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Trained Professionals [Sophie/AEGIS Members]
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 2, 2017 1:58:59 GMT
The train station. Lord did Yaku despise this place, so many of his unfortunate adventures ended up either here or trying to return here. He really, really hated when he was homeless. But that was then, this is now. The man continued to let the girl lead onward, looking at the billboard as he passed by. Thankfully his face was nowhere on this board for public drunkenness or terrorism during this visit.
"So, where does the name AEGIS come from?" He asked, trying to make small talk while they entered deeper into the station. "Does it stand for anything, is it some mythical or historical figure? Because I'm 99% that DATS meant 'Digital Audio Tapes.'" He joked. "At least, that's what we were told to say if someone overheard the name..." He looked around to make sure the two weren't being followed.
"...Do you have any of the DATS' old files on me?" He asked in a hushed tone. "I'm worried they might have found out something about my wife while I was gone."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Nov 4, 2017 6:09:46 GMT
The Shibuya station was as usual, rather crowded, but, Sophie, Yaku and the holosuited Lantis didn't stand out much. She chuckled at Yaku's joke about DATS' abbreviation.
"AEGIS stands for Artificial Extradimensional life Guardian and Investigation Squad" Sophie answered Yaku's question. "I feel that name reflects us as we're meant to be a shield against digimon invasions, not act as an aggressor against those in the digital world".
Indeed, that was all they could do really. From what Sophie knew, DATS had too often gone on the offensive, and now DATS was no more. More and more enemies would face them until they simply seemed to collapse.
"We don't intend to interfere with other tamers either" Sophie added. "Sure if we see someone in the street holding a Koromon, we'll talk to them and advise they keep the digimon hidden for their own sake, but, we'll devote our main goal into preventing aggressive digimon from entering Earth, as well as learning what we can about them".
They then entered the elevator that would lead to the Trailmon terminal. Sophie was glad nobody entered the elevator with them. Yaku then asked if they had any files on him.
"No, sorry, none that I know of" she said. "The papers we do have mainly regard technological projects that were being done by DATS. Of course, we don't intend to use them as yet, as the technology seems to be somewhat dangerous"
Then Yaku mentioned his wife. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. Did something happen to your wife?" Sophie asked, instantly sympathetic that one of Yaku's loved ones seemed like they had been in peril.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 4, 2017 23:31:51 GMT
"I can appreciate your ideas, but sometimes you have to be pro-active." Yaku made sure Astamon was completely obscured and unable to see the world around him, making doubly sure not to let out too much about their current location. "A defense is good but it can't cause any long-lasting damage on its own, you're at the mercy of your opponent's actions when you do so. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's not going to be as easy as keeping someone from stealing a cake. Sometimes people will begin attacking other things to distract you, then you'll need to start multitasking, and the more thin you're spread the sloppier it'll get until they'll take advantage of that weakness and the only thing that could have stopped them would have been an attack."
"As for kids, don't you think you should have some kind of pamphlet or advice guide or something? You don't have to watch over them 24/7, but maybe give them some pointers or advice so we don't end up with a kid who doesn't understand he's carrying a loaded weapon."
He sighed when she said they had nothing on him or his lover. "I don't know what happened, but I was gone for a year and she wasn't there when I came back. The house was sold to some American guy (no offense), even though I later found out she'd put out missing posters and reward money. I did some thinking while I was away, why would she do that then vanish without a trace?" He shook his head. "But that's not important right now."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Nov 7, 2017 5:46:28 GMT
Sophie heeded Yaku's words. "Yes, of course, if things get to that degree, we are willing to get proactive, but only if all other methods fail" she said.
She frowned a little as Yaku went on to talk about opponents and enemy tactics, but sighed as she figured out where he was coming from. "Yes, I know, there's no simple strategy to this. I just... don't want to get AEGIS caught up in a disaster that brings things way over our heads. From what I know of DATS, they went on the offensive a few too many times, until eventually their agents were lost and they collapsed entirely as an entity".
She took a moment to regain her composure, realizing she had come across as a bit flustered in that moment. "I'm sure you have your reasons for these kinds of possibilities, Yaku, but, I would like to have AEGIS begin operations gradually. Let the organization start small and only grow along with its members. And as for that growth, that's why I'm asking for your help. We need to learn what kind of challenges DATS faced in its beginning, then learn what went wrong".
She smiled a little at his next suggestion. "You know... a pamphlet to new tamers sounds like an excellent idea. We might actually do that". Simply give the paper to a new tamer and let them read it. It'd take much less resources in terms of time to do that.
Sophie then gave a look of sympathy as Yaku went over the details of his wife, to the point that the house seemed to be sold. And she had vanished without a trace too? They pondered that notion.
"Was your wife involved with DATS or digimon?" Lantis asked, thinking if the answer was yes to either, that might be the case.
Eventually, the elevator doors opened, bringing them to the Trailmon terminal area of the Shibuya station. Sophie and Lantis led Yaku along the outer platform to where their office was. Eventually, they would approach a plain section of wall with a battered old metal door at the front. However, this was all an illusion.
"We have two levels of holographic shields here" Sophie explained. "The outer hologram, which we just passed through, lets onlookers only see a metal door that looks like an old janitor's closet. However, we're within the boundaries of that outer shield".
She took out a key and inserted it into the keyhole of the door.
"The inner hologram is deactivated when the door is unlocked" she continued. And with that, when the door opened, it revealed the fully functioning AEGIS office. Four computers were present on one side of the room with some conducting their operations. One was devoted to monitoring Trailmon traffic, to determine if any independent digimon were arriving in the carriages ahead.
The other side was filled with filing cabinets, containing research papers acquired from DATS. Other than that, amenities were present in the back of the office for both kitchen and bathroom purposes.
"So, this is it" Sophie said to Yaku, hoping he was satisfied.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 8, 2017 14:45:24 GMT
Yaku nodded. He was being redundant about the attack thing now, and the girl was getting annoyed and stood her ground on the opinions. This wasn't an overnight change, he'd definitely need to wait for the right time to convince her. He just hoped that time wouldn't be too late.
Yaku thought a little. "Of course, then you'd have to find a way for the kids not to lose it or give it to people who don't know about Digimon, and make sure it doesn't give out any information about your organization. I don't have a partner yet but I do know that children, especially ones with new friends aren't necessarily going to listen to authority figures about things like this... plus there's the problem of finding out when the kids get their partners, making separate papers about if they're generals, spirit users, or just tamers, research on the Digital World for places for them to safely explore..." He realized his idea wasn't as simple as it sounded before the topic shifted back to his wife.
"No. I am almost 100% my wife had nothing to do with the digital world. She was quiet, a housekeeper, her hobbies were soap operas and card games with her friends. She..." He trailed off and frowned as he realized that he didn't quite remember much about his wife. He reached to his always present briefcase and took out a photo, now faded, ripped, and crumpled over and over again. He looked at it and then passed it over to the two. "Be careful, that's all I have left."
They entered through the hidden shield, the basic janitor's closet made him smile. "Very clever." He said, the two entering the inner sanctum and finding... a small room with a handful of computers and file cabinets, as well as the kitchen and doors to what he presumed were restrooms. He had quite a few questions to start.
"Do you... do you have any fire exits?" He asked, approaching the computers to see what the rest of them were doing. "There must be some kind of barracks or safe house elsewhere then, right? Some other offices in the building doing other, smaller jobs where the rest of your crew is right now?" He asked, trying to remember if today was a school day. She did say most of her companions were teens like her, after all. He knew it was only a small organization, but he expected a bit more than this, especially with the type of security she'd had set up.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Nov 20, 2017 9:30:57 GMT
Sophie was at least glad her explanations were taken on board. She was quickly feeling a little overwhelmed by all the things she would need to think about to be a proper leader for AEGIS. Of course she would consider improvements, of course she would listen to suggestions from a veteran of DATS, but, so far it felt like little more than an avalanche of everything she was doing wrong that could end in disaster. But perhaps that could be a subject of debate for a future meeting? Once she had everything under more control.
Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breath to control her feelings a little. "Alright, I'll consider that option in due process" she replied. She was only thankful she had taken business classes in high school and knew the importance of meetings to go over these things properly. On the whole, she was hoping that accepting Yaku into AEGIS wouldn't result in this cavalcade of lectures and outbursts that everything she was doing was wrong. Even Lantis noticed how flustered Sophie was getting.
But their attitudes softened when Yaku revealed his wife was innocent in all this. No contact with digimon or DATS or DATS' enemies. Sophie and Lantis looked at the photo of her, but of course were delicate with it so they wouldn't damage it. "I see. Well, I don't think I've seen her before, but, we will definitely try to do all we can to find her" she said. After all, if Yaku was going to be a part of AEGIS, they had to look after their own, right?
When they entered the office, Yaku asked if they had any fire exits. "Yes, there's an escape route out the back" she said. "It leads to the Shibuya Station maintenance tunnels, but it's a second exit regardless, if this place is attacked".
As for the question of barracks or safehouses, Sophie shook her head. "No, we don't have that, yet. However, I have been able to secure a headquarters that is currently being constructed that will have those".
It seemed there were no other AEGIS members present at the moment. Sophie was slightly disappointed at that. She hoped that Satoshi and John had reason for being away at this current time. Well, at least there wouldn't be this problem at the AEGIS HQ that would soon be built.
"So then, would you like anything to drink?" Lantis offered.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 20, 2017 14:38:11 GMT
Yaku turned to her and smiled at the mention of a new HQ with far more necessities, he felt bad for doubting her now. "Good, excellent!" He smiled and pat her on the back, gently. "Then this is an excellent back-up. If something happens we can regroup here, a few employees to keep the place updated and keep track of the comings and goings in the digital world, this is really smart of you. I know DATS certainly should have had something like this... kind of surprised they didn't actually."
He nodded about the mention of his wife before turning to Lantis. "Well, I don't like to drink on the job, just some water would be fine." He really hoped they didn't actually have liquor here, he didn't really feel like getting into an argument about underage drinking, especially when Sophie seemed so agitated. "But all of this is a very good start, and I'm very pleased that someone is stepping up to help everyone." He sat down at one of the computers, leaning back on the chair to relax. He set Astamon's device on the table, away from him so he wouldn't knock it down or bump into it.
What to do with Astamon. A dangerous criminal with more money and power Yaku could imagine sat in a tiny box. Sending him back into the digital world would just have him rain Hell down upon AEGIS and Yaku the second he returned to the Dark Area; keeping him here ran the risk of him breaking out and doing the same thing in the human world while also exposing the digital world to the general population and running the risk of him killing actual people. It took all of his cunning and manipulation to catch him the first time, barely managing to do so with a gun pointed to his forehead no less. Astamon wouldn't make the same mistakes a second time, and that made him more dangerous than anything the man could think of.
"Do you have a safe?" He asked.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Nov 25, 2017 1:04:32 GMT
Sophie was delighted to speak on the subject of employees. "Yes, we're going to hire some auxiliary staff to handle things like maintenance, administration, communications and liason with the government" she said. While these employees would not necessarily be agents with digimon partners, they would at least be able to handle the process of keeping the new HQ up and running. "We'll begin hiring in stages of course, we don't want the whole lot showing up at once".
Of course, day-to-day running of the new headquarters would be impossible for the few agents that Sophie had on hand. But even this had taken up all of her skills - to be both independent of the government but being able to secure discreet resources in the running of this new agency. It had been mostly thanks to her grandmother's extended influence that had been able to do this. A foreigner in Japan would otherwise have no chance.
She also appreciated Yaku's praise about this outpost. "Thanks. It's much easier to stop independent digimon here than in the streets above".
Yaku then refused an alcoholic drink but accepted water. "Of course. I'll get that for you" Lantis said, pouring a drink and returning. It seemed that Yaku had a dilemma with what to do with Astamon. Sophie pondered this.
"Unfortunately not, we don't have a safe here yet" she said. "And the Headquarters won't be completed for another two weeks, there'll definitely be a facility there to handle that. However..." she thought to her brother. So far in AEGIS's operations she at least had a memorandum of understanding between Colin's organization - PROFIT. Furthermore, PROFIT was run by Yuu - a law enforcement officer of the digital world.
"My brother might be able to handle bringing Astamon to justice" she said. "I could call him if you like".
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Post by tridoriyaku on Nov 25, 2017 4:36:12 GMT
"I'm a bit curious where you're getting the money though." Yaku admitted. "A small place like this would take quite a pretty penny, let alone a large building hidden amongst the city proper. Are you certain the government don't have a hand in this, their thumbs on the scale perhaps? Or maybe you have some kind of charity run in the digital world... actually, make that a note, it'd be a good idea to run charities for the digital world to show you're helping both sides, not just humans." He smiled and drank the water before looking back down at Astamon.
"Your Brother? The Super Mega? Yes. I think he might be able to put Astamon in his place, yes, excellent idea, you are full of those. Hopefully you stay in school so you can get even better."
He shifted in his seat and attempted to use the computer, checking to see if there was any security to them. "Obviously the next step is security, they can't see you but that doesn't mean they can't find your networks or that everything is safe. I used to work at a big business; video games, toys, card games, mostly kids things but the business world does have one thing in familiar with government work: people want to know everything they shouldn't. Files need to be encrypted, documents shredded and recycled, principal of least privilege, all sorts of things people don't think about. I mean, I wasn't security or IT but the seminars, ugh, once a month they felt like... Leave it to me or your security guy, I'll get some people to keep things up to code."
"...Sorry, I've been uh talking a lot, asking questions, assuming things... you probably want to know some things too and... I'll help you the best I can... boss."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Dec 6, 2017 12:17:44 GMT
Where they were getting the money? Sophie thought that was a valid question. It was in reality a very complicated financial situation, but, she was sure that it was solid, as far as she knew. "We have... a large amount of discreet private investors that wish to support us" she said. "They of course have come to the conclusion that it would be much better for Tokyo and Japan in general if there was a strong enough defence against digimon that would cause chaos and instability".
Sophie wished that AEGIS could have been possible without it, but that simply could not happen. She didn't enjoy being beholden to investors, but, what choice did she have? And she had received assurances that all investors were good, ethical people. And if any of them crossed her by funding AEGIS with dirty money, well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.
But the idea of charities in the digital world appealed to her. "Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea, I'll see to that as soon as possible" she agreed.
Sophie beamed at the praise that she was full of good ideas, but was a little worried at the prospect of dealing with school as well as running AEGIS. She honestly didn't know if she had the capacity for that. Nonetheless, she took out her D-Terminal and sent a message to Colin. He replied that he would be in Shibuya station shortly, that he was currently in Terminus City and would be able to catch the next Trailmon back to Earth. Delighted, Sophie put the D-Terminal away.
"Colin's on his way, so that should be that problem dealt with soon" Sophie said to Yaku. His next inquiries were related to cyber security. On this at least, Sophie thought they were well covered.
"One of our agents, Satoshi, is a prodigy with these kinds of systems" she said. "He has an ironclad firewall around our computer systems, custom built from the ground up. I have confidence that they're adequate here".
Yes, adequate here, but what of the new AEGIS building? Well, she hoped that Satoshi would handle the systems well before the new headquarters became operational. "But of course, your help would be welcome in double-checking our systems to make sure there aren't any threats we're not aware of". It wouldn't hurt.
Sophie was a little thrown off balance when Yaku finally asked if she had any questions for him. She supposed that she did. "So, Yaku, you've been in this digimon business for a while now, yes?" she asked. "I'm genuinely curious... have you not come across a digimon partner in all this time?"
"Or a spirit totem?" Lantis interjected, pointing out that those awaited certain humans in the digital world as well.
"It's just... you're the first person I've met involved with digimon that has neither of those" Sophie continued. "I'm just... curious about how you came across digimon".
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Post by tridoriyaku on Dec 7, 2017 1:02:29 GMT
Yaku stopped typing and leaned back, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. "That's a question I've asked many, many people and digimon. Why don't I have something? Why was I the one who wasn't special enough? I've seen adults with digimon of all types, children as young as five playing with their partners, Digimon who tote their humans like baggage, but I'm alone." He shakes his head. "I suppose only Yggdrasil knows, and heaven knows I won't get him to answer." He put his glasses back on.
"How I got to the digital world, though. That is a story all in and of itself." He relaxed. "It was a nice, Spring day in the park. I had my old Job; a salaryman for Bandai's toy division and was enjoying a box lunch my wife had prepared for me, as standard. I had gotten a drink from a nearby vending machine when I spotted an odd, stout woman rummaging through my lunch. I tried to take it back from her and she apologized and introduced herself. Several days passed and we became fast friends, even with her unusual nature and manners of speech. Eventually, she felt comfortable enough with me to uh... shed her holosuit. It was then I learned she was a digimon, a palmon to be specific. I panicked and ran away, but after thinking it over I returned to the park the next day. I was curious about her, about what she was and what she was speaking about."
"From there she took me to the train terminal and... I got lost in the digital world." He sighed. "For a year."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Dec 17, 2017 14:57:40 GMT
It seemed that Yaku had been asked that question many times before, to the point that he seemed a little weary of answering it. Sophie understood his plight somewhat, not from experience, but from logic. After all, with so many other humans like him ending up going on adventures in the digital world, it would be pretty unfortunate for him not to find any digimon assistant at all in that time.
In the back of Sophie's mind, could this have arisen from some mistake? She was surprised to come across this scenario of a human receiving no assistance whatsoever from a partner or spirit upon entry to the digital world. This may be a very odd case, well, she hoped that Yaku might be able to stay with AEGIS so he'd provide the answers to these little questions. Of course, seeing how unhappy he was about answering that one, Sophie wouldn't bring it up again for the time being. However, she would take note of the words she didn't know yet, namely "Yggdrasil".
As for how Yaku got involved in the digital world in the first place, it seemed like a complete accident. He had encountered a holosuited Palmon who had led him to the digital world. This made Sophie curious.
"I see... so, this Palmon, have you stayed in contact with her?" she asked, curiously. It would be very concerning for a solo digimon with a holosuit that lured innocent humans to the digital world, she thought. Although, really, it was all a confusing mess and she didn't know what morals were valid here.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Dec 18, 2017 1:57:37 GMT
"On occasion, when we can. We have dinner, talk about what's happened, I try to keep it private because you know whom." He cracked his neck. "I assume you've been to the digital world, probably the touristy places all humans enjoy... sorry, I don't mean to sound down on you, just getting a bit nostalgic. I haven't been to some of those places for a long time. It started with some directions to the train terminal, a brief trailmon trip back home, I thought. I couldn't read the digital language back then." He laughed. "Got on a train to the tundra. On the ride there a battle broke out, I accidentally crossed a leomon and got thrown out into the snow. A child helped me find a town where I found myself unusually attractive to baby digimon. This... would be a theme I'd confront many times."
"Baby digimon are unusual, I've found." He began to wax on. "They bounce like balls and don't mind when you bump into them or try to step over them. They don't seem to be afraid of you, and just attach onto you like a type of playground equipment... is that something that happens with everyone or do they just seem to like me for some reason? I digress. These babies were owned by a-" His brow furrowed. LadyDevimon, another digimon he'd never like to see again. A crazy woman who trapped him like a spider would and reminded him too much of a praying mantis for his tastes. He remembered waking up next to her in mansion beside the "impossible" maze and nearly starving to death trying to get out of the Dark Area. "I think this is a story I'll finish another time." He said, his tone shifting.
"Any other questions?"
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Jan 2, 2018 23:52:04 GMT
"I see, it's good that you still keep in contact" Sophie said. "Yeah, we have been to the digital world, although so far we've only seen Terminus, Whitewater and the Western Flatlands, not much more places than that".
It seemed Yaku had quite the adventure in the digital world. When the Leomon was mentioned, Lantis raised an eyebrow and Sophie glanced at him. "Wasn't me" Lantis said, shrugging. "Still though, sounds pretty rude of them".
Yaku then seemed to have a better time among baby digimon, although he broke off this story for some reason. Sophie was curious, but decided to let the matter rest. For the moment, she heard a knock at the door. It was Lantis who stood up to see who it was.
"Ah, it's Colin and the twins" he said. Sophie nodded, and Lantis opened the door. Into the room entered a boy with black hair like Sophie's. While he was only 14, he looked at least 15 years, in terms of height anyway. At his side were two digimon. One was a skinny Elecmon with purple fur on his back and a blue scarf - the other an Impmon with white on his belly and wearing a red scarf.
"Huh, nice pad ya got here, Soph" the Impmon remarked, looking around the room. His green eyes fixed on Lantis. "S'up big guy?"
"Rather a lot, Bells" Lantis said, grinning. It was clear that there was some camaraderie between the three digimon, namely because Colin and Sophie still lived under the same roof as a family, and so did they. When they were on Earth at least.
"Yaku, I'd like to introduce you to my brother, Colin. And these are his partners, Luke and Bellamy" Sophie said, then turned to her brother. "Colin, this is Yaku, he wants to be an agent for AEGIS".
"Ah, heya" Colin said, looking up at the businessman. "So, uh, I heard you were having an issue with a fugitive digimon, right?" he asked, curiously.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Jan 3, 2018 16:35:34 GMT
Yaku stood up as the trio entered the room, bowing respectively to each of them. "A pleasure to meet you, your sister has told me some good things about you and your partners." He held up his finger and got the device holding astamon, carefully presenting it to them.
"Astamon, a digimon made of data written about the greatest American Criminals. He's smart, charismatic, and knows his way around the Thompson submachine gun that's hardwired to his code. He was the leading criminals in the Dark Area for years running everything from trafficking to robberies in locations as far away as... actually, he never told me how far he had connections..." Yaku said, slightly paranoid. "Strong enough to be an ultimate and supposedly a prince, although I don't know if that's just a title or if he actually is royalty... it took me two years undercover work and several billion bits in damage to catch him, so please, please, PLEASE be careful handling him because the second he gets out he will be dead set on publicly executing me and everyone I know."
"Do not let him overhear anything about your family, where you live, and where you work. He'll use that to his advantage... I've seen it happen firsthand."
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