Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cetus stood still as the soldier she was, never parting to move for a second save a few unwanted twitches and blinks as she waited patiently for her commanders. The room, bathed in a thick soup of black, was suddenly blared to life by a large screen before her. The Galactic grunt squinted against the computer monitor, chagrining with dismay when she figured she wasn't being given her mission in person, as she would've preferred. Team G's big guys were just a bunch of recluses, weren't they?

There was a string of words that fluttered across the screen -- directions and her mission objectives -- with a pair of coordinates. Her usual assignment, steal something that meant the world to Team Galactic and little to her, and get praised with pay. Simple enough, right? Just as she was about to tap her hand onto the printed "ACCEPT" on the screen to continue with her goal, another tidbit caught her off guard. In bold was the word "PARTNER" followed by an unknown amalgamation of numbers; her or his identification number. Cetus sucked her teeth in. She had to partner up with someone? Ugh.

Rolling her eyes, she stabbed her index finger rather hard onto the glass of the monitor and marched out, pulling her communicator from her pocket as she did. Typing in the five digit ID, Cetus sent off the assignment and her own instructions to the Galactic grunt:

Meet in front of Katarina's restaurant, "The Cove" in an hour. I'll have my Liepard with me. Wear a disguise and bring a useful Pokemon. - Cetus.

At fourteen minutes to eight, Cetus stood outside her desired location in disguise as promised, leaning against the restaurant's glass as she patiently waited for her partner to arrive. As stated, her Liepard, Shea, was doing the same near her ankles, twisting her chatoyant gaze this way and that out of boredom. The grunt nonchalantly reached a hand down and placed it upon her partner's head. The cat ears reeled back as she snuggled her temple into the warmth of her owner's palm. They both just wanted to get this mission over with.

The Galactic grunt's finely manicured nails thrummed impatiently on her leg as she awaited the arrival of her partner. Just as she was about to call it a day and head over to the company herself did her partner arrive in full form -- the noted redhead she was expecting. Relief washed off her face as she tried to look serious. No need showing nervousness now.

"Le-mrrrow~" Shea purred, striding up to Alexandria and gratefully returning the compliment by nudging her body by the other female's leg.

Cetus too, taking the hint in the statement, returned an amused grin to the other. She flicked her spectacles a bit in a nerdy fashion as if she were signalling a clue for charades. "Ah, really? I didn't read Vertigo's," she mused. "Cetus, however, said success was imminent. It's a pleasure to meet you. Shall we be off?"

Shea purred contently at the scritch, taking to Cetus's mission partner better than the grunt. Considering Cetus hadn't worked with the other yet, she withheld the formation of an opinion until she saw her in action. Than, and only than, would the grunt determine if this gal was a hit or a miss. Still, at the offer at a bite, the grunt nodded. "It's a date," she returned with the gesture.

Getting introductions out of the way, the current blue-haired grunt opted to discussing their missions specs next. "Our mission is fairly simple: infiltrate Katarina Circuits Corp. and take . . . " The grunt quickly went down the list on her communicator. " . . . The prototype plans, a few circuitry docs, and the prototype itself. They're a security company so, unfortunately, there wasn't exterior way of sneaking in. They know what they're doing, aha. I was given these by hire-ups though."

Cetus fished into her denim jeans pocket and withdrew two photo-less ID cards. "We're going to be carded, so we require these. They're visitor passes altered with employee key cards. Kudos to the tech branch for their smarts. The guards just need to see 'em, so we're set after flashing these in their eyes." she stated as she extended one to her partner.

"We'll have to contact the techs when we're passed the security block," Cetus replied. "They've managed to tap into KCC's internal mainframe and can short circuit their cameras for a full twenty minutes. It's not long, so we're going to have to work fast. Splitting the workload would be easier, but there's a problem-" The Galactic grunt leaned sideways to allowed Alexandria to see her communicator. "The documents and the prototype are five floors apart. Its a tall building, so a run'll take at least ten, give or take."

The grunt's touched her forefinger and thumb on the screen and widened them, magnifying the blueprint on the screen. "There's a ventilation shaft that forks its way to the safe keeping the prototype. It's heavily guarded too. Think you can use your Cottonee? If we knock out their security, we can rush in, grab the darn thing, and rush out. Sound good?"

Cetus hummed, looking over the labelled rooms. Nothing seem to identified as a locker room or closet space, so the idea seemed rather dim. "I could send Shea ahead to knock out some workers and bring their uniforms back." The grunt said. "That's not a problem, Shea?"

The Liepard perked up at her mentioning. "Le-mrow," she replied in affirmation.

"That's not a problem. He'll still be useful," Cetus reassured Vertigo. "Seems we've got everything in place, than. Katarin Circuits Corp. is up the road from here. If we're done briefing, it'll just take a quick dash to get there."

The Galactic grunt nodded, beckoned her partner along, and forwarded herself towards KCC. The security company was situated in a wan building embraced about a chain-linked fence. Despite the easy to climb obstacle, it was rather dangerous in itself, with the jagged electric bolt situated on a sign warning anyone interested in jumping it would be in for a shocking surprise. The grunt gave one distasteful glance to the gate and ambled on where she stood at their first major area: the security clearance.

There wasn't a line, considering the hour. Most had headed in for work already. The patrolman gave about dull yawn at them through the glass of the booth. He didn't even straighten up at the three's coming, simply motioned a hand and said, "IDs please."

The grunt fished her out of her pocket and fiddled it at him. He nodded in acquiesce, turning his attention towards Alexandria next.

The patrolman sputtered and blushed inside his booth as he watched Alexandria move along, never tearing his eyes from her rear even as they entered the building.

Cetus slipped out her communicator and forwarded a message to HQ. We're good to go. Do what you have to do. - Cetus.

A Galactic grunt within the tech branch of HQ put his fingers to work, dispelling the many firewalls of the mainframe until he reached the very core of coding controlling the cameras of the company. Grinning devilishly, he tapped his fingers onto the enter key, and released a blocker onto the system.

The camera before the duo that was scanning the corridor before them left and right suddenly stopped in its tracks. "All right, we're a go," she said. "Shea, go on ahead. Take anyone out."

Twenty minutes on the clock.

"Le-mroww!" The Liepard respond as she dashed ahead quick, stealthy steps that didn't even echo down the hallway.

Cetus pointed to the adjoining hallway. "We're to go this way, the ventilation shaft is at the end of the hall. Let's go."

Cetus muffled a laugh into the middle of her palm. "Fella's a brute, no doubt about it," she replied as she tracked the path of the ventilation. "It's a straightforward go around. Your Cottonee should have no problem getting there. All right, we've got a good amount of steps to climb, let's get to it."

The grunt powered off her communicator and stuffed it in her back pocket. The company was eerily silent and this irked Cetus the most. Than again, it was probably expected from a bunch of computer geeks. Nudging her chin towards a sliding door, Cetus raced over and slid her ID card onto the key slot. When the button on the contraption blinked green, the metallic panel slid aside.

"Through here," the grunt said as she hustled through.