[IC] "We put the C in Capitalism!" [Corporate troubles in a super powered future]

[RoflsMazoy]

Chapter 1: The New Age

"The Man of the Century on his new project! An exclusive interview!" The cover of the magazine read.

It featured a plain image of him, not exactly a great shot or anything. Well, it was at least taken in a flattering angle though. He flipped through it quickly to find the page that he wanted. The one with his "interview". A hologram projected off the magazine into the air in front of him. Most magazines were entirely holographic these days but some people preferred mostly paper because it was easier on the eyes. That and crushing a holo-disk didn't bring as much satisfaction as burning something.

He used to do interviews pretty often. When he hadd just made Ganze Corp. he was making a lot of stuff so a lot of interviews came his way, but nowadays he didn't bother making new stuff too often. This interview in particular was just to keep up appearances under the pretense of a small project of his. But he skipped past those parts to the end of the replay, the very last thing he had said in his interview.

["And what would you say to your competitors Mr. Ganze, after their attempts at foiling your progress on this new project?"] The reporter said.

["Well, within these past two weeks alone we have recorded at least 12 attempts at a robbery, 6 attempts at espionage and 9 attempts of sabotage."] He said, ["Not one of them even came close, however, there was one that deserves a special mention..."]

The camera zoomed in onto his face. It captured his expression very well, an expression of aloof amusement. A small smile playing on his lips as he delivered his ultimatum.

["There was a particularly poor attempt by a company who shall not be named, earlier this week. The poor man got his hookshot stuck in the window while we were having a board meeting, and he found out soon we had been having a board meeting about how to deal with him. We hardly needed to do anything to him though, he was already dangling by his legs when he reached the window. We sent him home with a basket of fruit and good laughs were had by all."] He finished.

He sighed blissfully as if recalling fond memories.

[Anyhow, the point of the story is, please do keep up your attempts at raiding Ganze Corp. I'm looking forward to what will happen next.] He said.

The hologram winked out and the room returned to silence.

"Ugh, that's so pretentious..." Alto said, slumping forward in his seat. "I can't believe I actually said all that..."

Well actually, if he had another opportunity he would totally say it again but he had to admit. It was really damn pretentious. He was really bored though, he'd gotten used to the repeated serious attempts, he wanted to make some fun traps so they could all have some good laughs sometimes. Corporate life was too grim a lot of the time.

He sighed. It was so much simpler in university, no one could even plagiarize him because he was just too good. He wasn't even making anything interesting and people were still trying to steal it.

Suddenly there was a large explosion outside of the building. He looked out of his window and saw a spider-like robot climbing out of a sizeable hole in the ground. There was a man in a lab coat piloting the robot, he seemed to be holding a hard drive of some description. He could hear pistons heaving as the spider robot made a hasty escape. It leaped over a skyscraper as it retreated into the distance.

"Hmm… That was pretty sloppy…" He said.

There was a knock at his door, and his assistant came in.

"He took the hint?" Alto asked.

"Yes, Mr. Ganze," She replied. "He saw us put the tracker onto his escape vehicle as well."

"Excellent, I'll call someone in," He said. He pulled up a holographic interface and started to type out a message. "Oh yeah, it was the Giga-ton arm right?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Ganze." She said.

"Good, that'll be all." He said.

She nodded curtly and left the room. The Giga-ton arm was the project he had talked about in the interview. He was kinda bored and he couldn't be bothered coming up with something new, so instead he was trying to see how much power he could cram into one arm. Turns out it was a lot. His prototype could lift several tonnes of weight, but it was nowhere near ready for practical use just yet. It wasn't just the arm that bore the weight when you lifted something, the body did too. The arm could lift the weight but if the body couldn't support it, then it would collapse. The most it could do on a normal person was give them some baller grip strength and that wasn't really going to be that practical.

"Alright, let's get someone good to make them freak out a little…" He said.

He scrolled through his list of contacts and found one that would suit, before sending the message.

Sender: Ganze, Alto
Recipient: Cipher Nine
RE: Got a job for you

It won't be difficult. Data was stolen from my company and I need you to retrieve it. There's a café called Amelie, details will be discussed there.

@BlackPanther

---

Meanwhile in the Free World Group…

It was a rather normal day for the Free World Group. They didn't have any assignments yet so many of the guards were simply loitering around waiting for their time. Suddenly however, there was an announcement on the PA system.

"Sean Nanners, Ryan Barrak, and Thomas Breaker, please report to the head of staff. He has a job for you."
@Camerch@jordy0403@Slendy

[BlackPanther]

@RoflsMazoy
*The tune of Eye of the tiger could be heard floating from a small apartment that housed the man known as cipher nine. Cas completes yet another round of his workout, even though it seems to be doing very little for him. With a sigh, he stands and grabs a towel, wiping almost non existent sweat from his face and bare chest. As he was heading toward the shower, he hears a beep from his phone. As he tosses his towel over his shoulder he walks to his phone and reads the email. He gives a nod and heads to his closet where a row of what he likes to call 'flesh suits' are housed, and picks out a lightly tanned skin and changes into it. Pulling on a collared black shirt, jeans, combat boots and gloves, he then heads out.*

*Cipher nine arrives quite quickly, a speed that he looks at as professionalism. After all, when one is reliable, one moves through business easier. He sits in a seat near the back in Amelie, something he always does when meeting with a client. After checking to make sure no one was focusing on him too much he proceeds in drawing a nine with a blue pen he has, then he places the napkin toward the edge of the table. He then settles back waiting, after he orders a coffee of course.*

[Slendy]

Sean was enjoying some coffee in his office Killing time by flipping through his pervious completed assignments. Unlike the average office worker he gave off a more relaxed image with his unnatural levitation and unnecessary nakedness. He wasn't completely naked his shirt was the only clothing that was absent from his body. Oddly that was the norm for Sean and most of the office became accustomed to his unusual life style. Midway through his filing he heard the P.A. system and his presences being summoned to the head of staff's office. Sean stopped looking in the direction of the system. "Ryan and Thomas...." Sean stood putting on his white short sleeve causual shirt and opened his palm causing his mug of coffee to float into his hand. "Was an ambassador assassinated or something....I rarely get paired with them." Sean spoke to himself walking over to the head of staff's office.

[Random Kitty]

Brighid had a focus. An idea for where she wanted their company to go. That meant a meeting. One with Sefia Allens. There had been a heated discussion among the three, Aphrodite wanted to go but Brighid felt she had more to offer in this case and that her partner would not be allowed. While such things did not affect her, Aphrodite's abilities certainly seemed effective on corporeal beings. There were times that she nearly forgot about who she had been, that being of flesh and blood and weakness. Now she was far more or less or merely different. It was difficult to tell.

The screens nearest Sefia blinked to life. In code a smiling face came through with a grin. "Are you willing to meet? I would like to speak with you face to face." Her status as an AI was rumor but likely Sefia knew it was more than that. With all the construction sites in the city there were nanites all over that she could build a body from. Not that she needed one, but it did facilitate such things. What might happen if they could meet up, cyber and physical security together. It could start to tilt the balance of power and that was the goal.

[Letter Bee]

Mikhail's benefactor, Augusta E. Feather, was an Old Money estateholder who had worked as a codebreaker for the Government, and who had been recalled into service now, a return she had accepted because she wanted to create a world where her adoptive son can live in happiness. That, and it gave Mikhail crucial connections that he would need in his quest to make a better world.

Now, the two, as well as several bodyguards, were staying at a Government compound in Seattle, and Mikhail himself was watching Alto's Interview on hologram. He was amazed; that man was smart, especially in areas where Mikhail had only the barest of competence in. But the reverse also applied; Mikhail was certain that his intelliegence was unreal as well, just in different areas like history and politics.

He can beat Alto in an area that the latter didn't care about; Mikhail knew this. But, question is, did he need to? That was the question that the current planned operation was about to answer.

"Are you sure about this?" said the CIA Officer seated beside him and Augusta in a conference room in Seattle. "GanzeCorp is a powerful organization, and a potential ally as well as an enemy; not that we'd call any Corp an ally without reservations. If we go after Alto -"

"Which is the best part," Mikhail was confident, "we're not going after Alto. Rather, we're just arranging a chat with him in an unconventional way. I've read his body language, his tone, his choice of words in interviews - he's bored. He's also someone who would be impressed by someone outsmarting him. And I can do that." Okay, I'm less certain than I could be, but whatever happens, I can get him on board with what I'm planning, and that's what's important.

"This plan depends on putting you, one of our last mobile assets of considerable power, at risk," the CIA Officer, a brown-haired, black man clad in a sterotypical black-and-white suit, said. "You must understand, if we lose you, we might lose even our small chance of wining the war."

"And if you don't risk me," Mikhail said, "we'll have no chance left of victory. So just get me inside GanzeCorp; my plan won't fail, I assure it. And if it does and I'm wrong about Alto...that person inspires so much hope that I can blow myself up and him with it. That would at least remove one major player from the game. Besides, you have the 'Golden Path' Social Engineering Plan, right?" the boy said. The Golden Path Social Engineering Plan was a special strategy that made use of Mikhail and Augusta's intelligence and powers in order to manipulate, create, and alter social and historical trends to create a world without Corporations...600 years from now.

"When a plan that requires 600 years to implement is our last hope, things are truly dire," the CIA Officer said. "But that's not your only strategy, isn't it? I heard about your clone." Yes, a clone of Mikhail was being grown in a secret lab in the Rockies; said clone had his powers as well. A bit ethically shady, but the clone would be treated as a full human being; Mikhail had made certain of it.

"There is also Plan Andromeda," the boy spoke. Plan Andromeda, aka the creation of an FTL Starship at Cape Canaveral, powered by an engine that contained Mikhail's DNA, and can thus channel the hope of the people inside in order to distort space-time and go to other planets to evade the Corporates' grasp. Also risky, and several corporations had already found out, but been bought off by pointing out that this served as an escape valve for dissidents.

"Point is," said Mikhail, "everything we can do is risky, and the further we go on, the more...the more our chances of making it will vanish. So we need to either contact Alto or take him out of the equation." He was finally agreed with.

Timeskip

It was a simple plan, involving a staged University Parade, a Fire Drill, and, finally, albeit escorted by two bodyguards, just coming up to the Ganze Skyscraper's door and saying:

"Hey, I'm Mikhail Peacemaker and I'm a powered in the employ of the Government. I want to talk to Alto Ganze right now. If you don't, I will destroy this tower. Without killing anyone inside." If he didn't get an answer, he would pull energy from all the convenient hope in the area and begin disintegrating the structure of the building into tiny blue motes of energy.

If he did get an answer, he and his bodyguards would expect to be escorted to Alto's office immidiately, and expect to find Alto himself waiting to meet and greet them. If that was what happened, Mikhail would then say:

"Let's talk; I know you're bored and you lack ideas; you've been getting unoriginal lately. What would you say to a new notion you can work with, in exchange for helping bring down a few of your competitors?"

@RoflsMazoy

[jordy0403]

It was quiet. That was getting on my nerves. I hated it when it was quiet at HQ. Pacing back and forth in my office, I checked for the seventeenth time to make sure I din't have any assignments. Then a voice came in over the PA system. "Sean Nanners, Ryan Barrak, and Thomas Breaker, please report to the head of staff. He has a job for you." Finally, I thought. Something at least. But Sean and Thomas? I can't really remember the last time I worked with them. It was quite a long time ago, that's for sure. I think it was something about a spy in the group. Well, whatever, at least I have an assignment. Walking faster than usual, I went to the head of staff's office.

[FantasyChic]

Clarence entered his sky loft apartment, pecked his wife on the cheek, scruffled his children's hair and entered his office and sat down on his desk. His computer spread was a sight to be hold, but hell, he had the money to afford it. He logged in and started flipping through his e-mails. Spam, spam..more spam. He questioned why technological advancement still didn't prevent spam mail from coming in. It was even broadcasted on the air billboards.

After clicking through some business contacts, responding to a dinner invite from his co-worker, and deleting some e-mail about stimulating his life in the bedroom, he came across a peculiar looking e-mail. The sender was unknown, but the subject line had a tiny image on it.

A rose.

He clicked it open. It filled his computer screen. He tilted his head as the image appeared. It was a panda bear. It looked cartoonish, like an anime the young kids watched. The panda danced around on his screen for a few minutes, rolling and jumping. Clarence smiled, it was pretty cute.

Then the panda did something weird. It took out a laptop and started clicking away at it. After a few more minutes it put it away, waved, and poofed out of existence. Clarence didn't know what it was. Surely it was a prank e-mail from one of his friends. He clicked the X to get out of his e-mail, but the page stayed. He clicked again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. He tapped his screen, he paid tons of money to avoid lag and bugs, so what the hell was wrong?

Then his screen cleared. Turned dark, black, ominous. Then a text box appeared. And in light pink letters, it read:

"Hello Mr. Vero. Did I grab your attention? Good. Hope you enjoyed my little display.

Your computer is mine now. All your files, pictures, programs, every ounce of data on here is at my disposal now. If I were you, I'd reconsider putting all your private things inside a computer. As you know, once you put it out there, it's there forever."

Clarence adjusted his glasses. He tried clicking away, he tried turning off his computer. Nothing. The text continued.

"Don't bother trying to stop me. It's futile. I know all. I see all. I get all. I am here to fulfill the wishes of someone else. They paid me a lot to do this. I expect they wanted to compensate for the amount of hard work it would have required. Little did they know that it was child's play.

Anyway. In case you still don't believe me. How about some proof. You've been a bad boy Clarence. I am sure your wife wouldn't want to see this."

An image appeared of a naked woman, smiling at the camera. It was the woman Clarence had been having an affair with for a few years. He gasped lightly and tried to click it away. Still no use.

"She's pretty. I can see why you like her. She seems to have big...personalities. I also stumbled across this."

A document came on now. It detailed a report that Clarence forged, allowing him to pocket millions of funds into his own pockets.

"Is that how you were able to afford all this? You really got screwed over. Regardless, my job is not to embarrass you, stop you, or even harm you. No, my job is to warn you. To scare you. To show you how easy it is to have it all and lose it.

Now, the right thing to do would be to apologize to your wife and children, tell the truth, maybe even go to the authorities and tell them what you did. They may even go easy on you for coming clean, and I am sure you could get a good lawyer. Hell, one was even offering you help in one of those spam e-mails you deleted. I did you a favor and pinned it for you.

I wouldn't recommend getting the police involved in my hacking here though. That would just end badly for you.

Again, I cannot force you to do anything. This is all in your hands. Just remember something Clarence. I. Am. Watching."

The text screen cleared and Clarence was left there, speechless.

---------------------------------------

The authorities led Clarence away in handcuffs. The police techs investigated his claims he was hacked, but no evidence was there to show that. His computer was working fine and nothing was deleted. Instead, they found the documents detailing his extortion, his lying, and his scheming. They left the incriminating photos of him and his "lover" in private, but the wife found out regardless. She took the children away to live with her sister.

Clarence was forced into a police air car. He didn't know what happened. Where did his life go? Who the hell hacked him?

He turned his head at the billboard floating around, displaying a smiling woman giving a thumbs up, showing the latest prices at the grocery store. It clicked off briefly, and the same pink text lit up the sign.

"I warned you."

The advertising came back as Clarence was sped away to police HQ.

--------------------------------------

Vi flipped off her screen and took off her glasses. She got up, straightened out her Batman t-shirt and walked across to the window that overlooked the city. She gave a knowing smile.

[Camerch]

The HQ was silent, for once, and Thomas was thoroughly enjoying this rare event. After finishing training for that day he threw himself onto his bunk and took out his e-book. Flipping to the page he left off at two weeks ago, he hoped that today would be the day that he would see what will happen to poor Felix as he survives in-

"Sean Nanners, Ryan Barrak, and Thomas Breaker, please report to the head of staff. He has a job for you."
The PA went silent.

...Typical. Thomas turned the e-book off with a sigh and slipped it back into his storage. A shame, but now's not the time for books. Well, not anymore. Thomas got up and Breaker left the dorm room, locking it behind him.

As he walked to the head office, he wondered what the boss would want to talk about. It would have to be dangerous if Barrak's coming along, but why Sean? And furthermore, why me? I never considered us to be a trio or anything. Hell, I've hardly worked with those two before. Well, I guess I'll find out soon.

Down the corridor was the door to the head office, and further down the hall Breaker could see Barrak's tough figure striding towards the same door, and Sean turning the corner to the same hallway. Breaker reached for the door and knocked three times.

[RoflsMazoy]

Cafe Amelie

Cafe Amelie was a rather quaint place in comparison to some bigger cafes, but they were mostly corporate owned and this one was not. It was almost entirely outdoors so the 'back' was a little subjective. Still, people liked to go there to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It used traditional waiters/waitresses which was pretty refreshing in the corporate future. An honest cafe for honest people.

High above Cafe Amelie, a peculiar drone was coming down. A quad-rotor noiseless design, its bottom was also camouflaged with the sky above. A slot opened in the bottom and a touch-pad device dropped out. It fell through the air and landed with a thunk on Castyel's table. Earphones ejected from the side. The device was linked directly to Alto's office so he could deliver the details. All Castyel had to do was turn it on. The drone meanwhile, left in search of something else...
@BlackPanther

---

Ganze Corp

Mikhail wasn't going to get that far just yet. A holographic image of Alto's secretary appeared next to the front door.

"Mr. Peacemaker, I hope you are aware that we still have a reception desk for a reason." She said.

Mikhail wasn't exactly private news. There were many people who knew about him and his powers, and Ganze corp wasn't going to be the easiest place to find hope. It wasn't that there wasn't any it's just there wasn't anything to hope against. Hoping to make a lot of money wasn't exactly a very strong hope after all. It's not like there were many civilians with strong hope in the area either. It wasn't exactly bad under any standards.

It wasn't exactly an empty threat, but just one she couldn't take seriously.

"Mr. Ganze would be more than willing to see you if you requested it." She said.
@Letter Bee

---

Free World Group

Unfortunately, Sefia Allens was not in her office as Brighid appeared. She and her personal guards had already disappeared, without telling anyone where they were going. Unfortunately for her beloved Free World group she did this quite often. Even Brighid would find it difficult to find her considering Sefia's abilities, but with some determined effort it wouldn't be uncertain that she could find her. However, an easier option might present itself to her soon...
@Random Kitty

Head of Staff's Room

The door swung open to reveal the office of the head of the staff at the Free World Group. He was a muscular bald man in his late 30s, with a face covered in scars. He had been the Free World Group's premier frontline fighter at some point but had sustained an injury which had rendered him unable to fight effectively. Regardless he was still eager to do something in the Free World Group and so he was promoted to head of staff.

He was in charge of the staff's wellbeing and happiness, as well as assessing certain lucrative contracts. Today was perhaps the only opportunity he would get, and he would need the best of the best...

"I have gathered you here today for one reason and one reason only, what I am about to say must not leave this room." He said in his deep, gruff voice.

He quickly whipped around and peered through his blinds, checking for anyone who might be listening in. He leaned in closer and said his next words in a hushed tone of voice.

"I have chosen you all because you have the qualifications. What I need you all for is..." He said, "To find Ms. Sefia a gift for her Birthday."
@camerch@jordy0403@Slendy

[Letter Bee]

((Collab post between Letter Bee and FantasyChic))

Flashback

As one of Mikhail's other contingency plans, a call would appear at Vivenne's computer, encoded in a cipher that she would find it easy, but not too easy, to decode. This call would ask the hacker to meet a certain person at a top floor of an organic cafe in Seattle, for a job. She would be provided with an advance of 8 Million Dollars up front, with a promise of more to follow...

As Vivienne finishes her microwaved popcorn breakfast, she hears a familiar ping from her computer detailing a message. She quickly observes the call only to find an encrypted message. She begins to crack it, having a relatively harder time with it than normal. "Bastard seems to know what they are doing this time. Should be interesting," she says to herself as she hits the last key and decodes it. She reads it thouroughly, taking a big interest in the fee she would be promised. It sounded almost too good, but she couldn't pass up the money. "Seattle," she said to herself again, "Haven't been there in ages." She sends off a simple agreement message along with a familiar anime panda picture that is her "catchphrase" as it were. Afterwards she begins packing for the trip to Seattle.

Present Day

After arriving at the cafe, she would find the top floor empty, except for one wooden table with two chairs, one which was sat on by a fit, athletic-looking man with brown facial hair, who, if not for the ill-fitting T-shirt and jeans he wore, would have looked like a sailor. A CIA Agent chosen by Augusta E. Feather and her probability powers, but Vi wouldn't know that. Either way, the man would say:

"Hello. You must be Vivenne Devon. Nice to meet you." He then got up, and pulled out the second chair. "Anyway, I hope you don't mind, but I ordered organic espresso for the both of us, so that we can talk immidiately."

Vivienne entered the cafe, unsure of how to present herself so she went with a modest black dress and boots along with her special glasses. She noticed the man was alone in the top floor, but she didn't mind the view. If this was anything other than a business transaction, she might have been more interested in pursuing him further.

Keeping a cold face on she sits down in the offered chair, "Espesso is fine, thank you. I would like to know how exactly you have heard of me though. It's not like I go around advertising myself, so I'll imagine you were referred. Not that it matters much when money is on the line." She takes a sip of her espresso and hides the fact it tastes like sewer water.

"We've been...interested in your movements ever since Houston," the man spoke, "that was a fine job, there. Either way, we know that you're not only a Hacker, but a Powered Hacker, one with complete forgetfulness of her early years."

"Oh, don't be surprised; even in this age of powers and sophisticated technology, there is much use for normal human eyes and ears," the man's smile was genial. "Let me tell you a secret."

"A long time ago, there was a great organization, one that supported the greatest of governments. However, said government and said organization allowed the industries and conglomerates and cartels too much power, and now it is living on borrowed time. Now we wish to turn things back, and we are willing to pay any price to do so." He turned towards Vivenne.

"You want leads to find your mysterious past? You have them. You want a billion dollars? You have them. You want Seattle? It's signed over to you; that's how desperate we are."

The fact she was unaware she was being watched terrified and thrilled her. The Houston job was one of her prouder moments, but she didn't expect this, let alone ask for it. Regardless, she was excited, until the man mentioned her powers.

She was about to unleash digital hell on the man until he explained himself and told his story. It wasn't unlike anything she heard before. Corporations that grew too big for their britches and had to be brought down to planet Earth with relative speed and precision.

"Wow, you sure know a lot about me. I'm going to have to up my security, it seems." she sipped her espresso again, forgetting the fact it tasted horrible. "Exactly what is it you want me to do? I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth when offered things like the city of Seattle, but I have to ask. I am willing to get my hands dirty, if necessary, but even I have moral standards."

"Oh, don't worry," said the man, "we no longer kill babies...much. If we do so, the Corporations will just outdo us, then make sure we get all the blame. No, what we want is something that we are sure you would enjoy."

"We want you...to start a war between the Alkaev Corporation and the Free World Group."

"That is a tall request. So, of course, it will come with a tall fee." She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. "I expect that 8 Million you promised at the start. Once the job is done, I request 12 Million. I also want to know about the program you and your bosses used to track me so I can better work around it in the future. Can't have that going around you know, a lady needs to take care of herself."

She tapped her fingers against her arm a bit, and continued, "One last thing I require. I would like to make use of such technology to explore my...unknown past. I want the resources to be able to investigate. Even if it's for a short time, a simple lead is all I would need. Surely that is something within your power."

"First up," the CIA Man said, "agreed on all counts. However, we didn't use a program, we used a special bacterium that gave off a trace amount of radiation - nothing harmful, but enough to act as a natural tracker for anyone in possession of the appropriate device. As for exploring your unknown past, we also have a special stem-cell treatment that can repair any damage to your brain, hopefully restoring your memories."

"Fair enough, then I'll amend. That bacterium you used, I'd like to know more about it. As for the treatment, I would need 100% assurance it would work. I don't just let anyone operate on me, I'm not that sleazy. I would also like to protect myself should anyone - not you of course - wish to do harm to me via this route by rewiring my brain and making me a brainwashed drone. You understand, of course."

"All right, then," spoke the CIA Man, "you'll recieve the relevant details about the bacterium after you've signed a contract. The treatment, meanwhile, is 100% guranteed to begin the restoration of your memories, helping provide you with valuable leads. As for self-protection..." the CIA Man handed over a USB.

"Here, this contains a tape of our conversation. Load it to your computer and program it to be released if you don't answer a password and safety question that can only be answered if you're not brainwashed."

She studied the man's face and, after he made his spiel, nodded. "Fair enough." she takes the USB drive and places it in her handbag. "I believe we have a deal then. I would need to look over the contract, of course, but if everything is as it stands, we should get along swimmingly. After all, since I've been tracked, you know how dangerous I am."

[Camerch]

Breaker glanced at the other two to make sure they all hearing exactly the same thing. His first instinct was to question the boss, but the look on his boss's face said loud and clear that he was serious. Breaker spoke anyways.

"Hang on, so we three where brought here in order to find a birthday present for the CEO? With all due respect sir, I think I can speak for all of us here that we don't even know what she looks like. What makes you think we are suited for doing something like this? Am I expected to infiltrate her house to dig up information about what she likes?"

Breaker leaned forward as he spoke, his annoyance clear in his tone. This felt like some strange prank. Surely there has to be some explanation for this nonsense.

[Letter Bee]

Mikhail rubbed the back of his head, before saying:

"Heh heh...yeah, I forgot there was a reception desk," he chuckled just as his bodyguards facepalmed. "Okay, then, can I see Mr. Ganze? And I have to apologize for various words I said, then." So much for being able to outsmart Alto.

Yeah, he should have noticed that most people in GanzeCorp were happy and content, providing little hope that he can use.

CIA Operations Room, Seattle

The CIA Officer from before facepalmed as well, as did Augusta E. Feather.

Back in Seattle

If Mikhail's request got accepted, he and his bodyguards would, again, expect to be escorted to where Alto was, where Mikhail can make his pitch. After saying his piece about how he was ready to offe new ideas for Alto, he would then continue with:

"Basically, the idea I have is this: A machine that taps into the 'emotional energy' of the world, which I think has been given physical form by the Meteor. I'm thinking a...ring that allows someone with the power of Emotion Materialization, aka me or someone else, to tap into the world's store of a certain emotion."

"To be upfront, I want a ring that allows me to tap into the hope of the world."

[Letter Bee]

((Collab between Letter and Rofls))

"Well, how should I say this..." Alto said.

Truth be told he knew exactly how he was going to say it. He just didn't want to be a dick.

"I'm pretty sure it'd be physically impossible." He said, "For anyone but you."

Mikhail was surprised, but knew that what Alto said was the truth.

"Why is that?" he questioned, "my area on expertise is history and politics, so I'm not exactly conversant on powers."

A minor lie, he did know some theories on how powers worked, but not the finer points of meta-physics.

"It'd be a different story if it were any other power," Alto said, swinging around in his office chair. "Almost everyone else in the world can run off actual physical resources, what you run off is a psychological construct, made to explain a series of biological reactions somehow, given form for you and you only."

He swiveled back around to face the party.

"I haven't even figured out how powers really work yet," He continued, "My first thesis was how to use them through other mediums. It took us hundreds of years to understand chemistry, I wouldn't be able to do something almost infinitely more complicated in five."

"Oh," Mikhail tried to hide his disappointment.

"Well, at least you understand." Alto said, "Some of the people I meet that ask me for inventions get mad when I say it's physically impossible. You're probably the first person that's come in here in a while that didn't try and destroy something."

"It's okay," the boy said, "as long as you're honest with me, it's okay. I acted like a smug jerk, anyway." Mikhail looked directly at Alto's eyes, tear-filled.

"So," he continued, "I have to ask, and this is the real reason we came here, what are your allegiances? I mean, I know that the most likely answer is 'to yourself', but what does that mean? What do you think serves your best interests?"

"Uhh... In all honesty..." He paused for a second and looked out of the window.

He hadn't really thought about why he was doing all of this. Mostly he'd just gone as he went, things came to him and he did something then moved on. Yeah... That would probably sum it up. There was one thing he'd always liked though, one aspect of himself he could even admire.

"I want to become a being outside of logic and sense. I want to be a being that transcends reality." He replied. "Basically, I think one day I want to become a god."

He paused for a second, and the he realized what he said.

"Maybe, just a little bit." He quickly added.

---

Alto watched the wonderboy leaving his skyscraper.

He felt big. Like, really big. He hadn't really realized just how far above a normal person he actually was, to be able to say he wanted to become a god...

"Damn," He said. "That was really pretentious."

[BlackPanther]

@RoflsMazoy
*Cipher nine is somewhat surprised by the drone use, but that quickly passes. He quickly flips over the napkin and makes sure his sunglasses are in place. With a satisfied nod he puts the ear buds in place. with a final look around the cafe he turns on the device. Since he wasn't being met in person he figures that either the person or the missin or both were of high importance.* "cipher nine reporting" *his voice is a bit deeper then one would expect and his 'skin suit' matches his movements perfectly. Of course the silicone was a bit uncomfortable, but he always seemed to ignore that.*

[Random Kitty]

Brighid had hoped to catch the woman without preparation. Sadly, that wasn't to be the case. Then again, she also had the same tendency. Wandering around and sometimes difficult to find. There were a few options. One, she could run possible age algorithms and then access the security cameras around the city to locate her. Although, that would feel more of an ambush. The point was to both force the moment but give the appearance of home field advantage. Mainly, Brighid had come to enjoy games since she became digital. It was one of the ways she could still feel alive.

Instead, she left a subroutine here, just a little bit to monitor when Sefia returned, a light touch that was set to notify her. Like a little, digital watchdog. It was designed to mimic the same style of code that Free World Group used for its systems. At least it would adapt itself to look like that. She thought about taking a look around, but just decided to leave this network and head out into the world for a while.

[RoflsMazoy]

@BlackPanther
"Oh, great. I'll get straight to the point then." Alto said.

His image appeared on the screen and he cleared his throat a little.

"As I told you before, some data was stolen from my company just about an hour ago. This device is linked to a tracking device we placed on the man's escape vehicle." He said. "The man looks like this:"

A picture of a balding man who appeared to be in his 40s appeared on the screen. He had brown hair and a small pair of glasses.

"We fitted a tracking device onto his escape vehicle, and also on the man himself." He said, "The payment is $50,000 because it shouldn't be too difficult. Are you willing to take the job?"

[BlackPanther]

Cipher nine gives a small nod "Able and willing to take this job" He leans back somewhat, his face unreadable emotion wise, but that is normal. Of course, as soon as he finishes with Alto most likely he will send some information about this to the Free World group. He highly doubts that this particular information will be of any real use to them, but he is a spy for them mainly. "How soon do you wish the data to be back?" *He gives a head tilt as he speaks.*

[RoflsMazoy]

"It's not that important truthfully, he only had a copy." Alto said.

Of course they backed up all of their files. People tried stealing them often and if someone succeeded it would be bad for them if they didn't have one.

"I just need you to make sure that no one receives it."

With that, the screen winked out and Alto's face was replaced with a map of the city. There were two blips on the map, one in an abandoned building soon to be demolished, and the other was in the middle of a park with a lake in it. It seems the man had lost his escape vehicle already, but it was up to Castyel to find out where exactly the man was.

[TheUnknowable]

Kyle lifted the barbell one last time. "One hundred", he said, as it reached the top. He racked it in the bench and sat up. At only six hundred pounds he wasn't really building muscle, but it would tone him a bit. His phone notified him that he had a text, and he walked over to his desk to check it. He'd had the phone hacked so that the giga-corps couldn't track it or hack it without at least a supercomputer or a technopath, but his clients weren't so secure.

The text was a simple message, a series of emoticons. To anyone else that saw the message it would look like a normal junk text, but he recognized it as a message from a whistle-blower client of his. Tonight they would meet at a fighting arena/ underground gambling establishment that the corps wouldn't bother watching. There they would just be two gamblers, and would be able to talk. It was the best they could do without a secure communications connection.

Speaking of secure connections, he thought, then opened up his electronic dropbox program. Making use of the Darknet, it would let him use a system akin to a dead drop to contact the person who had secured his phone, though it cost him ten dollars worth of bitcoin to use. The picture he left the user known as "thOrne-rOse" was two simple Chinese dragons. Hopefully she would get the message, that he needed secure equipment, by the number and type of dragon, two laptops, and would respond with a location for the deaddrop. That is, of course, assuming that she or one of her drones were in Atlanta still, and could make the drop. With the laptop his client would be much freer to use the internet, to the point where he could go public without having to worry about his former employer tracing it back to him and having him eliminated. If he got it before the meeting he could even give it to the man there.

[BlackPanther]

@RoflsMazoy
Cas studies the locations and thinks about where the man could be. Either location could harbor the fugitive, however which seems more likely. He taps his chin thinking. Then after finishing his coffee, he puts down money then heads toward the abandoned warehouse. Figuring that the warehouse is the more likely location to harbor the man. As he walks he decides not to send that message yet. He figures this would be a good way to move up with this corporation and get better Intel for free world.