![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
It was all supposed to be a simple job. Get in, get out, get paid. That's how it always worked. Maybe it wasn't as easy as the good old days of delivering some random guy's mail to his mailbox down the street, but it was by no means supposed to be overly difficult or life changing. But then, difficulty tends to rise when mistakes are made, and when one's own arrogance and cocky attitude takes over. Or even when not all the information was there. Such was the case with the current one. A simple step by step go here, do this, get that sort of thing that went in a direction she didn't write on her agenda for that day.
As per usual Alia was falling kind of short on completing any type of mission or job. It wasn't as if she needed to fill any sort of completion quota. All she cared about was having some spare jewels for whatever she wanted, and so the thought of actually doing anything didn't form in that blonde head until her jewel purse was empty. Or if something was way too expensive. New gear didn't come cheap even if it was made by people she personally knew. Alia had run into both problems. There was something she wanted AND she was low on funds for the things she needed. That meant the usual five minute jobs was not going to suffice. She needed one job that had a good enough payout to last for a while but also wouldn't get her killed by some horrible monster that was destroying the town next door. A quick glance at the nearest job board for wandering folks and guildless mages was all it took to find something that looked good. Although, she really should have been more suspicious about it after looking at the details. The job coincidentally had to do with that walking tincan factory she shut down not that long ago. She had heard that some looters ransacked the place in order to sell those lacrimas and other parts to whoever they wanted. It wasn't surprising that those researching into technological magic would also go in there now that it was abandoned and safe to explore in. It was certainly easier than venturing into Mirai itself. But, Aliarey wasn't one for full details. She had handled it before so how bad could it be to get mixed into that again? Not very as far as she saw it. Before she dealt with an army of Lacbots. Sort of. The point was now she was dealing with some whacko braniac scientist. All she had to do was get a copy of his data for a competitor, and destroy whatever progress had been made on the project. It was a bit shady, sure, but then if it wasn't it would have just gone off to the nearest goody good legal guild. At least it wasn't specifying that she had to kill anyone.
After discussing things with the client, Aliarey took what details he could give and got started. Step one was gathering intel. For some reason the location of the research and experiment laboratory wasn't known. At all. Not even a vague hint on a map. It was annoying that she would have to put in the extra effort just to find the place in order to do her job, but it was what it was, she supposed. In her mind she was shooting the guy repeatedly for the time waster and lack of information, but the silver lining was that he gave her an idea of finding someone who might have known. All she had to do was ask around Talonia and see who would actually give up those nice details without much of a fuss. There was always someone that knew everything even if they were not involved themselves. Or maybe she would just find someone that just didn't know how to keep their mouth shut for long. Either worked in her favor.
And so she went to the city that was known as the main hub for guildless mages, among other things. The trip to the bar scene proved to the mildly successful. She had gotten a tip, a name actually, of someone that most likely knew the location of the lab because he dealt with them and was one of their suppliers for the necessary tech. Of course the guy would be known to hang around some of the more darker and secluded sections of the town, though. That's how her luck always was; bad. It was uncomfortable to just waltz down that area as if it was a simple stroll in the park, and she could feel the glares and stares. That couldn't be helped. They were likely into some shady business and probably figured she was there to report or catch them. A neutral reputation kind of gets extinguished after doing a few missions that get you recognized for being a good girl. Not that she was really. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time in all of those cases. Unfortunately, those around were unwilling to talk to her for the most part. Some just generally did not like her, didn't want to be snitches, and some just outright attacked. Rude! It was nothing she couldn't handle and eventually she did end up finding someone that had it in for the guy and wanted to make his life as annoying as possible. Sweet! She could be especially annoying!
So now she just had to pay a vist to this Matroge guy. The woman could only sigh when he had to make things more of a hassle than was needed. The guards were more of those lacbots from the factory, although thankfully the less powerful ones. They were easier to repair and just as easy to break apart again with her weapons. It was childs play now. The guy himself was actually stronger but still taken down without too much effort in the shooting showdown. He was alive, of course. She couldn't very well have him dead and unable to talk. She was a requip mage that focused on guns! Not some necromancer or spirit medium! After making some convincing arguments, or by being more of a bother than was worth the tolerance, whichever one, Aliarey got the information she needed to start reaching the real objective and goal of the mission. A few bonuses had even been given in the form of passcodes to get through some of the security doors and even paths to take in order to be undetected. Gee, the place really had ripped off some of that Mirai tech to get that advanced without typical magic. It ended up with her having to split some of the payout for that extra info, but for the extra safety and ease of completion she supposed it was worth it. Maybe. It was still debatable. For now, it was onward to glory! And jewels. Mostly the jewels.
After a bit of travel time for the one mage in the world that somehow lacked a teleport spell, or so it seemed like to her, Aliarey had reached the secret lab of super serious secret but not so secret research. Spooky Forest. The lab really didn't want to be found. That had to be the only reason it was deep within that abonminal forest. Alia had been there a few times before but never that far in, and none of those times were exactly for a picnic party. Surely no sane person would have gone adventuring there either and accidentally find the place. Hell, the guy had even told her that there was a different lab set up there originally to hide their spirit research, but it kind of blew up after their little project got too chaotic to control. Or so the story went. Alia wasn't really going to check on the details that involved some horror story. At most she'd give credit that the part about the original building being blown up was true. There was still damage to the trees and ground nearby and around the newly established lab. Her scanners picked up some people walking the perimeter as well as some of those robots. Expected really and so while keeping her distance and remaining hidden she checked the path inside that she had been given. The information proved to be accurate enough. All was clear. That should have been a sign she noticed though. There was never a place that was completely clear on accident. That was where her first mistake was. She may have ran past the cameras and snuck her way through and inside, but that only went so far with those advanced magic experimental bots being so close. They had been upgraded since her original mission a while back, and even after Matroge had been there himself, and so she couldn't predict that they knew she was there before she even reached the building. Those scientists had life hacks.
Everything was going smoothly. Way too smoothly. Even inside the place was a bit too easy. Sure she had the passcodes to every locked door and knew how to evade the cameras inside due to the helpful hints but even for her dumb blonde self she was starting to get suspicious of the less than complicated scenic tour of a super secret research lab that was supposed to be heavily guarded. Huh, guess even they couldnt find any decent help to hire. Alia quietly continued down the empty halls, ignoring every large glass window on the wall that allowed anyone to get a look at what was inside. That wasn't what she was there for. She could maybe swipe something extra once she had gotten what she was there for. The room she was looking for was eventually reached, and upon entering the code to get inside she peeked her head in to make sure no one was there. There wasn't. Deep down she was hoping that there was, and now she could only be left with the feeling of disappointment, concern, and a bit of worry that was starting to set off some self preversation alarms. Unless everyone just happened to be on their lunch break something was very wrong. She was never that lucky and she knew that all too well. The feeling went ignored as she took a seat on the chair in front of the massive screen and controls for whatever monstrous alien tech that was supposed to be (a computer). It supposedly contained all of the data that was needed and all she had to do was put it all on a small thingamabob (a usb stick) that she was given and it was half of the mission complete besides destroying the project progress and getting the hell out. Assuming she even transferred the data, of course. She just had to conclude that she did it right. With that done, she got up from the chair and went to the room's exit so she could start looking for what it was she was even supposed to destroy. Maybe everything. That was fine with her.
The door opened on its own as she approached it, which caused her to stop and blink in a confused manner. Even more so when she saw the two large lacbots standing there as well as two armored guards. "Oh..." A proverbial sweatdrop formed at the side of her head as they spoke and all aimed at her with their firearm weapons. "Well I guess it's destroy as much as possible then." Destroy and get out were now in the do at the exact same time category. And so the best way to describe how things went from there was simply "kaboom." Her explosive glove requip made for an easy way to create a quick distraction even if it had not taken out the small group fully. The detonation had set off the fire alarms though. Or maybe those were the intruder alarms. Did the hallway lights normally go red when there was a fire? Anyway, she booked it out of there. She was faster than they were apparently, but every corner she turned had new groups of foes to stand in her way. More kabooms and destructive chaos ensued with her having to go the extra effort to even toss a turret disc or two inside random experiment rooms in order to destroy whatever was in there. All part of the job. A shame she didn't have the time or power to just cause the entire building to blow up in one large hit. That would have been waaayyyy faster.
Somehow, someway, Aliarey managed to get out of the building quite alive and leaving a now burning building behind. She was not looking back to watch the wandering robots trying to find her and put out the fires, and she surely wasn't about to let herself get caught by whatever human security was around. So she ran, using whatever magic in her arsenal to make it go faster for a quick getaway. The communicator device attached to her eye visor started to beep, indicating that she had a call. Only two people had access to that so it wasn't really a suspicious or time waster call. "Hey, what's up?" Aliarey inquired calmly as if it were just another peaceful day instead of her running for her life.
"Alia, what are you doing way out there?"
"Making money. Maybe I'll even consider paying you back after this is done."
"It's not that job with the data theft, is it?"
Aliarey arched a brow curiously at that. That was one heck of a guess. "...Maybe. Why?" A sigh was heard, the kind of sigh she always heard from the man on the other end of the line when she did something completely and utterly stupid. The kind that made her aware she was a hopeless case and that this sort of thing was all too common. The kind that made her want the magic to punch his face from over the communicator line.
"Yeeaaahhh, unless you want an early death you better not go meet the client in person for the delivery. You're basically one of those links that need to be eliminated. You know, a loose end. This has happened before. If you had paid attention to the rumors going down the grapevine you'd know that."
"Fantastic. So sell it to someone else for money. Got it."
"Forget the money! Now not only do you have the competitor organization after you because I damn well know you and know that you didn't wear any type of disguise, but you have the ones that wanted the data in the first place on your tail the moment you try to hand it in or run. It's time to lay low for a while and hope that actually works."
"I'm open to suggestions."
"Well it's a good thing we live in a magical world of fairytale fantasy. Disguises are easy to come up with, and so is hiding. Lets meet up at the Wakusei Portals before they realize what's up, and we'll get out of here. Something can be figured out once the panic mode is over."
"You're coming too?"
"Yep. And so is the Professor. You kind of screwed us over. They'll end up coming here looking for you, and I don't really want to get in that crossfire."
"And what are we going to do with this data?"
"Might as well use it for ourselves. I'm sure it's got something interesting on it if it's causing this much trouble. Oh, and one more thing: learn a damn teleport spell already!!! If I die before you get here you're going to have some problems that I will personally create from the other side!" The line then cut off. Well this new situation sucked. "All I wanted was some easy jewels. Is that too much to ask for?!" Apparently so. Now she'd have to disappear for a bit until everything blew over and things were figured out. Chances were, it wasn't going to be that easy. Nothing ever was.
(Word Count: 2708
2000 for Exam
708 Excess for Freeform)
As per usual Alia was falling kind of short on completing any type of mission or job. It wasn't as if she needed to fill any sort of completion quota. All she cared about was having some spare jewels for whatever she wanted, and so the thought of actually doing anything didn't form in that blonde head until her jewel purse was empty. Or if something was way too expensive. New gear didn't come cheap even if it was made by people she personally knew. Alia had run into both problems. There was something she wanted AND she was low on funds for the things she needed. That meant the usual five minute jobs was not going to suffice. She needed one job that had a good enough payout to last for a while but also wouldn't get her killed by some horrible monster that was destroying the town next door. A quick glance at the nearest job board for wandering folks and guildless mages was all it took to find something that looked good. Although, she really should have been more suspicious about it after looking at the details. The job coincidentally had to do with that walking tincan factory she shut down not that long ago. She had heard that some looters ransacked the place in order to sell those lacrimas and other parts to whoever they wanted. It wasn't surprising that those researching into technological magic would also go in there now that it was abandoned and safe to explore in. It was certainly easier than venturing into Mirai itself. But, Aliarey wasn't one for full details. She had handled it before so how bad could it be to get mixed into that again? Not very as far as she saw it. Before she dealt with an army of Lacbots. Sort of. The point was now she was dealing with some whacko braniac scientist. All she had to do was get a copy of his data for a competitor, and destroy whatever progress had been made on the project. It was a bit shady, sure, but then if it wasn't it would have just gone off to the nearest goody good legal guild. At least it wasn't specifying that she had to kill anyone.
After discussing things with the client, Aliarey took what details he could give and got started. Step one was gathering intel. For some reason the location of the research and experiment laboratory wasn't known. At all. Not even a vague hint on a map. It was annoying that she would have to put in the extra effort just to find the place in order to do her job, but it was what it was, she supposed. In her mind she was shooting the guy repeatedly for the time waster and lack of information, but the silver lining was that he gave her an idea of finding someone who might have known. All she had to do was ask around Talonia and see who would actually give up those nice details without much of a fuss. There was always someone that knew everything even if they were not involved themselves. Or maybe she would just find someone that just didn't know how to keep their mouth shut for long. Either worked in her favor.
And so she went to the city that was known as the main hub for guildless mages, among other things. The trip to the bar scene proved to the mildly successful. She had gotten a tip, a name actually, of someone that most likely knew the location of the lab because he dealt with them and was one of their suppliers for the necessary tech. Of course the guy would be known to hang around some of the more darker and secluded sections of the town, though. That's how her luck always was; bad. It was uncomfortable to just waltz down that area as if it was a simple stroll in the park, and she could feel the glares and stares. That couldn't be helped. They were likely into some shady business and probably figured she was there to report or catch them. A neutral reputation kind of gets extinguished after doing a few missions that get you recognized for being a good girl. Not that she was really. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time in all of those cases. Unfortunately, those around were unwilling to talk to her for the most part. Some just generally did not like her, didn't want to be snitches, and some just outright attacked. Rude! It was nothing she couldn't handle and eventually she did end up finding someone that had it in for the guy and wanted to make his life as annoying as possible. Sweet! She could be especially annoying!
So now she just had to pay a vist to this Matroge guy. The woman could only sigh when he had to make things more of a hassle than was needed. The guards were more of those lacbots from the factory, although thankfully the less powerful ones. They were easier to repair and just as easy to break apart again with her weapons. It was childs play now. The guy himself was actually stronger but still taken down without too much effort in the shooting showdown. He was alive, of course. She couldn't very well have him dead and unable to talk. She was a requip mage that focused on guns! Not some necromancer or spirit medium! After making some convincing arguments, or by being more of a bother than was worth the tolerance, whichever one, Aliarey got the information she needed to start reaching the real objective and goal of the mission. A few bonuses had even been given in the form of passcodes to get through some of the security doors and even paths to take in order to be undetected. Gee, the place really had ripped off some of that Mirai tech to get that advanced without typical magic. It ended up with her having to split some of the payout for that extra info, but for the extra safety and ease of completion she supposed it was worth it. Maybe. It was still debatable. For now, it was onward to glory! And jewels. Mostly the jewels.
After a bit of travel time for the one mage in the world that somehow lacked a teleport spell, or so it seemed like to her, Aliarey had reached the secret lab of super serious secret but not so secret research. Spooky Forest. The lab really didn't want to be found. That had to be the only reason it was deep within that abonminal forest. Alia had been there a few times before but never that far in, and none of those times were exactly for a picnic party. Surely no sane person would have gone adventuring there either and accidentally find the place. Hell, the guy had even told her that there was a different lab set up there originally to hide their spirit research, but it kind of blew up after their little project got too chaotic to control. Or so the story went. Alia wasn't really going to check on the details that involved some horror story. At most she'd give credit that the part about the original building being blown up was true. There was still damage to the trees and ground nearby and around the newly established lab. Her scanners picked up some people walking the perimeter as well as some of those robots. Expected really and so while keeping her distance and remaining hidden she checked the path inside that she had been given. The information proved to be accurate enough. All was clear. That should have been a sign she noticed though. There was never a place that was completely clear on accident. That was where her first mistake was. She may have ran past the cameras and snuck her way through and inside, but that only went so far with those advanced magic experimental bots being so close. They had been upgraded since her original mission a while back, and even after Matroge had been there himself, and so she couldn't predict that they knew she was there before she even reached the building. Those scientists had life hacks.
Everything was going smoothly. Way too smoothly. Even inside the place was a bit too easy. Sure she had the passcodes to every locked door and knew how to evade the cameras inside due to the helpful hints but even for her dumb blonde self she was starting to get suspicious of the less than complicated scenic tour of a super secret research lab that was supposed to be heavily guarded. Huh, guess even they couldnt find any decent help to hire. Alia quietly continued down the empty halls, ignoring every large glass window on the wall that allowed anyone to get a look at what was inside. That wasn't what she was there for. She could maybe swipe something extra once she had gotten what she was there for. The room she was looking for was eventually reached, and upon entering the code to get inside she peeked her head in to make sure no one was there. There wasn't. Deep down she was hoping that there was, and now she could only be left with the feeling of disappointment, concern, and a bit of worry that was starting to set off some self preversation alarms. Unless everyone just happened to be on their lunch break something was very wrong. She was never that lucky and she knew that all too well. The feeling went ignored as she took a seat on the chair in front of the massive screen and controls for whatever monstrous alien tech that was supposed to be (a computer). It supposedly contained all of the data that was needed and all she had to do was put it all on a small thingamabob (a usb stick) that she was given and it was half of the mission complete besides destroying the project progress and getting the hell out. Assuming she even transferred the data, of course. She just had to conclude that she did it right. With that done, she got up from the chair and went to the room's exit so she could start looking for what it was she was even supposed to destroy. Maybe everything. That was fine with her.
The door opened on its own as she approached it, which caused her to stop and blink in a confused manner. Even more so when she saw the two large lacbots standing there as well as two armored guards. "Oh..." A proverbial sweatdrop formed at the side of her head as they spoke and all aimed at her with their firearm weapons. "Well I guess it's destroy as much as possible then." Destroy and get out were now in the do at the exact same time category. And so the best way to describe how things went from there was simply "kaboom." Her explosive glove requip made for an easy way to create a quick distraction even if it had not taken out the small group fully. The detonation had set off the fire alarms though. Or maybe those were the intruder alarms. Did the hallway lights normally go red when there was a fire? Anyway, she booked it out of there. She was faster than they were apparently, but every corner she turned had new groups of foes to stand in her way. More kabooms and destructive chaos ensued with her having to go the extra effort to even toss a turret disc or two inside random experiment rooms in order to destroy whatever was in there. All part of the job. A shame she didn't have the time or power to just cause the entire building to blow up in one large hit. That would have been waaayyyy faster.
Somehow, someway, Aliarey managed to get out of the building quite alive and leaving a now burning building behind. She was not looking back to watch the wandering robots trying to find her and put out the fires, and she surely wasn't about to let herself get caught by whatever human security was around. So she ran, using whatever magic in her arsenal to make it go faster for a quick getaway. The communicator device attached to her eye visor started to beep, indicating that she had a call. Only two people had access to that so it wasn't really a suspicious or time waster call. "Hey, what's up?" Aliarey inquired calmly as if it were just another peaceful day instead of her running for her life.
"Alia, what are you doing way out there?"
"Making money. Maybe I'll even consider paying you back after this is done."
"It's not that job with the data theft, is it?"
Aliarey arched a brow curiously at that. That was one heck of a guess. "...Maybe. Why?" A sigh was heard, the kind of sigh she always heard from the man on the other end of the line when she did something completely and utterly stupid. The kind that made her aware she was a hopeless case and that this sort of thing was all too common. The kind that made her want the magic to punch his face from over the communicator line.
"Yeeaaahhh, unless you want an early death you better not go meet the client in person for the delivery. You're basically one of those links that need to be eliminated. You know, a loose end. This has happened before. If you had paid attention to the rumors going down the grapevine you'd know that."
"Fantastic. So sell it to someone else for money. Got it."
"Forget the money! Now not only do you have the competitor organization after you because I damn well know you and know that you didn't wear any type of disguise, but you have the ones that wanted the data in the first place on your tail the moment you try to hand it in or run. It's time to lay low for a while and hope that actually works."
"I'm open to suggestions."
"Well it's a good thing we live in a magical world of fairytale fantasy. Disguises are easy to come up with, and so is hiding. Lets meet up at the Wakusei Portals before they realize what's up, and we'll get out of here. Something can be figured out once the panic mode is over."
"You're coming too?"
"Yep. And so is the Professor. You kind of screwed us over. They'll end up coming here looking for you, and I don't really want to get in that crossfire."
"And what are we going to do with this data?"
"Might as well use it for ourselves. I'm sure it's got something interesting on it if it's causing this much trouble. Oh, and one more thing: learn a damn teleport spell already!!! If I die before you get here you're going to have some problems that I will personally create from the other side!" The line then cut off. Well this new situation sucked. "All I wanted was some easy jewels. Is that too much to ask for?!" Apparently so. Now she'd have to disappear for a bit until everything blew over and things were figured out. Chances were, it wasn't going to be that easy. Nothing ever was.
(Word Count: 2708
2000 for Exam
708 Excess for Freeform)
