The Absence Equation - Chapter 10
Title: The Absence Equation - Chapter 10
Group/Pairings: NewS. Pairings: Koyama/Shige, Massu/Yamapi
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, cursing, sexual implications.
Words: 2,160
Summary: First try: "The fate of the world as they know it rests in the hands of one Kato Shigeaki. Oh shit." Possibly more coherent try (though it sounds like a lame old-school sci fi jacket blurb): The A.I. guarding cyberspace is forced to choose between eternal imprisonment and self-destruction. With the fate of the world resting in their hands, they must race against time to give her a third option before it's too late.
Prologue - Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Epilogue
---
Chapter 10 - 1010
Shige stared at the coding, lost in the 010101 as he looked it over one last time. He was as sure as possible but he ran it through the simulator one more time pitting the virus against the anti-virus and watching them duke it out. It completed the same as the last five times: virus 0, anti-virus 1 and he reluctantly jacked out rubbing his temples before opening his eyes to noon-day brightness through the train’s windows.
Tegoshi looked much better, skin less bleached and eyes less puffy and he wasn’t sorry at all to have slipped a sleep-aid derm on him along with one for the pain earlier.
“Tegoshi,” he called softly, and the man looked away from the window with a hum. “It’s done. As done as it can be.
Tegoshi blinked then smiled and held out his hands for Shige to pass him his laptop and goggles. He hooked in and Shige watched him click at the keyboard before stilling and Shige knew he was running the simulation. Finally, Tegoshi pushed the goggles back on his head and grinned. “Good job,” he said quietly. “I knew you could do it.”
“Now to hope it actually works.”
“It’ll work.”
Koyama watched them quietly, feeling useless. But his time would come, he knew, and he just tried not to be too excited about it. He stood abruptly, nerves screaming at him to move, expend some of the nervous energy. “Going for a walk,” he said when Shige raised his eyes to look at Koyama questioningly, and Koyama let his fingers graze Shige’s shoulder as he passed.
Shige caught him ten minutes later and pulled him into an empty space between the cars. “Hey,” he said quietly, leaning back against the wall and tugging Koyama’s sleeve until he was leaning too, their shoulders pressing against each other with each rock of the train. “How’re you doing?”
Koyama was silent for a moment. “Good. Nervous.” He saw Shige grin out of the corner of his eye.
“Bored?”
He blushed and ducked his head and Shige laughed, low and intimate and Koyama jerked his head up to look him in the eyes, seeing affection there.
“I feel like a jerk wanting action when that means you’d be in trouble. But I feel so useless.” He felt Shige reach out for his hand and then smooth his thumb back and forth over the skin there.
“It’s okay.” Then Shige leaned away from the wall, looking between the two cars and then smirking at Koyama. “I think I can help you find some action,” he said before pulling Koyama into the tiny train bathroom.
If Tegoshi thought their disheveled appearance or flushed cheeks on their return was strange, he didn’t say.
They arrived in L.A. eight hours before Koyama and Shige’s train was scheduled to arrive in Denver. Koyama slipped into his alter-ego and Shige followed behind him and Tegoshi, Tegoshi looking much more vibrant as he hung off Koyama’s arm and chattered at a hundred miles a minute. Masuda met them just in front of the exit and they followed him to his rental car.
“How’s Yamashita?” Shige asked as he slid into the passenger seat, feeling backward.
“Good,” Masuda replied. “Not that he’d tell me if something were wrong unless he had to. But I’ll have to believe him.”
Shige couldn’t quite understand that since he and Koyama had never kept anything from each other and they were pretty much the only regular people in each other’s worlds, but he nodded anyway.
Masuda left them at the hotel to return to his other room.
“What are you doing, Masuda?” Shige asked and Koyama looked on interestedly.
“Recon,” he said and grinned as he left.
“He’s so secretive,” Koyama pouted.
They spent the next few hours looking over the coding again, and Koyama slipped out while they worked to check the hotel and see about some food and Tegoshi sent Shige out with him after a few minutes.
“There’s really nothing left to do, Shige. Why don’t you go with Koyama?”
“I thought you didn’t want to be cuckolded by your tech guy,” he said suspiciously.
“I’m tired,” he said. “And you’ll be noisy.”
Shige was quiet a moment before speaking again. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Something spicy. Really spicy.”
Shige snorted. “All right. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
As soon as Shige left, Tegoshi slid off the bed and padded over to his laptop, slipping into the seat. He sat staring at it for a moment. If it were the A.I. that was trying to communicate with him, there was no way to actually have a conversation with it. It could not receive outside information directly. It could perceive his actions, which is probably why it chose him - it must be able to tell from its information and his actions that he is working on stopping the virus. But why would it want him to stop trying? He was trying to save cyberspace.
He slid his fingers along the smooth keys of the laptop and tilted his head. The Rapunzel story had to have something to do with it. Rapunzel waiting for her prince to save her from her lonely tower. Okay. So the A.I. was Rapunzel, probably. And there were only two ways out of the tower: waiting for the prince, or leaping to her…
He sat up suddenly. Death? The A.I. wanted to die? Die or be freed. If they stopped the virus, they would be just as bad as Stat Com, the witch. If they did nothing, Rapunzel would leap to her death, the virus melting all the systems and structures, both virtual and real, responsible for upholding cyberspace, including the A.I. itself. But there was still one option. He could play the prince. Somehow.
He powered up his laptop and pulled up Shige’s anti-virus, staring grimly at the code and flexing his fingers. He wasn’t Shige, but he wasn’t known as ‘The Miracle Worker’ for nothing.
Tegoshi was sitting innocently on the bed a couple hours later when Shige and Koyama came back with dinner, Indian, with something for Tegoshi so spicy that sweat rolled down his face and Shige laughed at him. He wasn’t laughing when Tegoshi tackled him and stuck a sauce-slick finger in his mouth that burned like nothing he’d ever experienced, Koyama laughing so hard he was crying and not bothering to try and save his partner.
“So what are we doing?” Shige asked after dinner and a nap.
“You are ‘calling Jansen from the train’. It should be getting in in thirty. Then we are going to monitor the situation at the hotel you’re supposed to be checking into in Denver and wait for Massu to call. Then you and I are going to feel out Stat Com’s system. I’m hoping I have a little present in my mailbox that might help us in case Massu’s plan doesn’t work.”
Shige nodded and squeezed Koyama’s hand before standing.
The call was routed through the system again to look like he was calling from the train and it was just a quick check-in, Jansen’s voice sounded bored as he told him where the hotel was. About an hour later Tegoshi pulled up the camera feed from the hotel lobby in Denver they were supposed to be checking into and they watched the screen. Their body doubles checked in, no problems, Tegoshi nodding approvingly at the remapping done on their faces that made them look like Koyama and Shige. Shige could tell from their gesturing that they were asking that their luggage be sent up. Tegoshi zoomed in on the receptionist’s face, he looked nervous, looked as though he was negotiating with them.
“They’re already in the room,” Shige said. “He knows.”
Tegoshi nodded and they watched the men politely decline and ask again for their luggage to be sent up. Presumably they were telling him, if they were keeping to the plan, that they were going to have lunch and asking where he thought they should go. Finally the two men left the lobby and were hopefully walking really fast to their car and driving off as quickly as possible. Shige hoped they were smart enough to realize what he had realized and that their lives were in danger right now.
Tegoshi closed the window and Shige let out a protesting grunt.
“Let it go, Shige. There’s nothing we can do from this point. They knew what was involved and hopefully their planning was as good as their acting and they can drag them along a bit before getting lost.”
~~~
10 p.m. and Masuda made his way to The Bachelor/ette’s Pad. He had what he needed but he had decided to keep in touch in case there was any way to learn something from her. Any clue as to when the non-mods might send Nishikido in. The chances were slim but he had a hunch, and they were usually right, so he went with it.
She was there again, when he came in, and as he walked past, she stood and joined him, sitting next to him at the bar.
“Kazuki.” She smiled at him.
“Isaberra.”
Her smile widened. “I’m glad to see you back.
He ordered them both a drink.
---
She stood at the window wrapped in a sheet and looked down at the city. He moved behind her, putting a hand on her waist and she leaned back against him, looking up with a devious smile.
“You’ve lost your touch, stud. I feel more awake this time.”
Without any warning he scooped her up and carried her back to the bed while she giggled and he dropped her onto it.
“Guess I’ll just have to try again.”
She fluttered her lashes and let him.
---
He lay back, breathing finally evening out and she leaned up on an elbow and over him, letting her long hair play over his bare chest as she traced circles along his abdomen.
“So. I have to go soon. But,” and he thought he saw a trace of a blush as she paused, biting her lip and looking to the side, and he smiled up at her, drawing a finger down her naked arm. “But day after tomorrow I don’t go in to work until noon. Yearly maintenance means we get a half-day. Normally I just sleep in but… I think I’d like to sleep in with you.”
He tucked her hair behind one ear. “All right,” he said, in Japanese, with a grin and she laughed and flopped onto her back.
She dressed quickly but lingered at the door and he leaned one arm against the doorframe, slouching enough for her to stand on her toes and kiss him. He watched her step into the elevator, smiling at her last wave, before retreating back into the room for a hot shower and a call to Tegoshi.
~~~
Shige sat up when he heard Tegoshi’s phone ring, trying not to jostle Koyama even though he knew the man was awake - he was a light sleeper due to his job description anyway - and Koyama confirmed it by turning over and nuzzling his face into Shige’s lower back, cold nose pressing against his spine, and looping an arm over his thigh. Shige couldn’t keep himself from grinning affectionately even as the shudder ran up his spine.
He reached over to switch on the light and watched the soft glow illuminate Tegoshi’s profile from where he lay on the bed, his eyes closed as he pressed the phone to his ear.
“Yeah… Ok… No… All right, I’ll take care of it. Call me when you know.” He clicked his phone shut and sat up, rubbing his face.
“What’s up?” Shige asked, voice sleep-husky, and Koyama placed a kiss to the base of his spine. He put a hand over Koyama’s where it rested on his leg.
“He thinks they’re going to move night after next. There’s a yearly maintenance thing taking place that night to physically clean out the core. The date and time changes every year but he says his contact just mentioned the maintenance happening then. It’ll raise security. I don’t know how they’ll get Nishikido in like that but they must have a way. It makes sense to do it that way, when the system is most vulnerable. Massu’s trying to find out if it’s true or not.”
Koyama tightened his arm around Shige and Shige felt his lips move against his back. “Finally,” Koyama murmured.
Tegoshi looked at Shige and Shige shrugged. “Don’t you hate waiting?” Shige asked.
Tegoshi pursed his lips then nodded. He wasn’t immune to the anticipation tying his stomach into knots, and at least he’d had things to keep him occupied. Koyama must be feeling like a rather pretty and expensive ornament right now. Tegoshi just hoped Koyama realized that Shige needed him, whether he did anything or not.
Chapter 11
Group/Pairings: NewS. Pairings: Koyama/Shige, Massu/Yamapi
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, cursing, sexual implications.
Words: 2,160
Summary: First try: "The fate of the world as they know it rests in the hands of one Kato Shigeaki. Oh shit." Possibly more coherent try (though it sounds like a lame old-school sci fi jacket blurb): The A.I. guarding cyberspace is forced to choose between eternal imprisonment and self-destruction. With the fate of the world resting in their hands, they must race against time to give her a third option before it's too late.
Prologue - Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Epilogue
---
Chapter 10 - 1010
Shige stared at the coding, lost in the 010101 as he looked it over one last time. He was as sure as possible but he ran it through the simulator one more time pitting the virus against the anti-virus and watching them duke it out. It completed the same as the last five times: virus 0, anti-virus 1 and he reluctantly jacked out rubbing his temples before opening his eyes to noon-day brightness through the train’s windows.
Tegoshi looked much better, skin less bleached and eyes less puffy and he wasn’t sorry at all to have slipped a sleep-aid derm on him along with one for the pain earlier.
“Tegoshi,” he called softly, and the man looked away from the window with a hum. “It’s done. As done as it can be.
Tegoshi blinked then smiled and held out his hands for Shige to pass him his laptop and goggles. He hooked in and Shige watched him click at the keyboard before stilling and Shige knew he was running the simulation. Finally, Tegoshi pushed the goggles back on his head and grinned. “Good job,” he said quietly. “I knew you could do it.”
“Now to hope it actually works.”
“It’ll work.”
Koyama watched them quietly, feeling useless. But his time would come, he knew, and he just tried not to be too excited about it. He stood abruptly, nerves screaming at him to move, expend some of the nervous energy. “Going for a walk,” he said when Shige raised his eyes to look at Koyama questioningly, and Koyama let his fingers graze Shige’s shoulder as he passed.
Shige caught him ten minutes later and pulled him into an empty space between the cars. “Hey,” he said quietly, leaning back against the wall and tugging Koyama’s sleeve until he was leaning too, their shoulders pressing against each other with each rock of the train. “How’re you doing?”
Koyama was silent for a moment. “Good. Nervous.” He saw Shige grin out of the corner of his eye.
“Bored?”
He blushed and ducked his head and Shige laughed, low and intimate and Koyama jerked his head up to look him in the eyes, seeing affection there.
“I feel like a jerk wanting action when that means you’d be in trouble. But I feel so useless.” He felt Shige reach out for his hand and then smooth his thumb back and forth over the skin there.
“It’s okay.” Then Shige leaned away from the wall, looking between the two cars and then smirking at Koyama. “I think I can help you find some action,” he said before pulling Koyama into the tiny train bathroom.
If Tegoshi thought their disheveled appearance or flushed cheeks on their return was strange, he didn’t say.
They arrived in L.A. eight hours before Koyama and Shige’s train was scheduled to arrive in Denver. Koyama slipped into his alter-ego and Shige followed behind him and Tegoshi, Tegoshi looking much more vibrant as he hung off Koyama’s arm and chattered at a hundred miles a minute. Masuda met them just in front of the exit and they followed him to his rental car.
“How’s Yamashita?” Shige asked as he slid into the passenger seat, feeling backward.
“Good,” Masuda replied. “Not that he’d tell me if something were wrong unless he had to. But I’ll have to believe him.”
Shige couldn’t quite understand that since he and Koyama had never kept anything from each other and they were pretty much the only regular people in each other’s worlds, but he nodded anyway.
Masuda left them at the hotel to return to his other room.
“What are you doing, Masuda?” Shige asked and Koyama looked on interestedly.
“Recon,” he said and grinned as he left.
“He’s so secretive,” Koyama pouted.
They spent the next few hours looking over the coding again, and Koyama slipped out while they worked to check the hotel and see about some food and Tegoshi sent Shige out with him after a few minutes.
“There’s really nothing left to do, Shige. Why don’t you go with Koyama?”
“I thought you didn’t want to be cuckolded by your tech guy,” he said suspiciously.
“I’m tired,” he said. “And you’ll be noisy.”
Shige was quiet a moment before speaking again. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Something spicy. Really spicy.”
Shige snorted. “All right. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
As soon as Shige left, Tegoshi slid off the bed and padded over to his laptop, slipping into the seat. He sat staring at it for a moment. If it were the A.I. that was trying to communicate with him, there was no way to actually have a conversation with it. It could not receive outside information directly. It could perceive his actions, which is probably why it chose him - it must be able to tell from its information and his actions that he is working on stopping the virus. But why would it want him to stop trying? He was trying to save cyberspace.
He slid his fingers along the smooth keys of the laptop and tilted his head. The Rapunzel story had to have something to do with it. Rapunzel waiting for her prince to save her from her lonely tower. Okay. So the A.I. was Rapunzel, probably. And there were only two ways out of the tower: waiting for the prince, or leaping to her…
He sat up suddenly. Death? The A.I. wanted to die? Die or be freed. If they stopped the virus, they would be just as bad as Stat Com, the witch. If they did nothing, Rapunzel would leap to her death, the virus melting all the systems and structures, both virtual and real, responsible for upholding cyberspace, including the A.I. itself. But there was still one option. He could play the prince. Somehow.
He powered up his laptop and pulled up Shige’s anti-virus, staring grimly at the code and flexing his fingers. He wasn’t Shige, but he wasn’t known as ‘The Miracle Worker’ for nothing.
Tegoshi was sitting innocently on the bed a couple hours later when Shige and Koyama came back with dinner, Indian, with something for Tegoshi so spicy that sweat rolled down his face and Shige laughed at him. He wasn’t laughing when Tegoshi tackled him and stuck a sauce-slick finger in his mouth that burned like nothing he’d ever experienced, Koyama laughing so hard he was crying and not bothering to try and save his partner.
“So what are we doing?” Shige asked after dinner and a nap.
“You are ‘calling Jansen from the train’. It should be getting in in thirty. Then we are going to monitor the situation at the hotel you’re supposed to be checking into in Denver and wait for Massu to call. Then you and I are going to feel out Stat Com’s system. I’m hoping I have a little present in my mailbox that might help us in case Massu’s plan doesn’t work.”
Shige nodded and squeezed Koyama’s hand before standing.
The call was routed through the system again to look like he was calling from the train and it was just a quick check-in, Jansen’s voice sounded bored as he told him where the hotel was. About an hour later Tegoshi pulled up the camera feed from the hotel lobby in Denver they were supposed to be checking into and they watched the screen. Their body doubles checked in, no problems, Tegoshi nodding approvingly at the remapping done on their faces that made them look like Koyama and Shige. Shige could tell from their gesturing that they were asking that their luggage be sent up. Tegoshi zoomed in on the receptionist’s face, he looked nervous, looked as though he was negotiating with them.
“They’re already in the room,” Shige said. “He knows.”
Tegoshi nodded and they watched the men politely decline and ask again for their luggage to be sent up. Presumably they were telling him, if they were keeping to the plan, that they were going to have lunch and asking where he thought they should go. Finally the two men left the lobby and were hopefully walking really fast to their car and driving off as quickly as possible. Shige hoped they were smart enough to realize what he had realized and that their lives were in danger right now.
Tegoshi closed the window and Shige let out a protesting grunt.
“Let it go, Shige. There’s nothing we can do from this point. They knew what was involved and hopefully their planning was as good as their acting and they can drag them along a bit before getting lost.”
~~~
10 p.m. and Masuda made his way to The Bachelor/ette’s Pad. He had what he needed but he had decided to keep in touch in case there was any way to learn something from her. Any clue as to when the non-mods might send Nishikido in. The chances were slim but he had a hunch, and they were usually right, so he went with it.
She was there again, when he came in, and as he walked past, she stood and joined him, sitting next to him at the bar.
“Kazuki.” She smiled at him.
“Isaberra.”
Her smile widened. “I’m glad to see you back.
He ordered them both a drink.
---
She stood at the window wrapped in a sheet and looked down at the city. He moved behind her, putting a hand on her waist and she leaned back against him, looking up with a devious smile.
“You’ve lost your touch, stud. I feel more awake this time.”
Without any warning he scooped her up and carried her back to the bed while she giggled and he dropped her onto it.
“Guess I’ll just have to try again.”
She fluttered her lashes and let him.
---
He lay back, breathing finally evening out and she leaned up on an elbow and over him, letting her long hair play over his bare chest as she traced circles along his abdomen.
“So. I have to go soon. But,” and he thought he saw a trace of a blush as she paused, biting her lip and looking to the side, and he smiled up at her, drawing a finger down her naked arm. “But day after tomorrow I don’t go in to work until noon. Yearly maintenance means we get a half-day. Normally I just sleep in but… I think I’d like to sleep in with you.”
He tucked her hair behind one ear. “All right,” he said, in Japanese, with a grin and she laughed and flopped onto her back.
She dressed quickly but lingered at the door and he leaned one arm against the doorframe, slouching enough for her to stand on her toes and kiss him. He watched her step into the elevator, smiling at her last wave, before retreating back into the room for a hot shower and a call to Tegoshi.
~~~
Shige sat up when he heard Tegoshi’s phone ring, trying not to jostle Koyama even though he knew the man was awake - he was a light sleeper due to his job description anyway - and Koyama confirmed it by turning over and nuzzling his face into Shige’s lower back, cold nose pressing against his spine, and looping an arm over his thigh. Shige couldn’t keep himself from grinning affectionately even as the shudder ran up his spine.
He reached over to switch on the light and watched the soft glow illuminate Tegoshi’s profile from where he lay on the bed, his eyes closed as he pressed the phone to his ear.
“Yeah… Ok… No… All right, I’ll take care of it. Call me when you know.” He clicked his phone shut and sat up, rubbing his face.
“What’s up?” Shige asked, voice sleep-husky, and Koyama placed a kiss to the base of his spine. He put a hand over Koyama’s where it rested on his leg.
“He thinks they’re going to move night after next. There’s a yearly maintenance thing taking place that night to physically clean out the core. The date and time changes every year but he says his contact just mentioned the maintenance happening then. It’ll raise security. I don’t know how they’ll get Nishikido in like that but they must have a way. It makes sense to do it that way, when the system is most vulnerable. Massu’s trying to find out if it’s true or not.”
Koyama tightened his arm around Shige and Shige felt his lips move against his back. “Finally,” Koyama murmured.
Tegoshi looked at Shige and Shige shrugged. “Don’t you hate waiting?” Shige asked.
Tegoshi pursed his lips then nodded. He wasn’t immune to the anticipation tying his stomach into knots, and at least he’d had things to keep him occupied. Koyama must be feeling like a rather pretty and expensive ornament right now. Tegoshi just hoped Koyama realized that Shige needed him, whether he did anything or not.
Chapter 11