The Special Office of Internal Security, also known as the SOIS, is a secret organization under the jurisdiction of the American Department of Defense that appears in Virtue's Last Reward. They investigate potentially disruptive or dangerous elements, such as domestic or foreign terrorists, radical political splinter groups, and religious organizations with extreme agendas that could pose a threat to the state or the citizenry. Their stated purpose is to maintain peace, but their charter authorizes them to arrest, detain, and kill.
History[]
Background[]
The SOIS was founded some time before the Second Nonary Game, hiring Alice once she graduated from college. While here, the SOIS helped her learn about Free the Soul, the Myrmidons, and their connection to her father's disappearance.
The SOIS had also used Espers and the Morphogenetic field in a number of investigations, and they had found ways to help develop and strengthen an esper's abilities.
After the Second Nonary Game[]
Sometime around November 2027, the SOIS received a tip that some Myrmidons were stationed in Building Q in the Nevada desert. Alice was then sent to investigate, though her car broke down on the way to the building. While waiting for assistance, she met Clover, Light Field, Junpei, Seven, Hazuki Kashiwabara, and Gentarou Hongou, all of whom had just escaped from Building Q.
After learning that they were chasing their captors, Alice's priorities shifted, and the group continued to chase down Akane and Aoi Kurashiki. However, they could not catch up to them, so Alice directed the group to the SOIS headquarters, where they were detained and questioned for a few days. Since they did not learn much from them, the SOIS released the players back into the world, except for Hongou, who SOIS arrested.
Hiring More Espers[]
Some time later, the SOIS received another tip about the Myrmidons, this time learning that they were planning to launch a large-scale biological terrorist attack, later seen as the Radical-6 pandemic. After hearing this, the SOIS gathered sixteen players from the First Nonary Game, all of whom were espers, and now adults, and asked them all to help fight the Myrmidons.
Some of the group, including Clover and Light, decided not to join, though many others were enthusiastic to help the SOIS. A few days later, Alice went to Clover and Light's apartment and called Seven to convince them to join the organization.
Raiding a Free the Soul Base[]
For the next couple of months, the group of espers studied general knowledge, technical skills, and how to strengthen their esper abilities. When it came time for Clover and Light to have their first field mission, Clover was tasked with infiltrating and investigating a Myrmidon cloning lab while Light was to receive information from her through the morphogenetic field.
However, the entire facility was a trap, and Clover was captured and bound to a chair by a masked Myrmidon, who also told her to tell her superiors to halt their investigation into them. Alice quickly broke into the base and saved Clover, but also found the body of her father dumped in the room Clover was being held.
Alice's father, before his death, had carved many 8s and 9s into his arm, and after an examination by Alice much later, she determined that they lead to the headquarters of Free the Soul - a chemical factory designed to look like an abandoned building. The SOIS decided to attack the building on December 25th, 2028 and began going over their plans.
However, on December 22nd, 2028, both Alice and Clover were kidnapped by Crash Keys agents. It is unknown if the raid happened without them or if it was put on hold until their rescue. As such, the SOIS's actions after 2028 as a whole are currently unknown.
Virtue's Last Reward[]
The only SOIS agents seen during Virtue's Last Reward are Alice and Clover, woken up 45 years in the future on Rhizome 9 and forced to play the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. Shortly after Clover wakes up, Alice gives her a direct order to win the game and escape should anything happen to Alice. In some timelines, Clover succeeds in escaping when Alice dies, though in many, she doesn't.
In both Clover END and Alice END, Clover and Alice respectively divulge information about the SOIS and their activities to Sigma Klim. In Another Time END, the non-canon postscript to Virtue's Last Reward, Clover and Alice tell ? that Akane had told them of a way to return their bodies to their own time, which could hint at their return to the SOIS, though this is merely speculation.
Known Members[]
- Multiple directors
- Alice
- Clover Field
- Light Field
- Nona Kashiwabara
- Ennea Kashiwabara
- 12 other participants from the First Nonary Game
Trivia[]
- Members of the SOIS do not have uniforms, and there are rumors that some SOIS agents dress up like Elvis, Lady Gaga, and Captain America to deter suspicion.
- The very few people that know of the organization are said to be teasing them by calling them the "State Of InsanitieS".
- Some fans theorize that after the events of Zero Time Dilemma, the SOIS would work with Crash Keys and Free the Soul to stop the Religious fanatic, should they exist.
- According to the Zero Escape Artbook, the SOIS flag is purple.