Yesterday: Wendy, dropping into my lap from out of the gray, terrified that someone's trying to kill her. She tells me she's being followed, she says she's being framed. While we're talking a man with a gun shoots at us.

I thought he was aiming at Wendy, but I'm not so sure anymore.

I take care of him and his friend before they can get Wendy outside. In his accomplice's pocket I find an encrypted disk. We head for BB's shop to lay low until I can get my bearings, but it doesn't happen. I break my rule. I don't keep it professional. I think I might start feeling something for her.

Then it all goes to hell.

The disk has instructions for a robot-human hybrid, a machine inside of organic skin. On Wendy's advice I go against my better judgement and put myself in front of Laudine, the human infobank. There's nothing she doesn't know, but what she tells me sends me reeling.

Wendy knew those men that shot at us, or so Laudine claims. Wendy had the disk before they did, but she couldn't get it open. That's what she came to me for. Why is Laudine telling me this? Is she double-crossing Wendy?

Hey, it's time for Blockout! Time to pull up a seat for the show!

Laudine demands a copy of the disk as her price, but I blow out of there without paying my tab on account of the firefight between BB and some guns on bikes. That's when Wendy pulls my own gun on me and tries to hijack the disk. She can't bring herself to shoot me, even when she had me spot-on and helpless. I return the favor by curbing the bikers with BB's ride and leave Wendy on the lawn.

I'm still cruising down abandoned country roads dragging all the pieces together when BB comes out of lizard-brain mode and tells me to take a left. Back into the city. As I swing his ride around the base of my neck beeps again. Yuji Chernobyl, my sometimes agent has been trying to get ahold of me for twenty minutes. I haven't touched the thirty thousand Eastern Canada dollars he paid me for my last job. When I Netted him just before Laudine's he wanted to me come see him in person. Another setup, maybe. I doubt Yuji's looking after my best interest.

The list of people who want this disk and my flatline keeps getting bigger and bigger. Laudine, those mystery gunmen that keep cropping up, maybe even Wendy. If I had more than five hours sleep in the last nine days I might be worried about this.

We stop at a soba stand on the edge of the city. BB's arm has stopped bleeding completely but his body needs calories to catch back up. Nestle built their supersoldiers well, but man does not live by adrenomax alone. While the air fills with the cloying fragrance of cooking noodles I lay out my options in front of me. Trust Yuji enough not to want me dead. Give Laudine what she wants and hope it mollifies her. Call Wendy and... shit, I don't know what. I still have no idea who made this disk.

The thought drifts across my mind that I could just pack my rig up and disappear, but I don't have enough cred socked away for that permanent vacation to mosquitoland. Thirty thousand Frankbucks won't go that far. If I really want to run out on all this I'm gonna need some cred. And that means a job. A big one.

>legos on floor
>see this thread

What wonderful coincidence.

And that puts us back where we were last night, before the game was paused for the nonsensical adventures of Davey Bree.

The consensus seemed to be building that Laudine is too powerful to be an enemy, and discussion was had about forking over a copy of the disk to her, but I don't want to railroad so I am just going to sit here and eat my sandwich and see what people think.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=lego%20quest

BLOCKOUT parts 1 and 2 are at the bottom of this page.

>>18616097
Just disappearing isn't an option for us. Laudine's resources are too deep for us to hide from her. If we don't offer up a copy of the disk then our life is forfeit.

>>18616097
I wish we didn't have to give the copy to Laudine, but I think we have no choice. We got bigger fish to fry, and a little smoothing over with not-Cleopatra will help us with said fish.

>>18616169
>>18616190

Laudine's not one to let this go. If I want her off my back I'm going to need to play nice and give her what she wants. But it's going to be tricky. Forgiveness isn't in her nature. I need to be smart about this.


What now?

Lego Quest, I don't have time for your quest tonight, and I couldn't make it to either of the others you did recently.

But you are one of the best things to happen to this board. A no-kidding /tg/ treasure. Even if it's not said, I love what you do for us.

(Also After the Brick is my favorite thing, ever.)

>>18616409
Thanks, anon! Posts like that make my day!

And if you don't already know about it:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vb0eib

All the After the Brick stories collected in .cbr format

>>18616384
Make a copy of the disk and set up a drop point. Get in contact with Laudine and tell her where one of her goons can go pick it up, also try to smooth over the ruffled feathers.

>>18616449
I've had a copy since you first released it!

>>18616384
I figured as much. We've done scorned Laudine and she won't let it go for a while.

>>18616485
This should be the best option I can come up with.

I love these OP, sorry I couldn't drop in for the last one.

Also, I agree with this guy.
>>18616485

>>18616485

I concur; but is there any way to detect whether a copy's been made or not? Even if there isn't, Laudine is hard to lie to.

I propose we make a copy and embed a monitor program into it - if we can.

>>18616520
That's a pretty awesome Dexter.

>>18616578
>but is there any way to detect whether a copy's been made or not? Even if there isn't, Laudine is hard to lie to. I propose we make a copy and embed a monitor program into it - if we can.

Laudine asked for a copy - she doesn't care who else has it as long as SHE has it. As for the monitor program, what did you have in mind? Just something to see what she uses it for, or some kind of reporting program that lets you know every time another copy crops up?

>>18616581
Thanks, it's how I imagine BB to look.

...Ya know, aside from the lego pictures.

>>18616628
See if we can put something in there so that we know what she's using it for. Potential ammo against her as well as a chance to counteract something she does with it that is (somehow) dangerous to us.

>>18616628
>>18616740

Yes, as much surveillance as we can cram onto it without hitting a detection threshold.

The lights of the city swell as we hit the edge of it. Past a blur of decrepit electric poles I catch a glimpse of a freeger standing by a burning barrel, readied to leap behind the closest one if we swerve at him.

The freeger disappears into the dark road behind us. Data starts tumbling into the blank disk, everything goes on, the guardian bots and their Rem are herded across the breach between my rig and the disk like dangerous wolves that might scatter. She wanted the disk, she gets everything on it.

And then I add a little something extra here and there.

The heart of the city. A transit bus slides to a stop, stuffed with passengers like a bloated tick. BB turns down a side street and I make the call.

"Jack." Her voice is pleasant, betraying nothing. She doesn't say another word, makes me do the talking.

"Laudine. I'm sorry I had to run out on you earlier. You understand."

"That was quite rude, Jack. Where are you?"

I don't have any doubt that she has a dozen jockeys trying to trace this call. "I'm around. And I have something for you."

"I'm listening," she purrs. Even through a speaker she sounds too good to be real. A moment later she gives an approving "Mmm," and finishes with "I know where that is. I would rather you come and see me in person, Jack."

"Not happening. Sorry, but you know how it is. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it. Thank you, Jack. Take care of yourself."

"What now?" BB asks as I click the phone off and stare through the old plastic at the herd of peds.

Good question. Laudine might have a copy now, but whoever Wendy was running from still wants it. And as far as I know they still want me dead.


What now?

>>18617483
Find somewhere to hole up for the night. Hope you don't get found.

>>18617506
Roll a d12 and link to this post!

>>18617483
We need information, and Wendy has it. We need to get answers out of her.

Find Wendy, tie her up, and have a chat.

rolled 2 = 2

>>18617519
This can only bring good things.

>>18617541

BB hits the downramp slums and pulls to a stop in the middle of a blight near an overturned lotek ride.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"Is fine. I have to piss."

"Take this." BB hands me his gun and steps into a dark alley.

Huh?

Shit!

Freegers! Lotek scavengers!


What now?!?

>>18617774
Tell them to walk away. If they keep moving, shoot the closest one.

rolled 12 = 12

>>18617774
Take cover and convince them to loot elsewhere.

>>18617812

"Hey! See this? Back off, freeger!"

"Oh-ho, what's this? Plastic has himself a gun!" one of them cackles.

"Clarence'll pay well for that, plastic. How about you hand it over?"

rolled 8 = 8

>>18617940
THE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER

BLOW THEM AWAY

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

Concrete gravel crunches behind me and I turn just in time to see a freeger with a crowbar swinging it down at me, but then -

>>18617936

"What is this?" BB shouts, irate. "This is how you pay me back?"

What the hell?

I stand in the back like an uninvited guest as the freegers swarm around BB, cajoling and slapping his back.

"This is Jack, he has a problem. We needed a place to hang out for a little while." BB smooth-talks these people in a way I've never seen him act before. He's usually a model of PTSD or doped to the gills on neuroplastics, but around these freegers he's like family!


What now?

>>18618148
Well, I guess we're crashing here. Just go along with it.

We'll be sleeping with the gun, of course.

>>18617936
I was about to start a fight scene but then I saw that 12...

>>18618148
Follow BB's lead, he's got things under control.

One of them rolls up a garage door and we stow BB's ride inside. We get out and they lead us through a confusing warren of chain-link fences and piled industrial garbage. I keep my rig with me.

In the center of the spiral an exec freeger hops down from a crate and throws up his arms in unrestrained joy. "BB Yenski, as I live and breathe!"

"Clarence." BB keeps his composure, but I can hear something in his voice I've never heard before. BB has friends, who knew?

The two of them lock arms, and part of me wonders how easily BB's cybernetic arms could convert the freeger to soypaste.

Better get settled in.


Anything you want to do besides crash for the night?

rolled 10 = 10

>>18618478
Ask BB how he knows these people.

Otherwise...I've got nothin'.

>>18618520

Later, after the activity spike dwindles back down and the freegers get used to us, I'm noodling around with the disk, skimming through bleeding-edge biomedical data I can't begin to follow when BB drags a crate over to me and hefts himself up on it.

We sit in silence for a moment, then I start a recompile and ask him how he knows these freegers.

BB sits for a few minutes, and I figure he doesn't want to talk about it. As I'm in the middle of a recompile he breaks the silence. "It... was a long time ago."

"It was just after I had escaped from Nestle. There was a streetdoc I knew who worked near here. I had gone to him to have my trackers removed. I had been able to remove some of them, but the others -" BB stops for a moment, then makes a gesture that I can only take as twisting a knife - "were in too deeply."

"I had not yet found a steady dealer for the neuroplastics, so my mind was... not stable." BB looks up, watching a pair of freegers across the room patching a thick electric cable. Something falls away from his face. "It was very hard to conduct myself."

"These people... took me in. Helped me secure the neuroplastics I needed. Later, when I was better, they were targeted by a Zaldimar cult."

He doesn't need to go any further - if he's still alive that means they all died a messy death.


What now?

>>18618766

Give him a pat on the shoulder (if that won't cause him to tear your arm off) and empathize. More to the point;

>bleeding-edge biomedical data I can't begin to follow
Would BB's augs and/or the medical knowledge of these freegers be a good starting point for deciphering this stuff?

>>18618879
>Would BB's augs and/or the medical knowledge of these freegers be a good starting point for deciphering this stuff?

You already sort of know what it's about - the data is really only useful to someone who has the setup to actually follow through with the instructions/blueprints and build one of these. The freegers don't have anything near that kind of technology.

As for BB's cybernetics, they might have some similar components but his are several years out of date.

>>18618927

Then it's time to get cracking. Do a cross-reference of different corporations' capabilities and see if there's any sore thumbs as to who could and couldn't feasibly use the plans. You might be able to guess who produced it - or the potential buyers that might be trying to plug you for the five-finger discount.

>>18618994
Roll it.

rolled 4 = 4

>>18619029

Here goes!

rolled 4 = 4

>>18619029
There seems to be a lack of rolls in this thread.

I shall remedy that.

>>18618766
Wait a moment, BB knows a street doc?

One that is knowledgeable about his upgrades that are similar (though outmoded) when compared to the disk upgrades?

This is the lead we need. Either he can he can help us figure out what the hell is going on, or maybe, just maybe, he can upgrade us?

>>18619104

I look around the Net while BB and the others head into the other room where the laughter and clinking is coming from. There are plenty of options, but medical technology - any technology - is a closely-guarded secret. You can never show your hand, never let your enemies know what you can do.

In other words, an open search like this is useless. If I really want this information I'm going to have to take a swim.


Dare you jack into the Net?!?

>>18619165

Or this. This would be a viable option too.

You people decide.

>>18619211
>>18619211
I think we should go the meatspace route first and ask BB more about this doc.

Then we might have an idea of where to look.

>>18619251

Agreement. Besides, we still don't know who might be out to get us on the Net - and if they trace our location to this hangout, it'll mean a lot of trouble for BB's pals. Not a cool move.

I sit for a moment staring at the wall, then click my case closed and stand up, knees popping.

"Hey BB, can I talk to you for a minute?"

BB drains the last half of the bottle and wipes his mouth. I tell him what I'm thinking.

"He is still alive as far as I know. Do you want to go see him now?"

>>18619497
It's the best lead we have at the moment, but if BB wants to finish another round or two it can wait that long.

>>18619537

"Get your things." He says it all-business, but somewhere around the time those guns tried to flatline us on Laudine's front lawn he's taken up my banner. A moment later he returns sans Seppuro bottle but packing a gun.

Taking his ride would be too suspicious so we walk two kilometers through the worst part of the city. BB winds through it like a rat in a well-known maze. Twice he holds up a hand and we stop, waiting with our breath held while a pack of cultists scurries by, leaping over debris like wolves.

"Is this it?" In front of us is a heavy steel door. A few deep scrapes are gouged out of it like someone tried to get it open with a bulldozer.

"Yes."

BB tugs the door and it sticks, but then something unlocks with a click. The steel slides to one side but behind it is a thick wire screen. A gun barrel juts out through the screen and waves between us.

"Get out of here or you're flatlined!" the figure behind it shouts.


What do?!?

rolled 6 = 6

>>18619790

Let BB do the talking until you get to the doc.

>>18619802

"I am a patient of Dr. Saldana. This is a friend of mine who needs to speak with him." BB's voice is level. The man with the gun glances through the wire between us.

The wire rattles up.

"Give me your guns. Now."

I glance at BB but he's already holding the barrel and holding it out. I do the same. Before yesterday I hadn't handled a gun for years but now it feels like I'm missing part of my meatbod.

"Let's go. Move it!" His gun jabs into my back and I hurry forward as the grate rattles down behind us and the steel door closes with a booming CHUNG.

"I remember you."

The doc is in a sealed suit that's only a few years out of date. BB makes his introduction, unsure of how much I want spilled, then the old man looks at me.


What now?

>>18620068
Tell him we found a disk and the disk has some complicated medical stuff on it. stuff that we need to know.

Don't tell him how we got the disk, or that we know its inane, unless he asks.

Also while he is doing that check out the waiting room brochures for available upgrades. We might need a few.

"Nice help you have. You don't hide in the good parts of town, do you?

Cutting to the chase, I have a disk of cybernetic information that several people have tried to kill me over. Could you take a look at it and tell me what I actually have?"

I think it's worth letting him know we're bringing him into a dangerous game.

Wait no it probably isn't

rolled 9 = 9

>>18620068

Get help identifying the plans. You're not in this to use them or see them made - the last thing anyone in the room needs is to be even more obsolete.

The doc runs my decrypted Rem-free copy on a machine that's criminally lotek while BB entertains himself examining combat implants.

"Yes, I know this work," the doc says at last. "It is the work of the ReGene corporation."

"Are you sure?" I need confirmation - we can't afford to waste any more time.

"Oh, yes."

"It is my work."


...WHAT NOW?!?!

>>18620307
WHAT A TWEEST

>>18620119
>Also while he is doing that check out the waiting room brochures for available upgrades. We might need a few.

Are you talking about combat implants like BB's holding, or some kind of upgrade to your Net-jockey abilities? You could have your overflow increased, which would allow you to be more effective at hacking but also leave you more open to the effects of Rem or other nasty Net things.

rolled 9 = 9

>>18620307

Bah. Fuh. Guh. What. This is fuckin'... what.

ASK MORE. Why? How?

rolled 2, 2 = 4

>>18620307
Sounds like it's story time from Mr. Doctor if he's up for sharing.

Probably also worth letting him know that this is the McGuffin and people want it bad

>>18620335
That sounds terrible

>>18620307
What now indeed?
Perhaps it is time to ask all the important questions:

Like
What the hell are they?
Who are they, if any are to be who?
Why are you here instead of there?
Why, outside of the obvious cash cow, does everyone want them?
Who would be trying to get this out of ReGene?
Can we get an upgrade?

>>18620335
We are doing an awful lot of combat now, we might want to get the basic package(or next upgrade if we already have) for that.

Overflow sounds risky, but risky if the fun part of legoquest.

"I was a citizen of the ReGene corporation several years ago. I was selected for a special project because of my expertise in the field of cybernetic enhancements. ReGene had been supplying all of the more aggressive corporations with hardware for their soldiers for years, but they wanted something more. A full mechanical structure that would house a ROM copy of a human brain. The perfect soldier."

"We tried for months to produce it. The number of test subjects who died - "

The doc stops for a moment. "I was against it, for personal reasons, I suppose. But I was a citizen, I had my duty."

He's not meeting our eyes now.

"The project was supposedly abandoned. Its failure was the reason for my... attempted dismissal." Another long stall-out, then he drops the final piece.

"Someone must have finally overcome the hardware barrier."

>>18620395
>we might want to get the basic package(or next upgrade if we already have) for that.

Are you talking about some kind of wired reflexes thing, some kind of Wolverine-claws thing, or something else? Or that overflow increase. Whatever it is, we're gonna need a bigger boa- I mean some consensus.

>>18620586

I, for one, am not in favor of additional augments - but then again, constant stress and danger from adrenomax and net-based intrigue may be the norm. If anything, wired reflexes will be more valuable since everyone that's tried to kill us so far has done so in meatspace.

>>18620586
How about a skull-gun?

Or reflexes guess, if you want to be tame about it.

Is there a way to smash stuff on the net easier?

>>18620659
>Is there a way to smash stuff on the net easier?

Increase your overflow, but that leaves you more open to getting messed up.

I contemplate asking the doc about upgrades for what's ahead, but there are too many unknowns.


What now?

>>18620772
Ask about this "barrier"
And how it might apply to anyone we need to know about.

Also ask who might have tried to take this information. They are the people who would be gunning for us.

>>18620772

A final question for the doc. How likely is it that one of these things has been successfully created?... If there's even one, this could turn into a Terminator sequel real fast.

>>18620800
>>18620801

"The minutia needed for proper full-body control was beyond any of us at the time the project was terminated. You have a brainstem interface port that uses the same technology. From what you have shown me a full-body structure is now viable, and it would require only the resources of a corporation like ReGene to accomplish."

"If a hybrid *has* been successfully created, it will have required the work of an extremely talented expert who has a strong familiarity with the hardware components of your brainstem interface port."

Yeah, I think to myself. I know an expert on hardware. Wendy had the disk, she was on the run from those guns, that's what Laudine told me. Wendy had the disk and they got it back from her and she ran to me. Led them to me. A part of my brain is flattered that she thought I could handle them. If I hadn't still been riding my last adrenomax cycle...

But she had the disk. She couldn't decrypt it but she had the plans for these hybrids. What did Laudine say?

'"But of course it was useless to her alone. After all, she deals with hardware, not software. She's the other side of your coin, isn't she, Jack? Or at least she was."'


What now?

>>18620956
>only the resources of a corporation like ReGene
So ReGene is a "small" corp?

At any rate, I guess we have to go track down Wendy.

But before that, how about that reflex upgrade? We need something for the firefight that will happen next.

overflow sounds fun, but I don't see anyone else asking for it.

>>18620956

Well, the good news is these won't be mass-production jobs. The bad news is, Wendy just got a lot more important. Feelings aside, letting her loose is a bad idea.

The worse news is that this is some transhuman immortality shit, or the gateway to it. And we just gave Laudine a copy.

We're gonna need those reflex upgrades.

>>18621029

All I have to my name is thirty thousand virtual Eastern Canada dollars. Hope it's enough.

"Say, doc, while we're here..."

Roll a d12 and link to this post, please!

rolled 5 = 5

>>18621076

FORT SAVE DON'T FAIL ME NOW

rolled 4 = 4

>>18621076
upgradan!

>>18621102
>>18621112

whelp, looks like death by botched surgery for us. At least make it gruesome! Or please don't kill us ogod

>>18621102

"Breathe deeply."

The mask is plastic, cracked, ancient lotek from before I was born. The gas smells like it's been canned for years. Acrid mist burns my nostrils, and then -

Nothing.

For a thousand years I float, hearing Laudine or Wendy or Yuji's voice once or twice. Beyond the beyond I pass, until time has no meaning.

Then the smoke clears.

"How do you feel?"

I sit up, groggy, chilled from the air in here. My muscles feel stiff and sore like I've been laying unmoving for a month. There's a slight feedback coming from the port on my brainstem but it's already fading by the time I come to.

"I'm fine."

"Time to dive back in. I'm going to finish this once and for all."

I have to be up early tommorrow, I oughta strangle you for taunting me so. Then again, this is fun.

Good night and good luck.

>>18621238
Once and for all? We don't even know what to do next.

Come to think of it, if these assholes hadn't been shooting us to get the disk back and just asked nicely, WE COULD HAVE GIVEN THEM THE DISK AND THAT'S THAT

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=lego%20quest

OK, that's a wrap! I hope everyone had fun tonight! All the past episodes are archived on suptg.

Tomorrow is the last episode where it all comes together (or falls apart...)

I meant to do this a couple of days ago, but a big thank-you credit goes to brickboy518 for the designs of the desk and computer monitor, and to Bryankim1942 for showing me how to make an awesome piano!

http://www.youtube.com/user/brickboys518
http://www.youtube.com/user/Bryankim1942

So, what are the guesses as to who the hybrid is?

Is it Wendy, the lost love who gave us her secrets?
Is it Laudine, the inhuman beauty with more pull than a star?
Is it Yuji, the fisherman trying to hook us in all the time?

Problems, problems everywhere.

if the dock hadn't just worked on us i would guess we are the hybrid

>>18622260
>if the dock hadn't just worked on us i would guess we are the hybrid

Hahaha

OK THIS IS IT

THE FINAL EPISODE OF BLOCKOUT STARTS AT 19:00 4CHAN TIME (that's 7:00 pm Eastern Standard Time).

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE