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Aeon - The Odyssey


Phoenix
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Makala became entrenched within his little microcosm of Mi7ts vLeague, ducking below the table as to drown out the noise & urgency of the Odyssey regroup. Perhaps, not even noticing they had arrived before he was prepared to deliberate on the rogue AI attack.

Moreso, it wasn't just the service itself. Flambre's under-performance chaffed upon his odds:

<[HK Lvl 5]AraConz1500 - 11:17:41>
"Love Mi7itz, where else can i smell the salt when you lost allmost 1kil do us dirty lmao. But thats not enough for
some scrub booker trying suckering you chums for 2000 @ 1400 cred pop like there handouts. Premium bois arent
liking this."
<[JC Lvl 4]Hardbody_The_Show - 12:31:07>
"BUT HE TRIED HIS HARDEST :kFabe:"
<[Euprax Live Lvl 7]Batnet_fan_1850>
"LOL 4230 cred, get real your fucked frenz. <3 part when OP wanted the Gold 3 upstart to shred the comp. Flambre
was it? See yall next week @ salty bets!"
<[HK Lvl 5]AraConz1500 - 12:32:33>
"RIP Odyssey, they got fake girls, tryhards, & feeders. BB & Bullet can't pull out after you know got merc'd IRL."
<[MC<3 Lvl 1]M00kz33z_M3W_CR3W_Offical - 12:33:45>
"I no u w3r @ s733m exh1bz fgt, B@net duzn7 wUn 2 m3k mun3z 4 u but 7h37 c@/|/7 k3p s3rvz f70m atk ffs."
<[HK Lvl 5]CrimsonFlame - 12:32:54>
"Cmon i know its Odyssey being dumb than scumb, if you nubs were handing out 15000 dailys here then you recoop
your 15 lose records. What you got is sharks turnin cardboard tier pools into high stakes shit. You played
yourself"
<[MC<3 Lvl 1]M00kz33z_M3W_CR3W_Offical - 12:33:23>
"U no how m7ne waifu dremz g07 kr0sh4 wh3r she finish last seas? D1z kril playin n k1m0n0z @ async & u thnx
she no c100chin sum tail sh0wn 2 B@con LMAO"
<MisfitBot* - 12:34:54>
[This message is under review. If you believe this was in error, please contact your Xen4All adminstrator.]
{Msg. ID#: ADM - B530 - B562 - 0303 - 10}
<[deleted user] - 13:53:57>
"Class A?"
<[deleted user] - 13:54:00>
"U guys dont fuck arnd w/ that. U wanna shut down?"

Huff... Makala felt enough cover upon his stool below the table, even if circulating his sour exhaust was starting to make him feel dizzy.

Pnnnff! Rising up only sent his thud down the row. He shuffled back to crouch. "No, not the coccyx! And chrome alloys don't budge, pah...!"

Edited by Sarki Soliloquy
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Well, that was interesting. So this AI was potentially after a... serf? It was related to the Odyssey team, this could be serious...

What was that about Karina though? In the hospital? Eesh... What an unfortunate coincidence. "If that Carmen girl is your best lead, then might as well follow that clue, otherwise its grasping at straws." It wasn't like they had many other leads...

Now what about tryouts? With that out of the way, Karina was a bit anxious about it... "By the way, will we have to redo tryouts, or what?" She hoped they would, personally.

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An AI going after a serf?  That’s…..definitely odd.  Now I’m really curious what they’re hiding…

The anonymous tipster seemed to know a lot more about this AI than she was leading on.  Unfortunately, there were many different types of core matrixes and combing the station would be fruitless if they had the wrong type.  Do you have any idea on its range or what type they’re using?  Aska replied, trying to squeeze as much information he could. 

The others seemed more concerned about their tryout results.  The masked player himself would like a redo after his rocky start and the unwanted intrusion on their game stealing away any hope of a comeback.  He also wouldn’t mind revenge on the hacker for ruining his show right before he could have shown off properly.  “Sounds like talking to Carmen is your best bet.  The only other option I can think of would be to try and find that AI’s core matrix.  Can't do much while that thing's still around,” Aska suggested, arms folded pensively.

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What was Makala doing over there, Hitomi wondered? It was only brief, as she and Linus had to address the tryouts, in general, sooner or later. That became even more apparent considering how little they had to go on with this AI business. Melanie wanted to get that matter settled and the new Karina seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"Erm ... I guess?" Hitomi nearly shrugged. She crossed her arms in deep thought instead, trying to figure out the best way to hold another round of tryouts. At least everyone present still wanted on the team, at least. That's how it looked, anyway. "This is definitely a more manageable group, but after what happened at the arcade-oh! Kirara!"

Kirara had been fixing Mewlanie with an incredulous look when Hitomi pulled her attention. "What is it?"

"That AI isn't going to follow us around, is it? I don't want to try another arcade just for it to get ...-"

"Stratus'd," Serval Sage chimed in with a chuckle, "That's definitely going to be a thing now whenever a hacker forces a shutdown."

"That's ... that's my whole ..." Kirara struggled for a moment, then sighed. "Look, people, I'm in contact with Eupraxia's wards, and if not for them having a better idea of how to handle this situation, you would all be getting quarantined. All we did was cut the power at Stratus for a minute. The AI wasn't affected by that. It's still out there. Like your cosplayer friend said, you can't do much while it's still around. Even this cafe isn't safe."

"Hold on, have these ward friends of yours heard anything from Scipio?" Matsuo asked, "Their network serves as the primary firewall, so they have to have some idea of what happened."

"This is all Scipio's fault," Kirara hissed, "No rogue AI could have gotten this deep into the station if they had been doing their jobs ... erm, but yes ... apparently, they've sealed the breach, whatever that means. It might not matter depending on where that thing is and if it left any feelers around ... but we'll see. What we need to know to do something is where the AI is and who it's after. If it's class A it at least needs a physical core matrix. If you think this serf girl is the target then keep in mind that you'll be leading it right to her if you meet up. On the other hand, waiting to see what everyone does is a good reason for the AI not to outright attack again ... just listen and watch, this time."

It was hardly any time at all before Aska received a reply back saying, 'Not really, but if they used a long range method, someone on the station probably helped them set it up. If not then that AI's core is definitely somewhere on the station. Eupraxia Grand Station's networks are set up like a fortress, so this is strange.'

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"Toi lâ, do not give me zat look, Kirara, fffh." Melanie grumbled and complained, scowling back at the woman. "You are not ze only Battlenet idol wis better sings to do... Ma apologies for not being as important as you are." Melanie had no real idea who Carmen was, but if that AI was still hanging around... Was there really no plan, at the moment? Kirara had said they would be getting quarantined, otherwise, but she didn't say what the otherwise was, just that Eupraxia wards had a better idea. "What ees zeir better idea?" She let her leg down and crossed them this time, swishing her tail in annoyance.

You know what, zen? I will play zis game. "Lâ lâ, monsieur AI!" she called into the cafe, holding her phone up into the air. "Eef you are so cool and important, and you want somesing from us, tell us srough zis, eh? Eef not, let us go 'ome, oui? I do not 'ave ze time to be wasting wis somesing like you, I do not sink I am even your target. Eef I am, zen at least tell me why, non?" If it was still around, and watching, maybe it could hear them. Melanie opened a text file on her phone, holding it far enough away from her face to avoid damage if it started to short circuit, but hopefully close enough to read anything if the AI decided to participate. "'Oo are you searching for, monsieur?"

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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'Literally'? Kirara please!

No, that can't have been what she meant by it, so thank Jove the discussion wouldn't veer that direction. Linus shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind. Even if there was nothing really worth discussing, it would have been embarrassing enough--

And there went Hitomi, low-key suggesting maybe he had a whole harem he was juggling in his offtime. "Look, I'll have you know I suspended my CupidPlus months ago. Too much hassle, too little return, too much wasted time. While it's not inconceivable some past strike-out is the target, it just... how would that make sense with 'one link remaining'? It's gotta be someone you know too, Hitomi. Though I guess, Kirara, if you guys really need to check out my dating history, I'm not gonna stonewall you over it. A little privacy would be nice, though."

One other comment Hitomi made, did make Linus feel better, at least. 'Our Karina'. Maybe she wasn't entirely on the same wavelength he was, regarding this new woman with the same name, but it did feel good to hear it said like that. Somehow, reassuring. They weren't replacing her.

Speaking of the tryouts, some were getting antsy. Understandable, being in limbo like this sucked, not knowing your fate. If he were solely in charge, and had to make the snap decisions now, Linus had a pretty good idea of where things'd come down, but he couldn't just put the issue to rest without Hitomi's input. And the outside interference meant not everything was exactly fair. There still would've been chances for the well-performing to make some gaffes, or for those that struggled early to redeem themselves.

But, it sounded like a redo wouldn't be safe either, and heck, Kirara even sounded worried about this debriefing itself. Yikes! Maybe it would just be best to accept everyone who cared enough to be here, and secondstring the ones that couldn't hack it? Linus shot Hitomi a look, and even though it would be almost impossible to convey his thoughts without words, he tried. In the meantime, might as well follow-up on the other issue.

"I'm sure Carmen wouldn't mind answering questions, but my guess is she's as in the dark about this as we are." Linus wasn't quite ready to give up that he had been planning to meet her soon as things settled down--though with Kirara's warning that it might not be safe, that the AI could be waiting to just follow him to her... that definitely started him reevaluating the situation. Still, if things went through as originally planned, he didn't want that promise being turned into an ambush with high officials hounding her mercilessly. "Where would you even start, what would you even ask her? If you could somehow do it without endangering her."

Edited by Balcerzak
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No solutions on the arcade problem, yet. That meant the tryouts might have to be rethought or just called off altogether. Hitomi was still of the mind that anyone that bothered to show up in the middle of this mess at the very least had the right stuff ... even Motherloader to an extent. It just didn't feel right to go off of that alone. Curiosity likely played a bigger role in some being here than anything, and curiosity wouldn't get them through the next gaming season. Not a chance. Linus seemed to be considering the issue as well, but like her, didn't have any suggestions that could be articulated at the moment. Then there was Carmen, someone Hitomi was hoping to get back onto the team someday. Somehow. To think a rogue AI might actually be after her ...

"So ... it probably is Carmen it's looking for, then ..." That was Hitomi's conclusion after Linus went a little further into his explanation. 

Kirara didn't know what to think of said explanation at first, though she made a mental note about the CupidPlus thing, anyway. You never know ... "Well, if we could meet her someplace safe, I'd ask her about any relevant connections she has. Rogue AIs aren't really anything novel, but an A class is something only a military organization or government agency could build. If it's after this Carmen girl, then she has to be important to someone somewhere. As for what the wards have in mind, Mewlanie, they're thinking we should ... wait ... it might be listening to us. Damn."

"Heh, I hear you on the CupidPlus problem," Sage nodded at Linus, "They're really slipping lately. Think they're getting a little too worked up over personality types and the like."

"There's a thought," Motherloader murmured to himself. He quietly typed up a reply to Elle Gigantess. 'So G-Babe, got a Cupid+ account by any chance?'

He wasn't the only one messing with his phone, as Mewlanie quickly lifted hers into the air, directly challenging the rogue AI.

"Easy now," Matsuo cautioned her, though he knew if the AI was both capable and willing to make a move here, he couldn't do a thing to stop it. All things considered, it might have been better to meet up inside a Scipio barracks. Civilians were allowed into areas like those so long as they didn't cause any trouble, and the AI would have a harder time harassing them while under that umbrella. A bit late now, though ...

"Mewlanie, are you out of your mind-!!!" Kirara stopped short as Melane's phone flashed, the screen turning completely white. Then, it seemed like every monitor in the cafe turned on all at once. Even the smartglass displays covering the table surfaces lit up. Within a couple of seconds, footage of various Mewlanie streams began to play on all of them, the volume entirely too loud and coming from too many sources at once. The result was an overwhelming cacophony of identical voices and sound effects. "Damn ..." Kirara covered her ears.

The cafe's power was cut off a few seconds after the cyberattack began, leaving nothing but the artificial gravity still working.

"I'm looking for the weapon Eupraxia is hiding," an older 'male' voice came out of Melanie's phone, one of the only things illuminating the area now, "Prior methods are no longer effective, but I can see now that patience will be enough. Do not try to hinder my progress or track my location. As previously demonstrated, I'm willing to use lethal force if you interfere." As soon as the rogue AI was finished, Melanie's phone turned off.

"W ... what just ...?" Hitomi's thoughts were racing. The AI spoke to them directly again, but it left more questions than answers just like the last time. Their Carmen theory seemed to be on the rocks now, too. Even if you could think of Carmen as a 'weapon,' and Hitomi certainly could in some respects, Eupraxia wasn't 'hiding' her anywhere. Carmen was a crew member of the Sipa Lugal, a Babylonian ship commissioned by House Riaz. That didn't really add up for her.

Edited by Phoenix
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"Shut up and let me do somesing-- Kyah!" The sudden barrage of light and sound was far too much for her enhanced hearing, Melanie dropping her phone and covering her ears hard, scrunching up on the chair. It only lasted a few seconds, but she was quite panicked, panting hard, staring down at her phone as the voice spoke from it. "W-Weapon?" What did any of them have to do with this weapon? Melanie wasn't about to pick her phone up, hopping off the chair and quickly smashing it with her shoe, before collapsing back into trying to breathe. "I'll... Buy a new one..."

At least it had done something... Maybe pulled the suspicion off some of them, but it didn't exactly bring them anywhere useful, or answer any question. Just more... "A-Any, ideas?" She desperately looked around to everyone else, as she gently let go of her ears, still whimpering a bit. They were still ringing from that sudden barrage...

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Makala managed to snail his way under the table, across his stool, past his teammate's eyes locked on each seated. Only one arm was enough to grovel past, his other applied to the pangs of the lower spine.

The table talk barbed for any thread that could've trailed off the AI. Seemed this 'Carmen' had enough stitching to snag. He could've swore he heard Melanie squeaking back at someone. Mmmm, kitty in estrus.

Seeing the Triomphant crash, to lacing her exhaustion over team speak, he didn't anticipate this fragility from his idol. She still was so untouchable, above the stuffy con atmosphere which would glide off the aura of her trills, kitten lips, or cheerful performances. To have them all blast down from the smartglass got him to roll up with a blush. They're onto him.

Mak sighed. "No comprendo, where el happenings, famalam?"

He found himself around four inches away from & below Mewlanie. Smirking sheepishly as his hand lingers, he coiled himself upright to seat. He threw back his blue hood to release the pressing heat on his head, releasing black frizz & dandriff. He fidgeted at his bleach fringe over his left eye.

Edited by Sarki Soliloquy
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So that AI was still there? Karina didn't like the idea of being quarantined at all. If the AI was still hounding them, however... what were they to do? Best option was to relace all the devices and embedded systems with her... that'd be a significant amount of her money already. "What can be done about--"

Loud, so loud. Karina grit her teeth and covered her ears as the AI decided to send a very clear message it was around. The voice after all systems were turned off were another slap to the face. Creepy and sobering.

"Cool." Karina's response was sarcastic, picking her own device, placing it on the table and turning it off. "Guess we're getting rid of all our things until we find some way to deal with this spyware monster?" How dreadful, "Guess no more Mew stream for a bit either..." With a passing glance at the streamer, Karina sighed.

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“Wait, that’s not a go-“ Aska didn’t have enough time to finish his warning before he was drowned out by the onslaught of noise that washed over him.  He quickly covered his ears while the AI, who had surprisingly taken the bait, threatened everyone present from Mewlanie’s phone before disappearing.

Aska groaned as he adjusted to the silence; hesitating a moment before turning off his phone.  Nicholas was definitely not going to hear from him while that AI was still around.  “Any clue on what that show-wrecker was on about?”

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Linus almost laughed when Sage chimed in on CupidPlus, but managed to contain it, only a small bit of exhalation escaping through his nose. Somehow getting commiseration from a fellow like Sage didn't make him feel any better. Maybe not justified, he'd barely met the guy, could be an alright chap, but for now Linus felt a little like an 8 getting told by a 4 'yeah, it's tough out there buddy'. Could be worse, he could be getting pitied by that one guy instead, where'd he end up anyway?

...It was probably better for both of them that Linus didn't notice Makala crawling around on the floor, to be honest. And the flabbergasting effect brought about by what he had thought was just going to be a pointless tantrum of catgirl whining made sure to keep it that way. The rogue AI actually... responded. Unbelievable.

"Eupraxia's weapon?" Linus murmured, unsure how to parse this with the previous thread of likely targets. Putting aside whether she was a weapon or not, and despite the Babylonian's bullshit point of view on the matter, Carmen was a person, not property. If someone else was making that kind of claim about her, they were getting added to Linus's list of enemies, class A military software or not. But even if you granted that backward way of thinking, Eupraxia's...? He couldn't help but feel there'd been some major mistake somewhere. "That doesn't... how?"

He shook his head and tried to gather his thoughts. At this point they weren't doing any of the tryouts any favors by keeping them here any longer, they weren't involved in whatever this was, not yet anyway. And maybe Kirara and company could clean up this whole business quick and Team Odyssey would be able to move forward, smooth sailing?

Linus moved closer to Hitomi, leaned near her ear and whispered the two choices as he saw them. "We either send them all home to keep them from getting further mixed up in this, keep them safe. Or. We take everyone here into the Odyssey together. Everyone who made it this far, came back here, has the spirit. We can work on their skills later if need be. Whaddaya say?"

And it was true, even overbearing Motherloader had mellowed out enough that it wasn't a sure thing he'd be an active detriment, trying to wrest control of the team. And if the team issue was sorted out, that would be a load off everyone mentally for sure. Whether they stuck around after that, or headed back out to BatCon or to home, and left fewer chefs in the kitchen trying to consider a Carmen meet up, well either way it would be a step in the right direction, no?

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Makala sighed, rising as he ran his fingers through his scalp. "El vejo, who you have that give pinche over las promo A and not Euprax? All you got's do, prod vulnerabilities and seize la chromo boto by cajoles!"

He twisted his hand, clutching at air with a squeeze for emphasis - in case Linus wasn't keen on how serious he was.

"Que, who es say Euprax wards not already do this? Dun you think es personal army for Odyssey just for tryouts. Profiling with military AI no squeak in my wheelhouse, well, not unless you have price. Any hole, can we go to hotel back, mi hombre?"

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Hitomi was shocked--though not all that shocked--to see Mewlanie crush her phone once the AI was finished threatening them with it. It wasn't long before the lights came back on and the cafe returned to normal. Round 2 was over, and Hitomi wasn't sure if the AI had won, or if victory instead went to whoever was messing with the power systems. She supposed Kirara's ward friends were responsible ... and she'd probably elaborate on that eventually.

Since Linus had taken the opportunity to ask for her input on the tryout situation, she gave the cafe a quick scan and said, "I want to keep them but what do we do about that AI ...? It's breaking into every system like it's nothing." A second glance at Kirara confirmed that she was back in a mostly private conversation with someone. No phone in hand, she seemed to be using something like an earpiece. There was no telling with her hair in the way, though. There was also no telling what Makala was on about, at least not for her. She could only pick out a select few parts.

"Sheesh, what'd you smash your phone for?" Sage winced at Mewlanie, "If he hacked the last one, he can probably get into the next one, too."

"I should probably get mine cleaned out now that you mention it," Motherloader chimed in without looking up from his text conversation.

"Please, it's way too late to get rid of all those nudes," Sage teased.

Matsuo was considering the situation like several others. "Eupraxia's weapon ... no, that doesn't make a lot of sense, really. The Eupraxia AI has executive powers but aside from station infrastructure, she doesn't have any teeth. Armed security is handled by third parties like J-Sec. And what good would a weapon do Eupraxia anyway? The station has plenty of malcontents, but no one worth killing ..." Though he made an attempt, Matsuo couldn't properly address that question. Eupraxia was known for being a sovereign with no army. The Jovian League relied heavily on automation, not nearly as much as the Alliance, but quite a bit. Even so, Sobol wasn't ready to hand over any significant firepower to an AI just yet, not with millions of potential hostages neatly wrapped up in a bow, should Eupraxia herself go rogue. Whatever the current rogue AI was looking for, it might not fit the profile of a conventional weapon. "Maybe it's time to start thinking politically. 'Weapon' is a fairly broad term, all things considered. Maybe it's a data cache with compromising info on some politicians. Maybe there's a woman keeping it on her person. That could work, but we don't have enough to go off of."

Kirara sighed and glanced over at a blank monitor above the cafe's main counter, clearly in anticipation of something. About two seconds later, the display lit up with the face of a blonde blue-eyed woman. The background behind her was aggressively cybernetic, with line lights racing up behind her in various, but very angular patterns that often had them running in parallel. The woman herself was taking up a good portion of the center of the display, her head fully framed and the bottom of the display only cutting off the center of her chest. Her outfit was minimalist in that it bore the appearance of a military bodysuit, a pilot's model to be precise.

"May I have your attention, please?" Despite the cordial greeting, there was an unmistakable air of smugness to this woman, and the faint smile on her face was just condescending enough to make Hitomi a little uneasy. Otherwise, she had a sweet, somewhat soothing voice. "I am one of Eupraxia's wards. For the time being, you can just call me Alexis. We've reached a decision about your group and how to proceed. I'd like to go over that ... and then I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. To start with, you don't need to worry about being quarantined."

At least there was some good news ...

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What a huge mess. "Because 'e cannot 'ack eet right now," she bit out at Sage, sighing, and glancing down at Makala. Flinching away from him and getting out of her seat, she paced for a moment and ended up standing next to Karina, sighing. "Oui, for a little bit... Sorry, Karina." What do to now, then? Hitomi and Linus were whispering about something, and the AI hadn't come back. Someone new decided to show up on the screen... With some promising information. No quarantine, bless this new lady, smug as she looked. "Fantastique," she scowled up at the screen, tail swishing. "Now, you are going to tell us when we can leave, oui?"

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"I don't know if that's-" Monika attempted to interject, but her voice had been too soft to make much of an impact, the rogue AI quickly responding to Melanie's callout on her own phone, prompting the streamer to stomp the little device into pieces. Oh dead...

"-a good idea..." The redhead finished, though there was little point in finishing that thought now. Some discussion went back and forth over who or what 'Eupraxia's weapon' could be, but no one seemed to have any real leads on the matter... it wasn't like she knew anything either. About to try to comfort Melanie, who had curled up a bit at the light show, she was once again a bit slow on the uptake, as the other woman stood up and walked over to Karina, prompted by... Makala? What was he doing down there? At least the arrival of this Alexis figure was a turn for the better... hopefully...

"So, err... what... what's happening here? Rogue Class A AI, Eupraxia's weapon, all of this... what does that have to do with any of us? Muuh... why did I leave my apartment today...?" Monika asked, burying her head in her hands. What an absolute mess...

 

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"You... you're fine, Mewlanie. We learned something after all." Being so direct to a program holding your devices hostage wasn't a nice idea, but it allowed the extent to which it could snoop on them to be shown. "I can wait a bit longer. Just... we gotta stay safe for now, me and you." Karina couldn't rightfully say if any of this talking was helping them get a better read of the situation at all, however.

Matsuo's insight was interesting enough that Karina was giving it stock, at least. If Eupraxia, or someone tangentially related, had some sort of political leverage they could use from a friend of the team, it... just felt more realistic a possibility, to her. So what are they supposed to do about it? Karina, as uninvolved as she was, did hold some curiosity.

Before pondering too long and taking a thinking stance, the sudden message from the blonde woman --Alexis, she presented herself-- graced the café's main display and was the bringer of some... good news? Seemingly good, but Karina already smelled a catch. "And what's this decision? What are you guys going to do about us?" She'd like to get that out of the way first, leaning against the table with a hint of a frown forming in her face.

Karina didn't like the sound of this development much.

Edited by Xinnidy
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Alexis, init? Euprax's onto it, onto us? C'mooon, its not like I spoofed my BattleTag or anything.

Just after the Class A made themselves known to their corner of the entire showfloor, it was somewhat relieving to know that the officials had caught wind of the intrusions. Makala could only hope they were able to clean up any tracks left by the rogue. Even if they quarantined the network, then its no better who the gaoler is.

"Uuhh- R-Really, did, really, YOU went AFK after all, MonkaS? To the demostrar when's system get the penetrars? Euprax network muy grandé, so wards need to automate its watchings, no? You think, si much credits up top, securitas no bueno por que? Network's almost haxor proof, no gusta admin get pwn cuz key set spell name of pet. So rogue AI must be sophisticate to tab system almost full scale & pequeno vulns exploit. Class A mean AI's source real advance core, so damage matrix, then poof! Pero que, whoever do this such high authoritas, they would have access to the architecture."

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Aska nodded along to Matsuo’s deduction.  Eupraxia was powerful, but not powerful enough to really cause the Empire any headaches.  If that AI was using “weapon” as a broad classification instead of the traditional meaning, then that could mean it had access to some political leverage or something else entirely that they were keeping under wraps.  If Otto were here, he would have preferred it to be a weapon just so he could dissect it.  An amused smile briefly crept along Aska’s face as he imagined his older brother’s excitement at such a project before the nearby monitor lit up.  The woman who appeared on screen announced that they wouldn’t be quarantined.  However, a nagging feeling told him that they weren’t entirely out of the woods just yet..

“A decision?  What are you planning to do with us?” Aska asked as he rose from his seat, his gaze never leaving the monitor.  After a small pause, he decided to prematurely ask the big question on his mind.  “I don’t suppose your plan has to do with our angry show-wrecker friend, does it?”

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"It does. Our opponent has decided to back off and let you lead them to the target," Alexis continued after the first wave of questions, "If we quarantine you that would address the bigger security threat, temporarily. Unfortunately, it will give the rogue AI every excuse to go to ground. Eupraxia wants them captured, studied, and then disposed of. To that end, we've decided to let you focus on your Frame Ops business for now."

"You're using them as bait?" Matsuo asked, eyes squinting as he tried to figure out just how uncomfortable he really was with the idea.

Alexis nodded through the display. "Basically. That's the easiest way to handle this. We're operating independently this time, so that means no J-Sec and no Scipio." In other words, no security drones or other options involving the use of direct physical violence. "The fact of the matter is that Scipio is supporting that rogue AI somehow. We've concluded that one of two scenarios is most likely. The first scenario is long-range assistance. It managed to find multiple paths into the station's network from a remote location, in which case Scipio would have had to let their guard down; they were set up to repel cyber-attacks from the Alliance's best, so one A class rogue should not have gotten through, especially not multiple times.

"The second scenario is smuggling. The core matrix was smuggled through customs directly onto the station. You couldn't sneak a handgun onto Eupraxia without at least an approving nod from Scipio, much less an unregistered core matrix. Since the rogue AI is interested in you, we're going to keep our eyes on you and everything happening in your vicinity. The next time they try something, we'll be ready. I'll spare you and our roguish counterpart the details for the moment."

So the rogue AI was still tuning in, apparently, albeit quietly. As for Alexis' plan, it sounded about as hands off as you could get, and fairly in character for Eupraxia wards. That didn't make Hitomi any more comfortable with the idea of just carrying on like nothing had happened. They were going to meet Carmen eventually and the last thing she wanted was to put her in danger, too.

"Also, feel free to investigate the situation yourselves if you find the time," Alexis smiled widely, "Your snooping around might help us expand our target's profile. I doubt your former teammate Carmen knows anything, but if you meet with her in the docks or anywhere under Scipio's umbrella, that should provide us some clues about their involvement. Otherwise, trying to save your team from disbanding is a great plan. By all means, recruit new members, upgrade your frames, challenge reputable teams, make some noise and get noticed."

"Girl's usin' us and not even trying to be subtle about it," Motherloader groaned as he sent another text off.

"You should be grateful, all things considered," Kirara glared at him.

"I'm grateful," Hitomi chimed in, "just ... worried.

"Likewise," Matsuo nodded, "but I can't ask you to reveal your exact plan for dealing with the rogue AI if there's a chance it's still listening in on us."

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One of the recruits started speaking in broken... what kind of language was that anyway? And was he threatening him? That hand gesture looked kind of like it, but... Glaring back at him, Linus just flatly replied, "If you think I planned for this, you're dead wrong. Look, I get you're upset, and you have every right to be. So, just. I'll let you cool off and pretend you never said that."

At least Hitomi actually was on the same page as him, which was a reassurance. If somehow this rogue AI downgraded from 'potentially going to hospitalize anyone who gets in its way', there'd be no reason not to bring everyone on board. It had said it was going to practice patience, but who knew if that could be trusted, or what it would deem as 'interference' or attempting to 'track it down'. Her father started trying to big box things, and go beyond the literal word choice, which might be worthwhile. Or not. Who could tell.

'Alexis' showing up on a monitor unannounced, was unexpected. Linus had been too busy with other things to have been staring at Kirara and notice her odd anticipation, so he just chalked up this new appearance as yet another in an ever expanding set of fallouts caused by the rogue AI. At this point, resignation was starting to settle in pretty heavily.

"I'm glad someone has a plan forward," he sighed, ignoring the veiled threat of quarantine. The ward was not someone on a level he could afford to antagonize, even minorly, unlike Makala. Everyone else was scrambling with interest to hear the news, so saying anything more would just slow things down.

And he'd made the right choice, quickly enough, the new woman began to explain. The 'safest' way of dealing with the threat wouldn't be likely to get them what they wanted, so Eupraxia was content to just ignore them, and let them go about their business, up and until they bumped into whatever it was the AI was searching for and it began to make its moves again. Live bait, basically. That led Linus to make a slightly uncomfortable swallow, but since he couldn't think of anything better, continuing to go about daily life as normal was... well, a consolation at least?

He frowned when Alexis indicated that it was assumed that Scipio was in on this. At best, turning a blind eye to things, at worst actively collaborating with the parties behind the AI. Linus couldn't help but wonder how Felix played into this now. The web was only getting more and more tangled. He didn't want to suspect the man, certainly not solely on the word of some woman he didn't know anything about. But the old Silver Bullet had just been helping them get these tryouts set-up, and then...

No, even if he was a consultant for Scipio, he cared about Hitomi too much to have endangered her like this. Linus couldn't believe any other way. It wasn't even worth mentioning.

"I guess that's the long and short of it then," he concluded, amidst the murmur of reactions already under way. "'Carry on', huh, well who am I to argue with that." A slight twist of a grin, and he shook his head.

"Well, I guess I'll put the matter to each of you individually," he addressed the tryouts. "You've heard the risks, you know just as much as we do. You've made it this far, and if you still want in: we want you. It's been a bit of a traumatic day, so I won't blame anyone who wants to split now. Just, give the word: yes or no, and we'll see about the formalities and everything another time, then get in on practices and all that after."

There wasn't anything more he could do to alleviate Hitomi's worries, but as long as nobody was any more in the dark than anyone else. If they wanted to make their own informed decision... he didn't have any problems going ahead and making that happen. The alternative was disbanding Odyssey entirely, and while he might've leaned that way earlier, there was more than enough spark of life in it now to try to keep it going at least a little longer.

Edited by Balcerzak
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That... boy sitting awkwardly was speaking effectively gibberish, Karina stopped trying to cipher it after a moment of his rants. "You'd me more intelligible if you just stuck to one of english, spanish, or stale memes." He seemed like the sort who unabashedly visited those anonymous imageboards where one could say whatever garbage they wanted to and got yelled back... in the Year of Space Jesus 2405, what a mess.

But that was neither here nor there. Alexis continue to speak about the incident and the AI looming around them... that was the worst. So they were going to be blatantly snooped on from two ends... not that Eupraxia didn't have exceedingly too much info on everybody there. Ah well. It was time to think things through harder.

It did make Karina ponder her eldest brother's situation. As he was in service, her interactions with him would probably be the center of a lot of attention... though she didn't know how involved he'd be with a military secret like that weapon --That is, if it were a military secret, instead of politic, there was that too...

"So... just try to live life until this thing is caught..." Unfortunate... but at least they could identify the parasite in their life. They said the best ones were those that ensured the host didn't know of their existence, so shame on Class-A Rogue AI for trying to bruteforce it. "Yeah, I guess we can do that..."

Now... that guy, Linus, was still offering to take them in. All of them? Karina had performed horribly, but... "I'm in. If you're going to be that nice, I'm not gonna let this chance slip!" She leaned against the table, arms crossed. There was still some pride in her, even if it hurt.

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"I'll stick around," Serval Sage chimed in at Linus' offer, "I didn't go to the arcade tryouts just to wind up back at square one."

"Heh, you have to ask?" Motherloader spoke up ... though he didn't even look up from his back and forth with Elle Gigantess.

That was three definitely confirmed so far, enough to help change Hitomi's focus just a little bit. They needed at least five active members to make this work, though ten was ideal, and that was the exact number of players present, excluding Kirara. There were some questionable players among them, but nothing that looked untenable. Making sure Motherloader knew Linus was in charge and getting Doctor_Flambre's English to Gibberish ratio fixed ought to be enough. Maybe.

"How about you, Kirara?" Matsuo grinned at the Frame Ops celebrity, "Interested in joining Team Odyssey? It's got to be boring playing freelancer all the time."

Hitomi managed an almost inaudible, "Dad!" in embarrassment. Did he actually think she would go for something like that?

"Thanks but no thanks," Kirara shook her head, "Having obligations to a team would only complicate things. I have much bigger responsibilities than just promoting Frame Ops."

"How thoughtful," Alexis smiled.

'Odyssey's still recruiting,' Motherloader quietly typed, 'You want in, G-Babe? I can definitely make it happen.'

"That reminds me," Hitomi glanced over to Melanie, "I don't mean to bring it up this way but ... you mentioned buying a ship for us before the tryouts. Will you still be able to do that?"

"It's definitely more expensive than a new phone," Sage snickered.

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So... Scipio was aiding their terrifying digital friend, and now, this Alexis was going to use them as continuous bait, just in case something else came of their interactions. Despite what 'appened to ze ozzer guy? You still want to use us as bait? It was incredibly dangerous, but Melanie didn't want to give this team up. Despite Makala being one of her stream creepers, and Motherloader being... Insufferable... Keizerin was here! That was amazing for her publicity, and she had a good friend in Karina. Hitomi seemed nice too, and Linus wasn't bad on the eyes, nor did he seem like a bad leader alongside the bronze bullet.

"I'll stay," she joined in with the rest of those offering their allegiances. "And, oui, 'itomi. Eef you are to 'ave me een votre team, zen I will pay for a ship. An entire package, eef you wish. I 'ave plenty of savings, and revenue..." She did give one more glance towards Kirara, rolling her eyes again.

"Team Odyssey only needs one idol, anyway."

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Oh right, the team... in the mix of everything, it had kind of slipped her mind. Monika had kind of been along for the ride as it was, when it came to team Odyssey... but then again, her chance of quiet anonymity was already shot, thanks to the Melanie's antics and the mega-sim... how bad could continuing on with this really be?

"As long as... well, stuff like this isn't expected to be a common team activity... then sure." She committed after a moment... what kind of ride would this end up being? At this point it was hard to tell...

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