Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus
The Celestial Punk
Chapter 09: Calm Before the Storm
– Jackie Welles –
A lot of people, him included, didn't like armour. Anyone running around in full armour was gonna get mocked for being a doughboy. He'd have laughed if anyone but Luis had told him to wear this, but he trusted his bro knew what he was doing.
He wouldn't wear this to the club or anything, but…
"Come on, pendejos! At least make me try," Jackie laughed, bullets pinging off his armour as the Wraiths shat themselves. Something hit his helmet that actually made his head snap back slightly, his HUD informing him of the sniper that just took a shot at him and highlighting the bastard.
He turned the barrel of his bunker buster toward their building, but before he could pull the trigger the outline vanished. He didn't see a shot but he didn't need to with V somewhere. Instead, he turned it to the largest of the Wraiths he could see, laughing as the fucker fled for cover. It was real cute that he thought the cover would help as he pulled the trigger and just fired golden death right at the concrete he was hiding behind.
Letting the trigger go before it could overheat, he grinned at the sudden lack of concrete wall. They'd need better cover than that to stop this baby. Speaking of cover, Jackie gestured and focused as he made a waist-high wall of cover for Luis to move to. The golden 'hardlight' shield blocked anything incoming as Luis waited.
The VI he had in his armour was counting bullets, and the moment the guns ran dry he popped out and snapped his arm toward them, Seraph in his grip. He wasn't surprised Luis was still using Padre's gun but… the Seraph had seen the light as Luis fired once and went back into cover.
The poor fucker he hit ignited, burning alive with golden flames as the Wraith screamed and flailed. He didn't know what rounds Luis had made for Seraph, but those flames didn't go out easily. He was willing to bet the colour was V's idea. Too flashy for Luis to have thought of it.
"The targets are in the building to your right, Jackie," V spoke into his ear. "Two moving to take hostages. Run them over."
"Hehe, yes ma'am," Jackie agreed, 'dropping' the Bunker Buster as the hydraulic mount retracted it and took it back to its mount on his back. Despite the heaviness of the gun, his armour meant he didn't feel a damn thing. His blaster rifle was at his waist but he just started charging, heavy footsteps pounding as he grinned wildly under his helmet. V had helpfully outlined the two who thought they were cleaver on his HUD, and as one tried to jump out and blast him with a shotgun, he made a barrier.
Not just to block, because he believed his best defence was a strong offence so instead… he made a battering ram and just ran right over the poor bastard as his shot hit the barrier and failed to even slow him. Knocking the idiot on his ass, Jackie stomped on his face as he ran past but didn't stop as he kept moving. Seraph sang out behind him, and the screaming told him that it would have been a mercy to finish the idiot off but they were Wraiths and he was all out of mercy.
Bursting around the corner, he enjoyed the speed that his armour gave him as the Wraith turned and fired at him, bouncing off his armour and shields as he activated his 'omni-tool'. It was basically a super-computer on his arm, V had ranted and raved about how good it was as an external cyberdeck that could handle way more than most… but as advanced as it was?
It was also a sword for some reason.
Why did the holographic computer have a program to turn into arm blades like some cyber-mantis blades? He didn't know but whatever Luis was smoking, he wanted some as he rushed forward with two blades and lunged, stabbing them into the first gonks stomach and lifting him into the air before he ripped the blades aside, cutting the man in two.
His friend shat himself, turning and trying to run now that Jackie was between him and the hostage. In an instant, his blaster was in his hand and a three round burst of lasers to the back sorted that problem out real quick.
Turning and heading to the room they were keeping the captives, he activated his blade again and just stuffed it into the lock. He could probably have used his armour to quickhack and open it, but the omnitool was a one-size-fits-all key.
Spotting the two dumbass gonks they were here to save, he let out a huff of amusement as the guy of the pair moved in front of his girl, puffing up his chest.
"Who the fuck are you?" the brat asked, barely an adult. Definitely a Heywood boy. Just a pair of dumbass gonks who thought going out into the badlands would make a romantic date, only to get grabbed. A couple of days later and these two would have been dismantled and sold for parts.
"Jackie Welles, Merc. Padre sent us. Can you walk?" Jackie asked, spotting how bloodied the kid was. If he had to guess, with his knowledge of Heywood culture, the brat kept mouthing off at his captor and got a beating for it.
"Y-yeah, this isn't my first beatdown," he scoffed, trying to act tough. Jackie just felt nostalgic.
"Hey, Jacquito! We've got incoming. Three Wraith trucks. Bring the Buster over for a welcome party," Luis shouted, and Jackie grinned as he grabbed one of the pistols from the bodies and tossed it to the idiot before using the omnitool to cut the chains. Both looked good considering their situation. He loved a happy ending.
Pulling out his minigun, he walked toward the opening, uncaring of the three trucks heading his way as he took aim and opened fire. Wraith vehicles were armoured to survive badlands driving and combat…
It didn't help.
The first two were turned to scrap in seconds, beams of gold cleaving through them like they were made out of used tissues, and Jackie paused as the third swerved to avoid the death barrage. He could just turn slightly and gun them down but as the car went pedal to the medal, trying to run him down, he grinned and made his decision as he put Buster away… and charged.
He could have sworn he heard Luis's exasperated sigh over the comms as Jackie threw a punch at the front of the spending mackinaw, but he must have imagined it. Golden barriers formed around his body as he went from an unstoppable force to an immovable object, the thick metal of the front of the car crumpling as his armour locked in place. It was meant for explosions, removing mobility to massively improve defences, but hey, if it worked, it worked right?
As the truck flipped, he laughed and unlocked his armour, approaching the upside down truck and ripping the door off, reaching in and grabbing the driver and ripping him out. The Wraith was dazed and confused but still had enough brain cells to choose violence, pulling out a revolver and aiming it at Jackie's head as he fired again and again.
Jackie's HUD helpfully showed him his shield strength and armour condition, neither of which were overly bothered by the six revolver rounds he'd just tanked. Going to speak, he blinked as the Wraith's head exploded, before sighing and looking around.
He didn't know where V was, but she was a killstealing bitch.
– Valerie (V) –
As they celebrated their latest successful job, she leaned against Luis as she joined Jackie in his toast (obviously using it to make fun of him with another 'to this'). Their lounge was ready, because the Constructor AI Drone was… bullshit on a scale that genuinely worried her.
Not because she was worried about what it would do, Luis was trustworthy and knew the dangers. No, she was worried because the entire world would go to war for this if they found out about it.
For now, it just meant they had a comfortable, well-decorated lounge to relax in after jobs with a nice big TV and sound system. Room for dancing, mini-fridge for drinks and easy access to the still-being-constructed kitchen area. It was a mercs' paradise after a hard job.
…not that they had done a hard job since Luis had blessed them with his bullshit. Even raiding a full Scav/Wraith base felt like a trip to the shooting range more than a real fight. Jackie's armour just needed the paint fixing after he made it his personal mission to get shot by as many things as possible. He got headshot by a fucking Techtronika SPT32 Grad and barely noticed. That was the kinda thing that would have been his end in any other situation but Luis hadn't been kidding about the armour's defensive capabilities. Though if the Grad had been in better condition and had had armour piercing rounds, they might be having a very different conversation.
Misty giggled as Jackie continued his story of daring heroics (leaving out how much of a cocky gonk he'd acted like). She was gonna have to beat some survival instincts into Jackie because he was too useful to let him keep throwing himself headfirst into danger with nothing but a dream and a pistol. Also, she just liked him too much to let him get himself killed seeking glory.
Now that he'd moved in with Misty, it wouldn't be long before Misty was thinking about children. She knew Misty's type well enough to recognise that. Jackie was too proud and honest to risk his life if he had a kid on the way, and she had zero hesitation in guilttripping him in how bad Mama, Misty and Luis would feel if he died stupidly. Besides, 'stood there and got shot by a sniper' didn't make a good Afterlife legend.
You didn't hear about Morgan Blackhand just tanking shots for the fun of it.
That said, Jackie's rep was definitely going to grow after people heard that he bodychecked a fucking speeding mackinaw. Most people wouldn't believe the stories even with two witnesses… but Luis had made sure all three of their helmets had cameras for recording. She'd spread the video later, from both Jackie's POV and from Luis's since he'd had a better view than her.
The biggest issue she saw going forward wasn't them needing to build their rep or get work. Both things were inevitable, they were too good and too well equipped to not become the big dogs in the Night City Merc biz sooner or later, and she'd been making connections with every Fixer worth a damn. She was picking one per district and making sure they had the best intel and gear so they'd succeed over any would-be challengers, because being on very good terms with your fixers was a godsend for a merc crew. No, the issue they had was that they'd soon have too much work as their rep grew. They were only three people and even if they did multiple jobs a day (bad idea in the long run, burnout was inevitable), they'd not get through their requests. It was the price of fame, everyone would want them as the mercs handling their gigs and turning down meant insulting the fixer who offered the job to begin with.
It was her fault, she was the one expanding their network so fast. In another world, these two would have stuck with just Padre for a good long while, building up their rep as Heywood's top mercs. She was too ambitious and had pushed for them to aim bigger.
Having good connections with the Fixers only lasted as long as they kept taking jobs from them. If clients went to someone like Wakako or Dino to hire them and they had to turn it down due to being so damn busy, they were going to get insulted. Sure, Luis' tech made them valuable either way but the top Fixers could be prideful. She wasn't going to discuss it with the boys yet, as she cuddled against Luis, but they needed more people.
Luis had already floated the idea of making droids to assist on jobs, with him mumbling something about a 'HK' droid and that would help, but until they'd proven their usefulness fixers would get insulted if they accepted a job then sent a robot to handle it.
A call on the emergency line made her pause her efforts to get Luis worked up, and Luis gave her a questioning look as she frowned. She'd given this number to a few people but El Capitán wasn't one of them, and while she wouldn't be surprised at him calling the gig line, this was more than that.
"Evening, El Capitán," V answered, patching Luis into the call. She didn't add Jackie because he was currently making out with Misty and would be fine with just getting a cliff notes once the call was done. "What can we do for you?"
"Tonight? Nothing, it's about what the good captain can do for you," Muamar replied. That surprised her, because she had marked Reyes as someone who would want Luis's techie skills for his cars and someone who would want Luis' healing for Santo Domingo. She knew he was waiting to establish a closer relationship through gigs before testing the waters.
Reyes was one of those rare Fixers like Padre who genuinely cared for his district. She got more missing person gigs from him than any other two Fixers combined and she suspected that for a good amount of them, he was the client. He never said so, but the families he was representing didn't have the money to pay for a merc crew and yet the money was always delivered anyway. His rep in Santo Domingo was impressive, and the loyalty the district had for him made it near impossible for another Fixer to muscle him out without facing an uprising.
"Consider me intrigued," V replied.
"You've got trouble incoming," Muamar explained, a frown on his face. "You know the Corpo Fixer, Faraday?"
"Yeah, Militech attack dog," V confirmed. She knew him from her Counter-Intel days and there was a reason she'd avoided taking a single job from the slimy fucker. He was the type to see mercs as extremely disposable assets and she didn't want to do Militech's dirty work anyway. Edgerunning was dangerous, but good Fixers cultivated useful mercs crews to have a pool of talent to call on. Faraday was the type to send mercs to their certain deaths if it gave him the slightest advantage. Or to just zero them himself once they had finished the job, to cover up whatever work he was doing for his masters.
"That's the one," Muamar agreed with a snort. Faraday was based in Santo Domingo as well, so El Capitán likely dealt with him often but they were just about polar opposites, despite the fact that she was 90% sure that Muamar was an ex-corpo himself. It was just in the way he held himself and the way he talked when he wasn't putting on an act. "He's after your saint, wants to hand him off to Militech for a pat on the head and a treat."
"He's willing to cross Padre like this?" V asked, surprised. Padre was no small-time Fixer, and while technically there was no rule saying another Fixer couldn't go after Luis, especially now that Luis was edgerunning, she doubted any other Fixer would try it unless they planned on zeroing Padre too… and that wasn't easily done. He was an old man in a young man's game, and had put down a hundred would-be rivals.
As kind as Padre could act, and as much as he put on that religious preacher act, he was one coldblooded motherfucker.
"True, it's a risky thing but Faraday obviously thinks he has enough to gain to risk it," Muamar agreed. "He's hired one of his usual crews, led by a guy called Maine, to attack your compound and grab Luis. My guess? They're dead the second they hand him over, and he'll try to frame this as the Wraiths hitting back for how hard you've been targeting them lately. He's got people watching Padre, as well. Not sure who, but I'm sure of that."
"And how did the good captain learn all this?" V asked, getting a grin from him.
"Because while most of Maine's crew don't see the betrayal coming, one has a working brain cell. Kiwi, a vet netrunner, can tell this entire gig stinks to high hell but knows that if she tries to run, Faraday will chase," Muamar explained.
Faraday wouldn't risk letting someone leave with knowledge of such a high-risk gig he was running.
"And she knew not to go to Padre, since Faraday would be watching for that," V continued, laughing softly.
"Faraday tends to forget that Santo Domingo is my turf. He can have his little slice and work in my backyard, but he's too focused on Corpo Plaza to truly understand Santo Domingo. Kiwi has done plenty of biz with me," Muamar explained. "She's staying with the crew for the attack, but she won't try too hard. Be gentle for me, yeah?"
"Got it. What are we looking at?" V asked.
"Maine is one step away from going cyberpsycho. Seen Maelstromers with less cyberware. Big borg looking motherfucker. I don't hire him, don't trust him and his crew is too unreliable. He's a chrome addict and Faraday has given him a Sandevistan as part of the payment for this job," Muamar explained, getting a scowl from her. Great, a cyberpsycho with borg and speedware. "Then there's Dorio. She's a good girl, professional and serious… but she's Maine's input and she's following him right to her death. Gorilla arms and heavy weapons. Next, Rebecca. I'll be honest, she's one hell of a solo but she's always been unreliable. Half the jobs they take go south because Rebecca decided to do her own thing. Can't miss her, midget with too many guns. Not much cyberware. Plus, her brother just died so she's likely even more unstable than usual."
Yeah, it was no wonder El Capitán didn't hire this crew much as she looked over the data he was sending.
"Then, Kiwi and Lucy. Both Netrunners. Kiwi is a combat Netrunner and Lucy is her protege. Lucy is damn talented but she's a deep dive specialist. Not sure why she keeps going out on jobs when it's not her specialty. That girl has more red flags than anyone else in this crew and that's saying something," Muamar admitted. "Finally, their newest hire, David. Gonk kid with speedware way above his paygrade. I don't know what went down but he got his hands on some special Sande that Maine wanted and somehow talked his way out of getting scavved for it, joining the crew. He's damn fast, I'll give him that, but he's all speed, no skill. Far as I can tell, his plan A, B and C is just to blitz his target. Got potential, but Maine is wasting it. Plus, he spams the damn thing too much, it's a miracle he can string two words together."
"Another Cyberpsycho in the making?" V asked with a sigh.
"Maybe. My people say he's surprisingly put together for someone using tech he ain't ready for, and the ripperdoc who did his work didn't bother with anesthesia or warn him about the drugs he'd need to handle it. Fucking Doc, I wouldn't let any of my people go to that butcher," Muamar grunted. "My guys saw them leaving Santo Domingo, heading for the Badlands. My guess, they heard you just finished hitting the Wraith stronghold and think you'll be a softer target."
"They thought wrong," V hissed. She didn't come this far to have some dumbass mercs taking orders from a dog like Faraday get in the way. "But the Wraiths were a nice warm up."
As she spoke, she nodded to Luis who was already checking their scanners for any incoming vehicles. If Maine was as borged as Muamar said, he'd stand out.
"Found them. Bout 40 minutes out, in a Type 66 and a Chevillon Emperor. Nice cars," Luis praised, nodding in approval. Of course he was more focused on the cars.
"Heh. One day, you're gonna have to tell me how you do that trick," Muamar commented with a grin. "And yeah, damn nice cars. Unrelated sidenote, but I do run an Autofixer biz and am always open to buy nice wheels I can turn."
"I'll keep that in mind," Luis said, as if he wasn't already planning to keep the Chevillion because he loved SUVs way too much.
…she kinda wanted the Type 66. It was a damn stylish ride and would help their rep instead of showing up everywhere in the Merrimac.
"What do we owe you, Captain?" V asked, cutting in before the pair could start talking shop. "I'm guessing it ain't eddies you want?"
"You know me so well already, V," Muamar agreed. "As I said, I run an Autofixer biz and your crew have been turning out cars far too fast for three pairs of hands. Now, I don't mind healthy competition, I'm not a corp, but the way I see it, we could all be making a lot of money together."
"And here I thought you'd be more interested in the Saint, or do you still not trust us enough for that?" V asked, getting a surprised look from Luis. She'd told him that she suspected Muamar was waiting to build a closer relationship with them before approaching them but he didn't expect her to just ask straight up.
"You really do know me too well, for a girl I've spoken to a dozen times at most," Muamar said, looking both approving and a little put out. "Counter Intel trained you well, huh?"
"Of course," V agreed with a shrug.
"Fine, fine, you got me. Yeah, I know about a thousand people in Santo Domingo who could use Luis' golden touch. I'm still serious about the autofixer biz, though," Muamar admitted. "I want to set up a time and place for the people of my district to get some much needed medical care. Luis spending an evening in Santo Domingo could do a lot of good."
"And make it clear that people who need the Saint's touch can get it through you," V added. Oh yeah, he was definitely an ex-corpo. Some things never left you, no matter how far you got from the corps. Muamar shrugged, not denying her words. "Luis?"
She wasn't going to agree on his behalf, and she wasn't sure what she'd say either way. The cat was already out of the bag if Faraday was already hunting them down, but this was the equivalent of setting the bag on fire and throwing it in the corps' faces. The corps had a monopoly on the medical industry and Luis doing this would be a slap to their faces because she suspected most of the people Muamar had in mind had medical debts with the corps draining them dry for expensive meds and treatment. As 'good' as this would be, it was going to cost the corps a lot of money and set a precedent for the working class to have a way of avoiding the exorbitantly high medical prices.
Trauma Team wouldn't be an issue, maybe. The kind of people Muamar was helping couldn't afford a Trauma Team subscription, but the various smaller hospitals and cheaper medical insurance services were a different matter… and every small biz had a bigger biz behind them. Usually Biotechnica when it came to medical services.
"I'm down," Luis agreed simply, getting a grateful nod from Muamar.
"I'll hash out the details with your girl here, I get the feeling she's the negotiator of your crew," Muamar said, getting a snort of agreement from Luis. "You should come see my garages some time, I'd love to hear what you think."
"You should come see my garage sometime, especially if we're going to be doing biz together," Luis countered.
"Ha, I just might," Muamar agreed. "But I'll leave you to prepare for your uninvited guests. Don't go dying on me."
"We'll do our best," Luis said, entirely deadpan. "Thanks for the heads up."
"Oh, and V? Do lemme know when you're going to put down Faraday. A Fixer dying always sends waves through the district, and I'd rather ride them out than be knocked down by it, yeah?" Muamar said knowingly. V went to deny it before she snorted.
"Will do, captain," V agreed with a mock salute. "Hypothetically, you might want to prepare to wake up in a Faraday free Santo Domingo."
She wasn't the type to waste time, and one of her Dark-1 drones was already heading to Santo Domingo. She didn't intend Faraday to live long enough to hear that his crew failed and make plans for him to run or strike again.
Muamar just let out a low whistle, looking amused. Normally a merc crew planning to kill a Fixer would be a much bigger deal but… well, nobody was going to mourn Faraday. She'd expose his corp connections and leave his rep in the mud, even if Miltiech would deny all knowledge (of course).
"Speak soon, El Capitán," V said, giving him a nod as they ended the call. "Oi, Jackie. Sorry, but you're going to have to keep your pants on. We've got trouble incoming."
Jackie's distraught face brought her far too much amusement, having cockblocked him from slipping away to his bedroom with Misty. Misty looked flushed but recovered.
"What's going on?" Misty asked, gathering herself far faster than the pouting Jackie.
"Corpo Fixer has sent a crew of Mercs to grab Luis. Misty, go down to the safe room and lock yourself in. Jackie, armour up and grab your gun. At least two of these guys are borg-adjacent, and we'll need the firepower," V ordered, watching Jackie's pout fade in an instant, a frown on his face. "Luis, are the turrets ready?"
"Up and running, I've retracted them for now so the mercs don't realise they are there until we spring the trap," Luis agreed. "Tracking their location on our map- huh."
"Huh?" V asked, not liking the sound of that.
"They're being followed, I think. Three vehicles are following the same path as the mercs. Two together, further back. Militech Behemoths. They're loaded with men and weapons, too. Fairly advanced cyberware, especially on this chick," Luis explained, showing a hologram with the scan and the cyberware he was talking about.
Kerenzikov, Sandevistan, Optical Camo and a lot more, all high end military grade. He was right, she was borged out with some serious firepower.
"Fuck. Militech don't trust the mercs to handle this… or they're going to wipe out the mercs once the fighting is done," V realised. "Faraday got his treat, a squad of Militech goons to fetch his prize. The third vehicle?"
"Modded Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnar. Driving off-road, lights off. Five people, all chipped and armed. They're following the Militech Behemoths, I think," Luis explained, making a hologram of the map which already had the paths each vehicle had taken dotted down. "Someone downed a militech drone that they would have crossed, too. See, I keep track of them and that one isn't moving."
He was right. They were moving off road, driving slow and quiet. It wasn't hard to follow a Behemoth, those things weren't made for covert operations. The Badlands were Militech's stomping ground, and they had drones everywhere but these five must have a netrunner who shut it down. A good one to do it without raising alarms.
Going over the five, she frowned at their implants. You could tell a lot about someone by what implants they had, and this crew seemed… intense. Three Solos, a Netrunner and a Medtech from her examination. One of the Solos was a sniper, she was sure of that much.
More than that, they weren't a corporate hitsquad. Corps didn't like originality and these girls all had things like techhair, chemskin and one of them had exotic biosculpting giving them… animal ears? And who the hell actually used Scratchers? Sure, they were covert melee weapons but turning your nails into claws as a little-
Oh fuck, that was Puma Squad.
Puma Squad that worked for Michiko Arasaka.
Motherfucker, Faraday's gonk ass had sent the intel on unsecured channels and it had been picked up by Arasaka. Of course he had, she had stolen intel from Militech the same way before. But- why Puma Squad? What could they have done to gain the attention of an Arasaka?
It was one thing to have the corp paying attention, but Puma Squad took orders directly from Michiko. If they were coming, and she was 90% sure that was exactly what she was looking at, they were here because an Arasaka, the granddaughter of Saburo himself, had given the order.
Looking at old data on Puma Squad and their tech, she was increasingly convinced she could label each member of the five woman squad to a member of Puma Squad. The Netrunner was probably Pantera and the Medtech would be Doc Mittens. That would make the sniper Tigress, and the other two solos Mouse and Lynx.
Mouse was known to have genuine biosculpted animal ears, while the others just wore radio communicator headbands with cat ears. She'd heard Danger Gals had been shut down, but there'd always been rumours that Puma Squad was still around, just out of the spotlight.
"V?" Luis asked, seeing her concern as she tried to work out how the fuck to go about this. "Do we run?"
It was a reasonable question. One merc crew was one thing, but a merc crew being tailed by a Militech death squad and a mystery group of highly chipped, heavily armed girls was an entirely different bag. In any other situation, she'd already be on the move as far from here as possible but…
Two things.
Firstly, the tech here was too advanced to run and let Militech grab it all. They wouldn't understand it but she didn't want to risk them working out just how advanced this place was and more importantly…
She was not letting corpo politics take her comfort from her a second time. She'd gotten back on her feet after Abernathy and Jenkins pissing match nearly killed her, and she wasn't going to abandon everything they'd built here because the corps couldn't mind their own fucking business.
"We're going all out," V decided, getting a raised eyebrow from Luis. "This is our base, we're not running with our tails tucked between our legs. Luis, break out the big toys."
"So, we're slapping the corps across the face?" Jackie asked with a cocky grin.
"They won't take it lying down, so yeah, we're giving them one hell of a black eye and making it clear they're going to have to try a lot harder to take us down," V agreed with a blood thirsty smile. "Our best chance is to make fighting us too damn expensive. Corps do hate losing assets for nothing."
They weren't in a position to seriously hurt the corps, but they could make it too costly to be worth fighting. After all, the Badlands were Militech's turf… unless a group of dedicated mercs and their Aldecaldo allies decided to make patrolling here downright impossible with drones going missing, bases being hit and patrols vanishing.
Plus, she knew someone with a lot of influence in the area that hated NUSA… and by extension Militech. She had avoided Dogtown as any sane person did, but Hansen was right there and would be happy for a chance to cause the NUSA some serious pain.
She knew how corps thought, and she knew the best way to get them to back off was to make continuing hurt their bottom line too much.
As for Arasaka? She genuinely didn't know, and that worried her. This was not Arasaka's usual modus operandi, and she couldn't even guess what Michiko wanted.
And she hated not knowing.
Author's Note: The clusterfuck begins.
Written: 04/07/2026
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