The hypercar glides into the Business district garage and climbs to a higher level, the city opening around it in glass and steel. White lights hum overhead, and the polished hood throws back the glow of nearby towers.
Bobby sets his laptop on the hood beside the racing gear, the new setup cleaner and colder than the motel ever was. Below, traffic threads between office buildings like sparks in a grid.
King
This is better. Less noise, better cover.
Jax
And fewer eyes from the wrong neighborhoods. That helps us.
The laptop wakes up, its screen washing Bobby’s hands in pale blue light. A fresh trace log pops open, and the city’s police signatures line up in neat, ugly rows.
King
Show me the offensive package. If someone is watching, I want to know how to hit back.
“"That's the beauty of it: we hit them first already and use that to strengthen our website defenses. Jax did the hard part, he got us the access codes to a part of their network and I planted some spyware. I just need to check the data to see how other parts of the network interact and we will know whatever we want or need to know about the PD. Then we upgrade the spyware to read that data remotely, connect the spyware remotely to the website defenses again, and we can trick shutdown attempts with false positives every time." He opens up his laptop and explains. "Existing worms are crude and, frankly, malicious. They hit whatever they want." Bobby's glances between one window and another, reading the data and using it to differentiate how and when his worm will jump police programs while protecting personal computers that might be connecting legitimately. "There we go, aand... sent."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Computers, rolled +3)
Bobby clicks through the trace log, the police signatures splitting into routes, routines, and timing gaps. The laptop hums softly as his fingers move faster, cleaner.
A few windows overlap, then separate. He maps how the spyware would jump police programs while leaving ordinary connections alone.
Bobby
There it is. The difference between a patrol tool and a real system.
The code settles into place. Bobby patches the remote link, folds the false positive trigger into the defense layer, and sends it.
A new report pops up, crisp and useful. The offensive package is built, and it carries one extra gift, a clean map of which police processes talk to which.
King
That is elegant. If they poke it, they should see ghosts instead of a shutdown.
Jax
Good. Now if the cops come sniffing, the site bites back.
King straightens, studying the screen like it just answered a hard question. Jax leans closer to the railing, listening to the garage below.
Quest Complete
Build the offensive package
New Gift: Network Security Specialist