“Kaiden, Chiyo, are you there?”
“We’re here, Jaxon,” the infiltrator answered. “Where are you?”
“In the main hall. We ran into an assassin, but she’s being dealt with,” he replied.
Flynn looked at the assassin, who was now bound in a net provided by Indre. “Are you sure that’ll hold her?”
“She is unarmed,” Genos reminded him and held a drive up. “She had this on her. According to my EI, it contains considerable information.”
“It seems foolish that they would let their members carry something like that around,” Indre commented.
“I intended to take care of these madmen myself,” Yvette responded, her gaze focused downward.
“She’s conscious already?” Flynn asked. “Tough, isn’t she?”
The agent knelt beside her. “Why would you want to take down your own employers?”
“I’m not here by choice or for the credits. I was made an offer and I am expendable,” she muttered. “Once I had the opportunity, I intended to deal with them—to bring an army. Bastion had the connections.”
“You can still be of use,” Genos suggested and crouched next to Indre. “If those who extorted you are such frightening beings, what you know could be invaluable.”
She looked at them and although she tried to maintain a stoic façade, the Tsuna noted fear. “I won’t have the chance to say any—” Her eyes bulged. Indre reacted instinctively and shoved herself and Genos aside as Yvette threw her head back. An explosion destroyed the top of her helmet and blood oozed out like a trickling waterfall from the cracked remains of the headgear before the body toppled.
Dario sighed as he put the tablet away and made his way to the hangar. It really was most unfortunate that his charms weren’t enough. He would simply have to make do with the golems now. The warning lights were all that illuminated the hall and he moved from a bright red to darkness. Blood dripped as he continued to walk, and his smile faltered for a moment. Merrick would probably be rather annoyed at this turn of events. He might lose a little of the trust he had in him and there would certainly be no celebratory drinks with nothing to celebrate.
His smile returned faintly. Perhaps Merrick wouldn’t have anything to celebrate. But as he looked at the wounds he had sustained and felt the adrenaline that still pumped through him, he knew he certainly did.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Chiyo, are you close?” Jaxon asked once he and his group had returned to the starting point.
“Quite close.” The response didn’t come from the comms but from his left. Kaiden was currently down to virtually only his underlay and held up by the infiltrator, who was also missing most of her armor.
“Friends, what happened to you?” Genos asked, concerned as he rushed over to help Chiyo support her partner.
The ace noticed the blood and stab wound in the mechanist’s chest. “I could ask the same, Genos.” He chuckled and pointed to the wound. “Are you all right?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. I’ve treated it with rejuv serum until I can have it attended to properly,” the Tsuna assured him. “Unfortunately, we were unable to secure much data. We were interrupted by an assassin before the alarms sounded.”
“Yeah, that’s my fault,” he admitted.
Flynn sighed and slouched a little as he studied Kaiden. “Aw, come on, mate. What did you do this time?”
“I didn’t shoot someone fast enough.” He grunted. “Do we have a way out of here? I don’t think the elevator is an option.”
“Maybe not the traditional way,” Indre stated and brandished a hook. “I’ll climb up there and open the entrance. I have a Zeppelin I’ll send down that will carry you up.”
“I don’t think we have much time,” Genos remarked with a hasty survey of their surroundings. “Most detonation sequences are meant to purge a facility. It may take time to condense the energy, but once the explosion happens, it is extremely powerful.”
“Then I recommend you have the ship ready,” the agent countered and hooked herself to one of the cables in the shaft. “I’ll be done in no time.” She shinnied up the cable to the top.
“You know, she’s amazingly calm considering the imminent death happening around us,” Flynn noted.
“I think we all understand that panicking wouldn’t be helpful right now,” Jaxon replied.
“I’m desensitized, really,” Kaiden admitted. “I’ve faced death about four times so far this year and a couple of times last year. I’m getting used to it.”
“It might be a side effect of the realism of the Animus,” Genos suggested as he held his tablet with his free hand and proceeded to boot the ship up. “We have all gotten used to violence.”
“Still, I’d rather not go out like this. Amber would find a way to bring me back simply to kill me again.” The marksman approached the elevator doors, stuck his head in, and looked up. “Hey, Indre, are you done yet?”
“Yeah, it’s open. Chill for a second, would you? I’m sending the Zeppelin down.”
Flynn stepped back as a floating orb with a handle on the bottom lowered within reach. He motioned Kaiden over. “You first, Kai. You’re the most injured one here, which means you’ll be the slowest.”
“I’m fine,” the ace protested and tried to straighten before Jaxon stepped up and poked a finger into his ribs. “Ow! What are you—”
“That was enough to harm you?” the Tsuna asked and studied him. The knowing scrutiny made him look away sheepishly. “Please get on the Zeppelin. It’s one at a time and you’re holding up the rest.”
Kaiden sighed, nodded, and limped over to the device. “See you all up top,” he promised with a wave as the Zeppelin pulled him up.
Chiyo watched him go, a little tense with worry. Genos moved closer and held out a closed hand. “Friend Chiyo, I’m not sure what you were able to find, but we got this from the assassin.” He opened the hand to reveal a drive, which she took. “The assassin said she herself planned to target the group at some point, but she was killed remotely a few minutes after we defeated her.”
She nodded and stowed the drive in her remaining compartment. “Thank you, Genos. Hopefully, this means we can finally track down whoever did this.”
“Were you able to find any leads?” he asked.
She thought of what her partner had asked Dario about the Arbiter Organization. The only time she had heard the name was as a rumor of a shadowy cabal, one that most thought of as fiction or a long-dormant organization. “I may have something,” she said tentatively. “But I need to see what’s on here and ask some questions first.”
“Do you think we can make it out in time, Genos?” Kaiden asked from the co-pilot’s seat. “To miss the rubble and stuff. There’s no use surviving if Julio will kill me anyway.”
“I’m sure we will make it out of the immediate area in time,” the Tsuna assured him as he finished checking the controls. “If any debris reaches us, I will make sure to avoid it.”
“Thanks, Gee.” He sighed, leaned back, and regarded his friend with new respect. “You know, even with the serum, you’re taking that wound like a champ.”
“I believe she aimed for our equivalent of the heart,” he replied and eased the ship up. “Fortunately, it’s not in the identical place as that of humans. It’s more centered for us. Still, it hurts quite badly, I must say.”
“Do you want me to take over?”
“You seem to be in worse shape, friend Kaiden,” the mechanist noted, banked the ship toward the sky, and began the exit flight.
“That’s a fair point.” He sighed and tucked his arms closer together to apply pressure.
“Also, I believe I could lose an entire arm and still be a better pilot than you,” Genos stated cheerfully.
Kaiden scowled. “Flynn has taught you bad things.”
“It’s merely an observation,” the Tsuna responded as he pulled the booster switch down and launched the ship upward. “If you would like to observe the explosion, yo
u can look at this monitor—”
“Kaiden?” Chiyo walked into the cockpit and he turned to look at her. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Sure, what do you need?”
She glanced Genos. “I hoped we could be alone.”
The pilot nodded. “Oh, certainly, friend Chiyo. I can activate the autopilot and—” He stopped when the ace clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“I think she’s asking me to go with her, but I appreciate it.” He stood and followed her out of the cockpit and past the other team members in the bay, all of whom now took their armor off and checked their weapons. The vessel shuddered when the facility erupted beneath them. Kaiden caught himself against a wall and waited to hear any odd noises or bumps. He sighed with relief when none came. The duo entered the spare room and he sagged onto the bench. “What’s up, Chi?”
She showed him the drive. “Genos said they recovered this from their attacker. I took a quick look and it has considerable material on her previous employers.”
“The guys who ran that place? That’s great,” Kaiden responded enthusiastically. “That means we can dig something up to help your dad, right? I was worried this might have all been a bust.”
“Kaiden, what is the Arbiter Organization?” she asked bluntly.
He looked at her and scratched his head, a little nonplussed by the forthright question. “All that stuff? It’s something Laurie told me about. They might be the guys after me.”
“After you?”
“I’m not sure if I’m top priority anymore but… You know what? It’s a long ride so I might as well tell you everything.”
She sat opposite him and he took a deep breath before he began the explanation. He told her about the glitches in the Animus during his first year, including the Asiton that attacked them during the Death Match, which were possibly all orchestrated by the AO to investigate him and the Animus. How Gin was probably brought in by them, in the first place, and that they were potentially the ones trying to take Mirai over and working on the golems.
Chiyo was silent through it all, almost motionless as she took in all the details. When he was finished, she simply sat and stared at the drive. “This has become…much larger than I could have imagined.”
“And we didn’t think it would be an easy thing at all,” he agreed. “I didn’t bring it up because it’s all still only guesswork. Laurie and Sasha both seem to believe they are real, but whether they’re simply a group using the name or the actual organization that’s been dormant all this time, they couldn’t say.”
“Will you go after them?” she asked and caught him off guard.
“What? I mean… Not right now, if that’s what you’re—”
“No, I mean at all.” She turned to face him. “Will you go after this organization if that’s who this is?”
“Chi, whether it is or isn’t them, they have to be stopped,” Kaiden stated. “We still have to find a way to do that.”
“We’ve bought time by destroying that facility,” she pointed out. “I’m sure that officials will come to investigate what happened due to the explosion. Even if they have more, I’m sure that’s stalled their production of those golems. As for my father…” She looked at the device again. “I’m sure there’s something on here I can send to him. With his connections, he will have no problem preparing for them for the time being. We’ve accomplished what I wanted to do, Kaiden. I’m worried about what you want to do.”
“Worried? Chi, I’m reckless, not suicidal,” he chided. “I don’t even know where their main base is or anything like…” He trailed off and his attention drifted to the device. “It’s on there, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure, but there are several locations mapped on here,” she confirmed. “But I don’t want you to go after them. You can’t.” Her words grew quieter as she looked down and clutched the drive harder.
“You’ll break it,” he warned and placed his hand over hers. “Chiyo, even if I didn’t want to go after them, it’s very clear that they are all about me and really want Chief for whatever reason.”
“Could you get rid of—” She didn’t finish her sentence, but Kaiden could understand. He didn’t feel anger at the suggestion or even think it was ludicrous. He looked at her and recognized the very evident fear and concern. Something had really shaken her.
“Chi, look at me.” She looked up and he held her gaze. “Go ahead and show her, Chief.”
His HUD activated and she examined it for a moment. “They aren’t EI contacts like yours. That’s Chief himself,” he explained, and her eyes widened. “After Gin’s attack on the Animus, Chief had to do…something that basically fused him to my mind. Without him, I’m essentially braindead.”
Chiyo gasped. “How is that even possible?”
“Chief can give you the rundown of the techno-jargon. But Laurie himself isn’t completely sure,” the ace admitted. “I would have had a hard time getting rid of Chief before now. As it stands, it is essentially impossible.”
She looked away again and chuckled wryly. “You’ve had to keep a lot of secrets, haven’t you?”
“I actually didn’t know about it until the day you asked me to help you with this,” he revealed. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it myself. But I wanted you to know about it so you will understand when I say I can’t simply try to forget about these guys. They seem to have big plans and as a merc, I’ll probably have to clean up after them anyway.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “And like I said, they are after me and the Academy for whatever reason. I can’t simply turn away. I’m not trying to be a hero or anything like that. Hell, I would even say it’s for completely selfish reasons. I already lost a place I called home and lost people I cared about. I won’t let that happen again.”
“I suppose I can relate,” she conceded and tried to smile when she looked at him again. “I also feel like I lost a place I called home. But the only person I cared about whom I lost was my mother—before I could really get to know her—and I have so few memories.” She turned her closed fist, opened it, and took his hand that rested above it. “I’m scared of losing you.”
Kaiden looked at their entwined hands for a moment, then offered her a smile. “Not to make light of this, but we all are in the industry of death and destruction.”
For a moment, he worried when her smile dropped, but she began to laugh. “I suppose so. But I worry that if you should ever fall, I won’t be there to help.”
“I doubt I’d get the chance,” he responded, leaned back against the wall, and drew her closer. “I’m actually tired of the secrets and all that. I’ll go after them, Chi. I don’t know when, exactly, but I won’t wait around for them to come to me. That didn’t turn out so well last time.”
“I understand.” Chiyo sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “I need to stop them too.”
He blinked for a moment before he laughed out loud. “Was all this simply a roundabout way to ask me to take you with me?”
“I suppose so,” she confessed and grinned at him. “Will you?”
“Obviously, I always need a good hacker on the team,” he replied. “And…well, I fight harder with you around.”
“Same here,” she said. After a moment, she turned and took out the Genesis device. “Do you want to see what’s on here?”
He nodded. “Go ahead.”
She placed the drive into the device and a holoscreen activated to display dozens of folders. All were cryptically marked, but she instantly opened one that revealed a map. Excitement shivered through him when dots appeared. “Oh, yeah. We can certainly use this.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Sir, I brought them,” Rei informed him and walked into the room with four men dressed in white coats. “These are the best and brightest in the cyber detective sector. They will have no problem finding out who—”
“I already know who has targeted us, Rei,” Gendo responded and continued to read the document on his screen.
>
“Really, sir? You found out who the culprits are?” she asked.
“There is a facility here in Tokyo—twenty-two miles from this building in fact.” He gestured to send the document to Rei and the detectives. “They are the ones who are responsible.”
“Where did you find this, sir?” one of the detectives asked.
“I didn’t. My daughter did.” He stood from his desk.
“Chiyo?” Rei asked, shocked.
“We’ll investigate this right away. Let’s go,” the leader of the group ordered, and they filed quickly out of the room. Gendo walked to his favorite spot and looked out at the cityscape below. “It’s quite unbelievable isn’t it?”
Rei moved closer to the document and studied it carefully. “Chiyo was always a gifted hacker, but to find this is—”
“She is still looking out for us,” Gendo whispered. “After everything.”
“Sorry, sir?”
He turned to her. “It’s nothing, Rei. Keep the security increased until this has been resolved. This is to be only a temporary fix for now.”
“Understood. I’ll let the others know,” she said with a bow and turned to depart.
He held a hand out. “One more thing, Rei.”
“Yes, sir?”
“I want you to make a donation to that Academy and send a message along with it.”
Dario removed one of his nano arms, looked at the socket on it, and recalled briefly how he’d lost it. He glanced at the other arm, already replaced by his normal artificial limb. He had lost them both in one battle and almost died that day. It had been one of the few times he really had to outthink and maneuver an opponent. During his fight with Kaiden and Chiyo today, he could hear his own heart beating so rapidly and so rhythmically that he could almost dance to it. It was sublime.
“Sir, the leader is calling.”
He attached the other arm, turned, and activated the pad on the table. Merrick appeared onscreen.
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