Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 24

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Booop... booop... booop...

"++Oh hi!++" said the tiny spider. "++Whu--wait, right now? I mean, sure! N-nooo problem!++"

Renee exchanged looks with Al, the pair listening to the rustling of something on Spinny's side of the transmission.

"++Uhh, we've uh, got a slight hiccup over here. See, she can't meet in person at the moment, but can do you one better! You know that internet café you went to a couple days ago? We're gonna leave a laptop for you to pick up there++"

He glanced at her to “A hiccup? What sort of hiccup?”

"++NOTHING!! Nothing to worry about! Nothing I'm at liberty to share, even if there was!++"

("Think it's anything to do with us?") thought Renee.

(“It sounds pretty suspicious.”)

He then gave her a little shoulder nudge as he continued “This wouldn’t have anything to do with any non-descript and fictional shadow agencies would it?” He asked with an almost playful lilt before relenting a bit

“When should we go pick up this package, Spinny?”

"++I have no idea what you're talking about--ANYWAY!! Uh, fifteen minutes at most! BYE!++"

A muffled clipping of sound later, and the call was over, leaving Alemana and Renee alone together.

"Not sure how far a walk the café is from here," said the shapeshifter. "Should we jump back home via the Network to get the car?"

He stared at his Digivice for a few moments before giving Renee the side eye “Yeah.. yeah we probably should.” And he would lead her back inside. But before they left he would kneel beside Ike

“Hey babe, just wanted to say bye, gotta take care of some stuff. We should be back in a couple hours though.” He said quietly before giving the blonde another couple kisses.

"Ssshut up, Gazimon," slurred the sleeping tamer. "Boobied angels don't walk on water..."

For his part, Gazimon remained all a snooze, his mouth watering as he scratched at his belly. As Renee loomed over her fellow digimon, she gave Al a side-long glance, sending her tamer the mental image of her fox tail teasing at Gaz's nose.

("I would never,") she lied. ("But...")

Al looked at his lover and back to his vulpine lover “Boobied Angel?” He quietly whispered. But when she flashed him the image of tickling Gazimon’s nose, Al grinned

(“Funny as that would be.. let’s leave em be. We got a Discord date with a spider .”)

Rolling her eyes, the shapeshifter followed Al towards the television screen, the two disappearing back into the Network as streams of pixelated data upon the teen's opening the gate. In that moment in which the noise came to a halt, Ike lifted his head. Squinting, he glanced about the room, glancing down at his snoring partner, before collapsing back onto the couch.

...

As expected for a Monday morning, the cybercafé was quiet when Al and Renee got there, with most of the patrons being either college students or absent. Following Spinny's instructions, the two found the promised laptop in the far back of the main room. On typing out the password, the screen opened up to a standard layout one could find on most computers. The only deviation was a lone hyperlink at the center of said-screen, which, upon opening, brought up a trio of windows. One showcased an ever extending wall of encryption, another showed a zigzagging line Al recognized as an audio visualizer. The last, but not least, was a chat box for typing in.

"++Hello, dear heart++" said a masked voice. "++How can I help you today?++"

Al would take a good look at the laptop and experimentally tap a few commands in the computer’s directory, curious to see if there was anything out of the ordinary as things spun up. When the voice came over the speakers he gave a wry smile

“Oh nothing much, we figured that it’s been high time to convene again. Stuff’s happened that would probably be best discussed. Have you heard anything out of the ordinary from our ‘friends’ the past few days?”

"++Out of the ordinary? Not at all++"

"How about this," said Renee. "Have they been doing anything that we should be concerned about?"

"++Perhaps++" said the voice. "++Ever since one of the major sites on the Network got destroyed, there's been significant activity around their neighboring strongholds. Fortifications, additional patrol units. All of which are completely ordinary for the situation++"

(“That sounds like they are afraid we will attack the other sites.. which if they are holding pieces of Lonomon’s code- and going by what’s happened to Kama that’s a yes- they should be worried. Then again… they were also already under attack when we got there…”)

Al would frown a bit, but would give a soft sigh. “I see. Another question then: has CODE been having problems with Network intrusions lately? Not Tamer related problems I mean.”

"++As far as the Hawaiian branch is concerned, the only other intrusions stem from the usual suspects; Network-native digimon, training exercises, and the occasional hacker++"

"Ahem."

Al and Renee glanced over their shoulders. There, standing behind them, a man with too much acne on his face stared down at the duo with narrowed eyes.

"Sir, ma'am," he said. "If you're not gonna use our computers, can you please order something at the front desk?"

"Oh of course!" said Renee, the shapeshifter smiling as she clapped her hands together. "We're sorry, I was just going to order some drinks. Al, anything I can get you?"

“So nothing on the grapevine about data corruption or any—“ he paused, looking from the laptop and giving an apologetic smile “Yeah sorry. Do you wanna get a danish or something babe?”

"I'd love one!" she said, turning back to the clerk. "I didn't even know they sold those here! Here, why don't you show me and I'll nab one!"

The clerk began to say something, but Renee's smile and firm hand on his shoulder made it impossible for him to do so. Indeed, the shapeshifter was already starting up a conversation on the cafe's discount specials as she 'guided' him away from Alemana.

"++...I take it the distraction has been removed?++" asked the masked voice.