Double Cross: City L

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R-9 Pilot

R-9 Pilot

Edgeknight
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Beginner
  2. Elementary
  3. Intermediate
  4. Adept
  5. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
  2. Futanari
  3. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Scifi, anime, mecha, magical girl, superhero, cyberpunk, yuri
City L. Or, as some call it, "Laboratory City." An ultra-modern metropolis situated on an artificial island off of Japan's coast, City L is a mecca of scientific advancement and technology. In the city, the Renegade Virus is one of the major topics of study, and its nature is no secret to the residents, most of whom are Overed or have the potential to awaken as Overed if the circumstances arise. The UGN has relaxed their information control within the confines of the city, creating a unique microcosm in which ordinary people and Overed may interact freely. Some within the UGN feel that such a bold move is dangerous to the status-quo. Others feel it's how things should be, and many of City L's residents can't help but feel that it might be that the biggest experiment in the city is the city itself.

The prevalence of high tech research, often aided by Overed, has given the city technology years ahead of the mainland, and possibly the rest of the world. Security robots patrol and sweep the streets. Medical facilities are pristine and state-of-the-art. The standard of living is overall quite high. And, of course, if one is interested in research, one can find funding and a place to work in just about any area.

The city's population is an interesting mix, with many people brought in from around the globe to bolster the Renegade research which goes on there. Additionally, many children who become Overed or tested for high potential for their Renegade to become active have been sent to the city as students, attending one of the many schools focused on the training and development of Overed powers. The entire city bustles with people, including its large adolescent population. The large number of Overed students has led to the form of a city-wide public morals committee which serves as something of a volunteer police force. Although they have no authority to apprehend criminals and are instructed to leave violent crime to the professionals, the students do an admiral job of policing their own.

Of course, not all is well in City L. It has its share of poor or disused districts, often home to delinquents and gangs, either of the normal sort or more rarely Overed (or worse, Gjaums) who have no interest in bending their powers toward any common good. Rumors abound of dark dealings and a darker underbelly of forbidden research taking place in the city, some of it approved by the city administrators themselves...

Welcome to City L.
This is the world of traitors.

We open on a typical day. No scenario is afoot, and all scenes are "Free." Take the time to establish your characters and interact with one-another.
 
The alarm clock sounded. "Huh? That's weird. I don't have school today." Michiyo reached over and slammed on the snooze button. Her college schedule was made to allow her to have every other day off, so why did it go off? Just then, multiple hands started to nudge her.

"Wake up Michiyo"
"Yah, wake up~"
"Huh?" Michiyo looked up, and saw four versions of her older sister Yuna. None of them were real of course, Yuna was busy being courted by her failure, loser, dumb, buffoon of a boyfriend. "Oh, it's you guys. Did you set my alarm?"
"Of course we did, you made a promise after all!"
"Yah, you promised to spend all day with us!"

"Ahh, fine! But I still need to go out and grab us some supplies, okay?" Michiyo, not even bothering to try to talk them out of it, picked herself up from her bed. She outspread her arms as her 'older sisters' began to change her clothes, complementing everything they could about Michiyo as they did. She made her way to the kitchen with her four followers and sat down on the dinner table. Yet another Yuna appeared, this time in an apron. "Here's your breakfast for today, my favorite little sister." Michiyo had five other Yuna clones, three of those were maids who cleaned the house, and the other two helped her bathe. All were created from her blood and acted like any normal human, but for obvious reasons stayed inside the house. At best she would bring one with her if she felt lonely or wanted to go to the movies.

Finished with her breakfast, Michiyo left to grab food and other things. As she made her way out the door, she could hear ten voices wishing her a safe trip, all of them trying to fit in the rather narrow hallway to catch the last sight of Michiyo before she leaves. As it turns out, having ten people in one house leads to the need to constantly restock. "Since I'm already outside, might as well take a stroll through the city." She said aloud to herself as she wandered the streets.
 
"Just what was the expression..."

As Tenchi walked through the streets with his notebook in hands and backpack full of magazines about overseas countries that speak portuguese or anything closely to that. His dedication was something to admire if you were his parents or a teacher, but his real motivation behind all this was to...

"... isso parece um ninho de rato. Did I got it right?"

At the end of the street Tenchi notices a flame burning the corpse of a girl. With a better examination it's really a girl... with scarlet hair. Who would she be? The boy shake his head and tried to focus on his magazine, something like that was way way out of his league.
 
A hand wiped across the mirror to clear away the steam that had clouded its surface and as Mada stared at his reflection for a moment before he looked away with a sigh. He toweled himself off and got dressed briskly in a plain grey t-shirt and some black track pants. He hadn't finished drying off his rather long hair when he stepped out of the showers fully dressed though. While doing so, he gathered his belongings from a nearby bench and began to make his way back to his home in the UGN complex.

He greeted the few others that he passed by politely, but did little more than that as he hurried along his way. It was a rare treat for him that he was being allowed some free time today, and he'd even been granted leave. It was a bit surprising given the incident hadn't occurred too long ago, but he supposed it was a sign of trust from those above. Or maybe it was just a test to see if he had actually managed to reign the baser instincts caused by the Renegade back in. As he shut the door to their rather small dwelling, Maida figured it didn't really matter.

In his room he placed what he'd returned with rather neatly in their own spots; the towel was hung up to dry, dirty clothes went into the bin, shower supplies were lined up, etc. A red hoodie was slipped on over the t-shirt and he stepped in front of the mirror to look himself over. He ran a hand through his hair a few times to fix it up, but after that minor adjustment he turned to leave.

It was somewhat refreshing to leave the complex behind because while he didn't hate it by any stretch, its walls did get rather tedious to see day in and day out. Unable to shake the feeling of being watched, Maida tried to not let that bother him as he glanced about and picked a direction to wander off in. There wasn't really much of a plan in his head on what to do. Maybe he'd catch a movie if there was an interesting one being shown or hang out at an arcade if he wandered past one, he certainly didn't really know where things were in the city.
 
Let's see, where do I want to go... Michiyo thought to herself as she wandered about. The movies? No, the only good things that are showing are lovey dovey things that she would watch with a Yuna. The library? No, her sister's boyfriend works there at around this time. Guess, that leaves me with one choice. The arcade! That was here go to place when all of her options were gone.


After a short while, she found herself standing in front of the entrance. Michiyo was about to take enter the building in before stopping herself mid-stride. She looked around rather suspiciously at the people around her, quickly moving her head back and forth to see if there's anyone she noticed. As the saying goes, it is a small world, and it is an even smaller island. She had an image of herself in college as a cool quiet type, not one to enter an arcade. The coast looks clear. She thought as she entered the arcade. Maybe she'll play a light gun game first, then play a claw game around twenty times to get a present for each of the Yunas.
 
It didn't take long for Maida to simply give up his aimless wanderings and pull out his phone to find his way around town. A few moments later, and having dismissed the movie idea for the time being after he had checked out the showings, he turned about to grab himself something to eat before checking out a nearby arcade. He patted about for his wallet for a bit before finally finding it with a small sigh of relief; it would have been fairly embarrassing to sulk back to the complex at having forgotten it.

A few moments later and he walked out of the fast food restaurant with a bag at his side in one hand and a unwrapped half-eaten burger in his other. He glanced about for a few moments to recall how he was supposed to reach the arcade from here. It might have been quicker for him if he had pulled out his phone to make sure, but after a few unnecessary twist and turns he found himself outside the multi-floored haven for the child inside regardless of age. Vibrant lights danced inside and even across the street he could hear the faint sounds produced from the numerous consoles within.

He was about to cross when a mop of vibrant red hair by the building's entrance caught his attention. The person, a female he determined when she glanced around, was someone he recognized though only through his work. He scratched the back of his head as he considered finding somewhere else to hang for the moment; he didn't really feel like running into any colleagues on his day off. As he watched the walk signal flash though, he made up his decision and dashed across the street. It was a fairly large arcade and if he was attentive it shouldn't be too hard to avoid running into the older agent.
 
"Aaahh!"
Takeru woke up to the sound of his sister screaming. "Touka?", he yelled loud enough to be heard downstairs. He panics for a moment, and then he smiled as he realizes what this is all about. I guess I should play along then. He goes out of his bedroom and head downstairs.

"Surprise!"
Touka greeted Takeru as he enters the kitchen. The dining table was already set with a half-burnt omurice with the words "Happy birthday!" written with ketchup on top. "What is this about?", Takeru asked as he pretended to be surprised. "Happy birthday!", Touka greeted him with a warm smile. "I made you my special omurice recipe".
"Gee, thanks", he smiled. "You shouldn't have troubled yourself." After Takeru took a bite she asked, "How was it?"
The rice was cooked . The flavor of the egg wasn't balanced. Too much tomato sauce was added. The salt was .5 mg too much. The sugar was 2 mg short. "It's really good"

"I'm glad you liked it!", She puffed her chest. "I worked really hard on it!". Takeru simply smiled and continued eating.

-------------

After saying goodbye to Touka, Takeru left for his part-time job at the arcade. "Hey, you're finally late", his co-worker Tetsu jokingly said. "Since when is that a good thing?", Takeru asked.

"Well, you always arrived exactly on time for opening so I thought you weren't normal."
"What's not normal is you arriving on time every once in a month"
"Ow, that hurts...", Tetsu frowned which made Takeru laugh. "I was just joking".

"Anyway, imma just go and check out the storage. Guard the register for me, please?", he said and ran off.
"Will do.", Takeru whispered. As he watched the customers who were coming in and out of the arcade, he noticed some familiar faces. Field agents from the UGN, he immediately remembered and understood why they looked so familiar. Knowing that's it's probably their day-off and the last thing they'll want on this day is something or someone related to the UGN, he decided not to interact with them.
 
"Take that! And that! And that!" Michiyo started to yell. She was probably getting too into the game she was playing. Nothing like the original Apartments of the Deceased. She played it using both guns of course, she didn't want someone else joining in on her game and sucking. More importantly, it looked cooler for her to hold both of the guns and tilt them side ways. Michiyo felt like a real action hero doing that. After beating the first game, she decided she would go on to the sequel and so on.

"Cool, this is the one with sub machine guns looking light guns, or is it an uzi? Wait, is there a difference? They both use clips don't they?" It was all the same to her, it's not like she actually used a gun when she fought anyways. She started to spend more time playing the light gun game's sequel, wishing it was as easy defeating Gjaums as it was these zombies.
 
Tired of walking, the boy decided to stop on the nearest café he could find; one that was 40 meters away from the arcade. His wallet just got a little fat from receiving the paycheck the day before, so Tenchi thought on buying something tasty for himself. Neither the cutie waitress who was attending made him change his plans.

"Oh, hi, two stramberry whiped brownies and a mug of chocolate coffee, please."

His classmates always mocked his choice of snacks as those ressembled too much what a girl would ask in a date. How those loners would know that was way ahead his comprehension.

"'Good Boy' would laugh right now..."

When he choose the seat besides the window, arcade in his plain view, and a ghost of a person blinked in his mind. A ghost of his dear friend. Deceased friend.
 
"Hah…" Maida sighed in disappointment, leaning back and slapping his forehead, as he lost yet again. The flashing sliver of red that was his opponent's HP bar seemed to taunt him and he sighed once more before he stood up and walked away after giving the other player a, "Good game," in complement. He trashed the garbage from his food with a nonchalant, but accurate toss into a nearby bin before he glanced around to figure out what he would do next. The disappointment didn't completely ruin his enjoyment of the games, but it was still hard for Maida to smile happily at such a close loss. With that in mind, he wandered over towards the machines that pitted him not against other players but the computers.

He'd been about halfway through a solo playthrough of the Time Crysis game when a familiar voice was heard, albeit it was a bit more boisterous than he was used to. 'Damn she's loud,' he thought as he turned away from the screen to scan the nearby games for the voice's owner, and unsurprisingly he saw her by one of the zombie shoot-em-ups. In spite of his reluctance to meet one of them at the moment, he wasn't about to simply run away because of a colleague's presence. It wasn't like she'd home in on him anyways right? With that in mind, and a helpful vibration from the firearm-shaped controller that he should probably pay attention, Maida refocused on the game. "Oh shit," he hissed in surprise as he realized what that moment of distraction had costed him and he acted frantically to try and salvage this run.
 
Tenchi's choice of café wasn't so coincidental as it looked like; he was in an official mission to find and acquire Ryouta Hamasaki, an "old friend". As rumors and his superiors confirmed, Ryouta was looking for others with powers to increase the numbers at False Hearts, and which was the best place to this end than an arcade?
"I hope that red haired girl don't be his informant or ally..."
 
Scene: Michiyo Nakamura's new mission. @Crab Claws

Flash back to yesterday, just to avoid interrupting current events. Or flash forward to after Michiyo has been called in on her cell phone. Either/or.

Michiyo's been called in to the City's UGN branch office, on official business. Currently, she's in the branch cheif's office, facing Chief Saya Koizumi's formidable desk. The cheif herself liked to keep a neat office, free of clutter and almost free of personal items or effects. The top of her desk was bare, save for the nameplate, telephone, computer, and small dish of hard candies. Its owner was a woman of average height, with pale skin, silver hair, and piercing red eyes. She was dressed in a dark blue suit, and it was business as usual today.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," she began. "Simply put, we've got the beginning of a problem on our hands. A new 'special seminar' has opened its doors in City L, promising to greatly improve students' abilities. Even Overed abilities." She paused to let that sink in. "Preliminary investigation suggests everything is above-board, but we've had an awful lot of reports of unusual activity that seem to somehow trace back to the place. I'd like you to investigate it directly."

She paused again, inviting any questions.
 
Flash Back
A few days before the arcade, Michiyo received a call to report to the branch office.

Another day at clean freak's place. She thought to herself as she was given the information. Saya was always so tidy, it annoyed Michiyo. Too devoid of anything, it was like you could replace only the nameplate and no one would know who this desk belongs to. At least the lady owning the boring desk was pretty to look at. Wanting to try to get a rise out of the chief, she played with her hair and pretended not to listen. Usually Michiyo would just be slightly catty to the chief, but this time she was pissed off, and for good reason.

So this is why she had to waste my precious time with my Yunas for? Go investigate some silly seminar? If those kids are dumb enough to think they can just take a seminar and become great, let them! they'll deserve anything they get. Well, anything to get out of the house I guess.

Michiyo gave an obviously forced smile as she clasped her hands together. "I love that I have the honor of investigating a seminar! Chief Koizumi always picks the best assignments for me to do!" Quickly, she reverted back to her aloof nature. "So what, just grab you info and let you know if something sketchy is going on? You know I'm not one to hold myself back if I see something messed up in there."
 
"Tch…" The prominent scowl faded as he set the report down on his table rather than fling the papers across the room like he wanted to. It was clear, concise, and almost clinical, but nonetheless he didn't believe. Or maybe just refused to. 'Unfortunate accident. Bad luck.' The phrases repeated themselves in his head as he leaned back against the chair and sighed. It wasn't impossible he supposed since Overed, even the best of them, often toed the a very fine line when on duty. His gut rebelled at the thought though. Moko had been a gentle soul whose every action was taken with care and thought.

He felt his chest tighten and his heart hammer as the memory of the same gentle smile worn by a twisted face surfaced. Maida's fists slammed hard enough into the table that everything on it jolted and jumped into the air, and the memories were forced back down. With a shaky sigh he stood up, tucked the chair back in, and began to pace. The report was detailed and gave him plenty of leads he could follow up on though his more rationally inclined mind expressed its doubts of him turning things up when the UGN agents themselves hadn't. With another sigh as he breathing normalized, he pushed away the self doubts and figured he'd go take a look at Mako's gathered belongings; see if he could find anything notable missing.
 
[fieldbox="Scene: Michiyo Flashback, grey, solid"]
"If I had more interesting assignments for you, I'd give them to you," Saya said flatly. "You're the right age to not seem suspicious, and you do attend college here. So you've got a perfect cover." She paused for a few moments. "As for the rest, while I would prefer if you kept me in the loop, I'm not going to keep you on a short leash. If the situation changes or you feel there's something that needs to be dealt with, you're free to solve things your way. And if you run into any other UGN agents, it would be good for you to work together."

Saya places a large vanilla envelope on the desk and slides it over to Michiyo. "This contains information on the seminar. It's mostly their own promotional materials, but those should be enough for you to find out where to go to sign up."
[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Scene: Iharu Maida, grey, solid"]
@Zombehs
It's easy enough to get to Mako's belongings and begin looking through them.

Please make a Sense: <Perception> roll.

It doesn't take long to find a flyer and other materials for a special extracurricular seminar that recently started. It's pretty clear Mako was attending it, before...things went south. Judging by her notes, she certainly got all manner of subjects in pretty solid detail. Nothing seems too unusual, and the timing could be coincidence, but it's at least one recent change to her routine. Just to be thorough, you empty her backpack completely, and are about to consider it done, when you notice something unusual: a couple foil-backed plastic bubbles. They're the sort of thing for individually packing doses of pills or other medicine you've seen a million times, except these are completely unlabeled. Just blank foil on the back. And Mako definitely didn't have a cold or an other need to take the sort of over-the-counter meds you'd usually find in these things. ...And if it were just cold medicine, you'd probably be able to tell from some of the print on the backing.
[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Scene: Takeru Mamogami, grey, solid"]
@sleepinghat
You've just finished another day of classes at your university. It's pretty much the same grind as usual, and it'll be off to that part-time job of yours soon enough. Before you can get too far from the lecture hall, one of your friends, Yuko Terajima, tracks you down. She's a nice enough girl, maybe a little nondescript. She has long black hair worn straight, and tends to dress conservatively rather than in any way to stand out. She's voiced her own dislike at how unassuming she is no matter how hard she tries to change before.

"Hey, Takeru, wait up," she exclaims, flagging you down before you can escape. She sounds more excited than usual. "I heard about this new extracurricular seminar that opened up pretty recently." She digs through her things to produce an advertising flyer, to show you what she means. "if even half of what I've heard is true, this could be my big chance. I don't care too much about how I'm doing in school, but if it'll finally help me become more outgoing, it would be perfect. And...well, I hear they might help with that other thing..."

The other thing probably being her lack of Overed abilities. Like many in City L, she's rated as a latent Overed, and like many latent Renegade carriers, she's just a little envious of actual Overed, such as yourself. "I think I'm going to go sign up this afternoon." She looks at you with pleading eyes. Maybe she wants some moral support?
[/fieldbox]
 
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Takeru frowned as he reads through the contents of the flyer. "I don't really get you. Why do you want to become an ove-", he stopped midway from finishing his sentence as his eyes met Yuko's pleading eyes. Yuko was standing too close from him so he stepped back a little bit. The team I was assigned to was investigating on this seminar too, he thought. But I just got out of training, would they be mad if I investigated on my own?

Takeru sighed. "Alright, I'm coming with you. But if I think something weird is up then we're leaving, okay?"
 
Maida Iharu
HP: 37/37 Encroachment: 42/100 Inventory: Memento, Search Radar, Data Team​

A flip through the notebooks didn't turn up anything that Maida could see as unusual. The note taking style was pretty much on par with what he remembered on the occasions he'd helped her with studying; even complete with the tiny doodles here and there. With a sigh, he closed the notebook and used the folded flyer as a bookmark. With it under his arm, he gave the pack a good shake just to make it was completely empty. The sound of something crinkling and pinging told him that it wasn't.

The unmarked pills were found quickly enough and his eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. They seemed a bit too well-packaged to be something distributed on the streets and his gaze turned down towards the notebook under his arm. He took a few samples and left the rest where he'd found them, eager to crack down on exactly what had happened to his friend. Clues had been found, now he just needed to follow up on them, and there were a few ways he had to do just that.

As he left the room, it did occur to him that he was about to mess with powers that were likely vastly greater. If they had the capacity to produce a drug and distribute it through an advertised session than this wasn't some small time group. It also made sense that he wouldn't have heard anything about an investigation given his involvement had ended after the death of Mako. Maida had come to a halt as the realization sunk in and the pills suddenly felt much heavier in his pocket. If he began to poke his head around, who knew what sort of damage that could cause to the ongoing investigation. With slightly slower steps he continued on, his thoughts a mess as he tried to rationalize his continued pursuit of the "truth".
 
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Flash Back
Michiyo scanned the outside of the envelope. What a boring envelope, she could have at least put some cute stickers on it. "Well it sounds like you don't need me here for anything more, so I guess I'll be on my way then." Putting the envelope in her bag, she got up from her seat and headed for the door. Before Michiyo closed the door to the office however, in a more quiet voice she stated, "I'll keep you in touch, whether you like it or not."

Present: Arcade
Michiyo recalled what she had read in the envelope. While there were different methods of being able to join, one of them had really stood out to her. All you had to do was give the teacher Natsuki Tsukino a certain phrase to indicate you wanted to join. Why did it have to be her? She was a little troubled about this discovery, as this was one of her old teachers when she began classes here. While it maybe not be obvious, Michiyo was far from an affable person in any way, shape, or form. Despite that, Natsuki was one of a few people capable of melting her cold attitude. She was even supporting Michiyo's "almost true love problem" she told her about. Michiyo did include the fact that it was another girl, but retracted the "she's also my sister" part.

Michiyo dropped the light gun mid-game. For some reason, she didn't really feel like playing anymore. Now was as good a time as ever to do her job. She left the arcade and went to her school. Wanting to finish this up before anything serious happens to Natsuki, she made her way to the teacher herself. Recalling the phrase and gestures needed, she took out her phone.

"Damn, this thing sure has a weak battery. You wouldn't happen to know a place to get more power do you?"
 
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