Corporate espionage (Zamoreus)

New York

Arawn exited the portal. The alleyway he appeared in seemed empty, but he took a quick look to make sure. Normally he didn't have to worry about people seeing him, but today was different. This time he was wearing a gigai and a well dressed one at that. Unconsciously he adjusted the black tie on his neck. Quite uncomfortable attire. Instead of normal everyday clothes to blend in with crowds he wore a nicely pressed black suit. While he would prefer something more loose, but it was necessary. It was all for the purpose of the large box that sat at his foot. Some time ago Arawn had come across a rather strange creature robot. After his confrontation he recovered a piece of the monstrosity. Arawn had hoped to find out the truth about the creature's existence. What he found proved to be rather troubling; it was man made. In the months that followed the issue took a back seat to other events. But a recent lead now took him to this place. With Bryce's help he was able to analyze the materials used in the part's construction. It seemed one place had acquired large amounts of it a company called Nebulous. There were other places, but Bryce was able infiltrate their computer systems and find what information needed. It was this company that proved to be most troubling. Arawn had read a report where Bishamon had encountered a strange individual at the very same building. Not only that their systems seemed impervious to Bryce's hacking attempts. It would seem best to try a more direct approach. He adjusted his tie once more. The suit was uncomfortable, the gigai was uncomfortable, but even more uncomfortable were the sekiseki he had woven into his suit. With the stone's draining effect he felt weak, but it would do wonders in hiding his spiritual power. With luck whatever means they had in detecting such powers would be thwarted. Arawn bent and picked up the big metal briefcase handle with his right and the small leather satchel with his left. Taking a deep breath he exited the dark alley.

He had only to walk 3 blocks with the heavy case. In his drained state it was tiring, but he managed to no bump into too many people. He finally came to a stop in front of the large building. It was nothing like what Bishamon had in his report. It looked so menacing even in the daylight hours. Arawn gave a grunt and walked right through the front doors to the receptionist's desk. He set his burden down and flashed a smile
"Hello my name is Ash Nimen, I work for BWF. I'd like to speak with your company's president." He pulled a business card from his inner pocket and lay it on the counter. BWF was a dummy corporation made through Soul Society. Several shares in various companies and references through word of mouth. A mythical business group that had ties everywhere and yet nowhere. Everyone may have heard of it, but no one could prove their existence or non-existence. "I have something he needs to see."

For the last hour Zamoreus had been spending his time in his office simply doing whatever tasks he could that didn't require the use of his eyes, seeing as they were covered by the specialized goggles his company had designed to quickly recover his retinas after particularly intense sessions with their eye controlled computers and now that he was finally allowed to remove it again he would be able to get to proper work again. Not that he was in any way up to full capacity anyway, his body still recovering after his last encounter with the shinigami, underneath his clothes his suit had been altered to make it better suited for dealing with injuries but still far from any efficient healing.

Down in the reception the girl behind the desk simply smiled and greeted the man as he entered and introduced himself. "Hello and welcome to Nebulous. You're in luck, he is just recently back after a short sick leave. Let me just see if he's available right now." Back up in his office Zamoreus' computer session was interrupted by the sound of the receptionist talking. "Sir? There is an Ash Nimen from BWF here, he says he has something that you should see." BWF was a company Zamoreus had heard of on numerous occassion yet any research he had done had proven nothing, leaving an image as mysterious as a lot of the rumours circling around his own organization and something that he 'needed to see' certainly required his attention. "Send him up."

He took the the elevator. He was alone for the whole ride. He had half expected someone to get on midway through his trip, but nothing of that sort did occur.
So far so good He said to himself. Truthfully he was surprised that it had gotten in so quickly. He had several back-up plans should that have failed. He was glad to not use them. He half listened to the music in the elevator as he made his ascent. It was seconds later that the elevator gave tone and the doors opened. Picking up the his briefcases he left the small booth and continued forward. The office he entered was amazing by anyone's standards. He had looked into this company's holdings. They were beyond wealthy. Perhaps the strange nature of the office was the reason to such wealth. It was impossible to know. He stopped and put down his briefcase.
"Hello I'm Ash Nimen of BWF." he gave a short nod. "I take it you're the one in charge of this little establishment." he stressed the word 'little'. If he was to be part of humungous shadow corporation he wouldn't be too impressed by the very amazing trappings. Arawn spoke as if they whole building was nothing but parsley. "It's good to see that you are in good enough health to have visitors. Your receptionist claimed you were on sick leave. I hope it wasn't anything serious." Arawn said feigning only mild concern behind a knowing smile. Bishamon had a hand in the man's current condition. The air of arrogance was needed for this man. The bluff must be perfect, the part he must pay to get the information he needed.

Zamoreus was readjusting himself as he awaited his guests arrival, deciding that the best position would be standing rather then sitting behind his desk and doing so in front of the massive window behind it, leaving his back against the visitor as he entered. He was left rather surprised by the very underwhelming response to his company but considering what he had heard about BWF perhaps it wasn't as much of a surprise as he initially thought. He simply nodded to the side in response, giving an equally nonchalant answer in order to maintain an equal level between the two.

He slightly cringed at the mention of his health but making sure to keep it hidden to the man, that shinigami had hurt his substantial pride. This time however he decided it best to answer to a more sufficient degree, he didn't want to completely alienate this man in case he truly had something of value to tell him. "Nothing too serious, no.. But enough to cause even one such as myself sufficient damage to warrant time off.."

"That's good that you put your health first." he nodded. "Without you this company would crumble. WE wouldn't want our investments to be wasted." he snickered. The hint that their company had ties to his company was a decent lure. Now to get down to the heart of the matter. "Do you mind if I sit?" Arawn asked gesturing to a chair. He didn't wait for a response he already had taken a seat. He dropped the big metal case down to the ground with a quite audible *thud*. Setting the leather briefcase across his lap he opened the claps that kept it closed. Inside where a variety of photos, papers, and files. He pulled fished inside and found the papers that he sought. "I have some questions for you Mr Nebulous." Closing the case he flipped through the papers.
"Not to long ago there was an incident involving a military installation." he began. This news had come to Soul Society just recently. A large number of deaths by the had of what was described as a highly advanced weapon created by humans. Those few souls that had survived had told them what little they remembered of the horrific event. It had taken much digging, but finally they had found more about it. "A very special project went 'haywire' and then went on a killing spree." With a flick of his wrist Arawn threw the written report upon the table before him. "We had some interest in this project, and the public fallout that followed was quite disappointing." He kept his voice even and still, as if the death of thousands was a trifle compared to the further profits of his company's already extensive wealth. "There was little to recover about why the machine ran amok, but there were peculiar matters that appeared the deeper we dug."

Zamoreus was caught off guard and left quite uneasy after the mention of their organization somehow having great investments in Nebulous. He had no memory of ever having actually dealt with their kind and nothing of that magnitude could have happened during his reign without his notice. This left only the possibility that they had done so during his father's reign, a troubling thought that immediately brought a sense of unnecessary scepticism towards the BWF representative, it's not as if they would have been at fault for his father's neglect.

Moving up on the other subject he had brought up however he was not left as surprised as with the other matter, he had of course heard of this event although not having dealt as much investigation into the matter as they obviously had so he only knew the basics. Prototype walker tank goes haywire and massacres thousands, naturally something that had been on the news for at the very least a day and that sparked quite the political shit storm. What he couldn't figure out however was what it had to do with him, he rifled through the files he had been given but not fast enough to form a direct connection to himself right at that moment.

"Putting that aside we came upon an interesting." Arawn placed the leather briefcase on the floor and picked up the large metal case. "You see even before the unfortunate lost of our project, we had heard mention of another robot going haywire." Very slowly he put the case on the table and and turned the dials on the combination locks. He took a moment to look at Zamoreus to study his expression. "At first we thought it was a silly little rumor. But men of our standing know all rumor is based on fact. It all comes down to one's ability to grasp the unknown and overcoming of barriers." The second clasp released, but Arawn didn't open the case just yet. "With our resources we could find a unicorn and clone a score of them within a week. But this 'rumor' has been quite elusive. Still we've gotten close enough to get this;" Arawn turned the case around to face Zamoreus as he opened it completely. Inside was a piece of NIUS' broken shell. After his encounter with the metallic snake he had harvested the pieces he could. Bring them to this man was a gamble. The fact the machine could touch Arawn while in his shinigami form meant it was a spiritual creature. If the man was no spiritually aware as he believed he was, the case would appear empty. If the man knew such things he would of course assume that he too had some form of spiritual awareness. Ignoring that he looked at the other man more intently trying to see some chink in his armor. Anything that might give away his part in the strange hollow's construction. "With this part, we were able to track and figure the creature's general make up. After further research we found only two others with the capabilities of putting such a device together." Arawn quickly shut the case and spun it back around and locked it by resetting the dials. From those shinigami that arrived on the scene there was the definite feel of a hollow presence, but nothing was found. Arawn alone had figured that the robotic snack he had encountered was somehow involved. He didn't know why he thought it. But the fact such a machine had gone to a place to inflict maximum destruction seemed just a little too well planned. "It's our belief that the battle tank was hijacked, but to do so would require a very sophisticated machine. Something very high-tech, something very similar the strange 'rumor' we've been chasing this last few weeks. So what can you tell me about your failed experiment Mr. Nebulous?"

His very first reaction to the mention of another robot he was able to keep mostly inwardly, wonder first of all whether he could truly be meaning N.I.U.S, he knew of no other mention of such an event comparable and if that was the case, how had the information been able to leak out; everyone who knew about the project was dead except for himself. Some very in depth investigations would definitely be necessary to deal with a leak of this magnitude. It was somewhat reassuring at the very least that it even took such a resourceful organization a great deal of effort in order to find this information, so it was contained to only those of extreme knowledge.

When the case opened Zamoreus' brow furrowed to quite the degree and his face instantly becoming considerably more serious, his reactions no longer contained as the item was revealed. A section of the shell to N.I.U.S shell, how this was possible he did not know, he had recovered all of the pieces and none of them had been in good enough shape after the hollow attack to be this particular piece. "What can I tell you? It's broken, that's what. It was destroyed in an an attack, along with all personnel working on the project, two years and billions wasted. There's no way N.I.U.S could be behind that."

The man would make an excellent poker player. It was impossible to see any shift of emotion as he listened. But then again the fact he was hiding his emotions was an obvious tell as well. "So it's called NIUS?" Arawn said making a mental note. "Broken? Perhaps. Destroyed unlikely. Unless someone else put together an identical replica of your machine, this is the very same monster." Whatever had transpired with this man's experiment had given birth to the strange mechanical hollow. It was an oddity. A machine becoming a hollow wasn't heard of. There wasn't any record of such a feat in all of Soul Society's many years of activity. He needed more from this man. The shell he had brought had made a crack in his facade. Arawn would have put more pressure. "Do you still have the blueprints on when you created this monster? We would appreciate whatever information you could provide." He set the metal case down on the floor once more. Arawn adjusted his tie and the glasses on his nose once more.
"Of course I can understand your reluctance to divulge such information, but this is a most serious situation." he shrugged. "But I guess that can wait while we discuss other matters." How far would he have to go before the man gave him what he wanted?

This man was really starting to get to him, how could he know enough about N.I.U.S to come to be confident in these assumptions. He had never even considered the fact that the mind inside of that computer might have survived, was it possible that his spiritual experiment had been far more successful then he had ever imagined? The fact that Ash referred to it as a monster further brought his mind in these directions, while certainly N.I.U.S had been a marvel of technology, the most advanced artificial intelligence man had created it was hardly something deserving of being referred to as a monster, at the very least not by a man of such capacities for ruthlessness. Only some backwards thinking carebear would find the idea of a supercomputer with a mind of its own to be a monster. Something had to have changed to its shell.

A thought arose in his mind, he was very certain of the fact that N.I.U.S had successfully completed the project and drained all power from the scientists he had working on it and that this drew the attention of a hollow. 'Is it possible that N.I.U.S turned into a hollow from this? The entire site was destroyed, no way could he have found a piece of it there... I severely underestimated it... But if it is a hollow, how could he see the piece he had presented?' Zamoreus narrowed his eyes slightly, tilting his head and smirking at the man before him. "Tell me, Mr Nimen... Do you believe in ghosts?"

Nebulous was grinning. There was a reaction he didn't expect. Never a good sign in such exchanges. The man thought to have the upper hand in some way. Arawn would have to stay on his guard. At the mention of ghost he felt a chill go up his spine. Had the man discovered he's a shinigami in a gigai?
"Damn, I'll need to get out of here quickly." he thought. His heart started to jackhammer in his chest. There were windows he could jump from there and survive such a fall. "Calm down." he quickly told himself. According to Bishamon's report he was quite aggressive, if anything he'd already attacked if he suspected something. There had be something he could use to turn the conversation around. What else was in Bishamon's report? A sudden thought came to Arawn. If Nebulous was on to him there was nothing to lose, if he wasn't it was the perfect stratagem.
"Ghosts?" Arawn replied as he pulled his thoughts together. "You mean goblins and ghouls? Monsters like those 5 you released in the city not too long ago?" the event he was referring to was Bishamon's first encounter with the man. The shinigami had claimed this man had somehow attracted 5 hollows into the city as a distraction. "The BWF has been around for a very long time. We know about things most human's are meant to know. We are the keepers of the worlds secret history, and I think you're underestimating us." he adjusted his glasses as he stared intently at the businessman before him.

He kept grinning, so his assumption had been correct then, the man could see spirits or at the very least knew of them. It seemed likely he was a powerless lackey that had been informed of the spiritual nature of the world considering he could sense no spiritual pressure from him, although he was somewhat insulted that this had been their choice of representative to him it was of no real concern. "Very good then. I was merely seeing if we were both on the same page in all this. Where did you find this piece of N.I.U.S? I believe I'm entitled to some information as well, am I not?"

He was of course not fully certain that a simple request would be enough to make this rather secretive man spill such a valuable piece of leverage over him, it was that one piece of the puzzle that would unlock all the secrets for Zamoreus to see and as such he probably needed to sweeten the offer. "Let us say it like this... If you were to tell me everything that you have learned about my creation, I will share all of mine... Agreeable?"

Arawn laughed at the man's request. The man bit the bait, there was only to reel him in. He slowly removed his glasses for dramatic effect and stood.
"Everyone that worked on your project is dead making you the only living person with the information. Due to your 'condition'." Arawn shrugged as he hinted at the powers the man possessed. "We figured a more direct approach. Such information does make you rather important, but that doesn't mean you're necessary." He pretended to blow a speck of dust from his glasses before returning them to his face. "It would seem you still don't understand Mr. Nebulous. We don't build companies, we control the economy. We don't make people disappear, we wipe cities off the map. I did say we are keepers of the secret history, but in truth we are keepers of far much more." He sighed and sat back down. "You recent actions are quite troublesome. We don't enjoy covering up your bouts with shinigami nor the exploits of your metal pet. It would be oh so simple just to release the video of you using your strange abilities. Still that would disrupt the order of things." Bluff upon bluff he was building a castle of misinformation. Half-truths could so more potent than lies. He knew the man's secrets, and could use that to his advantage.

The man was confident, that was quite certain, but he was growing ever more tired of relying on mere rumours as the only thing backing up his quite deranged threats if one were to consider the situation. It was likely that he knew about Zamoreus' power yet he would still risk outright threatening Zamoreus in such a fashion, it either spoke leagues of just how powerful this organization were to provide their men with such unbridled self confidence, or he was bluffing. Considering everything he had learned during his years as leader of such an incredibly massive company, it seemed terribly unlikely that there would be some secret organization behind everything, he knew enough to realize that companies ruled the world individually, not by sharing. With this in mind he thought that the next step would be easy.

But then came the fact that he apparently very clearly did know about his abilities, along with the threat of revealing them and this made everything so much more complicated, could he take that risk? His powers revealed would certainly make everything so much more complicated but it also brought the prospect of untold possibilities. In the end his bold nature, as well as the fact that after all that time under his father he had grown very accustomed to the idea of never letting anyone controlling him, he really could not simply let himself be swayed by this man's threats. "So you know of my powers, then you also know I could kill you right now, yes?" His mind quickly reached out, tugging on the man's tie and constricting it tighter around his neck. "No more bullshit, Mr Nimen."

As the tie pulled tighter Arawn fought back urge grab at his neck. The man was calling his bluff. Even as his air was restricted he didn't budge from the seat. In his mind he was screaming out for help, but he kept such feeling hidden under a mask of indifference.
"It's scary isn't it Mr. Nebulous?" He said as he gasped for air. "I was like you once. I thought I knew it all, I knew what I wanted, and how to get it. But then came the BWF. And then I learned I was just a tadpole in the vast ocean of things. These powers make you feel special, superior to those below you. It makes you angry to know you're just puppet like the rest. The one rule anyone should learn is that there's always someone better. And the BWF is the strongest. Do ahead and kill me. I know I'm expendable, why else would they send someone like me. But is that what you want? You wish to send that message to a company that claims control over the global economy. The very hands that guide the national governments?" It was getting harder to breath, but he kept speaking. "As I said this is a courtesy meeting. You may reject this offer, but what about everyone else. Unlike you they have a price, and the BWF will meet and exceed it. You will be betrayed from within, and your castle will fall like so many others. While the rats desert the sinking ship that was your company they'll get what they want. They always do." Arawn stared at Nebulous. "So, go ahead shoot the messenger; I just wanted you to know the truth before your empire falls."

His teeth gritted together tightly, it would be so easy to just make that final tug and crush his windpipe, the first human he would have directly slain, but the man before him was right as the words spoken despite suffering the threat of choking still rang true. His eyes averted from the tie, instantly breaking the hold on it once it was removed from his field of view before he then turned back to look at the four-eyed man again. "So, what then? Am I expected to simply hand over one of my deepest secrets and greatest personal failure just like that? N.I.U.S is not something I have spoken of to anyone since the team working on it died."

He thought back to it, that day when he had left all those men to die. He had left N.I.U.S' holding area with the full knowledge that they would all be killed by the machine within only to find out all that work had been destroyed by hollow. The prospect that it was still alive was very tempting to take in, especially for the purpose of soothing his wounded pride. "So, your masters want to know all about my creation..." He spoke the words with clear contempt. "Then what? What do they plan for it? What do they plan to do with me?"

The pressure gone Arawn readjusted his tie and took lungful after lungful of fresh air. Quite a predicament he had gotten himself in, and very narrowly gotten himself out.
"Unfortunately I don't know those answers." he began. "Right now your invention is a broken cog in the well oiled machine. It must be eliminated, if not contained. What do you think would happen if Nius worked it's way into a nuclear weapons facility? Perhaps one of the many biological weapons lab? Such things would be troublesome." He took off this glasses and cleaned them. "Whatever you personal misgivings at least know that this is for the greater good." Now clean he returned the spectacles to his face. "That tank's rampage is a mystery to the public, but to us it took only the minute clues to trace it back to your creature. And with only this piece of scrap we found your company. You may not like our methods, but we get results." He sat there looking at the other man for a moment when suddenly his watch chimed. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone and pressed the speed dial button. "Everything is fine. I'll be leaving in 10 minutes. I have another meeting across town. I'm sorry but I'll have to cut this short." was all he said into the receiver before hanging it up. There was no one on the other end, it was just for show. Arawn picked up the leather brief case and locked it. He stood up and reached into his inner pocket. From the there he took out his phony business card and laid it on the table.
"When you have the information send the file to the address listed." It was a computer server of another company. Bryce had already made arrangements to hack their system, take the file, and hide all evidence. They couldn't penetrate Nebulous' system, but the other server wouldn't be a problem. "I thank you for your time." he gave a slight nod picked up the briefcases and walked out the door. Arawn was glad he had put the timer on his watch a perfect excuse to exit. If he stayed the man might really kill him. Would killing a gigai kill the users? That much he was unsure of and wasn't about to test it. Arawn also blessed his foresight in making the gigai look nothing like his true appearance. If he ever met the human again, things would be disastrous. As he reached the elevator he gave a small sigh of relief and pressed the down button. The trip long trip to the ground floor was just as boring as the ascent. Finally the doors opened and Arawn walked through the lobby and gave the receptionist a small nod. Standing on the street outside he looked up at the tall building certain that Nebulous was watching him from the high window. A black car pulled up before him. This too was part of the ruse, the driver was Bryce also in a disguise. He got out and opened the door. He was rather awkward. The hunchback wasn't used to being so tall, and having only 2 arms. The cases went into the trunk as Arawn slid into the backseat. Bryce returned to the front and they drove off.

It was somewhat soothing to see the man gasp for breath after having such a close encounter to Zamoreus' power, it certainly was only a fraction of what he felt like doing but there was no point, especially in the middle of New York in broad daylight in his own office. His only response to the mention of Ash's lack of knowledge as well as the comment about the greater good was a scoff, he was sure his mysterious guest knew more then he let on, but pursuing it at this point just seemed futile. The fact that they would have found out about the connection between the tank's attack and N.I.U.S so easily still rang untrue to his ears, but he had to accept it for now and he seriously needed to look up what exactly BWF truly was, or at the very least investigate the matter thoroughly.

Zamoreus' face contorted into a scowl as he not only had been so soundly beaten but now also was being left behind for a mere secondary meeting, he hadn't been treated in such a matter since he was sixteen. Besides that however he could simply sit there and take it, not picking up the business card and simply leaving it at the table as the man left. As Nimen made his way down then out the building, Zamoreus kept a close eye on him with the help of NIAS, only to then look out of his window as he left with the car. Deeply annoyed the billionaire sat down back in his chair after finally having been relieved of the nuisance. Taking a peak at the business card a smirk broke out on his face however. "NIAS, send the information they asked for... It doesn't matter anyway..." He leaned back into his chair, his voice finally relaxed and carefree once more as his smirk grew wider. "Nius is alive.."