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Armored Nexus Online: Singularity |
File 02: TBA » |
Date: August 09, 2028
Time - 22:13 JST
“DETEKTIV!” Thunderous German greeted Mikaido as he loaded into his office.
“I require your services immediately. I’m sure you know the way to my office. Meet me there.” What greeted Mikaido was a hologram message coming from Forsetti's corpse. However, the message was left on loop, and had been yelling in German for several hours from what he could tell.
“Please give me literally anything else to do.” Mikaido opened up his pending contracts list and began searching through them, hoping for something, anything, that wasn’t the nanite president.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Astraea Amatsu’s stream archives and how her avatar was winking with a peace sign. It reminded him of a customer at work today. Astraea’s blond hair certainly bore a strong resemblance, the playfulness in her tone matched with the Fan Service Goddess, even the slang she used was one to one. Still, Mikaido couldn’t be too sure based on one interaction. Perhaps their paths would cross again in the future. Right, distract himself with a contract.
A very heavy sigh followed a dull thud. The only one available was a homicide scene flooded with nanites and missing data. His first instinct told him a Legionnaire was covering something up, but their special permissions only overruled player status. As he browsed through the attached screenshots, he dismissed the thought. No Legionnaire could create the glitch-ridden mess he was seeing. What triggered the headbutt was the only confirmed detail: Erde Enterprise nanites. Forsetti seemed to be an inevitablity today… Reluctantly, he accepted the investigation, hopped on his bike, and followed the marker to the crime scene.
As soon as Mikaido arrived, he felt a noticeable lag as pixels flickered across his screen. It wasn’t his monitor going bad, but the crime scene itself… Pushing through, the visual glitches made it difficult to analyze for evidence. All his HUD could find was Erde nanotech attempting to pull together and replace the missing chunks. The missing data was evident, but how was this even possible?
“There’s no way the devs approved a Lore Builder feat that could do this…” Mikaido muttered to himself.
“I see you took my contract.” A Legionnaire detective approached him.
“Catch me up, detective.”
“Well Ashura, you know as much as we do. We’re not even sure where to begin. At first, we thought the Yakuza from last night wanted to get even with us for interfering, but the victim isn’t a Legionnaire or anyone connected to us. Just a random Ace.”
They walked through holographic police tape down a nature trail, the glitches only worsening the further they proceeded. Green patches of pixels floated above a void of black, forming the echo of a tree, though its stump and roots were untouched. The dirt beneath them crunched like glass and erroneously echoed. Every step along the wooden plank path rang with a metallic thud. Yet, all this audio sounded like 16-bit sound effects from an old video game. Red pixels that Mikaido assumed to be blood grew larger and thicker as they approached the corpse. Lying sideways on the ground, the corpse was anything but ordinary. Its head had been defiled, the face replaced by a gaping black hole. Several bullet holes in its chest. Mikaido looked around for any trace of Armor Model deployment. No scraps or armor parts, nor a device to call one in. Rather, he noticed some green pixels suddenly and occasionally flare up, emitting a faint hum. Given all other abnormalities, he could’ve written it off as another glitch. But his gut told him otherwise.
“No archival data on the incident?” The masked detective suddenly stopped, crouching down to investigate a clump of nanites his visor had pinged. A bullet that fell inert and dissolved.
“We tried, but the archives are glitched out too. Best we can put together is that the victim was led down this trail and killed with Erde product. Devs announced emergency maintenance to fix this tonight, but still… This is nuts.”
“My condolences.” Mikaido grabbed an evidence bag from his coat pocket and scooped the bullet nanites into it.
Something pinged nearby. Another bullet mass matching the one he just scanned. Crouching down, he heard that odd hum again. Though he whipped his head to the source, he saw only pixelated green. Hard to confirm if that was distorted shrubbery or an actual threat. While he investigated, his HUD would occasionally lock onto something in the shadows. Another ping, another dissolved bullet and hum. Yet another ping, yet another bullet and hum. Returning to the corpse, Mikaido looked closer at the wounds. Three bullet holes in the torso. The exit wounds indicated .45 ACP, but they were much tighter than a standard round. Was the victim shot with armor-piercing rounds? Why use anti-Armor Model ammo on an unarmored civilian?
“Forsetti must be up your ass about all this. It’s like his product is trying to fill the gaps in.”
“Don’t get me started. He’s been buzzing HQ all day long after he caught wind of this.” The Legionnaire sighed.
“Sorry to hear.” Mikaido stared at the bullet clump.
If there was blood on it, it would’ve dripped into the dirt. Likely a discreet self-destruct on a timer. That said, this caliber was overkill for an unarmored civilian. He’d found 4 clumps and 3 shots at center mass. There was no way the final round erased the victim’s head. Whoever did this was a decent shot, but unnecessarily aggressive.
“Find anything yet?”
“I’m guessing they were gunned down with armor piercing .45s, but no clue how they caused these glitches.” Mikaido’s eyes furrowed in confusion as he scanned the area again. Even up close, he couldn’t find a deployment device nor their personal terminal. “Did you guys ever recover their APP ID?”
“Like I said, whoever did this was thorough. Took the poor sap’s Profile Package and erased it with whatever the hell this is.” The Legionnaire threw his arms up at the pixels in exasperation.
“Bare minimum, this requires admin-level access.” Mikaido tucked the bag into his pocket. “No way a player could’ve done this.”
“No kidding… Guess this is completely out of our jurisdiction then.”
Mikaido looked over the corpse, tapping the side of his helmet to take photos. When he crouched down to scan the Erde Nanotech again, he saw the flash and hum one more time… then never again. “Let Captain Orthrus know I’ll be sending in my report later. Got a meeting I've been putting off…”
When Mikaido pulled up to the Erde Enterprise HQ, he didn’t expect a massive, upside-down pyramid. In fact, he was wondering where the nanite statues of its egotistical president were. A few NPCs greeted him, while a valet offered to park his bike. The detective politely declined and ascended a small flight of stairs to the front courtyard. English Oaks punctuated the octagonal courtyard’s vertices. Mikaido walked along a marble path surrounded by red bricks, leading first to the grandiose water fountain at the courtyard’s center, then splitting apart and tracing paths corresponding to the cardinal directions. A giant marble hand reached for the sky, water spewing from its palm and fingertips. Then his eyes settled on the building itself.
A large glass structure outlined with steel beams, a strange mix of brutalist and neofuturistic. Its base was the smallest floor, building up and out like stairs rather than smoothly sliding upward. He confirmed 8 distinct floors, though from floor 4 upwards, the windows alternated between tinted and visible. The office workers shuffling to their cubicles, the secretaries stationed at the front desk when he entered the building proper, the valet and others who had greeted him. Not one had cowered in fear of his presence. Not one had a player tag. No one could excuse themselves from Forsetti’s tireless bragging, should he choose to burden them. They were all NPCs. All except for one.
“Greetings, sir.” The voice was familiar, but the excessive formality threw him off.
“Noa.” Mikaido turned to face the secretary in cyan, who bowed to him.
“We’ve been expecting you.”
“You need to not do this…” Mikaido gestured to her.
“I’m afraid I do not understand the nature of your inquiry. If you’d be so kind as to follow me, I’ll show you to the president’s office.” Noa maintained her polite formality as she gestured towards the elevator.
“What the hell is he making you do here…?” Mikaido followed the secretary, albeit very reluctantly. Once the elevator doors closed, Noa doubled over in a laughing fit.
“Oh my god, that was hilarious.” She wiped a tear from her eyes, face red from laughter.
“Please never do that again.” Mikaido leaned further into the corner he now occupied.
“Relax, I’m just messing with you.”
“Uh huh. Why the hell is this place upside down?”
“I couldn’t tell you, man. We can just leave it at ‘eccentric.’ Floors 2 and 3 are dedicated to cubicles, and they’re exactly what you imagine. Floor 4 is a full R&D lab and testing facility where my only other real co-worker is chained.”
“I take it I’ll be meeting him?” On cue, they passed Floor 4.
“Yeah.”
“The rest of the floors?”
“A gym, fancy restaurant food court, and finally, rooms for an overnight stay.”
“I don’t buy it.”
“No one does. They look like love hotel rooms.”
“And the top…?”
“You’re the detective.”
“What the fuck is this octagonal clusterfuck…” Mikaido’s mask thudded against the wall. “Surely, he doesn’t need that much space for his office. ”
“Part of it is his actual office. The rest is his personal penthouse, or so I presume.”
“He hasn’t tried anything on you… right?” Beneath his mask, Mikaido sneered.
“Don’t worry, my 18+ filters are on. I’m prepared.” The elevator reached Floor 8 with a ding, and so the doors opened.
What greeted the two was a massive intricate hall of white marble. Though bookshelves lined the hall, they were nothing more than frames for various gaudy holographic paintings. Here were the nanite statues. Each Forsetti would assume a tacky pose for a few seconds then move to the next, but no two ever overlapped. Further in, they crossed a glass bridge suspended by carbon fiber tethers over a massive koi pond. Around this stretched undecorated concrete, interrupted by one-way glass offered a direct view to the rooms below. Mikaido confirmed at least one egregiously luxurious hotel room below. Eyes darting away, he saw the desk centered between a zen garden and a private bar. And who else could be sitting on that fine leather office throne but…
“Took you long enough, Detektiv!” That loud boisterous voice made Mikaido reflexively reach for his gun. It took every fiber of his being to not draw it.
“I’m not your servant. Don’t presume to have me at your beck and call.”
“And yet, you took the contract.” Forsetti turned around to reveal a cocky smirk, walking towards the two.
“Need I remind you about how long you harassed Noa into this position?” Mikaido’s eyes twitched beneath the mask.
“No no. Not harassment. Persistence.” He swore Forsetti’s smirk got cockier. A nanite cloud descended from above like a plague, spelling out his next words. “Persistence is the backbone of Erde, Detektiv.”
“Get to the point.” Mikaido’s hand gripped his gun tightly.
“Noa, fetch your coworker for me.” Forsetti waved a dismissive hand at the secretary, who sighed and left the room.
“What’s their name?”
“Keel- Caleb- no… Uh, Celebri- Cerebellum? No… ”
“Never mind.” Mikaido walked over to the bar. He’d seen the spirits on the bottom shelf before… on the top shelf at Katsuo’s work. Forsetti’s top shelf held some of the most expensive and/or obscure spirits he’d seen or heard about.
“Care for a drink? Whiskey? Gin? Tequila? I have everything you could possibly want.” Forsetti walked behind said bar, fixing himself a simple old fashioned. Mikaido noticed he was flushed from embarrassment.
“Don't bother, I'm underage.” Looking in the mini-fridge, he saw sapphire bottles of sparkling water.
“I suggest you step away then.” Forsetti shrugged and sipped his cocktail. “That said, how are you gonna drink with that mask on? More importantly, why wear it?”
“In your terms, it’s my brand.”
“I respect a man who knows his audience.” Forsetti toasted his respect before taking a big swig. Before long, the elevator dinged and out stepped two people. One, of course, was Noa. The other…
“Holy shit, you’re Celebro from Ultraman.” Mikaido stood in genuine awe of the other player.
“Kiete karekareta.” The other player smiled, glad to meet someone who recognized his avatar. He approached Mikaido, his dark green hazmat suit ruffling as he extended a hand. “I’m glad to see someone who hasn't forgotten the wonders of Ultraman.”
“They’ve been on a roll ever since the 2020s.” Mikaido donned his first genuine smile since stepping foot in this building and shook hands.
“I’m sure the president’s already introduced me to a certain extent. I’m Celebro, head of R&D here at Erde Enterprise. Must admit, I was a little disappointed when I heard that Miss Noa wasn’t an Ultra fan.”
“It was a slow day, and I needed something to keep us from dying of boredom.”
“Used Ultra lore to stave it off.” Mikaido shrugged.
“Oh? You two know each other?”
“In real life, yeah.”
“Friends?”
“Workplace associates.” Noa looked over to Mikaido, who nodded back.
“Close?” Celebro continued.
“So-so.” Mikaido shrugged again. Forsetti cleared his throat.
“Fascinating. If you don’t mind, what do you two do for work?”
“Do you care to share?”
“I’d rather not.” The detective shook his head. Forsetti cleared his throat again, a little louder this time.
“I understand. Have you considered watching Ultraman, Miss Noa?”
“I’d love to, but I’d rather sit down and watch it properly. Between running this mess and real life work…”
“I understand. This must be quite the time sink-”
“AHEM.” Forsetti cleared his throat very aggressively, having finished his cocktail. “Might I remind you we have business?”
“Right…” Mikaido rolled his eyes, then pulled out the evidence bag and held it up to Celebro.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent homicide? Glitched to all hell with your product plastered all over. Impossible to ID the victim without their face, APP, or the missing data archives around the time of the event. All we could confirm was your product, and it was practically holding everything together. Got any idea why?”
Celebro cocked his head to the side. “I’d heard about the glitches, but I had no idea Erde tech was the culprit. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, detective.” With a bow, the scientist returned to his lab.
“I still have questions…”
“I’m sure my assistant can answer them, Detektiv.” Forsetti sat down at his desk, opening up a terminal and typing away while Noa approached the bar.
“Right, another fucking task on top of the mountain you’re burying me in…” She rolled her eyes and poured several high-proof spirits into a glass.
“Clearly, you can’t.” Mikaido put a hand over the cup before Noa could take a sip. “Tell me, how’d you meet Celebro?”
“Why don’t I call him back up? It seems you can’t get anything done unless I supervise you.”
“That'd be a first…” Forsetti scoffed at the accusation.
“Oh?” Mikaido cocked an eyebrow.
“What do you mean by that?” Forsetti’s face mirrored what Mikaido’s mask hid.
“I don’t know what the hell he’s typing over there, but I can guarantee it’s only to make him look busy. I basically handle everything here. Logistics, finances, export and distribution. Just like IRL.”
“That’s not true!” Forsetti stood up. “I tell you what to produce, where to ship it, and how to distribute it.”
“Yeah, but that’s all you do. Run your mouth and bark orders.” Noa crossed her arms at Forsetti.
“Well, a-a CEO such as myself needs to network!” He stumbled over his words, clearly caught in a trap. “I-I have to put myself out there! Brand deals, sponsorships. I’m the one trying to connect with clients to build my brand!”
“Our brand. I’m being very generous saying that, all things considered.”
“For a CEO, you are, by far, the most irrelevant aspect of this investigation.” Mikaido crossed his arms.
“I beg your pardon?” Forsetti immediately snapped at the detective, his face contorting. “This is my building, you’re on my contract, and you’re talking to my employees. I’d say I’m highly relevant to this situation. I’ll call Kel- Cell- Celli-, no, what was it…”
“Celebro.” Mikaido corrected the faltering president. “You’d think, as president of such an esteemed company, you’d know your subordinates’ names.”
“I know who works for me, dammit!” Forsetti slammed a fist on his desk. “I’ll call him back up now!”
"Forgive my rudeness." Noa set aside the drink and adjusted her bowtie. Forsetti smirked, thinking she was going to apologize for derailing the conversation. It quickly faded. “Allow me to give you a tour of the premises. Our first stop will be the R&D lab, where Celebro does the other half of the work here.”
Mikaido nodded and dumped her drink down the sink, earning another scoff from Forsetti. The two stepped into the elevator while the president sat down and continued typing.
When they stepped into the lab, a quiet hum greeted them. Various large tubes containing dormant nanites lined the walls, each labeled with a smattering of numbers and letters that only Celebro could decipher. It felt familiar. Oddly familiar. He'd seen this set-up somewhere before, down to the dim lighting that hovered only over one or two workstations and the faint hum from each tube. The humming especially… it felt like a word dancing on the tip of his tongue. He'd heard it recently.
“Pardon the intrusion.” Noa spoke up first, alerting Celebro to their presence.
“Ah, no worries. I figured you’d have more questions for me, detective.” Celebro closed his terminal and turned to face his guests. “How can I help?”
“Why’d you run down here immediately?”
“Ah, well… Our president’s strict. If there’s a bug in the code, he wants me to handle it ASAP.”
“Alright… What exactly do you do here?”
“I am a literal one-man army. Software, hardware, programmer, designer, engineer, and tester. Everything that goes into building an Armor Model from scratch, I handle.”
“Any idea how a bullet could delete someone’s face like this?” Mikaido brought up his screenshot of the victim’s distorted head.
“Oh dear god…” Celebro covered his mouth, eyes narrowing. “My best guess is the Supreme Exceed function. It’s our take on the enhanced performance state.”
“How does it work?”
“Long story short, the Lore behind it is the suit’s energy plant boosting to max output then flooding it with supercharged nanites. It lets you temporarily up your STATUS.”
“Whoa whoa whoa. How’d that make it past the Admin checks?”
“It only affects Strength, Technology, Armor, and Speed. There’s no way for in-game data to affect Technique and Uniqueness to such an extent.”
“You’ve tried?”
“At our boss’ behest, yes. He wants the best possible product, and I’ve no choice but to oblige.”
“You developed all this on your own?”
“When he ‘hired’ me, he gave me a rudimentary Armor Model OS and a vague idea of a blueprint.”
“Where’d he get the OS?”
“He said it was from the previous head of R&D, but as far as I know, I’m the only one.” Celebro shrugged.
Mikaido nodded along, then turned to Noa. “You didn’t know about this?”
“Not really. Like I said, I handle finances and distribution. Everything except R&D and mass production.” She shook her head. “And you know how much I want to avoid our boss.”
“I wanted to spare Miss Noa the trouble. Besides, it’s messy code. I could barely make sense of it at first glance.”
Noa nodded a thank you.
“I see…” Mikaido nodded slowly. “Any black market sales from Erde?”
“Why do you ask?” Celebro looked up with a confused expression.
“The other night, I encountered two players who were running something similar. They called it ‘Supreme Genesis.’”
“Must be the Yakuza bootleggers again. You know how they love to pirate for their own profits. I wouldn’t be surprised if they reverse engineered our goods.” Celebro returned to his terminal, typing away.
“I’ll take a look into our distribution sheets and shipment manifests. One of our player-run shops might’ve been hijacked. Or someone’s dealing under the table and trying to hide it from us.” Noa chimed in, producing her phone and scrolling.
“Much appreciated, Miss Noa. I'll consider these issues in the next security patch.” Celebro nodded as he continued coding.
Just as Mikaido was about to ask another question, it finally clicked. This hum was the same as the one at the crime scene just now. He paced around the lab, listening closely to determine its source. Finally, he settled on an unmarked containment unit, large enough to fit an Armor Model inside.
“Is there anything else I can help you with, detective?” Celebro’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“What’s in this?” Mikaido nodded to the unmarked unit.
“Ah, that’s an undecided suit prototype. I have a few more along the walls here.” Celebro gestured to several other tubes. “Our president keeps me working around the clock on new suits. I prep a few basic skeletons to modify when a new idea comes to mind.”
“I see.” The detective investigated the tube, running a scan of each tube. No viewport kept observers from peeking, but his mask offered a crude view. Indeed, a nanite skeleton lay within, inert and awaiting input. “That’ll do for today, Celebro. I just need a quick favor from you both.”
Both the secretary and scientist tilted their heads at the detective, unable to see the smirk beneath his helmet. “Can you ask him to come downstairs?”
“WAS ZUR HÖLLE IST DAS?!?” The president stepped out of his building to see a bloodbath… of oil and nanite clumps.
“I need to confirm something about you, mister president.” Mikaido sat on a throne of mangled security drones, pistol in hand.
“You're currently contracted! This'll be coming out of your pay-”
“Am I?” Mikaido pulled up his contract list. The active tab was empty. Forsetti was still pending.
“Then why bother showing up…?” Forsetti’s eye twitched, hand reaching for his necktie.
“Verification.”
“Of what?”
“Your character, the state of your company, how you fight.” Mikaido shot the drone resting by his oil-stained boot and stood up from his scrapheap throne. “There are things you can only glean from a fight, and I'm here to see what you can offer.”
“I thought you were supposed to be a detective. Someone who pursues the truth, free of biases and emotional restraints! Someone whose actions are dictated by logic! And the logical thing to do is to prove my innocence!!!” Forsetti waved his hands dramatically, as if the flailing desperation would somehow bend Mikaido to his will.
“No, the logical route here is to decline. I already warned you: one touch and all this comes crumbling to the ground. I don’t mind people using nanites for supplementation. Most everyone uses nanite healing kits. But when someone like you makes it his entire personality…” Mikaido’s grip tightened. “Then I have to intervene. Show them what happens when they rely too much on a crutch.”
“I built this company after meeting failure over and over again! Do not dare tell me that this is but a crutch. They are the future! Untapped potential waiting to be freed!!”
“What exactly have you contributed? You pestered two random people into doing all your work, then claim it for yourself. I won’t forgive you for the thirty consecutive days you spent bothering Noa.”
“Like I said.” Forsetti smirked and puffed out his chest. “Persistence is the backbone of Erde.”
“No.” Mikaido fired a warning shot near Forsetti’s foot, scaring him out of his pose. “Not when you disregard a woman’s boundaries.”
“She’s lucky she caught my eye. Very few women do.”
Mikaido wasted no further words. He holstered his gun, pulled out his Armor Data Card, and swiped it across his necklace. As the detective authorized his transformation, the president tightened his necktie to begin his own.
A flood of nanites covered Forsetti’s body, his formal suit disintegrating into a skin-tight armor before forming into hardened plates. Ichinomiya beamed down a pillar of light over Mikaido, sending a drone and his suit. As the black tar solidified into Forsetti’s Prime Precedence, Mikaido grabbed the armor plates of his Mikoto Astray and slammed them on. When Forsetti’s mask manifested and snapped down, Mikaido’s existing helmet reconfigured into the Astray’s. Two red hexagons glared at a purple and gold visor.
“Here are my conditions.” Mikaido retrieved a katana from his drone and sent a duel request. Conditions: 1 on 1; full HP depletion; healing and assist items enabled. “If I win, I cancel your contract. There will be no monetary penalties and you won’t bother me about this again. If you win, I’ll accept and pursue it as my utmost priority. Deal?”
“Deal!” Forsetti accepted, taking flight and unleashing a micro-missile barrage from his back.
Most of the missiles hit their mark… leaving only faint scorch marks on the detective’s armor. From the smoke, Mikaido stalked forward, slowly unsheathing his sword. Warnings flashed. Another wave incoming. He dashed forward and up, slashing at the president’s boot. Forsetti dropped, deployed assault rifles, and opened fire with a battle cry. Mikaido didn’t bother dodging. As nanite bullets uselessly pelted his armor, he ordered his drone to ram into Forsetti. The president fell over while another weapon flew to the detective.
“I’m not going down that easily!” Forsetti recovered quickly, merging his rifles into an energy cannon and blasting the drone’s jets.
The detective slid the new weapon onto his left arm and slammed it into place. A trio of rails extended. Green energy arced and crackled between them. Mikaido fired his beam cannon at his drone, piercing through to Forsetti. The resulting explosion obscured his vision. Another incoming missile barrage, swiftly eliminated by sweeping his beam cannon. Perfect, an opening.
Shifting into a more aerodynamic form, Forsetti rocketed forward to tackle the detective. Mikaido scoffed and let him, then stabbed his spine. Amidst Forsetti’s pathetic wail, the two crashed into a nearby building. When Mikaido recovered, he found only his katana. The poser president was nowhere in sight. Ichinomiya sent a reminder to top up. Health was down to yellow-green. He opened a port on the thigh armor and injected himself, returning to 100%.
“Put your money where your mouth is. Stop hiding like the coward you are.” Perhaps verbal provocation would reveal his enemy. Sure enough, he heard the rushing click of nanites.
From behind, an energy sword ignited. It rushed at his back. Mikaido rolled across the ground to retrieve his blade, spinning around and aiming his beam cannon at the now-uncloaked Forsetti. The president seemingly anticipated this, launching his sword to counter. Another explosion separated the men. Thrusters rocketed while Mikaido scarred the earth. His crimson glare saw an incoming battering ram.
“How dull…” Mikaido sighed, crouching low and holding his sword up.
“You won’t get me so easily!” Forsetti separated and launched the battering ram, flying upwards instead.
Effortlessly, Mikaido’s blade melted clean through the ram. He stood up and swiped the blade in the nook of his elbow, removing the dust and debris in time to see a looming shadow grow. A warning flashed. A black and crimson blur. BOOM! A massive hulking armor cratered the space, followed by a wave of full-size missiles. Mikaido grabbed his pistol and fired once. Premature detonation of the whole wave blanketed the field in smoke. Forsetti’s Hulkbuster charged forward with a meteoric punch, though something was wrong. His armor was slower than it should’ve been. Mikaido disappeared in a black flash, reappearing behind the president with his pistol holstered and the giant’s knees cleanly severed.
“Eject…!” In a frantic whisper, Forsetti took off from the oversized shell in his basic suit, tearing off a chunk and triggering its self-destruct. The giant hull was more than eager to explode. Forsetti barely escaped.
“For someone who can spin any conversation to his favor, you can’t seem to do the same in an actual fight.” Mikaido’s voice pierced through the dense smoke.
“You have yet to witness my true passion!” Forsetti shaped the chunk into a body double, but it was lagging. The shift should’ve been instant, so why was it struggling to mimic his torso and hold itself together?
“What passion? Two other people run your shit, and your Armor Model is barely holding itself together.” Mikaido stabbed Forsetti. Or so he thought. The nanite shell had reconfigured just in time, though it quickly melted away.
“From what I can see, Detektiv, you are quite predictable!” Forsetti rolled to the side, opening fire with his rifles yet again.
“I wish your tactics were as creative as the way you run your mouth.” Mikaido removed his blade from the dummy, shrugging off the bullets and returning fire with his pistol.
“Then witness!!” Evasive thrusters blasted Forsetti out of harm’s way amidst the endless bullet barrage. “To the man who rose from nothing and crafted an empire with his bare hands!”
“You have no right to say that!” For the first time, the president heard actual emotion from the detective. Behind the wretched red of Mikaido’s visor burned an overwhelming anger.
“I won’t let you touch me again!” The material for Forsetti’s evasive thrusters fell to the ground in a useless clump. He couldn’t avoid the detective’s blade running through his heart. His mask was the next to fail, exposing his shock and bloodied mouth. Grabbing Mikaido’s blade seared his hands, even through the armor. “What… the hell is this?!”
“Subpar construction, no attention to detail, nubs splitting the seams. Just like you.” The detective twisted the blade, earning more verbal agony. Hearing Forsetti’s pain gave him a drop of catharsis and satisfaction. “A rush job with no care whatsoever. All style, no substance.”
“Shut up…! What would you know… about passion?!” Forsetti tried to form a spiked elbow, but the nanotech wasn’t responding. Mikaido twisted the blade again before kicking the president away.
“I can't even imagine your suit's STATUS.” Mikaido glared at the fallen Forsetti squirming and struggling at his feet.
“The hell are you on about…” Forsetti struggled to stand. He could barely lift himself from the ground before collapsing again. Why wasn’t his suit healing him? His health was dangerously red, and not once had the gauge refilled during the fight.
“STATUS: your suit’s Strength, the Technology and systems it can support, its Armor durability, the Techniques you used to build it, how Unique it is compared to others, and its Speed and agility. Technique and Uniqueness directly govern the others. If you care for your suit and make it stand out, the game provides bonuses and perks.”
“So what?!” He focused on healing instead, but again with the lag. His health gauge was barely budging despite the effort he was putting in. “That’s why I asked for Supreme Exceed! For players who can’t afford to care, I offer a solution! What’s so wrong about that!?!”
“Those who can't afford to care should spend their time doing things they truly love.” Mikaido planted his sword in the ground and leaned on it. “Isn't that what passion's all about?”
“Shut up…!” Forsetti healed a whole 2% in his half-minute of concentration. “What did you do to me, dammit…?”
“Nothing.” Mikaido shrugged.
“LIAR! My suit wouldn’t betray me like this! What did you do!?” Mikaido ignored Forsetti this time, standing up and retrieving his sword.
“If I had to estimate…” Mikaido pointed his blade at Forsetti. “Your STATUS can’t be anything noteworthy. It’s just another generic nanite suit in basic bland colors, so Uniqueness is probably 1 or 2. At the absolute best, your Technique is probably a 4. All you can get out of that is elementary nanite control.”
“Get to the damn point!!” Forsetti spat, literally, at Mikaido. The saliva evaporated as soon as it reached his sword blade. Only then did Forsetti notice the faint energy coating.
“Technique and Uniqueness can offer you bonuses depending on how high they are. I invested in anti-nanotech.” Mikaido held the blade closer. “See it now? The energy that’s been gradually eating away at you?”
“Fuck… off…!” Forsetti stumbled onto his knees. He had healed a paltry 5%, and his armor was in tatters. Despite its metallic construction, Forsetti’s suit looked like torn and tattered fabric. Bits and pieces of his armor fell off, only to pathetically worm its way back.
“I’ve made up my mind.” Mikaido began walking away, sheathing his sword on his waist. “This fight’s over.”
“Like hell it is!! I thought the win condition was full HP depletion!” The president slammed his hands together. Material rushed from his leg and torso to his arms, merging, building, and extending. In this pestilent flow, Forsetti’s upper body transformed into a railgun. Now was his turn to taunt. “If you withdraw, that’ll be my win! I’ll work you to the bone as punishment for all this!”
“If you want to squander my mercy…” Mikaido glanced at his health bar. Back to yellow-green, leaning more towards green. He turned around to glimpse Forsetti’s. A thick sliver of red. “So be it.”
“This… is my final resort! My ultimate trump card!! The ace in the hole for turning the tides!!! Providence End… FIRE!!!” Forsetti fired his railgun, a powerful projectile screaming towards Mikaido. He collapsed. At long last, Forsetti scored a critical hit. The scorched scar on his helmet… the supercharged nanite cluster must have done some damage. “What do you think about THAT, Detektiv!?”
A gunshot rang. Forsetti’s expression dropped from a smug grin to a confused grimace. He looked down and saw blood trickling down from his heart. Sure, he’d been stabbed, but the nanites were healing him… right? His eyes settled on the detective’s body. When did he draw his pistol? Where was it aiming? Forsetti's suit whined as he ratcheted his neck in stiff intervals. He was confused, but not for long.
“You’re a fucking disappointment.” Another shot rang and Forsetti’s vision went black. Across his screen in blood red, he saw the words “Ace Downed.” Beneath that, “Duel End: You Lose.”
The next time Forsetti opened his eyes, he was sitting in his office. Jolting upwards, he patted himself down, especially the left pectoral. A hand drifted to his forehead, shaking as it came to rest dead center. He brought up a camera on his face. No wound nor scar, just a little sweat on his brow. He was fine. A breath of relief left him, giving way to boisterous laughter. “I did it! I won!”
Ding.
“Check again.”
“Detektiv! I see you’re here about the case!” Forsetti threw his arms up and out.
“I am. As per the conditions of our duel, I’m canceling your contract. No fees will be charged. If you already paid me, you’ll receive a full refund. And you will not bother me about this again.” Mikaido brought up a hologram of Forsetti’s request, canceled it, and sent it over.
“Wh- But I-”
“Lost. You have failed to impress me in any measure. Your suit is as lackluster as how you fight. You know how to dominate a conversation, but that's all you know.” With that, Mikaido turned back towards the elevator, his coattails trailing behind him.
“No… No, I won’t give up, Detektiv!” Forsetti slammed a fist on his desk.
Mikaido simply turned to face him, nodding through his mask. “Consider it.”