The busy street came back to life as business establishments and infrastructures were slowly moving from rubbles. Cars slowly pass by the street and the trains echo on their rails.
"Three months have passed since the greatest destruction of the internet happened in the era where technology is at its finest hailing from the city of new origin, Aurum City. It has been real havoc when the gateway of information, the Prestigious ORION headed by no other than its president, Ginsei Reiko, was intruded and caused severe damage to the whole city. The destruction not only happened in the WWWeb but also in the reality where most of the city was destroyed by explosions remotely controlled by the so-called Hacker," the man said. He stood in front of a huge monitor flashing live broadcast from the city where havoc had shown its faces. His red striped necktie hid behind his earth-colored suit on top of his white undershirt. He held a tablet in his left hand and stared at the camera held by another man on the street.
Bystanders and passers-by came to look around near the area.
"The investigation found proof of the negligence on the people in ORION, so they were forced to shoulder all the responsibility due to the incident. Rebuilding and renovating the infrastructures of the city was all budgeted by the president, Ginsei Reiko, and had cost him a lot of money. He was also forced to do a public apology for everything that happened and for the cost of many lives during the blackout." the reporter said.
"Here's what he said in a press conference," the reporter clicked something from his tab and a video flashed on the monitor behind him.
>>>>"I deeply apologize for everything that had happened for the past 3 months. The attack at ORION caused huge damage to both the Internet and the reality we are in. The information was leaked and accessed by foreign servers but we are securing the data back to our database. It is due to ORION's negligence and the ignorance of our team members that the virus, Perses, was able to infiltrate what we so-called a stronghold. The technology we have now has gone through difficult situations and I assure you that ORION will rise from the ashes and grew stronger.." Reiko said.<<<<
Flashes from cameras rain on him, questions from different reporters both positive and negative flood on him as well.
>>>>"ORION will do all the things covered by its power to rebuild what was lost in this city, but I deeply apologize for the lives that were lost. I, too, had suffered this past few months." His voice turned emotional. "...my son is still in the hospital for what he had received from confronting the Hacker to save everyone and we're still waiting for his recovery. We all suffered from the previous attack, so we promise to rebuild the system and make it more invulnerable. AEGIS will rise stronger to prevent the previous incident to happen again." He bowed in front of the press "...I ask for your reconsideration though I know it is hard to rebuild your trust please, believe in the power of ORION." Reiko continued. <<<<
"Check out for more updates on our news channel and stay tuned after the advertisement." the reporter said.
....
Few weeks have passed and they all felt the burden of the previous incident. Reiko walked slowly in the corridor holding a basket filled with sanitary kits. He stood outside the tinted glass door spacing out.
"Hey.." Charlotte said softly. "You'll get hit if stand there like that. C'mon inside."
Reiko smiled. "Sorry, I just felt tired."
"We all are," she replied. "But we have to keep going. Marky is also doing his best out there." Charlotte poked his shoulder.
"I know."
"I'll just head out for a quick walk. I'll leave him to your care." Charlotte turned around and waved goodbye.
"Ok." Reiko said and walked inside the room. He sat beside the bed and placed his basket on the side table.
"Hey, Markus." he held his son's hand "You've been sleeping for quite some time now. How have you been?" he pulled down the kid's blanket showing his degenerated body. "It's been 3 months now since that incident happened. I'm sorry if I cannot remove that headgear for now, huh. I believe 'he' needs it to accomplish what he wanted to do inside your body. But trust me, once you wake up, we'll remove all of those." he pulled a sanitary wet napkin and wiped it on his son's arm. "Things have changed since then. You see, Orion has been doing its best to perfect the Aegis. You won't be able to lay a prank on them in their current state." Reiko giggled. "And your mom has been doing good lately. I mean, I was watching her back so you could rest at ease." he even smiled bigger. "Anyways, your friends were out of the hospital just a week after the incident. They were visiting here quite often, waiting for you to wake up."
Reiko succeeded with the help of the Phantom Algorithm. He knows Markus is back, but due to the severe damage he had experienced, his body is healing slowly, though he is already out of critical danger.
"I'll pull off a cookie pantry if you wake up now." Reiko sighed, but now with a smile. He placed his son back to the bed and pulled his blanket up.
He looked around for a trash bin and saw Louige standing outside the door.
"Why don't you come inside. You'll get hit if you stand there for too long." Reiko said.
Louige entered with a fruit basket and other stuff for Markus to use. "Who will hit who, Mr. Reiko."
"Who knows. Hahaha." Reiko replied.
"I was hoping I can enter without guilt, but, I'm still hesitant to show myself in front of him," Louige replied.
"What are you saying. Don't be ridiculous..." Reiko laughed under his breath "...I thought we have talked about that. Besides, you're helping me out, right?" He gave him a chair next to him. "...come sit with me, you're welcome to be here anytime."
"Reiko-sama..." Louige's tears fell and he took the next to Markus' bed.
"Ohh,, Thanks for dropping by," Reiko said with a smile.
"I... yeah, I wanna see how he's doing," Louige replied. "Take these things, please. These are all for him."
"He's fine, the doctor said he's out of danger," Reiko said, putting the stuff on top of the table. "Thanks for all the trouble.." he said. "What do you have here?"
"Some fruits and a change of clothes if he wakes up," Louige replied.
"Thanks a lot."
"No worries. I bet you brought more than I did." Louige smirked.
"I'm his dad, right? It's natural to be troubled sometimes especially when it comes to him. I told you I can spoil my son like this. Besides, he had done some commendable job here." Reiko said like a doting dad bragging his kid.
"Commendable yet Dangerous." Charlie frowned. She entered the room with a box of pizza in her left hand.
"Not to mention dangerous... but, you see, he's a big boy now..." Reiko muttered.
"He's still my baby, you know..." Charlie replied. She placed the pizza box on the bed and faced Reiko.
"Ma...ma... that's enough, you know he can hear you, right?" Louige said to stop the conversation which is going the wrong way.
"Hmmph." Charlie smiled and put the pizza on the table. "ANYWAYS...well, why don't we have some pizza for now..." Charlie opened the box and grabbed a slice. "...hurry up and wake from there, Marky,, you'll miss all the pizzas we have here." pointing a pizza slice on her sleeping son.
"Don't be rude, Charlie..." Reiko whispered to her ear and he turned to Markus' side, "don't worry Ha-chan, I will bring a ton of apple when you wake up." He added.
They spend the day talking nonsense with Markus on their side, still unconscious.
...
After Shichiro took over Markus' brain, he unleashed all the body's limiters and started to control the neurons from every inch of his body. He started by giving signals from the smallest neurons. With the use of the electricity that came from the headgear, he was able to control synapses to his heart to control the pumping rate and circulate the blood properly. Some cells burst and some of his organs bleed just like what Shichiro warned him that was about to happen but he gambled.
Now, Shichiro is still taking control over Markus' brain to keep him alive until he officially regains control over his beaten body.