NP Holding Cells- SoapMan

The Prosecutions Department and Investigations Department both make extensive use of the NP's holding cells and the Virtucuffs technology used to handcuff and prevent the jackout of criminals. The prisoners here enjoy decent conditions, however; the nature of the net allows fairly pleasant and spacious cells to be offered to all of those convicted. Of course, especially dangerous criminals don't receive these amenities and are held in another area...

SoapMan was not considered especially dangerous and thus was allowed one of these not-so-awful cells, although cuffed and under constant guard. A gray door with a square, transparent window sits at the front of the blank white wall of the cell he inhabits. In front of this door stands a very tall woman with tan skin, bleached blond hair, and scary brown eyes with narrow pupils and upturned eyebrows, like she just stepped in something and is in the process of simultaneously cursing it and squishing it into the dirt. Her outfit consisted of black cop clothing, with a three cornered and visored hat, upper body armor, gloves, boots, and a gleaming rubber bodysuit. She looked equal parts police and bondage queen.

The high heels of her boots clapped against the cement tile as she paced the space in front of the door, waiting for her GNA-acquired help.

A silver-gold beam suddenly shot down from the sky (roof?) outside of SoapMan's holding cell, cutting back and forth through the air like the arcs of an electrical storm before finally striking ground. All at once the beam burst, little square flecks shedding out into a small sphere-- that quickly reassembled itself, Regalia clankily (crankily?) appearing in its' stead.

Regalia's visor swiveled around with the rest of his head as the lordly navi looked around, trying to spot Rhea...

... and Rhea was easily spotted as she made her entrance, falling out of a portal that mysteriously opened at the roof of the room. Landing with more grace than usual, it soon became apparent that she was much more clothed than usual... and all the grace and elegance was coming from the billowing skirt that came with her spiffin' new uniform.

[NPUniform.GMO activated]

Rhea almost immediately noticed Regalia, with the other Navigator's archaic helmet and armor design. She turned slightly and realised that someone else was in front of the holding cell, too, and tilted her head slightly. "Rhea.EXE reporting for duty. Where is my potential partner Regalia.EXE? He should be here any moment."

"Now remember, Regalia, play nice! You never know who you'll have to team up with more than once, so try not to make an enemy out of this one." Thomas' voice sounded... concerned. The teen operator's words, however, were only audible to Regalia, the former making sure that he was using the pair's private line.

"I am well aware, Thomas."[color=5A6351][/color] Came Regalia's simple reply. Thomas sighed over the line as Regalia turned to address Rhea, making sure it was clearly audible to the navi himself.

"I am the navi you are looking for."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia answered her, cane tapping against the floor as he took a step forward.

Rhea gave Regalia one look from head to toe before shaking her head. "Seeking mission partner Navigator, not an overaged mascot," Rhea noted bluntly, lips turning into a small frown. "H-hey, that's not nice, Rhea," Camillia said, not very sternly, over their own private voice communication channel.

Almost as if not wanting to acknowledge the fact that her next partner was going to be an old man, she turned to the other woman. "Are YOU Regalia?" the petite Navi asked.

For once in his life, Thomas fell silent. Regalia's eyes and expression were-- thankfully-- unviewable behind his visor, but his mouth had pulled into a deep, curt frown. "If this is the tone you take when doing missions for your own faction, Rhea, you may jack out now. I will be dealing with one child shortly as it is. I need not deal with two."[color=5A6351][/color]

Regalia took a few further steps forward, past Rhea, and approached the navigator in front of the door. "Forgive the small argument, miss. I am Regalia.exe, as you may have overheard, responding to the Netpolice's mission request."[color=5A6351][/color]

The officer let them finish up their argument without interfering, then introduced herself. She apparently had either decided it would be a hassle to mediate or that it wasn't necessary. Sheprobably also wasn't the greatest talker herself, considering that her bodsyuit was zipped up all the way to the bridge of her nose. "Regalia... Officer Rhea... Thank you for reporting... We have the prisoner inside... We can open up the window for you to talk to him... whenever you're ready," she spoke in a surprisingly not scary (perhaps even timid) voice after sipping the suit down to her chin. "He won't talk to me... he just cries and... I feel bad for making him cry..."

Her creepy eyes regarded Regalia with interest (if they didn't have a glimpse of her personality yet, it would look more like she was sizing up an opponent). "He wants you to... do something for him... He says you can take help so... I will help if you decide you want me to... or I can stay here..." She paused to loosen her suit away from her cheeks and down to a reasonable length at her neck. "You know he... also speaks to Somnia... He likes her... But he wouldn't tell her anything either... And he just cries when I look at him..." she sighed, turning her eyes towards the floor and pursing her glossy lips into a frown. "And Rhea, you'll be good support... there may be some danger involved in the requested... so let's not fight..."

A faint sobbing came from inside the cell, probably SoapMan. It was followed by a sound like a nose blowing (although Regalia remembered SoapMan had no nose) and bubbles popping. "When you're ready to speak, press this panel on the wall to use your voice..." the officer mumbled, pointing to a hand sized panel that would actually be a little uncomfortable to use for a navi of Rhea's height, "or eye one below it to create a wall-side window. And let me know if you have any questions... I'm Cuffs, by the way... I forgot to say that."

Rhea visibly puffed her cheeks at Regalia's notion, turning away from the disappointment of a busting partner towards the fellow officer as the petite Navigator heard Cuffs out. "This place is quite small and uncomfortable. Well, I suppose they don't call it a holding cell for nothing," a handsome voice snickered, the air converging data as they tried to materialise a sizeable chunk of metal into the room. Towering over the small purple-haired Navigator soon after was a mechanical steed; quite thankfully, the said steed did not punch a hole in the ground from his digital weight.

Harley the SP gave one look at Regalia's sour face and Rhea's poutyness and imagined the rest. "D'aww lassy, did you hurt someone with your obscene bluntness again?" he chided, and one could almost swear that the stoic face contorted slightly into a smile at the corner of his mouth at the insight. Turning to address Regalia, Harley gave him a nod. "You'll have to forgive the little miss, fine sir. Tact isn't exactly her strong suit."

He remained silent as Rhea folded her arms while listening to Cuffs' introduction and briefing, before unceremoniously lowering his head to Cuffs' level in what seemed like a bow. "A pleasure to meet you, madame. I, Harley, am ready to be at your service," the SP said, with a wink.

Rhea burrowed her face into her two hands at that point. "I am ready to get this over with," the Navigator stated.

"It would behoof you to teach your young miss that a little courtesy can get one far farther than bitter spite."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia flatly uttered his response to Harley, nodding at the steed's words.

"Isn't that a little hypocritical, Regalia? And... wait, did you just make a horse pun?!" Thomas' voice sounded incredulous; the teenage operator stared at the blank expression under Regalia's visor for a long moment, trying to gauge the knight's expression-- but stopped when he noticed the faintest hint of a smirk splayed upon his cheek.

"I also understand that you are to give me and Rhea a chip as an upfront payment."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia said, addressing Cuffs and nodding to the uppity little thing behind him. "I mean no insult by asking now, but I am aware of how... unpredictable... SoapMan can be. I would ask that we be given those before I activate the intercom.[color=5A6351][/color]

"I... guess that makes sense." Thomas nodded along with the plan, figuring that it was probably for the best. He didn't really care too much at this point; he knew the Netpolice were good for it, because the GNA would flay them alive if they weren't. Still... it might be better to get that out of the way.

"Oh, yes... I was going to give it to you after you'd spoken to him but... I guess I can do it now... If that's what you want," Cuffs responded to Regalia, producing two data packets. "Here you are, as thanks for heeding... the summons," she finished.

*Regalia gets Flashbomb1, Rhea gets Kunai1*

She turned to face Harley, then staggered back slightly as she realized the horse was talking to her. "What a pleasant... horse..." she murmured, reaching up to gently brush his snout with one gloved hand. She smiled peacefully, as if forgetting the task at hand... then remembered it again after seeing the hard lines of Regalia's face. "Allow me to turn on the audio for you-"

As soon as the officer punched the button, the sound of SoapMan blubbering increased dramatically. It sounded like someone was trying to get over a painful breakup by taking out their stress on bubblewrap. "SoapMan, please quiet down... The one you asked for is here to speak with you... Please calm down..." the officer beckoned in her usual, unintentionally sultry whisper.

Of course, Cuffs was quite a bit too quiet for him to hear over his own sobs and bubbles.

Regalia touched the data packet that Cuffs held out-- and then the little bundle of loot fizzled and died, all the little bits of data breaking apart and filtering into Regalia's gauntlet. They quickly made their way back to the PET, filtering up through the great series of tubes, and Thomas' gaze flicked over to the ethereal chip list hanging in the air. He made a few small nods after noting the new chip had indeed arrived, and sent a confirmatory little ping to Regalia.

The knightly navi himself watched as Cuffs turned on the comm, amplifying SoapMan's blubbering-- and then tried to babytalk him into a state resembling normal. Regalia lightly tapped Cuffs' shoulder, not quite wanting to listen to the grown (programmed?) navi crying any longer, then gently beckoned Cuffs away from the comm before speaking into it. "SOAPMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia bellowed, practically shaking the hallway as he aimed straight for the corrupt cop's attention. I am here! What is this task you required of me?[color=5A6351][/color]

For Regalia's part, the gray navi had managed to keep the malice out of his voice; he sounded at least a little concerned, though one look at the frown framing his visor would show that he was anything but enthused.

"Eeeeep! Don't yell at me! It's so l-l-loud," the football-headed navi wept. Cuffs moved aside to let Regalia speak. "I'm trying to get better and fix things... with Ms. Somnia... But they assigned that scary woman in black to watch the cell and now I'm so scared I can't even think! Uwaaaaah!"

Perhaps involuntarily, Cuffs cast her eyes towards the ground and backed further down the hallway.

"I just need you to do something for me... Since you're a rude man, you should get along just fine with rude pirates, I figure," he sniffled. "There's a pirate named WokouMan who leads a travelling crew by ship, smuggling data of all kinds. He and his crew are really bad guys,except his uh...either mistress or wife, it'd be rude to ask so I never did. Anyways, she's nice, and while I was tailing them, I realized that there was another girl named Swabbie who wanted to be nice too so the captain would like her! She's super rude and dirty but I've some up with something that'll help her out."

"There's an NCP I got Tech to help me make; it was in with my confiscated items. It's called SoapMouth! It afflicts the user with a bug that makes them super polite and nice... If she installs it, she'll be a sweet girl that everyone will want to talk to! The captains will like her cause she'll be nice like his wife! And uh... if polygamy comes up, I'll think up a way to deal with it!" the captive Public Safety official announced. "All I need you to do is take it to her and give of to her to install. I think she and her gang were scheduled to be in Yoka right now. You gotta do it, for her!"

Anticipating that Regalia would bring it up, Cuffs interjected. "And if he does, you'll provide the NP with the information you're withholding?" she asked.

"Who's that? What a pretty voice~" SoapMan cooed, seeming to forget about crying. "Of course I will! A good guy doesn't break promises!"

As SoapMan rambled on about what exactly the SoapMouth NCP did, Rhea would find the older navi's gaze turning just far enough that he seemed to be looking at her. ...He wouldn't even think about it, would he?

...Would he?

"It will be done, SoapMan."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia answered, flicking the intercom off. "Miss Cuffs... what does he mean by a 'scary woman'?"[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia's visor dims just a little bit, allowing Cuffs to see the quirk of his eyebrow as Regalia's arms cross and his stance shifts-- he looks entirely confused. "Your outfit may seem a little intimidating, but you have been nothing but kind from what I have observed."[color=5A6351][/color]

Harley snorted. "Oho! That be a good one," the SP remarked, thoroughly amused by the joke potential that their partner had. Even as the latter indirectly demanded to obtain the upfront payment for the mission summons, Rhea grabbed the data packet out of mid-air with two hands, then freeing one to open the waistpouch she had behind her back, she unceremoniously stuffed it into the small pouch in a classic scenario of "bottomless pouch". The pouch sealed itself afterwards.

The horse, on the other hand, was enjoying every moment of the attention he was getting from the officer. "Now this is appreciation," he mused. Though slightly reluctant to break off contact, a job was a job. Harley took a few steps backwards to make way for the two Navis to get a better coverage with the communicator. Rhea stared up uncomfortably at the height of the buttons, and reached for the window-opening panel and punched it once.

Harley gave a surprised neigh as Regalia bellowed, a part of his totally unconventional, horse-like nature. Rhea, on the other hand, proceeded to question SoapMan's intentions. "I fail to understand your logic," she began, in that deadpan voice of hers even as she tilted her head slightly. "What remuneration were you promised from such an inefficient act?" she continued, but was cut off from the intercom when Regalia turned it off. Catching Regalia's gaze, the petite Navi instinctively (?) puffed her cheeks again in response.

Harley couldn't hold back his snickering as he watched the exchange, then looked at Cuffs from head to toe. He mentally agreed with Regalia; though a meek lady would not choose to dress up in that fashion in the first place... unless, well...

... and the horse turned out to be imagining unsightly things associated with that outfit. Bad horsey. Rhea stepped in right next to Regalia as he addressed Cuffs, not wanting to be left behind.

"Thank you, Regalia. You'll see... it's going to feel great to be a nice person for a change!" SoapMan ensured his adversary. "And who's that cute little girl? You want to know why I was tailing a bunch of pirates and didn't bring any in? Or why I was imprisoning and reconditioning rude people? Or why I chose Regalia to help me? It's cause I-!"

Before he could get any farther, Regalia cut off contact. The navi's irate voice began to sound from inside the cell, seeming far off and muffled, as Cuffs responded. "I have trouble talking to people... and my operator insists I dress... this way... and I have a reputation as an efficient manhunter... effective at using electrical traps... so altogether, people form an impression that I'm scary..." Cuffs explained, still staring at the floor. "The moment he saw me he... started crying..."

"Its not important... I'm going to get SoapMouth..." she pressed a button to turn back on the audio-

"MEANIE! SCOUNDREL! JERK! YOU'RE NOT NICE AT ALL!"

"Please calm down... and tell everyone what Swabbie looks like..." Cuffs requested. Thankfully, he listened this time and started talking. She opened up a hidden drawer containing his confiscated items and pulled out a small data packet as he spoke.

"The pirate gang uses a big wooden ship. It keeps moving, even across solid terrain, unless the anchor goes down. The girl, Swabbie, should be easy to find since there's few girls there. She has a dark tan and long black hair... she wears a thug bandanna and a tiny tube top and jeans that are too big for her! It's awful! I've seen her underwear before!" he exclaimed like he was aghast at the very thought. "She has a tattoo just above her butt, something like a dragon, and another down her arm. Tattoos are no good, you know? I don't think that's even part of her .GMO, I think its really burned on there! What an awful statement that kind of thing sends,especially right near your hiney-!"

Cuffs gave the two a small nod, indicating they probably had enough to go on if the two were ready to head out. "We'll meet up at Yoka... I think I know where the pirates will be judging on notes we confiscated from him... They seemed irrelevant at the time... Before we knew about this... Meet up at the coordinates..."

*Received Coordinates.DAT*

((Topic opening soon in Yoka Net))

Idly wondering whether and how SoapMan and Regalia met each other, Rhea materialised a notebook and pen and started jotting down SoapMan's information of the pirate gang, as well as their target. Rhea had no clue how she could actually contribute at this point, seeing as how Regalia seemed to know everything there was to handle the situation. She shrugged; possibly a good way to gain some more field experience in her officer job. The petite Navi hid her head into the notebook as SoapMan mentioned about underwear, and downright slammed the book shut, refusing to take notes as the prisoner's informative conversation took a sharp turn towards body tattoo commentary.

Rhea nodded simply as Cuffs informed them of their rendezvous point, giving Harley a look as the two of them left by the door. Harley, with a little bit more difficulty.

[[To Yoka Net]]

"Very well, Cuffs."[color=5A6351][/color] Regalia nodded, listening to the sound of his partner leaving. For a moment, he considered asking her a few more questions-- or trying to get some information out of SoapMan-- but it quickly became evident that there wasn't really much else to say.

So instead the knightly old man shattered into a million yellow pieces-- which arced up and through the air, heralded by a crack of thunder.

[Jack Out]