Another prequel chapter. In the next chapter, I will be incorporating elements of the tokusatsu show. This is just to get things started. Enjoy.
Phase 08.5 - Helheim: DJ Sagara's Busy Day
DJ Sagara was finishing up his last show of the day.
"And that's all for music. Now for the news. Okay, now I want to talk about the latest Kamen Rider on the block. BRRRRRAVO!"
Video footage of Colonel Eagleman transforming into Bravo.
"As you can see, he's a Kamen Rider of GHQ. And guess what? There's more of them. He talked to Gaim about how's there's a new division of GHQ that's entirely made of Kamen Riders. On one hand, it sounds like a badass division. On the other hand, it's GHQ. I'll be doing a online poll later on. You get to decide to see if GHQ Kamen Riders are awesome or we are in deep shit."
A small, squeaky voice just said damn, damn, damn.
"Last piece of news before I sign off. I have some clips of Oshima's 'Night of a 1000 LMFAOs. Some acts killed it."
Sounds of a man being murdered.
"Others... not so much."
Cricket sounds were heard.
"About a while ago, I had an online interview with the club owner about how who was his favorite stand-up act that night."
Sagara cuts to a webcam interview with the club owner.
"Well, I think I can honestly say my favorite was a kid named Shu Ouma."
"Shu Ouma?"
"Yes. His material was provocative as well as hilarious. Many people in that audience related to what he was saying. But I thought his imitation of Joe Pesci could us some work."
Cut to the webcast happening now.
"That last part made me laugh a bit. But clearly, if there was a winner, it was clearly Shu Ouma. Here's a clip of him onstage."
A video clip showing Shu Ouma sharing his experience with prison. Sagara laughs so much, he almost fell off his chair.
"Ho-ho-ho-holy crap. That was so good, I almost hurt myself. Nice one kid. Well, that's all the I have now. I'll be taking a week-long break due to some personal business I've got to take care of. I know this is a little unexpected, but I thought the same thing with what I gotta do. Don't worry."
DJ Sagara puts on a pair of black sunglasses, and speaks in an austrian voice.
"I'll be back."
The screen cuts to computer animations of title cards with effects with the middle of the screen spinning the last shot of DJ Sagara like a vinyl disc until it fades away. The screen goes dark slowly, indicating the webcast is over.
xxxxxx
Sagara was driving to GHQ's main headquarters located in the center of Tokyo. He recently had an e-mail sent to him by Segai. It had orders for him to report to headquarters by Keido's command. The subject line read 'Project Helheim.' Sagara knew what that meant, and proceeded to headquarters. He eventually made it. He went inside, and made it to an elevator. He pressed a button on the panel, but the button was nowhere to be seen by just anyone, but those involved in Project Helheim. As the elevator went down further than the last GHQ basement door, he was reminiscing a meeting he had with Gai Tsutsugami.
xxxxxx
(yesterday)
In a back corner of a local bar, Gai was waiting for Sagara to meet with him. Gai disguised himself with slight facial hair on his chin and inbetween his upper lip and nose, a pair of wire glasses, and a ponytail. He even wore contact lenses that gave his eyes a different color. He waited for 10 minutes before he saw Sagara asking a waitress the location of a certain table. He eventually spotted Gai.
"Yo. I wanna say how was Oshima, but somehow, I already know the answer to that."
"Then, I'll cut to the chase. Keido already beat us to the rock."
"Somehow, I knew that was going to happen."
"Any reason why you didn't tell us?"
"For the same reason for your elaborate getup. I needed a good cover. The more information I leak, the closer he is to smelling a rat. And Keido has every reason why he would think I would be a rat. We got history."
Gai was surprised by that last thing Sagara said.
"So were you two colleagues or...?"
"Actually, I hate his guts."
"So why work for him?"
"Like I told your benefactor, I got my reasons."
Gai felt he would get more information about Sagara's relationship with Keido.
"Fine. I won't ask anymore. But it still would've been helpful if he could have delayed. Even just for a bit."
"Well, right now he's too busy marvelling at the sheer magnificence of The Rock. That gives you and me a window of opportunity."
"I'm listening."
Sagara reached for his breast pocket on his shirt. What he took out was a data core. Sagara placed it on the table, and slid it over to Gai. Gai picked it up. Sagara then explained the digital contents of the data core.
"Inside of it contains top-level information. Some of it completely unknown even to the supreme commander of GHQ. However, here's the catch."
Gai listened to every word that came out of Sagara.
"I had to encrypt the data while I was copying it from the independent servers. I had to hide my tracks while Keido was occupied. Not to mention Segai has one hell of a hunting nose, if you know what I mean."
"Pretty much. Please go on."
"Do you have a skilled hacker in your group? Cause that's the only way you can access the data."
"Yes we do. She's pretty good at what she does. No to mention her tech is custom-made. It helped us a lot in many of our operations."
"Tell her when she's done decrypting the data, the last step is to input the password."
"What is it?"
"Yggdrasil, with a captial 'Y.' That's all I can give you. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get some rest for my show tomorrow"
Sagara got up from his seat, but before he could leave, Gai spoke to him one last time.
"When you said that you were doing this out of loyalty, who are you loyal to, DJ Sagara?"
"I thought you of all people should know, Triton."
Gai was startled when Sagara said Triton. Nobody called him for a long time. Sagara got out through the front entrance of the bar, walked all the way to the back of it, and then stood for a while until little wisps of light appeared around him. Then, in a large burst of light, he disappeared.
xxxxxx
The elevator stopped at the hidden destination. What was in front of Sagara was a long corridor with round lights at the bottom, lining up to a a thick glass automated slide door with a card reader on the side. Sagara walked to the door for about six minutes. He internally remarked about the cooridor.
'When this was built, someone must have asked if this was really necessary. I mean, it takes me six minutes to walk a straight line. Most straight lines only take 1/6ths of that time. On some level, this is bullshit.'
Sagara eventually made it to the automated slide door, swiped his ID on the card reader, and authorized his entrance. What was in front of him was a huge underground facility. It was like a tropical rainforest with plant life that was not typical for similar environments you would find in South American or in some parts of Australia. It was as if the flora came from another world. Sagara, however, knew what this forest was called.
"Ah, Helheim. You're looking gorgeous as ever."
Sagara walked further into the forest until he was in the center of it. There he found Keido and Segai. Both of them were around an artificial tree that had roots that was proving the nutrients for the forest to grow on. The tree had samples of the meteor rock that gave birth to the Apocalypse Virus, which then converted it into the same nutrients that allowed the Helheim forest to thrive underground. The center of the tree was an empty cylindrical holder. Where it was only known to these three men, and their benefactors. Keido spoke to Sagara.
"Good, you're finally here."
"I came as soon as you called, sort of. By the way, how was your trip?"
Keido smiled a bit.
"Not too bad. Came back with a nice souvenir."
He held up the canister that held The Rock. Segai spoke with curiosity.
"So, here it is. The Rock that started everything. May I ask what purpose will it play in your plan, sir?"
"With The Rock in our possession, we can finally begin. Project Helheim can officially begin. Everyone infected with the Apocalypse Virus will see their infection taken on a new form."
Sagara spoke about the possible outcome that this will bring.
"You do realize that what we want to happen will probably not going to happen?"
"I've taken every precaution for any unseen contingency we might encounter. If we have to, we'll burn the whole place if it gets out of hand."
Segai whistled at the extremes Keido was going to take just to keep the whole thing a secret.
"I'm surprised, Keido. All this just to keep the top brass out of the loop. Still, I think that doesn't have to happen. If we managed to secure The Rock without anyone knowing, then I say so far, everything is going according to plan."
"Indeed. I agree."
Sagara saw that he was clearly outnumbered.
"Fine. Go for it."
With that last word, Keido could finally go ahead with Project Helheim. Near the artificial tree was a touchscreen panel. He placed his hand on it, and it recognized his prints. The center of the tree opened up. Keido then placed the canister holding The Rock inside the center of the tree. As soon as he did that, the artificial tree closed up, and started to glow. It acted like a transmitter, and The Rock was the final component. Segai began to ask some questions regarding Project Helheim.
"I'm a little curious as to how this tree is a part of this project."
Sagara explained the point of the project as clearly as he could.
"Let's see if I remember it right. This tree, as well as this forest, was created due to researching how the Apocalypse Virus reacts to the DNA and RNA of every lifeform that exists on this planet. From plants to insects/arachnid, reptiles and mammals, and then finally humans. What this does first is spread the molecular particles that make up the virus round the country. Right now, this is a trial test, so we're spreading them around Tokyo."
Keido spoke next, detailing the next intended step.
"The Helheim forest will spread the molecules to the food and water of the city. From what is being grown to the grass and crops that is current being feed to livestock. Even the marine life will have virus particles on them."
"So, this project is merely setting the stage for something bigger?"
Keido looked at Segai for being quick on the uptake.
"Precisely."
"And the tree?"
"Sagara's creation."
"Basically, you're looking at the world's first technorganic tree."
Segai was surprised by what Sagara had created.
"What makes it organic is that this can perform photosynthesis, but it produces the virus particles. What makes it a machine is as soon as it was fully grown, it was linked up to the internal network here, in this greenhouse. The tree processes the Apocalypse Virus samples that is given to the plants in this greenhouse, collects the data to the servers here, and analyzes the data to genetically engineer the virus to be dormant in a host."
"Once that is done, our strategically placed emitters located in covert positions will then scatter the virus particles onto Tokyo's food and water supply. While at the same time will produce a spontaneous mutation on those already infected with the virus. It will cause a radical change on a genetic level."
Segai asked Keido one last question.
"What kind of change are we talking about?"
"Do you see all the vines around us?"
Segai looked at the vines and saw some kind of fruit attached to them.
"The crystal-like infection will mutate into the vines you see around you."
Sagara spoke next.
"What made the Inves we command obey us was a computer chip we implanted into their skulls during their capture. Right now, there's so few of them. Like in the hundreds. What this will do will multiply out Inves forces by the thousands, and make them genetically predisposed to obey us. So yeah, that's the whole point of Project Helheim."
Segai looked at the two scientists and the forest around him not with horror, but with awe.
"I have to admit gentlemen. There's a certain kind of complex majesty I enjoy from all this."
All of them looked at the artificial tree pulsating horizontal rows of light through the tree as it was producing the virus particles and emitting them into the vents at the top of the greenhouse. It traveled through the various tubes leading just outside various water purification plants, food processing centers, and even to hospitals treating victims of the Apocalypse Virus.
xxxxxx
Inside a hospital, several screams were heard in the special wards where they treat victims of the Apocalypse Virus. When some of the nurses and doctors heard the screams, they ran to see what was causing them pain. What they all saw was utterly shocking.
xxxxxx
Gai was in his room, was trying to remember who DJ Sagara was. Only a few people from his past knew his former name. Then he heard knocking on his door. He got up to answer it. It was Shibungi, and he looked worried.
"What's the situation?"
"You better come with me to see this."
Gai followed Shibungi to the computer monitors in the center of the library meeting room. HE showed Gai the news report of victims of the Apocalypse Virus suddenly developing organic vines with fruit on their bodies where the crystal infection used to be. There were even cases where civilians not infected with the virus suddenly sprouting vines from their body. All of them were in excruciating pain as the vines felt like they were violently sucking the life out of them.
"What could this mean?"
Gai looked at Shibungi like he was asking him a question. Gai then reached for his pocket and pulled out the data core that Sagara gave to him.
"Get Tsugumi to come here. I have something that I need her to do."
"Roger that, Gai."
Shibungi went to look for Tsugumi. Gai was alone for a while, thinking on the situation.
'DJ Sagara. Just who are you?'
And that is it. Don't forget to review when you are done. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Ja nee.