On the run.

“We’ve been forced to move the XPlore Plane three times now because of NAGA raids…” Jamie argued with Aaron over a late breakfast at the Sharpe Mansion.
 
Aaron looked at the food but didn’t eat. He kept the household staff even though none of them really ‘worked’ anymore. Along with his daughter and Jamie, they were his only family.
 
Jamie pulled up a report on her tablet, “I’ve checked. NAGA is raiding warehouses everywhere, indiscriminately. They aren’t on to us, but their raids sure are making the price of warehouse property in the city skyrocket. XPlore Corp is still buying properties, of course, but out of the ten properties we’ve purchased in the last two weeks — NAGA has raided eight of them already.”
 
There was a long pause while Aaron smoked loosely on a cigar and then exhaled, “With that many raids, we should be able to pinpoint where they are located, at least. Right?”
 
“Hmm. I guess that is a silver lining. We don’t have the tech to tap into the city cameras. But surely one of the New Champions does…? If we share the locations of our warehouse raids, maybe they can check archive footage and determine the routes NAGA took to our locations…tracing back to their location.”
 
“Cypher. He’ll be able to do it.” Aaron said without hesitation.
 
———
With her tablet connected through Aaron’s home’s encrypted connection, Fazer contacted Cypher over the DarkR Web:
 
“Cypher — if I share with you the locations of our warehouses that have been raided by NAGA forces in the last two weeks…could you check city camera footage to help us triangulate into their location? They’ve raided eight XPlore Corp warehouses lately and countless other buildings, searching for the source of the “eclipse”…
 
Within seconds, the response appeared in text:
 
“I might be able to do better; " Cypher replied.
 
“Remarkable.” Jamie responded aloud to Aaron. Then typing again to Cypher over the DarkR Web, “Can you locate any potential hotspots where NAGA might be? We’d like to pay them some visits.”
 
After a few moments, Cypher responds:
 
"Okay... the initial call came in from 25 different panicked citizens, was picked up on by a package bot that steered the call to this precinct, Central, which activated a sub-routine sending information downline to... OH, oh, oh looks like the Serpentine AI is being rebuilt but programmed to not be as obvious in its overview of 'Watchfulness'.
 
"Interesting, Fazer, there is an old electrical outpost where many of us New Champions first rescued Socrates. It has an underground hidden entrance that appears to be the main base for NAGA. Of course they have sub systems in every sector of the city. But hitting that one would cripple some of their operations for months! This could be a homecoming expedition."
 
Jamie shares the information from Cypher with Aaron and looks somewhat puzzled as she speaks, “Cypher seems to have located their entire Millennium City network, commandeered their security systems, and identified a crucial main-station as a potential strike point…”
 
“We only wanted to know where they were launching their attacks, but Cypher is leading us toward a take-down of their entire organization.” Aaron smiled and then laughed. “Are you up for it?”, he asked Jamie jokingly.
 
A new text arrived over the DarkR Web from Cypher:
 
“That wasn't what you were asking about was it Fazer?”
 
The cursor blinks for a few moments then text appears again with a map highlighting the location several New Champions, engaged in a fight with Eurostar and other well-known villains.
 
In a flash, the blinking dot with the name Ghost moved into the [i/]Durak dot, which then collided with a large building labeled, NAGA Facility - Probability 92.7%
 
“The results I have show this as a NAGA base", Cypher concluded. “It looks like Durak's crash will bring out some NAGA agents - we'll likely have a three way battle shortly!"
 
“Aaron, let’s get close to the location and be prepared for support, if needed.” Fazer said. Aaron had already transformed into Runeforce while she was talking.
 
“Call me Runeforce when I look like this, I have a reputation to keep…”, he said sarcastically as he portaled himself and Fazer into the Xplore Plane.