[DANGEROUS] - A Cyberpunk Roleplay

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@Kit Kat
@Beowulf
@Seishin Ryuu
@Red crow
@Petricus Euryale

»PLAY♫: 00. "Opening"

It's close to midnight now, and whispers in the darker areas of the city spread word of a nomad caravan approaching the Northeast Sector trading park. The citizen military is still occupying the southern ports after last week's privateer incident, so getting inside the city shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, The West Sector is starting to bustle following a visit from the Volkov family mafia, this can only mean a large shipment of the newest illicit substances is in town. A big bounty was just announced outside of LP, and word on the street is its attracted the attention of a certain redhead.
The East Sector is quiet as usual, but not without its problems. An import shortage from South Sector is slowing food production following the Privateer incident. most factories predict only mild distribution problems.
South Sector is in shambles following a port bombing by a group of Korean privateers. Most shipping and warehousing businesses have been temporarily shut down.
 
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»PLAY♫: -01. "Velour Dirge"
"Sticks, get me a drink, babe."

She spoke with a voice about the consistency of pumice, with the vestiges of an old New York accent threatening to become apparent. She was tall, maybe five foot seven, with hair the color of pomegranate. Perhaps the most striking thing about the girl was the way she was strong-arming a man, nearly twice her size, into submission. She tied her bounty to a chair with relative ease and sauntered over to the bar upon gagging him. She grabbed a whiskey glass from the end of the counter and slid it across the counter top to the shambling man weaving dish rags at the end. The glass was scratched in a few places and could've been worse for wear, but if could talk it probably would have told you it didn't want to be alive. The elderly man behind the counter didn't have much of a choice.

"Scotch, on the rocks, sir, and tab that shit."

"Sounds to me like you don't want anything with the way you're throwing that language around like this is that neon club of yours. Why don't you bring me a few more of these underdeveloped proletarians and see if your mouth doesn't clean up on the way. Then maybe I'll consider pouring you something. "


"Did you just call me stupid?"

"Maybe."

The man coughed.


"Mark my words, old man, I'll get you when you least expect it..."


Eden marched proudly out the room as she finished her sentence. Out of the bar and into the alley outside of the West Sector's "Jaunty Velour". The bar used to be a hotel for the rich, back when this part of town was an exuberant shopping district for the well-to-do's around the YKM. 25 or so years ago, a middle aged man, who at the time was fairly important in the counter-movement against the netrunners, took refuge in its walls, and to this day, Darren Korb lives in the disestablished Jaunty Velour bar. It was only 9 years ago that He met Eden, at the time, a young girl trying to find her next meal. The man who offered that meal was a mob boss looking for the head of Mr. Korb. And so the story goes. What happened between shooting him and her coming to be his most frequent visitor, who knows...

Eden always had a certain love of the atmosphere her home provided, Darren's harsh-yet-kind attitude, the worn couches, not having been upholstered in decades. She left the building with that raw smile that only home can bring, but it faded soon enough, she was born into a wasteland, constantly reminded of what civilization once looked like. Eden sighed moisture into the air, condensing into a cloud that skewed her vision of the alley. She closed her eyes and leaned her back against a nearby lamp post, flickering above her in the sparse electricity from the East Sector.
 
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Xavier sauntered through the brothel, shooting confident smirks and bedroom eyes to select workers and patrons. Trailing close behind was Nix, dressed in a baggy black hoody that covered most of his mask in shadows, the red glow of his optical monitor covered by a large, but non functioning visor. Xavier seemed less worried about whether or not he was noticed, dressed in a bright red suit with a white dress shirt and his dread's tied back in a long ponytail.

"This was a poor decision." Nix remarked, shaking his head.

"
What are you talking about?" Xavier said slyly. "I'm walkin' on air, babe! This place is great!"

"
We are not here to have fun. We are here on business and you are going to get us killed."

"
That's what I have you for, hon."

"
To kill you?"

"
Shhhshh, no more talk, only drugs."

Xavier held out his hand. With a heavy sigh Nix handed over a black briefcase he'd been holding.

"
Be careful." Nix whispered. "We're surrounded by hitmen."

"
We're also surrounded by the mafia, who run the entire west sector. Even better, we're surrounded by prostitutes! Everyone knows we're here for a deal, nobodies gonna fuck with us till we leave. If they do they risk disturbing one of the Maria's favorite pass times and literally everyone here is armed."

"
And when we do leave, we form the usual position and-"

"
And head somewhere new. The old spots compromised, and ewe're not risking Jasper. Trust me, you're gonna love the new digs."

With that, Xavier pulled away and approached a man dressed in a pitch black tux, sitting at a table by himself. His short black hair was slicked back amd his face was contorted in a permanent grimace.

"
Adrik!" Xavier greeted him. "How are you? How's Olga?"

"Olga is dead." Adrik said dryly. "Killed by a drone strike. Still not sure who's it was."

"
Well, what difference does it make? Its all megacorps, my friend, and they're digging holes. You and I, though? The little guys? We decide who fills em."

Adrik blinked dryly. "I am not a small guy."

He wasnt. Xavier guessed he was almost seven feet tall, and he was no wimp. Adrik bolstered an impressive physical frame, Xavier was well in shape, but Adrik could completely destroy him.

"
That's... Fair. We're in this together, I mean."

Adrik rolled his eyes. "You got the shipment or not?"

Xavier placed the briefcase on the table and turned it towards Adrik. With one of his patented smug smirks, Xavier opened the briefcase, revealing neatly packed narcotics and pill bottles.

"Is that... Concentrated morphine?" Adrik said, leaning into the opened briefcase before glancing back at his own. "Do I... Wanna know what you're trading this for?"

"
Well, my dear Adrik, the case you brought contains the most powerful weapon of all. But that is for me to know and for everyone else to find out."

Adrik blinked again. "Is it, like, a nuke?"

Xavier just stared at Adrik in disbelief. "
No, its not a nuke. Don't worry about it."

They swapped briefcases and Adrik sauntered out. Xavier took his case and walked back over to Nix.

"
Is it done, cane we leave?"

"
Yes, but no. Tell me, babe, when was the last time you got laid?"
 
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On top of one of the taller buildings overlooking this street in the west sector, a sniper team watches the streets below, searching for any trouble. Below them, the streets teem with people looking for a good time, laughing as they stumble from bar to bar, or stepping into clubs and brothels and not coming out again. The two men on the roof however were not having a good time. They had little to do but bitch about being in the cold and rain, having been waiting for the last hour they were growing impatient.
"Why the hell are we even here?" complained the spotter as he searched rooftops for anyone suspicious.
" 'Cause, Xavier's here to make some deals and cash, we can't fight on promises now can we?" replied his partner, who lay on a pallet, searching the streets with his rifle. "And I heard he's chasing some tail tonight" he added, his voice thick with envy.
"so while he's gettin' laid, we get to freeze out in the rain. Great."
They chatted back and forth about whether they would see any action tonight, little did they know, there was a third person on the roof, waiting.

The spotter died when he went to go take a leak. He never saw the axe, all he saw was a faint shimmer in the air before the pointed tip of the weapon punched through his skull with a sickening crunch. His partner didn't fair much better, on hearing the noise, he rolled over to see his spotter collapsing to the ground, and a trail of blood hanging in mid-air. His eyes wide with panic he reached for his pistol, "what the fu-!" was the snipers last words, as a knife materialized out of thin-air, slamming into his right eye, killing him instantly.

A moment later, a figure appeared just as suddenly as the knife. Surveying his work, he tsk'd as he walked over to the spotter, and bent down to pull the knife from the snipers head. "you could'a done better" he remarked to the corpse, as he finished cleaning his weapons on the dead mans jacket. He knelt beside the wall that the deceased sniper had been overlooking. These two had given up some good information. Besides listening to them prattle on for the better part of an hour, he'd broken into their transmissions, and had recorded their voices, so he could reply when someone ask'd why the team had gone silent. But even though everything was going off without hitch, the bounty hunter was pissed, he'd had to cancel plans for tonight due to this. With an irritated flick, his helmet zoomed in on the crowd below, searching for one man in a sea of humanity.

Waiting for his helmet to identify his mark, the bounty hunter thought to how lucky he'd been to catch wind of this. With the confusion of the bombing in the south harbor, his target had nearly slipped by unnoticed. However, there was always a little bird who'd sing, and the one he'd found sang, like a canary. So now he was here, waiting for his target to show up at a whorehouse. Eventually he did, as a man in a bright red suit stepped out of a car, the bounty hunters helmet lit up with a match. Bingo, he thought wryly as he watched the target, this guys not even trying to be subtle. He thought, as his target sauntered into one of the smaller brothels, being closely followed by his bodyguard in a black hoodie.

Getting to his feet, the bounty hunter once again vanished, leaving the corpses of the spotter team. He vaulted over the side of the building and rappelled to the roof of a building further below. when his feet hit the roof he took off, jogging on the roof, he hopped up onto a large neon sign hanging over the street, running with his arms outstretched for balance, leaping the gap between himself and the roof of the building his target had gone into. He rolled when his feet hit the roof, surveying his surroundings for guards before looking at the street below, he was satisfied that no one had noticed him, he turned back to survey his surroundings. Besides a some sodden garbage in the corners and rusted dinner tables, the roof was abandoned. Making his way over to the door on the roof, he searched it for alarms, it was a bit disappointing to see that there was only an old emergency exit alarm, and that had stopped working years ago.

Almost like they don't want to keep me out
, silently making his way down the stairs, he stopped when the stairs ended in a hallway that split off in two different directions. "Time to find my paycheck" he announced to himself, before taking off down a hall.
 
Jael "NohTouch" Nowicki
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The Veil was a poor choice of a name for a Brothel. At least it was to her, but then again, she never owned a Brothel. It was making her think of weddings and religion, both of which gave the fairly nice establishment a sort of corrupting air that was bothering her on some stupid sub level of her brain. It was like seeing a bride or a nun get raped or something, it just squicked her. The corruption of innocence she guessed. Ignoring the feeling best she could, Jael willed herself up to the front door and into the watchful gaze of the doormen.

Guardians at the gate... She couldn't make eye contact with them for long, it felt like they could see the truth in her. No helmet tonight, just a grey beanie cap, jeans and an over sized sweater. She wasn't dressing up nice like she used to, no need when she was working. Or at least trying to work. It must have been evident she was there for business and not pleasure because the doorman lifted the faux velvet rope and pushed her on in towards the back and not to the bar.

Normally she could have expected the same old brothel smell, sex, cleaning products, smoke and cheap, almost violently so, perfume but her first big inhale rewarded her with a chunk of fleshy oil being sucked into her throat. Lurching over to a garbage can she spits the chunk into it and looks up at her reflection in the mirror. She looked worse than she thought she did. Her good eye glassy and her 'teched out' eye lurching this way and that scanning her reflection. Both were sunken and her skin was pale. The long black bangs hung out from under her beanie and the rest of her body was covered. Thank God she thought to herself, nobody needs to see that right now. Wiping the oil from her lips, she stood up and did a little gussying up in the mirror. Slapping her cheeks to get the blood flowing and pushing her hair out of her face before turning back into the Brothel.

Afanasiia wasn't there yet or at least she wasn't letting herself be seen yet but that could be good or bad. She was plan B right now, solely based on how hard it was still to find the Fixer. At least it had been getting easier, little bits of scrapcode had been becoming visible to Jael and she was starting to be able to read it to find people in the real world. Creepy when you didn't have any real implants but helpful for the time being.

Jael scoots herself quickly away from the bar to avoid getting caught by Afanasiia and goes after her Plan A. Xavier. The red suit gave it away faster than her tenuous connection into the local SEC-NET did. Xavier, at least in her experience, had a soft spot and would give her a job if she asked. She wasn't sure if he knew what she was but he was one of the few that at least offered fair work.

Spotting his bodyman before seeing him, Jael carefully willed herself to walk up to the pair eventually speaking up as she got close enough. "Xavier" she rasped before trying some humor to defuse his bodyguard "I can't tell if you are working here or working here. How are you?"


@Red crow @Kit Kat
 
The side of the tall brick building was drenched and the red neon lights in the alley, flashing the word "OPEN", were always like a warning to her. This life was not what her brother and sister wanted her to lead, but their opinions mattered lesser and lesser with each passing day. The only person who'd ever really mattered was her mom and how she really saw her child, but she didn't care anymore; She never cared at all. Afanasiia had been working in the sex industry for seven years now. Her hands were cold, body weak, but Ethan was always there, just around the corner. The owner of this simple establishment, The Veil. It was mainly a brothel for the men seeking refuge in a lady's arms, but also a cozy dive bar for those who just wanted a drink after a long hard day.

Afanasiia helped manage The Veil, but her main area of expertise was the women. As a procuress, she saw to it that none of their girls were harmed and their well being always came first. They always had to go through an initial background check for any signs of criminal activity, usage of drugs, and any psychological and physical-related issues, such as contractable diseases or loss of limbs that might make it difficult to perform. A day always seemed simple for a procuress; you hired girls for prostitution, for money, and you nurtured them to be the best they could be. Afanasiia saw herself as a kind of mother figure for them, though she tried not to let it show too much. Prostitution meant business and business meant money; you couldn't let your emotions get in the way.

A few shots of whiskey were all she needed to get through the rest of the night. She downed the burning liquid, one by one, and went back to the desk that guarded the hall where the first row of rooms housing prostitutes was laid out. The stairs towards the back on the left side led to the second story of the quaint brothel. Most rooms had no no windows or anything of personal possession, unless a girl brought her own things with her, which was quite common with their particular flavor of women. Afanasiia scanned the room, searching for any signs of possible threat to the atmosphere. She zoned in on a pair. While they had guards on duty, it was important to address the atmosphere from a different perspective as well; No one could be too careful in this dump.

A dark-skinned male with a bright red suit and a woman with outrageous modifications to her body. Afanasiia zoned in with her right eye and took a closer look at the woman; black hair, tan skin. She'd notice that face from anywhere. Jael. Afanasiia frowned. She looked... awful, for lack of a better word. What was she doing here? She seemed eager to talk with the way her body faced towards the male; Jael was looking for something; she seemed desperate enough. He looked willing to help out with the confidence he carried, but another figure pulled him way for a few moments. Afanasiia glanced away and ran a hand through her hair. She drummed her fingers on the podium like structure in front of her and took a deep breath. Soon, she would be off. It was just her luck though, when Ethan came around and greeted her.

"Ethan, guess who came back for another round? Jael," Afanasiia's voice was flat. "She left and now she's chatting up some guy. Can't believe it."

"Ah, one of our best. Have to wonder what happened to her after she disappeared."

"Well, frankly, I don't care. She's gonna have to try hard to get her job back if she thinks I'm gonna go easy on her."

"She's probably just hanging out with that guy. She'll be out of here before you know it."

Afanasiia scrutinized Jael.

"I highly doubt it."
 
Xavier chuckled a bit but Nix grabbed his arm and dragged him down to his face before he could say anything. Nix whispered in Xavier's ear.

"Something is wrong. I'm picking up multiple tech enhancements from this girl but her vitals are way off."

Xavier's expression changed to curious and confused as he shot the girl a concerned glance before returning to Nix.

"
Also, her body is undergoing several chemical reactions per second. Far more than usual. I can't tell what it is, though. Untreated cancer? Maybe she cant afford the treatment?"

"
What are the odds she's here for the bounty?" Xavier said, reaching into his pocket.

"Pretty low, I'd know better if our spotters hadn't been repeating the same lines for the past five minutes."

"
Ssshit! How long do we have?"

"
Can't say, ten to fifteen minutes? Depends on the security."

"
Judging by the way Mikhail talked about this place, its probly not much. Shits goin' downhill sooner than I planned. Alright, we gotta get out of here."

"
What about her?"

"
You said she couldn't afford treatment?"

"
Well, hold on, I said she mi-"

Xavier spun around to face Jael, his radiant smile returning to his face instantly. He leaned against the bar as he stepped closer to her, leaning in casually.

"
Hey, hon, I'm lookin' to kill two birds with one stone. You lookin' for work?"
 
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Jael "NohTouch" Nowicki
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She almost had to stifle a cynical chuckle at the way the bodyman pulled Xavier away. Jael had experienced that sort of thing nearly each and every time she'd gotten her diagnosis, first from the real Company doctors, then by independent Medical Clinic workers, then again by Local 'Docs' and even by Nomad healers. Nearly turning tail, a crack of pain in her ear immobilizes her for a second. Something drips down inside her aural canal but then the hushed conversation a few feet away became audible.

He just thinks I'm a security threat, almost a relief. Just as quickly as their conversation started, it ends. Jael just standing there shuffling her feet while they talked it out. Then Xavier whirled back to face her, startling her with what was hopefully a proposition.

"Hey, hon, I'm lookin' to kill two birds with one stone. You lookin' for work?"

She put on a little wry smile and nodded quickly. "Always, just something to get by on. You always were in the know so I mean, I had hoped you'd have something I could do. I netrun now though, I don't really work the bedroom anymore. But I mean if that's all you've got I could go ask Afanasiia, not that I'm not grateful for the chance...I'm talking too much, sorry I'm just not feeling well today" She shrugs, trying for a moment to not look too desperate.

"It's still nice seeing you, I like the suit"
 
Xavier laughed again, although there was a hint of impatience this time.

"
Now, you're very pretty, hon, but I'm afraid that little birdie has already up and left the nest. We're looking at something different altogether here, something bigger. The netrunner thing is useful, actually, but I've already said too much. Here-"

Xavier lifted the briefcase up and aimed it towards himself, opening it, just a crack, and pulled out a small stack of credits. He quickly, and uncharacteristically nervously closed the case again. He gestured at here while holding the credits.

"
There's about two hundred credits here. Consider it an advance. Take it, or don't. Either way I wouldn't stick around here much longer, the money wont be any good if you're dead."

He placed it on the bar next to them, straightened his jacket, then began to walk away. Nix let out a groan and turned towards her, holding out a card.

"
This is who he wants you to contact if you're interested. Code word is is BAY, you have until the end of the week. Also... your atriautical chemical display seems to be malfunctioning, that or you're not pumping blood through your heart... that was a joke, Xavier told me to tell people when I try to make a joke."

He placed the card on the stack of credits and turned to leave.
 
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Connor was glad he was an indoor man. He didn't always like it, but on cold, rainy days like these he appreciated it. His knife was proudly on display on his chest and his large pistol was holstered prominently at his hip. Having muscles to show off was good and all, but also showing that you were packing something extra also helped. Calmed most situations down real quick when you had the hot head up against a wall and either a knife to his throat or a massive barrel pointing at his stomach. And the ladies appreciated it, the few times he's actually had to do it.

He nodded politely as Afanasiia walked past him and through the door. By now he knew who his two bosses were, though he didn't deal much with her. Ethan was usually the one that told him what to do. But considering the business he was in, it was only a matter of time until she told him who was to stay, and who was to be removed. And when she wanted someone removed, it was wise to remove them. He hadn't ever seen her openly angry, though, and he planned to keep it that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ethan had kept his eye on Jeal after he short little chat with his co-owner, business partner, whatever you may want to call it. It was always nice to see former employees drop by from time to time. But if they were here to take away paying customers, then he'd rather they just left.

As he was thinking, he saw a vibrantly dressed man with a brief case and a crony behind him reach into said briefcase and hand Jeal something, after briefly talking with her. "What do we have here." he said softly to himself. "I'll be right back, Ana (Afanasiia is so hard to remember), I need Connor to do something." he told her before leaving and heading to their bouncer. "Oi, muscle head. Got a job for you. There was a man dressed up real nice in red. Had someone following after him and they looked all buddy buddy. One of them was carrying a briefcase. Get them, and bring them back here. They didn't pay for our services." That last part was a lie, they had paid for their services. But he needed to give Connor a reason to do it, and that seemed as good as anything else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connor turned at the sound of Ethan's voice before patiently listening to the somewhat shorter man. "Red suit, briefcase, got it." Summing everything up for his own sake, Connor grabs a jacket and heads out into the rain. "Got to get a guy, red suit and tie" he said over the rain at the door boss, who grunted and pointed in the direction the man described left in and as he let a duo in. Nodding in appreciation, he turns and heads in that direction, keeping an eye out for anything red.
 
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Jael "NohTouch" Nowicki

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Jael absolutely hated being paid in advance. It wasn't actually payment for work, it was debt and obligation. Obligation had a tendency to get people killed in the city and that knowledge was causing what was left of her stomach to twist into knots. The pile of credits sat there staring at her and she was gonna stare straight back. That was four months rent in a transient center, four months of comfort and safety in a neutral zone. She could even get meals there but was it worth being indebted to Xavier?

Speaking of, Xavier had just started to leave. He must have read the look in her eye at the credits sitting there and added a bit about taking or leaving the wealth. Something was spooking him tonight Jael thought, Luckily one couldn't spook the already spooked. Thinking about it a few moments longer, she reached out to take it when Xavier's Bodyguard stuck out his hand and offered a card. She took it gingerly, scanning both sides of it while listening to him explain what she had to do and make an incredibly awkward joke about her heart.

"Yeah, I guess that happens in this city. Hearts go cold" She thumps her chest, causing her to cough as her heart momentarily sparked to life. A coughing fit that continued on even as he had turned to leave. Sharp, pinching pain overtook her, Jael staggering away from the bar and towards the door as she clutched her chest. Her heart must have restarted then shutdown again, mimicking symptoms of a heart attack. She'd only had one before, it wasn't a big deal considering it didn't pump her blood anymore anyways, it now just managed to pump pain.

As quickly as it started, the pain began to subside, all Jael wanting to do now was listen to Xavier and get out to someplace safe and hopefully pack up to spend the night in the nearest Transient Center. All she had to do was get out before Afanasiia tried to corner her.
 
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»PLAY♫: 05. "Inside The City"

Wind howled around Eden as the rain flipped and changed directions around her head. A greenish glow illuminated the pale skin around Eden's visor, her eyes sifting through the visual snow, down onto the street in front of "The Veil".
While she wasn't one to partake, Eden was familiar enough with the hot seat of many local mafia deals. Today, it seemed, was no ordinary day in the brothel. The drenched redhead shifted her weight, propping one foot on the body of what looked more or less like a bodyguard. She reached down and slid the laser attachment off of her rifle, laying unused in the rain, a plastic bag covering the only thing worth not getting too moist.
As military men and women, half-robots, job seekers, and headhunters entered The Veil's doors, Eden watched. She leaned carefully over the ledge where the ex-bodyguards had been perched earlier that evening, pointing the laser in her hand at the door. She waited.


"Hit: Adrik Kuznetsov, Businessman."

Eden giggled quietly under her breath, and her voice was whispered and unclean. She'd been using again. Why else would she be perched on a rooftop, organized for a hit-and-run in the middle of business hours? Sure, it was a dumb idea, but intoxication is intoxication.
The drug of choice tonight was "Jetwash". A medical-grade depressant typically used in field hospitals to treat shock. Eden used it to treat boredom. The downside of this somewhat vanilla drug abuse was that Eden became a bit too indifferent to the situation at hand. Naturally, a flick of a switch, and any deficit on her mental ability could be temporarily erased, but using a neural implant to combat self-inflicted euphoria just seems a bit counterproductive.
Eden whipped a rope of hair from her face, simultaneously getting smacked with more hair. She amended her error with her free hand and tired her best to focus on the door.
 
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Everything was quiet, to quiet. Well, besides the noises coming from some of the rooms, at least somebody was having a good time. He'd fed a camera under the doors of all the rooms with people in them, and unless his target had changed skin color and gained at least 30 pounds, he wasn't here. ghosting down the hall, Cicada was starting to worry that he'd been had, the guy who kept checking in on the sniper team had stopped asking him for updates... with the growing apprehension that this mission was about to go south, he passed a window. Glancing out it as he passed, he threw himself back to see what was happening below. No no no, he thought, as his target and guard left the building, a few moments after them, a large man in a jacket stepped out into the rain, checking left and right, he saw the duo making their way through the crowded street and began to follow them.

"Fuck off, they're mine" he snarled. Wrenching open the window, and scrambling through it, he fired his grapple into the wall above. He let out some slack as he ran across the wall, waiting till the height of the arc, he detached and landed on the roof of the neighboring building. Taking off with a grunt, he deactivated his invisibility as an alert notified him of overheating. Sprinting across the roof, he leapt onto an A/C unit before hurtling over the alley below, and stopped on top of a one story bar, taking a moment to catch his breath, he then climbed out onto the metal awning that stretched out into the road, and hid behind the unlit sign of the building.

Peaking out from behind the sign, he watched as his quarry drew closer and closer. He also watched the man following them; to his credit, the man was doing a fair job of it, but he still stood out like a sore-thumb to Cicada. A little closer... that would be all it would take for this plan to work. As his target drew nearer, the bounty hunter pulled a pair of fat grenades from a pouch, glancing down at them, he then loosened his guns in their holsters. As his targets moved below him, the big guy made his move; shoving some drunk out of his way, he reached into his jacket to draw something. Having heard this, the bodyguard turned to face him while pushing the smaller man behind him.

This is too perfect. He grinned as he thumbed the spoons out, and tossed the pair of grenades down into the streets below. he'd nick-named them "party crashers," and they did the job. Both initially detonating with a flash and a resounding *BANG*, after that, they swiftly began to release a mixture of smoke and high-grade tear gas into the street below. Leaping off the awning a moment after the initial explosion, the bounty hunter switch his helmet to its personal air-tank as he descended into the chaos below. His guns near leaping into his hands, he began to fire into the trio of disorientated men before him. With his suppressed pistol he fired a score of rounds into his target; the rounds taking him dead center, some hitting him in the chest or stomach while one off-shot clipped the mans skull. As his target began to double-up from the impacts, the bounty hunters heavy hitter was firing into the other two. Like roaring thunder, a pair of rounds punched into the bodyguard; one catching him square in the back, while another hit him in the shoulder, sending the man sprawling into his opponent. The thug wasn't spared from Cicadas volley though, as a round slammed into his shoulder, throwing him back.

Not stopping to check the other two, Cicada rushed his collapsing target and rammed him; hoisting the man onto his shoulder, he snatched up the mans briefcase before running for the alley across the street. Dodging between screaming civilians who were running in every direction, and those who were choking from the teargas, they only added to the confusion, and he made his way into the alley uninjured, with his target on his shoulder. A tall chain-link fence and a dumpster full of garbage blocked his path, while normally he could easily vault this, the added weight of his bounty made choose to take an easier route. Firing his grapple again, he ascended the fence before setting down on the other side, taking off at a fast jog, he made his way down the alley, across the adjacent street, and into the alley across from his.

Stopping for a minute in the shadows of the alley, he shucked the smaller man onto the ground behind a dumpster, where he sprawled unconscious. After reloading his weapons, Cicada knelt beside his target, pulling one of the bullets he'd fired out of his targets chest, he clucked his tongue at the unconscious man. "good to see you had the sense to wear some Kevlar." He examined the flattened round, "guess its a good thing I domed you, otherwise these stun-rounds would've been a waste." The man on the ground didn't reply, besides groaning a bit. "ah well, guess we all make mistakes don't we?" he replied as he patted the man down; this turned up a knife, wallet and phone, and lastly a concussion grenade. Pocketing the grenade, he zip-tied the mans wrists and ankles and gagged/ blindfolded him. Lastly, he pulled out a small sweeping device and ran it over his target, his possessions, and the brief case. turning up negatives for any tracking devices, Cicada let out a heavy breath at this, "seriously? for how much is on your head, I'd expect you to do better than... this." he gestured in disgust at the scanner, "well, guess we need to be moving hm?" he said as put the scanner away, and threw his target over his shoulder, he clipped the briefcase to his belt, and put all the mans possessions into a pouch; but not before setting the phone to airplane mode. Taking off down the alley at a quick walk, he said to his bounty, "Time to find some place quiet, you and I are going to have a nice long... ch-" Out in the street a thunderous roar cut through the sounds of chaos, the bounty hunter stared down the alley for a moment, then took off at a dead run. Shit.
 
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rebolt22: hey... u guys see what's goin' down at west sec?
BabyChef: No, I don't watch the news. It's bad for your health.
rebolt22: they say there was sum kinda terrorist attack. dam koreans... first they take south and then they blow up west. when will it end?!/!
Corpse_Of_Kitten: I wouldn't get into too much of a knot about it. Shit happens on west all the time.


It was a hell of a greeting. Jack was currently watching a cop give a parking ticket to some guy on "liverevolution.com" when suddenly his chat had beeped softly in his head. He sent a mental command and the rest was brought up, and quickly the story unfolded as he read.

BabyChef: Tbh, it's probably an improvement on West's part.
Corpse_Of_Kitten: Lol
rebolt22: wasn't even a good terrorist attack. they say, like, 1 person died maybe.
rebolt22: you'd think after south they'd learn how to kill people.

Corpse_Of_Kitten: As if you'd know how?
rebolt22: i have my methods >;)
BabyChef: The only thing you seem to kill is grammar


Jack had heard enough. After a quick search he saw the footage. Plumes of smoke billowing out of a street near that one brothel Jack had been "truth or dared" into entering last year. That sucks, that place wasn't half bad, not at all. Regardless people were getting hurt and Jack knew no corporate stooge or corrupt policeman was going to solve that shit. If anything he could at least help the evacuation in small way. Guide people out of the teargas storm.

jack_rabbit: I'll take a peek, see which way's up.
Corpse_Of_Kitten: You sure? Police are gonna be all over there in a few minutes anyway.
jack_rabbit: Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about it. Watch my back though, keep an eye on the news feed.
BabyChef: RIP Jack
rebolt22: hey, r we doin game nite 2nite?


-----

A couple minutes later, Jack managed to hop on over to the west node. He poked and prodded a bit, looking for a weak point in the traffic surveillance system. He needed a street view, and that was the best way to get one. He found an adjacent camera, and with the lack of anyone else using it, he supposed the best person to take a stab at it was him. With a few short hand gestures and mental commands, Jack's virtual avatar pulled up the command console

Code:
>connect 226.51.9.96
connecting.......
connected 226.51.9.96
>probe
Proxy: x
Firewall: x
port(s): 12 84 85 1008
>run WebServerWorm 12
running..
complete
>run PortHack
running....
complete
>cd home/d:/tape/live_feed
>open mp4.8/23/2237_23.34

He was in. An easy process, if you know what was what. Jack found himself a birds eye view of the street. Unfortunately it was for not. At least the live feed was. There was too much smoke and chaos to see anything of value, and the camera didn't have any audio. He had to look back in the files deeper. A bit of rooting around in the home/d:/tape/record fixed this, an MP4 was opened and he was able to view the history and playback.

A dark skinned gentleman, some kind of droid, both walking down the street. The ID recognition software was too cheap to recognize them at the range they were at from the camera. Police equipment was such cheap pieces of shit. He watched as they drew closer, noticing they were coming from the direction of The Veil. Something came into view, dropped from above. At first it looked like a rock and then it exploded. Jack watched as a armored figure dropped down, close enough to identify but alas the helmet prevented the program from doing it's work. He dashed into the smoke. There were a few flashes, Jack guessed gunshots. Jack noticed there were only a couple. A terrorist would have just opened fire indiscriminately.

He had to dig deeper if he wanted answers.

Code:
>cd log
>rm *
deleting log......
deleted
>dc
Disconnected
>connect 187.99.172.144
connecting..
connected
>probe
Proxy: ✔
Firewall: ✔
ports: 84 85 1008

A little while later he found himself on the security camera feed of The Veil. It looked as trashy and crime laden as any other day. Guys walked between rooms, girls usually leading them. It was probably a rather profitable business. One that Jack couldn't afford to eliminate. He knew there was some horrible shit there, shit he wanted to stop. He'd heard of everything from drugs to human trafficking. "Rewind..." He said outloud, focusing his mind. He watched the little people speed by each other in reverse until he saw the man who was attacked and his droid. "Stop," he was talking to a girl. Had he met her before? Maybe, who knows. Jack on most days didn't think he had met anyone.

Regardless, she was the ticket in.

-----

A half a minute later, a small text message slipped it's way into Jael's commlink.

Your friend was just blitzed, you need to move ASAP it read.
 
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AFANASIIA

Xavier had a lot to give to a piece of worthless junk; his first mistake had been opening that briefcase and showing it to Jael. The second mistake was running away. Ana tilted her head at his foolishness and eyed Jael as she began to stumble and cough. She pursued the young woman without relent, eager on exacting vengeance. “God, what a wreck you are.”

She tried to yanked Jael up from the ground but found the former difficult to achieve, despite how pale and sick she looked. Ana scoffed; She must've gotten her body all wired up.

“You’re not leaving until we’ve had a chat. I know why you came back and you're stupid to think that you’ll get your former job back so easily.”

Ana tried to push her outside into the main street nearby, but her physical efforts meant nothing now. Ana's brown eyes flared as she regarded the former prostitute with discontent. “You had so much potential and what did you do? You ran away with your tail between your legs,” she hissed. “What the hell did you do to yourself, Jael? You look like shit and you've wired yourself for whatever ungodly reason you had.”

Ana pulled herself away and ran her hands through her messy hair. “You are absolutely pathetic, you know?”

Disappointed, she turned on her heel and left the alley.

“I’m done here.”


Ana entered The Veil once more, weary and strangely relieved, but also frustrated. What on Earth had Jael done to herself? It was a question that spinned constantly in Ana's mind. It was clear that whatever augmentations Jael had gotten; they were making her sick, and Ana, she felt she'd tried so hard to feel sympathetic in the heat of the moment, but all she felt was disgust.

It was her fault, end of story.

Ana sniffed and brushed her jacket off before resuming assistant managerial duties. The brothel was unusually busy tonight. As long as that meant more money for Ethan’s business, she didn’t mind the abnormal flow of customers. The establishment had a trashy appearance on the outside, but the inside was a true gem and she couldn’t blame anyone for stopping by.

The bar needed to be wiped down, the plates picked up off the small, round tables. Ana went around, performing simple, menial tasks, and stopped to talk to a few men. The atmosphere felt rather tense; The procuress felt it was because she'd just talked down a former friend and employee of hers, but Jael soon became the least of her problems. Commotion from the hall caught her attention.

"What's going on in there?"

Ana left her spot and put a hand on the gun in her black hip holster, ready to pull the gun out, if necessary.

"Guys, please," one of the girls, Theresa, pleaded. "You can't fight here. It goes against our policy. Please take this somewhere else."

"You son of a bitch better watch where you lay your cards. I'll be cutting your fingers off before you even think about raiding another operation," The mafioso barked; Ana remembered she'd checked him in as Leonardo Moretti. Her right eye went through a full scan of his criminal history, medical history, age, height, gender, nationality, and ethnicity. He was a hitman for the Volkov mafia.

"Watch us, cunt. That fire'll be burning your cocks off before you know it."

Ewan Fletcher, twenty eight years old. Possible pyromaniac with a huge repertoire of murder, mainly of the first degree. Affiliation unknown. Ana growled at the sight. "Shut up, both of you," She came in, gun locked and loaded. "You're both in violation of The Veil's policy against violence of a verbal, physical, and otherwise aggressive nature, especially in the presence of an employee. Theresa, please leave."

The girl quickly got dressed and left the room. Ana lowered her gun and placed her hands on her hips.

"Someone care to fill me in on what happened?"


While Ana interrogated Ewan and Leonardo, Ethan dealt with his own skirmish at the bar between a man named Matteo and a woman named Andrea. One was affiliated with the mafia, the other unknown. The lady bared her teeth at the male patron as she slammed a glass of gin down on the counter, "You idiot! Did you really think you could get away with trafficking those drugs? Your men are pathetic."

"I've been doing it for years now. Can't say I've ever had a street rat question my competence."

Ethan intervened before the lady could take a swing. He gritted his teeth, "If you both don't plan to agree to disagree, please take any violence away from my establishment." A firecracker went off nearby. Some of the customers glanced up from their conversations but didn't move. Others left the brothel; Ethan presumed it was because of the sound and glanced back at the bar goers. "Get out of here or I'm gonna have to kick you both out."

The woman wasn't having any of it. She mustered up all her strength and pushed Ethan away. Ethan stumbled back a few steps. A fist headed straight towards the man's jaw, but Matteo was quick. "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" His left hand reached out and grasped her wrist and applied pressure onto her nerve. She grunted and tried to pull her wrist away, but his fingers jabbed the front of her throat without warning.

Andrea fell onto her back and held her throat in pain. A gunshot rang throughout the brothel and Matteo glanced up. Ethan tried to separate Andrea from Matteo once more as she went for another round and a couple of bodyguards on duty spoke into their ear pieces about the gunshot. Customers and employees began to evacuate so security personnel could figure out the source of the gunshot.


TAGS @Custodiet Teh MENTIONS @Red crow
 
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It wasn't hard to miss the brightly dressed man and the guard following close behind. And when Connor was two steps away, he reached for his trench time. A good right was usually enough to drop people. But breaking someone's jaw made them think twice about stepping up to the challenge. And it looked like he was about to have a fight on his hands, especially when a loud boom and a flash of blinding light blinded him.

Before he was even able to see again, he felt like he was choking on something, and his eyes were watering. 'What the hell?' he thought, coughing up a lung and tears streaming down his face. When the ringing in his ears started to subside, he heard a soft popping. Gunshots, that was the only explenation for it. And so, with his free hand, he reaches for his pistol in a hopeless attempt to return fire. Before he could even get his hand on the grip, a round ripped into his shoulder and knocked him off his feet.

He laid there, bleeding, nearly deaf, practically blind, and a couple tears still making their way down his face. The only signs of life was his chest moving up and down and the weak coughs that wracked his body as he sat in the cloud of gas. Even though he was almost on death's door, he could only think of one thing. 'Ethan isn't going to be happy.'

With some effort, he crawled to one side of the road and propped himself up against a wall. Or was it a pole? Hell, it could be someone's leg for all he cared. If he thought he heard someone coming up to him, he'd point his pistol in their general direction and pretend like he knew where they were. In the meantime, he gently probed the wound. Through gritted teeth he discovered that the bullet had gone cleanly through. Good, that made things a lot easier. Shakily getting to his feet and wiping his eyes, he begins to make his way back to The Veil.

The doorman gave him a questioning look, but saw the condition he was in and let him through. When he entered, he found the place full of anxious energy. Apparently there had been a number of small scuffles in his short time gone. Not like there was anything he could do about it. For one, he had been gone. And now he had an extra hole in him. One of the girls hurried over to him as he dropped in a chair. By now, he could see shapes and knew that this was neither Ana or Ethan. "Go get Ethan. And the first aide kit." he told her as he grabbed a napkin and wiped his face before blowing his nose.
 
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Jael "NohTouch" Nowicki

136173-e055ed5c3cd42c536c2a530d8a5c4ee9.jpg


The side door parted easily enough and Jael slipped confidently into the back alley of the Veil. The door clicked behind her and for the first time that night, Jael felt a little at peace. A possible job, money in her pocket, and no awkward confrontation with Afanasiia. All good things, she'd made the right choice coming here tonight. Feeling a little warmer, she starts walking out of the alley, spring in her step when a few things happened at once.

Her little companion-phone chimed, Jael stopping to look down at the small holofont readout. Your friend was just blitzed, you need to move ASAP. The message instantly cooled her good feeling and without bothering to respond she started to run. Not a hundred percent certain where she was running to, just running to get away. Her pace didn't last long as suddenly she tripped and felt someone grab her by the back of her arm and attempt to haul her up. It wasn't a nice thing but it was handy that Jael was a bit heavier than she appeared and it threw people off all the time. Chunks of her body were slowly merging with metal, it only made sense that she'd end up becoming dramatically more dense. The hands re positioned and spun her around.

Afanasiia...


“God, what a wreck you are.”

"Aff...aff..I was just leav-"

“You’re not leaving until we’ve had a chat. I know why you came back and you're stupid to think that you’ll get your former job back so easily.”

Jael braced herself, becoming difficult to manhandle while Afanasiia roughed her up. Jael struggled to get words into the conversation. “You had so much potential and what did you do? You ran away with your tail between your legs,” she hissed. “What the hell did you do to yourself, Jael? You look like shit and you've wired yourself for whatever ungodly reason you had.”

"It's..not my fault..I..I swear Afan-"

“You are absolutely pathetic, you know?” Afanasiia let go of her and pulled back. Before Jael could even counter back, her old boss started leaving the alley. “I’m done here.”

Jael sunk to her knees, eyes focused at the ground as she tried to compose herself and come to terms with what she'd just heard. Afanasiia spoke with such venom and anger and Jael doubted how right she knew she was. Jael's stomach lurched as she fell to her hands, spitting up more black gunk. Wiping her face she falls back onto her ass, pulling her legs in close and wrapping her arms around them as she started to cry.

What had she done to herself? She should have come right back after getting her diagnosis and explained to Afanasiia but instead she'd run and hidden. Run like she ran away from home, from her past, from her current situation, she was always running away because it was easier. If she was going to endure this whole thing with any grace at all she should at least start making attempts to fix the problem instead of escaping. Jael half crawls/half slides herself until her back is against the wall of the Veil and wipes her face off before opening up the message she'd received.

If it was time to start facing things, this would be the first thing she'd figure out. "Who is this" she writes back unceremoniously.


@Kit Kat @The Legate
 
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Jack watched Jael from the street security cams as she attempted to escape The Veil only to trip and fall. Someone approached her, and for a second Jack thought he had acted too late, that they had already found her and was planning to finish the same job they pulled over the other fella. When the women, Jack recognized her as the owner of The Veil, began to chastise and harass the woman Jack couldn't tell if that was a good sign or a bad one. Jack couldn't help but be angry at the manager. Remember; Jack didn't have audio. The woman had tried to leave and the manager was now outside in the alley, trying to manhandle her. He couldn't hear the conversation, or what they had said to each other, but to Jack it looked like the manager was angry that his newfound friend was leaving, and was now trying to bully her back into the Veil, probably to turn more tricks.

It left a bad taste in his mouth. The woman looked clearly sick, and after some commands he got a good read on her augments. They weren't fantastic grade stuff. If he had to guess it looked like she had gotten them at some D-rate body shop. They were failing, some were so inefficiently organized and cluttered that it looked like a 6-year-old had programmed the works. That or maybe there was something seriously wrong with her body, enough that in any other instance she'd be dead, and even the augments were struggling to keep her alive.

Not a good way to live, at all. He was tempted to try and fix it himself, see if he could at least optimize the software, but it was so badly organized and jumbled that Jack didn't know which wires to cut and what programs depended on what. Jack realized though that this was an opportunity. The rat was out of her hole, and Jack could get to work at applying the poison.

Code:
>dc
dissconnected
>connect 187.99.172.144
connecting.....
welcome Admin
>cd D:/electrical_cell;184 wst/terminal/admn_cmd
>boot
 __      __   _                      _      _       _     
 \ \    / /__| |__ ___ _ __  ___    /_\  __| |_ __ (_)_ _ 
  \ \/\/ / -_) / _/ _ \ '  \/ -_)  / _ \/ _` | '  \| | ' \
   \_/\_/\___|_\__\___/_|_|_\___| /_/ \_\__,_|_|_|_|_|_||_|
                                                         
Employee: jack_rabbit
Please select a service!
>Files
>Circuit manager
>Manual
>Breaker
>Energy meter display
>Misc
>Log

Okay... That was a start. He was pretty sure the electrical company was going to be pissed about this but since when did that ever stop him? Now that he was in he took the opportunity to check in with the girl again. His avatar physically walking back to the security camera node to check again. She was still in the alley, the manager had left. She was curled up in a ball which made him grit his teeth. She had to move, like he had said. Now was not the time to reflect on a life badly led.

She messaged him back; "Who are you?" Who was Jack anyway? Was he more machine then man at this point? Maybe not physically, but in terms of his abilities and power, he kind of was. It probably wasn't the answer she was looking for either way. A friend, you look like you need one at the moment. He wanted to take a moment to let her know that he was nearby, even if he wasn't anywhere close physically, but he couldn't afford to. He needed to jump on this Veil opportunity before someone decided to take a peek at the logs and notice the network proxy was smashed, the ports were forced open and there was a unknown user currently standing there in their electrical control. He was already going to be attracting even more attention in a second anyway.

He went back into the command lines for the Veil's electrical power.

Code:
>selection circuit_manager
>create_new_circuit
>mv circuit_jack
renamed
>circuit_jack on breaker 1-32
>connect circuit_jack grid
circuit connected to grid
>route 97.122.208.176,29.42.117.42,227.118.7.220,185.150.23.110.
>run shell.exe
> S H E L L I N G

What Jack was essentially doing was running the entire block's electricity all through the Veil's system. Within seconds, the small one utility circuit Jack had created heated and began to spark along the second floor. The breakers would have, normally, immediately shut off the Veil's power but he kept the breaker manually open for his circuit.

He only figured then that his friend might wanna know the Veil was setting on fire.

Somebody call 911, Shawty fire burning on the dance floor... was the message she received some time later after the gunfire Jack wasn't paying attention to, because he couldn't hear it. The message was shortly followed: And by dance floor I mean second floor, and by fire I mean fire.
 
The young woman Connor had talked to anxiously went to get Ethan. The boss was separating a pair of individuals; one looked to be a little tipsy and aggressive, the other calm. A guard came and got the tipsy woman out of the way. She rushed to find Ethan when a scream startled her. The sockets on the opposite wall had exploded and caught on fire.

“Theresa! Get yourself and the girls out of here! Where’s Ana?!”

“She’s in my room!”

“Where the gunshot happened? Shit.”

Ethan turned to go after Ana before Theresa stopped him again.

“Wait! What about Connor?! He’s back and he’s hurt!”

“What?! I don’t have time for that! Get him the first aid kit, we’re getting out of here before we all burn to hell, understand?! Now go!”

Theresa scurried into the back to try and get the first aid kit but fire and smoke distorted her vision. She assumed that all of the sockets caught on fire and risked the trip. “Dammit,” she coughed. She teared up as smoke filled her lungs. “Where is it…”

Just as she reached up to open the wooden cabinet and grab the kit, fires creeped like a snake near a bottle of alcohol in Ethan’s office and exploded.


The heat of her wound seared on the left side of her abdomen. “Fuck. What the hell did you do to piss him off so bad that he had to fucking shoot me?” she winced and tried to stand up straight.

“It’s none of your business. Where’s Ethan?”

“I don’t know where Ethan is, idiot. Fucking help me.”

She sniffed and her heart dropped in the pit of her stomach. “Wait. Something’s burning. What’s-”

Another explosion of debris and embers shattered her vision. Ana was knocked off her feet and onto the ground. Ear piercing screams rang in her ears, something large and bulky scooped her up and ran towards the nearest exit; the main entrance on the side of the building. Some people were jumping out of windows from the second floor.

There was no way out, not while this many people needed to evacuate.

"Connor, man! Where are you?!"

The smoke was blinding Ethan.

They needed a plan, and they needed it fast.



TAGS @Beowulf
 
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