Part 5: The Phantom Menace

Once again, Sokoto has escaped his captors and ran off into the urban wilderness, gaining one more day to survive and live. He ran as far as he could, never stopping for a moment, for fear of being butchered into pieces. He raced throughout the streets, past the areas without streetlights, ran up the mountains, and jumped into the trees and forests of the suburban landscapes. Three hours into the run, he sensed his body giving into exhaustion, so he flung himself into some bushes and collapsed.

Four hours later, he awoke to the sound of chirping birds. He winced the wax away from his eyes. The sun's rays peered through the trees and burned down on his wound.

"Rrgh...Goddammit..." He's been clutching his side ever since the encounter with Laura, trying to push the dislocated rib back inside. But it was too far off position and the cartilage inside him had already been somewhat hardened. Now, he's just trying not to lose a body part. He did the one thing he could think of to gain another few hours of life.

He ran his broken rib into the nearest tree. It popped back into place, but some of the skin that conformed with the huge lump created by that rib got caught in the closing between the bones. He let out a frightening, agonizing cry. He staggered back, but somehow he prevented himself from falling. He bent over to allow the pain in his rib dissociate throughout his body. He took several painful deep breaths to ready himself for what's about to come next. He inhaled, held his breath, pushed his ribs together so that they could stay in place despite the friction from the skin being removed either from the area or from the outside layer of his skin, and quickly forced himself upright. The ribs stayed intact, but the skin was completely ripped from the inside. To anyone else, it looked like he had a huge gash. Blood spewed from his body and stained the grass. The painful shock was too much to handle. His mind had blanked out. He fainted again.

A couple hours later...

...voices...from a device...

"Mmm..."

...static...

"...nnnn..."

LOUD MUSICAL INTRO.

"YOW! HEY!"

He woke up in a hotel room this time. All luxurious and untampered with, as if there was no one in this room. He did countless double takes before realizing what just happened. Someone rescued him. But who? Does that person know of his wanted status? And if she does, what will she demand? Who is she working with? He stopped thinking and plopped back down on the bed. He rubbed his hands all across his hair, trying to piece together the events of everything that disrupted his peaceful lifestyle. He closed his eyes and laid there.

The memories are coming back to him. The raid on Ogusu High...the escape to the resort...and the attack that bore all fangs to the world. He escaped under the cover of night. The blinking street lights. The sudden strike on that weird island facility. And that person that saved him when he washed up on shore. She didn't look like she wanted to abuse him. What was her true motive in saving his life? And was she behind this? Wrapping him up in bandages and throwing him on a bed...No normal person does that.

"Ok..." He resolved his mind as he got out of bed, "I'm gonna get out and find that woman again. Make her spill her-" Not two seconds after he walked towards the door did he stop himself in front of a mirror, "Oh my god! What did they to me?!" Whoever dragged him here did a real number on his head. Not only was his hairstyle completely changed and recolored to mimic a schoolgirl's normal short-hair cut, but his blue eyes were now disguised by brown-collared contact lenses, "Who thought this was a good idea and why?!"

Just then, the TV wall gave him the answer. It flashed to a breaking news alert. He immediately swerved his way back onto the bed and cuddled his knees to watch the newswoman blab away,

"Police are still on the hunt for a certain unnamed individual who was last seen breaking into a cemetery management facility and escaping with a valuable commodity. The high officials are saying that he could be anywhere, ready to strike when least expected. Hundreds of officers are searching right now, and IS task-force is on high alert. NHK's Masayami Miyako standing at a destroyed train station. Miyako, what is it about this individual that has everyone on edge? What about him that would make the IS Academy destroy the only reliable means of physical connection?"

"Oh," Sokoto laughed, "This oughta be good!"

"Well, Chinami," the reporter said, "If you take a look at his face-" A picture of Sokoto escaping Naha Police Station, face and everything, flashed beside her. "-it doesn't seem like the type of man that would dare overstep his boundaries of his influence, but as we have seen in the previous days, this man is willing to do anything to topple the power scales."

Sokoto turned the TV off and let the remote thud to the ground. He just stared at the black screen, eyes widened, mouth twitching. He done it now. He let the whole world know of his now permanent presence in the fabric of history. As soon as he steps out the front entrance, everyone will be on a mad dash for his head. He continued to ponder this thought for two whole minutes. Then, he slapped himself hard to shake it off and bring himself back to reality.

"Well, I'm throughly creeped out! I gots to go!" He laughed as he jumped out of bed, but just as he was about to run towards the door, there was a soft knock from the room beside his. He froze and turned his attention towards the connecting door, waiting for something to break it down and push him to the brink of insanity.

It wasn't a something. It was a someone, "Can I come in?" a female voice sifted through the door.

"Depends," he answered, "What do you want?"

"I just wanna talk. I won't do anything weird to you."

"Ok...I'm opening the door..." He crept slowly towards the door, trying to come up with an escape plan, "Ok, Silvia. When she opens the door, get ready to-" Then he realized, she was stolen away from him. "Rrrgh! Gonna have to do this on my own, then." He reached his arm for the handle. Once he grabbed it, he slowly lowered it until he could feel the door just about to open. He took a deep breath to mentally ready himself. Then, he swung the door open and charged in.

"YAAAAA-What the-"

No one was inside! What's happening here?! Everything looks all too brand new! Someone had to have snuck outside during his freak-out time.

"Ok...that was-"

"Does that count as doing something weird?"

"YAAHAHAA!" Someone startled him from behind. He jumped and turned to face his sneaky neighbor. It was a woman with beige-orangish hair and red eyes, wearing a light-purple dress. She had her hands on her hips like she was expecting him to put up a fool's fight. As in, he looked like the maniac compared to her.

"Hahhh...Don't do that again!" He said while catching his breath.

"Why not?" She responded while walking towards him, forcing Sokoto to slowly back up, "I thought it'd be a nice little ice breaker."

"What ice exists right now, I ask you?!" He said until he tripped on his own feet and fell. At that point, he felt her on top of him, "OOF!" He took a brief glance into her eyes. They were driven mad with lust, but for what? He cringed and shut his eyes when he felt her stroke his hair, "Oh my...WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN?!" He really lost it when she wrapped his hear around her arms and hugged it to her chest. He literally failed his arms around, but nothing was happening. Then, he felt something on his forehead. 'AAAAAAAAAAAAA! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! GET THIS PSYCHOPATHIC LOVEBIRD OFFA ME!' After a grueling minute of fighting for his composure, he felt a surge of relief and fresh air flood his body. He allowed his lungs to intake huge breaths as his body stopped producing sweat. "Oh...ohohoh, man...I could've died, thank you for noticing!"

"Wow," she didn't notice, "that's a really nice reaction."

"OH, HOLY S***! THE STARS ARE BRIGHTLY S***TING!"

"Come now, we shouldn't take out our frustrations here. Let's go down to the cafe. Then we can talk."

"That's what's frustrating you right now?!" Again, she didn't notice. She just strutted her stuff out the door. He can only look on with the most bewildered face ever conceived. He knew he's been bewitched now.

At the hotel's outdoor cafe...

Sokoto nervously sipped on his iced tea, trying to avoid all eye contact with the molester sitting in front of him. She just looked onward with a keen curiosity, constantly making him blush.

"Y'know, you have an aggressive way of exerting yourself..." he finally broke the silence.

"I get that a lot. Especially when I'm with my comrades."

"Uh...really? Do they have to put up with your...an...tics?"

"What," twinkle in her eyes, "Would you like to see more?"

"Uh..." He turned away in embarrassment, "I'm more interested in what your deal is with those psychopathic flirt-offs..."

"I actually have someone in mind. I get nervous when I'm around that person, so I need to practi-"

He banged his head on the table, "Then, why me?"

"Relax," she playfully wagged her hand at him, "I'm only using you as a toy."

"Oh! Oh! Thank god!" He brushed his forehead in elation. A waitress grabbed his shoulder from behind and held him in place.

"Excuse me," she hissed, "but you need to leave. Now."

"Oh, no," the woman politely said, "There's no need. He's with me."

"Are you sure we don't-"

The woman gave her the death glare, "There. Is. No. Need."

The waitress froze for a bit. Then, she released her grip on him and briskly left them.

"Whew...thanks for the save..."

"Not a problem," she winked.

"Eep..." he sipped a hard one from his cup, and turned away again, "Though, we could've handled her easily, thank you very much..."

"Hmm? Who's we?"

"Huh? Me and Silvi-uh..." He reached for his neck, but felt nothing. Then he checked his wrist, "Oh..."

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing you should be worried about..."

"It's about Silvia, isn't it?"

"! How did you know?...Are you a stalker?!"

"In a way, yeah..."

"Uh..."

"It's fine! It's fine!" she reassured him, "Only me and a few buddies know about you two. But, tell me. Why'd you give it a name?"

Sokoto paused for a minute to think about why he would randomly give an inorganic object human qualities and personality. He sighed to signal that he finally made up his mind, "I dunno. Every since I first touched-uh...activated...it...I felt this incredible bond forming between the two of us. I felt like I had a partner to fight with, play some jokes with, just shoot a breeze anywhere, the works! Like the sister I never had..."

"*snicker* You could tell all that just from eight days with her?"

"Hey, this stuff runs deep with me. Don't call me out on something I know to be fact, ok?"

"Ok...go on."

"Anyway...I could sense that she wanted to bond with someone, I mean... We both have a lot in common. Abandoned at birth, left to die so many times... The only difference is that she's been left out there, immobilized and incapable of calling for any help. Actually, no. I felt this weird gust bellow out from this compound; yeah, she can sorta communicate. But it was like I had to rescue her. Since then, I took her on a different ride than what a robot would normally take."

"Huh?"

"Well...How do I put this...You know when you'd normally use a robotic machine for one specific function, and that function only? Or when you confine some random mechanical marvel to a specific place only for display? Well, when I saw that dust on her, I did not want her to live that kind of life. I took her for a whirl around Japan, the pagan island...Man, I just wanted her to live a little..." At this point, he was lost in his own mind, "But...Rabbit woman stole her away...probably gonna use her as a guinea pig for some godforsaken experiment...Just for one day, I'd like to see somebody treat differences right..."

She placed her hands on the table and crept on the table towards him. He backed away into his seat until he was immobilized and could feel her breath, "Hey...you're doing it again..."

"We saw what you did back there," she said, using a whisper that combined creepy and sweetly, "The attack on IS Academy? The raid on the IS Development Center? That's not something that can be done without mad talent."

"Uh...so?..."

"I knew you were special the minute I saw you on the cams...You're different." She whispered while she played her finger with his nose, "I like different. I like people who don't conform to the normality tide."

"Yaagh..." He's pulling the rosy reds now, "What's with you? There are people out here!"

"Don't pay any mind to them," she silenced him with that same finger, "Instead, pay attention to my comrades. They need a strong man to help them. We've lost everything. We almost died. Now, it's time to bring back their flame. Bring back their spark."

"Ok, ok...Whaddaya want me to do?" He felt her hands around his neck, "Oh, geez. I'm gonna die today."

She forced his frightened eyes to meet her alluring gaze, "Join Phantom Task. Join us on a conquest to wreak havoc upon this world. I promise you won't be disappointed," she touched her forehead to his, "And we'll get Silvia back."

"Gguhh...Hah...Re-really-you promise?"

"I promise..."

"Ok...ok...I'll join...just...leggoamealreadyImabouttapissmypantsandsweatouttamy-"

"Ok," she said normally and jumped off of him, "Too much information."

"Gah...hah...geez...what's wrong with you?..."

Someone kicked his butt.

"Uh, what's wrong with you?" A rich female customer mocked him, "You should be more grateful that she's cleaning up your filth." At that point, almost everyone gave him a dirty look and a cold remark. He so wanted to flip some tables just to stick it in their faces, but he knew he couldn't. here was a creepy moolester woman standing behind him who might bring him to his knees if he made the wrong move. He simply turned his back on them and left. She followed him out. When they were far away enough not to be seen by anyone in the hotel, he let out a yell of gratefulness,

"Hoooly Moly! Hoooly Moly! Holy-Moly! Holy-Moly! Holyyy Molyy!"

"What the hell are you doing?..." she kept that same gentle smile on her as she walked with him.

"I so wanted to sock'em in their cake holes! I dunno why I didn't-Y'know, I was on the fence with this whole "Phantom Task" thing seeing as how I've only heard of them like an hour ago, but now? I wanna join! I don't like their tone of voice they use with everyone around here, poor or male!"

"Wow...no one's ever been this enthusiastic with us..."

"That's because they never lost anything! They don't got nothing to work for 'cuz they already got it! News flash! There's a whole underground world down there, just waiting to be explor-" He suddenly stopped talking.

"Hmm?" What's wrong?"

He looked forward with a solemn, forlorn expression, "You said you'd rescue Silvia...did you mean it?..."

"Mm-hmm," she said cheerfully, "Every word of it."

"You promise?" He looked up, as if expecting a messenger. She noticed his longing eyes. He really wanted to topple the world off the balance beam...but he just couldn't leave his best friend behind.

"Hey," she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to her, making their eyes meet again, "I said we'll get her back. And we'll get her back. I promise."

"Alright..." He turned back and walked towards the unknown, but he kept silent. No doubt thinking of what Silvia might be going through at this moment. For some reason, the woman winced a little bit once she saw his noiseless composure.

"Um...Anna..." she blurted out.

"Huh?" He snapped back to her.

"That's my name...Anna..." she was blushing a little bit, "Everyone calls me Autumn, but my real name is Anna Koller. I'm Austrian, by the way."

"Oh..." He's eased up for a little bit, "I don't know my real name, so I took on Fukuyama Sokoto just because it sounded cool. But I do know I was born on the Shikoku island."

"Ugh...rough island."

"Harsh island. So...where are these Phantom Task guys?"

"Right here, actually."

"Hm?" They stopped in front of a residential apartment complex. It wasn't newly built, but it looked like it could stand against the modern buildings of Shibuya. "Whoa...y'all live here now?"

"Yeah...there's just the three of us, but we got a month's lease on two rooms. C'mon, I'll show you where you'll be staying."

She led him to the top floor. These apartments had enough space to fit a small family, it seemed like. A full on studio-style apartment with a balcony and two separate bedrooms. The living, kitchen, and dining rooms were all combined into one mega room. Everything looked so brand new, with wooden flooring and sleek wall paint.

"Hello, beautiful..." he was taken by the beauty of a modern apartment, that's for sure, "Where have you been all my life..."

"Feel free to accommodate yourself. We're gonna be here for quite a while, but try not to leave the apartment complex unless we're out on a mission, ok?"

"Yeah...I gotcha..."

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then..." she turned around and left him to drown in his amazement, "Oh, and Sokoto?"

"Huh?" He regained his composure, "Wha-oh...yeah?"

"About my real name...just forget I ever said that...call me Autumn from now on..."

"Oh...yeah, sure."

And with that, she went a few steps down the hall to another room and went inside.

"Huh...so that's it?" Yes. That's your orientation. Seriously. "Well...better get used to it..." He went back inside and flung himself on a couch, arms folded over his head.

"*SIGH*...So, what now? I'm gonna be here for over a month with a bounty for a million make up kits on my head...nothing much else to do until we can storm them directly...and find out where they've taken her..." He's still thinking about his brief moments with his beloved robot companion. He really wants her to experience the life he's been granted. Once again, he ponders his IS's life before Sokoto and Silvia. What must it be like to live your life not being able to do anything but just wait for the flow of time to claim it and render you incapable of living. What must it be like to just stand there, motionless, forced to watch everyone tinker with your very body and just leave you there, never to come into contact with anyone in the outside world, being confined to a cramped corner for all eternity...

"Yeah...we gotta get her back from those guys..." he silently thought to himself.

Just then, the door opened. Sokoto leaned his head back to peek at the original resident of this place, "Hmm? Hey! You!"

It was a female, and she had some groceries with her. The resident's unsympathetic expression remained unchanged, "Huh?"

"You're the girl who healed me when I was about to die! When I crashed onto the island!"

"What?"

"Huh? Oh," he suddenly remembered that his hair and eyes were altered. He hassled his hair until it returned to his regular hair style, and ditched the contact lenses. Now, he looked like his old self again, except his hair, which he sliced off the biggest chunks, "Now, you remember?"

The woman blankly stared at him for a moment, before becoming slightly irritated, "I thought I told you not to do anything stupid." She trudged towards her room, dropping the groceries onto the countertop.

"Hey, what's your problem, lady?" he smirked, "No respect for guests or just a hissy temper tantrum, huh?"

"Not for you, punk," she bluntly stated as she stormed into her room and slammed the door shut.

"Well!" He tuned in to his sassy moment, "ExcUUUUUUse moi!" He gave her the z-snap and strutted towards the grocery pile, "I guess there ain't gonna be no dinner for you, then!" He proceeded to set everything out and plan tonight's dinner.

Little did he know, that meanwhile, all the way in the other apartment...

Autumn emerged from the shower, completely naked, all refreshed and brimming with delight, "Whew! Aww, that felt so good!" She dried herself and threw the towel onto her bed, "I knew that kid was gonna come in handy. I needed a punching bag, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make it all the way home...Well, maybe not a punching bag...Can't dwell on the small stuff, now can I?"

She walked over to her closet and donned a corset and leggings, "At least I found the solution to all our problems..." she slipped into her black panties, "It has been a long search, but I can finally relax a bit now..." She took a flogger and a whip from her drawer. Her voice changed from feeling good to feeling calm, "Hmm...that kid...We shouldn't take out our frustrations here..." She slowly walked towards the other bedroom, changing her voice from calming to singsongy, almost demented, "I was right, y'know...we should be doing away from the prying eyes of the world...He's right...I'd love to spend all our time trapped in our own little fantasy world..."

She opened the second bedroom door...

There was a voluptuous woman, lying face up. Her hands and feet were tied down to the bed frame's corners. Her mouth was covered with multiple gags, allowing only the softest of muffled screams to pass through the cloth gates. Her eyes were blindfolded, but that didn't stop the tears from escaping. Her body was covered in scratch marks. Her mole under her left eye had been ripped off.

That woman heard the door close, followed by a haunting whisper:

"Wouldn't you say so...Squall?..."

And so, it has begun.

Sokoto's encounter with Phantom Task...supposedly, they died during the final battle with the IS Representative Candidates.

But what does their connection with the renegade signify?

Does Sokoto have a chance of finding out what his new friends are truly about?

And how does he plan to confront his new pursuers, not knowing anything about the pasts of his allies or enemies?

We will address these questions, as well as the reason for the main title, on the next episode of Infinite Stratos: Virus.