All For Nothing (Koji Silvia)
| All For Nothing (Koji Silvia) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 04 September 2023 |
| Location: | Juuban Ward - Tokyo - Chiyo's Grandfather's Couch. |
| Synopsis: | Koji learns first-hand the subtle scope of power that can be brought to bear by their enemies, and the advantage he thought he gained is wiped from the board. |
| Cast of Characters: | Koji Silvia |
Waking up on an unfamiliar couch, it took Koji a moment to remember what had happened...
The fight around the Tower with the sad girl with the scythe who nearly killed him. The crash, and Chrono nearly bleeding out under him.
All of it spilling in some weird reverse order movie recap in his memories and leaving him feeling at the still-healing reminder on his back that ached and itched with his movements, but would have been worse had it not been for Hanzo calling out for help.
He reached to check that Hanzo's smartwatch home was still on his wrist, and then came a moment of panic as he looked around and eventually spotted it on a nearby endtable with a few other things. Myopically, Koji grabbed for it and strapped the old and scratched-screen thing, little more than a place for Hanzo to sit and watch the world, using Earth electronics to access and help him deal with everything else going on.
Looking back at his other things... his wallet, his glasses, and... the scavenged data storage unit from the Arthra chunk that had everything he'd managed to get from Obsidian on it.
-SOMEWHERE... ELSE.-
An empty bottle of iced-milk coffee drink sat on a lone desk, the scratchings of a circle of power around it. As a final touch is added, a voice says with an air of dry amusement, "I almost have to respect the audacity."
Then Dark Energy flared to life around the bottle as it floated up off it's spot and was consumed, turning into an angry ball of flame.
"Almost."
-TOKYO, JUUBAN WARD-
<< Young Master! WARNING! WARNING! Dark Energy Detected! >>
Bolting up, Koji immediately went to activate his Barrier Jacket, feeling his threadbare connection via his Linker Core humming with strain still from the last few days... and then...
All he can do is watch as the datacube floated into the air in front of him, surrounded by ebony flame... and in a sickening absence of sound, it seemed to shrink in on itself until nothing but a puff of oddly sweet-smelling and sickening smoke was left to dissipate into the room's air!
"no no no NO NO NO NONO!" Koji cried out and lunged for it, even as the last little bits of anything vanished.
"Hanzo... did we get ANYTHING?!" He almost cried out, hand surrounding the spot where the evidence and information he'd worked so hard to get was now missing from, "Anything? Please... did you copy and store?"
<< Negative, Young Master. To prevent any corruption of this Device, per previous encounters, all data was direct downloaded to the storage media. >>
"Why didn't you make a backup?!"
<< Multiple storage attempts and moving data from one media to another a second time were assessed as potentials for triggering additional system alerts, Young Master. Remainder power was being used to hide our presence in the system architecture. Protection of the Registered User is the highest priority. >>
Falling back on the couch, Koji just looked stunned. Nothing. All of that work and risk, betting on people who's feelings he hurt by running off forgiving him because of what he stood to gain... gone...
<< Addendum. Former Registered User - Text Message: 'I'll cover for you, but you better tell me what happened.' Message Ends. Inference of emotion cannot be made from text. >>
"Don't worry, Hanzo. I already know."
