Otaku Infection, Chapter 2: Replication
and
Fortification
The supervisor of the airport’s main office, now relegated to something of an unwilling spectator as the airport for which she worked was methodically taken over by another power. The smirking, cat-like girl who sat at her terminal now and had so deftly brought the computer of the airport to heel paid her no mind at all, other than to keep her black-and-white splotched tail wound firmly around the supervisor’s waist. The supervisor’s shoes, which she had kicked off in her valiant but ultimately useless attempt to set off the alarm, were now far across the room, kept purposely out of her grasp by the cat-girl. On the slick, polished floor, the supervisor’s stocking feet would have no way of keeping enough traction for her to do anything useful. Her only possible courses of action were to sit and fume or to try and bite the catgirl’s tail, which had already proved rather difficult.
Felin, for her part, was not really paying attention to what the supervisor or any of the other employees were doing, although she had noted in the back of her mind that something would need to be done with them before too long. Perhaps releasing them to their families as a sign of good will… Casualties had no place in this takeover, none more than necessary. Felin had already gotten a supply of binders from her lab, which had taken over the duty of keeping the employees out of trouble. They were all bound hand and foot to their chairs, and lined up against the far wall, except for the supervisor whom Felin kept on hand in the event that she needed to know something.
But nothing seemed to be going wrong. In fact, everything was almost perfect. The construction droid which was now at work in the back room with equipment and supplies for expanding the mainframe’s capacity had not encountered any interference and was ahead of schedule for its work. The second droid would be arriving soon, as soon as the teleportation device in Felin’s lab had finished warming up. Syia was much more convenient for bringing things to and from places, but she couldn’t always be on hand. The problem with Felin’s device is that it used up far too much power to be of any great use.
Speaking of Syia… Felin changed her terminal’s display to one of the police and tactical weapons teams waiting for reinforcements outside. They had parked their cars lengthwise for cover, a standard police tactic. Perfect. Felin settled back, sure the show was going to be a good one, and turned one of the rooftop’s cameras to point at Jelex and Syia, admittedly small blurry blobs at this distance.
Outside, it had actually begun to rain a little bit, and a first glance at Jelex and Syia would have merited no special notice. On closer examination, a strange visual effect was in play around the two of them, making it seem that the rain was actually bending around them, keeping the pair dry. Another one of Syia’s psychic tricks, Jelex thought, and a useful one at that, she admitted. “So, what am I doing? Just babysitting you?”
“If you must put it that way, then yes, you’re babysitting me. Trust me, this is the better way. The less physical harm we must deal, the deeper the sympathy of the people will run for us.” Syia winked. “You might not have noticed, but I could tell that young security guard I hoodwinked before had been at least minimally affected by the Otaku Virus.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell,” Jelex replied, her sarcasm dripping onto the roof tiles along with the rain. “Well, here you are.” Jelex folded her hands behind her head, then began doing stretches on the rooftop, just a little distance from the edge. “Show them your mighty fanservice powers.”
“Fanservice powers and psychic powers are not the same thing,” Syia said with a small smirk. “Observe the difference. Fanservice powers get boys to do what I want. Psychic powers…” Syia fell silent for a moment, concentrating her power and stretching her hand out, palm facing the roadblock and fingers spread.
The police roadblock was a bustle of activity, interrupted with a shout from one of the junior officers keeping watch over the airport. With the rain and atmosphere as they were, Syia’s psychic wave of force was clearly visible as a rippling distortion in the air, one which most of the officers had only time to turn and see before it hit.
The wave struck with a powerful physical force, one that was not targeted on the officers themselves but rather the police cruisers which made up their barricade. They began to rock back on two wheels as if caught in a strong wind. The officers manning the barricade shouted in surprise and began to flee, the cars jolting further and further back as successive waves of psychic force struck them, before the final assault sent the cars crashing backwards, upside-down on the road and their light bars sheared off, expensive light and siren systems becoming nothing more than speakers, lights, and colored plastic.
“Destroy things much?” Jelex asked, patently unimpressed with the display that had the police and assault weapons support fleeing back several blocks and milling in uncertainty.
“That will keep them off of our backs until we can fortify this location, then we can defend it without our presence. At that time we’ll be freed up to move on to the next target.” Syia grinned.
“Well, if we’re done there, that’s good. I’m starved, I’m going to raid the airport concessions for some food. Wanna come along?” Jelex giggled and took Syia by the arm. “Can’t forget my psychic umbrella.” Syia rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a giggle.
* * *
“The operation is proceeding well? That is excellent,” Jaynin said, speaking into the receiver set into the underside of the large computer terminal where he viewed the conquest, Felin’s face taking up the majority of the display with a small, picture-in-picture map of the city conquest progress. At the moment, the airport and a small area around it was colored blue.
“Yes, we found that living quite near to the airport were groups of citizens quite affected by the Otaku Virus. By using their apartments to gain strategic positions and defeat the police, Jelex and Syia have slowly begun expanding our territory. Several of the citizens have even been affected to the degree where they assist in subverting the authority of the city. Others are simply sympathetic or at the worst are willing to turn a blind eye to our presence and not alert the authorities.” Felin could hardly restrain her glee in reporting the success of her pet project. “Many of the infected citizens are willing to allow me to install automated defenses on their premises.”
“So, the Otaku Virus is working as we had hoped, then… this is excellent news, Felin.” Jaynin grinned slightly. “I want you and the others to keep an eye out to see if there is someone charismatic and sympathetic enough to be entrusted with the oversight of this sector once we have finished conquest. The means to secure that authority are completed, yes?”
“It is,” Felin replied, her confidence flowing through her voice. “Once we have chosen our steward, he will be able to defeat any low-level attempts at subversion or re-conquest.”
“And what about the beta-strain of the Otaku Virus? Is it possible to tell me how it would differ from the alpha-strain yet?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Felin’s ears drooped a little bit at not having the information she wanted. “It still needs to be refined and then tested a little bit more. I am thinking of testing its effect on those most receptive to the alpha-strain once this city is under our control.” She brightened up again, her eyes narrowing with a sly, feline grin on her face. “But, in the meantime, there is other good news.”
“Oh? What good news is that?” Jaynin asked, a smile cutting across his own face as he sat up straighter in his throne. “Good news is always welcome.”
“We have found that one of the citizens who is affected greatly by the Otaku Virus is also a worker in the city government. Jelex was able to acquire information and a promise of cooperation from him, and upon review of this information, I think we can change our plans slightly and make a bold strike.”
“Change in plans… how?” Jaynin frowned. “I do hope you’re not complicating this operation, Felin. It is delicate enough as is, and simple operations are always the best for achieving complex means.”
“I assure you, this is no complication. If you want to call it as such, it’s a stroke of luck.” Felin grinned fully, looking like the Cheshire cat. “This citizen is the mayor’s aide, and from what he has told us, the mayor is a closet anime enthusiast…”
“Ahhhh…” the sound of understanding escaped Jaynin’s lips as his own smile widened to match Felin’s. “So he is likely to be under some of our influence as well. This will make the conquest of the city much easier, if we have the mayor cooperating with us…”
“With your
permission, I am going to send Syia to enter the City Hall and reach
the mayor,
hopefully bringing him under our control. Once that is done, and if I
can be
permitted to fortify City Hall… that will put much of the city under
our direct
control. Although,
“
“Yes, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.” Felin saluted and her image faded away, replaced by the city map of Tokyo and City Hall flashing, target crosshairs pinpointing it as the next target, as updated by the main computer. Jaynin chuckled softly then took a sip of the glass of wine he held in his hand.
“Bleccch!” Jaynin spit out the wine and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. “Wine tastes so terrible. Why do masterminds always sit on thrones and drink wine? This is so boring.” Jaynin looked at his call button, tempted to contact Felin again and ask if she needed help, but… “Right. Calm, stoic, all-knowing. Got to project that ‘fearless leader’ image.” Jaynin sat down, and reached into the cabinet that was next to his throne to pick out a can of soda and sip that instead.
“It doesn’t quite have the same effect…”
* * *
Syia primped and preened in the apartment of the mayor’s aide, getting her outfit and appearance to be just so in order to exert the maximum amount of influence over any infected with the Otaku Virus. The smile she spared for the aide himself seemed to indicate that it was working. The poor guy had already volunteered to sleep outside of his own apartment so she could reside in privacy while the attack was planned, and a gentle persuasion needed to be applied to get him to even sleep on the couch. But it was proof enough of the virus’ effects; the anime-watching fanboy had become a fanboy in word as well as name, enraptured enough with Syia to do whatever she asked of him.
“Shall we go?” Syia asked, favoring him with another smile, and giggling as he sprang out of his chair outside the bedroom, hurrying to open the door for her then scurry down the stairs ahead of her to warm up his car and open the door for her as well. Syia liked the fringe benefits of fanboy worship, but the fact of the matter is the satisfaction of bending males to do as she wished was almost as great a thrill in and of itself. Soon, she’d get to ply her trade again…
The ride to the City Hall was uneventful, the usual Tokyo traffic a little subdued as people were nervous about the encroachment upon their airport, but the city government had pledged that the citizens should suffer no disruptions than the ones that were unavoidable as a result of the current situation. As a result there was not a massive police presence, nor were there military personnel in the city. That was all to her advantage, Syia knew. The military would pose a bit of a problem until the populace could be recruited and altered for the purpose of defending conquered territory. Until then it was just she, Jelex and Felin, and whatever automated defenses Felin managed to put together in that period of time.
Syia spoke cheerfully and at least feigned interest in what the mayor’s aide stuttered and stammered his way through, his sentences peppered with admiration for Syia pained in the most glowing and elaborate terms. The flattery was nice to listen to, and Syia knew that antagonizing a fanboy could produce a more negative backlash than simply putting up with their sometimes annoying nattering. In any event, Syia recognized the fact that this particular male was at least more interesting, or tried to be so, than the average.
Finally they arrived at City Hall where the mayor’s aide scanned himself through security and got a visitor’s pass for Syia from the main desk. Syia grinned, knowing that her likeness had not been recorded photographically yet, and while she drew stares and mutterings of suspicion, the fact that she was past the city’s security systems meant that it was already too late.
Stammering and nervous, the mayor’s aide led Syia into the elevator and punched the proper button to ascend to the floor where the mayor’s office was, then led her into the anteroom and said, “Th-this is where I have to work, so… the rest is up to you. I’ll tell the mayor you’re coming in.” He knocked on the door to the inner office. “Mayor, you have a visitor. S-she wishes to speak with you immediately.”
The mayor’s voice was not gruff as some automatically expected from mayors of stature, but rather a moderate tone and a little quiet if anything. “I can only see anyone for a short period of time, but I will be glad to meet with our guest if only to schedule a more length appointment.”
“Yes, sir,” the aide said, looking to Syia and scurrying to his desk, getting busy with his paperwork. “You can go in now and speak to the Mayor.”
“Thank you,” Syia said, smiling softly once more at the aide before opening the door to the Mayor’s office and slowly entering before closing the door without a sound behind her. The Mayor looked up from his work and stared slightly agape at the large-chested, smiling beauty that had just graced his office. “Good day. Who might you be, and what business would you have here?”
“My name is Syia, Mayor,” Syia said, grinning fully as she sat down in a chair which was across from the Mayor’s desk. “I think I have some information for you which may be useful concerning the current crisis your city faces with the strange invaders who have taken over the city’s airport.”
“Information you say?” the Mayor asked, obviously surprised at the topic which had been established for the visit. “Any information you can supply on those rogues would be welcomed, but… how did you come across such information?”
“Mayor, the group that has taken over your airport does not wish to kill anybody, they are simply conquering the world for reasons that need not concern you. However, to reduce possible strife and unrest among the civilians and citizens of this city, a psychological warfare device has already been employed to convert and cause sympathy to the cause of this group.”
“Psychological warfare device? I saw no such thing. Young lady, how do you know all of this – “
“The device is actually an electronic virus which affects the brain by changing the shape and matter of the synapses in a person’s brain,” Syia continued, ignoring the protests by the mayor. “The virus is transmitted through the optical nerve to the brain and shapes it in interesting ways. For example…” Syia grinned and leaned forward, crossing her legs and lacing her fingers against her shin. “It causes those who watch television, especially anime, to exhibit characteristics more like those of anime characters.”
“You – what? What kind of… what are you talking about?” the Mayor demanded to know. “Are you – “
“For example, males who are affected by this virus go through incredible personal inconvenience to assist those who they have set their minds on as their ‘favorite’ anime girls. The casual term would be ‘fanboy’, Mayor.” Syia stood up. “Your aide is one such fanboy. He’s been affected by the virus and he agreed to help me. Your aide told us that you watch anime as well, in secret… therefore, you are affected by the virus as well.”
Open shock rode the Mayor’s face, his mouth agape and seemingly unable to articulate any sounds beyond weak croaking and startled gasping. Finally, he managed to squeak out: “H-how do you… how can you…?”
“I am a member of that organization that is taking over this city, Mayor.” Syia grinned and sat on the corner of the Mayor’s desk, looking seductive and dangerous at the same time. “You may think you can resist, but the truth of the matter is you are already under my sway… the only difference is how long it will take you to admit that fact, Mayor.”
“I will never submit willingly to a terrorist organization such as yours!” the Mayor proclaimed loudly, flourishing with one arm in a wide gesture to hide the motion of his other, swiftly darting under his desk to hit the alarm button there. Overblown defiance and grandiosity gave way to open shock as he felt his arm freeze in place. “Wh-what sorcery is this? Who are you, the Devil?”
“Please, Mayor. This is a force called psionics, and it utilizes nothing more than the latent power of the brain, not arcane religiosity or unfounded forces.” Syia forced the Mayor’s arms back to his sides and cupped his chin in her hand, fear and shock still written on his features. “I already pledged not to hurt you, no matter how you may lash out at me. My only weapons will be the weaponry of soft warfare, the weapons of persuasion and communication and self-defense. I will never strike to hurt you.”
“Y-you
won’t?” the Mayor asked, a small part of his façade crumbling as
he looked into
Syia’s strikingly yellow eyes and found to his surprise that he admired
her
beauty for a second. While he reprimanded himself for that thought just
a
moment later, he was shocked to realize that perhaps this busty girl
was
correct, that perhaps something was affecting his brain and making him
unwillingly susceptible to her charms… generous charms that they were,
too… you
never saw such beautiful long blue hair on any
“I can feel you crumbling already, Mayor… all you have to do is pledge to support us in our conquest of the city and order all the police and security forces to stand down and surrender. We won’t hurt any citizens unless it becomes a dire necessity. No one will get hurt.”
“Do you swear that?” the Mayor asked, feeling a growing desire to stop resisting and simply do as Syia said, for some reason feeling the quiet but firm resolve that characterized his administrative decisions melting as if it were never there. “I… I don’t want to make the people of the city suffer with block-to-block fighting.”
“No one does,” Syia said sympathetically. “We are not out to enslave the world or pillage the resources from underneath the people’s feet. It will take time to explain and for everyone to understand… but the truth of the matter is there will be no time to explain and wait for people to reach a consensus. This is the only way.”
“Only way… for what?” The Mayor looked curious, trying to glean one last bit of extra information from Syia before his inevitable collapse.
“Nothing, it’s not your concern.” Syia smiled, realizing that she had said a little more than she probably should have but reasoning that it probably wouldn’t make all that much of a difference in the long run. “Will you tell the police to stand down?”
“I can’t speak for the national military,” the Mayor said, hedging his bets one last time.
“We know that. We already have plans to keep them from fighting in this city.”
“Very well…” Even as the Mayor sighed heavily, he felt what seemed to be a great weight lifting from his shoulders. Something about giving this girl what she wanted just felt so… so good, so right, so proper. It was dangerous, the Mayor concluded. This girl was probably a skilled manipulator of people, especially men, so she could… The sentence died in the Mayor’s train of thought and he shrugged. “All right, I agree. I surrender City Hall to you and I will send out an order to the city police ordering them to stand down and await further instructions.”
“You’ve made the right choice, sir,” Syia said.
* * *
Some time later, Felin strolled into City Hall with a laptop tucked under her shoulder and a mysterious, knowing smirk on her face. The bureaucrats who normally would be working on whatever it was they did stopped and gaped, aware of the Mayor’s orders not to interfere with their special guest’s activities but having nowhere in their imagination conjured up a feline female striding into their workspace and casually plugging her computer into their network.
“Hey, what are you…” a male clerical worker began to say, half-rising before a colleague placed a hand on his arm and shook his head in acceptance of defeat. Grimacing, the clerk sat down again and sighed, watching his terminal as the catgirl worked.
First the employees were forcibly logged out of the system, their terminals idling at the login screen while Felin worked. One by one, Felin called them over and reassigned them usernames and passwords, and then directed them back to their terminals where they logged back in and, at her behest, resumed work. Some managed to refocus enough to get back to the tasks they had been assigned for today, but most just stared, either at their new system or at the girl who casually reconfigured the entire citywide network to run through her mainframe.
“Continue what you were doing,” Felin announced as she folded up her laptop and stood up to leave. “Be aware that your activities are monitored, however, so doing anything that would be harmful to the system or otherwise considered subversive will cause the mainframe to lock you out of the system and summon our attention. Continue as if nothing is amiss, and you will keep both your jobs and your salaries.”
The staff scratched their heads, tentatively resuming work as Felin left the room. She left City Hall and began to walk back to the airport, getting ready to gather her things and set up a more permanent workspace in City Hall. Felin was able to walk the streets openly now, with the police forces grimacing and looking uncomfortable but not having much choice in the matter. A unit that had attempted to force entry back into City Hall had been defeated and detained by Syia, who even now was working with Jaynin and the Mayor in his office to smoothly complete the transfer of power.
Ordinary citizens were mostly keeping within their apartments, but she did get many stares from those who were out and about. Felin grinned, recognizing some of the stares as just plain curiosity, but others she detected as the borderline-obsessive stares of fanboys… and even from a girl here and there, she noticed. There was nothing wrong with that, and in truth Felin admitted that concentrating only on the male population was a rather narrow-minded goal. Perhaps she could convince Jaynin to make himself more visible once the city was more secure… that way, it would be possible to sway fangirls which, Felin knew, could be just as devoted if not more so to their favorite males.
Still, Felin wasn’t quite as comfortable as Syia being a public center of attention. She preferred to deal with her fanboys in a one-on-one setting if at all possible. Jelex, well… Jelex was barely decent enough to care, but that was a huge chunk of her appeal to begin with… Felin covered her mouth to hide a smile as she walked back into the airport, striding quickly along its now-empty halls back to the main office.
“What’s wrong with you all?” Felin asked with a frown, seeing the pasty-white faces of the former office employees. “The Mayor has just surrendered the city, so we’re going to move out within the next few days and you will all be allowed to resume your jobs.” One employee shook his head, nodding towards a door that went into the employee break room, and now that Felin listened, she could hear faint screaming from inside. A quick check around showed that the supervisor was missing…
“Jelex!” Felin shouted, bursting into the break room with a look of indignation on her face, “you know we’re not supposed to ha…r…m… the employees…” Felin trailed off, sighing with exasperation.
“Hmm?” Jelex asked, looking up with a blank expression on her face. “I’m not harming the employees.” She twisted around, letting Felin see the red-faced and giggling supervisor held to a chair by Jelex’s disembodied hands, with her stocking feet in Jelex’s lap. “What, was that what you guys thought?” Jelex asked, twisting around further to look at the employees, all of whom had expressions of total disbelief written on their faces.
“Apparently,” Felin said wryly. “I don’t think you’ve introduced them to your favorite activity, now have you?”
“So?” Jelex shrugged, tracing her finger absently along the sole of the supervisor, making her shriek again. “See? No torture. Nothing to see here, go on, move along. Sheesh. What paranoid people, thinking I was like breaking her fingers or something just because she’s really loud…”
“What do you mean it’s not torture?!” the supervisor burst out, before seeing that most of her former subordinates were struggling very much not to grin or chuckle, mostly with relief.
“I hate to spoil your fun, but we do have to get going and pack up,” Felin said, crossing her arms and grinning with amusement. “Let the poor woman go and help me get ready.”
“Oh fine, be a spoilsport, like usual…” Jelex scuffed the ground with the toe of her boot and released the supervisor, letting her slump in the chair and try to catch her breath as she rose, hands in pockets, and followed Felin sullenly, sticking her tongue out at the supervisor before she walked around the corner and out of view.
* * *
Jaynin sat
in a new seat this time, the chair of the former Mayor of Tokyo,
overlooking
the city through the large window set against one wall. He had never
anticipated that the plan would go over so well, and as he called up
his map on
the computer terminal at the desk, he smiled as he saw that the vast
majority
of the City of
“Excellent work, Syia, Jelex, Felin,” he said to the three of them, standing in the somewhat less spacious area of the mayor’s office but nonetheless nearly bursting with good mood between the three of them. “I think I can handle things from here. You three go on and take a little time off, enjoy yourselves in the city. And remember to keep an eye out for an appropriate steward.” Jaynin steepled his fingers and grinned. “I will see you three in a few days. Go on now, have fun.”
“Sweet!” Jelex cried, beating the other two out the door by only a hair. Jaynin waited until after they had left before sighing with relief and opening one of the desk drawers, pulling out a coffee mug.
“It’s such
a pain…” Jaynin muttered, sipping out of his Magic C0ff33 +1 mug. “Last
time
they saw me drinking coffee out of this mug, they made fun of me for a
week…”