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(Setting) Alley near Lily Pad Cafe
| >CN walks along the street to the alleyway. Upon noticing the cab, he attempts to approach it and look for Asher
| >The smoker glances up at the man as he enters
"This your car, man?"
| >>238122
"No, but it's a friend's of mine whos been missing. I've looking forwdgi usually drives it."
| >The man drops his cigarette and stomps it out
"Damn, wanted to give you a piece of my mind. Car's an eyesore, been there for a week now. Can see it from my apartment window there."
>He points up at the window on the second floor
| >The man on the far end throws up on the ground and stumbles out of the alley
| >>238127
"Did you happen to see it when it got parked here by chance?"
>CN peers into the windows as he speaks
| "Sure did, couple a guys got out, slamming doors, making all kinds of noise. One of 'em crawled under the car, probably broke down or something. Would explain why they left it here. If you find your buddy, tell him to move his car or I'll have it towed"
>The man spits on the ground and walks over to a big metal door to the building
"Do try to keep it down around here, ok?"
| >>238187
"Alright... thanks."
>Curious at the TV, he takes a moment to look away to look under the car after what the man said.
| >under the car is a bunch of trash, bottles, and a manhole cover
| >At this point, Fiz has arrived from Cain's Gallery. He looks a little annoyed. His hands are in the pockets of his short, black jacket.
"Hey,you hear anything about a guy named Asher? Name's Fiz, by the way."
| "You're CN, then? Like, the actual CN? Nice to meet you!"
>Fiz says with a broad grin
"Find anything interesting?"
| >>238220
"Nice to meet you as well..."
>He says at his stares at the TV
"Well a guy saw Asher argue with another person here and then he disappeared under the car. I found a manhole cover under there so I assume that would be the next place to search."
| >An androgynous looking person with pink hair walks up to the alley with their phone in hand. The person spots them and puts their phone away in their pocket
"Looking for someone named Asher." the person said.
| >They take their phone out again, and swipe up and down a few times
"Mind if I ask if you two are also from danger/u/?"
| >the man from earlier leans out of the window
"Jesus, keep it down for fuck's sake!"
| "I'm Fiz. And you are?"
>He smiles, ignoring the man in the window
| >The person closes their eyes and puts their phone into the pocket again, then opens them
"I'd prefer to be anonymous for now. Anyways, glad to meet you two. Hope you guys brought weapons or something, in case things go south."
| >>238263
"I got a stungun."
>CN states as he pulls out a crowbar and attempts to open the manhole cover
| >The person fidgets around in their pocket for a second, then transfers two items from it into their left hand. The objects appear to have round holes in them for fingers
"It's what I came here for. Who's going in first?"
| "Let's just say I'm packing some heat..."
>Fiz gives another friendly smile, turning his attention away from the stranger and towards CN.
"It's now or never."
>He looks back
"Ladies first?"
| >The person looks at Fiz with a slight glare, as if they took offense to that
"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want the smallest one here to be leading in the front."
| >Why the two seems to be talking CN seems to have disappeared
| >Fiz shrugs
"Size isn't as important as people make it out to be... and I guess CN already went down."
>Fiz turns and hurries to follow him down the manhole.
| >The person rushes to the manhole and climbs down, waiting to see what CN does next
| >the ladder goes down, down, down, deeper and deeper, far deeper than your typical sewage system would go. After what feels like forever, it opens into a large chamber, with a big metal door and a tunnel leading off to the east
| "Well the metal door is obviously the more suspicious thing here..."
| >Fiz walks over and places his palm on the door, pushing lightly.
| "W-Wait don't just touch it!"
| >>238334
>The door doesn't move
>However, a panel opens on the side of the door, a simple button code
| "Whatever shit Asher got himself into... It's serious."
>The person takes out something in their pocket, then wears it on their right hand. They then look over to CN, wondering how they'll crack the code
| "W-What?"
>CN looks back at him nervously as he checks his surroundings for any traps before attempting to hack the code with his deck
| >CN doesn't see any sort of traps around, though he does notice a camera in the corner of the room, focused on the door area
| >>238349
"Hey, theres a camera trained at the door."
>CN stays in the shadows as he approaches the camera from the blind spot to deactivate it
| >The person keeps quiet as they watch CN deactivate the camera
| "Hmm... it's pretty high up. Anyone got anything long I can use to reach it?"
| >The person reaches into their jacket's inner pockets and pulls out a knife with a ten inch blade. They hold it out to CN, offering it to him
"Will this do? It's the longest thing I have."
| >The camera sits in the corner about fifteen feet up
| >Fiz steps away from the door, crossing his arms, watching the other two.
| >Looking up at the camera, Fiz waves his arm.
"Anyone up there? We're looking for a friend! Open the door, maybe, so we can talk?"
>He gives the camera one of his friendliest, most disarming smiles.
| >The camera moves and focuses on Fiz briefly, then returns to the original position
| "Well that didn't work Fiz..."
>They looked back at the button code
"Whoever's inside probably knows we're here now."
| >Fiz looks back over to the keypad.
"As if they hadn't noticed us earlier."
>He mutters under his breath before gesturing towards the door.
"If you'd like to do the honors, CN?"
| >He looks up the camera, even with his 6 foot stature, it would be difficult to do anything about it.
"*Sigh* Fuck it."
>He hands the knife back and pulls out his deck to hack the pad
"Now I just need to run a simple brute force and eventual- the code is 0000!?"
>As soon as he says this the door clicks up
| >The door opens slowly, sliding apart to allow access
| >through the door another hallway can be seen, shorter and ending in another metal door at the end
| >Fiz sighs.
"More doors?"
>He looks for anything else strange.
| >the only thing of note is that the camera that was facing them is now facing down the opposite tunnel
| "Guess we don't have a choice now..."
>CN slowly peeks inside as he heads in the hallway
| >The person puts on the second item from their jacket pocket onto their left hand and follows after CN
"By the way Fiz, I'm a guy, not a lady."
| >Fiz shrugs
"A guy can dream..."
>He mutters as he follows the other two
| >The walk down the hall is brief an uneventful. The door at the end has a line down the center, obviously it opens in the middle
| "...Not it."
>CN holds his hands up, away from the door
| "Here we go again..."
>This time, Fiz pushes on the left side of the door with the ball of his foot.
| >the door pushes slightly open with the effort
| "Oh?"
>Fiz overcomes his surprise to push the door open further.
| >The pink haired boy follows after them
"Think Asher is close?"
| >The door opens, and in the middle of the new room, surrounded by monitors, is a man in a brown jacket.
"Well, I'd certainly say so!"
>The man stands up and turns to greet everyone. The monitors behind him show the hallways and tunnels leading here
"Welcome to my rather interesting prison. Shame you guys didn't leave anybody outside, since the door here only opens one way without a specific key."
>As he says it, the massive door at the end of the hall slams shut
| >He walks over, a smile on his face
"Ah, I was certain it'd be you who came CN. Who are your friends?"
| >the door is locked down hard, nothing seems to make any dent in opening it
"Relax, cn. You guys aren't going to be trapped here. This was actually kind of part of the plan, Dallas will be here shortly to give you some details. In the meantime, why don't we all take a seat and have some coffee?"
>He points to a coffee machine in the corner of the room, and some chairs in another
| >on closer inspection, you can see that the room is filled with food, drinks, and many other amenities. It almost looks like a shelter of some kind.
| "You waited here like a week just for me to start looking for you?"
| >Asher sighs
"Well, no. I didn't have much choice. This place has little contact with the outside world, and is very VERY poorly designed. Did you know you can't change the password on the door? It's stuck at 0000!"
>He laughs
"Anyways, dallas dragged me here, we had a talk, long story short he's giving me a chance to prove my innocence in a case from my past. With your help, that is, if you're willing"
| "I'm not sure what we-"
>Fiz points to himself and the pink-haired boy
"-have anything to do with this..."
| "well, basically, you don't. I assume Lily made some post when I didn't return for a while and you guys came to help? Sorry, but you'll be stuck here until at least Dallas gets here. He won't keep you though, he's only interested in keeping me here."
>He shrugs
| "that said"
>He walks over and starts pouring himself a cup of coffee
"I'd appreciate any help I can get"
| >Fiz crosses his arms.
"And what exactly do you mean by 'help?'"
| "well, help proving my innocence. See, Dallas is a bit of a uh... Justic Seeker for Hire, and he's been a bit misled about what the truth of a certain partnership in my past is."
>He scratches his head and takes a sip of his coffee
"Though I'm truly sorry you got wrapped up in this, it wouldn't hurt any of my feelings if you turned me down here, especially since there's not really any sort of reward"
| "..."
>The pink haired boy stood there, blank-faced and mentally dissappointed
"We're trapped here?!"
>Briefly, the brass knuckles he was wearing dropped to the floor. He quickly picked them back up and put them in his jacket pocket
"UGHHH! I'm not going to be able to watch that episode when it airs..."
>He sighs again, then sits with his back against one of the walls.
"I guess I should tell you guys my name now... We're gonna be trapped here for a while.... Call me Sana."
| "oh, it won't be more than an hour at most. Nice to meet you though, Sana."
>Asher drinks more of his coffee
| "Nice to finally fucking meet you."
>Replies Fiz, sounding equally frustrated.
"How could we possibly help you with your innocence? We don't even know you."
| (the first part is to Sana)
| "Asher, is there a TV down here?"
| "well, yes but it only watched the cameras feeds. Everything is hard wired."
>>241698
"Well, you'll be more investigating a corp that's branching into this town. Much more interesting than just dealing with one person, yes?"
| "Ehhhhh."
>Fiz sounds bored all of a sudden.
"I mean, I could get on the net and try and pull some records for you, if that would help."
>He laughs
"But I wouldn't do it for free, that's for sure."
| "I'm just a trap, I can't help you with much."
>Sana took off his jacket
"And here I thought I'd be reuniting you with Lily. Instead, you kidnap us for... Less than an hour."
>Sana quickly gets bored and pulls out his phone
| "Well wait a minute, I didn't do any kidnapping here."
>suddenly, a loud beeping sound goes off throughout the room
"Ah, looks like Dallas is here. This should be fun."
| >Sana quickly runs to the door attempting to keep it open
"I'm gonna stay here and hold the door. There is no way I'm missing that episode. And uhh... Well, maybe I could try to help you too Asher."
| "Haha, well, I'll be here, 24/7 until this is solved."
>He sips his coffee as the big metal doors open up, revealing a man in a leather suit with slicked back black hair. He opens the door wide and holds it open
"Hello hello new friends! Anybody who wants to leave, feel free to do so now!"
>The man has an obnoxious smile, somewhat unsettling
| >Fiz nods his head to Asher and Dallas.
"Have fun, CN."
>Fiz heads out.
| >Dallas waves him through
"Yes Yes, exit stage left and all that!"
>He looks towards Sana
"Please, take your time, I do so enjoy standing around holding doors for people!"
| "I guess I'll be the only one helping you out here."
>CN sighs
| >Sana eyes Dallas up and down, then leaves.
| (sorry CN :c)
| (It's no big deal lol)
| >with that, Dallas lets the door close behind him
"Geat, great! So that makes you the famous CN then! Or would it be infamous?"
>His grin is... irritating
| >The man moves into the room
"Well, anyways, let's go ahead and get things started, shall we?"
>He sits on the edge of the table with the monitors on it
"Darius, grab me a coffee while you're over there"
>Asher nods and pulls out a cup.
"Oh! Yeah, uh, Asher isn't my real name, CN. Surprise?"
| >Asher walks over with the coffee cups
"Anything for you, CN?"
>He sips out of his cup
| >Asher sets the coffee cup in front of Dallas and sits at the chair at the desk
"Well, put simply, a long time ago I used to run a detective agency, like I do now. I took on a big job from a corporate type, who set me up. Corp tries to kill me so I leave, and come into hiding here. In comes Dallas, my former partner, apparently hired to take me out. Luckily for me, he heard me out when I told him I got framed"
| >Dallas takes a drink of his coffee
"So I told him I'd investigate to see if he's telling the truth. The corp that hired me to take him out, and the one that gave him his case, is planning to move into Glitch City. But, I couldn't have, uh, what the fuck were you calling yourself? Asher? Anyways, couldn't have him running away again. so I made a deal. He stays here, and I'll investigate on his behalf. Then he requested I get some assistance, probably so I don't go in guns blazing."
| >Asher stands up again
"That's where you come in, CN. Though truth be told, there was no guarantee it'd be you showing up, but I'm glad it was. You're someone who gets things done. That's the basics. So, are you in?"
| >>248190
"So the gist is you want me to break into a corp office to get some proof of your framing then?"
| >Dallas laughs
"That's an option, for sure! But I was thinking of wringing it from the CEO himself. He'll be supervising the establishment of their new GC headquarters, and expecting me to check in on my progress hunting my mark. Anything your little hacker skateboard or whatever can dig out of their servers to counter his bluffs when I confront him would be useful, as well."
>Dallas smiles again
"But if he's not lying, well, I'll be coming back to finish you off, Darius"
| "You're investigating a man named Anthony Gregson, the CEO of Somnus Pharmaceuticals. He hired me to track down some people who kidnapped his daughter. After tracking down the kidnappers, I found them in a warehouse, but they killed the girl the moment I arrived. After escaping and returning to the CEO to deliver the news, his bodyguards grabbed me and police arrived to put me into a cell."
>Asher takes another drink.
"Police said they found evidence that I shot the girl."
| >He sighs
"Luckily I escaped. You're looking for anything that might prove the accuracy of my story, as well as why he would do such a thing. Dallas will be your partner on this. He seems strange but he can be trusted."
>Dallas grins
"Well, at least as much as you can trust any other bounty hunter these days!"
>He laughs loudly
| >>248264
"Sadly, we don't know where exactly they'll be moving in. They'll likely make an announcement soon about their intentions, they plan to be in within the month."
>Asher sets his cup down
"Your best bet would probably be to look into recent property sales, see if anything strange catches your eye. My guess would be that they'll show up in uptown, it would be the safest place to do business for them, but anything goes really."
| >>248275
"Hmm... got it. I guess I'll try looking on the Matrix now and see what I can dig up."
>CN starts typing on his deck.
| >some quick searches reveal a collection of adjacent plots being bought up on the outskirts of the midnight district
| "Midnight district? wasn't that place basically destroyed a while back? What would they want there? Maybe the low property costs?"
>Asher scratches his head
| >>248288
"Beats me, they never write why they do it in their records. Would make my job a lot easier."
| "well, at least it gives us investigators something to do, right?"
>Asher laughs
"Anyways, I'm leaving it with you guys! Good luck out there, alright?"
| >Asher smiles
"Of course! Shame those others didn't stick around though, sometimes getting to stick it to the corps is reward in itself"
| "True I suppose... well let's see what info I can find that could help out okay?"
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| >The alley is your standard glitch city scene, complete with litter and the occasional drunk straggler. In the center is a car, branded as "Gray's Cab" A drunk man stumbles on one end of the alley while another man smokes a cigarette on the other.