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Post by Genesis on May 23, 2022 18:46:40 GMT -8
*This network didn't belong here. This would always be the first thoughts that anyone would have about it. The data-stream didn't work with how to arrive here at all without proper guidance and knowledge. And yet it didn't appear as though it were new at all, quite the opposite in fact.
The network seemed to be a small one on the surface, having what looked to be a large control console and two separate computers different from the large console. There were three archaic pods after that as the network was dimly lit, having cables and metal wiring that was hanging from the ceiling. There were no faults in the power as all was functioning fine, one person moving about now as he activated the console in preparation for the arrival. He would pass along the tools he had gathered up as he only needed the one piece that he was able to collect now.*
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Post by Raven8 on May 23, 2022 19:23:46 GMT -8
So here it was, the destination.
Seeming to beam in from nowhere, a presence enters the network and begins to compile. With a pillar of fire that sparks with a strong electrical current, a surprisingly strong looking Navi takes form. His body is muscular and toned, looking like an athlete more than a scientist, though his white lab coat does give away his profession. From his shoulders, a pair of large tesla coils rise at an angle, with wires connecting from them to his forehead, which is adorned with a golden band around it. His white hair rises as a wild and slightly swept back tuft, a style that also matches his white beard, which gives him an aged appearance that beguiles his powerful presence.
The doctor looks on with a stern glare that turns to a hard yet kind smile as he looks on to Xion, nodding in greeting as he looks on.
Dr.Doppler: So finally I get to meet the famed Xion, Navi of the hour for so many hours. I've watched you for a long time now, and let me say; I'm impressed!
Doppler closes his eyes and laughs a quiet yet hearty laugh, obviously pleased with this turn of events.
Dr.Doppler: I know that Gate already told you, but here's my introduction: Doctor Doppler, OEL researcher and part-time WWW researcher, apparently.
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Post by Genesis on Aug 10, 2022 7:01:27 GMT -8
*One could certainly say that this Doctor had quite the appearance and flair to go along with it. From an aged appearance that would normally look like someone close to retirement, his physique showed quite firmly that was far from the case with how vigorous he looked from his size alone. He certainly would be considered a brawler before a scientist if taken at face value. With this introduction, everything would be set for them to begin, not at all hiding the excitement that shone within his own crimson eyes at the daunting figure.*
"My reputation has certainly begun to bud these days. I used to have such an innocent image as that kid who occasionally enjoyed annoying others. But I'll admit to enjoying my time in the spotlight when I stepped out of the shadows. Some feats are best displayed from the shadows, I think we can both agree on sometimes. The way I hear and see it, you've been no slouch yourself when the hours passed by during both of your jobs."
*All the cloak and dagger were not always the most enjoyable thing, but it also made it all the better when you got to reveal your completed handiwork for all to see. This Doctor's work might not have been readily made apparent, but he had seen the two that Gate had spoken of at least. At the time they were works of art, though when left to their own devices were surpassed by the sands of time. That wasn't as important as the unique functions that both possessed that had also reminded him of some of Resonance's techniques. They had made for interesting opponents for him back then, as they focused on that category far heavier than Resonance had when it came to fighting against Darkness and the Dark Chips themselves with their Dark Emulation and Light Purification, though that was just the surface of the matter. Having a weapons expert who could create such things among others added up very well with what they were working with here.*
"The hour is upon us again to show what we can do. I have Alpha's data isolated over there. And the weapons that we're going to engineer are also here as well. They'll be essential in getting past those mechanical behemoths."
*He would motion to one of the computers first for where Alpha was being stored and kept under lock before it tried to spread again. He would motion again not too far from there for the artillery in the shape of a condor. Those dueling menaces absolutely had to share that one trait of theirs that made them such a threat to individual targets. This way they could always present themselves with a chance to not be isolated in that situation. And if it adjusted to one set, then they would have several more at the ready. That was why each of the individuals involved in the smelting pot was important. It was a culmination of their efforts, but not a combination of their efforts. For this to work, they needed each of their individual pieces to hold weight.*
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 10, 2022 14:14:08 GMT -8
Doppler gives knowing smile and a nod to Xion as he walks over to the Master Darkloid's weapons, looking them over carefully.
Dr. Doppler: I must say; I'm not familiar with these to any great degree. I'm aware of what they do from what I've watched, but that's about it. Are you sure that tampering with their data at this point is safe?
Doppler's eyes then shift over to Alpha, causing him to walk over to the prototype with his hands folded behind his back.
Dr. Dopppler: And speaking of safe... someone's been tampering with you, haven't they old boy? Yes, I can feel it in my bones; there's more here than we bargain for... and that suits me just fine.
Doppler leans away from Alpha and turns back to Xion with a glint in his eye, obviously already piecing together his own plan.
Dr. Doppler: Alpha is quite the piece of work, you know. It's made to absorb anything that it can interface with and transform it into more of itself. We think of it as it integrating everything to itself, but we can do so much more with this little beastie.
Doppler leans back down and looks over Alpha with a smile.
Dr.Doppler: Unless they took amazing preclusions, it's a foregone conclusion that our little amoeba at the very least adapted to our new friends in some way. This means that he could be the key to finding a way to directly interfacing with our opponents on our own terms. Just think of the sheer power if we could meet them on our terms? And more than that, if I'm right and Alpha has even the slightest adaptation, then we could use this to develop a "vaccine" of sorts to not only make our very presence toxic to any non-data beings, but also to make our world inhospitable, giving us free-reign once again. Yes, we have much to do here...
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Post by Genesis on Aug 10, 2022 15:01:06 GMT -8
*It made sense to approach them with such caution. Had they not been so reckless when they had engaged him, he would have preferred to use more caution as well. But they had just fired at him by the drove, so caution was thrown to the so-called wind at the same time. That was also why it only made sense that before he brought them up to anyone, he at least made sure that they were safe enough to be considered without going wrong.*
"I took the proverbial leap of faith and tampered with some before now. The birds are fine to tamper with. They're surprisingly a blend of a living projectile that was turned into a mindless drone. We can tamper with the framework and have it function from there. They're adaptable enough where we can change it from its roots and be fine for it."
*He had tampered with them from the beginning to make sure that the first batch were able to fire after all. The rest was working with it within the confines to make sure they were safe before he started pulling them out for the others. It would have been quite the tragic chain of events if he showed it to the others and then it suddenly had gone nuclear or worse on them. It looked like he didn't need to mention to Dr. Doppler that there were some liberties being taken with Alpha already. It was a stroke of good fortune that of the many people that could happen upon Alpha, it was him and where he had done so. One of the few places it wasn't able to interface with and absorb to make more of itself, which allowed for it to be taken in before the outbreak could end up spreading far and wide like last time. But that didn't change how adaptable the Original Net was, nor the implementations that could be used with that very thing in hand.*
"If we can start facing them on our own terms, things will begin to swing our way naturally. Unless they also took even more amazing strides, they shouldn't exactly fight in our terrain better than we do. They often go out of their way to make certain that they aren't fighting on that very same terrain after all."
*They were always engaging on their terms. If they forced a confrontation, then they would turn the tide by changing where those waves would reach and what shore they landed upon. It was an awful lot of effort for someone to go through if they could simply fight on the same battlefield without all the fuss. ...But he wouldn't entirely dismiss the notion either. If it was all an elaborate ruse to simply hide something else that was on the surface. Now what that was couldn't be any more unclear to him as he could only fathom a guess at what all this effort and all these tactics could be hiding, but there was one part of him that was clashing with the intellect that he possessed. A thought that he didn't want to voice all too lightly given the implications that it could have if that was the route they took. Rather than going that way first, it would be good to explore all routes instead of being narrow-minded on the matter, as another amusing thought occurred then too.*
"While I am Pro-Navi at the end of the day, let's be certain that the inhospitable world that we create doesn't end up adapting and treating us as a virus that has to be vaccinated as well. The irony of us getting attacked like Viruses isn't lost on me, even if it would be funny after all these years. To that end... let's work on that prevention measure while we're at it."
*It would be quite the way to go out. Navigators designed to deal with this world and the Viruses and Glitches that pertained to it being wiped out by a form of anti-body that extinguished all digital beings. While he had a jovial tone when he spoke about it, the idea didn't elude him that it was a possibility that could have been one of their goals with Alpha. He wasn't sure why they had set it loose other than that it had accomplished what they needed from it, but to say that they had gotten what they wanted at record speed would be an understatement. That raid on Gate's lab couldn't have happened that long ago, meaning they knew precisely what they wanted and how to get it before they had obtained Alpha. It made his mind race on the many things that could mean or why, but it did cause that little whisper in the back of his head to echo a little louder still.*
"While we're on the subject, researcher to researcher... one measure we should prepare for is if we cannot directly interface with our opponents. Or rather, if the fight boils down to our terms versus their terms at the same time. It doesn't assure our dominance to say the least, far from it even. But it does hold a fascinating potential all its own."
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 13, 2022 17:37:21 GMT -8
Doppler outright taps on the glass containing Alpha a few times and watches as the core of the beast reacts in an attempt to absorb him to no avail, a show that causes Doppler to laugh under his breath.
Dr. Doppler: Very well, I suppose that it's best to save that project for later. But in the meantime, allow me to at least begin the scan so that Gate can have his end of the bargain.
Doppler holds up a hand and places it on the capsule containing Alpha. From his palm forms a small disk that attaches itself, and soon a scan is underway. With that done, he turns back to Xion and the subject at hand.
Dr. Doppler: I haven't paid too much attention to our guests so far, so not sure what to say about our problem yet, but we can start to cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime; how can I help out with your new aviary?
Doppler laughs a bit, ready to get to work on whatever Xion may have planned.
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Post by Genesis on Aug 14, 2022 0:37:06 GMT -8
*It certainly was always voracious, in a good way he supposed. While it would be a project for later, it was still one that wouldn't necessarily hurt to have. Why that was the case? In the event this happened again but the person they were up against was much less prepared, but problematic meant they would still have that solution on deck if necessary. Though now that Dr. Doppler had mentioned it, Xion had something that he also had to laugh about in regard to their guests.*
"In a funny way I haven't actually paid them too much attention either. I've been fighting our own or the constant influx of wave lifeforms. Every time I think they're done occupying my time, they're back again. At least after Alpha that should all be taken care of."
*He couldn't help but laugh and shrug his shoulders at that. While he had crossed paths with one of them at least four times, a lot of his confrontation had involved dealing with past problems, past deals, or new faces unrelated to their guests. Xion chalked it up to how much was actually moving under the surface that just was stirred up as a result of all the constant action. Despite not having to engage them that often, he was at least aware that they were far from inactive when they were out of sight, out of mind. But all of this in summation was why he had to be aggressive instead of reactive in this. He would place a hand to his chin as he ran over the options that they had right now. They had the self-detonation prepared in the event their loyalties were malfunctioning, being able to hack into their targets was also ideal and needing to be worked on, capturing their enemy was also available to him, corrosion was also in their cards and available, and environmental adaptation was also for one set. Then with Doppler's expertise included, this particular set should probably go about rectifying that one avenue they hadn't delved into yet.*
"I want to avoid trying to turn their own power against them. I have a theory about that and want to test it and have enough people who like turning their opponents against them that I'll have that answer soon enough. Instead, I believe that I want you to work on a different infectious kind of weapon for this batch. From what I could tell, their logic should be their largest fallacy. Rather than turning the weapons against them, I'd like this particular virus to try targeting its hostile systems. Largely, what registers as a primary target or not. This sort of approach would be the most devastating against the machines and should theoretically neutralize their greatest asset in a battle and allow us to fight them on our terms instead of completely disarmed in their presence."
*This set would be what they would use if the rest of the weapons couldn't eliminate the target. The enemy that they would face was able to resist so long as they were marking someone. Being able to disable that mark would disable that resistance and allow them to operate as normal against their enemy. If this worked out as planned, then on all fronts they would be able to neutralize those demolition machines at least until they displayed a higher level of combat ability.*
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Post by Raven8 on Sept 2, 2022 18:56:33 GMT -8
Doppler's eyes narrow and his hand absent-mindedly strokes his beard as he stares at one of the great birds, wordlessly looking them over as Xion explains his plan.
Dr.Doppler: A viral program along those lines is an intriguing idea, one that seems potentially effective to say the least. Using the data of these things, we should be able to rig up a payload large enough to overwhelm their forces before they have an opportunity to adapt. But before that; you referred to these things as "living" and said that they've been made mindless. Have you attempted to find their lost minds to gather whatever memories they may yet have stored away?
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Post by Genesis on Sept 2, 2022 21:31:52 GMT -8
*It was good to hear that the progress would be able to be made at a pace and quickly enough to stop the rapid adaptation that they were prone for. While he had yet to personally experience it, he was assuming that it could switch the mono-focus that it possessed swiftly. It would be one thing if it was just as simple as it looking to the leftmost target instead of the rightmost target like Epoch, but it was completely different when that simple switch in gaze was enough to shut down someone else entirely. The difference in high-end combat, so to speak. But his potshots at the past aside, he did have cause to pause when Doppler posed the latest question. It was something he often considered when approaching the living, so making that sort of oversight was usually not something he was prone for. But it was likely because he had been looking at them only as obstacles to be eliminated on sight that he overlooked the whole picture, considering the value in this approach now as well. Why were they made mindless? To better serve their role. That was the impression he got from his brief talk with Immortalis. Results seemed to important to him, and the ones who failed to meet the expectations of those results were cast aside not unlike the pantheon he finished eliminating not even that long ago.*
"It wasn't an attempt that was made yet. But if one of my associates was right on their theory, that might be something that yields very interesting results. Especially because they were made mindless instead of starting mindless. That implies that the memories within those lost minds or even the minds themselves present a problem to these now mindless weapons."
*He wasn't sure if it caused them to malfunction or simply be disobedient and do their own thing. He understood very well how letting others do their own thing left them to produce rather chaotic results and was fine with it personally, but he imagined in a more organized assault that was far from ideal. He would, again, understand that all too well. Even their organized assaults often times fell apart because of the disorderly sorts that filled the ranks.*
"Finding them directly might pose difficult in a normal sense as they could potentially be stored in a secure or hidden location. But I imagine they are naturally attracted to their original vessel, so creating something of an attractor to pull them in would be the direction we should take?"
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Post by Raven8 on Sept 4, 2022 13:40:55 GMT -8
Doppler's eyes narrow, looking over one of the great beasts as he steps even closer to it.
Doppler: Possibly... though I do wonder if those memories are still locked away behind those vacant expressions. The obvious choice is probably the best; look into their skulls and see if we find anything of use before moving on. And fun thought for you; if these things are as vicious in their natural minds as they appear to be, an additional fail-safe worth considering might be to allow them to return to their feral selves should push-come-to-shove. Of course, this would only be useful if we find out what makes them tick so that we can at least turn them loose in the right direction.
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Post by Genesis on Sept 4, 2022 14:26:35 GMT -8
*Sometimes the simplest approach was best. In that case the starting point would be doing just that: cracking open an egg to find out what it had inside of it. Understanding the mental faculties of the beasts would help establish how to put them in the right direction, lest they end up simply turning on them and defeating the purpose of it all. It wasn't too farfetched to say that they probably would do just that, but if pointed in the right way as all good things then that feral nature could be put to good use. From the vague imagery and silent grapevine, these living creatures mostly came in the appearance of animals thus far. A gorilla, a snake, the bird, and one that he could go and snare right now. He knew just the place to get started on this research.*
"From my understanding, if we really want to crack one of their skulls open, I have a memo on where one is keeping its nest egg right now. Presumably it's guarding something since it's hanging out there. That will give us a live sample to work with since I also have the means to capture it and move it to a better location. For the time being we'll keep our weapon plans apace and I'll just bring an extra body with me. At least it's guaranteed we'll be finished in a timely fashion unless we take the time to investigate the area, though I'd rather relegate that effort to someone who isn't needed all the time."
*After all, if he approached it alone then it would incur the problems from before. He could just mug Joker if he really wanted to solve this or even do another method, but these were all things you did in due time rather than immediately. He already knew those methods worked anyway so didn't need to test those out. Plus, it wouldn't to get someone aware of how these things worked and that group should have finished their work now. He would know, seeing as he was helping them with that work. ...Speaking of groups, one of them were late. If it was that difficult to perform the search mission, shouldn't he have just come back and said that they were out of his scope of operation? If he had him back by now as planned, then he could have simply delegated this to Warrior, as one could distract it and then he could finish it off while the other did the science aspect of this. Well, even the best-laid plans could run into snags. As for the investigation he would rather leave that up to someone else. He would have just the guy for that too if they were able to speak with each other on civil terms. He should see about that while he had the lull in activity, or the perceived lull anyway given that assassin would work well in espionage to a degree. He was flashy when it came to appearing and fighting, but he was otherwise unnoticeable when neither of those was occurring. ...Yeah, he supposed that wasn't the best espionage he could ask for, but Xion literally could only be in about five places at a time at best and it was sub-optimal by that point to say the least. Besides, the years may have passed but a statement he said way back when never quite changed. He disliked the cold.*
"If that's all for now I can get right on that. After I return, we'll have to make a decision. As they like to mark signatures incredibly thoroughly, if we want to make that additional fail-safe then we'll need an extra pair of hands. It's the reason we needed so many different hands in the pot to ensure that this sealed the deal with this lot. It's a matter of whose hands would work best on that one and if they're available."
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Post by Raven8 on Sept 4, 2022 16:26:29 GMT -8
Doppler just smiles at Xion's statement, raising a hand to Xion as he does so.
Doppler: I can stay here and get my part of the work done. Like I said; it shouldn't take too long based on my understanding. But if you happen to want a bit of company, I do have a few compatriots that would probably make your hunt all the easier.
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Post by Genesis on Sept 4, 2022 17:10:12 GMT -8
*It was good to know that thankfully some people worked really well with their understanding. At first, he was going to wave off the help, but he had an idea just then. After all, as far as he was aware and noticed off and on was that surveying the individuals from afar was the problem. Whether that was related to some kind of cloaking or not was hard to say, but hands-on experience with the enemy directly while the stakes were relatively low in comparison to every other battle waged so far was good. It would be preparation for when an all-out assault began for them to have that under their belt. They had the resources themselves for this, but he would prefer that if this ever went down to actual open conflict instead of these more isolated fights, he wanted as many people as possible to make it out without finding out what their new void looked like.*
"They'll be welcome aboard. The trip takes us to Sharo, underwater at that. As long as they're prepared for the fun times in the icy tundra, they should be good to go. I'll meet them there as it's quite a way off the old beaten path."
*Unlike the usual times when he exited a scene, for once the new Underking would beam out in a more standardized fashion. It might have had something to do with where they were for why this was, but either way should there be no unexpected guests this should be a quick trip and by the time he was back, Dr.Doppler should be done with his work as well.*
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