NSA Headquarters, Tuesday Morning

[l1ttle_billy]

John had been handwavily given access to the facility, and was directed to where his contacts in the NSA would meet him. Mainframe wore a helmet with a heads up display visor that increased his ability to interact with computers, while Firewall, a young woman with dark black hair in pigtails looked far more normal.

Comments

NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John half-expected to see someone named Input/Output or the like wearing one of those Nintendo Power Gloves.

"John Co--Kill Switch reporting for duty," he said, saluting briefly.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Mainframe smirked a bit and returned the salute. "At ease Kill Switch. I'm Mainframe."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"And I'm Firewall, nice to meet you."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"So what can I help you with today?" he asked, looking around the room to get a feel for things.

[AHAHAHAHAHA WIN]

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Today's mostly briefing." Mainframe answered, leading the way into the more secured areas of the building. "We show you what we have on various manufacturers and then we'll take it from there."

"You really from another dimension?" Firewall asked. "Oh and how's Billy? Last I heard of him his dad shot him in New Jersey."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a nice, relaxed day," he said. Especially since there didn't seem to be any obstacle courses.

John decided to play around a bit. "Billy's fine, but...I hate to be the one to tell you this, but...he's lost a leg. And an eye. And he thinks he's a pirate."

He was so finding Billy a parrot.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Firewall gave John a funny look. "I knew about the leg and eye."

"I think he's kidding Firewall." Mainframe said, possibly ruining the joke.

She winced. "Oh. You met Beach Head right?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I met him yesterday. Still a bit sore from all the PT," he said. "And if you want to tease that pirate, ask him about his wooden leg," he said to Firewall. "It's a beaut!"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Beach Head used Billy to shame me and Daemon when we first 'joined up'." Firewall said, shaking her head. "He has a wooden leg? What happened to the robot one?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Oh, he still has that. The wood one is for dressy occasions. Or for Talk Like A Pirate Day."

Possibly for vampires, too.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Firewall snickered. "Didn't know he had a sense of humor."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"What, Billy? Yeah, it's buried. Hell, you can't have survived high school without a sense of humor."

Or a giant robot suit, but Billy wasn't Dr Doom.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Both Main Frame and Firewall nodded, but for her it was much more recent.

"Oh hell I remember that. 'Specially if you're not one of the cool kids."

"Yeah but how many of the cool kids get to help save the world?" Main Frame grinned.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Only the very cool cool kids. The other cool kids will be busy lamenting their football injuries and saying they could have done something with their lives." Or be in space, or running corporations, or studying to be spies, at John's school.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Or in my case, living off of their cheerleader status for eternity."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Billy is totally a cheerleader. You should ask him about it. He still wears the uniform."

Yeah...Normally, the veterans break the newbies, not the other way around.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Both of them looked at him, not quite believing. "Don't ask don't tell right?" Firewall said.

They reached a briefing room with several monitors.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John's snickering couldn't be contained. "Naw, I'm just kidding. But I do want to see your faces when you ask him. And I come from a high school with male cheerleaders. They didn't have skirts. So... what have we here?" he asked, scanning over the room. Oooh, high tech!

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Here we've got info on pretty much every major industrial and arms manufacturing company in the world. We're hoping you'll be able to help us figure out which ones are threats and which ones are clean."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John browsed the screens. "What sort of info? Shipping records? Supply trains? Development info? Gamecubes?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"For starters."

Main Frame called up some info on the screen. The logo for a company called M.A.R.S. appeared, along with a photo of a man John might remember from parents weekend a year or so ago.

"This is the known threat. MARS. Military Armaments Research Syndicate owned and operated by James "Destro" MacCullen the 20 something."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Guy kinda looks familiar. So...what's their deal? Aside from knowing Greco-Roman history?"


[Does this Destro have the chromedome?]

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Destro is a big time arms dealer. His company manufactures and supplies weapons to several countries, and more than a few known terrorist organizations. Particularly Cobra."

[Yes it's a high tech cybernetic type mask.]

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Okay, so we need to keep Chromedome from supplying Cobra with fun toys. You've tracked the finances? Materials shipments? Those would be the obvious things," John said, almost starting to talk to himself. "Suppose we could take a look at his computer systems, but that would be illegal, of course..."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"The legality isn't an issue. It's not so much a matter of getting dirt on him as it is finding, and capturing him."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Can you set me up a terminal here? Or...can I use what I brung?" he asked, digging into his coat pocket.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"We can do that, but what'd you bring?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Just a few toys," he said, pulling out a small laptop and cables. "Patch me?" he asked, laying out some other materials. USB drive. CD case. Small portable hard drive.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

They were putting a lot of trust into this new guy. But he'd been recommended by Billy, vetted by Duke, and tested by Beach Head. There weren't too many better credentials.

Main Frame patched him in, allowing him access to all their files on MARS and other tech companies. In MARS' files were schematics on many of the more interesting weapons and vehicles used by Cobra, including one of the most deadly. The B.A.T. Battle Android Trooper.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John scanned the files, dumping some of the info onto the portable drive to look at later off the 'net.

When he got to the B.A.T, he started cursing so fiercely that the words just became meaningless syllables.

He took a breath, eyes closed. "I will shut them down." He looked at the two of them, something like anger simmering behind his eyes. "Have you seen this in person? Has anyone?"

[I think I just squeed a little.]

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

Both Main Frame and Firewall were surprised at his outburst.

"I have." Mainframe said. "They were used by Cobra before we shut them down the first time. Far as I know they haven't used them since they came back. Except one but it malfunctioned and we took it out."

"What's the deal?" Firewall asked.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"How hard are these bastards to kill?" he asked, fingers flying across the keys.

"I've dealt with something like this before, back home. They're very hard to kill unless you have specialized equipment."

Like a steel mill. Or chi blasts.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"They're tough, but they're vulnerable at the joints, armor piercing rounds or heavy artillery, even some conventional arms can take them out."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Joints usually are," John said absently, looking over the information. "Not as bad as it could be. Okay. We can deal with that. So...where are they produced?"

He started typing rapidly, bringing up information in multiple windows to compare. "I love accountants. Okay. Does this look familiar? Lemme...big screen....okay, here, see this?" He shone a laser on the monitor. "These funds match the amount here, and here. Not dollar per dollar per transaction, but...yeah, the totals are the same. Breaks up the payments, transfers the funds. This is probably one of the bases of operations," he said. "Or a factory for the new PS3."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

This was part of why John was here. The others were very good at their jobs. But John's experience gave him a better idea of what to look for.

"Right now, I don't think they are being produced."

He was wrong, but that was a whole other sub plot.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Let's keep it that way." He swore. "What's the normal load-out for a team? Should have one heavy caliber sniper or machine gun to take care of this. Have Ma Deuce say hello," he said. A few .50 cal rounds should turn them back into scrap metal.

"Okay...so. Payments, payments, shipments, payments. It's probably right...here." He pointed to handwavey on the map. He looked around. "It's my first day and all. Do we have scout teams near here?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"That would be Roadblock's department." Mainframe said, in regards to the big guns.

"Looks like we've just found ourselves another Cobra cell." Firewall grinned at John.

"No scout teams I'm afraid." Mainframe sighed. "The Joe team is on skeleton crew status, most of us are reserves. We pass the word on up the grapevine and they take it from there."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Well, let's make sure they have the best intel we got. And make sure to load 'em up heavy. No pea-shooters or slingshots."

He pulled up some more information. "Looks like it's registered to... great. A 'John Smith' signed the papers. Can you look at the bank info, see who's on the checks?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Probably Arbco, or Extensive Enterprises. Those are Cobra's most common front companies."

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"Can you run a cross-check with anything they've used before? Narrow down the field a bit? ...we can't get copies of the paperwork, right?"

Re: NSA Headquarters

[goodmom-baddad.livejournal.com]

"Not right away but I bet I can scrounge them up." Firewall replied.

Re: NSA Headquarters

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

"I mean, if we can dry up the money tree, everything else will start to rot."