Intro[]
Vance is initially seen witnessing a person down on their knees at gunpoint. Vance looks on in trepidation and quickly turns tail and makes a break for it, eventually reaching a fence, where he tries to catch his breath. He then questions why the event turned out the way it did, as well as his own intentions regarding what he wanted ("Truth? Justice? Freedom?"). Vance questions whether or not the images of terror in the streets of the Central Eastern Republic truly reflect the ideals of the democracy that he and his friends have been fighting for. He then asks aloud to Frey (mostly to himself) if this was the revolution he had in mind. The intro seems to feature events that have not chronologically been set into action yet, but that Vance will lead up to.
Chapter 0: Hello World![]
Part 1[]
Vance's room is bombarded by his pestering little sister, Alex, who urges him to fix her laptop so she can watch yaoi on YouTube. Vance informs Alex that she should've dedicated her time to learning [[SSH]] rather than constantly bugging him for computer advice. Alex insists that he help her set up her SSH, where after Vance mentions that there are other ways to scale the Great Firewall imposed on the Central Eastern Republic. After due scolding, Vance begrudgingly agrees to help fix Alex's laptop after he's finished with his most recent hack. Out of curiosity, Alex indulges Vance and asks him what he's hacking. Delighted to unveil his master plan, Vance goes on a passionate rant about "Operation Acquire Girlfriend," which aims to reassign a "sexy redhead" as his college roommate. After Alex states how creepy his current operation is, Vance delivers a long-winded explanation of how he must ascend to alpha male status and finally scale the firewall of his virginity. Alex disapproves of his plan, but entertains the notion of it, expecting it to fail. Vance then reassures her that there is nothing to worry about because his hacks are always perfect... except a certain redhead just may be on to Vance's shenanigans..
Part 2[]
Vance is sitting at his desk where he's helping Alex as promised with her blocked IP. However, when he inquires how she even got banned, and she marks it was for BL, Vance doesn't comprehend this.
Part 3[]
Vance is seen chatting with Robin on B-Social where they continuously flirt back and forth. However, Vance isn't aware it's actually Frey posing as Robin to figure out if Vance is a government spy or not.
Part 7[]
As Alex peeks into the trunk of the car, she remarks that Vance has enough Red Cow, and Vance responds by saying it will barely last a week. His father compliments him, and they get into the car. As they drive along the wall of a broken down school, they see a small section of the slums, with Vance and Alex both showing shock at the appearance, having never known poverty. Both Vance and Alex ask their parents if they can open their windows and give the approaching children food or water but their father immediately refuses, stating that the children are try get them to lower their guard, and once they do, they'll be attacked by the secretly armed children. As they drive away, both Vance and Alex sad the hopeless situation.
Part 8[]
Vance and his family arrive at his rather run-down looking dorm. As they look inside the small space, the parents debate about the quality of the room, with the father remarking how nice it is compared to what he had in college while the mother is clearly dismayed. They then turn to Vance, asking him if he wants to stay or if he wants to move to another apartment. Vance hesitates and looks down to see Robin's bra on the floor. With this, he confirms he wishes to stay.
Later, Vance is finishing his shower and questions the 2 toilets in the bathroom, but remarks that if anything, he wouldn't mind if both roommates use them at the same time as long as the other roommate is Robin. He then proceeds to step into the dorm room only to see Frey waiting there who greets him as "roomie."
Chapter 1: [][][][][][][][][]
Part 2[]
Vance drops his towel in surprise, with Frey remarking he's not impressed while Vance tries to re-cover himself. Frey then pretends to work for the university as a campus InfoSec specialist and tells Vance that, due to his hacking of the university's system, he can face expulsion, jail time, and/or a hefty fine. Under this perceived threat, Vance pleads to let him go under the pretense he won't hack again, but Frey has a better idea to have Vance work as a penetration tester to check for security flaws in the school's system. Vance agrees before Frey tells him to get dressed as they're "heading out."
Part 3[]
Vance follows Frey as they head to Stuxent University's main administration building as Frey informs Vance they must first check for human vulnerability errors, like incorrectly shredded documents. Vance quickly realizes this means dumpster diving and gets further annoyed as Frey is wearing Vance's clothes for this reason.
As they reach the back of the building with all the dumpsters, Vance bombards Frey with questions, with everything from if they actually have to do this to what they're even looking for, but without any answers from Frey.
Part 4[]
Vance and Frey are seen dumpster diving for any viable information but with no luck. As Vance remarks they've passed the test as there's nothing they can learn from all the trash, Frey questions if Vance isn't just a little curious about what was so important they had to shred up all the paper, but Vance responds he doesn't care. Despite this, Frey gets Vance to grab some trash bags to take back to the dorm room.
Part 5[]
As Vance is leaving with a trash bag, he bumps into Allie just around the corner, knocking them both down. Frey notices she's carrying Vox Populi papers, an anti-government newspaper, but promises not to report her as long as she doesn't report him and Vance. He then asks to join them, with Allie responding curtly that he'd need to pass a test first before she leaves.
Vance finally gets up and asks what that was all about and Frey informs him they're an underground newspaper organization and thus criminals. Then, playing on his fake persona, Frey states he intends to find and have them all arrested with Vance questioning "you were lying to her?" With this, Frey begins to pressure Vance, stating if those "criminals" had their way, Vance would lose the comfortable lifestyle he was used to and asks if Vance has ever cared about the truth. Vance, however, isn't able to really respond to such questions before Frey dismissively remarks "what can a single person do anyway...".
Part 6[]
Back in the dorm room, Vance finishes taking another shower, with him remarking how awful things have been since his last one, namely still smelling like trash, all the trash bags in the room, and worst of all, Robin isn't his roommate. He then questions where Frey is, as he's not in the room to hear Vance's complaints.
Chapter 2: Mutable[]
Part 1[]
Still alone in the dorm room, Vance finds and begins to berate the bra he saw when he first moved in, remarking how he could be living in a nicer place if he hadn't fallen for its false promises. As he throws it on one of the trash bags, he stomps on it, causing the bag to spill a bunch of shredded paper across the floor. He then remembers Frey's earlier comment asking him if he wasn't just a little bit curious about what was so important it had to be shredded. A this, he seems deep in thought as he stares at it.
Part 2[]
Vance picks one of the shredded pieces and notes something seems familiar about it but can't place it. He then decides to use some programs to try and piece together what it could be by taking photos of some of the pieces after he's laid them out in an orderly shape. However, he ends up running the wrong image buffer and turns what should have been a simple task into a really long one, all the while drinking more and more Red Cow. He then dozes off for a bit before he suddenly realizes his mistake and and corrects it and the program completes. His avatar depiction is then seen entering the network to view the results.