Welcome to the Program

[airlockedmods]

Good Morning, Champions. In the interest of maintaining healthy sleep patterns, a day/night cycle is in effect. Your presence is expected in the cafeteria in exactly one hour.

[The voice comes through not a large speaker, but through the device that's attached to each Champion's arm. Further investigation of the features of the device will reveal a list of profiles, a mini-map, and a list of rules. The hallways are shiny white and silver, with running lights along the floor and lights on the ceiling, and at the junction of the hallways is a sign with a knife and fork icon and an arrow pointing down the hall.

Welcome to the Excellence Program, Champions. Time to get to know your teammates.]

Comments

[playthedamncard]

What sort of enemy are they?

[discalibur]

Bipedal bug-like monsters, around human size. They're able to move at a high speed and are even capable of mimicking the appearance of humans.

They're incredibly dangerous. All they seem to care about is destruction.

[Worms are listed as one of his dislikes, but perhaps the word hatred is more accurate, considering his tone when he speaks of them.]

[playthedamncard]

[...Okay this is not a version of Japan he's familiar with.] Where did they come from? It sounds like science fiction.

[discalibur]

[Yeah, just wait.]

They came from a meteorite that struck Shibuya seven years ago. How or why that happened is a mystery.

[playthedamncard]

Shibuya? That doesn't match up to anything I've ever heard.

[discalibur]

No? It's hard to imagine someone not hearing about it...

[playthedamncard]

I hate...to even contemplate asking this, but what year is it for you?

[discalibur]

2006. With less than a month to go before the new year, to be precise.

[playthedamncard]

And everything you've told me, the suits and worms, are these common knowledge?

[discalibur]

The meteor strike is, of course.

[Can't really uh. cover that up.]

But everything else? No.

[playthedamncard]

Why not? Surely military forces from around the world would want to combat such a dangerous enemy.

[discalibur]

I don't really know the reasons for it. All I know is that a certain organization has taken it upon themselves to handle the problem.

[playthedamncard]

Are they affiliated with any known government? Company? Don't tell me they just appeared out of the blue to take control of the situation.

[discalibur]

It wouldn't surprise me if ZECT has connections to the Japanese government, but I'm not aware of all the details. They're secretive and I only worked with them on a freelance basis.

I believe their main work outside of this is technology development. But their history has never been important to me.

[playthedamncard]

You should always know as much as you can about someone you work with, especially on something so vital.

[discalibur]

They helped me kill more Worms. That's really all I care about.

[playthedamncard]

That seems shockingly single-minded of you. [Says someone whose traits call him obsessive.]

[discalibur]

Maybe so, but I don't really care. I have my goal. Everything else is secondary.

[ZECT only matters as long as it's useful to that goal.]

[playthedamncard]

And your goal is to eradicate the worms, no matter the cost. So long as someone is able to help you in that, it doesn't matter who they are?

[discalibur]

Precisely, yes.

Is that a problem?