[Yesterday, there was a meeting from the PSIA (Public Security Investigative Agency) in KS. Although it was secretive, there have been rumors going around about government involvement in the company. The reactions, as can be expected, are mixed.] [The concern seems to involve a genetic chemical, an amino acid that Fidelis has apparently been producing, under the codename X36. The PSIA wants you to infiltrate the facility, destroy the samples, and alter computer records pertaining to the chemical.] [But for now, you're shuffled into the meeting room. Coffee, water, and tea are provided, as are some breakfast pastries, for your consumption. It would appear you are the first ones to arrive.] [Start of File.] * T.J. wanders in. He's wearing jeans, his leather jacket zipped up, and a Mets cap. He grabs a coffee, adds some cream and sugar, and has a seat. * Aaron enters and waves to TJ before wandering over and getting a cup of tea and a cheese danish. * T.J. smiles and waves back. How's it going? (Hey, Rowyn, can you tell me exactly why you had TJ be absent last time? It's probably relevant to how he answers that question.) (TJ took time off to spend time with his wife.) (Not an emergency? He just took a day off?) (Which led to many OOC exclamations of "He's *married*?") (No, not any emergency.) (Well, I was *going* to have his wife at the Christmas social. It's not like she comes along when he's sneaking into enemy bases.) (Why not?) (Yeah, which we couldn't schedule.) (Which sucked :/) (Because working together strains a marriage, Kevin.) "Pretty good. How 'bout you?" * Xiang-Fei walks in, wearing a typical Chinese ensamble of a red shirt and black slacks. "Hello people! Ah, is food!" She makes her way to the table, pours herself some tea and grabs a meatbun. (Oh, good point.) Not too shabby. (Breakfast Pastries != meatbuns ^_^;) * Aaron waves to Xiang-Fei as she enters. (This is Xiang-Fei. That is her breakfast.) ( In Japan? :P ) "So, you got a clue what's going on here?" (I think the KS catering service probably knows by now. ;p) (Japan usually has miso and rice. ;P) We have a new mission. A little bit of infiltration and alteration. We're dealing with Fidelis again. Are you familiar with them? (Were they the ones from last time?) (Yes.) "That's the s.o.b.s from last time, right?" That would be them. (Was Aaron shot last time? He was, right?) (Yes.) (Yeah.) (Pretty badly actually.) (He's better, but still moving a bit slowly, which I should have put in his description.) ( He needs to focus his chi ) "I'm glad to see you're up and about so quick." * Olivia waves. "Hey guys! How's it going!" She's wearing a really REALLY weird hat. "Do you like my hat?! It's made of fruit!" (Describe the hat.) I'm still not at a hundred percent, but I try. (I can't react just to "really weird.) Wau! Is nice hat! (Sounds like a chiquita banana hat.) ( Sure you can! I did! ) (Bah.) (Semi-afk while I help parents with Excel problem.) * Olivia 's hat is indeed weird. It's like, well, um... Like if you took a watermellon helmet and glued various slices of exotics to it. Including, but not limited to: starfruit, mango, pear, apple, orange, and plum. (Over ICQ no less. You think they could get along without me for a week.) ( Excel Saga problem ) (You are indispensable!) * Ryan walks in with a bit of a stubble (seems he forgot to shave this morning), peers at Olivia, and then goes about grabbing coffee and a pastry. He takes a bite and a gulp, peers at Olivia again, has MORE coffee, blinks, and then asks, "Is that... fruit?" "Dude, that's one messed up hat," T.J. mutters mostly to himself upon turning to see Olivia and her chapeau. It look very nutritious! * Aaron looks over at Olivia. "So it is. Though it begs the question of 'Why?'" I *told* you it was fruit. I didn't hear you. * Ryan chews on danish. * Xiang-Fei chews on a meatbun! That begs the quesiton of... why *not*? (Olivia chews on her hat!) Point. * Olivia does, actually, chew on her hat. The watermellon doesn't seem to still be edible, as a sticky helmet to her hair would just be... eww. But she breaks off a slice of starfruit and munches on it. "Mmmm, fruitilicious." (Olivia needs to meet Rei.) Is good for salad. Is bad for bugs though. [Yumi walks in the door first, folder in hand. She walks to the table without a word and is about to set them down before she spots Olivia. She stares for a while at her before plunking her folders down.] That's why it's a strictly in-door hat. Oh! Good idea! (Rei would sense Olivia a mile away.) ...why is she wearing a hat made of fruit? I think... to disturb us. It is disturbing. Her answer is "why not?" "Is there an answer to that which you'd want to hear?" It's a very good answer. (In that hat? Yes.) * Yumi thinks about this for a few moments, then answers, "Because she may get ravaged by wild birds." Ah, but she's already declared it to be an indoor hat, so unless we have wild birds roaming the halls, she's mostly safe. * Aaron looks amused, but then again, that's not an uncommon thing. Indoor hat. Instruction manual will explicitly state that it's for indoor use only. At any rate, are we waiting for anyone else? ("Yes, me!" And in walks... Richard T'Ron. Everyone winces.) (* Aaron smiles. Richard runs away screaming.) * Yumi stares slowly over at Aaron, and taps her folder on the table, taking in a breath. She shakes her head at Aaron for a moment. "Kyoko will be here in a few moments. I wanted to hear your opinions." (And for TJs benefit, Kyoko's the name of the PSIA agent.) (Okay. WOuld he know that?) * Xiang-Fei blinks. "Instructions?" She peers at the hat. "It have start button? Maybe need to plug in." (Probably not.) Well, to be honest, it's not terribly different from our usual line of work. * Xiang-Fei is far more interested in the hat than whatever the NPCs are talking about. (I'm an NPC now? Gosh, thanks. ;p) "Hey, all of this is different from *my* usual line of work." Different from mine too. c.c But! No plug in! * Xiang-Fei raises a hand anyhow, though. "It normal for my work!" Hmm. Maybe I've been at this for too long. True. So far, her story does check out. Whether there are any agendas behind it, we don't know. But that may be pretty much a given." Oh, there's always a hidden agenda. ^_^ ...Undoubtedly. * Xiang-Fei pouts. "No can plug in? That too bad." * Ryan finishes his coffee. Once that's done, he eats the second half of his pastry. No comment. ( Hidden agenda: Buy eggs and milk ) "Hey, what happened to all them people we dragged out of that last place? This have something to do with them?" I guess I can make it vibrate if you plugged it in... You should! * Yumi looks over at TJ. "Actually, it does. Both of them happened to have something similar to the chemical that Kyoko was talking about. Or maybe if you plug it in, it plays the theme song from Mission Impossable! * Xiang-Fei grins and nodnods. * Yumi frowns. "Even Keyoumi... I can't believe it.." ( Who's Kyoko? ) ( Actually, who's Yumi? >.> ) (The PSIA agent. Which I mentioned just a few minutes ago. >_<) * Ryan blinks. "Senada-san? What's this about her?" ( Oh oh OH! Ok. ) (And Yumi's the other one in charge when Keyoumi's away.) ( I thought she was the purple haired one that Xiang-Fei didn't like. ) (I think you mean the pink haired one. And no, that's not Yumi.) [Yumi looks over at Ryan. "That's right, you were on vacation. They found Keyoumi shot earlier when they went with Sean for an investigation."] (... I have no clue who ANY of those people are.) * Ryan opens his mouth, then closes it and just looks at the others. (Uh, Keyoumi was the woman who first met up with T.J. and then went with Ryan to Italy but was somehow also in Japan at the same time, as you found her and saved her.) ( Wasn't it the fake we saved? ) (Yes.) ( That's what I thought ) (TJ: Neither do I.) (I'm just off in my own happy land.) (The one TJ found out in the hallway.) (Actually, I don't think T.J. ever realized she was a fake.) (That's fine. ;P) [Yumi shuffles through the files. "It also says here you found someone who looked like...Akira Musei and Xiang-Fei? Is that right?" * Xiang-Fei smiles at Ryan. "No worries! We save her and I fight hard for peace and justice!" Yes, we did. * Xiang-Fei blinks. "Oh yeah! What we do with me?" I mean... Not me. I mean... * Xiang-Fei looks confused. The other you! Your eeeeevil clone? (Unless they switched places, and that's Evil Xiang-Fei.) * Xiang-Fei nods at Olivia (Well, the easy way to find out is look for which one has the gotee.) ( There's already a way to find out. PC Xiang-Fei has the fire mark :P ) * Yumi flicks through the files. "She's under supervision right now. Either she has no knowledge of where she's been or she is a very good faker. As far as we can tell, there is no cosmetic surgery involved..." Or they really do have good cloning technology. I think the second. * Yumi mmms. (Later, the Kaminari team is embarrassed to discover that it was really all done with mirrors.) * Xiang-Fei boggles. "She be in building." (Smoke and mirrors!) (There may also have been smoke involved.) (...dangit, Ard!) (I win.) She no remember that guy who tell her do stuff? I think this would be a good opportunity to hit them then. The pay is certainly worth it. * Xiang-Fei boggles. "You want pay me to beat her up?" * Yumi looks at Xiang-Fei. "She remembers him. But she has no knowledge of who he is." [She then stares. "...Fidelis, I meant." Oh. Ok, I beat them up. You're the ninja kung-fu expert! Of course you beat them up! * Xiang-Fei nodnods. "What do you want me to do?" Olivia? Yeah? We'll need you to keep a copy of any records you find related to this. I still don't think something is right in this, so we'll want something for a bargaining chip. ...anything else we could use to topple Fidelis too. All the latest troubles seem geared around them. Maybe a bulldozer? And wreckingball. That topple it good. Um... Sure. I need to know what I'm looking for though, otherwise you'll just end up with a pile of internet propeganda, 95% of which will be porn because everyone knows that's what the internet is for! (Olivia surfs the net for porn?) Why did you think the net was born? * Yumi then turns to TJ. "You'll need to get them in there. As undetected as possible." Something a major company like Fidelis wouldn't want the public to know. * T.J. pushes up the brim of his ballcap as he looks at Yumi. "What'd'you got for me to drive?" (...ha, I totally need to have had Aaron play Princeton in a production of Avenue Q. I'm just not sure he has puppetry skill. ;p) Well, we have by sea or by air. "And are you telling me that the fact that Fidelis is growing clones or whatever is something they *would* want the public to know?" By... UNDERGROUND! Well, if they put the right spin on it... No, it isn't. That's why there needs to be hard evidence of it. "Yeah, I can see that commercial real easily. 'Hey, our next generation of plasma tvs comes in convenient clone form,'" T.J. says to Aaron. You'd be surprised what people would do to save money. There is already a light team scouting ahead. So far, any major files are kept on their mainframes...and facilities are kept on the lower levels. But none of them have been able to gain access." And what I do? Beat people up, I think. Ok! [The door opens and in walks Kyoko with a clipboard. She looks about expectantly.] Good morning! ^_^ [Yumi stops for a moment and turns her head over to her. Kyoko is expressionless. "Well? Do we have a deal?" (Is she asking us or Yumi?) (All of you.) * Aaron looks at the others. "Are we agreed?" Huh? Um... Will there be people shooting at me? Probably. * Ryan looks at Kyoko. "I'll go." It's a possibility. * T.J. throws up his hands. "I guess that's what I got myself into." * Xiang-Fei boggles. "Um.... I go too, I guess." She sounds like she doesn't know where she's going, though. Good. If there are any complications, call this line. * Kyoko nods as Yumi looks over the card. "If you'll excuse me..." Yumi blinks and looks ready to speak but Kyoko's already making her way out the door. Ok. [Yumi sighs and puts on one of her headsets, setting it quickly. "...Control. Please make sure there is someone to escort Miss Shinihara at the front entrance. Thank you." That was brief. * Yumi puts down the sets. "Apparently. She already gave me the files here with the copy of the strain you are looking for. Any research you find. She mentioned researchers as well. Apparently, she does not like to...waste words." [Yumi hands Olivia a CD.] Well, let's have a look at them. * Xiang-Fei blinks. "Is there shortage?" * Aaron is very, very tempted to say that there is. "What's on that?" * Olivia takes the CD. "One way to find out." * Olivia props her laptop up (yes, she takes it with her everywhere) and throws it in. The loading screen for OliviaS pops up as she boots up and quickly looks into the CD's contents. [Olivia finds a copy of the makeup of the X36 amino acid. It looks... really technical.] (I was hoping for Starcraft.) [But it's 3D rendered at least.] [Also there are some alternate "fake" research files and logs. It looks like the PSIA gave quite an extensive list to replace them with.] (Thinkin' the same thing!) (Now you know something's up. All good guys carry Starcraft CDs. Kyoko must be evil.) [Olivia's also got coordinates of the facilities as well as an approximate layout of the first two floors on there. Kei seems to have added the last one.] [That is all.] * Aaron studies the layout intently. * Xiang-Fei does too. ".... Is compla-.... comple-.... Hard for unnnerstand." [Aaron recognizes a lot of it from the last time he was there. It's not a very pleasant memory.] Complicated. * T.J. looks at the screen too. He may be able to make sense of it or not, but he does not say. * Ryan looks. "So do you know where we're going, exactly?" Um... * Olivia does have Starcraft on her machine. Duh. But, that's not important right now. She points at the co-ordinates. "Those places, right?" (Architecture or Navigation roll -2 for anyone looking it over) (Can I make a navigation role to figure out where that is?) (Okay!) (Is that Urban?) (The coordinates or the map?) (Uh, whatever.) 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Aaron (2d6-3) and gets a natural 5 for a result of 2. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Xiang-Fei (2d6-2) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 6. ( Nope! ) 2d6-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for TJ (2d6-6) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 0. (Coordinates are the location, the map is an interior layout.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Olivia (2d6) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 7. (Which did I just roll for?) (I make it untrained?) (And you can do untrained, yes.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Ryan (2d6) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 6. (I just rolled a 0- or potentially a -1 if it was Urban- for whatever you asked us to roll. But I was asking if I could roll for where the place is.) (Oh, where the place is would be wilderness.) (Okay, I'm rolling for that as well.) 2d6-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for TJ (2d6-6) and gets a natural 4 for a result of -2. (Made that as well.) (Wait, sorry, that didn't come with a modification on the roll. So it was a 1, not a -2. I still made that.) [Everyone, except Xiang-Fei, manages to find the facilities on the second floor (well, first basement. Kei is counting downward.). The computers look like they're probably lower, but there are a few labs on the second floor.] (And who made it by more than 4?) (4 or more, I mean.) (I would have if you let me put my mind at 11!) (Yes, but I didn't. Because I'm not Jex. ;P) (XD) (I made by more than 4.) (I presume my attempt to locate the place was also a success?) [TJ (and probably Olivia) realize the coordinates are somewhere southeast of Japan. Aaron, Xiang-Fei, and Ryan have all been there before.) (I'm going to note that on figuring out the coordinates, I made by 6, assuming no difficulty modifier. Can I get more specific than "somewhere southeast of Japan"?) (It's in the middle of the ocean, around the Tropic of Cancer) The south one seems to be the main entrance. "Three entrances," T.J. says, pointing. "The main one here, then here and here." He points at the screen, indicating one to the south, one to the north, and one to the southeast. "Which one do we want to use?" Use best one. Um... * Ryan bites his lip, then looks for whichever one offers the clearest way to where they want to go. * Aaron is now known as CiarAway [The north seems best for that.] * Ryan points out the north entrance. "Let's go for that one." * Olivia nods. Ok. * T.J. looks over to Aaron to see his opinion. (Which is a problem, but T.J. thinks Aaron is in charge of the group.) [Aaron agrees!] (Just to actually get you guys at least going there. ;P) "They all look the same to me," T.J. says by way of agreement. I think that's the closest to where we need to go. So we go in, do this, and get out. ... And maybe not get shot at. "That," T.J. agrees emphatically, "sounds like a plan I can get behind." I like this idea of not getting shot at. * Ryan nods. "Me too." "You can say that again." [End of File.]