Man. If you'll do me the favor, Magnets…"
"Stinky Shadowy Murky Treachery Man!" She hissed.
"My. What titles. Almost like a European nobleman…"
"Whatever! Hand over the God-Odin!"
"Tell that to Rufus…" Rock Man shot back.
"What!? It wasn't Dr. Hikari's newest anti-Copy Roid weapon!?"
"Even if there was, he wouldn't use such a pointless "codename"…"
"I'll use my mighty fist to blow you out of the way! Like that wall!"
"It was a painting to begin with… Nothing "mighty" about it…"
"Bring out Yuriko! I'll send her back to her boss!"
"How? Clark is gone…"
"Not Clark! That Duo alien!"
"That thing must be light-years away by now…"
"Bring out Charlie! That insidious conspirer!"
"What has he done to you, anyway?" Rock Man sighed.
She hissed something undecipherable under her breath.
"Whatever! The bloody! Forever!"
"You're the one pestering him with your prank emails, anyway…"
"What? I don't send those! Right, Magnet Man?"
"Y-yes… There were no such orders…"
"Well. Guess that it was Rufus, then. No big deal…"
"Why, you! Ruffian Rufus!"
"Patent it…" Miyabi challenged.
"I'll kick his butt and send him flying into that clock in Ginza, Tokyo!"
"And you'll pay for the damages, I take it…" Rock Man sighed.
"Confess! Where's the secret entrance to the Assembly of Nihilo!?"
"The… what?" Both sighed.
"Clark's hideout, if we go by Shin Megami Tensei III…"
"Not that again. Had more than enough, two years ago!"
Miyabi was about to speak when a burst of water hit him from behind.
He was momentarily startled, and Rock Man gasped.
"Eat hose water!"
"Gauss Magnets!?"
"Father!?"
Gauss ran in, pulling a gardening hose and showering Miyabi with it.
Tesla took the chance to run away towards an open manhole.
Gauss drew a grenade and pulled out the safety pin.
He flung it into the air and Rock Man aimed at it.
"Rock Buster!"
He shot at it and burst it, releasing tear gas.
Miyabi coughed and covered his face with the right sleeve.
"Go!" He urged.
Rock Man nodded and rushed for the manhole.
A burst of pure light emerged and shot upwards.
Rock Man hissed and looked down into the hole.
"Heck. A "Dimensional Converter"…!"
"Gauss hasn't been idle, I take it!" Netto sighed over the radio.
"I know. Those two asides, what's going on now?"
"I guess that the authorities will soon fill you in…!"
Miyabi coughed as he tried to dispel what remained of the gas.
"Ma'am! Don't come out yet… This gas is annoying!"
"Dear me!" Haruka sighed.
A patrol car rushed down the street and Miyabi ran away.
"We'll meet again. Farewell!"
He jumped down into the pit and landed in the sewers.
Rock Man sighed and placed the manhole back on place.
"I can tell that it's going to be a heap of headaches!"
"You needn't tell me!"