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Post by acathala on Aug 5, 2022 20:55:10 GMT -5
Tom debates whether or not to try contacting Paige again. He ends up deciding not to. The guy was clearly monitoring her calls. Does Tom have time to buy stuff?
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 5, 2022 21:40:44 GMT -5
If you mean going to a store and grabbing stuff, sure. Placing online orders, no.
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Post by acathala on Aug 6, 2022 17:34:16 GMT -5
So adrenaline shots a no?
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 6, 2022 17:54:09 GMT -5
Pretty sure that's a restricted substance.
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Post by acathala on Aug 7, 2022 20:58:43 GMT -5
Does Tom have the technical know how to check Hanson's work on the drive for malware?
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 7, 2022 21:19:42 GMT -5
Possibly, but he doesn't have to. Mom's hacking device can check it, too. And eliminate it.
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Post by acathala on Aug 8, 2022 14:43:32 GMT -5
Tom is gonna check the drive, because frankly he does not trust the guy, and he's pretty sure Hanson thinks he's an idiot without the know how to check. (Tell me if Hanson put anything nasty there, but hold off on deleting it.)
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 8, 2022 17:58:05 GMT -5
Tom returned to the lair (and in case I haven't mentioned it already, Geek already handed Dhanev off to the police) and collected the device. Fred awaited Tom with said package in hand.
"Here you go, young master! I have taken the liberty of setting up the device so that you may use it immediately, and then I repackaged it so that you may experience the joy of unpackaging it as is human custom."
Tom "unpackaged" the device, it really was one of those old smartphones from the 20s and 30s-Tom remembered his mom always had one on her; she said something about it being one of those "international" phones that was jailbroken at manufacturing and could connect to any network. Could this be the same one?-and switched it on. Tom was surprised to discover a video message from his mom already queued up in the video player of the device. It was addressed to him.
*Which I won't write. You can write the script for the video.
Tom decides to leave the video for now and plugs the drive into the phone's USB port. Mom never trusted those wifi drive keys. Physical all the way. When Tom plugged in the drive, a scanning window for an app called "Dragonlord" popped up and began scanning the drive. As it scanned, the files it scanned popped up in a list.
Looks like Hanson wasn't lying about the contents of Watchdog's drive. Tom recognized the execution files for the robot's motor functions. That's certainly valuable if you were to ever get another dog-like robot drone, but then, why not just get another robot dog? Certainly newer models would have more sophisticated programming?
After that, files for bank transfers, lists of clients, and similar financial stuff popped up. Yes, banking information is certainly worth preserving.
But then something curious caught Tom's eye. A series of newspaper articles started appearing. As the scanner scanned through every file one by one, Tom found himself reading the title of every article.
"BOMB SNIFFER DOG 'JACKY' DRAGS ENTIRE UNIT INCLUDING HANDLER TO SAFETY UNDER HEAVY FIRE. DOES NOT LEAVE A SINGLE MAN BEHIND DESPITE SEVERAL SEVERE INJURES"
"HERO DOG 'JACKY' MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVES INJURIES. EARNS PURPLE HEART BUT RESURRECTS TALK OF AWARDING HIGHER SERVICE MEDALS TO SERVICE ANIMALS IN WARTIME"
"HERO DOG 'JACKY' FIRST SERVICE ANIMAL IN 100 YEARS TO BE AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS AND SILVER STAR. MANY VOICE DISPLEASURE AT NOT BEING AWARDED THE MEDAL OF HONOR"
"HERO DOG 'JACKY' IS COMING HOME! CELEBRATION AWAITS FOUR LEGGED HERO. WILL LIVE WITH HANDLER"
"HERO DOG 'JACKY' IS BECOMING A ROBOT! VETERAN DOG's MOVEMENTS AND POSTURE TO BE IMMORTALIZED BY MOTION CAPTURE FOR MOVIES AND CANINE-LIKE DRONES AND ROBOTS"
"BIZARRE LEGAL CASE SEES LEGENDARY WAR DOG 'JACKY'S' MOTION CAPTURE DATA DECLARED THE SOLE PROPERTY OF HIS HANDLER. FORMER SOLDIER'S DISSOCIATIVE PERSONALITY DISORDER SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF THE BOMB THAT WIPED OUT HIS PLATOON BLAMED"
"AMERICA MOURNS THE LOSS OF LEGENDARY WAR HERO DOG 'JACKY' WHO PERISHED WHILE ATTEMPTING TO PULL A CHILD FROM A BURNING CAR. REPORTEDLY IGNORED HANDLER'S ORDERS TO NOT ATTEMPT A RESCUE"
"PUBLIC OUTCRY ACROSS THE COUNTRY TODAY AS ARMY REFUSES TO ENTOMB WAR HERO DOG 'JACKY' IN ARLINGTON. WILL INSTEAD BE BURIED WITHIN THE GROUNDS OF THE ANIMALS IN WAR AND PEACE MUSEUM. WILL RECEIVE A STATUE IN HIS HONOUR"
The scan finished a few moments later. There was no malware or malicious code found on the drive.
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Post by acathala on Aug 8, 2022 19:24:03 GMT -5
(God damn it, why did you have to make me care about the guy?) Tom remembers the dog. His mum and him were big fans, and he was sure he had a poster of Jacky on his wall, even though he was in Scotland at the time. He can't imagine what twisted watch dog into a mercenary for hire. May be if Tom keeps him on, he can help him. Next is the video from his mother. This isn't the final message she had intended for him. Tom had received that in champion city. He presses play. "Hello Tom. If you're seeing this, Fred has judged the situation dire enough to give you this. Please be careful with it, as it's an exceptionally powerful piece of technology, that could be misused in the wrong hands. Try to use it sparingly, and only in need. Most importantly of all, i love you." The message ends. Tom calls watchdog. "I have what you want. Where do you want to meet?
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 8, 2022 23:09:41 GMT -5
(Mwa ha ha...)
"Stay where you are. I'll come to you," was Watch Dog's reply.
He wasn't kidding. Watchdog showed up at Tom's apartment just ten minutes later. He pounded on Tom's door, then threw it open before Fred could reach for it.
"Do you have it? Give it to me!" the mercenary demanded.
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Post by acathala on Aug 9, 2022 6:30:49 GMT -5
"Here you go. I checked it for malware. I didn't touch any of your files but I did see some off the newspaper headings. For what it's worth, my mum and I were massive fans of Jacky. I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose people." Tom said as he handed the drive over. He's a little nervous how he's going react to Tom knowing about Jacky.
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 9, 2022 11:18:20 GMT -5
"Just give me the drive," Watchdog replied sharply.
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Post by acathala on Aug 9, 2022 15:12:33 GMT -5
(I did hand it over.)
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 9, 2022 17:29:18 GMT -5
Watchdog took the drive and stuffed it into his pocket.
And that was all.
"Was there anything else to discuss?" the merc asked.
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Post by acathala on Aug 9, 2022 17:57:54 GMT -5
"Yes. I need your help planning a mission. You, Corvus, and Strongarm, are going to take the train and do property damage to the stations, and destroy as many drones as you can. It's going to take place tonight so we don't have a lot of time. Geek, Pan and I will occupied on another mission."
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 9, 2022 21:26:31 GMT -5
"Good heavens, young master! Is such wanton destruction truly necessary?" Fred said.
"What's the purpose of this mission?" Watchdog asked.
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Post by acathala on Aug 11, 2022 7:25:12 GMT -5
"I'm not a fan of the plan either, Fred." Tom replied. To watch dog. "You're going to be a distraction for steel cat, so that he can hack the security server. We might finally get some answers."
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 11, 2022 15:09:32 GMT -5
Watch Dog seemed to process this information for a moment before nodding. "Understood. I'll collect the others and head out."
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Post by acathala on Aug 11, 2022 15:57:21 GMT -5
"I'll call you when it's time. Remember Corvus explodes if he goes unconscious or dead. No civilian or police casualties please."
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 12, 2022 16:55:38 GMT -5
Watchdog nodded again. "Understood."
Need actions.
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Post by acathala on Aug 12, 2022 17:36:43 GMT -5
He's going to get geek and pan. "Tonight is going to be a very dangerous mission. Alice Tashiro is very powerful, but I don't think she's in control of her actions. We'll be working with a specialist to bring Alice in. Complicating things new Millennium now has a way to track Alice, so we can expect interference from them."
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 12, 2022 22:02:16 GMT -5
Uh...wow," Geek said. "And you want me to come along? I gotta say, I think that I would have preferred to go with the other guys."
"No need to fear, Mr. Geek!" Fred said brightly. "I'm sure the young master will protect you from that murderous sea witch."
"Woof!" Pan added.
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Post by acathala on Aug 13, 2022 20:44:09 GMT -5
"This is the best possible team we have for Alice. I trust you both. I know i'm adking a lot, but this is what being a hero is about." Tom says. He makes sure watch dog has the subway tokens Hanson gave him. Tom will get rubber boots for geek and himself. Otherwise it's waiting for the call.
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 13, 2022 22:11:30 GMT -5
Rubber boots?
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Post by acathala on Aug 14, 2022 3:37:56 GMT -5
Yes.
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 14, 2022 17:20:56 GMT -5
Okay then, rubber boots it is. Tom runs out and buys rubber boots. As he does so, he gets a message from "lost kitty" informing him that he's ready to "paint the town red". Tom texts Watchdog and they're off to the races.
As for Tom, he is supposed to meet Zena Mays at the cotton candy stand in the pier amusement park at sundown. With everything in place, Tom collects his companions and heads on out.
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 14, 2022 17:22:43 GMT -5
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 15, 2022 16:59:13 GMT -5
NEW MILLENNIA, PIER AMUSEMENT PARK Twilight, Cold, Damp
*Sorry, no pic; any search using "cyberpunk amusement park" just brings up an endless number of Cyberpunk 2077 pics of that dumb rollercoaster scene
The Pier Amusement Park was one of the last places you could find a remnant of the old city still alive and in active service. At least, some bits of it remained: the old pier, which was really just one long boardwalk poking into the river, still remained, and some of the old rides were still in active service, but much of the area had been renovated after it was seized by the city for repeated safety violations. It was now more of a glitzy, jazzy, riverside amusement park brimming with activity and no shortage of neon spectacle. But it was the old part of the park that concerned Tom on this night, the central portion built around the lead-up walkway to the pier. Here he had to purchase a ticket from the old school ticket booth, it was manned by a robot like Fred but still old school comparatively, then descend via ramp to the park below. Pets weren't allowed in the park, so Pan had to ride in Tom's pocket. Geek was dressed plainly and eyed the various attractions like any young college student would.
"Do we have time to go on any rides?" Geek asked. "These old rides are so much better than new ones. They don't have any of those motion smoothing actuators or vibration reducing shocks to ruin the feel of the ride. If the motion sickness crowd can't ride the things, why bother developing rides for them? It's so stupid. It's not like they go to amusement parks in the first place."
Tom's sharp glance was enough to end any more talk of rides.
Zena said she would meet Tom by the cotton candy stand. Although there were numerous places selling cotton candy, only one nearby was specifically marked as a cotton candy stand in old school colours and design. Tom went to that one and it is there that he found the intelligence specialist leaning against the wall of the stand. She was working on a cone of cotton candy.
"Hey, ninja," Mays called at the sight of him. "Hold up, I'm almost done." She pulled off the last bit of candy and stuffed it in her mouth, then tossed the cone support into the trash. "Tonight's the last night this place is open. Take a wild guess who has fond memories of this place?"
Geek frowned at Tom. "I don't care what you say, I'm getting some cotton candy. And maybe a pretzel." He joined the line.
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Post by acathala on Aug 16, 2022 4:26:59 GMT -5
"If it's not Alice, consider my expectations subverted. Do you have any clearer idea what's going on with her? I don't think we're going to have much time before new Millennium interferes."
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Post by TG Barighm on Aug 16, 2022 10:07:41 GMT -5
"She's asleep," Mays answered matter of factly. "And she's having trouble waking up. Something is keeping her asleep. These attacks of hers? It's whatever is keeping her asleep. It's lashing out at everything to maintain control." She gestured to the park. "I'm guessing the places she goes are rooted in memories. Comforting memories. Like this park. She has a fond memory of coming here on the last day of the season. These...warm memories are like a defense mechanism, like moments of reprieve within the throws of a perpetual nightmare.
Why they're always close to water...probably because it's the only way she can travel right now."
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