The Guard and the Agent

[lachieboy]

N stood in the middle of his situation room, surrounded by state of the art equipment, files upon files and some of the brightest minds in Novatainia, but still they had nothing. No leads, no hints, no nothing. After Graham Lot had disappeared, the NISB had immediately followed up on all of his actions over the past 2 years and found some interesting information. But still, they had no idea what his motivation was. They had a good hunch that it had something to do with Project Ptia but that was not what they needed to know. What they needed was a means of stopping him.
“Can someone tell me anything new?” Yelled N, angry at yet another mission with no results.
“Um...we can rule out extremists angry over King Lachlan’s return to power?” replied a soon to be fired analyst.
“Well that’s just great. Days of investigation and we can rule that out. Bravo.” Replied N. The lack of progress was clearly getting to him. “I guess that means I’ll have to make the call.”
Everyone in the room visibly stiffened; it was very rare for N to ask for help.

General John Shepard walked into the situation room, calm as ever. As soon as he received the call from N, he had placed the order for the Royal Guard to depart from Gideons Landing. The troops were now securing the Spire and the CDZ to turn it into an impenetrable fortress. Lord knows how long they would be able to hold out. However, only 4/5’s of the Guards were dispatched to the Spire. While they were carrying out their high profile actions around the spire, the rest of the Guards continued on with the General towards the NISB. If all else failed, they were going to be the last stand.
“You must be N, I must say I was surprised by your call. No doubt the NISB is in trouble if you need outside help.” Said the General, giving one of his famous pincer handshakes.
“General Shepard, it is a pleasure.” Replied N, giving an equally painful handshake. “So, no doubt my assistant explained what is required of the Royal Guard?”
“Yes, and we will do all we can in this matter. Every Guardsman stands ready to give his life if required. After all, the fate of the King is at stake.” Said the General, the pride in the Guards obvious in his voice.
“Very good. Now, I’ll leave you and your men to prepare the defences. I must go address some of my agents.”

As N exited the room, General Shepard turned to his officers. “Men, we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Let’s get started.”

Summery: The Royal Guard begin to secure the spire. 1/5th of the guard are now stationed at the NISB headquarters. The Hueys are at the NISB, and the Tanks are at the Spire

[lachieboy]

N walked into the room. For the first time in a long time, he had to calm himself. It was not often that he had to address a room full of NI 6 Agents. It was even less often that ever NI 6 agent was in attendance. Looking around, he noticed some of his best, and deadliest, agents.

Agent G, the man who parachuted into Nova England with nothing but his suit and $4000 in local currency. 6 months later he arrived back in Novatainia $3,000,000 richer, a suitcase full of secret documents and a Tokian supermodel.

Agent Q, the agent who managed to cripple a New Brittanian battleship while it was on its first assignment. He had somehow gained entry to the engine room, planted a bomb, took a copy of the inventory and captured a high ranking member of the admiralty before stealing a life boat and sinking it with no casualties. He was still boasting about it.

There was Agent F; he somehow managed to sneak his way into the Lovely capital of Home during the Lovely war using his Novatainian passport. He then proceeded to bug the offices of several high ranking government officials and several political headquarters. The information gathered managed to give Novatainia an edge during negotiations that allowed the creation of several overseas military bases.

Then there was Agent D, perhaps the most gifted of all the NI 6 agents. There are very few details on the missions that D has been on, mainly because he is only used for the most important. The latest rumour is that he was recently sent on a mission to New Myzoria to infiltrate a terrorist organisation. Three weeks later, Army officials found a campsite with 50 dead soldiers, all shot in the head, and with none of their weapons discharged. They are still not sure who was responsible or how they managed to kill them all without the terrorists firing a single shot. There is also another rumour that D is sleeping with N’s wife, but that can’t possibly be true...

N looked at each and every agent. These were men who were willing to fight, kill and die for their country. No doubt some of them were going to on this mission.

“Men, I know it isn’t usual practice for you all to gather in one place, but we’re desperate. Novatainia is on the brink. If we do not stop this madman from committing whatever it is he plans to do, Novatainia as we know it will be gone. I will not allow that to happen. I need all of you to undertake the most dangerous, and important mission that the NISB has ever been involved with. I need all of you to use every contact, every resource, every means at your disposal to bring this man down. I don’t care if you have to make deals with every terrorist organisation this side of Alexandrea, we must do all we can to be victorious. Gentlemen, I will accept nothing less than failure.”

Turning from the room, he could tell that each and every agent was running through all the friends they had made through the years. No doubt D was thinking how many people that he knew wouldn’t shoot him on sight. As he stood in the doorway, N paused. He realised that he had forgotten the most important direction. Turning to the room, he cleared his throat. He could feel all 39 eyes on him.

“I almost forgot. You are authorised to use any means necessary.”

Summery: All the NI 6 agents begin doing everything they can to find the headquarters of Al'Magroth and on how to defeat the mind control methods. They have access to all the Novatainian governments funds if required and can contact most criminal organisations and most foreign intelligence groups. They are empowered to commit cries in the course of their investigations and are allowed to do whatever is necessary. I'll let Andreas or Gerk decide how much they find out.

[Graham Lot]

Alright, I'll bite, since you're doing this so well. I've just got to think now what you would realistically find out, and what Al'Magroth would only say to his rank 15s.

NI 6 agents were used to working alone. They were used to being the only one on a mission. They were used to their report being the only information N would get back. As a result, after the first day N got twenty reports which were 90% similar. But for those individual 10% differences, it was worth it.

After an hour of reading and another hour of collating, he had an overall report for himself.

Code: Select all

The headquarters of Magroth Industries is well known to be outside the town of Biotopia, in the County of Raynor Isles in the Duchy of Kildare, Shireroth.  Even now, legions of elementals march out of the factory each and every day as it builds the armies and items of war Al'Magroth produced in such numbers to effect his takeover.  The factory is well defended - suspiciously well defended - to just be making items and elementals Al'Magroth doesn't use very much.  He's not stupid - such high defences would have drawn suspicion even before he built two robot armies there - so he must have a reason.

The reason is that there's a lot more going on in that factory than just magical item making.  There's a whole complex underground which normal employees don't go into.  Turns out it's run by a bunch of rogue geneticists picked up from the taverns and alehouses of Biotopia (a city which is renowned across Kildare for their scientific bent).  It seems Al'Magroth talked a number into his service when he first arrived, offering a steady income; big, well equipped labs; and most importantly, no ethical guidelines.  We couldn't find out exactly what they're researching; but we do know that a number of people have gone into that factory and never come out.

We also gather that several engineers arrived back earlier today, muttering about Project Ptia.  They've begun construction on something related to it already; but they've remained in the factory since they arrived, and all we've had to go on is the words of the submarine crews that carried them there.  But that was more than enough to learn things of interest.

Kildare has an Ocean Palace, an underwater complex built millenia ago by the ancient Jasonians, a nation of much advanced technology.  It was rediscovered a decade ago by our own Andreas the Wise and a Novatainian archaeological team, as well as a few Kildarians and Batavians; but in the end rights over the Palace were given to Kildare, because it's in the middle of their land, and we got what was inside - the Concept Boxes.  Well, recently, as part of his defence contract for Kildare, Al'Magroth arranged for huge upgrades and maintenance to make the Ocean Palace a fortress to be reckoned with again.  While we can't confirm it for sure, a number of submarines that came with the palace have made trips too and from Magroth Industries; and it's very likely Al'Magroth is holed up there.  What's more interesting is that two days ago an old man arrived outside Magroth Industries, and was led into a submarine and taken away.  We think this is Lot.  Lot and Al'Magroth are both holed up in the ocean palace ... and we're going to need some serious naval and sub power to get them out of there.

Summary: All stuff I've posted before, but now you know it IC.

On the Spire ... it would be very easy for you to secure, actually. All I have (all I've ever had) in the way of army in Novatainia is the Magroth Bots, and I promised to only use them against civilians. That said, they've been in people's homes, so you wouldn't expect many in the Spire. Say one Royal Guardsmen is killed and another four injured, and you now have all the Magroth Bots out of the spire and the CDZ.

[lachieboy]

N read and re-read the note on his desk. If it was true, this was the perfect time to strike. If it wasn't, it was still the perfect time to strike. A mage with no magic was an easy target. Even a peacemaker could take him down. But there was still the matter of the security around the factory. Pushing the button on his intercom, N knew there was only one man for this mission.

"Miss Pennymoney, get me agent D."

---

Francis sat alone in the pub. Ever since he was recruited by Magroth Industries there had been very little time for quiet drinks at the local. As he sat there, slowly downing his pint, he looked around. The usual cavalcade of dumb and ugly where there. 'None of these morons even know of my greatness' he thought to himself as he ordered another drink. By the time he got to his third glass, he noticed something unusual. At the end of the bar was one of the most beautiful women he had seen in months. Even more unusual, she couldn't take her eyes off him. Maybe she had seen the faces on everyone else. She made her way over to him reapplying her lipstick as she went. Francis sat, mesmerized by her stunning good looks. As she sat down next to him, he suddenly began to feel quite nervous. Nothing a bit of liquid courage wouldn't fix.

[Several Hours Later]

Francis awoke in the motel room with a smile. Looking around, he noticed that the room had changed. The curtains were drawn, the dress on the floor had disappeared, and standing at the door was not the pretty young thing from the pub, but a man in a suit. Francis tried to run away; He had no idea who this man was, but he looked downright menacing. It was at this point that he realised that he was still handcuffed to the bed from earlier. While Francis looked around desperately for a means to escape, the man at the door opened a file in his hand and began to read.

"Francis Macgyver. Hired by Margoth as a geneticist." began Agent D, walking towards his briefcase on the desk.

"Is it money? I have money! Just please don't hurt me!" yelled Francis, hoping someone would hear. Of course Agent D made sure no one would. He had rented the entire motel.

"Mr. Macgyver. You have access to a building I need to get in." said agent D as he opened his briefcase. "Now, we can do this the easy way," pulled out a knife setting it down on the table, "or we can do this the hard way." he then pulled out an Ice Cream scoop.

[One Hour Later]

Agent D walked out of the motel, Two briefcases in his hands. In one was the devices he had used over the last hour. Knives, poisons, hammers, etc. But in the second were things he would need over the coming days. A basic overview of the genetics department, a mold of Francis' face, his finger prints. Oh, and an eyeball.

Summery: Agent D kidnaps and interrogates one of the Magroth Industries geneticists. He then takes a mold of his face, takes his fingerprints and an eyeball.

[Graham Lot]

Very exciting! Though, if it wasn't clear, Al'Magroth is in the Ocean Palace. And he also has a base cost of over 100. Just for the record.

[lachieboy]

Very exciting! Though, if it wasn't clear, Al'Magroth is in the Ocean Palace. And he also has a base cost of over 100. Just for the record.

Yeah, I know. First things first.

[Z-hin'il]

Loved the Ice Cream Scoop part...

[Liam ronToketi]

Very exciting! Though, if it wasn't clear, Al'Magroth is in the Ocean Palace. And he also has a base cost of over 100. Just for the record.

Is that all? *gets running in that direction*

[lachieboy]

Agent D sat on the park bench waiting for his colleague to arrive. He looked around for any sign of surveillance. He needn't have bothered, as far as anyone knew he was just a banker feeding the ducks on his lunch break. Closing his eyes, D thought about the upcoming mission. He knew there was very little chance of him surviving it, at least he'd be able to take a lot of bad guys with him. Maybe he should visit N's wife for one last...

"Ahem"

D looked around and saw the familiar face of Agent E. He was instantly noticeable, not because of his crooked teeth, or his handlebar mustache, but because he only had one eye. Luckily it was this feature that made him perfect for this mission.

"Hello Eli." Said agent D, aware of the need to use E's alias in public. "Still as good looking as ever."

"Dante." said E, looking at the state of D's suit. "Can I assume that another poor innocent woman had the misfortune of meeting you for a late night rendezvous?"

"They're not always innocent." replied D, adjusting his cuff links absentmindedly. "Anyway, has Nigel (OOC: N) run you through the plan?"

"Yes. And I have to say it has your fingerprints all over it. I mean, I have to put my life on the line to make sure that the rest of the agents can get in with no trouble. It could only be more stereotypically you if it involved explosions, fast cars and faster women."

"Well, no matter." replied D as he slided the briefcase across to E. "We have our orders. So I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, if the guards don't get me before the alarms go off..."

Summery: All backstory, but there is a hint of things to come...

[lachieboy]

Just a quick note: I have work tonight, and I'll be in Beaudesert for most of tomorrow morning. Just letting you all know to watch this space for exciting things to do with Margoth Industries and the Ocean Palace. Also, if people could not 24 hour me, that would be great...

[Graham Lot]

No trouble, I'm looking forward to it! I also think we're all happy to not 24 hour eachother for the rest of the battle.

[lachieboy]

Ok, this is one of the more elaborate backstories I've had to write, so please read it and enjoy. *Deep Breath*

"Damn it!" Shouted Matt Santos. You would have thought that any life long supporter of Novatica West would have learned to deal with the fact that they never won. But not Matt. The loss was made all the worse by the fact he now owed Jimmy $500. Matt's wife was gonna kill him. It wasn't that he didn't have the money, working security at Margoth Industries more than paid the bills. It was more a case of them needing to save up for that Anniversary trip this year.

*Ding*

Looking up from his 'Security' monitor, Matt saw a familiar face.

"Hey there Francis! How are ya?" Francis just kept walking. Matt thought it was strange, but then again, all the geneticists were strange. He looked down at his monitor while Francis scanned. As long as they passed the retina scan, Matt couldn't care less about what happened beyond the factory doors. Besides, the St. Nova game was about to start...

---

Agent D sat in silence. Unusually, he was not wearing his regular suit. Instead, it had been replaced by special black ops gear used by the SAS. The reason for this was because he would be leading an SAS squad on this mission. Looking around, he continued to wait for Agent E's all clear signal. Off in the distance he noticed the welcome sign. 'Your first name in rune.'
"Well that makes no sense." muttered D, staring at the sign.
"Maybe it's a typo?" offered on of the nearby troopers as he triple checked his weapon.
"Maybe." D flicked his radio on. It had been almost an hour, and he needed a report on the other teams. "All teams, report in."
"Agent F. All set."
"Agent Q. Good to go."
"This is Death from Above. Awaiting your go ahead."
"This is E, almost done."
"Well hurry up." replied D. The cold was obviously getting to him.
"OK, last charge placed. Ready for stage two." came the reply from E.
Looking around, D took a final look at his troopers, and at that stupid sign.
"All Teams. We have a go. Agents F and Q. Give it a 30 count. Death from Above. Begin the Drop."

---

Agent D and the troopers began to make their way towards the factory. The Guards would have noticed them normally, but their attention was turned towards the Paratroopers falling towards them from the sky. As the guards ran towards the AA guns, they noticed that they had been disabled. This was unusual since anyone would have to pass several security checkpoints involving fingerprints and retina scans. Agent D didn't have time to worry about them now. They had to focus on laying the rest of the charges and finding a way to the Ocean Palace.

---

Walking in, they encountered little resistance. Any guards stupid enough to fire on 12 heavily armed black op troopers probably deserved what they got, and those that surrendered were just handcuffed. As they approached the first security checkpoint, they spotted their man. He looked the spitting image of the man that Agent D interrogated only days before. This was because it was Agent E wearing a lifelike mask made from a mold of Francis' face. Ripping the mask off (and taking out the eye), Agent D saw the familiar face of his colleague.
"Ready to blow this place to holy hell Dante?" asked E, acquiring a weapon from one of the dead guards.
"Sure am Eli. Coordinate with Francis and Quintaine on where to place the explosives, I'm going to take a look around."
"Rodger that" replied E, making his way towards the first floor. It was mostly empty, which was useful when you want to level a place.

---

Agent D and his SAS troopers entered the underground levels, weapons at the ready. Who knows what they were going to find down there. It is an understatement to say they were not expecting to find what was waiting for them...

Hundreds of failed genetic experiments. All of them caged up, and violent beyond belief. As the troopers made their way across the room, they began to comprehend the evil that they were fighting against. Any other soldier would've broken down. The troopers just kept moving, placing the occasional explosive. On the very last level, they found the labs. Agent D quickly pocketed all the reports he could get his hands on. As he was reading over one detailing the effects of melding magical items with the brain, he heard it. A suppressed sneeze. Looking around, he spotted a scientist hiding under the desk. No doubt he was hoping to be paid overtime for tonight.

"Who are you?" asked D, as two troopers began to secure the scientist.
"My name is Professor Bryce, and I'm head of the Genetics division.
"Head? So you would have access to the ocean palace to report to Al'Magroth, right?" asked D, a plan already beginning to form in his head.
"Well...I suppose so, although I've never really been...but if I asked I'm sure..."
"Shut up" said D, interrupting the mans ramblings. "Alright, You men, secure this prisoner for transport."
"Yes Sir." replied the trooper.

---

Outside, all hell was breaking loose. The Paratroopers were well trained, but the guards knew the area well and were using every tactical advantage they could. The only good luck the Airborne had was that the AA guns were out of commission. But, that wasn't enough to win the day. Something was gonna have to change soon if they were gonna walk away with most of their troops intact.


---

Agent E and the others were wrapping up when D came over the radio with a change in plan. Needless to say, they were stunned. Several troopers thought he was a bit nuts.
"So let me get this straight." began E, talking slowly in the hope that it would become obvious to D how crazy the plan sounded. "You want us to steal a Margoth Sub, sail it to the ocean palace, blowing up the factory on the way, and pretend to be some scientists so they let us in, then take over the docks let reinforcements in?"
"Thats about it." replied D.
"Oh, ok then." said E. "EVERYONE LET'S MOVE! GET TO THE SUB!"

---

The Paratroopers kept up the fire. Several officers were considering a tactical retreat when it happened. The factory exploded. Even the Magroth guards stopped firing to watch. It was a sight to behold. Everything, the factory, the buildings, the guardhouse, even the welcome sign all blew up. Somehow only the welcome sign remained in any decent condition. As it landed with a thud, the only difference from before was that the n was now crooked, making the slogan appear read 'Your first name in ruin.' What the Paratroopers didn't realise was that on a sub nearby, Agent D had a big smile on his face.

Summery: Factory - GONE, Sub - STOLEN, Lead Scientist - KIDNAPPED, NISB - AWESOME

[Graham Lot]

Beautifully done! A masterstroke. Love the references to the horrible genetic experiments, and of course, the sign

My losses then are:
Magroth Industries down 930 points.
4 Hueys (let's say one escaped)
48 Fast Response Infantry dy ead, another 196 injured (many in the explosion)
35 Security Guards (and another 79 captured and cuffed)
10 Geneticists dead, 12 injured, another 29 cuffed and the remainder fled into Biotopia.
1000 Factory Employees now unemployed
78 Horrible Genetic Experiments now horribly exploded
2 Quantum Engineers dead, 15 cuffed, three escaped (you wouldn't have been trying as hard to kill these guys, since they weren't the ones doing horrible genetic experiments).
And lets assume that all of my AA stuff has either been destroyed, exploded, captured, or rendered unusable.

That said, since you did it with an SAS squad and stuff, you'll need to take some damages. I'd suggest:
... actually, for all that you've said to reduce all the orbatted things by 10 in your dynamic, I'm assuming you'd want more SAS agents than 24.9 to do this.
How about 10% of SAS dead, a further 5% gravely injured and 20% with minor injuries.
2 NISB agents with minor injuries
15% of paratroopers dead, a further 6% gravely injured and 22% with minor injuries (as they can be shot in the air as they were paratrooping in)
And at least one of the things you used to paradrop with in destroyed.

[Demon of Fides]

MAH JAW! IT HURTS FROM HITTIN' DA FLOOR!

[Prodigy Almighty]

Aww, I've been upstaged! Well done Lachlan! Beat me to the punch!

[Gerk]

Lachlan, yours was much better told, but Prodigy's idea would have been so much more... well... G'DOOSH!

[Liam ronToketi]

ME AND PRODGE HAVE PLANS FOR AL'MAGROTH!!!!

>:C

DON'T RUIN THEM!!!!

>:C

[Demon of Fides]

Three-way demigod 'a spry and healthy young donkey'-whooping?