The Art of Decoding (2.0)

An edited version of my original "Art of Decoding" deck.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

(Flavor Text)

Kit had just finished downing another diesel when she saw it. This brilliant, blinding light lay before her. She reached out and grasped it. A perfect fit. She could feel its warmth coursing throughout her entire rig as she installed it. Her small cyber-cypher program had gotten her far enough, having broken a puny Ice Wall and prevented Weyland's bid for the Government Contracts from succeeding, but this was what she really needed for her rig; a torch to guide her to victory.

She wielded it like a master - scorching through even the thickest knots of data. No single piece of ICE could stop her.

She felt her confidence soaring as she ran straight towards Weyland's newest project; great advancements were being made on whatever it was, and she had to put a stop to it. She readied her torch, cutting through a shadow for the cost of two measly credits. No problem.

Suddenly, a new piece of ICE reared its ugly head - er, rather, heads. It looked like something out of mythology - a lion, with the head of a goat rising from its back, and a vigilant, hungry serpent in place of its tail. It was truly something to be feared. She looked to her torch only to see its glow fading. Not even her winged Pegasus could save her from this beast. The lion head roared at her, throwing her back and jacking her out of the server. She could only watch in horror as the Project Atlas went through, not only achieving but actually surpassing its goals, and Weyland's victory came that much closer to becoming reality.

She couldn't let this happen again, and she needed a plan. She traveled to Levy University to visit her colleague and associate - the man known only as "The Professor." He gave her the names of a few of his own contacts - people who helped his projects go through.

Kit went through the list he gave her, gaining the funding she needed so she could focus on designing new projects without having to worry about credits. Finally, she came upon an idea for something that could put an end to her problems. It wasn't even that complex of a program - it just took up a huge amount of memory. She modeled it after one of her peers, an artist who loved to tinker. She called it "The Paintbrush."

Her new weapon was ready - and just in time. Weyland had just started some new project in the same heavily-protected remote server. Kit knew that now was her time to strike. Her new weapon only had one flaw - the ICE she was going to "paint" needed to be rezzed already. She had options - she knew that Mr. Santiago still owed her a favor, and he was great at causing havoc inside of corporations, forcing them to prematurely rez their ICE. But in this case, she had a more direct route - plow straight into the ICE.

She ran the server, swiftly dissipating Weyland's Shadow with the light of her Torch. She knew what was coming next. Like it was Déjà Vu, the lion's head gave out a mighty roar, sending Kit sprawling out of the server again, but this time she was ready. She saw how weak the creature truly was, and she struck it with her paintbrush. It couldn't hide from the light of her torch now.

Once again she set off for the remote server. Her torch flickered to life yet again, and burned its way straight through the shadow. The "mighty" chimera was next. It cowered in fear, knowing what lay ahead in its future. She lit up her torch. Flames roared in front of her. Suddenly, the creature was gone.

All that remained was to reach the core of the server. The data seemed so close, and she could feel the power emanating from it. It must have been something important, maybe even worth as much as the government contracts bid she had stopped earlier. A blurry image flickered in front of her for a moment, and then it suddenly came into focus. All she saw was what appeared to be a woman's face. A second later Kit realized just what she was accessing, but it was too late.

The warmth of the torch faded from her grip, and her pegasus left her side. She was then alone, holding only her new Paintbrush. Darkness, like a shadow, surrounded her.