It was cold as death today, which was a pain in the ass. If it wasn't one thing, it was another with this earth, and today, it was the frosty winds ripping through town, howling at its residents, threatening them not to go outside. And so she hadn't. All her usual meetups had been digital recently, which was fine. Not ideal, they couldn't scope out any real cuties online, but it was still preferable to the nasty cold. She had friends whose faces would probably freeze if they went outside with as much makeup as they usually wore. Funny as it'd be, nobody really wanted to see that. Karako too, couldn't think of a good excuse to brave the barren winds and freeze her ass off.

Their squad leader had something different in mind, though. Something about "Let's all get breakfast together" or some other friendly stuff. Cold-ass winds, mornings, what a miserable state Karako was about to put herself in... But it sounded fun, and that was all that mattered. It had been a while since they'd all gotten together after all. There hadn't been much work lately for whatever reason, though she wasn't about to complain about something like that. So instead of signing on and shooting the breeze with Miki like she had done for the last couple of days, it was a group outing with the troops, which promised to be pretty fun even if the weather turned out miserable. And, as promised, it had been fun. They had an oddball group, Karako herself not excepted by any means, which meant it was almost interesting to be with them. Though work was never that far away when everyone got together like this, and today looked like no exception. After radio silence for virtually two whole days, apparently now was the best time for some BS script kiddie to launch some attacks, let out some viruses, or whatever. What a dumb twist to a promising day.

Well, it wasn't like she hated work, either. They dove into a net cafe, rented a private room, and shifted into their 'work' personas. Karako took on the mantle of 'Cypher,' intrepid swordswoman-type hero gal. Not that she was much different in this form anyway. A lot of their compatriots changed drastically as they shifted to their avatars, but not her. Just a japanse girl with a big sword, same as in RL. But this was more fun. Here, she was faster, and actually had something to fight - more than just raucous young gangster wannabes trying to get fresh, anyhow. The other caveat to work being that sometimes they had to listen to some goon in a suit spout off about orders and such, like today. It was a pain to not get any details about a job before connecting, but it was even more of a pain to have to listen to these sorts of things in 'person,' or a facsimile of it. She tolerated it, because it was literally her job, but it was never fun, or interesting.

But reality had an interesting sense of humor, as it always does. Just as she was thinking how boring this was, she was shocked to see some kind of nasty interference-type bug rip apart the goon standing in front of them. She didn't have time to register any sort of mild shock before Crystal stepped in to brief them instead. Mad respect, since it wasn't like she'd know much more about the job that any of them did. But she liked to make sure situations were under control, and was good at handling them. For Cypher, it was simple. Find the bug, slice it up until it doesn't exist anymore. And if she found any hackers, the same held true. No mercy for enemies of the state. Other folks in the group were good at thinking, like Crystal, but that wasn't for Cypher. Whenever she tried, it always seemed to make things more complicated, so she'd stopped, in a professional capacity. She could adapt with the best of them, but planning was left to somebody who liked that sort of thing.

As though there was some kind of curse going around, she suddenly started feeling like crap. Was it the same bug that had ripped open that goon before? This seemed to be coming from outside. All sound and static, insistently pressing Cypher and the group down into the floor. She didn't sense any enemies, but if anybody came upon them in this state... it was a chilling thought. As she was forced to the ground, she was yelling something unheard about needing to become stronger. A generic line, even for her. Good thing nobody heard it. That was her last, self-deprecating thought, before all she saw was darkness.

When she 'woke up,' it was like she'd been transported into some new world she'd never seen before. Which was basically what had happened, probably. She was in some kind of fancy new netspace, an area totally unfamiliar to her, though not entirely unpleasant. Cypher was just happy she didn't end up in some net dumpster somewhere. It seemed like this place was... like... a palace? Or something? Elaborate architecture was everywhere. Somebody'd crafted this place with some care, but why? It looked like it was empty except for their group. And as she looked around, it was clear that 'group' was a bit of a rich term. It seemed like it was just her and Apex? [i]Well, if I gotta stick with somebody, I guess I could do worse.[/i] Apex was rational, and he was strong. Together they would start a new society and reign as the king and queen of desolate nowhere-land!

...Of course, that wasn't even cool as a fantasy. She wouldn't want to be stuck here even if it meant she was royalty. What was even the point? Damn.

Like any lonely nature-type place, Cypher was not a fan of this area. It felt nice to be here, but Cypher was warped and twisted, shaped by the whims of inner city life. She couldn't get used to the lack of people around her. Where were the shops? It wasn't the first time they'd been isolated for work or anything, but this felt just a little different. Was it some hacker screwing with them? If that was the case, would that huge building be their base? It wasn't super smart, transporting a bunch of Correctors to your own base, if that was the case... which made Cypher think it was something different. It didn't make sense unless this was a place that a hacker might want them to be. Were there no firewalls here or something?

Looking at Apex, who was probably also collecting himself, she spoke up. "Looks like it's just us... Feel free to do most of the thinking for us, kay? Only thing I've got is that big fella up there. If the rest of the group's around... I gotta think that's where they're headed, right?" It wasn't like there was much else out here. Grasping for the hilt of her sword, she shifted slightly on her feet to a posture more suited for quick movement. If she had her sword, it made sense to anticipate some combat. And if she was anticipating combat, it made sense to think about an ambush. She she made herself ready for an ambush. Cypher was a front-line fighter, so she had to worry about things like that, even if she didn't want to, or wasn't good at it. As long as she was combat-ready, it didn't matter what situation they'd gotten themselves into. They would get out alive, even with just the two of them.