Mission: The mosnter of the Viral Lab

((yay, first post in this particular forum ^_^))

Kasumi ran up the steps of DenTech university's Science building. The campus was quite large, as were the buildings, but she managed to find the particular building she needed; the one that contained the Viral Research wing where her mission was. It was technically her first official mission she had taken for the Net Police, all other involvements had usually been through her dad (a major scientist and researcher in SciLab) or had been by accident and therefore was unofficial.

The girl did look around the campus on her way though, and she was quite impressed at it. She wanted to be more familiar with it, because she'd be going here eventually as a student. Actually, Kasumi was already a good enough student for DenTech, as she had been presented the opportunity to graduate highschool early and attend college a few times. Kasumi turned them down though, mostly because she wasn't in such an academic hurry that she felt like leaving her friends back in school. No, she wanted to wait so they could all attend together.

Letting the thoughts in her mind about this trail off (they were useless to her right now anyway), Kasumi walked past the front desk after nodding to the attendee there, and hung a left to go down another corridor. The directions to the Viral Research lab were well marked, and eventually, she reached it. It was a large wing though, so it wasn't that hard to find, but it was the specific place she needed to be that was the difficult part.
"Hmm, well since its virus research, I'd imagine it would be a little less noticeable from out here, considering its a net problem. The NP's were a little non-specific about the exact location though..."
The PET at Kasumi's hip blipped on, her Navi looking up at her form the screen.

"Well, Remi, the best thing we could do is find a terminal and jack in," XIII's digital form on the tiny screen suggested. "Its like what they say; if you want to hunt a bear, look in a forest."
Kasumi thought about that, the prospects troubling her a little. "Thats kinda dangerous XIII. This is a Viral Research wing. All sorts of nasties will be in there..."
"behind tight security, I hope..." XIII added.
She thought some more. "Yeah, but if something like this got out, other stuff might have too... well I guess we don't have many options left to us, huh?"

Kasumi looked around until she found an unoccupied lab with a free terminal. Normally, she'd be locked out of the systems without permission or alteast a student access, but the Net Police had granted her temporary NP authorization for the mission and therefore she was allowed to log in with the NP passcodes.
"Were in. Door's open XIII, lets go hunting." her fingers lifted off of the keyboard, reaching for the jack-in cable. She found the port below the screen, and plugged it in.

"XIII.exe, jacking in... Becareful...."
"You know it, Remi," the Navi replied.
"... Jacking in, Execute!" Kasumi flipped the switch on her PET, Sending XIII into the fray that was the Viral Research Network.

((to be continued in DenTech Net))
Error codes flashed across Remi's PET screen, as she was unable to jack XIII in. A siren sounded and she could hear people screaming.

A cough sounded behind her. If she turned around, she would meet a university professor with flat-matted brown hair, glasses, golden eyes, black jeans, a green collared shirt, and a white lab coat.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? God, people rush into action these days," the professor sighed, adjusting his glasses and shunning away the security that just came. The siren turned off.

"I believe your the one the NetPolice sent to solve our problem? Honestly, I told them that I'd brief the people in Room 303," the man grunted, shaking his head.

"Well anyway, follow me, miss. I'm Curtis Falceon, professor of Viral Evolution at this University," the professor instructed, adjusting his glasses and beckoning Kasumi to follow.
Kasumi looked a little sheepish. She ahd forgotten that part about being briefed, but all she could do now was make up for her mistake.

"umm, Kasumi Misumaru, sir. Unlicensed mechanic and programmer, and seasoned virus buster." Kasumi replied, still quite embarrassed at her own slip up. "Its a pleasure to be working with you, sir.... I'm sorry for the mistake, its my first time doing official Police work and I guess I jumped the gun a little."

She was following him down to the room the entire way, head hung a bit low and her face red in embarrassment, though that wasn't as noticeable because of her tanned skin. She still felt that way though, so she remained silent up until they reached the door to room 303.
"Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Miss Misamaru. Now if we turn here..." Professor Falceon replied, before turning into a room, Kasumi following quickly after.

As Kasumi followed Curtis into Room 303, she could see many mini-holographic displays of many known viruses. The only occupants seemed to be Kasumi and the Professor.

Taking out a remote, the teacher pressed a button, and a large holographic screen popped up in the front of the classroom. It showed reigons of Dentech's Private Network, apparently covered in what seemed to be... mucus?

"Now, the mission you were assigned to was the termination of a graduate student's pet project known as 'The Rampaging Snorgmorphophage.'" Curtis began, in full-lecture mode. "Extensive research from your... unfortunate predecessors to this mission, show that this virus was made using data on Support Program units, Nightmare viruses, and Slimer viruses. It's pretty easy to find actually, given the large trail of mucus it leaves behind. It changes shape, yes, but not very well, as it simply portrays a well-made snot sculpture of whatever it's turning into." Curtis wrinkled his nose at this thought, and adjusted his glasses, clicking on another button showing a monstrous pile of snot with a glowing orb near the top.

"Well, this is the general view of your target. I suggest you be on your way. Oh, and have this," Professor Falceon suggested, handing Kasumi a data chip.

"The designer of 'The Rampaging Snorgmorphophage' created this capture device for retrieving the virus' core data, so it wouldn't regenerate. It's known as a "NetSword," a combination between a net and a sword. Use this to capture the core data once you've defeated it," Curtis explained, adjusting his glasses, and pointing at the teacher's podium they were standing in front of. "Jack-in here, we'll monitor your navi's progress using the holographic screen projected in the front."

A red light on the podium switched to green when Curtis pressed another button on the remote. The screen on the podium read "Access Granted."

[Kasumi had "NetSword" added to Key Items]
Kasumi managed to shake off the feelings of embarrassment in time to listen to the professor's debriefing.
After he finished, she took a glance at one of the holographic screens. "... hmm, gross. But we've gone up against worse, right XIII?"
"Yeah..." Her navi replied hesitantly, "... but I don't think its ever been something this... well, disgusting. I hope this project wasn't the kid's senior thesis of sorts.... something tells me he'd be getting a less than stellar grade on it."

Kasumi nodded in silent agreement, taking the data chip from the professor. She approached the terminal just as the light switched to green, and plugged in the cord.
"Alright! XIII.EXE, jack in sequence! Execute!" Kasumi hit the jack in switch, logging XIII into the gunked-up systems of DenTech university, Viral Research lab.

((Now I'll go to the netside of DenTech. Sorry for jumping the gun before.))
((Continued from the end of the Net-side mission))

Kasumi felt like she had been at that terminal forever, and the longer this mission went on, the worse things turned up until the very end. It was like she couldn't hit the Jack-out button fast enough.

The Package.DAT arrived back in her PET along with the Navi XIII, and she immediately started trying to upload it to a blank chip so she could hand it over to the client. "I do not want this thing on my PET for any longer than it needs to be, so please, take it..." The blank chip popped out after having received the data, and she passed it along to the doctor. "XIII, run a cleaning program in the PET."
"But, Remi, the virus was just a contained core. It wouldn't have infected anything."
His operator shook her head at the screen. "No, I mean you. I don't want you tracking any of that goop into the PET. I want it to be scoured in there, got it."
"Good work, I believe your reward is waiting for you at the NetPolice BBS," the Professor said, taking the chip and bidding farewell.

Kasumi LOSE: Package.DAT
"Thank you so much!" Kasumi called back to him as she jogged towards the doorway. The sounds of running water and scrubbing (as well as a bit of XIII's grunts thrown in) were emanating from her PET, but it didn't matter right now. It had been a long day, and she could certainly wait to update on the BBS until she got home.