Faction Welcome To The Revolution (Darkwire Tatt-Chat)

[Gray Venasir]

It had been a long time since he had seen any of them. His friends, allies, accomplices. The times since then had also changed, but the people were still the same. Very little of what was said by them were a surprise. But there were some new faces here as well, even one of the leading figures here. It had been a smart decision of her to summon them here today.

For most of the talks, Gray hadn't been too interested in revealing himself. He had formed a mask for himself from the tatt-verse, which he had kept on from the start, and just stayed in the background listening to the others. Things were as expected, with the possibility of civil war among them, as well as the bickering of what to do next.

"You got that right kid, we are hopeless," Gray muttered to himself, so no one could hear it. This really is a hopeless situation we find ourselves in. Didn't think it'd be this bad on the outside.

"I'm with you on that, Cassus," he said loud enough for people to hear it, though his voice was slightly muffled from the mask. "They won't stop until they've taken us all. Dunno if getting the people on our side will help... or even be possible, as things are looking now. And taking their families will only paint a bigger target on our backs. You shouldn't have stopped after Xopsaloff, even with the results we got from it."

"Doc, I respect your ideals, and will help you if I can. But now it is time to take action." He looked over at Daiya through the visor of the mask. "Now is the time to take revenge!"'

Daiya | Cassus Akovin | Doc Painless | Ivory Stroud | Xan Deesa | Cartri Keswoll | Anakin Stormrunner | Peyton Steele | Samnai Rouber | Niki Priddy

 

[Doc Painless]

Cartri, at least, was with him. The Doc shot the kid an appreciative nod and a thin smile, glad that his philosophy was wearing off on someone. They were balanced on the razor's edge of public opinion at the moment, and deciding to lash out at everyone and everything affiliated with the CAD would tip them into the abyss. Information and civil support were more powerful, sustainable weapons than bombs and blasters; their little group couldn't possibly topple to colossal regime above them just by shooting things, because there were too many things to shoot, but if they got enough people behind them they'd have the momentum necessary to make real change.

But the reasonable voices were already being drowned out by the crowd. Looking around, the Doc felt his stomach drop.

What had he unleashed here? What was Darkwire about to become?

Daiya was... halfway on board. She was accepting some of what he said, but she was pushing the limits, stretching his ideals as if they were the stomach of a Hutt invited to his third open buffet of the day. When she spoke about snatching kids, the street medic felt his jaw drop, his fists clench, his blood turn to ice. He almost stormed out of the gathering then and there, following Hacks's example, spitting and cursing as he went. He would not be party to the kidnapping of children, no matter the sins of their parents. But if he left now, if he blew up and raged and logged out in a huff at this key moment, he would lose any chance of influencing what came of this meeting.

He would be giving up his ability to even try to pull this whole thing back from the edge.

So he took a deep breath... and lost it again, as if gut-punched, when Cassus doubled down. Didn't hit hard enough. Kill them all. I want some of theirs. With every word that passed the kid's lips, Doc Painless felt hope drain from his body, leaking out like blood from a severed artery. As people went back and forth, newcomers and old hands bandying about ideas for the particulars of how to wage their emerging war, it was all he could do to keep ahold of himself. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to scream, to shake someone, to weep as the dream he'd laid out was dragged through the mud. Feth, he needed a drink. No, not a drink. He needed a bar, and he needed it now.

Ivory, by contrast, seemed calm and in-control. A little too much so for the Doc's liking, if he was honest. She was becoming the mediator, the deal-maker, the director of this emerging thing... and he worried about what she would do with that power. He had to admit, though, that she was staying on top of it all masterfully. She kept things on message, working in the perspectives that could support her overall plan and simply not amplifying those that strayed outside it. She was made for this kind of work. He was not, and he was starting to really feel it. Maybe he should just give up, leave this in her hands. He was better at cleaning up aftermaths than preventing tragedies.

But if he had any chance of doing the latter, didn't he owe it to all the people who might get hurt to try?

He took a deep, steadying breath. "It doesn't matter if our messaging means nothing to the Corpos," he replied, his voice firm but not cold. "They're not the people the message is for. Darkwire can call on... what, a few thousand people at most, assuming they're all still with us? We're on a world of over a trillion, and there are tens of millions of Seccers locking it down. If we wage this war alone, we cause misery and destruction and death, and then we lose." He nodded at Ivory, echoing her words. "We need public support."

The Doc swept his cybernetic gaze across the room, letting it linger a moment on Cassus. He felt a wave of hurt run through him as he did, a swell both of fear for the young man and fear of what he might do. "In this room, we're all radicals. We want radical change, because something happened to us that radicalized us, made us see that this system can't stand." He looked around again. "I want all of you to think about what that something was for you. The moment that hurt you so much you couldn't let things stay as they are." There would be a whole variety of answers in this crowd. Some of them the Doc already knew. Others he could only guess at.

"The average, ordinary people of Denon haven't been radicalized yet, so they're not on our side. They can be, but how they get radicalized matters." He swept a hand out toward Cartri and Ivory. "They can get radicalized for us when they see the truth, when they find out what's happening to their planet and their neighbors, and they have to change it." He directed a smaller nod toward Cassus and Gray. "Or they can be radicalized against us when we show ourselves to be kidnapping, murdering thugs, and CorpSec looks like the only path to safety and stability." He sighed, already tired of arguing, of trying to make grand political statements.

"There are fifty-five members of the DireX Board. Suppose you kill them all. Suppose you burn their homes and murder their spouses and kidnap their children, and to you that feels like justice, an eye for an eye." He paused a moment, choked up by the words he was trying to force out. His cybernetic eyes were no longer capable of weeping, and for that, he was grateful. "Then what?" It was a challenge, one he directed with all the fierceness he could at those who'd spoken of violence. "When you've left a long, long trail of lives as broken as your own, when everything collapses in the wake of your vengeance, then what?!"

"You'll have created a new generation of yourselves, bent on revenge against you, and Denon will be no better for it."

"We have to build something. We have to have an after plan, not just a revenge plot."

Gray Venasir | Daiya | Cassus Akovin | Ivory Stroud | Samnai Rouber
Niki Priddy | Cartri Keswoll | Xan Deesa | Peyton Steele​

 

[Ivory Stroud]

"When you've left a long, long trail of lives as broken as your own, when everything collapses in the wake of your vengeance, then what?!"

"You'll have created a new generation of yourselves, bent on revenge against you, and Denon will be no better for it."

"We have to build something. We have to have an after plan, not just a revenge plot."

Ivory listened, having gone quiet & allowing Doc Painless to speak his mind. His impassioned speech filled the room - cutting deep to the heart of the issues at hand & attempting to bargain (in whatever way he could) for some semblance of logic & compassion. As the voices in the room (those crying for blood, for suffering, for a balancing of the scales) grew, Ivory had done her best to stem the tide. She knew, perhaps almost as well as the good Doctor himself, how quickly the lust for blood could grow to deafen reason.

While eventual war might be inevitable, she had no interest in seeing innocent lives destroyed or homes & families torn asunder.

As he finished, Ivory would again lean back against the table, propping herself on both hands. The "solid" wood against her tailbone was comforting, in a strange way; as-if it were an anchor, keeping her from being swept into the maelstrom alongside the rest of them. She directed her gaze, steadily, toward the man... then spoke, cutting through whatever retorts or echoes would follow him:

"There's only one way this can end, if not in violence and war." She said. "What I think we all want, is for Denon to be returned to the people." She let go of the table and brought her hands together, chafing her palms. The sensation felt real.

"What if... We could have a proper Democratic Process? A system of advocacy, designed to support the Common Good?" She took a breath, then let it out. "A way to hold not just CorpSec, but CAD responsible for when they steal, beat, bruise, or requisition property?"

"Ultimate Power removed from the DireX, who are either convinced or made to accept the change... then that power given to the Population. A system of judges, appointed by the Common Being - who have the power to demand transparency, or levy fines. What if the people of Denon were afforded the opportunity to vote... Not just with their presence, but with their pocket books."

"Denon is, and will likely always be, a Capitalist Utopia... but instead of the Corporations directing the flow of credits, the people felt included; able to establish rules & laws which protect them, able to craft an environment where everyone benefits - not just the 1%. Each person, able to decide for themselves where they work, the job they do, how they spend their wages, and which Corps to support or ignore."

What she was proposing was, in all reality, a true Anarcho-Capitalist System. In Ivory's mind, it was the lowest common denominator.

Doc Painless Daiya Cartri Keswoll Samnai Rouber Peyton Steele Gray Venasir Niki Priddy Anakin Stormrunner

 

[Peyton Steele]

There were so many different layers that the Darkwire crews had to go through, to prove themselves. The Senate was going to be a problem. Senates were always a problem. But that was not at all where Peyton's mind went as the first issue. She was thinking about how to keep them moving and fighting. Safe houses, working in cells that knew one another but had connections to only 2, maybe 3 more at tops. Places to run should the law or the corpos come for them. Part of it would be calling up her Underground contacts, those still in the game of fighting for freedom and not just rolling over. Sure, many would find their solutions in the Alliance, or the Concord, and that was what she wanted.

But others, like her, may not have that one place to call home and were after the mission, more than the end result. Would she rest? Some day. She did after the Empire went down. But the money was too good, and knowing there were kinks in the galaxy to fix? It was what she was good at.

Nodding to the Doc and offering a smile, Peyton felt that she found one person who could accept her gifts. Him and maybe Ivory, she supposed.

The little blonde though, that one had some spirit. Some fire in her. Peton was there when the Jedi were using magma cells. "Strong attacks, that is good, but you don't wanna play your whole hand right away. Blowing up a city block works in some form of warfare. Taking over a signal, stopping transfer of funds or goods… Those are messages that will work against corpos." Or should.

"If we go for family, that'll charge them up… Maybe we need to table that particular brand of attack. If we're taking people hostage, we need to be able to keep them somewhere safe, and use the kidnapping for a particular end goal."

Looking to Niki, Peyton nodded. "If you can set up some holdings, that helps. Hell, if you can set up a tap on a corpo account and have that pay for it, even better…" She took a second.

"What we need is to at least show them we're here, and not standing down. Get them thinking. A few shadow strikes, something we can do with a small group. Work on rallying hearts while going for their heart. Or wallet."

Doc Painless Daiya Ivory Stroud Niki Priddy Samnai Rouber Gray Venasir Anakin Stormrunner Cartri Keswoll

 

[Samnai Rouber]

Now they were talking.

"Denon is, and will likely always be, a Capitalist Utopia... but instead of the Corporations directing the flow of credits, the people felt included; able to establish rules & laws which protect them, able to craft an environment where everyone benefits - not just the 1%. Each person, able to decide for themselves where they work, the job they do, how they spend their wages, and which Corps to support or ignore."

“That sounds idealistic, but with work we could come close to it.” Samnai nods. “If we show the civilians we want to establish a new regime for them—without any pretenses, then they will flock to our sides. Someone who’s good at handling people could be appointed to this.”

"What we need is to at least show them we're here, and not standing down. Get them thinking. A few shadow strikes, something we can do with a small group. Work on rallying hearts while going for their heart. Or wallet."

“We can bribe officials with the money, that will make future operations much easier.” Her eyes shine. “But it can’t be someone too high, or too low either. Someone who can cough up cash while also not being important.”



Ivory Stroud Xan Deesa Niki Priddy Cartri Keswoll Doc Painless Zole Anakin Stormrunner Peyton Steele Daiya Gray Venasir

 

[Daiya]

Daiya found herself nodding along with Cassus, it was rare that she was in agreement with Pool Boy but she couldn't help but think the same. She still felt hot under the collar just thinking about it, her life had never been the same after meeting her doppelgänger and not for the better. Cassus understood, the Corpos took things from him like they took things from her, the only real way to respond was to hit them so hard they couldn't stand again.

"Oh my stars, like people are gonna suddenly worship us as heroes if we stop acting like Darkwire." Daiya shook her head at the Donna, she saw no rebel in Ivory today. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head as Ivory and Doc started debating the finer points of revolution. The young shadowrunner understood the need to talk about the end-game, this was like one big job to them. She just knew how those types made out in those types of jobs.

First to shot down or become the liability.

Any good job had to have an entrance strategy. Daiya was younger than everyone here and even she knew that. Some of the other adults seemed to get it, like Niki or the self-professed freedom fighter, Peyton. The young shadowrunner knew she could count on Xan and Gray when things got serious. She had even seen Ivory be even more vicious than the Donna was putting on today, Daiya knew the raven-haired woman definitely had a taste for blood.

There was just one other adult who seemed like he needed more convincing, the one who had surprised Daiya in his reactions. The one person she thought always had her back, no matter what the stakes. His words and body language today told a different story, and after the display Hacks put on earlier the teen was far too afraid to ask Doc about it. She couldn't stand to watch another friend betray her.

Instead, the young shadowrunner chided the man, her voice light and bouncy, "C'mon Doc, heisting and kidnapping, this is who we are. It's who the Corpos made us to be, feth they paid us to be this way! It shouldn't come as some huge surprise that we'd use this on them."

Daiya didn't think that all her peppy talk was actually going to move the Doc's cybernetic heart. Her cheery tone and bright eyes held a mask against impossible fears, fears she thought she saw reflected in his own eyes. She couldn't afford to lose him any more than Darkwire could. If Doc went the way of Hacks, if others started leaving, then the Corpos really did win.

The teen shook her head, her carefully brushed hair staying miraculously in place in the tatt-chat. "If you wanna build something, we gotta build it like Darkwire. So let's jam their comm-waves, round up their innocents like they're doing to ours, and hold them over for a better deal. Tell 'em we can let them go for a bunch of seats on the Direx Board or something."

She glanced at the Donna again, exasperation relenting to some of the words that Doc had actually responded to. "We can do the demokratic thing then, too. Whatever, I don't even care about that part. I just know it's us versus them. Please don't help them by standing in our way."

Ivory Stroud Xan Deesa Niki Priddy Cartri Keswoll Doc Painless Anakin Stormrunner Samnai Rouber Peyton Steele​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Cartri wasn't expecting Darkwire to be so torn on matters going forwards, or than Ivory Stroud and Doc Painless everyone else seemed to be hell bent on full on destruction of the copro's, his girlfriend Daiya being one of them. She seemed to be going along the lines of the extreme route with Cassus Akovin who wanted nothing more but to annilate and wipe them off the face of the planet. They thought they were talking smart, but instead they were speaking through anger more than sense.

"Yes, Ivory is right. We don't have the right to dictate Denon's future. Power needs to be returned to them the right way, and it shouldn't be by going to CorpSECs level" he said staring between the people who had spoken out about doing more rough measures, such as Daiya, Cassus and Xan Deesa who clearly didn't see the bigger picture "Exposing information and showing the galaxy who they really are is a sound and proven method to use, not kidnapping and holding them to blackmail like they've been doing to us!" the boy said with a bounce of his voice as he finally rested his gaze on Daiya.

"As far as I'm concerned the Doc is one of the few people here who is talking a lot of sense. You on the other hand seem to have a whole different agenda to what were talking about" he said with a shake of his head before walking over to her calmly, trying not to act too intimidating but instead put his point across to the girl he admired "It seems to me Daiya you don't even care about the aftermath, all you want is the total destruction of their lifestyle through any means necessary. Like you said, the democratic voice of the people is something you don't care about. It kind of makes me think who will be left to vote by the time you've finished" Cartri said, his face looking more serious than it has ever been before. The normally upbeat ginger seemed to be replaced by a mature, straight thinking kid who cared for the people. Sure, he wanted the greedy corp bastards gone, but their were lines that weren't meant to be crossed.

"And you, I don't know what's gotten into your head but you clearly are not thinking straight!" This time he did raise his voice against the pool boy known as Cassus "Yes, they took your fething family. Yet, when you do that not only will you be as bad as them but you'll give into the anger that begs to stick around. Think of the bigger picture and stop thinking about yourself alright?! none of us are more important the population of this planet!" he grunted, only stopping a few intches from his face

"Now wake up and snap out of it, I thought you were better than that..."

Samnai Rouber / Peyton Steele / Gray Venasir ​

 

[Cassus Akovin]

The Doc swept his cybernetic gaze across the room, letting it linger a moment on Cassus. He felt a wave of hurt run through him as he did, a swell both of fear for the young man and fear of what he might do. "In this room, we're all radicals. We want radical change, because something happened to us that radicalized us, made us see that this system can't stand." He looked around again. "I want all of you to think about what that something was for you. The moment that hurt you so much you couldn't let things stay as they are." There would be a whole variety of answers in this crowd. Some of them the Doc already knew. Others he could only guess at.

"The average, ordinary people of Denon haven't been radicalized yet, so they're not on our side. They can be, but how they get radicalized matters." He swept a hand out toward Cartri and Ivory. "They can get radicalized for us when they see the truth, when they find out what's happening to their planet and their neighbors, and they have to change it." He directed a smaller nod toward Cassus and Gray. "Or they can be radicalized against us when we show ourselves to be kidnapping, murdering thugs, and CorpSec looks like the only path to safety and stability." He sighed, already tired of arguing, of trying to make grand political statements.

"There are fifty-five members of the DireX Board. Suppose you kill them all. Suppose you burn their homes and murder their spouses and kidnap their children, and to you that feels like justice, an eye for an eye." He paused a moment, choked up by the words he was trying to force out. His cybernetic eyes were no longer capable of weeping, and for that, he was grateful. "Then what?" It was a challenge, one he directed with all the fierceness he could at those who'd spoken of violence. "When you've left a long, long trail of lives as broken as your own, when everything collapses in the wake of your vengeance, then what?!"

"You'll have created a new generation of yourselves, bent on revenge against you, and Denon will be no better for it."

"We have to build something. We have to have an after plan, not just a revenge plot."

Cassus didn't say anything to Doc, and didn't show anything on his face. He matched his gaze and absorbed what was said. He determined already that he wouldn't respond, not right away. There needed to be time to process the way he was trying to make him feel, trying to make him understand. The same way Cassus himself tried to talk down Daiya from the ledge of killing Hacks . He had a lot of time to think about that, and seeing the signs of Hacks current attitude... something was faltering inside Cassus that had been faltering for a long while. Only now was it bubbling to the surface.

The moment he was radicalized was a moment shared by many on Denon. Brutality against his family by Corporate greed. His family against Corporate greed. Corporate.

An idea festered, and it wasn't to build something. Cassus did not build things like his mother did.

Cassus broke things.

"What we need is to at least show them we're here, and not standing down. Get them thinking. A few shadow strikes, something we can do with a small group. Work on rallying hearts while going for their heart. Or wallet."

Why not both? The thought crossed his mind. Darkwire was always decentralized, operating off of message boards and individual whim. It had become slightly more centralized once they started the Tattoos as a measure against the Doppelgangers, and it worked. It also had the unexpected consequence that these moots could further entrench Shadowrunners against their former employers.

Now there were clear divides. The idealists, both for and against the present regime. And people like Cassus.

Darkwire was going to need both if the idealists wanted to win.

But people like Cassus... they don't need the idealists to win.

"Please don't help them by standing in our way."

"And you, I don't know what's gotten into your head but you clearly are not thinking straight!" This time he did raise his voice against the pool boy known as Cassus "Yes, they took your fething family. Yet, when you do that not only will you be as bad as them but you'll give into the anger that begs to stick around. Think of the bigger picture and stop thinking about yourself alright?! none of us are more important the population of this planet!" he grunted, only stopping a few intches from his face

"Now wake up and snap out of it, I thought you were better than that..."

The people who knew Cassus understood that the troubled kid pretty much didn't understand how to display the emotions he was feeling except through concentrated and intentional effort. His face was neutral and lacked most of the cues that would clue someone in on what he was thinking about. Part of it was how he was raised, an only child with only his mother and uncle to socialize with, but most of it was just the way he was.

Yet he bore a smile at Cartri that might as well have eaten him alive and let out three short laughs.

"You're wrong. I won't be as bad as they are because I will be worse, and I plan to stick around that way for a long time. You might think you've got an idea of what it's like not to have a family as an orphan, but you and I are not the same, so don't you FUCKING LECTURE ME." Cassus roared and struck a wall and willed it to explode completely unintentionally. It did not deter him, his eyes wild.

"I have never thought of myself a day in my life. All I can think about is what I'm surrounded by. Death and suffering. You want to build something? We have to bury the mountain of corpses first, and I won't abide by it until the enemy is stuffed in the pillars before anything else. I'm going to do what needs to be done regardless, so be careful to use me to your advantage because I swear on your life Cartri, I will not hesitate." Cassus leaned back and sat on some rubble, elbows on his knees with his hands hanging low, the wild eyes relaxing before settling on Doc.

"If we're the problem in the public eye, frame the Corpos for it. We get the prints of some DireX and have him kill some other DireX. I don't care. I just know you need people like me more than I need people like you to do what we all want." His face was neutral again, and he glanced over to Daiya.

"Sorry about your boyfriend. See you around." With that, he disconnected.

 

[Doc Painless]

"What I think we all want is for Denon to be returned to the people."

Those were the words that Doc Painless wanted to hear... but the speaker was not the person he wanted to hear them from. Ivory laid out pretty much the kind of system he was hoping for, a way to free the planet from the horrific abuses of CorpSec and their DireX masters without turning it into just another Nar Shaddaa - mob rule and random terrorism might break CAD control and achieve Darkwire's revenge, but it wouldn't leave most people any better off. But the fact that it was all brought up by Ivory, the exact sort of person who would benefit greatly from a collapse into rule by crime lords, was disconcerting. Would she really see this democratic experiment through?

And if she did, what did she plan to get out of it, exactly?

As usual, though, the Doc wasn't in any position to question his allies too much. They were too few, and the situation was too volatile. Peyton seemed at least somewhat willing to keep to a higher road, and she seemed to have experience with this sort of thing, given the way she laid out the need for specific and careful planning. He returned her nod and her smile, though the latter was somewhat strained, given everything that was going on. And Samnai seemed relatively on board as well. But not everyone seemed so willing to restrict Darkwire's activities... and not least among the dissenters was Daiya. C'mon, Doc... this is who we are. It's who the Corpos made us to be.

Had everything he'd tried to teach her just bounced off the wall of trauma that had built up around her mind?

"And you're going to let them, these people you hate so much, decide who you are?" Something rare had crept into the Doc's voice, something few (if any) present had ever heard before: an edge of anger. It wasn't anger at Daiya, not really. He was disappointed in her, and in himself for having overestimated the impact of his lessons, but his anger was at the Corpos... and at the galaxy. How many other kids were growing up just like this, on Denon and elsewhere, their chance to live good and simple lives that improved their worlds stripped away by the cruel environments in which they grew up? It'd be poetic justice to let these traumatized teens kill all the board members.

But poetic justice didn't make anything better. A further-broken Denon would keep producing the same damaged people.

"Listen to what you're saying," he pleaded with her. "Their innocents. Those aren't the people who deserve to get hurt, Daiya. Punish the Board for what they've done. I'm with you all the way on that. But don't sink to their level. If they're the ones who've hurt you so badly, who've brought all this injustice and pain, why are you so set on imitating them?" He took a shuddering breath, fighting hard to keep his cool as tempers flared all around the room. His blood was up, his heart pumping so loud in his ears that he was half surprised no one else could hear it, but he fought that anger down. If he gave in to it, he'd lose his chance to influence this movement.

Unfortunately, Cartri was still young, and he didn't quite understand that yet.

Doc Painless was grateful for the kid's support, but the delivery was... undiplomatic. The Doc gritted his teeth and fought not to lay his head in his hands. He agreed with everything that Cartri was saying, felt the same disappointment in people he had long called friends when they spoke of doing such terrible things, but he could already see where this confrontation was leading. The frontal lobe, the part of the brain responsible for judgement and logic, was still developing in this crew, and their violent environment didn't help. The teens could be emotional, tending toward snap decisions and rash action, always slow to back down, especially when they felt personally attacked.

What happened next was all too predictable, but it hurt all the same.

Cassus had been starting to listen. Maybe he wouldn't have fully embraced the Doc's more peaceful, measured vision of resistance, but he might at least have tempered his vengeful, violent plans somewhat, and that would have been enough for now. But when someone he'd trusted got up in his face, lobbing harsh words like CorpSec stun grenades, all that slow buildup of reason went straight out the window. What came out instead was a cold, harsh outpouring of pain and anger. It was as if Cartri had punctured a tank full of starship fuel, and now it was all leaking out... and catching fire. The Doc felt Cassus's eyes flick to him, and braced himself for what was to come.

"I just know you need people like me more than I need people like you to do what we all want."

Then, before the street medic could even try to salvage the situation, he was gone.

Doc Painless audibly let out a long, slow breath, his gaze fixed on the digital floor. Darkwire was fracturing around him, and he had no idea of what to do about it. To have runners who wanted to go back to the old ways, remaining callous mercenaries focused on their own profit and survival rather than agitators against the system, was bad enough. To have the remaining group split into two camps was a disaster. If this fledgling rebellion couldn't reign in the members bent on bloody revenge at any cost, there were only two ways this could go: total failure as public opinion turned against them and they were all hunted down, or a Denon without any order or safety at all.

Either way, that pile of unburied dead Cassus had mentioned would become a mountain.

"So where do we go from here?" the Doc asked quietly.

Ivory Stroud | Peyton Steele | Samnai Rouber
Daiya | Cartri Keswoll | Cassus Akovin​

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Ivory listened as the Darkwire's young men, Cartri Keswoll & Cassus Akovin , devolved into threats and shouting at one-another. She scowled, gripping the edge of the table behind her - her knuckles turning white, but she remained quiet. Ivory had opened the floodgates, Hacks had turned on the water, and Darkwire had dove directly into the torrent. There was no turning back now.

She had already accepted her responsibility in stirring this pot. She'd come to peace with it, as best she could, before ever calling the meeting - recognizing that, upon doing so, she was placing not only the lives of this group but the lives of strangers she'd never meet in harm's way. The heaviness of this responsibility would weigh on her, long after she'd signed out from the Tatt Chat herself... but still, it had to be done. All of them, regardless of their allegiances or perceived disagreements, were in this together.

War always brought out the best & the worst in people.

Cassus disappeared, leaving a pall of silence hanging over the remaining crowd. There were murmurs rising from the group, and Ivory looked long & hard at everyone whom remained - seeing in the eyes of the majority that she'd actually succeeded in lighting a flame, somewhere deep inside them. Others looked unconvinced, or perhaps on the fence...

Doc Painless , ever the voice of reason, seemed to have broken during the brief exchange between Cartri, Daiya , and Cassus.

"So where do we go from here?" the Doc asked quietly.

Ivory answered.

"Now?" She took a breath, letting go of the edge of the table with both hands and rising to her full height. She looked again, taking the time to gaze into the eyes of everyone who'd meet her gaze.

"Everyone, look around. Take a look at the people to your left, and your right."

"Memorize their faces... because these people are the ones you can trust the most."

"Our enemies would love to watch us tear each-other apart from the inside out... but we cannot do that. We have to band together, because that's the only way we can come out of this alive. Denon isn't just a money pit, this is Home." She pointed with one painted fingernail, first at Doc, then at Daiya, then at a few others. "Your home. Your home. Your home."

She spread her arms wide, to encompass the entire group. "Remember that, moving forward: when you leave here, walk the streets of your home. Talk to the people in your neighborhoods. Spend time with family or friends. And decide for yourselves how far you're willing to go, to save yourselves."

As she finished talking, indicating she'd said everything she needed to say, she paused... taking a long look at Peyton Steele , Doc Painless, and Daiya. If any of them caught her eye, they would recognize she desired to speak with them further.

As the crowd begin to move, conversations from nearly two dozen people began to fill the room, and individual Shadowrunners would begin winking out of existence - returning to Realspace with stories to tell and plans to consider. Ivory, for her part, would remain...

Partially to begin instituting her own plans, and partially to remain present in the moment; knowing that when she logged out, she'd be returning to a dark & lonely apartment with only her thoughts as company.

She didn't want this moment of companionship, no matter how heavy, to end.

As for Xan Deesa , Ivory and she had already begun instituting their plan... which would begin taking shape the following day. Frankie had a role to play in the coming conflict, and it was there that their offensive would begin.

Samnai Rouber Niki Priddy Anakin Stormrunner

 

[Daiya]

"He's not my boyfriend!" Daiya couldn't help but roll her eyes at Cassus, still giddy and trying to hide her smile from the way Pool Boy had gone off on Cartri. It was an eerie sense, feeling in such sync with someone she had hated for so long, it almost warmed her heart to look at the vacant space where Cassus had stood a minute ago.

Then she felt cold as she spied the shape of Cartri's avatar still present next to him. The teen picked her chin up, staring at the ginger boy with fierce eyes. Her eyes had once felt allure and tenderness for him, she could remember the way his lips felt on hers. Daiya thought she might have understood him, once, but the once-loving boy in front of her had turned into a different beast she didn't recognize.

Had he only been waiting this long to show her his true self?

"OH. MY. MOTHER. FETHING. STARS!" Her voice belted out a volume that would have made her lungs strain in the Real. Daiya's eyes held no allure for Knuckles now, the being she saw looked almost foreign. That wasn't the tatt-chat's doing, the perfect hair and stylish outfit was clearly a version of Cartri, but this one sounded like nobody she knew. This version of Cartri couldn't be the one who had asked her out, nor could he be the boy she had enjoyed merely existing around. "This is who I am Cartri. I thought you, of all people, would fething know that!"

Cartri had her so riled up, his tirade spewing accusations coming out of nowhere, some directed at her and even worse versions directed at Cassus. Every one of them hit Daiya directly felt like getting thrown against his apartment again, the angry Knuckles that drove her body frigid just to look at him. The teen shook from her shivering spine and the rage in her limbs, and without aid of the tatt-verse keeping her avatar upright, she would not have been standing any longer.

"You wanna talk about an agenda? Take a look at the fething Corpos." The young shadowrunner was appalled to be instructing in such basics to someone as experienced as Cartri. Her heart ached to even look at him, even while she pressed on, the burning rage coursing through every fiber of her being drove words right into her mouth. Daiya couldn't have stopped even if she wanted to. "You think they're gonna be appeased if a bunch of Denonites start calling their local DireX like a Senator or some chit? You think they're gonna have a fething crisis of conscience?! They're Corpos, Cartri, and they want the total destruction of us. Offworld, in jail, dead, it doesn't matter to them. They want Darkwire completely fething gone, and they're not gonna see reason or listen to anybody else about it. They made up their minds already, so who here on Denon has the fething agenda?"

"And why would you think I don't care, anyway? I don't know if you've noticed, Cartri, but I'm not someone who sits down and talks out their problems. I SHOOT THEM! I don't care about this whole demokracy thing any more than I care about fething datapads, if it exists and it works then I don't give a chit. Why are you trying to make me into the baddie here? That's the Corpos. That's Hacks. They don't fething work anymore, how the feth is that not obvious? You've got some chit in your brain now that's telling you that somehow I'm the bad being. Why, 'cause I have the fething audacity to say what we all need to hear? Grow the feth up, Cartri, not everything is gonna be butterflies and sunpetals anymore."

The pink-obsessed teen cast her eyes out to the other shadowrunners around her, almost hoping to see butterflies and sunpetals there among them. Her eyes looked for beings she knew were on her side, but the likes of Gray and Anakin had vanished into the crowd. She missed having Shenn here, she missed seeing Ruby, she even missed Cassus. The young shadowrunner would have done anything to bring Brie in with her, if only to have someone close to her right now. The falsehood of the tatt-chat seemed too obvious to her right now, reminding Daiya that back in reality, she was all by herself.

Her eyes zeroed in on someone Daiya thought she could rely on, "Same with you, Doc, what the feth did you think was gonna happen when you started running with us? What about Eden? What about all those innocents we couldn't fit on our ship, we just left them there! Some of them made it off in other ships, but a chit ton of them just got straight-up executed by the fething Seccers who were pissed at us and just looking to get even. Your hands aren't clean here either, so just stop fething pretending that you're not mad at the Corpos, too."

Daiya's blonde-and-pink hair didn't magically stay in place like Cartri's when she tossed her head, shaking it back to stare at the ginger boy. She huffed and rolled her eyes, but her body surged again with anger. It pushed her to step right up next to Cartri, seething at him. It had to come out, or she would do something even worse than she might in here. She pushed a finger into his chest. "Seriously, you'd think the guy with fething anger issues would understand the need to get even, huh Knuckles? I don't wanna just kill Corpos, what's the point of that? I just wanna make 'em feel like we do for once, y'know? Powerless? Vulnerable? Any of that ringing a bell in that thick fething skull of yours, Cartri?" The teen's patience with the boy had run out. Her raging words turned white-hot, driving at him to inflict the same pain she felt now. She drove her finger against him, again and again with her words, almost wishing this wasn't the tatt-verse so she could leave a real bruise. "How about alone? 'Cause that's what you're gonna be now, unless you think you're gonna kiss me again with all that chit in your mouth!"

The teen threw up her hand and pointed a cheek at the boy, her body language loudly declaring her conversation over. Her breath would have kicked up storms in the Real as she huffed through flaring nostrils, turning on her heels from the red-headed, red-faced Knuckles. She couldn't even bear to look at him, and as her attention turned back to the adults in the crowd, she realized they had been waiting for her to finish.

Daiya fell quiet, smoldering silently with her clenched fists at her side and her jaw set tightly against itself. Ivory mentioned something about trust, prompting the group to look around, but in her eyes the young shadowrunner saw only shadows. The faces she thought she could trust were gone, missing, or changed. Even Ivory seemed dubious to her, yet the woman hadn't made a single remark against her here.

In Daiya's book, that put her far ahead of most others today.

Her mood perked up, as much as it could after such depressing lows just moments before. The teen could still manage an approximation of happiness, a pleasant smile pushed to the corners of her lips and eyebrows high over wide-open eyes. Daiya stepped up to Ivory, her hands folded in front of her, presenting the visage of a prim and proper being for a meeting of such importance. "So what's up, Ivory? I have been talking to way too many boys here today, it's about time we real women get to chat."

The expression on the raven-haired woman barely hid an amused smirk, a loud message despite Ivory's still tongue on the matter. It didn't matter to Daiya that Ivory hadn't come to her defense earlier, nor did it matter now if the woman was content to play along with her stoic performance. The teen was only surprised to hear the next words out of The Donna's mouth, words that mattered to her a great deal.

"You really gave 'em hell tonight. Just wanted to tell you I understand, a bit better, how all this has affected you... and you're not a girl, in my eyes. You're one of the toughest people in this room, and never let anyone tell you different."

Daiya felt her durasteel will crack under Ivory's sentiment, her sharp intake of breath almost shaking behind her facade. She swallowed, instinct willing back tears that wouldn't come in the tatt-verse now, while her painted expression softened at the woman. The teen took another quick step forward, wrapping her arms around Ivory, feeling a warmth again for the first time since the meeting began.

"Now that," the teen stepped back, blinking back at dry eyes and looking at Ivory with a genuine smile now, "is the best thing I've heard all day."

She waved a hand to the remaining shadowrunners around them, "Good luck with the rest of this chit Ivory, drop me a holo when someone figures out what the feth we're doing next. I got places to be and people," Daiya flashed a withering look over at Cartri, "not to see."

With that, the teen brought a hand up to tap the top of her ear, decisively ending her session in the tatt-verse.

Back in the Real, Daiya could finally let go, curling her body up against itself and releasing all the tears the virtual world wouldn't let her cry. After entering with such hopes to help Darkwire plan a win, the teen couldn't help feeling that she had just lost far more than she could have ever won today.

Ivory Stroud Xan Deesa Niki Priddy Cartri Keswoll Cassus Akovin Doc Painless Anakin Stormrunner Samnai Rouber Peyton Steele​

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

It wasn't a surprise when Cassus Akovin fired back at him with all guns blazing. Cartri slowly folded his arms and glared at the raging boy with a stone cold expression. Even when he broke the wall he didn't even flinch, not because he was in a simulation, but because he wasn't afraid of Cassus one bit. He was mentally unstable just from the way he spoke, letting him do so only proved his spoke as he stayed silent. Now and then he'd raise a brow and tilt his head to a few of his points, especially when he threatened his own life.

Cartri instantly smirked from the comment alone and shook his head slowly. If Cassus wanted to test what he could truly do then he'd no hesitation. The boy didn't scare him, nor will he ever will "Please, by all means..." he mumbled back to him as he continued to ramble. It was clear Cassus was aiming for death and destruction rather than a safer route. People die of course, but not to the amount Cassus was thinking about. Everyone in this room would die if he was in charge.

Glaring at him leave, his last comment forced him to look over to Daiya who now was firing a barrage of her own. This time it was different, Daiya was someone he cared about and loved. Her high pitched tone and shouts cut threw him like a hot knife through butter, melting his once strong defenses into one of worry. Cartri's eyes widened in sadness as she ripped into him. In some ways she was right, it wasn't going to be all sunshine and petals at all. There was going to be darkness along the way, all of which they weren't prepared for.

"D-daiya... I-..." he stuttered with nothing coming out in the end. It wasn't in his plans to make her the bad guy, nor make her this upset. Cartri cared for her deeply and seeing her like this hurt him more than it hurt her. He felt Daiya's finger go into his chest again and again, still silent and sorrowed by what it had boiled down to. He didn't want their relationship to end because of a dispute. No, they were both too close for that now...

Looking down to the floor in shame the girl went over to Ivory Stroud and discussed how she had enough of speaking to boys for a day. Except, when the mob boss began congratulating her, his frown almost seemed to turn into gritted teeth. Daiya didn't need telling that, especially from a white powder sniffing mobster. Daiya knew what she was, Ivory on the other hand was trying to wrap Daiya around her finger. Growling and shaking his head from all that happened, he had already disconnected himself from the tatt chat before Daiya had said her last words.

Cartri looked up to the ceiling in silence before releasing a yell at the top of his lungs, before grabbing an alarm clock beside his bed and throwing it into the wall. Upon impact, it smashed into pieces and fell to the carpeted floor in a heap.

Why was being a teenager so hard?

Xan Deesa / Doc Painless / Samnai Rouber​

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Silent darkness greeted her as Ivory found herself back in the Real. When she'd logged into the Tatt-verse, she'd still had hours of light left... But a quick glance around her bedroom told her that night had fallen. Through the thin walls of her apartment, Denon's ever-present noise filtered through; barely audible.

She lay atop her bed, still fully clothed. She was alone, and not a single light was present in the room. Ivory was silent for a few moments, staring at the ceiling as she ran through the events of the past few hours - silently questioning herself. In her private space, she was suffering a rare moment of doubt which crawled on spiny legs through her conscious mind.

Did she really know what she was doing?

Did she really want this?

Was all this pain, anger, and fear worth it?

A deep sigh rose from her belly, and a hand lifted from where it had rested on her chest, touching her forehead then massaging her closed eyelids.

She'd brought a spark to a dry pile of tinder, and (as she'd predicted) it had gone up in flames. Darkwire, and all of Denon, had been teetering on the edge of a dark abyss - simply waiting for the slightest push. Now, all of Darkwire (and she, herself) were committed. Whatever came next, for good or ill, would it fall on her?

"I don't know..." She muttered under her breath, voice wavering.

Relationships strained... Pushed nearly to their breaking point. Friendships ruined. All of them would be suspicious, now; of each-other, of her, and of the unseen enemies lurking in the shadows all around them. But, it was all necessary... Necessary for real change. Necessary for the future of the planet. Necessary.

...wasn't it?

Finally, she decided to rise. Her body felt electric, like a live-wire - but her brain felt exhausted, like she could sleep for a week. She stood, finding some solace in the real carpet beneath her real feet. Outside, far away, a CorpSec siren blared then faded away.

Her stomach growled, and Ivory realized it'd been almost 18 hours since she'd last eaten.

But first, she needed a drink.

 

[Marcella Fiora]

M A R C E L L AㅤF I O R A

'Boys Do Cry'​

Spontaneous visits were her thing, especially with those she considered close friends~ such as Ivory. Tonight had been a perfect opportunity to show up at her door after yet another particularly long day at the Moonveil Plaza, a brief respite was a required necessity and a quiet evening with a friend was the much needed relief that Marcy' had craved for some time; particularly as the relationships she found herself in were usually impersonal and work related when not around her Family.

She knew little of Ivory's plans.. or even if she was home for that matter, yet that mattered not.

~ THE DOOR CHIMED

Marcy' seemed nearly out of breath; upon opening the door, Ivory would see her struggling with quite a number of boxes and containers- the aroma of what appeared to be pizza and snacks of many varieties along with the tapping of several bottles of alcohol rattling along as she swayed with the heavy boxes. Her reasoning of showing up at her door unannounced would be crystal clear, no explanation required.

Ivory Stroud

 

[Doc Painless]

Everyone, look around. Take a look at the people to your left, and your right. Memorize their faces... because these people are the ones you can trust the most. Doc Painless looked, just as Ivory had asked, but what he saw hurt him. Many of the people he had trusted most up until this moment, people who'd had his back through some of the most difficult and dangerous days of his life, had already stormed out of this meeting... or had said things that had broken his faith in them to do the right thing. He'd come into the tatt-chat knowing that what he was going to ask for would be difficult, but he'd never imagined that things would happen quite like this, and it ate him up inside.

Our enemies would love to watch us tear each other apart from the inside out. Well, congrats, CorpSec. Enjoy the show.

As if in answer to that grim thought, Daiya finished screaming at Cartri and rounded on the Doc. He braced himself, but there were some things you just can't ever make yourself ready for, and this was one of them. Just like with Cassus, the street medic believed he'd been making real progress with Daiya. All that time they'd spent together, trying to make things better, he'd been modeling the medical ethics he'd hoped would take root in her and show her a better way. He wanted to pull her away from snap judgements and emotional thinking, to get her to look at the bigger picture before making decisions, to have empathy for all these innocent people she didn't even know.

He'd been so proud of her when she'd finally consented to help him save Hacks, despite her own physical and emotional pain.

Tonight had seen that lesson blow up in his face. Maybe it would have been better to let Hacks die on the table.

What the feth did you think was gonna happen when you started running with us? Doc Painless had been asking himself that very question a lot since this meeting had begun to go south. Maybe the entirety of his idealistic hopes for this organization, a secret group of mercenaries that killed and stole for money, had been nothing but a fool's self delusion. He thought back to a young woman who'd come to his clinic a few months back, her face bruised and her eye blackened, and the boyfriend she'd told him about while he set her nose. "Don't go back," he'd pleaded with her, but she'd just shaken her head. "I can change him," she'd replied, and it'd broken his heart.

But maybe that'd been him this whole time with Darkwire, deluding himself, fighting for a lost cause.

What about Eden? What about all those innocents we couldn't fit on our ship, we just left them there! "I think about them every day," he said quietly, so quietly that only he heard his own words as the angry teen steamrollered on with her rebuke. Had they done the right thing at Eden? Hard to say. They'd given a lot of people a chance at freedom, and actually managed to deliver it to a few. He checked in with them monthly out on Wann Tsir, where they were doing their best to rebuild their shattered lives. But a lot more people had never made it out, gunned down in the attempt. Had that been better than being worked to death in Belazura's strip mines, with no chance at all?

He wasn't sure. It was one of the many, many things that kept him up at night, every night.

But at least all the killing he'd done there, shooting Seccers, had been justified.

CorpSec could hurt and kill innocent people, but he wouldn't. Not ever.

So of course he was mad at the Corpos. He was just as mad as anyone there, which was why he'd brought up revolution in the first place. But he believed that his anger needed to be directed at the right place, the people who were actually responsible for the evil things being done here. He wasn't going to let the sins of the father be visited upon the children, or the spouse, or the secretary. He'd seen real war, in all of its horror, and he didn't want that here. He didn't want to write people off as "collateral damage" or "acceptable losses", ever. But he wasn't in control of this resistance to the Corpos now, if he ever had been, and it was slipping further away from his influence.

His worries only intensified when Daiya, finished yelling now, went off to chat with Ivory.

The emerging leader, and the one he'd dared to hope was sharing his vision.

The Doc knew he ought to reach out again, to go to the people who were left here - Cartri and Daiya most of all, to soothe and reason and try to bring the flaring tempers here down before Darkwire hurt someone who didn't deserve it. But in that moment, he didn't have it in him. In the wake of that last explosive outburst, he had a moment of exhaustion and moral cowardice, and he surrendered to it. He cut the link. The backroom of his clinic swam back up around him - containing little more than his small, spartan cot and the little shelf of personal items and holobooks beside it. Oh, and one other thing: a rack of bottles. Corellian whiskey, mostly, gleaming amber in the low light.

He needed a clear head. He needed no distractions. He needed to be responsible. He needed to step up. He needed to...

The nearest bottle was in his hand, its smoky contents sloshing into his open mouth, before he finished the thought.

Force knew he'd tried, but he couldn't make his friends see. He wasn't a leader. He couldn't rein them all in.

He didn't have the strength to stop all this. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.

The alcohol burned its way down his throat, washing away fear and pain. For now.

Daiya | Ivory Stroud | Cartri Keswoll | Cassus Akovin​

 

[Ivory Stroud]

~ THE DOOR CHIMED

After a long & grueling evening discussing violent revolution, the last thing Ivory expected (especially at this hour) was a visitor. In her pitch-black apartment, the sudden door chime sounded like a thermobaric bomb dropping on her little patch of Denon. Immediately, every cell on her body was primed for all-out war; her pulse accelerating as adrenaline flooded her body - her heartbeat hammering in her ears.

Only a few people in Darkwire knew where she lived... but that didn't matter. Anybody could find anyone. Was it CorpSec, looking to cut the head from the snake? Was it some hired killer, seeking retribution for the evening's events? Was it Hacks, hunting her down?

Ivory kept the lights in the apartment off, moving from her bedroom into the small adjoining hallway & cat-footing toward the door. As she passed a shelf, she reached toward an alcove on the top and found the Spice Runner Special secreted there easily - fingers tightly closing around the cold grip. As she reached the front door of the apartment, paranoia flooded every thought in her mind. In that moment, she was prepared for all her plans to come crashing to an end in an instant. If she was going down, she'd take whoever it was with her, and that was that. Jaw set, Ivory tapped the small screen sitting beside the door, activating the small camera installed outside & angled to catch the landing. The bright white light of the screen lit her face like a halo, making her eyes sting as they quickly adjusted to the sudden assault...

Confused, she took a moment to stare at the screen to verify what she was seeing.

Rather than a killsquad of CorpSec Officers, or some stranger at her door, the sight which greeted her was absolutely the last thing she'd expected.

Ivory set the Spice Runner Special down on a small table nearby, then quickly disabled the handful of locks (both manual & electronic) which secured the front door from forced entry. The door opened wide, revealing Marcella Fiora standing just outside - entirely alone, and struggling to hold what appeared to be a delivery of groceries.

As Ivory greeted her, Marcella might have easily noticed "The Donna" appeared tense; violet eyes flicking about as she peered outside before inviting the woman inside. "Here. Let me help." She said, reaching out to take one of the heavy boxes & relieve Marcy of one of her burdens. The raven-haired rebel stepped aside, allowing her well-dressed companion to enter & quickly closing the door behind her.

 

[Samnai Rouber]

"Memorize their faces... because these people are the ones you can trust the most."

Samnai internally chuckled. This was, leaving behind everything else, a group of criminals. Trust is the last thing on her mind here or anywhere.

With the discussion over, Samnai moved to leave when Daiya screamed out a storm of curses. She watched, a little bit awed, as the girl unleashed her rant. Teens were really something.

She muttered under her breath, “What a girl,” not caring who heard her, before stepping back into the real world. It was still morning, and the sunlight still spilled rays over the floor and on her ‘work’ datapad, which now had a new message.

Someone named “J.C” had sent a private message, asking her services for a looting. She read it over, while her mind floated back to the chat.

“Save ourselves, huh…”

Ivory Stroud Xan Deesa Niki Priddy Cartri Keswoll Doc Painless Zole Anakin Stormrunner Peyton Steele Gray Venasir