[ROCKET ORP] Upgrades - Prizes on page 9

[TRHQ Harvard]

Things had been fairly quiet at Team Rocket's desert base lately. Sure, the League was flaunting here and there at random gatherings in the cities, but other than that it was business as usual. In Elite Agent Harvard's opinion, as she sat at her office desk looking through a lengthy diagnostic report, any organization that hid behind ten-year old children was a joke. Even more-so against all the latest system upgrades happening.

It was nearing two o' clock in the afternoon when the lights flickered. Just once. Nothing too suspicious. Then twice. Stanford the Furret raised his head from his pile of pillows to look around and sniff at the air, but even he couldn't sense anything that might be off and went back to his afternoon snooze. Then... nothing. Perfectly normal... for the next four or five minutes.

A blaring alarm suddenly sounded throughout the base. The regular overhead lights dimmed as energy was diverted to the falling and rising siren and the pulsing red emergency lights.

"Ma'am!" Harvard's Rocket Dex next to her stack of papers crackled to life through the din. She reached for the device, ignoring Stanford for the moment as he seemingly teleported from his pile to clinging to her shoulder. "The sensors are picking up something big outside of the base, but so far no visual. Inside is reporting unauthorized entities."

"Perimeter sensors?"

"Nothing on those."

Harvard considered this for two noisy seconds. "Pinpoint the entities. Keep me updated on all details." Without waiting for confirmation, Harvard cut the connection and scrolled through her Dex settings, at the same time standing and moving out into the hall. The lights flickered again. Finding the right command, she raised the device to speak again, this time her stern voice filtering clearly through the HQ's intercom system.

"Attention, all Team Rocket members. This is Elite Agent Harvard of Security. Be on high alert for unauthorized entities within base walls. Identification and intentions are unknown, and should be regarded as a threat. Intruders are to be detained and secured in the brig for interrogation. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not. a. drill."

Quote:

What's Happening:

Oh no! The Base appears to be under attack! Alarms are sounding, lights are flickering, and the sensors are reporting something both inside and outside the HQ walls. Is it intruders? Is it an attack? It's up to you, the people of Team Rocket, to find out. You have your orders. Now get out there and start investigating!

Guidelines

• This plot takes place at Team Rocket's HQ, and is open to all Rockets that are on location. Sorry, no Trainers this time.
  
• Multiple characters per player are allowed.
  
• Please indicate the target of your post with some sort of label at the top or bold the name within the post. There is no posting order, but please don't double-post for an individual character.
  
• The plot itself is open-ended. You've been given a starting prompt, and the answer to the mystery will be revealed by the end. It's up to you all, the players, to fill in the middle, and determine how the resolution will come about.
  
• This ORP will run for at least the next full week. If things are still going strong at that point, an extension may be added. Time schedules? Drama knows no time restraints! (But there is still a definite end to this little plot, so be aware of that little factoid)
  
• Good luck, and have fun!

----------

From the HEADQUARTERS FLOORPLANS thread:

FLOOR 06 - Boss's Quarters/Office.
FLOOR 05 - Executive Quarters/Offices.
FLOOR 04 - Elite Agent Quarters/Offices.
FLOOR 03 - Agent Quarters. Grunt Dorms.
FLOOR 02 - Grunt Dorms. Trainee Dorms.
FLOOR 01 - Main Office (Applications, Mission Distribution, etc). Infirmaries (Human & Pokemon). Cafeteria.
FLOOR -1 - Storage (Vehicles, Pokemon, Equipment, Stolen Goods). Detention Facilities. Emergency Exit Tunnel Entrance.
FLOOR -2 - Training Facilities.
FLOOR -3 - Exercise Facilities. Recreational Facilities.
FLOOR -4 - Technology Faclities (Mainframe Room, Computer Labs, Surveillance, Demolitions, Robotics).
FLOOR -5 - Laboratories (Cloning, etc).

----------

PRIZES!!

Rotom 1-3
Blood_Goddess
TawnyAngel
Gwennythe

Group 4: Any common ghost type
Kitomyx  

[BlackPidgeot]

When the alarm went off, Seth wasn't exactly a happy camper. Gritting his teeth, he rose from his desk in the elite quarters he used while on base. He'd been here for the past couple days for meetings and such, and was in uniform during his stay.

Erupting from the room, he started marching down the hall and spotted another figure dressed in the same outfit as he. He didn't really know her, but that didn't stop him from bellowing at her. Perhaps she would know what was happening.

"What the hell is going on!" This said as he came stomping up behind Harvard and possibly past her if she didn't answer him right away.

---

In the Rocket cafeteria, a red head janitor was cleaning up when the lights started to flicker, and then the alarm sounded. Golden eyes lifted to look up at the announcement. His expression was dull, his eyes half lidded, but he knew and understood what had been said. The man watched as the Rockets scurried about to go to their posts, while he just leaned against the handle of his mop. A few bumped shoulders with him, but he just stayed where he was. After all, there wasn't really anything that he could do.  

[TawnyAngel]

When the lights flickered Aulus frowned and looked around; he would have paused, but pausing on a treadmill was never a good plan. Hu, that was weird. He'd lived here for - how long now? - a long while and he'd never seen them do that. Weird. It made him uneasy, but he knew full well that he'd been pretty paranoid since... since... things. It was nothing. Aulus shook his head and kept running, putting up the speed of the treadmill and turning up the volume on his MP3 player.

When the lights flickered twice more he slowed the machine and stepped off. Scowling darkly he yanked out his earbuds and headed for the showers; whatever this s**t was it needed to stop. Who was in charge of maintaining building systems anyway, and what were the chances he could get away with giving them a bollocking?

The shower started to make him feel better though, hot water relaxing his muscles and-

Emergency lights and a blaring siren. Aulus swore and made a dash for the locker where he'd left his clothes.

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

Frost was very good at focusing on things, not always the best at paying attention to the wider world. He didn't notice the lights flickering, and when the alarm started blaring it took a few moments for him to process what was going on. Fortunately the announcement quickly gave him all the information currently available... and he really ought to respond.

Making a small noise of disapproval the engineer closed the notebook he had been scribbling in, got to his feet and turned to leave the office. Whoever had interrupted his schedule was seriously going to regret it when he got hold of them.

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

K.O. did not like mopping. He liked alarms even less, because they meant that sooner or later you would probably run into somebody trying to kill you or at least seriously inconvenience you. If he wanted to move up the ranks however....

"Ugh."

The red-haired man shoved his cleaning supplies back into a cupboard and set off in search of some allies. Preferable not his roommates.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

[KO]

The moment the lights flickered the first time, Claire looked up from writing her most recent report, eyes narrowed. The lights on base never flickered. Ever. Not for any reason.

By the time they flickered again she had hurriedly put her hair up and grabbed her most useful pokemon. By the time the alarm started to sound and the announcement was heard, she was already in the hall and heading towards the lower levels to figure out what was going on.

After hurrying down a flight of stairs, she rounded the stairwell to find someone not far away -- red uniform. Trainee. "Hey, you," she called as she jogged over to him, "I don't know your name. Did you see anything?" She paused briefly to furrow her brow just a bit, now that she could see him better and up close, rather than his back from down the hall. "Aren't you one of the ex-Galactics?" Because there was no way she'd hear about a Galactic defecting and joining them and not look them up to make sure it was no one she knew.  

[Gwennythe]

The labs were kind of a spooky place to be when lights started flickering.
The first time, Tambrey frowned a little; annoying but it was a big building and stuff... Surely sometimes maybe something like this might happen. Maybe someone was using a lot of power...
Oh, it did it twice. Oh brilliant.
Now it felt like a horror movie.
The grunt, standing at a surface, looked over her shoulder, just in case some genetically enhanced monster was creeping up... Right as blaring alarms started.
"Waah!" She resisted the urge to flail, huffed a sigh, and put her hand to her glasses. Thank Arceus she hadn't been doing anything more important than the usual grunts' stack of work. Inventories sat scattered on the surface behind her.

The announcement came and another gasp sat in her throat.
Frak, frak, frak... What if it was them? What if... She tried to quell such thoughts and made toward one of the security doors, hoping the alarms didn't mean she was locked in or something.  

[TawnyAngel]

[Claire]

Well thank Arceus for that; a person, and an Agent at that. "It's KO, and no," he replied quickly. "I just heard the alarm and the announcement, started trying to find out what was going on." Ah, and there was that. He nodded. "Yes, that's right... though my association with them ended a decade or so ago." It wasn't Galactic coming here was it?... He didn't like that idea all that much, even if the chances of him being recognised were slim; an ex-galactic would be a major target. At least he wouldn't be as big a target as Star, if it was them coming to find their leader. How could they know he was here though?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

[Alba]

Inigo wasn't at all prepared. He hardly noticed the lights flickering, but the sudden alarm and dimmed lighting startled him out of his reverie, and he jerked his head up from his notes and stared up at the lights in their room.

He turned in his chair, laying an arm over the back of it as the announcement sounded, then glanced at Alba as he rubbed his nose with a knuckle on the back of his hand and sniffled. "What d'you think's going on?"

-----

[KO]

She nodded to his name as well as his reply, and as he relayed his following statements she focused her purple eyes around both ends of the hallway - nothing so far. Zeus was perched on her shoulder, alert and ready for any action they came across - but he didn't see anything either. "Alright," she said when she turned back to him, not even mentioning Galactic further, "I'm going to check out the rest of this floor and work my way down. You're welcome to join if you like, or go your own way." That said, she started walking quickly down the hallway. She didn't feel like such a vague threat necessitated running - she didn't even know what she was looking for, either - but she wasn't going to just leisurely stroll about.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Aulus

With some time to kill before he was due to report to the lab, Rory found himself in the exercise facility, messing around with the free weights. The grunt managed to get a good rhythm going as he alternated between his left and right.

When the lights flickered the first time, Rory paid it no mind, believing someone in the tech labs or elsewhere had been using too much electricity. When they flickered again, he couldn't ignore the uneasy feeling that was building in his chest.

When the siren blared and the announcement came, he quickly set the weights aside, not bothering to put them back on the rack as he headed for the locker where he had left his belongings.

Spotting someone else in there, he asked, "What the hell's going on?" In the time that he had been there, nothing like this had happened before.  

[Catzandbirdz]

[ Seth ]

Harvard kept walking, but let out an annoyed breath at being shouted at. Like this was someone she should be answering to? Ha! No. She continued to scroll through things on her Rocket Dex like it was the world's most interesting palm pilot. "That's what I'm trying to find out..." she glanced over her shoulder at the approaching man, taking in the appearance of his uniform, "Elite Agent," she finished, all the while using a bored tone in her speech.

She had overseen all of the recent upgrades personally. She was positive nothing should have been able to get past undetected. Raking her memory for something missing, something that was wrong, she shook her head and glared at the end of the hall with the elevator she was nearing. She needed to get down to the floor that housed the base's security systems. That siren definitely wasn't helping. "Agent, kill that alarm," she ordered into the Dex. Another second passed and the alarm turned off, but the red lights in the hallways kept flaring. "Much better."

----------

[ Inigo ]

Spook gave a loud and startled "CHING!" at the alarm. She'd been snoozing happily on a spare pillow, which she now toppled and rolled off. Alba quickly sat up on his bed. He'd been using the afternoon off to just sit on the made bed and read a bit. So much for that plan. "I dunno. Come on." He picked up the bookmark he had set aside, saved his place, and stood up to grab his gear and retie his loose ponytail. "We should check it out."

Spook righted herself and flopped onto the pillow with a tired sigh. "Chiiiiiiiiiiiing..."  

[BlackPidgeot]

[Harvard]

Yeah well, Seth has a nasty habit of throwing his weight around. It comes with being a former Executive and being the CEO of his own company. She'll just have to tolerate it for now, seeing as they're both heading for the same place.

Seth snorted, biting back the urge to tell her to find out faster. He wasn't an executive anymore, something that he had to keep reminding himself on occasion.

At least the siren had stopped.  

[Catzandbirdz]

[ Seth ]
Harvard made a mental note that the man was still there. He was also still there when she reached the elevator.

And he was there when the doors slid open...

...And when the doors slid shut.

Hmm.

Harvard pressed the button for floor -4, then stepped back and seemingly returned her attention to the Dex. That didn't mean she wasn't also keeping close tabs on who this Elite was or where he was going.  

[BlackPidgeot]

[Harvard]

Blue eyes flicked down as he noticed the button that this woman had pushed. He frowned a little but folded his arms and just stood there in the elevator.

So she was going to the same place he was. Okay. Thus he just went along for the ride, not seeing any point in talking to her as they waited.

He didn't so much as look at her, although he was wondering who the heck she was. Must be a new transfer or something. He certainly would have noticed her if she had been around before he had taken up his other... job.  

[Catzandbirdz]

[ Seth ]

Okay, so he was going to the same floor, was he? When the familiar soft "ding" sounded, Harvard quickly stepped forward and out of the box first. The hand holding her Dex dropped to one side, the other to her hip to casually sit just above a set of minimized Pokeballs, and turning in place, she planted herself firmly in the path of the taller man.

"Elite Agent, I do not believe I know who you are. May I see your ID." It may have sounded like a request, but as far as Harvard was concerned, this man was not going a single step further until she saw-

"Sir!" Some grunt that Harvard vaguely recognized ran up and briefly saluted the tall Elite before running off in the direction of the tech offices.

Harvard really had to fight to school her features for that one. Really? Just... Really? Well, that answered the question that he wasn't an outsider in disguise, at least. She took a quick breath in before speaking again. "May I still see that ID, please?" she asked shortly.  

[BlackPidgeot]

[Harvard]

As Harvard started exit the elevator, Seth followed, but stopped short when that woman decided to place herself in his path and demanded his ID. The elite scowled, up until the point that a techie ran past and saluted him. He lifted a brow, watching the guy run off before turning a smug look on the other elite standing before him.

"Of course," Seth replied, although his voice matching the look on his face as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a card. He then handed it over to Harvard for her to take.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

[Alba]

Huh? Oh, right. "Okay," Inigo said as he got up and shut his notebook, and proceeded to return half his pokemon to their balls and put them back on his belt. The other half were already in there anyway, because why would he let an Aggron out into his room. That would just be silly.

He ran his fingers through his hair before ruffling it - his usual hairstyle anyway - and followed his roommate out the door. "What d'you think's going on?"