ic [IC] Freedom of Information

[Blarghy]

"...Um, no.  I mean, yes.  That's a good plan.  To go somewhere so we can...plan."

 

Leviathan was deeply unnerved by Ph0enix's little party trick, and more than a little glad that it happened to Bonfire instead of him.  Just what did she know?  Solemn also mentioned having detailed information about Bonfire; did he share it with his underlings before their gang split apart?  In any case, Leviathan had a hard time understanding his partner's apparent calmness.  He almost envied it, or at least, a scenario where he could also afford to relax about threats to his secrecy.

 

It's ok.  Ph0enix and Solemn don't know anything special about me.  They can't; they just can't.  I just have to keep being careful, and it'll all be fine.  ...But if it's not...what can I do about it?

 

"We haven't had the best luck with doing business in public places," Leviathan pointed out, "so where do you want to go?  We can use my place, if you want.  It's not exactly right around the corner, but at least it's private and secure."  His underwater lair would also give access to some excellent computers, which he would appreciate if he went snooping around the dark net for these hackers. 

[olopi]

PC

 

Truth be told, it was unsettling. At this point, it really wasn’t a secret identity anymore. AEGIS, Solemn, her, and a bunch of his colleagues all knew who Bonfire really was. It wasn’t an enormous issue, sure. He didn’t rely on something not part of his body when it came to powers, and he wasn’t home that often anyways. And so far, nobody seemed like the kind of people that would kidnap family.

 

So it really wasn’t that big of a deal, right? He had more important things to worry about. Like everything that was currently happening.

 

“Sounds like a plan. Time’s on our side, whatever happens, it won’t happen until tomorrow or Saturday. I doubt a nightclub, even one for basement dwellers, is open during the week. Plus, if nothing else, I can spend the time birdwatching.”

 

He laughed for a bit, then calmed himself back down and looked back at Leviathan. “Okay, you lead the way!”

[Blarghy]

Even though they were already near the water, this wasn't the best location to raise a living alien submarine from the depths, so some more privacy was in order.  Once the heroes moved a little out of the city proper, Leviathan transformed, summoned his ride, and ferried both of them down to his hidden base.  He started to wonder if Ph0enix might be able to track Bonfire by his phone, but it seemed unlikely unless she had physical access to it for a while.  Otherwise, she'd need good connections with his service provider, or government moles, and if either was true, they'd have bigger problems. 

 

Leviathan tried to think of other things, and when they arrived at his home and climbed out of the sub into the docking bay, he asked, "Do you birdwatch?  As part of your photography?"

[olopi]

PC

 

Bonfire followed without saying too much, and before the sub even arrived, he decided to take out both his phones’ batteries. Nothing would be that urgent. And he was well aware that Leviathan cared about security a fair amount.

 

Travelling in the submarine was still uncomfortable. All this water, only some metal separating the two. It was so easy for something to go wrong. It was less bad in the base proper. It felt more secure, there was proper armor and all. But the way down, it wasn’t something Cass really needed to be part of.

 

He got out of the sub, partially climbing out, partially flying. “Used to. Lots of opportunity back home, had a small patch of forest that we didn’t really use much. Freedom City … not so much. There’s only so much you can see when it comes to pigeons. “

 

“So, let’s figure out what this is all about, then? First stop’s probably the darknet again? Can you access that from down here?”

[Blarghy]

"I would assume so," Leviathan confirmed.  "I was able to get in last time, and now I've got a little experience and a much better computer.  This'll actually be the first time I've used it for 'work,' so I'm excited.  It should be a lot safer this time around, too; I'd like to see a bunch of hackers get at us down here, even if they do somehow track us to our location."  After an uncomfortable pause, he frowned and added, "...Maybe I shouldn't have tempted fate like that."

 

In any case, he went to the central elevator and led Bonfire back to the bridge, where the ceiling of flowers had changed since his last visit.  Food was still available on their way up the spiral ramp to Leviathan's personal mainframe.  He sat in his gigantic ivory throne, popped a piece of his favorite fruit past his teeth, and started tapping keys.

 

"So," he said as he worked, "We should probably assume they'll notice us, like Ph0enix did, and have a plan for what we'll do.  My suggestion is that we pose as clients.  We can promise to pay a lot of money for a job, and demand that they meet us at that nightclub to talk face-to-face.  If I am able to snoop around without getting caught, then we can still use the same scheme, unless you have a better one.  I can get us the cash, change my face, and then infiltrate the club.  However, I think it's fair to say by this point that you're a lot better at social situations than I am, so you should probably do most of the talking.  We could convince them to let down their guard, get them out of the club to somewhere private, or even just give them a deposit on our payment and follow them, and when we're sure we've got their whole crew in one place, jump them.  We beat Solemn, so regular hackers should be easy.

 

"...I need to stop saying things like that."

[olopi]

PC

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

 

He sat down on one of the chairs, feeling like some sort of spaceship crew. Which, he reminded himself, was the intention. He looked up at the throne overlooking it all.

 

 

“Gonna poke a few holes into it, so we don’t end up getting stuck on something. I’m sure there’ll be something we miss anyways, but the less the better. If we  … you, sorry …manage to hack into their thing in the first place, that means we’ll be on probably about equal level on skill appearance wise. So why’d we hire them? Some kind of big job that needs a lot of manpower? A decoy operation?“

 

 

“Also, c’mon, if we can’t tempt fate a bit, then what do we do? “

 

 

[olopi]

GM

 

Accessing the darknet itself was no issue. But from that point forward, it was a bit of a slog. As it always was. And these hackers hid well. After the first hour of searching, there still wasn’t anything to go off of. Bonfire still seemed pretty relaxed, he’d come up to also look at the monitor, but occasionally wandered off to grab some more fruit for both himself and his ally.

 

 

After two hours, there were a first few hints of something. A track, however small, that could be chased. A track that was full of all kinds of obstacles. Some just because of how everything worked, some clearly manmade. And at least two false pages that included massive “cyberbombs” that would’ve done a lot of harm, if not for both the computer’s software, and Leviathan’s skilled reactions.  

 

 

But after about three hours, he’d finally gotten something substantial. The track was long and led across all sorts of things, some just strange, some prime darknet material. Including a black market for all sorts of high-tech weaponry and equipment. But then, finally, something opened.

 

 

The page was as simple as it got. Just a default command prompt, with nothing else. But this was, almost definitely it.

[Blarghy]

"Huh, I didn't think of that.  You're right.  I like the decoy idea; that way we don't actually have to explain what we're planning to do.  We can just say that we'll give them a target to hit when the time is right, and they're supposed to keep that person or corporation busy while we do our work.  It'd probably be in-character for us to be vague, right?  They're not going to trust us, so it makes sense for us to treat them with suspicion too."

 

Leviathan noted the black market for later investigation; that seemed like something he might want to follow up on.  For now, he stared at the minimalist page in front of him, thought for a minute, and typed again.  It was probably too much to hope that these hackers left detailed profiles just waiting for him to plunder, but hopefully this was their primary mode of communication when they weren't face to face; he'd gladly look through their notes to one another and see what he could learn.  Or, maybe data on past and upcoming jobs; that would tell him what sorts of things they specialized in.  And, by association, what Ph0enix did.  Such information could come in handy later on. 

 

Of course, even just some clues on who, exactly, they were dealing with would be very helpful.  Some names, tidbits of personal information, and so on.

[olopi]

GM

 

There was no real information on the page. At least, not on the surface. But it never was, after all. The page itself only offered one thing, and that was a command prompt. When looking at the layers underneath, it became clear that whoever had put it all together had expected hackers. Even with all the previous security, this was still a level higher.

 

And even with the cutting edge technology Leviathan had, it would take quite a while longer to get through. And that was not including the chance of being spotted and actively opposed, which was a lot more likely on the actual page itself than on the trail.

 

There probably was a way around it, but it was not immediately obvious. Still, Leviathan began chipping away at the mountain of security. All it took was one slight weakness and it would all crumble.

 

“We could just drop off a “contact me”, probably. Might work? Or break some of the code and hide it in there. That’d show we’re serious, right? Even if we’d lose out on some intel, I suppose”

[Blarghy]

Plainly disappointed, Leviathan nonetheless had to agree.  The risks were too great.  Solemn's old dark net niche was less defended than this, and Ph0enix still caught him.  These hackers, a full crew instead of one lone remnant, looked to be better skilled.  The longer he stayed and the more he intruded, the more likely he was to spoil any chance they had at a mostly-peaceful meeting.

 

"Just a note, I think.  They'll probably be on guard as it is; we can save the intimidation for when the punching starts."

 

He planned his response carefully, opened a new window to check his jargon and find a picture he thought might be a nice touch, and set about leaving the message. 

 

Hi mAZ.  Cool place you got; wish we could look around, but don't want to be mean.  Rather be friends!  Friends help friends. 

 

Here, Leviathan embedded a GIF of a dancing pixelated man in a black hat. 

 

But nothing's free, so friends pay friends too!  Have some fun work coming up, but could use some help, so maybe meet at Club Mayhem Saturday night?  Easiest 1M you'll ever make!

 

Leviathan paused, pressed the backspace key (marked with a garbled, alien symbol, but still in the same position as an Earthly keyboard) and entered 500K, then 10M, then deleted that too.  Frowning slightly, he turned to Bonfire and asked, "Hey, what should we offer them?  Is one million too much?  Too little?  I don't know what people pay for these kinds of things.  I've never hired a hacker before."

 

Of course, based on the amount of money he had already paid Bonfire for his blog work, the fiery hero might get the impression that Leviathan just didn't have a normal person's relationship with currency. 

[olopi]

PC

 

Truth be told, Bonfire was a lot less surprised than most people would’ve been when it became clear that Leviathan wasn’t sure. He had some idea of his monetary status, and it explained why he’d kept all of the … whatever he used to create the base in the first place, for himself. He didn’t need it.

 

What did he do? He didn’t know. How much money exactly, or where it came from, that was a mystery. But it didn’t really matter. Cass didn’t really know either.

 

“No clue, honestly. I’ve got one guy to go off, he’s my goto for these kinds of things. Not sure on his rates though, but as far as I know they’d usually be in the upper seven decimals for short, risky things. “

 

“But no clue. One million sounds good? It’s a large group and we’re clearly doing something big. And it should still be reasonable that it’s not obvious it’s bait. “

 

They didn’t have to wait long for the response. The command prompt was still open, when, shortly after Leviathan had submitted the text, it changed, to show a large green tick in ASCII art. It was all that changed on the uppermost layer, but when Leviathan dove back into the files, he could see that all his changes had been removed.

 

“Five stars for the response time, gotta say. “

 

“So that’s the first step taken care of, I assume. Now … uh. Do we actually know what and where this Club Mayhem is? “

[Blarghy]

"Not a clue," Leviathan admitted, "but it's got to be easier to research than these guys are.  I'll look through the darknet and the regular web and see what we can find on both.  Maybe we'll even get lucky and find some information on mAZ while we're at it, just in passing."

 

He carefully backed out of the hacker site without exiting the darknet entirely, cleared most of his Internet history--cookies in particular--to further avoid leaving a trail, and continued to snoop around.  While Leviathan planned each cautious move, he opened a new browser to perform a more orthodox search.  The darknet and its mundane counterpart would probably reveal very different sides of Club Mayhem, and combined, they might give the heroes a full view of what they were stepping into.

[olopi]

GM

 

There was no such thing as Club Mayhem anywhere on the internet. There was one club in FC carrying said name, but it had closed in late 2010, so it clearly wasn’t what they were looking for. The building it had been in had been scrapped and replaced with an office building. There wasn’t much mention of it anywhere either.

 

The darknet, on the other hand, revealed some things. It took a lot longer to find anything, and even then, it usually was through a variety of workarounds. The thing ones was looking for was never easy to find. Unless it was weapons, or drugs.

 

Club Mayhem was not a location, as much as it was a concept. It moved around, various places, only ever revealed through a variety of back channels, only hours before the actual events. Every Friday. It seemed to be the place for all sorts of illegal events. More than a few of the hits Leviathan had originally gotten for club Mayhem were related to black market sites, who passed the goods there.

 

“I’m starting get the feeling they take this all very serious. Any idea how we’ll get inside?”

[Blarghy]

The club's secrecy should've worried Leviathan, but instead he found it all rather thrilling.  This was like being a spy--no, like being a Cowl, just as he always wanted.  As he typed through his research, his thin reptilian lips started to smile more and more, and his fingers jittered with excitement.  Previous, still-valid concerns slid to the back of his mind, like they often did when he got caught up in the sense of being a real hero lifted from the stories he followed as a child.  And if his past performance was any indicator, this renewed confidence might not lead to the best decisions. 

 

"I'm thinking it won't be that hard, actually," Leviathan boasted.  "I'm not seeing anything about a member's list, or passwords, or anything like that, so maybe just finding this place is enough to get through the front door.  I mean, not all criminals know one another, and they can't do business if they're too cautious of new faces.  We might have to bribe some bouncers, but that's no problem.  And secrecy goes both ways--we can be vague about who we are, because logically, we shouldn't trust these people any further than they trust us.  Now, if this was a long-term job, then we'd probably have trouble not getting forced to do anything really illegal to prove ourselves, but I think we can bluff our way through it for just one night."

[olopi]

PC

 

 

 

“Ah, money. What can’t it do. Sounds like a good plan, if it fails we can still try sneaking in. Between our combined skillsets that should be possible too, but depending on their security that’s gonna be more suspicious, I guess. “

 

 

It was true. Leviathan clearly had enough that getting in through a bribe was no issue if it was necessary. And he probably wouldn’t miss the money either. That certainly made things easier, that was true. Still, there were a few things that had to be dealt with before even thinking about that step.

 

 

“So how do we figure out the current location? Contact one of them? Hack in? Because the location sounds like the most secretive part…”

[Blarghy]

"I don't think anyone will just tell us, not without some thorough investigation that we can't stand up to.  I really hope there's not some actual member's list...  But aside from that potential problem, I think that more hacking is our best bet."  For heroes, these two seemed to do a lot of that.

 

As he continued typing through the darknet, Leviathan explained his idea: "So, whoever runs this club doesn't announce its newest venue until a few hours before, right?  Which means we're not going to find any solid information this early.  But, I think I can save us some time by going ahead and picking out some of these black market sites that use Club Mayhem, so that when the time comes, we can quickly get in and steal the location from someone else.  Not mAZ, I don't think; they'll be on guard now that we left that message, and anyway, they're a little too skilled.  I'd rather choose some sites that're less defended. 

 

"Or, it's possible that I'll get lucky and find some central site that posts the club's weekly location, if that's how it's done.  I'm not sure if such a place would have better security than these others, or worse.  Either way, I'll keep looking around and see what I can find.  We've thankfully got time to figure this out before we go in.  Speaking of which, maybe we should start planning out our cover story.  Any ideas on who, exactly, we should pretend to be?  I still hope that we can get by with being vague because distrust is just expected in the criminal underworld, but even so, we'll have to give these people something."

[olopi]

GM

 

“Makes sense. Picking out a few now so all you have to do later is finish it up’s probably a good idea. Might even be worth including some hidden backdoors already, but I’m not sure how that works in regards to being caught, just sounds like it would speed up the process.”

 

“As for who we are …. Well, how good is ton French accent? Or any other accent that might pass?”

 

There were more black-market sites that were linked to Club Mayhem than either of the heroes would’ve expected. There were some pages, at first glance unconnected. Each of them covered a very specific niche, and once you looked a bit closer, it became clear they probably all worked off the same base, and so probably were linked. But there also were a few others, smaller ones, also mentioning the Club. Yet, there was no central database that came up quickly.

 

And they sold just about everything. From drugs to guns, to more exotic things like stolen information, blueprints and formulas. One of them specialized on FC’s pharmaceutical sector.

 

[Blarghy]

At first, Leviathan didn't seem to hear Bonfire; he was watching the screen, one claw posed above his keyboard.  He almost clicked into the pharmaceutical site but managed to resist.

 

I'll be coming back for you another day.

 

When he did process his ally's suggestion, that too mildly worried the lizard.  He thought about his own (distant) heritage.  It's just a coincidence, Leviathan told himself.  He can't know.  ...Can he?

 

"Welllllll...I don't speak French, so that might be a problem."  He laughed, and oddly, it sounded a little nervous (yet truthful), though he moved on quickly.  "But I can change my voice pretty well.  An accent shouldn't be hard.  Just, again, we could get into some trouble if we meet someone who wants to talk in our 'native language.'  Can you speak French?"

 

In the hopes of covering up his earlier strangeness, Leviathan started picking out the weakest links of the sites he found.  He would assume that the more niche markets could have less security than big, bold enterprises like gun runners, but he based his choices on what he actually saw.  If there was a good opportunity to set up a backdoor too, then so much the better.

[olopi]

PC

 

Upon hearing that question, Bonfire spun around, facing away from Leviathan for a second, then turned back around. His face looked different, his hair was all black and instead of the soul-patch he now had a trimmed full-beard. And then, he spoke.

 

“Oui, oui. Ce n’est… [.. not entirely perfect, but unless they…]. So yeah, I can speak French, and aussi do le accent. “

 

 “Saying we’re European should be enough. If they wanna question things too much we can just keep it secret for our own sakes, we’re the ones looking for help in a foreign country, we have reasons to stay anonymous. Could have you be mute if you feel the foreign language angle is risky.”

 

Finding the weakest link was not a major issue. It took a few minutes, but after some time he came across a page selling hired muscle. You simply had to name the amount of manpower needed and a location, and make an in-person payment, and as many thugs as requested would show up to do whatever was necessary. And the page was constructed poorly. Setting up a backdoor wouldn’t even difficult. Which was a bit suspicious in by itself, but such were things around these parts…

[Blarghy]

Leviathan would have a few ideas about this webpage, but they'd only come in a moment, as for now, he stared open-mouthed at Bonfire.  "I...ok, maybe...Europeans sound good, and you're apparently qualified to pose as a Frenchman, but maybe I should just be British to make it simpler.  But more importantly, how are you doing that?  You're not a shapeshifter like me, right?  It's like that thing you did when we fought Solemn, when you made an illusion of yourself and then snuck up behind him.  Can you manipulate light as part of your fire talents?  Are you just a straight-up wizard?  How much can you do, and how?  What's the deal?"

[olopi]

PC

 

“Uuuuh.” It did actually seem to make him confused for just a bit. Then, he continued onwards. “Well, if you want a proper scientific description of what I do, that I don’t know. It sorta depends on which part you’re talking about. The Invisibility and this..” he snapped his fingers, and his shirt’s colours shifted towards a more muted black. “don’t really share a lot beyond the basics.”

 

“For all this ´this is not what you see´ stuff, what I do is, I take the smoke, and change its properties around. Sometimes it’s pretty simple, sometimes…” he held out his arm and raised a pillar of smoke from the ground. It grew, to about Leviathan’s size and width, and within seconds, the smoke took the form of the reptilian. It took a bit longer to gain colour, though. “…it’s a bit more complicated. The more detailed, the easier it is to spot mistakes. But I can still influence it at this point. “the smoke-leviathan took a step forward. The movements were mechanical and not particularly lifelike.

 

“That’s actually what I do with my clothes almost all the time. I’d lose too many shirts otherwise, they just fall to the ground once I smoke up.”

 

 

[Blarghy]

Man, I'd like to study this guy, Leviathan thought.  It made him feel guilty again for the last sample he took without Bonfire's permission or knowledge; he told himself that he really didn't need to make that a habit, but the other hero's abilities were just so intriguing. 

 

"We've got something in common there, then.  My transformation isn't good for my normal clothes, and even if I have the chance to take them off gently first, I still usually can't carry them around with me.  I've learned to make my own thanks to my lesser shapeshifting, using leaf or feather-like growths.  It won't pass a detailed inspection, but it beats walking around naked after a job.  Your methods sound very useful, though; I'm kind of jealous."

 

He turned back to the enormous, living computer.  "Anyway, to get back on track, I found this group that rents thugs, and their site looks like it's less secure than most.  I think I can worm my way in and steal Club Mayhem's location when we're ready.  Knowing a bit about these people might help us in other ways, too; they could be some of the most legitimately dangerous criminals in the building, and if things go wrong and we have to fight our way out, then they'll probably be in our way.  ...Actually, when I get the address, maybe I can change theirs a little.  If we're lucky, some or all of the group might show up to the wrong place and not be a threat at all.  What do you think?"

[olopi]

PC

 

“Oh yeah, I can see how shapeshifting isn’t good for the wardrobe. Main difference between how we do it is how much is actual protection of sorts, I guess. Mine’s all smoke, so I technically still get cold, wet and so on. Heat’s obviously not an issue though. Rain on the other hand … yeah, not so pleasant walking around in the rain while wearing smoke. That’s where yours is way better. “

 

“Sounds like a plan. If there’s an easy way to get the location that’s good. Not sure about giving them the wrong address. They’re probably connected amongst each other, and if they show up at the wrong place, that’s one phone call and raised suspicions. Towards all outsiders, especially ones who refer to themselves as hackers. “

 

“On the other hand, you’re right, they’re probably dangerous. Maybe if we fudge the time around and just act fast? By the time they get there we’re gone without a trace, and there’s nothing they can do about it. I’ll leave the final decision up to you, both have their perks.”

[Blarghy]

As before, Leviathan thought about this and decided, with mild disappointment, that Bonfire's voice of caution was probably wiser.  "No, you're right; it would be risky.  Besides, if things go bad and we can't get out stealthily, then I'm not really worried about regular mercenaries, no matter how many of them there are.  Normal bullets aren't very effective against either of us when we transform.  Hopefully we can maintain our disguises and carry out the mission peacefully, in which case, we won't want to rush it.  If it isn't peaceful, then maybe it's for the best that we have as many of Freedom City's criminals there in one place so we can take down more of them."  That idea made him smile.

 

"Is there anything else you can think of?  Or are we about set until this weekend?  We should probably meet again earlier in the afternoon for any final preparations, but it's hard to make solid plans until we know exactly what we're walking into.  Maybe once we have the address, you can use your invisibility to scout around, get the layout, spot guards, and such as that."

[olopi]

PC

 

“Think we’ve covered most things. Good idea with the scouting, I can go poke it once we know. Won’t do too much so nobody realizes it, but having a rough idea of what we’re getting into sounds like a good idea. “

 

It was, as it stood, a rough plan, sure. But it was a fair bit more refined than a lot of Cass’ more recent plans, which had all worked somehow. So he was optimistic, it should all go alright, hopefully.

 

“We can meet up a few hours before we get started to go over everything again and take all the new info we discover until then into account. You can send me the location once you know it and I’ll go check it out, I’ll also keep my ears open. Can’t believe this has existed all along without me even having heard of it…”