PRIDE MONTH - based on my Sims game where I had a pride mod installed and Mel wished every other week to come out to her dad like it was a surprise every time.
Maha had turned the note over and over for long minutes, before the obvious finally jumped to his eyes. Of course. How praiseworthy of Dingo to slip this little message within the note’s confines.
That being said, if the culprit was who Maha imagined it might be, there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed. Maha could only hope that Dingo wasn’t punished for his cheekiness. The fact that the note was still left behind proved absolutely nothing, for it might as well be a giant trap.
“Unfortunately, I do have a suspect in mind. She has gone under the radars for too long, as she ought to have done, being one of the most wanted faces in all of Japan.”
With a few taps on his PET screen, Maha soon pulled up a news article. It decribed the destruction of a DarkChip factory, following a NetSavior intervention. The old warehouse had gone up in flames, leaving a NetSavior injured, and another missing.
“The missing person was one of Dingo’s colleagues, a young man from Sharo. You may have heard of him before. This was their first mission together. Laika-kun was later rescued from an experimental lab deep in the mountains, where most of the evildoers were captured, but the mastermind managed to escape.”
He scrolled down to the picture of a young woman clad in a lab coat. Deep bags sunk below her eyes, but there was a peculiar glint to her purple irises.
“Andou Tsukiko. I would assume that she’s the one behind Dingo’s disappearance. She has a sick, twisted mind, who pursues unfathomable deeds in the name of what she calls “science”. I very much wish that she wasn’t involved, but alas… Dingo would perhaps call this an instinct.”
* * *
Instinct- It wasn’t something Mel found herself trusting too often. One thing she knew for sure was that she couldn’t stave the awful gut feeling that had made itself at home upon learning about Dingo's disappearance. The only logical conclusion here was they had to be without a doubt: Friends now.
Awful.
"Well, if you're done wallowing, I really think we should check the Under BBS and see if we can't find any loose threads or someone who might know something." DragonMan spoke up from his PET on the desk across the room.
"Ugh you can do that without me." Mel responded, rolling over on the couch with her back to him. "I need to get over this funk.”
Dragonman huffed and pulled himself up from the PET screen, his hologram crossing it's arms to accentuate his frustration. "This is pathetic you know! If you think you feel bad imagine what he and Tomahawkman are going through right now!" The Navi broke his diatribe With a sigh before continuing,
"Besides, two eyes scanning the boards is better than one. So what are you gonna do?"
"Uuugghh...having friends sucks."
"Say whatever you want to deflect and pretend you don't care! You do and you know it so let's do this already!”
He was right, he always was as much as Mel hated to admit it. Begrudgingly she slugged herself off of the couch and made her way to her desktop computer.
Hours of scouring the the undernet, and even the dark net bore little to no fruit. It would seem like Tsukiko Andou was proficient on covering her digital footprint- asides from the news coverage and wanted listings available on-line from her last dark chip debacle.
"I guess it makes sense, she knows what she's doing." DragonMan lamented. "I understand maybe not finding anything on the clear net, but down here this is ridiculous!”
“Mhm.”
“She must have an alias or handle she's using that we can track down...it would be easier if she had a registered navi we could look for!”
“Mhm.”
“Are you even listening?…Weee could try making a ‘notice me evil senpai’ post on the under BBS for her?”
"Mmh..that’s dumb." Mel grunted around a freshly lit cigarette. Slumping down in her chair she took a long drag before blowing smoke.
“It’s all I got!”
Mel mulled over everything DragonMan had said again trying to pick apart anything they might have missed. It didn't come right away, but a new awful feeling wiggled into her gut, replacing the idea of losing a friend with something perhaps equally worse as a realization dawned.
“I know who we can ask.”
DragonMan turned to look over his shoulder at her through the PC screen. “Yeah?”
“The Professor.”
Dragonman’s expression blanched. “Oh that’s…that would make sense but-”
“I know it. I know he has to know something…it’s like…instinct I guess.”
“Ok, but…do you think you could handle talking to him?”
Mel’s lip pursed around the cigarette, and she removed it, tapping some of the loose ashes into a nearby cluttered ashtray. She let the idea sink in a little more with a furrowed brow before responding.
“I have to right?”
“You don’t…I’m sure we could figure something else out. I-I mean, we really don’t know for sure if he knows-”
“I know he does.”
“Ok! So lets say he does, we would need to make a lot of arrangements for a prison visitation…and who would you bring with you?”
“I won’t.”
“Well, I don’t think you should go alone…I don’t think you’re ready to- an-and besides! Minors need a chaperone to visit anyhow!”
“You know we can work around that just fine. I have to do this. I feel it.”
Dragonman was worried, but he knew how headstrong his net op could be. If she was set on this she was going to do it- no matter how disastrous it might be. Nonetheless he got to work searching for the the facility that The Professor was being held at.
“So we forge an appointment…they probably record the conversation too…you want me to take care of that?” A stupid question that didn’t garner a response, he simply nodded and went about his business.
“I’ll make it look like he requested the visit…I guess we’ll know when we get there if the request is denied or not…heh…”
“It won’t be.” She held her head in one hand, running her fingers over her forehead and through her bangs. The thought of seeing her old mentor again had crossed her mind in the past- whether she was actually ready for it though was a whole nother story. The cigarette slowly started bending between her fingers while she dwelled upon this until it snapped in a small burst of dried tobacco.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything. We’ll have to wait a day or so to make this look authentic, you rest up, ok? Gives you some time to mentally prepare.”
“Yeah…”
* * *
They had arrived early- a good calculation to account for the estimated time Mel would hesitate and loiter outside the prison facility before entering. The receptionist gave her a look up and down and scanned her ID- sure enough it matched the record they had on file for the visitation and permissions…everything seemed to be confirmed in their system.
“Mellicent Kidd to see Hekima Daigo for 14:00, non-contact. We just need to ask that you put any of your personal belongings- including your PET- in the lockers and then we’ll scan you.”
Mel did as she was instructed albeit begrudgingly, before being sweeped by a security guard with a metal detector. Once clear she was guided to the visitation area, where she took a seat across from an empty chair separated by plexiglass.
“We just need to alert your uncle that you’ve arrived and he’ll be here shortly, ok?”
She didn’t respond. Being here without Dragonman was anxiety inducing enough, the open, sanitized environment didn’t help either.
it wasn't long before the inmate was walked out into the visitation room by guards and sat in the chair opposite of the glass. The Professor was always a gaunt and greasy-looking man and prison sure wasn’t doing him any favours. His sunken eyes scanned over his former student, a lot had changed in the little over a year since they had last seen each other.
“You know I was surprised at first when they said I had approved of a visitation, but I suppose it was only a matter of time" He began with a wry smile as the guards took their leave.
“You're looking worse for wear, it would seem you haven’t been doing a very good job of assimilating into ‘normal society’, have you?”
The corner of her lip curled ever so slightly as Mel held in a retort and it did not go unnoticed.
“Still snarling like a dog I see.”
“I don’t wanna hear it” She growled, barely audible. “I came because I know you know things about Tsukiko Andou that I want to know.”
“Oh, you can’t find that yourself?”
“...”
“Well I don’t see why I should tell your ungrateful self anything, You’ve been nothing but a bane on my existence and Andou was a much better student than you ever could have been even if you obeyed. You think I don’t know it was you that ransacked the lab and pawned off Wily-sama’s technology?”
Frustration welled up and to keep herself from pounding the plexiglass separating them, Mel’s fists balled beneath the table, knuckles blanching as her short, bitten nails pressed deep into her palms. She was losing him before they even started. She needed that information, not just on her friend’s life, but this visit could not be for nothing for her own sanity.
“Yeah I get it I’m awful, I won’t deny any of that. You know you’re the last person I would ever want to owe a favour- so here I am. I’ll get my hands dirtier just-”
“Fine, you even beg like a dog when it suits you, don’t you?” He paused a moment to take in her affronted expression, thankful to be separated by the resistant glass. He had the high ground over her so long as she couldn’t get her brutish little hands on him.
“You know, I think considering you came all this way, and are offering so generously that maybe you’ve learned something after all. I’ll tell you what I know, and you will carry out an assignment for me.”
She scrunched her face in reluctant compliance and nodded, he wasn’t pleased with it, but went along with his instructions anyways knowing he once again had her in the palm of his hand.
“Since you’ve already sniffed out my name, I’m sure it will be no trouble for you to access my Safety Deposit box. Everything you need will be in there if the net-police haven’t rummaged through it already, and maybe even if they have- they think they’re so smart- but you and I know some things have more value than they appear at first glance.” his brows quirked to emphasize his point.
“Do you understand?”
Still clenching her teeth behind sour features, Mel nodded.
“Good. And I’m assuming your navi has jammed the recording?”
She nodded again.
“So Tsukiko Andou, my finest student…I’ve been hearing a lot of news about her lately, out there making me proud- unlike you.”
Her lip curled but she remained silent, nails digging deeper into her palms.
“She understood that society would never accept our- her research. She absolutely was interested in above and beyond what I, or Wily-sama had ever researched. You see, she has a penchant for more unconventional sciences…time travel, Tadashi Hikari’s multiverse theories-the Fossa Ambiences…brain control-”
“She’s a nerd and a sicko, I kind of knew that already.” Mel interjected dryly, clearly done holding back.
The Professor grimaced at her retort but ultimately the corners of his lips raised into a smirk. “If you did, you wouldn’t have come crawling back to me, would you?”
Slamming her hand on the table Mel propelled herself up from her seat causing other nearby visitors, and the guard to give her wary glances. “I got what I needed from you. I’m done here!”
“Still as ungrateful as ever I see.” He replied, unfazed. “I expect you will follow through with my instructions-” He continued, but his former protégé was already on her way to the exit, blocking out any more that he had to say until she was out of earshot.
* *
“UUUGHHHGARRGHH!!!”
Dragonman winced as watched his operator kick a nearby trash can over a little too hard once they were outside.
“At least wait until we’re clear of the cops!? I get you’re stressed but-”
“YEAH I AM!! I don’t care! He drives me up the wall!! I hate this!!”
“I know! But we are just wasting time dwelling on it here…let’s just go to the bank and get his stuff, then we can go home and forget about it for a bit, alright?”
“...Right…I still wanna bite his face off”
* * *
“Mel please turn the temperature down or I’m going to turn it down for you!”
“DON’T you DARE!” Came a growl from behind the shower curtain. The room’s broken mirror was fogged and piles of hardware in the corner of the room were beginning to perspire.
“Listen, I know today was hard! I just don’t want you to hurt yourself ok! I won’t touch it but please turn it down? It’s not going to do you any good to boil yourself like a lobster in there!” Dragonman called from his PET resting on the cluttered bathroom sink counter.
When no response came, and the room continued to get hotter, Dragonman tried his argument again, “Hey, we got what we needed now! You don’t have to see him again- Hell, we can just -not- do what he asked, how is he gonna know?”
There was a beat of silence while Mel considered this, and turned down the hot water slowly while she did. “...You’re right.” A loud bang lead Dragonman to assume that she had slammed her fist against the tile in there. “You’re right! Fuck him! We just got free info AND free stuff.”
“Yeah, YEAH! So why don’t you cool down and we’ll look that stuff over and try to figure that Andou broad out, ok?”
“Yeah…yeah just give me a couple more minutes.”
* *
Acquiring access to the SDB wasn’t as hard as one would suspect- with passcode in hand and a digital ‘permission’ from the Professor, Mel was easily able to acquire the contents of the box that now sat on her living room table: An old, out dated floppy disk, some small models from a gachapon machine, and a seemingly empty-yet unopened soda can.
“You’ve got a disk reader for that right?” Dragonman piped up, his hologram walking among the objects on the table. “Hopefully it wasn’t one of the things in the bathroom you probably fried with all that steam.”
“It’s not. It’s in the closet, I’ll dig it out later.” She replied bluntly. Picking up the can she gave it an experimental shake- rattling something inside. Turning it sideways Mel grasped both ends of the can and forcefully twisted them in opposite directions until the flimsy aluminum of the can’s sides tore open- dropping what looked like a battle chip to the floor.
“Well that was unnecessary…”
“Shut up, I needed to break something.” Mel huffed, reaching down to pick up the chip and turning it over in her fingers. “I think I know what this is…”
“Yeah, it’s one of those synchro chips! But why would he have had one?”
“Who knows, who cares…I’m not a fan of these things so it doesn’t matter.” She tossed it back into the uncoiled shell of the can whence it came for now. “This sucks, we didn’t even get much about that Andou bitch either.”
“Well, we have some leads I think, I don’t think the visit today was for nothing.”
“Yeah I guess…There’s that multi-verse thing right? I think I remember Dingo talking about that Beyondard place.”
“Mhm! He was gone for a while, but you guys didn’t really get along back then so you mostly complained about having to cover work for him.”
“Mm…I remember it was more than just Dingo too because Dekao was being insufferable about it the whole time.”
“Well, you probably would have been upset too if you were friends with him then like you are now.” Her Net-navi chided. “But in any case, Dingo’s other friends could help if they know about it. There’s also that theory The Professor mentioned- The multiverse theory- it was Tadashi Hikari’s theory- so it probably wouldn’t hurt to start asking around the Hikaris- Maybe the Ministry of Science? We could return the synchro chip while we’re there too if you aren’t going to use it.”
Mel leaned over to pick the chip up and examine it one more time, scrunching her nose at it. “Well, I’m not giving up something I got for free.” She said, tucking into a small pack along with her other battle chips. “But the Ministry of Science does sound like a good start- even if this weird-ass multiverse stuff doesn’t turn anything up, Andou’s a disgraced scientist, maybe someone there knows more about her.”
“I’ll leave a reminder for us to go check that out and see if I can't reach out to any of Dingo and Toma’s other friends. In the meantime, you’ve had a long day. You should rest.”
You have no friends and the only thing you know about social holiday norms is KFC so you spend hours in line to pick up your pre-ordered holiday feast to go home and eat it alone.
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