bakerstreet | The Cyberpunk AU Meme

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The Cyberpunk AU Meme

The Cyberpunk AU Meme 3.0 [OPEN BETA]

Welcome to the future. Please abandon all hopes and dreams after this point, for the very definition of the term cyberpunk is "high tech, low life". The idea behind cyberpunk comes from the thought that as technology advances, so broadens the gap between social status, where becoming middle class is an achievement and anyone wanting to become anything higher suffers from pipe dreams. This life is pain, where the only person you can really trust is yourself.

These are worlds defined by poverty or absolute control, where the net is your only escape from the troubles of the world. Cyborgs, meta-humans, AI, and corporations with undisputed power are what's being served out here. Do you have what it takes to survive?

To get started, you can create a scenario for yourself, or merely go to the Random Number Generator and choose a pre-made one for you and your partner, or you can even leave your comment blank and let respondents pick.

Possible roles
>The office drone: You're no one special. Day in and day out, you punch into work. You're unaware, or at least uncaring, of how shitty life around you is because at least the fistful of dollars you get keeps you from being on the streets.
>Deprogrammed: Similar to above, but a set of circumstances has made you realize just how blind you are. You don't have the savvy others may have but you have the determination to see your goals out until the bitter end. Or at least until your enemies make you a better offer.
>The muscle: You have a specific set of skills that are in high demand. Be it assassin or head-basher, you're rarely out of a job.
>Tech support: You have a way with computers that would make ABC agencies cry. Big people rely on you while even bigger ones are trying to get their hands on you.
>The talking head: Your district, your city, or your country knows you well. You're the face of propaganda, and boy, can you weave it! You're kept comfortable by the masters that feed you, though the days may be difficult as you see more and more injustices enacted.
>The Street tough: You're the lowest of the low. Life has given up on you, though you keep fighting on. You're the dealer, the gangster, the informant, the thief, and more. You know all the short cuts and the best ways to cause a stir.
>The fish out of water: Through experimentation, creation, or other factors, you've found yourself in this brave new world with no support to lean on. You need to understand the way things are if you're to survive long.
>The Hard-luck hero: Can be any of the above, though circumstance or sheer force of will has kept you from straying away from doing what's right.
>The Antagonist: Board member of a mega-corporation? G-Man with the need to stay in Power? Religious fanatic with an extremist bent? The background matters not. What does matter is that if you aren't the problem, you certainly benefit from perpetuating it.

There are so many more possible roles, so don't let this list limit you! If you think it could fit, play it out!

Prompts
>Deep Throat: One (or both) of you have managed to stumble across information that could change the way the world around you works. This could make or break the two of you, if you know how to handle the consequences of your following actions.

>The Hook Up: In the real world, people wouldn't waste their spit on scum like you. But in the net? You're a god, peddling information and resources better than Wal-Mart. Just be careful who you talk to. Not everyone thinks what you do is a good thing.

>Take a Stand:The corporations, the government, the gangs, the machines. It doesn't matter who it is, but you're tired of their interference in your life. Are the two of you ready to take them on?

>Thorns In My Side: You're the king or queen of your private enterprise. You have it all: A private army, AIs capable of placating the masses, connections even better than the government, and a demeanor that could charm Satan himself. However, there's still that little nuisance known as the underdog, and they're knocking at your door.

>What You Need is a Gramme...: You just got that newest drug shipment in, and it promises to be the biggest trip in your life. It promises to make you stronger, faster, smarter, and sexier, all in one hit. The only thing left is to try it.

>The Patchwork Man: People are disappearing, and no one seems to notice or care, except you and your partner. The only thing? They're also your worst enemy.

>Escape From...: You've just been kidnapped, and unfortunately, your partner's the kidnapper. What's their motive? Can you escape?

>Voight-Kampff: Your job is to track down and 'retire' human-like bioengineered androids who have gone rogue. Sounds simple enough, right? Not when your targets are as intelligent as any human, or more. Not only that, they are stronger, almost indistinguishable from humans in appearance. So much so it's possible one could be one and not realize it...

>Be More Human: You're a cop, a gumshoe or someone else dealing with law enforcement, a dangerous job to do alone. Good thing you have a partner, right? Only one problem, they're an android. Robots who can think and feel are a thing now, and what's more, some are starting to think they should have all the rights humans have. Whether you agree or not, you two are stuck together.

>FUCK Society: As the internet grows more advanced, so does inter-connectivity to the point whole cities are now monitored by powerful operating systems that govern all aspects of city life. You are a hacker that is out to fight the megacorps, while seeking revenge against the criminal element.

>Wildcard: What it says on the tin.

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[Rogue hacker or sheltered rich politician's son who has gotten into something over his head.]

[Brilliant AI programmer with a fixation on Abrahamic lore. Can God or the Devil be manifested in a computer program? Faust's gonna try and find out.]

[Rogue programmer terrifying the mega-corps and criminals who make the mistake of crossing him.]

[ maybe a sought after assassin/bounty hunter or just one of many sick of poverty and wants to bring the regime down to level. ]

[ big name developper/inventor. maybe an elusive hacker? cyborg assassin? idk i love it all. ]

Edited 2018-03-06 19:18 (UTC)

[A brilliant, ballsy hacker with a body count. She’s got a regime topple and an escape from a shady conspiracy under her belt already and she’s just getting started. She aims to topple the old system and be on top the next time around]

[ Programmer, engineer, greyhat, and father to the Grid and its megalomaniac sysadmin, Clu- who emerged victorious in this post-Legacy AU. Or maybe we can roll with an Uprising AU, I'm hella easy. ]

Edited 2018-03-06 20:41 (UTC)

[Rule One: do not say the name Kevin Flynn out loud.]

[Everyone knows this. The man was a computing legends in the 80s, a Renaissance man to surpass them all. Until he disappeared. Until the sky ripped open and Clu’s forces besieged the real world. Until society- the real world- buckled under the assault. Until it broke. Until it was rebuilt. Perfected. Now that name is never spoken for fear of the wrong party hearing it. The people who defy that rule don’t tend to live long.]

[Aiden Pearce broke that rule once. It cost him the life of his niece. Now he haunts the underbelly of society, hunting down the ones responsible. (But he knows whose hand signed the order. He knows where this has to end.) Of all the things he expected, he never expected this: Kevin Flynn is real. And he’s still alive in the world he inadvertently helped create. Aiden scowls at him from under his ballcap.]

You’re a long way from the boardroom, old man.

[ The street tough, but not exactly the best. He's good at getting information and working on your tech for a more "reasonable" price, mostly.

But okay he probably peddles some drugs for money 'cause he's broke. ]

Edited 2018-03-06 20:44 (UTC)

[ota!]

[VA-11 Hall-A isn't much to write home about. The beer's adequate at best, and the bartender's kind of plain, and the regulars are all a bunch of weirdos ranging from talking dogs to prostitute synths of dubious ethical standards. Still, if you want to get away from the hustle and grit of an oppressive corporate surveillance state, you're probably out of luck, but this is pretty close.]

[1) son of murdered politicians hiding in the slums as a sex-worker or rebel, 2) fish out of water (human recently defrosted out of cryostasis or replicant)...but pretty much any scenario can be worked into something!]

(( OTA ))

[Great. First day back and they decide to stick him in a car with a robot. That's just fucking great. Anyone else might have complained - loudly - or might have even done something to jeopardise their case. Or made for a shitty passenger asking a thousand and one annoying questions trying to get some sort of reaction from the skinjob.

Tak's an asshole, sure, but not that kind of asshole. He's got nothing against replicants and the kid seems nice and docile enough. Apart from the serious side-eyeing Tak mostly kept to himself, looking out the window and occasionally at his own reflection right up until the car came to a stop. Itching to get out for a smoke, he clambers out quickly and lights one up.]

They paying you extra for babysitting me?

[It’s spitting outside again, nearly dusk, and the city has that familiar hazy feeling. The dim sunset disappears when they pull into the covered parking lot. K doesn’t know what to make of the man who’s his partner for the case. He’s used to working alone, to the loneliness but independency of the blade runner job that having a partner at all makes things so unfamiliar.

He follows when Takeshi exists, and ducks his chin beneath his collar, hands stuffed into the pockets of his long coat.]

No. I’m surprised they’re not paying you extra.

[Because not many would want to work with someone like him. There’s a raise of his eyebrow. He doesn’t know about this man at all, having never received a brief on his partner. He wonders if that sentence is meant to warn him. He watches as Takeshi takes a draw from the cigarette, waiting patiently, before they have to continue with the investigation.]

Why? [He glances at K out of the corner of his eye.] You seem like you can take care of yourself. [Two lone wolves sizing each other up, a tin man with soulful, contemplative eyes and a real man who looks dead on the inside. Someone higher up the chain must be having a laugh at their bizarre courtship ritual.]

You look like you wanna be the good cop. [Translation: Let Tak be the bad cop because he's really shit at being the good cop.] Or do you just wanna go up there and shoot everybody?

[His eyes narrow ever so slightly, not in criticism, but in thought, before he gives a tilt of his head.] Because not everyone wants to work with my kind. I thought there would be compensation. [There’s no regret in his words. He knows his place.]

[He just looks up at the rundown building that seems like it might crumble if they didn’t tread lightly.] I prefer not to cause unnecessary casualties. [What’s good cop bad cop even mean in this anyway. He's intrinsically optimistic, kind of has to be to survive in a place like this.] Do you think we could get away with not causing any?

Your kind. [Good to know. Maybe he'll ask next time.] Listen, buddy, there's only two kinds. You and I are mostly the same kind? And then there's women. [And those are pearls of wisdom that would need a whole pack of smokes to get through, so Takeshi will just leave today's life lesson at that.

Good cop's the kind that's talking about unnecessary casualties. Bad cop's the kind that gets smacked on the nose by a roll of newspaper after the building's collapsed killing everyone inside. Do try and keep up.]

Mmm. How about I run in with my gun still holstered, and if they shoot at me we'll decide then? ['Sarchasm'. It's an art.]

[ Well at least one of them thinks that way, and maybe that’s the real reason Takeshi’s not getting paid extra. The department’s known to take advantage of what it can. To K, the divide between man and woman is much less than replicant and human, but he takes the comment in stride.

There’s just a small smile on his face, masking wry for earnest, as if there’s a whole other joke to it in his mind. ]

Sounds like a plan. [ Right into the sarchasm.] Shall we go then? [ If he’s done smoking, that is. K can wait. ]

[Wow. K looks serious about it too. That just makes Tak laugh before he flicks what's left of his cigarette away and rubs his face tiredly. He wouldn't put his life in anyone else's hands - and that's nothing personal - but he's confident enough to go in unarmed.]

You got my back right? 'cause if I go down you gotta bring my body back and explain that to the boss lady, tell her I love her and all that. [One day, K, we'll get you updated with Sense of Humour 2.1 and Idle Banter 1.0 (beta). There may be hope for you yet.]

Yeah. Any other last words? [ At this point, he’s humouring Takeshi, playing along to the small talk that feels foreign in his work. The baseline does include some humour, at least, enough for K to be able to give a dry smile as he reaches into the spinner and releases the pilotfish. The drone lifts up from the top of the vehicle and hovers overtop, recording, surveilling. ]

I thought you just get a new one. [ He doesn’t know too much about that other kind of existence. All he knows is that this body is all he’s given. For them, their kind, once it’s over, it’s all over.

K’s footsteps are light as they approach the structure and it’s hard to imagine that anything goes on in there at all. But boss lady sent them here, and K does nothing better than to follow orders. They stick close to the crumbling concrete walls.]

I could think of a few, but I won't get you into trouble. [He's got a few nice f and c words for the boss lady and a few of their other colleagues. They can talk about it over a drink afterwards. If there's going to be a drink afterwards. There should be several drinks afterwards.]

Well it's not like changing a shirt. [He's vaguely aware that K doesn't know what needlecasting or resleeving is like, but it's hard to explain. The first time when he was a boy was awfully traumatic. But then, everything about this world is fairly traumatic.]

What's wrong with this body? You don't like it? [Tak actually... doesn't. Well, he thought it'd get better. He'd take some time getting used to this and then it wouldn't bother him anymore. It hasn't quite worked out that way so far.

Before the drone has finished surveying the place and can give them a sitrep, Tak's already kicked the door in and started up the stairs. A few bits of clutter on the side of the stairs fleetingly catch his attention as he ascends, but clearly he's looking for something and prefers relying on his intuition than a drone's analytics.]

Someone's been here recently. I'm going up.

[ K just gives a smile at that. It's not his place to ask why it would get him into trouble, but he knows enough about what most think of his madam. He gets it, but wouldn't mind a few drinks afterwards either.]

No, it's fine, good as any. [ Not that his opinion on Takeshi's body even really matters. He wants to ask more about it more out of misplaced curiosity than anything. Even though he doesn't know much about the processes of getting a new body, K is familiar with the feeling of not owning a body. He knows he's manufactured, as is his consciousness, and that's a whole other level of confusion in itself.

He follows when Takeshi kicks the door down, and he can see traces of disturbances in the dust settled in the corridor. ]

Alright. I got your back.

[ Calm, collected, but alert. K still doesn't know much about this case, or what they're looking for here. At least it seems that Takeshi does. There's that familiar feeling of knowing he has no choice but to follow, and he's not so disillusioned to think that he should. He lets the door swing closed behind them as the dust settles. They leave footsteps in their wake but he figures it doesn't matter.

His gun is drawn and held at his side as he takes the steps at the same pace Takeshi does. He glances into the rooms leading off the landings of the stairs. Most of the wood of the doors are disintegrated. They go up flight after flight, until he catches movement at the corner of his eye. K stops in his tracks, still, like a predator stalking prey, and takes slow, quiet steps into a side room. ]

[Mindful not to touch anything, he takes the stairs two steps at a time. His eyes dart around looking for any signs of life and for a moment he considers peeling off and following K. It's a split second decision he decides not to make and he continues up, effectively splitting up with his new synthetic friend. They were both used to doing this alone anyway. Don't worry K, Tak will come back down when he hears gunshots and/or screaming.

At the top floor his hand goes for his gun out of instinct, but he keeps his fingers wrapped around the grip and doesn't pull it out just yet. He walks slowly towards a closed, half-rotten door and lets himself into what looks like a recently abandoned dwelling, nudging at the old fraying couch with the tip of his shoe.]

[ K wasn’t all that worried when Takeshi didn’t stop. He heard the other’s light footsteps continue up the stairs and he gripped his gun tight to side, slowly entering the room. The lights from the street filtered in through a crack in the dusty window in the corner, and he caught the movement again. Something small. K narrowed his eyes, turning to it to try and get a glimpse.

It dashed into the corner, behind a plank of splintering plywood that possibly used to plank up the window. K slowly lifted it.

Large, glassy green eyes stared up at him, wide with fear but hateful. A child, a girl… barely a teenager. K stared as she quivered, trying to shield herself away. ]

It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. [ A lie. ]

[The couch had seen much better days. The stovetop was still warm. One old book on the floor, two used glasses in the sink. The broken glass windows allowed fresh(ish) air to push out the otherwise stale feeling of everything in the living space.

Before he finished assessing everything he could see Tak turned towards the sound of scratching on the floorboards. His bewilderment at seeing what couldn't have been a real cat meant that the guy approaching silently from behind him with a knife caught him offguard.

They landed clumsily and loudly on the floor and furniture got broken in the ensuing shitshow of a scuffle. The ruckus could be heard from downstairs, even if it sounded muffled and distant.]

[The thud from above and the resulting smashing sounds echoed down the staircase and resounded through the floors, causing fallout from the ceiling to drift down from the ceiling. K looked up in concern then back at the child who squeezed her eyes shut and quivered, wrapping thin arms around her head.

A split-second decision and K reached out to tug at one of those thin arms as the girl whimpered, before cuffing her to the rusty water pipe near the wall she sat against. He made his way up the stairs taking two steps at a time with his weapon drawn. A man was caught in a tangle with Takeshi and K reached out to pull the man back in a chokehold, barely catching the hand that tried to drive a knife into his side.]

Who are you?

[ The most generic of questions, ground out as the man kicked him in the shins and K gave a quiet grunt. ]

( definitely trying to take over the net or something For The People )

[He works best as some kind of muscle or leader. How high up the rank you want to go with this is open game. Is he a gritty cop or independent contractor/detective down at street level where the only sun that ever shines is neon and its always three in the morning, just trying to make a difference? Is he 'pure', born into a yakuza family that controls this section of the city, in charge of everything from shipments to protection rackets, either down at street level or high high up in the glass towers where the city is less neon and more man-made stars? I'm also open to any other ideas as well and don't mind going dark with this one. Open to canon and cross canon.]

( Genetic experiment (possibly hiding as a normal human), system administrator AI... or an AI being corrupted. Or anything else! I'm up for just about anything, if there's a scenario you have in mind, just let me know! )

[ all around grease monkey with a passion for going against authority probably. most likely something like a former heir to a big corporation or... something. now the family disappointment! ]

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The Cyberpunk AU Meme

donald "duck" teddington / mute

morgan yu ( prey )

Abel | Starfighter

Faust | Doctor Faustus

Aiden Pearce | watch_dogs

Thor Odinson | MCU

T'Challa | MCU

Sombra | Overwatch | OtA

Kevin Flynn | Tron AU | OTA

Take a Stand

charlie kenton ( REAL STEEL ) ota

jason todd } dc comics

Jill | VA-11 Hall-A

Shigure | Fire Emblem: Fates

KD6-3.7 / BLADE RUNNER 2049

be more human

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

ling yao | fma

Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane | VLD

Lucifer | Granblue Fantasy

jade harley | homestuck