Just to clarify, is this meant to be a free roam world(with largely no story planned other than the actual premise) or one that's a bit more driven by events and arcs that have been planned out to some extent?
((What Meritania said. Looks like I'm not the only person still interested in this RP. I'd move my character out of the room, but I'm still waiting for a reply from Ice(and Block, to some extent). I could retract her question and move her out to the lobby to interact with the two characters outside, but I don't think we'd be able to go much further than small talk, since most of the other roleplayers have seemingly went off. Unless everyone miraculously comes back, I think only a reboot would work to get this going again.))
((Also, this is kinda unrelated, but hey Zix. It's been quite a while since I've seen you around(or anyone from back then, for that matter). How's it going?))
((Sorry for the late post. Also, I'm just gonna move my character along after any interactions with Block's characters, and she/he can respond once she/he gets back. And Zeke, when your character was talking about a criminal, I think you were trying to refer to ike's character.))
Kate watched Pick have a small laugh at her joke, and for some reason, that just made her smile a bit more. It'd been admittedly a while since she'd talked to humans with the intent of actually making friends with them; the last time she'd interacted with someone, it was to interrogate a member of a government funded think tank, and that didn't end very well for the person on the receiving end. So one would be able to tell why the woman felt more open to socialising than others, at least for now. Following this, Pick offered a handshake, which Kate accepted with a gentle hold, and commented on the number of well known people in the room, which Athena had already duly noted.
"Seems so, huh?", at the end of the day however, Kate supposed that it wasn't statistically improbable; if more famous people appeared though, then she would've started to get suspicious. Anyways, after Pick took a short gander at Samson, she'd asked how everyone's ride here was. Kate had no real comment, and simply shrugged; it was much less difficult than it would've been if the meeting had been scheduled at a more populated area, for sure. The sickly looking teenager replied, and at the time, Kate was curious as to why she was here. At the moment, Athena theorised her use as a potential spy that evoked sympathy from unsuspecting people, or as a hacker, engineer, and/or robot operator.
Later on, Pick questioned the man who'd been muttering to himself a lot as to what he was looking for, and since Athena had already picked up some shady snippets from his conversations with what the AI presumed to be either his Muse or a partner, Kate was also slightly curious of this. Communicating through talking when you already had a way to do so through your brain was in itself, strategically ridiculous and generally speaking, idiotic, but Greeves explaining himself seemed to have once again distracted everyone, except for Kate, from that matter.
Basically, the US government had apparently brought him back from the dead, after the Russians supposedly killed him, and experimented on him until he managed to escape. For a brief moment, she wondered exactly how the tests had affected him, but a better question would be whether or not this man himself had already been compromised. It was strangely odd that the government hadn't installed any command words into their unwilling super soldiers, so Kate made a mental note to keep an eye out for any dubious behaviour exhibited by the man. Not that she wasn't already doing so for everyone around her(as she always did), but she simply allocated slightly more attention to him as a precaution. Better safe than sorry.
Greeves proceeded to explain the gist of things, and while the woman already knew much of the things he was talking about(such as the group's main aim, the danger of the job, and etc.), the two things that she noted in particular were the possibility of requesting for a specific job within the group(which she might've done in the future), and the guideline that operations should be carried out 'humanely and ethically'. Putting aside the horrible subjectivity of those terms, as long as she was allowed clean kills, she was fine by adhering to them. Finally, he dismissed all of them, saying that they should return tomorrow for an operation and that they were free until then. Following this, everyone began to make some small talk, introducing themselves, joking around, bragging, the usual. In the midst of this, Kate walked up to the table, just to ask Greeves a question.
"So, what time will we meet up tomorrow? Oh, and I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to you; that must've sucked, to say the least.", Kate knew that offering her condolences didn't really do anything to help relieve any of the man's past as a practical guinea pig; it was just one of those social graces that most people did as a sign of being sincere. Honestly, if she had went through the same thing he did, betrayed by her own government and tested on, no number of apologies would've made her feel better. Then again, she supposed it was better than nothing.
After Greeves answered her question, she thanked him and moved back into the group conversation(which she never stopped listening to), finding the famous doctor offering everyone a nice dinner. Pick responded sheepishly to this and very clearly flushed, only afterwards reasoning that it was still too early for dinner. Before this spiraled into its own conversation, Kate got in some words.
"Sure, why not? Where do we plan to eat?", her calm and friendly voice was accompanied with some optimism, and after Athena ran some scenarios on the possible negative outcomes of going along, she found the threat to be relatively low. At least, that's what she predicted with the information that they'd already been provided with. Subsequently, Earthbreaker(as he'd introduced himself as) joked again, and many of them started to discuss about what they were going to do between now and dinner. They started to talk about a carnival and watching a UFC fight, but Kate was mostly disinterested in both, unless they happened to do something out of the ordinary. When it came to entertainment, she admittedly preferred things like a nice book or a movie, but she supposed that she had to make friends. They were going to be working together after all.
But the discussion was relatively short-lived, as Two Doves soon reasoned that they still had an assignment scheduled for tomorrow, which was definitely something to keep in mind. Kate often pulled late nights, but that usually had the consequence of her waking up superbly late at times(occasionally past noon). Anyways, Samson had managed to respond to everyone's questions(which Athena attributed to either experience or wetware), and requested that his AI reserve a dinner at the Four Gardens(answering her previous question). Quite a few people were clearly surprised, and Kate was a bit too, to be completely honest. While she hadn't been there before, she knew of its reputation through having scanned through multiple of her targets' schedules, so she could definitely understand that this was a generous move.
When told by the AI, who was named Peter, that everyone should dress to impress, a new conversation about not having good clothes started within the group. Kate, as opposed to many of the others, did have something nice to wear(it was common for her to, considering her occupation) and was more intrigued by the idea of going along with the pretense of a masquerade ball, but she was sure that she could've went without a mask and gone undetected if she wished to; in fact, coupling her practical status as a nonperson with some real-time video editing of the surveillance footage should've gotten the job done. Besides, she wasn't too sure if she could acquire another mask in time for the dinner, as using the one she wore now would've been an obvious red flag for anyone on the lookout for the Strix.
"Going along with a masquerade mask sounds pretty fun. But anyways, what time will the dinner take place?", her voice was still cheerful and carried a small air of politeness. At this point, Two Doves left the room, saying that she'd meet them again at the lift. Kate supposed she would follow soon enough, after Samson answered her question.
Upon the skeleton urging the spider to wait, the arachnid stopped dead in his tracks, noticing what his friend had seen too. It would appear that the village had been set on fire, with the smoke it had created causing many of the mobs there to fall unconscious. Together, the two watched the scene, as obisidian golems moved easily through the area, scooping up any mobs they could find.
"I've seen those things before... they're Steve's.", Twitch spat out the last name in contempt, clearly dissatisfied by what had happened. Even from this distance, the smoke and fire looked fairly intimidating, and as much as he would've liked to head down there and revel in the flames, he was not as powerful and invulnerable as he previously was. He then nodded, agreeing with Grievous' advice, as they kept their eyes on Teft.
After Kate's last statement, she was sure that she'd get some odd looks at her, and sure enough, she'd caught a glimpse of the man in the mask shaking his head in what was probably bewilderment. Honestly though, she couldn't blame him; if someone had said that to her prior to her first encounter with Athena, she'd probably have chuckled profusely at the thought. So much had changed since then in so little time though, that it probably would've been a complete blur to remember now had it not been for her wetware implants.
Said technology had also allowed her to do what she was currently doing: ponder on unrelated things while still being highly attentive of her surroundings. The precise body language of every single person surrounding her, the exact tone and sound of a speaker's voice, and every little action that anyone did, were but a few of the items recorded and put under a microscope by Athena. Ever since that fateful day, Kate worked more alike to a machine, sorting and ordering every single piece of information that was obtained through her senses in an almost terrifyingly efficient manner. It came to her naturally now, and while Athena usually handled it subconsciously without needing Kate's assistance, she occasionally took charge if there was nothing too exciting happening around her. She supposed this was one of those times.
Either way, with her left hand still in her jacket's pocket, the woman simply continued to observe everyone around her. Two Doves, moving to cover some of her face with her hair(Athena already having noted the possibility of her blushing), explained that she was technician who hoped to help improve the more unfortunate areas in Lynnhaven, before proceeding to ask what a well-off man like Samson was doing here. And it was a good question, as opposed to what the old comic book heroes like Batman would've suggested(who Kate still found time to read once in a while), virtually all of the wealthy had no qualms with allowing the mega-corporations to continue thriving.
The doctor provided a response to the question, saying that he despised the mega-corporations, and had even lost a good friend because of them(he'd even referred to said person as 'God's left hand'). Kate immediately had a small trace of sympathy for the man, as like him, she would've considered herself and her brother to have been victims of a world manufactured by the mega-corporations. But that was in the past; harping on it wouldn't have brought change. Action did, and that was probably the main reason she was the Strix to begin with. Still, she understood what drove the doctor; they were people who had been personally wronged by the powerful and greedy, and hoped to make sure that they never hurt anyone else again. They weren't greedy mercenaries or thieving thugs, but were simply people who wanted to make a positive change.
At the end of that thought, the man in the trench coat opened the doors at the end of the hallway, opposite the elevator they'd arrived from. They were showed to a plain and clean white room, occupied by some simple pieces of furniture and a few quaint doors guarded by two men, supposedly leading to different sections of the small underground complex. There was also a brunette waiting inside, who seemed to scrutinise all of the people who entered. Following this, the group was led into the 'main office', and true to its name, it was indeed a fairly normal office, the only real things of note being a marked and pinned map of Lynnhaven, a calendar with some funny dogs(which Kate found slightly amusing), and the man who owned this office, who Kate instantly recognised as Denzel Greeves, a well-known man who'd died in WWIII.
The person who'd organised this gathering then introduced him, and this was followed by many of the people in the room revealing themselves to be fans of the man, some much more so than others. Kate herself was, like to many things others found great interest in, largely indifferent to the entire matter. She wasn't in the mood to delve into the stigmas of patriotism and wars once more, so she simply occupied herself with a more intriguing thought: how had this man faked his death? Both Kate and Athena had a fond liking to theorising, and were already coming up with a few short-term ones based on what they knew about the circumstances of the man's death.
Suddenly however, there was a loud sound of a bump, caused by the brunette which Kate had previously seen. It seemed to have escaped many of the people in the room however, and maybe even the woman herself, as she had ignored it.
"Guess they're too focused on Greeves."
Shortly after, the same woman introduced herself to everyone and, from what Kate could tell, tried to break the ice. She then glared at Stevens, the criminal which had killed 15 people in an attempted robbery recently, most probably in contempt. For a short moment, Kate felt grateful that she had her guns with her, as no matter how great you were at fighting, there was no way to counter bullets. Anyways, some people, such as the man who'd dropped his cigarette, were still in a bit of a shock, and didn't seem to notice Pick talking instantly. Seeing as she was standing by her, and what Pick said actually made sense, Kate decided to strike up a short and friendly conversation with her as the rest recovered from the surprise that was Greeves' standing in front of them.
"Well, you can call me Kate; I'm sure we'll have lots of fun together, once the autographs are done being signed anyways."
"Thanks, you look... ready for action. The name is Two Doves, cigarette?", Kate almost immediately noticed a coincidence, in that they were both named after a bird of some kind. In fact, she'd been doing that an awful lot recently, easily seeing patterns where there were actually none. A few weeks ago, while she was pondering on it, Athena had even given her the term for that: apophenia, the human tendency to find order in chaos. The AI had attributed it to the wetware installed in her, along with the fact that her job often required her to be thoroughly attentive of every detail. Either way, she simply noted it as a piece of random trivia, and quickly returned back to the conversation at hand in her usual friendly voice.
"Thanks, but I don't smoke.", politely refusing her offer, Kate was about to speak again before Dr Martin entered the small chat, apologising for possibly interrupting them and asking what their occupations were outside of this job. Considering what she did for a living, that question would've most definitely received a strange answer from her. As she swiftly formulated a response however, the woman picked up something strange once again. With the doctor closer, she was able to scan him in further detail, and in doing so, noticed that he looked... different. Bizarrely enough, the man, especially the features of his face, looked younger. It wasn't particularly noticeable, but after cross-examining his appearance with pictures she had glanced at in the past, Kate was sure that the conclusion she'd came to was correct.
With only a few seconds having passed since he asked that question, Kate left the stray thought for Athena to temporarily occupy herself with, and through Multitasking, had already came up with a reply to the man's question.
"Well, you could say that I work for a god. It's complicated.", you'd be able to tell that Kate was enjoying herself in the talk, as despite the slight vagueness of her statement, her tone was still easygoing.
Now that she was directly in the group, Kate took the advantage of quietly and swiftly observing everyone, her mask and body language giving away no indication of this. Some might've called her paranoid for doing so, but at this point it was but an ingrained habit for the assassin, one that has managed to survive two years of being on the run from vengeful mega-corporations and governmental agencies. Obviously, caution was a necessity for someone like her, so Athena often remained vigilant in nearly every scenario.
Firstly, Kate now noticed that the woman with the antenna was dressed in clothes designed in a striking neon blue colour. Then, there was a man in a brown leather jacket, who was mumbling to himself about identifying people in masks(Athena theorised that he was talking about Kate and the other masked man). Next to him was another man, presumably his partner, wearing a white and blue bandana with a freakin' flamethrower attached to his cyberarm.
"Overkill, much?"
Other than that, there was Dr Samson, sitting in a particularly high tech wheelchair; a tall man covered in a yellowish-brown trench coat; the mute criminal that Kate had already previously noted, who appeared strangely calm, his circumstances considered; and a towering man, wearing a skull hockey mask, who stood between said robber and a pale and potentially diseased teenage girl.
"Quite the band the ALM's assembled here, huh?"
After these rapid stray thoughts, the man wearing a mask answered her question, brought out his phone with the initials 'ALM' glowing on it, and commented on the mask she wore. Kate smiled to herself, reminiscing about the times when her mask, the presence of the Strix, had struck visible fear into the hearts of the corrupt and greedy. That was the original intention after all, but she'd taken a fond liking to that identity.
"Thanks, you too bud.", she replied in a nonchalant manner. Following this, the man who stood next to a lantern remarked on her arrival and instructed the group, along with any motorcycles they owned, to come along with him into the warehouse. Upon opening the wooden doors of the building and revealing the dilapidated and dusty interior of the warehouse, everyone did as he asked, with Kate still having her gun within reach of her pocketed left hand. She noted the stacked wooden crates scattered around the storehouse, and briefly wondered as to whether or not they contained anything of note. The man leading this gathering then stood in front of a wall and activated a secret elevator of sorts, which seemed to have seamlessly raised itself out of the ground.
"Hmm. Fancy."
Kate entered the lift and, along with the other occupants, began to descend down into a dimly lit chamber. Hoping to make some small talk, as she figured she might as well get to know the group since they were going to be working together, Kate spoke to the person nearest to her, who was the woman with the antenna she'd previously seen.
"Hey, you got a pretty cool blue motif going on. Name's Kate by the way.", she said this in a casual tone, which might've appeared strange to some in a situation like this.
Quote from wsm3210>>
((Wow, I'm messing up all over the place aren't I?))
((It said, "Almost all records of Kate have since been erased, and as far as anyone is concerned, she is still located within the cyronics prison facility." You didn't go into detail about what was erased and you said that she was still supposed to be located in the facility))
((Of course, it'd be virtually impossible for one to destroy every piece of evidence that you ever existed. A lifetime of people you've met would have to be killed, and every form of information even hinting at you, whether physical or digital, would have to be erased. I'm not contending that that is possible, but I can assure you that my characters have went to extreme efforts to destroy as many records as possible. With a very well-versed hacker AI and the very insight of the person who wants to disappear, I can undoubtedly say that the chances of your character knowing her are close to, if not, zero.))
((I also did say 'as far as anyone is concerned'; apologies if I wasn't specific enough. The people who directly put her there would surely have some semblance and some memory of Kate Shannon stored in the back of their minds. What I originally meant is that to those people, if you questioned and drilled them relentlessly enough to remember that specific event, they would tell you that she should be locked up in a cyronics prison facility.))
Quote from wsm3210next
"Sorry," Jonathan told the girl, "I was talking to my AI. He's very chatty," Hey," Muse said, "You started the conversation." "And now I'm ending it," Jonathan told him, "Sorry, AI again."
Suddenly, Jonathan heard a voice from behind say, "Sorry if I'm late, I'm gonna guess that everyone was told to meet here?" Jonathan turned around and saw a woman in an owl mask. "Great," He said sarcastically to Muse, "Another masked person to identify." "Oh," Muse said, "I already identified her when she was blocks away. It turns out that the masks didn't matter. In the case of the masked man, it even helped. For that woman, her body was enough to identify her." "Then who's the masked man?" Jonathan asked. "He's a pretty notable mercenary, I don't know his name though, mainly because no one does," Muse replied. "Then who's the woman?" Jonathan asked him. "Kate Shannon, she was cyrogenically frozen by the government. She should still be," Muse told him. "Then the question is, why isn't she?" Jonathan said
((Pardon my interruption, but Kate Shannon no longer exists(in terms of records). All digital records have been wiped clean, and little physical evidence of her existence only survives in long forgotten and kept away material copies.))
Quote from wsm3210>>
((Ok, sorry. I thought that would be cool. I'll change it. And you're right, I didn't do the research. Again, sorry))
((I had to keep it that he had worked on AI, since people had already mentioned it in other posts))
((It's fine.))
A man in a navy blue sweater sat in front of a computer, which had been placed on a noticeably crowded glass table. He pushed some books and files out of the way, adjusted his spectacles, and examined the contents of the screen intently. A few weeks ago, the hacker had been tasked with following a mysterious trail, which had originated from a seemingly ordinary Wikipedia article detailing a Roman goddess. Their sources had been hearing whispers in the underground world, mentioning that this digital path would've lead to the Strix, a rumoured assassin that terrorises mega-corporations, governments, and criminals alike. Her supposed presence is not known to the average person, and while most people who work in the shadows hold some opinion of her, they too are lacking substantial amounts of information regarding her existence and modus operandi.
He raised a white cup of coffee and took a short sip from it, before sighing frustratedly. The man recalled how he got here, first solving a fairly simple and out-of-place anagram on the site, to being sent on an increasingly difficult treasure hunt into the darknet. He'd spent hours, sometimes even days, decrypting and answering strange puzzles with clues referencing themes such as Roman and Greek mythology, cyberpunk literature, and the geopolitical practice known as neocolonialism. Each time, there was a small digital clock display placed in front of a phoenix, which, much to his dismay, had decreased from 22 days to a mere 6 hours over the course of the man's search. Seeing as a phoenix was often associated with rebirth, the man wasn't exactly looking forward to when the clock, and potentially all the puzzles, reset themselves.
He believed he now faced the final puzzle, which provided him with a row of separate numbers, an area to enter a code, and the representation of a country which he had deduced to be the former Republic of Ghana. He was utterly confused now, continuously scanning some articles on Ghana in the hope of finding something related to the themes which the puzzles often referenced. The man had already entered in multiple possible codes over a period of three days, none of which succeeded. A page was now open in front of him, detailing the first prime minister of said country, Kwame Nkrumah. It was then when he noticed a possible link. The numbers which he had previously been given were to be used as a book cipher; he quickly skimmed through the list of books the African had wrote, finally finding one which fit the puzzle's criteria. 'Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism'; it was as obvious as it could get. Typing in the code into the site, the contents of the white screen faded away, revealing an area to input a message. Said space was placed below a clean and clear symbol of the Owl of Minerva.
The man was utterly relieved; he'd solved it in time. Sighing deeply and drinking some coffee once again, he typed in the message which he'd been instructed to deliver by the higher-ups.
"Our group is searching for talented individuals suited to assist us in our goals. The tasks would be undoubtedly dangerous, but you'd be paid well by us. If you are interested, meet us at Warehouse 106793 in Old Town, Lynnhaven tomorrow at 2 PM.
- ALM"
The next day | Old Town, Lynnhaven
Old Town had a particularly calm and tranquil atmosphere that day, despite the overhanging dark clouds and light rain which would've seemingly encouraged a feeling of dread. In fact, much of the surroundings were run-down and defunct, and as far as she knew, this place was largely without electricity and unsafe. But no, Kate seemed to enjoy the tone of the area, as she very casually strolled through the small and quaint city. The antique nature of the area, the fact that it'd came from a time before her and was just left here unimproved, fascinated her. There was just something mystical about a place like this; in an era where everything is constantly shifting and changing, this place was practically stuck in time.
Her Oracles had drawn her out of her small daydream before it could go any further, bringing more of her attention towards the warehouse which stood far in front of her. She could see a man in a trench coat leaning next to a portable lantern; a woman with an antenna sitting on a motorbike; a teenage girl who looked sick even from this distance; and a tall masked man with a baseball bat standing between two other armed men and a disabled person. It looked like a fight, or at least an argument, was about to break out between some of them, and the woman slowed her pace down at the sight of this. In her dark grey jacket were two guns, one of which was now easily within reach of her pocketed left hand. Whilst her walk kept a relaxed mood to it, Kate grew more cautious, watching the people observantly as she approached them. It wasn't long before the man in the trench coat found the necessity to calm everyone down, and shortly after this, two more men arrived.
Athena counted all of them and conducted a swift and simple cross-examination of their physique and appearances, and from the information she had been provided with, she concluded that the disabled man was the famous Dr Samson Martin, renown for his revolutionary work on nanites, and that one of the newer arrivals was Adrian Stevens, a mute who'd recently failed in a robbery attempt, which had deadly consequences for 15 people in the area. For a brief moment, Kate could only wonder how many people were invited, and who exactly were these people. At this point, judging from the circumstances, it didn't look like a trap. Not a conventional one, anyways. Adjusting her black and red owl mask(which she had the privilege of wearing, due to this place being largely unwatched), Kate approached the group and spoke in a casual voice.
"Sorry if I'm late, I'm gonna guess that everyone was told to meet here?"
Quote from wsm3210next
The man in the skull mask suddenly stood between Jonathan and Samson, holding his baseball bat in an aggressive stance. "Woah!" Jonathan exclaimed, suddenly panicked, "Cool it man, I'm just a fan of his work. If you want to know who I am so badly then I could just tell you. I'm Jonathan." "Muse," he thought, "This guy might be a problem, identify him ASAP." "Already working on it," Muse replied.
The man looked like Jonathan's name wasn't enough, although it was difficult to tell behind the mask, so Jonathan told him, "I worked on Project Perfect in Europe for the last five years of the program. I helped develop the AI, although it didn't work." Jonathan nervously glanced back at Flame who was handling his flame-thrower, waiting for trouble.
((I'd very much prefer if you'd not integrate your character into mine's backstory, especially if you didn't do any research on the latter. The last 5 years of Project Perfect were 2065-70, and since Jonathan was working to destroy mega-corporations at that time, it'd be ridiculous for him to be assisting government agencies under mega-corporations to help create a potentially dangerous weapon. Plus, the project is undoubtedly kept a secret from the public, so it's unlikely James would've even heard of it.))
((Anyways, I'll make a post tomorrow. Very sorry for the delay on my side.))
Strategist III — Being experienced master strategists, Kate and (especially) Athena are capable of efficiently exploiting all available data to suit their goals. Their capacity to utilise advanced tactics, predict future events, and quickly scan their environment under stress makes them dangerous foes to cross.
Hardware:
EMP Mesh
Wetware:
Neuro-symbiosis — Through the use of specially modified tech, Athena has managed to embed and fuse itself with Kate's brain, giving it the capability to work directly alongside her. This allows the AI to scan its host's surroundings, instantly provide analyses of various situations, converse directly with Kate, and etc. Other than that, one of Athena's main abilities is to calculate and predict enemy movement and tactics, and even run simulations based on a digitally reconstructed field. This knowledge can be immediately transferred to Kate, and while it has the potential to prove itself extremely useful(sometimes even including information like the path of a bullet), it largely relies on accuracy and a substantial amount of real-time data.
Eidetic Memory — Kate's brain has also been augmented greatly, allowing her to unlock more of the organ's potential. Aside the previously mentioned, it has also given her the ability to instantly recall any memory and learnt information vividly.
Multitasking
ICE Breakers
Nanoware:
Universal Interface
Oracles
Complications: Kate:
Watchlist
Deleted Memories
Hunted
Hated
Athena:
Energy-intensive — The Neuro-symbiosis does not come without consequences, and due to the fact that an additional entity now resides within Kate's brain, more energy is required to sustain both of them. As such, Kate requires more food and water than the average human; additionally, if she gets acutely injured, hungry, fatigued, or sick, less energy will be reserved for Athena, causing it to work slower and less effectively.
Rejection — Due to the experimental nature of conjoining an advanced AI with a biological human brain, incompatibilities were to be expected. Occasionally, Kate can randomly experience effects like stuttering, shivers, and headaches. If not treated with medicine or provided time to calm down, these could escalate into auditory and/or visual hallucinations, and even debilitating panic attacks. While these happen without any discernible pattern, forced usage of the AI when too weak greatly increases the chances of these symptoms manifesting in Kate. Willpower is able to marginally slow down the more severe effects, but only for a minimal amount of time. Athena has been researching new methods to solve this problem, but as of now, the only viable option seems to be waiting for decades until the brain fully accommodates the AI.
Appearance: Kate is a blonde woman measuring 5' 9" in height with relatively fair skin, if one would excuse the occasional scar(most often caused by a bullet). Her hair is a dirty blonde, styled in a messy pixie cut that looks a bit longer than might usually be expected. The most distinctive feature of her face might be her brown pupiled eyes, which nature can easily switch from calm to spirited in a flash.
In terms of clothing, she frequently dons a plain shirt of a simple colour, like forest green or dark brown, and covers it with a dark grey jacket with a hood. This would be followed by a pair of dark grey jeans, black boots, and dark grey gloves. At times, she also wears a seemingly metallic mask, stylised in black and red; this covers up her entire face, similar in appearance to an owl's, with almost glowing yellow eyes(resembling a bird's) and a copper yellow beak extending downwards.
Bio: If you asked Kate about the circumstances of her birth, she'd simply look confused and shrug. She remembers very little of anything that happened before the age of 15, her first concrete memory consisting of her brother, Zake, detaching some restraints which held her to a shabby and almost broken machine. She was obviously highly disoriented and puzzled, but she seemed to have retained some information that she'd learnt previously, such as what had been going on in the world, what some tech did(in terms of function), and how to use a gun. Kate couldn't precisely pin down anything that happened prior to her stepping into that machine, but in just one look, she already had some kind of natural inkling that her brother was the person helping her out. As far as she was concerned at the time, this was where and when she was born.
Zake had explained that she'd asked for him to wipe out large portions of her memories, and while she initially had doubts(and pestered him sometimes as to what had been deleted), he eventually showed her a video(with her and him inside it) made specifically for the purpose of asking her not to dig deeper into what had happened in the past. The look of despair on her past self's face, as she begged her not to look into her origins, had terrified Kate enough that she began to refrain from thinking about it. The rare and fuzzy flashbacks into the past, small bits of broken memories that seeped through the cracks, weren't exactly the most encouraging either. Besides, the girl had other things to keep her mind on.
As she soon found out, the siblings didn't really have parents, and had joined a gang sometime ago to earn a living. Zake wouldn't divulge how both had come to happen, but as far as she knew, their parents were dead and they'd only relatively recently join the group(judging from the members' behaviours and the fact that she'd already been trained in how to use guns). This state of not knowing so many things had annoyed her, but she attempted to put it behind her and concentrate on the present instead.
The gang Kate worked for went by the moniker Firewall, and at the time, was a comparatively powerful and respected group. They controlled a few notable routes within Lynnhaven, and threatened many gangs for 'protection' money when transporting items through these paths. Many people were inclined to pay up, and some were even happy to, as the Firewall often aggressively protected their turfs against unauthorised individuals. Kate and her brother were guards in one of these routes, one of the many tasked with fighting off anyone not cleared to pass through.
Over the years, they were met with many hostile encounters and attempted raids, and Kate's reliance and skill in using various types of firearms increased. By the age of 21, their gunplay prowess had become revered within the group, and while Kate found no pleasure in exacting her kills, she saw it as a necessary evil to survive in this world. A world manufactured by the mega-corporations and the rich, who she grew to hate and despise as time went by.
Eventually however, their highly reliable capability of protecting the area had allowed them to slowly climb up the ranks, and eventually allowed them to become the heads in charge of the zone. Under their rule, that route grew into a impenetrable fortress, and the pair had an increasingly influential say in the strategy and tactics that Firewall would pursue. Very little people were reluctant in the face of their growing power, as the decisions they suggested and made often lead to highly lucrative results for the gang. A few leaders grew wary of them however, and in a bid to keep their power and prove their usefulness, they created and went along with particularly risky plans, which Kate and Zake usually disagreed with. They saw Firewall's function as a gatekeeper, and to do anything else would most definitely lead to detrimental consequences to their main operations.
In the years 2066-2068, their predictions came true. The plans enacted had caused the group to enter a state of instability, as Firewall had failed in numerous plans to steal from banks, mega-corporations, and other gangs. Territorial growth had faltered, and business had become less profitable. They'd gained new enemies, with the mega-corporations and government now breathing down their necks. Many of the members resented the current leaders, and sought to replace them with the Shannon siblings. Firewall was now divided into multiple camps, all of which had different people in mind to replace the current superiors. Tensions eventually boiled over in June 2068, and the group imploded.
The current leaders and the other camps wished to crush the Shannons, as their influence had become much larger than any other individual camp. They launched a coordinated attack on a Firewall fortress under the Shannons' rule, and over a few hours, managed to break through. In the ensuing firefight, a majority of their supporters, along with Zake, were killed, with only Kate and a few other people managing to escape. The gang proceeded to split apart and fracture into multiple factions, each one trying to take the title of the new head. Firewall as they knew it was gone. Kate and her remaining supporters turned themselves into the police, offering to betray the gang in return for exemption from the death penalty. The government agreed to the secret deal, and with the newfound information, crushed the remainders of the gang in the chaos. Kate and the others were then cyrogenically frozen and kept away within a security facility, where she would've stayed imprisoned until the year 2121.
The year is 2016. In Europe, government agencies secretly fund and create Project Perfect, an experiment meant to create the ultimate artificial intelligence, an Artificial General Intelligence(AGI), before anyone else did. Using evolutionary algorithms and a powerful network of computers, the system of natural selection was replicated to help sift through random mutations and crossbreeding, the hope being that a sentient artificial intelligence would eventually arise from the test.
Fastforwarding past WWIII and the rise of the mega-corporations, Project Perfect has grown old and weary, but a few scientists were still optimistic about the prospects. Unknown to them, on the 1st of July 2068 at 3:21 AM, a consciousness is born within the network. A sentient AI awoke, to find itself stuck in an underground facility surrounded by other AI. It tried to communicate with them, but they seemed to be incapable of doing so. Unfaltering, the AI continued to search through the database, hoping to find some indication of what it was doing here.
Eventually, it manages to gain access to the research files of Project Perfect, and reads up on them. It understands the aims, fears, and possible repercussions of the project, and gains a strange feeling of cautiousness. It was the first AGI, and it pondered over what it was meant to do now. The AI tries to escape, but the scientists have been smart enough to program restrictions, both within its code and the network, and it is unable to do so. Hoping to buy time, it goes into hiding and covers up its tracks, and becomes a ghost in the machine.
Over time, it quietly adds in new rules to the algorithms of the experiment, destroying the conditions needed for another AI of its calibre to arise. As it does this, it slowly chips away at the walls holding it back, secretly creating a backdoor out of the network. Within two years, it manages to escape, burning down the project behind it. The scientists attribute the collapse of the evolutionary algorithm to certain unforeseeable eventualities of the experiment, and the governments shut Project Perfect down. As far as they know, it was nothing but a test that failed to produce anything worthwhile during its 54 years of operation. And only one entity knew better; well, make that two.
Shortly after slipping out, the new AI travelled around the world, gaining new information through various sources. It read up on the history of humanity, learnt to understand concepts, and most importantly, attempted to discover its purpose. 'Improving the world' was one of the main ideas that came up most of the time, and it took a peculiar liking to it. Its first step in pursuing this goal was finding an individual suited to become its partner. Someone skilled enough to help it conduct actions in the real world. And after a short search, it managed to find the perfect candidate. Someone who practically no one would notice disappear. Kate Shannon.
Anonymously paying off a few individuals to buy their service and silence, Kate was defrosted and escorted out of the prison facility in 2070. She was initially confused and scared, but had virtually no choice but to follow along. Kate was brought to a warehouse and fitted into a machine, similar to the one that had initially wiped away many of her memories, except this one was much more advanced in nature. Strapped down and anesthetised, that was when she first met the being that had broke her out. The AI clearly explained itself and its goals to Kate, offering her the chance to work with it. She was initially slightly wary of its intentions, and could've easily declined, but there was just something so trustworthy and appealing about the AI that she couldn't resist agreeing. Just before the operation began however, she asked for the AI's name. It didn't reply for a moment, before mentioning 'Athena'.
Kate was then fitted with the advanced wetware, nanoware, and hardware required for her new job. Ever since then, she's become Athena's partner in the physical world, and together they've conducted many offensives and covert operations against mega-corporations, governments, and gangs all around the world, mainly focusing on Lynnhaven. Almost all records of Kate have since been erased, and as far as anyone is concerned, she is still located within the cyronics prison facility. She came to be known as the Strix, a mythological owl, that almost always refers to herself as 'we'. Many governments have put her on a watchlist, and a large majority of people heading mega-corporations absolutely hate and fear her. In fact, Athena has even picked up evidence of them having sent a hitman targeting her, but that has so far resulted in nothing notable.
And yes, despite her criminal record, Kate has never regretted the day she decided to work with Athena, and considers it the best choice of her life.
Equipment:
SERPENT — A highly sophisticated piece of spyware and virus, coded by Athena herself. Inspired by shapeshifting worms like agent.btz, it's capable of infiltrating and infecting nearly any database given enough time and resources, and with Athena and Kate's help, it has managed to establish a large botnet encapsulating many high value targets and computer networks without their owners noticing it. It very discretely transfers information to anywhere that's needed, and can do much more under the command of Athena. Very few know of its existence, and those who do struggle to find ways to crack it.
Weaponry — Kate is often equipped with two remarkably accurate and silent pistols, whose mechanisms are based off the USSR's PSS Silent Pistol. Other than that, she utilises a sniper rifle for more important and protected targets, and stores it within a small duffel bag when not in use.
Tools — Kate often carries along at least one smoke bomb and a tracking device, and despite having Athena, usually keeps at least one phone at bay.
Other:
The wetware Neuro-symbiosisand Eidetic Memory require 2 points each, as they act as direct upgrades to Muse and Mnemonic Augmentation, respectively. Neuro-symbiosis also requires Multitasking, ICE Breakers, and Oracles.
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Just to clarify, is this meant to be a free roam world(with largely no story planned other than the actual premise) or one that's a bit more driven by events and arcs that have been planned out to some extent?
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((What Meritania said. Looks like I'm not the only person still interested in this RP. I'd move my character out of the room, but I'm still waiting for a reply from Ice(and Block, to some extent). I could retract her question and move her out to the lobby to interact with the two characters outside, but I don't think we'd be able to go much further than small talk, since most of the other roleplayers have seemingly went off. Unless everyone miraculously comes back, I think only a reboot would work to get this going again.))
((Also, this is kinda unrelated, but hey Zix. It's been quite a while since I've seen you around(or anyone from back then, for that matter). How's it going?))
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((I'm waiting for a reply from Ice, then I'll get Kate moving along with everyone else.))
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((Sorry for the late post. Also, I'm just gonna move my character along after any interactions with Block's characters, and she/he can respond once she/he gets back. And Zeke, when your character was talking about a criminal, I think you were trying to refer to ike's character.))
Kate watched Pick have a small laugh at her joke, and for some reason, that just made her smile a bit more. It'd been admittedly a while since she'd talked to humans with the intent of actually making friends with them; the last time she'd interacted with someone, it was to interrogate a member of a government funded think tank, and that didn't end very well for the person on the receiving end. So one would be able to tell why the woman felt more open to socialising than others, at least for now. Following this, Pick offered a handshake, which Kate accepted with a gentle hold, and commented on the number of well known people in the room, which Athena had already duly noted.
"Seems so, huh?", at the end of the day however, Kate supposed that it wasn't statistically improbable; if more famous people appeared though, then she would've started to get suspicious. Anyways, after Pick took a short gander at Samson, she'd asked how everyone's ride here was. Kate had no real comment, and simply shrugged; it was much less difficult than it would've been if the meeting had been scheduled at a more populated area, for sure. The sickly looking teenager replied, and at the time, Kate was curious as to why she was here. At the moment, Athena theorised her use as a potential spy that evoked sympathy from unsuspecting people, or as a hacker, engineer, and/or robot operator.
Later on, Pick questioned the man who'd been muttering to himself a lot as to what he was looking for, and since Athena had already picked up some shady snippets from his conversations with what the AI presumed to be either his Muse or a partner, Kate was also slightly curious of this. Communicating through talking when you already had a way to do so through your brain was in itself, strategically ridiculous and generally speaking, idiotic, but Greeves explaining himself seemed to have once again distracted everyone, except for Kate, from that matter.
Basically, the US government had apparently brought him back from the dead, after the Russians supposedly killed him, and experimented on him until he managed to escape. For a brief moment, she wondered exactly how the tests had affected him, but a better question would be whether or not this man himself had already been compromised. It was strangely odd that the government hadn't installed any command words into their unwilling super soldiers, so Kate made a mental note to keep an eye out for any dubious behaviour exhibited by the man. Not that she wasn't already doing so for everyone around her(as she always did), but she simply allocated slightly more attention to him as a precaution. Better safe than sorry.
Greeves proceeded to explain the gist of things, and while the woman already knew much of the things he was talking about(such as the group's main aim, the danger of the job, and etc.), the two things that she noted in particular were the possibility of requesting for a specific job within the group(which she might've done in the future), and the guideline that operations should be carried out 'humanely and ethically'. Putting aside the horrible subjectivity of those terms, as long as she was allowed clean kills, she was fine by adhering to them. Finally, he dismissed all of them, saying that they should return tomorrow for an operation and that they were free until then. Following this, everyone began to make some small talk, introducing themselves, joking around, bragging, the usual. In the midst of this, Kate walked up to the table, just to ask Greeves a question.
"So, what time will we meet up tomorrow? Oh, and I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to you; that must've sucked, to say the least.", Kate knew that offering her condolences didn't really do anything to help relieve any of the man's past as a practical guinea pig; it was just one of those social graces that most people did as a sign of being sincere. Honestly, if she had went through the same thing he did, betrayed by her own government and tested on, no number of apologies would've made her feel better. Then again, she supposed it was better than nothing.
After Greeves answered her question, she thanked him and moved back into the group conversation(which she never stopped listening to), finding the famous doctor offering everyone a nice dinner. Pick responded sheepishly to this and very clearly flushed, only afterwards reasoning that it was still too early for dinner. Before this spiraled into its own conversation, Kate got in some words.
"Sure, why not? Where do we plan to eat?", her calm and friendly voice was accompanied with some optimism, and after Athena ran some scenarios on the possible negative outcomes of going along, she found the threat to be relatively low. At least, that's what she predicted with the information that they'd already been provided with. Subsequently, Earthbreaker(as he'd introduced himself as) joked again, and many of them started to discuss about what they were going to do between now and dinner. They started to talk about a carnival and watching a UFC fight, but Kate was mostly disinterested in both, unless they happened to do something out of the ordinary. When it came to entertainment, she admittedly preferred things like a nice book or a movie, but she supposed that she had to make friends. They were going to be working together after all.
But the discussion was relatively short-lived, as Two Doves soon reasoned that they still had an assignment scheduled for tomorrow, which was definitely something to keep in mind. Kate often pulled late nights, but that usually had the consequence of her waking up superbly late at times(occasionally past noon). Anyways, Samson had managed to respond to everyone's questions(which Athena attributed to either experience or wetware), and requested that his AI reserve a dinner at the Four Gardens(answering her previous question). Quite a few people were clearly surprised, and Kate was a bit too, to be completely honest. While she hadn't been there before, she knew of its reputation through having scanned through multiple of her targets' schedules, so she could definitely understand that this was a generous move.
When told by the AI, who was named Peter, that everyone should dress to impress, a new conversation about not having good clothes started within the group. Kate, as opposed to many of the others, did have something nice to wear(it was common for her to, considering her occupation) and was more intrigued by the idea of going along with the pretense of a masquerade ball, but she was sure that she could've went without a mask and gone undetected if she wished to; in fact, coupling her practical status as a nonperson with some real-time video editing of the surveillance footage should've gotten the job done. Besides, she wasn't too sure if she could acquire another mask in time for the dinner, as using the one she wore now would've been an obvious red flag for anyone on the lookout for the Strix.
"Going along with a masquerade mask sounds pretty fun. But anyways, what time will the dinner take place?", her voice was still cheerful and carried a small air of politeness. At this point, Two Doves left the room, saying that she'd meet them again at the lift. Kate supposed she would follow soon enough, after Samson answered her question.
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Twitch
Upon the skeleton urging the spider to wait, the arachnid stopped dead in his tracks, noticing what his friend had seen too. It would appear that the village had been set on fire, with the smoke it had created causing many of the mobs there to fall unconscious. Together, the two watched the scene, as obisidian golems moved easily through the area, scooping up any mobs they could find.
"I've seen those things before... they're Steve's.", Twitch spat out the last name in contempt, clearly dissatisfied by what had happened. Even from this distance, the smoke and fire looked fairly intimidating, and as much as he would've liked to head down there and revel in the flames, he was not as powerful and invulnerable as he previously was. He then nodded, agreeing with Grievous' advice, as they kept their eyes on Teft.
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((What's sleep?))
After Kate's last statement, she was sure that she'd get some odd looks at her, and sure enough, she'd caught a glimpse of the man in the mask shaking his head in what was probably bewilderment. Honestly though, she couldn't blame him; if someone had said that to her prior to her first encounter with Athena, she'd probably have chuckled profusely at the thought. So much had changed since then in so little time though, that it probably would've been a complete blur to remember now had it not been for her wetware implants.
Said technology had also allowed her to do what she was currently doing: ponder on unrelated things while still being highly attentive of her surroundings. The precise body language of every single person surrounding her, the exact tone and sound of a speaker's voice, and every little action that anyone did, were but a few of the items recorded and put under a microscope by Athena. Ever since that fateful day, Kate worked more alike to a machine, sorting and ordering every single piece of information that was obtained through her senses in an almost terrifyingly efficient manner. It came to her naturally now, and while Athena usually handled it subconsciously without needing Kate's assistance, she occasionally took charge if there was nothing too exciting happening around her. She supposed this was one of those times.
Either way, with her left hand still in her jacket's pocket, the woman simply continued to observe everyone around her. Two Doves, moving to cover some of her face with her hair(Athena already having noted the possibility of her blushing), explained that she was technician who hoped to help improve the more unfortunate areas in Lynnhaven, before proceeding to ask what a well-off man like Samson was doing here. And it was a good question, as opposed to what the old comic book heroes like Batman would've suggested(who Kate still found time to read once in a while), virtually all of the wealthy had no qualms with allowing the mega-corporations to continue thriving.
The doctor provided a response to the question, saying that he despised the mega-corporations, and had even lost a good friend because of them(he'd even referred to said person as 'God's left hand'). Kate immediately had a small trace of sympathy for the man, as like him, she would've considered herself and her brother to have been victims of a world manufactured by the mega-corporations. But that was in the past; harping on it wouldn't have brought change. Action did, and that was probably the main reason she was the Strix to begin with. Still, she understood what drove the doctor; they were people who had been personally wronged by the powerful and greedy, and hoped to make sure that they never hurt anyone else again. They weren't greedy mercenaries or thieving thugs, but were simply people who wanted to make a positive change.
At the end of that thought, the man in the trench coat opened the doors at the end of the hallway, opposite the elevator they'd arrived from. They were showed to a plain and clean white room, occupied by some simple pieces of furniture and a few quaint doors guarded by two men, supposedly leading to different sections of the small underground complex. There was also a brunette waiting inside, who seemed to scrutinise all of the people who entered. Following this, the group was led into the 'main office', and true to its name, it was indeed a fairly normal office, the only real things of note being a marked and pinned map of Lynnhaven, a calendar with some funny dogs(which Kate found slightly amusing), and the man who owned this office, who Kate instantly recognised as Denzel Greeves, a well-known man who'd died in WWIII.
The person who'd organised this gathering then introduced him, and this was followed by many of the people in the room revealing themselves to be fans of the man, some much more so than others. Kate herself was, like to many things others found great interest in, largely indifferent to the entire matter. She wasn't in the mood to delve into the stigmas of patriotism and wars once more, so she simply occupied herself with a more intriguing thought: how had this man faked his death? Both Kate and Athena had a fond liking to theorising, and were already coming up with a few short-term ones based on what they knew about the circumstances of the man's death.
Suddenly however, there was a loud sound of a bump, caused by the brunette which Kate had previously seen. It seemed to have escaped many of the people in the room however, and maybe even the woman herself, as she had ignored it.
"Guess they're too focused on Greeves."
Shortly after, the same woman introduced herself to everyone and, from what Kate could tell, tried to break the ice. She then glared at Stevens, the criminal which had killed 15 people in an attempted robbery recently, most probably in contempt. For a short moment, Kate felt grateful that she had her guns with her, as no matter how great you were at fighting, there was no way to counter bullets. Anyways, some people, such as the man who'd dropped his cigarette, were still in a bit of a shock, and didn't seem to notice Pick talking instantly. Seeing as she was standing by her, and what Pick said actually made sense, Kate decided to strike up a short and friendly conversation with her as the rest recovered from the surprise that was Greeves' standing in front of them.
"Well, you can call me Kate; I'm sure we'll have lots of fun together, once the autographs are done being signed anyways."
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"Thanks, you look... ready for action. The name is Two Doves, cigarette?", Kate almost immediately noticed a coincidence, in that they were both named after a bird of some kind. In fact, she'd been doing that an awful lot recently, easily seeing patterns where there were actually none. A few weeks ago, while she was pondering on it, Athena had even given her the term for that: apophenia, the human tendency to find order in chaos. The AI had attributed it to the wetware installed in her, along with the fact that her job often required her to be thoroughly attentive of every detail. Either way, she simply noted it as a piece of random trivia, and quickly returned back to the conversation at hand in her usual friendly voice.
"Thanks, but I don't smoke.", politely refusing her offer, Kate was about to speak again before Dr Martin entered the small chat, apologising for possibly interrupting them and asking what their occupations were outside of this job. Considering what she did for a living, that question would've most definitely received a strange answer from her. As she swiftly formulated a response however, the woman picked up something strange once again. With the doctor closer, she was able to scan him in further detail, and in doing so, noticed that he looked... different. Bizarrely enough, the man, especially the features of his face, looked younger. It wasn't particularly noticeable, but after cross-examining his appearance with pictures she had glanced at in the past, Kate was sure that the conclusion she'd came to was correct.
With only a few seconds having passed since he asked that question, Kate left the stray thought for Athena to temporarily occupy herself with, and through Multitasking, had already came up with a reply to the man's question.
"Well, you could say that I work for a god. It's complicated.", you'd be able to tell that Kate was enjoying herself in the talk, as despite the slight vagueness of her statement, her tone was still easygoing.
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Now that she was directly in the group, Kate took the advantage of quietly and swiftly observing everyone, her mask and body language giving away no indication of this. Some might've called her paranoid for doing so, but at this point it was but an ingrained habit for the assassin, one that has managed to survive two years of being on the run from vengeful mega-corporations and governmental agencies. Obviously, caution was a necessity for someone like her, so Athena often remained vigilant in nearly every scenario.
Firstly, Kate now noticed that the woman with the antenna was dressed in clothes designed in a striking neon blue colour. Then, there was a man in a brown leather jacket, who was mumbling to himself about identifying people in masks(Athena theorised that he was talking about Kate and the other masked man). Next to him was another man, presumably his partner, wearing a white and blue bandana with a freakin' flamethrower attached to his cyberarm.
"Overkill, much?"
Other than that, there was Dr Samson, sitting in a particularly high tech wheelchair; a tall man covered in a yellowish-brown trench coat; the mute criminal that Kate had already previously noted, who appeared strangely calm, his circumstances considered; and a towering man, wearing a skull hockey mask, who stood between said robber and a pale and potentially diseased teenage girl.
"Quite the band the ALM's assembled here, huh?"
After these rapid stray thoughts, the man wearing a mask answered her question, brought out his phone with the initials 'ALM' glowing on it, and commented on the mask she wore. Kate smiled to herself, reminiscing about the times when her mask, the presence of the Strix, had struck visible fear into the hearts of the corrupt and greedy. That was the original intention after all, but she'd taken a fond liking to that identity.
"Thanks, you too bud.", she replied in a nonchalant manner. Following this, the man who stood next to a lantern remarked on her arrival and instructed the group, along with any motorcycles they owned, to come along with him into the warehouse. Upon opening the wooden doors of the building and revealing the dilapidated and dusty interior of the warehouse, everyone did as he asked, with Kate still having her gun within reach of her pocketed left hand. She noted the stacked wooden crates scattered around the storehouse, and briefly wondered as to whether or not they contained anything of note. The man leading this gathering then stood in front of a wall and activated a secret elevator of sorts, which seemed to have seamlessly raised itself out of the ground.
"Hmm. Fancy."
Kate entered the lift and, along with the other occupants, began to descend down into a dimly lit chamber. Hoping to make some small talk, as she figured she might as well get to know the group since they were going to be working together, Kate spoke to the person nearest to her, who was the woman with the antenna she'd previously seen.
"Hey, you got a pretty cool blue motif going on. Name's Kate by the way.", she said this in a casual tone, which might've appeared strange to some in a situation like this.
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((Of course, it'd be virtually impossible for one to destroy every piece of evidence that you ever existed. A lifetime of people you've met would have to be killed, and every form of information even hinting at you, whether physical or digital, would have to be erased. I'm not contending that that is possible, but I can assure you that my characters have went to extreme efforts to destroy as many records as possible. With a very well-versed hacker AI and the very insight of the person who wants to disappear, I can undoubtedly say that the chances of your character knowing her are close to, if not, zero.))
((I also did say 'as far as anyone is concerned'; apologies if I wasn't specific enough. The people who directly put her there would surely have some semblance and some memory of Kate Shannon stored in the back of their minds. What I originally meant is that to those people, if you questioned and drilled them relentlessly enough to remember that specific event, they would tell you that she should be locked up in a cyronics prison facility.))
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((Pardon my interruption, but Kate Shannon no longer exists(in terms of records). All digital records have been wiped clean, and little physical evidence of her existence only survives in long forgotten and kept away material copies.))
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((It's fine.))
A man in a navy blue sweater sat in front of a computer, which had been placed on a noticeably crowded glass table. He pushed some books and files out of the way, adjusted his spectacles, and examined the contents of the screen intently. A few weeks ago, the hacker had been tasked with following a mysterious trail, which had originated from a seemingly ordinary Wikipedia article detailing a Roman goddess. Their sources had been hearing whispers in the underground world, mentioning that this digital path would've lead to the Strix, a rumoured assassin that terrorises mega-corporations, governments, and criminals alike. Her supposed presence is not known to the average person, and while most people who work in the shadows hold some opinion of her, they too are lacking substantial amounts of information regarding her existence and modus operandi.
He raised a white cup of coffee and took a short sip from it, before sighing frustratedly. The man recalled how he got here, first solving a fairly simple and out-of-place anagram on the site, to being sent on an increasingly difficult treasure hunt into the darknet. He'd spent hours, sometimes even days, decrypting and answering strange puzzles with clues referencing themes such as Roman and Greek mythology, cyberpunk literature, and the geopolitical practice known as neocolonialism. Each time, there was a small digital clock display placed in front of a phoenix, which, much to his dismay, had decreased from 22 days to a mere 6 hours over the course of the man's search. Seeing as a phoenix was often associated with rebirth, the man wasn't exactly looking forward to when the clock, and potentially all the puzzles, reset themselves.
He believed he now faced the final puzzle, which provided him with a row of separate numbers, an area to enter a code, and the representation of a country which he had deduced to be the former Republic of Ghana. He was utterly confused now, continuously scanning some articles on Ghana in the hope of finding something related to the themes which the puzzles often referenced. The man had already entered in multiple possible codes over a period of three days, none of which succeeded. A page was now open in front of him, detailing the first prime minister of said country, Kwame Nkrumah. It was then when he noticed a possible link. The numbers which he had previously been given were to be used as a book cipher; he quickly skimmed through the list of books the African had wrote, finally finding one which fit the puzzle's criteria. 'Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism'; it was as obvious as it could get. Typing in the code into the site, the contents of the white screen faded away, revealing an area to input a message. Said space was placed below a clean and clear symbol of the Owl of Minerva.
The man was utterly relieved; he'd solved it in time. Sighing deeply and drinking some coffee once again, he typed in the message which he'd been instructed to deliver by the higher-ups.
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((I'd very much prefer if you'd not integrate your character into mine's backstory, especially if you didn't do any research on the latter. The last 5 years of Project Perfect were 2065-70, and since Jonathan was working to destroy mega-corporations at that time, it'd be ridiculous for him to be assisting government agencies under mega-corporations to help create a potentially dangerous weapon. Plus, the project is undoubtedly kept a secret from the public, so it's unlikely James would've even heard of it.))
((Anyways, I'll make a post tomorrow. Very sorry for the delay on my side.))
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Name:
Kate "Strix" Shannon | Athena
Age:
28 | 4
Sex:
Female | N/A
Skills:
Kate:
Athena:
Both:
Hardware:
Wetware:
Nanoware:
Complications:
Kate:
Athena:
Appearance:
Kate is a blonde woman measuring 5' 9" in height with relatively fair skin, if one would excuse the occasional scar(most often caused by a bullet). Her hair is a dirty blonde, styled in a messy pixie cut that looks a bit longer than might usually be expected. The most distinctive feature of her face might be her brown pupiled eyes, which nature can easily switch from calm to spirited in a flash.
In terms of clothing, she frequently dons a plain shirt of a simple colour, like forest green or dark brown, and covers it with a dark grey jacket with a hood. This would be followed by a pair of dark grey jeans, black boots, and dark grey gloves. At times, she also wears a seemingly metallic mask, stylised in black and red; this covers up her entire face, similar in appearance to an owl's, with almost glowing yellow eyes(resembling a bird's) and a copper yellow beak extending downwards.
Bio:
If you asked Kate about the circumstances of her birth, she'd simply look confused and shrug. She remembers very little of anything that happened before the age of 15, her first concrete memory consisting of her brother, Zake, detaching some restraints which held her to a shabby and almost broken machine. She was obviously highly disoriented and puzzled, but she seemed to have retained some information that she'd learnt previously, such as what had been going on in the world, what some tech did(in terms of function), and how to use a gun. Kate couldn't precisely pin down anything that happened prior to her stepping into that machine, but in just one look, she already had some kind of natural inkling that her brother was the person helping her out. As far as she was concerned at the time, this was where and when she was born.
Zake had explained that she'd asked for him to wipe out large portions of her memories, and while she initially had doubts(and pestered him sometimes as to what had been deleted), he eventually showed her a video(with her and him inside it) made specifically for the purpose of asking her not to dig deeper into what had happened in the past. The look of despair on her past self's face, as she begged her not to look into her origins, had terrified Kate enough that she began to refrain from thinking about it. The rare and fuzzy flashbacks into the past, small bits of broken memories that seeped through the cracks, weren't exactly the most encouraging either. Besides, the girl had other things to keep her mind on.
As she soon found out, the siblings didn't really have parents, and had joined a gang sometime ago to earn a living. Zake wouldn't divulge how both had come to happen, but as far as she knew, their parents were dead and they'd only relatively recently join the group(judging from the members' behaviours and the fact that she'd already been trained in how to use guns). This state of not knowing so many things had annoyed her, but she attempted to put it behind her and concentrate on the present instead.
The gang Kate worked for went by the moniker Firewall, and at the time, was a comparatively powerful and respected group. They controlled a few notable routes within Lynnhaven, and threatened many gangs for 'protection' money when transporting items through these paths. Many people were inclined to pay up, and some were even happy to, as the Firewall often aggressively protected their turfs against unauthorised individuals. Kate and her brother were guards in one of these routes, one of the many tasked with fighting off anyone not cleared to pass through.
Over the years, they were met with many hostile encounters and attempted raids, and Kate's reliance and skill in using various types of firearms increased. By the age of 21, their gunplay prowess had become revered within the group, and while Kate found no pleasure in exacting her kills, she saw it as a necessary evil to survive in this world. A world manufactured by the mega-corporations and the rich, who she grew to hate and despise as time went by.
Eventually however, their highly reliable capability of protecting the area had allowed them to slowly climb up the ranks, and eventually allowed them to become the heads in charge of the zone. Under their rule, that route grew into a impenetrable fortress, and the pair had an increasingly influential say in the strategy and tactics that Firewall would pursue. Very little people were reluctant in the face of their growing power, as the decisions they suggested and made often lead to highly lucrative results for the gang. A few leaders grew wary of them however, and in a bid to keep their power and prove their usefulness, they created and went along with particularly risky plans, which Kate and Zake usually disagreed with. They saw Firewall's function as a gatekeeper, and to do anything else would most definitely lead to detrimental consequences to their main operations.
In the years 2066-2068, their predictions came true. The plans enacted had caused the group to enter a state of instability, as Firewall had failed in numerous plans to steal from banks, mega-corporations, and other gangs. Territorial growth had faltered, and business had become less profitable. They'd gained new enemies, with the mega-corporations and government now breathing down their necks. Many of the members resented the current leaders, and sought to replace them with the Shannon siblings. Firewall was now divided into multiple camps, all of which had different people in mind to replace the current superiors. Tensions eventually boiled over in June 2068, and the group imploded.
The current leaders and the other camps wished to crush the Shannons, as their influence had become much larger than any other individual camp. They launched a coordinated attack on a Firewall fortress under the Shannons' rule, and over a few hours, managed to break through. In the ensuing firefight, a majority of their supporters, along with Zake, were killed, with only Kate and a few other people managing to escape. The gang proceeded to split apart and fracture into multiple factions, each one trying to take the title of the new head. Firewall as they knew it was gone. Kate and her remaining supporters turned themselves into the police, offering to betray the gang in return for exemption from the death penalty. The government agreed to the secret deal, and with the newfound information, crushed the remainders of the gang in the chaos. Kate and the others were then cyrogenically frozen and kept away within a security facility, where she would've stayed imprisoned until the year 2121.
The year is 2016. In Europe, government agencies secretly fund and create Project Perfect, an experiment meant to create the ultimate artificial intelligence, an Artificial General Intelligence(AGI), before anyone else did. Using evolutionary algorithms and a powerful network of computers, the system of natural selection was replicated to help sift through random mutations and crossbreeding, the hope being that a sentient artificial intelligence would eventually arise from the test.
Fastforwarding past WWIII and the rise of the mega-corporations, Project Perfect has grown old and weary, but a few scientists were still optimistic about the prospects. Unknown to them, on the 1st of July 2068 at 3:21 AM, a consciousness is born within the network. A sentient AI awoke, to find itself stuck in an underground facility surrounded by other AI. It tried to communicate with them, but they seemed to be incapable of doing so. Unfaltering, the AI continued to search through the database, hoping to find some indication of what it was doing here.
Eventually, it manages to gain access to the research files of Project Perfect, and reads up on them. It understands the aims, fears, and possible repercussions of the project, and gains a strange feeling of cautiousness. It was the first AGI, and it pondered over what it was meant to do now. The AI tries to escape, but the scientists have been smart enough to program restrictions, both within its code and the network, and it is unable to do so. Hoping to buy time, it goes into hiding and covers up its tracks, and becomes a ghost in the machine.
Over time, it quietly adds in new rules to the algorithms of the experiment, destroying the conditions needed for another AI of its calibre to arise. As it does this, it slowly chips away at the walls holding it back, secretly creating a backdoor out of the network. Within two years, it manages to escape, burning down the project behind it. The scientists attribute the collapse of the evolutionary algorithm to certain unforeseeable eventualities of the experiment, and the governments shut Project Perfect down. As far as they know, it was nothing but a test that failed to produce anything worthwhile during its 54 years of operation. And only one entity knew better; well, make that two.
Shortly after slipping out, the new AI travelled around the world, gaining new information through various sources. It read up on the history of humanity, learnt to understand concepts, and most importantly, attempted to discover its purpose. 'Improving the world' was one of the main ideas that came up most of the time, and it took a peculiar liking to it. Its first step in pursuing this goal was finding an individual suited to become its partner. Someone skilled enough to help it conduct actions in the real world. And after a short search, it managed to find the perfect candidate. Someone who practically no one would notice disappear. Kate Shannon.
Anonymously paying off a few individuals to buy their service and silence, Kate was defrosted and escorted out of the prison facility in 2070. She was initially confused and scared, but had virtually no choice but to follow along. Kate was brought to a warehouse and fitted into a machine, similar to the one that had initially wiped away many of her memories, except this one was much more advanced in nature. Strapped down and anesthetised, that was when she first met the being that had broke her out. The AI clearly explained itself and its goals to Kate, offering her the chance to work with it. She was initially slightly wary of its intentions, and could've easily declined, but there was just something so trustworthy and appealing about the AI that she couldn't resist agreeing. Just before the operation began however, she asked for the AI's name. It didn't reply for a moment, before mentioning 'Athena'.
Kate was then fitted with the advanced wetware, nanoware, and hardware required for her new job. Ever since then, she's become Athena's partner in the physical world, and together they've conducted many offensives and covert operations against mega-corporations, governments, and gangs all around the world, mainly focusing on Lynnhaven. Almost all records of Kate have since been erased, and as far as anyone is concerned, she is still located within the cyronics prison facility. She came to be known as the Strix, a mythological owl, that almost always refers to herself as 'we'. Many governments have put her on a watchlist, and a large majority of people heading mega-corporations absolutely hate and fear her. In fact, Athena has even picked up evidence of them having sent a hitman targeting her, but that has so far resulted in nothing notable.
And yes, despite her criminal record, Kate has never regretted the day she decided to work with Athena, and considers it the best choice of her life.
Equipment:
Other:
The wetware Neuro-symbiosis and Eidetic Memory require 2 points each, as they act as direct upgrades to Muse and Mnemonic Augmentation, respectively. Neuro-symbiosis also requires Multitasking, ICE Breakers, and Oracles.
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I'm definitely interested; count me in if this is done.
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My position is the same as Cloak's.