towerofanimus | Let's do some digging

[Shinji is situated here alongside the others, his particular method a mixture of the technological and the magical.]

[...But only by necessity. Even putting aside his inability to separate his soul from his body, spirit hacking didn't have the effect on the terminals it should have. Good thing he isn't useless without it. After all, what kind of hacker would he be if he didn't have something else to fall back on in a pinch? He's more than competent at doing this the old-fashioned way, and as bizarrely difficult as it is, the magical method isn't completely useless. Combining the two is enough to accelerate the process.]

[The situation makes him twitchy, though. They're in an exposed position—not conditions he had been accustomed to in his own world. He can't help but to periodically glance over his shoulder.]

[At first everything seems to be going fine, though it's mostly breaking in through various fairly secure but mostly standard security protocols. It's Sertoria's terminal that beeps first, with her hands being the quickest on the keyboard, but eventually all of them do the same. The screen flickers blank for a moment and then changes entirely.

It appears they've been booted back to the login screen, but a careful eye will note this is a different login screen simply made in a similar manner.]

[ Sertoria's fingers take a break from the keyboard the minute the terminal beeps. She hesitantly steps back to observe the changes that are happening, taking a notice of the screen the most.

The login screen looks the same, but she's not stupid. ]

Show visual recording from five minutes ago through visor.

[ The visor slides over her eyes as the camera shows the login screen she saw previously, pausing specifically on that. She looks up at the visual before glancing at the login screen they're presented. ]

It is different. Note the changes I have marked. Proceed with caution before advancing any further, everyone.

Of course.

[Naoya types in some coding again, fingers flying over the keys. He doesn't look worried over this new development - in fact it just makes him even more excited.]

[Likewise, the new development only serves to spur Shinji on. He stops with the twitchy glancing-over-his-shoulder bit, his attention finally focusing in on his terminal completely.]

Got it.

[That his reply is something so simple and straightforward, free of any posturing, just serves to highlight the change.]

[ Much like the others, Doc doesn't look bothered by this development, far from it. If anything he looks more focused as he did before, as this new screen implies they're getting deeper into the core of the matter. ]

Alright, alright.

[ With that said, he keeps working on the code, more careful and focused than before. ]

[Rei isn't as much of a hacking expert as everyone else here, but even she can tell that the login is different. She pulls her fingers off of the screen and cracks her knuckles one at a time. At the same time, she scans the room to look for any potential interlopers before returning to the login.]

[The security is much more difficult this time--something seems to be actively fighting against their intrusion, though not with the skill of anything sentient. Still, the process will become slower.]

[ With one more final sweep of the room, Sertoria focuses completely on the task at hand. Her fingers are going faster this time, trying to crack the code. She notices that it's slower, but is more determined for this to actually work. ]

[ Doc is unfazed and continues his work much like he did before. Again if it's slower, that means they're getting closer.

You may hear a few "Damn" once in a while, but that's about it. ]

[The slowing of their progress doesn't discourage Shinji, but it does make him impatient. He redirects the use of his spirit hacking, instead attempting to connect his magic circuits with whatever is acting as security, to see if he can slow or disable its resistance entirely.]

[Rei works slowly, focusing more on backing up everyone else rather than making any big moves of her own. Every so often, she lifts her head to peek around. As the hacking drags on, she mutters a few words under her breath. She hadn't expected the next level to be this slow.]

[Hm. Irritating. Naoya tries to call up some subroutines, enough to fool the systems into thinking things are operating as normal. He's not sure if it'll work... if it doesn't he might have to get creative.]

[Between Shinji and Naoya's attempts at connecting and fooling the system, it's not long before they break through the login screen--though Shinji will taste copper on his tongue.

They are brought to what appears to be a desktop, though the icons flicker and blink in and out of existence. There is only one icon that can be clicked on: 037.exe.]

[ ... Well, Doc spends some time examining upon this new desktop. But there is nothing to do, is there? Nothing explicable, these icons keep disappearing and this looks like a dead end.

Except that one icon that seems clickable. It's one of these moments that ask reflection, and yet... If they don't do anything they'll get caught, so--

> Point 037.exe
> Double Click & Run ]

[Rei tries to click on the icons, although most blink out of existence too fast for her mouse pointer to catch. She finally comes to 037.exe and clicks it, waiting for some sort of window to pop up.]

[Anyone who clicks on 037.exe will have their monitor go black for a moment, as if it had turned off, before turning back on--the screen is still black, but it's lit again.

The following text appears on the screen:]

hello

[Shinji selects 037.exe, and then he jumps.]

[When he sees the word hello, his first impulse is to look over his shoulder again, and he does so automatically—but nothing behind him seems to have been disturbed. It's a second or two before he turns back to his monitor, the movement slow and cautious.]

...Should we answer?

[Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that, but the thought of just brazenly typing something back...]

Of course.

[He types in a response.]

hello |

[ Well that's unsettling, the program answers back to them. Doc looks around and to the others. ]

I believe nothing good will come of this...!

[ He replies with a hello preceded of a great scott too, but nothing else. ]

[Rei types a text reply]

hello
what'cha doin'?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sorry for the late!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject