Fic: "Stage 5 - Maturation 8/?? ¤Blues/Rockman, ¤ PG-13 ¤ Romance. Humor. Action/Adventure.
Title: “Infecten - stage 5 - Maturation 8/?”
Author: Nemesi.
Fandom: Rockman.EXE (MMBN)
Genre: Romance. Humour.
Word Count: 2˙264.
Characters/Pairings: Blues/Rockman; Netto, Enzan, Axl mainly. Others mentioned.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer: Rockman.EXE, its characters, places and themes belong to Capcom, Shogakukan, ShoPro, TV Tokio, etc.. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warnings: Shounen-ai. Un-betaed. Navi-preg (and I claim ownership on this idea). OCs.
A/N: In this stage, the disease fully develops into a chronic condition. ♥
Summary:
* * * * *
If you think a lot of things happened in the Cyberworld, then brace yourself, because life in the real world had been even more hectic - all swirls and turns and stomach-churning spins, kinda like a roller coaster, but without the safety belt.
Immediately after their bitter raw with Shuuseki, Enzan and Netto had gone to regroup at the Hikari household. When they arrived, Yuuichiro was still out, holed up inside Sci-Labs as per usual. Haruka, however, managed to surprise them with two mugs of hot chocolate.
How she had known the exact moment they would have stepped over the threshold will forever remain a mystery; but knew it she did, because the cocoa was still steaming hot when they arrived, but the marshmallows inside had yet to start melting. Let’s sign it off as a work of the Amazing Perceptive Power Of Worried Moms and leave it at that. She was special like that.
Enzan reached for the mug like it was a poisonous snake, and began to sip carefully, nodding a distracted thanks to Haruka. Netto whiskered his own off the tray with an aggravated noise, swallowed an angry gulp, and scalded his tongue.
Under normal circumstances, Netto would have sipped his chocolate slowly, carefully, wrapping the rich beverage around his tongue and delighting in every small mouthful. Enzan would have ignored the mug, period. Even if he was too polite to deny Haruka, he would’ve let the thing cool off and then offered it to Netto as soon as the other boy was done slurping his own share.
Mother senses tingling like woah, Haruka gently prodded and questioned both boys for the reason of their preoccupation. It took her a while, but finally Netto spilled everything… even if in a considerably random order.
When he got to the part about the abduction, Haruka recoiled, issuing a shocked sound, and let herself drop into a chair. Digital or not, Rockman was her son, and Axl her grandchild. Their loss cut deep into her heart like a well-honed blade, making it hard for her to breathe.
Valiantly, she fought off the tears that sprung unbidden to her eyes; after taking a moment to collect herself, she told the boys it was time for an emergency reunion, and went to phone her husband.
The doorbell rang while she was upstairs, heralding the arrival of Meiru, Dekao and Yaito, with their Navis in tow. On the whole, their mood was sombre, even sorrowful. But while Yaito was sombre-sorrowfully enraged, Glyde was sombre-sorrowfully shocked; Roll was sombre-sorrowfully distraught, and Dekao and Gutsman were sombre-sorrowfully ready to kick ass. Meiru, she was sombre-sorrowfully sick with worry.
She pounced on Netto the moment he came in sight, squeezing him tight around the neck. Then, in a move that sort of surprised everyone, she went and pounced on Enzan, clinging to him in a way that seemed meant to comfort him, and at the same time to keep herself from crumbling. Enzan returned the hug, however briefly, before gently but wordlessly pushing her away.
The five of them clustered together on the couch, each nursing their own mug of cocoa, each lost in their private thoughts as they waited for Yuuichiro to come home. The silence between them was thick, even stifling; and even though Enzan didn’t mind it one bit, Dekao grew restless very soon, and punched the TV on, hoping for some respite.
But when ever do things go the way Dekao plans them? 0,001% of the times and, obviously, this instance was included in the remaining 99,999%.
“…my own son has betrayed not only his company, but me, his father, his only remaining relative, selling top-secret information to Sci-Labs,” came from the TV. “I’ve never been more ashamed of the name Ijuin in my whole life.”
Enzan bristled, jumping to his feet as though stung. Netto sprayed cocoa out of his nostrils in his shock.
“…and what’s worse,” Shuuseki was saying. “With my son’s help Sci-Lab has managed to steal IPC’s most treasured possession, the no-serial number Navi commonly known as ‘Blues’. You might remember him, I presume,” Shuuseki squinted into the camera, eyebrows drawn together as though in pain. “Blues isn’t just the work of a lifetime, to us of IPC. He’s also an hero. He’s saved both his word and ours in more than one instance. I’d like to think that he is as precious to you as he is to me,” he said, cupping his hand over his heart.
Enzan barely resisted the urge to hurl his mug at the TV set. Shuuseki hadn’t spared Blues more than two or three glances in the last decade - he’d plain loathed the Navi since he’d been given to Enzan, actually; like he’d been holding a grudge on Blues from the moment the Navi was born. And now he had the guts to say that Blues was precious to him? Precious?!
As the interview went on, a trained ear would have noticed how Shuuseki kept referring to Blues as “something” rather than “someone”, calling him “a possession”, “a thing” and “a weapon”; but I doubt anyone could’ve noticed those slips in such a flood of crocodile tears.
For a good thirty minutes, Shuuseki kept bemoaning his son’s betrayal. Enzan broke my heart, he said. Enzan stabbed me in the back, he said. He publicly disgraced his own son, while at the same time making himself look as both the piteous father and the helpless victim. He also charged Dr. Yuuichiro Hikari with thievery and Navi-abduction, and voiced a formal warning to “the honest people of this town” not to trust “that Hikari buffoon and his lousy squad of malingerers”.
By the look on their faces, Enzan and Netto were one step away from either blowing, or spontaneously combust at that point. Yaito prevented the worst by snatching the remote from Dekao’s hand and turning the TV off, but even her quick move couldn’t completely contain the reaction of her friends.
Furious, Netto turned to the nearest chair, and then proceeded to kick and upturn it in one swift motion. The chair retaliated by hitting him behind the knee as it fell, sending Netto to land on his rump.
For his part, Enzan merely clenched his fists, expelling a long breath through his clenched teeth. Then, without a word, he stormed out.
Of the house, I mean. Not just the room.
Netto tried to crawl, then hop one-legged (he was still sore after the kick-n’-fall episode above), then bound and leap after him, but by the time he’d reached the front door, Enzan had vanished into the night.
Yuuichiro and Haruka positively fretted all night long, as did Meiru. Netto looked torn and edgy and worried and angsty for a few hours, then his face cleared all of a sudden. Call it faith in his friend, call it sleepiness, call it a hunch or blame it on telepathy (being linked to Navis who have commuted is bound to cause some after-effects, I guess), but a little past midnight he told everyone that Enzan was all right and went to sleep, just like that.
Lo and behold, Netto was actually right. Enzan had gone back the Ijuin manor (by feet, as to calm down some), and in the safety of those imposing four walls, he made a few phone calls and pulled a few strings.
Once he was done with the phone, he went online. Logging into his bank account, he transferred his personal money before his father could have it blocked, and fished out those credit cards of his that Shuuseki had no authority over (read: knew nothing about).
After disconnecting, he stuffed his laptop and one spare battery inside a bag; then filled a second bag with some clothes, shoes, and what little he felt he could not part with, such as old notebooks and a memento of his mother.
Last but not least, he carefully searched his room for anything related to Net-battling, to Blues and to Axl - battle chips, data disks, charts, backups, old logs, custom programs and the like - stacked everything in the bag with his laptop, and destroyed all the material he couldn’t bring with him.
Thus ready, he took a quick, scalding shower and allowed himself a good half night’s sleep (he rarely ever slept more than five hours a night), before proceeding with part two of his plan.
He went to the Net-Saviours HQ first thing in the morning, where he met with some of the people he’d called the previous day. Among them were the Net-Police’s chief, Inspector Oda; the Major, and two famous journalists. He made a quick stop in a couple of other places after their meeting; phoned a few more people and then, once he was sure the coast was clear, he joined Maaya at IPC to gauge the outcome of his actions.
Because, you see, Shuuseki might have had the money and the nerve to pull that horrible stunt on his son. But Enzan, he had the class to counter it.
With the collaboration of the police and the journalists mentioned above, Enzan made an appearance in the morning news of several TV stations. He started the interview saying that working alongside another company doesn’t equal to stealing information, in his book. As IPC’s President he had all rights to form a partnership with whomever he saw fit. And Sci-Lab was an ideal partner, that had proved its worth not only to him but to the whole Nation, helping and supporting the Net-Police during many a crisis.
He admitted that Shuuseki was right in one regard, and that Blues had vanished. But so had Sci-Lab’s most advanced Navi: Rockman, who was as much the hero that Blues was. Chances were that a yet unknown criminal organization held them both hostages, but the Net-Police were hot on the case already, as he had Inspector Oda confirm.
Unlike his father, Enzan made no accusations, no excuses, no apology. There was no regret in his voice, and no fear, nor weakness. Only a steely determination coloured his words, and a sort of ice-cold anger, something righteous and impressive to look at.
He announced publicly that, being a Net-Saviour himself, he would take a period off his duties as IPC’s President to better concentrate on the investigation. He also assured everyone that both Rockman and Blues would be found in no time.
Asking for no help nor pity, Enzan turned his back to the cameras, and left with as much pride as he could manage (which is to say, an almost humbling amount).
He was at IPC now, as mentioned above. And that’s where he was intercepted by Netto & co. Enzan saw them bolt across the road from his office window, but even so he had barely enough time to get up from his chair - smirking in a way that implied he’d been expecting Netto to catch up earlier than that - and then Netto was smothering him, in the most literal sense of the word.
He’d flung himself at Enzan, knocked him flat on his back and was now laying on him, alternating between squeezing him around the chest and smacking him across the head.
When it became evident that Netto wouldn’t budge, Enzan somehow managed to climb to his feet with the other boy still clinging to him like a leech. He tried to shake him off, when suddenly he found Meiru wrapped all around his arm, with a moved Dekao patting his shoulder and a very impressed Yaito shaking his hand.
The next few moments were too much of a blur for Enzan to ever recall clearly; but next thing he knew, he had been whiskered off to the Hikari residence. There, he was welcomed by a very proud and moved Haruka (who almost chocked him, she hugged him so fiercely), and by a shocked but optimistic Yuuichiro (who almost flattened him to the floor by ways of patting him on the back).
When questioned, Enzan admitted that he was about to rent a hotel room; because under no circumstance he would live under the same roof with the man who might be holding his Navi and his nephew hostage. But even as he spoke, the odd glint in the Hikaris’ eyes forced him to reconsider.
Now, I dare - I seriously triple dog dare anyone present to deny the Hikaris something, when they gang on you with those puppy eyes of theirs.
…nearly impossible, right?
Enzan was merely human, so he capitulated rather quickly under their combined efforts (Haruka might not have the Hikari puppy-dog-look-gene in her DNA, but she was a master in the fine art of the killer pout). Before he knew it, Enzan had agreed to go living with them until the Navis were found (or Netto drove him crazy, whichever came first).
So, for a quick recap: Shuuseki tried to discredit Enzan; Sci-Lab got charged of not one, but two crimes; Enzan countered in a most ingenious, non-violent way, and moved into Netto’s home; and Maaya’s hair was now curly and of a pretty lavender shade (which we forgot to mention before).
Too bad that now, 42 hours after being stolen, the whereabouts of Rockman, Blues and Axl were still unknown.
…
…well, unknown to those measly mortals, I mean. We know exactly where they are, don’t we?
Rockman and Blues: Kyuraweil Keep.
Axl: in the Uranet with Kage and Kuro.
…not that the knowledge does much to reassure us; but at least, we’re one step ahead than anyone else in this fic.
- Scene 8 cleared.
NOW LOADING…
Slow chapter, but a glance to the Real World was mandatory, I guess. Too many things have been happening at once in both words, and dedicating a chapter to Netto & co. was the easiest and quickest way to explain everything.
Next chappie: Kuro, Kage and Axl go explore… and Blues and Rock manage to do what?! *shock*