Static on the Wire

Static on the Wire by Brom
Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 Thread 5 Thread 6
Discussion

73-6 is here to kill everyone.

Main characters

73-6

Reconstituted asset belonging to the Bureau of Domestic Defense. 6th and latest in the line of created intelligences occupying the 73 body.

Monica

73-6's handler on field operations. Protective of her takeout.

Sara Dalton

The brain of a retired US Marine field medic in a robotic chassis. Lived in the Hab-Block with her roomate, Keisha, until it was destroyed. Currently residing in a Bureau Outpost.

Keisha Chalthoum

Sara's roomate and DJ at a nightclub called "Piston". Sharp-tongued and strong-willed to a fault.

Penelope

Field Agent for Tribranch, a rival to the Bureau. Like all Tribranch agents, uses stims to enhance combat capabilities on-mission.

88-11

Another reconstituted asset of the Bureau. Has very little sense of self-preservation because he basically just want to die and stay dead.

Dartline Alchemist

A mysterious man with a rocket launcher and a contraband visor. Works for the Fantoma Vengadores and destroyed Sara and Keisha's home.

Supporting characters

14-1

A retired Bureau field agent with years of experience and a Sniper Cannon on his shoulder, here to help 73-6.

Casely Barduk

An officer in Fantoma Vengadores overseeing the hab block where Keisha and Sara shared an apartment, and Keisha's ex-boyfriend.

Mr. Chatreet

Was really looking forward to a nice cup of coffee and a quiet evening in.

Deneb

An malignant AI once created for a video game called "Blastlands" that has gone rogue, taken rule over an entire sector of Deep Net and warped it to its liking.

Plot Summary

This article contains spoilers! You were warned.

Thread 1

The story starts on a dark night with 73-6, a "reconstituted asset" (and basically a dead man revived through cybernetics) infiltrating an apartment skyscraper. He's an assassin of the Bureau of Domestic Defense, a huge corporate agency dealing in private contracts, sent to neutralize all agents of a rival and equally huge PMC called Fantomas Vengadores in order to send a message of intimidation.

As 73-6 proceeds through the corridors, stealthily disposing of the guards and reporting kills to his handler Monica back in HQ, he finds a liquid Shell upgrade. Ingesting it allows a choice of a new perk:

• Wetwork: enables stealth killing with bare hands;
• Stealth: an ability to create sounds in remote corners for distraction;
• Tech: knowledge about hacking simple computer systems via a terminal device.

Using his newfound power, 73-6 cuts power to the whole hab block and heads further while killing more guards, who are now aware of the interloper. After a short but heated battle in the kitchen 73-6 obtains another bottle of Shell upgrade, which provides the following choices:

• Wetwork: an ability to magnetize himself, thus increasing his weapon carrying capacity;
• Stealth: a perk which essentially works as a built-in silencer for any firearm, but with a cooldown;
• Tech: improves 73-6's hacking ability.

73-6 finishes with the upgrade and proceeds to get shot. Having survived and dealt with the remaining guard, he attempts to leave the building, but the wound is too severe and he faints. A short time later his unconscious body is discovered by Keisha and Sara, who share the room through which 73-6 tried to escape. They decide against calling the police and Sara treats his gun wounds.

The agent wakes up in the morning. He and Sara have a chat: it turns out Sara knows a thing or two about the Bureau from her past military service (which got her into the gynoid body she's in). Their conversation is interrupted by a Fantomas officer searching for an assassin agent from last night. 73-6 hides in the closet, and a second before he's discovered the officer gets kicked out of the room by Keisha. The HQ pulls a file on the officer and reveals that he's Casely Barduk, a high-rank Fantomas. 73-6's mission is switched from waiting for extraction to eliminating Barduk.

The protagonist locates the room where his target is stationed and enters it from an adjacent room. On his way he bumps into a female operative Penelope from yet another corporate private agency, TriBranch Services, also on a mission to kill Barduk. The two assassins make a wary truce and team up. 73-6 and the Tribranch agent clear another room on their way to Barduk, but Penelope gets a bullet to the leg and is immobilized.

Barduk and his goons, still oblivious to the assassins' presence, sit in the next room behind a reinforced door. A gunfight ensues, and the two agents decide to kill Casely at the same second so that it's their bosses' problem who's to claim the credit for eliminating him. 73-6 pockets another Shell upgrade, but it's the injection type and he can't install it on himself.

73-6 decides to bring Penelope back to Keisha and Sara for leg treatment and carries her several stories up. Just as Sara is about to start, Monica comes through and informs 73-6 that the other factions have pulled reinforcements and specifically snipers to his location, and they're after him. The HQ is preparing extraction, but it's not going to be anytime soon.

The four people lock down their apartment, bar the doors and prepare for assault. Sara helps 73-6 install the Shell upgrade, which offers:

• Wetwork: a short reflex boost paired with immunity to pain;
• Stealth: a perk which essentially works as a built-in silencer for any firearm, but with a cooldown;
• Tech: improves 73-6's hacking ability.

With his new hacking skills, 73-6 performs wicked tricks like pulling the feed from security cameras, stopping the elevator between floors and disabling Sara's vocal inhibitor (much to her elation). Then he goes off to take out as much enemies as possible before they reach their improvised bunker.

On his errand, while eavesdropping on the mooks' conversations, 73-6 discovers that the reinforcements aren't there just for revenge and competitor elimination, but also some kind of plans that 73-6 and Penelope must've stolen from Barduk's hideout. After dealing with foot soldiers, the assassin returns to Keisha and Sara's apartment. It's obvious he'll have to spend another night at their place. 73-6 joins them for dinner and he and Sara talk for a while, cosily sharing stories about their lives before they get sleepy.

At the end of the chapter, the "camera" shifts to a sunlit beach. A reconstituted asset is lying on a deck chair, wearing a panama hat and talking to a girl. Monica calls him on the comm, saying that this is the time when she really, really needs his help.

ITQ Guide

A list of secure communications over the wire with Inside the Quest, sorted by the threads they ran concurrent with.

Thread 1:	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Thread 2:	[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
Thread 3:	[20] [21]
Thread 4:	[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]
Thread 5:	[38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

Gallery

Official

73-6 Concept Art

CIVILIZED DISCOURSE

Sara Concept Art

Monica Concept Art

Ever wonder what's under the trenchcoat?

Sara shows off the goods

Fanart

73-6 By OVERLORD

73-6 By Toxoglossa

73-6 By Idiom Alpha

Sara Dalton By Pudding

By LimeBreaker

By LimeBreaker

By LimeBreaker

By OVERLORD

By Coda

73-6 gives Dale a scare By LionsPhil

By Archivemod

By Pudding

By LonelyWorld

By Toxoglossa

By LawyerDog

Cathage and Penelope By LimeBreaker

By TestPattern