Twi277

Megaman - Friday, June 02, 2000, 7:06 PM

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Noise sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Ms. Peterson?"

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Noise: "*pause* Yes...this is. Who is this?"

Noise sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Uhhh...nobody, thanks."

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Noise: "....."

Command Center <Hunter HQ> Monitors and computer consoles line the walls of this cavernous room. In the center of the room is a round computer with holographic display, its lights flashing busily as it processes information about mavericks, and their last known sittings. Computers along the walls are also occupied with an information processing task. Technicians and other Maverick Hunters run about hastily, monitoring the computers, and making sure the information is as accurate as it can be. The whole air of this room exudes purpose and drive, and the hustle and bustle seems never-ending. On the south wall are two large bulletproof windows which gives you a view of the rooftop runway and Hangar Area. A large blast door in the middle of the two windows, giving easy access to the landing strip.

Michael Eildath is lounging near the lockers, almost asleep.

Twila Peterson steps out of the gravlift with datapad in hand, presently looking over the opened screen and scanning what it is she finds there.

Dr. Pavel Cossack nods activating the new Cossack Shield on the Network bank. "This should do it. He mutters as as he hits the enter key. "Vith a final flourish. Ve vill be able to trace and detect vith it vho may get into our systems!"

(Ch. B []) Twila Peterson transmits: 'Test. Say, anyone online have any "prank calls" on their freq?'.

(Ch. B []) Zero transmits: '*CRASH* *spark* Eh? What was that about prank calls, Twi? RrrreeeeYAH! *bash* Now STAY down!'.

Twila Peterson would have asked Michael...put the poor man seems to be just about asleep. She offers a nod towards Kalinka in greeting before turing back to her radio...wincing.

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: 'Yah, you know...prank calls. Wise cracks and stuff, geez are you dim.'.

(Ch. B []) Twila Peterson transmits: '*wince* Um...yeah and---. *pause* Maybe ask Mr. Joker who somehow got on this line...whoever he is..'.

Twila Peterson lets out a disgruntled sigh as she peers at her radio. "This one is definitely asking for it..."

(Ch. B []) Zero transmits: '*snarl* Alright, who the /hell/ is this?! Twila, don't move, I'm comin' up!'.

Zero arrives from the Grav Lift <Hunter HQ>.

The young woman then briskly walks towards Communications and already tries to attempt to begin a trace...using her own radio first. After all...someone got onto her own freq...somehow...

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: ' well....o/~ Some people call me space cowboyyy, some people call me the gangsta of luuuvv, sooome people call meee Morice...O/~'.

Twila Peterson yelps and nearly tosses the headset she had so recently placed over her ears down. "Yow...not another Guts Man wannabe...PLEASE?!"

Michael Eildath blinks, snapping awake. "Space Cowboy?"

Kalinka blinks, looking towards Michael, "What?"

Zero comes into the command center -- Well, no. He /storms/ into the command center, yelling something into his helmet radio as he walks in, "Somebody... Trace that. /Now/!" It's easy to tell that he's angry, simply by the way that he carries himself. His voice, though, is a whole lot more on the 'not very happy side' than usual, "We don't have time for crap like this.."

Michael Eildath yawns involuntarily, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Spaace Cowboy," he says in mid-yawn. "Song from the late 20th century.

(Ch. B []) Zero transmits: '*sneer* Whoever you are, when I find you, I'm gonna tear you six ways from Sunday, y'/hear/ me?! Laugh it up while you can, 'cause I'm gonna take your vocal cords and shove them so far...!'.

Kalinka asks, "Are we gonna hunt him down and wipe him off the face of the earth?"

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: 'Oh so thaaat's how they work. Brilliant!'.

Michael Eildath hums under his breath, singing softly at a few parts. "I'm a... I'm a sinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a winner... dum-dum..." He shakes his head. "That's an old song."

Twila Peterson slightly lifts the set from her ears as she glances down towards the computer controls with a sigh. "Somewhat of a prank caller got on the Hunter broadband...somehow. It's the same guy that called me just a few moments ago." As Zero bellows the young woman slightly jumps in response. "Well it would be a lil faster if Signal Shrike and Feedback were here. Communications aren't exactly my specialty."

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: 'Pfffbt, I wish...anything interesting up in here? Records, records...*yawn* I never realized there were so many Masters...'.

Twila does try none-the-less. After all, she has played monitor while the others were out on the field a few times. And that required some form of Communications training. Still... "There a way to send some lovely static to this creep?"

Zero would've respond, but he's busy sending his fist into a nearby wall, "When I get my hands on him..." He sneers while turning, leaning against the wall and folding his arms, "...If some kid can hack into our systems, then only God Almighty knows who else could. I want him /found/!" After speaking, he just broods silently so that Twila can work "peacefully".

Twila Peterson refrains from rolling her eyes towards the Beserker...already knowing that at times it's better to allow him to blow off some steam rather than try to calm him down. As she continues her features begin to brighten. "Ok...narrowed it down to New York City...trying to pinpoint now."

Michael Eildath stands up too quickly, wavering uneasily. "Zero, -whoaaa-" Pause. "Ugh... I was saying, calm down, man. This guy could me some kid, or he could be a master hacker... don't escalate this too much."

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: '*chockes on some kinda food* SPRING MAN!? BAHA!'.

(Ch. B [Dragonfury-XO]) Auto transmits: '...Who are you again?'.

(Ch. B [None]) Noise transmits: ' The space cowboy...'.

(Ch. B []) Twila Peterson transmits: 'Just be glad he isn't a Telemarketer, Auto...'.

(Ch. B [GoodGuy-Central]) Michael Eildath transmits: 'Give us a name, hacker... don't quote lyrics from a 200+ year old song.'.

(Ch. B []) Zero transmits: 'Don't /give/ me anymore reason to kill him, Twi. I've got enough.'.

(Ch. B [Dragonfury-XO]) Auto transmits: 'Don't we have a goonsquad to deal with this sort of thing?'.

(Ch. B [GoodGuy-Central]) Michael Eildath transmits: 'You rang?'.

Kalinka looks to Michael as she says in a sing-song way, o/~ Either way we're gonna put him in front a firing squad! o/~

Twila Peterson hmmms as the location begins to become more define. "Well...at least it helps that he keeps chatting. Ok...somewhere within the Business District." A window opens upon the screen and offers some coordinates of the exact location from where the broadcast is coming from. "Ok...I think that does it. Center of the NYC business world..."

Kalinka says, "Oh that reminds me, I met Snake Man in New York last night...."

Zero sighs slightly and shakes his head, "Heh, well, with this whole King ordeal, I'm getting sorta edgy. Unfortunately for this guy." With a snort, he looks over to Twila and nods, "Keep it up. I'll go after him with Mike here and see just /who/ he is. He picked the wrong group to play games with. Rock's got enough worries -- He doesn't need more." Finally, he seems to have calmed down enough to be sensible. He pauses as Twila does, indeed, relay a position back, "Right then. Shall we go fetch this lil' joker, Mike?"

Michael Eildath hrms. "Only about 10 million New Yorkers there..." Mike blinks. "What?" Michael Eildath looks up, almost missing Zero's comment. "Yeah..."

Twila Peterson questions, "Mind if I come along? Or am I needed here?"

Kalinka says, "Aside from making a wise guy statement about asking how Michael is recovering, we mostly talked about what the other Masters think about King and Wily's supposed death."

Auto totters in, nodding to Zero. "Right! You guys show him trick or two!" Too bad his reference to 20th century movies will go over their heads. "Just don't beat him up too bad if he turns out to be a civie. We don't need bad PR."

Zero turns toward the Teleporter, "Stay here, Twila, and see if you can keep track of the signal. If he moves, we need to know." Then he looks at Auto and nods with a smirk, "Hey, it's /me/. You can trust me, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he dashes off.

Michael Eildath shakes his head, grabbing his nightstick...but nothing else.

Twila Peterson offers the second-in-command a nod and settles within her seat, keeping track of the transmissions. "Will do. Take care, out there you two."

Auto sighs as Zero dashes off. "This guy's gonna end up in itty bitty pieces..." He turns to the screen with the signal on it, watching as its traced and putting his hands on his round, metal hips.

Twila Peterson offers Auto a, "Well, if he keeps singing the way he had been he will. He's almost as bad as a certain Master we all know..."

<Soon...in New York...>

New York - Business District The Business District of New York shares a trait with the rest of the city. Its continued to build up, and up some more. Few people ever even see the dirty, slum-like ground below, instead life functions off the ground. Hovercars drive by on multilevel highways, moving to the various huge Mega Corporation Complexes. In the distance the Acropolises of the suburbs can be seen, even those behemoth structures dwarfed by the office buildings of the Business District.

(Ch. B []) Twila Peterson transmits: 'Suddenly got quiet on here.'.

Noise types and types away in front of his multiple moniters. Screens everywhere is this poorly lit room within one of the smaller businesses. Shadows dance across his facial features as the screens glow eerily, the only source of light inside the isolated office building.

Zero slowly wades his way through the sea of Business District occupants, peering toward all of the buildings surrounding them. "Heh, well, talk about a needle in a hay-stack." He pausing to think and sends a personal transmission, rather than main channel, to Twila to see if she can't trace the signal a little more exactly. They'll be looking all night, otherwise.

Though, some of the people around do recognize the Hunters for who they are and fan out, doing their best to avoid contact with them if at all possible. This is, of course, Repliforce country. Rebels in Repliforce country. Has a ring to it, doesn't it

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Eh, Twila? Think you can zoom in on the signal? We'll never find him if you can't. At least narrow it down to a /few/ buildings, if possible."

Michael Eildath follows behind Zero, a little slower than is his usual... the human has just gotten over a near-death experience, and it shows, but his attention is a sharp as ever, letting Zero do his work while he waits to move in and get this guy. His real reason for agreeing to follow he's told noone, but he's watching Zero, suffice to say.

Noise places on some digital receivers and places control of the hacking from hardware to software. Too engrossed in the abundant information inside the mainframe archives to care about exchanging insults with those of the other line. Hiss hands move around in the empty air as if touching and opening invisible cabinets, when in reality is sending digital commands for his cyberspace counterpart inside the hunter computer to feed on unguarded files. "Hmmm....fascinating..." The hacker continues on, his thirst for knowledge yet to be quenched.

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Working on it now. Feeding the coordinates to match that of a map of the city streets. Hmm...here it is. Will do better than a set of buildings. According to this it's the "for lease" office building where the Law Offices of Sherman and Myers were. 505 Cottmen and Eighth."

Noise intercepts Twila and Zero's transmission. "Uh-Oh."

Zero glances toward said building with a smirk that could only be considered 'bloodthirsty'. "Well, well, well.. While the Cat is away, the mice will play, but kitty just came home.." Motioning with a nod of his head to the building, he springs off into a run for the building. God only knows if their Hacker friend intercepted that transmission, so time and speed are of the essence. Per reaching the door, he doesn't even bother knocking. Instead....

*WHAM! KEEEEEERASSSHHHH!*

Since most, if not all, office buildings have some form of glass door, it is assumed that this one is no different. The Berserker goes right through it and peers around mercilessly, his emerald eyes soaking in the darkness, "Now.. If I were a computer geek with a death wish, where would /I/ hide?"

Michael Eildath blinks, knowing better than to interfere with the little stuff. He keeps an eye on the place, watching the windows and the area around him. Let Zero do the hunting, and he'll do the watching... he's the former cop, after all. Mike draws his nightstick, twirling it nervously.

Screen> Noise begins to access his satellite uplink. His fingers blaze across the keyboard at unfathomable speeds, the sound of clicking like that of an automatic projectile weapon. Several different images appear before him until finally reaching a grid layout of New York City. On the map, a dot moves slowly towards a star...his position. "Computer, focus on grid theta. Zoom lens to magnify and enhance imagery on coordinates 13.5 and 47.8 with focus on target." Immediately the screen switches to a crystal clear image of the recognizable Zero. "Crap..." Moments later it shows the Maverick Hunters crashing into the building. "Crap... I didn't expect them to come this soon. Ah well, on to the contingency plan." He flips a small switch beside the computer that causes the hum of electricity to flood throughout the building. The lights flash on.

Zero looks around and, with a shrug, gives off a mock salute to the air, "Thank y'kindly." Smirking even still, he begins to walk down the hall while muttering again into his radio. Gotta figure out where he is, after all, or he'll be looking all day. Since moving along won't do him any good until Twila replies, he simply stands there while folding his arms. Of course, the whole light's-flashing-on bit really does seem to just scream: TRAP! but this is, of course, Zero. Why would he be worried about it? Nevertheless, he remains vigilant until he's given a position.

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Need yer' help again, Twila. Got any idea /where/ in this place he is? It's a friggin' maze in here!"

Michael Eildath winces as the lights flash, stumbling in disorientation. Shaking his head, he rights himself, turning quickly to keep an eye on the possible exits.

Noise sighs and gathers in a deep breath, no turning back now...he's gotten in too deep to let all his work go down the drain. Activating the speakers with a crackling hiss of static, the reploid speaks into the microphone. *NO NEED HUNTERS, -I- AM COMING TO YOU...* The words echo on endlessly in the empty offices and cubicles. A moment of quick silence is brought to a hiatus, the eerie tranquillity brought to an abrupt halt with the sound of whirring gears. The source...the elevator. It arrives on their floor with a small soft bell. The door slides open.

As the steel closure opens with the doors sliding in two different directions, an opaque individual reveals himself into the light from the protective blanket of the shadows. His overall outline looks exactly human, even his clothes are civilian. As he continues to step forward closer and closer, his visage is easier to see. A relatively young man, hair combed forward, and a grin cutting across his facial features.

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "It's a bit hard to track without him broadcasting. There it is. The signal's moving...first floor."

Noise sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "A little late Ms. Peterson."

Zero arches a brow at the 'announcement'. Lovely, so the guy thinks he's Johnny Carson now. Snorting, the Hunter begins to make his way toward the elevator as he hears Twila's transmission. He'll thank her later, despite the fact that it was unnecessary at this point. When the 'punk' appears, the Berserker keeps on walking. He plans to get riiiiiiight up into his face and --

"Alright, buddy-boy, you better have a darn good explanation for what you've done. Otherwise, this just isn't gonna be your night." The look on his face, still a bloodthirsty smirk mixed with slight rage, albeit suppressed, confirms the content of his words.

Twila Peterson furrows her brows and stares at her radio, apparently irritated. "What a creep..."

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Noise: "Better late than not at all. Don't you have a curfew?"

Auto is watching the screen with the tracking signal on it.

Roll comes up the lift with a puzzled look on her face. "Twila?" she asks, as she peers into the command center. "I heard you on the radio...is something going on?"

Twila Peterson glances over towards Roll and swivels within her seat after she finishes radioing the Second-In-Command. "Apparently some prankster broke in on the Hunter frequency. Zero and Mike are currently investigating.

Auto nods to Roll, waving. "Hi Roll."

Kalinka pages Roll and Twila Peterson: So when do you two wanna start?

Roll hmms as she goes to take a seat. "Really? They broke in? Have you been able to trace it yet?" she asks as she looks around, expecting to see Feedback and/or Signal Shrike around.

Twila Peterson nods towards the android. "With the help of the computer of course. Since the joker had called me first and my radio was able to log the signature used...it helped somewhat."

Roll nods, finding it a bit odd that Signal Shrike, as Communications expert, isn't here to help, but he must be otherwise occupied. "Well," she asks as she activates her terminal, "have you been able to find out anything about the person who's doing this?"

"Nope...other than enjoys singing off-key," Twila grunts in response.

Roll blinks in surprise at that information. "He sings?"

Twila Peterson states, "I don't think so either. Not loud enough."

Twila Peterson taps the top of the console idly. "Hope everything's going OK over there..."

Rick Morgan enters from the grav lift, stepping free of it and tossing his glance about the room. It sure doesn't take him long to clue in that -something- is up at the moment, and he blinks once before finally speaking up. "What's goin on??"

Twila Peterson sits up straighter at the sound of her brother's voice and glances over her shoulder. "Someone thought it would be funny to hack into the Hunter broadband. Zero and Mike are currently investigating in NYC."

Twila Peterson adds a grunt. "And whoever this is apparently was able intercept the transmissions sent individually too..."

Rick Morgan frowns visibly, considering that for a moment, then nodding. "Feh...if they go thinking it's funny, I'd call it a serious security breach in that case. Yeah, best to investigate about it and all that." He then blinks and scratches his chin at the add-on Twila gives, before nodding once more. "Even worse."

Roll studies her screen for a moment. Letting Twila explain to Rick, since the woman has a much better idea than her of what's going on so far. Following the path lines on her screen with a finger, she asks Twila, "Does our hacker still have access to the comms, or has he been shut out yet?"

Twila Peterson answers Roll with, "Currently has access...at least to the broadband. I'm...not sure about anything else at this point. Then again...he's fallen quiet over the wavelength. I can only assume he met up with Zero and Mike."

Kalinka says, "Once Zero and Mike find him, maybe they'll threaten him with the old 'bad cop/psycho cop' routine."

Rick Morgan hmmms to himself. "Well if he -does- still have access, I could work to flush him out. But if you said he can intercept the personal transmissions too, it'd be hard to ask Mike and Zero about that. Hmmm.."

Twila Peterson comments, "Exactly. And wouldn't we be shutting out Mike and Zero out for the time being as well as the interloper?"

Rick Morgan says, "All depends on how badly we want this guy out of the system. Let's wait to see what progress they've made first."

Twila Peterson nods in agreement with her sibling. "Guess we play a waiting game for now.

Michael Eildath walks up quickly, ready to stop Zero if he goes to far. He doesn't show this however. He merely stands there, looking menacing, hoping the guy will just talk.

Noise frowns and looks deep into the berserkers emerald green pupils with a confident expression on the hackers face, despite being possibly mauled to death by the saber of the hunter. His hands push back in the air against Zero. "Easy, easy there...you think I -have- a death wish? I want to be found." His eyes glance over to Michael Eildath, and an automatic procedure begins.

Internal programs click to life as microscopic sensors located and embedded deep within Noise's retina start a facial scan of Michael Eildath. An image of a communications relay appears before his eyes and nobody else's/

Satellite uplink...nominal, scanning complete...image purged...information extracted from Hunter database...processing...

Noise smiles over to Mike. "Eildath, Michael. Orphaned during the robot master attack at San Angeles several years ago. Ex-Police Force, quit local law enforcement and joined the rank of the hunters. All known family...deceased."

Zero casts a glance back at Michael. That's prolly gotta pinch a few nerves, but he'll let Mike deal with that. Snapping his gaze back to Noise, he swipes a hand aside and spats, "Just what're you getting at? We've got a crisis situation going on and you're playing /games/ with me! Answers. NOW." He refolds his arms with a look that clearly says 'You've got 10 seconds to comply. 9 seconds... 8 seconds...' Then again, his tone of voice relayed the same exact message.

Michael Eildath gapes, not really expecting to have his past regurgitated at him like so many facts. He reels, speechless.

Noise rolls his eyes, "Oh please...what I'll explain won't take one / one hundredth of a nano-second." His eyes squint and the microscopic laser communication devices within his retina cut off their link from the satelitte hovering in orbit of Earth. They refocus directly at Zero and lock onto his brain wave radio signals, they continue to scan until finally finding a match with the frequency of Zero's thoughts. It emits a signal that compliments this wave and creates a match, an equilibrium.

Suddenly, in a flash of light for the berserker, uncomprehandable amounts of information are literally poured into Zero's mind. Several images bring themselves up, King...an Axe...Cities....followed by a labyrinth of mixed numbers, letters, roman symbols, speeding through a background of black while they themselves shine in bright green. Some kind of sub-conscious radio communication only takes half a second to explain Noise's story.

"I prefer such communication, more direct...not as crude as speech which is limited in the amount with which one can state. I try to use it, but people say I talk to much...now do you understand, I intercepted a code...Master I believe. Encrypted with possibly crucial information, but I can't unlock it...not without your kind of technology."

Unfortunately for Noise, that wasn't the brightest thing on the planet to do. Clutching his head and staggering back, Zero unleashes a terrible roar of pain. It echoes through the complex and, with the hum-snap of a saber activating, he's driven the weapon into the floor beside Noise. He's breathing hard and looks, if nothing else, like a rabid wolf being shot at. Ripping the saber free, about an inch from Noise's foot, he resheathes it and reaches out to grab at him, "....Don't....EVER do that again..." His lips are trembling and teeth are clenched, so it's hissed between them. Shaking his head, he releases Noise and steps aside to motion toward Mike, "Michael, Snap out've it and get our little friend here. We're taking him back to HQ." He peers back at Noise, still carrying that 'not very happy' look about him, "If what you found is worth it, we might just forget this entire incident. Make any wrong moves and I /promise/ you a slow, painful death. Capeesh?"

That said, he turns and begins a brisk trek toward the exit.

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Zero, everything alright down there?"

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Yeah, we got it Twila. *mutter*"

Michael Eildath blinks, in time to see Zero pull out his weapon. He almost shouts out, but then blinks as Zero just threatens. As AngstyHunter Mk.1 walks off, AngstyHunter Mk.2 looks at Noise, shaking his head. "C'mon... you got some explaining to do, mister."

Noise blinks and takes a step back as the berserking hunter does his short skit of insanity. oO(Geez, wasup with him?)Oo He looks over to Mike and nods. His gaze swings back to Zero with a reassuring smile. "Trust me..."

(Ch. B []) Zero transmits: '*sneering tone* Hunters, we're bringing our 'Hacker' friend home now. I want any communication officers available or anybody who has a 'grasp' on those systems to assemble there immediately. He claims to have a coded transmission for us. *snort* He'd better pray to God that he's right.'.

Twila Peterson winces a bit at Zero's broadcast over the main Hunter freq. "Well...suppose that answers that..." she comments while moving the headset back towards the console. "Sheesh..."

Dr. Pavel Cossack walks in grumbling carrying several kiddy books he just recently bought. "Hallo all."

(Ch. B [Old-Hunters]) Roll transmits: 'Really, really dull. :) And you'd have to settle for Mac's cooking too.'.

Jazz looks around, and, with her usual peroxided gusto, states the obvious. "Big crowd."

Twila Peterson is still seated at her station. However, now her headset has been removed and resting by her on the console.

Kalinka says, "Just because I'm a little kid dosen't mean I'm not mature enough to handle things on my own."

Jazz says, "Sure babe, I was just checkin'. You're innocent looking, so you could probably get away with it like, waaaay easy."

Dr. Pavel Cossack walks up to Kalinka settlling his hand on her shoulder "She isn't and she VON'T! Now vhat's oging on?"

Jazz says, "Well, like, the Robot Masters are guarding the area around the teleporters in Hong Kong with their Airship. I like, just got back from a little footwork 'round there."

Zero comes striding into the Command Center, a look upon his face that says: I just got hit by a steam-roller, lived and I still made it in time for afternoon tea. Muttering, he pauses to motion back toward his 'guest', "Alright, Hunters. This is the guy. See what he has to say and decode this blasted transmission of his.." That's about all he says, since he walks right past everybody else and settles back against a wall to try and stop the ringing in his audio receivers. That /hurt/!

What Noise doesn't know is, since he's already such a scrambled mess of programming, flooding his mind with that much data at once equals an earthquake of a migrane for Zero: All in the window of a few seconds. Not pleasant at all.

alinka nearly jumps out of her skin at her father sneaks up on her, "Ummm....hi daddy." She cringes a little.

Dr. Pavel Cossack glances aroun. "vhat happened? Roll have you been neglecting you cleaning duties again?" he mutters as he stares at this hyperactive little bugger. "Now sweety, vhat bad thing vere you going to do?"

Michael Eildath follows Zero in, completely in the dark to what noise did to him, but staring at the newbie resentfully. Mike's mad at him, too... and that's not good.

Jazz raises her eyebrows at Kalinka, and makes a slight 'eep' sound. Busted! She sorta sidles back against a wall, all innocent-looking, and goes quiet to listen to Zero.

Twila Peterson blinks while glancing at some of the new arrives before sitting back within her seat. "Hunter Assylum...head orderly speaking..." she comments, mostly to herself...and then promptly quiets as soon as the prodigals return home with their prize catch. She glances towards Mr. Prankster, not appearing to be terribly impressed with what she sees. Her eyes then trail the scarlet and white clad reploid as he makes his way towards the wall.

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "You ok, Zero? You don't look so well."

Feedback yawns as he steps out of the lift and into the command center. He heard something going on with something and has no idea what it is. He's hoping that theres someone here to fill him in as he looks around at everyone before waving, "Uh, hey everyone. Uh, what's up?"

Noise trudges along behind Zero with his hands innocently tucked behind his back. His gaze sweeps left to right glancing at all the faces staring at him. oO(Oh boy...)Oo A hand reaches around his body over to the front to wave. A smile cuts across his facial features, the expression...very tense. "Hello."

Kalinka blinks. "I wasn't going to do anything, Daddy."

Mac tromps into the command center from the grav lift. "Greetings, fellow Maverick Hunters!" his standard greeting. He glances towards Roll and grimaces a bit... must remember to apologize a bit more later...

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "Sure...Jazz front and center."

Must be a crowded grav lift. Regent floats out after the others who just entered, smirking faintly. "I just love it when things like this happen, I really do.." Is his own comment, made directly to himself in a mutter.

Twila Peterson bu-blinks as the resident hacker enters the center just about then. Lowering her radio for a brief moment] she simply says, "Zero and Mike brought a friend for you, Feed. A hacker who somehow broke into the broadband." She then eyes Noise suspiciously as well as her own radio...having an idea on how he may have broken through...but not much else.

Kalinka says, "I already 'did' something. And it'll probably be of some use to for Rock."

Zero raises a hand, peering toward those gathered. "And one more thing...Nobody touch 'em." Refolding his arms, he glares directly at Noise and says in a very, /very/ cold tone, "If he's lying to us, then I want to /personally/ see to him." Anybody with any sense at all knows what that means. After that, he mutters into his radio and watches the proceedings with a careful eye.

Dr. Pavel Cossack narrows his eyes "And that is?"

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Eh.. I don't know what the heck he did, Twila, but I got a flood of data all at once..."

Kalinka smiles a little, "I interrogated a Robot Master for information about King and Wily, that's all...."

Mac blinks... glancing down at Kalinka's small form... SHE did?... he seems duly impressed.

Twila Peterson frowns somewhat towards the communique and sounds a reply. You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "If it's still being a nusciance after the next 15 minutes I could look into it."

Feedback blinkblinks and then looks around for his bro. He snaps his fingers as he doesn't spot Shrike anywhere as Twila finishes up. He then goes to eye Noise not really surprised or anything, but rather annoyed if nothing else, "Hmm, so some kid off of the street managed to crack our broadband? Oh boy, Shrike's going to throw a fit when he hears this one. Been telling him that we need to get going on that upgraded modulating frequency gizmo he's been talking about. So, is he clean? I mean, he's not some idiot Maverick or anything, right?"

Dr. Pavel Cossack hmms, most like this 'Robot Master' was spunk racoon and her in play. He decides to play along "Vhere? and vho?

Michael Eildath glowers at Noise, walking towards his seat near the lockers. "And I want what's left," he mutters under his breath. Mike's family's a /sensitive/ matter.

Noise nods over to Twila. "I'm sorry about that Ms. Peterson, I sorta...-used- you. I relayed a signal to you and used your inquisitive response to trace the location of your radio as well as scan your communications equipment for all the data stored inside. Automatically the small archive of frequencies was sent back to me and I garbled out that mess of other settings to unlock the hunter broadband." Instinctively, the guest looks over to Zero as his technology intercepts their private transmission. "I do hope that wasn't too uncomfortable for you."

Jazz stands in front of Dr. Cossack suddenly, eyes a little wide, mouth displaying that 'uh-oh' set. A sweatdrop forms on the back of her neck and

While Mac may seem impressed, Regent looks quite skeptical. "Riiiight.." He murmurs, before giving his head a shake to search for a seat in the rather crowded Command Center. "Certainly could've picked a better time for this, all things considered.." Is his next mutter, another head shake accompanying the words.

Kalinka says, "Okay...okay, so we had a conversation and I kept steering the subject towards King and Wily. It was Snake Man, he was sleeping in a tree somewhere in the party dome in New York."

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "I'm fine...Twila. Really. Just felt like those flashes I sometimes have -- *sudden pause* -- I'm fine."

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "And how is this Snake man?"

Kalinka says, "Well, first off he wanted to know how Michael was recovering."

Twila Peterson tosses Noise a rather irritable glare. One thing she doesn't like to be is used against her comrades. She tosses a grunt of distaste before stating. "Yes...you're indeed sorry..." she murmers...

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "Yes, I'm sure he did."

Kalinka says, "After I told him, he said he wasn't intending to kill him with the poison and if he was he would have been dead a while ago."

Michael Eildath looks up, not in the best of moods, listening without commenting.

Dr. Pavel Cossack ahhs "And just vhy vere you in New York vithout my permission?"

Mac listens quietly to Kalinka's tale, not commenting yet...

Kalinka sighs, "Dad...I was fine, its not like I was gonna get mugged in the middle of the night."

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Well, keep in mind offers open. Reploid's do have their own version of "asprin" you know. And if the creep listing to this convo doesn't stop...you'll find just how fiery a redhead's temper can be."

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

Kalinka gets startled and jumps back. "Middle of the night? I ment the afternoon...yeah."

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "That's a little after your bed time young lady!"

Mac blinks. Mayyyybe he'd better not compliment the young Hunter on her performance in the field after all...

Noise sighs and rolls his eyes. "Look, I didn't come here to cause as much trouble as I did. I just wanted to get your attention, I'm not sure if you would have taken me seriously had I just rang the doorbell and said... hey guys I got an encrypted transmission from King, god knows what's on it, prolly the next city he targets. You would probably just shun me off as another punk who wants to play jokes while the world all around him crumbles. I'm sorry for breaking into the systems of your cpu without your permission, I also wanted to know if apparently you had already intercepted this information. It wouldn't be very relevant of me to share something that you apparently already know now would it?"

Twila Peterson then lowers her radio and glances over towards Mike, noting he doesn't look very well either. One thing's for certain, this new visitor certainly knows how to get under other peoples' skins.

Kalinka winces, "Well....I couldn't sleep, was bored and felt like going somewhere."

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "Then..go potty aor get something to drink! Not NEW YORK! You may be smart! But your a young girl! No matter what you think YOUR A YOUNG girl! No daughter of mine is going to go traisping out in the dead of night into New York!"

And thus, a fire is kindled. As Noise makes his plea, and everyone glares at the guy, and combined with Zero's current mood: Match to the Fuse.

Hurtling his fist into the wall beside him, Zero roars out, "EEEENOUGH! SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" As his voice rings through the Command Center, he rises to full height and folds his arms,. "I've had enough of this.. I told all of you to /listen/ to him. So stop commenting and let him talk. Heck, for all we know, he might be telling the truth." He shakes his head and resettles against the wall, "Go on." He leaves it at that, save for a transmission to Twila.

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "....Right."

Michael Eildath growls. "Doc, calm down. I know you're worried about her, but don't treat her like she's a toddler." Mike's talked to Kalinka... heard her side of it.

Mac blinks, snapping to attention abruptly, even though he wasn't the one doing the commenting. "SIR!" He remains rigid as a board.

Kalinka goes dead quiet as Zero shouts.

Regent manages to find an empty seat, slowly lowering himself into it. He tries to drown out the loud rantings of an irate father. As Zero calls for silence, he more than readily agrees, a slight smirk appearing upon his face. With a hand, he pushes off from the console next to him, turning his chair about so that he may face the XO properly.

Leave it to Zero to be the resident attention getter. Twila witholds a sigh as she turns back within her seat to the newcomer, and crosses her arms in front of her chest, offering a bar tilt of the head in response to her radioed answer.

Dr. Pavel Cossack growls giving her his 'We'll talk later looks.'

You paged Zero with 'Translation: Zero's too manly for girly asprin ;)'. Zero pages: Exactly. :)

Feedback eyes Zero and well, doesn't even flinch. Not the first time someone who could scrap him without even trying has yelled like that. Guess its all the times that Bass has come >< this close to vaping him. But, he makes one more idle comment before shutting up, or it just wouldn't be Feed, now would it, "Well, then let the kid speak then. Though, kinda curious as to where he was when he intercepted said radio message. Pretty sure that my bro might of got something about this as well if he's got a scrap of info."

Noise pulls out a small metallic disk of some sort from the inside pocket of his brown jacket. It's technology that only the most expertise of the field would recognize, state of the art that is unfamiliar to the regular joe. His gaze swings over to Zero and he shows more signs of that momentary insanity. He blinks before his visage sweeps back to the others. He tries to stand perfectly erect as to show he isn't a sloucher, straight as a pillar, he speaks in that confident public tone. "Well as far as I know this thing could just be a pizza order from the masters...but that's unlikely, the amount of information on such a brief and almost unnoticeable signal couldn't be anything simple. Something this compact would mean an information jumble, a maze of coding that would boggle the most hardy of hackers...even me. And that's why I've come here."

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "I'm /fine/ Twila.. Don't worry about it."

When the second transmission comes in, Twila is forced to wonder who Zero is trying to convince more, her...or himself. She doesn't ask however and doesn't press the issue. She instead goes back to listening.

Noise lifts up the disk and snaps his head left and right looking for the correct kind of port that will be compatible for this kind of technology. After a few moments of searching, he notices something in the corner where most would not have looked. oO(Ahhh, apperantly somebody here -does- know a thing or two about technology...)Oo Reflexively without continuing to ask for permission, he pops the small metallic square into the open port. A green holographic projection appears on one of the screens. The image, a series of numbers, letters, symbols, and other strange icons that appear to be compacted into a small black backdrop. The signs themselves glow a bright eerie green illuminating the room, casting shadows of those closer to the labyrinth of encoded information. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the indecipherable code."

Dr. Pavel Cossack says, "So?"

Mac peers at the code quietly... all Greek to him... and says nothing. He glances towards his creator, hoping that -he- can shed some light on the subject...

Roll scoffs, finally saying something for the first time from her seat at her terminal. "Indecipherable? As if there's anything that could be that. Anything is decipherable," she lectures Noise, "some things just take longer than others to decode." Already, her eyes are scanning the letters and icons. Her eyes widen. "That better not be ARP..."

Mac blinks... double-blinks. "Are... you sure, dad?..." he asks, quietly...

Auto says, "Well, either that, or the basic operating code for a simulated collective virtual-world that we're kept captive in and used as a power source."

Feedback blinks as Noise goes and puts something in the computer. Now, he's fine with the guy talking and everything, even if he's being a bit arrogant and everything. But, if there one thing that no one does, thats mess with this base's computer right in front of him. Heck, he went a bit crazy when Eclipse tried to download the database and he's a Stardroid, so no doubt he's going to kill Noise now, unless Zero beats him to it. Feed walks over to Noise and pulls a small pistol from behind his jacket. He points the weapon at Noise's head and holds it there, "Okay kid. I'm not going to vap you yet since Zero would probably get a bit mad at that. I'm also going to assume that your smart enough not to have some Trojan horse program on that as well. But, if there is one thing you don't do, its put some buggy out of date crap disk into that computer without even asking. Now, you'd better tell me now that that disk's clean, else your going to be in a world of hurt very soon."

Noise steps back and looks up and down at the image before him. "Well...of course nothing is 'indecipherable' but this darn well is near un-crackable. Those idiot masters couldn't figure this out in a millennium, I'm sure they have some sort of system or program that auto deciphers immediately upon reception. However, we don't have the luxury of such a device and will have to do things manually. This might be the key to that maniac's next move. I'm not too surfeited knowledge. Small pieces, but meaningless without the overall backdrop of the message. Pieces that appear to have nothing in common yet...the MUST have a link." His finger traces some pieces of the scrolling screen. "That block portion over there...I can tell that means King, it repeats over and over again in a cycle..I'm assuming that its a noun. The rest is ... an enigma."

Auto says, "Well, either that, or the basic operating code for a simulated collective virtual-world that we're kept captive in and used as a power source."

Noise smiles at Feedback. "It's sterile."

Mac blinks... "I, uh.... I..." he nods to himself. "I see." Well... his superiors do know better than him... don't they?... eeven if they're... well, nuts?

Auto nods to Mac as he turns back to the screen.

=============================== IC Broadcasts ================================ Message: 9/12 Posted Author Alliance Fri Jun 02 Sigma ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The grim visage of the Maverick Commander appears on camera. He has remained silent throughout this most recent threat to the planet. What could he possibly do to make the situation worse. Has he allied with King? Has humanity's darkest dream become reality? Slowly, Sigma speaks, "For too long have I witnessed the oppression and brutality shown to our people in Hong Kong. For too long have I been haunted by the screams of the reploids who were massacred in New Hope. For too long have I tolerated the presence of the tyrant known as King upon this world, infecting this globe like a cancer. Effective immediately I have formed a temporary alliance with the Maverick Hunters and Repliforce. As of now all Maverick hostilities towards either faction, or any civilian targets, are to cease. I will see Hong Kong, nay.. the entire Earth, liberated from beneath King's boot. Let us stand together, my brothers and sisters, one army.. one power.. one nation of reploids. Let King know now that his days are numbered. Just as his demented creator fell so too shall he and his dark brood. For freedom! For the glory of reploidkind! I will not rest until every reploid enslaved by the Masters is freed, and their new lord is destroyed. Behold, King, the power of unified artificial life. Behold your defeat." The image of Sigma winks off-screen leaving.. for once.. a sense of hope. ==============================================================================

Zero suddenly stands as he hears something. With a frown, and not seeing Rock /anywhere/, he turns toward the Grav Lift, "Twila, I'm trusting you with making sure that nobody kills each other. I going to go have a -- Chat with somebody." He doesn't seem disturbed, but he does look like he's intent upon doing what he's spoken of. Obviously, he heard Sigma's speech played over a monitor in another one of the room's. Since most of the commotion is in here, and he's near the Lift anyway, it wasn't hard to hear.

Saying nothing else, he enters the Lift and goes down. Zero has left.

Jazz giggles slightly at Mac and Auto, still twirling her hair quietly. Her nervousness has burned off in the last few minutes, being replaced with her ordinary, ultra-bubbly way of being.

Twila Peterson watches the scene, brow slighltly creased. She becomes momentarily distracted from Feedback pulling the gun upon the visitor as a piece of newsfeed comes in over the wire. Her being presently at Communications allows her to more readily to notice this than most of the others who are presently centered on the main attraction. She watches the broadcast in interest, making certain it's recorded. When addressed Twila turns towards the Second's direction and offers him a single nod...before returning her attention towards the others in the room.

Noise sighs recalling his intentions were to work on the code with those of more experienced technology rather than a fisco of 'would be' heroes intent on ripping his voice box out.

Mac still seems... befuddled, to say the least, but he keeps his mouth shut. Pizza order... virtual world... maybe he should've stayed in that reconfiguration pod a tad bit longer, after all.

Michael Eildath sighs, not knowing why Noise got to him so badly... maybe he still needs to recuperate.

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Might want to tune into a recent broadcast if you can while your out."

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "I said I was off to 'chat' with someone, right? I'll give ya three guesses."

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "I take it the first two don't count."

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Exactly."

Noise sends Zero a tightbeam radio transmission: Sigma??

Zero sends a tightbeam radio transmission to Noise: "You're already on thin ice, chump. I'd quit listening in on us /reeeeal/ soon."

Regent gives his head a slight shake. "Feed, do be a good boy and put the laser pistol away, yes? We're here to listen to what he has to offer. He wouldn't be stupid enough to try and infect our systems when we've got him in our grasp, as it were, anyway. Hells bells, Zero wouldn't be the only one to skewer him if he were to actually do so."

Feedback keeps the weapon level not really trusting him. He doesn't even know this guy, "You best not be lying about that. I find so much as a data fragmentation, your spare parts for the next poor guy that's sent to the medbay." Feedback eases up a bit and then walks over to his usual console, which happens to be the spot where Noise is and then starts to run a scan of the disk Noise inserted to check for anything out of the ordinary. All he knows, there's some hidden string of code in there that Noise didn't catch or planted somewhere for a remote uplink. He'd know, he's done it before. Feed then eyes the code on the monitor for half a second and then looks back at Noise, "So, is there anything else that your going to add? Or should we just send you on your way?"

Jazz shakes her head at Feedback. "Hey, mister, play nice, kay?" She giggles slightly, covering her mouth with one hand. "He seems nice enough to me, and he's trying to help us. He won't hurt our precious computers!" Ever the naive and trusting one, our Jazz.

Noise frowns and looks over at Feedback with his weapon aligned directly over. "Dude...chill. You think I came here to get blasted just so I can screw up your little computers? What's your problem? Have you lost sight of the true enemy? Go ahead, run your scans, find -nothing- there but what I offer. I see how a good Samaritan is rewarded. I mean, yes it was wrong to tap into your communications line but... I did no harm, unless you consider annoyance to be a crime."

Twila Peterson keeps her arms crossed in front of her chest as she continues eyeing the scene in front of her. She fights valiently not to roll her eyes towards Jazz. "Feedback, is there a way for youand Shrike to work on what he gave us?"

Auto glances to Noise. "An annoyance to a heavily protected military communications channel."

Michael Eildath shakes his head. "Thing's're tense around here, 'kay?" he says to Noise. "We've got a mad robot bent on destroying the world, and we're already at war with the Mavericks and Robot Masters. Things like this don't necessarily endear you to a lot of us."

Roll clears her throat softly in response to Twila asking Feedback to work with Signal Shrike. "You know, I may not be a communications specialist, but I *am* pretty good with computers," she mutters, though she says it just loud enough that Twila *might* hear, and then again might not.

Feedback nods slowly keeping his eyes on Noise, the laser pistol still in his hand, but no longer pointed at the guy, "Yeah, course theres a way for me and Shrike to work on what he gave us. Might take a bit by the looks of the stuff, but nothing the two of us won't be able to crack in a few days." He then responds to Noise, "You'd be surprised how many people I know who would consider annoyance to be a crime. And next time you tap into our line like that, you'll be lucky if your still be able to see straight when we're done with you." If Twila overhears Roll, she doesn't give indication.

Dr. Pavel Cossack huhs.

Roll crosses her arms and hmphs to herself, slouching down in her seat as

Feedback doesn't appear to consider her help either.

Noise frowns and looks down at the port with the disk inside it. "Keep it if you want, I have a backup at home. As for cracking this thing..." He looks over to Feedback. "I want to help."

Twila Peterson shifts her gaze on Feed and then back to Noise, not approving of what he had done in the least in order to get himself here. There were other ways he could have used to try and gain attention rather an doing away with security...

Michael Eildath rises, shaking his head. .oO(We all need to work on our people skills.)Oo. An abstract thought, perhaps, but it's the one he rests on as he goes down to his quarters.

Feedback eyes the disk and then taps a few more keys before taking out his padd and setting it down on the console. He starts to hit a few more keys and works as Noise is talking. He finishes up and then turns back to Noise as he finishes up, "You can have your disk back. Already copied it to a remote server and removed it from the main computer. As for you helping us. I, don't think so. Now, I don't have the authority to let you in and there's now way in hell that I'm letting an outsider in on my gig. You wanna help, go through the usual application process and pass Regent's training course. Then, you might have the chance to help out. Course, by then me an Shrike will have finished by then. You don't like it, go take it up with some complaint committee cause its not my problem."

Auto sighs quietly, looking to Feedback. "Feed? C'mon, the kid wants to help...Just let him pitch in a /little/? I mean, after Zero roughed him up, its the least we could do..."

Jazz blinks at Feedback, obviously a little off-put by the savageness of his reply. She motions Noise over to her with a cute little beckon of her finger, smiling almost seductively as she does.

Auto sighs quietly, looking to Feedback. "Feed? C'mon, the kid wants to help...Just let him pitch in a /little/? I mean, after Zero roughed him up, its the least we could do..."

Noise shakes his hand refusing the disk. "I told you I have a copy... and I never said anything about joining, I said helping. And if you don't want it, it's fine by me...good luck on cracking the code on your own."

Twila Peterson comments, "Feed, he obtained the code. Even if he is a creep...maybe we should let him help."

Jazz shakes her head. "You're not being very nice to this dude now, are you all? Just because he did something tricky and you're all angry with him is no like, reason to be downright meanies." She smiles suddenly, eyes lighting up. "Maybe he can do some really good stuff too! Like, increase the efficiency of the station in my office, or something. I say, give him like, a fair chance."

Noise smiles at Jazz, as un-influencial as she may be, at least she makes the effort. He crosses his arms and stares at Feedback. "What's it gonna be?"

Regent glances over at Jazz. "Someone give me a pin to pop with.." He mutters to himself, before offering her a winning smile that could well be taken for agreement. Turning his chair away, the smile fades as he goes back to muttering to himself.

Twila Peterson tosses Jazz a glance. "Jazz, you're forgetting he compromised security."

Feedback eyes everyone else and then just shrugs before crossing his arms, "Hey, how bout cutting me some slack here. How'd you guys like it if this was your job and some no good kid just comes in and takes over. You want him to help, then fine, do it without me. I'm sure that you guys will be able to get by just fine without me. Cause there's no way I'm letting anyone I don't trust into my operation. So go ahead, do it by yourself. I'll just get my bro to gimme a hand lest he sides with you guys cause there's no way that I'm letting some wet behind the ears kid tell me how to do my job."

Jazz shakes her head, shrugging with a smile. "I breach other people's security all the time, because that's what my job entails, and sometimes, I even have to bend some of our rules. How is what he did any different to what I have to do to get my like, job done?"

Noise steps back. "Hey partner, I'm not here to move into your territory, just to lend a hand in coding. I don't want your job...I don't like action, I stay at home. I drive a volvo, I just want to help...just help"

Twila Peterson takes in a breath. "But you're about one of the very few who would be able to keep an eye on him, Feed. You and Shrike." She makes it a point to ignore Jazz for the moment. She really is a bubblehead alot of the time. The girl knows she means well. But still...

Auto snickers. "Volvos."

Regent smirks, giving his head another shake. His mutterings become audible. "Whatever happened to waiting for an /invitation/ to join the Hunters? I mean, damn, back in the day you were either created here in Light Labs -- and some of us were! -- or you managed to get an invitation to join because your skills would be valuable. But as of late, we've been getting people who're trying to beat their way on, whether it's through hacking into our systems or simply breaching security. Tsk."

Twila Peterson uncrosses her arms and rest them at her sides as she moves to stand up from her seat. "Guys, no is saying anything about anyone joining. Anything of that sort is for Rock and Dr. Light to decide. Keep on track here."

Auto says, "He wouldn't be a Hunter, just a civie helping out, Regent. C'mon, you guys. Why shouldn't we trust him? If the Masters found out, they'd put a carbomb in his Volvo! Feedback, he could be like a protégée to you. A little helper to mold into your image, like my son Mac. He needs guidance."

Noise outstretches the disk in the general direction of Feedback. "I am the master of communication. You name it, I can locate it. I pirated an old soviet satellite not too far back, I actually utilize it to my own purposes. I can identify nearly any voice in the world an assign it to any individual...but I'm limited in the knowledge of codes. Radio is simple, frequencies, signals, outputs, exponentials...all child's play." His eyes narrow on the disk. "But this...is out of my league, and I need your help. And you need mine. King is a threat to us all, hell even Sigma realizes this...whadaya say?"

Jazz nods, smiling. "He just wants to help." Jazz, too, always trusting.

Noise eyes and nods to Twila.

Feedback snickers and then picks up and pockets his pad. He's obviously not going to come around anytime soon on this one as he has pretty much made up his mind. Lest your just so persuasive that you can turn this guy around, which isn't likely, "Yeah, well I'll bet that Roll could do just as good of a job. Can't be that hard seeing as this guy's got about as much class and skill as a 2 year old trying to pilot the Kodiak. He wants to help, then have him go to Hong Kong and ask King in person what that transmission was. That or he can do it by himself and with whoever wants to help him. And I need no stinkin protégée. That's the last thing I need, some stupid kid trying to copy me. And as far as communications go, my bro Shrike's the best and the odds of you being even close to him are so big that you'd sooner be able to guess what the location of my house is. And you may need me, but no way in hell that I need you."

Regent grins faintly. "I wasn't saying anything about him joining, I was merely making an observation. I don't have any particular reason to deny his assistance, although my words carry no weight here. We do have quite a few communication experts here, however, and I wouldn't mind seeing them have a crack at decrypting that transmission first before we turn to... outside assistance." His gaze drifts over to Noise. "No matter who brought it to us."

Twila Peterson observes the events unfold before getting out her radio once more. You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Hate to be a bother. However, whether or not Mr. Prankster here stays to help in decoding the disk should be OKed or disapproved by a CoC."

Zero sends you a tightbeam radio transmission: "Let 'em stay. If anybody's got a problem with it, tell them that they can discuss it with me /later/. We don't have time for distrusting potential allies right now -- We don't have /time/...! *His temper is 'obviously' flaring at this point.*"

You send a tightbeam radio transmission to Zero: "Got it."

Auto shakes his head, sighing. "What's /with/ you people? Both you and Noise, Feed. I'm the best at thiiis, I'm the best at thaaaaat. Can't you ever settle for something like 'pretty darn good'?"

Jazz stands in the middle of the room now, looking around at everyone as they

Twila Peterson lowers her radio. "Ok, I asked the CoC...which would be Zero at the moment. he stated that we don't have time to turn away potential allies right now. So...he has the OK to help with the disk."

Noise eyes feedback to see his reaction.

Regent says, "Well that settles that one..." The Tower turns to face Auto. "Now what was that about pizza delivery?"

Auto looks to Regent, cocking his head. "What? Pizza deliv-...Oooh, I was talking about what Noise thought the code was...Although we could order out!"

Twila Peterson runs a hair through her lengthy auburn locks and shakes her head slightly.

Regent rubs at his jaw. "That's a distinct possibility, and it certainly couldn't hurt." He moves his gaze from Auto, scanning the rest of the room. "Anyone else feeling peckish, and in the hungry area, not in the 'peck your damn eyes out you're not helping me with this disc' area? That is, if you're both finished comparing the size of your guns." Chuckling, Regent looks at both Feedback and Noise.

Twila Peterson flicks a glance to her brother. Strange. Rick is usually rather outspoken to one extent or another. He's being so quiet. She offers him a helpless shrug and once more takes her seat at the terminal.

Feedback waves a hand dismissivly not really caring, "Well, if that's what Zero says then that's what he says. So, guess that you can help out after all. Just, that you're going to be doing it without 'me'. I'm sure that maybe if you get every last tech we have on this one, you might be able to do it before I figure it out. And unless I get a 'direct' order saying otherwise, your on your own. So, go ahead, help all you want. Thing is, I'm not going to have to worry about you."

Jazz puts her hands on her hips in a most lady-like fashion, looking at Feedback. "Well! Somebody forgot to run their happiness program this morning!"