Pipeline

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"Trust is a vulnerability exploit waiting to happen."
Pipeline
Player: @tommycortex
Origin:	Technology
Archetype:	Blaster/Stalker - Specialization: Digital Infiltration
Security Level:	50
Server:	Everlasting
Personal Data
Real Name:	Unknown
Known Aliases:	Pipeline, Blackwire, and numerous false identities
Species:	Human (Augmented)
Age:	Late 20s
Height:	5'11" (180 cm)
Weight:	Unknown
Eye Color:	Gray-green
Hair Color:	Sandy blonde
Biographical Data
Nationality:	Unknown
Occupation:	Freelance Hacker & Infiltration Specialist
Place of Birth:	Unknown
Base of Operations:	Unknown
Marital Status:	Unknown
Known Relatives:	Unknown
Known Powers
Technology-based combat and infiltration systems
Known Abilities
Master hacker, combat engineer, skilled marksman
Equipment
Custom plasma rifle, cybernetic prosthetic arm, shock gauntlets, tactical stealth armor, teleportation array
No additional information available.

SECTION 2: APPEARANCE

Appearance

Pipeline stands at 5'11" with a lean, athletic build—the kind of wiry strength that comes from constant movement rather than gym work. He appears to be in his late twenties, with sandy blonde hair kept short and practical, a neatly trimmed beard, and gray-green eyes that rarely settle on anything for long. There's a restless quality to him, a constant low-level vigilance that suggests he's always tracking exits and angles.

The first thing most people notice is the cybernetic arm. His right arm, from shoulder to fingertips, is a custom-built prosthetic of steel-grey composite plating with faint indigo tracings that pulse with energy when active. It's clearly his own work—modular, functional, and integrated seamlessly with the rest of his gear. The arm serves multiple purposes: interfacing with systems, stabilizing weaponry, and delivering electrical shocks in close quarters.

Civilian Appearance

Out of armor, Pipeline favors practical, layered clothing—a comfortable jacket over tank tops, well-worn jeans, and boots built for movement rather than style. Nothing expensive, nothing that draws attention. The cybernetic arm is always visible; there's no hiding it, and he doesn't try. He dresses like someone who needs to be able to run, fight, or disappear at a moment's notice, and who's operating on a budget that prioritizes function over fashion.

Tactical Gear

In the field, Pipeline wears high-end tactical stealth armor designed for reconnaissance and infiltration. The color scheme is deliberately utilitarian: matte black as the primary, steel grey secondary plating that matches his prosthetic arm, and warm gold-tan accents. The armor incorporates active camouflage and sensor dampening technology, allowing him to phase between solid and near-invisible at will. Integrated smart-glasses provide an AR heads-up display, and when active, his eyes glow with a faint red undertone from the overlay.

The armor is sleek rather than bulky, prioritizing mobility and stealth over raw protection. Every piece serves a purpose—no wasted bulk, no unnecessary flourish. It's the gear of someone who plans to be gone before anyone knows he was there.

Equipment

Pipeline carries a custom-modified plasma rifle as his primary weapon—built on a Nephilim Technologies base frame but heavily personalized. The weapon is optimized for precision and stealth fire, with minimal energy signature and maximum stopping power. For close-quarters combat, he relies on shock gauntlets—electrically charged systems built into his armor that deliver high-intensity electrical discharges on contact. Combined with his cybernetic arm's inherent power systems, these make him dangerous in melee despite his preference for range.

His tactical loadout includes a teleportation array for short- and mid-range movement, allowing him to reposition rapidly or extract from hostile situations. The system has redundancy failsafes built in—paranoia made practical.

Presence

There's something deliberately unremarkable about Pipeline when he wants there to be. He moves like someone used to not being seen, to occupying space without claiming it. But when the façade cracks—when he's focused, when he's working, when the sardonic mask slips—there's an edge of something harder underneath. The jokes and the casual demeanor are a performance. What lies beneath is colder, sharper, and far more dangerous than the laid-back hacker persona suggests.

SECTION 3: POWERS & ABILITIES

Powers & Abilities

Pipeline is a master of digital infiltration and tactical sabotage, combining elite-level hacking skills with combat engineering expertise and field-tested combat capabilities. His approach blends cutting-edge technology with ruthless efficiency—he's equally comfortable dismantling a secure network or eliminating targets before they know he's there.

Hacking & Cyberwarfare

Pipeline is an expert-level hacker and cyberwarfare specialist, capable of infiltrating even heavily secured systems. He excels at breaking encryption, exploiting vulnerabilities, and manipulating networks in real-time. His digital intrusion capabilities extend from corporate databases to military installations, and he's equally adept at offensive operations (system compromise, data theft, network disruption) and defensive measures (counter-intrusion, threat analysis, security auditing). His methodology emphasizes stealth and precision—get in, get what you need, leave no trace. When stealth isn't an option, he's capable of scorched-earth tactics that can cripple entire networks.

Engineering

Pipeline builds and maintains all his own equipment, from his cybernetic prosthetic to his custom plasma rifle. He's a skilled combat engineer with expertise in weapons modification, armor systems, and electronic warfare devices. This technical proficiency allows him to adapt his gear for specific operations, repair equipment in the field, and jury-rig solutions when standard tools aren't available. His engineering work reflects his personality: functional, efficient, and built with redundancy. Everything has a backup, and every backup has a failsafe.

Combat Skills

While hacking is his primary specialty, Pipeline is a capable combatant. He's a skilled marksman who favors his custom plasma rifle for precision engagements and can effectively use nearly any firearm he encounters. In close quarters, he relies on shock gauntlets and his cybernetic arm to deliver high-voltage strikes. His combat philosophy is pragmatic: eliminate threats efficiently, preferably before they know he's there. He's not a brawler or a soldier—he's an operative who understands that the best fight is the one your enemy doesn't survive long enough to have.

Stealth & Infiltration

Pipeline's tactical armor incorporates active camouflage and sensor dampening technology, allowing him to move through hostile territory virtually undetected. He's proficient in reconnaissance, surveillance, and tactical positioning. His approach to infiltration combines technological advantage with fieldcraft—understanding patrol patterns, exploiting blind spots, and maintaining situational awareness at all times. His paranoia serves him well in this capacity. He plans escape routes before entering any space, identifies threats before they materialize, and operates under the assumption that someone is always watching.

Equipment

• Custom Plasma Rifle: Modified from a Nephilim Technologies base model, optimized for precision, stealth fire, and minimal energy signature. His primary weapon for ranged engagements.
• Cybernetic Prosthetic Arm (Right): Self-engineered modular system combining structural strength, system interfacing capabilities, and integrated electrical discharge functions. Serves as both tool and weapon.
• Shock Gauntlets: High-intensity electrical combat systems built into his armor, delivering incapacitating charges on contact.
• Tactical Stealth Armor: Active camouflage, sensor dampening, integrated HUD with AR overlay, and environmental protection. Color scheme: matte black, steel grey, gold-tan accents.
• Teleportation Array: Short- and mid-range tactical teleporter with redundancy failsafes, allowing rapid repositioning and emergency extraction.

SECTION 4: PERSONALITY

Personality

Pipeline projects the classic hacker archetype: sardonic, caffeine-fueled, and apparently carefree. He favors dry humor, sarcastic quips, and a laid-back demeanor that suggests nothing really gets to him. He's the guy with a joke for every situation, a casual shrug for every threat, and an air of detachment that makes him seem almost bored by danger.

It's a well-crafted performance.

Beneath the humor is a layer of constant, grinding anxiety. Pipeline is paranoid—functionally, necessarily paranoid. He tracks exits, monitors sight lines, and operates under the assumption that someone is always watching. His caution borders on the obsessive: multiple safehouses (ten online, four offline), elaborate operational security protocols, and a deep reluctance to meet anyone face-to-face until he's verified their identity six different ways. He's particularly wary of psychics and avoids face-to-face meetings with them whenever possible—the threat of mental intrusion is one vulnerability his tech can't fully protect against.

The paranoia isn't irrational. It's survival.

Those who work with him regularly notice the cracks in the mask. The humor fails at odd moments. The casual confidence wavers when he's genuinely stressed. There are tells—the way his hands move to disassemble tech when he's anxious, the death-grip on a coffee cup when he's thinking too hard, the forced lightness in his voice when something actually bothers him.

Pipeline keeps people at arm's length professionally and emotionally. His interactions are transactional by default, his trust difficult to earn and easy to lose. He'll work with almost anyone if the job is right, but partnerships remain surface-level unless someone proves themselves over time. Even then, he maintains distance—always an exit strategy, always a backup plan, always prepared for betrayal.

But there's something underneath the anxiety and the performance. A sharp, calculating mind that never stops working. A ruthless efficiency when the situation demands it. A capacity for absolute focus when he's deep in a system or locked onto a target. The laid-back hacker persona is useful, but when it drops—when he's working, when he's threatened, when someone he cares about is in danger—what emerges is colder, harder, and far more dangerous.

He's wound tight beneath the jokes, running on caffeine and determination and the constant low-level terror that he's not paranoid enough. Most people never see past the mask. Those who do realize that Pipeline's humor isn't confidence—it's armor. And underneath the armor is someone who's been running for a very long time from something he won't talk about.

There's a reason he is the way he is. But that's not a story he tells.

SECTION 5: BACKGROUND

Background

Pipeline emerged on the hacking scene roughly a decade ago, building a reputation through a series of high-profile intrusions that demonstrated both technical brilliance and an almost pathological commitment to operational security. Unlike many in the digital underground who sought notoriety, Pipeline remained a ghost—known by results, not identity.

His early work focused primarily on corporate espionage and data brokering, but his capabilities quickly attracted attention from more dangerous clients. Over the years, he's executed operations for criminal organizations, vigilante groups, and occasionally even legitimate security firms looking for deniable assets. His client list is diverse and his loyalty is professional rather than ideological—he works for whoever meets his price and doesn't ask too many questions about his methods.

What sets Pipeline apart from other freelance hackers is his operational security. He maintains multiple safehouses, uses layered false identities (Erik Whitman, Brad Parsons, Steve Mitchum, Tim Borden, Mike Staley, among others), and rarely meets clients or partners face-to-face. Electronic communication is heavily encrypted, physical meetings happen in public spaces with multiple exits, and he's been known to abort operations mid-execution if he detects even the slightest compromise.

This extreme caution has earned him a reputation for being difficult to work with, but also for being reliable. Pipeline doesn't get caught. He doesn't leave traces. He doesn't compromise his clients through sloppy tradecraft. In an industry where overconfidence kills careers—and sometimes operators—his paranoia is his brand.

His technical capabilities have only grown over the years. He builds and maintains his own equipment, including his distinctive cybernetic prosthetic and custom weaponry. This self-sufficiency extends to his operations: he works alone when possible, brings in specialists only when necessary, and trusts no one with information they don't need to complete their part of the job.

Currently, Pipeline operates as an independent contractor throughout the Rogue Isles and Paragon City, taking jobs that interest him or pay well enough to justify the risk. His reputation in the criminal and vigilante underground is solid—a skilled operator who delivers results and doesn't talk. Those who've worked with him describe him as competent, cautious, and occasionally unsettling in how thoroughly he's thought through contingencies.

Where he came from, how he acquired his skills, and why he operates with such extreme security measures—these are questions Pipeline doesn't answer. His past before his emergence as a hacker remains deliberately obscured, buried under false identities and encrypted files. He's made it clear through action if not words: his history is off-limits, and anyone digging into it will find themselves on the wrong end of his considerable talents.

SECTION 6: RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships

Pipeline maintains an extensive but carefully managed network of professional contacts throughout the criminal and vigilante underground. His relationships are predominantly transactional—he works with people, not for them, and partnerships remain professional rather than personal.

Within the hacking and digital security community, he's known as a skilled operator who delivers results and maintains strict confidentiality. Other hackers respect his capabilities while finding him difficult to collaborate with due to his extreme security protocols. He's the person you call when a job absolutely cannot fail and cannot be traced back to the client.

His client base spans multiple factions and allegiances. He's worked with criminal organizations, rogue hero groups, corporate interests, and independent operators. This flexibility comes from a deliberate lack of ideology—Pipeline doesn't care about the cause, only whether the job is technically interesting and the compensation is adequate. This mercenary approach has allowed him to build bridges across factional lines while remaining unaligned with any particular group.

Those who've worked with him multiple times note that he's reliable, competent, and keeps his word. He delivers what he promises, expects the same from others, and doesn't tolerate being lied to or double-crossed. His reputation for thoroughness extends to vetting potential partners—he researches people before agreeing to work with them, and anyone who's burned him once will never get a second opportunity.

Pipeline is particularly cautious around psychics and mentalists, avoiding face-to-face meetings and preferring electronic communication when dealing with telepaths. This wariness extends to anyone with abilities that could compromise his operational security or extract information he's not willing to share.

Despite his professional competence, Pipeline keeps people at emotional distance. Relationships remain surface-level, small talk is deflected with humor, and personal questions are met with evasion or misdirection. He's friendly enough in professional contexts, but there's always a boundary he won't cross. Trust, for Pipeline, is earned slowly and revoked instantly.

Some who've worked with him long enough have glimpsed something deeper—moments when the sardonic mask fails, when genuine emotion breaks through the carefully maintained detachment. But these moments are rare and quickly covered over. Whatever drives Pipeline's paranoia, whatever shaped him into the person he is, remains his secret to keep.

SPOILER TIER 1: KNOWN TO CLOSE ASSOCIATES

WARNING: The following information is known only to Pipeline's closest allies and trusted associates. It represents significant character secrets that should only be discovered through deep roleplay or explicit player permission.

Shadow Division

Pipeline is a key member of the Shadow Division, a rogue/vigilante organization operating in the gray space between heroism and criminality. Within SD, he serves as the primary cyberwarfare and intelligence operations specialist, providing digital infiltration capabilities, counter-surveillance, and information gathering for the organization's missions.

The Shadow Division operates under the philosophy "there is a shadow in every light," engaging in wetwork, assassination, and black-ops activities targeting high-level threats like human traffickers, slavers, and corruption networks. They do very bad things to very bad people, frequently breaking the law in pursuit of justice that conventional heroes can't or won't pursue.

Within the organization, Pipeline has found something he's never had before: a family. Not in the traditional sense—SD members are operatives, not support group participants—but in the sense of people who understand what it means to operate outside the law for reasons that matter. People who don't judge his methods, who respect his boundaries, and who have his back when things go sideways.

His relationship with Kartherine "Karth" Sparks, the organization's Head of Security, is particularly significant. They share a sibling-like bond—protective, teasing, and unbreakable. Karth is one of the few people Pipeline trusts without reservation, and their partnership in the field is built on years of working together and absolute confidence in each other's capabilities.

Petite le Morte, the de facto leader of Shadow Division, allows members broad autonomy as long as their actions align with the organization's ethos and don't endanger the group. Pipeline respects her leadership and trusts her judgment, though like all his relationships, there are boundaries he maintains even with her. She knows more about him than most, but not everything.

Shadow Division membership explains much about Pipeline's operational patterns. The resources, the backup, the occasional willingness to take jobs that don't pay but serve a greater purpose—these all stem from his SD connections. It also explains why, despite his mercenary reputation, he sometimes works for causes rather than cash.

His membership is kept strictly confidential. Outside SD, Pipeline maintains his cover as an independent contractor. This operational security protects both him and the organization, allowing him to maintain his reputation in the broader criminal underground while serving SD's objectives.

Beneath the Mask

The sardonic, laid-back persona Pipeline presents to the world is exactly what it appears to be: a carefully constructed mask. Beneath it lies someone far more complex and damaged. Pipeline's humor is a defense mechanism, his paranoia a survival trait born from experience rather than irrational fear. The anxiety that bleeds through the cracks isn't weakness—it's the constant awareness of someone who knows exactly what can go wrong and has lived through it going wrong before.

Those close to him have seen the real person underneath: someone deeply loyal to the few people he lets in, fiercely protective of those he considers family, and capable of genuine warmth when he feels safe enough to show it. The emotional distance isn't because he doesn't care—it's because he cares too much and has learned that caring can be weaponized against him.

He struggles with trust in ways that go beyond professional caution. Building relationships is genuinely difficult for him, not because he doesn't want connections but because his instincts scream danger at the thought of vulnerability. When he does let someone in, it's a conscious choice that terrifies him every time.

The real Pipeline is someone who's been running for over a decade from something in his past. Someone who built himself into a weapon because he needed to survive. Someone who jokes to avoid feeling, who works to avoid thinking, and who maintains obsessive control over his environment because control is the only thing standing between him and chaos.

Karth and Morte have seen this person. They know that "Pipeline" is armor, and underneath is someone wounded but not broken, scared but not defeated, isolated but desperately wanting connection even as he maintains distance. They also know that there's more—deeper history, darker secrets—that he's not ready to share. That pushing him to talk about his past will only drive him away. That patience and presence matter more than answers. For now, knowing that the jokes hide pain, that the paranoia is justified, and that loyalty to Shadow Division is the closest thing he has to stability—that's enough. The rest will come when he's ready. Or it won't.

Either way, they've got his back.

SPOILER TIER 2: DEEPLY PERSONAL

WARNING: The following information represents Pipeline's deepest secrets and most traumatic history. This should only be known through explicit major plot reveals, extensive RP development, or direct player permission. This is the core of the character's trauma and identity.

TW: child abuse

True Identity

Pipeline's real name is Aaron Blake.

He was born in southern New Jersey to an abusive household—physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that defined his childhood. He was the youngest of three siblings, all of whom suffered under their parents' dysfunction. At thirteen years old, Aaron ran away, taking a bus north to Connecticut to live with an aunt who ultimately refused to take him in.

Alone, desperate, and with nowhere to go, thirteen-year-old Aaron found himself at a bus station with no money, no plan, and no options. In an act of desperation, he tried to steal a car.

That car belonged to Datastream—a notorious hacker, thief, and predator.

She caught him in the act. And instead of calling the police or simply stopping him, she saw opportunity. A desperate, intelligent kid with nowhere to go and no one looking for him. Perfect raw material. She positioned herself as his savior, offering him food, shelter, and purpose. What she actually offered was grooming, isolation, and exploitation.

For three years, from age thirteen to sixteen, Aaron lived with Datastream. She trained him in everything he knows—hacking, infiltration, combat, survival. She shaped his identity, his skills, his entire worldview. She also isolated him completely from any other support system, making him dependent on her for everything: survival, validation, and sense of self.

The relationship was abusive on every level: mentally, emotionally, and physically. Datastream used punishment and reward to control him, including incidents like locking him in her basement for 24 hours when he made mistakes during training. She framed this abuse as mentorship, her control as care, and her exploitation as investment in his potential.

At sixteen, during a police operation, Datastream was apparently killed. Aaron escaped, made his way to Paragon City, and was granted emancipation by a sympathetic judge. He used his newly acquired skills to erase every record of Aaron Scott Blake's existence and reinvented himself as Pipeline.

For over a decade, he believed she was dead and he was free. He built his entire life on that foundation—the paranoia, the security measures, the emotional walls. All of it designed to ensure that no one could ever control him like that again. He was wrong. Datastream is alive.

The Return

Recently, Datastream resurfaced, revealing herself to be alive and actively hunting Aaron. She's working as an independent contractor for Arachnos, operating in a Night Widow uniform while maintaining her autonomy and using their resources for her own purposes. Her goal is simple: she wants Aaron back. She views him as her creation, her property, something she invested time and effort into building. The concept that he might be his own person, with his own agency and right to freedom, is incomprehensible to her. She "wasted all that time feeding you, sheltering you, making you into something worthwhile"—in her mind, that investment gives her ownership.

She's been leaving breadcrumbs for him to follow, making contact through proxies, and demonstrating that she's always one step ahead. The Longbow officer assassination, the burner phone in the empty safehouse, the casual revelation of information she shouldn't have—all designed to prove that he can't escape her, can't outthink her, and never could.

During a recent confrontation via phone, Aaron asked her the question that had haunted him for years: "Did you ever actually care about me?"

Her answer destroyed him: "I wasted all that time feeding you, sheltering you, making you into something worthwhile. What MORE do you want from me?"

To Datastream, caring IS transactional. She fed him, therefore she cared. She trained him, therefore she loved him. The fact that he wants something beyond utility—emotional connection, genuine affection, acknowledgment of his humanity—is baffling to her. She cannot comprehend what he's asking for because she genuinely believes her investment in creating him was love.

During that same conversation, she casually revealed another violation: she had been drugging him throughout their entire time together.

The Neural Augmentation

The neural augmentation Aaron doesn't yet fully understand exists within him—he was routinely dosed with nootropic drugs and stimulants (without his knowledge) designed to enhance cognitive processing, increase intelligence, and allow him to process massive amounts of data at superhuman speeds. This is what made him the brilliant hacker he is. This is the foundation of every skill he's proud of, every capability he's built his life on. And it was installed through repeated, deliberate drugging over the three years he was with her. She put compounds in his food, his water, everything he consumed. Daily dosing for years, without his knowledge or consent. When he trusted her most completely, she was poisoning him to reshape his brain into what she wanted it to be. "You never suspected. You trusted me. That trust made the work possible."

The horror is that his brilliance—the one thing he thought was his own, the intelligence and skills he used to escape her and build his life—was her design all along. Every impressive hack. Every clever solution. Every moment he felt proud of his own intelligence—it was all running on hardware she installed. The neural augmentation doesn't give her remote control. It gave her something far more insidious: ownership of his very capabilities. Aaron now knows that:

• His cognitive abilities were artificially enhanced without his knowledge
• He was systematically drugged for years
• The intelligence he relied on to escape her was something she gave him
• The gaps in his memory aren't trauma-related—they're chemical
• His consent was meaningless because he never knew what he was consenting to
• The skills he's built his entire identity around were manufactured by his abuser

The question that destroys him isn't "Can she control me?" It's "Was I ever actually smart, or just running her programming?"

The Present Crisis

Pipeline is currently in crisis. The foundation of his entire adult life—that he escaped, that he was free, that his intelligence was his own—has been shattered. Datastream is back, she's hunting him, and she's proven that she can anticipate his every move because she designed the brain he's using to try to outthink her. He's shared his true identity with Karth and Morte, revealed the abuse, and admitted the drugging. This vulnerability is unprecedented for him—allowing people to know Aaron Blake, not just Pipeline, is terrifying. But he can't handle this alone, and he's finally accepted that he needs help. The question that haunts him now isn't just "How do I stop her?" It's "Am I even my own person, or just what she made me?" Everything he knows, she taught him. The way he thinks, the instincts he trusts—she shaped those through grooming. The intelligence he relies on, the processing speed that makes him elite—she installed that through violation. Pipeline, the identity he built to escape Aaron Blake's past, was constructed using tools she gave him.

What's left that's actually his?

He's trapped between two impossible truths: If he runs, she'll find him (she always does). If he faces her, he has to do it with a brain she modified, using skills she taught him, thinking in patterns she designed. How do you beat someone who literally built your mind? Shadow Division is his anchor right now—the only thing keeping him from complete breakdown. Karth and Morte know the truth, and their continued faith in him, their refusal to see him as just Datastream's creation, is the only thing keeping him functional. They insist that choice matters more than origin. That what he's done with those capabilities—protecting people, building connections, choosing his own path—defines him more than how he got them. That even if she gave him the tools, he's the one who decided what to build. He's not sure he believes it yet. But he's going to have to try. Because the confrontation is coming. Datastream won't stop. She believes he belongs to her, and she's made it clear she's coming to collect her property. Aaron Blake is going to have to face the woman who literally shaped his brain and prove—to her, to himself—that agency and identity can exist even when they're built on a foundation of trauma and violation. He's terrified that when they finally face each other, he'll discover he's still just the desperate thirteen-year-old kid trying to steal her car. That all the growth, all the strength, all the intelligence he thought he'd developed—it was always hers, not his. But he has to try. Because the alternative is accepting that he was never anything more than her experiment. And that's not an option.

What the Augmentation Actually Does

The neural augmentation enhances:

• Cognitive processing speed (thinks faster)
• Information retention (perfect recall)
• Pattern recognition (sees connections instantly)
• Multi-tasking capability (manages multiple systems simultaneously)
• Data analysis (processes massive datasets in real-time)

It's what makes him an elite hacker. It's what allows him to break encryption others can't touch, to see security vulnerabilities instantly, to juggle six different intrusions at once without losing track. It's passive enhancement, not active control. There's no kill switch, no remote access, no way for Datastream to puppet him. The violation isn't that she can control him now. The violation is that every moment he's felt competent, brilliant, or capable was built on her foundation. She can't make him do anything. But she made him able to do everything. And that's somehow worse. When he outsmarts someone, is it his intelligence or her augmentation? When he solves a problem no one else can, is it his insight or her programming? When he built Pipeline from nothing, was it his strength or her tools? He doesn't know. And not knowing is destroying him. The only thing he's certain of: whatever he is, she made him capable of being it. And he'll never know who Aaron Blake would have been without her intervention. That theft—not of his agency, but of ever knowing his unmodified self—might be the cruelest thing she did.