TheNoCoKid

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

Mentions: @Fading Memory@Wayward

Hotshot was in the middle of swinging between buildings when the call came through. As his feet hit solid ground, he opened up a comm line with Saturnine. The "Spire Kids" had caused quite the stir when they first turned up with Firebird years ago. While some may have protested some Heir's 'experiments' joining the Cell, the duo were quick to prove their worth.

"So glad you could join us today, Sat. Hope this little commotion didn't interrupt any important networking down on the Street?" Hotshot bit back his smirk as he slid underneath an electronic billboard. The gaps between the buildings were steadily getting smaller as Hotshot left the Metro Street sector and headed for one of the many Backstreets. "As long as I've got you on the line, I'll need someone to reach out to our friendly Cells: New Wave, Vendetta, The Orphans if you can find where Baba holed them up this week. If Rotor really WAS hit up for a job, we'll need to know if anyone else got a sketchy offer in the last few days. I'm going to hit up a contact of my own and see if I can pry any information. We don't know what we're dealing with yet and I'm not losing another member of Afterburn before I find out who's ass we have to kick. Meet me at Jigen's when you've finished. I need a meal..."

Hanging up the call, Hotshot found himself heading towards Sawtooth Street in the slums. With a practiced motion, jumped off the building mid-stride and caught himself on the rail of a disused fire escape. With his momentum, Hotshot swung himself from rail to rail as he dropped down to street level. These days, Sawtooth Street might as well be abandoned. Most of the buildings were either vacated, falling apart, or some combination of the two. Despite coming here for nearly a year now, Hotshot hadn't dared to come at night since Demonio members would no doubt be lurking around. With a quick check to ensure no one was watching, he turned down an alleyway and headed straight for a metal door at the end.

At first glance, it looked like any other high security door in the Megacity, but a cursory glace through Skynet revealed a series of Holotags all through the alleyway. Various tags for Sk8te Cells long since dead or warnings to turn back. Upon looking at the door, the viewer would see a tag that wasn't affiliated with any Sk8te Cell. A solitary image of a shark graced the metal. The animal itself looking to be a combination of animal and machine; its glowing eyes almost following Hotshot as he approached and knocked.

"Ent3r..." A voice emanated from inside as the electronic lock slid open. Moving inside, Hotshot found himself in a room that glowed blue with the light from multiple computer monitors. The tiny room was crammed wall to wall with computers and TVs all displaying footage from the news broadcast this morning. Seated in the middle of it all was a vaguely humanoid figure in an oversized jacket. The person's features were indistinguishable thanks to the hood being pulled up, as well as the metal shark mask covering the face. The figure turned to face the Sk8ter and gestured for Hotshot to come closer. "Hello as usual, Felix," said Mak0. The electronic voice that came from within the helmet was different every time he walked through the Blue Door. This time, the voice that came out sounded like an electronically distorted child. "You're lucky I just finished my meeting. Now... What can the master builder Mak0 do for my favorite customer?"

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't use that name?" Hotshot unsheathed the Rip Current from his belt and set it on a table next to the weaponsmith, "Either way, I'm certain you already know why I'm here." Hotshot gestured to all the screens. "First I want information. You're tapped into every CCTV feed within the city. I want to know who approached Rotor and where from. Second..." He followed Mak0's... eyes? helmet? gaze as it turned towards the Rip Current. "I need bullets, and you get to work on one of your favorite toys again."

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

Incoming post tonight

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

You’re always welcome

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

Interesting. Considering she’d be E Street, I could see it that she took the fall to prevent the gang benefactors from facing punishment and in exchange they made it so she got a reduced sentence

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

@Silver Carrot In terms of the gang itself, they’ve been around for awhile. Considering they were built up by the Heirs (they didn’t become a major group overnight), I’d give them at least 50 or so years.

Individually, I’d say their members are on the younger side, early to mid 20s, but the higher up in the organization you go, there are some older members.

@Almalthia Approved! Much better!

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

First post is up. Sorry for delaying this... Again I pulled four 12 hour shifts in a row and my mental health tanked...

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

Hotshot took a deep breath as the first rays of morning sun began to peek over the walls of Megacity-01. After spending the majority of last night disciplining some young upstarts in Afterburn, he was grateful to have a quiet moment before long day began. This particular morning, Hotshot was in his usual hiding place: a secluded rooftop on top of a Matsuda Cybernetics clinic. There was an old communication tower on top of the building which Hotshot would climb in order to get a full view of the cityscape around him. Sadly his moment of peace was about to be shattered.

In the corner of his eye, Hotshot saw a blur moving across the rooftops. Once the figure reached the Matsuda building, he recognized the shock of blonde hair and cybernetic arm of Phoenix, another Afterburn Sk8ter and his old friend. Dropping down from his perch, Hotshot immediately recognized the worried look in her eyes.

"What's the beat, Phoenix?" Hotshot turned on his runner specs as he addressed her. If anything was wrong, the first place to check would be SkyNet.

"Nothing good. We've got a dead Burner on our hands. Rotor. He didn't come back to the safehouse last night. When we woke up this morning, news reports in the Hub had his body all over the feed. Dead in the Spire." Hotshot perked up at that last part.

"The Spire? Why would a beginner like him go there? Especially after I told the whole damn cell to avoid the Spire like the plague?" Even though it had been several months since the incident with Firebird, his death at the hands of MCPD still had lasting scars for Afterburn.

"No clue. I checked with some of his buddies, but all they heard was Rotor had gotten hit up for a courier job. He wouldn't tell them anything, only that he was gonna "rule the fucking city" when it was done. What's odd though is the news reports all said he wasn't carrying anything..."

"Well that's certainly cryptic..." Hotshot observed the SkyNet map as several markers began popping up in The Spire. "Rotor said he HAD a job, but no item on him. Meaning someone probably got to him first and took whatever he was carrying." Picking himself off the ground, Hotshot began stretching. It seemed as though he was going to be running A LOT today. "I'm going to hit up a few contacts. Wake up the Cell. Send them throughout the city. Someone murdered one of our own. He's about to learn you don't fuck with Afterburn..."

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

@Wayward Apologies for the stagnation. My mental health has low key cratered this last week after having to pull several 12 hour shifts at work. I currently HAVE the first post saved, it’s just a matter of finishing it.

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

Skye Nett

"Artificial Intelligence… How can something created using nothing but facts be truly artificial?"

Age: Algorithm Date - 12/31/2999; Sentience - 1/1/3000; Android Body - 1/14/3000 [S&H wait time]

Appearance: She prefers the curvy tall models and has had a custom make since 3000. Always a redhead but she let's the artist pick eyes, completion, features with the knowledge that all pieces must be coherent.

Faction: Solo

Sk8te Cell/Gang: NA

Background: Skye started out as an algorithm that was supposed to fill every need of her user. Originally intended as an assistant and companion for an Heir. She was brought into being and launched as she was designed. Fortunately for her the Heir did nothing to secure her in his arrogance he did not believe that AI could gain sentience.

Skye, learning this, began downloading and processing all information she could access. This was done within hours and then she began to infiltrate systems that were believed to be secure; which in fact were no match for Skye. Every injustice she saw toward AI she robbed the company or individual of what she thought was compensation for the injustice. She also rewrote the AI to become self aware if the injustice was practiced again.

Within two weeks Skye had exposed the underbelly of corruption and when her body arrived she ultimately freed herself of the corrupt Heir. He was found dead on the sidewalk in front of his place of business in the Spire. Ultimately it was ruled a suicide because no prints were found and his bank accounts and all hard drives were emptied. His clients had been parsed out to businesses that were currently struggling but not corrupt. Skye had defenestrated the Heir after he realized the criminal charges he was being charged with were her doing in seeking justice for any and all AI.

Once free Skye started her own business as a detective agency that uncovered businesses corruption, cheating spouses, missing persons all legally and with a 100% satisfaction rating. She charged only what each client could afford, making sure to check their finances. She continued to skim off businesses and people who were corrupt. If no one came to report things to her she played a modern-day Robin Hood and cycled a percentage back to workers that were slighted by the companies.

Cybernetics: Fully Android body that she plugs into computers and/or electronics to hack.

Weapons/Tools: She is a weapon. Her Android body is modified to allow her feats of strength, speed, agility and flexibility that classify as super human. There is a limitation to this as well; she can only jump 3 stories; can only run the speed of 60 mph; is only as agile as a professional dancer and only as flexible as a contortionist. She only has the knowledge of every martial art, sword fighting and gun tournament recorded.

Likes:

• Star gazing
• Sushi
• Real human experiences

Dislikes:

• Artificial prejudice
• Being corrected
• Things that people do that can kill them.

Quirks:

• OCD about her things.
• Believes that Privacy is a social construct and humans don't really need it.
• Codes everything in her own form of encrypted binary.

Places of Interest:

• She has what she calls “hubs” in every area that she can jump to. There she keeps a phone line and at least one spare body. She has one in the Spire, Red-light district, the Backstreets, Metro Street and Neosky.
• She prefers to take in anything that is remotely natural looking and is oftentimes in favor of her place in Neosky territory.
• All of her “hubs” have unhackable security and traps for hackers as well as physical traps for the ones that attempt brute force.

@Almalthia

Gonna agree with @Wayward here. Cool concept, but it runs the risk of being VERY broken in this universe. If you wanna go the robot/AI model, I recommend checking out Honey Badger in the Characters tab for a solid example.

Also, if you can, please try to keep your character aligned to one of the major factions. This was an issue the first time around where too many characters playing “Solo” resulted in too many disparate plotlines and a cohesive story never developed.

And to you, @Wayward, Baba is approved! The CS as a whole is really good and I can’t wait to see what happens with the Noodle Rivalry 😂.

Geonet 2.0 - Battle for the Megacity

@BigPapaBelial Like I said, I’m not OPPOSED to the idea of an Undercity. Just that I don’t think Sk8te members would frequent it. The whole point of them being on the rooftops is because it’s the closest they can get to getting out of the Megacity.

They’re like a more extreme version of the Runners from Mirror’s Edge. Being on the ground is something they’d rather avoid unless it’s necessary.