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Introducing... the Helpers! (B-Rank)
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Post by supesman on Dec 10, 2021 16:47:31 GMT
Zack didn't openly react to Adrian laying down the law though he also didn't reject it outright, simply holding his arms across his chest gingerly while he waited for the conversation to move on. They all watched the guard and Zack kept quiet while they discussed strategy. His first option, to bop the guard on the head, drag him in the building where he would wake up safe and sound a few hours later seemed to not be exactly what this group had in mind.
"Helping random strangers is what we do and in a case like this, what better way to take down a big bad guy than a team up." Marigold said, making the edge of one of Zack's lips curl up on a smile no one would be able to see underneath his helmet. That was his girl after all, even when he was in a bad place like he was right at that moment he couldn't not feel a little welling up of a pride when he saw just how motivated she was. They snuck in the back door, Zack hanging back with she to be as close to the rear guard as possible. he waited to hear Shi click the door closed, smirking and chuckling slightly. Both of them had had the exact same idea.
"Hope it's not too cold out there for him for a while. What kind of building like this doesn't lock the entrances at the end of the business day?" he said, musing out loud to himself as the issue of the keycard was brought up. Without any better ideas Zack and Marigold followed Stacy's lead, looking through the desk drawers and other spots where a keycard might end up forgotten in the hustle and bustle of an office worker rushing out the door at the end of their shift. "If there's none in the desks themselves there might be extras in an employee area somewhere. Like a backup plan in case someone forgot their at home that day, any company that employs fallible human beings would probably want to keep something like that."
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Dec 13, 2021 3:01:57 GMT
"Trust me, I asked him," Adrian said, sweat-dropping in response to Shi's question about bringing Zero along. "Buuuut he told me he wasn't willing to risk going against AEGIS's leader again after... you know. The camera hacking was the most he could do without arousing suspicion to himself." He then looked towards Stacy, who he knew worked at AEGIS alongside Zero. "Now that I think about it, you were part of that too, weren't you? I'm kinda surprised you're here."
For now, the group was locked out of computer access, which they need to find the floor where the info on the Helpers was more than likely stored. Pretty much everyone suggested to look in the desks or a nearby employee area for one. Adrian opened up the drawers of the desk they are at... and unfortunately there were none there. Bummer. "Why can these things never be easy...?" he asked himself as he sighed.
"What do we do now?" Shoutmon asked.
"Like Zack said, there could be an employee area around here. Only... I have no clue where it would be. We might have to split up to-"
"Hurry up! We're gonna miss the presentation!" A distant masculine voice could be heard.
"...shit," Adrian growled as he and Shoutmon bolted to hide underneath the desk, indicating that the others would need to hide as well. Once everyone was hidden, a male Z-Tec employee would walk up to the desk, followed by female one. And both had a key card clipped onto their belts.
"Why do you even want to see this thing so badly?" The female employee asked. "We both already know what these Helper things are."
"I'm just way too curious how he's going to advertise them to the public," the male employee said. "We can't exactly say that they're actual living creatures. And you and I both know that holographic technology is not that advanced yet."
"Z-Tec's used to keeping their big, almost impossible products secret during development. The Helpers would be no different. Though I wish a different name was chosen, Helpers sounds so generic."
"Well, what else would you call them?"
"I don't know. Something that sounds like they're more interesting than just holographic assistants..."
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Shi
Official Grader
If you don't make a move, I will.
Posts: 851
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Post by Shi on Dec 13, 2021 4:00:08 GMT
Well apparently the keycard wasn't in the most obvious place that one would look, who would've guessed. Maybe it'll be in the second most obvious place and most likely clipped to a belt or something, after all that was something people did right? Best way to keep yourself from losing it and having multiple random humans and four digimon break into your super secret stash of juicy information most likely.
It also wasn't by the door, Shi was hoping that maybe the dude they locked out dropped it on his way out but sadly that wasn't a thing that happened. Though While Shi was looking around he heard a voice coming from someone nearby, glancing over he would get a good view of them running up to the desk nearby as everyone else would probably hide behind it. Meanwhile Shi was by a locked door with absolutely no way to actually hide himself.
Shi carefully threw Yuudai and Yasuo into the V-pet function, most likely being far enough away they wouldn't hear it over themselves expositing. Shi glanced to his left and to his right but there didn't seem to be any hiding places that he could find in such a short notice.
So Shi decided to do the only thing he really could do at the moment, lean against the wall with his hat over his eyes, remain completely still, hope his lack of a presence in most situations would get him through this while he tried to come up with an excuse as to why he was here. Hopefully by remaining completely still and the Analog jammer he had on would do something at least to mask his presence, normally it just worked on digimon but here's hoping it could work both ways in time of a crisis.
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Post by ricochet-Stacy on Dec 13, 2021 4:38:39 GMT
"Let's just say I'm involved in this because I have my suspicions that this may involve the Grandmaster. Whether directly or indirectly I'm not yet sure. All I know is I'm likely to catch hell for this if this operation gets out of hand." Stacy said as she searced the drawers of the desk. Crap. No keycards. Of course things couldn't be that easy could they?
The sound of a masculine voice coming caught Stacy's attention as Adrian dove under the desk. Deciding to follow his example she became engulfed in shadows before silently digivolving into the human spirit of Sarumon before moving under the desk. Since this form was only two feet tall there was room for another human to fit under there if Zack would choose to. When the owner of the masculine voice arrived he had company in the form of a female guard.
Though the two of them were conversing that was not the big thing that held Sarumon's attention as she had noticed the keycards clipped to their belts just asking to be snatched. A grin spread across the mischievous demon monkey's face as her tail reached out for one of the keycards. She intended to make good use of her prehensile tail to snatch at least one if not both of the keycards.
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Post by supesman on Dec 13, 2021 17:47:33 GMT
"Stacy was there, so were we. If anything that's the reason why we came. This guy needs to get what's coming to him and pulling the rug out from under his "product" is just the start." Zack said, grinding his teeth and setting his jaw in an expression of rage that was only cut off by the sound of voices down the darkened office floor. Stupid goddamn office culture keeping people here this late. Who the hell should still be working at their desks with the product literal minutes from launching. It made him wonder what the employees here actually DID, considering he knew how the Grandmaster's tech operated.
Marigold shrunk down to her much smaller Puroromon form, Zack grasping her out of the air with one hand and stuffing her into the inside of his jacket with the other. He ducked into a combat roll until he was hiding behind one of the cubicle walls facing the outer wall of the building, peaking around the corners until he spotted the shadows of the chatting employees. His blood boiled as they "innocently" griped and grumbled about the enslavement of innocent beings. if he had his way their "method" to get those keycards would involve knocking these two's heads together but as it was, he caught sight of Stacy's tail moving for the cards and he figured it would be easier if they were focused on something else.
"Buzz buzz" He whispered to Marigold as she came out of his jacket and buzzed out into open air at darting speed. She zipped past the duo of employees, just out of sight and moving too fast for them to track before disappearing behind a corner, taking advantage of the human instinct to follow the insectoid sound so they'd be less likely to spot Stacy going for their cards.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Dec 14, 2021 0:51:25 GMT
"Shoutmon and I have a bone to pick with this Grandmaster douchebag too," Adrian said, sympathizing with those who had also had experiences with the masked menace. "He attacked Shoutmon's son out of the blue and stole his data. If it weren't for this Lekismon named Luna, I don't know if he would've lived through it..."
The hiding places that the group chose were decent enough. Stacy silently evolved to a spider-monkey Digimon form before hiding underneath the desk, followed by Zack and Marigold, the latter of which devolving back to her in-training form. Shi was the most interesting one; he was standing by the now locked door, and after putting his twin Agumons in the V-Pet, he simply pulled a Drax by standing perfectly and utterly still by the door. Would this tactic work out?
"So, what were you even doing, anyways?" the female employee asked. "We were given a half day because of the conference, so why were you still working?"
"I had some last-minute work I felt like I had to do. It wasn't essential but it was going to drive me crazy if I didn't-" The male employee was distracted from his sentence by something moving fast by them. The male jumped and swatted his hands the air a bit. "Damn it! Ugh, I hate flies..."
While the employees were distracted by Marigold, Stacy used that opportunity to extend her tail and grab one of the employees' keycards, and in this case, she would be aiming for the female's since she was closer. As if the stars aligned for her, she was able to grab the key card flawlessly and without either employee noticing. Both Z-Tec employees would then leave through the front door, neither one of them noticing Shi in the process.
"How the heck did they not see you?" Shoutmon asked Shi once the employees were gone.
"Doesn't matter, let's just be glad they didn't," Adrian said. Whoever would use the key card on the computer would then see a map of the entire building, along with a list of rooms, their names and what floor they would be on. "Ooookay, so we have two likely options: the CEO's office on the sixtieth floor of course, but also the research facility on the fifty-fifth floor sounds likely. We can only get up to the fifty-fifth floor via the stairs or the elevator."
"...oh, for the love of Yggdrasil, please don't tell me you're thinking of taking the stairs," Shoutmon said, sounding defeated already.
"Either that or risk being caught by others trying to use the elevator as well. What do the rest of you think we should do?"
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Shi
Official Grader
If you don't make a move, I will.
Posts: 851
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Post by Shi on Dec 14, 2021 2:08:50 GMT
Shi didn't really understand what was going on, considering he was doing his best to not move and all but from what it sounded like his associates had come up with a plan to grab a keycard, one that either worked or didn't fail too horribly considering the fact the nerds, at least he assumed them to be nerds, had left out the front door without having noticed the teenager standing near the door at all. Kicking off the wall Shi let out a yawn as Yuudai and Yasuo came out of the digivice in their Agumon forms. "Wow Shi, nice going. They didn't even see a thing."
"Bit uhh, concerning how so many humans seem to lack spatial awareness." What Yasuo meant by that would be addressed by Shi as Shoutmon asked him how he didn't get noticed at all.
"We live in a world where most of the population doesn't know about large dangerous monsters from another world, you shouldn't be surprised at all on how unobservant humans can be at times." Especially when they didn't know there was a threat at all in the slightest! That helped out a lot. Walking back over to the desk apparently their destination was chosen for them, the 55th floor. Shi let out a small mmh at the sound of that.
Yuudai however seemed excited. "Aww yeah, hey Yasuo I'll race you to the top of the stairs!" Yuudai challenged with a cocky grin and waiving his fist? Claws? His Claw Fist in the air for his brother.
"You're on Yuudai! I'll beat ya no problem!" Yasuo gave his brother a fist bump as he said that, ready and willing to head up the stairs not at all worried about how many there were.
"Guess I'm outvoted so, Stairs for me I suppose." That was three for stairs, though Shi definitely didn't look like someone who should be climbing all those stairs most likely.
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Post by ricochet-Stacy on Dec 14, 2021 2:53:57 GMT
The glow in Sarumon's red eyes intensified as she ground her teeth while also shuddering in rage at what she had heard about Shoutmon's son but somehow she was able to keep her cool as the glow became less intense fading back to normal. She had to stay cool as she didn't want a repeat of what happened last time she was near the Grandmaster. Zack looking like he was one step from twisting the Grandmaster's head off his shoulders was enough so she didn't need to make things worse by going volcanic.
As Sarumon made a grab for the keycard Marigold buzzed past the two guards as if keeping them distracted just long enough for her to pull the keycard under the desk with her and Adrian before passing it to the tamer hidden with her. Then as the two passed Shi showing their poor spatial awareness everyone came out of hiding with Stacy flying near Adrian looking at the computer as it was now accessible to them.
"Hmm, both places have merit but are you sure the stairs are the only way? What about the ventilation system? Surely they reach both floors as well. Look I know not all of us will fit in the ducts but fifty five to sixty floors are quite a hike via stairs and not all of us have the stamina of digimon." Sarumon said scratching her chin. Yes the stairs were going to be a long and slow prospect but it seemed to be the best option for most of the group.
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Post by supesman on Dec 14, 2021 16:34:56 GMT
"Marigold and I would be able to take the elevator shafts but there's no way of knowing if people would still be using them or what floor they'd be on. Unless they've got some spacious maintenance ducts alongside them we might end up stuck halfway up with a big metal box between us and where we need to be." He said, pressing one of his gloved fingers to the image of the shaft on the computer screen, looking for any areas where maintenance crews might be able to move past the elevator car itself along the shaft.
"Splitting the party never sounds like the best idea if we can help it. I say we pick one destination, check it out, and if we don't find what we're looking for there then we bolt to the next one as fast as we can manage. See if you can print out this information, all this office space has to have a printer somewhere. We should keep at least two copies of it on us so we won't get turned around when we're fifty stories up." She said, offering her own advice to the pile. That was both the upside and the downside of so many do-gooders in one place, one of their ideas was bound to work.
"Our easiest bet might just be the elevators. With the cameras disabled we'd just have to clobber whoever's inside, leave them tied up somewhere they won't be found until morning and ride it up to where we need to go. Path of least resistance." Zack concluded.
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Dec 15, 2021 4:18:42 GMT
"Yeah, it's weird that there aren't many Digimon sightings or events on the news minus that one Golden Week," Adrian said "One would think that a large Digimon would cause a big enough commotion because they didn't know about holosuits or something like that. Anyways, it's probably pretty handy to not have much of a presence like that, Shi. Do you and the twins do stealth missions often?"
Now that the group had their destinations in mind, the only question now was how they would get to the top floors: the stairs or the elevator. Yuudai and Yasuo were pumped about racing up the stairs, with Shi going along with the idea just because. Stacy would then suggest the ventilation system, to which Adrian just gave her a blank stare. "Do I seriously look like I could fit in the vents?" he asked with a deadpan tone.
"The vents sound like even MORE work than the stairs, if I'm being honest," Shoutmon added as he sweatdropped.
Marigold was right about one thing, splitting the party was not a good idea. If they were going to check out both of these places, they had to do it together, which was what Adrian initially thought. As Adrian worked to print off the information on the nearby printer that was thankfully there, Zack would talk about the elevator being the best bet. "I don't think all these people are bound to Digimon like the ones you guys fought. I don't feel right beating up random employees that just so happen to be using the elevator."
"We should still check it out though," Shoutmon said to Adrian.
The gogglehead sighed as the info finished printing onto two sheets. "Fine, we'll check out the elevator first."
After the group grabbed the two sheets of printed paper, they would make their way to the elevator that was in the back of the main lobby, a seemingly typical elevator for a building like this. Before anyone could press a button, the doors opened on their own and a ten-year-old boy came out, running right past the group as if they weren't even there and nearly scaring Adrian and Shoutmon to death. "Jesmon Christ Mode, what are human kids doing here?!" Shoutmon asked after the boy had left, his hand on his chest.
"Probably one of the employee's kids," Adrian suggested, "visiting their parent on a day as big as this for them." After that small scare, Adrian and Shoutmon would then enter the elevator and look at the rows of buttons... only to find that every single one was lit up. "You have got to be shitting me."
"I bet it was that kid's fault," Shoutmon scoffed. "That's like one of the lamest pranks ever! I'm definitely not waiting in this elevator now. Rather be tired after taking the stairs than have this thing stop on every floor up to the top."
"Still think the elevator's the fastest way?" Adrian asked Zack. "Because I'm with Shoutmon on this."
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Shi
Official Grader
If you don't make a move, I will.
Posts: 851
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Post by Shi on Dec 22, 2021 1:47:20 GMT
Shi just gave a shrug at the part about not knowing why digimon weren't as well known, Adrian's guess was as good as his. Though as for if they did stealth missions often Shi just shook his head no. "Nope, that was probably more luck then skill. Though as my dad always tells me better to be lucky then skillful sometimes." Aside from the usual dangerous stuff that happened around Shi he was usually pretty lucky.
Then came the part about the airvents which Shi just shut down instantly. "Yeah not an option for me, I could probably fit but I'm claustrophobic. Yuudai I swear if you mention Santa Claus I'm going to smack you." Shi said without even looking at the Agumon, sure enough his mouth was open and he seemed like he was totally about to ask that but thought better of it almost instantly.
Then came the so called path of least resistance, Shi had doubts that was the path with the least resistance, technically speaking that path was back out the way they came. Though that other path with some resistance was also blocked off by some kid doing one of the most kid things Shi had seen in a while.
"Alrighty then, stairs it is then. Lets go Yuudai!" Yasuo egged his brother on who responded in kind.
"Yeah, Shi here we go!"
"We could still climb the elevator sha- oh this is happening." The two energetic Agumon would then pick the tamer up and make a beeline for the stairs before anyone could stop them, seems they were pretty dead set on racing each other up the stairs. Also now Shi was being carried along for the ride, fun times.
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Post by ricochet-Stacy on Dec 22, 2021 2:06:56 GMT
"Stairs are fine for me if the elevator idea doesn't pan out. I was just worried that not all of you could make it all the way up to where we're going." Sarumon said as it seemed that not everyone was built for being able to use the vents but that was okay as long as they were fairly quiet. Stacy snickered at Shi's interaction with one of his partners. No Shi was definitely not Santa Claus. "Look. Being a demon spider monkey I don't exactly look like one of Santa's elves now, do I?" Sarumon managed to say before snickering again. "Besides it looks like the owner of this company would be on Santa's naughty list."
Off to the elevators the group then went when Sarumon picked up an odd but familiar scent in her nostrils. She then said "Hey guys, I may sound crazy but is anyone else picking up the scent of children?" She didn't dislike children by a long shot but this could make things harder. That and it appeared most wouldn't be able to smell other humans so her words may of seemed odd.
When Adrian and Shoutmon checked out the elevator, Sarumon peeked in as well seeing that all buttons of the elevator had been pressed. Joy. "Stairs it is then." Then Shi was lifted by his partners and the two Agumon dashed for the stairs as if racing each other while carrying their tamer.
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Post by supesman on Dec 22, 2021 16:10:59 GMT
Zack just rolled his eyes. he couldn't help but smile, shaking his head. Being a father himself he knew exactly what sort of things children would do, especially when left unsupervised on a sugar high of adrenaline and excitement.
"You know, there's one options we haven't considered that might make us seem much less conspicuous. I mean, the helpers ARE just digimon after all. Granted they move like robots and it freaks everyone out but still. People would be much less willing to question it if, when we see normal employees, all the digimon start acting blank and follow along. We're not exactly dressed like employees and it wouldn't fool security staff for a second. But it might give us some much needed time next time we run into a clock puncher." he said, shivering at even suggesting the thought. The idea of watching Marigold buzz along as if she didn't have her personality, even in pantomime, was chilling, but it was at least an idea. he started climbing the stairs bringing up the rear. he was the biggest wall of meat in the party, as far as humans were concerned anyway so he wanted to be the one that was covering the back side should something hit the fan on their way up.
"Kinda weird that a building this side would only have the one elevator in the building don't you think?" Marigold said, asking her father the innocent question, more as a matter of curiosity than anything.
"Investors, probably wanted to save on install costs until product launch. Feel bad for the employees."
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Post by Adrian Boriker on Dec 24, 2021 1:23:11 GMT
"Can't always rely on luck though," Adrian said in response to Shi's dad's saying. "Always gotta be prepared for whatever comes your way." There were plenty of times were Adrian and Shoutmon got lucky themselves, and that luck managed to get them out of some pretty tight spots in the past. But that luck always just came out of nowhere, and they had just as high of a chance of being unlucky as well.
Well, thanks to a certain snot-nosed kid the elevator was now out of commission. The stairs would be the way they go, it seemed. Yuudai and Yasuo would pick up Shi and dash to the service stairs, leaving the others needing to play catch up. "If these stairs are how I imagine them, then they'll probably be a bit too cramped for Digivolution or flying."
As they head for the stairs, Zack proposed that they have the Digimon act like the Helpers in order to appear less conspicuous as they traversed the building. "Judging by those two Agumon up there, I don't think they'd handle standing still all that well. But it's not a bad idea."
Upon entering the service stairs area, Shi, Yuudai, Yasuo, and soon the rest of the group would see just how many stairs they would have to go up. The stairs went up to fifty-five, and they had to climb them ALL up. "...ah crap," Shoutmon said as he looked up. "That's a... lotta stairs."
"No one said we couldn't take breaks here and there," Adrian said, trying to sound optimistic. "Just imagine there's a reward at the top for us. Come on, we can do this." And so Adrian and Shoutmon would be the first ones to start climbing the stairs. So far, one floor out of fifty-four!
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Shi
Official Grader
If you don't make a move, I will.
Posts: 851
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Post by Shi on Dec 27, 2021 14:53:19 GMT
It was true you couldn't always rely on luck, Shi totally had something that he could say back to Adrian about being prepared. However that was before he was being whisked away by his two digital brothers up some stairs so the most he could offer was a very blank stare not fitting for someone being literally carried through his problems and a short two finger salute. Yeah his partners didn't seem like they were going to stop as Yuudai literally headbutted the door to the stairs and started his ascent.
Though Shi did hear about the part of them pretending to look like those other helpers, which he would reply from the third flight of stairs as they blew past Adrian and Shoutmon. "I'll just ask them some math problems, that tends to shut them up while they try and solve it." It was the truth, Yuudai and Yasuo were a bit more focused on getting up the stairs rather then try and come up with a counter to what Shi was saying, it took some work carrying Shi after all!
"The only reward I need is proving I can handle this!" Climbing stairs was nothing for the hyper active battle loving Yuudai! He literally had enough energy to power the house, probably. Shi was most likely just assuming at this point but whatever.
"We've talked to mom about getting him a giant hamster wheel attached to the power grid of the house, power the place for months!" Yasuo joked as he ran alongside his brother, this turned from a race to more of seeing which twin quits first, oh now they were on the fifth, sixth, seventh? Alright I'm done counting now it's time for Shi to talk.
"The only problem would be the cost of feeding either of them afterwards would negate any money we save on power." Shi deadpanned as he pulled out his headphones from his infinite storage cube, put them over his ears and closed his eyes, he was styling his way up these stairs.
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