There were times in every villain's life when they came to a realization. This was usually a second enlightenment, telling them of the mistake that undid the work of their grand scheme which was birthed of the first enlightenment. This mistake is the hole that the hero or heroine takes advantage of, overthrowing the villain's evil plan and vanquishing him. Eugene had come to no such conclusion. In reality, he was busy having a shouting match with Josh, though the shouting match wasn't that loud. it was more of a glaring contest, really, since both were deathly afraid of the parental units downstairs. "..." screamed Josh. "..." Eugene retorted. "And Eugene? Be a dear and clean up the mess you helped to make?" His mother called from downstairs. Eugene snapped out of his revere. "But I--" "Do you want me to come up there?" "... No ma'am." A brief bit of concentration later, and Eugene's home and lawn was once again spiffy and unharmed. "... So, what now?" Josh said, sitting in a convenient chair. "Now, I figure out just why I shouldn't make you my lackey or something," the SUPERYOUMAGENERAL responded. The girl's aura suddenly appeared around her. "You're welcome to try if you want." "Look, you couldn't possibly last--" "My china! EUGENE DORLENE HARRISON, GET DOWN HERE [IMMEDIATELY!]" "..." Josh said, watching the mammoth green menace pale horribly and dash downstairs. ***** O_O; ***** Project Chibification Hypothesized by LadyBrick This Chapter Tested by Kenji Murasaki Chapter 23: The Wai is Not Enough ***** O_O; ***** "This has proven to be a grave mistake, underestimating these... fools." The secondary meeting place of the HEAD COUNCIL was some ways away from their first headquarters, recently ransacked by the rogue members of Otaku Force. "Indeed. Our forces have proved useless against the chibified personas, and now we have lost our base." The faceless council member slammed a fist into the table. "Something must be done to put this in check." "I suppose," another member spoke up. "That we could mobilize the rest of our forces to rectify the problem, but they seem horribly useless." Yet Another Council member threw a paper down on the table, depicting recent attempts to apprehend Cecil and the mall incident on the front page. "Just as well, since our level of silence is going out the window. There is only so much our PR officers can handle." "Nevertheless," the head council member said, looking at his fellows. "We must find a way to detain and study them. We cannot allow rogue powers loose. They must be under our control." His face turned grave, though no one would notice from the shadow covering it. "I'm afraid it is time to employ Subject Y." Everyone around the table gasped. "That's insane! She hasn't been fully tested! There's no way we should let something that unpredictable--" "Contrary to belief, I have thoroughly examined the portents behind Subject Y, and have also went though recent results handed to me by our science department. She is quite ready to take care of this task." The table went quiet. Then, "Even if she is up to the task, the question is which target to send her after first?" "Well, those fools at Otaku Force will obviously lead us to Katie, so that wouldn't be too efficient. My suggestion is locating and obtaining the SUPERYOUMAGENERAL, as well as his comrades." "... Should Subject Y fail?" The council leader shook his head. "Then may Megami-sama have mercy on us all." ***** O_O; ***** Cecil stared at his friends in some range of awe. Well, any observer would take his wide eyes and drooping jaw as awe, while Cecil himself was in no state short of abstract fear. It wasn't everyday that he saw Deedee do things to a average-sized man that would make an exhibitionist blush. And Anna was straddling that other fallen guard in a way that was... Cecil shook his head and promised to lay off pork products for a while. "Must kill... Dobson," Brett droned. "Ortiz... kill Ortiz..." Deedee chimed in, her tone dripping with blood and malice. The mech lover was stumped, and out of energy. He also noted that his friends were delusional, more than a little psychotic, and had no more obvious targets. Save for maybe him. He heard a sudden scream, and turned to see Jennifer, the desk clerk, staring at the scene with more horror than even he felt. "Lum..." Anna began to shuffle toward the girl with a wicked gleam in her eye. The girl tried to scream again, but no sound came out. She was paralyzed with fear. Cecil grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "What happened to them?" "They... were to be detained for torture..." she finally squeaked out. "What kind?" "Grant's head on a pike..." Deedee murmured in a dead tone. "... You didn't force dubs on them, did you?" "I... I wasn't involved! I just did my job as clerk!" Jennifer was on the verge of tears. Damn that Endless Waltz Director's Cut, they didn't pay her enough for this. Cecil swore. "Look, we need to get them back, or we're their next victims. Do you have Video Girl Ai in that loner collection?" The girl nodded weakly, backing away from Cecil. "We just got the DVD Perfect Collection." Cecil turned, and pulled another couple of batteries from his belt. "Good. Get them and a spare player, and hook it up to your terminal." "But--" "You... look like Lee..." Deedee had a pen in her hand, and was twirling it in a meanacing way. "Okay! I will!" "See if you have Sakura Diaries too! I'll hold 'em off!" Cecil turned to see her run off, and turned back to his comrades. "Well, no illusions about how I'd fair if I'm normal. Nu Gundam HASSIN!" A blazing thirty second transformation sequence later, Cecil eyed his comrades warily. "Guys, it's me! You have to snap out of it!" "Spencer... death..." The three murmured in eerie unison. Brett lunged for the mech, but he spun out of the way, watching the boy land in a crouch. "You gotta fight that madness! You're all better than that!" Cecil ducked Deedee, but Anna caught him by the legs. He tumbled over and looked up at the head of Otaku Force. There wasn't a drop of sanity in her eyes. "Anna, I don't want to hurt you..." Cecil was in a tight spot, and he knew it. He had to defend himself, but not hurt her. However, he could easily tell he couldn't defend himself without hurting her, and leaving himself open to attack would not be... wise. "DIE SPENCER!" "I have the--" Jennifer stopped mid-sentence at the grotesque scene, about to scream as Brett came upon her Cecil thought quick. "Anna, look! It's Hayashibara!" It seemed to work. The girl faltered. "... Megumi?" "Yes! And Sakura Diaries too!" That seemed to stop Brett from advancing. The perverted boy slowed to a stop, mere inches from assaulting the desk girl, who sank to her knees in fright. "It's going to be all right," Cecil continued to soothe, gently pushing Anna away from him. "Megumi... sama," she said, shaking her head as if to clear the cobwebs. Cecil quickly got up and latched on to Deedee, who looked not as murderous as before, but hadn't lost he momentum her other cell mates had. "What do we do now?" Jennifer asked, uncertain. "We cure them, and then you explain to me why they did this." He maintained a firm grip on Deedee. "In the meantime, where's that player?" "It's hooked up in the front." Jennifer shook her head. "I had no idea..." "Well, at least it wasn't Macek. God knows what would have happened then. Grab that cat, will you?" ***** O_O; ***** It was some hours later when Anna finally blinked away the last of her insanity away. She had to blush at herself for not only her behavior, but her hero's intervention. Only Cecil knew of the one thing that always made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, since she'd probably kill anyone else if they knew. Ai and Yota always had a way of calming her like no other person or thing she could imagine. "Okay, now what?" Jennifer asked, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. It was always so sad to watch that... "Now, you tell us as much as you can about what the A.E.I.O.U. plan on doing with the chibified patients," Anna said, suddenly all business again. "Well, that is... um..." Cecil looked up from switching anime. "What do you mean, Anna? I thought they were out for the same thing as--" He trailed off, catching her meaning. "Bingo. To punish us is simple, but it was more like they were trying to get us out of the way. And what was up with those extra hired goons? I KNOW they weren't on the charter." "Outside financing?" the mecha otaku guessed. "Without our knowing? I doubt it. It has to be an inside funding project." Anna frowned. "But then what for? They couldn't even afford that Kenshin collection, remember?" "So they have an inside fund, and they're after Katie and the others. A hidden agenda, just like OZ." Both Jennifer and Cecil shuddered. "... More like SEELE, which means this is far from over." Anna briefly eyed the opening to the semi-hentai comedy, instead keeping a closer eye on the subdued and tied up Brett and Deedee. "Well, anyway, we have to get moving and locate the others." "Well, Katie and Frank should be in Orange County by now. As for Eugene and the other two..." Cecil shrugged. "Well, I can help," Jennifer finally added. Anna arched an eyebrow. "Can you?" "Well, those bastards owe me for what they did, and this sounds a whole lot more terrible than they were letting on. The least I can do is show you the files for the solutions." Anna almost facefaulted. Almost. "Solutions? To the chibifications?" "Well, not all of them, just from the data we did manage to collect on the subjects we came in contact with as of recent." "That's great! We can end this whole damn fiasco and--" Cecil started to shout for joy, except for the sudden look on Commander Fuzz's face. "Well, if they had the bloody cures, then why didn't they use 'em?" The cat licked his paws and nibbled at the meaty treats that Jennifer had found for him. "You think it would make a lot less trouble if they just get them out of the way." Anna's frown deepened. "That's bad. Very bad. You have to show us these solutions," she said, looking at the secretary. "I guess so," the girl replied. "So much for promotion." ***** O_O; ***** "Yuri?" The girl looked up at the scientist with different shades in his hair. "yes?" "You're being dispatched. You're first objective is to apprehend this subject for study." The vanilla folder was labeled with Eugene's photo on the front. "Do not use excessive force, and be subtle in your technique, but you MUST apprehend this boy. If any of the others mentioned in your report are with him, subdue them and obtain them as well, but Harrison's apprehension is paramount, understood?" "hai." The girl hoped off her bed and stretched, her bountiful breast threatening to rip the fabric of her skin tight jumpsuit. "i will commence with the operation immediately." "And Yuri?" "hai?" "In one piece please." "hai." ***** O_O; ***** Author's Notes: This has to be the second time that inspiration struck too late for things to matter. This time, it seems I've left a hulking pile of confusion in my wake. I do hope those final three in front of me will forgive me. I had originally meant to focus more on Eugene, and emphasize 'Subject Y' a little more, but found myself out of sufficient time to do so. And Frank and Katie failed to appear all together, which sucketh extremeth. To top the list, this went through the grindery without stopping at the prereader station. Many thanks to Sharyna for banging me in the head in a vain attempt to get the creative juices flowing, and once again, I hope I didn't ruin too much. Didn't even have a lot of laughs in this one, did it? Ah well, back to the hack with me. K. Murasaki (2/2/02)