SIGINT

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

SIGINT, the huge bitch hacker extraordinaire!

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

	Outskirts of Frixion Prime — Drawbridge @Dark Light @Antarctic Termite @LPRKN

"Bitch please, if you knew how much money I was worth, your balls would drop." The girl fired back, her better judgement bruised and battered through years of constant abuse. "As much as you talk out of your ass, you should have a gas mask rigged up to your other set of cheeks."

Feet on the bridge. But on the other side. Not too close yet. Getting closer. But not too close.

Key length known, brute-forced about 66% of the available bit-space. Just a bit further. Just a little bit further. Keep him talking. Any second now.

"Oh, hey!" SIGINT was honestly surprised to see the horns, returning the gesture with aplomb. Her voice seemed to make a hard shift from 'aggressive' to 'pleasant conversation' literally between sentences, almost as though she were talking to two separate people. "Heh. You know, I used to be a state-socialist? I was waaay more idealistic, back then."


'A better system'. She had spent her childhood enamored with that idea. Overthrow the rotten system, and replace it with a better one.

But as she grew older, she slowly came to realize — all things rotted. No matter how well-crafted, how benevolent it was constructed to be, a 'system' would inevitably be undermined, corrupted, and used as a tool for exploitation. Perhaps overtly. Perhaps quietly. But it always happened.

Change the clothes, and the clothes grow dirty once more. How often does a country do its laundry?

The moment her life changed was when she realized, that the only system that could guarantee freedom, was no system at all.


SIGINT's head snapped up, as though she heard something from far away. In a sense, she had — her brain was still picking up their radio chatter. Intercepting signals was something she could do passively. If it was a device that sent out signals of its own accord, and she had no intent to modify, all she had to do was decrypt them locally. It was when the device didn't normally broadcast, or when she wanted to actually do something to it, that she needed to send a signal of her own. And that meant either commandeering a nearby proxy with a sufficient signalling range of its own, or giving away her location to anyone savvy enough to track it.

"Fuck. More of 'em." The girl muttered, "And they've got drones, now? Man, this is bullshit. I had to go and leave my drones at the base. _{If a cheap hotel counts as a base.}" She raised her head, blowing a wet bang away from her forehead uselessly. "Maybe I can just take one of theirs...nah, I'd probably need to open it up for that..."

Oh, wait, that other guy was still here.

"Uh." One thing was clear, at this point. If her angel wasn't coming to her, she'd have to go to her angel. "Look, this is fun and all, how about we settle it with an old-timey duel? We both walk eight-hundred-thousand paces, then turn and fire." The girl, who was clearly unarmed, held up a finger-gun with a toothy, metallic smile. "Here, I'll start."

whrrrrrrRRRRRRRR———CLUNK

SIGINT blinked, honest distress coming across her face for the first time. "Uh..." She stammered, looking down at where the motor of the bridge was, underneath the metal — not that she could see it from here. "L-Like I said, I'll sta—"

RRRR———CLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNKCLUNK———WHRRRRRRrrrrrr_rrrrrrr


Well, shit.

---

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

'Mechanical failure'!? What the ass-flavored toaster pastry—

Nevermind. Whatever. What else is in the area?

No choice. Omnidirectional ping, going out. If that drone tracks it, I'll just have to move. They already know I'm alive, anyway.

Is that...is that a hand-held device under the— fucking cuntweasels, he has an accomplice!!

What are they? Bounty hunters? No, he would have shot me on sight, I'm dead-or-alive. Not a cop. Not corporate. What do they want!?

Shit shit shit shit shit, what else, what's coming back from the ping, what can I use—

Floodgates!

Floodgates?

Floodgates.

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

"Did you just walk straight into that bullet? Because you don't seem like someone worth shooting at."

oooohhhhhh

Ah, I dig the character. I don't think anyone has any major objections, so welcome aboard!

=D! Thanks!

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

I was wondering where it went. I've been going off of your post history for descriptions this whole time XD;;

Hopefully you've got an offline copy of that saved...speaking of which...I'm gonna backup SIGINT's profile right now...


Also: Yeah, my mind's-eye vision of SIGINT is actually way uglier than any anime-girl-picture you're likely to find on the internet. Which is frustrating, because I like using faceclaim images, not just for character sheets, but also for cut-ins in posts occasionally. Having a giant folder of consistent visuals to use can make for some really lazy writing exciting effects, but having to compromise on the ideal vision of the character is...

Well, hey, makeup is fucking magic, right?


_{related: hacking in progress}

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

woo, page 2

My sass game feels weak. Like, seriously, brain. "Masky"? That's the best you can come up with right now?

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

	Outskirts of Frixion Prime — Drawbridge @Dark Light @Antarctic Termite @LPRKN

Anya wouldn't hear SIGINT snickering to herself, like some sort of madwoman atop the bridge. _{"Oh man, bullet-filled piñata, that's a good one..."} Some 'angel'. Well, although the girl didn't have visual on her anymore without the security cameras, it sounded like she had met a friendly, at least. "The backup g█nerators in that building ar█ probably done revving up by n█w, so I think you and y█ur new friend should hurry █p and get a ro█m. A different room█"

"Als█— oh, hey, th█t's new." The radio came on shortly, before suddenly cutting off again. "Rem█mber how you told m█ not to get shot on th█ bridge again? I might be ab█ut to get shot on the bridge agai██"

---

A hooded person, wearing a slightly dislodged mask and bearing the unmistakable shape of a gun, pointed to the opposite side of her, at the building she had been staring up at a moment before. SIGINT turned to face them, still with one elbow on the side of the bridge, returning a wide-toothed, brace-bearing smile that was somewhere between curious and manic. Seemingly unabashed of her orthodontics, as Giggles approached closer, the facial stain of a not-insignificant degree of acne could be seen, previously hidden with some strategically-applied concealer that had been washed off during her waterslide adventure. Between that, and the dirt on her face (it wasn't a very clean waterslide), the six was beginning to look more and more like a four. Or maybe a three.

...That bodysuit probably had an abdominal brace in it, too. Two?

"Oh come on, I've been scurrying all day. Gimme a break, will ya? I'm just here to grab a beer and watch the fireworks." The girl returned the same pose, placing a hand on her hip in a mocking gesture. And meet a friend, but she's running late...oh well. Guess I gotta handle this one without the help of the Flying Window-Shagger. Even though the person in front of her was carrying a weapon, she didn't seem at all afraid. It was less of a poker face, and more like the obvious tell of someone holding a full house — as long as they were reading their cards right, of course

Opposite side of the bridge...perfect. As long as they don't cross the divider in the middle...

She leaned forward, wet bangs sticking to her forehead and leaving brownish, muddy outlines where they did. "Also? People in glass houses shouldn't throw headwear, masky." As SIGINT adjusted her glasses, the brief moment where the lenses reflected the moonlight hid the movement of her eyes. That ocular equipment was definitely advanced...she could tell at a glance that it wasn't civilian gear. Looked like it was hooked up to more than just the eyes, too, but the olfactory segment was switched off at the hardware level. Nothing she could do about that.

In any case, those eyes...could she steal those eyes? Well, even assuming she could, it was really more a matter of how quickly. If they were just really fancy civvie binocs, then it wouldn't be a problem, but that getup almost looked military-level. If she started now, and kept the person talking long enough, then maybe...

^{Endpoint Address 8dc7:00ae:39b5:aba0:0076:662d:f797:9e0b "Kate" Bandwidth Priority Medium → Low
Endpoint Address fd34:fe56:7891:2f3a:3fef:4a00:a391:399d "Masky" Bandwidth Priority Added → High}

"You don't look like police. _{Not that I'd listen to police anyway.}" The girl squinted, an overeager motion that made it clear that she was giving Giggles a thorough inspection. An exaggerated level of emotiveness was clear in almost all of her actions, but it seemed to come naturally to her. Like an alligator's jaw, the moment she began speaking again, her metal-clad teeth took part in a vile smirk. "Heh, you look more like you should be inspecting the sewage drain way downstream. If you're the 'big girl' in town, I gotta wonder, are they just leaving everything to bounty hunters these days?"

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

That sounds like something she would do, so no problems here. I'm phone browsing at the moment, but I'll whip up some sass as soon as I'm home from work.

If SIGINT is fortunate enough to leave a corpse that can be buried, her epitaph will just say, "#worth"

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

	Outskirts of Frixion Prime — Drawbridge @Dark Light @Antarctic Termite @LPRKN

"Why they███ after me, huh? █ gues█ you could say they want my head." SIGINT's words came across the radio calmly, as she stretched out her left arm. It was beginning to feel better after the impact, but it would probably still be sore for a few days. "Well, that██ ████ me being coy with the truth, so █f I'm wanting y█u t█ trust me, I guess I should say somethi██ ████ straightforward, like, 'there's a computer in my brain that they want to take'. Or █s that too str██ghtforw█rd?" The girl frowned a bit dipping her head back and forth as she weighed the matter. Her mouth hadn't moved the entire time, so to an onlooker, it might appear that she was simply thinking to herself very emotively. "To be h█nest, I'm missing s█me piece█ of the puzz███ myself. This can't be th█ only Neural Implant in dev███pment, or ev██ on the market. Something mus█ be special about it, but...eh, th█y are a bunch ██ fat cats, so maybe they're j██t being vindictive, for al█ I know."

---

"Why did you come after me!? I told you to stay home!!"

"We want you back, Anna! Please—"

"You idiot!! They followed you here!!"

"I...no— I— I was sure that—"

---

...She knew that wasn't it. It had gone way too far to be simple vindication, even by the most wealthy person she could imagine.

There would have been no reason for her to be involved, if that was the case.

With a long sigh, the young girl cracked open a can of beer that she had picked up on the way here, from a roadside vending machine. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually put money into one, let alone valid identification. The factory and maintenance codes were things she could track down online, so she just had to ask it for its model number and run a search. Hardly even counted as hacking.

It was then that the explosion rattled her eyes and ears. Slowly turning towards it, Anastasiya rested her elbows on the railing as she gazed out over the reddened water, reacting with an impressed whistle at the scope of the destruction. "Wow, things are getting pretty explodey over here, huh?" She said out loud, straightening her glasses. "...I should prooobably skip town after this."

Reason was beginning to return to her, slowly. Up until that point, she had still been in the mindset of accepting an imminent death, like the last player in a board game doing everything they can to screw over the person in the lead just out of spite. She wouldn't have done something as hopelessly reckless as plastering her face over the airwaves if it hadn't been for that. It was only now that she was realizing, that thanks to Kate's interference, she actually did have a chance to get out of this alive. Probably. Maybe. Eh.

In either case, abandoning her to corporate goons after all of this wasn't the kind of dick move she had in her playbook — although she certainly had quite a few others.

---

Pinging the sniper's radio for a z-coordinate-inclusive location marker, and quickly downloading the blueprints of the nearby building from public records, it didn't take too long to figure out what door she was talking about. There was a slightly worrying period of silence while that information was compiled, though — internally, the girl was cursing that she didn't have her bag of robots with her. Not having visual on anything she was doing was making it a lot harder, and take significantly longer...not that she'd ever let someone else see her sweat.

"You g█t it, act█vat█ng voodoo. Just lemme m█ke a doll █f the buildin██" Kate's radio crackled, followed by a short chuckle. A few moments later, the garage door opened by exactly a foot — and then immediately lowered again, about halfway, as though it were going to slam shut. "Kkkkhhhehehehe...nah, j█st kiddin██" After a short delay, the door was raised to the interloper's requested height. "You've gotta b█ th█ only angel I know who rolls ar█und █n the ground, though. Not that I me██ many angels in my l█ne of w█rk."

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

Edited on my end, we're good. We can say she arrived at the bridge right after he started watching it.

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

	Outskirts of Frixion Prime @Dark Light @Antarctic Termite @LPRKN

As the operative team C moved through the outskirts of the city, the holographic sign of a nearby bar flickered, cut, and then, reappeared with a different image — one of their target standing proudly and smirking at them with her arms folded. The moment they encountered it, it was promptly shot up, before they realized what it was — and before another sign in the same intersection flickered and cut, putting her smug face on a high-up billboard.

In just a few moments, it was everything. Traffic lights, TV screens, holo-projectors, signs, advertisements...every single digital screen in that intersection was replaced with a different image of her face, in a different pose, the only constant being that they all had the same shit-eating grin.

"Oh, you kn█w. Just st█nding aroun█ smiling like a dork."

Deeper in the city, the move would have been an even better distraction, though that would outstretch the number of devices she could affect at a time. A city intersection was filled with dozens, maybe hundreds civilian devices that could be taken over one by one with enough advance preparation. That interstice of streets were chaos without guidance, cars honking, people shouting, and the operatives were frozen, not sure just what kind of trap they were walking into.

It was a psychological one, more than anything else. They were primed to look for her face, picking it out among a number of images that were not her. But plaster it everywhere, and suddenly that classification became troublesome.

Her camo-suit was damaged. It was bulletproof as long as it didn't have water in it, and waterproof as long as it didn't have bullets in it, but it turned out that both at once was a bit much for it to handle. At most, it could change her image to one of the same shape, but with a rapidly shifting, prismatic outline...

...in other words, just like a malfunctioning hologram. The infrared displacement was still functional, so even with their goggles, they ended up not being able to tell the difference. They ran right past her.

---

"L█st 'em. You can hear their radi█ ch█tter too, right?" The voice came across, "I lowered the encryption lev██ a bit, so that this signal sh██ld mix in better with th█ ambient ones. Stealth ██ better than strength at this point, █ ██████"

A strongly encrypted signal couldn't be read if it was intercepted, but the endpoints could still be picked out. And even if they couldn't tell exactly what was being said, a signal with that level of encryption, with an endpoint at a riverside location, was a dead giveaway. Lower the security to be the same as every other signal flying around the city, though, and there was no way to pick it out. Even if they cracked every transmission and listened to them all at once, they would just get a cacophony.

"I'm back ██ the river, same drawbridge as before. Scene █f the crime~ He he he~" Returning to a location where they had already found her, in order to escape, was one of those things that was either a crazy idea or a crazy-brilliant one, depending on context. The girl had trouble reading context sometimes, but she loved crazy, and it was crazy either way, so why not? "As for who I am, y█u can call me SIGINT. I don't give o██ my real name." At some point, she had started using her internet handle as her identifier in the real world. When had that been...? "As for whether ██ █ot you can trust me, wel█, you can't, sorry not sorry. But, you already m█de the decision to side with me, didn't you? ███ could have shot me just as easily, back ther██" That precocious smile of hers damn near came across the static. "I'm interested ██ hearing your reasons, too. People like yo█ don't see a situation like that and go, 'oh no, that po█r person is in trouble, I must save them!'"

Even though she said that, she was still entering a situation where only her 'guardian angel' would have any leverage. There was only one reason that a gunman would want to meet her in person, when they could talk just as easily over the radio - that reason was, as always, guns. SIGINT carried no weapons and was useless in a firefight, as the other person no doubt knew at this point. Even though she was strolling up as confident as ever in form, in terms of function, she might as well be laying herself at the woman's feet.

But, even in a situation like this, she still had a back-up plan. The drawbridge location hadn't been as randomly selected as her crazed demeanor would have someone believe. She had already hacked into the waterway control system, and could raise the bridge at any time with just a thought. As long as they stood on opposite halves of it, she'd have an easy escape, and she knew which side the interloper was arriving from.

"Nice job with ███ fire alarm, by the way. That one██ █ classic, I love it."

---

Drenched, glasses tilted, and with a giant hole punched in her 'bulletproof' suit, SIGINT looked like she had just stepped off of a roller coaster as she leaned back against the same side of the bridge that she'd taken her tumble from a few minutes before. The gunman had already shown her that she had access to this general area, as evidenced by the bodies that were still around somewhere.

...Why would someone save a person like her? The question burned in her mind. She hadn't exactly gone out of her way to get on anyone's good side. Ingratiation wasn't in her playbook. But if what they wanted was value out of her, well, the bounty had been right there all this time up until now. Someone she didn't know, but someone with a vested interest in keeping her alive, that wasn't tied to money...

She was grinning widely before she even realized it. The girl's mind was like a dog, chasing cars and chewing on bones whenever it could. And it was fun. Fun to wonder, fun to think, fun to plot, to unplot. Fun to tie apart the tangled threads, bit by bit, like a jigsaw puzzle.

Common sense dictated that someone with a bounty like hers should have just ignored the person completely, taking advantage of the situation to escape both of them. But instead, she leaned on the railing with a relaxed pose, risking her life in exchange for one simple thing...

...to know.