Urban Rivals

Nero sighed as he stepped from his bathroom, stretching his arms in relaxation. A good shower was what he needed. After putting on some clothes, the boy turned to see a message on his computer screen.

It was... from the Professor.

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There have been a couple of disturbances in the downtown district. People have been going into certain shopping places but aren't returning.

Normally, this would be handled by the police; but the deep web networks are starting to contract Lateral-users to investigate. If you're up for some shopping, you should go. The reward is $60,000.

The Professor

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@Leavanny;, @Tailisu10;, @BMGF haxie-kun;, @Glorious Brony;, @Grit;, @xelda57;

Nero's eyes narrowed, and he turned to grab his scarf before leaping out of his backdoor window. As he jumped over a few trees, he made sure to land cleanly on the top of Dante's house; rushing toward the the downtown district.

Dawn looked at the message left by Auria.

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I shall be there.

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Dawn then clicked "Send" and went to that place.

"Do you always wear cosplay?" Virgil asked Dawn, at the shop. "I mean, not that it's bad...It's cute."

While Tailisu was eating his pancakes he heard his computer make the received message sound from downstairs. He thought that it was probably the professor so he left behind his breakfast and headed upstairs. He read the message.

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There have been a couple of disturbances in the downtown district. People have been going into certain shopping places but aren't returning.

Normally, this would be handled by the police; but the deep web networks are starting to contract Lateral-users to investigate. If you're up for some shopping, you should go. The reward is $60,000.

The Professor

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The room was silent for a while before a sound broke out. "What?" He said quietly. $60,000 Dollars?! That was a lot of money, they were going to pay him that many for completing a single mission? Tailisu was very stunned. He slowly grabbded his sketch pad,several pencils and a pencil sharpener, he needed to be prepare for anything due to the disappearance, they were basically his only weapons.

He headed to the downtown district and saw two two people, he recognized them from both neighborhood and last night's meeting. He knew that the girl's name was Dawn. "Hello, did you guys also received the mission?" He asked.

Lucy received the message as well; she ran down to the shop, holding her parasol. When she neared the place, once she was sure nobody was around, she became invisible. Then, she walked into the shop.

(OOC: You all know that it isn't just one shop. Rather, it's an entire mall, right?)

Nero had himself positioned within an air duct, crouched as he overlooked the entire center of the mall. It was a large intersection of different walkways, each going to separate wings of the stores.

Taking out his PDA, he typed a message to Auria.

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I'm in position. Now what?

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He waited for a few seconds, surveying around. The mall was bustling, crowded and lively. Lots of potential victims, here. Soon, he heard the click of his PDA. Taking out the small pad, he read the reply.

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Hello, Nero. I'm very happy to see that you've decided to undertake this mission.

You'll find your next destination down the western hallway, to your right. A store should be there.

The Professor

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Nero put away his PDA, turning to crawl through another section of the ventilation. 'Western hallway...'

Little did he know, Auria had sent that message to everyone.

Lucy, still invisible, weaved her way through the crowd, making sure not to touch anyone. Picking up on a message from another lateral-user's PDA, she read the message in her mind and quickly made her way to the western hallway. Nero... hm. There are more lateral users around here... that message was BCC.

Ella was sitting on a bench in the mall, her left hand holding on to a brown bag that contained some donuts. Her right hand in turn was holding the donut that she was currently eating. She had received some information from an unknown entity earlier that day, she had already been used to dealing with different jobs from contacts she didn't know, but there was something specific that made her suspicious. "So who could the culprit be..." she pointed out quietly before taking another small bite.

Nero landed a bit away from the crowds, landing beyond a ficus. Coming from behind the plant, he ducked behind a wall as a few teens began to walk past him.

"Did you see that shirt?" "Oh my god!" "So hideous~"

He wasn't paying attention to whatever conversation they were having. Frankly, it was useless and unimportant to anything he could possibly be thinking of at this moment. Looking past the turn, he saw a lone store on one side of the hallway. The sign was shiny, much like the others. It was written in an exotic language.

"Bingo," he muttered lowly to himself. Coming from behind the plant, he made his way over to the store.

Lucy noticed someone come out from behind the plant. That's where the signal was from! It's a lateral-user!
Still yet invisible, she followed him to the store. So, people were disappearing? Bring it on. She felt like she could lift anything from her excitement.

Tailisu heard his cellphone ring. When he took it out of his messenger bag he saw that he had another message.

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Hello, Nero. I'm very happy to see that you've decided to undertake this mission.

You'll find your next destination down the western hallway, to your right. A store should be there.

The Professor

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That's weird, is this message supposed to be for someone else? Well he didn't knew where he needs to investigate so he decided to go to the store in the message that wasn't intended for him. "Hey" He said to the two people. "I've received this message, it technically isn't for me but I think we should go to where this message told me to go. No point hanging around here right?" He then left for the direction of the place. He was holding his sketch pad under his arm just in case he needs to make something quickly. He hoped the other two were following him cause he honestly thought he isn't capable doing this alone.

The boy arrived at the location. The first thing he noticed with his different colored eyes was the sign, it was probably in a different language. Putting the sketch pad in front of him,he also took a pencil out and put the tip on the piece of page. Even though he looked like he was about to draw he had an imagery where he had a gun and was pointing it in front of him. He entered the store.

(ooc: @Tailisu10; Lucy's invisible. nobody knows she's there. So I'm going to assume that every time you said 'two people' it meant one.)

Lucy followed Tailisu silently. She wouldn't reveal herself until it was necessary...

Sarah, having received the message as well, was already at the mall. She made her way to the designated area and went toward the store.
Lucy saw her and her eyes widened; she had trouble maintaining her invisibility with the surprise. But she calmed down and continued walking, now alongside Sarah.
They entered the store and both of them looked around, although Sarah still wasn't aware of Lucy's presence, as nobody was.
Sarah quickly sent a message to the Professor.

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So... I'm in the store. What now? Have you got any more info on this?

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OOC:I Was actually referring to Leavanny's and Grit's characters.

Michael checked his P*DA, following instructions from 'Auria' on the promise of a crapton of money. Strollingly casually through the mall with his earbuds in, playing rock music from his iPhone. Turning into the western hallway of the shopping center, he saw a boy with a notepad entering a store with an exotic looking sign. "Seems like a likely spot." he muttered to himself, then pulled the phone out of his pocket, switched off the music, and texted his mom.

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Going in 2 weird + dngrs store, b home soon.

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He then returned the earbuds to his ears and opened the door.

Nero stood in the store with his arms crossed, looking around the store to find anything worth scanning. He became on high-alert when he heard others enter the store, turning to look see Tailisu, Sarah, and Michael enter the store.

"You all..." he muttered from behind his scarf. What were they doing here? Wasn't this supposed to be a solo job?

Looking to his PDA, he found another message... it was addressed to... Sarah?

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Now, you just wait...

The Professor

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Why was her message displayed on his PDA...? Of course. A broadcast. This mission probably was, too.

Narrowing his eyes, Nero only looked to the others. "Just stay out of my way," he warned them, turning to look ahead.