drear | i try but i get overwhelmed

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i try but i get overwhelmed

[ Loading money into offshore accounts may not be strictly illegal, but embezzling money from various investors and selling user information certainly is. Noiz wrapped all that information up into a presentation with sources and citations, eye-searingly bright green text, and dropped it off in a drive at the IT office. They'll understand it best.

They'll also have access to the tech itself. Noiz leaves an address he can be contacted at, as long as the message comes through sanitized and untainted, and waits until he gets a text. ]

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[ Noiz just shrugs in response to the entire spiel, partially because he has no answer and partially because he knows it's not helpful. ]

Get ready. Where's your main server room? I need direct admin access.

[ Ready for what? But he's half afraid to ask, so he doesn't, at least not immediately, instead only gestures towards the door where the server's housed. ]

In there. Only thing, you can't miss it.

[ A beat, then: ]

Ready for what?

For this. Our evening rendezvous. Didn't I tell you?

[ With that, Noiz just jerks his head at the doorway and expects Scott to follow. He isn't going to tell him what he's going to mine with the company's servers and networks, but he does need to prepare him for something else. ]

I'm plugging this into the main server. If anyone asks you tell them it's for maintenance until you can get a stable version up because you don't want anyone losing data.

[ 'This' is a hard drive, matte black and utterly unremarkable, that Noiz holds up and waggles like a dog toy. ]

You said you were coming by because you needed physical access, you didn't exactly explain much after that.

[ It's more sarcastic than it probably needs to be, but it's reflex at this point anyway. The kid moves on and Scott follows, as much sick curiosity as because he wants to know the depth of what he's gotten himself into. He keeps his distance but remains close enough to get a good view. ]

While you get a chance to copy whatever it is you want. Great. Can I ask what it is you're looking for?

You can ask.

[ And Noiz won't answer, he'll just flash a look and a smirk at Scott. ]

Why are you asking so many questions? Almost seems like you don't care about defending your employer at all.

I've worked here long enough to know they're not up to anything great. But they give me a paycheck every week and I like the work and I'm pretty sure if I try to bail there's a fifty-fifty chance I'm gonna end up an 'accident'. ...pretty sure whatever you're up to might get me those same odds too, actually.

[ A beat, then a lopsided, wry smile and a shrug. ]

Not that you give a shit. You're just here to take your data and bail. What choice do I have? I'm fucked either way, so what's the point?

[ Noiz doesn't look up again, indeed disinterested in the probability of Scott's survival. If it helps, he's not really interested in his own either. ]

I'm not just taking information. And I'm not bailing, either, so you're not off the hook. [ After the hard drive's indicator lights come on, he checks the status of his set up on his phone quickly before straightening back up to better look Scott in the eye. ]

But you could choose. You could be useful to me.

[ Scott's attention flicks from server to drive to the kid, expression nothing short of skeptical and highly unsure, but he leans against the server tower rack, arms crossing over his chest as he considers both implied offer and the clarification. ]

Of course you're not just taking information. Information's useless in a vacuum.

[ He huffs, a soft, frustrated sound but the idea of choice, even if just the illusion of it, is appealing enough. ]

I thought I was already being useful letting you in tonight. But okay, I'm listening.

[ At least he knows that. Information comes from somewhere and it has to go somewhere, to mean anything. ]

I wrote this so it'll run without any input. [ A short jerk of his head at the drive. ] But it'll work better with maintenance. Generate more profit from the mining. If you're good, I'll give you a cut.

[ So it's not any sort of revenge or even justice, just Noiz, making the most of an opportunity. And though he's offering it to Scott, too, he makes no mention of the other parts—the surveillance parts—that are even less moral. ]

A cut. So you're the middleman. An entrepreneur. I'm not sure if that's better or worse.

[ And it's not really an answer. ]

And you're working for a corporation that defrauds everyone they're supposed to be protecting, so.

[ He tilts his head at Scott, very slightly, eyes narrowed. ]

What's one more crime on your resume?

And by the time I figured that out I was too deep in to do anything about it. I'm not some superspy James Bond Swordfish hacker. I'm just a guy who's decent with computers.

[ He drags fingers through his hair, rubs at the back of his neck. ]

Helping them's a crime. Helping you's a crime, not like I've really got anywhere to go here.

So?

[ Then why not go in the direction where there's more money? ]

Think about it. [ He shrugs slightly, finishing his installation and straightening up. ] I'll even think about cutting you a better deal.

Now you want to make friends.

[ He'll take the offer, because he's not an idiot, but that doesn't mean he's not going to question it along the way. ]

[ Friends, not so much. But people who are mutually beneficial to each other, yeah. Noiz stands with his arms at his sides, not fidgeting or hesitating. ]

Maybe, if you're a good friend. [ But more on that later. Noiz has his things set up and his work cut out for him. ] We'll meet somewhere else next time. Set up an account for payments to go to.

Uh huh. Right.

[ He sounds, and looks, doubtful, but that's okay. Once he's had a couple days to process maybe he'll feel better. Or not. Who the hell knows. ]

Great. You know how to find me, obviously.

[ The uncertainty is only to be expected, but for Noiz bulldozing other people's protests is par for the course. He picks his things up and gives Scott a long, considering look before heading for the exit. ]

Yeah. I do.

[ And because Noiz knows how to find him he sends him an address and time through the same encrypted channel. It's a bar, and a time in the evening. ]

you ready for this date?

[ It's not really a place he would have expected the next meeting, but there's no argument to be made at the moment. Scott finds he'd been hoping for the reply more than he's entirely comfortable admitting to, but then his life's not all that exciting. It's the little things, even if they're likely to get him into a hell of a lot of trouble if he gets found out, and if trouble gets packaged like Noiz...there could probably be worse fates. ]

as ready as I'm going to be. we're not knocking over a bar this time, are we?

[ It's a joke. Please don't make him knock over a bar too. ]

not my type of excitement.

[ Not that he cares about drinking either, but it's all for the sake of convenience. For the transaction.

But the joking around, that's not for business. ]

unless you're paying.

how about I pay and we don't do more crimes at the bar

[ Like it's an actual date. Right. ]

you drive a hard bargain.
how about you pay and we'll see where things go, because i don't make promises i can't keep.

yeah, I can live with that

[ It's a deal. Or a date. Mostly a deal, still, to Noiz, and he's dressed just the same as he usually is when he arrives at the bar right on time. The main difference is that he isn't carrying anything. ]

Hey. [ He tilts his head slightly at the bar. ] Order.

[ Straight to the point as usual. ]

[ Scott dresses up a little, not because he really thinks it's a date, but it's nice to pretend this is actually a normal meet-up. So he takes a seat at the bar next to Noiz, offers a friendly smile, and okay, so the first greeting is a little awkward, but he's heard worse. ]

So we're going that way, okay. Hi, yes sir. Uh, Jack and coke. Please.

[ The bar he'd picked is one out of the way and not trendy enough to attract customers looking for entertainment. That way he can know that most people are here to mind their own business. The drinks are made quickly, and the bartender doesn't try to talk to them.

Noiz leans his elbow on the bar and instead gets down to business—with a question that sounds more like he wants to catch up. ]

Anything going on at work?

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