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Post by Warrior on Dec 31, 2022 22:37:01 GMT -8
#s://www~sprites-inc~co~uk/files/EXE/EXE2/Chips/nodata~gif
NIA Headquarters Real World
- - - - Located in the capital city of Netopia, the Netopian Intelligence Agency's Real-World Headquarters reside in a non-descript building among the many generic buildings that make up the metropolis. The organization's symbol is plastered on every glass door and wall lining the hallways once inside, but from the outside, one would be none-the-wiser that the majority of the nation's defensive operations originated from within this structure.
A plethora of security checkpoints make getting through the entrance almost a toil even for the daily workers, while getting into the deeper levels normally requires a planned trip in and of itself just to ensure a timely arrival. The building's physical security is also deceptively dense, despite it's plain appearance. Should attackers still find a way to get through, isolated response teams scattered throughout the city are only moments away of trapping the intruders inside of the building and extracting them by any means necessary. - - - -
DEFENSES
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Post by Warrior on Dec 31, 2022 22:37:07 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/U4Xclbh~png Despite the severe damage to the Cyber World as a whole, the Netopian Intelligence Agency's real world headquarters still had plenty of private, isolated networks to house their Net Navis and projects until their digital headquarters had been repaired.
This was Cherish's best place to find Grom, but she knew there was a chance he'd still be out somewhere in the field coordinating recovery efforts. Even in that case, though, she'd be given a heading on where to find him as the organization was certainly keen enough to keep tabs on their members... particularly their Navis.
As its stature implied, it took no short amount of time for her to make it through each of the security checkpoints into the deeper layers of the building -- this was also her first time here in years, and she was navigating to a location that was new to her, so it'd take some time for her to get her bearings as she went along. Today was even more busy now that all-hands were brought in to respond to the fresh calamity.
Fortunately, Grom had already given her the appropriate privileges to make it to the room where the base's appropriately dubbed "Main Network" resided, but it was more crowded than even she expected. She'd gotten some peculiar glances on her way here by folks that probably recognized her for her old antics, but most of the faces were all new.
While she was still wearing her tacky black suit (which was perhaps another reason for the odd looks), she'd left the OOPArts in a secured space elsewhere in the building where other particularly volatile artifacts were stored and studied.
" ... "
She'd render her salutes and respects to superiors as she came across them, but she remained mostly quiet as she navigated her way to the room's main console. NIA wasn't as keen on the idea of Navis walking around in the Real World as ONB or OEL were, so there was no such technology here that would have allowed her to speak face to face with Grom. Instead, she'd look for his presence in the network and reach out to him that way. If he wasn't there, then searching for his current location in the Cyber World to rendezvous with him was the next course of action instead.
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Post by Zane on Dec 31, 2022 23:21:33 GMT -8
The NIA would be one of the only ones that were more crowded in light of recent events. While other groups like the OEL had awareness of the ongoing events that happened in a very short span of time, then having a long period of silence as the swift string of attacks left no trails behind save the fabricated ones, that was largely because the NIA's trust in Navis may be sparse to say the least, but their trust in Grom's words about the situations were taken at face value. So, when he said that the networks were in worse shape than any scans would reveal otherwise, they were more liable to take his word for it as he had no reasons to lie about it as a supporter to their cause by any means necessary.
While the ONB had been laid to waste, they had started preparing for the worst. When Creamland was assaulted, the intelligence they would have received painted Joker as the culprit as any survivors, the handful at that, all witnessed him decimating the land before the crimson wave that he was all too keen to tout as his superior weapon wiped them out. And when the world was attacked, that one was the most proof to Grom's case than anything. And proved that the threat was greater than they had been aware of as well.
The reason the personnel had been called in to crowd the area was because of the curious circumstances behind everything that happened then. And because of that, Feint would be able to find Grom back here now. Because he was in the middle of coordinating rescue efforts still, but not the recovery efforts in just Netopia as he was cross-referencing a list with something else. And Feint arriving would be imperative to making sure that this added up, looking to address her when she made her return. He didn't need to worry about asking her about the missing OOParts, as he was confident that she had done what was asked of her.
"Just in time. We've had as many agents look over this as possible, but you should be the one that we can trust has the most accuracy in relation to this matter at hand."
He would send her documents then, showing the two lists in question. Seeing her own name on it as well as others she may have known due to some of the old faces that recognized her, it showed that this was a list of the human agents of the NIA rather than those that were Navis. Many of them had a red checkmark next to their names, likely meaning that something was relevant about them.
"We have reason to believe that a number of the human operatives have gone missing. In light of recent events, I believe the cause to be related to our general perception of things. If this is related to the attack from above, we're still taking care of the hospitals and the like that lost power and have been unable to restore what has been lost. But some of these here were active agents. Either they vanished on the field, or a more dire implication exists. I intend to get the answer to this by sending you on an expedition."
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Post by Warrior on Jan 1, 2023 0:39:11 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/U4Xclbh~png The endeavor turned out to be fruitful as Grom made contact with her surprisingly quickly, wasting no time in giving her the rundown of the situation which was to be expected given the levity.
Seeing the list of human operatives led her to wonder if NIA had adopted Pulse Transmission utilization since she'd been gone. She thought she was the only one still.
That ancient technology was originally dug up and rediscovered by Faith Nymphra back around the time that Cherish's brother, David Pele, had passed on -- she took more than a little inspiration from the history books and was determined that, if Hub Hikari's consciousness could be digitized centuries ago, then her beloved's could be as well. Cherish had already broken her ties with her family by this point, so her distressed father went to help Faith in that venture and they eventually succeeded.
Faith came across the events of the WWW's "Cybergeddon" scheme during her research, where Pulse Transmission was used so that Megaman.EXE and Lan Hikari could combat the recreated Alpha. In her efforts to be closer with the digital David, she implored Cherish's father, Seth Pele, to once again assist her in recreating bygone technologies.
They succeeded once again, but it was mostly an isolated event at the time until the Gigamerican Armed Forces, to which Faith was enlisted, were made aware of it and chose to invest further into the science for certain national security benefits; NIA wasn't the only organization to ever be skeptical of Navis' free wills. It was still slowly evolving into its own branch, and even their own operatives were very limited in number.
Much later, Cherish stole one of the ensembles during the antics of her younger years, and so she'd trained herself enough with the technology that she could function relatively well while using it, but not quite on par with those who'd been properly trained. That was why she used her supplemental suit while Faith Nymphra and Jacob Rayner didn't require it. Incidentally, that supplemental suit was stolen from NIA, but she'd liked to avoid bringing that up.
Given that her father had been employed by NIA on multiple occasions, it was quite logical that he could have brought the technology over to them if they showed interest in it, but they'd still be quite far behind Gigamerica even if that were the case. As her train of thought finally returned to the present, she figured it was more likely that this list of humans that Grom had presented her with were just different kinds of specialized agents, but she didn't dismiss the possibility that her mind had just explored in the meantime.
" I'm rested and ready, where do I need to go? "
No questions or concerns, she made it a point to be sharp and flexible. Even if her mind had trailed off for a second there, she showed no lack of dedication to the mission, as she would settle for nothing less than being the prime candidate of anything paramount.
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Post by Zane on Jan 1, 2023 1:14:41 GMT -8
It was good that she was rested and ready, as the locations weren't going to short by any means. This was when she would receive the information that he would elaborate on as she looked through them. Three of them she had a vivid memory of given she had gone for days without rest to visit them with the supposed Asset that meant them no harm. That was their own fault for taking him at his word, and a lesson well received. The fourth showed that it was in the headquarters itself, a specific isolated network that was listed for what he would soon explain.
"Four locations. Three of them you visited before and will be given the means to travel to them, we sent agents to secure the original location of the relics but was met with unexpected resistance. The final location is a simulated area to replay a chain of events. We'll need a verbal report from you on all that you see while you're there."
That way what would be received would be concrete. Even then, this method only worked with specific individuals. Feint would happen to serve as one such individual due to the display and reports she gave from the past files. He would let her choose of her own accord how to go about visiting each, as ultimately having her check all of them was a necessity. While they had also lost track of Navi agents that were sent alongside the Human agents due to the nature of the relic locations, their losses weren't exactly a concern and so they had gone unlisted and would remain so, seeing as there wasn't anyone that would be able to call that out.
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Post by Warrior on Jan 1, 2023 1:59:57 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/U4Xclbh~png Feint recognized the three locations, while the fourth pointed to a part of the base that she hadn't been to yet. That wasn't surprising considering it had been nearly a decade since she'd been here, and back then she was much more of a wallflower since that was necessary to remain unnoticed at the time.
" Understood. "
It was a simple enough task, but that didn't make it unimportant. Of the four locations, despite the room in the headquarters being the closest, she'd intend to go to that one last since the primary goal here was to find the missing agents that were out in the field -- that made the ones at the OOPArt shrines more dire than the simulation. Grom had even referred to that one as the "final" location, so perhaps he thought the same.
" I'll check them in the same order as I was brought to them -- that seems most logical as it makes the trek a rather straightforward, closest-to-furthest approach. "
That, and the swamp at the end of said trek left her with unpleasant memories, so she could have just been putting that one off for personal reasons, but who was to say.
She did have one last question before heading out -- Grom had already said that the means to travel would be provided, so it wasn't in relation to that. Instead, she displayed the Isolation Fragments that she was still holding, getting a final inquiry on those before departing.
" I left the Tribes' Artifacts in our specialized containment area, but wasn't sure what to do with these. Like the OOPArts, they're able to follow me in and out of the Real World. Should I leave them in containment as well, then? "
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Post by Zane on Jan 1, 2023 10:55:14 GMT -8
It would be somewhat faster in a sense at least. Before she needed a guide, but now with the means to travel and knowing how to get there she would be able to go to and from while investigating the incidents. As for the Isolation Fragments, there would be a good use out of that, something that would work alongside what was going to be done with the rest as well thanks to having a jumpstart on that area of expertise already.
"You don't need to leave all of them if you need a few but leave enough in containment for us to obtain proper results from them."
They had power when gathered together. Ironic, given the loner's nature. But with them together along with the artifacts would allow them to do a good number of things. And ultimately their agents through the NIA Isolator would be able to produce a good number of results while still being able to be checked if they tried to get out of line.
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Post by Warrior on Jan 1, 2023 11:09:30 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/U4Xclbh~png " Yes sir. I'll keep in touch. "
She'd make her way to the containment room and drop the Indie Frags off there -- leaving all of them behind meant that her Mortal Paragon would be unusable as well, but she was fine making that sacrifice. She'd failed to mention the Particle Generator from Sirius to Grom as it had slipped her mind at the time, but leaving that with the other EM Artifacts seemed appropriate, and now she'd be left as bare as when she'd started her venture as she set out to the Grizzly Resort for her first destination.
Since these were Real World affairs and each of the Guardians had already been dealt with, the lack of any special gear didn't leave her too concerned for this mission, but she was overly confident in her own abilities if push did end up coming to shove all the same.
( Cherish Pele → Grizzly Peak Resort )
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Post by Warrior on Feb 12, 2023 11:08:19 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png It was nearing the end of the day now, and Cherish hadn't been heard from in quite sometime. A different figure came navigating the halls of the HQ in her stead though -- Faith Nymphra, whom the NIA had plenty of history with. She'd worked with them many times in the past and had been to this building several times before.
She'd never gone particularly deep inside, though, so she'd be mostly constrained to the outer layers where the clearance requirements were much lighter. While Shine could probably make it deeper, it didn't exactly give Faith any more leeway with security just because she was holding her.
On the other hand, Shine could at least make her way through the network to bring out who Faith had come for.
" I'll need you to go find Cherish's Commanding Officer, Shine. We'll have to at least give our report to him. "
She'd been contracted to assist in their situation, after all. It had turned a bit for the worse and Grom was probably fully aware of it already, but policy was policy.
" Oh, you finished that already? Last time it was a pretty long written document... "
" He'll have to settle for a verbal report this time. "
" Oh, uh... okay. "
She didn't even know that was an option, but given her preference to write things down anyway, Shine would have probably opted for written reports regardless. That being beside the point though, she'd navigate the network in search of Grom to debrief him of the happenings earlier in the day, provided that he was still somewhere she could find him.
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Post by Zane on Feb 13, 2023 3:41:51 GMT -8
Moving to find Grom, he was working on what Shine would recognize to be a statue at the time. Progress was being made, but not exactly progress that was happening at a pace that he was pleased with. This should have been simpler to fix than the various complex problems that kept hurling themselves out into the open with every chance they managed to find, but he presumed this time they had made the proper adjustments to make this more problematic for him. He supposed it was more fortunate than he first thought that the gaze had been less effective on some parts of her due to her exposure and unknown chances that had happened during her ventures in the Maze, but Shine's debriefing let him know that the other assets were accounted for at least, moving to go and meet with her on that matter.
And something that Faith was probably growing more accustomed to would have to occur, as a screen would appear next to her that displayed the figure of the rather normal Navi that was the Commanding Officer that she was requesting to speak with.
"Faith Nymphra. It's good to see that you returned in one piece in light of everything. How did everything go on your end? You didn't make any additional requests, so my assumption now is that it went rather unwell."
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Post by Warrior on Feb 13, 2023 11:20:24 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png " That sums it up. "
She was a bit less formal considering she didn't belong to the chain of command here, but no so much as to seem disrespectful. She could see through her connection to Shine that Grom was already working on what she could only assume to be the Cherish Statue, so it'd be an easier segue than expected to get onto that.
" The enemies at the Donburā Lake were beyond our capabilities -- we had also arrived too late to save anyone, regrettably. I didn't get their names, but they were twins by the looks of it. "
Faith was only lightly familiar with the Wave World and EM Beings, mostly based on her encounter with one just before this whole ordeal. She'd continue on to let him know how the situation resolved; the fact that she didn't ask for her payment was another indication that the job wasn't exactly completed as desired.
" We retreated. So those foes are still on the lose, but that was the best solution to prevent more collateral damage. "
One could assume she meant that she and Rayner would be the collateral damage if they'd kept on fighting, but in actuality she still had a concealed connection with Sirius, and if he'd been stoked into interfering then the situation could have gotten much further out of hand. Given the newness of that relationship and the more logical assumption that she was still talking about Jake, that wouldn't be something that Grom was likely to pick up on.
" The captives at Whazzap's Temple were extracted, but the enemy from there was also absent when I followed up. I'd report Cherish's missing body as well, but it looks like you've already found her. "
And so the long-winded segue finally came around, which was really just part of another one that she was still working toward later. Addressing her would-be sister's condition came first though, as it was a far more pressing matter than what she'd been planning to ask next.
" How's that coming along? "
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Post by Zane on Feb 19, 2023 9:55:28 GMT -8
Her report did line up with things being called unwell. The situation had gone as poorly as they could have wanted it to have gone with the exception of the ones who did escape the problem. It was an unfortunate report, but good to have just the same.
"Thanks for reporting back and handling the situation to the best of your ability. Better to limit the damages than to incur more of them."
Twins that were still on the loose and after what they had done, was it? That would be one of his priorities moving forward then. As difficult as it was to discern facial expressions for ones of Grom's build, it was good that she took the measures to avoid any further collateral damage. With a few of their enemies away at large, it simply meant that the means to deal with either was something to consider already.
"The solution to the stoning seems to simply be eliminating the medusa that cast the gaze. Tracing its unique signature as the recorded information we gained from our operative, narrowing down the next location and eliminating it are the next course of actions. Though the tracing part doesn't seem as difficult given their choices of location as it stands. The logical conclusion is that they're at the next two locations we uncovered recently."
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Post by Warrior on Feb 19, 2023 15:12:12 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png " I wouldn't know anything about those other two locations. "
As much as she obviously wanted to, she didn't insert herself into that mission since her contract was finished; she wasn't actually a part of NIA. Of course, she likely wouldn't turn down the request if it were offered to her, though -- one could interpret her phrasing as an indirect request to be filled in on those, but she maintained a vagueness about her that some would be most familiar with by now.
" I'm impressed at the efforts you're setting aside for Cherish, but I'll admit that I don't fully understand them. "
This was the segue she'd been building towards, and she would continue on while being careful not to make it clear that she didn't believe all was as it seemed. Standing in the heart of NIA's headquarters wasn't exactly the best place to be showing skepticism about them, after all. And whether or not they knew it, she'd been in the company of several of their higher priority targets lately, too.
" She was blacklisted for years, so I was taken aback when I'd heard at how easily she'd been re-accepted. It was... kind, to reward her efforts like that, even if it didn't make sense to me at the time. Desperate times and desperate measures, I suppose. "
Now it almost sounded like she was thanking him for that kindness, which was quite in character for her beat-around-the-bush style of dialogue. Really, she was looking to clarify if that really was why Grom had accepted Cherish back in to begin with; she intentionally left enough room for him to correct her if it wasn't really that case.
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Post by Zane on Feb 23, 2023 16:56:19 GMT -8
It'd be quite the matter of confidentiality if she was already aware of those two locations. Though in a way he didn't quite doubt her having a way thanks to her own contributions toward their cause. To that end, he would have overlooked it even if she had caused a slip of the tongue at that juncture. But if she was going to see to the task, they would have to make certain she was adequately equipped to deal with the twins that had bested her once in the event all three of the new targets found themselves in the next location.
"A human that needs assistance will always be a top priority. Besides, she's done her due amount of contribution to make up for some of the past mistakes."
That was likely in relation to the things she had done on her assignments already. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that those missions were imperative to their overall well-being given what could happen if they were left unchecked for extended periods of time, especially since they were operational at the time. Her efforts ensured that they were dealt with, and they all were in a better place for it. And with it they had made a great many strides toward the ultimate goal of the NIA. Though he didn't believe any of it was done as a kind gesture either.
"I believe it to be the opposite of kind. Kind is veering others away from danger, not toward it. Until our goal is achieved, our agents are at the most risk in this great undertaking. Those who understand those risks and are willing to do what's necessary in order to bring a definitive end to the source of the desperate times are imperative to the cause. And with her drive and dedication, it's better to focus it in the right direction rather than pointlessly trying to force a river to flow in reverse."
Someone with fervor and initiative wouldn't be stopped simply because things went awry once or twice. They would seek out their goals and aim to accomplish them. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean that Agent Feint would, if nothing else, use her head to cause a bit of "mischief" if she wasn't allowed her own place that she sought out. But she was hardly the only one that could be claimed to do as such. And to go back to a topic that was still relevant to the conversation as a bit of a segue that wasn't quite taken yet...
"If you would like to undertake the mission to eliminate the medusa that did this to help along the process, it would be much appreciated."
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Post by Warrior on Feb 23, 2023 22:26:47 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/Pth93Lo~png Faith chuckled at the explanation of why he didn't consider his gesture a kind one. She was known to be a bit controlling -- mostly subconsciously, of course -- so she could understand the parallel drawn between the way she monitored Cherish and trying to reverse a river's flow. In a contest of persistence, perhaps she was a bit too stubborn herself, so it was only natural they'd clash as much as they did.
She didn't linger on that for too long before Grom returned to the topic at hand, regarding the steps forward. " It depends on those locations. I can't be two places at once, so it's still a bit of a coin flip whether either is the right one. Running off in the wrong direction wouldn't do much good. "
Still, having been able to narrow the search down to only two destinations was impressive work by the NIA. It went to show that their manpower was still quite formidable even despite the losses they faced recently.
" And, not to change the subject, but there's something else I wanted to ask you. "
She'd transfer some data between her own PET and Cherish's just then so that she could upload it to Shine, who would present it to Grom for his insight. He seemed to have a solid enough head on his shoulders, so she figured he'd have a better time handling whatever visions or phenomenon that came with merely looking at these objects: the Ashen and Apex Fragments.
" I came across these in my travels, but can't seem to find anything out about them. Perhaps somebody in NIA would? "
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