DragonierMan tried to hide again. His job was to keep tabs on everyone and to help out only when needed. So he stuck to the shadows like glue. He was lucky that he wasn't identified. Hopefully, he wouldn't be needed for the rest of the mission. The chance of discovery would further increase with the current climate. And then he wouldn't be able to use this ninja outfit anymore without being identified as a criminal.
Suzume and Aya produced a set of matching tote bags, similar in color to their underwear. Suzume rushed over to Aera and pulled out a piece of white cloth about the size of a t-shirt. "Just stay still for a moment," she said as she began to wind the cloth around Aera's bust, over her hands, and tie it behind her back. Suzume pulled it tight when she had it secured around Aera, and Aera removed her hands, leaving her in a makeshift tube-top. "There, now you should be ok." Although since the wrap was white, it wouldn't take much more than some splashed water to cause it to become see-through. Although Suzume wasn't going to say anything about it. She would leave it as a surprise if MachMan wanted to continue to torment his girl.
Trap Setup Point
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A quick glance back would reveal Mach was actively being pursued by the swimsuit-wearing... knight girl. It was obvious the sky blue bra fluttering in the air was partially giving away his position, and would likely prove to be a disadvantage for someone hoping to make a clean escape. Though it looked he had the speed to eventually outrun the teleport-utilizing NP Navi, instead of possibly running into a dead end or getting lost in the labyrinth of back streets Mach decided to use some teleportation of his own. With his invisibility on the verge of expiring, he had to act quickly.
Without warning, the bra blipped out of sight with a very faint flash of cyan, before a disorienting blast of concussive force ripped and echoed through the alley. This would be the first time he used his new flavor of teleportation abilities; this "Blitz Assault" was made to further improve Mach's offensive capabilities. By combining a lightning-fast movement punctuated with the explosion of stun grenade, Mach hoped it would prove effective in at least temporarily halting the officer's pursuit. Still invisible and now behind the potentially stunned Navi, Mach thought it an enticing opportunity to ditch the bra, while adding a bit of benign insult on top of injury. Attempting to execute before DimensionGirl shook off the stun, Mach flipped the bra over the girl's helmet, and snapped the bra's clasp back together. He unfortunately didn't have the time to admire his handiwork, as he teleported away again with much less concussive force. Hopefully that would leave DimensionGirl White alone in the alley, with a bra strapped over her face like a voyeuristic super-heroine.
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Back in the alleyway, Aera couldn't help but adopt a sheepish posture accompanying the flush of red across her face as she tried her best to keep herself covered up. Thankfully Suzume came to her aid and fashioned a makeshift tube-top from some plain white cloth. "T-thanks..." she said as she slid her hands back to her sides. Her wavering tone was mostly acting, but the relieved sigh that followed was 100% truthful. She moved closer to the group, believing in strength in numbers, her eyes still adjusting to the flash bang used earlier as she scanned the area out of apparent nervous hyper-vigilance. In truth she was trying to see if Mach managed to escape, while also half-jokingly schemed of ways to make him pay for pulling that embarrassing stunt on her.
While the excitement remained mostly in the street, Vector used the opportunity to get to higher ground. His fractal body came in handy, allowing him to slide up the side of a building like a creeping shadow, while gently tugging the box along. Once he got to a rooftop, he crept across in an attempt to get a good position that allowed him relatively strong concealment with at least a partial view of the street below.
Mach materialized above his own rooftop on the opposite side of the street, and touched down as softly as possible as he saw his invisibility starting to wear off. [[i]"Alright, any developments?"][/i] Mach asked over his PET link; in the excitement of the chase he didn't exactly have time to keep track of what was going on back in the street. ["Sounds like the one with the odd accent is calling for backup, I think that may do it. Take 5 and try to think of something else you can do in the meantime,"] Mazer responded with a brief update. [[i]"Copy."[/i]]
While Mach took a breather, his active decoy started to move towards the alleyway in which Mach entered before teleporting away. If he NP continued to investigate that area, they would be greeted with a "goose" to chase until they eventually figure out its true nature.
Without warning, the bra blipped out of sight with a very faint flash of cyan, before a disorienting blast of concussive force ripped and echoed through the alley. This would be the first time he used his new flavor of teleportation abilities; this "Blitz Assault" was made to further improve Mach's offensive capabilities. By combining a lightning-fast movement punctuated with the explosion of stun grenade, Mach hoped it would prove effective in at least temporarily halting the officer's pursuit. Still invisible and now behind the potentially stunned Navi, Mach thought it an enticing opportunity to ditch the bra, while adding a bit of benign insult on top of injury. Attempting to execute before DimensionGirl shook off the stun, Mach flipped the bra over the girl's helmet, and snapped the bra's clasp back together. He unfortunately didn't have the time to admire his handiwork, as he teleported away again with much less concussive force. Hopefully that would leave DimensionGirl White alone in the alley, with a bra strapped over her face like a voyeuristic super-heroine.
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Back in the alleyway, Aera couldn't help but adopt a sheepish posture accompanying the flush of red across her face as she tried her best to keep herself covered up. Thankfully Suzume came to her aid and fashioned a makeshift tube-top from some plain white cloth. "T-thanks..." she said as she slid her hands back to her sides. Her wavering tone was mostly acting, but the relieved sigh that followed was 100% truthful. She moved closer to the group, believing in strength in numbers, her eyes still adjusting to the flash bang used earlier as she scanned the area out of apparent nervous hyper-vigilance. In truth she was trying to see if Mach managed to escape, while also half-jokingly schemed of ways to make him pay for pulling that embarrassing stunt on her.
While the excitement remained mostly in the street, Vector used the opportunity to get to higher ground. His fractal body came in handy, allowing him to slide up the side of a building like a creeping shadow, while gently tugging the box along. Once he got to a rooftop, he crept across in an attempt to get a good position that allowed him relatively strong concealment with at least a partial view of the street below.
Mach materialized above his own rooftop on the opposite side of the street, and touched down as softly as possible as he saw his invisibility starting to wear off. [[i]"Alright, any developments?"][/i] Mach asked over his PET link; in the excitement of the chase he didn't exactly have time to keep track of what was going on back in the street. ["Sounds like the one with the odd accent is calling for backup, I think that may do it. Take 5 and try to think of something else you can do in the meantime,"] Mazer responded with a brief update. [[i]"Copy."[/i]]
While Mach took a breather, his active decoy started to move towards the alleyway in which Mach entered before teleporting away. If he NP continued to investigate that area, they would be greeted with a "goose" to chase until they eventually figure out its true nature.
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Garde watched the two bikini-clad girls go to the service of Aera, offering her another line of defense against encroaching full-nakedness. "Oh... yes. Stick toge'zer. Good team work," she applauded them awkwardly, her eyes watching their newly summoned hand bags. She might, rationally, be starting to wonder why everyone was running around with their cheeks bare to the wind if regaining a semblance of modesty was so simple. The officer confirmed as much as she gestured to the others. "You all, cover up as well! I'll offer you my cape," she began, handing over her cape to Dee, who chuckled and tied it around her thong-clad hips like a skirt. Amusingly, the color matched. The curly-haired navi turned and began to offer something to Escort, before hesitating, realizing she didn't have much else good to part with. "Er... for you... zis beret!" she decided, taking off her cap and handing it to the unamused, fundoshi-wearing lady.
Needing to make his escape, MachMan improvised another dastardly pervert trick, utilizing a stun grenade. "Crap! They're well equipped!" DimensionGirl warned the others, although everyone was doubtless already getting that impression from the ability of the offenders to evade the NP so easily. "I'm blinded! I think they used another light attack! My vision's not coming back!" Stumbling out from the alley, the navi felt along the wall with her hands, not realizing that she now had Aera's bra fastened across her helmet.
"Oh, pour l'amour de Dieu! Get zat zing off of your face before ze others show up!" Garde cried out, leaving the civilians to themselves as she freed her blade and ran to her ally. Without hesitation (rather, very much the opposite), Garde fit the sword between DimensionGirl's helmet and the lingerie and separated the two by cleaving the cups in twain. Of course, undoing the latch would have been just as easy and also allowed the article to be returned to its owner, but it was too late for regrets. She took the next moment to get back in communication with those incoming. "Alerte! Alerte! We have lost eyes on targets! Repeat, lost eyes on targets! We believe zey are still in the area, as zey must be, considering zat so far zey have made no advances towards me."
"... Or maybe they're just not interested?" DimensionGirl responded, to the shock and indignation of her fellow officer, who coughed something about her ally being ungrateful for being cut free from her bra blindfold. "In fact, taking stock, so far, they've only targeted civilians... the shop-owner and us, the two NetPolice officers, are mostly unaffected. Could it be that the perpetrators are only interested in civilians for some reason? They're certainly not avoiding us because they're scared of us."
"No, impossible! Zey probably just see me as ze most difficult target and are eating 'zere meal before 'zere dessert!" Garde reasoned, shaking her bright blond curls to and fro in denial. "I'll show you! Watch and observe how my cunning wins ze day!" In a move of self-inflicted wardrobe malfunction that could easily factor into Cabal's investigation of a net-wide titillation conspiracy, Garde removed all of her armor in a flash of light, leaving herself clad in just a swimsuit. The suit was a showy bikini, decorated in three columns of vertically-oriented blue, white, and red bars, from left to right. The sword remained in her hand, but the musket seemed to have disappeared with the armor. Without the rest of her equipment, her body was on display... nice hip and bust proportions, but very much on the soft side all-around for what a hardened NetPolice officer (or any fighter who relied on a mix of quickness and physical strength) ought to be toting. "Yoo-hoo! Criminals! I have made myself vulnerable to your advances! Bon appetit! Venez le chercher!" At this point, she was probably acting for her own ego more than any kind of plan. DimensionGirl White slapped her face, before spotting MachMan's clone nearby.
Suddenly, another slew of portals opened up around the decoy, bringing out three more DimensionGirls. One was dressed in orange with long, blonde, doll-like hair. Another looked exactly the same, but in blue armor with white hair. The third was also in orange armor, but, upon closer inspection, was not a DimensionGirl at all; it was DimensionMan, dressed in his orange armor and black jumpsuit. All three of them had their guns pointed at the target. "Hands in the air!" the single male shouted, but as the clone continued its path of movement, the classic orange DimensionGirl shot at it, causing it to be proven fake. "No luck! The real target is still around here somewhere. Don't worry, citizens; the cavalry has arrived! With the strength of my whole team, those no-good criminals are going to be behind bars before you can say... DimensionMan, hooooo!" he cried, striking a pose with one leg lifted and his arms extended out in whimsical jazz hands. The other two girls he'd brought copied his motion, although the blue-armored one was less enthusiastic about it. Not wanting to be left out, DimensionGirl White also copied it, only a bit slow on the uptake. Looking around, DimensionMan spotted all of the half-naked girls, Garde included, and gulped, pausing to stretch his thick collar out with one gloved finger. "D-Did they get you after all, Garde?"
"O-Oh, um... Nevermind zat!" Garde cried, abandoning her stupid plan. "Let's perform a search! You can sweep ze rooftops, right? You handle 'zose, and we'll search each alley!" DimensionMan agreed, indicating for the affected civilians to stay with Garde and the DimensionGirls. A large clump of swimsuit or underwear-clad women had assembled, to the point that Cabal, if she had any interest in what was going on, would surely be here momentarily...
... As if on queue, an ominous figure in a black cloak, which had white words written all over its surface, emerged from the donut shop, carrying a coffee (it was questionable as to whether she'd paid for it). They might not recognize the figure as Cabal, but they would certainly know that she seemed out of place. No one else seemed to have seen her, except for MachMan and DragonierMan, who had the benefit of the overhead view. They wouldn't for much longer, however, unless they intended to engage DimensionMan. The orange-armored officer had "boarded" a plastic crate by levitating it beneath himself and was using it to begin gaining altitude.
Needing to make his escape, MachMan improvised another dastardly pervert trick, utilizing a stun grenade. "Crap! They're well equipped!" DimensionGirl warned the others, although everyone was doubtless already getting that impression from the ability of the offenders to evade the NP so easily. "I'm blinded! I think they used another light attack! My vision's not coming back!" Stumbling out from the alley, the navi felt along the wall with her hands, not realizing that she now had Aera's bra fastened across her helmet.
"Oh, pour l'amour de Dieu! Get zat zing off of your face before ze others show up!" Garde cried out, leaving the civilians to themselves as she freed her blade and ran to her ally. Without hesitation (rather, very much the opposite), Garde fit the sword between DimensionGirl's helmet and the lingerie and separated the two by cleaving the cups in twain. Of course, undoing the latch would have been just as easy and also allowed the article to be returned to its owner, but it was too late for regrets. She took the next moment to get back in communication with those incoming. "Alerte! Alerte! We have lost eyes on targets! Repeat, lost eyes on targets! We believe zey are still in the area, as zey must be, considering zat so far zey have made no advances towards me."
"... Or maybe they're just not interested?" DimensionGirl responded, to the shock and indignation of her fellow officer, who coughed something about her ally being ungrateful for being cut free from her bra blindfold. "In fact, taking stock, so far, they've only targeted civilians... the shop-owner and us, the two NetPolice officers, are mostly unaffected. Could it be that the perpetrators are only interested in civilians for some reason? They're certainly not avoiding us because they're scared of us."
"No, impossible! Zey probably just see me as ze most difficult target and are eating 'zere meal before 'zere dessert!" Garde reasoned, shaking her bright blond curls to and fro in denial. "I'll show you! Watch and observe how my cunning wins ze day!" In a move of self-inflicted wardrobe malfunction that could easily factor into Cabal's investigation of a net-wide titillation conspiracy, Garde removed all of her armor in a flash of light, leaving herself clad in just a swimsuit. The suit was a showy bikini, decorated in three columns of vertically-oriented blue, white, and red bars, from left to right. The sword remained in her hand, but the musket seemed to have disappeared with the armor. Without the rest of her equipment, her body was on display... nice hip and bust proportions, but very much on the soft side all-around for what a hardened NetPolice officer (or any fighter who relied on a mix of quickness and physical strength) ought to be toting. "Yoo-hoo! Criminals! I have made myself vulnerable to your advances! Bon appetit! Venez le chercher!" At this point, she was probably acting for her own ego more than any kind of plan. DimensionGirl White slapped her face, before spotting MachMan's clone nearby.
Suddenly, another slew of portals opened up around the decoy, bringing out three more DimensionGirls. One was dressed in orange with long, blonde, doll-like hair. Another looked exactly the same, but in blue armor with white hair. The third was also in orange armor, but, upon closer inspection, was not a DimensionGirl at all; it was DimensionMan, dressed in his orange armor and black jumpsuit. All three of them had their guns pointed at the target. "Hands in the air!" the single male shouted, but as the clone continued its path of movement, the classic orange DimensionGirl shot at it, causing it to be proven fake. "No luck! The real target is still around here somewhere. Don't worry, citizens; the cavalry has arrived! With the strength of my whole team, those no-good criminals are going to be behind bars before you can say... DimensionMan, hooooo!" he cried, striking a pose with one leg lifted and his arms extended out in whimsical jazz hands. The other two girls he'd brought copied his motion, although the blue-armored one was less enthusiastic about it. Not wanting to be left out, DimensionGirl White also copied it, only a bit slow on the uptake. Looking around, DimensionMan spotted all of the half-naked girls, Garde included, and gulped, pausing to stretch his thick collar out with one gloved finger. "D-Did they get you after all, Garde?"
"O-Oh, um... Nevermind zat!" Garde cried, abandoning her stupid plan. "Let's perform a search! You can sweep ze rooftops, right? You handle 'zose, and we'll search each alley!" DimensionMan agreed, indicating for the affected civilians to stay with Garde and the DimensionGirls. A large clump of swimsuit or underwear-clad women had assembled, to the point that Cabal, if she had any interest in what was going on, would surely be here momentarily...
... As if on queue, an ominous figure in a black cloak, which had white words written all over its surface, emerged from the donut shop, carrying a coffee (it was questionable as to whether she'd paid for it). They might not recognize the figure as Cabal, but they would certainly know that she seemed out of place. No one else seemed to have seen her, except for MachMan and DragonierMan, who had the benefit of the overhead view. They wouldn't for much longer, however, unless they intended to engage DimensionMan. The orange-armored officer had "boarded" a plastic crate by levitating it beneath himself and was using it to begin gaining altitude.
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DragonierMan radioed in to the internal speakers of the Neo-Shogun members. {Unidentified figure emerging from coffee shop and bakery. Confirm whether it is Cabal or not. I am going to relocate out of the area before I am spotted. Happy hunting. DragonierMan out.} With that, Drago beat a hasty retreat from the area, sticking to the shadows, and trying to get a few blocks away from everyone.
Suzume and Aya would look towards Cross' shop to see if they could see the ominous figure in a black cloak. If they did, they would both move toward the figure scrawled in white. "You should be careful, there are a few perverts around. If you aren't you could be stripped of your clothing like we were." Aya put her hands on her hips and scowled.
"Are you also a member of the NetPolice? I'd like to lodge a complaint as to the professionalism of your officers. Most of this could probably have been avoided if you had better response protocols. I mean really, is it the NetPolice's policy to wait until a problem has escalated this far before reinforcements are called? No wonder the NetMafia is running around unchecked. I bet you don't even have jails anywhere near here do you? Do you just give all your criminal friends a slap on the wrist and a scolding? That will teach them," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. But at the same time, wording her complaints to provoke information from what she assumed was Cabal. Such as the location of a holding area by asking about the jails.
Suzume and Aya would look towards Cross' shop to see if they could see the ominous figure in a black cloak. If they did, they would both move toward the figure scrawled in white. "You should be careful, there are a few perverts around. If you aren't you could be stripped of your clothing like we were." Aya put her hands on her hips and scowled.
"Are you also a member of the NetPolice? I'd like to lodge a complaint as to the professionalism of your officers. Most of this could probably have been avoided if you had better response protocols. I mean really, is it the NetPolice's policy to wait until a problem has escalated this far before reinforcements are called? No wonder the NetMafia is running around unchecked. I bet you don't even have jails anywhere near here do you? Do you just give all your criminal friends a slap on the wrist and a scolding? That will teach them," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. But at the same time, wording her complaints to provoke information from what she assumed was Cabal. Such as the location of a holding area by asking about the jails.
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Garde took cues from Aya and Suzume by offering her cape to Dee, which was all-too-enthusiastically turned into a skirt, then offered her... beret to Escort. Aera could find the humor in the situation thanks to no longer being one ill-executed hand movement away from flashing the entire group, and pictured Escort wearing the beret with a sour expression on her face.
Aera heard DimensionGirl White's cries from the alleyway, then saw her stumble out... wearing a familiar piece of clothing over her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sight was so bizarre she couldn't concentrate on what she wanted to say. [[i]Did... did Mach do that?[/i]] she pondered, not entirely sure something that silly was done by the mostly serious Navi. In retrospect; however, he was put in a fairly silly situation to begin with, and he's tried to conform to the situation every time.
Her line of thought was then abruptly cut short upon seeing her light blue bra sliced in two by Garde's blade. "Hey!" she cried out in protest, finally getting a word out. "My favorite bra..." she said with the volume of her voice trailing off sharply as the tone changed from protest to defeat.
Mach remained crouched on the rooftop, and did his best to overhear the panicked NP officers try go call for backup and develop a game plan. Though Mach couldn't immediately see in fear of being spotted himself, apparently said game plan involved Garde removing the majority of her clothing then calling out to the "perverts" like bait. If his invis chip was still active he might just take the bait just to show how outclassed they were. In the meantime, he ran through potential steps to take to avoid detection, including activating a .GMO or SoulCross to allow him to hide in plain sight. However, his attention was grabbed by an alert from his decoy, which became the target of 3 additional programs. Before it had the chance to run, a shot from one of the programs rang out, and revealed its true nature.
[[i]Hm, cavalry's arrived,[/i]] he thought to himself before he summoned two additional holo decoys to take their fallen comrade's place. Within seconds the small, black, projector-laden probes veiled themselves in perfect copies of Mach in Vector's armor, just like the decoy before them. They silently fell back and sank down behind the building without so much as a word being spoken, then headed off in separate directions at an eager pace through the alleys and side streets. He soon heard Garde call out searching the rooftops, which prompted Mach to also fall back behind the building while giving marching orders to his SP and NetOp. [[i]"Fall back, they're going to search from above. Mazer, can you send him back to the camp to update Yasu?"[/i]] Vector started to slink over the side of the building, leaving the possibly bugged and/or tracked package behind as Mazer responded ["Can do. Here we go, Vector."] As Vector dropped towards the ground, he briefly glowed cyan before disappearing in a flash and was sent back to the encampment.
Moments after Mach touched down, he received the message from DragonierMan. He called for investigation of the new player, while making himself scarce; not a bad idea. [[i]"Thanks for sending him, Mazer. I'm going to switch to RedCross, can you disable the SP auto .GMO changes?"[/i]] He was referring to the feature where both Aera and Vector undergo a .GMO change whenever he activates a SoulCross, he didn't want Aera to spontaneously change appearance and rouse additional suspicion, especially if someone realized he and Aera looked thematically similar. ["I think so, stand by..."] Mazer responded and pulled up some of the .GMO settings on the PET. It was something he installed, so it wasn't too difficult to find and disable. ["You're good to go!"]
With that, Mach's armor quickly fragmented and reshaped itself, while other areas of his body started to change color. In a couple seconds, Mach's hair changed to a rich chocolate color while his eyes adopted an almond hue, while the blue in his ear pylons and mask changed to crimson. His upper body is covered by a red hooded cloak, with slightly short sleeves to reveal slightly tanned skin and brown gloves. His shoulders and chest are bare beneath the cloak, while his abdomen is covered in white bandage-like wrapping, leading to a white and blue checkered belt holding up a plain looking pair of black pants. His rugged-looking brown boots allow him to move about without making too much noise in his footfalls, and he elected to keep the hood down to not look overly suspicious. Overall the change was a far departure from his standard look, which he hoped would limit the chances of him being "recognized" as the perpetrator.
As he moved along a street parallel to the rest of the group, he could still hear the muffled sounds of their voices, but he probably had to get closer to accurately understand them. Unbeknownst to him, Aya and Suzume confronted the figure in the black cloak. Aera watched cautiously and listened to Aya complain to the figure, assuming she was speaking to another member of the NP. "Plus they cut up my bra!" she added to the growing list of mistakes made by the officers, partially to keep her role as one of the victims, and to keep stirring the pot. If they were busy arguing about semantics, they wouldn't be focusing a lot on combing the area for Mach and DragonierMan. Unfortunately DimensionMan was already gaining altitude, she hoped Mach wasn't about to get caught unaware.
Aera heard DimensionGirl White's cries from the alleyway, then saw her stumble out... wearing a familiar piece of clothing over her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sight was so bizarre she couldn't concentrate on what she wanted to say. [[i]Did... did Mach do that?[/i]] she pondered, not entirely sure something that silly was done by the mostly serious Navi. In retrospect; however, he was put in a fairly silly situation to begin with, and he's tried to conform to the situation every time.
Her line of thought was then abruptly cut short upon seeing her light blue bra sliced in two by Garde's blade. "Hey!" she cried out in protest, finally getting a word out. "My favorite bra..." she said with the volume of her voice trailing off sharply as the tone changed from protest to defeat.
Mach remained crouched on the rooftop, and did his best to overhear the panicked NP officers try go call for backup and develop a game plan. Though Mach couldn't immediately see in fear of being spotted himself, apparently said game plan involved Garde removing the majority of her clothing then calling out to the "perverts" like bait. If his invis chip was still active he might just take the bait just to show how outclassed they were. In the meantime, he ran through potential steps to take to avoid detection, including activating a .GMO or SoulCross to allow him to hide in plain sight. However, his attention was grabbed by an alert from his decoy, which became the target of 3 additional programs. Before it had the chance to run, a shot from one of the programs rang out, and revealed its true nature.
[[i]Hm, cavalry's arrived,[/i]] he thought to himself before he summoned two additional holo decoys to take their fallen comrade's place. Within seconds the small, black, projector-laden probes veiled themselves in perfect copies of Mach in Vector's armor, just like the decoy before them. They silently fell back and sank down behind the building without so much as a word being spoken, then headed off in separate directions at an eager pace through the alleys and side streets. He soon heard Garde call out searching the rooftops, which prompted Mach to also fall back behind the building while giving marching orders to his SP and NetOp. [[i]"Fall back, they're going to search from above. Mazer, can you send him back to the camp to update Yasu?"[/i]] Vector started to slink over the side of the building, leaving the possibly bugged and/or tracked package behind as Mazer responded ["Can do. Here we go, Vector."] As Vector dropped towards the ground, he briefly glowed cyan before disappearing in a flash and was sent back to the encampment.
Moments after Mach touched down, he received the message from DragonierMan. He called for investigation of the new player, while making himself scarce; not a bad idea. [[i]"Thanks for sending him, Mazer. I'm going to switch to RedCross, can you disable the SP auto .GMO changes?"[/i]] He was referring to the feature where both Aera and Vector undergo a .GMO change whenever he activates a SoulCross, he didn't want Aera to spontaneously change appearance and rouse additional suspicion, especially if someone realized he and Aera looked thematically similar. ["I think so, stand by..."] Mazer responded and pulled up some of the .GMO settings on the PET. It was something he installed, so it wasn't too difficult to find and disable. ["You're good to go!"]
With that, Mach's armor quickly fragmented and reshaped itself, while other areas of his body started to change color. In a couple seconds, Mach's hair changed to a rich chocolate color while his eyes adopted an almond hue, while the blue in his ear pylons and mask changed to crimson. His upper body is covered by a red hooded cloak, with slightly short sleeves to reveal slightly tanned skin and brown gloves. His shoulders and chest are bare beneath the cloak, while his abdomen is covered in white bandage-like wrapping, leading to a white and blue checkered belt holding up a plain looking pair of black pants. His rugged-looking brown boots allow him to move about without making too much noise in his footfalls, and he elected to keep the hood down to not look overly suspicious. Overall the change was a far departure from his standard look, which he hoped would limit the chances of him being "recognized" as the perpetrator.
As he moved along a street parallel to the rest of the group, he could still hear the muffled sounds of their voices, but he probably had to get closer to accurately understand them. Unbeknownst to him, Aya and Suzume confronted the figure in the black cloak. Aera watched cautiously and listened to Aya complain to the figure, assuming she was speaking to another member of the NP. "Plus they cut up my bra!" she added to the growing list of mistakes made by the officers, partially to keep her role as one of the victims, and to keep stirring the pot. If they were busy arguing about semantics, they wouldn't be focusing a lot on combing the area for Mach and DragonierMan. Unfortunately DimensionMan was already gaining altitude, she hoped Mach wasn't about to get caught unaware.
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DragonierMan fled the area, leaving the mission to the rest of his teammates in favor of hiding so that he would not be spotted by DimensionMan, who would soon clear the rooftops. Aya and Suzume proceeded to the target, who turned her hooded head to them and revealed a disturbing, sinister smile, spread wide and curling across her face despite the crisis situation affecting this part of the net. "Hu hu hu... I have a strong hunch that the ones perpetrating this crime have no interest in stripping me. Which is not to say that they have no interest in me... In fact, I half feel as though I've been summoned here," she murmured in response to Suzume, lifting her head enough to show one black, gleaming eye, the other covered by the long, unkempt black hair that fell from the top of her head, mostly hidden behind her hood. When Aya began speaking, she turned her attention from one ninja to the other, still smiling. "Not many people correctly guess that I'm with the NetPolice the first time they see me... I find it interesting that you did," she responded, smirking and denying none of the allegations that had been made. "As for where our jail cells are... That's not so interesting, is it? You'd have to be blind not to see the building back there. I'm sorry! PR isn't my strongpoint... Kehehe..."
As Aera approached, Cabal only grinned wider, allowing a creepy cackle to escape from deep inside her throat. It certainly seemed like she was making fun of the girls rather than intending to help them. Sensing that they might be offended, she shrugged, which would probably make things worse. "I'm sorry. Again. My name is Cabal... although I have a hunch that you already know that. You know, I'm here more as an investigator than as a combatant. Would you girls like to get off the streets and find a nice place to talk? Well... the donut shop won't work, because it's full of surveillance bugs. On the other hand, Cross's store is in the middle of the attack right now. Shall I pick one of the locks so that we can slip inside one of the other store fronts and close the shutter?" she offered, pausing to kneel in front of the shutter of one of the stores, a small establishment that purportedly sold designer GMOs. "You think it's strange that a police officer would offer to do that? I could always blame it on the Neo-Shogun Empire, couldn't I?" she questioned, turning her eyes over to Dee and Escort, who were still standing close-by Garde, before locking them back upon Aya and Suzume.
Various Dimension-people, who seemed to actually be multiplying as MachMan watched, popped out from various corridors and swarmed upon MachMan's clones like flies, firing off a laser light show of beam pistol fire. "How many have we shot now?" one in blue armor asked another in orange.
"Three, maybe four! I don't understand, wasn't the call in just for two perps?!" he cried, firing off more lasers while clutching his other hand to the levitating, white-glowing box he was riding. In the mean time, Vector escaped the area, while MachMan applied another GMO. Unfortunately, the decoys couldn't provide as long of a distraction as one might hope, given the number of attacks they'd been tasked with redirecting. "All clear! Eyes on target, Alternate DimensionMan?"
"Negative," the one in blue barked back in an irritable voice. "Lost sight of perf. They may have fled the area. The two of us will spread out and search... DimensionGirls, continue to protect the victims."
"Roger!" two of three DimensionGirls answered with sharp salutes, while the one in orange whimsically added "dodger" to the end, but left the salute unmodified.
Cabal had just managed to get the steel shutter for the shop open and grunted with exertion as she lifted it above her head, revealing long but scrawny arms from beneath her cloak. They were similarly marked all over with white text... from this distance, the girls could read some of the words, which seemed to be notes on various investigations. "Quickly, inside... If you take a moment longer, we're going to be herded together with the other girls. I'm guessing whatever you have to ask me probably shouldn't be heard by Public Safety, hm?" she inquired, stepping inside without hesitation as she spoke. The interior of the shop was pretty dark already, with no windows letting in light, and would only be darker once they went inside and closed the entrance back. The gate did, however, have three small slits near the top of it, which would presumably let at least a few rays of light inside.
As Aera approached, Cabal only grinned wider, allowing a creepy cackle to escape from deep inside her throat. It certainly seemed like she was making fun of the girls rather than intending to help them. Sensing that they might be offended, she shrugged, which would probably make things worse. "I'm sorry. Again. My name is Cabal... although I have a hunch that you already know that. You know, I'm here more as an investigator than as a combatant. Would you girls like to get off the streets and find a nice place to talk? Well... the donut shop won't work, because it's full of surveillance bugs. On the other hand, Cross's store is in the middle of the attack right now. Shall I pick one of the locks so that we can slip inside one of the other store fronts and close the shutter?" she offered, pausing to kneel in front of the shutter of one of the stores, a small establishment that purportedly sold designer GMOs. "You think it's strange that a police officer would offer to do that? I could always blame it on the Neo-Shogun Empire, couldn't I?" she questioned, turning her eyes over to Dee and Escort, who were still standing close-by Garde, before locking them back upon Aya and Suzume.
Various Dimension-people, who seemed to actually be multiplying as MachMan watched, popped out from various corridors and swarmed upon MachMan's clones like flies, firing off a laser light show of beam pistol fire. "How many have we shot now?" one in blue armor asked another in orange.
"Three, maybe four! I don't understand, wasn't the call in just for two perps?!" he cried, firing off more lasers while clutching his other hand to the levitating, white-glowing box he was riding. In the mean time, Vector escaped the area, while MachMan applied another GMO. Unfortunately, the decoys couldn't provide as long of a distraction as one might hope, given the number of attacks they'd been tasked with redirecting. "All clear! Eyes on target, Alternate DimensionMan?"
"Negative," the one in blue barked back in an irritable voice. "Lost sight of perf. They may have fled the area. The two of us will spread out and search... DimensionGirls, continue to protect the victims."
"Roger!" two of three DimensionGirls answered with sharp salutes, while the one in orange whimsically added "dodger" to the end, but left the salute unmodified.
Cabal had just managed to get the steel shutter for the shop open and grunted with exertion as she lifted it above her head, revealing long but scrawny arms from beneath her cloak. They were similarly marked all over with white text... from this distance, the girls could read some of the words, which seemed to be notes on various investigations. "Quickly, inside... If you take a moment longer, we're going to be herded together with the other girls. I'm guessing whatever you have to ask me probably shouldn't be heard by Public Safety, hm?" she inquired, stepping inside without hesitation as she spoke. The interior of the shop was pretty dark already, with no windows letting in light, and would only be darker once they went inside and closed the entrance back. The gate did, however, have three small slits near the top of it, which would presumably let at least a few rays of light inside.
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"What they say about you is true then," Aya stated as she dropped the act. Suzume followed suit. They followed Cabal into the building and then changed into their Ninja.GMOs. "Yes, we are Neo-Shoguns," Suzume began. "We heard you might know where we can find a navi by the name of Scavenger. Her sister is trying to find her and bring her home. That was the reason for the staging of this whole charade."
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Aera watched cautiously as the mysterious figure did reveal she was part of the NetPolice, though her demeanor was even less professional than the rest they've encountered so far. Aera slowed her pace as the Navi gave a creepy cackle upon putting eyes on the half-naked SP. Aera's brow furrowed indignantly, first impressions weren't going very well so far. She finally introduced herself as Cabal, the target they needed. She seemed astute enough to suspect she was summoned, and hinted on the NS's involvement with an all-too-convenient glance towards Dee and Escort, but Cabal didn't appear to be at all resistant to further contact.
Aya and Suzume pressed on, and followed Cabal into the previously closed shop, which she conveniently unlocked with significantly quick lockpicking skill. Though she was hesitant to follow as well, her curiosity began to override the myriad of doubts she had about the situation. There wasn't much she could do out in the street anyway, other than likely get questioned by the NP. She stepped inside, just as Aya and Suzume adopted their NS-esque GMOs and revealed their association with the Shogunate. Not to be odd one out, Aera activated her own NS_Uniform.GMO. Fully covered after what seemed like forever, she felt marginally more comfortable. Unseen and unheard to the rest of the group, she began to charge her internal capacitors. She wasn't expecting a fight, but some electricity may prove useful if this ends up becoming an interrogation. All Cabal would see is Aera glancing around to briefly evaluate the features of the shop, then look back to Cabal with focused, sapphire eyes.
Mach continued to move leisurely down the street, listening to the voices coming from the street parallel to his. He could still hear what sounded like orders being called out, and caught the occasional glimpse of airborne programs. It was probably best to maintain his current position or even move closer, he imagined they'd be clued in by someone attempting to flee... but then again, maybe a pervert would attempt to get an eyeful of his victims in plain sight? Regardless, he maintained his current path walking parallel to the main street. A familiar smell then registered, the sweetness of glaze and the mild flavor of freshly baked breads... it smelled delightful for some odd reason, maybe it's a quirk of the Cross? Mach did remember Red did have an affinity towards sweets, it's possible that lingering preference somehow rubbed off on the SoulCross.
Aya and Suzume pressed on, and followed Cabal into the previously closed shop, which she conveniently unlocked with significantly quick lockpicking skill. Though she was hesitant to follow as well, her curiosity began to override the myriad of doubts she had about the situation. There wasn't much she could do out in the street anyway, other than likely get questioned by the NP. She stepped inside, just as Aya and Suzume adopted their NS-esque GMOs and revealed their association with the Shogunate. Not to be odd one out, Aera activated her own NS_Uniform.GMO. Fully covered after what seemed like forever, she felt marginally more comfortable. Unseen and unheard to the rest of the group, she began to charge her internal capacitors. She wasn't expecting a fight, but some electricity may prove useful if this ends up becoming an interrogation. All Cabal would see is Aera glancing around to briefly evaluate the features of the shop, then look back to Cabal with focused, sapphire eyes.
Mach continued to move leisurely down the street, listening to the voices coming from the street parallel to his. He could still hear what sounded like orders being called out, and caught the occasional glimpse of airborne programs. It was probably best to maintain his current position or even move closer, he imagined they'd be clued in by someone attempting to flee... but then again, maybe a pervert would attempt to get an eyeful of his victims in plain sight? Regardless, he maintained his current path walking parallel to the main street. A familiar smell then registered, the sweetness of glaze and the mild flavor of freshly baked breads... it smelled delightful for some odd reason, maybe it's a quirk of the Cross? Mach did remember Red did have an affinity towards sweets, it's possible that lingering preference somehow rubbed off on the SoulCross.
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Cabal grinned again as the girls confirmed they were members of the Neo-Shogun Empire. After closing the shutter back, she listened to the rest of their questions. "Oh, I've allowed myself to get surrounded and cut off from my allies, now that I think about it!" she joked. "Fortunately, I've been studying you folks for a while... Long enough to realize that whatever net-invading bloodlust you all had a while back has been subdued. Recruitment fairs, talk shows, game shows... those are more your venues these days, it seems, probably because you realized how important public opinion was for generating interest from new recruits. That said, I'd been wondering why you all would appear here together... I guess now I have my answer," she finished, her smile half illuminated by the light peeking in from the slit in the shutter. "Well, since you answered my question, it's only fit that I answer yours..."
Her cloak swelled out as she spread both arms and shook her head; although her words sounded apologetic, her face was still smiling. "Too bad, though; the truth is, I haven't heard anything about a navi named Scavenger. Maybe you could provide me some more details? Who is Scavenger? Who is the other sister? When did she disappear?" Cabal asked; suddenly, it seemed they were the ones being interrogated. "You wouldn't believe how many tangents and circumstances I have stewing inside my noodle, ladies... I probably know something about your lost girl and don't even realize it!" It couldn't be the news the girls were hoping to hear, but there might still be a way to get some relevant information out of the strange NetPolice navi.
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Outside, MachMan was thinking over his newfound love of baked goods, when he discovered another possible cause for alarm. "We've lost the targets... If one of them is still on the net, he's probably hiding. We have to search each of the nearby shops," DimensionMan informed the other officers, as he descended from the rooftops back to the street.
"Oui, however... I can imagine zat will take quite some time. Most of ze shops are locked!" the unseen voice of Garde pointed out.
"That's where being DimensionMan comes in so handy! My portals can get me behind those shutters, no sweat!" he announced, presumably striking another pose once he'd finished speaking. "DimensionGirl! Alternate DimensionGirl! DimensionGirl White! Spread out and conduct a thorough search!" he instructed. It sounded like, at this rate, they'd be certain to pop into the store that Cabal and the others had vanished into. "Send me a message immediately if you discover the perp. In the mean time, I'll help the victims here."
"Help us how? Do you happen to have a spare outfit?" Dee joked, but drew laughter from no one.
"Erm, well... I'll keep you all guarded, as it were," the young but senior officer responded, sounding slightly flustered. At any rate, MachMan (and potentially DragonierMan) would need to think up a way to keep the investigating forces off of the backs of Cabal and their SPs, unless they were planning to withdraw now, seeing as their target may have been a dead end.
Her cloak swelled out as she spread both arms and shook her head; although her words sounded apologetic, her face was still smiling. "Too bad, though; the truth is, I haven't heard anything about a navi named Scavenger. Maybe you could provide me some more details? Who is Scavenger? Who is the other sister? When did she disappear?" Cabal asked; suddenly, it seemed they were the ones being interrogated. "You wouldn't believe how many tangents and circumstances I have stewing inside my noodle, ladies... I probably know something about your lost girl and don't even realize it!" It couldn't be the news the girls were hoping to hear, but there might still be a way to get some relevant information out of the strange NetPolice navi.
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Outside, MachMan was thinking over his newfound love of baked goods, when he discovered another possible cause for alarm. "We've lost the targets... If one of them is still on the net, he's probably hiding. We have to search each of the nearby shops," DimensionMan informed the other officers, as he descended from the rooftops back to the street.
"Oui, however... I can imagine zat will take quite some time. Most of ze shops are locked!" the unseen voice of Garde pointed out.
"That's where being DimensionMan comes in so handy! My portals can get me behind those shutters, no sweat!" he announced, presumably striking another pose once he'd finished speaking. "DimensionGirl! Alternate DimensionGirl! DimensionGirl White! Spread out and conduct a thorough search!" he instructed. It sounded like, at this rate, they'd be certain to pop into the store that Cabal and the others had vanished into. "Send me a message immediately if you discover the perp. In the mean time, I'll help the victims here."
"Help us how? Do you happen to have a spare outfit?" Dee joked, but drew laughter from no one.
"Erm, well... I'll keep you all guarded, as it were," the young but senior officer responded, sounding slightly flustered. At any rate, MachMan (and potentially DragonierMan) would need to think up a way to keep the investigating forces off of the backs of Cabal and their SPs, unless they were planning to withdraw now, seeing as their target may have been a dead end.
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DragonierMan heard the NP talking over the open comm-line he had with the NS members. Looks like he needed another distraction. He pointed his arm up and discharged a PhoenixShot2 into the air. The bird-shaped flare flew high into the sky. Changing direction, he headed off to the east. The makeshift flare should be enough of a distraction to give the others some time.
Aya almost smacked herself for not thinking of the possibility that Scavenger might be under an alias while within the Mafia ranks. "I don't have a description of the sister," Aya stated. "But given the name and what her sister looks like, she probably looks like a vulture to some degree." Suzume continued the descriptions. "The sister's name is Roc. She looks like a human-bird-thing. Like a hawk or an eagle or something."
Aya spoke up again. "From what I've heard, Scavenger was partnered with two other girls named Idol and Stalker on a mission to drum up recruits at a NetPolice safe-house for unoperated navis. Somewhere during a battle there, all three disappeared. Idol was seen being captured by the NP, with the other two were seemingly redirected upon jacking out. The thing that confused Roc was that the NP used cuffs and a van to take away Idol, so she asked us why the NP would change their methods to take the other two another way. Unfortunately, that lead her to the conclusion that the NetMafia, who specializes in invisible, area-wide jack-out prevention technology took her. So we tracked where she might have been taken and infiltrated a NM hideout. The Mafia individuals there told us that the Police have them. Thus we are here."
Aya seemed to sigh at the end of her speech. "Frankly I am getting tired of the runaround. Somebody has this Scavenger girl and we were tasked to find and deliver her to her sister, Roc. I don't know if the Mafia is lying to us or not, about not having her, but I can really care less at this point. Either we find her soon, or my Master is going to lose his temper and start tearing the entire Net apart looking for this girl. And that is a fate I would like to spare you all from dealing with. So please, if you have any idea where this girl Scavenger is... Please, please tell us." Aya put her hands together and had a tired, yet pleading look on her face. "Or better yet, deliver her to us. I don't know what we can give you in exchange, but a fair trade seems reasonable."
Aya almost smacked herself for not thinking of the possibility that Scavenger might be under an alias while within the Mafia ranks. "I don't have a description of the sister," Aya stated. "But given the name and what her sister looks like, she probably looks like a vulture to some degree." Suzume continued the descriptions. "The sister's name is Roc. She looks like a human-bird-thing. Like a hawk or an eagle or something."
Aya spoke up again. "From what I've heard, Scavenger was partnered with two other girls named Idol and Stalker on a mission to drum up recruits at a NetPolice safe-house for unoperated navis. Somewhere during a battle there, all three disappeared. Idol was seen being captured by the NP, with the other two were seemingly redirected upon jacking out. The thing that confused Roc was that the NP used cuffs and a van to take away Idol, so she asked us why the NP would change their methods to take the other two another way. Unfortunately, that lead her to the conclusion that the NetMafia, who specializes in invisible, area-wide jack-out prevention technology took her. So we tracked where she might have been taken and infiltrated a NM hideout. The Mafia individuals there told us that the Police have them. Thus we are here."
Aya seemed to sigh at the end of her speech. "Frankly I am getting tired of the runaround. Somebody has this Scavenger girl and we were tasked to find and deliver her to her sister, Roc. I don't know if the Mafia is lying to us or not, about not having her, but I can really care less at this point. Either we find her soon, or my Master is going to lose his temper and start tearing the entire Net apart looking for this girl. And that is a fate I would like to spare you all from dealing with. So please, if you have any idea where this girl Scavenger is... Please, please tell us." Aya put her hands together and had a tired, yet pleading look on her face. "Or better yet, deliver her to us. I don't know what we can give you in exchange, but a fair trade seems reasonable."
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Cabal was unsurprisingly well-versed in the NS's activities, and it appeared she didn't consider the organization an outright threat. Aera felt somewhat relieved, as it supported what the Shogun preached, and contrasted with Rhea's grim warning about the organization's previously conquest-focused doctrine. However, Scavenger's situation didn't ring a bell. Aera would've jumped in or at least commented, but Aya and Suzume pretty much summed up all of the info they had. A moment later after replaying the conversation with Kizmet in her head, she did find a couple nuggets of info to pass along. "This safe-house was reportedly managed by an ex-NP member named 'Cranium,' and said safe-house is located in Internet City." She hoped that bit of extra info helped jog the Navi's memory, or at least show they weren't just chasing leads with little information. Her capacitors reached combat-operational levels, and remained primed; Cabal had shut the door behind them and claimed to have cut herself off from her allies and projecting her apparent disadvantage, but Aera wasn't entirely buying it.
Still outside, Mach heard the NP continue to expand their search. Moments later he received a message from Mazer. ["Sounds like they're going shop-to-shop to find yo- the "pervert" I mean."] Mazer clarified before continuing. ["Cabal appeared to sequester herself from the group on purpose, and the SPs have revealed their allegiance to the NS. I suggest you draw them o-"] He was cut off by the tell-tale fiery bird-shaped wave of a PhoenixShot fired into the air. ["I bet that was DragonierMan after hearing the same thing. Think it's time to make a public exit. A chase, maybe?"] An excited grin twisted under Mach's mask. [[i]"I like the sound of that. This'll be a good opportunity to put the new cross through it's paces."[/i]]
["New cross?"] Before Mazer could ask more, his Navi's body again became covered in fragmented data, which then reconfigured to take the form of his newest SoulCross. Moments later, Mach's entire garb changed. His hair returned to its natural orange, but his ears were covered in black headphones with a boom mic in front of his mouth, which was covered (along with his nose and neck) by a long white silk scarf. One end was tucked down the front of his dark brown leather bomber jacket, while the other end flowed over his shoulder and seemed to be suspended in a slow breeze. His lower body was covered in tan cloth pants, which were held up at the waist with a black belt, while the legs were tucked in to the pair of brown boots covering his feet.
Some of the data had clumped into a mass a couple feet behind him, then quickly formed into a red cylindrical metal housing, sprouting with four ovoid intakes and seven piston cylinders, which led to two large exhausts and a three-bladed, red-tipped metal propeller. The prop began to spin slowly with a whine as the engine began to cough and sputter for a second or two, before two black puffs of smoke spat from the exhausts and the prop quickly blurred into a whirling disk as the area around him quickly began to echo with the roar of the engine and prop.
If the sound of an airplane starting merely a street away didn't catch the NP's attention, the Navi rocketing skyward probably would have. Mach couldn't help but further announce his presence with a tight aileron roll before breaking a hard right and scream away mere feet from the rooftops. He hoped the flashy exit would be enough to warrant a chase, he didn't want to spoil the fun by having to awkwardly come back and say "it was me," before running off again.
Still outside, Mach heard the NP continue to expand their search. Moments later he received a message from Mazer. ["Sounds like they're going shop-to-shop to find yo- the "pervert" I mean."] Mazer clarified before continuing. ["Cabal appeared to sequester herself from the group on purpose, and the SPs have revealed their allegiance to the NS. I suggest you draw them o-"] He was cut off by the tell-tale fiery bird-shaped wave of a PhoenixShot fired into the air. ["I bet that was DragonierMan after hearing the same thing. Think it's time to make a public exit. A chase, maybe?"] An excited grin twisted under Mach's mask. [[i]"I like the sound of that. This'll be a good opportunity to put the new cross through it's paces."[/i]]
["New cross?"] Before Mazer could ask more, his Navi's body again became covered in fragmented data, which then reconfigured to take the form of his newest SoulCross. Moments later, Mach's entire garb changed. His hair returned to its natural orange, but his ears were covered in black headphones with a boom mic in front of his mouth, which was covered (along with his nose and neck) by a long white silk scarf. One end was tucked down the front of his dark brown leather bomber jacket, while the other end flowed over his shoulder and seemed to be suspended in a slow breeze. His lower body was covered in tan cloth pants, which were held up at the waist with a black belt, while the legs were tucked in to the pair of brown boots covering his feet.
Some of the data had clumped into a mass a couple feet behind him, then quickly formed into a red cylindrical metal housing, sprouting with four ovoid intakes and seven piston cylinders, which led to two large exhausts and a three-bladed, red-tipped metal propeller. The prop began to spin slowly with a whine as the engine began to cough and sputter for a second or two, before two black puffs of smoke spat from the exhausts and the prop quickly blurred into a whirling disk as the area around him quickly began to echo with the roar of the engine and prop.
If the sound of an airplane starting merely a street away didn't catch the NP's attention, the Navi rocketing skyward probably would have. Mach couldn't help but further announce his presence with a tight aileron roll before breaking a hard right and scream away mere feet from the rooftops. He hoped the flashy exit would be enough to warrant a chase, he didn't want to spoil the fun by having to awkwardly come back and say "it was me," before running off again.
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"Like a vulture? Hm! That rings a bell or two..." Cabal chuckled, but then quieted down, letting the ninja finish her description. "And Roc was briefly involved in a string of cons with a criminal named ChronicleMan. That was one of his higher profile crimes, as I recall... it's been a downward slope for him since then. But more importantly, Roc hasn't been spotted alongside him since then, so he must have either fired her or they otherwise parted ways... At any rate, I guess that isn't really pertinent here. Why can't you girls just look for Roc, hm? She's much easier to keep tabs on!" the witch-like navi joked. Aya had more to offer, though, so she piped back down. Once the whole description was finished, she smirked, looking amused by Aya's plight. "The runaround? Oh, dear... if conspiracies were easy to solve, they wouldn't be conspiracies! If someone has pointed you towards me, then that's exactly what you're dealing with: a conspiracy," she reminded the two, crossing her arms and not seeming afraid to be annoying, despite being outnumbered. "As for your master, maybe he's a bit out of place in the Empire after all? That sounds like behavior that the Bloodhounds would appreciate, if he's interested in giving them a call..."
Thankfully, her teasing was derailed by Aera pitching in another final important detail. "Okay, okay... So back to the attack on Cranium's orphanage, which was attacked by Idol and two henchmen," she began again, seeming to already vividly recall the details of the situation. "It sounds as though one of those henchmen was this 'Scavenger' you're looking for. Well, I can confirm this for you: none of the three navis, including Idol, ever ended up in Police custody. That said, I can also confirm that Scavenger and... the other henchman, whoever they are... were seemingly defeated in battle. They weren't arrested. If one navi was arrested there, however, chances are that someone was ready to retrieve more of them. They may not have been expecting Mafia navis to be ejected... rather, I'd be surprised if they weren't looking for orphans, who are relatively untraceable compared to operated ones, since no human goes looking for them. Still, while the two 'henchmen' were reportedly the dregs of the mafia, rather weak and low on the totem pole, Idol was known to be quite powerful. The car versus capturing the EJOs... If you ask me, I think we have two different perpetrators. One party was interested in extracting Idol specifically, knowing that she probably would not be ejected, and the other was interested in casting their net wide and gathering whomever dropped from the battle."
"Anyway, all of that is just something to think about! What you're here for is the actual location of Scavenger. That I don't know, but I do have a good lead for you... in Hades Net, at the coordinates I've attached, there have been sightings of a 'deformed, dark navi with bird-like talons and wings', which sounds an awful lot like your missing girl. In the same area, a suspicious navi with a helmet designed like a skull and crossbones has been seen several times. Both of these I know because they were filed as suspicious persons sightings. When you put the two together... that sounds an awful lot like your girl, Scavenger, and her captor, doesn't it? Well, she's either held captive or dead, and I don't believe it could be the latter. One things about conspiracies: they usually err on the side of intrigue. This would be a rather open and shut case if she was dead! Where there's smoke there's fire: if someone's mentioned the jackout barrier redirecting ejections to you, then there must have been such a thing, which certainly makes it sound as though she's now a hostage," Cabal finished. "And there you go. Take these coordinates and head for Hades Net... or better yet, get someone else in your organization to do it for you! I think you and your master might be a little... impatient, for the investigative business."
*Coordinates.DAT received*
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Outside, MachMan and DragonierMan both had ideas on how to buy their navis some more time. DimensionMan turned his eyes up towards the PhoenixShot... but kept his position. "Continue the search! Someone's playing games with us, DimensionForce," he warned his allies, motioning for Dee and Escort to move inward. "I feel like we're being distracted from something... but what? They must know they can't bring enough of us out of here to expose the base to attack..."
"Oh, I got it! Zey're after me!" Garde announced, huddling close enough to DimensionMan so that her breasts squished against his bright orange armor, causing him to jump in place. "Zey saw me when zey entered the district and are working z'eir way up to ze pièce de résistance!"
"I-I don't really think-" DimensionMan started to dissuade her, feeling they were getting onto the wrong track, before MachMan popped back up in a new costume. Unfortunately, despite his hope that the situation wouldn't develop as awkwardly as having to return after dashing away, DimensionMan again raised his hand and told the DimensionGirls to continue their search. "It's another distraction, they're not acting on anything! Keep your guard up! The enemy could attack from anywhere. We're going to find what they're hiding, though!"
The DimensionGirls had begun searching again with renewed vigor, popping in and out of buildings with alarming speed. Things were looking grim; Dee had begun to sweat, putting on her poker face smile in a situation where a smile wasn't really a poker face. Fortunately, Escort was still focused, and offered an out. "Hmph... You Dimension People have wasted a lot of time searching... when your target was here all along!" she announced, reaching out and grabbing up Dee from beside herself. Adopting an evil smirk, she lulled out her tongue and stroked it across the length of her friend's neck, wiping the sweat up and replacing it with saliva. "I'm the pervert!" she explained, keeping her tongue out. Dee, for her part, had started giggling, either from being ticklish or amusement that her friend was acting out. "You're a fool if you think I need distractions to deal with you all! I'll escape on my own!" Escort boasted, just as a jet-black limousine swung out from one of the alleys, hitting a 90 degree drift so that it would face towards the street and raising a thick cloud of smoke. Escort hopped onto the front, carrying Dee, then rocketed away. "You'll never catch me! She's my new favorite toy now... Mwuhahaha!" Escort cackled. "But I'm also going to swing back around and grab the other girls, too!" she added, to make it clear she was going to remain a threat.
"DimensionGirls, after her! I'll stay with the hostages!" DimensionMan commanded, pointing forward dramatically. The DimensionGirls gave up their search for the mystery perpetrator, now that they had someone who was actively kidnapping one of the affected. "I'm calling more backup... But first. CITIZEN!" he bellowed, cupping his hands to his mouth. "USE YOUR JACK OUT ROUTINE, IF AVAILABLE!" he commanded. Dee, of course, did not. "Well, it was worth a shot," he sighed, before falling silent, apparently involved with sending a private message.
Thankfully, her teasing was derailed by Aera pitching in another final important detail. "Okay, okay... So back to the attack on Cranium's orphanage, which was attacked by Idol and two henchmen," she began again, seeming to already vividly recall the details of the situation. "It sounds as though one of those henchmen was this 'Scavenger' you're looking for. Well, I can confirm this for you: none of the three navis, including Idol, ever ended up in Police custody. That said, I can also confirm that Scavenger and... the other henchman, whoever they are... were seemingly defeated in battle. They weren't arrested. If one navi was arrested there, however, chances are that someone was ready to retrieve more of them. They may not have been expecting Mafia navis to be ejected... rather, I'd be surprised if they weren't looking for orphans, who are relatively untraceable compared to operated ones, since no human goes looking for them. Still, while the two 'henchmen' were reportedly the dregs of the mafia, rather weak and low on the totem pole, Idol was known to be quite powerful. The car versus capturing the EJOs... If you ask me, I think we have two different perpetrators. One party was interested in extracting Idol specifically, knowing that she probably would not be ejected, and the other was interested in casting their net wide and gathering whomever dropped from the battle."
"Anyway, all of that is just something to think about! What you're here for is the actual location of Scavenger. That I don't know, but I do have a good lead for you... in Hades Net, at the coordinates I've attached, there have been sightings of a 'deformed, dark navi with bird-like talons and wings', which sounds an awful lot like your missing girl. In the same area, a suspicious navi with a helmet designed like a skull and crossbones has been seen several times. Both of these I know because they were filed as suspicious persons sightings. When you put the two together... that sounds an awful lot like your girl, Scavenger, and her captor, doesn't it? Well, she's either held captive or dead, and I don't believe it could be the latter. One things about conspiracies: they usually err on the side of intrigue. This would be a rather open and shut case if she was dead! Where there's smoke there's fire: if someone's mentioned the jackout barrier redirecting ejections to you, then there must have been such a thing, which certainly makes it sound as though she's now a hostage," Cabal finished. "And there you go. Take these coordinates and head for Hades Net... or better yet, get someone else in your organization to do it for you! I think you and your master might be a little... impatient, for the investigative business."
*Coordinates.DAT received*
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Outside, MachMan and DragonierMan both had ideas on how to buy their navis some more time. DimensionMan turned his eyes up towards the PhoenixShot... but kept his position. "Continue the search! Someone's playing games with us, DimensionForce," he warned his allies, motioning for Dee and Escort to move inward. "I feel like we're being distracted from something... but what? They must know they can't bring enough of us out of here to expose the base to attack..."
"Oh, I got it! Zey're after me!" Garde announced, huddling close enough to DimensionMan so that her breasts squished against his bright orange armor, causing him to jump in place. "Zey saw me when zey entered the district and are working z'eir way up to ze pièce de résistance!"
"I-I don't really think-" DimensionMan started to dissuade her, feeling they were getting onto the wrong track, before MachMan popped back up in a new costume. Unfortunately, despite his hope that the situation wouldn't develop as awkwardly as having to return after dashing away, DimensionMan again raised his hand and told the DimensionGirls to continue their search. "It's another distraction, they're not acting on anything! Keep your guard up! The enemy could attack from anywhere. We're going to find what they're hiding, though!"
The DimensionGirls had begun searching again with renewed vigor, popping in and out of buildings with alarming speed. Things were looking grim; Dee had begun to sweat, putting on her poker face smile in a situation where a smile wasn't really a poker face. Fortunately, Escort was still focused, and offered an out. "Hmph... You Dimension People have wasted a lot of time searching... when your target was here all along!" she announced, reaching out and grabbing up Dee from beside herself. Adopting an evil smirk, she lulled out her tongue and stroked it across the length of her friend's neck, wiping the sweat up and replacing it with saliva. "I'm the pervert!" she explained, keeping her tongue out. Dee, for her part, had started giggling, either from being ticklish or amusement that her friend was acting out. "You're a fool if you think I need distractions to deal with you all! I'll escape on my own!" Escort boasted, just as a jet-black limousine swung out from one of the alleys, hitting a 90 degree drift so that it would face towards the street and raising a thick cloud of smoke. Escort hopped onto the front, carrying Dee, then rocketed away. "You'll never catch me! She's my new favorite toy now... Mwuhahaha!" Escort cackled. "But I'm also going to swing back around and grab the other girls, too!" she added, to make it clear she was going to remain a threat.
"DimensionGirls, after her! I'll stay with the hostages!" DimensionMan commanded, pointing forward dramatically. The DimensionGirls gave up their search for the mystery perpetrator, now that they had someone who was actively kidnapping one of the affected. "I'm calling more backup... But first. CITIZEN!" he bellowed, cupping his hands to his mouth. "USE YOUR JACK OUT ROUTINE, IF AVAILABLE!" he commanded. Dee, of course, did not. "Well, it was worth a shot," he sighed, before falling silent, apparently involved with sending a private message.
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Aya, again, got what she came for. But at the same time, not what she came for. How many more of these so-called 'leads' would they have to investigate before they found this Scavenger girl? She placed her hand to her ear and communicated over the open, internal comm-line. {The NetPolice don't have Scavenger. She was last seen in HadesNet. Forwarding coordinates to everyone. We have some contacts from Hades that we might be able to contact for more info. Time to withdraw back to base-camp.}
{WHAAAT DID Y-!?}
She put down her hand and looked at Cabal. "Thank you for the information," she said. "Perhaps we can exchange contact information so we can exchange information in the future in a more private setting. It would save us the trouble of having to cause a commotion outside your front door every time we wanted to chat," Aya offered. "It would go a long way towards a tentative cooperation of-sorts between our two organizations."
"It was nice talking to you," Suzume said with a smile. Assuming Cabal agreed to the exchange of contact info, Aya and Suzume would nod at Aera and then disappear in a beam of light after the exchange. DragonierMan was furious, cursing openly through the comm-line. Scavenger wasn't there and they would have to go on another mission. He stomped his foot hard, cracking the concrete before disappearing in his own beam of light.
{WHAAAT DID Y-!?}
She put down her hand and looked at Cabal. "Thank you for the information," she said. "Perhaps we can exchange contact information so we can exchange information in the future in a more private setting. It would save us the trouble of having to cause a commotion outside your front door every time we wanted to chat," Aya offered. "It would go a long way towards a tentative cooperation of-sorts between our two organizations."
"It was nice talking to you," Suzume said with a smile. Assuming Cabal agreed to the exchange of contact info, Aya and Suzume would nod at Aera and then disappear in a beam of light after the exchange. DragonierMan was furious, cursing openly through the comm-line. Scavenger wasn't there and they would have to go on another mission. He stomped his foot hard, cracking the concrete before disappearing in his own beam of light.
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Aera instantly cued in to Cabal's mention of ChronicleMan; was it true Roc was working for/with him prior to joining the NS? Aera quickly tried to remember the mob of Navis along with ChronicleMan that ambushed them along with Escort and Sylk in that NetVegas alleyway, but she couldn't remember any familiar faces beyond ChronicleMan and Dino. Cabal finally outed the information, not without throwing a few jabs at the NS and the SPs. [[i]Rats, assumed too much, but hopefully we'll finally find her there...[/i]] Aera thought, unsurprisingly disappointed their plan didn't produce anything beyond another lead to follow.
Since Aya effectively relayed the new information to the rest of the group, Aera remained silent. She did, however, turn down DragonierMan's volume as his brief, but angry rant was a bit distracting. Mazer was listening in as well, and on cue transferred Aera from the area back to the encampment shortly behind Aya and Suzume.
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Mach looked back to see if his display gained some pursuers, but was met with disappointingly empty skies. "Aw, that's no fun." he said, his voice mostly drowned out by the engine, even as it began to quiet down as he eased off the throttle. He banked to the right and began to circle back in a wide arc, trying to get eyes back on the group. He too got the message, and expected to see them disappeared or at least the telltale jackout light trails. Instead he happened upon a significant cloud of smoke, and what appeared to be one of Escort's limousines lurching away with the sound of screeching tires. Mazer managed to see what happened just after the limousines made their entrance, the sound of it drifting into the alleyway grabbed his attention from checking on Aera's successful transfer. ["Escort and Dee are inside, cover their retreat, then I'll warp you back,"] he updated his Navi.
"Copy." he responded simply as he cranked up the throttle again, causing the souped-up prop engine to roar with renewed fervor and push him at ever increasing speed through the air. He lined himself up over the street, coming in the opposite direction of the limo. He tried to time when the limo would pass beneath him, and rolled inverted before diving down to the street below in a tight arc, attempting to ultimately reverse directions and put himself close behind the limo. Just before leveling out behind the vehicle, white smoke began to gush from the engine's twin exhaust pipes, which quickly filled the street like a suddenly summoned cloud. Though the smokescreen was small, it was nearly impossible to see through, and hopefully enough to cover their escape.
[[i]"Waiting you you, ladies. I'll be right behind ya,"[/i]] he advised the pair over their channel, hoping they'd get out of dodge before the NP called in sufficient resources to trap them. As soon as they appeared to have departed the area, Mach promptly beamed up and out of the network, leaving a cyan trail of light behind him.
Since Aya effectively relayed the new information to the rest of the group, Aera remained silent. She did, however, turn down DragonierMan's volume as his brief, but angry rant was a bit distracting. Mazer was listening in as well, and on cue transferred Aera from the area back to the encampment shortly behind Aya and Suzume.
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Mach looked back to see if his display gained some pursuers, but was met with disappointingly empty skies. "Aw, that's no fun." he said, his voice mostly drowned out by the engine, even as it began to quiet down as he eased off the throttle. He banked to the right and began to circle back in a wide arc, trying to get eyes back on the group. He too got the message, and expected to see them disappeared or at least the telltale jackout light trails. Instead he happened upon a significant cloud of smoke, and what appeared to be one of Escort's limousines lurching away with the sound of screeching tires. Mazer managed to see what happened just after the limousines made their entrance, the sound of it drifting into the alleyway grabbed his attention from checking on Aera's successful transfer. ["Escort and Dee are inside, cover their retreat, then I'll warp you back,"] he updated his Navi.
"Copy." he responded simply as he cranked up the throttle again, causing the souped-up prop engine to roar with renewed fervor and push him at ever increasing speed through the air. He lined himself up over the street, coming in the opposite direction of the limo. He tried to time when the limo would pass beneath him, and rolled inverted before diving down to the street below in a tight arc, attempting to ultimately reverse directions and put himself close behind the limo. Just before leveling out behind the vehicle, white smoke began to gush from the engine's twin exhaust pipes, which quickly filled the street like a suddenly summoned cloud. Though the smokescreen was small, it was nearly impossible to see through, and hopefully enough to cover their escape.
[[i]"Waiting you you, ladies. I'll be right behind ya,"[/i]] he advised the pair over their channel, hoping they'd get out of dodge before the NP called in sufficient resources to trap them. As soon as they appeared to have departed the area, Mach promptly beamed up and out of the network, leaving a cyan trail of light behind him.
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"Hm hm hm... Well, that's fine. I'm used to bothering other people to get the clues I want and... bothering other people to give them clues they don't know they want! But if you want to do a mutual exchange now and again, that's fine... Just be aware that, well... No e-mail is entirely private. If you have something truly important to tell me, it's best we meet in person. Then again, is there any real privacy in this connected net world of ours?" she shrugged. "Still, take this e-mail and drop me a message some time, if you feel comfortable doing so. Just... maybe give it an inconspicuous title, okay?"
*Aera and Aya received e-mail address for HTwist@netpolice.gov*
"Nice speaking to you as well, dear..." Cabal finished, smiling wide. She seemed like she might have more that she wanted to ask about, but both the precariousness of their meeting and the desire of the SPs to leave the scene made that impossible. The three left the officer in the dark.
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"The other one's here again!" one of the DimensionGirls cried out, once MachMan reappeared on the scene. Just as quickly as they'd gotten eyes on target, the DimensionForce lost him; MachMan, along with the limousine atop which he rode, were engulfed in a smokescreen.
Escort looked back, smiling with approval; Dee looked like her eyes were spinning, perhaps from being slung about wildly by her captor and then involved in a high speed, limo-top ride. "Good work... We'll use this time to escape. I'll see you back at the base," she finished, then gave a brief salute, before vanishing along with Dee. MachMan would follow next.
It was no surprise to the officers to find the car empty once they finally tracked it down; they'd seen three beams of light come off the car, indicating jackout. "They got away... I never got my survey answered," the White DimensionGirl murmured, quietly, so as to avoid having others point out her foolish sense of priorities.
"Something fishy's gone on here... All we can do is investigate the area and think about what we know," DimensionMan reassured the others, before the whole group used a portal to transport themselves back to Garde.
*Aera and Aya received e-mail address for HTwist@netpolice.gov*
"Nice speaking to you as well, dear..." Cabal finished, smiling wide. She seemed like she might have more that she wanted to ask about, but both the precariousness of their meeting and the desire of the SPs to leave the scene made that impossible. The three left the officer in the dark.
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"The other one's here again!" one of the DimensionGirls cried out, once MachMan reappeared on the scene. Just as quickly as they'd gotten eyes on target, the DimensionForce lost him; MachMan, along with the limousine atop which he rode, were engulfed in a smokescreen.
Escort looked back, smiling with approval; Dee looked like her eyes were spinning, perhaps from being slung about wildly by her captor and then involved in a high speed, limo-top ride. "Good work... We'll use this time to escape. I'll see you back at the base," she finished, then gave a brief salute, before vanishing along with Dee. MachMan would follow next.
It was no surprise to the officers to find the car empty once they finally tracked it down; they'd seen three beams of light come off the car, indicating jackout. "They got away... I never got my survey answered," the White DimensionGirl murmured, quietly, so as to avoid having others point out her foolish sense of priorities.
"Something fishy's gone on here... All we can do is investigate the area and think about what we know," DimensionMan reassured the others, before the whole group used a portal to transport themselves back to Garde.