Payback Part I
Note: This job was done after epilogue 8. Just FYI.
Posted by "Drillman.exe"
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Name: Moe Fortis
Region: Arc City, Netopia
Offered Price: 50,000 Z
Job Description: Need some help tracking down a certain net-criminal. Received rumor she was seen in the West Netopian Undernet often in the last few weeks. The navi must be deleted and the operator apprehended.
Personnel Requested:
-Navi is known to have debilitating effect on male navis. A female navi may be beneficial.
-Someone with good tracking skills, preferably.
-Preferably an operator that's a good fighter. (Operator of enemy navi is skilled in martial arts)
-Darkness power may be necessary to reach the UnderSquare where the info leads.
*We find Drillman returning to the board, looking around, then mumbling things about "lazy asses" and "should be begging to take his job"*
Drill Man: Moe, you do realize we could probably sucker the NetGuardians into helping us out for free?
Moe: The "no questions" thing appeals to me. But if they're still not willing to help, I guess we'll have to take her out on our own.
Drill Man: Well, I think we've waited around long enough. Save yer cash, we're taking her out solo.
*Drillman was just leaving when Windman and Sparkman showed up*
Spark Man: Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting. We did get your request. And yeah, Search, Shade or someone should've been here by now; it's not like 'em to keep clients holding the bag. So they must all be out on another mission.
Wind Man: *whispering to Spark Man* Are they really?
Spark Man: *whispering* Hell if I know. Probably not. Just run with me on this. *turns to Drill Man* Anyway, your asking price is pretty reasonable. We're your service if you're willing to go for us instead.
Drillman: Oh, people DO work here? Well, I guess you two will have to do. If anything, I could use the meat shields.
Moe: Alright, I'm not going to hesitate on this. I want to get my hands on that bitch's ass!...er, I mean...not like THAT of course.
Drillman: Don't deny it. Deep down, you DID mean it like that.
Moe: *groan* Look, we all have to ignore the way she looks. Just keep thinking about revenge. She killed you remember?
Drillman: Trust me, I know my priorities. *adresses his mercenaries* Alright, I'll explain what we're looking for on the way. First we have to get to the Undernet. I scouted ahead earlier and made a shortcut.
*Drillman holds his left arm out to his side and gives the drill a spin. A wormhole opens up leading directly to the Undernet*
Drillman: What WE need to do is figure a way into the Square, but since the place is a hideaway for DarkChip junkies nowadays, there's a sort of barrier that only lets Dark Dorks through. I figured your Shademan could get in easily, but since it's us, we'll have to figure out something more "creative". Alright then, shall we? *starts to climb through the hole*
Spark Man: Drag, I don't have dark chips, and I don't think Wind does either.
Wind Man: 'Fraid not, no.
Spark Man: You sure you can't just drill-*spots a navi heading to the square* Never mind. I got an idea.
*Spark Man cloaks himself and runs up behind the navi*
Spark Man: Do you mind? *fries the navi with a blinding spark wave*
Navi: Looking for trouble, are ya?
*the navi retaliates with a darksword, but since he can't see where Spark Man is, he doesn't even come close*
Spark Man: Night night!
*Spark Man animates the navi's shadow, which slices him severely with its own darksword. Badly wounded, the navi collapses in a heap, and Spark grabs some of the navi's dark chips*
Drill Man: Good work Sparky. I won't touch the stuff personally. You can open the barrier for us though. And trust me, I already tried drilling through. Dark Barriers are tougher than I expected.
But luckily, we don't actually have to slaughter anyone yet. We just need to get in there and ask for information. The navi I'm looking for has apperently been buying a lot of DarkChips here lately. Hopefully in a moment we'll also know where to send our operators to meet up.
Spark Man: Sounds like a plan. I'll get the door.
*Spark Man cloaks himself and passes through the barrier. Once he's through, he lowers the barrier*
Spark Man: *reappearing* We're in.
*The Square was not so much a square, but a Zig-Zag. or rather a "W" as some would decribe it. Several bunkbeds were set up accross the platform, each one had a Heel Navi laying listlessly on top of it, holding a Dark Chip with its Dark Aura smoldering. Drillman approached the one coherent looking navi in the Square, who was standing behind the counter at the other end.*
Navi: Looking to forget your troubles? Ho ho ho. First one's free you know.
Drill Man: You're the "Doc" aren't you?
Navi: Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Ho ho hooo.
Drill Man: But you are.
Doc:...yes, yes I am.
Drill Man: Right, I'm looking for Shan. I heard she was buying DarkChips here lately. Don't tell me she's one of these emaciated addicts.
Doc: Could you be more specific? We get a lot of crackwhores coming through here.
Drill Man: Well, she wears black, has long black hair, big knockers-
Doc: HOOO! Yes, I know her. I don't think she's been buying the chips for herself though. Every week she comes in with a ton of Zenny and walks away with a ton of Dark Chips. She's probably dealing them herself somewhere.
Drill Man: Any idea where?
Doc: No clue. Ho ho ho.
Drill Man: Really no clue? Or you have a clue but it'll take some persuasion to get it out of you?
Doc: Really no clue.
Drill Man: Well, just to make sure, Sparkman? Windman? Some persuasion if you please. *revs up his own Drills*
Doc: Come now, you don't think I'd be a DarkChip dealer without some muscle do you?
*The Doc snaps his fingers and several large Black Heel Navis walk out of the shadows, cracking their knuckles*
Moe: DrillArm3 x4, download!
Spark Man: Ahhhh! Oh, it's those cheapo, assembly-line, Wal-Mart navis. *snort*
Nathan: *fishing battlechips out of his pocket* You sound confident about this.
Spark Man: Why shouldn't I? We've tangled with just as many of these Wal-Mart clods if not more when Terry had his Hentai Trolls take over our page. We're 26 and 0.
Nathan: Touche'. *downloads an aluminium stage chip*
*Three of the navis notice that their panels are replaced glistening aluminium plates and notice that Spark Man is glowing with energy*
Spark Man: 'Bout to be 29 and 0 now. *unleashes a blinding spark shock wave and a spark mine, severely electrocuting the trio*
Nathan: Keep your eyes on Dr. Strangelove. He'll piss himself and hightail it when the tide turns.
Spark Man: *fires another spark mine at the trio deleting them* Hasn't slipped my mind.
*Windman floats behind Drillman and uses his Fan ability to suck two of the navis towards them, and right into Drillman's weapons.*
Drill Man: Nice! Teamwork!
*Two others are being sucked in but they counter with FighterSwords before they reach the DrillArms*
Drill Man: Gah! These odds are a little unfair...for you!
*Drillman deletes the two weakened navis from before with his remaining DrillArms then flies at the other two with Drillmode. He's followed by some of Windman's birds. After bowling over both of them, Drill reverts and spins around and attacks one of the enemies with a Tornado chip while Windman does the same with the other enemy. The double Tornado deletes them both.*
Doc: Damnit, do you really have to eradicate my bodyguards? I really don't know anything...well, the guy in the old Message Board room might know. That's the best I can do for you.
Drill Man: I knew you were holding out on us. Just for that, we're not stopping.
Doc: Damnit!
*Drillman chucks Howitzers at the remaining BodyGuards, who are now trying to escape.*
Spark Man: *fires two Arrow 3s, deleting two more navis* 31-0, now.
*remaining beat-up navis keep running, but don't far before Wind Man pulls them back with his fan ability and summons a flock of birds that rip them apart*
Wind Man: Piece of cake!
Drill Man: Let's see what the idiot at boards has to say.
*the group step into the board room and surround its sole occupant*
Navi: Heeheehee. How may I help you?
Spark Man: Well first of all, you can stop laughing like that. Second, you could tell us where some chick named Shan's at.
Navi: Ah, the best 60,000 zenny I've spent! She should be in Undernet 5...
Drill Man: Now we're talking, thanks.
Navi: ...or is it Undernet 6? Oh I could never keep them straight! Heeheehee!
Wind Man: *starts firing tornadoes* Alright you sonuva-
Spark Man: *puts his electrode on his shoulder* Maybe you'll get it straight if I refresh your memory. *holds out two dark chips*
Navi: She's in Undernet 6 by the entrance to Dark Earth! Now gimmegimmegimme!
Spark Man: Here ya go. *tosses him the chips*
Drill Man: We got what we came for. Let's get outta here.
*the trio exit the square and leave the navi craddling the chips and saying "my precious" over and over". As they exit the square and head towards Undernet 6, Spark Man tosses aside all the dark chips on him*
Wind Man: So what do you think your girlfriend is doing with those chips?
Drill Man: I don't care, I'm just interested in revenge. She can't be involved in anything too big anyway, at least not any more.
Spark Man: Any more? We do have a "no questions" policy, but could you at least tell me what your definition of "big" entails? I want to know what we might be walking into.
Drill Man: I don't mind sharing this now, but she used to be in the WWW. Since that's defunct now, she must be on her own. I thought she may have been deleted along with the rest of the organization back during that Alpha incident, but apparently not. I can only guess she's resorted to DarkChip dealing to get by.
Wind Man: You don't think the WWW could have survived and she's working on reviving it?
Spark Man: Ah who cares? Even if the WWW is coming back, it can't be anything more than backwater at this point. This mission is basically about picking off a straggler.
Drill Man: That reminds me, her operator must be somewhere near the server for the Undernet that connects to Black Earth...that's in Sharo damnit! Moe! How soon do you think you can catch a plane to Sharo?
Moe: Wait, you better be damn sure about this. If she didn't move to the Demon Waters Base with Wily, I figured she would have been left behind in Netopia, why would she be in Sharo now? Maybe she's operating from a more remote location. Besides, I don't have nearly enough money for a plane ticket now.
Drill Man: Well fine. When we find Shan we should be able to determine Ami's location accurately. She'd just better be close by.
Spark Man: Hold on, I think Moe's right. Let's be sure that this info's legit. I'll be back.
*Spark Man cloaks himself and goes over to the knocked-out navi and grabs his last dark chip and his zenny. A few minutes later, he reappears looking quite frustrated*
Spark Man: No good, I persuaded him as much as he could take, and he still stuck with his story.
Drill Man: Ah damnit.
Spark Man: So, can we drill to Sharo's Undernet or we gonna have to walk it?
Nathan: *to himself* So they've butted heads against the WWW too, huh? *glances at his pocketed left hand*
Drill Man: I've never been to Sharo's Undernet before, so we'll have to take the long way and walk to the other side of the world.
*And so they walked back to Netopia, took the cyber-metro east until they got to the World Network Hub in Colliseum city, took the path linking to Netfrica, found the path in there that linked back to Sharo, and then made it accross the rail with the help of Windman's Wind Storm. Then it was just a few steps to the link to the Undernet. The journey took about seven minutes.*
Spark Man: Damn! Walking halfway accross the world takes a long time!
Wind Man: We probably could have gotten here sooner if we didn't have to stop to ask for directions.
Drill Man: I probably should have asked that guy at the Hub if the Undernet path in Sharo was accessible to flyers, we could have saved that two minute trek through Netfrica. Alright, I guess it's just straight through to Black Earth now.
*the trio enter the link and find themselves at Sharo's Undernet*
Spark Man: Ah damnit, I forgot how senseless the layout is here.
Wind Man: At least I have a vague idea where we need to go. I think we stumbled into Undernet 6 before when we were just started and looking for navis to join our syndicate.
Spark Man: Yeah, that's right. Lemme go scout ahead and see if there's anything we should look at for.
*Spark Man cloaks himself and runs ahead to the link to Undernet 2 and shortly returns*
Spark Man: Looks clear.
*the trio trudges towards Undernet 2, and make their way to Undernet 3. But halfway through Undernet 3...*
????: Who the hell are you?!
Wind Man: Huh?
*a Heel navi steps foward accompanied by a weatherEX virus and a cirsmashEX virus*
Heel Navi: Nobody comes through here!
Spark Man: Yeah, watch us.
Heel Navi: You wanna play rough, eh? Ya got it! *snaps his fingers and 3 more heel navis appear* You're going down!
*it was a sickenly short fight*
Wind Man: Spark, you said it was clear!
Spark Man: *taking the navi's zenny* No, I said it LOOKED clear! There's a world of difference.
Drill Man: Okay fine, how does it look now?
*Spark Man cloaks himself and scouts the remainder of Undernet 3*
Spark Man: *reappears* ...Looks clear.
*the trio continue to the link to Undernet 6 without further incident*
*at the far end of Undernet6, a shapely female navi in black is tossing handfulls of Dark Chips into the Giant Dark Hole. A black spherical navi with four black orbs surrounding him hovers above the hole. Energy released from the Dark Hole is being absorbed into the spherical navi and his orbs.*
Shan: There, is that enough?
Planet Man: By my calculations, Vector will be 99.9% ready for launch after we feed it this energy. Just one more load should do it.
Shan: Christ! That's what you said last time! Now I have to spend another week virus busting my ass off to buy more! Can't we use something else for that last bit of energy?
Planet Man: We'll see what we can do. At any rate, it's time to return, my balls are full to capacity. I have to shoot off this load.
Shan: Will you PLEASE stop saying that?
*Planetman snickers and starts to hover away.*
Drill Man: You!
*Drillman flies straight up to the platform then transorms and lands*
Shan: Drillman? I heard you got deleted with the rest of the WWW. Let me guess, you decided to join us after all?
Drill Man: I'm not the Drillman you think I am. I only used his ghost data for a body since the Life Virus destroyed mine...with your help of course...
Shan: Heh heh, oh really? You'll have to refresh my memory. We delete navis on a regular basis you know.
Drill Man: I am Fortissimo, you betrayed me and your team to take the easy way out. Now finally, you will pay.
Shan: Hah! Fortissimo? No wonder your panties are in a twist, downgrading to a body like that, who wouldn't be?
Drill Man: Oh, this body suits me just fine, thanks. I hope you don't mind, but I'm not going to be fighting you alone...
*Sparkman uncloaks from behind Shan and Windman swoops down from above*
Drill Man: I figured it was only fair considering how YOU prefer to fight.
*Shan simply smirked and drew her whip as the three navis began to attack her*
Spark Man: Hold yer horses, guys! *turns to Shan* Ah, damn you're fine! Some of these female navis are something to look at, but you, you're in a league of your own!
Drill Man: Spark...
Spark Man: *points to the whip* And you're into kinky stuff! I like that in a woman!
Wind Man: Spark, we'd like to delete the she-bitch now.
Spark Man: Quiet! Both of you! You're everything I want in a woman...
*suddenly, a shadowmaker comes up from behind Shan and ensnares her with its own whip*
Spark Man: Still, I'm not into deleted navis, or soon to be deleted navis, and you ain't an exception. *fires two spark mines at her*
Wind Man: ...Spark, never do that again.
Spark Man: Hey, I had to distract her somehow. I just hope the shadow's whip will hold. *fires another spark mine*
*It doesn't. Shan turns into a shadow and slips out of the whip's hold. She dashes through Drillman and then quickly unleashes a charged laser whips attack. She swings the whip towards her enemies, which extends and rapidly oscellates accross the whole platform, dealing several hits to all three of them. After that she does an agile leap to the platform above them as her Shadow defense wears off.*
Shan: Aren't you going to help?
Planet Man: *who hasn't gotten far* I can't do much while I'm carrying this energy. Here. *summons two tiny DefenseCraft Spaceships* Maybe those can help you. I'm sure you'll do just fine against them anyway. Or not. Makes no difference to me, really.
Shan:...you are SO deleted when I get back.
Planet Man: IF you get back. Anyway, the energy's getting cold! Toodle-oo! *flies away to the exit of the area*
Shan: Hmph! Ami, make with some chips.
*As Drillman is about to fly into her, she sidesteps and throws an Engetsu Kunai, cutting him up as he flies by. Windman gets up close for a Round Tornado, but she uses a BodyBurn to tackle him then leap off of him onto the next platform even higher up. Sparkman is still on the platform below with the Dark Hole trying to hit her with SparkShots as she moves around.*
Spark Man: Great, they're getting too high up for me. They're probably not going to be able to herd her down here anytime soon either, she looks pretty quick.
Drill Man: *drilling into a wormhole to attack her from behind* Moe, now's our chance to find out where Ami's hiding.
Moe: Got it. *starts up a tracking program*
*Meanwhile, Windman gets held up by the laser fire from the DefenseCrafts. Shan receives a Variable Sword and begins the technique to unleash the Quadruple Elemental Sonic Boom from it towards her opponents.*
Spark Man: *So...what's the plan now?
Nathan: I dunno, it seems kinda dumb to leave this unguarded.
Spark Man: Yeah, but Round Boy just beat feet. There's no sense in just staying down here while everyone else has the fun.
Nathan: Still seems kinda dumb to me, but those guys probably can't take her by themselves...
Spark Man: *cloaks himself and runs up stairs* Exactamundo.
Nathan: Alright. Need any chips yet?
Spark Man: *fires two spark mines, one at a defense craft, deleting it, and one at Shan hitting her in the chest* Nah I'm cool. *cloaks himself*
*Windman destroys the other ship with his Fujin Racket, blowing the wreckage straight back at Shan, hitting her in the shoulder*
Shan: Gah! Fat lot of help those were. *Shadowifies to defend from Drillman's DrillArm attack.* I won't let these 3 against 1 odds overwhelm ME though! *Uses Neo-Variable Sword to slice Drillman and Windman with a Double LifeSword technique.*
Drill Man: Agh! No, you WILL pay for what you've done! *triggers a MotherQuake PA*
Shan: Oh please. Float Shoes on!
*Shan starts to float over the shaking ground, she nimbly leaps around, over, and under all the falling boulders and tries to attack Drillman with her whip, but is knocked back with a SparkWave*
Shan: Stop getting in my way you fat ugly spark plug! *Activates a Hell Boomerang PA, sending three powerful Boomerangs at Sparkman*
Spark Man: Uh-oh! *tumbles to one side, barley avoiding the Hell Boomerangs*
Nathan: Wood chips! Icky! *downloads an anti-wood chip and totem 3 chip*
Spark Man: *uses the anti-wood chip* We'll have none of that now! Still, this is the most fun I've ever had!*cloaks himself*
Nathan: Yeah, I can walk away a happy man; she's freakin' pissed at us. Did you see the look in her eyes? She hates you!
Spark Man: *reappears behind Shan and sets down a totem 3* I'll have you know that a certain navi finds me sylvette and a sexay beast! *does a pelvic thrust and cloaks himself again*
Shan: *whips at where Spark Man was* Yeah, probably Fortissmo here- AGGGHH!*gets torn up by another Drill Arm*
Moe: Found her. She's not in Netopia or Sharo, she's in Electopia, Den City, Kotobuki District....Planetman was in there, is the WWW really still active? That must be where they are. If only I could get over there.
Ami: *speaking through Moe's PET* Don't bother trying, I wouldn' be here by the time you got here.
Moe: The hell?
Ami: Yeah, I noticed your tracking program. Cute. Look, just give it up. In just a few days, you'll have a lot bigger things to worry about than your revenge. The whole world will. Oh, and just FYI, this has nothing to do with the WWW. You'll see who the real threat is in a few days.
Moe: Damn you, what are you talking about?
Ami: Later. Shan, we have better things to do than fight these losers. Just distract them long enough for you to Jack Out.
Shan: Forget it, it's been months since we had this much fun. Send me more chips!
Ami: I make the calls here. We'll have all the fighting you could ask for after the launch.
Shan: Send me a chip dammit!
Ami: Fine. *downloads an Escape chip*
Shan: ...You bitch. *disappears*
Drill Man: No! We lost her.
Moe: I can't pick her up on the scan. She's logged off.
Wind Man: Sooo, I guess the job's over now?
Spark Man: Yeah, it's about time we got paid.
Moe: What?! Hey! The job's not over, they're still at large.
Spark Man: Well I believe we were hired to persue up to this point. We also performed valuabe services and the success of the mission was out of our control. I think we deserve full pay.
Moe: Look, I'll pay half now. *uses his PET to wire 25000 Zenny to the DLM headquarters.* You'll get the rest WHEN Ami is in custody. I'm going to use the other half to buy a plane ticket to Electopia right now. But I should make it up again in a few days during the job. How does that sound?
*Meanwhile, at the DLM homepage, a 25000Z Data Crystal materializes in the middle of the conference table.*
Cold Man: Weeell...it must be my birthday!
*back in the Undernet...*
Nathan: Damn straight. The job's still on if there's a WWW bitch to put on ice. I don't like the way she mentioned that real threat crap.
Spark Man.exe: Guess yer right. Besides, I can't wait to see the look on her face when I show up again.
Nathan: But yeah, that's a good of plan as any. I'll meet you over there. Electopia's my kicking grounds, and there's no point in staying here in Netopia anymore. And Spark Man? Send this e-mail to Moe pronto.
Spark Man.exe: What is it? *reads over the e-mail*
Moe, I'm about to do something I've hardly ever...never done for any of my clients. You're not the only one who's butted heads against WWW, and not much would thrill me more gratefully than to send them all to hell in a handbasket. I won't go into the details now. But consider the rest of the job on the house. Make up whatever excuse you want to calm down Pharon and Wind Man, I'll back you up anyway I can. The offer also stands for any other WWW guys you want me to wax in the future.
Nathan Bernhard
Spark Man.exe: Y-you can't be seriou-
Nathan: Just do it!
Spark Man.exe: Sigh...you got it.*sends e-mail*
*Moe reads the note and barely cracks a smile, breaking his "tough guy" façade, he breathes a sigh of relief, partly because of the note's reassurance and partly because nobody was around to see his smirk.*
Moe: We'll meet at the Kotobuki Metroline station at 3:00 PM tomorrow. Even if they're gone, we should still be able to find a clue to where they're headed.
*Not wasting a second, Moe grabs his jacket and heads for the Airport.*
*Meanwhile, in DenCity's Kotobuki District, in the basement of the town's Network Administration Building, where the server for Kotobuki Square sits running smoothly ina dimly lit room...*
Ami: So can we make up the last bit of energy by tomorrow?
Scuzzy: Sorry no. The thing's been designed to run on Dark Energy from that Hole. The best we can do by tomorrow is scrape up some Dark Chips from elsewhere.
Ami: Well great. I guess we have those junkies at the old hideout to thank for that. "W" Square only became a DarkChip den so we could bring its profits into the Vector Virus, but thanks to those left-over WWW losers, Fortssimo and quite possibly the Officials are going to find us.
*A large man in a lab coat is tooling around with the server's inner-workings*
Dr.Docman: We'll just move. I can get this thing hooked up to a wireless modem and a portable generator. We'll re-locate before tomorrow morning.
Ami: Won't the townspeople notice we're taking their server away?
Dr.Docman: They think we're doin' maintenace onnit. If anybody asks, we're takin' it to uhh...get it fixed.
Scuzzy: No way, the Officials could already be on to us. We don't have time to be relocating. Look, I'll have Jet start searching for the DarkChips right now. Shan deserves a rest from that job now.
Ami: Oh, how sweet of you to offer to help out when the job is 99% done!
Scuzzy: You know very well I've had my work cut out for me here. Well, with any luck, vector will be loose before they come knocking on our door, and if they do, you two could probably use your fighting skills to hold them off long enough.
Dr.Docman: Oh that'll be nice. Protectin' the most unstoppable force on the net with our two flimsy bodies here in reality. That'll be a great ending to a story that won't get a beginning.
To Be Concluded...
