forum ENCOM OS-12 | OxO | Closed unless you're a fellow Program/User/ISO | Stalkers get a free Light Runner

Started March 25, 2021 by @murphysgirl

tune

"I'll see you around, I suppose," she said, stepping into the elevator, making sure Bit was with her. "End of Line should open soon. You'll come?"

Cor nodded with a brighter smile. “I’ll be there and I hope to see you again sometime.” he said sincerely. “You too, Bit.” he added with a light chuckle.

Yes, Bit said happily, drifting towards the doors as though to zoom around Cor's head again, but Nora reached out a hand and batted it back. "I'm not losing you again."

(Skip to the next vigilante scene? You can set the stage for this one. Pre-End of Line opening.)

Cor sighed softly as he derezzed his lightcycle and walked into a seemingly random building. The information he was after was two buildings over and a couple floors down from the top level. It was just another job with some valuable information on the line, one of his favorite types, and a sizable reward for it. Once he was sure he was alone, he made his way to the top floor and quickly changed into his Black Light costume before leaping towards his actual target.

Nora was in her penthouse, sipping energy and looking out over the city, when she spotted a furtive movement. Someone was up to something. Frowning, she realised it was - she'd never gotten his name, but it was the other vigilante. What was he doing?
She'd watch him for a little bit, she decided, and see what he was up to.

Cor managed to get into the building on the right floor with minimal issues. He may have almost slipped once but he wasn't going to admit to it. He hummed softly to himself as he strolled through the equipment. This wasn't much of a stealth job, even though he would have to be careful of any guards. As he came to the right terminal, he pulled out his disc and the other tool for hacking as he started to work.

He was definitely up to something, Nora decided. She couldn't remember if she had binoculars or not, but that didn't really matter right now, did it? Whatever he was doing, he didn't want to be seen.
She smirked lightly to herself. Well, she could see him, all right. Somewhat.
"Come on, Bit, let's see what this guy's up to," she whispered.
No, Bit said.
"What do you mean, no?"
No.
"Fine, stay here if you want." She left Bit bobbing up and down in the living room, hoping that it didn't have any mischievous reasons for wanting to stay home. "Behave yourself."
Yes.
And with that, Nora left the apartment, sneaking past the bartender and slipping into the shadows of the building whatshisname was in, activating her Aurora code, her suit morphing to black, an iridescent white cape flowing from her shoulders.
What are you up to? she wondered, beginning to make her way up to wherever he was.

Cor continued to hum softly, almost dancing in place at times, as he worked. He was completely unaware of the fact that he had caught the attention of the other vigilante. In fact, his whole demeanor was extremely casual as if he didn't have a single care about what he was doing. This sort of thing had become almost routine for him but he still enjoyed the small thrill of the potential danger of getting caught.

Nora snuck silently through the building until she spotted the other vigilante. Was he… hacking? It certainly looked like he had the tools for it. Slipping behind a pillar, she peeked out. He was hacking. And humming. What kind of program was this? It was almost as if he didn't care.
Still hidden behind the pillar, she said, "I thought you were one of the good guys."

Cor froze when he heard the voice, his humming dying off quickly. It took a moment before he actually recognized who it belonged to. “Depends on your definition of “good guys”, sweet cubes.” he started plainly with a roguish smile. “I mean, I don't derezz programs for fun, I never mess with someone else's disc, and I know I’m nowhere near as bad as the bastard Clu… Or those members of the Iris gang.” he pointed out as he quickly finished his job and putting his tools away.

"And yet you hack." Nora raised her eyebrows, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Clu hacked. The Black Guard hacked. The Iris gang hacks. And don't call me 'sweet cubes'."

“Maybe…” Cor admitted with a small sigh, feeling a little uncomfortable at the reminder. “Personally, I don't have much issue with the Black Guard. I’m not a fan of them either but I don't completely blame them for what happened. Just their lack of motivation to actually help the Grid now that the puppet master is gone.” he responded, growling faintly in annoyance. “But I don't hack other programs. All I do is get information. Sometimes for others… and yes, I get paid for it.”

"Paid?" Now she was curious, and slightly jaded. Vigilantes weren't supposed to be rogues for hire. They were supposed to be harbingers of good, protectors of the streets, all of their own will. Not paid.
She'd keep him talking, gather some information, she decided.
"Paid by whom?"

_{(Also I'm finding it hilariously ironic that they're discussing hacking when the entire focus of the original movie was hacking 😆)}

_{(I was actually just about to bring that up 😆… I'm still going to do it.)}

“Sorry, sweet cubes. I don't discuss my clients.” Cor smirked. “Besides… You left out a name when you listed other hackers. Let me ask you this; if a program is more or less an echo of their User… Then where do you think Clu gained the knowledge on how to hack?” he asked knowingly. It may not have been very common knowledge but he thought it should be.

Nora took a sharp breath. How could she have not considered that? Come to think of it, the entire Grid was based off of hacking.
"Flynn was doing it for a good purpose," she said tentatively, though that might not have been true. Flynn's story wasn't one that was talked about much, thanks to Clu's iron-fisted regime, his brainwashing that all Users were corrupt. She had only pieced together what she had heard people tell Castor.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, she barely even noticed he had called her sweet cubes again.

“And who says I’m not?” Cor said smoothly. “You don't know what I was after and I know how to cover my tracks in this field. No one will even know I was here.” he pointed out. He could tell where she was hiding but wasn't sure if he should walk towards her or towards his exit. “Flynn had his reasons and so do I.”

"And how can I be sure about that?" Nora asked. He was very convincing, but she still wasn't sure. She had seen plenty of programs (namely Castor) who were able to talk themselves out of a situation. "Tell me what it is you're doing."

“Now, why would I do that when you don't trust me?” he smiled teasingly as he finally started making his way toward the exit he used. “But if you must know… An anonymous program reached out to me and asked if I would recover this information. I told them that the recovery was the easy part… It's the delivery that’s tricky.” he said, hinting at the fact that he was flexible on whether or not he was going to actually give this data to his client. He always worked with half the payment upfront, the rest at the end.