Expected Scene.

"'Round every corner, there's a bullet comin' at your head."

Velvet recalled Amber's voice. A moment's gripe among bruised cheeks and bloodied clothes, that she'd carried with her since.

She remembered replying with silence. Perhaps she swore to prove her wrong. Perhaps she feared she was right.

Chicago Hypernet, Layer 03; 01:45 AM

The crimson lattice stretched endlessly beneath a sky of blue scanlines, across vast flats of black squares. Neon towers rimmed the basin, firing golden lasers to the endless sky.

It was a beautiful place, in Velvet's eyes. Despite its danger, she regularly visited Layer 03 of [[The Hypernet|the Hypernet]], keeping tabs on everyone who was someone. Each descent took her closer to bare metal, brushing up against daemons, wardens, and sometimes even her fellow netdivers. There was small comfort in knowing others drifted among humanity's inner universe.

Lined with traces of magenta neon, her homebrewed combat skin made her agile and fast. A blocky orange blaster rifle - also homebrewed - occupied her sweaty grip. She'd just *drezzed* a squad of sentinels at a checkpoint, and their warden would be hot on her tail.

She was flying. Felt like it, anyways. Surrounding objects and incoming packets turned into an ever-shifting blur. Her boots left fuschia sparks as she surfed across the circuit, like a rollerblader grinding a rail. Times like these, she never felt more alive.

The mountains and towers rimming the flats shifted to and fro. Amateur divers often got confused, thought they'd veered off course to the uplink to Layer 02. Most ended up in the Black Hole.

*No way would she die on the Net.* She told that to herself, again and again and again and again.

Finally, her scripts materialized a golden thread, like neon piano wire shooting off for the horizon. With scarcely seconds to spare, she took hold, and was off.

---

Eastside, Level B; Morning

> [!important] Author's Notes

> I am renaming "Dutchko" to just "Dutch". Call it a nickname. I was literally watching *Black Lagoon* when I rebooted this AP, so I unthinkingly copied part of his char. > > \- Axi, 2025-06-22

Altered Scene.

Last night's dinner was a dumpster-dive special. So when Amber heard Dutch needed extra iron for a fifty, she made damn sure to show up.

They met in a sort of courtyard within the maze of underground corridors. Grimy light shone through rusted grates above, giving the space the slightest sense of warmth. Awaiting her were Dutch himself, and two handsome guys, one with a nanoblade at his throat. Their "VIP", most-like.

Dutch welcomed her, cracked a smile. Amber found herself too hungry to return the favor.

"Gimme some cred, man. Need to nab a protein-pak," Amber said, summoning a hexagonal plate in hyperreality.

Dutch didn't budge. Tried to play it smooth, yank her along. Amber didn't like that.

"I'm fuckin' hungry, Dutch. Gimme the cred."

"Ahh, I'll pay ya back tomorrow," said Dutch, acting impervious. Amber really didn't like that.

Tapping into her ursine genes, she grabbed Dutch's collar and wrenched him down eye-to-visor. Ragged rage seethed out between sharpened teeth.

"You said that *last* time I helped your sorry ass. You tellin' me you go to titty-bars broke?"

"How the fuck do you know that?", Dutch growled.

Amber let him go, swirled her finger and snickered. "I got eyes in the sky, *muchacho*. Toldja before how Velve keeps tabs."

"Yeh. 'Cuz of your trust issues", he muttered.

"Trust ain't got nothin' to do with it. I'm just facin' the reality 'a the situation. When you're hoppin' off a sinkin' ship, drowning in the lake, even your best friend goes nuts and climbs on yer back. All for that extra second of air."

> [!check] Amber Lu

> **Streetwise:** 9 - *Success*

"Lemme break it down. You're gonna gimme a hunnert," she said, "Nah, *two-hunnert*, just to show up and poke iron at Casnova here. And if ya pay for lunch, I'll tell you a secret. How's about, Cyclops?"

Miniature fireworks - figments of hyperreality - cemented Amber's victory in their spar. With a heavy groan, Dutch forked over a stack of cryptos. "Man... Fine. I'll get you something nice."

> [!inventory] Inventory: Amber Lu

> ++ 200◈ Cryptos

> [[Hyper-Reality - Session 010|Session 010]] | *We have come to terms. See you, space cowboy.*