dctv / watch_dogs } { hacker voice: i'm in

[hackedhistory]

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for aiden | i wanna watch the world burn, i've got the gasoline

[hackedhistory]

Aiden Pearce is not a predictable man. Especially not after Chicago.

He doesn't have regular haunts or places he goes. ctOS is a pain that way, and when you're Public Enemy Number One of Big Brother, staying hidden is usually the best thing you can do. It makes finding him in 2014 a little more complicated than she would prefer.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have patterns.

Every hacker has their own style, and with Aiden's particular brand of code usually comes some kind of infrastructure implosion. Sometimes Kenney's code follows, cleaning up the mess. That's, initially, how Zari started building her in. She'd swoop in and find the messes, sweep them away, leave her own style on it to make sure that the boys know it's the same person and not some fluke. Build trust - or at least gratitude - so that she could, one way or another, earn a meeting.

See if putting Aiden onto ARGUS's trail is enough that she might somehow save her brother.

ctOS was the beginning of the end, really. Once they started getting into people's head subliminally, it was easy for Amanda Waller and her band of goons to come in and take over. Brainwash people into believing whatever they want them to believe. People like Aiden are few and far between, but she has a feeling he'd vibe with her particular brand of vengeance.

So far, all she's left him with is a handle: Z. There wouldn't be a lot of data gathered with their ctOS back door because one of the benefits of living on a time ship is that you're not there to be tracked. She thinks that she's in control. She should know by now that when it comes to hackers, you're never as in control as you think you are.

Because the downside of having a time ship is that you don't have somewhere to work in the real world. Which means you have to make due with what you have and Zari, unfortunately, has patterns.

So while she munches on a stack of doughnuts, taking advantage of the easily manipulated Wi-Fi at the local Dunkin Donuts, she suddenly finds herself face to face with the very man she wanted to meet as Aiden Pearce sits down in front of her.

And he doesn't look happy.

"Uh." She's never been the most eloquent. Clearly it's not going to start now. "Hi."

And then, because she's also never been good at pretense, she reaches over to her stack and holds one out to him.

"Doughnut?"

[the_vigilante]

"No," Aiden answers flatly and without taking his eyes off of her. In better circumstances, he likely would have accepted the donut and gladly, snack-motivated as he is, but not right now. Right now, he just scowls at her for a long moment from under the brim of her hat, trying to encourage her to put the donut down and slowly.

Whether or not she actually plays along, when the moment passes, he states simply, "You've been following me."

Her and her code. Obviously, he knows who she is, and while she hasn't do anything malicious, riding his coattails -- quite the opposite, actually -- he's not a fan. If she can get close, so can Blume, who's still looking for him even now.

[hackedhistory]

Fine, if he's not going to eat it, she will. She takes a bite of her doughnut as he speaks and she holds up a finger to correct him because technically he's not wrong. She has been following him. But she's been cheating in the sense that she already knows where he's going to be.

Thanks time travel.

"It was an overture. A favor." She pauses. "A gesture of good will, in exchange for potentially getting your help on something."

[the_vigilante]

"Yeah, I don't do favors," he shoots back. Never mind the fact that he absolutely does favors -- it's how his and Ray's relationship started. Hell, it's how he and Clara's started, back when she was still just badboy17 -- or so he'd thought, anyway.

That's not the point, though. The point is that she's going to need to make a very good case for him not to get up and walk away, right now.

[hackedhistory]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay okay she thought she would have had a little more time to figure out a general presentation of what she's going for here. She certainly doesn't want to get into this in the middle of a Dunkin Donuts.

But she knows that she's not going to get any further if she doesn't give him something so she spits out the first thing that manages to come to mind:

"Blume and ctOS isn't the only problem."

[the_vigilante]

That's enough to make Aiden sit back down, where he'd started to stand. He frowns at her for another long moment, eyes still hard but searching, now, too. When he finds, or probably more accurately doesn't find what he's looking for, he asks, "What do you mean?"

[hackedhistory]

Oh good that worked. She doesn't really know for sure how to dance around the time travel thing, but there's enough facts out there now that she can somewhat do that. But she'll have to start at the beginning so she nudges over the stack of untouched doughnuts, because he might want a snack.

She keeps her voice low, occasionally glancing back over her shoulder to make sure no one is listening in.

"There's a law in the works. It's not finalized yet, but given all the destruction they seem to cause, most lawmakers are looking to criminalize metahumans. Between the capes and the rogues to the people who are just living their life as best they can but have a power they can't control, they all get put on a registry."

And that registry is just an easy way to round them all up and put them away for ARGUS to start to perform their twisted experiments.

"It'll take a couple years before it gets anywhere, but when it does, it's not just Blume invading people's privacy anymore. It's ARGUS. There's language in the law that allows ARGUS to commandeer ctOS in order to augment their own surveillance systems. And once Amanda Waller has open access ctOS legally? Then we're really in trouble."

[the_vigilante]

Aiden has no horse in this race -- he's not a metahuman, himself, nor does he know anyone who is one. He's not even sure he's fought a metahuman before, now that he thinks about it, or if he did, it was someone whose abilities didn't contribute anything, combat-wise. He shouldn't care, all that said.

He shouldn't care, but he does.

Because he knows what it's like to have to hide who you are. Because the whole Minority Report bullshit is bullshit. Because anyone who's in bed with Blume is bad news. Because.

"So, what do you want from me?"

[hackedhistory]

"I don't ... I don't really have any action items, as it were." She wishes she did - again, if she'd had more time, she would have had a whole presentation. Known exactly when to hit ARGUS and when. But at least if he's willing to help, maybe she'll be able to drop some information in when she does have action items.

"I thought we'd be having this talk later. But ... I know that you and your crew are looking to take down Blume. Do you think there's room for ARGUS in there too?"

[the_vigilante]

"If what you say checks out," Aiden tells her. He doesn't think she's lying -- because why would she, knowing who he is? -- but he's also not stupid enough to take her word at purely face value. For all he knows, she's very good. For all he knows, all of this is the truth, but she's working for Blume or ARGUS or both, and giving him that truth is a breadcrumb trail back to whatever trap they plan on trying to spring, to keep him from stopping their work. For all he knows, her 'help' was part of that, too. He'll look into her, too, then, when he starts sniffing around everything else.

"You got some way I can get in touch with you, that's not in the middle of Dunkin Donuts?" For better or worse, when it turns out she's telling the truth or not.

[hackedhistory]

"Yeah, yeah."

She pulls out a napkin and scribbles down an FTP address where messages can be left. While she's not always in 2019, she can check it every once in the while when she's bored on the Waverider. And, it's less complicated than trying to register for a cell phone when the current Zari Tarazi is the ripe old age of seven.

Let's not have Aiden asking questions that are more complicated than she wants to answer.

"And I'm Zari, by the way. Zari Tomaz."

[the_vigilante]

He reaches for it, looking down at it for a moment before slipping it into the pocket of his coat. It says something, he thinks, that she doesn't have a number; it makes him that much more curious about her and her situation. He might come up with some complicated questions, despite her best efforts, for the sheer tenacity that backs everything he does.

"Aiden Pearce, but you know that," he answers. He doesn't bother offering his hand for a shake. Instead, he simply tells her, "I'll send you a message, if I decide you're telling the truth." And if he decides he's interested, which she is and he will be.

"Anything else you wanna tell me?"

[hackedhistory]

"I really appreciate you even hearing me out."

Changing the flow of time is a delicate thing, especially when it's something that the world has determined has to happen. But the thing about time travel, at least that Zari is learning, is that it doesn't matter so much what you erase, but how you erase it.

"I know most people probably would have called me crazy."

for wrench | you're wondering who i am (secret secret i've got a secret)

[hackedhistory]

Honestly, it starts because she's bored.

Nate and Ray convince her to take a trip with them to San Francisco so they can "see the sights" and "have a vacation" but half a week into seeing the sights and Zari has seen enough. She would much rather find better things to do.

In her process of wandering, she stops to get cash from one of the ATMs, and notices a glitch. And being the nosy person that she is, she hacks in to see what the glitch might be. It turns out, some nasty person had put some malware in the ATMs to steal everyone's personal data. That is quite rude of them, she must say. So she digs into the network, removes the offending program, and has no idea that she's just pissed off a nasty hacker group called Prime_Eight in the process.

At least, until they start coming after her.

At first, it seems to be hacking attacks, trying to track down this "new player" in town. At first she dismisses them easily, but they start coming so hard and fast that she has to make herself known, sending out big swaths of code to keep them from finding their location.

"Have you started a hacking war?" Nate asks, as he watches her go to town on her tablet.

"Not on purpose," she replies.

Eventually, she gets to the point where she thinks she's safe. She really doesn't want to go back to the time ship and have her vacation cut short by some uppity hackers. At least, until she starts to get the sense she's being followed - specifically by some really nasty looking bikers.

At that point, she decides she needs to call in reinforcements. This isn't really the Legends skill set, so she'd rather seek it from someone who is a little more familiar with the playing field.

Getting onto a DedSec server isn't hard. Prime_Eight is a rival of theirs, and while she doesn't want to start a hacking war, she could use a little backup.

Z: SOS. Anyone out there?

[in_theworks]

It's some time, unfortunately, before Zari gets a response.  Wrench isn't used to answering the proverbial phone, you see, that job usually -- anyone but his, really.  But Sitara, who keeps an eye on anything relevant to their mission statement, is out at some family thing her brother talked her into.  Josh, with his fingers in everything else, is currently napping under his desk.  Ray's out, procuring more beer, and Marcus is probably saving the world or a puppy or something.

All that in mind, yeah, it's a while, and when he finally does respond, it's with:

The Wrench: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.

Yes, he did just quote Star Trek.

The Wrench: There's not actually a medical emergency, is there?  O_o

[hackedhistory]

Z: Not medical, just annoying.
Z: I noticed some malware in an ATM when I was picking up some cash and got rid of it and after days of not getting off my ass, now I have bikers following me.
Z: Any chance you can offer a girl a little backup?

She starts there, because the problem is one that needs immediate solving. She cannot spend all of her time getting followed by bikers. Especially if she has to go back to the jump ship at any point. She's not supposed to be clueing people in on the whole time travel situation.

Then she stares at the username, and her fingers are flying before she can think better of the fact that she's from the future, and this particular hacker possibly hasn't grown into his own yet:

Z: Wait, THE Wrench?

She hits enter and it's too late to take it back, no matter how much she might like to.

[in_theworks]

The Wrench: Are there other Wrenches?
The Wrench: Pipe?
The Wrench: Socket?
The Wrench: MONKEY?

There a pause here, as he debates calling Marcus, field work not really his things anymore than answering the phone is, not unless someone needs explosives.  He thinks better of it, however, if only because he can do the math.  If bikers are after her after she cleared some malware from an ATM, they're probably the Sons of Ragnarok, and if Lenni's pet goons are on her, then maybe explosives are just what she needs.

That in mind, he ducks under his workbench long enough to grab a milk crate, stolen long ago, and starts loading gear into it, haphazardly.  And somehow, while juggling it and the sledgehammer he's currently trying to make stay in the box, he messages again.

The Wrench: GASP!  Am I internet famous?

[hackedhistory]

Z: If I say yes, does that mean you'll help?
Z: Kidding.
Z: I'm a fan of the work you guys do. I just wasn't expecting a handle I was familiar with.

Which means, yes, she's also a fan of the explosives. If there's anything she's learned from the hacker rebels that came before her, it's that sometimes to make something work, you might need to take it apart.

Maybe it's why she has a soft spot for Mick.

Z: Any chance you can fill me in on which biker gang I managed to piss off?

[in_theworks]

The Wrench: Help is on the way, my dude.
The Wrench: But please. Continue the ass kissing.

In all seriousness, he's glad that they're making a difference. After everything they've all been through, thanks to Dusan and Blume, thanks to Lenni and the various gangs of San Francisco, the Sons included -- well, it's nice to feel like it's all been for something. He'll have to pass the message along to the others, later, if he doesn't end up bringing his mystery hacker back to the hackerspace with him.

Though, speaking of.

The Wrench: Though, uh. Remind me where I'm going for this dramatic rescue?
The Wrench: And can we switch to voice chat, because trying to text while shoving, like, 18 guns into my pants is harder than you think.

He'll fill her in on the rest, in a second.

[hackedhistory]

Z: Yeah, I can do that.

It takes a second to make sure that the voice channel is secure and that no one else is listening, but once that's done, she'll open the voice chat, and Wrench will be treated to this smoky voice.

"Is this going to be an eighteen guns situation?"

Should she be arming up, or rather, grabbing her totem just in case this is a super power situation.

[in_theworks]

If Wrench is surprised that she's a woman, he doesn't try and backtrack and correct himself on the whole dude thing. Dude, he'll have you know, is a gender neutral term, and he can save the flirting for later, when she's not in mortal-ish peril.

"Well, maybe not an eighteen gun situation," he admits then, staying on topic. "But it's definitely a job for Lady Smash and at least a few of her friends." Lady Smash in the sledgehammer. "So, maybe like a two gun situation?"

[hackedhistory]

Dude is absolutely a gender neutral term. She certainly doesn't seem bothered by it.

"Two gun I can work with."

Two gun means she doesn't have to have Nate around to be a walking, talking bullet proof vest. And then ask him to introduce him to her hacker friends, because Nate, bless his heart, is like a puppy and will make friends with anyone he meets. She doesn't know how she does it, but she's learned to appreciate it about him.

"I'm at a cafe on Lombard. The guy watching me has just been hanging out across the street. Not sure if he knows I made him yet."

[in_theworks]

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Wrench tells her. There a pause, then as an aside, to someone who's obviously there with him, not her, he mutters, "Daddy will be back in a little while. You be good for Uncle Hawt Sauce, okay?"

He's talking to the Haum robot that Marcus stole for him, Wrench Jr.

Either way, after a beat and louder, he tells her, "The Sons of Ragnarok, by the way." A beat. "They're the bikers you pissed off. They have some kinda thing going with Prime_Eight, where they fund all their shitty biker crime by skimming people's ATM accounts. One of our other guys, Retr0, shut them down, but apparently Lenni's a good kiss ass."

And has gotten back in the Sons good graces. And reinstalled the ATM malware.

[hackedhistory]

"If the scam's good enough and can be rebuilt, I don't see why she wouldn't. Though she likely wasn't expecting me to take it out remotely."

Her tone indicates that this Lenni person is clearly talking out her ass if she promised the biker gang a new and improved design that's less fallible. She's willing to bet she was trying to oversell her clientele rather than actually provide some quality code.

"I'm gonna guess these guys aren't the most tech savvy."

[in_theworks]

"Prooobably not," Wrench agrees, brightly. "Though, hey -- if you're here for a good time, while you're waiting on the cavalry, see if you can get into one of Prime_Eight's voice chats, right now." He would, if he wasn't a little busy, the sound of a car starting in the background on his end. The idea of getting to listen to Lenni shriek about fuckweasels and shitshakers is just too good.

Either way, though. "But nah. The Sons are kinda just a bunch of creepy, old meatheads."