<<<<< SIDE QUEST >>>>>
Emiko is seated on her mat in a complex yoga pose, concentrating on her relaxed breathing, when she hears a knock on her door. This breaks her meditation and brings her alertness up high. She unfolds her body and makes her way to the door but not before picking up her EX Shocker. She looks through the peephole, sees an older man with a faint smile on his face and opens the door.
“
Hello Rinko, it’s good to see you. May I come in,” the old man asks.
Wordlessly, Emiko moves aside and allows the man to enter.
He continues, “
nice apartment, beautiful view, and…”
Before he can continue his compliments Emiko interrupts with, “
why are you here Uncle Eiji?”
“
May I sit?”
Emiko gestures to her dining room table where the man sits down and opens a manila folder which he lays the contents of papers and pictures on the glass.
Emiko sits and places her taser on the table. “
Why are you here Uncle?”
“
You are looking good Rinko…”
She interrupts again, “
it’s Emiko now.”
“
Yes, of course. Emiko. Your family and I are so very sorry for what happened to you.” Eiji stutters for a moment trying to get words out but is obviously flustered to get to his point. “Umm, so, eh… Look, I’m just going to get to it. We need you again.”
Emiko folds her arms and Eiji knows she’s not open to this idea.
“
Your father and I need you again... b-b-but this time it’s an easy job!”
Emiko sounding bored by this conversation says, “
why me? Why don’t you get someone else?”
Eiji replies, “
because you’re the best we know. Because you know the building; you’ve been in there a few times. Because we’re in trouble. We have intel that one of our competitors is working on a product that will hurt us and other companies. W-w-we don’t even know what it is but we do know it’s something that will hurt us badly. The company has even been buying back all its stock.” Eiji looks down and says, “
I hate to say this but it affects you too. If we get hurt, we can no longer pay for your living expenses. But…” Eiji pauses for a moment, “
but if you can get in there and make sure this thing fails, then it’s business as usual. We will pay you for the work, of course.”
Eiji discusses the details of his plan and Emiko makes some requests of her own. While Eiji is out getting the things Emiko asked for, Emiko does some research.
The next evening, roses are delivered to Emiko in a vase. She thanks the delivery boy, removes the envelope included, and throws away the flowers. Inside the envelope is a data chip and a photo of a woman with a similar build to Emiko. On the back reads: Okemia Hatanaka, R&D. Emiko puts the data chip in her deck and sees the audio files she requested.
Part 1 - Getting Passed Security
Emiko prepares for the day by altering herself to look like Dr. Okemia Hatanaka, this includes using her new Smart Wig and Synthskin Face Mask, altering her skin tone, and wearing a lab coat. She then uses the voice of a woman working at Dr. Hatanaka’s daughter’s school to call Okemia and tell her her daughter has a flu and needs to be picked up. Emiko waits outside the building Dr. Hatanaka works at and watches as the woman walks to her car, presumably to pick up her sick child.
Emiko waits about 5 minutes after she sees a hurrying Okemia walking passed her and Emiko enters the building. Security looks up at her and says, “
back so soon?” Emiko already had altered her voice to the other on the chip and emulates Okemia by saying, “
I was in such a rush I left all my stuff upstairs.” The man laughs and says, “
that happens to me all the time, I’ll buzz you in.”
Part 2 - Find the Component
Emiko thanks the man and pulls on the buzzing door. The next part of the con for Emiko is to make sure not to be noticed by anyone. This she does by keeping her head down and looking like she’s in the biggest rush and can’t be bothered. It works better than expected as she’s able to make it to the elevator and passed everyone on the 17th floor.
Just as she is about to open the door labeled Research and Development Emiko notices a keypad. “
Damn! This wasn’t here last time,” Emiko thinks. Before Emiko has a chance to formulate a plan a man puts a hand on her shoulder to which she nearly jumps out of her skin.
“
Hi Okemia, I thought you left,” the man says.
Emiko looks at the man and remembers from the research that he is one of the researchers, Dr. Akio Hirota. She replies, “
oh, yeah, so I spoke to my husband and he said he can pick up our daughter.”
Akio says, “
that’s good,” and reaches his badge to the sensor and holds the door open for Emiko. The man seems to want to share small talk with Emiko and she is happy that she prepared a rating 4 engineering knowsoft as Dr. Hirota talks about trying to resolve a problem with an important device he’s working on. Emiko is barely able to keep up with the conversation but she nods and interjects jargon once in a while to seem like she’s understanding. “
Do you want to see what I’m talking about?” Emiko tries to not smile at her good fortune and, instead, calmly agrees.
Inside a room filled with computers and mechanical equipment sits a component the size of microwave. Its wires and electronics are all visible. Dr. Hirota unlocks one of the computers and starts to show Emiko data. He then walks over to the device and turns it on. “
I think I’ve resolved the issue of it overheating. If that’s true, I can have it ready to go very soon!” Dr. Hirota turns off the unit and escorts Emiko out of the room. Emiko tells Dr. Hirota that she has to do some office work and asks to be excused to which he acknowledges and walks away.
Part 3 - Kill the Project
Emiko looks for Okemia’s office and attaches her deck to the computer. She then searches for the room she was just in and hacks the cameras. She then puts the cameras in the room on a loop. To be safe, Emiko activates her chameleon skin and moves quietly back to the project room. Inside, she hacks the computer Dr. Akio used and finds the project’s files. She contemplates uploading them to her deck but remembers that her job was to see the project fail. Instead, she opens files and makes changes to data. This feels weird to Emiko because having the engineering knowledge helps her to know what she’s looking at. Finally, Emiko grabs a paper clip and inserts it into the unit, laying it across two wire connections.
Part 4 - Getting out
It’s not a moment after she plants the metal that the door begins to open. Emiko, still camouflaged, quickly moves to back to the computer and hides behind the desk. She tries to remove her deck without but every movement she makes seems like it will give her away. Instead, she waits motionlessly. Emiko can hear Dr. Akio’s voice along with several other voices. They are talking about the project and Emiko see four pairs of feet standing around the unit. “Crap, they’re going to turn it on now! This isn’t going to be good,” Emiko thinks.
Dr. Akio does turn on the component and, because of the metal touching the wires, sparks begin to shoot out, followed by an explosion, and ending with acrid smoke. “
No, no, NO,” Dr. Akio screams as the fire sprinklers begin to rain down. Emiko takes the opportunity to grab her deck as the room and building is now blaring with the noise of an alarm. The men that accompanied Dr. Akio angrily leave and are followed by an apologetic researcher.
Emiko waits a moment and then heads for the door and then the stairs. She undoes her chameleon skin and moves to blend in with the crowd descending the stairs. Emiko makes her way to the bottom floor and outside where she does not seem to be noticed.
Home
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