(The limo sits there for a bit.) * Dejiko sleeps for the first time in who knows how long. * Jacqueline eyes Dejiko again. "... You SURE she's up for this?" If she's not, she'll tell me. She's the CO. * Robert rolls down the panel to the driver's compartment. The driver is enjoying a bottle of green tea. "Yeah?" Do you know the destination? "Bluerise, right?" Precisely. Proceed. * Robert rolls up the window. "Gotcha." The limo gets underway. Dejiko remains asleep. * Jacqueline pulls out her portable computer and starts typing away. "Tell me when we get there." Sure thing. (Whoo! Lively bunch.) ( Yeah. ) * Yoji looks out the window. ( Sorry, all the liveliness went into KITT. ) * Yoji looks back towards Jacqueline. "What are you doing?" ... So, what do you guys think of Hong Kong? Playing Red Crisis 2. Fun game. I dunno. It seems like a nice place, but I haven't seen much more than the mall. ^_^; * Jacqueline lifts up her goggles and looks at Yoji. "Wanna try?" Uh, sure. How do I play? * Jacqueline hands Yoji the computer, which basically consists of goggles and a keyboard. "It's pretty simple." The arrows move the ship around, Z fires the main weapon, X fires the special weapon (after you pick it up, of course), and C uses an item. Other than that, you just fly around and try not to get hit. Or crash. Crashing is bad. * Yoji slips on the goggles and takes the computer. "Okay." ( And yes, I made this thing up entirely :P ) ( Heh. ) ( It was going to be a strategy game, but that would be a pain to explain... :P ) * Yoji plays. * Robert sits and thinks, but does nothing else. * Yoji gets blown up lots. * Jacqueline sits and closes her eyes. ( Blargh. At least I kept conversation up for a little while :P ) (And you arrive at the building. The limo pulls up to the front and stops in one of the designated limo-parking areas.) * Yoji takes off the goggles and turns to Jacqueline. "Thanks! That was fun. I feel a little more relaxed now." ^_^ Good. The more relaxed you are, the less out of place you'll look. * Jacqueline takes it back and stows it away. "Heh. Any time.." * Dejiko continues sleeping. * Robert shakes Dejiko a little. Oi. ... Uh... I REALLY don't think she's up for this. ...neither do I. * Robert shakes Dejiko a little harder. * Dejiko jumps suddenly and almost kicks Robert in the head, managing to stop her foot in time. "...I fell asleep again, didn't I?" Yes, you did. Are you sure you're in good enough shape to come with us? Narcolepsy is a bad thing in a possible combat situation. * Dejiko sighs and rubs her face. "I haven't sleep since the day before we left. I've been busy." I'm sure we could handle this if you're not up to it. Just tell us where to begin. In other words, no. Just give us the objectives, and we'll figure out how to do them. * Dejiko nods. "A minute... The supervisor in the accounting department is easily bought. His name is Gordon Smith." Gordon Smith, easily bought. * Dejiko reaches into her purse, fishing out four pistols and what looks like a sword hilt before producing a billfold, from which she takes a credit card. "Here, Jacqueline. This is a false account card I set up. It's under the name 'Mariya Sakai', but I'm sure you can bluff your way around the matter if someone doesn't think it fits." "My dad was Japanese." How's that? Works fine. +"" * Dejiko fishes out a small cel phone. "One moment." * Dejiko thinks for a bit and sighs. "I forgot their numbers. Robert? Walkie talkie please." * Robert pulls a walkie-talkie out of his coat and hands it over. * Dejiko accepts the walkie-talkie, turns it to what she hopes is the right frequency, and speaks into it. "Your attention for a moment, please." ( Uh... ) ( Give us a minute. ) (Sorry. Busy with other channel.) * Dejiko says more stuff. ( The long and the short of it is that Togo's in command of the other group, Dejiko's not going with us, and if we find plans for the lowest three floors, we're to transmit them asap. ) * Dejiko yawns and passes the walkie talkie back to Robert. "Have fun, Robert. Try to keep everyone alive. And if you get into trouble, you can have KITT call my cell phone." Jacqueline, Yoji, you two be careful. * Robert takes it and tucks it away. No problem! We'll be okay. ^_^ I'll do my best, sir. Let's go. * Robert climbs out of the limo. * Dejiko nods. "That's good." She falls back asleep immediately." * Yoji gets out of the limo. * Jacqueline hops out. Outside the limo are the front doors to the building. Getting upstairs is going to be interesting, especially if we need ID to get up there. The building is big and blue. And shiny. Follow me, and act like you belong. Name's Mariya Sakai. Remember that. As you say. * Robert starts toward the doors, walking briskly. * Yoji follows Robert. * Jacqueline follows Robert, her demeanor instantly changing from carefree to business-like in an instant. The doors bravely stand their ground. ( Whee! Redundancy! :P ) * Yoji attempts to look serious. * Robert walks in and looks for the elevators. Through the doors is a very large plaza. In the center is a massive, circular reception area, and against the back wall is a bank of elevators, say sixteen of them. * Robert makes for the elevators with that same businesslike stride. * Jacqueline follows Robert, who appears to know what he's doing. * Yoji walks after Robert. The elevators seem distracted, and don't notice you approaching. * Robert presses the button. ( I shoot the elevator, does it react? ) ( If it's like the stairs in MC it would :P ) ( I'm afk for a sec. ) ( I gotta stop drinking tea during gaming. ) After a while, the elevator reaches your level, and opens with a cheerful *ting*, at which point the GM pauses. ( Okay, I'm back. ) And the GM resumes. The elevator sits there and waits for you to enter. * Robert steps inside and looks for the highest floor that doesn't require security clearance to get to. The elevator has no buttons, oddly enough. ... Uh... * Robert steps back out of the elevator and makes for the welcoming counter. Voice activated? "Hey, where are you going?" *** Dejiko is now known as Elevator I suppose I should have expected this. Could you take us to the floor containing the office of Gordon Smith? ( Can I engage the elevator in philosophical discussion? ^_^ ) Accounting office, that is. * Elevator burbles. "Oh, certainly! Are you sure that's the floor you want to go to, tho?" Is Gordon Smith currently in? "We have many lovely floors here. I could take you to several of them!" * Yoji laughs. "I'm afraid I don't know, sir. I'm just a simple elevator." Do you go sideways, too? Well, just take us to his floor then, please. Perhaps we'll have leisure to visit other floors with you later. "No, but oh! how I wish I could, sometimes!" * Yoji grins and snickers a little. "Right away, sirs!" * Elevator closes it's doors and heads up, gibbering all the while about how ecstatic it is to perform this service for you. It stops after a thinkfully short trip. "Here you are! Twenty-sixth floor." Thank you very much. * Robert steps out of the elevator. Um, thanks. * Jacqueline nods politely and follows Robert out. * Yoji exits the elevator. * Robert looks around for a map, directory listing, or help desk of some sort. Immediately outside the elevators you see cubicles. Lots of them, stretching almost as far as the eye cans ee, in a figurative sense. Way off in the back (or front) are enclosed offices. * Robert heads for the offices. There is one directory. It lists Mr. Smith's office as being the big one off to back and left, from where you're facing when you emerge from the elevator. Over the cubicles a large, ringlike display flashes messages of encouragement and tells about the virtue of loyalty and whatnot. ( Loyalty is important. ) ( "You're better than the rumors say!" and the like :P ) ...ugh. * Robert heads for that office in particular. Something wrong, Yoji? I'm really glad I'm not heading THIS direction in life. * Yoji gestures at... everything. Not everybody can be an international superspy. Or work for as good a company as we do. Besides, there is always something to be said for loyalty. * Jacqueline kicks Robert in the heel. "Hey! Be quiet." Well, I wouldn't be going to anything like this, anyways. *** Elevator is now known as GM Artsy type and all that, y'know? Eventually, you reach the appropriate office door. It's glass and announces that it houses the office of Gordon Smith. * Robert checks to see if Gordon Smith is in. If he isn't, you'd better get that hooligan away from his desk. If he is, then that's probably him. * Robert knocks gently on the door frame. ( 50% chance! ) "Yes? Come in." * Robert opens the door and walks inside. * Jacqueline follows him in. Gordon Smith? The man looks curiously at you all. "Yes?" * Yoji follows. "How can I help you today?" Is this room secure, Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith frowns uncertainly. "Why, whatever do you mean?" He begins to slowly reach for something under his desk. Please don't do anything rash, Mister Smith. Mr. Smith's frown deepens. We'll get right to the point, Mr. Smith. We've come to offer you a deal. An eyebrow goes up. "A deal?" "Why, uh, whatever are you talking about?" He stops reaching for whatever's under his desk, tho. If we can reach an agreement, Mr. Smith, then all parties involved will realize a large profit. We want you to be a part of this. "I see. That's very kind of you, Mr...?" Stieren. Carl Stieren. ( pronounced 'Stern' ) ( If you care. ) "Pleased to meet you, Mister Stieren. Please, have a seat so we can discuss this deal of yours." * Robert takes a seat directly across from Smith. (There are four spare chairs in the office. Two in front of the desk, and two against one of the walls.) * Jacqueline sits down to Robert's left. * Yoji takes a seat against the wall. If this room is not reasonably private from all listeners, I must request that we move to a more secure location. ( Activate the Cone of Silence! ) "Oh, this room is fine. Trust me." ( Woot! ) ( Yu wouldn't let me have the Cone of Silence. ;_; ) Very well. (Sure I would. But it'd make it hard to talk.) (I think I actually made a joke about it in one of the games.) We represent a company that is in competition with a close associate of your company. Mr. Smith nods. "I see." A great deal of money flows from your organization into our competitor, and we would like to see this flow disrupted. Mr. Smith frowns. "Well, that's all fine. I'm afraid that's really better taken up with the CEOs, tho." We don't want the flow interrupted _officially,_ and we are prepared to make it more than worth your time. * Jacqueline nods. "I... see. To the tune of?..." Miss Sakai, the card please? * Jacqueline nods and hands Robert the card. * Robert reaches onto the desk and scrawls a six digit number on a piece of paper. "Why, yes, I think we can work something out for that." I thought we might be able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. "Yes, of course." He takes out a pen and writes something on the same piece of paper. "You can use this login in the accounting computer room to get direct access to the systems. I hope that will suffice?" I believe so. ( Shit, I wish we had Sayuri here. ) ( As much as I [HATE] to say that. ) ( Why? We're not exactly hacking here. ) ( We'll see. ) I assume you have a means of funds transfer? ( We don't exactly know how to do permanent damage, either. ) "Yes, it's all there in the computer room. And please check back with me if I can do anything else for you." Thank you very much. I look forward to doing business in the future. * Robert stands. * Jacqueline nods politely and stands. * Yoji stands. * Robert walks out of the room and heads for the computer room, assuming it's at least partially obvious. * Yoji follows Robert. * Jacqueline follows. ( And now we give the GM time, because the other group is fighting. ) It's on the opposite end of the this side of the building from where you are now. If that makes sense. ( Yeah. We're in one corner, and it's in an adjacent corner. ) * Robert heads down the cubicle maze for the computer room. * Robert enters the computer room and looks around. In the computer room is a bunch of computers. Mostly servers, but there are a few workstations as well. * Robert sits down at a workstation and logs in with the given name and password. * Robert reaches into his coat and withdraws the walkie-talkie. Robert gets access to all sorts of nifty financial stuff. It'll prolly take him a few minutes to figure it all out, tho. *** KITT has joined #Sekrit ( I'm just here to relay messages, don't mind me. ) ( Screw that, I'm gonna ask someone who's better at this than I am. ) (Uh-oh.) ( Yeah, I know they're in combat right now. ) ( It was bound to happen. We'll just have to deal with it. ) ( Blargh. How hard can it be :P ) (Pretty much, yup. Ought to make a fun conversation.) ( I'll relay it for you, okay, Yu? Just to reduce the load on you? ) (Sure.) (And thanks.) ( No prob. I know how hard this is. ) * Robert tunes to the other group's frequency and says, "Group two, do you read? Over." ( So, what are we doing? :P ) ( We're calling Sayuri. ) (Well, you can try to do stuff yourself, you can watch for police in case Smith betrays you, or you can play Front Mission 6: You'd Best Stop Frontin'.) ( Woo! I vote for that! ) ( Me too. ) Jackie, take a look at this, will you? I don't have much in the way of business skill. * Yoji keeps an eye out. * Jacqueline blinks and takes a look. * Togo's voice comes back. "We're encountering heavy resistance here." * Robert radios back, "Just get the radio to Sayuri, if she's not busy. Over." ... No help from them, then. ( Er, what am I looking at. ) The screen shows financial records and such. It tells what money goes where to do what. ( See if you can do anything with the access we have. If not, we'll have to wait. ) * Jacqueline looks for the GCI or I13, or something to that effect. Jacqueline finds "Mr. James Renken" listed as someone who recieves fast amounts of money from this company, for no aparent reason. She also recalls that a 'Commander Renken' headed up the GCI. *** Sayuri has joined #Sekrit Found it, I think. Okay, Sayuri. We've got access to the accounting computers, and we think we've found the relevant entries. (I don't know how to manage time w/Combat in the other room. ^^;) ( Ignore it, basically, unless you're attacked. ) ( Time is pretty flexible. ) * Sayuri pipes through the walkie-talkie, "...that's nice. And?" We're not entirely sure how to disrupt the money transfers. Erm... Where am I supposed to send it instead? * Sayuri says back through, "Oh, good lord." Yes, you probably should have been up here. It's too late to complain now. (Hey, it's a perfectly valid question. :P) * Sayuri says back, "Are you trying to do this secretly, so they don't know where the money's going, or in turn, where it's not going? That makes it dammned difficult." I think I can manage it. If you'll tell me what to do with the funds. Dejiko wasn't too clear on that. Where the funds go doesn't matter, as long as it's not to GCI. We can't let them find out about it and divert it back, though. It needs to look like it's still going. * Sayuri says back, incredulously, "She didn't tell you where to put it? And keep it secret?." She pauses. "Alright, lemme think." If anybody can do that, it's you, so work your magic. Shouldn't be too hard, if Mr. Smith keeps up his part of the bargain. ( Oi. I'm leaving soon. ) ( Crap. ) (Gurble.) Anyhow, want me to just eliminate the funds altogether, or send them somewhere else? * Sayuri says back, "Give me a second." Dejiko said that eliminating the funds altogether was the worst possible option. * Sayuri says, "Shell accounts take a bit of time to set up." She said she'd rather avoid it. ( This is all Sayuri's fault. If she hadn't gone goth, she could be here fixing this in person. :P ) That's hardly the worst possible option. * Sayuri says, "... now that's just gross. Anyway. Bank ID 15729572 with account 6928201592419578 can be a place to put it." Jackie? ( Sayuri's Swiss Bank Account number? :P ) * Jacqueline nods and goes about sending the funds to that account, assuming she is capable of doing so. * Sayuri says, "I can take it to where it needs to be from there. GCI's going to notice the lack of fundage, though." JAcqueline is capable of doing so, and does so. That's not up to us. Thanks for the help. I'm betting Dejiko already realized that. But as long as the damage is done before they do, it shouldn't matter ( Gah. I need sleep, too. I have to be up in... 4.5 hours. ) * Sayuri nods, although y'all can't see it. "Yeah, no problem. I appreciate the opportunity to contribuite to the Livewire Retirement Fund. Now, I'd better get going." (I am tired, as well.) Good luck. Team one out. * Sayuri does not respond. (And will now leave.) *** Sayuri has left #sekrit (*click* ) You guys actually have retirement plans? Huh? She does. I don't intend to retire. Let's get out of here. * Robert exits the computer room. * Jacqueline chuckles. "K'" * Jacqueline logs out, then follows. * Yoji shrugs and follows after Robert. * Robert heads for the 'vators. * Jacqueline taps her foot. The elevator eventually arrives. "Oh, hello again!" Hello, elevator. We'll be going back to the lobby now, please. * Robert steps inside and waits. The elevator burbles giddily. "If you say so, sir. Are you sure, tho? There are plenty of other floors available, and you said you might want to visit them..." * Jacqueline steps in as well. * Yoji smiles and enters the elevator. Perhaps we'll be able to visit them on another day. We've been called away on other business. Duty calls, you know. "Oh, that's tragic, sir. Oh, well. I will be happy to take you to the lobby, then!" And the elevator does so. * Robert gets out at the lobby and makes for the doors. * Jacqueline follows wordlessly. There are a few policefolk in the lobby talking to one of the receptionists, but they don't seem to nitice you go past. * Robert exits the building and makes for the limo. * Yoji walks out. The limo is still there. The driver gets out to open the doors for you as you approach. * Robert climbs in. * Jacqueline hops into the limo. * Yoji gets in the limo. "I wonder how the other guys did." We're about to find out. * Robert pulls out the walkie-talkie. * Robert prsses the button and says, "Team two, what is your status?" * Jacqueline leans back and grins. Dejiko is still asleep. * Togo grabs the walkie talkie. "About to go down to level 6."+ * Robert replies, "Our mission is accomplished. Do you require assistance?" Negative. We've yet to take any serious hits, and we're fine on ammo. We got it covered. Very well. We're getting out of here, there were police in the lobby. We'll meet you back at the hotel. Let's go. And they go. ( And that's it for our part, until they finish. ) ( Smoke if you got 'em. ) ( Robert could ask what he wanted to ask now. ) ( Thank you for the reminder. ) Okay, Yoji. I need to know what you can do. All of it. Um, okay. It's damnably hard to come up with a plan when you're a complete unknown. Jackie, if you've got any... special capabilities, I'd like to know about them, too. Let's see. I have limited telepathy. I can read what someone's thinking about at the moment, and project a single word or image to a non-telepath. How about a concept? Uh, probably not. That's a little more complicated, I'd think. Special capabilities, hm? Okay. That could be very useful. I'm better at psychokinesis. I can lift small objects and move them around, and I can also blast things with it, use it to get a boost if I jump or something too. Also exceptionally useful. How much can you lift? A paperweight? A case of bullets? A car? About 10kg. And you can move anything? Could you create a breeze? Or hold say... a globe of water? Uh, I think I could, in theory. I've never tried, and I wouldn't really know how to go about it. Water, yes. Okay, that's something to remember. When you get time, I'd like you to try moving air. Or better, holding it in place. Okay. I'll try that. * Jacqueline pulls out her computer and starts playing a game. "Anyone wanna wake Dejiko and tell her we're done?" Nah. Let her sleep. K'. I was supposed to get some training for this kinda stuff when I joined, but I guess that's not gonna happen now. ^_^; If we don't have someone to train you, we'll have to improvise. Yeah. * Yoji looks thoughtful. Keep listing, or is that all? When we were in Xivilai's place, I saw myself fighting that big guy with the tatoo... it looked like I was attacking his mind directly, but I don't know how to do that yet. Uh? Oh, that's it. Okay. Jackie? * Jacqueline lifts up the goggles. "Hm? Wanna try, Robert?" No, I was just wondering if you had any extraordinary capabilities. * Jacqueline thinks a bit. "Well, I've never been defeated in Puyo Puyo 32 yet..." ...I'll take that as a no. * Yoji snickers. Although it's good to know that if we happen to need it, we've got Captain N on our side. Who's that? The Game Master. Old, old comic book and cartoon. Oh? I'd like to meet- ah. * Yoji scratches his head in confusion. * Jacqueline frowns. "So much for that idea..." Say... Where are we headed? Back to the hotel. ( Are we finished now? ) ( Nope. ) ( We may just be getting called back to bail out the rest of the group. ) ( I doubt that :P ) ( Yeah, well, I know Maggie and Sayuri would probably rather die than call for help, especially from Robert, but I expect Togo and Rina to have more sense. ) ( Assuming they do call for help, it's likely to be too late. :P ) ( Maybe, maybe not. ) ( But as you said, at least half of them simply WON'T. And Togo probably won't either. ) Unfortunately, you get stuck in traffic not a block from the Bluerise building. Apparently there was a burst sewer main, and traffic is having to be herded around the rupture in the street. ( The hand fo the GM! ) The driver makes the mistake of using his turn signal, wich guarantees that people won't let him over. But after that, nothing happened. They may still be stuck in traffic to this day.