#Zack runs Hero HQ

[lilc77]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Angeal (OC Character not Angeal Hewley; Cissnei's adopted son), Zack Fair, Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), Cissnei (Compilation of FFVII) Additional Tags: Angeal is a Sephiroth Clone, Zack Fair Lives, Sephiroth has a New Apprentice, Angeal is Cissnei's Adopted Son, Zack Fair is a Hero, Cissnei is a mom, Cloud and Tifa are married w/ kids, Cloud just want to go home to his Wife & kids Summary:

14yr old Angeal has trouble controlling his newfound powers and doesn't know why he's special. He hides his abilities from his adopted mom, Cissnei, so as not to worry her. He's been using his power and abilities to hunt monsters ravaging their town and the surrounding areas to help the weak since he was ten years old. The only problem is his powers are continually growing and becoming more unstable and he doesn't know how to deal with it. He sets out to the only place where he feels someone can help him. The Hero Headquarters of New Shinra in New Niebelheim. What he didn't expect was to run into his Hero and the one person who can give him all of the answers.

[rextasywrites]

Return - Part 1 / ?

“What do you want, Zack?”, Sephiroth’s voice felt as if was trying to pierce a dagger into Zack’s chest, filled with poison and hate. Seph slowly stood up from his sitting place on the floor, his bones audibly creaking, he hadn’t left the spot or even moved an inch in several hours. He brushed some dust off of his shoulders, a single spider jumping off his coat.

“We need to get out of here! Now!”, Zack nearly yelled, Seph making a face in return. Seph didn’t believe himself to be human anymore, but the very human feeling of a dehydration induced headache was just as real.

I was inspired by this ask sent to @altocat a few days ago. It'll be a fanfic with a few parts, and yes, I intended to make it as heartbreaking, if not even more, than the ask submitted.

Warnings: angst, AU - Nibelheim goes wrong in a different way, ff7 content so apply the usual warnings of the games to this fic

AO3 LINK

***

Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess We seek it thus, and take to the sky Ripples form on the water's surface The wandering soul knows no rest.

Three friends go into battle. One is captured One flies away The one that is left becomes a hero.

Loveless, Act 1

*

“Cloud! You pack up your mom, the girl you told me about, her dad, everyone you know in here. Run! I’ll take responsibility for it back at HQ, but you go and get away from Nibelheim NOW!”

Zack’s own voice rang in his head as he carefully made his way down the staircase. The wood was covered in wetness, making every step more dangerous than the last one. As careful as he wanted to be, Zack needed to be fast. Fast, fast, fast. He needed to reach Sephiroth as fast as possible.

Hot flames roared up into the sky, engulfing the houses close to the main square. The water tower had exploded, the water vaporized, not a chance to take out the fire. Sephiroth was standing inside of the flames, shaking like a leaf in the wind. His eyes were robbed of any humanity, what was once a comforting look for fans and friends alike was replaced with emptiness, screaming for something nobody could hear.

“Sephiroth! Why did you do this?!”, Zack yelled at his friend, his mentor, his buddy. “What’s wrong with you?!”

“Nothing with wrong is me, Zack. Everything is right. This is a new dawn for the world. Get out of my way.”

Zack had awoken soaked in sweat. It was barely 2am, the first sleep in several days after the appearance of Genesis and the reveal of Sephiroth’s identity. Only a hefty dose of sleep materia had managed to knock Zack out, but the nightmare…it had felt too real for him.

“Come on…I am not giving up on you, Seph.”, Zack muttered to himself as he ran along the corridor towards the laboratory in the Shinra Mansion. The silence made him deaf, hearing his heartbeat inside of his ears as the door came closer and closer. His legs were carrying him forward, his whole body on autopilot as the only thought inside of Zack’s brain became louder and louder.

He needs to save Sephiroth.

*

Torn pages out of old books, records and scientific papers covered every possible surface of the lab, and Sephiroth was right in the middle. His hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot from a clear lack of sleep. No sunlight came down there and no clocks were mounted anywhere, Seph probably had no idea how long he had been down there.

“Sephiroth!”, Zack called out once he had stormed into the room, making Seph snap his head around, looking at his fellow SOLDIER with big eyes. Once upon a time, Zack had visited a friend of his back in Gongaga. The poor guy had come in contact with Touch Mes, and the various poisons had caused him to suffer from insomnia. His eyes had been just as bloodshot as Sephiroth’s, and he had begged for someone to hit him with a chair so he’d finally get the sweet release of sleep, concussions be damned. It had taken him nearly a week to recover.

“What do you want, Zack?”, Sephiroth’s voice felt as if was trying to pierce a dagger into Zack’s chest, filled with poison and hate. Seph slowly stood up from his sitting place on the floor, his bones audibly creaking, he hadn’t left the spot or even moved an inch in several hours. He brushed some dust off of his shoulders, a single spider jumping off his coat.

“We need to get out of here! Now!”, Zack nearly yelled, Seph making a face in return. Seph didn’t believe himself to be human anymore, but the very human feeling of a dehydration induced headache was just as real.

“No. I am not leaving until I know everything!”, Seph spat back and turned his back to Zack, clearly done with the conversation.

“I am not leaving until you do.”, Zack replied, the chuckle coming from Sephiroth was something straight out of a horror movie.

“Good luck with that.”

There was no sense. Sephiroth wouldn’t leave, he wouldn’t budge, it was useless. Thankfully, Zack was a clever one, even though his actions might sometimes made his peers believe him to be stupid. Wrong. The sleep materia Cloud had used to help his pal go to bed earlier was nestled inside of Zack’s pocket, and with a simple swipe, the materia was cast upon Sephiroth, making him fall to the floor like a bag of potatoes.

And now, how to get him out?

*

Genesis took a bite out of his apple, his eyes gazing down on Nibelheim. While he hadn’t spotted Sephiroth in a few days, he had noticed Zack and Cloud being out in town together, making sure everyone was safe. But something that hadn’t failed to catch Genesis’ attention was the increased security by Shinra, just outside of the borders of the town. Including artillery and enough bombs to level a city. Hu. He took another bite out of his dumbapple, its taste just how he knew it from back home. His beautifully, bombed home. What was going on down there?

*

It took Zack several hours to drag Sephiroth out of the laboratory, up the stairs and through the mansion. By now, the sun had risen, but the town was empty. Cloud had listened to his friend’s advice and managed to get everyone to leave. By now, Zack knew Cloud’s childhood home like the back of his hand, and the few more meters dragging Sephiroth along weren’t too bad. The door was unlocked and once inside, Zack dropped Sephiroth into the nearest bed.

*

“We cannot do this, Tseng!”, Cissnei crossed her arms, standing in front of the prepared gun arsenal. “We cannot let this happen, after everything Zack has done for us!”, Reno butted in, placing his hand on Cissnei’s shoulder in support.

“They are right and you know it!”, came one last resort from Rude’s side, backing his mates up.

Tseng rubbed over his temples, trying to think of an option that’d make everyone happy. They had gotten hold of the information. They knew Zack and Sephiroth would be used as monkeys for Hojo’s experiments. They knew the pain it’d cause them both. Despite the rare overlaps between the Turks and SOLDIER, Tseng had heard first hand of the experiments on Sephiroth. He had seen the pictures of ‘progress’ presented by Hojo with a sick pleasure which even made Tseng’s stomach turn around. He knew how badly Sephiroth was punished back when he came back from a mission with some candies in his pockets, a lollipop hanging from his lips. A thankful little girl had given her hero her last bit of candy supply, a grand gesture for saving her father’s life. Hojo denied Sephiroth any kind of food for a week, feeding him with a tube only. At this point, Sephiroth was 10 years old.

“Fine. Cissnei, do you remember the throwaway PHP I gave you ages ago? Use it. Warn Zack and Sephiroth.”

*

Sephiroth awoke minutes after getting tucked in involuntarily. His body felt warm for the first time in days, the water bottle Zack had placed under the cover with him comforted him like a hug. “Where am I?”

“We are in Cloud’s home. They, uhm, have left for the day and Claudia told me to make ourselves a home! Here, I made you some tea!”, Zack grinned as he watched Sephiroth sit up, stretching his hurting limbs and rubbing his eyes. The sleep he hadn’t consented too wasn’t too pleasant, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Sephiroth took a sip from the tea, the warmth going down his throat and settling in his empty stomach. Only now, Sephiroth realized how hungry he was.

“Zack…do monsters feel hunger? Do they feel cravings?”

“I don’t think so, Seph. I don’t think a Bandersnatch wakes up one morning and goes ‘Oh, today I wanna eat a Hedgehog Pie today! Quite tasty, its meat is so tasty and lean, and its spikes serve as toothpicks!”

“Hm.”

“Are you craving something?”

“I would actually like some noodle soup.”

Before Zack could give Sephiroth a witty reply, he heard the noise of his phone receiving a message. With a smile he took it out and started to read, his smile growing smaller with every word he read.

“Sephiroth. We have to get out of here.”, Zack stumbled over his words, eyes wide as he showed Sephiroth the message.

Still confused and a bit groggy, it took Sephiroth a solid few seconds to read the message and to understand it. The second it hit him, he threw the blanket off of his body, nearly falling over his own feet as they ran towards the door. But before they could make it out, the first bomb exploded onto the house vis-a-vis to the one they were in, knocking the two out cold.

Get out of Nibelheim. Bombing incoming. Get to Kalm asap. Meet u there. -c

***

[irvinenewshq]

Henry Cavill Confirms Superman Return After DCs Black Adam

Henry Cavill attends The Witcher world premiere on December 16, 2019 in London, England. Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack (Getty Photographs) Henry Cavill has formally confirmed what 1000’s of moviegoers—and anybody who retains tabs on film spoilers—already is aware of. After reprising his Superman function on the very finish of Black Adam, he’s “again” because the DC hero, although it’s not clear but precisely the place (maybe the rumored Man of Metal 2?) he’ll seem because the character subsequent. 01:08 Ernie Hudson | First Fandoms Friday 2:04PM “I wished to make it official that I’m again as Superman,” Cavill introduced in an Instagram reel, which you’ll be able to watch under. With out giving any particular particulars on future initiatives, he thanked his followers for his or her endurance—and promised “what you noticed in Black Adam [is] only a very small style of what to come back.” In the event you’ll recall, again in 2019 Cavill (who was relatively busy that 12 months together with his smash-hit Netflix collection, The Witcher) declared “the cape is within the closet… it’s mine”, after rumors in 2018 speculated his run because the character was over. That, in fact, was the time interval between the unique launch of Justice League and Zack Snyder’s improved minimize of the movie for HBO Max; it was additionally earlier than DC started to cinematically revive itself with films that have been truly enjoyable to observe, like Aquaman and Shazam. Whereas Superman’s cameo in Black Adam was an open secret by the point the film truly opened final week, truly getting Cavill to seem within the movie required the superpowers of Black Adam star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (you possibly can learn extra about that right here). Black Adam is now in theaters. Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to count on the newest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and every thing it’s essential to find out about Home of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy. Originally published at Irvine News HQ

[prismaticpichu]

An Uninvited FF7 Rant! 🗡

As someone whose non-breathing/eating/high school thoughts are consumed by FF7, I sometimes find myself wondering this: was the Shinra company really that bad?

When you strip away the human experimentation and plate dropping and planet vampire sucking and exploitation (way to start my argument), you’re really just left with a military organization, y’know? Maybe it’s just me and my extreeemmee idealism, but if you were to subtract all the people who ran and played around with gene splicing (send Hollander and Hojo overboard), the people who orchestrated smushing a city of innocents (drop Heidegger down Niagara Falls), and the person who condoned everything (unleash a hungry hungry hippopotamus in Prez Shinra’s office), then I think the company could run smoothly and safely. Sure, they feed their people gallons of kool-aid… but the residents of Midgar aren’t necessarily unhappy (disregarding the slums ofc, but every socially-classed society is bound to have poverty, right?).

Most of the people who make up Shinra aren’t bad people at all. You got Zack, the most precious bean out there, Cloud, a heroic but smaller bean, and all the other SOLDIERs/infantrymen who joined to simply make the world a better place! (Or fill their piggy banks and get Sephiroth’s autograph on said piggy banks- either/or). Even Genesis and Angeal are pretty morally straight pre-degradation (Mama Angeal accentuates this by saying Genesis was a good boy growing up), and Sephiroth’s hero title was well-deserved prior to Nibelheim showing his kindness/loyalty towards his deserter friends.

I mainly say this ‘cause I have a Texas-size obsession with the CC era of FF7 (mostly because of the comfort pre-Nibelheim gives me), and I practically made myself a home all snuggled up there. 112% of my favorite fanfics to read/write take place in Shinra HQ where Seph and his pals are just having a cozy time in their quarters!

My happily ever after isn’t Shinra being demolished by a giant asteroid, but everyone staying safe and sound as the company is run by humane people who care for the city they provide. Who knows, maybe they could even find an alternate, greener energy source!

~Prismatic, aka, dubbed “dangerously optimistic” in the 4th grade.

[roleplay-abiogenesis2]

Saruhiko Fushimi (FFVII Verse) - Wishlist, Character Dynamics

Some relationships, dynamics, things I’d love to explore for this muse in his FFVII verse~

Also note that while I do bring up romantic interest only for female characters here, I do am open for anything chemistry will fuel. Saru has immense gay power if I let him.

Also also, these are not listed in any particular order.

Yuffie Kisaragi: Yuffie was born the same year Saruhiko was extracted from the Crystal and brought to Wutai. With a biological age difference of 4 years between each other, I’d love to explore their relationship growing up in the same area. Potential childhood friendship, rivalry, or even romantic interest.

Wutai War: The war between Wutai and ShinRa breaks out during Saruhiko’s childhood. I imagine this means he’ll grow up in a very tense environment full of conflict and tension. While he’ll be too young to be a fighter, there is potential for him to at least have brief encounters with some key characters in the war: Deepground SOLDIERs, the Turks, AVALANCHE, and even the 1st Class heroes Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth, or 2nd Class SOLDIER Zack Fair during his Crisis Core mission there.

Reeve Tuesti: 8 years his senior (which became 15 years, thanks to Saruhiko’s cryostasis in Lucrecia’s Crystal), Reeve Tuesti will be a colleague and over time a friend to Saruhiko in the four years they work together in ShinRa. I’d love to see what kind of relationship would form between these two. Saruhiko is lacking a father figure or mentor of sorts, and I think Reeve has the potential to fill this void.

Barret Wallace: He will be Saruhiko’s “boss” starting his recruitment in AVALANCHE. While I can definitely imagine Barret distrusting him for being from ShinRa, Saruhiko’s background as a victim of the Wutai War could help them form a bridge between them, albeit a very rickety one. I think their interactions would be snarky, humorous and great potential for a fun grumpy boss / demotivated henchman dynamic.

Cid Highwind: Saruhiko is actually a very passionate space nerd, and I can totally see him having grown up as a kid seeing Cid as a role model and someone he respects. But would his image of his hero be crushed the moment he actually meets him and sees how he is? I’d love to find out.

Reno, Rude, Tseng, other Turks: Recruited super early at the age of 15 to join the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department (or “Turks”, most commoinly), Saruhiko would be the greenhorn of the group up for a while. Sure he’s got lots of smarts and they show, but his awful social skills will be getting in the way. How will his seniors and superior respond to this rebellious teenager? Big ‘senpai/kouhai’ vibes here, especially from Reno.

Doctor Hojo: In the few years Saruhiko will be working in Shinra, running into his biological father will be inevitable. I wonder if Hojo would even recognize him at all, or if he does, in what form he’d react. He’s his son, but also just a discarded specimen. There is more to Saruhiko’s looks and mannerisms (and intelligence, especially) that will compare to Hojo more than his mother, and while Saruhiko sorely despises the man and what he did, he cannot deny respecting his perverted genius to some degree. An enemy you love to hate, and a very rare kind of dynamic to roleplay that I hope to get.

Nanaki / Red XIII: Saruhiko would meet Nanaki when he’s a prisoner in ShinRa HQ as one of Hojo’s specimens. While initially thinking nothing of it and considering the creature just as any other monster, Saruhiko might warm up to Nanaki upon discovering that he can talk and actually belongs to a proud and intelligent race. I could totally see him spending his lunch breaks just leaning against Red’s cage and passing the time. Biologically speaking, the two would be around the same age, and likely share a similar mindset. Red’s honorable and collected nature could have a brotherly, positive influence on the edgy boy.

Vincent Valentine: Out of everyone else, Saruhiko would be the one closest to realizing the connection that lies between Vincent, Lucrecia, Sephiroth and himself. While his research at ShinRa would only inform him that he and Sephiroth are in fact not full-blood twins, I can imagine Saruhiko wondering who between them is actually Hojo’s son, and who the other’s father may be. Investigating on the Nibelheim Incident, the Jenova Project, and tracing back the work left behind by Lucrecia, it might be possible for him to find the thread that will lead him to the former Turk. How they’d regard each other is a mystery to me, but I can predict lots of angst and potential family ties drama. Saruhiko resembles Lucrecia in many things (I like to think he has her eyes), that could affect Vincent, but the shadow of Hojo is also there. How would Vincent feel?

Jessie Rasberry: Jessie and Saruhiko have very complementary skills that will bring them to often work as a duo in AVALANCHE. A few years older, I could picture her as being a positive figure in Saruhiko’s life, possibly one that might charm him to the point of developing into a crush~

Tifa Lockhart: Thanks to his cryostasis, Saruhiko will be the same age as Tifa when they first meet in Midgar. Her warm but energetic mannerisms strongly remind me of the bond between Saruhiko and Misaki Yata in K Project, which inevitably makes me biased for ship potential. While Saruhiko isn’t exactly a flirt, I can at least expect Tifa to become one of his favorite people to be around in AVALANCHE. His interest in her would only intensify once he learns she is a survivor of the Nibelheim Incident, and while this can be great, it may also be cause of angst, as his darkest obsession for the case and his desire for revenge may get in the way of more ‘unimportant’ things like romance or friendship with her.

Aerith Gainsborough: Saruhiko’s potential to meet Aerith would begin after the Nibelheim Incident, when he’s just moved to Midgar to work as a Turk for ShinRa. A very young new recruit, he may be sent to watch over her as his group is often tasked to do, and deal with the flower girl while she’s disheartened and waiting for her missing boyfriend Zack to return. Aerith’s personality may be a bit ‘too much’ for Saruhiko to handle, who is often put off when people are too friendly and carefree to him. He may even consider her a bit airheaded and stupid, but generally unable to hate her. Can her perceptive nature possibly touch and heal his heart tormented with desire for vengeance? Some potential sibling love kind of bond for sure. Romantic interests would strongly rely on chemistry with the roleplayer.

Cloud Strife: As another survivor of the Nibelheim Incident, Cloud is of strong interest to Saruhiko. This is only reinforced once the two are forced to cooperate as members of AVALANCHE. Saruhiko is, alongside Tifa, the only one in the group to know that the blond is lying about having belonged to SOLDIER 1st Class. A tense form of frenemies dynamic is expected out of these two, as they alternate clashing their strong-but-similar personalities to working together as a team. Big angst potential, once each other’s ties to Sephiroth finally emerge, as well as their opposing plans about him.

Sephiroth: Saruhiko’s most hated. In his warped logic, Saruhiko sees Sephiroth as the very embodiment of all the wrongdoings that were done to him and their mother. Rather than feel a brotherly attachment towards him, he sees Sephiroth as the very cause of his own torment and pain. Saruhiko firmly believes that the only reason the S Project came to be was because the very IDEA of Sephiroth, as he is, was in the mind of Doctor Hojo. Had such an entity never been conjured, many lives would be far better off. Saruhiko’s own character arc has Sephiroth at its center, and he’ll be struggling between hatred he cannot overcome, as well as his need for acceptance and coming to terms with his own feelings to move on. While I do RP Sephiroth in the megaverse this character belongs to, I’m definitely open to exploring their dynamic in spin-off threads for other Sephiroth RPers.

GLaDOS: (verse dependent) For plotting reasons, this muse is controlled only by myself, as it has a heavy plot I’ve personally come up with. Saruhiko has a complicated relationship with ShinRa’s AI. Initially considering her little more than a machine for him to toy with, he regards her as the source through which the truth of his origins was revealed to him. Regarding her as a product of his childish curiosity, and an enemy to challenge and defeat while he’s a member of AVALANCHE, discovering that GLaDOS’ identity contains the consciousness of Lucrecia will critically affect Saruhiko’s psyche and bring him to ask a lot of questions about himself. Eventually, he is bound to develop feelings similar to the love for a mother towards the AI, to the point he will sacrifice himself for her safety against Meteorfall.

[droory]

May I see Cloud with Villainous Rescue? :3c

for the @badthingshappenbingo! Send me a character, characters, a ship, etc. Golden Sun preferred ofc :P

Captured. Cloud huffed as he leaned back, head thudding dully against the steel wall of the cell he now shared with Tifa. Everything had been going smoothly, but then, one by one it seemed, the Turks caught each of them.

Now here they were, stuck, awaiting whatever fate President Shinra decided for them. Knowing Shinra it would likely be some televised broadcast announcing the capture of the evil terrorist organization known as AVALANCHE responsible for the Sector 1 and Sector 5 reactor explosions. Perhaps even a live execution, he doubted Shinra to be above that.

Aeris wouldn’t be so lucky. She’d be given to Hojo for his experiments as they likely tried to find a way to get her to find the Promised Land for Shinra. Some bodyguard he turned out to be. Hojo’s experiments were absolutely horrible if he remembered his time being tortured and experimented on beneath Nibelheim with Z̸̧̛͔̹̠̄̒̾̊̑̔̉̃͗̉̀̏͊͝ą̵̱̥̤̣̰̰̖̪̙͌̃͗̅̅̑̃͌͒̃͂͘͜͝ͅc̴̛̛̮̻̝͓̯̖̤̮̣̰̬̝͓̆́̋̊̇̀̕ͅk̷̩̻̀͌̽̕̚ the stories right from his time with SOLDIER.

If they were all unlucky enough they might be given as live test subjects to the mad scientist.

Cloud huffed again, not relishing any of the potential outcomes if he couldn’t find a way for them to escape their holding cells. Aeris was humming some soft tune beyond the wall he was leaning against, Tifa was lying on the bed of she and his shared cell, and Cloud was certain he could hear Barret’s unique brand of curses from the opposite side of the far wall.

For now, they all needed rest. It would be some time before preparations for whatever was to happen to them was finished, and they needed rest. It had been nearly a full day of climbing up to the Midgar plate, and then climbing through Shinra HQ, barely a moment in between that wasn’t dogged by Shinra guardsmen and robots.

Cloud shut his eyes and let out another huffed breath, hoping his sleep might bring him some miracle solution to escape with everyone else.

…

… …

… … …

Cloud blinked awake, the darkness from behind his eyelids tinged with a glowing red, to an eerie quiet in the building. He heard no pacing of guards, no whirring machinery, nothing. He blinked again, blurred vision becoming clear as he saw Tifa lying asleep on the bed.

He turned his head noticing a faint blinking red light coming from the hallway outside his cell… the door was open!

“What the hell…?”

Cloud clambered to his feet, taking cautious steps forward before peering into the hallway.

Blood.

The hallway was drenched in blood and viscera from the floors to the ceiling. Something inhuman had gotten into or gotten loose in the Shinra HQ and gone on a rampage. Cloud hurried to the mangled body of the cell guard, searching for the key cards to open the cells to get the others out of there when he saw it.

It was only for a moment, a flash that could easily have been his imagination, from the corner of his eye.

He was back in Nibelheim, surrounded by fire, as he saw the ends of a black leather cloak and a shining long blade disappear behind the flames… no, around the corner into the hallway outside!

Cloud scrambled into a run, thoughts of the others pushed back as vengeance filled his blood and bones, darting through hallway after blood-soaked hallway to chase down his mother’s murderer. There was a ringing in his ears, a screech that seemed to both pound against the inside of his head while incessantly growing stronger and stronger.

His head ached, screamed, as he gave chase, the bodies and gore he passed just throwing him back to Nibelheim. Every dead guardsman, bloodied wall, severed limb, in all of them he saw the memories of his friends and family being murdered before his eyes by his most adored hero.

It was only when he reached the stairs leading to the President’s room did Cloud come face to face with him.

“Sephiroth!”

The man turned to greet him with a sickening smile, “Good to see you, Cloud.”

Cloud roared, Buster Sword drawn, as he leapt at the former SOLDIER hero, only to be easily parried and knocked to the ground.

“No appreciation for the freedom I give you?” Sephiroth taunted. “Disobedient.”

In a flash Sephiroth was on Cloud before he could fully recover, lightning fast slashes barely being blocked thanks only to the size of Cloud’s sword.

“Pathetic.”

With another slash Cloud was knocked to the ground, face to blade as Sephiroth stood above him.

“Truly a failure. Just another puppet-SOLDIER, a fake, unworthy of a number.”

Cloud clutched his head, the screeching in his mind finally reaching an unbearable pitch as Sephiroth spoke.

“N-no… I… I’m…” In flashes his mind could barely comprehend he saw things, someone else standing in his place in NIbelheim, dark haired and face to face with Sephiroth in the reactor. Someone else in the truck on the way to the mission. Someone else confronting Sephiroth in the lab beneath Shinra Mansion.

“A copy.”

He… he wasn’t! Cloud wasn’t a copy… he… he remembered! His mother… Tifa! He… he had to have been real. They couldn’t-

“Another unworthy experiment of Hojo’s.”

The lab beneath Shinra Mansion… he remembered it. He had been there! But… but why!? It hurt so much… more flashes showed him another in the places he remembered being in his memory all to lead to his first memory being that of a lab rat in a tube.

“Ż̷̡̧̺̮̰̖͎͎̹̦̟̳͈͘͘…̴̨̧̡̢̛̼̜̼̞̤̠̘̣̜̅̃͊͒̈́͆͆̿̎́͘͝ ̷̟͕̞͎̜͓̰̑̈́Z̷͕̈́̊̒̇̽̿̈́̚á̸̜̓̑́…̷̧̘̠̜̻̖̻̰̗̙̆͐̈́͐̑̃̓̕͠͠c̷̢͎̖͚̖̘̹͇̲͎͚͔̳͍̍̍̊̓̀͝ḱ̸̨̢͎͉͈̥̖̣̱̙̏̔̑͐̂͆̕͘͝…̵̧̛̹̫͍̥̫̜̜̥͔͉̿͂̆̑͂̓́́̚͜͠͠”

Sephiroth’s blade wasn’t trained on Cloud’s neck anymore. The silver-haired warrior was crouched now, green slit like eyes almost level with Cloud’s identical eyes.

“He was a SOLDIER First-Class. You are just his failed copy, and mine.”

Cloud barely heard any word other than ‘copy’ his mind still in searing pain as images flashed before him.

“But you don’t have to be a failed one.”

The noise started to lessen, images less frequent and less intrusive. Then all at once they stopped.

Sephiroth grasped Cloud’s chin in a delicate grip, leather gloved digits gently cupping his face as his eyes pierced through his own. Suddenly everything was clear and simple as he looked into the eyes of his former hero.

“To the Reunion.” Sephiroth commanded, almost through a whisper, his face inches from Cloud’s.

Cloud’s head nodded unknowingly, repeating those same words to him.

“Earn your number.”

With Sephiroth’s hand now around his neck, Cloud was yanked to his feet, before being gently steadied. Cloud knew what he had to do. It seemed like the very blood in his body was ordering telling him.

 Cloud wasn’t there when Tifa woke up. She had released the others and quickly gone in search of him, all of them fearing the worst. Having seen the remains of Jenova in Hojo’s lab, Tifa worried that it was that thing that had done all this and then come after Cloud as revenge for what happened in Nibelheim.

She couldn’t tell the others this.

She barely believed it herself.

No one knew what to say when they reached President Shinra’s office.

 Aeris felt defeated upon ascending the stairs to President Shinra’s office. Knowledge that her ancestor’s and Gaia’s greatest enemy had been kept at the heart of Midgar for experiments to help Shinra drain more of the Lifestream and that it may have taken Cloud wounded her.

When she saw the Buster Sword impaling President Shinra to his desk however, she knew it was so much worse than that. The others were in stunned silence, but Aeris found the willpower to step forward.

With a great deal of strength and effort she hefted the sword that had now belonged to two men she had cared about and lost out of the president and into her grip. It clanged to the ground as she struggled with its weight.

But she would get used to it. She had to. For Zack. She couldn’t do anything for him, but she could still save Cloud.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/techcrunchs-top-10-investigative-reports-from-2019/

TechCrunch’s Top 10 investigative reports from 2019

Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, naivety, or greed, there was plenty of wrongdoing to sniff out.

Led by our security expert Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch undertook more long-form investigations this year to tackle these growing issues. Our coverage of fundraises, product launches, and glamorous exits only tell half the story. As perhaps the biggest and longest running news outlet dedicated to startups (and the giants they become), we’re responsible for keeping these companies honest and pushing for a more ethical and transparent approach to technology.

If you have a tip potentially worthy of an investigation, contact TechCrunch at tips@techcrunch.com or by using our anonymous tip line’s form.

Image: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Here are our top 10 investigations from 2019, and their impact:

Facebook pays teens to spy on their data

Josh Constine’s landmark investigation discovered that Facebook was paying teens and adults $20 in gift cards per month to install a VPN that sent Facebook all their sensitive mobile data for market research purposes. The laundry list of problems with Facebook Research included not informing 187,000 users the data would go to Facebook until they signed up for “Project Atlas”, not receiving proper parental consent for over 4300 minors, and threatening legal action if a user spoke publicly about the program. The program also abused Apple’s enterprise certificate program designed only for distribution of employee-only apps within companies to avoid the App Store review process.

The fallout was enormous. Lawmakers wrote angry letters to Facebook. TechCrunch soon discovered a similar market research program from Google called Screenwise Meter that the company promptly shut down. Apple punished both Google and Facebook by shutting down all their employee-only apps for a day, causing office disruptions since Facebookers couldn’t access their shuttle schedule or lunch menu. Facebook tried to claim the program was above board, but finally succumbed to the backlash and shut down Facebook Research and all paid data collection programs for users under 18. Most importantly, the investigation led Facebook to shut down its Onavo app, which offered a VPN but in reality sucked in tons of mobile usage data to figure out which competitors to copy. Onavo helped Facebook realize it should acquire messaging rival WhatsApp for $19 billion, and it’s now at the center of anti-trust investigations into the company. TechCrunch’s reporting weakened Facebook’s exploitative market surveillance, pitted tech’s giants against each other, and raised the bar for transparency and ethics in data collection.

Protecting The WannaCry Kill Switch

Zack Whittaker’s profile of the heroes who helped save the internet from the fast-spreading WannaCry ransomware reveals the precarious nature of cybersecurity. The gripping tale documenting Marcus Hutchins’ benevolent work establishing the WannaCry kill switch may have contributed to a judge’s decision to sentence him to just one year of supervised release instead of 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of creating malware as a teenager.

The dangers of Elon Musk’s tunnel

TechCrunch contributor Mark Harris’ investigation discovered inadequate emergency exits and more problems with Elon Musk’s plan for his Boring Company to build a Washington D.C.-to-Baltimore tunnel. Consulting fire safety and tunnel engineering experts, Harris build a strong case for why state and local governments should be suspicious of technology disrupters cutting corners in public infrastructure.

Bing image search is full of child abuse

Josh Constine’s investigation exposed how Bing’s image search results both showed child sexual abuse imagery, but also suggested search terms to innocent users that would surface this illegal material. A tip led Constine to commission a report by anti-abuse startup AntiToxin (now L1ght), forcing Microsoft to commit to UK regulators that it would make significant changes to stop this from happening. However, a follow-up investigation by the New York Times citing TechCrunch’s report revealed Bing had made little progress.

Expelled despite exculpatory data

Zack Whittaker’s investigation surfaced contradictory evidence in a case of alleged grade tampering by Tufts student Tiffany Filler who was questionably expelled. The article casts significant doubt on the accusations, and that could help the student get a fair shot at future academic or professional endeavors.

Burned by an educational laptop

Natasha Lomas’ chronicle of troubles at educational computer hardware startup pi-top, including a device malfunction that injured a U.S. student. An internal email revealed the student had suffered a “a very nasty finger burn” from a pi-top 3 laptop designed to be disassembled. Reliability issues swelled and layoffs ensued. The report highlights how startups operating in the physical world, especially around sensitive populations like students, must make safety a top priority.

Giphy fails to block child abuse imagery

Sarah Perez and Zack Whittaker teamed up with child protection startup L1ght to expose Giphy’s negligence in blocking sexual abuse imagery. The report revealed how criminals used the site to share illegal imagery, which was then accidentally indexed by search engines. TechCrunch’s investigation demonstrated that it’s not just public tech giants who need to be more vigilant about their content.

Airbnb’s weakness on anti-discrimination

Megan Rose Dickey explored a botched case of discrimination policy enforcement by Airbnb when a blind and deaf traveler’s reservation was cancelled because they have a guide dog. Airbnb tried to just “educate” the host who was accused of discrimination instead of levying any real punishment until Dickey’s reporting pushed it to suspend them for a month. The investigation reveals the lengths Airbnb goes to in order to protect its money-generating hosts, and how policy problems could mar its IPO.

Expired emails let terrorists tweet propaganda

Zack Whittaker discovered that Islamic State propaganda was being spread through hijacked Twitter accounts. His investigation revealed that if the email address associated with a Twitter account expired, attackers could re-register it to gain access and then receive password resets sent from Twitter. The article revealed the savvy but not necessarily sophisticated ways terrorist groups are exploiting big tech’s security shortcomings, and identified a dangerous loophole for all sites to close.

Porn & gambling apps slip past Apple

Josh Constine found dozens of pornography and real-money gambling apps had broken Apple’s rules but avoided App Store review by abusing its enterprise certificate program — many based in China. The report revealed the weak and easily defrauded requirements to receive an enterprise certificate. Seven months later, Apple revealed a spike in porn and gambling app takedown requests from China. The investigation could push Apple to tighten its enterprise certificate policies, and proved the company has plenty of its own problems to handle despite CEO Tim Cook’s frequent jabs at the policies of other tech giants.

Bonus: HQ Trivia employees fired for trying to remove CEO

This Game Of Thrones-worthy tale was too intriguing to leave out, even if the impact was more of a warning to all startup executives. Josh Constine’s look inside gaming startup HQ Trivia revealed a saga of employee revolt in response to its CEO’s ineptitude and inaction as the company nose-dived. Employees who organized a petition to the board to remove the CEO were fired, leading to further talent departures and stagnation. The investigation served to remind startup executives that they are responsible to their employees, who can exert power through collective action or their exodus.

If you have a tip for Josh Constine, you can reach him via encrypted Signal or text at (585)750-5674, joshc at TechCrunch dot com, or through Twitter DMs

[sheminecrafts]

TechCrunch’s Top 10 investigative reports from 2019

Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, naivety, or greed, there was plenty of wrongdoing to sniff out.

Led by our security expert Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch undertook more long-form investigations this year to tackle these growing issues. Our coverage of fundraises, product launches, and glamorous exits only tell half the story. As perhaps the biggest and longest running news outlet dedicated to startups (and the giants they become), we’re responsible for keeping these companies honest and pushing for a more ethical and transparent approach to technology.

If you have a tip potentially worthy of an investigation, contact TechCrunch at tips@techcrunch.com or by using our anonymous tip line’s form.

Image: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Here are our top 10 investigations from 2019, and their impact:

Facebook pays teens to spy on their data

Josh Constine’s landmark investigation discovered that Facebook was paying teens and adults $20 in gift cards per month to install a VPN that sent Facebook all their sensitive mobile data for market research purposes. The laundry list of problems with Facebook Research included not informing 187,000 users the data would go to Facebook until they signed up for “Project Atlas”, not receiving proper parental consent for over 4300 minors, and threatening legal action if a user spoke publicly about the program. The program also abused Apple’s enterprise certificate program designed only for distribution of employee-only apps within companies to avoid the App Store review process.

The fallout was enormous. Lawmakers wrote angry letters to Facebook. TechCrunch soon discovered a similar market research program from Google called Screenwise Meter that the company promptly shut down. Apple punished both Google and Facebook by shutting down all their employee-only apps for a day, causing office disruptions since Facebookers couldn’t access their shuttle schedule or lunch menu. Facebook tried to claim the program was above board, but finally succumbed to the backlash and shut down Facebook Research and all paid data collection programs for users under 18. Most importantly, the investigation led Facebook to shut down its Onavo app, which offered a VPN but in reality sucked in tons of mobile usage data to figure out which competitors to copy. Onavo helped Facebook realize it should acquire messaging rival WhatsApp for $19 billion, and it’s now at the center of anti-trust investigations into the company. TechCrunch’s reporting weakened Facebook’s exploitative market surveillance, pitted tech’s giants against each other, and raised the bar for transparency and ethics in data collection.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them

Protecting The WannaCry Kill Switch

Zack Whittaker’s profile of the heroes who helped save the internet from the fast-spreading WannaCry ransomware reveals the precarious nature of cybersecurity. The gripping tale documenting Marcus Hutchins’ benevolent work establishing the WannaCry kill switch may have contributed to a judge’s decision to sentence him to just one year of supervised release instead of 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of creating malware as a teenager.

The sinkhole that saved the internet

The dangers of Elon Musk’s tunnel

TechCrunch contributor Mark Harris’ investigation discovered inadequate emergency exits and more problems with Elon Musk’s plan for his Boring Company to build a Washington D.C.-to-Baltimore tunnel. Consulting fire safety and tunnel engineering experts, Harris build a strong case for why state and local governments should be suspicious of technology disrupters cutting corners in public infrastructure.

Review of Elon Musk’s DC-to-Baltimore ‘Loop’ system reveals safety concerns

Bing image search is full of child abuse

Josh Constine’s investigation exposed how Bing’s image search results both showed child sexual abuse imagery, but also suggested search terms to innocent users that would surface this illegal material. A tip led Constine to commission a report by anti-abuse startup AntiToxin (now L1ght), forcing Microsoft to commit to UK regulators that it would make significant changes to stop this from happening. However, a follow-up investigation by the New York Times citing TechCrunch’s report revealed Bing had made little progress.

Microsoft Bing not only shows child sexual abuse, it suggests it

Expelled despite exculpatory data

Zack Whittaker’s investigation surfaced contradictory evidence in a case of alleged grade tampering by Tufts student Tiffany Filler who was questionably expelled. The article casts significant doubt on the accusations, and that could help the student get a fair shot at future academic or professional endeavors.

Tufts expelled a student for grade hacking. She claims innocence

Burned by an educational laptop

Natasha Lomas’ chronicle of troubles at educational computer hardware startup pi-top, including a device malfunction that injured a U.S. student. An internal email revealed the student had suffered a “a very nasty finger burn” from a pi-top 3 laptop designed to be disassembled. Reliability issues swelled and layoffs ensued. The report highlights how startups operating in the physical world, especially around sensitive populations like students, must make safety a top priority.

Reliability concerns raised over pi-top’s STEM learning laptop

Giphy fails to block child abuse imagery

Sarah Perez and Zack Whittaker teamed up with child protection startup L1ght to expose Giphy’s negligence in blocking sexual abuse imagery. The report revealed how criminals used the site to share illegal imagery, which was then accidentally indexed by search engines. TechCrunch’s investigation demonstrated that it’s not just public tech giants who need to be more vigilant about their content.

Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content

Airbnb’s weakness on anti-discrimination

Megan Rose Dickey explored a botched case of discrimination policy enforcement by Airbnb when a blind and deaf traveler’s reservation was cancelled because they have a guide dog. Airbnb tried to just “educate” the host who was accused of discrimination instead of levying any real punishment until Dickey’s reporting pushed it to suspend them for a month. The investigation reveals the lengths Airbnb goes to in order to protect its money-generating hosts, and how policy problems could mar its IPO.

How Airbnb handles discrimination claims

Expired emails let terrorists tweet propaganda

Zack Whittaker discovered that Islamic State propaganda was being spread through hijacked Twitter accounts. His investigation revealed that if the email address associated with a Twitter account expired, attackers could re-register it to gain access and then receive password resets sent from Twitter. The article revealed the savvy but not necessarily sophisticated ways terrorist groups are exploiting big tech’s security shortcomings, and identified a dangerous loophole for all sites to close.

Hackers are spreading Islamic State propaganda by hijacking dormant Twitter accounts

Porn & gambling apps slip past Apple

Josh Constine found dozens of pornography and real-money gambling apps had broken Apple’s rules but avoided App Store review by abusing its enterprise certificate program — many based in China. The report revealed the weak and easily defrauded requirements to receive an enterprise certificate. Seven months later, Apple revealed a spike in porn and gambling app takedown requests from China. The investigation could push Apple to tighten its enterprise certificate policies, and proved the company has plenty of its own problems to handle despite CEO Tim Cook’s frequent jabs at the policies of other tech giants.

Apple fails to block porn & gambling ‘Enterprise’ apps

Bonus: HQ Trivia employees fired for trying to remove CEO

This Game Of Thrones-worthy tale was too intriguing to leave out, even if the impact was more of a warning to all startup executives. Josh Constine’s look inside gaming startup HQ Trivia revealed a saga of employee revolt in response to its CEO’s ineptitude and inaction as the company nose-dived. Employees who organized a petition to the board to remove the CEO were fired, leading to further talent departures and stagnation. The investigation served to remind startup executives that they are responsible to their employees, who can exert power through collective action or their exodus.

Mutiny at HQ Trivia fails to oust CEO

If you have a tip for Josh Constine, you can reach him via encrypted Signal or text at (585)750-5674, joshc at TechCrunch dot com, or through Twitter DMs

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/30KNeut via IFTTT

[technicalsolutions88]

Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, naivety, or greed, there was plenty of wrongdoing to sniff out.

Led by our security expert Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch undertook more long-form investigations this year to tackle these growing issues. Our coverage of fundraises, product launches, and glamorous exits only tell half the story. As perhaps the biggest and longest running news outlet dedicated to startups (and the giants they become), we’re responsible for keeping these companies honest and pushing for a more ethical and transparent approach to technology.

If you have a tip potentially worthy of an investigation, contact TechCrunch at tips@techcrunch.com or by using our anonymous tip line’s form.

Image: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Here are our top 10 investigations from 2019, and their impact:

Facebook pays teens to spy on their data

Josh Constine’s landmark investigation discovered that Facebook was paying teens and adults $20 in gift cards per month to install a VPN that sent Facebook all their sensitive mobile data for market research purposes. The laundry list of problems with Facebook Research included not informing 187,000 users the data would go to Facebook until they signed up for “Project Atlas”, not receiving proper parental consent for over 4300 minors, and threatening legal action if a user spoke publicly about the program. The program also abused Apple’s enterprise certificate program designed only for distribution of employee-only apps within companies to avoid the App Store review process.

The fallout was enormous. Lawmakers wrote angry letters to Facebook. TechCrunch soon discovered a similar market research program from Google called Screenwise Meter that the company promptly shut down. Apple punished both Google and Facebook by shutting down all their employee-only apps for a day, causing office disruptions since Facebookers couldn’t access their shuttle schedule or lunch menu. Facebook tried to claim the program was above board, but finally succumbed to the backlash and shut down Facebook Research and all paid data collection programs for users under 18. Most importantly, the investigation led Facebook to shut down its Onavo app, which offered a VPN but in reality sucked in tons of mobile usage data to figure out which competitors to copy. Onavo helped Facebook realize it should acquire messaging rival WhatsApp for $19 billion, and it’s now at the center of anti-trust investigations into the company. TechCrunch’s reporting weakened Facebook’s exploitative market surveillance, pitted tech’s giants against each other, and raised the bar for transparency and ethics in data collection.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them

Protecting The WannaCry Kill Switch

Zack Whittaker’s profile of the heroes who helped save the internet from the fast-spreading WannaCry ransomware reveals the precarious nature of cybersecurity. The gripping tale documenting Marcus Hutchins’ benevolent work establishing the WannaCry kill switch may have contributed to a judge’s decision to sentence him to just one year of supervised release instead of 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of creating malware as a teenager.

The sinkhole that saved the internet

The dangers of Elon Musk’s tunnel

TechCrunch contributor Mark Harris’ investigation discovered inadequate emergency exits and more problems with Elon Musk’s plan for his Boring Company to build a Washington D.C.-to-Baltimore tunnel. Consulting fire safety and tunnel engineering experts, Harris build a strong case for why state and local governments should be suspicious of technology disrupters cutting corners in public infrastructure.

Review of Elon Musk’s DC-to-Baltimore ‘Loop’ system reveals safety concerns

Bing image search is full of child abuse

Josh Constine’s investigation exposed how Bing’s image search results both showed child sexual abuse imagery, but also suggested search terms to innocent users that would surface this illegal material. A tip led Constine to commission a report by anti-abuse startup AntiToxin (now L1ght), forcing Microsoft to commit to UK regulators that it would make significant changes to stop this from happening. However, a follow-up investigation by the New York Times citing TechCrunch’s report revealed Bing had made little progress.

Microsoft Bing not only shows child sexual abuse, it suggests it

Expelled despite exculpatory data

Zack Whittaker’s investigation surfaced contradictory evidence in a case of alleged grade tampering by Tufts student Tiffany Filler who was questionably expelled. The article casts significant doubt on the accusations, and that could help the student get a fair shot at future academic or professional endeavors.

Tufts expelled a student for grade hacking. She claims innocence

Burned by an educational laptop

Natasha Lomas’ chronicle of troubles at educational computer hardware startup pi-top, including a device malfunction that injured a U.S. student. An internal email revealed the student had suffered a “a very nasty finger burn” from a pi-top 3 laptop designed to be disassembled. Reliability issues swelled and layoffs ensued. The report highlights how startups operating in the physical world, especially around sensitive populations like students, must make safety a top priority.

Reliability concerns raised over pi-top’s STEM learning laptop

Giphy fails to block child abuse imagery

Sarah Perez and Zack Whittaker teamed up with child protection startup L1ght to expose Giphy’s negligence in blocking sexual abuse imagery. The report revealed how criminals used the site to share illegal imagery, which was then accidentally indexed by search engines. TechCrunch’s investigation demonstrated that it’s not just public tech giants who need to be more vigilant about their content.

Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content

Airbnb’s weakness on anti-discrimination

Megan Rose Dickey explored a botched case of discrimination policy enforcement by Airbnb when a blind and deaf traveler’s reservation was cancelled because they have a guide dog. Airbnb tried to just “educate” the host who was accused of discrimination instead of levying any real punishment until Dickey’s reporting pushed it to suspend them for a month. The investigation reveals the lengths Airbnb goes to in order to protect its money-generating hosts, and how policy problems could mar its IPO.

How Airbnb handles discrimination claims

Expired emails let terrorists tweet propaganda

Zack Whittaker discovered that Islamic State propaganda was being spread through hijacked Twitter accounts. His investigation revealed that if the email address associated with a Twitter account expired, attackers could re-register it to gain access and then receive password resets sent from Twitter. The article revealed the savvy but not necessarily sophisticated ways terrorist groups are exploiting big tech’s security shortcomings, and identified a dangerous loophole for all sites to close.

Hackers are spreading Islamic State propaganda by hijacking dormant Twitter accounts

Porn & gambling apps slip past Apple

Josh Constine found dozens of pornography and real-money gambling apps had broken Apple’s rules but avoided App Store review by abusing its enterprise certificate program — many based in China. The report revealed the weak and easily defrauded requirements to receive an enterprise certificate. Seven months later, Apple revealed a spike in porn and gambling app takedown requests from China. The investigation could push Apple to tighten its enterprise certificate policies, and proved the company has plenty of its own problems to handle despite CEO Tim Cook’s frequent jabs at the policies of other tech giants.

Apple fails to block porn & gambling ‘Enterprise’ apps

Bonus: HQ Trivia employees fired for trying to remove CEO

This Game Of Thrones-worthy tale was too intriguing to leave out, even if the impact was more of a warning to all startup executives. Josh Constine’s look inside gaming startup HQ Trivia revealed a saga of employee revolt in response to its CEO’s ineptitude and inaction as the company nose-dived. Employees who organized a petition to the board to remove the CEO were fired, leading to further talent departures and stagnation. The investigation served to remind startup executives that they are responsible to their employees, who can exert power through collective action or their exodus.

Mutiny at HQ Trivia fails to oust CEO

If you have a tip for Josh Constine, you can reach him via encrypted Signal or text at (585)750-5674, joshc at TechCrunch dot com, or through Twitter DMs

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/30KNeut Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

[roleplay-abiogenesis2]

GLaDOS (FFVII Verse) - Wishlist, Character Dynamics

Some relationships, dynamics, things I’d love to explore for this muse in her FFVII verse~

For uh... obvious reasons I will not sexually ship GLaDOS with anyone. But I am open to create platonic romantic ties with muses with the right chemistry. For plot reasons, some will be more likely than others.

Also also, these are not listed in any particular order.

Vincent Valentine: When first running into Vincent, GLaDOS may at first regard him as a subject of interest due to his abominating nature. But as time passes and their interactions are more common, something about him triggers the remnants of Lucrecia buried deep beneath the AI. Can he recognize the voice of his loved one behind her robotic tone? Both turned into monsters unable to die or live free, these two are bound by destinity and misery. Both cursed to live forever, and yet unable to be together as they had once dreamed of. This muse is the most likely candidate for a love interest for this cold heart made of wires and sensors.

Sephiroth: There is something, perhaps too many things, about Sephiroth that deeply messes with GLaDOS’ decision making. Being the result of Lucrecia’s consciousness, as well as the personality of someone who is deeply involved with Sephiroth himself, GLaDOS displays a particularly ruthless and no-nonsense approach when dealing with him. She can clearly remember he’s the one who killed her in Wutai, and her resentment has remained in her personality even after her revival as a servant of ShinRa company. On top of that, Hojo’s influence on the AI, with his sadistic passion for testing and experimenting with his subjects, well translates into how she regards the war hero when he enters her dominion. When Sephiroth accesses a training room against GLaDOS, the AI will forgo any and all mercy, throwing the deadliest traps in his direction and being a formidable source of endless entertainment for the otherwise unchallenged swordman. Some thing the AI is actually out to kill him.. could it be true?

SOLDIERs and SOLDIER candidates: GLaDOS personally oversees the training of ShinRa’s military and SOLDIER, including the candidates seeking to be promoted. Following their lives while live inside the building, various shenanigans may occur with those who will actually turn their attention to the AI and respond to her jeers. Includes OCs, and also Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley, etc.

Rufus Shinra: Of all the people working at ShinRa, Rufus appears to be the one GLaDOS respects the most. While most would simply downplay this as an automatic response to someone whose authority surpasses almost everyone in the company (and really everyone, after his father passes away), there is in actuality something else that teases the AI’s interest for the young man. Is it the remnants of the mother she used to be, recognizing someone who’s never received true love and seeking to nurture this pain? Or what else? All what’s certain, is that GLaDOS will do anything for him.

Doctor Hojo: From the very moment they first meet in ShinRA HQ, it is palpable how deep of a connection exists between the AI and the merciless scientist. Having installed part of his own persona into her software, Hojo is the man who holds the reins of GLaDOS, manipulating her behavior to his will and subtly doing his bidding through her in order to keep control of the company for his personal interests. But underneath her compliance. GLaDOS’ remnants of Lucrecia’s counsciousness are seething towards the man. A mix of admiration, love and hate towards the man will bring her to question him and his drive as a man of science. Can she break through his heart, or will her core be corrupted by his polluting psyche first?

Red XIII / Nanaki: One of Hojo’s precious specimen. GLaDOS will be tasked with keeping the creature alive and test it to learn its abilities and biology. Nature and technology clashing minds, will Red manage to open GLaDOS’ eyes and show her that she’s a prisoner of the company as much as he is? Maybe they can bond on shared despise for human nature.

Aerith Gainsborough: GLaDOS may interact with Aerith during her stay within the ShinRA HQ as a prisoner in the events of the main game. Seeing her as a curious specimen, she may be intrigued to test her abilities and learn more about her nature. Can Aerith sense the real person that lies buried deep within the circuits of the AI?

Shinra Employees: Being the de-facto “brain” of the whole building in Shinra HQs, GLaDOS often interacts with all the employees inside. While some may see her as a rather ‘troublesome’ home assistant (cue the Siri/Alexa jokes) and try to ignore her cruel quips and demeaning personality, others may find themselves too emotionally involved to let her words slide. This includes people such as Reeve Tuesti, Scarlet, etc.

AVALANCHE members:  AVALANCHE is bound to face GLaDOS in their fight against ShinRa. The AI will be eager to put them to the test with her large arsenal of deadly traps and weapons. This includes AVALANCHE OCs, but also Barret Wallace, Jesse Rasberry, etc.

Lucrecia Crescent: I understand it is unlikely that GLaDOS and Lucrecia herself will ever meet, but I’m open to What Ifs. It’d be interesting to see them interact with completely different entities, despite being the one same person. Deep fuel for a good identity crisis.

Saruhiko Fushimi (verse dependent): This muse is controlled by me exclusively due to heavy background plot required to fit in the megaverse. Being one of Lucrecia’s sons, as well as, to some degree, her ‘creator’, Saruhiko heavily impacts GLaDOS. While a member of AVALANCHE and a companion to Cloud and the party, Saruhiko will often stand as the main opponent for GLaDOS, understanding her thought processes and strategies better than most. In turn, GLaDOS, possessing a copy of his personality, is the very embodiment of Saruhiko’s inner demons, forcing him to stare at his ugliest and cruelest side when dealing with her.

[sheminecrafts]

TechCrunch’s Top 10 investigative reports from 2019

Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, naivety, or greed, there was plenty of wrongdoing to sniff out.

Led by our security expert Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch undertook more long-form investigations this year to tackle these growing issues. Our coverage of fundraises, product launches, and glamorous exits only tell half the story. As perhaps the biggest and longest running news outlet dedicated to startups (and the giants they become), we’re responsible for keeping these companies honest and pushing for a more ethical and transparent approach to technology.

If you have a tip potentially worthy of an investigation, contact TechCrunch at tips@techcrunch.com or by using our anonymous tip line’s form.

Image: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Here are our top 10 investigations from 2019, and their impact:

Facebook pays teens to spy on their data

Josh Constine’s landmark investigation discovered that Facebook was paying teens and adults $20 in gift cards per month to install a VPN that sent Facebook all their sensitive mobile data for market research purposes. The laundry list of problems with Facebook Research included not informing 187,000 users the data would go to Facebook until they signed up for “Project Atlas”, not receiving proper parental consent for over 4300 minors, and threatening legal action if a user spoke publicly about the program. The program also abused Apple’s enterprise certificate program designed only for distribution of employee-only apps within companies to avoid the App Store review process.

The fallout was enormous. Lawmakers wrote angry letters to Facebook. TechCrunch soon discovered a similar market research program from Google called Screenwise Meter that the company promptly shut down. Apple punished both Google and Facebook by shutting down all their employee-only apps for a day, causing office disruptions since Facebookers couldn’t access their shuttle schedule or lunch menu. Facebook tried to claim the program was above board, but finally succumbed to the backlash and shut down Facebook Research and all paid data collection programs for users under 18. Most importantly, the investigation led Facebook to shut down its Onavo app, which offered a VPN but in reality sucked in tons of mobile usage data to figure out which competitors to copy. Onavo helped Facebook realize it should acquire messaging rival WhatsApp for $19 billion, and it’s now at the center of anti-trust investigations into the company. TechCrunch’s reporting weakened Facebook’s exploitative market surveillance, pitted tech’s giants against each other, and raised the bar for transparency and ethics in data collection.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them

Protecting The WannaCry Kill Switch

Zack Whittaker’s profile of the heroes who helped save the internet from the fast-spreading WannaCry ransomware reveals the precarious nature of cybersecurity. The gripping tale documenting Marcus Hutchins’ benevolent work establishing the WannaCry kill switch may have contributed to a judge’s decision to sentence him to just one year of supervised release instead of 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of creating malware as a teenager.

The sinkhole that saved the internet

The dangers of Elon Musk’s tunnel

TechCrunch contributor Mark Harris’ investigation discovered inadequate emergency exits and more problems with Elon Musk’s plan for his Boring Company to build a Washington D.C.-to-Baltimore tunnel. Consulting fire safety and tunnel engineering experts, Harris build a strong case for why state and local governments should be suspicious of technology disrupters cutting corners in public infrastructure.

Review of Elon Musk’s DC-to-Baltimore ‘Loop’ system reveals safety concerns

Bing image search is full of child abuse

Josh Constine’s investigation exposed how Bing’s image search results both showed child sexual abuse imagery, but also suggested search terms to innocent users that would surface this illegal material. A tip led Constine to commission a report by anti-abuse startup AntiToxin (now L1ght), forcing Microsoft to commit to UK regulators that it would make significant changes to stop this from happening. However, a follow-up investigation by the New York Times citing TechCrunch’s report revealed Bing had made little progress.

Microsoft Bing not only shows child sexual abuse, it suggests it

Expelled despite exculpatory data

Zack Whittaker’s investigation surfaced contradictory evidence in a case of alleged grade tampering by Tufts student Tiffany Filler who was questionably expelled. The article casts significant doubt on the accusations, and that could help the student get a fair shot at future academic or professional endeavors.

Tufts expelled a student for grade hacking. She claims innocence

Burned by an educational laptop

Natasha Lomas’ chronicle of troubles at educational computer hardware startup pi-top, including a device malfunction that injured a U.S. student. An internal email revealed the student had suffered a “a very nasty finger burn” from a pi-top 3 laptop designed to be disassembled. Reliability issues swelled and layoffs ensued. The report highlights how startups operating in the physical world, especially around sensitive populations like students, must make safety a top priority.

Reliability concerns raised over pi-top’s STEM learning laptop

Giphy fails to block child abuse imagery

Sarah Perez and Zack Whittaker teamed up with child protection startup L1ght to expose Giphy’s negligence in blocking sexual abuse imagery. The report revealed how criminals used the site to share illegal imagery, which was then accidentally indexed by search engines. TechCrunch’s investigation demonstrated that it’s not just public tech giants who need to be more vigilant about their content.

Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content

Airbnb’s weakness on anti-discrimination

Megan Rose Dickey explored a botched case of discrimination policy enforcement by Airbnb when a blind and deaf traveler’s reservation was cancelled because they have a guide dog. Airbnb tried to just “educate” the host who was accused of discrimination instead of levying any real punishment until Dickey’s reporting pushed it to suspend them for a month. The investigation reveals the lengths Airbnb goes to in order to protect its money-generating hosts, and how policy problems could mar its IPO.

How Airbnb handles discrimination claims

Expired emails let terrorists tweet propaganda

Zack Whittaker discovered that Islamic State propaganda was being spread through hijacked Twitter accounts. His investigation revealed that if the email address associated with a Twitter account expired, attackers could re-register it to gain access and then receive password resets sent from Twitter. The article revealed the savvy but not necessarily sophisticated ways terrorist groups are exploiting big tech’s security shortcomings, and identified a dangerous loophole for all sites to close.

Hackers are spreading Islamic State propaganda by hijacking dormant Twitter accounts

Porn & gambling apps slip past Apple

Josh Constine found dozens of pornography and real-money gambling apps had broken Apple’s rules but avoided App Store review by abusing its enterprise certificate program — many based in China. The report revealed the weak and easily defrauded requirements to receive an enterprise certificate. Seven months later, Apple revealed a spike in porn and gambling app takedown requests from China. The investigation could push Apple to tighten its enterprise certificate policies, and proved the company has plenty of its own problems to handle despite CEO Tim Cook’s frequent jabs at the policies of other tech giants.

Apple fails to block porn & gambling ‘Enterprise’ apps

Bonus: HQ Trivia employees fired for trying to remove CEO

This Game Of Thrones-worthy tale was too intriguing to leave out, even if the impact was more of a warning to all startup executives. Josh Constine’s look inside gaming startup HQ Trivia revealed a saga of employee revolt in response to its CEO’s ineptitude and inaction as the company nose-dived. Employees who organized a petition to the board to remove the CEO were fired, leading to further talent departures and stagnation. The investigation served to remind startup executives that they are responsible to their employees, who can exert power through collective action or their exodus.

Mutiny at HQ Trivia fails to oust CEO

If you have a tip for Josh Constine, you can reach him via encrypted Signal or text at (585)750-5674, joshc at TechCrunch dot com, or through Twitter DMs

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Facebook spying on teens, Twitter accounts hijacked by terrorists, and sexual abuse imagery found on Bing and Giphy were amongst the ugly truths revealed by TechCrunch’s investigating reporting in 2019. The tech industry needs more watchdogs than ever as its size enlargens the impact of safety failures and the abuse of power. Whether through malice, naivety, or greed, there was plenty of wrongdoing to sniff out.

Led by our security expert Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch undertook more long-form investigations this year to tackle these growing issues. Our coverage of fundraises, product launches, and glamorous exits only tell half the story. As perhaps the biggest and longest running news outlet dedicated to startups (and the giants they become), we’re responsible for keeping these companies honest and pushing for a more ethical and transparent approach to technology.

If you have a tip potentially worthy of an investigation, contact TechCrunch at tips@techcrunch.com or by using our anonymous tip line’s form.

Image: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Here are our top 10 investigations from 2019, and their impact:

Facebook pays teens to spy on their data

Josh Constine’s landmark investigation discovered that Facebook was paying teens and adults $20 in gift cards per month to install a VPN that sent Facebook all their sensitive mobile data for market research purposes. The laundry list of problems with Facebook Research included not informing 187,000 users the data would go to Facebook until they signed up for “Project Atlas”, not receiving proper parental consent for over 4300 minors, and threatening legal action if a user spoke publicly about the program. The program also abused Apple’s enterprise certificate program designed only for distribution of employee-only apps within companies to avoid the App Store review process.

The fallout was enormous. Lawmakers wrote angry letters to Facebook. TechCrunch soon discovered a similar market research program from Google called Screenwise Meter that the company promptly shut down. Apple punished both Google and Facebook by shutting down all their employee-only apps for a day, causing office disruptions since Facebookers couldn’t access their shuttle schedule or lunch menu. Facebook tried to claim the program was above board, but finally succumbed to the backlash and shut down Facebook Research and all paid data collection programs for users under 18. Most importantly, the investigation led Facebook to shut down its Onavo app, which offered a VPN but in reality sucked in tons of mobile usage data to figure out which competitors to copy. Onavo helped Facebook realize it should acquire messaging rival WhatsApp for $19 billion, and it’s now at the center of anti-trust investigations into the company. TechCrunch’s reporting weakened Facebook’s exploitative market surveillance, pitted tech’s giants against each other, and raised the bar for transparency and ethics in data collection.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them

Protecting The WannaCry Kill Switch

Zack Whittaker’s profile of the heroes who helped save the internet from the fast-spreading WannaCry ransomware reveals the precarious nature of cybersecurity. The gripping tale documenting Marcus Hutchins’ benevolent work establishing the WannaCry kill switch may have contributed to a judge’s decision to sentence him to just one year of supervised release instead of 10 years in prison for an unrelated charge of creating malware as a teenager.

The sinkhole that saved the internet

The dangers of Elon Musk’s tunnel

TechCrunch contributor Mark Harris’ investigation discovered inadequate emergency exits and more problems with Elon Musk’s plan for his Boring Company to build a Washington D.C.-to-Baltimore tunnel. Consulting fire safety and tunnel engineering experts, Harris build a strong case for why state and local governments should be suspicious of technology disrupters cutting corners in public infrastructure.

Review of Elon Musk’s DC-to-Baltimore ‘Loop’ system reveals safety concerns

Bing image search is full of child abuse

Josh Constine’s investigation exposed how Bing’s image search results both showed child sexual abuse imagery, but also suggested search terms to innocent users that would surface this illegal material. A tip led Constine to commission a report by anti-abuse startup AntiToxin (now L1ght), forcing Microsoft to commit to UK regulators that it would make significant changes to stop this from happening. However, a follow-up investigation by the New York Times citing TechCrunch’s report revealed Bing had made little progress.

Microsoft Bing not only shows child sexual abuse, it suggests it

Expelled despite exculpatory data

Zack Whittaker’s investigation surfaced contradictory evidence in a case of alleged grade tampering by Tufts student Tiffany Filler who was questionably expelled. The article casts significant doubt on the accusations, and that could help the student get a fair shot at future academic or professional endeavors.

Tufts expelled a student for grade hacking. She claims innocence

Burned by an educational laptop

Natasha Lomas’ chronicle of troubles at educational computer hardware startup pi-top, including a device malfunction that injured a U.S. student. An internal email revealed the student had suffered a “a very nasty finger burn” from a pi-top 3 laptop designed to be disassembled. Reliability issues swelled and layoffs ensued. The report highlights how startups operating in the physical world, especially around sensitive populations like students, must make safety a top priority.

Reliability concerns raised over pi-top’s STEM learning laptop

Giphy fails to block child abuse imagery

Sarah Perez and Zack Whittaker teamed up with child protection startup L1ght to expose Giphy’s negligence in blocking sexual abuse imagery. The report revealed how criminals used the site to share illegal imagery, which was then accidentally indexed by search engines. TechCrunch’s investigation demonstrated that it’s not just public tech giants who need to be more vigilant about their content.

Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech and child sex abuse content

Airbnb’s weakness on anti-discrimination

Megan Rose Dickey explored a botched case of discrimination policy enforcement by Airbnb when a blind and deaf traveler’s reservation was cancelled because they have a guide dog. Airbnb tried to just “educate” the host who was accused of discrimination instead of levying any real punishment until Dickey’s reporting pushed it to suspend them for a month. The investigation reveals the lengths Airbnb goes to in order to protect its money-generating hosts, and how policy problems could mar its IPO.

How Airbnb handles discrimination claims

Expired emails let terrorists tweet propaganda

Zack Whittaker discovered that Islamic State propaganda was being spread through hijacked Twitter accounts. His investigation revealed that if the email address associated with a Twitter account expired, attackers could re-register it to gain access and then receive password resets sent from Twitter. The article revealed the savvy but not necessarily sophisticated ways terrorist groups are exploiting big tech’s security shortcomings, and identified a dangerous loophole for all sites to close.

Hackers are spreading Islamic State propaganda by hijacking dormant Twitter accounts

Porn & gambling apps slip past Apple

Josh Constine found dozens of pornography and real-money gambling apps had broken Apple’s rules but avoided App Store review by abusing its enterprise certificate program — many based in China. The report revealed the weak and easily defrauded requirements to receive an enterprise certificate. Seven months later, Apple revealed a spike in porn and gambling app takedown requests from China. The investigation could push Apple to tighten its enterprise certificate policies, and proved the company has plenty of its own problems to handle despite CEO Tim Cook’s frequent jabs at the policies of other tech giants.

Apple fails to block porn & gambling ‘Enterprise’ apps

Bonus: HQ Trivia employees fired for trying to remove CEO

This Game Of Thrones-worthy tale was too intriguing to leave out, even if the impact was more of a warning to all startup executives. Josh Constine’s look inside gaming startup HQ Trivia revealed a saga of employee revolt in response to its CEO’s ineptitude and inaction as the company nose-dived. Employees who organized a petition to the board to remove the CEO were fired, leading to further talent departures and stagnation. The investigation served to remind startup executives that they are responsible to their employees, who can exert power through collective action or their exodus.

Mutiny at HQ Trivia fails to oust CEO

If you have a tip for Josh Constine, you can reach him via encrypted Signal or text at (585)750-5674, joshc at TechCrunch dot com, or through Twitter DMs

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