AMEN XLVII: Who's the Leader, Again?

[Cyber Punk]

[Big Meeting]

"Tut tut, young leader." Lyov clicks his tongue and wags his finger, much like a father chastising his child. "Bad guys always lose. Once we start calling ourselves bad guys, we're setting ourselves for failure... unless, of course you're one of those people that believes he's evil."

Agony speaks up. "You see, Zefir? I'm not evil in the slightest! I just take what I want anytime I want it, and enslave anyone that stands in my way." She chuckles maniacally at Zefir. "The exception is... miss Nicole... she's so dreamy..."

The gentleman assassin momentarily bunches his arms into fists, all four of them (two are hidden in his coat). This lady makes insane people look perfectly sane. "Ahem! As I was saying, Zefir, that will do nicely, thanks. Perhaps now we can talk about the specifics?"

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds

Nephrim smiles up at Agent One. "My room is fully warded against spying, eavesdropping and unwanted prying. I trust Dam'Bul, and he goes where I go. Normally, at least." It is a disarmingly innocent smile. Unusually, Nephrim is not using any of her mind control abilities. Normally that's one of the first things she does, to assess how much she can trust them.

Or rather, why she shouldn't trust him- is he somebody resistant or even immune to mental manipulation, and therefore a dangerous tool that can hide motives of its own, or is he somebody vulnerable to such methods, and therefore not to be trusted with vital information.

[Fenric]

[Misappropriation of Funds]

Agent One certainly has the unflappable confidence of someone who is not at all worried about things such as manipulation. His tight smile is all business: neither welcoming nor chilling, just ... business.

That should certainly suffice, if you are willing to meet there.

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds

"Why should I not? I've been a member for a long time. It is all to my liking." Meaning it's where she feels most comfortable in the whole building. It might not be to Agent One's liking, though.

[Fenric]

Misappropriation of Funds

Agent One nods

Very good. Lead the way, then, if you please.

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds- Nephrim's Room

The route to her room isn't that long, and when they arrive Dam'Bul opens the door to let them in. Within, the room has a large armchair near the door and three wardrobes. There's also a glass-fronted weapons cabinet, and painted in the centre of the room in blood is a large nine-pointed star, each point tipped with a mystic symbol. The room is lit by eight demonic symbols carved into human skulls on a chandelier. Nephrim sits on a stool she pulled from the corner, whilst Dam'Bul stands protectively behind her. "So. Tell me the plan. Then hop." The last two words have her mind control behind it; now she's alone with him, she'll test his mental fortitude.

[Fenric]

[Misappropriation of Funds]

He nods and begins

Dockside Area Rapid Transit - a quasi-governmental authority that matched my former organization merely by coincidence. I did indeed have a few agents there, but merely to keep an eye on the trains.

However, we did learn something useful that we never followed up on: the ticketing system is antiquated, insecure, and handles several million <currency units> each day. My analysis for adding a backdoor to skim from that would result in a steady, difficult to trace revenue stream of roughly one hundred ten thousand <currency units> per day

I will prepare the software package that will make the changes we desire. Then we need to discretely enter the central server building around midnight on a day when they have maintenance scheduled - some observation will be necessary. We will abduct the scheduled maintenance worker and I will deploy our update alongside the scheduled one: this will hide the fact that anything untoward happened.

The worker will then suffer an unfortunate road accident, disposing of him and his laptop and eliminating any evidence from that avenue.

But as the last vibrations of the word "hop" impinge upon his ears, something decidedly mechanical takes notice and cancels the nerve impulses that would indeed have made him hop. One hundred forty three milliseconds later, his Portable Impossibility Excluder becomes active: an enlongated spheroid snaps into being around him, taking in very little space beyond his body. Inside of the exclusion field, the laws of physics are strictly enforced and not only magic but also implausible science fiction simply ceases to be.

His smile becomes ever so slightly more genuine

Touché, madam. I have been wondering how long it would be before someone tested me.

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds

"So we'll infiltrate as an individual with their child. Possibly a family, if you can pretend to be female. Or if I abduct an appropriately aged female for Dam'Bul." She's very interested in the field about him, too. "I wanted to know if you were someone who could resist me. If I could control you, I would find myself unable to trust you with my secrets because others could force you to tell them."

[Fenric]

[Misappropriation of Funds]

Agent One looks thoughtful

An interesting notion. Care is needed that we do not attract attention from those monitoring security cameras, but perhaps that tactic may be even more helpful.

Then a nod

Quite understandable. Apart from a number of surgical adaptations that remove the more aggravating side effects of my standard emotional responses, there is a simple system in place at my brain stem that monitors for external influences and will activate my PIE unit automatically to which the brain monitor is attached.
As to that: I am wearing a seventh generation Portable Impossibility Excluder. It is perhaps easiest to understand as a sort of anti-magic field, though it defeats more than just the arcane techniques colloquially known as magic and was developed from studies of the operation of the extremely powerful abjuration spell Mundane Zone.

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds

Nephrim changes and shifts, her wings shrinking into her back as her hair darkens and lengthens so it falls all the way down her back. Her skin darkens to a pale olive colour, and colour floods into her eyes, making them look more human, with bright blue irises and standard pupils. She also alters her height and build, getting slightly chubbier and taller. Eventually, she appears to be an eight-year-old human girl in every respect, though her toga retains its previous colour and shape. "My skills are limited to children, but most don't notice families as being anything suspicious. I do not appear to be human, either. I could be elven," her ears developing a point, her cheekbones rise and she generally appears elvish, "or orc," she grows tusks and her skin darkens to deep green, her eyes turn night-black and she develops muscles, "or any other race. Though most others require different clothing. I could even appear to be a boy," her hair shrinks back to shoulder-length, her tusks grow notably and develop chips, and her musculature alters slightly.

Nephrim doesn't technically have a gender, but identifies as female and tends to feel more comfortable in female forms. Dam'Bul is likewise genderless, but personally prefers male hosts over female ones, and lacks the ability to change shape like his boss.

[ThePhantom]

Big Meeting

El Cuervo, seeing as the meeting appears to be over, takes a book and starts to leaf though it. Not like it couldn't do its research here as well as elsewhere.

[Zefir]

[Big Meeting]

"Tut tut, young leader." Lyov clicks his tongue and wags his finger, much like a father chastising his child. "Bad guys always lose. Once we start calling ourselves bad guys, we're setting ourselves for failure... unless, of course you're one of those people that believes he's evil."

Agony speaks up. "You see, Zefir? I'm not evil in the slightest! I just take what I want anytime I want it, and enslave anyone that stands in my way." She chuckles maniacally at Zefir. "The exception is... miss Nicole... she's so dreamy..."

The gentleman assassin momentarily bunches his arms into fists, all four of them (two are hidden in his coat). This lady makes insane people look perfectly sane. "Ahem! As I was saying, Zefir, that will do nicely, thanks. Perhaps now we can talk about the specifics?"

[Big Meeting]

Zefir looks mean at Lyov as he shows his 'father' skills. What the hell is wrong with this guy? he's not even here for an hour and already managed to be on the same step of annoying people like Agony. End just then Agony is speaking up. Zefir turns around and his expression is saying that she should shut up. If she is so eager to still speak, she might feel her breath missing like something stole the air to breath, just for a moment. Then he turn back to Lyov.

"You weren't saying that. What is this all about?" he asks, barly holding back his anger. "I guess in your past you never worked with anyone together, right? Or do you maybe have other intentions? Also what specifics do you mean?" His point is that the way to fullfill the task can't be planned straight as things depend on Where, who, when etc. Zefir didn't thought he needs to do that as well.

[Cyber Punk]

[Big Meeting]

Agony is too busy dreaming of doing things with Nicole to care. Also, she's undead, so she won't notice.

Lyov simply smiles. The AMEN leader is barely hiding his anger. Maybe the one who told him to look past the name 'Malicious, Evil and Nefarious' was talking a load of nonsense. And here's this leader who probably hasn't seen what he's seen.

Patience, he tells himself. No need to go jumping to conclusions.

"Is this not an association? It says so in the name of this base. I'm simply attempting to liase with you concerning the plan."

[Fenric]

[Misappropriation of Funds]

Agent One considers a moment, then smirks

Very well: I am quite capable of disguising myself as the mother of this little "family".

The next scheduled maintenance is at midnight on Wednesday. Meet me at the bus stop outside of Park Park at 10:15 pm: the route 503 bus will take us to North Pier Station where we will board the train.

[Earl of Purple]

Misappropriation of Funds

"I shall do as you ask. If this is an ambush, however, my vengeance will be most unpleasant. For you, at least." Nephrim tends to be suspicious, and whilst she herself will not betray another AMENite, she remembers the leadership conflicts between Gordon and Ilpholin.

[Fenric]

[Misappropriation of Funds]

Agent One smirks

I would expect nothing less. Until then...

he nods and moves to leave: there are preparations to be made!

[5a Violista]

[Da Big Meeting]

Once again, due to my fault, Maria's late to an important meeting.

...
The exploding witch shows up late, floating into the room.

[ThePhantom]

[Da Big Meeting]

El Cuervo looks up from its book.

"Ah..a bit late...most of the...talking is over."

[Duck999]

Da Supah Large Meetin'

Filii calmly walks through the door into the room?
Late? Talking? Was there a meeting or something?
Filii looks at the gathered people.
Who's this guy?
He gestures at Lyov.
And why is he back talking so much. It bothers me.
Filii turns to Zefir for answers.

[Zefir]

[Big Meeting]

(( IMPORTANT
For the fact that I currently discuss some things about the Vigil member hunt I would ask you to not do anything in this term.
I' going to post here to get something going after all, which won't be the member hunting.))

"I see." Zefir says calm. "There you made the mistake. I guess you think this is like an alliance or such. It's more like a company. I took lead of things to get order into these halls and I'm not in the mood to get teached by a stranger. Teach your enemies or servants but leave that there."

"Either way there is something else I..." then some other members enter the place. He nods to El Curvo, since he is right. He doesn't say anything to the exploding witch for now, but looks rather confused as he sees Filli.

"Filli? Why are you here? I haven't heared anything from you and suddendly your here. Did you fail?" Zefir seems not be more intressed in this then answering his questions.

[Duck999]

Big Meeting

Ah yes. About that: I'm not quite sure how to get information. I don't want to try anything too risky, as they probably have security measures. I haven't infiltrated any place with this high security before. Not quite sure how to go about doing it. Any tips?
He pauses.
Oh, and don't worry about me being recognized. I am disguised while there, and I used a different disguise while entering this building. Anyway, do you know any weak spots in their security or anything of the sort. I know nigh nothing about their security.

[Cyber Punk]

[Big Meeting]

Lyov shakes his head. "A leader who won't listen to advice isn't going to lead for long, whippersnapper."

And with an about-turn, he walks out of the office and leaves the base.

[The Alexandrian]

[Spontaneous Training Exercise]

Blasting Over AMEN's PA System: "All bored AMENites, please report to the Main Room for a spontaneous training exercise. I repeat: all bored AMENites, please report to the Main Room for a spontaneous training exercise."

Or else!

[ThePhantom]

[Spontaneous Training Exercise]

El Cuervo closes the book it was going through. Still no answers to its question, so a change of pace will do. El Cuervo puts the book down, and flies into the main room.

[Cyber Punk]

[Entrance]

Agony makes her way to the entrance of AMEN, having sensed Nicole nearing its gates. She's been bored with nothing to do, and she has missed her mistress...

[The Alexandrian]

[Entrance]

Unbelievable! Nicole forgot to pack explosives! She forgot to pack explosives, but she remembered to pack tranquilizer darts, a five pound block of swiss cheese, and a giant mallet! Ugh! How's she supposed to blow a giant cat to smithereens if she doesn't have any explosives? Now she has to trek aaaaall the way back to her room to fetch a few blocks of high grade moldable explosive ordinance. Stupid Sphinx! It can go climb a tree for all Nicole cares! Sacred artifact her rear end! If it thinks it can get off scot-free with blocking her sun while she's sunbathing, it has another thing coming!

*Creeeeeak!*

*Opens door!*

[Cyber Punk]

[Entrance]

"MISTRESS!"

Agony squeals like a little girl and tackleglomps Nicole before she can get into the base. Then she starts peppering her face with kisses! "I missed you, mistress!"

[Zefir]

Big Meeting

Ah yes. About that: I'm not quite sure how to get information. I don't want to try anything too risky, as they probably have security measures. I haven't infiltrated any place with this high security before. Not quite sure how to go about doing it. Any tips?
He pauses.
Oh, and don't worry about me being recognized. I am disguised while there, and I used a different disguise while entering this building. Anyway, do you know any weak spots in their security or anything of the sort. I know nigh nothing about their security.

[Big Meeting]

Lyov shakes his head. "A leader who won't listen to advice isn't going to lead for long, whippersnapper."

And with an about-turn, he walks out of the office and leaves the base.

Big Meeting

Zefir just shakes his head when Lyov.

"It's not the words, it's the way you tell them that bothers me." Then he shrugs as he leaves.
Then he turns to Filii.
"The how shouldn't be that much of a problem. Just take part on their tasks. I guess they do things peple outside of the organisation don't know. Ask the boss how you can help or else."

The Meeting is now official over

[The Alexandrian]

[Entrance]

*Tackleglomp!* "Eep!" *Ka-thud!*

Agony! Show some restraint, missy! You're in public, and you can't just jump Nicole out of nowhere and expect her to -

...

Nicole, stop unbuttoning that this instant! You have a Sphinx to blow to kingdom come! You, uh -

Stop tickling her! This isn't helping anyone!

[Cyber Punk]

[Entrance]

Agony giggles and giggles as her bare skin is tickled by her loving mistress. She throws her arms around Nicole and clings on for dear life, one hand weakly pushing the invading tickly fingers.

In return, she plants a kiss on Nicole's neck and nuzzles up to it, much like a pet does to its owner. "My mistress. I love you, mistress."

Then the inevitable that Nicole might have been dreading: "Will you please hurt me, mistress? I've been a bad girl. *giggle*"