2020-10-09: Web of Horrors: Chapter 2A: Fire Sale at Maxar Technologies
| Fire Sale at Maxar Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Mister Ji physically assults the Maxar Technologies factory accompanied by Vic in the Digital Web doing overwatch | |
| IC Date | October 9th and 10th, 2020 |
| IC Time | early morning and pre-dawn of the next day |
| Players | Mister Ji, Vic Rasmussen and Vivian Starr (ST) |
| Location | Chinatown in the morning of the 9th and |
| Prp/Tp | Web of Horrors |
| Spheres | Mage |
| Theme Song | Music Track from the Matrix Lobby Scene |
Mister Ji had texted Vic, asking for a Meet-up. It's a Pancake Stand in Chinatown, where he's sitting at a stool, in his salary-man suit.
Vic, having been up late the night before, was just waking up when the text arrived. As she had been contemplating what to do for breakfast she smiled to herself and replied back stating, "You're buying" and gets dressed in her army overshirt, binary people shirt and jeans.
Vic takes a bus from New Hope to Chinatown and finds the described pancake stand easily. Greeting Ji in poorly accented Chinese, she says, "Nǐ hǎo," and then adds, "I'm working on learning so don't press me too hard on the language," to the Shin.
Mister Ji swivels on his stool with a grin, showing teeth with some pancake stuck in em. Something green. He shrugs and gestures to the seat next to him, and then, in rapid-fire Cantonese, yells at the Stall-Guy for another setup. ANd of course, the little Chinese man behind the counter screams back.
A shouting match ensues, and when the drama is done... there's a plate, some chopsticks, a cup of tea, and a pancake cooking on the little stove. The two men bow, and then the old guy moves away to help another person. And, the same scenario plays out - yelling customer, yelling cook, food delivered!
Vic orders a fairly straight forward pancake breakfast accompanied by a serving of four jumbo shrimp and a Chiu Chow broth to pour over the shrimp and savory pancakes. "Thanks for inviting me out for breakfast, Mister Ji," she says assuming the acceptance of her text.
The old man behind the counter gives her a blank look when she orders. Even if her Chinese was perfect. He rolls his eyes, cursed as Mister Ji... then finishes cooking whatever he -already- had on his little stove. THAT is what she gets on her plate - the House Special. In Cantonese, he barks out something that roughly translates to "No fancy gourmet dung here, white lady!"
Mister Ji doesnt even react to it, sipping his tea and then reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulls out a very slim, very sexy little VR Headset. It's not even state-of-the-art... it's just plain art. He sets it on the counter between them. "Nobody will listen in on us, so we may speak freely."
Vic stares cluelessly at the old man and shakes her head having understood 'no' and 'lady' (as 'woman' but...). She had ordered in English and was selecting something off the menu she /thought/ but accepts what she's served. She glances at the headset and says, "Doesn't look as impressive as you'd described. Must have more 'under the hood' so to speak than it shows?"
There's actually no menu. Whenever Mr. Ji invited her, it's for locals. You get what they give you! Ni Hao!%r%r"I have not looked 'under the hood' as you say. Not yet. That's not really my specialty, but we probably should before the next step. I would like your help in visiting the factory, visiting these damaged 'Sectors', or possibly the home of the man likely to be responsible for what was a nuisance, but is becoming a Danger." says Mister Ji.%r%rThe pancake arrives, with some little condiments in little bowls.
"Which sector are you considering visiting?" Vic asks, implying she has some information related to this subject. "I could do any of these things with you," she adds before picking up her chopsticks and working with them somewhat clumsily.
Mister Ji shrugs, "I only know there -are- damaged ones. And before they spread, I would like to see if I can tell -what- the problem may be." He pauses, "What have you learned?"
"Five sectors. First has been quarantined apparently and the third... its a trap, you have to let your icon die to re-rezz at your home point apparently," Vic explains. "I found out that some of my friends are investigating also, they're my source." She then drops a bite of breakfast back into the bowl by accident and, while working to recapture it with her chopsticks, says, "They know I'm working with someone but I didn't tell them about you directly," to aswage any possible concerns.
Mister Ji nods, "Appreciate that, but the secrecy is not necessary. I am familiar enough with the hacking community that mysteries are intriguing, and solving them are an addiction. They will find out about me eventually." He pauses, "This may require a Team Up. While I'm used to working alone, it's not always the most efficient way to handle a case."
"Alright," Vic replies after successfully getting the evasive bite eaten, "I just didn't feel right with the level of discretion you used to approach me to just give out your information without discussing it with you first." She then asks, "What did you want to do as our joint investigation today, Ji?"
Mister Ji finishes his pancake, sliding the bowl aside, and moving the VR Headset over to sit between them. "Probably, Evidence first. The Victims are lost, so that is not a path to take." He pauses, "Then, either Factory or Residence. Factory will probably require security systems, infiltration, and possibly an encounter with Guards or some kind of Robot Warriors." He grins, "All of which can be fun."
"Visiting the Residence could result in an interrogation, or possibly a Boss Fight. ALso fun."
"Stealth mission or interrogation," Vic says weighing them and then adds, "I'd like to check out this device and then decide, but I'm leaning towards the factory between the two."
Mister Ji nods. Or bows. Or a mix of both.
"If you would prefer to run Overwatch, I can go in by myself. I have pretty thorough details on the facility, including it's last permitted construction blueprints and power grid. I expect they have excellent network security, but I'm sure you can bypass it."
Vic grins and says, "And now you're talking my language." She finishes her breakfast, smiling at and giving a respectful bow to the old man running the booth. "Do you have a secure location for me to connect from or so I need to find my own place?"
Mister Ji shakes his head. "I do not. I expected you had your own little Secret Lair or Command Center. Some kind of gaming room or something." He laughs. "As I said, I usually work alone."
Vic nods. "Let me get to the express, give me half an hour to get there and I'll be fully set up in less than an hour," she says. "That work for you? What's the place's physical address by the way as that'll help me find its virtual presence also."
Mister Ji gives the address. "If it's alright with you, we should go much later in the evening. The West is conditioned that the shifts of operation work within specific schedules. The most effective time to infiltrate a factory, with posted security, is between 3 and 5 am." He grins, "It's when the Chi flows the slowest, and is much easier to manipulate."
Vic nods and says, "3am. That works for me then." She departs and during the day she works in some time to Hypercram. Late at night she takes the Express 666 to the Nexus and sets up, entering the Digital Web and does a brief scouting run around the factory's network to see what its like, as well as checking the status of the PPD.
SCENE CHANGE: Vic changed her Hypercram during the day to Police Procedures. From this point forward its now after midnight on the 10th of October.
At 2AM, Mister Ji arrives in a panel van. It drops him off down the road, and then moves to some position that the Driver has found on a map. If Vic is 'watching', she'll see a chubby Asian guy behind the wheel, wearing a Hong Kong Punk Rock tshirt and thick glasses. Once he's found a good spot, he repositions the van and parks. Yes, Mister Ji has 'the guy in the van' doing physical surveillance (no magic!)
Ji has changed clothes and slipped into the darkness. He taps his little throat mic, which... as part of the Rote he set up... puts him in contact with Vic. "How you doing, V?"
an3ris, using a voice that sounds like Vic's but has slightly richer harmonics, says, "I am fine. I'm at the threshold of the factory's network, about to go in. Also keeping an ear out for PPD alerts."
Mister Ji keys his Mic. "Copy that. Approaching on foot. I'm uploading the facility blueprints to you. Stand by."
The "factory" of Maxar Technologies is located in a repurposed warehouse near the dock, the whole area giving off a tired, unhappy vibe like a grumpy retiree who is bitter about wasting their life. There is very little traffic, foot or otherwise, around the area and the occasional homeless person can be seen snoozing in the fetid gutters. The whole place smells of rotting trash and burnt diesel oil.
The Maxar factory building, at least from the outside, looks rather old and dingy and thus matches the aesthetic of the area. A two-story design, large windows on the upper floor theoretically let in light, but they are very dirty and greasy, leaving no way to peer inside even if one could get up to them. A sawtooth ceiling has more windows on the angles of the roof, undoubtedly to provide even more cheap illumination during the daytime, but the condition of those doesn't look any better. Two large loading dock doors (currently closed) are to one side in an elevated position while a more human-sized door is a bit further down the building with a set of stairs of cracked concrete leading to it.
Mister Ji keys his Mic. "Copy that. Approaching on foot. I'm uploading the facility blueprints to you. Stand by."
Mister Ji sends the prints he acquired earlier. "Got a side door on visual. Can you check what kind of security is in place? Cameras. Motion Detectors."
In the Dweb, an3ris slips though the network security and works to find her way to the security subroutines. "I'm on it and checking, give me a moment," her voice says. During the time that is said she should have been able to find out the scurity systems, check their records and set up to have loops of clean recordings to cover the infiltration. She's also prepared to static out the live feed to keep guards from seeing anything undesired.
Mister Ji adds, "Be careful with how wide you sweep... There's a high probability they have an Awakened Operator on company payroll, so probably somebody here is Sensitive."
Getting into the Network of the Maxar Technologies factory was fairly easy. The problem is the -layout-. It's a hodge-podge of different folders and addresses, leaving the whole thing a chaotic mess. Whoever is managing the Network is either an incompetent wacko or an evil genius. Regardless, an3ris eventually finds the area where the security video is kept and is able to quickly disable them and make it so that no one will be any the wiser. Like in the hospital, she is a ghost. There are alarms for various things -- fire and break-in, especially -- but those could be disabled as well.
Mister Ji waits in view of the side door, one quick cat-footed approach from the shadows.
an3ris suppresses the alarm sensor on the door as well as looping the video as safe, clean video. "The door will let you in," she says though the communicator. "This place is a mess so I'm trying to check on the guards' locations for you as well but I think you're safe for the moment." As safe as safe can be breaking into a factory making literal murder machines.
Mister Ji moves, on foot, like a Chinese ninja. His Arcane is up, adding to his stealth, and he makes his way to the little steps. Hugging the wall, he leans against the door, placing one hand against it... and focusing his breathing.
<Corr 2 / Mind 2 - Searching in the vicinity for a mental presence. Not far... just the room on the other side of the door. He's worried about scanning -too- far, and triggering an Awareness>
Mister Ji whispers into the 'magic' microphone.
"I got Bad Guys nearby. Can you pinpoint?", says Mr. J
"Sleeping bodies," an3ris says, "Looks like they're having nightmares. Not sleeping well either. Be careful, I'm not sure what's going on but it doesn't look good."
Mister Ji mutters into the link, "Bet they're connected to VR units." And he tries the door, gloved hand opening.
The door opens easily; it was apparently an electronic lock.
The interior is a maze of sectioned off areas of what was once an open warehouse floor. The majority of the sections are those cheap particle-board ready-made snap together walls that cubicle farms are made of, but here the areas they make seem larger and more focused; there are long tables with various electrical and plastic components strewn about in various stages of assembly. The major obvious exception is an area off the side which is smooth concrete, newly made, with a steel door that looks like it belongs more in a submarine movie than a factory. The label on the door reads in big red letters 'Microchip Fab' and there is a selection of white full-body clean-suits hanging on hooks nearby.
There is a large area further on in the building which is cut off from the rest with those cheap cubicle partitions. A rusting metal staircase leads up to a second floor landing which in turn has a grungy door on the adjourning wall with the words 'OFFICE' painted on the front in block letters on the frosted glass window. There is light coming from the window.
Mister Ji crouches a bit as he enters, keying the magic mic. "Inside. You got me on visual?" He whispers, then hugs the wall. He takes note of the surroundings, keeping his breathing tight and his awareness focused. He's assessing the Feng Shui and he is NOT impressed.
"10-4, got my peepers on you," an3ris replies. "Also the sleepers are on the ground among their cubicles. There's a cleanroom where they manufacture the microchips and other shop-like areas with less obsessive cleanliness requirements. Looks like someone's awake in the office, or at least the lights are on in there. I'm going to see if I can check the terminal there but I'm bringing the surveillance with me."
an3ris, having slipped into the terminal in the office, watches code being written and starts to sift though the system looking for backups of the toxic VR code to copy to her system.
Though Mr Ji's rote an3ris's voice softly says, "Got a non-sleeping Sleeper... maybe... in the office. Big guy. Not a Schwarzenegger, more like Sugar Ray Leonard than Mister Universe."
While an3ris is examining the office terminal a duplicate icon steps out of herself and moves away to another part of the network. Neither of them comment on it, they're literally of the same Mind after all. an3ris2 heads off to the order processing system while an3ris Prime remains behind. In the processing system she begins to manipulate the order system, trying to create an order to deliver a full retail package (likely half a dozen units in one big box) to the New Hope gym. The order is paid for and, after the label is printed, the record of the address is 'corrupted' on the network so there is no way to recreate the information that was used to ship the box.
There is no way to 'order' products with the system, exactly. There simply is no actual shopping presence on the Network. This company doesn't produce anything for sale. However... there -is- a segment that deals with shipping out units that have been 'won' via an online give-away. With a few manipulations in the Digital Web representation of this chaotic network, an3ris manages to figure out how to get a few units shipped to new 'contest winners' and scramble the addresses in the database.
an3ris re-adjusting her plans to the reality of the way the system works she designates four winners: Rufus (delivered to his desert home within 24 hours), Hector (delivered to Prospect Roster's basement as a c/o recipient), Evie (delivered to New Hope gym with Victoria Scirocco Johnsen - Vic's new false identity - as the c/o name) and Vic herself (delivered to Astra's apartment with her listed as a c/o name)... all addresses and names corrupted beyond recovery after the labels are printed and in queue for being shipped out via an express courier.
Mr. J keys the magic mic, "The Office man is the only one physically active?" He asks as he moves toward the stairs, quiet as a mouse.
an3ris's voice comes though the mic twice, one slightly behind the other, causing a sense of a slight echo as both of her say, "You've got that right," and then an3ris2's voice stops causing the echo effect to stop as well while an3ris Prime says, "And he's even Semi-Awake also," some how making the capitalization annunciate clearly enough to know she's not talking about not the guy being drowsy.
"Alright. Let's synch this up. Maybe -one- of you can kill the power a split second before I go thru the door? I think he and I need to have a conversation." He whispers as he moves up the stairs. "If he's a technomage, it'll shut down his system."
an3ris2, having finished her task in the fulfillment system, says, "I'm on it," as she dashes off to the power routing subsystem of the factory with the intent of curring off power in the office once she's given the go ahead.
Meanwhile, in the office, an3ris Prime scans the local D-Web and finds another system to jump to and, after seeing the techno-wizard guy has a smart watch, de-rezzes momentarially from the terminal and re-rezzes in the smart watch. "This guy is just a bit too exited about what he's doing," she says commenting on the biometric data she immediately has access to via the device.
Mister Ji draws his weapon, cycles a specific round into the chamber, and pauses to screw on a silencer. He is giving an3ris1/2 time to get situated, as he focuses his will and his attention.
When Ji gives the signal an3ris cuts the power to the room plunging the programmer into total darkness as the terminal shuts down with a soft electronic whine that all computer lovers know to dread.
At the same time, in an attempt to either increase the target's distraction (or at the very least, agitation), an3ris Prime triggers the default timer/alarm sound on the smart watch displaying the text "Don't forget" as the alarm's reminder text. ("Everyone has to have help remembering, who cares what, just make him look at the watch as Ji enters the room" is the thought an3ris has.)
Mr. J is certainly no expert in EVERYTHING like so many of the 'Legacy' personalities in Prospect, but there's a handful of things he's very, very good at it. Breaching secure locations and catching Bad Guys (tm) with the tried and true methods are one of those things.
Timed PERFECTLY with the choreographed power outage, the Asian in the black body suit bursts thru the door, his silenced gun up and aimed, and releasing the most silent of silenced shots to ever aim for a hacker in a dark warehouse office.
CRASH, FWAP, ZZZZZAP!
In the sudden darkness, the flash of the silenced pistol brightens the room. Mister Ji moves -fast-, hitting the target with a Taser round before moving UP IN HIS face and kicking the guy backward and out of his chair. He doesnt say a word - no witty one-liners today!
an3ris2, having little else to do where she's sitting in the power management system, send an email to all the 'prize winners' alerting them that the tech they are receiving is tainted and thus not to be used without serious precautions for personal safety.
Meanwhile, in the smart watch, an3ris Prime searches for any email history that links this guy to anyone that he's differential and/or obedient thus reflecting an authority structure which might lead to another tier of investigation.
As soon as the power goes out, the beefcake man inside looks up muttering, his watch beeping away insistently, "What the fu--" but before he can complete the sentence, Ji is inside and shooting him with the electrical gun. So surprised is he that he doesn't even get the chance to dodge, even if he -could- see the Asian man pointing the weapon at him. The electrical discharge causes the man to scream and arc back, tipping back in his chair. But he's not -completely- out. Wavering, he begins to scramble to his feet in the dark... only to be slammed in the face by Mister Ji and goes toppling down onto the floor. He's not unconscious, but definitely beaten up, bewildered and panicked.
Mister Ji's gun, with the extended barrel of the silencer, finds it's way against the man's temple. Though it's dark, the Asian man has moved fast, and thanks to his enhanced senses... spatial relations are no big thang. He'll kneel down, on the beefy dude's chest, looming over him. "Not a move. Not a sound. At this range... I wont miss."
< Intimidation roll, as round 3 of my Time 3 effect >
Mister Ji says, “No make move. No make noise. A dis range, no can miss!"”
In the darkness of the office, Mister Ji ducks to one side as the Big Man lashes out. With even a slight disruption to his movement, he holsters his weapon and twists around, narrowing his already slanted eyes to keep his opponent in view. There's a ripple of Chi in the air as he analyzes the man's movements.
Charles Reading, Chief Operations Manager of Maxar Technologies pauses only briefly when Mister Ji makes his declaration before throwing a punch at the man above him. Unfortunately, he is not the best and considering his injuries and awkward position, completely and totally whiffs in his attempt to punch the asian man. It's pathetic, really. "Get the fuck off me!" he screams as the PA system, rather bizarrely begins to belt out an ominous tune.
Inside the watch, an3ris Prime starts running everything. The watch has a timer going, starts playing music, starts sending random emails to all of his contacts (with their name as the subject and body of the messages as well as other random draws on power.
Elsewhere on the factory's network, an3ris2 finds the PA system and, making sure it is piped only into the office, she says, "Dun dun dunnnn," in an over the top, overly melodramatic way just for the fun of it.
Both an3ri privately laugh at this making sure that it doesn't go though the watch's speaker/the PA system respectively.
an3ris2 queues up the Matrix Lobby Fight scene music and starts playing it though the PA in the office.
From the watch's speakers, which stops playing music for a moment, an3ris Prime says, "Does Armitage know about the drug trafficking or will he be as surprised by the email you're sending to the PPD as they will be?" at maximum (still somewhat tinny) volume. She is /not/ sending such an email at this time. Instead she finds and syncs the same music so that the watch becomes a small back up speaker for the PA. And the over use continues to warm up the watch's back plate against his arm... he may even notice the slight change by now.
There's no much to it. The room is dark, the noises are loud, and Mister Ji doesnt fuck around. As the beefy man draws back for another punch, the Asian spins around with a dynamic kick, and a curse in his accented English. "Dis is for Edna Stein!"
The poor guy, assaulted as he is in the dark, both mentally an physically. The strange statement from his watch causes Charles to pause in his attack just briefly enough to look at it in surprise that he has no attempt to defend against Master Ji's martial-arts movements. Charles Reading grunts as his head snaps back from the kick, slamming the back of it against the floor with an unhealthy crack. He lies there, seemingly lifeless in the dark except for the tale-tale rise and fall of his chest. He's alive, but will definitely have a huge headache when he comes to.
Without even a pause in his breathing, or to brush off his shoulders and congratulate himself, Mister Ji squats down, rolls Reading over and zip ties his hands behind his back. The Watch though... that gives him pause. WIth a chuckle and a thumbs up to the overhead cameras (or whatever she sees thru), the Asian slips the watch off the man's bound wrists and tosses it onto the desk.
He'll then turn his Suspect around and against the wall.
He'll then reposition the desk chair and sit in it. To wait.
"Excellent work, an3ris. You are a Distraction Master."
The an3ri both say, "Thank you and you're welcome," from the watch and the PA system. Then, from the watch, an3ris Prime asks, "I've got emails here about illegal drug trafficking, do you want me to forward them to the police before we depart?"
Mister Ji says, “I don't know yet." He pauses, "I want to find out -why- they are stealing the Chi... life force from the victims. This man may not be behind -that-, but he will know who is."”
Minutes pass before the now-bound Charles finally begins to stir, groggily raising his head and peering in the dark at the shadow that is before him. "Wuh... what's going on?" he asks blearily as he begins to struggle with his bounds, shifting his weight, "H-hey! Man, this isn't funny! Let me go! If you're here to rob the place we don't got nuthin worth stealing!"
"Do I rlook- rike a common thief, Mistah Reading?" Asks Mister Ji, giving his accent a little more meat. And this is what he was waiting for. He removes his pistol from his holster again, and makes a performance of re-attaching the silencer. "I know you have questions, and I will answer them. But first, I need you to listen.". He pauses. "We all have turning points in our lives, Mister Reading. Most of the time, we cannot see them... until they are in the rear view mirror."
"But, I am here to tell you that -this- is one of those moments. You... you just have to pick the correct path."
The an3ri both voice, though their respective speakers, "You know, rather than the path that could easily put you in the company of Göring, Bormann and their twelve compatriots who actually got their necks lengthened for Nurenberg," in perfect harmony.
Charles' eyes flicker from the glint of the gun to Ji and back, his attempts to struggle out of the zip ties ceasing. He licks his dry lips and speaks. "You... you're not a cop," it's a statement, not a question, "What... what do you want, exactly?" He starts when he hears the voice coming from his own watch and the PA system, looking between them. An expression of understanding seems to light in his eyes, "Look, man, if this is about the drugs, I paid for them fair and square. If you have a beef with the boys selling them, that's not my fault! If you're, like, one of the Tong or whatever muscling in on their territory, then I can deal with you. It's fine, I don't care who I buy from."
From the PA, an3ris2 snickers and says, "You wish."
Mister Ji smiles, "I want to know about the VR Headsets and what the plan is with them." He adjusts his posture, his gun (with the extended barrel) kind of idly aiming in Reading's direction. "I dont care about the drugs or the trafficking. Either one of them will kill you without us having to lift a finger."
Mirroring what her other-self did a few moments earlier, an3ris Prime goes, "Dun dun dunnn," from the watch and then says, "We've got copies of the code, copies of your emails and," as if on queue, because its easier to coordinate with oneself than your magically linked ally, the power in the room comes back on and the computer ont he desk begins to boot up, "You won't much longer unless you actually backed up, as we'll be deep formatting your drive soon."
Charles' eyes flicker again to the PA then back to Ji and the gun. An expression of honest confusion spreads over his features and the perpetual frown on his face deepens. "The VR glasses? Huh? You mean this is some kind of industrial espionage thing?" he asks before shrugging, "Y-yeah, fine, okay. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, bud. What is it you're after?" He starts as the room is suddenly filled with light as the power comes back on, hissing in pain and wincing against the light. "Ah! Fuck! Dammit..." Blearily, he blinks his eyes and then jerks his head to focus on an3ris' voice. "Wait, what?" he asks in alarm, "Woah! Hey now, no need for that! I'll tell you anything you wanna know, don't go erasing shit!"
WIth his non-gun hand, Mister Ji removes, from his other pocket, the Headset. "What is their purpose?" And as he asks the question, he's staring across the room at the man. Watching his breathing, feeling the Chi.
< Mind 2 : Suggestion, making his more likely to cooperate, supporting an Intimidation roll>
an3ris Prime monitors the biometrics from the watch but says nothing.
At the same time, an3ris2 travels across the network to the newly rebooted system and presents her icon on the screen, showing her 'face' so to speak. From there, but with her voice coming over the PA still, she says, "We don't like you pissing in our pool, Mr. Reading, so please do talk."
an3ris also activates the same rote (Suggestion) with this pose.
- an3ris' Digital Web Icon:
- Before you appears an icon in the form of a metaphorical Amazon. She gives the sense of extraordinary height, easily over six and a quarter feet if this was the real world, and possessing an extremely well proportioned and fit female form. Calling her statuesque, while it could seem to be a cliche, is made all the more appropriate by her skin having the color and texture of pristine white stone as if she was a sculpture brought to life. Her eyes, when not closed with their alabaster lids, are the inky depths of deep space with twin spiral galaxies located where the iris and pupils of human eyes would be. Long locks of hair flow down past her hips, looking as if they would be sat upon were they not moving with otherwise unfelt air currents; the hair, which seems as if would be dark normally, glows with green flickering light as sequences of 1s and 0s stream outward from the hair's central point at the crown of her head.
- There is no obvious metadata present on or about the icon with the exception of these two automatic query responses:
- Name: > an3ris
- Icon Name: > Galatea GalaxSee
- (OOC: Appearance 5, Intimidation 3)
"Their purpose?" Charles asks in confusion, "You've never seen VR goggles before, man?" His eyes flicker to the gun and his irises dilate to pinpricks, his chest beginning to heave in panic. "L-look," he says, flattening himself further against the wall, "T-they're glasses that let you see a whole other world, man. That's it! All I did write the code for it. It's got, like, sensors in it that tap into the brain. Like an EKG or something, yeah? Only it doesn't just sense info, it can -send- it too. End result is a much better Virtual experience. I'm not a hardware guy; I think it uses high capacity electromagnets to do it. I was just hired to write some code for the VR glasses, man!" He hesitates, then adds, "It, ah, also kinda reads your deepest desires. I don't know how it does that, exactly, but I got the interfaces and wrote the code to execute it."
Mister JI frowns, "Who hired you for the job, and provided the equipment? You certainly didnt pay for this and the R&D from your drug money."
Mister Ji doesn't really speak Tech-Talk, but he knows shady business. He came in here thinking Reading was their man, but nope... there's always a little man behind the curtain.
"Hypertech," the an3ri say in unison. "This should be causing someone to become Doxed, Jay," she adds, referring to Ji by initial rather than name, hoping to add some additional mystique to the situation and obsfuscate the man's identity even though he gave out his real name to this low life.
Charles stares at Ji for a long moment before letting out a bark of laughter. "Oh, you think the drugs are for -me-?" he asks, laughing again, "Hell, no, man, that's part of my job here too! That's paid for by the company. We use them to keep the production staff in line. Part of my job as Chief Operations Manager is to keep those bums downstairs plied with lots of drugs, whores, and fast food. It's all they care about, really." He shrugs, "They're good at following instructions but only when they're drugged up, fed, and had their balls emptied." He swallows, again eyeing the gun, "I was hired by the secretary of the company. Sweet gig for a newly paroled con, especially one known for bilking tech, y'know? I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. They pay shit, but I can keep whatever budget I manage not to spend on other things."
"Sound economic policy." Says Ji, with a nod. Almost sounds like respect. "You should run for a government position. Maybe you can even become President." But he sighs.
"I want the name of the Secretary who hired you. And Armitage... I want to know where to find him."
Charles gives Ji an odd look. "Uh, thanks?" he says in an unsure voice before the second question is asked. "Uhm. Betty Grace. Or 'Beatrice'." A lopsided smile spreads over his features, "I just call her 'Amazing'. Amazing Grace, get it?" He clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably in place, hesitating. "I... don't know where to find Armitage. Fuck, I only spoke to him -once-, on a speaker phone right when I was first hired. All other communication has been through emails. He's... secretive. All the financial stuff is handled face-to-face with Amazing Grace."
an3ris Prime says, "We have his email address. Maybe we should have Chuckie here beg his boss for a visit?" from the watch.
an3ris2 nods on the computer screen and then says, "Either Armitage shows up to find out what this moron is doing finally or I get to track the email to his location and we can visit him personally."
Then both of the an3ri ask, "Can we go ahead and send the contents of this guy's work records to the PPD now, Jay?"
A long pauses before Mister Ji answers either voice. Any voice (there are three here!). And, he's speaking in Mandarin, but with short phrases so the newly fluent hacker catches it easily enough. "Your choice on his fate. Take his career or Take his life?" He pauses, and this time it's in English. "I can also ensure he forgets we were here."
The an3ri, speaking in unison again, say, "He's a small fish, not worthy of blooding your hands over I don't think, Jay," in English. They finish by saying, "I'll compile the data, encrypt the drive and shoot off the information to the PPD along with the encryption key so they can recover the contents cleanly. You make him forget, I'll erase the record of your presence here on the system and we let his career death spiral. He'll live to learn not to mess with powers beyond his ken."
Mister Ji nods, not moving from his chair. The gun stays trained on the man. "You do not want to be watching while I take care of it. Let me know when you disconnect from this room." He pauses, "The rest of the Warehouse? After you handle his account here, please... wreck their systems."
Panic again begins to assail the bound man as his eyes dart back and forth as he hears the conversation. "W-wait, wait! What are you going to do?!" he screams, "I told you everything you wanted to know! Just let me go!"
an3ris Prime says, "The police will be taking care of you shortly," from the watch before she disipates as the Mind effect is released.
On the computer screen, an3ris2 (now just an3ris with the Mind effect ending) triggers the encryption of the system and shoots off a email with its fingerprints so deeply encrypted that the PPD crypto-specialists will feel it would be a better use of their time to go count the sand grains on the beach then to try to figure out who sent this email. She then says, "I'm leaving this room and no longer monitoring it as of the moment my image leaves this screen." She then further explains, "I'm also going to try to wake the drugged out employees first. Don't panic when the fire alarm goes off, I'm going to delay the signal going out until you are out of the building," and as the words finish playing there's a five count and the image is gone.
Mister Ji keeps his gun trained on Reading, but he puts the visor back in his pocket. Standing up, he removes something else from his tool belt. It looks like a fat, oversized pen. With a button and a light on the tip. Yeah. Everyone saw Men in Black. He holds it up, while also raising the gun. Just so the Bad Guy gets no ideas. "BZZZT PING!" it goes off, and Ji supports it's inherent mind-affecting powers with his own mental push. "It was the Mob. The Italians. You didnt even think there -were- any Italian Mob in Prospect. But... those fuckers. That's who broke in here and fucked with your shit."
Within the network, an3ris triggers the fire extinguishers in the cubicles area, hoping that the shock of the cold water might cause the sleepers to waken without requiring her to use magic to prod them out of their stupor.
Charles gasps as he looks into the bright light, his eyes going glassy and slumping against the wall. A little bit of drool oozes down the corner of his lips, but he nods in response to the statement given. Those damn Italian mobsters! Meanwhile, the fire alarm begins to ring and the sprinklers start to pour out their water. The mass of unconscious people below slowly begin to stir like zombies, slowly getting to their feet and moaning while shuffling towards the exits.
Mister Ji exits thru the Gift shift, heading in a round about way to his van pickup, doubling back and doing whatever spies do to cover their tracks. Along the way, thru the still-up mental-link... he'll complement an3ris on her work and technical skills. And THANK HER for covering his ass.
All the exterior door locks get unlocked and the air conditioning is turned off. Especially the one in the server room - where the door locks are left on. The servers load is cranked up to a ten so that the already increasing heat is accelerated even further. The alarm is sounding in the building but it is /not/ being sent to the PFD, oh no, lets let the looters have their way with the place for a good long time first.
Back at the Nexus...
As she logs out of the Digital Web, Vic notices the composed but as yet unsent emails in a window on her laptop. "Damn it," she curses at herself, "I sabotaged the orders /I/ placed even!"
