Line #12 Literature/AgentG


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbnail_8.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Murder is a billion dollar industry.]]
3
4	The ''Agent G'' novels are a series by Creator/CTPhipps. It is a {{Cyberpunk}} story set in the near-future as the present day slowly moves to become a technology ravaged dystopia starring a [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically enhanced]] [[ProfessionalKiller assassin]] named G.
5
6	In a world where virtually any death can be bought for the right price, follow the path of a high-tech assassin searching for answers to questions he shouldn't be asking along with his next target. Agent G is a Letter, one of the Society's 26 weapons for hire. Unfortunately for the Society, G is starting to think for himself. Unfortunately for G, he's in the middle of infiltrating a rival organization and is running out of people he can trust.
7
8	The books follow the titular agent as he witnesses the slow transformation from a NextSundayAD SpyFiction science fiction series to a TwentyMinutesInTheFuture {{Cyberpunk}} {{Dystopia}}. It deals with issues of {{Transhumanism}}, corporate corruption, and conspiracy theories. It is a book that crosses over in ''Literature/TheTournamentOfSupervillainy.''
9
10	Books in the series:
11
12	* ''Agent G: Infiltrator'' (2017)
13	* ''Agent G: Saboteur'' (2018)
14	* ''Agent G: Assassin'' (2018)
15
16	Short Stories:
17
18	* ''The First Kill'' (''The Agent G Omnibus'', added to ''Infiltrator'' on September 25th, 2022)
19	* ''How I get Through the Day'' (Neo-Cyberpunk anthology volume 2)
20
21	The first three volumes were collected as ''The Agent G Omnibus'' in December, 2020. The series has a {{Spinoff}} {{Sequel}} in ''Literature/TheCyberDragonsTrilogy''.
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23	It is part of the Literature/{{Futurepunk}} setting, which is TheVerse for all Creator/CTPhipps' science fiction stories.
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25	----
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder: The series as a whole]]
30
31	* ActionGirl: S, Lucita, and a number of other female assassins show the women of this series kick just as much ass as the men.
32	* AKA47: Rather than use existing weapons, C.T. Phipps uses completely fictitious ones which he describes the effects of. {{Justified\|Trope}} by the fact they're almost all science fiction weapons made by fictional companies.
33	* AffablyEvil: The protagonists and the majority of the Society are friendly, cheerful, and part of an international criminal conspiracy that sells murder for hire.
34	** G, himself, is a combination of this and HitmanWithAHeart. He is pleasant and mild-mannered with a bit of a dorky side when off-mission. However, he has murdered innocents before and is utterly ruthless in pursuing his goal of getting his memories back.
35	** Lucita Biondi becomes a SixthRanger to the group despite remaining the same ruthless assassin and {{antihero}} she was at the start.
36	* AntiHero: Agent G is this, being a HitmanWithAHeart in a Pre-{{Cyberpunk}} CrapsackWorld. He is a ProfessionalKiller who doesn't have any real objections to his job and enjoys the ManOfWealthAndTaste benefits. While he feels bad about killing innocents, he shows no problem doing it to the even slightly corrupt.
37	* AppliedPhlebotinum: Black Technology is super-advanced sci-fi technology like A.I., cybernetics, nanotechnology, and so on which the governments as well as megacorporations of the world keep for their own use.
38	* ArtificialHumans: [[spoiler: The Letters turn out to be this. They were created by Karma Corp to be disposable assets for the United States military. It straddles the line with RidiculouslyHumanRobots as they're cybernetic as well as organic organisms that had their bodies grown before they had their new parts installed, including their cyberbrains.]]
39	* BadassAbnormal: All of the Letters are cyborgs and so are the Shells. They have enhanced strength, speed, durability, and intelligence plus ability to interact with technology via HollywoodHacking. Generally, this is treated as making them act like superheroes as they slaughter any regular human that they encounter but run into trouble with each other.
40	* BenevolentAI: Delphi is a kind, compassionate, and progressive entity that just so happens to be enslaved by the Societ. [[spoiler: G helps free her and she becomes a driving force for releasing Black Technology into the world.]]
41	* BlackAndGrayMorality: The conflict is between Agent G and his murderous associates versus a variety of nebulous criminal organizations as well as secret conspiracies. There's a lot of EvilVersusEvil as Agent G plays the role of the Gray between them.
42	* BlandNameProduct: Combined with CaptainErsatz for numerous real-life companies and organizations. There's Halifax International (Haliburton), Universiti (Academi/Blackwater), and Karma Corp (a still-functioning Enron).
43	* BrainComputerInterface: This is called a IRD implants in the setting. They allow human beings to store their memories, interact with computers directly, and properly manage their cybernetics. [[spoiler: It's subverted when G discovers that he doesn't have one since his entire brain is a computer due to being a bioroid rather than a "real" cyberized human.]]
44	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Assistants are humans meant to be MoralityPet associates to the Letters. They are taken from enemies of the Society and turned into deeply devoted HappinessInSlavery types who soothe the Letters loneliness so they remain better tools for the organization.
45	* ConsummateProfessional: The Letters are all this by reputation. With few exceptions, they seem to be it.
46	** G, in particular, treats his job as a hitman as a profession which should be done with a minimum of collateral damage or hurt to the innocent but absolute fidelity to the parameters he's been given. He's killed innocents before but while this haunts him, he also thinks it was a trade off to get his memories back. [[spoiler: The discovery he ''has'' no memories to get back and never did causes a HeroicBSOD]].
47	* CorporateConspiracy: A group called the Big Twenty use their vast influence to manipulate global politics via HollywoodCyborg assassins operated by a MurderInc named the International Refugee Society. The Big Twenty are the world's largest corporations and eventually become the Big Two Hundred when the setting moves from TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture to a {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia.
48	* CorporateSamurai: The Letters in ''Literature/AgentG'' are CorporateSamurai in the sense they are assassins, spies, and thieves for the International Refugee Society. Somewhat off-kilter in the fact they ''are'' the service which the International Refugee Society provides to the rest of the world. They're mercenaries-for-hire kept on a leash with their past lives' memories kept from them as a restraint on their obedience.
49	* CorporateWarfare: The books include an organization called the International Refugee Society. It provides the world's richest corporations assassination, espionage, and sabotage services. The Society uses cybernetic assassins to make sure its patrons remain the richest corporations in the world as well as the governments that support them. This is arguably unnecessary because they already have access to technology far in advance of what is available to the public.
50	* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: ''Infiltrator'' starts out with the protagonist working for the International Refugee Society, which is a nod to Spectre in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}''. The organization is actually a covert front for a MurderInc group that provides the ultra-wealthy with high-tech HollywoodCyborg-performed assassinations.
51	* CrapsackWorld: It's exactly like our world except the governments are all secretly controlled by {{Megacorp}}s who keep advanced technology suppressed so they can maintain their monopoly on power. They employ a variety of cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers and A.I. to keep all dissent in line. It's also stated that if they ''didn't'' do this then the entire world would go to hell and the death toll would be in the millions.
52	* {{Cyberpunk}}: The author describes it as "Pre-Cyberpunk" with Black Technology marking the breakdown of existing social orders as well as the transformation of what it means to be human. It also shows a world run by CorruptCorporateExecutive types, unethical scientific experimentation, and an apathetic populace controlled by the media.
53	* DoAndroidsDream: [[spoiler: G and the rest of the Letters are all androids as compared to the Shells who are machines with human brains. They are notably indistinguishable from humans other than their special abilities. G has a full TomatoInTheMirror moment when he discovers he's not human.]]
54	* EvilVersusEvil: AffablyEvil Agent G and his allies versus the various people he's sent against.
55	* FantasticNoir: Is the story of a professional assassin and cyborg who works for MurderInc. He finds himself ALighterShadeOfBlack than his employers but can't turn to the authorities or anyone else to do better. FemmeFatale characters aplenty.
56	* FullConversionCyborg: These are called "Shells" (as in Ghost in the). Notably, Shells look identical to human beings on the outside and are seemingly able to live normal lives in-between missions. They are also ImplacableMan killing machines in the service of the government or PrivateMilitaryContractors.
57	* FluffyTheTerrible: The International Refugee Society, until you note it's initials are the same as the IRS. This is {{Justified\|Trope}} by the fact the charity they run is actually just a cover for their MurderInc business.
58	* GenreShift: The series starts with the premise of being a James Bond-esque assassin in a TwentyMinutesInTheFuture ConspiracyThriller with science fiction elements before the entire world is devastated by a volcanic eruption and is transformed into a {{Cyberpunk}} {{Dystopia}}
59	* HitmanWithAHeart: Agent G is a DownplayedTrope example of this. He's killed innocent people before and it haunts him. As such, he doesn't quit being an assassin (he can't anyway as ResignationsNotAccepted) but is a ConsummateProfessional so to minimize innocent casualties as well as trauma by loved ones. [[spoiler: At the end of ''Infiltrator'' after he has his TomatoInTheMirror moment, he makes a full break with the Society.]]
60	* HollywoodCyborg: These are very common as soldiers in the setting, even if the public doesn't know about them. They come in a variety of types with "implants" giving you a computerized brain that can link to the internet or special abilities, "Shells" being whole body replacements containing your brain, and [[spoiler: The Letters who are full on RidiculouslyHumanRobots or Artificial Humans.]] Cybernetics are a source of superpowers in this setting and they are exploited to the max by the characters. One example is a character who actually survives a bomb exploding in his face then a grenade shoved in his pants.
61	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: JobTitle for the subtitles: ''Infiltrator'', ''Saboteur'', ''Assassin''.
62	* JustAMachine: This was the reasoning behind [[spoiler: the Letter project. Regular soldiers have rights, needs, and free will while the Letters were designed to be dispoable SuperSoldier assassins who could be used like drones. It was stated this was LoopholeAbuse even then since they qualified as RidiculouslyHumanRobots. Also, subverted in the Letters are treated quite well in order to avoid a RobotUprising.]]
63	* TheManBehindTheMan: The Big 200 serves as the cause of all the world's problems as the MegaCorp collection dictate all of the world's problems.
64	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: A specialty of the Letters, who prefer not to make waves. Agent G is implied to be particularly good at this as he prefers to have as few people caught up in the assassination as possible in order to minimize casualties.
65	* TheManBehindTheMan: The Big 20 serves as the cause of all the world's problems as the MegaCorp collection dictate all of the world's problems. It becomes the Big 200 by ''Assassin'' as the entire world is now under their dominion.
66	* MeaningfulName: All over the place.
67	** Agent G is this for "G-man" which serves as a Federal government official. [[spoiler: Which he becomes at the end of ''Infiltrator.'']] Later it becomes [[spoiler: Case Gordon that signifies both his homage to cyberpunk as well as ties to the Gordon family.]]
68	** The International Refugee Society has the same initials as the IRS.
69	** Delphi, of course, is named for the Oracle of Delphi.
70	* {{Megacorp}}: Karma Corp is an example of this and it's implied to be just one of several. Karma Corp despite being loosely based on Enron is shown to be the world's largest manufacturer of technology of all stripes as well as having ties to arms manufacturers plus PrivateMilitaryContractors. It also controls the United States government from behind the scenes with its allies. It is the chief contractor of the IRS.
71	* MindWipe: This happens to all Letters when they join the Society to make sure they don't have any reasons to object to killing people for money as well as to sever all ties to the outside world. [[spoiler: There's actually no mind-wipe since the Letters are ArtificialHuman androids.]]
72	* MoralityPet: Weaponized by the Society with Assistants. In addition to wiping their memories, Letters are given BrainwashedAndCrazy associates who are designed to make them feel like they have friends as well as loved ones who they can support. Romances are very common despote the fact neither the Letters or Assistants can 100% consent.
73	* MurderInc: The Society is the world's most efficient assassination unit and it's run like a corporation with its chief clients being governments as well as megacorporations.
74	* NGOSuperpower: The International Refugee Society is powerful enough the future President of Italy is terrified of offending them and is implied to be owned by the people owned by it. The IRS is owned by a trio of {{Megacorp}}s.
75	* OneNationUnderCopyright: This is a DownplayedTrope with the aftermath of the Eruption. The world's largest corporations are granted nation-state status so they can help rebuild the global economy with its facilities treated like embassies and its workers having dual citizenship. In practice, it's just to increase their power as well as protect them from liability.
76	* OvertOperative: Averted. The book takes careful pains to show the Letters are invisible. Played straight by some of their rivals.
77	* PragmaticVillainy: The Society survives through this. While they keep their agents on incredibly short leashes, they also provide them with extremely luxurious lives as well as MoralityPet Assistants to keep them psychologically healthy. They also indulge Agent G's aversion to killing the innocent as long as it doesn't interfere with his targets. [[spoiler: This doesn't help when he discovers they've actually been planning to just MindWipe him at the end of his ten years to start again.]]
78	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The International Refugee Society is, technically, this but is closer to MurderInc. Mercenaries also play a large role in the world as many companies and organizations employ them as security. This includes BlandNameProduct versions of Academi and G8.
79	* ProfessionalKiller: All of the Letters are this. They often fight against other contract killers.
80	* NebulousEvilOrganization: Numerous. The International Refugee Society, the Carnivale, and the organization behind the Society. [[spoiler: The latter just turns out to be Karma Corp and several allied companies.]]
81	* ShoutOut: Shells are one to ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell.'' The series' premise of mind-wiped assassins seems to be one to ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' [[spoiler: but is actually one to ''Film/BladeRunner'' and ''VideoGame/DeusEx''.]]
82	* SniperRifle: G makes multiple uses of one throughout the series and is implied to be one of the best shots in the world. S is stated to be actually better than him but we never see this tested. G, however, avoids windows and prefers to keep his back to walls.
83	* SpyFiction: Dirty Martini with a bit of Absinthe. Agent G is a glamorous assassin who is charming, debonair, and utterly ruthless. He also has the help of AI, cybernetics, and futuristic gadgets. However, the world is an immensely cynical one with his employers being corrupt governments as well as corporate overlords. Betrayal is very common place and everyone is lying to everyone else.
84	* SuperSoldier: Letters were designed to be this. They are cybernetically enhanced assassins with ridiculous amounts of skills as well as the ability to literally have their faces changed. [[spoiler: They're also RidiculouslyHumanRobots and ArtificialHuman hybrids from birth with electronic brains.]]
85	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A curious example of it as combat in the books is extremely brutal and fast paced with people tending to die quickly or being finished off soon after being injured. The exception of this is the HollywoodCyborg characters who pretty much are superheroes compared to everyone else and thus ''terrifying.''
86	* TechnoDystopia: "Black Technology" is used to monitor the populace and empower cyborg enforcers to enforce the will of powerful corporations while keeping the public unaware. Eventually, the Black Technology all gets out and the setting transitions to being a full-blown {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia.
87	* TwentyMinutesInTheFuture: According to WordOfGod, ''Infiltrator'' takes place in an AlternateTimeline of 2026 where a Hillary Clinton {{Expy}} won the Presidency and has been President for eight years. ''Agent G: Assassin'' takes place in a {{Dystopian}} 2042.
88	* VillainProtagonist: G starts the story as a AffablyEvil assassin who works for MurderInc and takes any contract as long as the money is good. Gradually, he evolves into a somewhat more NobleDemon sort of character but never quite shakes off his {{Antihero}} qualities.
89	* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Assistants have this role in the Society. They are connected to their Letters via cybernetics and with Delphi (a BenevolentAI) via their computers to provide instant support in the field. G's Assistant, Marissa is also [[spoiler: an undercover NSA agent.]]
90	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: What Agent G suspects happens to Letters who fulfill their 10 year contract despite some proof to the contrary. [[spoiler: The truth is they ''never'' outlive their usefulness.]]
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder: Infiltrator]]
94	* AgentProvocateur: G is dispatched to go undercover with the Carnivale and eliminate its leaders. In the process, he proceeds to undermine the organization from within and sick its agents on each other, both to make his job easier as well as destroy it irrevocably. [[spoiler: He succeeds.]]
95	* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The International Refugee Society is ostensibly this to the Carnivale. G, in particular, is a lot more of a ConsummateProfessional to the AxCrazy Carnivale. This includes minimizing collateral damage and only doing the job they're paid to do.
96	* AxCrazy: The Smiling Killer is one of these as well as being a BadassAbnormal HollywoodCyborg killer.
97	* BigBad: Lucio Biondi serves this role, though it turns out [[spoiler: The Society is a GreaterScopeVillain.]]
98	* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Society and Carnivale are both black. [[spoiler: The NSA is gray.]]
99	* CarnivalOfKillers: The Carnivale is a literal example of this. Albeit, the name just reflects they tend to be more colorful than other assasins, giving themselves badass names and being less careful about collateral damage than other groups.
100	* CloneAngst: [[spoiler: G kills his "father" when he discovers that he's just a clone made from the man's actual son and sold as a product to the Society.]]
101	* ColdBloodedTorture: G ends up subjected to the ElectricTorture variant of this [[spoiler: by Lucio Biondi after he's revealed as a double-agent.]] Notable for giving a short speech on the historical use of it in real life.
102	* CollidingCriminalConspiracies: The Carnival versus the Society versus [[spoiler: the NSA]].
103	* TheCorrupter: G's strategy for dealing with the Carnivale is to play on Lucita's resentments and ambitions.
104	* DoubleAgent: G is sent to infiltrate the Carnivale after killing a traitorous agent and assuming his identity.
105	** [[spoiler: Marissa Sanchez turns out to be one of these too.]]
106	* DuelOfSeduction: Lucita and G both try and seduce each other to the other side.
107	* TheDragon: The Smiling Killer plays this role to his father, despite not being really qualified for the role.
108	* EnemyCivilWar: It's G's goal to initiate one of these in the Carnivale. [[spoiler: He succeeds but Lucio Biondi quickly puts it down. The action still weakens the organization enough the Italian government and G, himself, finish it off.]]
109	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Agent G causally talks to his trapped target about why he committed the crimes he did. Agent G reveals he's already poisoned the man and made sure he's planned out his death in meticulous detail so it's impossible for him to escape. After he finds out, he finishes the job and invokes MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.
110	* EvilVersusEvil: The International Refugee Society vs. The Carnivale is two MurderInc agencies who are both equally bad. [[spoiler: Subverted when it's revealed Marissa is working for the National Security Agency to take down both.]]
111	* FauxAffablyEvil: Lucio Biondi is a pleasant, grandfatherly figure who welcomes G into the family. [[spoiler: He's also had his transgender daughter raped, murdered his brother, and once blew up a schoolbus of children.]]
112	* {{Foil}}: The Carnivale is this to the Society. [[TechnicianVersusPerformer They're much more theatrical with codenames, cybernetic bodies, and lack of care to collateral damage. The International Refugee Society, by contrast, are invisible ConsummateProfessional types.]] The Carnivale are also a family-run business while Letters are wiped of their memories. [[spoiler: The differences are also stark in that Shells are robots with human brains while Letters are humans with robot brains.]]
113	* LukeIAmYourFather: Marcus Gordon, the inventor of the Letters, to G. [[spoiler: Subverted by the revelation Marcus considers him just another product he's created. His actual son, who G was based on, died long ago. G was his ''mother's'' ReplacementGoldfish.]]
114	* MegaCorp: Karma Corp is treated like this. [[spoiler: In fact, it needs the help of numerous other companies to pull off the illusion of being one.]] Ironically, the International Refugee Society is more of one than Karma Corp as they have massive amounts of control over much larger companies thanks to their use of political ties, violence, Black Technology, and stolen money.
115	* TheMole: G serves as this in the Carnivale. [[spoiler: Marissa, it turns out, is this for the Society.]]
116	* OvertOperative: The Carnivale thinks nothing of attacking Boston Airport in order to get their target.
117	* NebulousCriminalConspiracy: Subverted by the reveal of who is behind the International Refugee Society. [[spoiler: It's just a collection of corporations using it to make an extremely large amount of money and keep Black Technology all to themselves.]]
118	* RapeAsBackstory: Lucita Biondi is revealed to have experienced this as part of her "training" at the hands of her father.
119	* PsychoForHire: The Smiling Killer is one of these. So is seemingly most of the Carnivale.
120	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: G isn't a human being but an ArtificialHuman and a TomatoInTheMirror who never had a human life and is destined to die early.]]
121	* TheRival: The Carnivale serves as this for the Society. [[spoiler: It doesn't last past the book.]]
122	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: G's reaction to the discovery he was grown in a laboratory and has no memories to recover because he was never anything ''but'' a soldier of the Society.]]
123	* WeCanRuleTogether: The titular agent receives a job offer from TheMole to work for [[spoiler: the U.S. Government]] against his employers, the chance to keep all of the money he's made from assassinations, as well as [[spoiler: a pardon for his crimes. G takes it.]]
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder: Saboteur]]
127	* AllAsiansKnowMartialArts: Played with regarding E as he does know them and has a very samurai-like code but is fully aware he's not Asian but a clone raised in a lab.
128	* AmbiguouslyEvil: President Douglas opposes the Invisible Hand and Society but wants to build her own cyborg murder squad. [[spoiler: In the end, G decides she's ALighterShadeOfBlack at best and burns her too.]]
129	* BigBadTriumvirate: The Triumvirate are the leaders of the Society's remnant. [[spoiler:They get HijackedByGanon with Daniel Gordon proving a much bigger threat.]]
130	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Daniel Gordon is killed, the Triumvirate brought to justice, and G manages to strike at the world's corruption by uploading all of the world's Black Technology onto the internet. Marissa and G are finished, however, and G has found out he was cloned from a madman.]]
131	* BrainUploading: Apparently, the genesis of the Letters program. Subverted when the people looking for immortality were disappointed, though. They wanted to survive forever and only were able to make very good copies.
132	* TheBusCameBack: No one expected [[spoiler: Lucita]] to make a return so soon.
133	* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Daniel Gordon]] serves the Invisible Hand as this. He's also a PsychoForHire.
134	** E serves as this for Persephone.
135	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: America has a cyborg Special Forces unit called Strike Force-22.
136	* EliteMooks: The Reapers are a group of cybernetically enhanced mercenaries that exist as a kill squad for the Invisible Hand.
137	* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler: Daniel Gordon is a AxCrazy PsychoForHire who is, of course, the man who G was based on.]]
138	* EvilVersusEvil: The hunt for the International Refugee Society's leadership by the U.S. Government by Strike Force-22 turns out to be one of these.
139	* ForgivenButNotForgotten: [[spoiler: G forgives Marissa for her betrayal but ends their relationship.]]
140	* GreaterScopeVillain: The Invisible Hand that is secretly controlling a huge chunk of the United States' economy.
141	* KarmicJackpot: [[spoiler: Agent G gets billions of dollars in resources and property from Persephone's A.I. after he buries the Society and weakens the corrupt US government.]]
142	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Persephone dies in the middle of the book, though she leaves behind a A.I. will that gives G all of the IRS' hidden resources and bank accounts.]]
143	* HeelFaceTurn: Agent G completes his by choosing to side with [[spoiler: Delphi and upload the Black Technology of the world onto the internet, weakening the Invisible Hand and US government while also providing the public with massive amounts of new technology.]]
144	* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler: How Daniel Gordon manages to compel Marissa's obedience. He killed one of her sisters and kidnapped the other with an explicit threat to her neices as well.]]
145	* LoveInterestTraitor: [[spoiler: Marissa turns out to be this, having turned against G and Strike Force-22 to save her sister.]]
146	* MeaningfulName: The Invisible Hand is actually a reference to the Invisible Hand of the Free Market.
147	* PresidentEvil: G certainly seems to think so by the end. But see AmbiguouslyEvil.
148	* RealAfterAll: The Invisible Hand, basically TheIlluminati, have been teased several times but turn out to actually exist.
149	* TheRemnant: The International Refugee Society has been hunted to oblivion by the United States with its leaders in hiding.
150	* ShoutOut: G watches a movie based on ''Literature/TheRulesOfSupervillainy'' starring Lucita as Cindy. It is an in-joke given the works share the same author.
151	* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler: Persephone has arranged this for G as while she would have preferred to survive, she is happy to let him use the Society's resources post-mortem for something good.]]
152	* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Persephone has one of these which she uses to get her revenge against the people who killed her. She gives all of her resources and the Society's remaining holdings to G along with a massive amount of blackmail. Essentially, giving him the resources to take them down or at least denying them to her enemy.]]
153	* VideoWill: [[spoiler: Persephone effectively leaves one of these by giving G all of the Society's former assets via her A.I.]]
154	* {{Yakuza}}: Persephone takes refuge with this group in order to hide from the government.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder: Assassin]]
158	* ActionGirl: Claire is a assassin and soldier that works for H.O.P.E. [[spoiler: She's a new version of bioroid programmed with all the training that the Letters went through.]]
159	* AfterTheEnd: This installment takes place a couple of decades after a volcano destroyed Wyoming and covered the United States in a year long Winter. It has rebuilt itself into a cyberpunk dystopia using AI-created technology and millions of bots.
160	* ApocalypseHow: The eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano kills 50 million people in the United States and plunges the world into a years-long winter.
161	* {{Arcology}}: After the Long Winter and Eruption, Black Technology is used to rebuild the world's largest cities to house the massive populations of displaced peoples. Rather than become ecological paradises and self-sufficient trading hubs, they rapidly become hellish prison with 'Refugee Zones.'
162	* BigBad: The assassin A is the primary antagonist despite being more like TheHeavy than the prime mover and shaker. [[spoiler: The real BigBad and emotional core of the climax is Marissa.]]
163	* BigBadWannabe: Zheng Wei is a CorruptCorporateExecutive with an EvilPlan [[spoiler: that involves putting out a nonfunctional nanotech treatment that will defraud millions.]] He is considered a nobody by everyone involved.
164	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Marissa and Claire end up dead while the conspiracy goes ahead with the completely useless nano-therapy. G prevents it from being used as a substitute for real medicine, though, and only as a additional charge. G reunites with his daughter and makes billions that he continues to use to help the poor.]]
165	* {{Blackmail}}: A major theme of the book. [[spoiler: H.O.P.E rather than attempt to expose the megacorporations and risk them surviving it has been using "Black Files" of hacked information to blackmail them. They use the billions in product they demand to help the public and keep the poor alive. G can't honestly say whether it's a better decision or not.]]
166	* CityNoir: Los Angeles has become one of these with the Long Winter. It is also a CityOfAdventure and MegaCity. It is specifically now known as the Los Angeles Arcology.
167	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: G and the other surviving Letters have become this, creating Atlas Security as the world's largest provider of PrivateMilitaryContractor forces.
168	* {{Cyberpunk}}: While the previous books were cyberpunk themed, this book drops the pretense and makes it every cyberpunk trope combined.
169	* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: Artificial rain with disinfectant is now induced over the cities on a daily basis.
170	* DiplomaticImmunity: Corporate sovereignty means that megacorp executives are recognized as having this.
171	* {{Dystopia}}: The United States now consists of a bunch of heavily populated arcologies that are ruled by corporations.
172	* EvilCounterpart: A is another one of these to G, being a brutal Letter who possesses vast skill in both assassination as well as psi-ops.
173	* FemmeFatale: Marissa was always one of these but drops the pretense. [[spoiler: It gets her killed.]]
174	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The State of Emergency Council, the Federation Bureau of Entertainment, Technology, and Weapons
175	* HackerCave: The H.O.P.E. Refugee Zone hackers have one of these under a club.
176	* HoneyPot: [[spoiler: Marissa created Claire to serve as one of these to G. She ended up proving a valuable operative in her own right.]]
177	* LaResistance: H.O.P.E has turned into a terrorist organization that resists the power of the megacorporations. The Turing Society is a RenegadeSplinterFaction that is less ruthless.
178	* LayeredMetropolis: The arcologies are divided between their super-structures, factory districts, and Refugee Zones.
179	* MagicPlasticSurgery: Apparently, basic surgery now costs 250 credits and takes about an hour at the mall.
180	* {{Macguffin}}: The nano-therapy treatment is meant to cure all diseases and potentially pave the way to create a {{Transhuman}} future for humanity. Whoever controls it will make trillions and potentially dominate the future of human destiny. [[spoiler: It doesn't work and can never work because nanotech can't be made small enough or intricate enough to be effective. The current plan is just to sell it as working and cover-up the resulting deaths.]]
181	* MutualKill: [[spoiler: Claire and Marissa end up killing one another. G could have stopped it but his hesitation ends up leaving him over the corpses of both.]]
182	* NeonCity: This is the fate of Los Angeles after the Eruption and Long Winter. The city is rebuilt as an arcology with holograms, neon lights, and a Las Vegas meets Tokyo feel. It's such a dramatic change that the locals name it New Los Angeles after a few years.
183	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: A's motivations regarding nano-therapy are simply to sell it for billions.
184	* PrivateMilitaryContractor: Atlas Security is a global army that handles much of the world's security. This includes policing actions, prison maintainance, and security against internal threats. It has grown so powerful that is now an NGOSuperpower.
185	* ShoutOut:
186	** ''The Long Winter'' to ''Series/GameOfThrones.''
187	** Memnonic Drives are named in-universe for ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic''.
188	** Creator/DinaMeyer is apparently having a career resurrection.
189	** Claire is named for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'''s Claire Redfield.
190	** Creator/CTPhipps references several of his books as in-universe movies.
191	** The New Dragon Inn Grand Hotel is a reference to the ''Film/NewDragonInn''.
192	** G makes a comparison between the Invisible Hand and Rollo Tomasi from ''Film/LAConfidential''. Basically saying that TheIlluminati-esque organization does not literally exist but serves as a representation of forces beyond his control.
193	* TimeSkip: This book has a fifteen year time skip that follows the release of Black Technology into the world and the transformation of society from the ''present'' to a Gibosnian {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia.
194	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Claire discovers she's a bioroid reprogrammed by Marissa to seduce G and serve as her agent.]]
195	* TwentyMinutesInTheFuture: Set in the 2040s.
196	* UnproblematicProstitution: Zig-Zagged. Many people have taken to becoming contracted live-in prostitutes to the super-rich.
197	* XanatosGambit: Nano-therapy [[spoiler: doesn't work and the companies are simply going to pretend it works and charge billions of credits from the public while claiming it does. Agent G ends up blackmailing the corporates to making it a placebo therapy used in conjunction with real medicine as the only victory he can.]]
198	* WretchedHive: Los Angeles and most of the other cities in America have become this way. This is a DownplayedTrope in the city proper that is run by the corporations and played straight in the Refugee Zones that are little more than enormous slums behind gigantic walls of concrete.
199	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: How the majority of the world views H.O.P.E and its opposition to the Big 200.
200	[[/folder]]
201

Context Literature / AgentG