Phantom, Possesion, Whisper, distortion, Hypnosis, fear factor, and false pulse. Those were all the slotted hacks, none of which were familiar, which was insane. I had played with damn near every cyberdeck build in the game, and nobody had shown anything like this in the anime.
Something like this would take an insane amount of trial and error to code, even one of these would, just based on one of the hacks available. My meager experience was limited to the small amount of coding you can learn in public school, at best I could make a shoddy version of flappy bird.
But this? This would require insane technical wizardry to even fathom for a kid off the street. A damn shame, the other me was a brilliant bastard but got snuffed out before he could shine at all.
As for what each of them did, phantom was like a psuedo invisibility, projecting what was pretty much a bubble of data strands around me, programmed to latch onto any passing optics with me in their view, then editing any visible evidence of my presence out of their view. The technicalities were lost to me, I had no idea how the fuck "I" had made something like this while bumming it on the rough roads of Night City. Most people in that position end up dead within the first few months or end up struggling along, copping with whatever they can get their hands on as they try and claw their way up from the pit their in.
And that was only the start, the rest were just as, if not more insane. Possession requires me to fully breach someone's ice first, something I currently had no clue how to actually do, but after that it was just like it said, remotely taking control of someone's body through their own cyberware.
Underlined in the description of it were its caveats though. The aforementioned ice breaking needed to use it, and and the fact it only worked on people with chrome attached to their brain or nervous system, so not an option for small fry and lastly it wouldn't work on people going through cyberpsychosis. Makes sense, I mean if the hardware isn't even listening to the person it's inhabiting, why would it follow outside orders?
Whisper was a bit less complicated, simply opening up a small one way audio link to the target that erases its own traces after I disconnect. Definitely a solid tool for distraction. Same with distortion, where instead of editing myself out of a targets eye sight, I force their optics to view an edit of my choosing, presumably pre set. All around it seems like most of these hacks are about staying unnoticed or taking attention away from myself, barring possession of course.
The last three all did the same thing to different effects. Hypnosis stops people by tricking the brain into releasing high amounts of melatonin, making for a swift rest that only lasts a few minutes. Fear factor does something similar tricking the brain into thinking it's in an extreme stress situation, sending panic in waves. Both of these are heavily dependent on the targets internal systems having access to the brain stem in some way.
The last one however worked on anyone with any cyberware at all, to varying degrees but nonetheless. False pulse sent a small signal to any internal cyberware and tricks the systems into shutting off for a few moments, potentially lethal depending on the targets dependence on them. I mean think about it, shutting off someone's synth lungs or de powering an opponents spine would be damn scary. Description say it only lasts 10 or so seconds depending on the quality of the targets hardware and how fast it recognizes it's been duped.
Overall, the old me was one, a goddamn marvel of a mind, and two, like most them are, an absolute scumbag. I don't think with months or even years to think would I come up with a better infiltration kit.
Although… From what I knew daemons were only set programs, I myself had no hacking experience. So as great of a skill set it is, how useful would it be when I didn't know how to hack a door on my own? And more importantly, the looming threat to any netrunner, ICE was a complete enigma to me.
Whatever, enough contemplating, just put one foot forward like you always do. I turned the now lukewarm shower water off.
It sputters to a trickle, gently rapping against the tiles beneath me. Unfortunately, the only thing I had to change back into were my horrid smelling jeans, tee, and jacket from yesterday.
Doesn't matter, first stop is a clothes shop, whichever cheap looking one I come across first. Anything works long as it's functional and doesn't shoot my wallet to hell.
I quickly donned my shirt and pants; forgoing the jacket as it had caught most of the blood from yesterday, stowing it away in a small compartment I had found in the bathroom of the small room.
It still held the stolen cyberware, speaking of, I'd be a liar if I said I didn't have a bit of a grudge against the scavs at this point.
I mean the fuckers shot me, damn near took my neck off. Plus I needed cash, like, enough to get out of this orgy hotel.
So the plan is, use this incredible stealth cyberdeck on the small scav hideouts I remember from the game and rob them blind. I'm not suicidal enough to just run in there and hope I can solid snake my way around just because I want to.
I was a rank amateur in all this, hell I'd never even held a gun.
But after I run a few tests on how effective each of these hacks are with my limited knowledge, I have a pretty decent idea of how I can get in and out unscathed. Mostly.
The three things I needed to actually put it into practice was firstly, an actual basic understanding of code, I mean if I did all the work to get in but didn't know how to pop the digital lock it would be a real bitch.
Second on the list is some iron, preferably a Liberty or something quiet, maybe an SMG if things get especially rowdy. But hopefully I waste the money on em and don't need em, the plan is set so that they don't even know their stash was taken at all.
And third was definitely experience. The most I had snuck around in my last life was sneaking out of foster home windows and running like hell. I needed actual practice getting in and out of restricted areas before I threw myself to the wolves. I'll start light, clubs, bars, and restaurants eventually, I'd hit the scav den I remembered from the game,
—————
" Yeah thanks." A small wave was thrown over my shoulder as I walked out the door of the small shop front in kabuki market. I now had on a 'fresh' pair of black jeans, most definitely refurbished, and a pair of black sneakers that at least didn't scream 'murder scene' like my boots had.
" Fucking rip off." I muttered, the bastard had fleeced me for eighty eddies. I simply didn't feel like arguing over old denim, plus.
This was only a pit stop for my trip to Kabuki market. I walked with the flow of the crowd, up a flight of stairs and across the circular road that orbits the market.
Another flight and I had reached the small catwalk cast above the road, crossing over and onto the balcony of the main building.
I circled for moment before entering the netrunner shop you go to for ping in the game.Yoko's , the first quick hack shop most go to, at least in the game.
I had questions and closed mouths were never fed. So I braved my nerves and got ready to do what I do best; bullshit my way through and hope it goes well.
Upon entering I saw about what was expected; The same tired Chinese lantern-esque lights lined the front counter as I remembered, arcade machines sat in neat lines against the walls with two occupied netrunner chairs sitting in the back of the shop.
A middle aged Asian woman whose face screamed "no time for the bullshit" came from the back behind the counter. A small pair of silver glasses sat atop her nose, the circular lenses obscuring her eyes.
She put on no customer service smile, simply staring at me as though I wasn't there in front of her. We held an uncomfortable silence, me awaiting to be acknowledged, her, probably waiting for me to just give up and walk out.
'Dismissive bitch huh?'
A sigh slipped from her lips breaking our little staring contest,
" Can I help you?"
This old bags gonna piss me off isn't she?
"You reek of poor…"
Abso-fuckin-lutely.