"Getting Ugly" - Reboot.exe - S1 Chapter 2.

## Getting Ugly

Jenn

"Getting Ugly" is the second chapter of season 1 of Reboot.exe. It was released on 28 December 2020 and is narrated by Dave.

## Episode Synopsis

Chapter 2 begins in the cramped 3 meters by 1 meter air conditioning maintenance chamber (otherwise known as [Pr0’s Closet]) that the last episode ended in with Pr0, Eve, and Seb. They have a conversation about Pr0’s need for Fusion, in three days. Then, Pr0 and Seb come to a quid pro quo that Pr0 will get Seb the answers he wants if he gets him some Fusion. Pr0 tells Seb that he needs to get set up and to come back with a solution in a few hours.

Seb goes off to find something to point him in the direction of a source of Fusion. He finds an old car repair shop that’s fenced in with a small hooded figure with headphones on on the sidewalk across from it. Hoping to get some information, Seb approaches the street kid and it is revealed that this is a young girl who is suffering from the first stage of lack of Fusion. He begins to talk to her in hopes that she has a connection to Fusion. She, in exchange for Seb getting her more Fusion, tells him that the old repair shop belongs to a man named Ugly and she’s a lookout for him. Ugly is her source of Fusion, and might be willing to get Seb some. The young girl reveals her name to be Songbird and tells Seb that if he says that she sent him he’ll be let in without issue. Seb, with Songbird’s eyes on him, he walks off.

Seb heads to Ugly’s Motors and comes across a robot. After he tells it that Songbird sent him, it presses a button on the car lift remote and, as the car lift raises, reveals a staircase leading underground. Seb hears the soft beat of club music as he descends into what appears to be a well decorated secret basement bar. He scans the room for Ugly and as he is doing this he sees a bunch of really fit people, however his attention is immediately drawn to the gorgeous Bespoke man in the far corner of the bar who appears to be getting his tattoos redone, for the day. Seb walks up to the bar and asks the bartender to give him two rounds of what Ugly (the gorgeous Bespoke) normally has. The barkeep accidentally only pours one mug of 90 proof moonshine, but Seb catches him on this and he pours another. Seb pays easily (as he has Level 5 Commerce) and takes the mugs and walks over to Ugly, who pays no attention to him, at first. After Seb puts the mug of moonshine in front of him and sits down Ugly looks at him and tells him, “You got balls,” and Seb tells him that he’s the best source of information, from what he can tell, so he has to. While talking to Ugly, Seb notices that he is probably the best Bespoke job he’s ever seen and that he does not bear any resemblance to his creators. Seb and Ugly go back and forth a bit, during which Seb offers for him and the crew (whom he only met like an hour ago) to do a job for Ugly in exchange for a month’s supply of Fusion; however, Ugly tells him that, if he can prove he has a crew, and they have a skill set that Ugly wants, only then will they get a job.

Seb leaves the bar and goes across the street and tries to get Songbird, but she says no. He sighs and tells her to meet him at an address he wrote down after her shift (which ends at midnight), then heads back to Pr0’s Closet.

Pr0 finishes setting up his computers and some security, with Eve’s help, then uses them to see if they’ve been followed by the people who attacked them earlier. Pr0 sees them (through security), leave the part of the Venn that they’re in and enter a club called The Glass Slipper in the northern end.

Seb enters as Eve asks Pr0 if he wants to hear a joke. He says sure and she then says, “I like the way you work it, Pr0 Diggity, you better back it up.” Eve says hello to Seb, who then asks Pr0 what he knows about Ugly. Pr0 tells him that he doesn’t know much and wonders why he’s asking. Seb then tells him he’s their connection to Fusion and that he wants to meet, before he gives it to them. Pr0 calls him gutsy, but wants to know what they have to do to get it. Seb tells him that Ugly might have some work for them. They then discuss how they’re going to make an impression with their entrance.

The crew heads out to Ugly’s and talks about what they’re going to do to make an entrance. They come up with the plan that Pr0 is basically just going to break shit beforehand and trigger it once they’re in.

Once they get to Ugly’s, Pr0 prepares to hack the bar with the information that Seb gives him.

As he’s doing this, Eve approaches Songbird. She asks her name and Songbird asks her who she is and what she’s doing there. Eve gives her name and after indicating who she works for, Songbird lets her give her medical attention.

Pr0 manages to hack into the bartender’s phone and turns on the mic to listen to what’s going on in the room. He overhears Ugly saying that he’s not sure that they will come back and that he does have a job for them, if they do. While he’s listening he’s going through the bartender’s messages and sees that he fancies himself a bit of a ladies’ man. Pr0 then hears that the bar, strangely, got a shipment, from a pharmaceutical company, of Fusion. After about fifteen to twenty minutes, Pr0 stops listening and gives Seb the rundown. As they’re talking Eve walks up to them. Soon they come up with a plan to “take the power away to put on a show”. Seb tells him to secure the bartender’s connection, but stay connected.

The crew approaches the door and Pr0 prepares *Flight of the Valkyrie* to play in one minute and tries to get the robot to come in with them, but fails, miserably. Seb then tells it that Songbird sent them, and the robot opens the entrance with no issue. Pr0 then tries to push the robot, but again fails miserably.

The crew descends the staircase into Ugly’s bar. *Flight of the Valkyrie* builds as the crew enters slowly and someone calls to the barkeep, who’s name is finally revealed to be S-Effect, complaining about the music. He flails as he tries to change it, but he’s locked out.

Pr0 makes the lights go out and the music grows as other things “pop, crash, and explode”. Everyone pulls weapons and chaos ensues (Dave rolled a 1 on destiny…). Ugly calls on Xiang and she uses her cybermancy against Pr0 who then feels as though he’s on fire, because she’s affecting his cybernetics (she isn’t actually hurting him though). Seb speaks up and says, “What he lacks in subtlety, he makes up for in talent, I swear.” Pr0, in pain, also says that they “just don’t appreciate the classics.” Ugly calms the group down, as he recognizes Seb; however he does shoot S-Effect (oh, the short existence of S-Effect, you were Dave’s favorite...). Eve calls the time of death and Xiang lets Pr0 go. Seb and Pr0, on Ugly’s orders, go over to him.

The big hulking guy walks over to Eve and asks what she’s doing there. He then asks her corporation name, to which she responds Nin-Yao. The 7 foot tall man then calls her out on the fact that she’s “rogue”. He then, discreetly, reveals that he too is a rogue drone.

Over at the Ugly, Seb, Pr0 table negotiations for Fusion begin, again. Pr0 apologizes for the “brash entrance”, then tells Seb that he wants to take down the organization he used to work for and wants to give NuYou to the people whose lives he helped destroy. He then asks Ugly how he can get the Fusion he needs. Ugly tells them that they do have openings, and after that Seb quickly goes to the bar finding that most of the bottles are seemingly unscathed. He pours himself, Pr0, and Ugly drinks. Eve then jokes that she wants a gin and tonic.

Ugly calls the drone, who appears to be masking as human, named Johnny, over to take care of S-Effect’s body. Johnny then folds his body like a lawn chair and puts it under his arm and walks off. Seb, after witnessing that, leaves his drink at the bar as he has lost his appetite. Ugly takes his drink and asks them if they want the job and they say “yes”.

Ugly then gives them the details of the job. He’s looking for a guy named Vinod who’s on [Jet Gang]’s turf. He can’t fuck with them openly, but since nobody knows that the crew works for him, they can. Ugly tells them that Vinod is a really bad guy. Pr0 and Seb have a short back and forth where Pr0 wants more information about what Seb wants, but Seb is still holding back. Ugly then pulls out a tablet and forwards the address to Pr0’s laptop. He tells them to bring him back alive and throws them a sack to go over his head, just in case.

Pr0 tells Eve that it’s about time to go, but she has one more thing to do. She waits for the other drone to come back and asks his name. He tells her that “they call me Johnny, but I call me Incongruent”. Eve then asks if she can call him “Johnny” and he replies “only if you want to be like them”. She then tells him that she needs Fusion for a girl and he nods over to Ugly saying that he’s the one to go to, so she tells him that she’ll be back. At that point, the crew then leaves.

## TL;DR

* Pr0 and Seb discuss how to obtain fusion in the slums when they agree that Pr0 will answer the questions Seb has after he receives fusion.
* While Pr0 stays back to set up his tech while Seb ventures to find a place to buy Fusion. When he comes across a young girl, she directs him into Ugly’s Motors and informs him to say Songbird sent him to be let in.
* Upon entering, Seb sees a variety of people including Ugly and goes to the bar to get him a drink before approaching. After a short conversation, Ugly agrees to work out a deal with Seb once he meets the party.
* Seb leaves Ugly’s Motors and attempts to recruit Songbird to the party before returning to Pr0 and Eve to convince them to meet with Ugly.
* After setting up his tech, Pr0 hacks the camera network to see the two gangers from outside his door going to a club called The Glass Slipper.
* Eve approaches Songbird and performs a medical check before bandaging her wounds.
* Pr0 decides to “make an entrance” by breaking shit inside the Bar via an open network on the Bartender’s phone. Pr0 closes the vulnerability he exploited before pulling an “epic” entrance that goes TERRIBLY.
* The giant man (later identified as Johnny) approaches Eve and recognizes her sentience before identifying himself as a drone and informing her that she needs a better disguise to avoid being destroyed.
* Seb and Pr0 chat with Ugly who offers a seat at the table in exchange for retrieving a coder named Vinod from an opposing gang.