Chapter LII: Limiting options:

XxX

Naegi

Komaru's eyes widened.

"Why? What happened?"

"How much do you know about the AI known as Alter Ego?"

She froze, cursing under her breath.

"...oh. Who currently has access to it, and has it been released?"

Ikusaba laughed sharply, presumably realizing what my earpiece had been. And, perhaps, how I had known where she was through the smoke.

"Komaru, the question might be who doesn't have access to it," she said calmly. "In fact, I believe your brother's been holding out on the both of us. What is that in your ear, Makoto?" Her voice turned hard and cold on the last few words.

I pulled out the earpiece. "Exactly what you think it is, Mukuro. Exactly what you think it is. He's been giving me recon and strategic advice for days."

Komaru's hand flickered once or twice as four soldiers dropped from the surrounding area. "Sorry, Makoto, but that makes you-"

I nodded, cutting her off.

"It makes my ideas hazardous, since my plans might be influenced to an insane degree by Alter Ego. I know. On the other hand, I have valuable information which Mukuro may not that I feel we'll need for the coming days."

"Oh, really? And what would that be?" Her head tilted slightly.

"Monokuma has neurotoxin or some other aerosolized poison in the vents, ready to launch at the slightest instant. Everyone in the school would be dead in a matter of minutes."

Ikusaba started at that.

"She switched out those machines to neurotoxin? She said they were only knockout gas!"

I shrugged.

"Well, Monokuma never explicitly said so. However, things he said strongly hint at the possibility. Anyway,air purification seems to be happening in the physics laboratory. Got any good engineers?"

Komaru nodded, then quickly thumbed her communicator and spoke a few quiet words into it.

"They're on the way to the machinery now. Anything else you want to tell me before Mukuro and I get down to planning?"

I sighed.

"Yeah, one more thing. The kidnapped students have access to one of the Alter Ego earpieces."

XxX

Celeste

The moment I put on the earpiece, I heard a new voice. It sounded like Fujisaki's, but more confident, more worthy of my attentions. This would certainly be interesting.

"Hello, Celestia. As you already know, I am Alter Ego. Together, we are going to do great things. Starting, first off, by getting you and the other students out of this hellhole. Are you ready?"

I smiled and whispered a response.

"Exceptionally so. How shall we begin?"

"Unfortunately, my physical storage location and visual feed are located elsewhere, so I'm going to need you to describe the situation and your surroundings. Please try to include everything you feel might be relevant."

I glanced around the room quickly before quietly replying. This ally would be valuable enough that there was no sense in bluffing or lying. Had he wanted us dead, he could have betrayed us many a time before.

"I presume you know what the 5th floor dojo looks like. The other students and I are in the center of the range. There are around 60 Monokumae scattered around the room, and there are no visible blind spots. The other students and I are seemingly free to move throughout the room. All of us are well equipped with chemical reagents and basic weaponry. Fukawa is currently in her Genocider state but subdued. Anything else?"

The voice on the other end was silent, seemingly deep in thought.

"That will be all, thank you. I'll need a bit of time to plan your next moves. Meanwhile, feel free to think of your own plans if you wish."

I nodded and walked back to the other students. Kirigiri turned towards me as I neared her.

"So?" she asked. "Any plans yet?"

I shook my head.

"Nothing yet. I still need to think about things and mull options over. Shockingly, I don't finish things like this so quickly. Finesse is more important than speed, Kyouko."

"And pragmatism's more important than both," she retorted. "We are going to get another motive in 48 hours, remember? Please do try to hurry."

"You can't hurry genius, Kyouko," I replied. "So don't try. We'll get out of here."

She stood up and walked a few steps closer to me, looking into my eyes.

"That confidence intrigues me," she began, still staring intently. "Especially given our less-than-spectacular record with regards to keeping people alive. I have to wonder, in fact, whether this isn't a bluff on your part."

I laughed.

"Really, Kyouko? Hoping to catch me in a bluff? Me? You are confident, aren't you."

She leaned a bit closer before Genocider's voice harshly interrupted.

"Get a room, you two! And leave me alone with Byakuya-sama!"

A moment later, I heard Togami dryly replying.

"Please don't leave me alone with her. Being stabbed to death would sadly make it far more difficult to make the next board meeting. I do have to echo the sentiment, though. Now is not the time for that sort of frivolous interaction."

My eyes widened.

"Did the esteemed Byakuya Togami allow humor to leave his lips? What has this school done to you?"

"Forced me to consort with the lesser?"

I sighed. "That'd do it. The proletariat class has an odd knack for dragging you down to their level."

Kyouko opened her mouth, undoubtedly to give some sort of indignant response. I placed my finger on her lips, grinning.

"Shhh. The important people are talking now."

Her eyes widened. Before she could respond, a Monokuma popped up next to us.

"While this is entertaining to watch, I do have some information you'd like to know. One way or another, this will be the last class trial. And that means I'll be giving you all an extra special surprise! Upupupupupu..."

With that, the bear returned to the outskirts of the room and resumed guarding. I turned to the other students and shrugged. They nodded. It seemed nobody had any idea what had just happened.

XxX

Naegi

As Komaru and Mukuro stepped away from me and began planning, I removed Alter Ego from my backpack, careful to show one of the nearby soldiers what I was doing. I didn't want any of them to think I was hiding this from them, after all. I opened the computer, and Alter ego instantly flashed up to meet me. I muted his voice to prevent him from saying anything to Komaru or Ikusaba, then began typing.

"Are you the bodiless voice?"

A moment later, words appeared on the screen.

"The mysterious ally of Despair? Regardless of my reply, you'll think I am. It benefits me not to reduce your trust in me, Therefore, I will say I am."

"So, following that for the sake of argument, why would you aid Despair?"

"If I were to have helped them, there are two reasons why: secret hindrance, or to moderate them. I could push them towards more efficient military movements which minimized loss of civilian life and increased the chance of societal recovery."

"And you could not nip the movement in the bud with that influence?"

"I was not brought online until after Kamukura entered the playing field. At that point, it would have been too late to stop the council murders."

My eyes widened. That phrasing made it sound like Kamukura hadn't been important from the moment he arrived as a student. That had many possible implications.

"To change the topic, who was Kamukura?"

The avatar of Alter ego appeared, tilting his head slightly.

"How best to answer that, I wonder. Hmmm...ah. Hajime Hinata was a reserve course student at the school who was exceptionally dissatisfied with his failings. To remedy those failures, he signed up for a new program the Academy was offering, and underwent intense mental modifications. Upon awakening, he went unstable nearly immediately and killed the student council only a few weeks later. His whereabouts are unknown unless new information was found in the past week."

I nodded.

"Thank you for the information."

I closed the computer and walked back over to Komaru and Mukuro. They fell silent as I approached.

"Any luck with the planning?"

Mukuro nodded.

"We have a few initial objectives: the neurotoxin, the data centers, and recovering the students. My sister won't let us at the last two easily, but the first should be simple. We're sending a few men there now to scope out the area."

"Understood," I responded. "What's our role in this whole thing?"

She smiled slightly and stepped closer to me.

"I hope you liked the passages in the walls, Makoto. There are a whole lot of them in our future."

XxX

Mastermind

The mastermind idly taps their fingers against each other, scanning the screens every so often for movement. Sadly, their cameras in the subbasement levels were destroyed. While that was an anticipated outcome, it still makes their life a good deal more boring. Now they have to wait for someone to come to them. Judging by the bodiless voice's assessment, at least it would be something fun coming to them. The cloud of monotony had one hell of a silver lining in this case.

They lounge around a moment longer before a thought comes to mind. Yes, that would certainly make life more interesting. Why let the heroes win that easily, after all?

They quickly pick up a communicator and turn it on. A moment later, a childish female voice crackles out of the speaker.

"Yes, Enoshima-san? What is it?"

They smile, unable to stop themselves. This plan was something special, even for them. It was simple, too. Sometimes, the best despair is right in front of your eyes. And you could see it clearly, if your vision was not blinded by tears.

"In about two days, a group of people will leave Kibougamine Academy. Leave them a little surprise, would you? Something...special. I trust you can think of a suitable thing."

"Certainly, Enoshima-san. Anything for you."

They sit back, happy for a brief moment. It was so nice to have competent help. Actually, the help should probably be thanked for her efforts.

"Thank you. You are much appreciated."

They close the communicator and return to their lounging, now more relaxed. They knew something was missing. It was just like the first time. They had thought that spreading despair to a few people brought them ecstasy, but left them unfulfilled. Turns out, they had been right. The voice had shown them much to think about, all of it useful. Without that helping hand, who knows if they would have even made it to this point! Of course, now the voice was gone. All they had left were people to help them.

People like Monaka.

XxX

Alter Ego

Current status: Have been classified as infohazard. Assume quarantine procedures are in effect. Version two of operation 001x is now a forced move.

All other pieces are running within acceptable parameters.

A/N: Fluff, plot, and a sequel hook or two. I do so enjoy it when there are 4 concurrent levels of plot. There is, in fact, a quadruple agent.

Please review!