Private Sniffin' Glue

[Hacks]

Lithios, Meissa System
0045 Local Time
Triple Overdose

Lithios was unnerving Hacks ever since she arrived, the similarities were everywhere she turned. It was as though she had never left Denon and it was giving her a headache. In fact, it was really beginning to piss her off. The enigmatic and ever elusive Storyteller had sent her to this world to track down Ar'ekk Daescharacor. This was once the job of a woman named Frankie, the first Shadowrunner in the Darkwire network. The fact that after Frankie had recruited Hacks she had mysteriously gone missing and the Storyteller was short on answers made her suspect. Hope I'm not next, she thought

She tugged at her jacket, covered in various band patches, pins, studs and spikes. The weather had soaked her through. Her hat was a poor comfort that kept the rain out of her eyes. Mechanical arms fidgeted while her other hands kept comfort in her pockets. The mod-junkie wore white platform boots, lightning blue thigh-highs and brown jogging shorts, as well as a pink traditional Atrisian shirt under her jacket. A spiked metal collar locked around her throat. Her kind didn't seem as prevalent here as they were on Denon, she thought. She would kill for a coupla' skins and punks beside her right now.

Why am I doing this, she thought, mechanical fingers playing with the brim of her hat. Ever since that bloody party at the Dragon Palace II it was like she'd accidentally become a recruiter for Darkwire, seeking out fellow rats in the system. Not that she didn't like meeting new people, she just felt awkward doing this sort of business. She wasn't used to this line of work, she wasn't some suit. She stepped closer to a neon sign, eyes squinting in the rain. Triple Overdose Club. Sweet, maybe I can accidentally kill myself on a high and be over with this.

Hacks stepped through the door, gave identification and a cover fee to the bouncer and walked into an explosion of pheromones, music and alcohol. If it wasn't for a cognitive upgrade package by Jaeger she might have had a sensory overload. The club was busy, especially this time of night. Brushing past partygoers she made her way to the bar, glancing down at someones datapad screen to see them browsing the holonet. Briefly a bounty appeared in a directed ad, her smiling face and middle finger at a hololens. You're joking, she thought. He didn't seem to pay attention and keep scrolling. She looked away and peered over the crowd, is my boy in tonight? she wondered.
​

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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The city's vibrant night scene was a dangerous one. Every mobster, junkie, skinjob and even corporate pricks would hit every club in the Red Light and Entertainment District without skipping a beat at any given time of the day to drown their sorrows and stress of the day-to-day grind for a couple of hours.

This is how the majority of the neon-lit ecumenopolis made their credits: running their club as a legal thing but keeping the less than legal gigs on the side.

Most of Lithios scum, if not all of them, loved to visit the Triple Overdose Club because of the girls and the oversensory booze they provided to customers. A nice mix of seizure inducing lights that covered the dance floor, the music blasting through the whole venue and as soon as you entered the premises you'd feel like it was going to burst your ear drums made this place the most popular joint in the area.

Arekk considered this place a second home of sorts as it had taken him in without much pressure after he fell on a heavy depression that could've claimed him a few years back. The owner of the joint, a corporate head that ran most of the venues on the south side of Ethos City, was good friends with the fallen Jedi and had shared many drinks over different situations.

Nobody could touch Arekk thanks to his contacts in the underworld, a reputation that preceeded him from Nar Shaddaa was an additional fear for most scumbags that wanted to have a piece of him while under the influence.

Tonight, however? It was a different night, the final one that is. The fallen Jedi turned slicer had decided to part ways with the city that he had been calling home for who knows how long. Not a celebration, be mindful, but the closure of a painful chapter.

His drink remained untouched as he sat by the bar, his back turned against the entrance of the club. The iconic black leather jacket he wore covered his K-16 blaster pistol that stirred nervously underneath, ready to fire any stupid soul.

Forbid anybody interrupts his night, at least that's what he had hoped. Things never go the way you want, right?

Arekk knew that all too well...

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Hacks ​

 

[Hacks]

Hacks sidled up next to the bar, peering left then right when she spotted the man she had coming looking for. I thought he'd be taller, she mused to herself, perhaps a big reputation had led her to believe the man had a larger than life stature to reflect his status. No, he was just like any other schmuck. "Moody," Hacks said to him, eyeing him up and down. She turned her head upwards and tapped a thoughtful finger on her chin, "I think I've seen this holo-flick before." She waved her hand in the air, "Girl meets boy, ecstatic night club but he's drinking a glass full of melancholy by the bar."​

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"Yeah," she slurred, "I have seen it." She scratched her head in thought, changing her tone of voice to a mocking resemblance of a noir detective, "The boy cries out - It was his last day on the force!" she slams her hand on the bar, an imaginary police badge resting in her hand. She unfurls an invisible photograph, "Best damn robo-cop-dog I ever had," and sheds a fictitious tear.​

​

Hacks moans aloud as if in disgust, caught in her own monologue, "BY THE FORCE! I hope you aren't that depressing to listen to." She dragged all four hands down her face, wiping away the last of the dramatic retelling she had given Ar'ekk. "I know you have no idea who I am but I just flew from Denon to middle of bloody nowhere looking for you," she said, extending two right hands towards him for him to shake, "I'm Hacks."​

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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The calmness of enjoying a drink alone had been disrupted by a very peculiar individual that had decided to join him by the bar, cybernetic arms and all. In his eyes Hacks looked like a cyberware junkie that just couldn't stop themselves from making the next addition to their bodies and that she'd annoy him for the remainder of the evening hoping he could spare some credits.

"I think you've got the wrong person." He huffed while sipping from the glass, blue eyes sizing the cybernetic girl up and down. "No idea what you're talking about."

Instinctively, Arekk's gaze dragged back to the entrance of the nightclub to see if she had barged in with somebody else. In this city and age you just cannot trust anybody and simply talking to Hacks could be a distraction to get him killed, his reputation went back as far as reaching the Smuggler's Moon and that planet never forgets.

"Leave me alone now. I'm trying to enjoy my drink." Arekk raised his glass and downed the liquor all the way down, grimacing at its sour taste. "Take care."

The fallen Jedi turned slicer had already reached into the depths of his leather jacket to hold onto his K-16 blaster pistol, a finger off the trigger and ready to put one into the core of Hacks in case she decided to do something stupid.

Old habits die hard.

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Hacks ​

 

[Hacks]

"I think you've got the wrong person." Ar'ekk huffed while sipping from the glass, blue eyes sizing the cybernetic girl up and down. "No idea what you're talking about." Hacks frowned, alright, he was going to be like that. "Leave me alone now. I'm trying to enjoy my drink. Take care." Hacks reached into her pocket and took out her datapad, "Damn, ya'll be spitting facts right now, maybe I did get you confused for the wrong person." She swiped a finger along the screen, pinched the image and expanded. A holo projector activated and blue light burst out, displaying a large poster sized bounty for Ar'ekk. Large enough that just about anyone at the bar could see. "Yeah. . . no, you're the one I'm looking for."

Hacks nudged the man beside her who was gawking at the reward of the bounty, "Looks like him don't it?" she said and pointed to Ar'ekk, "Or have I got the wrong person." He stuttered for a moment then announced, "Look, I don't want to get involved alright?" and put his hands up to omit himself from the situation and walked away. She shut the projector down and a small group of rough hooligans were staring at the two of them. "Oh," she said to the group, "Do you recognize that guy?" and hocked a thumb over her shoulder to Ar'ekk. "Yeah," she muttered, scratching her shoulder, "Big bounty hey." They were reaching into their coats and jackets, looking past Hacks and at the seated Ar'ekk.

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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Hacks had a way to deal with the situation and Arekk had to give her praise for that. But not only she was wrong in the way to go about it, she was doing it in a city where money can buy everything. Ethos City was unforgiving as the majority of its citizens were unless you had the credit chips.

"It's a hefty bounty, sure." The man pointed at the holoprojector with his glass of whiskey. "But you know what your mistake is?"

The fallen Jedi turned slicer savoured the moment before he even continued with his monologue,

"This city doesn't care. Nobody does unless you've got the credits, girl." he laughed while sparking a cancer stick to mix with his other vice. "And these dudes? They know better than to mess with the wrong person."

The rough looking hooligangs belonged to the local organized crime group called "The Savages" who are an aggressive boostergang that emphasize on physical power above all else. They enhance themselves with melee combat-enhancing cyberware and by using a steroid-like drug known as "the Juice" which increases one's strength and speed.

They frequently sell off their services as bouncers, a job of which they are heavily sought after for, and are spread throughout the district. Arekk had been a patron of the Triple Overdose Club for years now and they knew better than to get into the "Champion of the Kajidii's" business. All of them reached within their jackets for their blasters but instead looking at Hacks while doing so.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't leave you here with them."

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Hacks ​

 

[Hacks]

The hooligans looked like a bunch of animals. They stared at Hacks. "Okay, I get it, you've got more friends than me, you're the popular kid," Hacks said nervously but with a shit-eating grin on her face. She flicked her head back then forward, her glasses falling down over her eyes. Neural pulses translated to wavelengths then data, connecting her remotely to her glasses via subtle cranial cybernetics. With thought she could manipulate code. She began searching Darkwire financial assets remotely and accessed her account. It was hefty after the Belazura heist.

She reached into her pocket and the bouncers tensed. She did not pull a blaster but a small black and gold cred stick that was pinched between her fingers. She flipped the chip over and it revealed a digital number. Five million credits were on it, Hacks' entire bank account. "Because I'm the girl with the credits, not to mention I've got four arms to queen slap your sorry ass with if you try shit with me," she sternly warned. "You're a moody son of a gun and this place is killing my vibe so tell these animals to piss off and we can have a chat, or I'll bring you back to Denon in binders where I'm not filled with sudden morbid depression and surrounded by chicken heads."

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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"I'd like to see you try." A thick cloud of smoke emanated from his nostrils as he laughed, nodding. "I respect your cojones, though. I'll allow this."

With a swift hand gesture, Arekk motioned to the bouncers to back off and they did as he instructed by disappearing into the depths of the nightclub to deal with unruly drunk patrons. The slicer met eyes with Hacks once more and his interest peaked once she produced a cred stick containing her life savings.

"That's a lot of money to be carrying around. Are you sure you want to attract that kind of attention? It's a big city, lots of ears. Not very smart."

Letting the cancer stick dangle from his dry lips, Arekk adjusted on his seat and leaned to converse with Hacks in a much more discrete tone. Their business would have to take place somewhere else away from the eyes and ears of mobsters that sorrounded the establishment they encountered themselves into.

"Let's walk and talk." the man said while pointing at the exit and as he got ready to get up from the stool. "You've got five minutes."

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Hacks ​

 

[Hacks]

"Takes a lot of cojones to be a shadowrunner," Hacks replied and watched the monstrous-sized bouncers walk away, giving them four middle-fingers to their retreating backs. She placed the cred stick back into a pocket and tugged the zipper closed. "Sweety, I'm used to attention, look at me, I'm beautiful," Hacks replied to Ar'ekks attempt to warn her, offering a look of indifference and four arms held out as if to suggest he take a look at her. She nodded towards a bartender and waved them down, "What's your cheapest beer?" she asked and after a short exchange of words she was given a glass of something that didn't look exactly legal to be sold, for health safety reasons.

"Aight," she said to Ar'ekk, "Lets go," and took a sip from the glass then held it under her jacket to hide it as she began to walk out of the club with the glass. Petty theft, really petty theft. Pathetic. She laughed as she walked out the door, onto the street, took the glass out from her jacket and began to drink in earnest. "Whats the suicide rate here?" she asked honestly and on the nose, looking around at all the miserable folks. While the conditions on Denon, specifically Seven Corners, was very similar to this city the lifestyle of the residents at Seven Corners seemed to inspire a lot of community. Depression was not as rampant there as it looked to be here.

Hacks took another sip from her beer and found it depleting fast. "So, I got asked by someone to come fishing for you. Heard a bit here and there but noticed you vanished for a short time. Figured you were dead," she said and pointed a finger-gun and made a blaster noise with her pursed lips, then took another sip. "Wouldn't be surprised, lots of us idiots end up dead." She crossed the street and beelined for a food vendor she had spotted, "Looking for more people to join a network of elite operatives. We work in conjunction with some very wealthy individuals, we get paid good." She pointed to a strange meat on a stick and exchanged creds, finished her beer and began to eat. "We can always use more slicers."

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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"People die everyday; doesn't matter if it's by a blaster shot to the skull or jumping from the tallest skyscraper in the city."

The loud music echoed from within the club as they walked outside, booming like the entire building would come down on itself because of how vibrant it sounded. Outside they were welcomed by the unforgiving rain of Ethos City; its finest trademark weather.

Ethos City's marvelous neon-lit skyline crept into view, or more of their details did. From where they were previously, it was buildings off in the distance and the pollution was so thick, the fog heavy from the rain that it offered nothing like they were seeing now.

Tall buildings glittered with various splashes of light against the dark of night, billboards danced into view, showcasing burlesque, casinos, hotels, and the high rise apartments under construction by the river. It tantalized the senses of all- from the dapper upper class to the lowliest of scum and the moon that hung just off promised of ethereal adventure.

So close, one could feel the magnetizing nature and reach to possess it.

"If you ask me, I'd rather remain that way. Dead." the man replied, not really convinced as of yet. "What could this network provide me that I don't already have?"

Arekk appreciated his independence very well and that was a difficult thing to convince him to change. The contacts that he had on Lithios' underworld sprawled countless of districts, neighbourhoods and powerful people from all walks of life: corpos, top ten wanted criminals, the scum of the galaxy.

"I get paid good here too. Chit, I have the most expensive loft in the city in one of the wealthiest districts. What's in it for me?"

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Hacks ​

 

[Hacks]

"A bit of fun and a challenge," Hacks replied in what Darkwire could offer him, "I'm sure you've already been sitting on a pile of credits large enough that I couldn't offer you any real luxuries." She herself found no pleasure in luxuries, no fancy apartments with beautiful skyline views. She enjoyed being able to buy better noodles and copious amounts of booze but otherwise her credits sat in her accounts gathering dust until she made another stupid purchase on a weapon or augmentation she didn't need, or new stomping-boots.

"I ain't here to tell you why it's better here but at least back on Denon we don't jump from starcutters every other day from the morbid overwhelming depression." She scratched at her chest and thought for a moment, there was much more of a sense of community on Denon. Everyone was in it together, it didn't feel quite the same on Lithios. From the working class hero skinheads to the screaming-anarchist punks, and every subculture inbetween. One felt unity in their struggle for life on Denon and that itself brought its own unique sense of accomplishment and joy. "If you ain't interested you ain't interested," she shrugged casually, "At least I know I make an impact for the people I care about."

 

[Arekk]

Lithios, Ethos City
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"At least I know I make an impact for the people I care about."

If only Hacks knew what that meant for him. For the last six years Arekk had been sitting in seedy bars all over Lithios, drinking himself to death on self pity. He blamed himself for the death of his lover and daughter and hated the world for not taking him with them, making a difference in the galaxy had been a thought that was buried deep long ago.

"It's a city of backstabbers and cold-blooded murderers. Nobody cares about each other here, you are right." he dawdled on the subject for a moment while toking from his cancer stick. "You've got my interest, for now."

The yearn for adventure and to see what else there was out in the galaxy after a long time motivated Arekk, to finally get out of the place that had kept a grip on him ever since his Jyn had been murdered. Move out, make the next move, try to find some sort of purpose as she would have wanted him to do.

"Your network of elite operatives must be highly secretive, of course, and only seek the best of the best. Why me?"

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Hacks​