Wilhelm Jacques' Robot Control Terminal

CopyCat gave some sort of cat-like shriek as Skye gave in to Locksmith's demand; she may have just lost one of her nine lives to shock.

"Ohoho! Don't worry!" Locksmith giggled, wiping her lips with the back of one hand. "I wouldn't defile your cute butt unlessyouaskedmetoo," she spoke quickly, reaching out out her hands with eagerness to get started. Just then, her fun was cut short by Mei on the other side. "Eh?" she asked, uncomprehending for a moment. "N-N-No, this is just a fun game! I'm not violating anyone!" she defended, although the piece flopping around as she waved her hands in protest incriminated her. "... Okay, yeah. I guess she doesn't seem like she's into it," the hostess admitted. While she deflated, her special device remained distractingly erect.

Next came more nuggets of truth, each soliciting similar cartoonish explanations of shock from Locksmith and CopyCat, complete with stricken gestures. "He's... in jail?! That doesn't make sense! I mean, at the very least, Daedric would have jacked me out by now and we would be on another job!" Locksmith protested. "Unless something happened to him..." she amended, crossing her arms with a pensive expression.

She listened to the rest, then nodded, smiling. I agree! I hate Wilhelm Jacques too. However," she sighed, pacing back and forth, "I've also been programmed to be a professional." That was a little hard to take seriously given the spin the key game they had just played, coupled with her outfit. "So I can't abandon my duties unless Daedric Locke, my operator, instructs me to. On the bright side, we did sort of agree that I would open that door for you, so I'll do that! Presto unlocko!" she pronounced unnecessarily. On the other side, Mei would see the octopus robot peel back from the door frame and shrink to one side, presumably allowing the door to be opened by conventional means.

"On the downside, I think we can pretty safely say that you guys are intruders now! My programming isn't going to let me just abandon my security detail. I'm security first, everything else second! It's kinda in my name," she shrugged. "So sorry!" With that, the octopus robot she used to strip herself began to get back into motion, writhing its tentacles across the floor. "But thanks so much for a fun time! And hey, don't worry. I'm just going to capture you all, not hurt you! So if there's more to your story, you'll have plenty of time to tell it!"

CopyCat, perhaps sensing that Skye wanted no part of a tentacle creature while in her state of undress, leaped onto all fours, then jumped onto the octopus, intercepting it. Skye would then have a moment to think about what she wanted to do.

On the other side, Mei could hear a robot somewhere slithering to life, though thankfully not the octopus door that had just decided to let them through. "You guys go on! I'll hold it off," Tammy announced, surprisingly selfless, like her navi, in this situation. "Whatever is behind that door, maybe it'll give us a way to turn all these robots, even without Locksmith's help!"

((You can do Mei stuff here or in the other thread, whichever you prefer))
"No, she's not." Mei shook her head, getting increasingly amazed at how dense this Navi could be. Still, she explained things to Locksmith, clearing the air about all she could. "I can't say I know what happened to your operator, I'm afraid. But if they've gone an entire year without recalling you, I don't think it was anything good..."

At first, it looked like she took it the same way they did. As soon as she let out the 'however', however, Skye flinched, having a terrible feeling about that. And she proved to be entirely correct, as Locksmith noted that she couldn't just abandon her duty. "Are you sure? Professionals get paid, and I'm pretty sure you're not going to get any compensation for this..." On the plus side, she unlocked the door, just as she promised. "Well, thank you for that. But-" She was immediately distracted by the moving octopus robot. "You do realize that we'll almost certainly ignore you if you manage to capture us?" She leapt up on her feet and conjured up her spear (though she didn't think to conjure up her clothes, oddly), pointing it at Locksmith. "But if we must fight for freedom, then fight I shall! Ray, co-" Again, an interruption came, this time in the form of CopyCat (surprisingly) leaping onto it. "CopyCat, no! We need to get out of here!"

"You and me both. I can hear something start to activate...hurry, Skye, jack out!"

"...All right. CopyCat, you jack out, too!" In a beam of blue light, the virus rider Navi exited the area, returning to the realm of her PET, and clothes.

(JACKING OUT)
As soon as the beam of light struck, Skye rocketed forward, propelled by the Fishy she was sitting on. She was clearly ready for battle if needed, with her spear at the ready. "Locksmith, show yourself! I know you're here!" ...She'd look silly if the other Navi was still right where she left her, but that was incredibly far down her list of concerns. "I have something you need to see, and you need to see it now!"
Locksmith remained, standing where her impromptu game of Spin the Key had ended, still barely dressed in a collection of belts. As such, Skye and Ray wouldn't need to jet inside very far to find her. The girl's key-hole eyes lit up and her slightly insane grin widened as she watched her old friend approach. "My favorite gal pal! Hey, don't worry about the whole, uh, thing where I wanted to use the thing on your thing earlier, okay? I got a little over-excited, you know? Chances like that don't come around all the time, or, well, especially not when you're trapped inside a security console, so-" she babbled at length, before Skye interrupted with a sense of urgency. "Oh boy! The last things you showed me were pretty great. What is it this time?" she asked, clapping her hands and moving closer.

On the outside, the robot that was activated earlier had indeed gone after Heidi; her fate was a mystery now, much like Tammy's. The once captive Locke had come to a skidding stop next to Mei and seemed significantly distracted by her wardrobe malfunction; hopefully, he wouldn't have to do much for his part in Skye's plan. Finally, the robot that had pinned down Tammy earlier proved worrisomely capable of multi-tasking; while keeping half of its tentacles occupied with whatever it was doing, it spun its body to a ninety degree angle and began to point its tentacles in Mei's direction, as if searching or working on establishing a lock-on. Whatever Skye wanted to do, she'd need to do it really quickly to beat the robot's timing.
Much to Skye's relief, Locksmith was right where she left her, which meant riding over to her was incredibly easy. The other Navi was still eager to chat, but given the stakes, the virus rider Navi had a hard timing doing anything other than tuning it out. "Not important right now! Take a look!" She brought up a pop up screen in front of her, which happened to show her operator. Luckily for both Navi and operator, it cut off around the collarbone. "Now, Mei!"

Mei quickly turned her PET over to Daedric. "Look familiar? ...Come on, say something, Daedric!"
"Heeey, your operator's a cutie, huh? I couldn't see through the cameras out earlier, but wowie!" Locksmith purred, crossing her arms and leaning in for a closer look. She didn't have long to cat-call, however, before the camera ended up in someone who was currently significantly less cute, but much more important for her to recognize. "Whaaaa? Who's that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes so that the lock-holes looked more like standard pupils, as she squinted towards the screen and placed a hand on her chin.

The haggard man looked back and forth in a dumb "who, me?" gesture as he tried to break his eye contact from Mei's chest and focus on the screen instead. His state of sexual frustration was probably pretty similar to Locksmith's, even if his personality was significantly less warped by the experience. The guy's face showed he was clearly struggling to come up with a single word to make his voice evident with. "Boobs," he finally managed, then cleared his throat, as though the scratchiness of his voice had been the problem with the voice he'd picked.

"Say that again!" Locksmith gasped.

"Boobs," Daedric spoke more clearly, straightening up his back and regaining a bit of his usual regal stature. Thankfully, the tentacles had already stopped searching for Mei, or else, it'd be hard to appreciate this bit of comedy, given the threat of Mei being pounced by an octopus robot. "Now turn off these infernal machines!" he commanded dramatically, raising one hand authoritatively.

"Oh, okay, Boss," Locksmith agreed; the skeletons of each of the futuristic eight-armed robots all rattled slightly as the robots came to a sudden halt. "Let's get back to those boobs, though! Where do you see boobs?!"

"Yours, I meant," Daedric lied. "Why aren't you dressed?"

The two bantered back and forth as Heidi crawled out from the back room, still in the process of fixing up her uniform. "Phew... I assume it went well, since that robot eased up on me?" she began, then noticed Mei's state of dress, which Daedric was having a hard time avoiding staring at and, for whatever reason, hadn't seen fit to notify her of. "Oh, uh, yours are a little," Heidi murmured, gesturing towards her breasts and emphasizing pulling in the straps to hide them. "I mean, they aren't little! They're, you know," she coughed, trying to clarify things but finding herself unable to say it directly. "But don't worry about it, mine were too, a moment ago."

One might wonder, in that regard, what had happened to Tammy. It seemed she had vanished; the octopus that had presumably been on top of her was surprisingly empty-handed. It looked like her camera had gone with her. It wouldn't be surprising if Tammy had simply fled after accomplishing her task of diverting the attention of the robot; one could hardly blame her if she'd decided to do so. On the other hand, it was equally possible she'd left to turn in the footage before anyone had the chance to stop her. Whether that bothered Mei or not was her own business.

"It looks like Daedric and Locksmith are going to finish up here. I trust you two are going to shut this whole business down, now that it's clear it's all just Jacques' scheme?" Heidi asked. Her face was stern; it might occur to Mei that the two must be at least partially complicit in Jacques' schemes, if they had set up such an advanced security system for him.

"Yes, of course. The whole thing's got to come down; there's no point in maintaining any of it. I fully intend to take Willhelm Jacques for all he's worth now that I'm out." There was a brief moment where Heidi was forced to explain the difficulties with that plan, given Jacques' imprisoned situation and that nothing in this situation could even begin to be touched by a regular court of law. "Well phooey. If all of this technology is below board, I'll simply use it to recoup my losses... not that it can cover a year of my lost salary, not to mention my company's productivity. I've much work to do catching up." He seemed to have regained some of his gravity, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't stop ogling Mei.

On that note, Tammy and Biggy made their reappearances. The former was still dressed in the immodest uniform, which had been torn so badly that she probably wished she had taken off the clothes she was wearing underneath it to keep them safe for later. The whole thing was connected by a string down one side, which looked like it could snap at any moment, and another matching on the back. She was covering one exposed breast with her arm and watching her boss with a glare that showed she had already had to do a lot of talking him down from an excited state. Her camera appeared to be broken up a bit, too, but she was still carrying it in the cradle of the same arm she was covering with.

"Ladies! Outstandin' jobs, I gotta say! Look 'acha! This is good TV!" the man insisted, spreading his long arms wide. "We got a A + + outcome, so dat's good for Heidi and all, and 'en we got some good, good footage, even if it cost us the camera and other miscellaneous expenses! Heh heh," he chuckled, remarkably chipper, being the only one who had barely had to work at this operation. "Okay, so let's go over all the wrap up one more time. Ya'll did the work for the documentary, and note that it is a documentary, so dat means you consent to all the footage that's fit to show with light censorship on night-time television bein' shown on night-time television, ya get me?" he asked, paying even more obvious attention to Mei's outfit than Daedric was.

The only thing standing between Mei and leaving now was deciding if she was okay with all of this footage being rolled. Heidi was too destitute to refuse any money, no matter what the cost to her pride, and Tammy was on payroll, so she wasn't going to object to any of it. "Trust me, baby, I am a masta' in the editin' room, second best room in my whole joint. First is, well, you get it, heh heh. Point bein,' this thing is gonna be a friggin' work of art! Not to mention a testament to justice and a big blow against that nutjob, 'm I right? Not to mention, this is gonna make a lotta lonely boys in front'a dere tubes very, very 'appy ladies! Hehehe! Overnight celebs!"
Both Mei and Skye let out a sigh of relief as they noted the robots were ceasing to function. "There...it's all over."

"Looks like it..." Skye made a small motion with her reins, causing her Fishy to happily loop in the air. "We did it, Ray!"

"Yes, WE did it. Though, the important thing here is, no one's getting violated."

"That's something we're all happy about..." Some of the happiness faded from the Navi's face as she remembered the part where there was a real threat of that happening. "Speaking of which, where are the others?"

As if on cue, Heidi popped out, mostly safe and sound. "Good, you're okay. ...Something wrong?" Her's were...Mei flinched as she started to suspect what she meant, and looked down. ...Yup. "...Ugh, dammit!" Her wardrobe malfunction was promptly repaired, at least as well as the uniform allowed her to hide her assets. "Great, I'm sure those two saw them, too!"

"At least you can take solace in the fact they both enjoyed it. And that you don't have to do anything further in that regard..."

"Some solace...hold on a sec." Tammy was missing. And so was her camera containing her in various levels of undress. "Where'd she go?!"

"Hmm...I doubt she went TOO far, since that man is probably hanging out by the entrance. Surely they wouldn't leave if they didn't have a conclusion to their show."

"That'd be the reasonable thing, but reason isn't exactly the theme of this little 'adventure'." This was followed by Daedric receiving a hefty dose of reality. "Just do us all a favor and make it less octopus based when you start tinkering with it. Or anything with tentacles." She walked over to a deactivated robot, and knocked on it for a moment. "Luckily for you, they seem to be decently made. Honestly, I kinda have to wonder how an idiot like that managed to be smart enough to build robots of this level quality."

"Everyone's good at something, or so they say. I guess in this case, the something was building hypnotizing octopus-like robots."

"That's waaaay too specific for a skill. I'm just worried there might be another collaberator. If there is, none of our orifaces are safe."

"We don't know either way. Heidi's the expert, so we should leave it to her."

"I guess..." To answer an earlier question, the rest of the crew arrived. Tammy looked like her clothes had gone through a meat grinder, but at least she seemed physically safe. And Biggy was...disgusting as ever. The college student actually had to look down, to make sure her current attire hadn't screwed up again, upon noting the multiple pairs of eyes focused on her chest...nope, it was covered. Barely, but covered. "Why couldn't I have ended up with a nice, modest B cup..."

"Words I say myself, but for a different reason...so, what do you think, Mei? Should we let them use the footage?"

"...Fine. But there WILL be censoring. And I WILL be billing you guys for ruining my clothes. And WE will be getting well paid for this!"

"Yes, Mei, me, and Heidi have done plenty of work, so we'd all best be getting plenty for it! I can think of two things in particular we need..." Skye looked down at her virus partner, and nodded to herself. At the very least, if Ray wasn't up and flying properly shortly, things were going to get messy.
"Oh, believe you me, the only octopus I plan to have any further dealings with is perhaps a little takoyaki, simply as a means of vengeance," Daedric chuckled, glossing over whatever embarrassment he ought to feel at having been caught staring at Mei's ample bosom. "And I have no interest in his robot technology or keeping them as momentos. These things will be broken down and scrapped for parts. You have my word, if it interests you, but even from a logical standpoint... who would keep these things?" he grumbled, giving a look back to his cage, where the octopus butler was left as the sole occupant.

Still being around, Heidi stepped in and nodded. "Unfortunately, you're right. Wilhelm Jacques is a robotocist who has talent when it comes to creating these lifelike, mechanical entities, but he is not the inventor of his own hypnosis method. I'm on the trail of a collaborate, perhaps someone more dangerous than Jacuqes himself. Shutting down Jacques' network just now was a tremendous step forward, but as long as she's out there, I'd say there's always the potential for hypnosis to be used for more criminal applications," she clarified, sounding weary of it despite their victory. "Perhaps if you apply for another mission some time, I'll have a lead ready to pursue. If you're interested in helping, that is." She watched Biggie come out of the elevator, then added, in a whisper, "and hopefully I'll have enough money to leave Big Time Productions out of it next time."

Once they got to negotiating, Biggie didn't seem perturbed by the conditions, and rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Fine, fine! You know, I didn't ruin ya clothes, Mei Baby, 'at was a robot... but I'll recompens-iate ya anyway," he agreed. Tammy just watched with a silent frown; she seemed to have returned to her old character and lost whatever nuance had briefly made her start smirking, taunting, and occasionally sacrificing herself to hold off robots. "Les'see, you wanted Airshoes and Floatshoes, right? Women and shoes, huh?" he laughed, nudging Tammy in the side. She grumbled, readjusting the strap of her outfit as it threatened to pop off of her. "So you can have 'em, plus a little extra dough to make up for 'em clothes ya lost, though, ya know, ya look better without 'em!"

He paused to reach into the pocket of his slacks, then pulled out the proper items. In the next life, Mei would need to become a pickpocket, to avoid having to navigate such troubles for what she wanted.

((Mei gets Floatshoes, Airshoes, and 3000z))

Biggie went to Heidi next and gave her a different, custom tailored distribution of cash and male-chauvinism. With those negotiations underway and Daedric busily working with the console, perhaps to catch up with Locksmith or perhaps to discover the location of Jacques' many robots that remained to be collected and scrapped. Mei could make her exit up through the elevator if she was ready... though, unless she wanted to bum some clothes off someone or steal Tammy's or Heidi's from the uniform room's floor, she was going to have to get back to her place in a relatively embarrassing state of dress. Luckily, after such adventures, it would probably be late at night, and this was not an especially bustling part of the city regardless.

((Feel free to ignore posting in the real world thread if you want to just leave by posting here))
((Skye gets:

24 Incognito FXP
14 YetiMan FXP
32 CopyCat FXP
35 Locksmith FXP))
"Scrapped, huh..." Mei rapped on the robot one more time, shaking her head. "Well, they should make good parts, at least. Very mechanically sound." Unfortunately, her earlier words were also sound, as Heidi seemed to agree with her about someone else being involved. "Just what we need, a crazy hypnosis lady running around..."

"I don't know if we can outspeed mind control, but we'll certainly give it a shot!"

"If it pays well, and I don't have to wear anything like...this...I'll think about it." Oh hey, her mission reward arrived. Finally. "I think it's safe to say we've earned this, eh Skye?"

"Definitely...just install the programs into the NaviCust, and...oh no!"

"...If it's not compatible with your little friend, I'm going to be SO pissed."

"Don't worry, it's nothing like that. But, the NaviCust's default capacity isn't enough to hold these!"

"Okay, so we'll need to buy some. Don't worry, I'm happy to part with the cash so you can get off the ground and I don't have to hear about it ever again."

"Sorry if I keep harping on it...but Ray appreciates it too! Don't you, Ray? Yes you do~!"

"But we're not doing anything until I get some actual clothes on!" The college student whipped out her PET, then took a look at it and sighed. "Right, my reception is gonna suck when I'm down here." Silently, she headed to the elevator, waved everyone goodbye, and stepped inside, flinching with every action as the octopuslike clothing became more and more apparent. Upon reaching the top, she walked out, let out one more irritated sigh upon seeing the remnants of what she'd worn upon entering the building, and brought out her PET again. "Skye, can you call Erika? If she's free, I don't have to wear this outside."

"One call to Erika, coming up!" Speed dial options, up...option marked 'Bestie' picked...ring!

"Yello?"

"Sup, Erika?"

"Hey, Mei! Oh, I'm just getting a little ahead on my reading for class. Super boring here tonight..."

"Yeah...I wish I could say the same. So, you're at the dorm?"

"Yeah, I'm lying on my bed. Reading. Like a dork."

"If you're not doing anything important, then, can you do me a suuuuper big favor?"

"Sure thing! What do ya need?"

"Let's see...bring...two towels, and one of my outfits. It'll be obvious why when you get here."

"Ugh, did you do it again? I thought you learned after last time at that party..."

"Not that! Just...trust me on this, okay?"

"All right, all right...so where are you, anyway?"

"A closed down takoyaki restaurant in Kotobuki. Yes, that sounds horribly suspicious. No, I don't care right now. Skye can send you directions."

"...Well, now I HAVE to know what you got into this time. Be there ASAP!"

"Cool."

"Byeee!" Click.

"Great, now I get to stand here. Wearing this stupid thing that feels like it's about to violate me every time I move."

"At least it'll be over for you soon."

"And I don't think I know the right word to express how awesome that is."

--------------------

About 30 minutes later, a young Electopian woman entered the store. She was around Mei's height, though her more feminine attributes were much more average in comparison. Her hair was black, but it notably had some purple streaks. She was carrying something in a bag. "Hello? Anyone home?"

Mei nodded where she was, apparently recognizing the voice. "That you, Erika? It's not home, but I'm in the back."

"Okay. I gotta say, Mei, even for you, this is-holyhellwhereareyourclothes?!" The young woman leapt back upon seeing the state of dress.

"It's a long story...but I just want to get out of here. So here's what you need to do. You brought all the stuff, right?"

"Of course!" Erika proudly displayed the bag she was carrying.

"Great. Can I have one of the towels?" A towel was promptly taken out and given to her. "Now, you take the over one, and human curtain me. There's a chance other people come out from the elevator...if it's a woman, they're okay to come closer if they don't have a camera. If it's a man, they stay where they are. And if they try to get near, you have my permission to kill them."

"Um, sure..." The multicolored hair'd woman brought up the other towel; approximately a second later, the octopus inspired clothing (if it could be called clothing) fell to the ground. "So Mei, just what-" She absentmindedly looked over the towel, to see that wherever the garment had been, Mei was now covered in slime. "Scratch that. How are you so slimy?!"

"Part of the long story. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from anything even resembling machinery. It's how I ended up like...this. Ugh, I just wanna go home and take a hot, soapy, not even remotely slimy shower."

"Noted..."

"Well, I'm drier now, at least. I'll just take the bag..." A few minutes passed, as one by one, Mei returned to a properly clothed state. Soon enough, she was back to pre-machine tearing condition. "You have NO idea how much better that is. Thank you SO much, Erika!"

"Not a prob. So, are you going to tell me what happened? Super curious at this point..."

"Well...can I ask you for a less important, but still really nice favor?"

"...What?"

"Did you bring your car?"

"Yeah, it's parked right in front."

"Great. Can you take me to SciLab? Skye needs an upgrade or two, and I really don't want to keep her waiting on that. Don't worry, I'll tell you the story on the way over!"

"Sure. Just actually tell me the story!"

"I will, but I'm gonna warn you, it's...a weird one."

"Psh, I've seen you in some weird messes. Granted, nothing quite like this, but..."

"Yeah, we'll see how that holds up against tonight." Mei started to head for the front, her friend right at her side. "So, this all started when my Navi needed a couple of programs..."

(TO SCILAB)