Ekusu-Hito: Live Fire Test. [Episode 19750]

Hakase Ni stood by the briefing screen and observed the display. On the large table in the same room lay 4 folders of information, one was his, the rest were for his equals. It wasn't often that they felt a need to meet like this - in person. Technology made it an un-necessary luxury, however for what Hakase Ni intended to put forward it was essential that that this meeting be convened. Even in A.I.M. Japan, somethings had to be done face-to-face.

The display showed Tendo Akane, Ichi, as she worked her way forward through the outer perimeter of the old base. Hakase Ni thought she was doing quite well and was making full use of her new abilities and the passive sensors built into her suit. She had penetrated both the inner and outer perimeter security without an alert and now faced the problem of how to actually get into the base... quietly.

Two others filed into the room and glanced at the screen before sitting down and going over the folders in front of them. Hakase Ni suppressed a smile at their arrival. The last person he was waiting for would be here shortly.

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Akane hid in the shadows between the buildings as best she could, the base was larger than she had thought and the number of guards made it clear that there was something odd about this place. That she had seen the inner guards openly carrying weapons worried her a lot, this was Japan. Only the government was supposed to be able to do that, and this didn't look like a government agency. Her problem now was that she was among the outer buildings, but her detector showed the stolen package to be towards a hill, a hill with a large set of doors built into it and trails she suspected led to other entrances.

From her current location, it was plain that whatever was in the hill was the main facility, the outer buildings seemed mostly unused, as if they were mere decoys. Looking over the situation Akane considered, the main doors were out, they were brightly lit, well guarded and even at this hour had occasional traffic. The hill itself was devoid of cover, almost like someone had defoliated it, and Akane suspected the lights she could see would mark entrances, probably with guards. The buildings offered more risk and alarms with no certainty of reward, but Akane thought she could see a ground discoloration that she hoped meant a tunnel leading from one building to the hill.

Considering her alternatives Akane decided that she was going to be spotted, there were too many guards. The question was when... it would be best if it was after she grabbed the package and only had to get out. Regretfully she sighed and dismissed the idea of a bold dash backed by concussion blasters into the main entrance. That left hoping she could find an access tunnel from the buildings, or trying to sneak over an open hill to a secondary door. With time being against her, Akane sighed and discarded the idea of finding a tunnel, it was too uncertain. Moving cautiously and taking every advantage that she could of shadows, Akane began working her way onto the hill.

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Hakase Ni bowed as the last person he was waiting for entered the room. When he finished seating himself and turned his attention to Hakase Ni, it was a sign for the briefing to begin. Hakase Ni cleared his throat and began:
"Hakase Ichi. Hakase Yon. Hakase Go. I have asked you here to discuss a proposal a member of my staff has put forward. You have read the basic outline in the documentation before you and since it represents a radical alteration of the terms and boundaries of the 'Tendo' project, not to mention potentially considerable additional time and resources, I felt it necessary for us, the ruling council of A.I.M. Japan, to go over the matter. A briefing folder has been prepared for Hakase San, and will be given to him upon his return from his meeting with the Supreme Scientist in South America."

Hakase Ni paused a moment, then went on:
"The basis of the proposal is the contention that Japan, like the U.S. before us, is about to under-go a proliferation of 'super' groups, both heroic and otherwise. The presence of extensions of U.S. and Genoshan based mutant factions in Japan is either confirmed or thought extremely probable. Such groups as the 'million men patriots' and their agenda's will only drive the process. Now, the experience of the U.S. branches of A.I.M. is that these 'super' groups represent both the biggest threat to A.I.M. operations *AND* the largest concentration of scientific or SUPER-scientific knowledge in existence."

Stopping to sip a glass of water, Hakase Ni let his gaze wander over his audience before continuing:
"Currently the parameters of the 'Tendo' project mainly envisage us deploying unit ichi to help maintain a situation to A.I.M. Japan's advantage and restricting the development of potential competitors and menaces, with various pro and anti mutant factions being the largest perceived threats at this time. Effectively the 'Tendo' project is about building and deploying a limited strike capacity of our own. The proposal before you would change that. The 'New Dawn' project, if implemented, would be in basis an intelligence/infiltration operation intended to give A.I.M. Japan a reliable pipeline into the superhuman groups and agency's expected to appear in the near future."

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Akane made it onto the hill with no alert being given. She quickly located 2 secondary doors, both were lit, both were guarded. 1, as far as she could tell was not reliably visible from any other location. Akane began stalking the guard on it as she kept an eye out for roving patrols.

Reaching her personal point of no return, Akane made what she expected to be her final pause and carefully looked around. No one had used the door while she was here and the Guard was not terribly alert, clearly he expected trouble elsewhere to give him time to react. Breathing carefully to get maximum oxygen into her blood, as her new physical instructor insisted, Akane moved. The guard reacted as Akane reached him, but it was too late and his hand falied to reach the alarm as one blow rendered him senseless.

Grabbing the guards keycard, Akane swiped open the door in front of her. Aligning herself with her detector's directions Akane moved forward to retrieve the stolen package. It was late enough that few people were moving around and quick reflexes kept any of them from sighting Akane as she tried to close in on the package. There were no plans to assist passer's by on the wall, and Akane was forced to guess at the layout while she tried to work out where the package was. It soon became apparent that she needed to go downstairs. Keeping herself to a brisk walk as running made more noise than she dared at the moment, Akane went down a set of fire stairs wondering how much longer before they found the guard she had KO'd.

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Hakase Ni looked over his compatriots and tried to gauge their reactions. His lacked of success oddly warmed him, it was good that his equals had this level of control. But to continue:
"I'm sure you all find the basic aim of the 'New Dawn' project laudable. It would be a fantastic coup of incalculable value if we were to pull it off. The main problem is that in order for 'New Dawn' to achieve the levels of access necessary to make it worthwhile, it is a certainty that we would have to allow operational and strategic control of the activities of the 'New Dawn' agents to slip out of our hands. In order for the 'New Dawn' project to deliver it's potential, we would have to maintain a connection capable of accessing it's records at will without compromising the groups reputation or capacity to forge alliances with other groups. Therein lies the risk and challenge of the project."

Hakase Ni waved at the screen showing Akane's infiltration of the test base:
"The other considerations of note are the resources needed to make the project work. A considerable financial outlay would be needed, as well as a way of making the group self-funding without leaving a connection to A.I.M. Japan. Once established, I'm sure you have all noted comments on possible non-financial assets that could be used to enhance 'New Dawns' chances. To guide 'New Dawn' into a position of prominence will require using gentle pressure on political and bureucratic officials... again without revealing a connection to us. A delicate task."

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Coming off the stairs, Akane's luck ran out and she ran into 2 people. Both went down to anything goes strikes without trouble, but the third passer-by was far enough down the corridor to get off a scream before Akane's staff cut off the cry. Akane ran in the direction her locator pointed. Speed was her only friend now.

Akane ran through 2 guards heading for the screams, both went down without a shot, but Akane noted the presence of drawn pistols, odd-looking pistols, and didn't like it one bit. The pointer led her to a door, bursting in she noted that it was something of a store room, her locator pinged wildly and drew to a black briefcase. It fit the description of the item wanted. Picking it up set off an entirely new set of alarms. Akane took her best guess and ran for the main doors. She thought they were the closest exit, and leaving the base now had priority.

Akane dashed into the main vehicle bay/entrance with energy blasters sending shots slashing into the walls and floor behind her. Entering the vehicle bay, only her enhanced reflexes saved her from a potent blast from some sort of robot, although the blast did sound like it had dealt with her immediate pursuit. A second robot stepped out from behind a truck and brought it's weapons to bear on Akane.

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Hakase Ni watched the screen display, then switched it to a video feed. Turning back to the others:
"There is no need for an instant decision on which project we will undertake. For some time yet the 'Tendo' and 'New Dawn' projects are compatible. If Hakase Ichi has no objection, I would like to reconvene to vote on the direction we should move in after a period of... say 3 weeks. That will give us time to consider problems, solutions and the best interests of A.I.M. Japan. Now before you go, this is a live fire exercise for unit ichi, she is, you will note facing 2 of our older mandroids. She has not been briefed on them and they have the firepower to take her out if they can hit her. Regardless of which project you decide to support, seeing unit ichi in action should be of value."

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Akane dived and rolled as energy fire ravened after her, flicking on her energy screen as she neared her target, Akane danced into hand-to-hand combat with the first robot knocking it's weapon-arms aside and driving her electro-staff into the hip joint. The armour buckled a little and the robot spasmed as it resisted the electro-shock. While it was off balance Akane applied a classic throw, and sent the first robot crashing into the second. Moving with all the speed she coul muster Akane got into position as the 2 metallic humanoids crashed into the wall and unleashed her concussion blasters. Akane suppressed a curse as it became apparent that while staggering them, the blasters lacked the power to finish the job.

Ceasing fire Akane dashed to the truck and heaved. The truck didn't move. Growling Akane focussed her Ki and as her aura sprang up around her, she managed to flip the truck onto the robots as they tried to rise. Grabbing the briefcase, Akane put a blaster bolt into the truck accomplishing little, but starting a satisfactory fire. Running out of the bay Akane noted that the guards still seemed disorganised, although most raised weapons as she came into view. Akane fired her concussion blaster at the ground in front of the guards, most of whom promptly dived for cover. Akane dipped into he Ki again and raced as a blur for the cover of the buildings, which she reached as wild shots of bullets and blasters raged out. Idly she noted that 2 groups of guards appeared to be shooting at each other.

With the buildings for cover and distractions around her, Akane made it easily to the perimeter fence. A organised group of guards raced after her, but even without using her Ki Akane had no difficulty outrunning them, and once over the fence, she had enough cover that her force-field easily handled the few shots that came near her. Settling down to a steady jog, Akane headed for her extraction point.