Nora snuck silently through the building until she spotted the other vigilante. Was he… hacking? It certainly looked like he had the tools for it. Slipping behind a pillar, she peeked out. He was hacking. And humming. What kind of program was this? It was almost as if he didn't care.
Still hidden behind the pillar, she said, "I thought you were one of the good guys."
Cor froze when he heard the voice, his humming dying off quickly. It took a moment before he actually recognized who it belonged to. “Depends on your definition of “good guys”, sweet cubes.” he started plainly with a roguish smile. “I mean, I don't derezz programs for fun, I never mess with someone else's disc, and I know I’m nowhere near as bad as the bastard Clu… Or those members of the Iris gang.” he pointed out as he quickly finished his job and putting his tools away.
"And yet you hack." Nora raised her eyebrows, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Clu hacked. The Black Guard hacked. The Iris gang hacks. And don't call me 'sweet cubes'."
“Maybe…” Cor admitted with a small sigh, feeling a little uncomfortable at the reminder. “Personally, I don't have much issue with the Black Guard. I’m not a fan of them either but I don't completely blame them for what happened. Just their lack of motivation to actually help the Grid now that the puppet master is gone.” he responded, growling faintly in annoyance. “But I don't hack other programs. All I do is get information. Sometimes for others… and yes, I get paid for it.”
"Paid?" Now she was curious, and slightly jaded. Vigilantes weren't supposed to be rogues for hire. They were supposed to be harbingers of good, protectors of the streets, all of their own will. Not paid.
She'd keep him talking, gather some information, she decided.
"Paid by whom?"
(Also I'm finding it hilariously ironic that they're discussing hacking when the entire focus of the original movie was hacking 😆)
(I was actually just about to bring that up 😆… I'm still going to do it.)
“Sorry, sweet cubes. I don't discuss my clients.” Cor smirked. “Besides… You left out a name when you listed other hackers. Let me ask you this; if a program is more or less an echo of their User… Then where do you think Clu gained the knowledge on how to hack?” he asked knowingly. It may not have been very common knowledge but he thought it should be.
Nora took a sharp breath. How could she have not considered that? Come to think of it, the entire Grid was based off of hacking.
"Flynn was doing it for a good purpose," she said tentatively, though that might not have been true. Flynn's story wasn't one that was talked about much, thanks to Clu's iron-fisted regime, his brainwashing that all Users were corrupt. She had only pieced together what she had heard people tell Castor.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, she barely even noticed he had called her sweet cubes again.
“And who says I’m not?” Cor said smoothly. “You don't know what I was after and I know how to cover my tracks in this field. No one will even know I was here.” he pointed out. He could tell where she was hiding but wasn't sure if he should walk towards her or towards his exit. “Flynn had his reasons and so do I.”
"And how can I be sure about that?" Nora asked. He was very convincing, but she still wasn't sure. She had seen plenty of programs (namely Castor) who were able to talk themselves out of a situation. "Tell me what it is you're doing."
“Now, why would I do that when you don't trust me?” he smiled teasingly as he finally started making his way toward the exit he used. “But if you must know… An anonymous program reached out to me and asked if I would recover this information. I told them that the recovery was the easy part… It's the delivery that’s tricky.” he said, hinting at the fact that he was flexible on whether or not he was going to actually give this data to his client. He always worked with half the payment upfront, the rest at the end.
Nora peeked out from behind her hiding place. He was about to leave. It was now or never.
"Anonymous?" she asked. The vaguest hint of a plan began to form in her mind. "How anonymous?"
Cor smiled at her. “They only know my name because of my reputation. It's best in this line of work to not ask for names but I can find out the guy’s name easily enough.” he told her assuringly. “I do know that the guy doesn't have any connections with the Iris gang or anything like that, so you can relax about that.”
"Your reputation," she said, raising her eyebrows even though she knew he couldn't see her face. "Right."
“Oh, what? Like you're not well known in certain circles?” Cor asked skeptically. Honestly, he didn't know her and he doubted she’d heard about him before the incident with the Iris gang but he attributed that to working slightly different jobs.
"I hardly speak about my double life in public, do I?" She stepped out from behind the pillar and folded her arms. "And I don't take… clients either." There was a definite note of distaste in her voice: she appreciated the guy's good intentions, sure, but how did she know that programs wouldn't use him? Get information that would lead to manipulation? She didn't know. Working alone was riskier, but safer, and she wouldn't have cubes on her hands if she slipped up.
“Of course not.” Cor laughed, shaking his head. “Neither do I. I just meant that others know about you because of what you do and have done. You can't expect me to believe that you've never been seen or interacted with anyone you haven't beat up.” he pointed out. “As to clients, I wouldn't expect you to. I, however, have contacts from during Clu’s reign. I did jobs for them back then, and every once in a while they reach out to me. This current job… the guy probably heard about me through them but might be new to this kind of business.” he offered as an explanation, though he wasn't entirely sure.
Nora frowned. Somehow, she had never considered that others might know about her vigilante work - maybe it was the recluse part of her, the part that refused relationships.
"This kind of business," she echoed, though she was beginning to become tired of their circular conversation; her fists were itching to do something.
And then she heard footsteps. She looked at the other program's feet: no movement. That meant…
"Did you hear voices?"
Nora melted soundlessly back behind her pillar. Guards.
"You're always hearin' voices, Grom."
"This time, I heard 'em, I could swear it!"
"Good cubes, Grom, it's the wind. How many times do I have to tell ya?"
"No, this time it was real!"
"If you're so sure, then we should go up and check," said the second guard skeptically, and there were more footsteps, getting closer.
Cor almost cursed under his breath at the approaching guards and glanced over towards the other vigilante. He didn't mind a little excitement but… it wouldn't sit well if he left her here. As quietly as he could, he darted over to the same pillar she was hiding behind and joined her. He lightly tapped her wrist before making small gestures with his hand. It was similar to sign language but developed by an ISO during the Purge. ‘Not staying. Have a plan. You want out?’
Nora, who could barely discern what he was doing in the darkness, glanced behind her. The footsteps were coming closer. She was out of options; she nodded.
Cor smirked softly at her, for two reasons, and pulled out two orbs that were smaller than a Bit. He clicked the side of them and rolled them on the ground towards the middle of the room. A few seconds after they left his hand, the two orbs started releasing a smokescreen to distract the guards. “This way.” he whispered, grabbing her hand and running with her towards the roof.
(Hi! Sorry I went missing yesterday, I had a big date. 😆)
Nora wrenched her hand out of his but followed him anyway, her heels clicking softly against the glass floor. The guards shouted "Hey!" and tried to run after them, but it was too late, the smokescreen too thick. Her hand inches away from her staff baton, she ran after the other vigilante.
(It's ok. Hope the date went well 😉)
Cor kept his pace, even as she pulled out of his grip. It didn't matter too much to him. He was just trying to help her from getting dragged into something that she had no part in. Once they reached the roof, he turned to her and pulled out a strangely shaped baton. “I know you don't trust me but you're going to have hold on to me.” he explained before smirking slightly. “Unless you have your own way of getting down.”
"One wrong move and I smack the cubes out of you," Nora growled, reluctantly extending a hand, her other still hovering by her hip. Every code in her body was telling her to leave him, to find some other way, but what would she use? Gravity? She didn't have a wing pack with her, and she didn't want to fight the guards and raise even more alarms. Scowling slightly, even though he couldn't see it, she eyed the baton apprehensively. She'd trust him. Just this once.
Cor smirked a little at the threat but nodded, respecting the conditions. “Is that a promise?” he quipped before taking her hand and pulling her close to his side. “Hold on tight. I need both hands to open and steer this thing.” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and gripped the baton. He wasn't going to tell her that it was an experimental model.
Nora sucked in a sharp breath when he touched her. It wasn't like she wasn't the physical type; it was the actual touch that was strange. She hadn't been hugged in what felt like thousands of cycles, although that was what you went through with only a roguish Bit for company.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to relax. Get over yourself. He's trying to rescue you.
Cor let out a slow breath then quickly snapped open the handles of the baton. Before the shape was fully rezzed in, he let himself fall off the edge of the building. The unrestricted plunge didn't last for even a minute, though they passed several floors, when the “hang glider” curved their fall and turned it into a horizontal flight. He had to weave through a couple of other buildings but it was smooth enough.
Nora, who wasn't bothered with heights (a good thing, considering she owned the top of the tallest building on the Grid), nonetheless let out an ear-piercing shriek when they jumped off the roof with no support. She would have kicked him, but at that moment the glider rezzed in and their fall levelled out somewhat. Nora, seething, balled her fists and told herself she should have stayed out of this mess in the first place.
(lands on a lamppost a la Sam Flynn)
Cor was shaking slightly from the adrenaline of the fall… and the amusement of giving the heroine a little scare, if his smirk was anything to go by. “Well, glad that worked out.” he admitted, knowing he wasn't going to earn any points with her. But that didn't bother him. Even if she was as much as a vigilante as he was… It was better if they didn't spend too much time together.
(hadn’t planned on it… But now, I'm tempted 😆)
Nora could barely hear him over the wind, but the message got through. With an inaudible hmph of annoyance, she tried instead to focus on where they were headed, which was towards one of the highways - more specifically, towards one of the lampposts illuminating said highways.
"You're going to hit that," she said flatly, clenching his waist with one arm while she fumbled for her lightcycle baton with her other hand, planning to let go of him once she found it.
(I couldn't resist)
“What was that, sweet cubes?” he asked, speaking a little louder so he could be heard clearly. Cor glanced at her for a second before he saw the lamppost. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed, harshly pulling up on the handles and gaining just enough altitude to avoid the post.