Here’s Part 8 of TOME ‘What-If Season 3′ story, where we see the return of both a friendly and unfriendly face.
Links to Parts 1-11:(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (You are here) (9) (10) (11)
After they had finished their battle, and Kizuna was about to log off, they received a message from Webmaster:
Sorry to bother you all so soon after the ceremony, but we have a visitor that wishes to discuss something that relates to the events of 4 months ago. Head to HOME as soon as you can.
“Sounds pretty serious if it’s addressed to everyone”, Kizuna noted, “who would want to discuss that again?”
“Maybe it’s that CPD agent Alpha and I met that day. His name was... Giga, I think?” Flamey pondered, “Yes, that’s his username”, Kizuna confirmed, “I heard from Execk that he’s Webmaster’s main contact from that organization for any emergencies involving TOME or SOFTDI. We were lucky that his superiors allowed the game to stick around.”
“Wow,” Flamey was surprised, “I guess he was pretty essential to seeing TOME got off the ground after the virus incident, huh?”
“From what I hear, he likes the game too”, Kizuna smiled, “Kinda nice knowing there’s a heart behind the metal exterior.”
“Yeah, it does,” Flamey agreed. “So, shall we head up?”
When Flamey and Kizuna arrived at HOME, they were just a few minutes behind Alpha and the rest, who were greeted by the Netkings and brought in to where they were meeting their guest. When they were brought in, they were met with Giga, whose masked had been lifted to show his face, as well as an unwelcome surprise.
Standing behind Giga, in a not-so-welcoming manner, was Rubirules, one of the former Netkings who was responsible for the many trials and tribulations wrought upon the group. Alpha and Zetto, understandably, were not elated by this reveal, “What the HELL is HE doing here?!” they yelled, almost in unison.
Rubirules scoffed, “Nice to see you too, kid. Glad to see you know how to make a guy feel welcome.” He turned his head to face Zetto and Kizuna, “Congrats in joining the ranks, you two. I’m surprised you even took the job Kizuna, considering how you feel about the ‘bot.”
Kizuna looked to the floor with a more sombre look, leaving Flamey concerned. “You just back off from her”, Zetto simmered, “or I’ll give you something to be surprised about.” “That makes two of us,” Alpha agreed.
“That’s enough! Cool it, you two”, Execk insisted, maintaining his calm demeanour, “I’m not exactly thrilled to see him either, none of us are. But I can assume there is a reason for it. Care to enlighten us, Giga?”
Giga, who had been patiently waiting to speak, nodded in agreement. “Very well. To keep it as brief as I can, Rubirules is currently under what we’ll call ‘escorted parole’. His Netking privileges are limited by the color around his neck and his actions will be monitored. If he does anything that might jeopardise TOME or its inhabitants, he will be brought back into full custody.”
“So, to sum up”, Rubi spoke, “I’m on bail, so long as I help Giga in this case he’s got going on.”
