SP Mission: Bullet Train

Majinman looked a Photon, "Wow. Not sure what you did, but I'm glad you did it. Now if only everyone here were that helpful..." he sighed. He really needed to decide what to do the gorilla of a navi still making a ruckus in the middle of the car, "Anyway, I'd like to wrap things up in the car soon. I need to make sure nothing happens to the engine and I'm not sure that the hill-billies climbing around on top of the car should really be allowed near expensive equipment," Majinman took a look at the one bodyguard that had been hit and also asked, "Is he going to be all right?"

After that, Majinman poked his head out into the aisle again, female navi who had gotten on his case, "Really? You just did that? You're good at combat, I'll give you that, but you're hopeless when it comes to strategy. So far you have squandered the two distractions that I've offered you, as well as created another gaping hole in the car. And as for whether or not I'm on your side, think carefully about the events leading up to this point and you'll have your answer. First, I approached the other Heelnavis with a decoy rather than my own body to test the waters, which obviously means I'm not on their side. Second, my fireballs did no damage, but caused them to panic. That was designed to give you an opening to take them out.... which you unfortunately failed to pick up on. With that one can conclude that, at the very least, I am not on their side, so it would be much appreciated if you didn't refer to me as a no-name grunt." While that speech wasn't exactly neccessary, this woman had managed to take out a few of the enemies, so she might be worth trying to sway. He at least hoped for a momentary truce.

He then switched to a private channel, "Well, Wes, I think it's about time for me to make my first real move. Send the Sidebamboo, if you would be so kind," as he waited for the chip, he took a look at the one normal navi, "Was he here before? While I could easily glance over a generic navi like that, it seems weird that I wouldn't notice someone with that kind of level."

Wes shrugged as he slotted in the chip, "I dunno, maybe. He could have just ducked behind his seat and just popped up now to get a better look of the situation. It might've been hard to get a good scan with him hiding. While it is sort of weird, I think we should take care of the immediate threat first. Once these guys are taken care of, you can approach him under the guise of requesting his assistance and see what information you can get from him then."

"Hmmm, yeah, I guess. I just hope these Heelnavis are the only ones who pose an 'immediate threat'", the navi replied. Now then, it was finally time to get down to business. He looked at the two enemies in the back, and then at the wall behind them. This should work nicely. He activated the chip data, causing a multitude of long, sharpened bamboo shoots to spring out of the wall, as if the pair had triggered a trap like in an old adventure movie. Hopefully that would deal with part of the 'immediate threat', as well as convince the loudmouth that he wasn't an enemy. Of course, he couldn't expect things to work out that nicely. Sliding back into his seat, he kept an eye out for any additional fire. He didn't have much room to dodge. His only option would be to squeeze in closer with Photon, while also attempting to shield her. When it came down to hit, this was his problem and it would be too much of a shame if such a pretty little thing got hurt while trying to help him.

((1.) Sidebamboo1, 80 Wood/piercing, two heelnavis in the back
2-6.) Dodge/protect Photon))

((Bump))

The aggressive female navi ignored Majinman's comments as one of the HeelNavis attempted to shoot from under his table cover, catching her in the leg. She turned around, pumping a few more blazing hot energy bursts into the HeelNavi then finishing it off by lunging toward it and running her weapon clean through the navi's helmet, deleting it.

Meanwhile, the large virus still in the middle of the car began moving again in a few mechanical twitches, prompting the bodyguard navis to begin attacking it again before it could do anything. A cannon round from the black-armored navi brought the aura down, and a few more shots from all three brought it to critical condition before its bits began shooting again. Fireballs flew at the black-armored navi and Majinman, though only the former was hit as Majinman barely avoided his by sliding closer to Photon. Though she looked visibly uncomfortable with this, she didn't object, and still managed to stretch an arm toward the virus again. A ring of electricity erupted from her hand, hitting the virus and deleting it.

"Whew," she said softly as the virus collapsed and dissolved. As it did, the bodyguards shifted focus to and finished off the remaining planetoid virus, clearing the middle of the train.

Majinman's SideBamboo struck the remaining HeelNavi, piercing through him to the spot where the other had been, but no longer was. When it retracted, the HeelNavi crawled to the door and ran out, chasing after the other survivor.

"Oh for..." the aggressive female navi grumbled as the last HeelNavi fled, "I'll be back for the rest of you," she said, shooting a glare at Majinman, Photon, and the bodyguard navis. She then turned, and ran out of the car after the escaping HeelNavis.

A few seconds of silence followed after the fighting died down before Photon turned her head toward Majinman and said "Um...could you get off me now?"
___

"Of course. My apologies," Majinman said, moving back to his proper seat. They had gotten past the first stage. Now that they had reached an intermission, it would be in their best interest to get a plan together. Since he was probably better off without this appearance, it was probably time to take his costume off and stretch a bit.

His .GMO deactivated, melting back into his clothes and revealing his normal form. He tilted his head to each side, cracking his neck, and stretched his arms up as he released a yawn, "Man, oh man, who would have thought that coming here in disguise would almost backfire so horribly? Sheesh, and here I was hoping that people could avoid being so stereotypical?"

"There a reason you're ditching your disguise after holding onto it for so long?" Wes objected.

"I have a reason for most of the things I do. Now, if the rest of you would kindly gather up, I would like to discuss our next move," He mainly wanted to talk to Photon and her bodyguards. At the very least, he figured she would comply. He'd wait until he had an audiance before beginning, "First off, I would like to thank you for the assistance you've provided so far. While our interests might have coincided, you still had no reason to trust me, so I appreciate that you were willing to work together with me. Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Majinman.EXE. Now then, that aside, we have a group of enemies behind us, a gorilla woman who for some reason sees us as enemies, a group of rednecks doing who knows what on the roof, not to mention..." Majinman glanced at the one normalnavi with the high level. While there could be other navis with the group of enemies inserted into the car, blending in, but that navi was the only one he was truely worried about, " If they get to the engine, they succeed in hijacking this train, thus we should continue keeping a line of defense here in the back. However, before more enemies arrive, we should probably try talking to the rest of the people in the car, to see if they're willing to assist us or at the very least, stay out of the fray. Miss Photon, you're the least threatening in appearance out of us. On the contrary, you actually look quite soothing. If you would be so kind as to try and talk down the buffoons on the roof, it would be quite helpful. Just sticking your head up top would be best. That way, you can quickly duck back down if they try anything, in which case, I'll take care of them personally. The rest of us should concentrate on those still in the car. There is one that... raises a few flags, so I'd like to talk to him myself. Also, if the gorilla woman comes back, here's the story: the heelnavi you were with turned out to be a spy afterall so you got rid of him. Make sure you tell her that, 'she was right' to pacify her ego. With any luck, we won't have to worry about that fool as well. Any questions or concerns?"

((Note: the last paragraph is based on the assumption that they're actually willing to work with Majinman. If they ignore him and start doing whatever they think is best, then I'll rewrite my post. It'd just take a while to RP a conversation if I waited for a yes on every single bulletpoint.))

"Um, I'll take that as a compliment," Photon said, nodding. "I can do that. You," she turned, signaling one of the red armored navis. "You're with me. Stay hidden unless they attack me." The red armored navi gave a single nod of affirmation, following Photon out the large hole that had once been a door. Once back there, Photon jumped to grab the roof of the car and pull herself up, just enough to peek over the edge and call out to the hunters. Her bodyguard, meanwhile, stood against the door of the engine, silently facing back into the car.

"No questions," the black-armored navi said simply, standing by. The front of his helmet faced toward the far end of the car, where the gorilla woman, as Majinman had put it, had left through. Lacking a face to the helmet, however, it was difficult to tell if he was watching it, or watching anything at all.

The footsteps on top of the car, slow as they had been, stopped as Photon addressed the hunters. No shots were fired, yet.

Most of the passengers, having either been frozen in shock or hiding under tables during the fighting, had returned to what they were doing. A few still remained hidden, or else kept wary eyes on Photon's bodyguards or the now-revealed Majinman. The lone navi with the high HP reading, however, remained unmoving in his seat, staring out the slit window.

"I appreciate the help," Majinman said, bowing his head to the others. Since the plan was in place, it was now time for him to get started. He glanced at his target. While his face was more of a helmet, making him expersionless, he was still hoping to sense some sort of reaction from him. Right now he seemed... bored and... disinterested. He'd probably have to change his plan to making sure he didn't interfere rather than trying to get him to help. Afterall, he wasn't really comfortable with Wild Cards. But how to approach this?

"You switched forms before you stepped out into the aisle, right?" Wes asked, talking over a private channel, "Most of the passengers shouldn't have seen the change. He might be more willing to talk to a child. If he calls you on it, that just shows that he's paying more attention than he lets on."

Majinman mulled it over. He was right, but at the same time, if he did catch on, he might not just look at it as a legitimate strategy. He really didn't want to set this guy off. Oh well, he'd try it anyway.

He walked down the aisle and climbed into the seat next to the navi, "Hey, Mister, what are you looking at? Wow, you're a strong one, aren't you? I bet you weren't scared of those meanies earlier at all!" He spoke in a loud voice, while keeping his smile big and eyes wide.

"You're a wordy kid, aren't you?" the NormalNavi responded, not looking away from the window. His voice, abnormally for a typical generic navi model, was oddly distorted, enough to muffle out any indication of tone or expression. "In order, I am looking out the window. I wouldn't call myself strong, but that happens sometimes. They were riffraff, and only fools are scared of riffraff. Besides, you looked like you had it covered. You can drop the act, by the way." The navi said all of this without pause, much in the same way that Majinman had thrown his childish questions at him. All the while he continued to stare at the window, though if Majinman were observant he would notice that his eyes were not directed at something in the tunnel outside, but on Majinman's reflection on the window itself.

Majinman shrugged and shook his head, "Well, it was worth a try, I guess," he turned his eyes towards the glass, figuring it was the closest he'd get to eye contact, "Though you are unusually calm about all this. I'll give you that those guys were pretty useless but given the situation, that didn't make them any less of a threat. After all, even a common Metool can destroy the Mystery data you have your eye on. If they had managed to get to the engine, all of us would've been in a good bit of trouble, yourself included, unless of course you enjoy walking. Sure, there were a few of us fighting to take them out, but our methods were haphazard at best," Majinman kept a close watch on the reflection. He'd look for any sort of reaction, though with a face like that, he was hardly expecting anything.

"Perhaps," the navi commented, still not moving. "I certainly wouldn't have expected anyone to actually succeed in talking down someone like Sagon, though. If you had managed that much I'd wonder why you were talking to me, since you obviously wouldn't need anything."

A few seconds of silence followed, during which the solid yellow eyes of the NormalNavi contracted slightly. "You do want something from me, right? Why else would you be talking to me? So what is it?"

Sagon? Who the heck was that? Before he could ask, the navi decided to take a more direct tone with him. So what should he do? Should he try for more information, tell him that he had his eye on him, or just let it go? He was already probably suspicious of Majinman being suspicious of him, so he might as well go for it, "From the sounds of it, those guys will be back and with help, so I'm using our short break to get as much help as possible and try to come up with some sort of plan. That said, other than the lady and gents that I've already got in my corner, you seem to be the only worthwhile person here. Not only that, but your behavior also seems a bit peculiar, and I don't want any more surprises, which is why I'm talking to you myself. While I'm still not sure what to make of you, there was one thing you said that makes me a bit curious. Would you mind elaborating on who Sagon is?"

"There is nothing to make of me. I am simply more observant than most," the NormalNavi commented. "And if you're looking for my help, you won't find it right now. I have other business to attend to."

He finally showed some semblance of an actual reaction when Majinman brought up the name he had tossed out seconds ago, in the form of a light scoff. "The excitable woman who was shooting up the car earlier. Her name is Sagon," he explained. "And if you were trying to win her over back there, you were wasting your time. She was part of a net terrorist ring some seven or eight years ago and was known for being extremely violent and unpredictable."

He paused, but only briefly, before adding, "That's all I know about her, before you ask."

"I see... Well, any little bit of information can be helpful, so I appreciate that little tidbit," Majinman stood up to leave. He thought about telling the navi to stay in his seat so that he didn't have any extra distractions, but given his attitude, it was probably unneccessary, "Thank you for your time."

"Well that was unexpected and certainly helpful," Wes said, "You weren't even looking for info on her and here you got it. Though I have to wonder how he knew about her."

"I wouldn't worry about that. If she was a big enough name on the terrorism scene, he probably just read about it in the paper or something," Majinman said, "What worries me more is what she's doing here. I'm hoping that it's just coincidence but we can't really be sure. She's probably not working with the guys we're currently up against, but still..." He did say she was violent and unpredictable. It didn't seem too far a stretch to think she might try hijacking a train herself, possibly singlehandedly. While he'd deal with these heelnavis first, it seemed he'd also have to make sure she didn't get too close to the first car either.

Pushing the uncorfirmed possibilities from his mind, Majinman decided to check on the rest of the car. How was Photon faring? Had anyone else been recruited? Was anyone else worth recruiting? And last, but most importantly, what was going on in the car behind them? After looking over his other inquiries, he'd glance down the aisle and try to see if anyone was coming back yet.

"One more thing," the NormalNavi said, doing something very unexpected and turning away from the window and at MajinMan. "Watch yourself around Photon. I don't know what she's doing here, but I doubt she's just on as a regular passenger." The navi turned away again, and this time through the reflection Majinman, were he still paying attention, could see his eyes shut off as he apparently went idle. Whatever the meaning of his parting words, Majinman wouldn't be getting anything else out of the navi right then.

The rest of the car, for the most part, remained silent. No one had yet returned from the other cars, and if there was any fighting going on in the other cars, any sounds of it were being drowned out by the roar of the train itself. In the back, however, the black-armored navi had joined one of his red-armored companions outside the car, and was now pointing his rifle up over the roof. Photon was nowhere to be seen, but from the opening in the front, Majinman could tell something on top of the car was glowing brightly.

Majinman paused at that last statement. What specifically was he trying to imply? Whatever it was, the fact was that she was proving a valuable ally, at least as far as he could tell. With that in mind, it would be counter-productive, not to mention rude to question and/or doubt her. He grinned, "No problems there. I already have a hard time taking my eye off her."

Wes sighed, "Not that I wasn't expecting a reply like that and I can see where you're coming from, at least on the issue of trusting her, your demeanor still manages to worry me. In any case, she strikes me more as a scientist than some sort of secret agent with a hidden agenda, so I'm willing to trust her as well. Plus, given our original mandate..." Wes trailed off. They still didn't know what specifically they were protecting and it was highly unlikely that they would be hired to protect someone who already had bodyguards. Of course, Majinman had said that they should try minimizing damage and causelties on this mission, so watching out for her fit into those parameters, "Well anyway, unless she attacks either you or the train itself, I'm willing to keep this team-up going. I'll keep an eye on her, just in case." From behind his PET screen, it would be hard to tell where he was looking. He could be suspicious without looking suspicious.

Majinman looked around. Nothing out of place... except that Photon was missing. There was also something bright on top of the train. Well that answered one question, but raised another. What was she doing up there? Majinman called out to the bodyguards, "Hey, everything okay on your end or you gonna need my help?"

((Banana... I mean, bump))

"Everything's fine," the black-armored navi said curtly, raising his rifle slightly and firing off a shot. Several more shots sounded from the other end of the car, barely audible over the roar of the train. The light from the front began to fade, then went out completely. Immediately after the last of the light went out, something slammed into the roof of the car, hard.

"Hey, we're still here! Can you fight it out when we're not in the way?" came a shout from what was probably the middle of the car. Someone near the back shouted a response, but it was impossible to make out.

The door from the car behind the one they were in slammed open, and a navi in standard NetPolice armor walked through. "May I have your attention," he shouted to the passengers who were steadily beginning to panic again. "Please remain in your seats. Only then can we guarantee your safety. We have the situation under control." As he finished, he looked directly at Majinman. "Sir, that applies to you too," he said.

"Tch, more of you," the black-armored navi grumbled from the front.
___

Majinman narrowed his eyes, his jaw hanging slightly open as he watched the bodyguard, "Really now? Well, whatever's going down, I suppose I'll trust your judgement. Just let me know if you do need help. After all, we are friends now. Accomplices? Allies? Yeah, that last one works the best," Majinman said.

"Just be careful. If they mess up, it'll cost us our pay. Though as long as no one reaches the front car, we should be fine. Right now, it seems like they're having a nice little shoot-out up there. The light is most likely Photon. I hope the fading doesn't mean that something happened to her," Wes said.

"Awww, our you getting attached to our new friend as well?" Majinman smirked. Before Wes could get in a retort, a new navi walked in. They listened to what he had to say, which caused Majinman to grin even wider, "This guy seems to be worried about my safety. Wes, what did the nice lady say before I boarded?"

"'You can board but please do not interfere', or something like that, if its the conversation I think you're referring to," Wes replied. Then, switching to a private channel, he continued, "Well, you have two options. You can comply and let him fight off as many of those heelnavis as he can before he falls or you can tell them off and risk a confretation."

"Tsk tsk. In this day and age, people need to work together. Besides, as I've already proven, you can't really judge people based on their appearance, not in this situation. It's best to keep him close for the moment," Majinman chided his netop. He switched off the private chat and began to speak out loud again, "I'm sorry, Officer, but I've been asked to do a favor here. I could not, in all good conscience, just take a seat and allow you to do all the grunt work. Of course, I would more than welcome any assistance you could survive. For starters, we could exchange information on what we know about the situation thus far."

The police navi stared at Majinman for a moment before recognizing him and saying "Oh. It's you." Apparently, it was the same Police navi that ENA had said those same words about not interfering to. "The situation has gone well beyond the scope of any civilian mission. You'd do best to stay out of this and let us handle it from here."

A voice came in over the police navi's radio. "What's your status?"

"I've got ENA's hireling here. Should I prevent him from interfering?"

A few seconds passed in silence before the voice on the other end spoke again. "No. At this point we can use all the help we can get. Just make sure he doesn't make things worse."

The police navi gave a sigh, apparently not liking the idea of being forced to work with civilians. "Understood, sir. If I may ask though, weren't you supposed to be up here first? What's taking so long?"

"I've got another one back here. Can't tell who it is, but they just took out three HeelNavis in one shot then attacked me." A small explosion sounded through the radio, followed by a tremor running through the terrain. "Listen, once you've cleaned up up there, get back here immediately. Understood?"

"Yes sir," the police navi said. He turned back to Majinman. "Commander Tarkel is willing to accept your help, so I guess I have little choice. You want to know about the situation? It's an absolute nightmare is what it is. At least two HeelNavi gangs, virus summoners, a lunatic shooting up the place, Netmafia, whoever those hunters on the roof are, and whoever the commander just got attacked by. Our only saving grace is that they're all fighting each other, but at this rate they'll tear the entire train apart."

At the back of the car, the black armored and one of the red-armored navis had also climbed up to the top, leaving only the other red-armored navi guarding the door. Though it was difficult to tell from the middle of the car, he appeared to be focusing his gaze down the middle of the car, at Majinman and the police navi. Meanwhile, a flash of light preceded another small explosion toward the front of the car's roof. A couple seconds of sustained buster fire followed, and ended with the dull thud of one navi falling toward the middle. Outside the window, a navi-shaped shadow could be seen dropping down from the roof for a brief moment.

"If you have any questions, or any information to give me, say it quickly. Every second counts."

"Hmmm... If his assailant is a woman, its probably that Sagon chick again. If that's the case, so much for trying to get her to help us. Anyway, Wes, you have any questions? I have a few in mind, but I'll let you start out," Majinman said.

"All right, here goes," Wes took a breath and put communications back to normal, so that the officer could here him, "First off, are any of the groups you listed working together or is this just anarchy? Second, do you happen to know what they're after? We weren't told what we were hired to protect, so I prefer you don't tell us anything specific, but it would be helpful to at least know if their goal is hijacking, rioting, kidnapping, assassination, or a specific item."

While Wes asked, Majinman took a moment to check in with his other allies, "You sure you guys are okay? I can take those folks on the roof out, if you need some help," he called to the armored navi still in the car.

The police navi sighed. "I wish they were working together. Then they wouldn't have turned the entire damn train into a shootout before we could do anything. No, it's just anarchy as far as we can tell. As for what they're after, we're here because we were tipped off that the NetMafia planned to raid the train and steal some important SciLab data. Other than them, though, we have no idea." As he spoke, he kept glancing toward the front of the car, at the remaining bodyguard navi.

When Majinman mentioned the 'folks on the roof', however, he took a step back and raised his buster. "We're the ones on the roof," he said. "Are you NetMafia? What are you really after here?"

"So much for not drawing suspicion," the red-armored navi muttered, pointing his own weapon at the police navi. It looked like the car was about to become a battleground again.