7392/I Swear If He Looks Like Max Headroom...
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| I Swear If He Looks Like Max Headroom... | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 03 May 2019 |
| Location: | Scrambled internet communications |
| Synopsis: | Norton Agamemnon makes contact with Kitty and passes on schematics of the Sentinel nullification field |
| Cast of Characters: | Megatron, Shadowcat |
| Tinyplot: | Sentinels |
- Megatron has posed:
Data activity can be gauged by the ripples of the systems they interact with. In the small view taken by many, it is indiscernible from the steady stream of information. But taken with a sufficiently large scope and macro view, one can perceive the patterns. Perhaps enough to make some deductions that lead to information not readily available too easily.
Such as in the aftermath of a chaotic event. The surge of interest in certain sectors, the closing of security in others, the evaluating daemons dispatched on their efforts to procure information and execute their demands all leave subtle wakes in their movements.
The being known as Norton Agamemnon can perceive them, and ultimately it led him to one node that fires off queries from multiple angles of the system, multiple paths to implement their efforts. It speaks of subtlety and precision, but also of an individual in the required circles who might make use of what information is had. But a direct connection must be made.
But how?
After his first few direct attempts subtlety is in order. So the first time Norton Agamemnon comes to Ms. Pryde's attention is when a simple message is sent to one of her personas on one of the subforums that a bot of hers peruses. The wording is unique and might well trip any crawlers she has to speak to its legitimacy and/or sincerity.
It said simply, // Greetings, DeerInHeadlights. I would like to be of some help. But I understand the need for security. Please meet me at 217.27.27.xxx node XXXX-XXXX or another of your choosing to discuss a matter of importance to your efforts against the tin men. Thank you. 'Norton Agamemnon' //
- Shadowcat has posed:
The message that generated an alert caused Kitty to sit and stare at it for a long time as she thought through the matter. If this were a trap she were laying, how would it work? How could she circumvent what she might do, prevent trace backs, and otherwise keep herself secure.
It would require burning some resources. Machines that were hacked to be available for just such a purpose, planned to use one time with no direct connection to Kitty. Not even computers necessarily. DVRs, wifi-enabled thermostats, even those refrigerators that keep track of what food you have in inside. So frightfully easy to hack, and perfect for just serving as a signal relay.
So messages were exchanged as Kitty set the meet for a different location, and not giving much time for whoever was on the other end of the message to compromise the path of communication. When the time comes then Kitty is ready to go, contacting from a remote location herself, funneling her connection through a score of different devices to get it to the destination. "I am here," she sends once it is time.
- Megatron has posed:
The text returns almost immediately, no hesitation and there was no slowness in it correcting to the new location. The words come across instantly and if she is monitoring for the flow of a keep alive or something to sense the steadiness of keystrokes, there is none. The only packet delivered contains the entirety of the message all sent in one burst.
// Hello, DeerInHeadlights. I know time is of the essence. I will be contacting other individuals executing efforts against the tin-men and delivering what information I can. I feel you will be a good avenue for dissemination as well. //
And as simple as that, suddenly there's a file of great importance that is left upon someones refrigerator in suburbia far off across the country. It simply sits there, existing in the phantom ethernet sent from one machine to another and utterly open and vulnerable to any tests she runs to verify it.
At a cursory pass it would take seem to be nothing more than a text file with a quartet of images.
- Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty has a number of programs ready, detecting and analyzing most attack vectors she could think of to try in delivering such a file. The computer she ultimately working on his homemade, as are most of her machines that she uses for such tasks. This one will be disassembled and junked when the meet is over.
After she's run the file through the gauntlet for security, Kitty brings up the images and begins looking at them. She snaps pictures of them with her phone as well as capturing them pixel by pixel from the display, rather than having to keep using the original file, which she'll keep a separate copy of. Kitty types up a reply as she analyzes the files.
// By what name should I call you? What is your interest in the matter? //
- Megatron has posed:
The file comes up easily, and the four images are of a projection device, schematics from each vector with in depth examination of the components displaying the firing sequence as well as the specifics as to energy draw and performance details. The text of the files are brought up and with a quick skim offer some intriguing points.
"For each focus of concentrated nullification energy requires the equivalent of fourteen megajoules diverted from Sentinel 401A's power supply. This can be lowered if the field of fire is narrowed, but current power requirements prevent an extension of the nullification field. Recommend on next iteration of the Sentinel Project to expand research into the utilization of Dr. Pym's research if only to allow for greater reserves to be...'
It continues on from there for several pages, notes appended to the in detail schematics of the nullification ray.
Then, in the next burst the response is simply, // You may call me Norton Agamemnon. //
- Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty leans back in her folding chair, which is sitting in an abandoned building with an underground fiber optic line nearby she was able to hack into. "Holy shit," she says to herself as she studies the images. Flipping through them. This kind of hardware is far more Forge or Beast's speciality. But she understands enough of the basic theory.
Kitty runs her hand over her head as she stares at the screen, mind racing as she digests the information. A treasure trove, should it turn out to be accurate and reliable. They have components from the destruction of the Sentinels by Rogue, Thor and War Machine. Should be enough to verify the physical make up at the least.
Kitty thinks for a few more moments and then sends back:
// Thank you, Norton. Is this reliable? Can you reveal its source? //
She sits back in her chair again, not knowing that she expects an answer to the last question. Or even to the first, but it gives her more time to think.
- Megatron has posed:
Almost as soon as she sends the message the response pops back instantly fully typed and delivered. It could still feasibly be pre-written messages, but difficult with such specificity in the body.
// I believe it is reliable. As soon as it was recovered the node I was investigating was burned. A security breach in between cycles during a switch of distribution. I was able to penetrate during a down cycle. But the defense was to destroy the data node. To press further might be too revealing. //
Then two tenths of a second after that first message is delivered, a second one comes.
// If I gain more information I will reinitiate contact but from a new vector. We have time for one more exchange. //
- Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty crosses her arms as she reads the screen. Her fingers fidget as she considers the situation. She doesn't know if the blueprints are genuine. If they are, it doesn't make sense Trask would be leaking them to mutants. Nor would John Doe.
She would love to know more about John Doe, but this person - is it a person? Those messages came back so fast - might not be likely to know more unless they got deep into Trask's files. Revealing his existence might be too much for this unknown person.
Kitty thinks for a moment and then types back a reply quickly.
// Appreciate your help. Technical data immensely helpful. Communication protocols to tin men would be as well. Also any knowledge of Trask's plans. Or of the supposed attempt on his life. Anything else you can come by, would be interested in seeing. Thank you again. //
- Megatron has posed:
Her message sent, it gets a reply instantly though it is curt with no further give and easily could be pre-prepared. It is nothing more than,
// Goodbye, DeerInHeadlights. //
- Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty severs the connection and sets her programs to scrubbing any traces from the series of devices that her signal had been bounced back and forth between. The original image goes onto a hardened thumb drive that will never be used on a networked machine. The pictures and pixel-capture, however, get sent off to Forge and Beast hastily, along with an explanation of their origins.
Kitty rises and folds her chair before closing up the laptop which she'll be destroying and scattering the components of now. "Well. This is almost too much to hope for." Which of course just makes her question it more. Though she's been that internet angel herself in the past, dropping information where it was most needed. Those sort of activities were likely the type where Norton Agamemnon made some connections to Kitty. Her things in hand, she phases into the ground to begin the travel, unseen, off to where she left her car.