Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
Despite my initial rush to get ready, I did not immediately march up to my surprise visitor, and instead primed all the hidden turrets I had under my command before making sure she wasn't just playing bait for her fellow Arasaka rats while they tried doing something I would find... highly objectionable.
She had proven herself trustworthy once, but I was taking no chances.
Thankfully, she didn't appear to be seeking the Darwin award today, so my plan of action deescalated from complete annihilation to aggressive negotiation.
As to why I was so suspicious of her despite knowing she had a good head on her shoulders?
Well besides her still being Arasaka, the answer was quite plain.
Shobo could have never succeeded in negotiating with Maelstrom solely on his own authority.
It didn't matter how influential he was or even if he somehow managed to prove to the Tyger Claw leadership that Jugo was planning on backstabbing him first, the latter was still an Okada, and turning the gang against one of those was practically an impossibility.
And that is without mentioning the out for blood Fixer that would be aiming for his throat if he ever managed it.
No, to survive something as utterly suicidal as what he tried he needed an even higher level of support, like say the mega corporation that held the Tyger Claws' leash.
And even then he would have died the moment he stopped being favored by the corp.
...The more I thought about it the more I realized just how utterly fucked the man had been from day one.
And it couldn't have happened to a better person!
Add to that the fact he came to the meeting equipped with high grade Arasaka ICE implanted into his cranium and it really wasn't too hard to put two and two together.
The corp had wanted him to come out on top.
Why that could be? I could spend hours coming up with reasons and likely reach some kind of approximate guess, but that sounded like a massive waste of processing power I could direct literally anywhere else.
What concerned me was that I was there, and their interference threatened the stability of my home.
And now, not even a full day later, I find a Counterintel agent pacing in my territory?
'What was that term old Chu used like a curse again?' I thought as I palmed my shotgun "Ah yes." I chuckled "Interesting times indeed..."
The Corpo
Her vision briefly swam for the nth time this morning before her new bioregulator implant kicked in and forced her fatigue back with all the grace of a hammer to the skull.
She clutched both her hands as she forced down the exhausted grunt threatening to leave her throat, and glared back into the camera.
'Did I overestimate him?' She frowned briefly.
All her research told her she should have been spotted the moment she walked onto floor sixteen, but so far aside from a few curious looks she got from the passers by, there had been zero indication of the cyborg noticing her.
Or was he ignoring her on purpose?
She sincerely doubted he was so close to Isamu Okada as to ignore her just because of Jenkins' massive fuckup yesterday. He was 'just' the man's golden goose ripperdoc, and sometimes netrunner, right?
Mercs and gangers tended not to mesh all that well in NC.
Well too bad even if he was, because she needed to set up that meeting yesterday.
She wasn't becoming Jenkins' fall woman, even if she had to blackmail the cyborg into setting it up.
Just the fact she was the one tasked with gathering information on Tyger Claw assets in the area meant all the blame could quite be tossed at her feet and Arasaka wouldn't care so long as someone was promptly punished for the failure.
Her right foot began tapping the floor as she glared at the camera, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face "Well, I tried being patient-"
"Good morning." Said a familiar synthetic voice as the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of her head "Valerie Price."
"How do you-" She immediately bit down on her stupid question. Of course he knew her fucking name.
And then stilled as she realized the looming tower of chrome had approached her, without making a single sound.
'Fuck.'
"It seems there is some intelligent thought happening up there after all." The borg drawled "Despite the suicidal stimulant abuse."
Her face twitched into a brief scowl as she forcefully calmed herself down, taking in slow breaths as she raised her hands to her sides, slowly bringing them up as she spoke "I'm not here for trouble, I just want to talk."
"Talk?" The cyborg sounded amused now "After that shitshow yesterday? Awfully convenient."
'So he's already guessed that much.' Her mind raced.
"Especially after the shitshow yesterday." She settled on saying.
"Hm." Magos hummed briefly before she felt the gun retract from her head "Fine."
She exhaled in relief and slowly turned to face him, finding him looking pretty much the same as the last time she saw him, except for the rather notable change to one of his eyes.
"Thanks." She wisely ignored how unnerving the stare felt.
"You haven't proven to be completely rotten." He shrugged and hung the crusher on his shoulder "Yet."
'Keep talking like that and I won't have to.' She thought, knowing she still held all the cards.
Not waiting for her answer he started walking away while waving for her to follow him "Come on, might as well sit and talk like civilized people."
She felt a spike of impatience, but she had her foot through the door now, and rushing things would be counterproductive. She had limited time, but not to the point she had to bulldoze through everything.
Unsurprisingly, he did not immediately lead her to his workshop, despite its location being publicly known, but towards the more active parts of the floor.
Already dreading the crowd they would have to push through, she was greeted by the utterly alien sight of the civilians consciously moving out of their way, some of them even offering brief, respectful nods to the cyborg.
The whole thing was so utterly surreal she didn't even notice him leading her to a busy noddle shop and into a quiet corner that seemed to be equipped with reinforced seating.
Just how much influence did he have...
"Old Chu renovated recently." Magos said unprompted as he leaned back into his chair "His business has been doing pretty damn well."
"Good for him." Valerie didn't quite drawl, but it was a close thing "You sure this place is secure?"
"Just let me worry about security." The cyborg gave her a pointed look and waved to someone behind her "Chu, get me four deluxe sets, one for the lady too!"
"Coming right up!" An old Chinese man called back.
"I'm not hungry." Valerie said, hoping to speed things up.
"Yes you are." Magos responded with a lazy wave of his hand "And you should take the opportunity to take a breather. Who knows, it might just be your last."
All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight as she whisper-hissed "Is that a threat?"
"No?" The cyborg tilted his head, still perfectly at ease "I'm just saying your blatant stimulant abuse is going to make you crash and burn sooner rather than later, and something tells me Arasaka doesn't do medical leave for their grunts."
Irritatingly, the thing that stung her most out of all that was being called a grunt, but she wasn't stupid enough to jump at every insult, perceived or otherwise.
"Not like I have much of a choice." The mutter slipped past her control.
"Technically you do." Magos said conversationally "But I'm sure you aren't all that eager to discuss the philosophy of free will right now."
She gave him an incredulous look as her eye twitched.
Ah yes, the good old 'You can just quit anytime, Valerie.'
"Got any actual advice for me, Mr. Ripperdoc?" She asked dryly as the old Chinese cook scooted over and completely covered their table in brightly colored carton packs of steaming noodles.
It smelled pretty good if she was being perfectly honest with herself.
"First." Magos raised a finger, tone suddenly professional "You need to find a way to take at least a week off, preferably ten days."
She winced at the very concept of chaining so many of her free days.
"And then." He went on as he absently picked up a pair of chopsticks "You need to deactivate all of your regulators, and just let your body purge itself for a while while preferably eating actual food for a bit."
"Any advice that won't make me lose my job?" She quirked her eyebrow as they both began eating.
"Well you did ask for 'advice.'" He shrugged, devouring one of his servings with blinding speed "Solutions would be much more effective of course."
"And let me guess." V huffed amusedly "Much more expensive."
The look the cyborg gave her plainly said 'And water is wet.'
Despite the distraction, she found herself entertaining the idea "Going to make me an offer now, aren't you?"
"Well." He shrugged "That depends entirely on how our talk today goes, but." He raised a finger "You can either go to a bioclinic and get injected with all kinds of dubious shit that is probably just going to turn into another issue down the line, or." He waved the hand "I can do a manual purge, and you'll be right as rain a few hours later."
"There has to be a catch." She narrowed her eyes.
"Oh yes." The borg smirked, showing off his rows of teeth "It will cost you, a lot."
"But." He snapped his fingers as he finished his food, tossing the chopsticks into his maw like an animal "That is for later." His relaxed gaze turned piercing as he leaned in "I believe you wanted to discuss biz with me?"
She steeled herself, and answered "I need a meeting with Jugo Okada."
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"A meeting?" I mused aloud "I sincerely hope you aren't devoted enough to Arasaka to try and salvage yesterday's attempt, because I assure you while you are strong, you won't survive the attempt."
She paused whatever she was about to say, and then blinked, before her eyes widened in realization "Just how informed are you?"
"Very." Was all the answer I gave.
Her fingers twisted inwards but she stopped herself from fully closing them "Right." She nodded to herself before looking me in the eyes again "It was my boss, he wanted Jugo out of the picture."
"Are you really sure you should be ratting him out right about now?" I asked.
"Fuck him, if I don't at the very least start negotiations with the Okada today, I am dead anyway." She practically spat "Jugo was too hard to control, and my boss made regular use of Shobo to get his hands on a mountain of blackmail material."
"And elevating him while keeping him weak from the gang war would give Arasaka more sway over the Tygers both locally and as a whole." I finished with a hum "Makes sense. The madman is a fucking loose canon most of the time."
As before, her eyes twitched in her particular manner that meant she was dissecting the statement for every implication it could carry.
"But." She said, tapping her fingers impatiently "Shobo failed, and Jugo is still alive, and now controls all of the Tygers' western territory."
"Yes, quite unfortunate for your boss how all of his plans backfired like that." I smirked.
"And for me, Michael." She said, as if the use of my real name was supposed to mean something "I need your help with this. And I'm ready to pay for it."
"Now you are speaking my language." I chuckled, the volume of which raised slightly at how she deflated after my tonal shift "But I'm afraid I won't be taking money for this exchange."
Wisely, she did not immediately jump the gun and try to 'blackmail' me like her name drop implied "What do you want?"
"Neville Werner." I said after a pause "I want all the info you can get on him. His hobbies, where he lives, the car he drives, the glitter he likes to sniff, where he keeps his pet boytoy, I want everything."
She frowned "I can't just-"
"Yes you can." I cut her off with narrowed eyes "It would be insultingly simple for you to obfuscate that kind of information exchange. Agree to bring it to me at the earliest possible time, and I will give you your meeting."
She scowled at being interrupted, but I knew she knew how valuable I found that information, and how uncompromising I would be in seeking it, and so after considering it for a long, quiet minute, she nodded "Fine."
"Excellent." I clapped my hands "Let's go."
The Corpo
What.
In.
The.
Actual.
Fuck?
Not ten minutes after she had accepted the deal, she found herself sitting on a megabuilding mansion suite balcony, being stared at by a scarred and eerily grinning Tyger Claw Captain, while Magos was tinkering on some implant on the man's back without even acknowledging her presence anymore.
As for how said cyborg got her the meeting?
He walked up to a Tyger Claw and said Arasaka wanted a talk while lazily pointing his thumb at her.
That the guard simply bowed and let them both enter hit her with another wave of surrealism.
But she managed to gather herself quickly enough, and she could no longer pretend Magos was just some random contact of Okada. He was obviously considered a higher up by the Claws' rank and file, and made liberal use of that fact.
She was so utterly baffled by her stroke of luck that she nearly missed it when Jugo Okada spoke up "So. What does Counterintel want now that I've properly bloodied their noses?"
Her eyes immediately shot to Magos, but he simply shrugged his shoulders telling her he had nothing to do with the Tyger knowing.
Which meant Wakako was already acting.
Unlike her meeting with Magos, she was not nearly as unprepared for talking to Jugo, and instead of beating around the bush she answered with a simple "Peace, and at least the appearance of cooperation."
"Hah!" The Captain barked a laugh, wincing as Magos poked him in the rib "At least you aren't wasting my time. What do you propose?" He returned just as simply.
'And now for the moment of truth.' She inhaled slowly.
In reality, Jenkins had no idea she was here.
In fact, the man had probably written her off by now.
But surrendering was never her thing, and she'd be damned if she let the psychopath bury her like that.
"My boss tried fucking you over." She said "And now is trying to fuck me over."
The Tyger boss snorted but didn't otherwise interrupt.
"What I want from you." She began, looking him in the eyes "Is to agree to have me act as the active contact between Arasaka HQ and your Western Tygers."
"Ambitious." Jugo narrowed his eyes, though his tone carried a hint of approval "And why would I agree to this when your corporation has acted against me?"
"The head of your gang wouldn't allow you to act against the corporation anyway." Valerie pointed out bluntly to which the man just raised an eyebrow "But if you agree to my proposal, you get to appear as if you are cooperating, meaning Jenkins won't have an excuse to fuck with you for destroying his plans."
"And." Valerie went on, feeling a slight surge of confidence "I get to salvage this operation and survive the fuckfest that is my workplace. As for after that?" She shrugged "We can either pretend we don't know each other, or we can do a few favors for each other here and there. We can discuss the details later."
Getting some actual cooperation from the Tyger would be optimal, but that was a bit lower on her list of priorities right now when compared to actually living to see tomorrow.
"A rat with a spine?" Jugo barked a laugh before looking up "You brought her here, Mike. is she trustworthy?"
The cyborg paused his work on the man's back and looked up "Surprisingly honorable for her kind." He mused, voice making it clear the implied insult was on purpose.
"Think I should humor her?" Jugo asked, but she knew all of it was a performance.
"Try not to open a second front while you are still dealing with Maelstrom." The borg deadpanned.
And then looked Valerie dead in the eyes "As for her, the only reason she isn't a steaming, rotting pile of meat right now is the fact she was honest enough not to rat me out to Arasaka the moment she managed to dig up my history a full month ago."
Valerie's blood went cold.
"So, good on you, Ms. Price." The cyborg went on, eyes completely and utterly devoid of emotion as he stared straight into her fucking soul "You might just be a step above the rats you surround yourself with on a daily basis."
Fuck.
Jugo grinned and smacked his leg "Well, with that kind of endorsement, who am I to refuse you?" And called for one of his bodyguards to bring out the sake.
But she was too busy to even register that as she was still staring at the borg's golden optics, the cold inhuman metal somehow managing to impress both praise at her conduct and the underlying threat of what he was capable of if she slipped.
[Magos: As I've said, you haven't proven yourself rotten just yet. Watch your step, V.]
The sudden message on her agent shook her from her stupor, and finally after one final glance, the borg stopped staring her down, returning to his work despite his patient's childish protestations.
And despite knowing she had won herself another chance at life, at that moment Valerie felt like anything but a winner.
-------
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