About five minutes later a user walked into the room and a look of satisfaction spread across Andy’s face. It was Invader8, a user of average height and build, but also one who seemed very agile and skilled at fighting. His strange yet sturdy green and gray armor did not seem to inhibit his speed either, as he was wearing a chest plate but appeared to be moving with ease. He had dark green hair and a few battle scars on his face, which was exhibiting a stern expression. His weapon was a one-handed plasma rifle that could incinerate any opponent in seconds if they were not on their guard. He also had a small knife in a holster on his right side, which I assume was used for close combat. While he was only a Kremling rank, he looked as if he could rival a Bounty Hunter or even an Ing. It would definitely be more difficult to get rid of the X-Naut with this body guard following him.
Still in the corner of the room, I watched as Invader8 turned to the X-Naut, who was a little frightened of his newfound ally, and said, in a surprisingly friendly voice, “Hey OSider. My name is Invader8 and I will be happy to protect you and help you out as you acquaint yourself with the Nintendo NSider Forums. First we must go to the registration building so that w-“ “WOO!” the X-Naut shouted, blatantly interrupting his introduction message, but he continued on nonetheless. By the look of the expression on his face, Invader8 was used to newcomers like this interrupting him. “Eh hem….at the registration building, you can become a member, gain access to NSider and all of its features and get your very own username. I bet you’re tired of people calling you ‘OSider’ all the time.” The OSider looked a tad puzzled, but then shouted, “Y do ppl call me A n00by OSider!?” Invader had an expression of indifference, but simply sighed and replied, “I can’t imagine why… Now then, shall we proceed to the registration building?” “YAY!” He screamed again, and even NOA_ANDY looked like he was regretting his decision somewhat. “Are you sure about this guy?” Invader8 said softly to Andy, who shrugged and replied, “I don’t know…but we did falsely drag him into this mess. It’s the least that we could do to make up for it.” “Yeah, you’re probably right…” Invader8 said as he glanced back towards the X-Naut , who was jumping up and down with excitement.
Andy then gave Invader a piece of parchment with something written on it. “Here,” he remarked, “give this to Bronsen at the registration building.” Invader nodded and accepted the item as he and the X-Naut walked off towards the registration building. I had no choice but to follow; with the NOAs in close proximity and security around both the courthouse and the registration building undoubtedly heightened because of this incident and the killing I already committed today, it would be way too risky to attempt another murder now. On the flipside, though, it would be advantageous to kill the user now before he became a registered NSider. I hoped for an opportunity to arise as I slipped out of the courthouse without saying a word or making eye contact with a single NOA and pursued the pair.
The couple was strolling at a leisurely pace and it was effortless for me to keep an eye on them. For some reason, the streets were strangely deserted, so my mind began to wander. I thought back to the incident at Celadon and thought of exactly how the scene unfolded. There was just something a bit unusual about the entire thing. The situation replayed in my mind a few times and I was thinking if I could remember any particular details that may shed some light on the situation. “Why would two ordinary spammers try to raid 30,000 posts? How did they even know the posts were there?” These thoughts and more raced through my mind as the massive registration building loomed in the horizon.
I then came to a sudden realization. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I was sure that I saw the two spammers wearing golden badges on their chests. These spammers must have been wearing golden “N” badges, which meant that they must have been part of the Nicolai93 Organization, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, underground band of criminals, similar to a mafia of some sort. In fact, it is common knowledge amongst assassins, thieves, and many other users, though I’m not sure if the common folk would know about it or not. Regardless, I was still somewhat perplexed as to why the group would send two Paratroopa-ranked users to steal such a high number of posts. I mean, it was enough posts to instantly become a Plumber rank, but perhaps that amount of posts didn’t mean very much to this criminal group. After all, this group has become reputable for a reason and I’m sure that they’re never short on money. I wondered if I was really the only one to realize that they were involved in this attempted robbery, although it really wasn’t much of my concern.
The head of the Nicolai93 Organization was none other than Nicolai93, himself. I have never seen this infamous figure nor have any knowledge of his association other than its name. From what I have heard, he disguises himself as a lower rank to avoid suspicion of his strength, but he’s one of the best fighters in all of NSider. It’s a pretty ingenious strategy and most likely why this organization has been able to remain active for so long. The NSider Police have been trying to track down this elusive group, but have been unsuccessful for years. It made me really curious as to how they were able to remain hidden for so long and exactly what kind of users would be a part of such an organization. The sound of a small pebble bouncing down the road that I accidentally kicked interrupted my thoughts, though, as I mentally returned to focus on the X-Naut and Invader8.
It was nearly sundown as they approached the registration building and the sky was beginning to radiate a deep orange hue. Despite the time, there was a still long line of OSiders waiting to sign up as NSiders. I figured I would have plenty of time to strike, since he would have to wait in this huge line. Just then, however, the perfect opportunity presented itself. Invader8 told the X-Naut to stay behind as he walked over to Bronsen, one of the Knights of Hyrule positioned at the registration building, to give him Andy’s message. The OSider was now standing alone and unarmed with no one willing to protect him. Debating quickly what would be the best way to dispose of this worthless life, I decided I was going to throw one of my daggers at him so that I would not have to go out into the open, even though it was getting dark. When the blade struck him between his eyeballs (or goggles in this case), I would summon it back to my side with dark magic and watch as the OSider painfully fell to the ground. I placed my right hand on the hilt of my dagger and prepared to strike. I was a bit disappointed, however, that the OSider wasn’t making this mission a bit more difficult. He was just standing there, and after all that I’ve been through so far in tracking this X-Naut, I thought that killing him would at least be somewhat difficult. I lined up my shot and was ready to hurl my dagger with pinpoint accuracy when I felt someone grab my arm.
I turned my head to the right to see that it was Invader8, the same guy protecting that X-Naut. “How –“ I began to say, but he cut me off and said sternly, with his plasma rifle pointed to my head, “If you mess with the X-Naut here, I’ll mess you up bad. Got it?” I was agitated that he would talk to me in such a manner so I quickly freed myself from his grip and prepared to fight. As much as I wanted to tear him to shreds, though, I lost the element of surprise and had no intentions of facing that plasma rifle at close quarters. I looked up and saw a slight smirk on his face. He could tell he had me beat, but I didn’t want to support that notion and display any weakness. I looked away from him and grunted, “Fine…” “You better get it.” He shouted rather loudly as he lowered his weapon and returned to the X-Naut with an egotistical step in his stride.
“This might be more of a challenge after all.” I thought to myself, now vowing that I would soon be responsible for both the death of the X-Naut and the death of Invader8. Even though I was frustrated in myself, I felt a strange sense of happiness that this self-assigned mission wouldn’t come to such an anti-climactic close. I twirled my daggers and put them back in the holsters. Even though it would be tougher to dispose of them with Invader8 now constantly on the lookout for assassins and similar threats, I would never back down from a challenge. I could easily kill both of them in combat if I really wanted to. However, as an assassin, subtlety is a huge factor and already having the authorities on your tail is not an ideal position to be in. As I learned from some of my previous missions, patience is eventually rewarded.
I decided to ignore Invader8’s warning, though, and continue to spy on the X-Naut. I scoped out a new location and dashed towards it, invisible to the naked eye. When I arrived, I realized that this was an even better vantage point than the previous one. Better yet, I could listen in on their conversation. “Whar wer u?” the X-Naut asked rather obnoxiously. “I was just attending to some… business…” Invader said softly, glancing back to my previous position only to find it vacant. Returning to his friendly tone, he made eye contact with the OSider and said, “You have been granted special permission to become an NSider immediately by the order of NOA_ANDY, so please follow me and we will sign you up.” I remained stationary as the pair walked towards the registration building, past BRONSEN and PELORD and into the arched entryway. This unnamed OSider was lucky enough to become an NSider, even with an expert assassin on his trail. Getting rid of the X-Naut now might be a little tougher, as he would get to choose a weapon to wield now that he was an NSider. However, I was still confident in my abilities that I could get rid of him with little trouble. There was nothing I could now, though, so I just waited patiently for the registration process to be complete.
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