Chapter 11: Operation Terror

07:09 AM (Japan Time), Friday July the 26th…

"… And I insist that this plan is over-contrived…"

"But this will help sell the name of the business!"

"We dispatch mercenaries, we're not…"

"Matters not. We'll pretend to be such mercs!"

"I still think that something will fail spectacularly…"

"Don't be so defeatist, Silver!"

"I am, Gold!"

Two men wearing mechanic overalls were arguing.

They stood next to an old steam locomotive.

Smoke emerged from the chimney.

"Else we wouldn't have taken two days to ready all!"

"Then again, why bother to snatch a gal and set her onboard?"

"If it's only material damage, nobody cares!"

"Why the hell am I sticking with you, anyway?"

"Because you also want to become part of the winners!"

"That and this are very different things!"

"Also… Being a steam locomotive, it can't be stopped by hacking!"

"I don't care about that right now!"

"And we sabotaged all railroad switches so that it's unopposed…"

"To then blow it up using the bomb that you loaded it with?"

"Exactly!"

"… Again. Why the hell am I sticking to this stupid plan?"

"Because you want to outsmart those bossy executives…"

"Outsmart and terrorism are two different things!"

"Well then, go broom the streets. I'll become a real executive!"

"Fine!"

"Silver" turned around to leave.

But "Gold" drew a Taser and hit the neck from behind.

"Silver" groaned and dropped to the ground.

"Too bad, Silver. I foresaw this, too!"

He drew handcuffs from his right pocket.

He loaded "Silver" into a corner of the locomotive's space.

There was a woman there, too.

She had a black bag over her head.

She wore a lab coat, an orange shirt, jeans and sneakers.

Her hands were tied behind her.

Her feet also had ropes tying them.

"Gold" also placed a bag over "Silver".

"Time for this one-way trip to Hell…!"

He checked a square bomb set in the center of the platform.

"Plenty of C4! Fatman would be proud!"

He began to fiddle with the levers and controls.

"All's ready!"

He lowered a lever, and the locomotive whistled.

He jumped down to the ground as it whistled and headed away…

07:18 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Director, sir! The railroad switches are all out of service!"

"How's that possible!?"

"Director, sir! The steam locomotive for exhibits has been engaged!"

"Ridiculous!"

"If we don't stop it, it's going to run into the station!"

"Devil! Order all trains to stop, evacuate the station!"

The railroads control center was a buzz of activity.

"Whom do we call to handle this, though? It's all analog sabotage!"

"The JSDF!"

"Roger!"

"But also call the Net Police, too. They might figure out something!"

"Understood, sir!"

"How much time do we have before it reaches the station!?"

"About… 25 minutes!"

"More than enough!"

"Roger, sir!"

"Refute any calls that aren't police or JSDF, too!"

"Right away, sir!"

"Dig up a manual of how to operate that locomotive, too!"

"We're on it, sir!"

"Good! Keep your cool! We can do it!"

"Understood, sir!"

"Go!"

07:24 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Attention to all passengers. This is an important message…"

"… Man. This summer is going to be hot, as always…"

"Such is life, man…"

"I know, but…"

"… You look sleepy, Charles!"

"What did you expect? I barely slept these last two days…"

"Cheer up! We're going to the sea…"

"I know, but…"

Several passengers were chatting in the train station.

Charles barely repressed a yawn and argued with Davis.

There was a burst of static coming from the speakers.

"Listen up, carefree morons!" A man laughed.

"Who the hell!?"

"Are you asking for a fight!?"

"Must be the hoodlums!"

"What are schools doing, anyway!?"

"What a decadence of morality!"

"You looked so bored, so I'm sending you fun!"

"Really. A day off?" Someone shot back.

"In a sense. Because this place will become a heap of rubble!"

"A terrorist!?"

"No way. Must be some hoodlum!"

"Go on, deny reality… And find yourselves in the Beyond!"

"This affair reeks…"

Charles was sharp away by now, rubbing his chin.

"Let's investigate it!"

"OK!"

He rushed towards a station attendant.

"Excuse me. I'm a "Net Savior". What's happening?"

He flashed his badge's hologram.

"A "Net Savior"!?"

"Yes. Do you know what happened?"

"No. We'd never had something like that before…"

"Can you bring me to the control center?"

"I'll talk about it with my supervisor. Please wait a minute, sir!"

"Naturally…"

The attendant drew a phone and dialed a number.

"Yes… It's as I told you, sir… Yes…"

He nodded in understanding.

"Sorry for the wait, sir. This way, sir!"

"OK!"

He followed the attendant.

They climbed up stairs to a higher floor.

The attendant knocked on the door "CONTROL CENTER".

"Come in!"

He opened the door, and Charles followed him.

"Excuse me. I'm a "Net Savior"…"

"Great timing, sir! The PA system has been hijacked!"

"But it's not like it's connected to the Internet, no?"

"No. But maybe someone set up the means to…"

"Alright. Plug In! Davis, Transmission!"

Davis entered the system.

There was a Mettool interacting with the control panel.

"… And then I'll become an executive that'll tell "fuck you" to…!"

"Wait. Let's let them loosen the tongue…" Charles whispered.

"Sure…"

"Chief! An order from the central railroad control center!"

"What?"

"It says to stop all trains going in and out, and to evacuate…!"

"Devil! A terrorist attack is coming!?"

"Possibly! I don't have more details!"

"… Look on! Mighty executives! For I am Gold Puma of DP!"

"DP…!? Deadly Pandora…?" Charles gasped.

"Weird. But they are a mercenary business, no?"

"Maybe this jerk is acting on his own!"

"… This is out of bounds! A mad steam locomotive heads here, sir!"

"By all the…"

"A steam locomotive!? Talk about retro!"

"Maybe it's to impede us from taking control of it…"

"Heck. Good point!"

"And the switches are locked, too! Can't alter its path!"

"Alright. We heard enough. Bust that pawn!"

"Delighted! Justice Punch!"

"HOW!"

Davis punched the Virus from the side, sending it flying away.

"Who the hell!?"

"A "Net Savior"!"

"Can't be! They're busy playing RPGs!"

"If you mean that stunt in Internet City, it ended two days ago!"

"What!? Thought that it'd last for a week's time!"

"Twilight wanted it to be brief and exciting, see!"

"That jerk! Don't see why Jade values him that much!"

"Jade… Jade Smith?"

"That's lame! Jade Panther!"

"And where is the man?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't need to call for his attention!"

"Whatever. We'll eventually find the man ourselves…"

"Nobody can stop that thing anymore!"

"… Wait. I had a flash of inspiration!" Charles gasped.

"Really?"

"What. Going to summon Exodia the Sealed One?"

"Gold" burst into laughter.

"No. I'll summon the local gorilla!" Charles shot back.

"Very funny, punk come from Los Angeles!"

"Too bad. I'm from Dakota!"

"Fine! Have it your way, Dakota cowboy!"

The Mettool fled and Davis scanned the area.

"No enemy signatures…"

"We're working on evacuating the station!"

"Keep at it. I'll go report to my bosses, too… Plug Out!"

Charles ran out of the control center.

He went over his contacts list.

He selected "HIKARI NETTO" from it and waited.

"… Charles? What's the matter?"

Netto answered, yawning.

"Wake up Ooyama. We need Guts Man!"

"What? Guts Man? What for?"

"No time to waste. It's an emergency!"

"A-alright!"

"I'll send you my PET link. He'll meet up with Davis here!"

"OK!"

He ended the call and began another.

"Omega. Do you have the materialization program?"

"Naturally…"

"We need a copy right now. I have a plan…"

"Interesting… I'll send it…"

"Thanks!"

"It's nothing…"

"Let's hurry!"

07:36 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Guts! I can see it coming!"

"You understand the plan? You need to stop it for a few seconds…"

"And then you'll board it and stop it?"

"Correct!"

"Roger! Guts!"

Guts Man and Davis stood next to a track.

The steam locomotive was heading for them at top speed.

"OK!"

Guts Man jumped into the track, forming spikes to stab the ground.

His body became bigger, and his arms extended forward.

A thick and tall concrete block also formed behind Guts Man.

"Guts! Come!"

The locomotive met Guts Man, and it rattled.

It momentarily jumped off track and landed again.

Guts Man roared as he pushed forward.

"Now!"

Davis jumped into the locomotive.

He found the two humans there along with the bomb.

"Shit. Meant to blow them along the machine!"

He formed a small antenna and set it atop it.

"But I deployed this jammer device. Can't detonate it!"

"Davis!" Guts Man called out.

"Almost there! Sigma!"

"My turn!"

Sigma landed there and carried the man.

Davis carried the woman.

Both jumped away from the locomotive.

Guts Man was starting to cede terrain.

"Alright! Let's kick it out of the rails!"

"I know! Your turn!"

A group of golden "Powy" flew for it.

They hit the flank with the underside.

The combined blow made it tilt.

It dropped to the ground with a shock.

"My turn!"

Omega rushed there and fumbled with the levers.

"I'm opening the safety valve to expel the steam!"

"Good. It'll eventually lose speed and come to a halt!"

"That "Gold" rascal underestimated our ability to improvise!"

"Probably doesn't know much about Navis, anyway!"

"This man is probably his accomplice. Let's take them to the police…"

"Sure. As for the woman, let's bring her to the police hospital…"

"I'll handle the bomb! I'll take it away and sink it in the ocean!"

Sigma tore the bomb from the ground.

"Wait. Remove the detonator and send it to Kir Osh for analysis!"

"Aye, aye! Right away!"

"And we'll find where the author is hiding!"

08:18 AM (Japan Time)…

"… GOOLLDDDDD!"

"Why! It's Saph the Sax!"

"What kind of name is that!? I'm Sapphire Kraken!"

"Nope! You're a moron that's been fired for being boring!"

"You're the one who's fired!"

"Gold" was meddling with a motorbike in a garage somewhere.

He was using a wireless headset as he worked on it.

A man roared over the line, but he wasn't surprised.

"Where's Silver!?"

"Must be shards by now!"

"Moron! The "Net Saviors" stopped the locomotive!"

"Ridiculous. It can't be hacked…"

"They can use Navis in the real world, too!"

"What? It wasn't that guy's monopoly?"

"No!"

"Whatever. Bomb must've taken them off. I did detonate it!"

"How can you be sure of it?"

"Because my plan is perfect!"

"Moron!"

"You're the moron! Outdated fatty bastard!"

"Say that again!"

"No need to. I've sent you a parting gift…"

"What are you talking about…!?"

The man on the other hand groaned.

"Shit! A Virus!?"

"It's going to eat your money and plans!"

"Bastard! Son of a bitch!"

"See you! I'll ice Jade and become the new boss of the business!"

"Dream on!"

"Gold" ended the call and chuckled.

"It's going to spread to the phones of the others, too…"

He finished tweaking the engine.

"When Jade sees how stupid they are, he'll promote me…"

He swung a wrench as if it was a blade.

"But then I'll stab the man and take over the business!"

He laughed.

"Riches! Fame! Women! All that a man desires! Will be mine!"

He stored the tools in the toolbox.

He placed it inside of a cupboard.

He took his greasy gloves and replaced them with clean ones.

He put on a helmet.

He then opened the shutter.

"Going somewhere?"

"What!?"

"We are the "Net Saviors"!"

"The Dakota playboy wannabe!"

"If you must…"

Charles, Raika and Misaki stood before the shutter.

Several SWAT officers were on standby behind them.

Two police vans were parked behind them, too.

"We blocked all of the streets!"

"Shit!"

He drew a remote.

"Don't move! I set a bomb in the station, too!"

"Too late. We found it and disposed of it already…"

"I have one in the airport, too!"

"We found it in the garbage can since you acted suspiciously…"

"There's another in the oil refinery!"

"You tried to intrude, but gave up on it…"

"There's one in your lover's home, too!"

"Lover? Whose? Mine?"

"Who else!?"

"Too bad. I'm a lone cowboy, away from home!"

"Then… In that soldier's barracks!"

"Really. Did you travel to Sharo and back in the blink of an eye?"

"In that stupid-looking bastard's car!"

"Really. And where is my car?"

"You're so annoying! Get out of my way! I'm gonna become…!"

"Charge!"

The trio stepped away as the SWAT charged in.

The man tried to run away.

However, an officer flung a stun grenade over there.

The flash and bang stunned "Gold", who dropped to the ground.

The officers quickly secured him.

"Arrested!"

"That's cheating…! Fucking bastards…!"

"You're not one to lecture others!"

"We'll place you in a room next door to your buddy…"

"You can exchange yells the whole day…"

"What!? That coward is alive!? Fuck!"

An officer confiscated his phone.

He quickly turned it off.

"Let's bring it for analysis before they can destroy the data!"

"Affirmative!"

"I'll handle this…"

Charles stepped forward and received it.

"Good. We'll carry a dummy with us…"

Charles nodded in affirmation and rushed away.

"Search Man. Anything in the area?"

"No, sir. Zero deployed his network beforehand, but…"

"No signatures… I guess that Twilight doesn't care for this…"

"It's a man running amok. Hardly worth his time…"

"Must be busier playing virus buster!" "Gold" laughed.

"I see. You sent them a parting gift…"

"They must be rushing to the Apple Store in NYC for new stuff!"

"Sure, sure…"

"I'm a freaking genius!"

"Far from it, inferior mortal garbage…"

A familiar voice echoed from a nearby TV store.

The screens there displayed close-ups of Regal's face.

"Regal!?"

"I am the one who designed this plan to begin with…"

"What!?" Raika gasped.

"How else would such a fool gain the tools to do that?"

"I stole them from those bastards!"

"That's what your stupid ego made you believe…"

"Shit! Take your hands off me! Gonna strangle this fucker!"

"Enjoy the calm before the storm. The Black Knight is coming…"

"What? Which one? There's a heap of them!"

"The alien hovering our heads…" He laughed.

"Come on! That's a fake news about a secret alien satellite!"

"Maybe the man in black armor that comes out of a house…"

"Not Fire Emblem next…!" Raika grumbled.

Regal laughed before the TVs resumed their normal broadcast.

"Shit. As if we didn't have enough with Twilight and his accomplices…!"

"I'm gonna shatter your skulls!"

"Someone shut up this man before I go mad…!"

"The Black Knight…? I have a bad feeling about this…"

"I have to agree with you, Officer Misaki…!"