Otto and Wing were digging into some authentic Japanese cuisine, sushi and… you know, whatever the fuck else is eaten in Japan.
"So Wing," said Otto, "I think now would be an appropriate time to ask you about your life, which I haven't bothered doing for the 6 months we've known each other. So what did your dad do?
"He angsted about the death of my mother."
"That sounds fun."
"It wasn't. It was a horrible and painful childhood."
"Adorable."
"My only father figure was the groundskeeper who had an unexplained knowledge of martial arts."
"Like in the karate kid?"
"…You know, now that you mention it…"
…
Laura suddenly awoke from her fever dream, muttering technobabble.
"Algorithms," she whispered, "fractal encryptions."
"Jesus, Laura," growled her roommate, "it's like 4:00am, why are you awake?"
Laura rushed to the computer, "fractal encryptions," she muttered as she typed, "adapting encryption algorithm." Slowly the decrypted message appeared on the screen.
"Holy fuck," said Shelby.
…
As they ran to Nero's office, Laura realised that she was unable to reach HIVEmind. And then Block and Tackle turned up, which was inconvenient. They also had sleepers that worked for them.
"That's really inconvenient," muttered Laura. And then they ran.
After a short chase sequence, and the ol' bait and switch technique, Block and Tackle were caught in a trap that caused both of them to be dumped into a large pool of water.
"Looks like we won't be seeing much more of them," chuckled Shelby.
They heard voices drift up from the pit.
"Holy shit! There's piranhas!"
"HELP! HELP US OH GOD!" The voices trailed off.
Shelby and Laura stood awkwardly.
"That's probably fine," said Laura. They continued to Nero's office, and as they turned the corner they saw Colonel Francisco.
"Colonel Francisco!" Laura exclaimed, "We have to get to Nero, something terrible is happening."
"No shit, kid," he smiled evilly, raising his hand that held a sleeper and shot Shelby in the head.
"Dammit, she dodged the sleeper pulse just 10 minutes ago," muttered Laura in annoyance.
"Francisco!" came a familiar voice for behind the Colonel- the Contessa.
"Put the darn gun down," she told him in her hot sultry voice.
"I can't resist your sexy tones," groaned the Colonel as he dropped the gun.
"Sleep," the Contessa commanded, and he dropped to the ground.
…
"It's a good thing I'm an early riser, Ms Brand," Nero said as he settled into the chair behind his desk, trying to hide the fact that he'd actually been watching Death Note the entire night without sleeping. He was just thankful that he hadn't bought the Misa Amane body pillow.
Laura explained what had happened to Nero.
"You sure were lucky that the Contessa was there," said Nero.
"Yes," replied Laura, "that sure was convenient."
"Really convenient," agreed Nero. The all sat there agreeing with each other about how convenient it was before Laura handed over what she had decrypted. Nero read aloud, only stuttering slightly on the longer words.
"Transmission start: Package has left HIVE, it's going to Tokyo were that main character is, now go fuck the shit up, transmission end," Nero paused, then sighed, "oh, crap."