Decisions, Decisions

((bonkbonk))

The receptionist Navi in the booth looked up as Nitro spoke before glancing back down at a terminal. "Yes, there seems to be plenty," she replied. "Just give me a moment to set you up a quick meeting." Thirty seconds later, the receptionist pointed to Nitro's right at a small kiosk. "There is a representative of the Teksqp family waiting for you inside that room. I believe he's a very high ranker in the family." She tapped a few more glowing icons on her terminal.

"Yes, go right in. His messages are starting to seem impatient, so I doubt it will take long," the Navi said to Nitro. She indicated his destination once again before returning her focus to her terminal. "Good luck," Nitro heard her say as he turned to leave.

"Alright, thank you!" Nitro said as the receptionist pointed him in the right direction. As he turned to leave, he heard her say two parting words.
"Good luck."
Nitro paused for a moment, then kept walking. Good luck? he thought as he made his way over to the kiosk. Is there something that I should know? Was it some kind of warning? Nah, he reassured himself. I'm probably just reading too much into things, she probably says that to every Navi applying for a mission. Nitro looked over at the kiosk. Well, I probably shouldn't keep him waiting. Nitro reached the kiosk, and peeked inside. "Hello?" He said. "I applied for a Teksqp misson, and was sent over here to talk to someone."

Nitro peeked his head inside the small structure and was immediately assailed aurally by a gravelly, old voice. "Took you long enough!" the voice expressed its displeasure into Nitro's eardrums. "Navis these days think they can just waltz around on their own time. Well, I'll fix that if you have the right stuff for Teksqp!"

Getting a visual on the Navi, Nitro found himself staring down a fairly stereotypical old man. He wore a red and green plaid shirt covered partially by extensive blue denim overalls. These clothes appeared stretched to their limit over the old Navi's girth. A straw hat adorned his head, the hat bearing a symbol of a white beard on a black background. The Navi himself bore almost no facial hair whatsoever. With both of his large hands he gripped an intricate wooden cane and smacked it on the ground in unison with one of his tall leather boots. "I'm OldMan, and I'll be presenting you with your initiation mission." OldMan proceeded to pace to his side, walking along the opposite edge of the kiosk.

"In short, there is a NetPolice facility located in a near deserted sector of SciLab Net. It wouldn't still be up and running if there was not good reason for it, so we'll be sending you there to investigate." The frown he'd been displaying the whole time deepened. "In this case, however, by "investigate", I mean blow up. Destroy the place. You'll be provided with the means to do so and will be instructed on how to use those means."

OldMan finally paced over to where Nitro stood silent. "So, if you're in I'll provide you with a link and the equipment you'll need. Are you in? Hurry up and answer; I have better things to do then hand out missions! In fact, this feels more like grunt work..."

He began to mumble to himself. It seemed like it would be a good idea for Nitro to interrupt with an answer before the ancient Navi got any more displeased.

"Blow it up?" Nitro asked. "I'd be insulted if you asked any less of me. I'm Nitro, and you can count me in!" He emphasised this statement with a thumbs up. "I'll blow the rubble to bits if you need me to!"

OldMan was broken out of his quiet reverie by Nitro's enthusiastic response. "Eh? Ah, right." He straightened a bit. "At least you look willing," he admitted. "Now then, I'll give you a plan with a bit more detail."

"As I said before, the facility is in a deserted sector of SciLab Net. Completely deserted. We're lucky to have found the place. We have a direct link to the area set up over there," OldMan instructed, pointing his cane at a pad on the ground inside the kiosk. "It'll drop you right outside a tall fence. There's a low hole cut in it you should be able to fit through. From there, how you conduct yourself is up to you. Stealth isn't necessary; the whole base is completely isolated from NetPolice networks and we'll activate jammers as a precaution anyway. Next..."

He directed Nitro's attention to a belt sitting on a table. On it were two small pale yellow boxes that Nitro recognized as explosive charges. "These are special charges manufactured by some of our guerilla warfare experts. They're a little too unwieldy to use in any place other than a desert, so they're perfect for this mission. From the little recon we've done, the building is roughly symmetrical with a hangar at the back. Avoid that hangar; it's soundproofed so you shouldn't have to worry about anyone coming out. Intel suggests the facility's servers hold vast amounts of NetPolice data, so you likely won't be attacked by anything more capable than security Navis."

The old Navi took a deep breath. This was taking longer than he thought. "In the two symmetrical rooms, you'll find large power generators probably flanked by plenty of guards. They're producing massive amounts of some kind of power, and blowing them up with these-" he indicated the explosives again. "-will reduce the building to rubble in seconds." OldMan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I've been informed of a few things about the explosives, too. First of all, try to clear each generator room before you plant them. Less chance of them being found. Second, when you do get both charges placed, get far, far, far away. Don't leave the sector completely; the detonator on the belt only works from a certain range. I believe you can get as far as a few hundred feet away before the thing won't transmit. I will stress this again: the explosion will be large. Once the facility's done for, head back here and we'll see about getting you a position in this family. Make sure everything in the facility is destroyed before you come back, though."

"That should be it then, Nitro." He said the name experimentally, as if he wasn't sure he'd have to get used to it. "Good luck."

Nitro GET: C12 Chargex2, Detonator, Explosives Belt

((Mod: Corrupted Child))

Nitro eyed the charges very intently, like a starving bum eyeing an all-you-can-eat buffet closed to everyone but him, or a demolitionist eyeing a pair of highly explosive charges with the intent of using said charges to blow up a large government building. Despite his unwavering focus on the explosives, Nitro absorbed the important parts of OldMan's instructions. He ran through them in his mind.
One: Destroy both generators.
Two: Clear generators out before planting charges.
Three: Avoid hangar.
Four: Detonate charges from a safe distance.
"Got it," Nitro said aloud. He picked up the belt and clipped it around his waist. "That place'll be down before you can say 'trinitrotoluene'." He walked over to the pad providing the link to the SciLab-situated NetPolice facility. "You won't have to worry about a thing." Nitro said. With those words, Nitro dematerialised, and transfered to the SciLab Net.

Nitro rematerialised in the Netsquare, in front of the Recruitment building. Not wasting any time, Nitro walked briskly into the building, and after a minute of searching, located the Kiosk where he had initially received his mission. He jogged over to it, and strolled inside. "Well," Nitro said. "I'm back! And I'm proud to say that I completed the mission with almost no complications!"

When Nitro walked into the kiosk, he was greeted by a very plain looking female receptionist Navi. After his proud exclamation, she walked up to him and bowed slightly. "You would be Nitro, I presume. Yes, OldMan has already confirmed that both your target and the "other thing", as he put it, were eliminated as ordered. I won't ask what." She held out one hand and opened it, revealing a folded piece of paper. "This is from OldMan. The rewards for the mission, or "payment" if you'd prefer, are over there." She pointed to the table where the charges had laid only hours before. A sizable sum of zenny and more battlechip data sat there, glowing slightly.

Nitro opened the folded paper before collecting his reward. It read as follows:

So, you actually managed to do it. Destroying that blasted machine was as good an initiation as you'll need for our family, so welcome to Teksqp. Your payment has been left there; put it to good use. I've got better things to do than sit around waiting, however! This message will have to do. Coordinates to our main staging area are enclosed. Do anything to embarrass our family and you're toast, got me?

The message wasn't signed, but it was pretty clear as to who it was from. All that was left was to grab his payment and get out of there.

((Rewards: LavaBall, 3000z, access to The Family's Pub))

"Really? He's gone?" Nitro asked after finishing the note. "Huh. That's fine, I guess." He walked over to the table and scooped up the rewards. He then turned back to the receptionist and gave a short nod. "Thank you for relaying the message." He exited the kiosk, then disappeared in a flash of green light.
[NITRO.EXE JACK OUT]