#cto of the photos

[jilukazyean]

jiluka layouts ❤️

can anyone tell me why the eff this layout wont go next to the others? thanks

[neverstopcapturingmoments]

📷

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 17, Unanswered - Pt. 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, 🤮, really corny made up headlines that I am disproportionally proud of.

Word Count: 1.6k

Previously On...: The night of the gala, you had a heart-to-heart with Steve, and it seems like he understands that there will never be anything more between you than friendship. Bucky's off on a raid, and you're still sick as a dog.

A/N: Cue the sitcom-level misunderstandings and miscommunications! Onward toward shenanigans! Just kidding! It's gonna be angst!

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when I update, please enable notifications from my Blog page!

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Sadly, tag list is closed; Tumblr will not let me add anyone new. If you want to be notified when I update, please Follow me for Notifications!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43

Tumblr will not let me directly tag the following: @marcswife21 @erelierraceala @jupiter-107 @doublejeon @hiqhkey @unaxv @brookeleclerc

As soon as you woke up the next morning, you were in the bathroom, throwing up once again. You were very much over this, thank you. Maybe you should go down to med bay and get checked out. You’d do it if you were still feeling poorly by the end of the day.

You went to the sink to rinse out your mouth and nearly jumped when you caught sight of yourself in the mirror– sleeping in your makeup had not done you any favors, that was obvious now. You looked like a rabid raccoon with the way your mascara had smeared around your eyes and your lipstick had smudged around your mouth. Grumbling to yourself, you hopped into the shower, hoping to wash away all traces of the trash panda that had taken you over down the drain. 

When you finished, you decided you had earned yourself a rest break, so you dressed in your comfiest of loungewear and flopped yourself back down on your bed. Picking  your phone, you checked to see if Bucky had texted you to let you know the raid had been successful, and he was safe once again.

Before you could check your messages, however, you were bombarded by a barrage of Google alerts for your name. When you’d taken on the position of Stark Industries CTO, you’d set up the alert for yourself, wanting to keep an eye on any and all news items that might pertain to you, just in case some nosey reporter decided to go digging for information about your past you’d rather have stayed buried. Thus far, you’d managed to keep yourself out of the spotlight.

All that seemed to have changed overnight. You were met with headline after ridiculous headline, each accompanied by photos of you and Steve, taken without your knowledge, from the night before:

“Love in the Lab? Captain America Spotted Getting Cozy with Stark Industries CTO!”

“Sizzling Speculation: Is Captain America Courting Stark Industries' Chief Techie?”

“Behind the Shield: Captain America's Covert Romance with Stark Industries' Techno Prodigy!”

“Avengers Assemble... for Love? Captain America Linked to Stark Industries' Brainiac!”

The photos themselves were ridiculous; carefully selected snapshots of innocuous moments cropped to look far more scandalous without proper context than they really were. Steve leaning in to speak in your ear with his hand on your elbow; you and Steve dancing; Steve holding you up when you almost fell, which looked a lot like he was about to lean in to kiss you; you and Steve looking cozy in conversation on the sofa; Steve’s hand at the small of your back as he led you out of the banquet room.  Fortunately, because of the full face of makeup you were wearing, you didn’t feel like you looked much like your everyday self, but it was still unmistakably you.

You scanned some of the articles, looking to see what sort of bullshit they’d come up with to sell this absolute garbage.

“‘I can’t say for sure that they were together,’ said one male guest at the gala, who asked to have his name withheld, ‘but there were many, many men who approached her throughout the evening, and she rebuffed every single one of them, except for the Captain!’”

“One of our sources reported that ‘100% without a doubt, Captain Rogers and Ms. (Y/L/N) left the gala together, and Captain Rogers couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of her! Let’s just say they left fairly early, and neither one seemed to find their way back to the party.’ Is it possible the two were engaging in a private celebration all their own?”

“An anonymous source inside Avengers’ Tower told our reporter that ‘Ms. (Y/L/N) has been involved with a certain super soldier for quite some time now. They tried to keep it secret for awhile, but everyone here knows they’re an item, and they are very much in love.’”

“Captain Rogers and Ms. (Y/L/N) were unavailable for comment. Perhaps they’ve yet to emerge from last night’s love nest.”

You tossed your phone onto your bed and let out an annoyed groan. Wonderful. Now you’d have to get a hold of the company’s PR team and spend the rest of the day coming up with a statement refuting the reports to give to the press. Oh well. At least you and Bucky could have a good laugh about it when he got home.

Oh shit– Bucky. There was a small chance he might come across one of these articles, and you wanted to give him a heads up before he had an opportunity to let his insecurities get the better of him and spiral. He had to know how ridiculous the entire situation was.

You picked your phone back up and hit the button to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. Odd, but not completely out of nowhere; he was probably somewhere with shitty service. You began speaking at the beep.

“Hey, baby. I just wanted to give you a heads up– I woke up to a string of garbage headlines implying that Steve and I are together, but I just want to assure you that is absolutely not the case. The entire thing is a fucking nightmare. We were both at the gala, and he kept me company for a little while. We just talked and danced a little bit, and he helped me out when I was feeling dizzy. Still sick, by the way. Threw up again this morning and I— sorry, off topic. Anyway, I did talk to him about his feelings for me, and reminded him that I only see him as a friend, like family. I think he took it well. No tears, at least, and he wasn’t mad. He said he just wants us both to be happy.” You paused for a minute as you considered Steve’s words from the night before. 

“I want us to be happy, too, Buck. I think I’m ready to try again when you get home, if you want. I miss you. Not just because you’re not here right now, but I miss us. I love you too much to waste any more time not being with you.  So, let’s do that, okay? Let’s start over. Stay safe and come back to me, Barnes. I love you.”

You ended the call and decided to text him, too, just to be on the safe side. A call might not be able to go through, but a text might.

>> Hey– just left you a voicemail. There’s a bunch of stories about me and Steve going around the internet that are all complete and total bullshit.

>> Gotta meet with PR to put out a statement. Wanted you to hear it from me before you saw it online or something.

>> I’m so sorry if it stresses you out– it’s stressing *me* out.

>> I hope you know that I would *never* betray you like that. 

>> Be safe, my love. I can’t wait for you to get home. I think I’m ready to try us again if you are.

You sat there, staring at your phone for several long minutes, as though you could will him to respond to you, but the text thread remained dormant. You tried calling him a few more times, but each call went straight to voicemail.

Meanwhile, it seemed like everyone you knew who wasn’t Bucky was trying to get in touch with you to ask you what the fuck was going on– and even more people you didn’t know; reception had left you several harried messages asking how you wanted to field requests for comment from at least two dozen reporters. Wanda was lamenting that she and Vision were away at the shore for the weekend and couldn’t be part of the excitement, and Nat swore that if she wasn’t horrifically hungover, she’d be in your room grilling you for information as you spoke. 

“There’s no information to grill for, Natty,” you assured her. You rubbed your forehead– now, in addition to your nausea and persistent fatigue, you had the pleasure of a pounding headache, as well. “We danced, like, three quarters of a song, I almost passed out, he helped me stay upright, and we talked. I told him there was never going to be anything more between us than friendship, and he walked me to my room so I wouldn’t faint on the way. He left me at my door.”

“What does Barnes think about all of this?” she asked you, and you could hear the smirk in her voice, hangover or not.

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “I tried calling him a hundred times to talk to him about it, but I keep getting sent straight to voicemail.”

“Well, I wouldn’t get too riled up about it,” Nat said. “There’s swaths of areas of Russia that don’t have cell service. Besides,” she added, “you’re not the one that can’t be trusted. If he doesn’t believe you, he’s got a lot of fucking nerve.”

You couldn’t disagree with that. “Yeah,” you sighed, “you’re right. I just wish I could reach him, at least to know he’s safe.”

“Eh, don’t worry about Barnes,” Nat said. “His head’s almost as hard as his arm. He’ll be fine.”

You had to begrudgingly agree to that, though his silence continued to unnerve you. You said your goodbyes to Nat and checked the time on your phone screen. Your meeting with the head of PR was in about fifteen minutes; might as well start heading down now. The sooner you could find a way out of this mess, the better.

<- Previous Chapter / Next Part ->

[jeonwonoow]

Chapter 2. Stalker(?)

warnings: none

taglist: @miraes-world

—

The sound of you clicking on the keys of your keyboard is starting to irritate you. You've been so irritable and short tempered lately, after that day actually. Instead of getting distracted by work from the thoughts of Wonwoo, Wonwoo running through your head is distracting you from work instead.

"Good?" Your kind boss, Myungho, peeks through your office. "You haven't gone out of your office since this morning."

You got up and bowed in slow motion, having zero energy. "Mr. Seo, I'm okay. I'm just busy with the new magazine."

"Come on," Myungho comes in and pushes your laptop close before sitting on your table. You give him an 'excuse me?' look and he just tilted his head. "I'm your boss, I tell you what to do, right? So if I tell you to eat-"

"Myungho," you groan and roll your eyes, only earning a chuckle from him. You end up inside his car anyway, sitting on the passenger's seat while he drives. Myungho was one of the people who tried to help you when you were at your worst after your break up with Wonwoo. You're glad that even though you made it clear to Myungho that it's still so difficult to love again, he stayed, he still does what he does back when he said he was gonna pursue you which you already made him stop doing so because you don't wanna bring up the kind man's hopes when you know yourself that you're still too damaged for it.

He drove to your favorite restaurant, ordered your favorite food, showing just how well he knows you by heart. If you were better now you'd probably choose him but you can't force yourself even if you like to think you're okay. "Thank you, Myungho."

"I really like it when you call me by my name, you know?"

"Hey," you chuckle. "This is why we get into dating allegations." You remember that one day he requested you call him just Myungho already instead of Mr. Seo even if you're inside his building and it became a hot topic among the other employees.

"So?" Myungho laughs softly and takes a sip of his soup. "We're good friends. Let them think whatever the fuck they want."

—

Wonwoo spun a pen on his fingers, his chin rested on his other hand as he thinks about you with that guy earlier eating at your favorite restaurant. He didn't follow you there. It was purely a coincidence. He's not the type. But his curiosity was making him consider it.

"She'd hate me even more, wouldn't she?" His friend, Mingyu, gave him a confused look. "Do you know Hao & Co.?"

"Oh my god, I'm a fan. Sohee loves their jewelries so much too. I'm actually wearing a Hao & Co. leather shoes right now," Mingyu wiggles his feet, excitedly telling Wonwoo about the fashion line. "I've met the CEO once, actually. No, twice. He's really nice."

"How could you say so. You only met him twice," Wonwoo scoffed. Mingyu clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Seo-what?"

"Myungho. Seo Myungho." The younger man fumbled through his phone to find a picture he took with Myungho whom he met just lately at a fashion event. He was even surprised that Myungho remembered him from their first meeting and was actually the first one to approach.

Wonwoo's eyebrows scrunch a bit upon seeing the photo of his friend and Myungho. This was the guy you were out with. And now his closest friend is also fond of this guy. What's with Seo Myungho anyway?

"Also, I might have opened a possible deal with him, actually."

"Without my knowledge? Who are you?"

"CTO," Mingyu fights, stating his position. "It makes sense for a CTO to see opportunities too, sir." The younger man emphasizes the 'sir' and rolls his eyes. "What's your issue with Hao & Co.?"

—

You can't remember where or when, but you were sure you heard about ONETech before. Your eyes lingered on the bold letters as you review documents before passing them to your COO.

"We're going for partnership with OneTECH for the website dev.?!" You ask loudly as soon as you barge into Myungho's office. He even flinched in surprise when your voice boomed through his four corners. "Jeon Wonwoo?"

"Won-who?" Myungho asked back, confused until he realized you were talking about the CEO of ONETech. "Well, I became friends with their CTO and we've been planning to develop a better site since we're getting better. I've also heard good news about ONETech, you know?"

"With my ex. Myungho," you say as if you didn't hear any of what he just said.

"Oh, this Wonwoo was that Wonwoo," he nods then his eyes widen before repeating in shock, "THIS WONWOO WAS THAT WONWOO?!"

—

The day of the first meeting. The world seemed to move in fast forward the moment you walked out of your office to go to the conference room. Myungho was already inside and a few officers were settling down. You bowed a little and then straightened your dress. You then walked to your spot but before you could sit down, people from ONETech came in.

"Good morning, Mr. Jeon," Myungho greets and walks to them, giving Wonwoo a handshake before turning to his new friend, Mingyu.

"Seo Myungho," Wonwoo calls his name with a forced smile on his face. "Nice to meet you." The smile drops when his eyes find you. Not even five seconds, he would look away. You swallow the lump that had formed in your throat.

Wonwoo didn't even know you worked under that guy you were on a date with. He wasn't expecting it. The whole meeting, he tried to focus so much but he could feel you burning holes on his skin with your eyes. He'd already finished the glass of water served for him in his nervousness too.

"I guess we're done for today?" Myungho stands from his seat and fixes his necktie. Everyone follows him and takes a bow. One by one, they bid goodbye. Myungho walks to you and places a hand on your waist which Wonwoo couldn't help but look at. "I'll catch up with Mingyu," he whispers and you give him a small nod while picking up your folder of papers. Myungho doesn't stop there though. He pulls you gently to face him and puts his other hand on your cheek, gives you a smile and inches closer to let the tips of your noses touch. He then leaves with a teasing Mingyu, both of them acting like high schoolers as they walk while bumping against each other's arms...yes, in their corporate attires.

"In front of me, really?" Wonwoo scoffs and walks out of the conference room but before the door closes, your anger issues get the best of you and you throw an empty water bottle at him. Wonwoo slowly turns back to you and leans on the door frame.

"In front of me, really?" You mock him. "Yes, in front of you, you cheating fuck—"

"Hey," he points a finger at you. "Language."

"I don't care," you point back at him. "You planned this, didn't you? You're following me. You should have continued ghosting, you coward."

"Mingyu did this. I didn't even know you worked here. And I see, you have something going on between you and your boss. You were better than this."

"What do you—" your breathing got heavier as your anger pooled up. "I worked hard for my position. I'm not here because of what you think. How could you talk about me like that?" Did he really think you were some opportunistic girl who'd get dirty with your ways to strive through life? "How could you, the worst man I've ever met?"

Wonwoo clenches his jaw, "I don't know how many times someone has to tell you I never cheated on you. You never heard me out. You never believed Soonyoung and Hayoon either."

And you thought he was just gonna turn away again this time. But he went closer to you and grabbed your wrist, pulling you out of the conference room, out of the building, without any word.

"You never proved me wrong." You were starting to tear up. But you knew the type of person Wonwoo was. He wasn't gonna push himself onto something that he felt wasn't for him. He was just gonna wait until the right time came. But to you, after Soonyoung and Hayoon set you up, he felt like there will never be a right time. That no matter what he did, he wasn't going to change anything between you two.

"You never let me try."

"Eh?" Myungho tilts his head. Mingyu squints his eyes too, watching you and Wonwoo storm out of the building.

"Isn't she your girlfriend?" Mingyu asks and Myungho chuckles while waving his hands in front of him in a 'no' motion.

[robbiemd]

I captioned this photo “Mumog muna from trabaho and sama ng pakiramdam” on my IG story since the past few days have been very challenging for me for multiple reasons:

- Masama pakiramdam. I was actually febrile for 2 days.

- DOH Regional Engineering onsite visit habang nilalagnat

- Admin Officer is on CTO/leave

- DTRs of 134 staff for signing/signed

Good thing Ayacchan covered for my absence at the ER. Salamat, Ayacchan. お疲れ様でした。

Lio Beach, El Nido, PH

7:15 PM

[louisupdates]

Group photo, FITFWT23: Manchester [11.11.2023] 📸 cto

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

NEXT WEDNESDAY (October 23) at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

#20yrsago Weinberger: Photo-organizing infocalypse looms https://web.archive.org/web/20040715000000*/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/photo.html

#10yrsago Comcast not welcome in Worcester, Mass thanks to bad customer service https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/its-a-terrible-company-comcast-not-welcome-in-city-council-says/

#10yrsago Justin Hall at XOXO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE6xyFyv7xk

#10yrsago Umbrella Revolution protesters retake the streets https://web.archive.org/web/20141020034358/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/chaos-hong-kong-protest-camp-police-use-batons-pepper-spray-repel-surge-protesters

#10yrsago CTO of NSA is moonlighting for Keith Alexander’s blue-chip rent-a-cybercops https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/17/senior-nsa-official-moonlighting-private-cybersecurity-firm

#10yrsago If you don’t agree to the new Wii U EULA, Nintendo will kill-switch it https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/10/nintendo-updates-take-wii-u-hostage-until-you-agree-new-legal-terms

#1yrago What Americans want https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

[adrl-pt]

Why are it not elections in Russia, but a farce? The hammer will not stop Noon against Putin.

You are watching news from the weekly rally at the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is March 16, 14:30.

Pseudo-elections began in Russia on Friday. In the telegram channel "Elections, TSYK to everyone!" They are already publishing evidences of falsifications. Among them: forced voting, agitation at polling stations, stuffing of stacks of ballots and pens with disappearing ink. https://t.me/cikrf

On March 12, Deutsche Welle published a large review of experts’ complaints about the remote electronic voting system. https://www.dw.com/ru/vybory-prezidenta-v-rf-cto-ne-tak-s-dosrocnym-i-elektronnym-golosovaniem/a-68501624

Year after year, the level of election fraud in Russia is growing. The authorities kill and imprison opponents, took control of the media, political parties and force state employees to vote as needed. Russian presidential elections are held in the occupied territories of Ukraine. In addition, the election monitoring system was practically destroyed. The co-chairman of the “Voice” movement, Stanislav Andreychuk, published a memo that came to them for observers from public chambers. It instructs “observers” to report to the police if there are crowds of people near polling stations on Sunday at noon. https://t.me/sandreychuk/463

The French association "Russie-Libertes" provides an excellent example of the contribution of activists into the fight against the regime. Thanks to their work, this week several deputy mayors of Paris supported the call for non-recognition of Vladimir Putin as the legally elected president of the Russian Federation after these “elections.” https://t.me/RussianAntiWarCommittee/1246

On March 12, in a village near Vilnius, an attempt was made on the life of Leonid Volkov, an ally of the recently murdered Alexei Navalny. The attack was carried out near the house where Leonid lives, using a meat hammer. Fortunately, the politician managed to escape by kicking using the leg and the car door, but he suffered a broken arm and multiple injuries. https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cn4l13v877lo

At that time, Leonid was returning from recording a video in support of the “Noon Against Putin” protest. In the video, he called on everyone to campaign and explain that if you come to the polling station at 12 o’clock, our voices will sound in unison and it will resonate throughout the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVk1BgqA3W0

The wife of the mobilized person, Maria Andreeva, published a warning from the prosecutor’s office on her Telegram channel, in which coming to the polling stations on March 17 at 12 o’clock is called illegal actions. https://t.me/mobilizpravda/293 But she still declares that she will come on Sunday in the middle of the day.

Unfortunately, a superhero cannot defeat the criminal Putin regime and stop the war, so the activity of each of you is important. Promote and help. At least post a photo of your watch at noon. https://poldenprotivputina.org/anti-putin-noon/

We remind you that the friendly fund Help to Ukraine continues to raise money for a generator for the Sitenko Institute of Spine and Joint Pathology. https://www.facebook.com/AjudaAUcrania/posts/pfbid02o2Brh5zwMjxKjbwrVC8T2uqfXKsRKM8YEWqdhpEarU8eqnv9y9VCQmty9sZbRyVal

And there is also the last push before the closing of the collection for uniforms for volunteers of the Siberian Battalion, which is carried out by the Civic Council and Freedom Birds For Ukraine. https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=AM4ZXM6XQXBPU

All links are in the description. Don't forget to subscribe and like.

[mylovelyhyunjin]

230616 32nd Lotte Duty Free Family Concert Photos 😳😳😳

Hyunjin

[©seesun320, ©320_percent, ©spring_bou_0320, ©blaze0320, ©hear_Tovalent, ©cto]

* HELP!! 😳😱🫨🫣🫢🫠

[chaddavisphotography]

Cto. Interior Melchor Ocampo, Mexico City

[impact-newswire]

Oncourse Home Solutions Appoints Arul Sugunakumar as Chief Technology Officer

Arul Sugunakumar, Chief Technology Officer at Oncourse Home Solutions (Photo: Business Wire) Press Release – January 21, 2025 – NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Oncourse Home Solutions, a leading provider of home protection plans, appointed the company’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Arul Sugunakumar on Jan. 7, 2025. “He is exceptionally well-positioned to accelerate the next phase of initiatives…

[earlybirdsinvest]

Ripple CTO warns XRP community of possible phishing scam

Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz sent a critical message to the XRP community, warning users of criminals’ nefarious tactics. Crime rates in the cryptocurrency industry continue to increase rapidly, causing concern to authorities and market enthusiasts. In a recent post on X, Schwartz warned against scammers specifically targeting crypto holders. In a post on He was supposed to post a photo of a…

[louisupdates]

📸cto: more photos from the London premiere

[lex1nat0r]

White Elephant: When all you have is a cherry bomb, everything looks explodable

AAR #16

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer campaign

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2)

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2)

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal/Brawler 2, Balor 2)

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2)

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2)

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

The Eye of the Tiger arrives above Metahome. During the blink they received another garbled message, this one apparently part of a news broadcast. They can just about make out the words "Angelus Landing," the name of a planet in the sector that should have some of the blinkspace data from X-9-237. Since they're already at Metahome, the lancers talk over what they're going to do here first. Their biggest lead is Hermenaut Services, a shipping company that the Electric Eye was under contract with and may have ties to HORUS. There's also Arjhet and Tehjra to keep tabs on, as they sent a message to the local Horizon Collective cell. Raiju, Magpie, and Sunshine decide to check out Hermenaut while Rook and Daylight tail A&T.

Hermenaut Services' head office just looks like a regular office building in downtown Neo Corinth, the metroswathe taking up most of Metahome's landmass. Magpie isn't able to hack up anything really juicy on the publicly-available net, so Sunshine lures a couple of the building's guards into an alley to get jumped. With their newfound access to the building the lancers are able to discover that the Electric Eye was sent out as part of something called Project Harlequin which apparently involved sending out cargo ships via circuitous routes. They need c-level access to find anything more though, so they pile into an elevator and work on getting access to the important offices. Raiju disables the elevator's camera with a small bomb, which makes it look like the camera's just suffering a malfunction. Magpie and Sunshine get access to the elevator's controls to take the group to the restricted level. They duck into the CTO's office, which seems suspiciously unused. The big tip is the stock photo in a picture frame which is the only thing that could be considered a touch of personality in the room. Raiju attempts to repeat the bomb trick on the office's terminal but only succeeds in blowing it up, attracting the attention of building security. Sunshine quickly ushers the group to the CFO's office, which is similarly deserted. Magpie gets into this terminal before Raiju gets a chance to blow it up. They learn that Project Harlequin is a directive from the higher-ups of the company, sending freighters around the sector but making stops at systems out of the way of their usual routes. Importantly, all of the deliveries from the Harlequin routes are delivered to a specific warehouse leased by Hermenaut. With this information in hand the group make their exit by letting Raiju blow a hole in the exterior wall.

Meanwhile, Rook is tagging along with Arjhet and Tehjra as they make their way to the local Horizon Collective office in one of the metro's unaffiliated sectors. Daylight is also following along, using her uncanny ability to not be noticed. A&T convince Rook to wait outside the office in a little courtyard but don't notice they're followed inside by Daylight who overhears them getting directions from the receptionist. They loiter in the office for a bit before telling Rook they're heading into a dangerous part of town and does he really want to follow them all the way there. Rook, being Rook, says of course he'll follow and they eventually go to the headquarters of Kingdom, one of the local gangs. A&T finally notice Daylight following, which Rook plays off saying he also had no idea she was there, and lead them inside Kindgom's HQ with an air of resignation. Clearly Arjhet and Tehjra are involved in the Horizon Collective's less than legal operations and they make introductions with Jillian, Kindgom's boss. She reluctantly lets them use the building's elevator to go down to the HC hideout in the decommissioned Neuropa printing facility in the basement. They meet with Baal, the HC cell's leader, who explains the theory that there's some kind of entity in local blinkspace that's causing the omninet distortions. The Horizon Collective also ripped off a shipment of NHP caskets that was heading to HORUS and are in the middle of evaluating them for unshackling.

The lancers regroup on the Eye of the Tiger to discuss next moves when Balboa alerts the bridge crew to an omninet news broadcast that they're going to want to see. There's an intense space battle going on in the vicinity of Angelus Landing, the local Rimtech defense fleet slowly being overwhelmed by an armada of unknown assailants. In Balboa's evaluation Rimtech won't be able to hold off the invaders for much longer and the presence of the Eye of the Tiger won't make much difference in the end. With part of the blinkspace data in jeopardy, the lancers agree that the Eye of the Tiger should blink to Angelus Landing and at least try to help the evacuation effort while they retrieve the data.

Next time: c-beams glittering in the dark?

[systemtek]

Gen a global leader dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its family of Cyber Safety brands, today released its top cyberthreat predictions for 2025. Gen cybersecurity experts predict the next phase of AI and deepfakes, a shift in data theft towards full-scale identity theft, ultra-sophisticated scams and new tactics for financial theft. "After a monumental year in AI – and a somewhat catastrophic year in breaches – we believe we'll see significant shifts in both scams and digital identity risks in 2025," said Siggi Stefnisson, Cyber Safety CTO at Gen. "Cybercriminals will capitalize on large breaches to either steal identities outright or utilize the information to create hyper-personalized and believable scams. AI will exasperate the issues, not only helping criminals make their scams more sophisticated, but also forcing people to question how the technology is shaping human thought. It's sure to be a year of change, and it will be more important than ever for people to be protective of their digital lives." Gen's Top Cyber Predictions for 2025: - AI will start to blur everyday reality. Large Language Models (LLMs) will begin to create hyper-personalized experiences as people work more with AI. In late 2024, over 200 million people used ChatGPT on a weekly basis. While convenient, these technologies will likely begin shaping individual perceptions and reality, prompting ethical discussions on AI's impact on human thought. As AI becomes more integrated into complex areas like parenting and education, ethical concerns about its role in society will grow. We can anticipate more debate addressing the technology's boundaries and influence on personal development. The European Union and several US states have already introduced legislation to advance AI protections, and we expect that there will be increased activity across the US and around the world in the coming year. - Deepfakes will become unrecognizable. AI will become sophisticated enough that even experts may not be able to tell what's authentic. People will have to ask themselves every time they see an image or watch a video: is this real? Unfortunately, people with bad intentions will take advantage. This can be as personal as a scorned ex-partner spreading rumors via fake photos on social media or as extreme as governments manipulating entire populations by releasing videos that spread political misinformation. As deception becomes increasingly sophisticated, verifiable digital credentials – a combination of verifiable information used together as a digital authenticity signature – will evolve into powerful tools for proving what's real. As our realities become increasingly blurred by AI, this is an example of how to help ensure AI is used as a force for good, providing a critical foundation for maintaining trust online. - Data Theft leads to surge in Identity Theft.  Following a year of consistent, large-scale breaches, we will continue to see a significant rise in identity theft. Criminals will stitch together personal information extracted from data breaches, publicly available sources, and information stolen from devices to create comprehensive profiles of individuals, putting individuals at higher risk of identity theft.  This will fuel sophisticated extortion attempts and enable attackers to convincingly impersonate trusted companies, especially those previously compromised. - Scams enter the era of hyper-personalization.  We expect a shift towards hyper-personalized, human-centric methods that manipulate human behavior rather than exploiting traditional technological vulnerabilities. Armed with personal data from past breaches and dark web exchanges, attackers will develop hyper-targeted strategies to deceive their victims, similar to the sextortion campaign we uncovered in the US and Canada in 2024 which used Google Street View images to startle victims. Combining psychological insights and social engineering, these schemes will disarm people, deploying convincing phishing and fraud tactics across platforms like social media and messaging apps. Hyper-personalized, human-targeted methods will make it incredibly difficult to distinguish between legitimate communications and scams. - Financial Theft takes on new forms. We anticipate a notable surge in financial theft, driven by increasingly sophisticated mobile banking threats and the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. Fraudsters will employ advanced techniques like deepfaked celebrities promising high ROI on their fake investment platforms, universal income announced by voice-cloned government officials or fake giveaways to deceive investors and traders alike. The CyrptoCore campaign in 2024 showed signs of this future trend, taking over a million dollars from victims in just a few days leveraging Elon Musk deepfakes as a lure. Additionally, cybercrime and the physical world will collide as there are more cases of street muggers forcing people to unlock their phones and provide access to financial apps to transfer funds to attacker-controlled accounts. How People Can Prepare: - Stay informed – Scan the news and trusted security blogs to learn about the latest large-scale scams and data breaches. - Surf safely – Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is one of the best ways to help protect your data and private information online. - Remain skeptical – If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Stop and think before you click on links or share information online. - Double-check – Before you click on a link or share your personal or banking information, verify the source by searching their site directly. Norton Genie can also help you detect if a message is a scam. - Use trusted security tools – Having all-in-one security like Norton 360 Deluxe or Avast One can help you protect your devices, personal information, and online privacy. - Be prepared in case you're impacted – If your information ends up in the wrong hands, the best thing you can do is be alerted so you can take action. Tools like Dark Web Monitoring scan the dark web on your behalf and products like LifeLock can assist you if your identity is compromised. To learn more about Gen's 2025 Predictions, keep an eye on Gen LinkedIn and read the 2025 Predictions Blog Read the full article