NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC/ sign-up thread here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=573074)

Somewhere a man is writing in blood.

"I may be the last hold-out of good in this world. I am soon to die--they took everything from me--my family, my happiness, and now my life. I always thought humans contained more good in them, but now I see that they are only puppets controlled by everything that is foul and unspeakable. If anyone finds this..."

He continued to write. His neighbor was awoken by a dog barking. The next day the neighbor was found hanged in his own attic. The death was ruled as a suicide. The writer was found dead of unknown causes, no autopsy was performed. His unpublished writings were confiscated by government investigators.

In a park, a rough-looking fifty years-old man is speaking with a "pretty boy" named Conz Tyspet: "You see, there will always be suffering in the world, we must all learn to accept that. Our organization only causes a minuscule portion of that suffering, yet were it not for us, the status quo could not be maintained. Strange to say, it is that minor suffering that we inflict upon the world which seems to stir the most interest, and this interest only leads to more suffering. I believe, that if we could cause a great amount of suffering briefly, perhaps in the form of a massive global war, we would never have to worry about this again, and our dominance would be forever maintained. The ends always justify the means, my boy, and our rule could bring about a near paradise on Earth--but for these rascals who are always so damned obsessed with the truth."

Hours later the "rough looking fifty years-old man" swore in an exhausted tone. Someone was seen leaving the writer's house with a note just before the organization arrived.

Sterling Frost was a young man who most people avoided, not only because his views were seen as 'dangerous' but there was something about him that most people found slightly creepy.
while it is common knowledge that the g0 - v3r n .m3 n7 watches everything -+ you (red. Blue. Ignore. This.) say and (This. Is. Ignore) do, what is not known to the public is a lot deeper and darker.
He watched the world from his window, mind racing, he had found something big. Something earth shattering to the thousandth degree
There are many s3 _ c + Re7 organisations and most of these while s/ n 1s +t3r in themselves none of them pose such a Th R3+ _7 as this one
The world went blue. He swore under his breath. and closed his eyes counting to ten. When he opened them again the world had went back to normal. Keep a cool head in these situations and blame the water system that everyone knows they drug.
they use P u8 __ lick 1n + er.. e57 as an e Xc u -+ 53 for their cR 1m 3_5 but that is a L 1__ 3! what they do is what I shall tell
He stood up and walked to the door looking thorough the spy hole before opening it. When he was out he locked the door and after checking several times it was in-fact locked he walked to the stairs. He never used the lift despite being on the top floor.
A 8 duck T33 on 5 happen all the time, he know this. but what really happens to them? some say 70r T + u_ r3 and this is probably the case in some situations however what really happens is this...
He walked down the street keeping his head down occasionally muttering to himself and drawing peculiar looks from passers by.
they are taken to a secret location known to many as a no longer in use m 1 + ll1 __tar 33 HQ known only as 53 +710 _n 15 and when they are there they...
He walked into a pub and sat down
“The usual?” The man at the counter asked. he came to this place a lot
“Yes”
“Coming right up” The man passed him a drink and after looking at it for a while, Sterling drank it.
They are used a 73 + 57 5ub j_3c t5 for various technologies. They are turned so much that when they are finished these people are hardly classed as human. Specifics are not known. 4(13 N tech. is involved and g3 n3 tick a( 73 _ ring to create a race of super-humans is suspected.

(OOC: the bits in italics are extracts from his blog)

Bill Leff sat at the bar, a few stools down from Sterling Frost. He had a glass of whiskey in front of him, and it was his fifth. He was talking loudly, into his hands free Bluetooth headset, and his speech was slightly slurred. He was preforming quite well, it was unlikely that anyone knew he was not having a phone conversation, or drunk. He had been waiting for Mr. Frost to arrive.

Sterling ordered another drink. As much to shut them up as anything. He glanced over at the man who was talking loudly then looked away shakeing his head. You would think people would try to keep their phone conversation private.
We all know about the w 4+r on dr_ U9 5 but what is really going on? They say they are helping people but their not. It is a well known fact that 0p 1_u +m is grown in this country and yet they do nothing about it
He looked around the pub never making eye contact with anyone. He never did, people could steal your soul if you were not careful.
It is my belief that the go __ v3 r… Men 7 is actively involved in this business. It’s all about profits for them and they do not care if a few people d = 13 for this. When you get down to it it’s all about the m0 n3 _ y.

Conz Tyspet was driving home from school contemplating his mission in life. His new girlfriend had been chosen for him: an attractive woman who would be sure to get the votes, for Tyspet was to run for Chief Adviser to the Emperor (the position was leader of the nation, for all due purposes) in a few years. He was already plotting to betray "those who choose every winner" by staging a coup once he had enough support from the military. His lights suddenly revealed a figure in the road, and he swerved.... After a brief investigation, Tyspet inferred that he had but imagined the figure, and continued driving. Upon arriving home, he greeted his father briskly, then gave a mundane cover story for why he needed to leave the country, which of course, was blindly accepted by his father.

On the plane, Tyspet thought about some of his Organization's more ruthless tactics. They added elements to drinking water that, when combined with Wonder (a type of drug) caused addiction. The Organization kept the drug strictly illegal in order to gain as much profit for it on the market as they could. However, their "Rival" (Conz was still trying to determine what was meant by this, but only received vague answers) apparently found some way to produce Wonder very cheaply, and as a result the Organization had to close the competitive operation by taking the chemicals out of the water which caused addiction to Wonder (other chemicals were retained in the water for various purposes), then flooding the market (at a substantial loss) with extremely inexpensive, yet poisoned Wonder, which not only killed-off the major providers of funds, but, in addition, caused a panic strong enough to stop significant future Wonder sales. Well, he thought, that is politics; they had better not whine when has them all assassinated.

After exiting the plane, then taking a cab, Conz arrived at his hotel: he stepped out of the car, payed the driver, clipped and lit a cigar, then began to lazily twirl his silver watch. He flirted with the check-in lady a bit (she might just be a very important source of information on other customers, and if she eventually felt Conz "cared" for her, which would take a maximum of two days, then he could learn anything she knew worth learning), took a complementary cup of coffee, then swaggered upstairs. Tyspet unpacked his trunks after the bell-boy brought them up. He peered through the curtains that veiled his window, and observed the fateful bar across the street. Tyspet shut the curtains carefully, then put on a pair of surgical gloves and fondled his gun. Keeping his gloves on, he sifted through room with his finger tips; it was not long before he discovered that the Organization lied, and had in fact placed wiretaps in the room--but those would doubtlessly be neutralized before the conference....

After finishing his last drink, Bill placed some money on the counter, and rose to leave. As he staggered away, still pretending to be on the phone, he also pretended to trip, and fell onto Sterling, planting a small listening device, on the back of his shirt. It was very small, and dug into the fabric. It would be almost impossible to spot, and very delicate. It would break into many tiny pieces if anyone tried to tamper with it. "Watch where yous walkin, bud," Bill slurred as he stood up, still a little shaky.

Sterling jumped out of the way startled. he stared at the man stumble out of the bar it was then he decided to leave. No more drunks were going to fall on him! He stood up and left the bar, and keeping his head down all the way, returned back to his apartment he had to update his blog anyway. If it had not been deleted again that is. He had no idea that the man had planted a listening device on his back...

Fort Dietrev, Viliev Autonomous District, CFUS

Home of the 3rd Army, Dietrev was also home to several agency bases. Among them was the FSB's Section XIII. Created as an extension of the Federal Security Service, Section XIII dealt with state secrets deemed specially compartmentalized and subject to the highest security.

On the train ride over, Agent Junior-rank Roza Michevna had wondered what sort of work she would be dealing in. As expected, there was very little to be told prior to arrival, and passing through the gate, the GDA guard looked at her through squinted eyes before passing her through. Roza quickly found the office she was to report to, the door read Senior Agent Gregori Bruchov, and made sure her uniform was free of stray fibers or unshined buttons before knocking.

"Enter," said a gruff voice. Roza walked in, standing at attention in the center of the room and saluting.

"Agent junior-rank Roza Michevna reporting as ordered, sir." Salutes were exchanged and she remained at attention.

"At ease, we're not in the habit of being so formal," the senior agent said. He looked at a file on his desk; her file. "It says you personally requested me as TA for this assignment, why is that, Comrade-Michevna?"

"I heard you were the best investigative agent we have, sir," she answered.

"Hrm...that I am, I suppose." He looked her over before noticing her choice of hair color. "In our line of work, it's best to be not so easily identifiable...but, that quirk may prove useful," he mused. "Shall I show you the Vault?"

"Vault...?"

"It's where we keep the goodies," he chuckled. His phone rang at that moment, and he answered it, "Yes? What could one blog possibly do to harm us?...A leak...?...Evidence of intrusion?...I'll look into it." He turned to Roza, "Our tour will be delayed, how good are you at data espionage?"

"Pretty good," she admitted, "I tracked the hacker who breached the Defense Directorate's database last year."

"Good," Gregori answered, "Cuz we got us a rodent to hunt," he smiled.

Bill Leff was already in the old gray van across the street, when Sterling exited the bar. He was in the back, monitoring the listening device. In the front was th driver, Gordon. "Sir, he's left the bar, and is on the move."
"Okay, cut up a block, and we'll follow him by tracking the single from the bug. I don't think he suspects anything, but when vans start following him, he might get suspicious," Bill said, as he changed into a black suit, and put on a pair of black gloves, and sunglasses. The truck trailed Sterling, it would have almost been on top of him, if it hadn't been on a separate street. However, this did not help some guy who happened to be walking along at about the same pace as Sterling, on the other street, as the van was following behind him at a very slow speed. Sadly, the man, was so busy looking back at the van, that he walked in front of a speeding taxi cab. By the time the cab was able to stop, the man was a block away, and the van was parked, one block from Sterling's apartment. As he began to write his blog.

(OOC: Well, I'm assuming this bit with Sterling is happening in Fictions, cos that's where he lives. he lives in City Eris, which has been pretty much unaffected by the disturbance that's been happening, so I can roleplay normally there)

Sterling reached his apartment, he still had no idea, apart from the general paranoia that was always there, that he had been followed. He got into his apartment and, before doing anything checked every room for signs of intruders. There were none, either there had not been anyone, or they had been meticulous in covering their tracks. He suspected the latter. He booted up his computer, it was an old one and slow enough to be frustrating. After waiting the several minutes it took he finally was able to load up the internet and log onto his blog. He got the usual comments. People saying he was 'crazy' people saying to watch what he says, people wondering how he had not been arrested yet. he clicked new entry and started to type.
There is a place i have mentioned before, s3 c. 15, I am sure that within its walls their 5 + 13n - 71 x 57 = have been working on a w3 4+ p0 __n so powerful that it can u _n d3 (m) --13 countries and l34 _d3 R5 without them even knowing, it is not known what this w3 4+ p0 __n is, but if it was used (ignore) against us or anyone else for that matter the effects would be d3 V+ 15 747 1n.g
Sterling was not in the habit of dictating as he wrote, who knows what might be listening? but he did occasionally say something, seemingly out of nowhere as though in response to someone else, but there was no-one else.

ooc: just one question...what's up w the formulas?

ic:

Roza was hunched over a computer console, reading through the man's blog. To her, however, it didn't seem like anything to be concerned about.

"It seems like the ravings of a madman," she told her senior-agent.

"Maybe, but there is a thin line between genius and insanity," he reminded her.

She pulled up a screen on a separate monitor. This one showed different aspects of the website itself; last update, server location, server type, people viewing and their IPs, transfer rate and other essential knowledge.

"He's on...writing a blog," she informed Gregori.

"Try to see what he's writing," he told her.

"I think..." she muttered after twenty minutes of typing. "Here."


There is a place i have mentioned before, s3 c. 15, ************ its walls their 5 + 13n - 71 x 57 = have been working on a w3 4+ p0 ****** powerful that *** can u _n d3 (m) --13 countries and l34 _d3 R5 without them even ********** known what this w3 4+ p0 __n is, but if it was used (ignore) against ************** matter the effects would *********15 747 1n.g

"Looks like there's data corruption," Roza sighed.

(OOC: My nation has a 'redword system' (see factbook for more detailed info) if you trigger the system, and your found to be saying something derogatory about the country/government or found to be spreading 'malicious lies' or anything like that you get arrested and executed for treason, the formulas are his attempt to get past that by basically messing up any word he thinks may trigger the system)

ooc: i get it, like the nsa. i'll post later..$#%$ internet!!

"He's typing," said Bill, as he listened to the key strokes. "Probably updating his blog, better get a copy before it gets deleted." He began typing on his powerful laptop, after hiding his identity, by routing through multiple servers world wide, he accessed Sterling's blog. He decided to have some fun, and leave a comment for Sterling. His fingers began typing while waiting for Sterling to finish, "Boo! '<Quote of something he wrote in one of his early blogs>' They are coming for you, they're right outside the door. Hide!" He signed it Boo. When Sterling finished his latest section, Bill added it to the already large database of Sterling's blog entries from his many blogs over the last 3 years.

"Looks like we're not the only ones..." Roza said, noticing a myserious IP. "For a full analysis and tracking we'd need to send this to FAPSI," she told Gregori. "They'll be able to crack these formula codes as well."

"Are you sure we need to involve them?" he asked.

"Sir, FAPSI is far more equipped to deal with this sort of thing," Roza explained, "We're limited with our equipment here."

"I'll get the inter-departmental request pushed through," he sighed, "Anything else?"

"Looks like our mysterious friend is playing a bit of a prank on our mutual friend..."

ooc: fictions, i'm rping under the assumption that your char found out one of my state secrets, if that's ok...

(OOC: Free United States, check your TG in regard to that)

Sterling finished updating, he noticed he had a comment, already? The post had barley been up, he did not normally get comments until at least half an hour later. He read the comment, it too a while to sink in but when it did and the full impact of what it said hit him he yelled out in surprise and fell backward over his chair, scrambling to his feet, swearing he turned off his computer and ran out of the apartment via the fire escape, out into the street.

OOC: just so people know, the code he uses is really simple, it just replaces certain letters with numbers and adds random spaces and symbols in-between them, though you probably figured that out xD

Bill got out of the van, with a baseball bat in his hand, leaving the laptop running and connected to the internet, which was probably a mistake, however, if anyone managed to trace the connect, it would be traced to a wireless access card, under a fake name, and that would be traced to a gray van outside Sterling's apartment. Bill quickly entered the building, and ran towards Sterling's apartment. This needed to look good Bill though. He kicked open the door, to Sterling's apartment, and entered. First thing he did was remove the hard drive for Sterling's computer. Then he began searching for any notebooks, other written records or anything else of interest. After he completed his search, he began beating the computer with the baseball bat, until it was just a pile of parts, then he began messing the rest of the place up, throwing closes around, pulling the mattress of the bed, knocking over furniture, throwing the contents of the cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer over he floor. He up ended tables, and chairs, and last but not least, he used the bat to break every window in the appartment. Then he made sure he had everything he had collected, and proceeded to walk out the front door, down stairs, and got back into the gray van, to see if they could catch up with Sterling or if he had gotten to far away.

(OOC: info on what he would have found, and anything interesting on the hard drive, would be helpful.)

(OOC: check your TG, I sent you what they would have found)

ooc: sent a reply

Sterling ran down several more streets until he reached a CyberCafe, it would be a tiny bit less risky to be here, of course A.M.A.P.P.M.I. monitors everything you do in these places, but he had to check if something new had come up. He entered the building and walked up to the lady at reception, who obviously worked for those damn spies that call themselves media regulators.
"I uh..I would uh, like to use one of these computers"
The lady smiled and typed a few things into her computer
"May I see your ID card please sir?"
He dug in his pocked and pulled it out, hesitantly handing it to her, she examined it for a moment then swiped it into a machine
"You have an hour on computer 12 Mr. Frost"
Ne nodded and walked to the computer, loading up the website he used for blogging, this "boo" person had not left any more messages...maybe it was just a joke? but that couldn't be, that quote was form one of his very first blogs, he was on a different server and using a different alias then!
He clicked start a new blog.
Have you heard of a place called the Fr _33 __UN 173 +d States? Perhaps you know them as the CFUS, either way something happened here in the 60s that was never well explained, I have been interested in other nations for some time and this took my interest, I came briefly across something that mentioned some kind of large scale 'Meteor impact' in Tendeska. However, how unlikely is this? has there really been a meteor would not the me _d34 have reported it? would not have 5c 13 N+7 575 have squabbled over who saw it first? did any of this happen? No. it is of my opinion that this so called meteor did not happen and it was either a failed energy experiment (cold (ignore) fusion most likely) or, and this i believe, a U ___ F + 0.
Next time, C0 _mM +u .N1 [sm] could it work? and how would it apply to Fictions
He posted the reply then turned off the computer and walked casually out of the cafe

The single from the bug was faint, but still detectable, they followed it, and determined he was at a internet cafe. Just as he was leaving, Bill typed another comment on Sterling's new blog, ""Boo! 'There is a place i have mentioned before, s3 c. 15, I am sure that within its walls their 5 + 13n - 71 x 57 = have been working on a w3 4+ p0 __n so powerful that it can u _n d3 (m) --13 countries and l34 _d3 R5 without them even knowing, it is not known what this w3 4+ p0 __n is, but if it was used (ignore) against us or anyone else for that matter the effects would be d3 V+ 15 747 1n.g' They are gone. Took many things. Don't think they are watching appartment, most likely think you fled. If Boo can find new blog, they will too, and trace, be careful!" Again it was signed Boo, this time it was routed through a completely different set of servers and IP addresses in another part of the world.

The data was coming in quickly now. With the help of FAPSI, they were able to get a better track on both their quarry and the other serveiller. They were having some difficulty tracking it through all the servers and IPs, but the operatives were certain they'd trace it eventually.

On a large screen in the Section XIII control room, an ethereal blue image of an internet cafe was enlarged. A man exited, and the camera on the overhead satellite began tracking.

"That's probably him..." Gregori mused. "We'll need to approach him carefully. Michevna, are you ready to travel?"

"Yes sir," she replied. In only a few hours on the job, she was after her first target...

At this point, Bill was alerted by his computer, that someone was attempting to track his connection. He quickly punched a few keys, rerouted again, this time through some highly secure military servers in various nations, who would most likely detect this, and do something about it, however, he wanted to buy time, so that he could run a reverse on whoever was attempting to track him.

"Cheeky bastard," the FAPSI tech said by Roza.

"What is it?" she asked, having changed out of her uniform for a business suit.

"Sending us through military servers...hoping we'll piss off the neighbors," the tech sneered. "What, don't think we're clever for that, do ya?"

"Um, what if they-?"

"You mean, do a turnover, a reversal on us? Hrm, wouldn't put it past the blighters, but we'll have to slow our pace a bit to lure the wolves out..."

"Right..." Roza left it at that and joined Gregori. They were headed for Meridian Int'l Airport for a flight out. She packed the x-ray and scanner-proof package containing her service pistol and other necessities and followed after.

As the van followed a short ways behind Sterling, the trace was narrowing in on who was tracing him. Then at least, he would know who he was dealing with.

(OOC: as you didn't mention the van being on a separate street I'm assuming it's on the same one)

For the last few minutes Sterling ha been overcome with the sensation that was he was being followed. Alright so that sensation was normally there, but it was stronger now. He glanced behind and saw a plain grey van driving along at a steady, a far to slow pace, some way behind him. he swore under his breath and quickened his pace, keeping his head down. A few minutes later he glanced behind again and the van was still there. He began to run, down the street around the corner and into a random news-agent, where he promptly pretended to browse some magazines while in reality looking to see if there was a back exit.

***

Back in the cybercafe the lady secretary had watched the man go. Why had he payed for an hour and only used five minutes? She pulled up the browser history of computer 12
"Arrogant little devil!" surprised by the secretary's outburst the other people in the cafe looked up, she motioned to them that it's nothing and they went back to whatever they were doing. The secretary picked up the phone and called the C.Eris A.M.A.P.P.M.I. building
"Hello. This is Mary Greene from the Saba Road Internet Cafe, You know that blogger, the one with the arrest warrant who always uses an alias?"
"Yes... What about him or her"
"I have a positive ID, he came into here a few minutes before"

***

In the A.M.A.P.P.M.I. building the person on the other end of the line listened to the name given -Sterling Frost- And a description -Messy black hair, large glasses aged 19 (personal details such as age would be on his ID card)
The A.M.A.P.P.M.I. person searched the national database and received two hits, one was way out of the age range being about 74 the other fitted perfectly, he clicked the name of the latter and a detailed description including photograph came up on his screen. At the top right hand corner, next to where his name was, there was a small button:
Authorize Arrest? [Yes] [No]
he clicked yes.

(OOC: Sorry about the double posting, but I had this new idea, I dunno what will come of it, no It won't get in the way of Sterling, I'll just RP both.)

The small room in a part of section 15 was plain. White walls and white floors and ceilings, there was no decoration, no sign anyone lived there apart from the metal framed bed with plain white sheets. Sitting on the bed was a small child of about five of indistinguishable gender. The child wore a plain grey t-shirt and plain grey trousers and plain grey slippers and was staring at the wall apparently content. The door to the child's room unlocked and two people dressed as scientists entered, one of the scientists sat on the bed next to the child, the other opened a briefcase and began looking through it. The scientist who sat next to the child spoke
"So, how are you feeling?"
The child looked up at the scientist, nodded and smiled, it had not said a word. Ever, but understood every word perfectly.
"Good, still not speaking?"
The child shook it's head and shrugged
The scientist that had the briefcase handed the child a laptop, the child turned it on then looked at the scientist
"Well, I recently got my hands on some pretty advanced monitoring/blocking software, I want you to disable it"
After a few minutes silence with the child working, silently, Then the child handed it back to the scientist. The program disabled.
"Very good..."

Within FAPSI, the agents and technicians were in a climactic battle with their mysterious foe. The tech had pulled out all the stops, making false IP addresses, fake servers and in some instances, fake countries. As his own trace got closer, the back-trace was leading to all Hell and gone. It was a matter of *whose system would find the other first.

----------

The Airbus jetliner took off from the airport, and Roza looked out calmly. She was seated several rows away from GRegori, to avoid suspicion, and she shared her seat with a man who couldn't stop looking at her legs. Roza frowned at that, but smiled demurely when their eyes met. If you only knew... she fumed silently. Once in flight, Roza opened up the small file that they had already started on their target: Sterling. In some part of her heart, she deeply felt sorry for him. He'd just seen the wrong things and told about them is all, she mused. But in the rest of her heart was only duty, so Roza quickly returned to her mission.

(OOC: as you didn't mention the van being on a separate street I'm assuming it's on the same one)

For the last few minutes Sterling ha been overcome with the sensation that was he was being followed. Alright so that sensation was normally there, but it was stronger now. He glanced behind and saw a plain grey van driving along at a steady, a far to slow pace, some way behind him. he swore under his breath and quickened his pace, keeping his head down. A few minutes later he glanced behind again and the van was still there. He began to run, down the street around the corner and into a random news-agent, where he promptly pretended to browse some magazines while in reality looking to see if there was a back exit.

***

Back in the cybercafe the lady secretary had watched the man go. Why had he payed for an hour and only used five minutes? She pulled up the browser history of computer 12
"Arrogant little devil!" surprised by the secretary's outburst the other people in the cafe looked up, she motioned to them that it's nothing and they went back to whatever they were doing. The secretary picked up the phone and called the C.Eris A.M.A.P.P.M.I. building
"Hello. This is Mary Greene from the Saba Road Internet Cafe, You know that blogger, the one with the arrest warrant who always uses an alias?"
"Yes... What about him or her"
"I have a positive ID, he came into here a few minutes before"

***

In the A.M.A.P.P.M.I. building the person on the other end of the line listened to the name given -Sterling Frost- And a description -Messy black hair, large glasses aged 19 (personal details such as age would be on his ID card)
The A.M.A.P.P.M.I. person searched the national database and received two hits, one was way out of the age range being about 74 the other fitted perfectly, he clicked the name of the latter and a detailed description including photograph came up on his screen. At the top right hand corner, next to where his name was, there was a small button:
Authorize Arrest? [Yes] [No]
he clicked yes.

Within FAPSI, the agents and technicians were in a climactic battle with their mysterious foe. The tech had pulled out all the stops, making false IP addresses, fake servers and in some instances, fake countries. As his own trace got closer, the back-trace was leading to all Hell and gone. It was a matter of *whose system would find the other first.

----------

The Airbus jetliner took off from the airport, and Roza looked out calmly. She was seated several rows away from GRegori, to avoid suspicion, and she shared her seat with a man who couldn't stop looking at her legs. Roza frowned at that, but smiled demurely when their eyes met. If you only knew... she fumed silently. Once in flight, Roza opened up the small file that they had already started on their target: Sterling. In some part of her heart, she deeply felt sorry for him. He'd just seen the wrong things and told about them is all, she mused. But in the rest of her heart was only duty, so Roza quickly returned to her mission.

Once Sterling started to run, the van quickly turned off the road, into an alley. They followed the single, and realized, that they were parked right behind the building that Sterling had entered. Bill was still dealing with the traces, so he was no help. George decided to find a place to park. He pulled down the street, and into the entrance to a parking garage. The trace, was nearing on Bill. However, even with the stuff the other guys were throwing at him, his trace was zeroing in too. It was going to be close, the traces might actually be completed within a nanosecond of one another. Bill knew that at anytime, he could cut the connection, and kill the other peoples trace, but his trace would be lost too. He wasn't going to be the first to blink.

The massive computer system of FAPSI was suplemented by those of its companion, SOUD. The two systems worked cocurrently, with FAPSI working on the trace while SOUD blocked the trace with continued bounces throughout the world. In some instances, they even sent the signal into the *home networks of their pursuers. Some SOUD techs were working on killing the trace, by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, the FSB was surveilling Sterling and his pursuers. Without agents on the ground yet, there was little they could do but keep tracking and sending the information back to them. Roza, still on the plane, discreetly dislocated the creepy man's finger when he tried to touch her thigh.


*I assume at this point we may know the country of origin

In the A.M.A.P.M.I. building the signal room was in a state of utter confusion, they intercepted every signal coming in and out of the country, most of the time it just passed through without causing much but there seemed to be an all out signal war between... It was impossible to tell but at least one of the parties involved must be stationed in the country -in this city- otherwise they would not have picked up on it.
“Dammit! What the heck is going on”
“We don't know. Someone is trying to track a signal while blocking their own against a person who is tracing a signal while blocking their own and both are redirecting all of theirs”
“Well. Just ignore it. It's probably government. There is a 'revolution' going on it's probably got something to do with that.”
“Aright...should we do anything about it?”
“No. Don't bother”

***

Sterling stayed in the newsagents, for now he thought he was safe, but even so he made sure his back was turned so the store surveillance camera would not see his face. He just wished he know what these people looked like, then he would know if he had to leave suddenly. How had they tracked him, he never went to the doctors so they could not have implanted a tracking device then, maybe it was the nanobots, That's what factories really belched out, not CO2 or whatever. It was nanobots, miniature robots that acted like a million tiny cameras all locating people constantly watching them and they're watching now. every move you do is being watched and there is nothing you can do about it. you may as well give up, they'll catch you and kill you and...
“stop, never give up, never let them get" but they will anyway
“but not yet, hold up as long as you can.” He blinked as he realised people were watching him, some edging away nervously. He must have been speaking, but he had not realised he was doing it.

***

The arrest warrant had been issued against Sterling Frost, but when the police arrived at his apartment they were quite surprised at what they saw. The whole place had been trashed and Sterling was nowhere in sight
“Looks like someone got here first. Have a look around, see if you ca find anything. And place some camera's while your at it, The man might come back”
The police got to work searching the apartment, and placing tiny, dime sized cameras in places that were hidden but would still record anyone who entered the house.

***

In Section 15 the building was, much to the workers annoyance at a standstill, but they had orders from 'Higher up' and that meant they had to obey. The two scientists had requested all work to stop for half an hour so they could run some preliminary tests with their 'little experiment' they entered the small child's room and lead it out of and into a large control room the people who would be working there looked at them with hostility, suspicion and annoyance. This is why they had to stop work? So there 'Scientist' could show some kid around.
One of the scientists turned to the child
“You remember what you have to do?”
The child nodded and walked over to the main control panel
“Hey! Hey get the kid away from that! that's delicate machinery not a toy!”
“It's aright. We know what we are doing” The scientist reassured the man who had spoken out
The child started to tap in a few command on the control panel while the other scientist took notes a few seconds later the power of the whole building shut down completely and the backup generators, all of them did not respond.
“See! The kid broke it! I'd like to see you explain this!”
The scientist did not answer but waved a barley visible hand. The child tapped a few commands again and the building's power returned.
“W-what?”
“I don't expect security to understand such matters. Come” At the scientist's command the child stepped away from the panel and followed the scientists out of the room...

In the A.M.A.P.M.I. building the signal room was in a state of utter confusion, they intercepted every signal coming in and out of the country, most of the time it just passed through without causing much but there seemed to be an all out signal war between... It was impossible to tell but at least one of the parties involved must be stationed in the country -in this city- otherwise they would not have picked up on it.
“Dammit! What the heck is going on”
“We don't know. Someone is trying to track a signal while blocking their own against a person who is tracing a signal while blocking their own and both are redirecting all of theirs”
“Well. Just ignore it. It's probably government. There is a 'revolution' going on it's probably got something to do with that.”
“Aright...should we do anything about it?”
“No. Don't bother”

***

Sterling stayed in the newsagents, for now he thought he was safe, but even so he made sure his back was turned so the store surveillance camera would not see his face. He just wished he know what these people looked like, then he would know if he had to leave suddenly. How had they tracked him, he never went to the doctors so they could not have implanted a tracking device then, maybe it was the nanobots, That's what factories really belched out, not CO2 or whatever. It was nanobots, miniature robots that acted like a million tiny cameras all locating people constantly watching them and they're watching now. every move you do is being watched and there is nothing you can do about it. you may as well give up, they'll catch you and kill you and...
“stop, never give up, never let them get" but they will anyway
“but not yet, hold up as long as you can.” He blinked as he realised people were watching him, some edging away nervously. He must have been speaking, but he had not realised he was doing it.

***

The arrest warrant had been issued against Sterling Frost, but when the police arrived at his apartment they were quite surprised at what they saw. The whole place had been trashed and Sterling was nowhere in sight
“Looks like someone got here first. Have a look around, see if you ca find anything. And place some camera's while your at it, The man might come back”
The police got to work searching the apartment, and placing tiny, dime sized cameras in places that were hidden but would still record anyone who entered the house.

***

In Section 15 the building was, much to the workers annoyance at a standstill, but they had orders from 'Higher up' and that meant they had to obey. The two scientists had requested all work to stop for half an hour so they could run some preliminary tests with their 'little experiment' they entered the small child's room and lead it out of and into a large control room the people who would be working there looked at them with hostility, suspicion and annoyance. This is why they had to stop work? So there 'Scientist' could show some kid around.
One of the scientists turned to the child
“You remember what you have to do?”
The child nodded and walked over to the main control panel
“Hey! Hey get the kid away from that! that's delicate machinery not a toy!”
“It's aright. We know what we are doing” The scientist reassured the man who had spoken out
The child started to tap in a few command on the control panel while the other scientist took notes a few seconds later the power of the whole building shut down completely and the backup generators, all of them did not respond.
“See! The kid broke it! I'd like to see you explain this!”
The scientist did not answer but waved a barley visible hand. The child tapped a few commands again and the building's power returned.
“W-what?”
“I don't expect security to understand such matters. Come” At the scientist's command the child stepped away from the panel and followed the scientists out of the room...

The massive computer system of FAPSI was suplemented by those of its companion, SOUD. The two systems worked cocurrently, with FAPSI working on the trace while SOUD blocked the trace with continued bounces throughout the world. In some instances, they even sent the signal into the *home networks of their pursuers. Some SOUD techs were working on killing the trace, by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, the FSB was surveilling Sterling and his pursuers. Without agents on the ground yet, there was little they could do but keep tracking and sending the information back to them. Roza, still on the plane, discreetly dislocated the creepy man's finger when he tried to touch her thigh.


*I assume at this point we may know the country of origin

Bill now had it down to the nation of origin, he didn't really need much more than that. His next move was to play opossum. He killed the trace, and his defenses. Then he waited.

"Hang on a tick..." the FAPSI technician muttered. "Baiting us...they know the country, just like us, so they don't need more than that...well, neither do we, really. Question is, do we proceed and show our sixes to them, or back off too?" He muttered some more to himself, looking for a way to stay one step ahead.

"What about releasing Jotar?" his companion asked.

"For this?" the tech asked incredulously. "No, let's back down too. Send this up to the Intelligence Directorate."


Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), Meridian City, CFUS

The five men and one woman that comprised the Directorate were sitting around a cicular conference desk. At the center was the Premier, to his right, the National Security Advisor, and the rest were from the Politburo.

"Here are the latest reports," the NSA said. She looked intently for the Premier's reaction. "Included is a request to release Jotar."

"No, that's too extreme," he told her. "That's pretty much an act of war. Perhaps, if we contacted the government...? Surely, it seems we have similar goals."

"They may not want to share their asset," one of the Politburo members said.

"That's true," said another, "But, perhaps we should wait until we hear from our operatives...where are they now?"

"Should be landing soon," the last Politburo member said, "Correct?" he asked the NSA.

"That's right," she said.

Fictions

The plane landed, and Gregori and Roza met up. After obtaining the car planted for them at the parking garage, they took off, already recieving the latest intel.

"He's been tracked down," Roza sighed as she holstered her pistol. "I don't think we should make a move...it'll give us away to their intelligence services."

"Right," Gregori said as he made a turn, "Looks like it's one big waiting game."

After about another half hour of waiting, Sterling left the newsagents and made his way, taking several detours, back to his apartment. The police had already left by the time he got there, but seeing his door unlocked and slightly ajar he knew at once something was wrong. He pushed the door open a crack and looked inside.
“Shit!” he didn’t even go in the house just ran as fast as he could out of the apartment. This time yesterday when he thought people were out to get him it was all in his head. But now, now it was real and his life was in danger

(OOC: This still happening?)