>>534299
Fuck no.

>>534295
Still no.


Start with 4,000. Work up to 8,000 and if she drives a hard bargain then go up to 10,000.

>>534302
Start at 4K to see her reaction, if she agrees, that works.

If she doesn't say, 'More like <wanted price>', up it by 2k. If she does, haggle, try to meet her halfway down from the stated price without revealing how much we have on us.

If she keeps silent after going to 6k, shrug and play the 'seems my money's no good here if you can't talk to me, i'll find someone else who'll play ball.' If she don't take that bait, then fuck it. This is our best lead but I'm sure it's not the only person here we can talk to given the nature of this environment.

>>534304
This.

Start by saying "What will 6,000 get me?"

>>534304
I don't think anyone else can help us though, since what we need is the purchase history she has. Let's not act like we can take our business elsewhere when we really can't. We need to haggle with a lighter touch.

You guys have the right idea about where to go with haggling, based solely on how much we are carrying. I am not sure offering her half the sticker price of one unit is going to convince her to sell out all of her former customers though. Unless she really hates all of them for some reason. We should be prepared to give her some incentive beyond bribe money to work with us.

I would suggest mentioning that you are here because somebody who bought one of these things is targeting civilian hab blocks with high yield explosives. Maybe that is not the sort of publicity she wants. Premium tech being used for the lowest form of terrorism. This gear is highly visible, and the guy does not care about being seen. Maybe she wants to help us straighten him out before her product gets a bad name. Bad for business.

73-6 is an able agent. His skills are worth more than 10 grand and he's definitely earned more than that for the Bureau in the past.

Perhaps if our little Glados's idea of a deal is more than we have on hand, we could offer a favor. Surely there are business opportunities for her store that require some... subtle force. Like Sev-Three.

And it never hurts to have a friend like that.

>>534369
I'd honestly prefer for this to be a last resort. Favors are much, much more expensive than most people think. For ordinary people, a favor is helping someone move. For professional murderers, a favor involves risking your life multiple times over.

Even if we really do need to try that, put limits on what she can ask for.

"It's coin operated? Here's me being awkward with five thousand bucks of paper money to start talking with. Should I go next door to get change?"

>>534393
Fair point. I was thinking more along the lines of building a powerbase and getting long-term allies, which is what we need if we are to pull off the whole retirement thing.

Wire 2013/08/14(Wed)23:27 No. 534517 ID: 4652c9
File 137654805219.png - (8.58KB , 800x600 , 92.png )

"coin operated? because here i am with four large but it's all paper. maybe i should go next door and see if they can give me change."
"See if they can give you the info while they're at it. I don't have time for punk stim money."
"double it."

The doorlock hishes and clicks. The air stills.

"The guy you're looking for is as much a legend as you can be in a scene as young as ours," says the marionette woman. "He's on the deepnet hot as a kerosene bomb and twice as dangerous. Think he's going by Dartline Alchemist right now."
"dartline alchemist?"
"Who knows with these hotshot Deckers, man? All I know is he's a total iceman."
"some kind of hired gun?"
"More or less. Likes killing agency slags like you."
"he got them, they weren't like me."
"That's all I know. That and how you can get to him. You'd be a moth flying into a house fire."
"how do i get him?"
She stretches. "Eight thousand gets you the bait and the hook, dead man. You want the bite you kick in more."

>>534517
D.A.

Offer her 3 grand more, but that's all you can spend.

>>534517
8K for a disposable identifier he's probably already changed and some vague sense of reputation? Not getting another four if that's the quality of information going. Make it a round ten.

"Okay, I have two thousand more to offer before I have to start telling my bosses how unbelievably little 10k buys these days."

Do NOT offer more than the money we officially have, the other money in our pocket DOES NOT EXIST because we are on agency time here doing agency things and they will poke at us pulling money out of thin air.

>>534524
Who is going to poke at us? The Bureau can't see what we're doing in here. That's why we brought some of our own money to spend.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)00:21 No. 534527 ID: 4652c9
File 137655126254.png - (8.50KB , 800x600 , 93.png )

"ten thousand tops. that's all i can give."
"Ooof."
"that and a promise not to wander over to a guard and tell them that your lips are a little looser than they should be."
"They wouldn't believe you over a vendor. You'd be out on your ass, at minimum."
"look me in the shell-up boostable lcd uplinks and tell me they wouldn't turn the heat up on your operation a degree or two, just from hearsay. they might not like what they see."
She sighs. "Ten thousand?"
"on the table."
"Here is what I'm going to give you for ten thousand: 8634061409."
"i wanted lucky numbers i'd buy a truckload of fortune cookies."
"It's a VRP address, smartass. His. The amount of shit he's hiding behind, there's no way you can jack in right on top of him. I'd guess in the 85s or 87s would be your best bet."
"vrp?"
"Virtual Reality Protocol."
"i know. mindjacking. cyberspace. but vrps don't code for 10 digits."
"The ones the rich pastels use when they want their e-dick sucked don't. Illegal ones do."
"fuck."
"That's right, slick. There's no way I know to get to the Dartline but one. And that's through his turf. You're going to the Deep Road VR, wirehead. Undernet."

Um, Hacking upgrades help there, right? Maybe we should ask where around here we can get a Shell upgrade, to get level 3 Hacking.

Best way to find one would be loot it or get one from work. But we might as well find out how much we could get one for at the stalls.

Proffer the money and thank her for your help. You'll recommend her to your friends.

>I imagine Hoxton in the Transhumanist Emporium will sell you an upgrade or two for that.
>Hoxton will be where he usually is, East-2 Tier 7 alley 4, if you need Shellwork done. Tell him I sent you and perhaps he'll kick some credit my way.

We already got told where to go for Shell by our favourite creepy weapons dealer.

Uh, guys? We're not a lone actor here. Let's get back to the Bureau and consult their resident cyberwar expert(s).

>>534549

This..

And don't forget our goodies on lay-away. :)

Right, pay her and go.

Jacking in and getting him in VR sounds like trouble. What rules does wire-verse VR follow? Is this one of those die in the sim, die for real deals?

And yeah, we may want to check out Hoxton, see what he's selling. We might need a hacking upgrade. See what's for sale, and then choose how much of our money we're spending there, and how much with Jules.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)10:10 No. 534586 ID: 4652c9
File 137658665313.png - (5.63KB , 800x600 , 94.png )

73-6 digs his cash out and places it on the desk. "thanks. i'll recommend you to my friends."
"If your friends pay for info like you do," says the woman, "don't bother."

Hoxton's Transhumanist Emporium is low, clean, and elegant after the garish techno dystopia look of Cybranicon.
"Agent." A man 73-6 can only assume to be Hoxton comes out from behind the desk and shakes his hand. "Bureau, yes?"
"that's right."
"It's always a thorough pleasure to work with the Bureau's reconstituted assets," says Hoxton. "You are a treasure trove of subdermal shell enhancements."
"you knew i was an agent?"
"Juler sent word you might be coming after your visit to that new establishment. Cybertopia, or something."
"cybranicon."
"Kiddy gear." Hoxton sniffs. "Gadgets for the tourists and daydreamers skimming the surface of what technology will offer them. You and I." He taps his eye, which is smooth and glass. "We are the more perfect union. Heirs to the human-machine equation. Symbiotes to their parasites."
"i was told you can buy shell upgrades here?"
"Correct. Two thousand a pop for civilians. But Juler is a friend, and the Bureau is another. I'm prepared to take fifty percent off that price for you."

>>534586
oh my god two upgrades beat the whip by so much.

>>534586
That is quite a deal. We can get 1 and the other stuff on reserve or get rid of the whip and get 3. I go with the second option.

We can afford the whip, the flechette pistol, AND a shell upgrade. So people don't have to Ctrl-F and scroll up:

The whip is 2,000.
The pistol is 4,000.
And a upgrade is 1,000.

We have exactly $7,000 to ourselves.

I would like more shell upgrades rather than getting the whip. But either one is good.

>1000 for shell upgrade
Sold.

Sev, how is Jules likely to react if you decide not to buy the whip after reserving it, but buy the pistol?

Unless he's likely to call the guards on us or something equally drastic and unreasonable, get 3 upgrades and the pistol.


...I really hope this guy is legit.

Whip and five upgrades.

BECOME ZOMBIE JESUS.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)12:34 No. 534602 ID: 4652c9
File 137659525176.png - (8.32KB , 800x600 , 95.png )

73-6 takes Hoxton up on that offer.

"can i buy more?" he asks, swirling the murky liquid around the bootstrap vial and hearing the clatter of the Upgrade inside.

"I suppose," says Hoxton, "but they'll be at full price, not half. I respect your agency but I have a business to run."

Let's just buy the one, and get the fletchette gun.

And for gods sake bring more cash next time.

>>534604
That was all we had. The Bureau doesn't let us have our own stuff, we're just a moldy. That 7,000 was what we found and hid.

There was no more to bring.

We could just blow it all and become a techno zombie god...

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)13:01 No. 534621 ID: 4652c9
File 137659690732.png - (7.66KB , 800x600 , 96.png )

73-6 pays for the Shell upgrade and excuses himself from Hoxton.
"thanks for the discount."
"Happy to help a child of the wire reach his full potential," says Hoxton. "Rise above, agent."
"uh, you too."

73-6 returns to a delighted Juler, who hands over the pistol and the whip. His remaining spare money will be entirely spent in their purchase. "You take good care of those two little death dealers now, won't you, Seventy-Three Six?"

>>534608
Clearly aquiring petty cash just became a secondary mission priority. We just need to make sure we can get away with it...and now I'm worried we're going to end up paying Penelope a percentage.for being our off the books bank.

>>534614
I think real techno zombie godhood would set us back at least a few hundred grand, might want to wait on that.

Smile, "Of course." Load the fletcher and secrete our new tools somewhere easily accessible on our person.

Expect an ambush on the way out. The idea are heavily against it but you did just waste a group of Fantomas finishing up a shopping spree. Don't make their mistake of overconfidence in he anonimity of the black stalls.

>>534634
Literally every shopkeeper in the Stalls recognized him as a Bureau agent immediately.

You can pretty much assume he is not anonymous at all.

Hey, how are we supposed to send him that photo he asked for?

Huh. Fletchette is bigger than I expected.

>>534626
Yes, funds are good. Although we still have to direct some of the money we find to the bureau, or else it'll eventually look suspicious.

...as is, we're just going have to conceal these weapons, or make up a good excuse for having them.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)13:55 No. 534651 ID: 4652c9
File 137660012804.png - (10.77KB , 800x600 , 97.png )

73-6 loads the fletcher and magnetizes it safely to his hip. He stows the whip in his belt and takes his leave of the Black Stalls.

He feels better about the ride up than the ride down. That's what happens when you're packing serious heat, he guesses.

There's no ambush or anything waiting for him up top. He pulls the face mask and goggles off.
"monica, you there?"
"Right here for ya, Sev-Three. How were the Stalls?"
"useful."
"Yeah? You got the info?"
"i'll fill you in back at base."
"Get anything else while you in Gangster Paradise?"

>>534651
"Literally everyone recognized me. Tell our Operational Security Director to stop sucking."

"a recommendation got me a shell upgrade for cheap, after the mission of course. out of cash now though"
all true :3c

It's not feasible to hide weapons. Say you got the information at a heavy discount thanks to some quick thinking, and spent the extra on weapons and a shell upgrade.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)14:32 No. 534658 ID: 4652c9
File 137660235103.png - (10.26KB , 800x600 , 98.png )

>>534653
The people who recognized him were a good friend, a goo friend of that good friend, and a cybernetic hackstress who probably spread open his entire schematic the moment he set foot in the store. No one else gave him any hassle.

"got a shell upgrade on the cheap," reports 73-6. "used up my personal shit i brought along. the informant took the rest."
"Okey-doke," says Monica. She's chewing on something. "Find your way back here with the info and we'll stick that shell upgrade into your robo brain thing."
"it's okay i don't have any change, right?"
"Ain't my cash, Sev-Three. And I imagine the Bureau will be fine with it. Provided we bag this guy."
"dartline alchemist, is his name."
"Wow," says Monica, around her dinner. "And I thought Delta Apex was dumb."


By the time 73-6 gets back to base, it's pretty late in the day. He descends to the Outpost, through the electric caverns.
He pauses in the office hallways, near where Keisha and Sara's rooms are. Someone's sprinting down the entrance hallways toward him.

"Slowdownslowdown you gonna drop meeee"
"I'm a secret agent mamacita i gotchu stop choking me"

73-6 turns around to see Penelope giving Keisha Chalthoum a piggy-back ride. He blinks to make sure he hasn't already jacked into the matrix by mistake.
Keisha is wrapped in Penelope's trenchcoat, laughing and clinging to the agent for dear life.

"yeah, I found a few toys cheap enough to afford on an operatives pay"

they know you have money, they just don't know that you’ve started keeping money you find in the field. do not even hint that you used mission funds for personal reasons.

Wire 2013/08/15(Thu)14:33 No. 534660 ID: 4652c9
File 137660239880.png - (7.31KB , 800x600 , 99.png )

Penelope deposits Keisha in front of her room. Keisha half-stumbles inside, still giggling. 73-6 didn't know she was capable of smiling.
"Wait wait I gotta get my trenchcoat back!" Penelope looks in after her. She is suddenly and bodily pulled into the office and the door slams behind her.

73-6 stares transfixed at the door for a full minute.

Then a disheveled, flushed Penelope is deposited back into the hallway, and leans against the door, panting.
"Hola," she says. "How was the mission?"

"it went pretty well, thoug apperantly not as well as yours"

>>534660
not nearly as good as yours, but successful nonetheless.

>>534660
"It went very well. Just so we're clear, I no longer feel any lingering guilt over not interrupting your post-operative rest."

blow some guys to straight to hell, got some information on the guy, managed to scare the crap out of a civy by befriending him somewhere in between the first 2, so not to bad... You?

>>534661
Yup, pretty much.

You got some new toys, an upgrade, a lead, and the chance to blow up a car after a motorcycle chase.

Acquired a crappy lead and some decent hardware, made friends and enemies, made a van go boom with some Fantomas in it, found and then lost true love.
The overall average is okay I guess but my day doesn't seem to have gone as well as yours: Do you still think I'm a bad friend for not waking you up when Keisha was angry but pantsless?

Wire 2013/08/16(Fri)00:44 No. 534800 ID: 4652c9
File 137663907186.png - (9.45KB , 800x600 , 100.png )

"i stole a motorcycle and blew up a van and got a bunch of cool tech."
"I made out with Keisha like a dozen times."
"call it a tie?"
"I don't think so, ese."
"i concede. what happened?"
"We went to a club thing. It was a cool time," says Penelope. "Hadda couple drinks. Then some Flushout. That shit made me pee like a horse, hombre."
"vivid imagery."
"No sugarcoating, man. That flushout stuff works wonders, but there is always a price to pay."
"you forgive me for not waking you up when she was pantsless yet?"
"Not yet," says Penelope. "I don't know if she's gay or just mad drunk, feel me? So neither of our asses is off the hook yet. Speaking of: you make your move?"
"i don't know what you're insinuating."
"Come on." Penelope nudges him. "Domo Arigata, Mrs Robota."
"that's not proper japanese."

"Hey, you guys," Sara opens the door to her room. She is eating yogurt again. "I heard y'all ruckusing. What's up out here? Mission go good?"

"Domo," whispers Penelope. "Domo."

"think i got some info on your homewrecker." 73-6 ignores the ribbing street samurai. "i'm supposed to go meet with monica about it."
"Yeah, so whenever you're ready to do that meet me in the cavern atrium." Monica's voice blats suddenly out of the loudspeaker next to 73-6. He jumps.
"Ooh, can I come?" asks Sara, sticking the spoon in the yogurt cup.
"I'll allow it," says Monica. "She's been of help to this operation and civilian/agent decorum is already at an all-time low with you people anyway."
"is that an issue?"
"Nah. But next time you bring back a civvy informant make it a hunky underwear model or a chef."

>>534800
Sarah is a good cook, though! Ask her if she does any underwear modeling. Maybe we'll have the best of both worlds here.

>>534800
Sara probably has a few models with abs on them, somewhere.
Maybe a ridiculous ab shirt, but then she's blind.

Okay Monica, if you're serious maybe we can escort you to chipndales later.

ask Monica if it's now our job to try and hook everyone in the Bureau up now?

anyways might as well go.

>>534800
why are you not flirting?

>make it a hunky underwear model or a chef.
Well all right, although you're less likely to find a situation where one of those up and saves your ass out of the blue.

>>534848
NEVER underestimate the cook, the ones you should be terrified of are mostly people with OCD as a damn super-power. A chef is a cook that's famous, and those usually tend to be more OCD than the ones that stay as cooks.

We should tell Monica that we're down with trying to recruit a chef and could possibly be bribed into recruiting her some beefcake, but that we could use some mission-profile adjustment to make those hypotheticals more possible and plausible. Meanwhile we should be having fun with Sara charting out the progress of Penelope's relationship. If Penelope starts counter-needling us we should say that it would be ungentlemanly to hit on someone that has to crash on your couch temporarily.

>>534961
A chef is just someone paid to cook. Technically the guys who make burgers at McDonald's are chefs.

I'm actually tempted to make that happen now.

>>534986
>>534961
A chef is someone who has formal schooling on how to cook like a doctor. Also 73-6 you should offer to eat a meal with Sarah and talk through the past two days

Wire 2013/08/16(Fri)22:52 No. 535034 ID: 4652c9
File 137671874374.png - (9.49KB , 800x600 , 101.png )

"sara's a chef," says 73-6. "she could cook for us."
"Hey yeah," says Sarah. "I could. We'd need to hit up a grocery store first, though. The only thing in the fridge I saw was a few cheesesticks, a couple yogurts, and two pork dumplings."
"Did you say two?" asks Monica. "Not three? You sure?"
"Yeah," says Sarah.
"Then somebody is going to die," says Monica.
"there's a place down the street we can go that has really good synthstuff produce," says 73-6, valiantly ignoring the kissy faces Penelope is making behind Sara's back. "you can hardly tell it's vatgrown."
"Cavern Atrium first, Sev-Three," Monica reminds him. "The waterfall was free again."

Wire 2013/08/16(Fri)22:52 No. 535035 ID: 4652c9
File 137671875411.png - (12.71KB , 800x600 , 102.png )

"Cyberspace."

Monica nervously clicks and unclicks her pen against the conference table.

"So if anyone was wondering, this is gonna be a bitch."

Wire 2013/08/16(Fri)22:52 No. 535036 ID: 4652c9
File 137671876540.png - (53.94KB , 800x600 , 103.png )

"How bad a bitch?" asks Penelope.

"For starters, this Dartline guy has so much ice guarding his little corner that we can't even get visuals up on it," says Monica. "You're gonna have to go in far off and make your way there, and it'll be quite the walk. His defenses are brutal."
"like firewalls or something?"
"Firewalls is kid stuff on the Deepnet. The shit Dartline Alchemist is packing will fry your brain like an egg inside your skull if it gets you. If we connect via any of the Bureau's hardware, he'll read it instantly and you're dead. And I don't think our proxies are gonna fool this guy."
"so what do we do?" asks 73-6.
"Two options," says Monica. "One is, Sintex are gods at this sort of thing. They have the tech and the knowhow. With a Sintex sherpa on your side and an icebreaker running point you'll be able to squeeze past Dartline's shit and get to whatever it is he's got stored on the deepnet. But that requires Agency collaboration. And that is never a good thing. Sorry, Penelope."
"No offense taken."
"Option two is simpler and a little more brutal. DA is working with the Fantomas, and they need to get to him. He'll have a path clear for their VR connection to get to him. So we just find a Fantoma Vengadores building with VR access and terminals, kill everyone inside, and jack into cyberspace there. The problem being the clearout, and having to work very, very fast, because we'd need to stay onsite while you were in cyberspace."

I say we go with the Fantomas route. I mean it sounds like both options have a high chance of us having to kill someone simple because we can't get along and with the Fantomas not only are we get a way to dart but are also fucking there shit up as well. Plus we could send 2 agents here, one to go into cyberspace and the other to keep any stray Fantomas of the guy who's going in. Just make sure we have an exit strategy this time around cause even if we pull this thing off without a hitch we're still going to need to make a quick getaway before Fantomas reinforcements show up.

I would love to see the sintex peeps, but I think murdering fantomas is the better option.

>>535036
What, think we can't pull another Penelope and bring over a Sintex guy? Easy. Maybe he'll be that hunky underwear model you wanted, or was before he got into security.

I actually like the Sintex method way more even though it's potentially way more dangerous, if only because I'm sure DA has some shit prepared to cut off Famatoma access immediately. We don't even know if he hasn't already.

Sintex collaboration, if possible, is the only for sure option. Therefore, worth the risk. Plus, well, TriBranch was pissed at us for giving them extra paperwork for sharing the big kill. We haven't actually pissed off Sintex. Maybe they won't put a hit on Sev or Penelope. Because why, exactly? I still don't fully understand what the hit on Sev would have actually done for them besides that they were grumbly over some extra paperwork, and Monica handled that professionally may we say that you're a very good and kind handler thank you for taking that paperwork like a boss. Monica or the Bureau higher ups didn't ask us to kill Penelope just because of paperwork.
Like killing a single dude really hurts the competition anyhow. It'd make more sense for a full scale assualt against the competition, or to plant hacking to steal information.

Wouldn't Sintex like to go after someone who's using their equipment illegaly? That said, I would love to kill more Fantomas.

Wire 2013/08/17(Sat)01:50 No. 535072 ID: 4652c9
File 137672942453.png - (95.56KB , 800x600 , 104a.png )

"i think the play is we go after the fantomas," says 73-6. "we usually end up killing someone. it might as well be them."

"Good deal," says Monica. "Okay, now. Cyberspace. You ever been?"
"i've never had that kind of money."
"Well, that's fancy cyberspace you see in all the ads. Commercialized digital playgrounds for the rich and famous. Harmless to everything but your wallet. You aren't going there. You're going to the Deep Net."
Monica pushes a button and a sprawling cancer of nodes and connections blossoms across the display screen. Wobbly synthesized visuals and labyrinthine networks.
"A worldwide digital favela," says Monica, "where the desperate cross paths with the dangerous and the plain crazy. Why some of these motherfuckers don't just use google is beyond me, but I guess you can't buy biological weapons on google. See those?"
She points to a pocket of warped, hazy data. There are about a dozen of them floating between the digital planes. "Know what those are?"
"what?"
"Malignant AI," says Monica. "Up-and-up VR has safeguards, people in charge, approval processes. Deep net has none of that. So you get these basement programmers think they're Turing's golden baby who make these AIs that grow, rampant in a week tops, sizzle their creators' synapses, and spread across the deep net like tumors. Then those conglomerate into the Deep AIs. Ever read Lovecraft?"
"no," says 73-6.
"Iä! Shub-Niggurath!" says Penelope. "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!"
"Think that, but digital," says Monica. "The gangsters, the techies, the deckers? They may have controlled the Deep Net all the way down once. Now they just skim the surfaces and hide in the corners. You catch the attention of these AIs, they'll veg you out on a whim."

Wire 2013/08/17(Sat)01:50 No. 535073 ID: 4652c9
File 137672943219.png - (14.68KB , 800x600 , 104.png )

"Your boy Dartline," Monica continues, "is on the East-8 server. Covers most of the Eastern Seaboard sprawl. And it is run and ruled over by a massive slumbering rogue AI." She enlarges one of the nodes to a barren mesa with jarring geometric buildings scattershot across it. "It calls itself Deneb," she says, "and it was made 8 years ago by a now-deceased gamedev to use as an enemy AI in some videogame. Now East-8 is basically all its insane, glitched-out dream. Which happens to manifest itself as, uh, as a shooter."
"so you're telling me cyberspace is basically an fps."
"This part of it. Yes. Well, an FPS crossed with the nightmares of an unfathomable superintelligence born from a shitty aimbot/mob script."
"and if you die in the game you die in real life."
"Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid. But yes. Depending on what gets you."
73-6 sighs, heavily.
"Decker culture, dude! It's not my fault?"
"okay. what's the game?"

Monica squints. "Some arena shooter called Blastlands."

Wire 2013/08/17(Sat)01:50 No. 535074 ID: 4652c9
File 137672943531.png - (9.38KB , 800x600 , 105.png )

"never heard of it," says 73-6.
"I think my hermano used to play it," says Penelope.
"BLASTLAAANDS," says Sara. She turns to 73-6, excitedly. "Don't judge me. Okay?"
"okay."
"But I have over 2,000 hours logged in this game. You absolutely need me. I'm coming along."

Its a date.

uh well she may be a civilian but she was in the military at some point and probably has the best chance with the deepnet 'game' so sure why not.

As a person in a robot body, does she get any bonuses in cyberspace? Maybe she doesn't die when killed? I figure the body would have a consciousness backup or is her actual brain in there?

Hell yes she is.

>>535074
Nothing can go wrong with this plan.

Let's not forget about that Shell upgrade before we go in. Extra Hacking skills will help, right?

>>535074
See if we can get the Bureau to contract her for this mission. We need some excuse for Sara to be able to afford new cloths.

>>535085
>Hacking upgrade
Yes, that would be good. Unless we get offered some crazy gun skill which is applicable to the FPS we're about to hop into...

Shame to waste a pro gamer! Also, I guess you're using that upgrade for more hacking, Sev. Gotta keep the lady safe from the more esoteric stuff so that she can keep pulling the sweet headshots.

I wonder - if, when you're in there, could you have a connection ready to a legit or (semi-legit) blastlands server somewhere else on the net? Or several of them, even. If the AI wakes up and chases you, you dump the link on it, and it gets distracted pwning some noobs elsewhere. It won't hurt the guys who are using the old tactile interfaces.

>Sintex sherpa
I don't suppose there's anyone on our side who's got at this kind of thing? I mean, you know how to shoot things, and you're getting pretty good at hacking things. But there's no experienced superhacker moldy?

>You absolutely need me.
Hum. Well, someone who knows what they're doing would be pretty valuable. Although we have to keep her back and safe while killing the fatomas and getting our connection.

>>535085
So much this.

As long as we stay away from any nodes belonging to a certain J Corporation, I say let's go on a date in the Otherland network.

Wire 2013/08/18(Sun)01:27 No. 535326 ID: 4652c9
File 137681446820.png - (11.42KB , 800x600 , 106.png )

"sara's combat capable and if she knows the game she knows the game."
"Works for me," says Monica. "Okay, Sara. You're a deputized field agent now."
"Wooo!" says Sara.
"Now the three of you have a busy and dangerous as hell day tomorrow," warns Monica. "You're all dismissed. Get some sleep in your systems because we're going hard. 8 AM wakeup."

"This is nuts," says Sara as the three of them cross the footbridge. "We're going on an adventure into a video game? It's like a terrible cartoon show! Only real! And awesome!"

"Well, you two are going in," says Penelope. "I'll probably watch your bodies while you out or something." She raises and lowers her eyebrows at 73-6, who gives her an eye a couple notches more evil than usual.

"So what do we do now?" asks Sara, nearly vibrating with excitement. "Is there some kind of hazing thing? Or something?"
"They drilled a hole in my head," says Penelope.
"I'll just use my internal radio, thanks," says Sara. "Still though. We agents now! Dude! I should drink to this or something. What time is it?"

73-6's internal readout says it's around 10 PM. He wants to be well rested for the mission, of course, but if Sara wants to stay up another few hours, some small part of him wants to stay up too.

Live for today because you could die tomorrow. Should be safe to spend a few hours with her.

You are asleep at 1:30, NO LATER, you understand?

have a light party since you more then likely don't want to do this thing tomorrow hungover and make sure you hit the hay by at least midnight.

>>535379
>You are asleep (with sara) at 1:30, NO LATER, you understand?

fixed

>>535326

Stay up with Sara.

Rest. You don't want to dance around the Elder One's ear tommorow sleep-impaired, even if Sara is technically a robot, and you're a zombie, you certainly could use your rest.

You totally hang with Sara for a couple hours, maybe even play some Blastlands if you hqve enough self control not to binge on he game. And you know what you should probably do before heading to bed? POP that shell upgrade.

Wire 2013/08/18(Sun)15:19 No. 535493 ID: 4652c9
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"i'd be down to stay up a while longer," says 73-6.
"Yeah?" says Penelope. "Well I think I'm still woozy from gettin' my temple ventilated. I'm turning in." She brushes past 73-6 and nudges him in the ribs. "You lil' niños have fun now."

"Good night!" Sara calls after her. "Crazy how you got her a job here."
"i got you a job here."
"Call it temp work," says Sara. "Or friggin' vacation! Blastlands! Holy cannoli. We played that all the time in the corps. Whenever we weren't shooting at real dudes, basically."
"were you good?"
"I was the best," she says. "Well, top five. Hey, what do you want to do now?" Before 73-6 can answer, she says, "Wanna learn your way around the game? It could help, tomorrow."
"do you have it with you?"
"I have it inside me, dude. There's not a whole lot of room on my internals, and most of it I need to keep free for lending out, but I had to bring it along." She shakes her hair out. "Got any universal controllers?"
"a few in the rec room, i think."
"Well check this out." She moves her hair out of the way to reveal a small, raised universal receiver jack in her back. "Pretty slick, right? Just hook me up to a tv then grab a controller and stick it in the back. Wakka wakka."
"that's crazy impressive."
"Just don't ask to see the cupholders. So whaddya say, agent? Ready to get your ass beat by a girl? Robot? Girl-robot thing?"

Boy-howdy!

I'm more than happy to get killed by a girl now, if it'll keep me from getting killed by purple-face later.

stick it in...

i mean the controller.

>>535493
sev if you miss this chance to say a back slot/anal joke i will be very cross with you.

>>535493
Too bad we dont have a VR connection for this.

Another thought: Can she use shell upgrades like the one you purchased? She may need more than her military and game skills to delve the deepnet, and you already have hacking upgrades.

>>535493
Of course we're ready! That leaves only one think left to be known: what class we will play.

Static on the Wire Thread 3 End Wire 2013/08/18(Sun)18:27 No. 535522 ID: 4652c9
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"of course," says 73-6. "better killed now by you than later by some purple-faced asshole."

He tries to think up some clever joke about this whole thing but his forte is more slayin em with guns than with wit.

"Schweet," says Sara, who doesn't seem to mind. "I'll go easy on you."
"naw, man. i can do it."
"You're saying that now. We'll see, sucker."

They find a tv in the break room and set it up in Sara's office/room. He helps her get all wired in, and then she boots up the blood-and-rust drenched title screen for Blastlands.



Then she mercilessly kicks his ass all night.

Appreciate the schooling, fucking LEARN how this shit is different from the real world.
And, uh, try to get SOME sleep eh? It would be really embarrassing if we showed up at 8AM without having slept or gotten lucky.

yeah pull it out before too long.


the plugs i mean.