Chapter 19. "Night Life and Low-Lifes"

## TL;DR

* Eve stocks up on supplies for the city, and Pr0 beefs up the team’s personal security. The team gets to the city around 9pm, trying to blend into the crowds and various businesses. Pr0 follows Xiang into Get Jacked, Eve meets and barters with Bernie in the alleyway, and Seb enters the Glass Slipper. Eve obtains a hard-drive from Bernie. Seb discovers more of the interior of The Glass Slipper, and Pr0 makes his way to the rooftop of Burrito Bandito, where he discovers a makeshift zip-line out of a cord from the sign, leading to the second story of Desire’s Dalliance. Pr0 succeeds in destroying the hard drive due to a failed hacking and archaistic cybermancy check, but lets the others know of the easy access into The Glass Slipper, via Desire’s Dalliance’s air conditioning units.

## Synopsis

In preparation for their mission, Eve stocks up on “sedatives”, which is to say, heroin. Pr0 takes a minute to beef up the group’s firewalls and keep their communication lines secure, and Xiang immediately takes the liberty of hacking in to say hello but commends his work. He changes into his city clothes and they head out towards The Glass Slipper.

At long last, a plan has begun to materialize. Seb will act as bait, going in first and locating the targets, and giving Pr0 instructions to plant Xiang’s jacking devices on as many robots as possible. Meanwhile, Seb will position himself close to the two men and proceed to make a fool of himself very loudly, making himself look like a very attractive target for the traffickers. When they follow him out to make their move, the rest of the group will pounce. Eve will always stick close to Xiang to ensure her safety and thus avoid invoking the wrath of Johnny. They draw up a back-up plan as well (essentially, blow everything up and run).

Pr0 mentions that he is confused by the behavior of the targets- staying in one place for so long, doing essentially nothing after their failure to locate him. They are either planning something (perhaps a trap) or are simply derelict in their duties.

After a short walk, the group arrives at the hottest strip of the Venn. It is about 9pm and the nightlife is starting to heat up. The area is surveilled by multiple security cameras overlooking the street from The Glass Slipper. Directly beneath them are two scantily clad “people of the night”. Lowlifes loiter in alleyways, and city folk stream in and out of businesses.

Pr0 approaches two smokers flanking an alley and attempts (and fails) to bum a light. He quickly realizes that they are members of the Bizzy Gang and he and Seb decide it is best not to engage. Xiang splits off so as not to attract attention, and Seb decides, in order to attract attention, to hire the two previously mentioned prostitutes. He tries to take them for a drink inside The Glass Slipper, but they are not allowed in because they are not with the Bizzy Gang.

Eve and Pr0 want to try and take out the two Buzzy Gang members. Eve hands Pr0 a capped needle, and instructs him to take the lead, and she will follow behind. The town opens up to the gang. Pr0 suggests that he and Eve will “walk the block” whilst trying to physically embody the members of the gang.

Buzzed is the first shop mentioned to the gang. It is a tattoo parlor that the gang did not go into. It was described out of character as “The ultimate combination of bad choices; Buzzed offers cheap alcohol and permanent tattoos.” If the gang were to step into it, they would have been offered matching Burrito Bandito tattoos.

The second business is called “Get Jacked.” This is the building that Xiang was seen going into. Described as “Iron caged windows displaying various electronics, and niche goods. It seems like part pawn shop, part Harvey Norman.”

A dirty crowded alleyway is opens up a sight of multiple hunched over and slumped bodies, that have less-drunk overseers acting as organ guards. There is a large dumpster, that has a lock on it. It is bright yellow and is one of the few that is known to get service. There is a man standing beside the dumpster, that is indeed, Bernie, who is selling a man his tooth back. Pr0 tells Eve that he is going in to talk to Xiang, and orders her to go talk to Bernie.

Eve walks to Bernie in the grimy alleyway. Eve offers a calm greeting to Bernie, but he persists that he does not recognize her. Claiming that “he would recognize someone as interesting looking as you.” Eve asks Bernie for information about the area, to which he also declines knowing anything about it. He then produces a hard-drive full of information for $1000, which Eve then barters for it with a needle of heroin, a packet of children’s Nurofen (which was not successful) and $100. Bernie then offers a bit of advice, that “if you climb on the roof here, you can see some funny stuff at the club.” Bernie then turns back to the man who is he bartering his own tooth with.

The scene turns to Pr0 and Xiang, who are inside Get Jacked, which is a clear booster haven. A large robot alongside a female booster who are covered in tattoos and paint tend the counter. Behind the counter, there are very illegal weaponry such as guns and swords. A circular table is in the room, where an everyday customer, and Xiang are sitting.

Pr0 reaches out to Xiang, where she totally disregards you. The receptionist takes notice of Pr0 and asks if he knows her. She notices his augmented eye and brings it up in conversation. The lady shows off her tech, including incredibly oversized fists, that detach from the elbows revealing slender and highly crafted fingers and arms. The robot turns and offers assistance to Pr0. In conversation between the lady, who reveals herself to be Con/Conny and her robot assistant, Peas both suggest that having a body of steal is the best way of protecting yourself while out in the slums. Conny reveals to Pr0 after being interrupted by Peas several times, that there is a military drone inside of The Glass Slipper, that is incredibly old and is stolen.

As Pr0 fumbles his way through a lie about being kicked out of the house by his lover, and having forget his wallet, he sheepishly asks Conny for her number, to which she replies that he simply is too much of a “man” for her liking, and does not have enough steel, simultaneously confirming that Peas is much more than a shop assistant to her, and that their relationship is much heavier.

Pr0 walks out of Get Jacked, to meet Eve in the alleyway, while watching Bernie not-so-gently shoving a man’s knocked out tooth back into his mouth. Eve flashes a picture of the hard drive to the group video call. Eve hands Pr0 the hard drive. Pr0 climbs the dumpsters and the boosts to the roof of a business, known as “Burrito Bandito.” Described as a “very stylish, Mexican themed, restaurant serving burritos 24/Seven which are supposedly high quality.” Eve walked around the corner to stand and appreciate the burrito restaurant.

The scene turns to Seb after his failed attempt at gaining the prostitute’s help. Seb walks up to the entrance to The Glass Slipper. There is a doorman that stops Seb, questioning him why he is here, and that he must wait. The doorman then offers Seb a VIP wristband after his credit card was turned down. Seb then walks further into The Glass Slipper, seeing a large main dance floor that is mostly empty due to it being around 9pm. Downstairs in the corner, there is a VIP section. No one downstairs is recognized as an immediate threat. There is a singular guy, around 60 in age, clad in very modern club fashion, who is dancing as if no one is watching. Seb refuses to make friends with this man, and instead heads to the VIP area on his lonesome, noticing several other areas that are not yet open at this time of the night.

The scene switches back to Pr0 on the roof, and Eve on the ground, Pr0 is congratulating Eve on obtaining the hard drive through the live video feed. Pr0 sneaks his way up to the ledge of a building and hiding around the bars of a sign. Eve then turns back to go meet up with Xiang. From up on the building, Pr0 can discover, and describe that there is a small 24-hour medical building, a robot sex shop named Desires Dalliance, and a shop called Beer nearly side by side on the strip. Pr0 notices that The Glass Slipper is a three-story building. Across from him, there is an old and defunct cable leading from the top of the Burrito Bandito sign that crosses the street onto the roof top, of the second story of Desires Dalliance, where there are air conditioning units that can serve has an obvious open access to The Glass Slipper.

Pr0 then tries to hack the hard drive that Eve bartered from Bernie. He fails to get into the hard-drive, and instead, completely locks it up, fries it, and turns into a firework of sparks and fire.

The crew has assembled and is leading into the finale with a plan. The zipline cord from Burrito Bandito, Seb seeing two familiar faces in the club, and a small, but Ugly army behind them, what can possibly go wrong in episode 20?