Chapter 23, The Unseen one and ...
Paris suburb.
After the clash between Tom and the Tokyo team, Victor had to intervene, guiding all the gantzers’ focus on the incoming mission.
Takashi and him used the town’s map and discussed how they could dispose their troops for tonight fight, using their capabilities to their fullest, ignoring the Paris’ team annoying pet’s interventions, shinning with his uselessness. While the Tokyo leader explained that the best way to prevent civilian’s casualties was to have the Eiffel society receive a notice requesting the tower being empty, while the Prefecture de Police would have the same for the surrounding area.
Victor indicated that the best way to have a clear view of the site would be to use the Montparnasse Tower as a sniping post, covering the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars surrounding it.
Takashi followed with a five team deployment plan, with each member listed. He asked each gantzer to go in their respective VR assignment to train as he saw Victor requesting a meeting with him.
Assuring himself they were alone, he started to ask about the way Takashi took contact with the other teams around the world.
“Not that I’m complaining with you helping us, but why didn’t you hold back on the gifts to push them to obey you? It would have been the easiest way to go about it. Not only did you unlock the standard Gantz equipment, you released your own version of it and made the immortality free.”
“My first intention was to make them group according to their countries of origin. Because most of the missions will start to get on their governments’ radar, gantzers’ identities will leak at one point or another. Best way not to have problems not only as an individual gantzer but as groups would be to be supported by their governments. It would allow them to evacuate civilians, reduce property destruction and collateral damage.”
“Pal, I’m from the Pompiers de Paris, Paris’ military firefighter unit. From what I saw in my life, no way in hell this guys from the government won’t try to mess with you.”
“I will use the public for that. Emergency transfer to and from medical centers, police’s stations and firefighters’ stations, with security protocols preventing theft and misuses. Free use of the gantz healing system I developed, that would ban amputations, allow transferring out of the patient things like tumors and foreign objects, creation of clean and healthy organs. Transfer use an important amount of energy, so it would probably be restrained to the wealthy, the emergency procedures, the army and the industries. Really big and massive objects won’t be transferred every time.
There will be transports that will use other means than transfers. They will be my exclusives piggy banks and leverages against the governments. I will use the flying bike technology, at scale and way bigger. Public transport, not only for passengers but for freight, real space conquest and no skirmishes like now. Guess who contacted aeronautic companies Boeing, Airbus and Antonov, naval shipbuilding Hyundai Heavy Industries from South Korea, Imabari Shipbuilding from Japan, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company from China, Les Chantiers de l’Atlantique from France, plus the six biggest automobiles and trucks manufacturing companies around the world, to make them merge in a single conglomerate, of which I would own 51% of their stocks. In less than a week, I will be able to by out Microsoft with my pocket money.”
“You’re not kidding?”
“No, public presentation will be held in one week, making my name being remembered as the youngest billionaire, the man who permitted space colonization, who revolutionized health-care.”
Victor was dumbfounded at that time and Reika annoyed with the pest glued to her as he sang his own advertisement uselessly.
“Governments around the world will take tickets to use this technology for their civilian and military projects. The Watanabe Takashi conglomerate will be influencing every single one of their decisions my way.”
“Won’t the guys that created gantz try to prevent you to do it?”
“They were the first to buy on my list.” Said Takashi with a smug face.
“So, the governments will be the one pressuring the other gantzers to approach you, including the unaligned ones, from the moment you reveal yourself to be the game-master and the conglomerate owner”
“I’m currently about to become the richest man alive and the one nobody is looking at. Invisible in plain sight. It made me want to get a new identity, the Unseen One.”
“Hades? He did had access to the underground wealth”.
“… History curriculum?”
“Always wanted to join the army, history was a plus. Along the way I found myself wanting to help people, so Paris Military Firefighter unit was my call. Just don’t tell Frederic, I don’t want him to lecture me on his course.”
“How did you join gantz?”
“Drug addict stab me when I tried to help him, both were sent here. He didn’t make it.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Yeah, water under the bridge now. So, how do you plan to go public with all that? Gantz won’t normally let you talk about it.”
“Social media. Sharing parts of the website already public, and the captures from videos and cameras. Governments will need the carrot and stick approach, lets stop talking about them. Care to tell me more about your team?”
“Not much to say, even if he won’t confess I pretty sure pro-jock Richard overdosed on steroids, Camille was caught in a road accident when a stoned driver busted the store she was shopping at. Zoe was pushed to death in a parkour competition by a sore looser, Tom died trying to perform some new tricks dancing to show off in front of a chick, and the funniest of all, Frederic was attacked by a mammoth.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope, he’s working as an archaeology professor at the natural history museum near the Jardins des Plantes in Paris. Part of the display fall on him when he was working on a neanderthal exposition. Really proud of it when you ask him. Oldest member of the team and oldest member period, with the most original death in the world according to him. Earned him the Not-Indy code-name in gantz”
“Ever joke about whip and snakes ?”
“Not afraid of snakes or spiders” interrupted Frederic, coming out of his VR room. “Never went to an adult store to learn how to use a whip by the way. Why, want me to dress in leather and cause pain to everyone as Sadoman? You could pull a thinner version of Khaleb if you wanted.”
“As long as you don’t dress me as Kevin, I’m fine.” Said Takashi with a smile.
Frederic’s eyebrow raised as he understood that Takashi new about the Flander’s company’s series.
“Why did you exit your VR room?” Asked Victor, changing the subject.
PAF !
“Nothing important, Tom was about to get slap.”
Iamnotabot· Dec 25, 2022
