Laughter [Open to Slicers]

[Jen]

S L A U G H T E R

Nar Shaddaa
Shuttlebus 5189A
Red Sector to Hutta City


The rhythmic thumping of the old shuttlebus. The entrancing clanking of the repulsorlifts that carried it through the encumenopolis known as Nar Shaddaa, could have –had it not been for the noise from its passengers- been mistaken for an exotic lullaby. Two stripes of neon tubes ran along the ceiling, their red hue covering the faces of the commuters and the cart itself.

Jennifer, a twenty-something year old half-human, had been sitting in the shuttle for the last two hours, her leather boots comfortably resting on the seat opposite of hers. By now, the song of people boarding and disembarking from the bus had become a blur, the people a faceless mess. None of them mattered anyway. She let a hand run through her mid-neck long hair. It was dyed black, but the natural white color was starting to show at the roots. Soon enough she would have to dye it once again. She had not had the time, not between coding and trying to set up the heist.

Which, by the way, was why she had been sitting in the shuttlebus for so long, waiting. Through various back channels and chats that only the most skilled slicers knew about, she had put out an advertisement seeking companions, other slicers, that were willing to partake in a legendary run. The message had been simple:

"Assist me in karking the Horizons Technologies servers. Meet me on bus 5189A if interested, I will be wearing Anarchy. Credit pay provided for success, if necessary & if u think the challenge is not enough payment in itself."

She had posted it using the handle Phoenix. The name mostly known for having created the Cryptnet, running a good amount of hosting servers and bot nets as well as being the one to code the Happy_LifeDay Virus, it in turn being responsible for crashing two hundred thousand systems in a single day. She adjusted the oversized black hoodie she was wearing, a large white A painted on it.

Hopefully, those skilled enough to find the message would show up to talk about the gig. It was time to teach Horizons a lesson about invading people’s privacy.

 

[Munin]

[member="Jen"]

To say that he cared about teaching anyone a lesson would be one of the greatest lies he’d ever told, and he’d told a lot of lies over the years.

The truth was that he’d been brought up in an environment that really only leant itself to self-service. The orphanage had taught him early on that looking out for people you didn’t know generally ended up with being hurt yourself. There were exceptions to this rule of course, but they were granted to the people that you did know. Huginn and Spark were those people for him. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the galaxy at large, he did in fact care quite a bit and thats why he didn’t serve entities like the Sith.

However, Munin was well aware of the fact that you couldn’t help everyone, not if you didn’t want to sacrifice yourself. That might have seemed an odd thought to have in a situation like this, but it was true. One company stepping over the line a galactic problem did not make, hell, even twenty wasn’t that big of a problem. There were still entire governments out there that were whole-sale slaughtering entire species, a corporation was the least of anyones worries.

Of course, that didn’t make this all a worthless endeavor.

Whereas someone else might have seen an opportunity for justice, Munin had seen an avenue for profit. Horizons Technologies was a rather large company, and that meant a lot of people had interest in it, and a lot of interest meant a lot of money. That was all that really mattered to Munin, and it hadn’t taken much convincing to get Huginn on board.

She had stayed behind of course, she usually did. Though Nar Shaddaa wasn’t exactly his scene, he could blend in well enough among the thousands of smugglers, thugs, and other criminals. He smiled slightly as he stepped onto the tram line and went wandering down the car, wandering past the girl and sitting down a few feet opposite her.

 

[Jen]

The shuttle stopped once more, its repulsorlifts hum heard through the open doors as passengers exited and entered, their gazes reluctant to make contact with any other lifeform within the cart. A constant buzz filled the evening transport, though when compared to the clamor of the cityscape outside the windows it was almost a serene environment.

For the first half hour of waiting on potential contacts, Jennifer had paid close attention to everyone within the shuttle. But now, after another hour and a half she took little consideration of the newcomers, barely noticing Munin as he walked up the carts aisle.

Instead, her attention was directed to what most of all looked like a jumbled mess of wires and electronic parts. For a while, she focused entirely on the homemade datapad in her hand, scrolling through information about the specs for a new setup she had been contemplating on building.

Eventually however, her eyes diverted from the screen, the expression on her almost gaunt pale face cold as her aureate in color eyes rested on Munin for a second, unable to recognize him for what he was. Eventually she looked away and up towards the ceiling, stretching her arms, a tattooed hand trying to reach a dangling grab handle for a few futile moments. From the neck of her hoodie, tattoos were visible as well, extending up her neck to under her chin.

She yawned and finished the stretching, scanning the cart with her eyes once more, glaring at Munin for half a second in the process. Something did seem off about the guy.

[member="Munin"]​

 

[Elliot Day]

[member="Jen"] | [member="Munin"]

Elliot felt lured to stand here in one spot; half sitting/half sitting on the end of his desk; facing the front door. A shadow came to a stop in front of the door. Elliot wanted to move, but he couldn't. Every fiber of his being simply refused to move or react. The shadow bent down and an envelope came sliding across the floor, perhaps traveling farther than what should have been natural. The shadow stood up again and left.

Elliot felt control come back into his limbs, so he moved to open the letter and read its contents.

"Assist me in karking the Horizons Technologies servers. Meet me on bus 5189A if interested, I will be wearing Anarchy. Credit pay provided for success, if necessary & if u think the challenge is not enough payment in itself."

Credits were in high demand and short supply and he couldn't afford to be very picky. Elliot wasn't a hacker, but a big job like this should certainly require lots of people with a variety of skills. He had high hopes that he could fit the bill in some way other than playing patsy. He grabbed his fedora and slipped on his trench coat. He was always packing two wallops at all times: one was his revolver that bit anyone directly in front of it. The other was a flask and it was there to bite Elliot. As he walked down the steps, he realized how late it really was. There was hardly anyone in the bar.

On his way out, he asked Mario Vespucci, the bar owner, in passing,

"Hey, Vespucci? Did you see anyone walking away from my office recently?"

"No. Customers have been absent for the past hour, just like your rent money..."

"I'll pay you, Vespucci. I'm about to go see about a job to make money right now."

"I hope so. For your sake."

There was a biting remark to be made somewhere there, but Elliot wasn't petty enough to keep pushing his luck like that.

__________________________________________________________________________​

​

​

After waiting 15 minutes for it to show, Elliot jumped onto the 5189A. Not immediately spotting the potential customer that lured him here, he simply stood close to the front. He stood with one hand holding onto the handle bar above his head. He kept staring out from under his fedora at the people on the bus; his gaze passing by each of them. His eyes were like spotlights trying to find the potential customer he came all this way for; trying to spot the life line that would help him live another day, another week in relative safety and moderate comfort in a bad part of town.

He was easily recognizable as a man on a mission; a person with a purpose. Whoever wanted him here would make themselves known. It was just a matter of waiting.

 

[Jen]

When Elliot entered the shuttlebus a few minutes later, Jen caught sight of him by accident when his outline was showered in the crimson glow from the lights above. Had it not been for his determined searching of the shuttle with his gaze, Jen would have passed him off as just another eccentric commuter. However, despite having spotted him she made no move to indicate her own presence, her gaze returning to her datapad as she waited for the shuttle to reach its final destination.

At least one person had showed up, she mused as the bus continued its journey through the streets of Nar Shaddaa…

After a good fifteen minutes or so, the shuttle went to stop by an old station in the outskirts of Hutta City. In a hurry, the steps of the passengers resounded against the durasteel floor of the old vehicle. Most of the passengers quickly exited the bus and after only a minute the bus was entirely deserted.

Almost as if pretending to not having noticed the bus had reached its final stop, Jennifer continued to sit and tab at her datapad, only looking up when a creaking sound was heard from the door to the drivers’ booth and a small brown alien with two huge cat-like eyes exited. “Yar got 20 minutés before the next driva arrives. I will let tha lights stay lit.” It blurted out, adjusting the drivers cap that sat on top of its bald head before it trudged out onto the streets of Hutta City and presumable towards the nearby cantina.

With the driver out of the way, Jennifer finally pocketed her datapad and glanced towards the remaining passengers, the small grin that had formed on her face barely able to be seen in the dim red light. “Good to see some peps showed up.”

[member="Elliot Day"] :: [member="Munin"]​

 

[Munin]

Slicers never worked well with others, too much ego. Munin knew that first-hand, mostly because he was one of the ones with ego. He smiled slightly at the thought, though he knew that this time around he couldn’t really express it. The Information Broker shifted slightly as the girl spoke up, his eyes settling on her and eventually wandering towards the other man.

There was no doubt in his mind that not everyone here was what they said they were, mostly because he was one of those.

Shifting slightly in his seat Munin cast his gaze towards the woman once more, looking at her datapad then back towards the front of the carriage. ”I suppose this is where we start then?”

Perhaps there would be surprise, but probably not.

Huginn had always told him that he was too bold when he used an alias, that he let things slip that he shouldn’t have, showed knowledge that should have been a mystery. This particular face...this was different. It was a blend of the real him, but under a fake name. Even with other slicers he didn’t want to show his true face.

Not yet anyway.

 

[Elliot Day]

[member="Jen"]

He strode forward towards the back end of the bus. With everyone gone, his new "friends" were apparent and few to speak of. As he came forward, the lighting in the back of the bus would soon illuminate his features: late 20's, silver grey eyes and with blonde hair poking out from under his fedora. He had shaved that morning, but it's not like he grew facial hair easy. His critical gaze passed between the two present and then back towards the front of the bus. Having been satisfied that no one was seemingly spying, he stated,

"I got your message. Do you have work for me or do I need to bounce?"

 

[Jen]

“Totes, you’ve both come to the right place.” She uncrossed and recrossed her feet, grabbing a crumbled pack of cigarettes from a pocket in her drop crotch pants. She placed one at the corner of her lips, letting it hang as she grabbed a fusing pen and carefully lit the end of the tobacco, or whatever it was the paper cylinder contained.

“But sit down guys." She gestured lazily towards the seats in front of her: "I’m Phoenix, have we met on the net? Do I know you by name?” She glanced between Munin and Elliot: “What are your handles?”

She took a puff from her cigarette and blew out a cloud of cyan smoke. To her, it was important to make sure she was not talking to two feds, but they were right. Time was money and in a case like this, where a zero-day bug in the Horizons systems had potentially been found, they could not afford to wait or else the hole in the companies security could be patched.

[member="Elliot Day"] :: [member="Munin"]​

 

[Elliot Day]

[member="Jen"] | [member="Munin"]

Handles? Net? Oh, boy, was Elliot out of place...

"They call me...erhm...Wild Card...Yeah."

Wild Card? Where did that thought spring up from?

"I don't think we've met before. I needed a job to do and my...friend pointed me in the right direction."

He shifted his weight from his left foot to his right foot. He felt as though he stuck out like a new kid at school. Sure, he wasn't a hacker, but there had to be plenty of other jobs than just fiddling with a datapad, right?

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

To say that Iris was an oddball among most people was a huge understatement. She was confined to a wheelchair, she had started out life as a normal little girl, that was until she got into programming and later hacking. She would have found the message out on the net and decided it was about time she found some people like herself. She would have been waiting for the bus, she would catch it but have to use the dumb lift to get up inside which made her made the looks of pity made it even worse. She would stay on board until the driver left, she would then unfasten her wheelchair where it had been fastened down and would roll back to where the other slicers were talking. She would the set the brakes and wait. She hated when people looked at her as if she were helpless, so many people did it but she had just gotten used to not being able to move her legs and tried to get back on with her life. To the question posed earlier she would answer “They call me Delphi” As she said this she would look around at the people and size them up

[member="Elliot Day"]
[member="Jen"]
[member="Munin"]

 

[Simone]

Outside the shuttlebus a low rumble of thunder heralded the arrival of rain. The heavens split and within moments any chance of over hearing the conversation within was drowned by fat water droplets drumming incessantly on every noisy surface it could.

Sheltered, though only just, by the overhanging roof of the station, Simone pursed her lips. She'd not take a freelance contract for sometime. The last she interviewed for had been on this very planet, where she had shamed the man running for mayor by pasting his filthy secrets on every billboard.

Was there a challenge here? Or was it a simple waltz in, talk shit and pretend you k ow what you're doing. "Feth it." She muttered and darted from her little shelter across to the shuttlebus. The doors slid open, letting her step out of the rain again. Just in time to here her ask everybodoes handle.

"You know these shuttlebus's are equipped with cameras, right? Good ones too, high resolution. If you're any good at lip reading, this is clearly the place to learn everybody's secrets." She shook her head at those who had too easily given up their online identities.

"Anonymity, is our saving grace. I'd rather keep it that way." She wandered down the bus, opening the drivers cabin and examining the controls. "Pick a name for me, if it makes life easier for you." She rested her boot on the drivers chair and pulled a knife from it, using it to pop the control panel up, she paused, waiting to see if an alarm was going to sound or not.

When nothing happened, she continued, picking through the wires till she found the right one. "Hold on." She said, slicing through the wire, the shuttle bus was plunged into darkness for a moment, then with a gentle clink, the lights came back online. Simone replaced the panel and the knife and moved back down the bus, dropping herself into a chair nearby.

"Now, what's this about taking down Horizon?"

[member="Munin"] [member="Jen"] [member="Elliot Day"] [member="Iris Issey"]

 

[Jen]

Jennifer, or Phoenix as she had introduced herself as looked up towards Elliot as he spoke, the smoke from her cigarette lazily hovering towards the roof of the shuttle as the cylinder hung between her long fingers. While it was perhaps hard to determine her exact species, it was clear Jennifer was not entirely Human, her long nose, aureate in color eyes and pale almost gaunt face being the determining factors in such a conclusion.

“Wild Card? Huh. That sounds like such a white hat handle.” She smiled slightly: “Only joking, good to have you onboard Wild Card.” As Jennifer spoke, one would soon note that the manner in which she spoke was odd, her accent melodious.

Next, she looked towards Delphi as she rolled towards the group in her wheelchair. “I sense someone is fond of compliers” Her reply would be as Iris revealed her handle, another smile cracked after she had blown out yet another cloud of coloured smoke: “But good to meet you Delphi. You remind me of a dude I know. With your…” She seemed as if she was about to gesture towards Iris’ wheelchair, but mid-motion decided against it, looking up as Simone entered the shuttlebus moments after rain had started tapping the thin metal roof of the bus.

Jennifer was silent, watching for a while as Simone killed the lights in the bus before re-activating them, supposedly killing the cameras. She had never heard of cameras in the shuttlebusses, but doubted they were regularly checked. Thousands of busses roamed the smuggler’s moon, in cases like these (if there actually was cameras on the bus) they would be protected by the fact that the recording would be hidden among thousands of other recordings.

However, it was always nice to take some proper precautions. As Simone approached them and dropped into a nearby chair, Jennifer followed her with her gaze, she liked this one already. “Well, you know. That’s the whole point of a handle, dude. Staying under the radar while still being able to build a reputation. It's how you're trusted by your fellow slicers. You have no reputation if you have no name, no cred. And that poodoo takes time to build. But that’s up to you, I just don’t who you are then. For all I know you could be a fed. Either way, impressive show before.” She looked at Simone, shrugging as she took a drag from her cigarette.

She waited a while in case of a respond, offering all of them a cigarette as well. After some time, she would cough and get back to business. “So as you guys probably know Horizons have been monitoring large sectors of Shaddaa for a good while now. It’s seriously a pain in the ass to bypass their protocols every time I need to set up a new connection and with the government only giving them monopoly on the sectors there isn’t any other choices for HoloNet providers out there. They also recently took down Acid because he was being a dead-brain. You know, the blogger jerk. But yeah, I propose we run a hit on them, encrypt their data, crack their servers and put all the stuff they have monitored for sale…” As an afterthought, she added: “Or maybe put it up for ransom and if Horizons pay to get their garbage back, we just delete the poodoo anyway. Hm?” She glanced between those gathered in the bus, a smile forming on her face once again.

[member="Simone"] :: [member="Iris Issey"] :: [member="Elliot Day"] :: [member="Munin"]​

 

[Elliot Day]

[member="Iris Issey"]

The wheeled woman eyed them all and, for some reason unknown, this irked him. He was used to blending in and being passed over by the common eye. Close inspection of the disabled kind just...frell, it just made him downright uncomfortable. He turned his head, looked her up and down once (the shifting light causing his grey silver eyes to flash) and said, "Unfortunate" before turning back to face the rest of the group.

[member="Simone"]

Suddenly, the bus had been assaulted by a pink chipmunk on espresso. Not literally. That was an exaggeration. But, you obviously knew that, so it wasn't funny for me to point it out. Why was it always hard for Elliot to break the fourth wall like this? Anyway, we now return to Agents of Shield: Pink Sunburn Edition.

It was only the first few seconds she'd come aboard and she was already bounding all over everyone's business. It was almost as if she, herself, was the personification of "bringing bad news", what with the rain and the speech. He raised a hand, if only slightly, and said,

"Well, you know, it's not like I actually call myself Wild Card in real life, like...at all. I vote that we call her Chipmunk. No specific reason; just a thought."

She started wrecking the bus controls and Elliot turned to Phoenix, saying,

"Is she supposed to, umm...Whatever."

The lights turned off.

"This is great. Love what you've done with the place," he whispered to himself.

They flickered back on again.

"Well, thanks for that, er...ma'am," he said to Simone.

[member="Jen"]

"I don't like white hats, ma'am. They stain real easy, even if you're just taking a stroll down the sidewalk."

Soon enough, the big boss gave her spiel and Elliot was left with some answers and more questions. He understood the broad strokes of what was laid out, such as monopoly and restriction of freedom. However, "running a hit", encrypting and cracking were new to him, especially since they were meant to be considered in a format foreign to him. The golden words of ransom and sale were good follow-ups, though. He simply nodded his head and pretended to completely understand.

"Money and justice are both sweet, but I think money is a higher priority, at least for me. You can have your street cred and notoriety. I just want to be able to eat and pay the land lord. Maybe rent a holo-vid every now and again."

He turned to Chipmunk (Simone) and asked,

"Are you into chick flicks, dame?"

Before she could answer, but as she started to speak up and respond, he would interject with,

"Well, I'm not," and he would turn back to look at Phoenix (Jen).

 

[Simone]

Simone gave a slight chuckle at Jen's response. "Handle's can always be tracked. People work in patterns, patterns can be mapped. Doesn't matter how thorough you think you might be, there is always a line to follow. So I don't have a handle, I have a few. So pick one for me." Her eyes flickered to the boy as he spoke up and she inclined her head. "Chipmunk will do."

She took the offered cigarette, with a smile of thanks. Lighting up, she sat back and listened to Jen's vague plan. Horizon was a big cooperation on Nar Shadda, and if the government was allowing monopoly it meant that they were giving something back to the government. But it also meant, that they had allies to deal with any ransom. A big risk, not that such a thing ever put Simone off, if anything, it was all the more reason to do it. There was something incredibly satisfying about winning against the odds.

She opened her mouth to respond to the boys ramblings, only to be cut off. She felt a spike of anger at his attitude, and turned to face him fully. There wasn't any anger in her expression, on the contrary, she smiled warmly and leaned forward. "I'm going to take that moment, and place it into the 'not-worth-bothering-with' pile. However, if we're going to be working together, you're going to have to work on that attitude, because I have zero issue with breaking a few of your bones."

Her smile lingered, though her eyes were glittering dangerously. She held his gaze for a moment longer before turning back to Phoenix, ignoring whatever response he might have. "I'm here for the thrill, money isn't the be all and end all. Ransom is, sell it, I'm easy either way. I assume you've got way in?"

[member="Elliot Day"] @Jen