People didn't seem to jump on the last chapter which… meh.
Anyway, here's a new chapter. Nice and cyberpunky. I've still got a couple roles open, so check 'em out and shoot me a message. I'm literally having to hold myself back from updating to give you all some time!
Kali's mind had melded with the vast, neon-splattered expanse of cyberspace, where the boundaries between reality and virtuality blurred into a vivid web of data streams, electric shadows, and digital echoes. The NET was an intricate labyrinth of information, an endless ocean of code, constantly shifting, evolving, and morphing into new forms.
The moment she had connected, Kali's senses had been bombarded. The NET wasn't just something she saw; it was something she experienced with every fibre of her being. The sight of it was overwhelming, a riot of colours and shapes, some geometric, others organic, pulsating with a life of their own. Data towers loomed like monolithic skyscrapers, their surfaces flickering with lines of code and symbols. Streams of information surged through the air like rivers of light. Some pathways were bright and blinding, others dark and foreboding, leading into the unknown depths of the digital abyss.
The soundscape of the NET was no less complex. It was a cacophony of beeps, hums, and clicks, interspersed with the occasional burst of static or the distant murmur of a thousand voices whispering secrets. The constant hum of data flowing through the virtual conduits was white noise to Kali, now – shit never ceased in the NET. Occasionally, the sounds would coalesce into something resembling music, a strange, ethereal melody composed of binary tones and electronic rhythms that resonated deep within her.
Among this chaos, Kali found it again: a piece of code that constantly rewrote itself. A work of art. A signature.
Her focus sharpened: The piece of code stood out against the backdrop of shifting data like a beacon. It was an anomaly, a static signature in a dynamic environment. Every other piece of code around her morphed and evolved, but this one line was in a constant state of flux.
It had stopped moving. It was watching her, perhaps. Regardless, she had her moment of opportunity: Her fingers danced across the single strand and it began to ripple like water, flicker and fizz. Kali could feel the texture of the virtual surfaces beneath her fingertips, the smooth glassiness of a data wall, the gritty roughness of a firewall, or the spongy give of a compromised node. The temperature varied too, with cold spots indicating areas of inactivity and warmth radiating from high-traffic sectors. There was even a sense of pressure, the weight of the data she manipulated, the resistance of security protocols, and the sudden give when she breached a system.
The NET around her flickered, and she found herself in a different sector. Here, the architecture was more chaotic, a jumble of jagged lines and twisted shapes. The sounds were discordant, a jarring clash of static and corrupted data streams. Kali could feel the weight of the corrupted code pressing down on her, a tangible sense of unease creeping into her mind.
Despite the oppressive atmosphere, the signature remained clear and steady, a constant amid the chaos. Kali pressed on, her senses on high alert. She knew she was venturing into dangerous territory, but she wasn't going to forget a grudge or a slight done to her. Not to mention that it gnawed at her: how the fuck did someone screw her? She needed to trace the signature, and when firewalls kept rewriting themselves with a speed she hadn't seen before… well, she was close to jacking out and finding whoever it was with her shotgun.
As she delved deeper, the resistance grew stronger. Firewalls flared up, their surfaces crackling with defensive energy. Intrusion countermeasures lashed out at her, tendrils of code that sought to entangle and ensnare her digital presence. But Kali had been in the game for years: she dodged and weaved, countered and deflected, her mind working at lightning speed to stay one step ahead of the defences. She'd dealt with Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) before – this wasn't going to be the time when she stopped. She pushed through the layers of encryption and navigated the mazes of security protocols. The closer she got, the more she could feel a peculiar resonance emanating from it, a pulse that seemed almost organic, like a heartbeat within the digital realm.
She breached the latest firewall, and watched them all deactivate. Kali knew she was better than some wannabe-deckhead. As she moved closer, the code would crack and split and grow into a silhouette of a figure reclined in a chair. Kali smirked to herself: everyone could be traced. Kali prepared her Flatline daemon. She was going to make sure this runner was fried scop.
The signature was still there, embedded within a complex matrix of code. It was a strange construct, unlike anything she had ever seen before. The lines of code were intricate, woven together in a pattern that was both beautiful and alien. It was as if the code had a life of its own, a sentient presence that was aware of her intrusion.
Not that it mattered.
"Not laughing now, are ya, HEX?" Kali smirked.
Kali reached out, her fingers brushing against the surface of the code. The moment she made contact, a surge of energy coursed through her. She could feel the code responding to her touch, its patterns shifting and rearranging in response to her presence. It was a conversation of sorts, a silent exchange of information between her and the digital entity. The noise it made was garbled and fragmented.
"Easy, wasn't it?"
The NET around her began to change. The colours darkened, and the once-fluid streams of data slowed, becoming sluggish and viscous. The ambient hum of the NET's activity shifted to a lower, more ominous frequency, rumbling like deafening foghorns. She felt a creeping sense of unease as the space around her grew heavy with a foreboding presence.
Out of the darkness, jagged lines of code began to come closer, growing across the floor like ice. It began to wind its way towards her – quickly. Kali turned to move, and saw candy-red code began to rapidly grow out of the floor like mountain-tops. She was being trapped in a datafortress.
"Last time in the NET, B3DBUG," the figure called out to her. "Hellhound don't stop."
Its walls were high and thick, constructed of dense, impenetrable data blocks. The fortress was building itself at an alarming rate, surrounding the user, and Kali. She could feel the pressure mounting, the walls closing in around her. The Hellhound daemon was black ICE – something people only came across once in a lifetime – and there was only one reason why: it zeroed her out in meatspace.
Panic surged through her veins. The daemon was relelntess, and the datafort was a sophisticated construct with layered and complex defences, designed to ensnare and contain her. She could feel the daemon's intent, a malevolent intelligence driving its construction, determined to flatline her.
Her fingers flew across the virtual interface, her mind racing as she sought a way out. She launched a series of countermeasures, trying to disrupt the fortress's construction, but the ICE was resilient, adapting to her attacks and strengthening its defences. She could feel the walls growing thicker, the fortress becoming more solid with each passing moment.
The sounds around her became discordant, a jarring clash of static grinding. She could feel the weight of the fortress pressing down on her, the daemon coming ever closer.
Desperation fueled her actions. She needed to escape, to break free before the fortress completed its construction. She scanned the rapidly closing space for any weak points, any vulnerabilities she could exploit. Her eyes locked onto a narrow gap in the forming walls, a slim chance for escape.
Without hesitation, she launched herself toward the gap, her digital form becoming a blur of motion. The Hellhound reacted instantly, tendrils of code lashing out at her, trying to ensnare and drag her back.
The gap was closing fast, the walls drawing together in a final act of entrapment. Kali pushed herself harder,
"Doesn't matter if it takes years, B3DBUG," the user shouted after her, "she'll always get ya!"
Kali could feel the Hellhound's relentless pursuit, growing more aggressive, more desperate to catch her.
She reached the gap just as it began to seal shut. With a final burst of speed, she dove through, feeling the edges of the closing walls brush against her. She looked up at the datafort – a literal mountain that surrounded the monolithic skyscrapers and megatowers, where highways of data merged together. This was the City Centre – it's where the fucker had been hiding.
Out of those impenetrable walls oozed the Hellhound daemon, spitting like lava and rolling across the floor. Kali cussed and began to flee towards the nearest datapoint: a dataterm at memorial park. She accessed its navigation data and felt her consciousness flicker and fly back towards Japantown. As she recognised the construct of her megatower, she turned back to find the static, black ooze of the Hellhound still behind her.
She shot back. She was close now, she was close enough – if she could disconnect in time, she'd be safe. Kali found the elevator and, unlike the one in real-space, this elevator moved quickly. The doors closed on the ooze and it began to ascend. Kali watched the Hellhound fall into the abyss of cyberspace below.
The user was right: Hellhounds don't stop. Kali knew that – it was a daemon designed to target brainwaves and chase until it emitted a pulse to stop her heart. She'd never come across one – as far as she knew, they hadn't been used in the last fifty years.
The doors opened and Kali found herself looking down the corridor to her unit. She took a few steps, cautious of whether that black ICE would come tumbling out of one of the doors.
Then she heard a scraping. She turned around to find the shapeless black daemon grew and transformed, giving itself a solid structure. Four legs, a long body, a twisted snout and large jowls. It was a huge black wolf, barely contained in the corridors outside her unit. Its eyes glowed a bright, sterile white as they locked hungrily upon her. Digital flames began to break through its glossy hide as it lowered its head.
"Ka... Li…" it's voice was grating and metallic as it approached her. "Ka… Li…"
Kali turned around and moved towards her door. She fell through it, back into her own datafort, and ran her disconnect. The Hellhound stepped inside her unit, breaking away the doorway and lowering its head to her.
"Ka-"
The transition was abrupt and disorienting. She gasped as she returned to her body, the sensory overload of the NET giving way to the familiar confines of her rig. Her heart pounded in her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
She struggled to believe it: she had escaped. She was safe. But less than a second, and…
Kali sat up, her breathing ragged, her body trembling. She fell from her station: the chair she'd patched up the tears of with duct tape and stickers. An urge came from within her chest to throw it out through her window. Or to pick up her shotgun and fire slug after slug into it.
The room around her felt strangely quiet and still, but the memory of the Hellhound's cold, relentless pursuit lingered in her mind.
What sort of person had access to a Hellhound daemon? And they had hidden a datafort. People didn't do that – her own had taken months to program and build. Even with all the ICE she'd interlaced into its foundations…
HEX had trapped her. She'd deactivated her ICE to lure in Kali and then set a Hellhound on her. A Hellhound that would never stop pursuing her as long as she was connected to the NET. A Hellhound that would flatline her. Maybe the next time she dived, maybe the hundredth.
HEX was formidable – someone who's intelligence rivalled her own. But she couldn't have been as good as Kali – HEX hadn't even been on her radar until several months ago. But now she was living around Corpo Plaza – some rich kid that would deepdive for kicks, probably. Who else could afford tech like that? Preppy shitheads...
Kali would have to settle stuff in meatspace.
Well, that was a lacklustre ending. New peeps, come in and pitch me characters, ya flopes.