Bobby pulls into the motel lot, neon from the Wolf District bleeding across wet asphalt. King’s hypercar settles into a shadowed corner, and Jax keeps looking back over his shoulder as they cross inside.
The room is cramped, all humming lamp light and old carpet, but Bobby clears the desk fast. Laptop open, tools spread, cables snaking out like a tiny pit crew.
Jax
This is better than the diner. Less eyes on us.
King
And fewer chances to get recognized. Good call.
Bobby
The desk barely fits everything.
Jax slides a flash drive across the wood. King leans in beside Bobby, watching the screen as folders and code windows bloom open.
King
Show me the defensive layer first. Then the offensive package.
Jax
If Bobby can tighten both, the next run gets a lot safer.
Outside, a car passes too slowly in the lot, then fades away. Inside, Bobby’s laptop fan rises as the first program compiles, and King waits for the result with bright, focused stillness.
+ Story Quest Added
Tighten the laptop's defensive layer
+ Story Quest Added
Build the offensive package
“"This is the first layer of defense," Bobby says pulling up a schematic of the Anti-DDoS program. "It was meant to prevent suspicious traffic from brute force rival programmers. It uses IP anomalies, unreasonable traffic patterns, etc to temporarily block suspicious access attempts before checking a subset for red flags." He chuckles, "amusingly it ended up detecting police takedown attempts as well, so that's a bonus. They still haven't figured out that step. But it's blocked enough of them that I can identify the unique characteristics and write a more specialized program for the police."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Computers, rolled +1)
Bobby brings up the anti DDoS schematic, and the room’s glow shifts to layered windows and scrolling logs.
Bobby
This is the first layer of defense.
Bobby
It blocks suspicious traffic, brute force patterns, and weird spikes before they get far.
Bobby
It even flags police takedown attempts. That helps.
His fingers move fast. Filters tighten, anomaly thresholds sharpen, and the laptop fan settles into a steadier hum as the code locks in cleanly.
A hidden trace report pops up, naming three repeat intrusion signatures and one fresh pattern tied to police network tools.
King leans closer, ears angled toward the screen. Jax watches Bobby, then the hall, then back again, grinning despite himself.
King
That is exactly what we needed. Show me the police pattern next.
Quest Complete
Tighten the laptop's defensive layer