Deadly Pandora
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Motorbikes & plots
09:49 AM (Honolulu Time), Monday June the 2nd, 2008…
"… So! Sapphire, my lad. Did you get "those"?"
"Yeah, Jade… And stop calling me "lad": it makes me look like a guy who isn't even 20 yet!"
"My bad."
An unidentified man was sitting in an armchair having green leather body and equally green cushions placed inside of an office room: only the back of the chair was visible and it had the Alphabet letter "J" drawn there in a purplish color.
The room included a marble desk having an open Toshiba laptop, some paper sheets with annotations and a granite ashtray having a cigar on it, which was letting out smoke: it was still being used.
The room's walls were plain steel filled with satellite photos of several locations across the world, which seemed to be military complexes: other photos included advanced-looking planes and helicopters plus docks having battle ships and submarines docked on them.
A plain steel door marked the entry and exit of the room.
The man was speaking with someone else through a cell phone and sounded in a good mood: the sound of waves crashing on the shore and of seagulls could be heard on the background of the call.
"Ah! Whatever! I just can't take that word seriously enough!"
"So? When do we get them?"
"Huh? Ah. We should have them by Thursday."
"Good. The operation can be carried out next weekend. Heh, heh, heh."
"Sure, sure."
"Did Ruby and Emerald do a good job convincing the supplier?"
"Yeah. And since we left a fake name behind then they won't be able to trace them to us…"
"Good. I've assigned a total of 3 scouts in "Point Alpha" just to make sure they haven't noticed anything…"
"I still think it's a waste of time, Jade. Why would those guys let it out on public about any preparations or expectations…?"
"They're that type of guys… They will allow their frustration to rise and voice it aloud…"
"Fine. If you say so… I'm glad you finally decided to rename that guy of the "Admin" batch… Marble sounded lame as a codename."
"Heh, heh, heh. I know. Platinum's better."
"Whatever. We'll get there before Wednesday. See ya."
"OK. Good luck."
The man, Jade, ended the call and left the cell-phone on the table before picking the cigar and kept on smoking a bit more of it: a small fan in the ceiling dumped out the smoke.
"Heh, heh, heh."
A buzzer rang out so he checked the laptop: a pop-up with the message "VISITOR INCOMING" had shown up along with the buttons "DENY" and "ALLOW": he pressed the second and the door unlocked.
"Good morning, Mr. Jade."
"Ah! Doctor."
"Dr. Yoru Yami, yeah… So! We got the stuff?"
"Yes. We go there on Saturday."
"Excellent!"
The newcomer, Dr. Yoru Yami, was a man about a meter and eighty tall who looked on his mid 20s.
His hair was blond and neatly combed yet his eyes' irises were blood red: he had a smug smile on his face.
He simply wore a black suit, a black necktie, a white shirt, black pants and brown shoes: he looked like your everyday salary-man.
"IQ – sama will soon rise to power again!" The newcomer sneered.
"By the way! Is that "show" of yours progressing?"
"Heh! My five agents keep on going for organized hits there and there: four of them organize some big ruckus while one of them heads to the real target taking profit of the others being distracted battling the group of four… Heh, heh, heh!" Dr. Yoru described.
"Yes. But I meant…" Jade interjected.
"Ah! My bad, Danna, my bad… Yeah. The lil show, which will keep them busy on the days to come, is 90% ready. I'm just pending some final touches but that'll be all."
"Excellent."
"Isn't it? What do the scouts report?"
"Well. Our targets are busy enough and no surprise seeing the time of the year it is… The general air is filled with tension and some increasing annoyance at your field tactics, Doctor." Jade reported.
"Heh! That treacherous venomous worm must be about to boil out his damned brains by now. It's been almost 10 months since your initials surfaced but they haven't got a single clue! They've searched the underground across the world in vain!"
"True. I'm too smart to be found and given how I come from an unusual background then… They can't begin to imagine it!"
"Heh, heh, heh. These months from mid-January to now must've been dull-paced… Chaos and terror are about to begin! Heh, heh, heh!"
15:19 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday June the 3rd…
Question 1: When did the Cuban Missile Crisis happen? What led to it, and how was it resolved?
Hikari Netto, aged fourteen, was thinking.
He was sitting inside of his middle school classroom: he kept his hair as always and kept on sporting his bandana.
He looked like he was over a meter and sixty by now.
Huff. Last exam of the day… And 2nd day of exams already…! This week is gonna be ENDLESS.
He dared a glance at his back and spotted his elder twin brother, Saito.
The main difference between him and Netto was the symmetric-like hair and his green emerald eyes as well as his facial features.
Saito was one or two inches taller than him, too.
He was immersed in his exam as well.
Back to work!
Netto quickly resumed looking at his paper sheet and started to write down the answer.
"The Cuban Missile Crisis happened in the autumn of the year 1962, when the Soviet Sharo and Cuban governments began to build missile bases in the island of Cuba. Ameroupe military reconnaissance planes spotted the construction and made it public. The Ameroupe government dictated a quarantine of the island to ensure that there wouldn't be shipment of missile components. After tense negotiations, both governments reached an agreement: the Sharo government would dismantle the bases, and the Ameroupe government would never invade the island of Cuba. It was one of the tensest points of the Cold War, and it's often regarded as the moment in which the world was in the brink of a nuclear war."
Well. I'm just supposed to give an overall explanation to prove I know the basic concept. Let's keep on!
16:15 PM (Japan Time)…
RRRRRINNNGGGG
The school bell rang and there was a chorus of sighs all across the classroom.
"Leave the exams on my desk." The History teacher ordered.
All of the students made three queues and walked towards the desk where they left their sheets on top of it facedown: the teacher stored them inside of a suitcase before departing the classroom.
"Phew! I thought I'd never be done with them." Netto sighed in relief and stretched.
"International history is something, eh?" Saito commented.
"Well! I think I did pretty well." Sakurai Meiru commented while walking over to them.
"And what do you think about it, Yaito – chan?"
"Heh, heh, heh! It wasn't that hard if you knew the basic answer to the questions." Ayanokouji Yaito replied with a smile.
"If you study for them… Then you can pass them." Hikawa Tooru added.
"Uh… Damn…" Ooyama Dekao looked down.
"I guess he didn't prepare it well." Saito guessed.
"I guess so." Netto smiled.
"But it ain't until Friday that the "E days" end..." Yaito announced while rolling her eyes and looking resigned.
"The terrible and deadly… Exam Days." Netto announced in a hushed and sinister tone.
"It's totally worth the nickname." Saito nodded in agreement.
They climbed down into the hall and opened the lockers to retrieve and interchange the shoes and to pick their Link PETs.
The lockers have a Plug-In port, which allows the Navis to jump straight into Internet City after passing through the institute's homepage as well as a charger to make sure they don't run out of battery… Talk about cool lockers! Netto "told" Saito.
Sure. Let's pick up and see what Blood Shadow and Sigma tell us.
"Meiru – chan! How did it go?" Roll EXE asked her.
"Good enough. Let's get home to prepare the next ones." Meiru replied.
"Good afternoon, guys!"
A Navi appeared on Netto's Link PET and projected with the hologram.
This Navi was about two meters tall and colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area.
This spheroid seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.
His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other did: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.
Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand, which was easily over a meter tall.
Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.
"Hullo, Sigma! What's up?" Netto asked.
"Huff! Those jerks keep on playing "divide and conquer"… We had to go tackle them in Chile of all places!"
"Sure…"
"Come out, Blood, and tell us more." Saito requested.
A second Navi projected from Saito's Link PET, which was colored green and white to distinguish it from Netto's.
The Navi looked about the same height as Saito: his main color of choice was red.
He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.
His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.
A device covered his right forearm colored red coupled with a piece of it, which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.
"And their real goal was Taiwan: Cloud Man hit a bank there and stole about 5 million which he then split into countless pieces and distributed them at random. They're trying to play Robin Hood, I guess."
"Gauss already did it back when his debut 'long Magnet Man in November, 2004… Do we know if Twilight's back or not?" Netto sighed.
"We're not sure yet." Sigma admitted.
"Is Anaya Maria still in the Louisiana prison?"
"Yeah. Izono Marco and here haven't moved from there. She keeps on being smug and all and all attempts to have them tell us who the hell "KO", the guy we've been looking for during 10 months, is."
"That Twilight guy…! He tried to fool me into becoming a villain!" Meiru fumed.
"Well… More like…" Roll began to argue back.
"Chut! Not 'ere!" Yaito warned.
"It would not be wise." Glyde warned.
"Huh? What's this talk about?" Dekao frowned.
"Guts, guts? Twin light? De guts?"
"No, not "Twin light"! Twilight! Towairaito!" Blood Shadow corrected.
"Desu… Guts Man can't hear?" Ice Man looked annoyed.
"Guess he listens with just one ear." Hikawa muttered.
"By the way, Tooru – kun!"
"Yeah, Netto – kun?"
"Can we go play with you some Wii games on Friday?" Saito asked.
"Sure. I won't make it easy!" He challenged.
The group cheerily walked out of the institute but failed to spot a figure riding a motorbike and parked close by.
The driver carried a helmet with a curious sticker: a gazelle colored red.
The visor from the bike helmet hid his face but he was seemingly speaking through a mike.
"… This is Red: I'm reporting from Zone S." The man announced in Japanese.
"This is Crystal: I copy you, Red. Report." Another man replied, also in Japanese.
"Nothing unusual… Just like last week…"
"Did the directional microphone catch anything?"
"Not yet. Wait… Hmmm… They're discussing about Robin Hood."
"Ah. That must be the newest raid by our "Neo Gospel" colleagues."
"Now they play Robin Hood?"
"It's but a disguise to make them think we're fooling around and not being serious: we want them to focus their attention there before we can carry out a strategy."
"Oho. That sounds cool."
"Olive will relieve you at 18 hours. Make sure to stay away from suspicious slow-moving cars. Over and out. Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh…"
16:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"…bridging the gap between worlds with the Road of Saints and carving a Sacred Pathway for the Holy Chariots to cross…"
"DRAGON HELL! Stop purposely getting into the central hub and having your voice echo: you're driving me MAD! And what you really mean instead of that kilometric speech is "a new bridge has been opened with the road to cross over a gap so that cars can use that road"…! GO COOK SOMETHING EATABLE OR THE ANGER GOD WILL REAP YOUR SOUL ALONG WITH THAT OF MASTER CONFUCIUS!"
A man had been sitting in a black metallic armchair inside of a room somewhere when an echoing calm voice rang out so he began to grumble and finally exploded from the build-up annoyance.
"Boss? Anything new?"
"Apart from Dragon?"
"And apart from the clowns."
"Nothing!"
A Net Navi walked into the room at a slow and steady pace.
He was about one meter and eighty tall.
A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet, which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.
His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.
He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.
"Have we searched the right place?"
"Of course we have, Omega! That guy had to be from the underground!"
The man turned his armchair around to face Omega.
He looked on his mid – twenties, had messy jet-black hair and red eye irises.
He wore a grayish armor made of several plates joined together of an unknown material and two swords sheaths were attached to his black belt.
His arms and legs were also covered in plating and he had boots and gloves of the same material.
A purple ragged, stained and torn cape hung from the back of the shoulders and reached all the way to the floor.
"Hum… But…"
"No "buts"!"
The room they were inside of was shaped like a dome: the ground had the general form of the Hikari emblem although the straight line and the pyramid-like bases were placed at the north and south ends instead of being in the north-west and southeast ends like in Netto's bandana.
There were two half-hexagon spots, which had been built such that the ground was thirty centimeters lower and covered, in a grid-like material.
The corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk through and it had a small hole from which a rail originated around the middle point of it: it extended forward until it reached the spot where the man's armchair (which had a purple Alphabet "V" drawn behind it) was at.
A closed hatch could be seen set on the ceiling directly above this middle spot.
The far end had a control console a group of 3 LCD screens set in a curved manner over the console: the room had some circular LED lights (like the ones in traffic lights) set on the walls forming figures.
"But maybe he wasn't from the underground?" Omega looked like he had his doubts.
"Oh yeah? Where from, then? Enlighten me!"
"Cool it, Boss."
"GRHTXKJT!"
"We don't need Martian V 4.55, thank you very much, Mr. Vadous."
"Well?"
"Maybe he was some small corporate guy who was… eh… well. Who used the "services" the underground provided with but eventually realized "IQ – sama" was a woman and not a man as everyone was led to believe in the first place?" Omega suggested.
"By all the… Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I've told you at least twice per month but you always shrugged it off: I did tell Colonel Talos and he ran some searches but without anything specific to narrow them down then…"
"Huff! The only thing we know is that their initials are "KO" but we're not sure of the nationality or age. But maybe it's a guy on the 40s or 50s to begin with…" Vadous grumbled.
"By the way… About Regal…"
"What did the jerk do this time around?"
"He's been finally made to pack and go to Maebashi City in the Gunma Prefecture back in March… They noticed that the only thing he did was provoke and such they wanted him away from here…"
"Huff! About damned time."
"Yeah, I know. I'll go try to find any clues to see if I can predict where they will strike next… Maybe Shadow Man knows something."
"Fine. I'll try to shake Dragon off too."
Omega walked out while sighing: Vadous grumbled under his breath and stood up to pace around the armchair.
"Damn it, Maria! You and your smug face…! I want to erase that smug grin from your face already! This isn't over! Not yet! Damn you!"
17:03 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Well! It was nice to know everything's fine over here… By the way, is Count Elec around, Maha Jarama?"
"I believe so."
"I saw him going into the back-store…"
A customer had come to Maha Ichiban's and had been talking with Maha Jarama while sitting in one of the stools in front of the counter.
This customer could be about a meter and seventy-five in height but his age was around his early 20s.
He had messy silver hair, which spread slightly backwards and formed some spikes: his eyes' irises were blue.
His clothes consisted on a navy blue overcoat that had a central silver button about the waist: the coat then opened to expose his legs although it covered the rear of them.
He wore a black shirt beneath the overcoat plus black fingerless gloves on his hands: he also sported black jeans and sneakers.
The right shoulder contained blackish armor with an orange-colored edge and a silver button right over it, which seemed to help it be gripped to the shoulder: three circles were then drawn on his right sleeve before a triangular piece of armor expanded over the hand: its main body was black too and it had orange edges.
His PET was colored silver and brown and had an emblem: it was a perfect golden-colored cross, which was drawn inside of a silver circle having a brownish edge.
"Oh yeah! Rock 'n roll!"
"Count Elec…!" Elec Man could be heard sighing.
"The usual show." Iroaya Madoi muttered as she came in.
"Tee, heh, heh." Colored Man giggled.
"I WANNA BEAT FREEZE MAN!" Hinoken roared from somewhere else close by.
"Hinoken – sama…!" Fire Man sounded exasperated.
"Go, Dave."
"Jeez. Davis! My name is Davis, Charles!"
His Navi projected from the PET: the body suit was colored in a deep brown color and he was about a meter and eighty tall.
His eyes' irises were chestnut brown and his face seemed to be shaped after a man on his early 20s: he currently displayed some annoyance, which they didn't bother to conceal.
His helmet's color was red and so were his boots and forearms: the helmet had the kanji for "seigi" or "justice" written in a golden coloring vertically across his forehead's height.
The Navi seemed to wear a vest over his chest armor colored silver and having bronze edges: the vest also had the Alphabet character "D" colored golden set on each side of its body.
His arms contained four thin brownish stripes running down the north, south, west and east side of them until they drew four circles around the wrist: his forearms had extra armor over it colored in a grayish color plus a small red dome inside of each palm.
The legs' length had been designed to include a network of patterns interconnected by some nodes, which were reminiscent of human nerves: the boots' front edge was shaped like a triangle and so was the heel: they apparently served as close-quarters combat weapons.
Overall, he looked young and agile.
"Oi! Count Elec! They wouldn't have accepted that funny hair of yours in the cavalry!" Davis called out, having fixed his humor a bit.
Charles was already standing and heading for the door.
"WHAT? I'll teach you yet! By damnation! Eat Rock 'n Roll!"
Charles ran out as Count Elec's classical guitar flew out of the storeroom's open door and hit the floor next to the entrance: he stepped out while stomping the floor and looking annoyed.
"Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh."
"Huh? Oh my God! Dr. Wily – sama!"
Dr. Wily happened to be seating in the furthest seat along with Dark Miyabi: he looked amused while Miyabi was serious.
"So! Soul of Freddie Mercury: have you awakened?" Shadow Man came up with a joke of his own.
"WHAT? T-this JERK!"
"Heh, heh, heh… Heh, heh, heh!"
"Shadow Man… Why can't you ever stay quiet?"
"Who knows, Miyabi? Although… Some stuff is floating around."
"… That was LAME." Miyabi growled.
"Hrum. Totally." Wily turned serious.
"By the way… What about your foster daughter?"
"Oh, Yuriko. Well. She behaves and all: she's helping everyone out and always fulfilling all that the community service sentence says… Needle Man is cooperative too: guess he doesn't want to leave Yuriko and is behaving so… I'm glad they sent Regal away: he was always trying to place the whole blame on me and only brought trouble around just be appearing there and showing his hide…"
"True. Let's hope some isolation will have him cool down a bit: he's still under monitoring and his passport is still confiscated to prevent him from exiting Japan."
"Regal…! It's been over 3 years and you still won't admit you've got to accept punishment for your acts! Stubborn foster son…!"
"Let's hope he behaves…"
17:11 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Puku! Heh, heh, heh! De puku!"
"What's with the good mood?"
"Huh! You're Thunder Man, de puku!"
"Yeah. What's with the good mood, huh?"
"Hah! Bubble Man –sama's newest invention: the Boom Bubble!"
"Boom Bubble? Sounds so lame…"
"Totally, Raoul…"
Thunder Man stumbled upon Bubble Man in Internet City chuckling and, when he questioned him, Bubble Man merely grinned at him while boasting: Raoul looked skeptical and so did Thunder Man.
"Bah. Let's ignore them and try to find any trace of the "Neo Gospel" guys around here just in case… That guy can't do anything with their master being sealed in that tomb so…"
Thunder Man headed away but failed to notice Darkloid Swallow Man standing atop a building and looking towards him.
"Heh, heh, heh. You moron. You fail to look at the most obvious spot to begin with! It ain't like this is Coruscant where there are billions of hiding places… Heh, heh, heh!" He chuckled.
"Swallow Man. Twilight – sama just told me: we're going to make a proper display of power next weekend. Heh, heh. heh."
"Oho. Nice to hear, Cosmo Man… Freeze Man – sama must be in pretty good mood by now too… Twilight – sama IS a genius!"
"Of course he is! Mwah, hah, hah! Cloud Man tells ya that!"
"Hum! Let the campaign begin with terror and chaos! Yamato Man has spoken! And his words will soon become reality!"
Heh, heh, heh. Look on! Soon enough…! Heh, heh, heh! Heh, heh, heh!
