[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + @josephine + CBE-177/"Anna"

Anna's response was as Jack had expected. Definite aspects of the Lady's behaviour had suggested that they were relatively trustworthy, in as much as anyone who took money to perform illegal actions could be trusted. Which was to say about as far as you could throw them. Jack was not very strong. Anna was, but that was beside the point. She was right though, in Jack's estimations. They doubted that the Lady would make any effort to betray them, and if she did then they would deal with her. They had come to the restaurant with appropriate preparations for a double cross, though they had doubted if she had the resources or the wherewithal to pull something together at such short notice. "But of course, I wouldn't ask you to assist me if I didn't intend to share what information I already had." It was a lie of course. Jack had a great deal of information on RISE, probably more than most of the members had, but they had no intention of passing all of that onto Josephine. For one, it would defeat the point of recruiting her, and for the other, she may very well get complacent. No doubt she would work out that Jack had held information back, and would hold back some of her own. Jack would be disappointed if she didn't It would have been so boringly straight forward. "Of course, if you feel the need, you may withdraw, I respect your right to operate independently, we do live in a free and capitalist society after all." They resisted the urge to yawn at the threat. Josephine had arrived by themselves, while Jack had a metahuman bodyguard in tow, and most of the current guests of the restaurant in their employ. Not that there was any way at all for the Lady to know that. Jack left her to it, they knew there was a risk here, but there was a risk in everything they did. Not all of what they did was immune from risk, their family rarely tolerated harm to their members, but most did not know of Jack's family. The Lady had clearly been able to make connections. But they would not understand the true significance of Jack's blood connections. Not without having been a member of the Families. It had been to a few people's regret. "So we have an accord? You will research into, and undertake surveillance of the group we know as RISE? While also providing said information to me. Your payment will be in the form of a number of my designs. I'm sure we can negotiate as to what value we will assign to those designs."

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

Josie nodded at Jack's suggestion of payment. Money was, of course, necessary and quite lovely, but alternative forms of payment could turn out to be so much more fun. "We have, I believe, reached an acceptable agreement. As for money, but of course; perhaps you could categorize your designs by functions, and we could assign value based upon my personal desires and your personal designation of interest?"

Then, she got a ping back from her colleague - the one on the run with their niece. Last she checked, they had been in Montenegro. She cocked her head as their response filed into her head, and successfully fought the urge to freeze. Thankfully, the waiter came by with their meals at the same time, and the hacker was able to take it without blinking, continuing to study the person opposite her.

All due respect, Lady, I'll help you with RISE, but according to my feed, you're asleep at the switch. Half of Gramercy's patrons aren't reading their newspapers, or even holding normal conversation. They're repeating the same lines while watching you and - wait, that's seriously Nobody? Always thought they'd be taller. And who's the blonde chick?

Josie didn't reply, only archiving the message and mentally sending Nobody a connection, of sorts, the flash drive placed in front of her. "Except for that, is there anything more, Nobody? I've sent you a way to contact me via a dummy handle that I favor for your information about your hated boy band. Entirely secure, I assure you."

And if there was nothing? Then Josie and DT had work to do once she returned home. A five minute search out of her head hardly scratched the surface of her resources in determining more than the pair's paper identities. Perhaps my Swiss contacts would have something, Josie wondered, as she worked on one of her oysters. Barring that, there's always the option of hacking China again.

Jack Fontaine
CBE-177/"Anna"

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + @josephine + CBE-177/"Anna" + wearing

Jack's mouth quirked, in truth someone like Josephine would be lucky to have access to any of Jack's designs. The girl was bright, they would give her that, almost a breath of fresh air in a world otherwise filled with dull, unintelligent people. Almost. If this had been a few years ago Jack could have considered their intellect an equal to their own. They were entertaining to talk to, and likely would be for some time to come, but they held no illusions that they already outstripped Josephine in intellect. It was faintly amusing that she seemed to think herself an equal. Of course, to reveal just how advanced some of Jack's designs were would ruin the whole point of this negotiation. Josephine would wonder why Jack was willing to part with concepts of such staggering potential for mere information. Information they could have acquired themselves had they the inclination. No, they would feed her various designs far enough ahead of the curve to maintain her interest, but not so far ahead that they might give away Jack's true nature. There was another strange physical tic. She had cocked her head, presumably connected to the internet once more. Jack was almost jealous, it was a potent ability, with a myriad of applications. They began to eat, plucking a shrimp from the top level of the platter and carefully peeling the shell away from it. It was delicious, their opinion of Josephine's taste climbed a notch. At least she could pick a good restaurant. "I trust in your abilities." Jack did, but they would check the integrity of the encryption and probably make a few tweaks of their own. They had no doubt that she would do her best to research both themselves, and Anna once she left the restaurant. Not that it would do any good. Jack's family was wealthy anyway, with a great deal of political influence within America, but what wouldn't show up to her would be their influence within the Families, and that influence stretched a lot deeper. As to Anna, Jack had conducted a degree of their own research into her background, and if Jack couldn't find anything, there was nothing to be found. "It seems we have an accord, I assume we can simply eat and talk about something besides business for a moment. Or would you rather keep business and pleasure separate?"

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

Josie gave him a nod, a slight smirk curving her lips up. "We do have an agreement." That we will work together, while seeing who can withhold their secrets more efficiently, and prove to be superior over the other - with inevitable victory on my side, of course.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

It had been entirely too long since someone able to make her actually think had been around. "As for your request, I prefer to view my business and pleasure as one in the same, particularly considering most of my hobbies are hardly considered ... acceptable by most of society. Their loss," she added with a shrug. "I hardly see the point in what they do anyway, with their mindless entertainment and consumption. They provide pictures of their dull children and pets, I provide updates on my bots and projects. Lately, I've been working an addition to them, to cover some of the more tedious aspects of my activities."

The brunette studied him for a brief pause before continuing; while she hardly expected him to act particularly scandalized, it would be telling as to what his immediate reaction would be. Or the bodyguard, for that matter. It was quite infuriating, to be honest. She couldn't quite pin down "Anna" and her true nature. She certainly was meant to serve as a bodyguard to Nobody, but what tied them together? And, for that matter, what was her ability - and there was no doubt in Josie's mind she had one, because she knew that she would never settle when it came to protection - that made her so valuable and so damned fast?

Last she had known, there was no metahuman with enhanced speed running around North America.  Which meant there was a new ability not listed anywhere she could access with her abilities.

She had always rather despised fieldwork.

"I've been thinking of naming him HAL," Josie then said as her thought process concluded in the time it took to breathe and give sufficient pause, her smile sharpening. "To aid my dear Skynet. Any thoughts, Jack?"

Perhaps she was a bit dramatic sometimes - her brother certainly thought so.


CBE-177/"Anna"
Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + @josephine + CBE-177/"Anna" + wearing

It was an interesting statement, considering that half of what she seemed to get up to in her spare time could in fact advance the human race significantly. They tended to overlook all those other little misdemeanours if what they produced was valuable enough. Look at Einstein. Admittedly some of Josie's crimes would land her a long stint in prison, should they come to light, but that wouldn't prevent someone from profiting from her artificial intelligence work. The bots themselves were impressive, but not as impressive as the near sentient programs that drove them. If Jack hadn't already constructed Erys they might have been jealous. That was why they hadn't built an AI since. There was too much trouble down that road. They would have to keep a closer eye on Josie's work, to ensure that she didn't build something she couldn't control. Really, what had the world done before Jack was about to keep an eye on things? "HAL? Seems a little clichéd, and if the law of dramatic irony has anything to do with it those two will definitely turn on you. If there is such a thing as fate, you are tempting it." They mulled the question over for a minute, "Something like Olivaw perhaps, I always did enjoy Asimov's laws, simplistic though they are." They shrugged, "Although you do strike me as the dramatic type. What can I say? So am I, it's so much more fun that way. I think I get it from family. Or not depending on who you ask…" They dropped another shrimp into their mouth, letting their mind wander to what they remembered of Josie's family, which was precisely everything they'd managed to recover from government and online databases. Their doctor's notes had been particularly interesting. And once Josie had a closer look at the partial designs Jack had given them, they were sure that her loyalty would be solidified, at least partially. After all, with the Doctor dead, Jack was likely the only person who could give her brother some semblance of a proper life back. They were no medic, but the chip they had designed and partially constructed could bridge damaged nerve fibres, particularly those ones found in the spine. "Though I'm sure we can help each other with our families."

© seadra of gs