Railus looked pleased as a roar of intimidation echoed through the canyons of the apartment buildings and stung my eardrums. I reacted in the last way possible and fired a round right into one the spider monster's eye. Taking a chance with my last magazine's rounds, I saw it jerk back and then whip its head away like a child getting poked by a classmate with a screech. As it came back down, I let off three more, two landings, and my feet did the rest bolting away in fast withdraw. Dokugumon's long screeching continued as it craned its neck up momentarily blinded whipping its head around and clutching its face with its clawed hands! Good enough! 'What are you doing?!' Railius yelled as I cleared the corner in the distance of my hearing, 'Kill him already!'
My stride was long and rapid right through the center of the street, escape and evade was my only chance now. I visualized straight lines through my paths, obstacles, and cover for the shortest distance. Back alleys and parkways were my only routes, narrow areas where it could not get me. An open manhole would be a blessing. I cleared blocks in under a dozen seconds, if someone had watched me blow past I was clearing my under five minutes to the mile record. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the creature barrel around the corner and scream rage at me, the sharp cry hurting my ears as I cut a street corner in a leap onto the other street. I slid over a hood of a Honda as it scuttled after me to catch up, keeping my momentum and putting everything I could between me and it. It moved quickly, gaining fast but I was nimble darting between vehicles and streetlights. It reared its ass-end up and shot a long thick strand of webbing up onto a high building, picked itself up off the ground, and swung towards me to scoop me off the street. I shifted right, stepped on the hood of a car and flipped over, missing a swiping arm as it sailed up into the air, growling at me as it missed. ~*'Acid blast!'*~ I heard the monster cry out.
I looked up and out from its mouth in a spit came a watermelon-sized glob of green slime at me at high speed. I juked right on a strained ankle pivot and dove for good measure into a roll. I ground my shoulder into the cement, the glob flying past as I sprung back into my run. The biological projectile crashed to the ground, smoke boiling off the roadway. It burned right through the cement with ease, a few splatters burning holes in my jacket melting it just the same. Before it could hit my skin, I ripped it off and threw it away as the sleeve was dissolved like the street. I cut down another alley as it landed against a wall high up in a building. It pressed down and then sprang off to dive onto me. My mind saw where he was going to land; just ahead to cut me off. I changed my trajectory, saw another half wall, jumped up on it and sprang sideways back towards the street tucking my feet in. The large creature landed where I would have stood as I twisted in midair. My feet ended off planting on the large skull symbol on his back for a moment, leaping off again with my own momentum. It sprawled around trying to get me, flipping sideways itself over on its back but I missed all the scrambling greasy-haired legs and hands all at once. It growled frustrated as I hit the roof of a car on my left side, rolled and landed back on the roadway in a full dash. ~*'Web Net!'*~ It called out again.
I looked over as it bent its disgusting rear section over, the spindle sack at the end of its ass point right at me. It seemed to bulge up and then explode in a wet bulb of webbing, my eyes wide at what that was going to do. I threw my arm to my left, kicked off the ground, and corkscrewed through the air due to my speed. One glob whipping past me and three more right behind it. My body contorted as I too was yelling out in adrenaline-fuelled determination, my legs flipping over and the last one gliding past between the Y of my legs and body. The attacks slammed into cars, the bundles exploding out in large nets that cocooned them to the ground they were parked on. My feet hit the ground, I stumbled for a second grating my hand up the street instead of my forehead before dashing away. The monster kicked to its feet, traversing the vehicles and hot on my heels. I threw my arm back and fired a few bullets in a wild aim for me, still managing to land a few hits in its face again. They bounced off the mask, making him only angrier as it barrelled into a parked car with a slam and a burst of safety glass. I swerved into an alleyway, narrowed enough for me and hopefully not for it. Too bad my rash turn between two buildings netted me a dead end by a twenty-foot steel fence barrier.
I skidded to a stop and tried to get back onto a street before I heard a roar and then something hit me in the back like a swipe. It kicked me like a car accident. I felt my back explode into pain as I was lifted off the ground. I soared up, flailing around in a yell as I slapped off a dumpster. I skidded across the pavement, rolled sideways, and stumbled to my feet. My pistol came up, but a ball of web caught my fist and sealed it in a cocoon of white that burned my hand with a dull heat. A second caught my shoulder, spinning me around as the weight doubled there pulling me down. A third hit me dead center in the chest, lifting me off the alleyway and sent me a second time up into the air. I hit the fence, rattling off the chain-link ten feet off the ground. Suspended, I felt the crushing tense webbing against my chest start to harden, breathing was almost impossible. The monster arachnid clawed its way towards me along the walls and ground, squeezing through the alleyway to get closer. I aggressively writhed around trying to break free, the guttural growling getting closer as I took my only free arm that had my knife to get loose. I started slashing at the webbing, sawing through the gap between my hand and the fence, the thick material like hot glue. That face, chomping mouth and stretching venom sack fangs edged closer as I hacked away. Dumpsters fell over, trash cans went flying, brick getting gouged out I slashed as hard as I could. It came within striking range and my last attempted cut wildly slashed out, slicing into the closest eye. It hit, sunk in an inch and the beast cried out angrily, rearing its head back and then chomping down on my knife arm. The two points of those mandibles punctured through my longsleeved shirt and flesh.
I yelled out in pain, blood pouring from my arm as bubbling green slime seeped out into it. My arm felt like it was catching fire going up to my shoulder, I ripped it away and felt the flesh tear itself in the process. In retaliation, my knife came back down in a hard stab with all my strength and embedded the knife into an eye. This time it stuck; the spider abomination threw its head back wildly trying to pull at the steel in one of its eyes. It fell out as my arm went limp, the sensation in it deadened and my brain suddenly went haywire with red and black flashes. The spider poised above me, the gouge there as well as the empty gaze of rage. The intent was clear of what was coming next, a wide-open mouth in drooling salivation nearing my head with a heated, putrid exhale blowing in my face. 'See...you...in hell.' I spat my last words.
~*'VENGEFUL DAGGERS!'*~ I heard a voice yell out from above me.
A dozen throwing daggers shot down from above my head, trailing purple light behind each pummel and drove themselves deep into the entire middle, back end and face of the monster. It squirmed out screaming in pain as a flash of something in what looked like leather-clad armor and a whipping black canine tail out the back flashed past with a streak of steel and neon. The monster's face split in two in a perfect thin line and then without a second more sound burst into nothing but energized cubic particles. My head sagged down, the form wavering like a mirage before my very eyes. A hood covered its head, the tail scanned the ground in a wave as it lifted is slightly curved blade up and slid it into a hefty black leather scabbard on its back. As it turned to look at me, it seemed to have an elongated face like the muzzle of a dog and narrowed orange eyes looking up at me. That was about the last thing I remembered before darkness swallowed my consciousness.
I woke up with a gasp at the realization I was alive and in a bed. The ceiling of my apartment came into focus. I could tell from the white-tiled roof, black lines between them and the build in the globe ceiling light. I rose off my single captain-sized bunk bed against the wall, I groaned leaning up slowly as the covers came off my body in a slow slide. Desk was all there, the upgraded IBM computer, devoid of any papers for security reasons. Safe dial-equipped filing cabinets all around the room, organized and uniform. All full to the point I might need another soon. From the open window, I heard the city buzzing, the tweets of birds, and the sharp beeping of car horns breaking through the residential zone's static. The radio was playing the mundane day's news updates on traffic and the local story of the day. It was ten after twelve. I didn't hit the snooze button at my usual six in the morning. The light shone in bright through the blinds as I rubbed my eyes with my fingers. It couldn't have been a dream, could it? When I looked at my left arm, bandaged up with blood-stained white rappings, I was not lucky enough to think anymore it was just a nightmare.
The toll of last night's fight had taken over since the adrenaline was all gone, feeling it the second I tried getting out of bed. My fists were bruised, black splotches on the knuckles and I felt the sting of cuts, finding this thin red powder all over it that brushed away with just some wiping. My chest throbbed, a breath in had a sting to it each time with the creaking of my ribs. The back of my head was crusty, the cut there healed but left a brown stain on the white pillowcase. My spine tingled and if I leaned the wrong way I felt a jolt of lightning shoot up it. I rolled my legs over to the side; they were heavy as tree trunks from the sprinting. I felt groggy, my stomach was raw and churning cravings for food as I stood up. I held my stomach with my hand, feeling linen raps around it for my ribs or support. On the nightstand, there were a bunch of prescription pain killers, muscle relaxers and other first aid kit items that looked used. Primitive bowls scattered the nightstand as well, a mortar bowl with residual red grinded powders inside it. Someone did some medical work on me. Who? 'Wait outside I'll talk to him.' A voice from the living room probably answered the question, 'If he wakes up.'
I walked over to the door, seeing my pistol on the desk near the keyboard. It was mostly intact; the magazine was out and the slide was all the way locked back. There was a small pile of brass bullet casings there as well. Nine by nineteen Parabellum. I roughly counted the rounds, which added up to what I remember firing give or take a few. Even the empty magazines were there. My wrecked Kaybar was present, completely unusable with the melted gouges and bent tip. This is where one would think I'd reach for the pistol, load it and walk out to get my answers. Instead, I strolled on over to the heavy closet door and opened my sock drawer on my dresser. I fished my hand under it, finding the steel pistol grip of what I was looking for, and pulled out a very much loaded sawed-off pump-action shotgun. Japan had strict gun laws, but since I don't follow those ones in my line of work this was my personal choice for home defense. I pulled the action back lightly and indeed a bright red shell of buckshot was there. Good. With it in hand, I walked out of my bedroom into the living room.
I had a surprisingly good apartment by Japan's standards, lots of room even if I was here all by myself. I didn't have a lot of in the way of electronics. Just a basic TV, a stereo radio CD player on the shelf beside it, and a laser disk player next to it. I was more into the wall of bookshelves that rapped around the apartment where would have been a blank wall. I just preferred to read really. Some of them were in Japanese, some in English, some in Russian, a few in Cantonese and a handful in Farsi which was from the Middle East. I was a non-fiction buff along with some history texts, technology books and some on fishing and mountain climbing. The large bay windows in front of the main balcony were letting a little bit of the noon daylight in, the blinds casting horizontal beams of pale yellow across the room. Next to the couch was the person called Gennai, turning back to see me brandishing a shotgun in my hands. He looked a little nervous and that became concerned when I racked the action back and forward to that universal sound of chambering a shell and not my handgun I suspect. I looked a little haggard, sore and seeking answers which added to my understandably intimidating presentation. 'I'm going to keep this simple.' I spoke up finally, 'I have a few questions if you don't mind.'
'Not at all.' He offered looking between me and my weapon, 'Go on.'
'What the hell happened last night?' I held up a finger from the pump, 'Two, who the fuck are you and they are and last can you make a pot of coffee?'
Gennai looked up to think of a good way to answer all of that request, rolling through them carefully in his head. 'You staved off catastrophe for one.' He started, 'Two, they are what are trying to make it worse by the absolute horrifying means possible and lastly yes I can make an incredibly good cup of coffee.'
'Good because I might need to sit down for this.'
I turned to my open kitchen and started making myself breakfast, my shotgun never out of my reach and an eye to the person making the joe. Gennai worked with the coffee pot to the best of his ability, measuring the scoops of the beans for the grinder. I whipped up some eggs with chopsticks, heated up some precooked salmon to round it out. I came over and there was Gennai with two cups and a pot of the black stuff. I took a seat, placed the shotgun in my lap and started shoveling the food in. I didn't even look up as Gennai sat across from me, eating methodically between sips of coffee. 'Aren't you going to ask me anything Archer?' Gennai asked after a few moments.
'I'm eating.' I answered with a mouthful of food, 'Start with mundane stuff like who you are.'
While Gennai was sitting there completely perplexed at my actions, all of this was deliberate on my part. I was sitting across from him, I was keeping calm. I was playing it like it was any other day. It made him uneasy, it would likely make him start to just admit things. Then again, he might have looked human but if wacko the white-haired clown last night was any indication, he might just appear to be human and nothing else so who knew. It seemed to work, like he was trying to figure me out and finding nothing to see. His eyes kept darting to me and then down again like he was searching the table. 'Archer right?' He clarified glancing up from the table.
'Indeed.' I answered, 'Now give me my wallet back.'
'How did you know I had your wallet?'
'How else did you find my address or name?' I looked up briefly, 'Who are you since you I'm just as curious.'
Gennai flinched but as the wave of reason caught up with him, it explained a hell of a lot and he wouldn't have gotten in without my keys considering the door bolts on it. How he bypassed the alarm panel next to the door I would like to find out. Gennai produced my light tan leather wallet from inside his robes. I politely took it back, flipped through it and found everything still there, leaving it on the table next to my plate. 'To answer your question my name is Gennai.' He continued, 'I am the Leader of the Digital Order, a protector and Agent of balance to the Digital World.'
'So you're not from this plane of reality is that what you're telling me?' I wanted to clarify, 'Because you're differentiating the Digital World from this one am I hearing you right?'
'Didn't you notice the Digimon who attacked you?' Gennai was almost bewildered, 'What could you have thought it was?'
'I don't know.' I gave another shrug getting into the fish a little more, 'Head injury, drug hallucination or I finally snapped and now I'm full of happy juice in a psyche ward. Perception is reality after all in a lot of cases.'
As much as all that was hyperbolic, it was the only way to approach this and it was being methodological. Panicking or wide-eyed speculation wasn't going to help the clear intentions of that Railius guy last night at all. He didn't need to twirl his non-existent mustache to get his point across. I had to believe my senses, and all of this was reality shredding but I had to believe what I was experiencing to be real and genuine. My own mind had a full legal disposition of inquiry as to what I saw, how it worked and everything else physics-defying thing I had seen. It would have to wait because inquiry to another world was not the most pressing issue. 'Well they are as I am from the Digital World I assure you.' He continued, 'This might be hard to believe but there is a world in parallel with yours, a separate reality entirely comprised of nothing but digital information in physical form. It has been in existence for us for tens of thousands of years. For you maybe a few decades at most?'
I put my chopsticks down, placing them neatly in a row on the plate and even squaring them off to make it neat. I crossed my fingers, leaned in slowly and gave him an obvious look. 'Yes it does sound absolutely insane what you just said to me Gennai.' I answered dully, 'But unless I am on the most powerful drug concoction known to man and my senses were completely off up to and including this point, I'm going to go with the simpler option and believe you. Or until the drugs wear off. Who was the pale face clown and his posy?'
'That was Railius and he's a Fallen Agent.' Gennai answered grimly, 'Railius is the leader of the betrayers, those were just his crude clones, barely sentient puppets but very deadly to most. He's former Agent of the Order like myself but he and his followers were twisted by darkness and a want to replace the Digimon Masters.'
'Yes those were words Gennai.' I shook my head, 'Why you are still here talking to me anyway?'
'For one you may have saved my life by distracting Railius like you did.' Gennai continued, 'It was incredible you even survived those two and then the Dokugomon. I owed you at least the explanation and maybe...perhaps ask something of you.'
'Spit it out.' I allowed picking up the coffee.
'Who are you?'
I stopped mid-sip. I stared into the small pool of coffee, the dark liquid a suitable metaphor for my bitter vast void of existence. You can't look into it unless you were inside it and even then its almost impossible to see the answers you seek. My expression elevated above stern, he leaned away like he had offended me as the mug came back down onto the coaster. Good coffee though. 'That is a very dangerous question.' I replied succinctly.
'Why?' He pressed.
Okay Jay if you're going to say anything remember your briefing all those years ago. Vague but concise. Like that really meant anything. Anyone could spill their guts to anyone about working for whatever agency of the day. There was no mythical lightning to strike you down if you did. Just the hammer of the Judge Advocate General if they found out and that might as well be Thor bringing the thunder so to speak. It's the discipline, the silence and the subterfuge that kept people in my line of work alive. Since this guy could have killed me at any time instead of dragging me home, why not let on a little. See if I get more. 'My profession is dangerous and telling people about puts them at risk more than me.' I let go of the mug, 'If you looked at my wallet you'd just see another American living in Japan. An analyst at some mundane government office doesn't fit what you saw I'm sure.'
'You don't strike me as the office type that is for certain.' Gennai agreed.
'I'm a Captain in the US Military.' I stated as flat as my coffee was, 'I'm on loan to the Langley or NSA depending on who needs me.'
'You're a solider?' Gennai asked.
'For over a decade but I'm not running through deserts hunting SCUD missiles anymore.' I smiled, 'I solve problems before innocent people get killed by them these days. You are picking up what I'm laying down?'
Gennai looked hopeful for a moment, leaning in a little more. 'Then can you help me?' He asked with wide eyes.
I didn't answer for a moment, looking at him with a little harder question as to what he was about to ask. I survived last night from a lot of skill but all the Irish in history wouldn't come close to how lucky I was to live through that night. My arms crossed over, those bandage raps on my arms with the brown stained blotches there and the rest of my wounds came though where I bled as a reminder of my humility to what I experienced. While this was technically my job, saving the world from the monstrous people, not from actual litteral monsters. This was an entirely different animal with a much larger issue to deal with first. 'Help you?' I asked, 'How the fuck am I going to do that?'
'You saw what was happening last night!' Gennai insisted.
'I did.'
'And Railius is here to destroy all of Highton View Terrace by tonight which will lead to end of your world!'
'And how the hell am I going to prove that to anyone else?'
Gennai was on the verge of saying something but then caught himself as I stood up, plate in one hand and shotgun in the other. I had finished eating and this would be a suitable demonstration, simplified as it was among all my other questions I shoved to the side for the moment. 'My profession is far more about knowledge than simple ability.' I explain walking back to the kitchen, 'I wouldn't be standing here if I was simply good at punching holes in paper with lead or hand to hand combat. Being smarter than my adversaries is what keeps me breathing and gathering critical information is more important. As good as I am, none of it means anything if I can't prove a threat is real to anyone.'
'The threat is real Captain!' Gennai finally moved to my rank, 'Real as anything you've already seen!'
I turned on the faucet to the sink and nodded. 'I agree what I saw was real.' I admitted, 'But I'd bet if I were to turn on the TV, it would turn out no one else saw or heard anything last night.'
Gennai froze, eyes widening a little as he started to understand. Good. 'If I were to ask you to prove what I ate off this dish you'd just recall what I ate.' I explained further, 'Just a mundane explanation. If you did not see me eat but saw the plate after, you'd maybe spot the few grains of rice on it, flakes of the fish and smears of sauce. Deduction but still evidence-based.'
I put the plate under the hot water, put the shotgun down and scrubbed off the surface with a still soapy sponge. 'I didn't hear one siren outside or a news helicopter buzzing around.' I washed away, 'My alarm is the news as you heard, nothing about reported gunshots let alone a disturbance. I would have loved to hear a human-interest story about how cars were spider webbed to the street but you must have gotten rid of them.'
'I...did.' Gennai sighed in admittance.
'Chucked in the Shikaro River?'
'Correct.'
I pulled the plate up from the water, the white porcelain shiny and slick as the obvious metaphor to the now dismayed Order Agent. 'You cleaned the scene well.' I continued with my fork, 'And if I claim to an intelligence officer in Langley I got chased down the street by a giant spider after getting into a shootout with black robed monks from another dimension, I'd be laughed out all the way to the asylum.'
I dried off the plate as Gennai slowly ran his hands through his hair as my rationality thankfully was sinking in. This was just an exercise in critical thinking taken to its logical extreme with extreme claims. Even if you saw aliens and no one else did and no other evidence existed, you have to admit you didn't see aliens because there is no evidence of such a fantastical event. 'It would be like saying the fish I ate was a piece of the Lock Ness Monster and prepared for me by Princess Dianna.' I concluded putting the plate away, 'Its unbelievable.'
Gennai slumped into his seat slowly, light draining from his eyes with dismay as I came back around to the table. 'Captain I can't stop Railus's plans by myself!' He started to beg, 'I need help to stop the attack on Highton View Terrace!'
I sat back down on the chair and I held up both my hands to illustrate the injuries I had sustained. Gennai saw the grim point coming already as my arms fell back to the table. 'I'm really good at what I do and you saved me from that Dogkuga-whatever thing that was about to bite my head off.' I reminded, 'I owe you at least twice, I believe you but you want me to somehow help you have to give me something to work with.'
'I will do everything in my power to help save your world.' Gennai insisted, 'What do you need?'
Now we were getting somewhere. 'Does Railus have anyone I can point to or go after?' I leaned forward, 'How is he going to do this? Bombing? Nerve gas? Systematically execute everyone in the residential block? What?'
'Yes he has followers since he arrived a month ago which was before I did.' Gennai rushed, 'They call themselves the Datalists and they are just going to blow the entire city block up as far as I know.'
A single word sparked a thought in my head, eyes blinking shut of the snap shots of recalled thoughts. Rumors of new groups, plenty of pinned words on corkboards with faces of suspects. Raised threat levels of people who were nothing but amateurs a month before. Someone in passing mentioned it to me from last night. I stood out of my chair and walked over to the left side of the living room, Gennai standing following after. I reached the door next to my bedroom and opened it to my digital nerve center. 'You might be in luck.' I signaled him to follow.
The door opened after I punched in a code to a disarm panel on the wall. The door buzzed open, the magnetic lock disengaging and I walked inside the extra cold server filled room. Wall to wall were boxes with blinking lights and dozens of wires connecting them all together made by technicians way up on the ninth level of nerdy than I would ever want to be. In the middle of the room was a desk, three monitors and a keyboard with all of the leads paring down into the back of the heavy computer tower behind it. Beeps and whirring were going off all around but I flicked the monitor on and the screen booted up. I typed in the password as the robed being came into the room. 'What is---.'
'Remote server to a surveillance database.' I answered, 'Datalists. I heard that before.'
Gaining my access, I worked through case files and reports on people of interest out there we had been watching. A lot of it coming from governments who want to mess with our networks from afar or slicing in domestically but one group popping up seemed like a novelty before. Now it was the first thing on my mind. 'There were some hackers that have been popping up recently.' I answered, 'Some anarchists and malcontents, the usual that get swept up in it. They've been nothing to worry about until a month ago.'
'What happened?' He inched in further.
'Almost overnight these guys start hitting way harder encrypted sites.' I pulled up files, 'Hit banks, government servers and online accesses to major companies. Punching way above their weight but broke firewalls like nothing. Got away with millions of assets and then the transfers just disappeared. The only way they could was if they had some major influx of capital for some really high-end hardware suddenly.'
'What makes you think they are with Railius?'
'They act like a digital cult is why.' I answered flicking through a few people of interest, 'And now they talking about going completely digital. Sound like something your friend might preach?'
Gennai started to walk around the room a little more, reaching out to touch some of the wires with fascination, running his palms on the dusty tops of the server boxes and listening closely to the hums. I took a few careful looks back at him, curious to what he was doing. 'What?' I asked, 'Never seen computers before?'
'These make up my world.' Gennai answered joyfully, 'This alone would make a continent and probably does...which one?'
'I need you to focus.' I reminded, 'If I can find a lead on these guys and start shouting up some chains to get some attention, I might be able to help you.'
Gennai turned to me and saw some of the information flash across the screen, coming around the side and looking at the information flashing by. 'This is promising.' Gennai seemed to read lines that were not there, 'Best news I've seen yet.'
'I know of a local reporter that was doing an expose' on cults in Japan.' I isolated files to the local drive, 'He might know of these guys, worth a shot.'
'Why do you know about him?'
'Four months ago another cult bombed the Metro line in Tokyo with nerve gas.' I reminded him if he knew at all, 'I do my own homework, I don't always trust Langley to fill me in.'
'This is where the tide might turn.' Gennai spoke to himself.
'So we're clear I'm going to do my job Gennai and see if I can get to the bottom of this.' I assured, 'If I'm going to help and I run into this Railus or any more like him, I need something from you.'
'Go on.'
'I need a weapon of some kind that does more than cat scratches and poke holes if I run into his followers that aren't from this plane of reality.' I explained, 'That sword seemed to do the job; got something to spare?'
Gennai thought to himself, fingers on chin before the lightbulb went off on the top of his head. He reached behind his back and produced a small scabbard, looked like a dagger of sorts. Medieval style. He pulled it out and presented it to me, yup old school no frills narrow dual-edged dagger. Six inches long, leather strand thread grip and a shiny brass hilt and pummel. I twirled it to myself, through my fingers, and back into my palm with a flip. 'Not exactly my style of knife.' I remarked.
Gennai held his palm over top of my hand, a flashbulb of fluorescent blue that turned to deep red in the next second. The blade melted like molten plastic and I would have dropped it if it didn't snap back into a completely different shape under a few seconds. It became my knife from last night! The good old pig sticker Kaybar knife shone a light tinge of orange through the metal. I tossed it to myself a few times, measuring the balance on one finger. 'Try that next time.' Gennai offered with a smile, 'I'll see what else I can get. Use this if you need to communicate with me.'
In his other hand came a smaller device than I expected. It was a very rough bronze thing the size of a wristwatch without the arms. Crude screen in the middle of it like those stupid tomogochi games the kids had these days. There was a thick black stub antenna on it too, a few buttons on the side and the same symbols on it that were on Gennai's amulet. There was a small port on the side, looked like a headphone jack. 'It's a crude prototype but it will help me keep track of you.' He explained more, 'You can contact me with it by clicking the screen button when you have something.'
'This will take time.' I said going through files and compiling the information, 'I'll check in with you when I get a lead and I'll start barking up some chains. Might get lucky.'
'We will need it.' Gennai said heading towards the door, 'I will have my friend keep an eye on you.'
'Your friend?' I asked looking back, 'Who?'
'The one who saved your life.' Gennai said with a farewell glance.
'Hey wait a second who are you talking about?' I said getting up as a download was going.
As I made my way to the door a flash of light came and a snapping of discharging sparks went off. Everything electrical went haywire for a few seconds, screens and lights flickered. As I got to the door and through it, Gennai was gone with a distinct smell of ozone hanging in the air with small particles of white fading away. Then I smelt dusty fur.
You get used to feeling constancies and when disturbances happen. Could be the sounds of specific trees swaying, creaking of old logs, the loss of bird noise when someone approaches. The saying it is too quiet is a real thing. Situated in here the air came in a certain way, the colder air causing a draft of warmer air to come in causing a consistent slight breeze. The air stopped from behind me as I heard a phasing of energy-like noise and when I turned back I was staring right into the two orange eyes I had seen the night before.
The narrowed orange pupils honed in on me like beams from a laser, eye to eye it was slightly taller than me but the canine ears perked up over its head about a foot, pointed at the tips with thin black fur through holes in the fabric. The head was mostly cloaked over with an ash gray hood, hard black shadows covering over the face. It had a matching cloak that went almost to his waist from the body shape, dulled iron studs over the shoulders with a fitted plate attaching it to an armor piece. I skipped a foot back using a boxing juke to gain the distance, the being didn't even flinch. I further studied the human-like arms were crossed over, wrapped up in leather fabric with studded black leather gauntlets all the way up to his elbows. It was humanoid in shape, stood up straight like he was at attention. The chest was under some sort of tight blackened leather chest piece, two bandoleers of old kunai style throwing knives over all the pockets and pouches with what looked like little in them if anything. The armor continued with some rough leather tassets and front loincloth, hooked on with a lot of belts. The feet were digitigrade, the large paws clearly belonging to a wolf of some kind, the same short black hair all the way down to the curved claws at the toes shown. The tail swayed side to side, the arms unfolding to show the thick four fingers and thumb tipped off by a blunt claw. 'How did you get past me?' I pointed without missing a beat, 'That was impossible.'
Right before my eyes, he started to phase out of my sight, splitting into fragmented lines before snapping out of existence. I took a guess and whipped my head around, the same phenomenon happening except in reverse leaving him standing the same as before except behind me. Bent space-time? Moved to fast for my eye to capture? Illusion? Whatever it was if anyone on Earth could do that you could end wars. 'Something I can do.' He answered as bluntly as I would, 'Any other burning questions?'
We were silent for the moment, the eyes' glow from behind the hood even in this well-lit room. I couldn't see inside of it at all except what looked like the end of dog's nose. 'Since you're here I suppose you were the one who saved me last night in the alley.' I extended my hand out, 'That was right out of a comic book or something what you did. Amazing.'
His eyes seemed to soften a little bit, the glow lessened and then raised right back up as he saw my hand out. Instead of shaking, he nodded his head down closing his eyes briefly, returning back up to his pillar-like stance. 'Think nothing of it.' He spoke with a swish of his tail sideways, 'It was foolish for you to think you could fight a Dokugomon and live.'
I didn't have to be that smart to see a bit of condescension, this one came from the superiority of authority. I was the one still breathing because of him so I guess I had to eat the statement. 'If there wasn't a fence I would have gotten away.' I countered, 'Still, I like having a heartbeat so that's one I owe you too. Although you didn't save me out of the kindness of your heart did you?'
'No.' He confirmed, 'I did it because Gennai asked me to.'
'Fair enough.' I nodded, 'You owe him something?'
'A reward for a service.' He said walking around me in an orbit, 'He repays me later for helping him. Now he asked me to stay here and watch you.'
'Means to an end.' I coldly conceded, "You got a name?'
He slowly took off that hood and mask, both hands pulling the fabric away from the bridge of his muzzle all the way down the front of his face. He pulled back his ears down and revealed the face of a canine with way more humanoid features than I would have expected. A thick muzzle halfway between a jackal and a wolf, the thin fur and the thick throat and snout indications of both popping through. Those orange eyes slowly faded in the light, but they remained as piercing as could be. There was a scar down the side of his left eye and the expression was that of annoyance he had to indulge my curiosity. 'My name is Cyrismon." He answered with a bow of his head, "The Shadowed Ranger of Server."
Up to this point, my mind was churning through a lot of information, swelling in the back of my subconscious. Most of it was in the form of my reality slowly encroaching on breaching insanity. Nothing I was seeing was making logical sense but now I have struck maybe a sight that threatened the rest of my composure. It was like some audience in the back of my head was losing their collective shit behind two-way glass, all clamoring over a hundred panicked questions. My expression changed as the thoughts were trying to claw through, twitches and rapid blinks. I needed to stop it before it went too far. I held up my hand slightly towards him as I worked through my mind how to handle at the same time trying to stop myself from losing my shit completely. 'You are not what I expected to see behind that hood.' I could only say, 'That's a lot to take in.'
'I was not expecting to hear you fought two Agent clones to a standstill or almost outrun the Dokugomon.' He answered back, 'Yet here you are. I want something from you in return for your question all being fair.'
From one of the pouches on his curacies, he scooped out my zippo lighter! It was in my jacket I had thrown off when the acid attack hit the sleave, nothing else save my cigarette pack but I could live with losing the five I had left. If he had procured it from the street, perhaps he was the one to help Gennai with the purging of the scene. He held it in his palm with the etched engraved letters on it that said "RANGER" in the upper rocker banner, the year under it was '88'. I was annoyed there was a bit of acidic scoring on the side of it but it looked still functional. 'This was the only thing in what remained in your jacket.' He offered it to me, 'The word on it is the same as my title. What does it mean here on Earth?'
I reached for it but he snapped his fist closed around it, expecting an answer first. Lucky I really like that lighter. 'United States Army Ranger.' I answered honestly, 'Chosen soldiers who took the challenge to be the best the Army has to offer to defend our country to the best of our ability.'
That was the jingoistic answer. Really we have jumped up infantry who were crazy enough to dive out of perfectly functional aircraft. Still, got to take pride in the fact I made Best Ranger twice in a row before I moved on to Delta. 'I fight to protect Server from those that would destroy or exploit it for their own gain.' Cyrismon answered, 'Perhaps we have at least a duty in common.'
The Digimon tossed it to me a little faster than someone else would have, my own hand snapped up and caught it when it slapped off my palm before it hit my face. His head tilted to the side as my hand lowered down, a smug smirk up one side of his face. That was on purpose. Clever. 'And you have a select set of abilities few humans I've seen have.' He seemed to allow, 'You might live to see the end of this day after all.'
'You've met humans before?'
'Long ago.' He answered simply, 'That is none of your concern. Your work is. So if there is nothing else, continue it.'
With that he turned away and went to the balcony window, looking out through the blinds onto the city. That's where he had been all along? This time he didn't phase out of existence or sight or whatever it was. I tossed the knife to myself as I turned around to go back inside my office as even I could tell he didn't want to talk. 'I am curious about one more thing.' Cyrismon stated to my surprise, 'I'd understand if you didn't answer.'
'Go on.'
'What caused all the rest of those scars on you?'
It wasn't any mistake the second you saw me with my shirt off I didn't look like a fitness model despite you could see every abdominal muscle on my stomach. I had more stitch marks in me than a pricey suit, lots of nicks and scrapes and a few bullet holes healed over. The one over my eye was pretty distinct but I've had that since I was a teenager, the cheek cut a slash from an exploded AK round off some cover in Somalia. The burn mark that went over my shoulder was from when my uniform caught on fire one time. Lucky to be standing or I'm just hard to kill, I was still here and I was going to keep going when others could not. The reason was pretty mundane as I came up with an answer. 'Mistakes of inexperience and bravado for a few.' I capitulated, 'Rest mostly the price of spending time in combat. Why?'
Cyrismon turned around, came right up to me with a very intense look on his face looking down his muzzle at me. 'Then heed this warning I have for you that Gennai didn't have the courage to tell.' He pointed, 'You fought mere apparitions of Railius's power, sentient manifestations. If you come across an actual Fallen Agent or Railius himself, luck won't be enough to save you.'
'Duly noted.' I slowly worded and went back to the office, 'I'd better get back to work.'
'Not just your world on the line Captain.'
