The Corpo
The expected drumbeat of her twin hearts never came as she stared up at the Boogeyman himself, Adam 'Fucking' Smasher.
In fact save for having to keep the hair trigger on her Sandevistan under control, she felt surprisingly little panic despite the very real threat to her life looming over her.
She was still cautious, she knew the man by reputation, both in corp and out of it, and who didn't?
But standing in front of something that could quite easily rip her to pieces faster than she could even see it was just not all that terrifying anymore.
Exposure therapy was a hell of a drug.
So she put on her best corporate bad bitch face "Not interested."
The malicious stare somehow turned even more threatening "You sure about that, meat?"
She managed, just barely, to keep her reaction under control, not giving an inch.
Three seconds passed before the cyborg was satisfied and pulled back to his full height "You've got some balls for a halfmeat." He said with a dark synthetic chuckle "Doesn't make you worth a damn so get moving, we already had to delay once and if someone fucks it up again I'm going to get violent."
She bit back the excuse about her incompetent pilot and followed the agitated war machine's stomping gait to the personal Arasaka family shuttle, paying no mind to the dozen or so cyber ninjas who seemed to almost stare through her as she entered.
Soon, she found herself waiting through another scanning session, a heavy security door blocking the way forward and a quartet of silent valets standing around them.
A silent chime signaled the process was complete and she waited for Smasher to start leading the way again.
Only for him to step aside and address her "Get in, the kid wanted to talk to you before we took off."
Valerie barely had the time to process the words when she noticed one of the valets flash the cyborg with a glare, and in the next second the air was ripped through by a loud snap as what had once been the valet now painted the wall.
Smasher slowly lowered his extended hand, unbothered by the bits of blood and viscera dripping from the clenched fist as he repeated "Get in."
The other valets had gone sheet pale, none of them so much as daring to look up save for the one standing next to the fresh coat of paint quietly calling for cleanup and a replacement.
'Jesus fucking Christ.' Valerie cursed inwardly as she suppressed a full body shiver, and not being a complete idiot quickly did as she was told.
The doors shut behind her and she immediately felt a difference in the air, it was clear, almost natural in a way she only really felt at resorts, and the furnishing was not that of a passenger plane but of a full suite in the classic Arasaka exec style.
The Japanese one, not the scraps the NC branch was thrown.
But she did not have any opportunity to properly gawk as her eyes remained firmly set on the room's sole occupant, or just under him as company etiquette dictated.
"It seems we are to be delayed again." Said Yorinobu Arasaka in Japanese, his tone completely unhurried "Sit, Ms. Price."
"Thank you, Arasaka-sama." She bowed her head and followed the order.
"Arasaka-sama would be my father." The corporate heir said with careful neutrality, and then switched to English "Yorinobu will do for now."
"Of course, my apologies sir." She said still not meeting his eyes.
Thankfully, he did find any reason to be annoyed with her and moved on "Now, you must be curious why the Night City branch has been given the honor of participating in this outing."
'Fuck no, the less I know about this clusterfuck the better!' Was what she wanted to say but not being suicidal she settled on "It was... surprising."
"Indeed, and while most of my Father's employees." It sounded almost like he was tasting the word as he said it "Are a rather insular group, and content to ignore the Americas, it was decided that allowing a branch to act with as much independence as Night City was not in the company's interest."
She most assuredly did not gulp as she nodded.
"So, Ms. Price." Yorinobu Arasaka went on "As a senior Counterintelligence Operative you must have an approximate understanding of all the little factions and interest groups operating within the branch. Would that be correct?"
She offered a firm nod, smashing the little hesitation rising in her chest "Yes, sir."
"Excellent. You will inform me of everything you know." He ordered.
She might have preferred it if he just gave her a gun and told her to shoot herself.
'Haven't even taken off and things have already turned to shit.' She cursed inwardly, and then spilled everything.
-----
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
The thrum of the massive luxury AV cruise liner's engines took some considerable getting used to before it turned into proper white noise, allowing me to relax ever so slightly while still keeping my eyes peeled on everything.
It was kind of amusing in a sense, the way people usually looked at bodyguard duty. You stand around an important person, remain calm and quiet until someone tries something and then commit the ultraviolence you were so generously paid for.
It was nova as fuck, right?
No one ever wants to talk about the sheer soul sucking tedium of it.
Hours upon hours of standing around while having to pay close attention on everything that was going on around you, watching everyone, and everything for even the smallest trace of danger.
Cyberware only made the tedium that much more necessary.
Because one wrong twitch you don't notice? Bam, your charge is dead and your rep is now in the landfill.
Thank God I had the arrogance to build Logos because doing net overwatch at the same time would have probably driven me up the wall.
[Overthinking detected]
'Why thank you Logos, very helpful.' I thought only half sarcastically as I focused fully on the space around me.
I was standing inside a lounge, still cramped due to the fact we were in an AV but spacious enough to hold a small bar and a few tables for the guests as it was a luxury liner.
Currently I was the only one accompanying our hungover VIP as he tried and miserably failed to bluff the other guests out of their money in a game of cards, myself standing just off to his side and watching the other players for any signs of enthusiasm about the day's Darwin award.
Fortunately they looked to be happy just passing the time while robbing a burned out singer blind.
As for my teammates, Kimigawa was currently snoozing off in a wall capsule so she could take the late night shift when we landed, and Sharpe...
Well he was currently having a deep, spirited discussion with Kerry's manager about the planned concert and its security arrangements.
He was also trying to keep the man from committing suicide by nihilist rocker too.
The corpulent man had arrived just barely in time for the AV's takeoff and immediately began behaving like absolutely nothing had happened in the last few days, patting Kerry on the shoulder and laughing at his own stupid jokes, at which point the now thoroughly awake Eurodyne proceeded to bowl him over and wail on him with all the rage of his impotent attempt on my own face.
Sadly for Donny, his face was not of the bulletproof variety, and by the time the rockstar had gotten his satisfaction, and the few security officers onboard gathered enough balls to try and approach us, the fat man had spat out a good number of his teeth and lost consciousness.
Thankfully, some stimulants had him back up and running, now with the added bonus of an appropriate level of enthusiasm for the occasion.
The teeth were another story, but he didn't need those to do his job so none of us were very concerned over it.
"Fucking finally!" Kerry hooted as he dragged all of the chips on the table to himself, having just swindles the other players out of their money like the worst of them.
The other guests grumbled and quickly decided they didn't feel like playing anymore.
"Pussies." Eurodyne snorted as they made their excuses and left.
"They probably noticed your cheating." I flatly pointed out.
"Yeah and?" He asks, scowling "If they had any balls left they should have thrown a punch at least."
Letting out a slow deliberate exhale, I place a hand on his shoulder, making him look up as I stared down at him like he was a complete fucking idiot.
'What kind of a suicidal moron tries to stab someone over some money while there was a fucking fullborg looming over them!?' I lightly squeeze his shoulder "I was standing right behind you."
And of course he doesn't give a single fuck about the logical explanation as he snaps his fingers "Exactly what I pay you for!"
"You don't pay me, you gonk." I deadpan.
"Don't sweat the small stuff." He waved it off "Now how about you stop doing your best impression of a statue and play a few games with me?"
"You do realize I'm supposed to be a bodyguard here, right?" By this point I spoke as if I was talking to a particularly slow child.
"And everyone else already fucked off!" He grins "Come on, we've got time to kill anyway."
"Fine." I sigh and tell Logos to pay double the attention "I don't mind embarrassing you for a while."
"You ever play?" He asks as he begins to deal.
"No." I shrug "But I've seen enough."
"Famous last words."
Half an hour later
The previously enthusiastic rocker sat slouched forward, his eyes completely free of all will to live and thought as he stared down on the table where all of his chips had been methodically removed from his possession.
No one ever thinks about just counting the cards.
"Well that was fucking embarrassing." He sighs and sits up "I think I've had enough poker for the day."
"No, really?"
"Really." He gives me an annoyed glare "How long until we arrive anyway?"
"Should be just under two more hours." I say after a rapid mental query "What are your plans once we get there?"
"The concert." His face twists with resigned frustration "Is gonna happen in two days, so we've got time to kill before that."
"Alongside the corporate gala." I remind.
"You really believe that charity bullshit they're spouting?" He looks at me incredulously.
"Fuck no." I scoff "You can't deny it is an important event though. Consequential."
"A bunch of rats licking each others' assholes." He practically spits out.
"Those rats have money, and guns. Lots and lots of guns."
"I know." He nods begrudgingly.
"So, plans?" I repeat the question.
He went to respond when the nearby doors opened, letting Sharpe walk in alone.
"Mr. Eurodyne, Mr. Magos." The old man nods and takes a free seat.
"How is... Donny." Kerry asks, audibly disgusted with the mere mention of him.
"Shaken, but not stirred." Sharpe's moustache twitches "He appears to be laboring under the impression he is going to be working his way back into your good graces. As long as that misinterpretation persists we should have no issues with... attempted retribution."
"So pretend I don't want to punch his face in to avoid a headache?" Kerry asks slowly.
"Quite." Sharpe nods and pours himself a drink.
Kerry sighs, sinking into his plush seat while rubbing his closed eyes "Just... just keep him away from me, I'll deal with it when we return to Night City."
"Enough about corporate bullshit." He sits up and claps his hands "Let's talk about something less infuriating."
"Like what?" I ask, absently reading through another scan of the entire airship.
"Like music." Kerry grins "What do you fine fellows enjoy?"
"Hm." Sharpe hummed "I find I am quite partial to the old classics. There is a certain elegance in purity of the old compositions."
"Got to respect our roots." Kerry nods along and then looks at me "What about our Smasher mini-me?"
"You know there are a lot of fullborgs out ther- nevermind." I sigh at his shiteating expression and just answer "Tinnitus."
I could almost hear the record scratch in his head as he registered my words, and it was time for a shiteating retort of my own.
"It is quite soothing to the Audioreceptors."
And this is how I found myself being dragged into the gonk's room for some necessary (his words not mine) education about music.
Some people just couldn't appreciate a good sound layering...
Still, playing a guitar was not as boring as I thought it would be.
-----
"What'd I miss?" Kimigawa asks as we walk down the AV's massive ramp, staring at a long stretch of thin band-aid tape under Kerry's left eye.
"Mr. Eurodyne here." I say in my most neutral tone "Thought it would be amusing to make me his circus monkey for the day."
The man in question just winces as he tries not to agitate the skin by speaking.
"And apparently telling the anti-pick elitist my fingers can pass for knives didn't stick." I shrug innocently "So I may or may not have slightly damaged his guitar strings..."
"And when he tried showing off they snapped at his face?" Kimigawa asks dryly before snorting "Holy shit dude, for a rich guy you are unlucky as fuck."
"Oh ha ha." Kerry rolls his eyes.
"Well as amusing as this all is, I think I speak for all of us when I say agitating our hosts by holding up the line is not in our best interest." Sharpe says even as his tone is laced with amusement "We really should move along."
"Agreed." I nod and we keep walking.
And as we fully exited the AV and stepped onto one of the many landing pads on top of the Zurich Aeronautics Center, I found myself stopping once again.
Because all half of my line of sight was filled with green.
Actual grassland and forests stretching as far as the naked eye could see, and almost as far as the cybernetic one could, only growing sparse as the ground started to rise into mountains that went so far up they hit the clouds.
The sight was beyond beautiful.
Immediately, I took a few dozen pictures and saved them to my hard drive.
A slight cough drew me back to reality as I found Sharpe giving me a knowing look "Mr. Magos, Ms. Kimigawa, I understand this is all very new to you but please, we wouldn't want to keep the fine officers waiting."
Kimigawa sent him a glare while I merely nodded, the both of us ignoring Eurodyne's look of playful mockery.
Hefting the box of personal musical equipment I was apparently volunteered to carry, I followed them as we approached a line of... mass production grade droids, if I had to guess.
Boxy but not oversized mono-optic heads, thin bodies slightly below average human height, and simple but effective looking submachineguns. All of them looked completely the same and carried the same equipment, no doubt unnerving our less than combat oriented co-passengers.
I quickly crushed the temptation of deepscanning them on the spot, and settled with a mere surface level observation.
'Definitely stealing one before we leave though.'
[Affirmative.]
Only one actual person stood waiting for us as he waved an old pair through and turned to our group, looking us over with completely biological eyes that seemed to dilate far too quickly to be normal, turning into tiny pinpricks as they landed on me only to move on a split second later as he faced Kerry and said "Papiere bitte."
When he gave him his papers back I almost dared hope that would be that, but then he demanded an entire list of identifications from me and examined them with autistic levels of scrutiny, all the while shooting me suspicious glances every three or so seconds.
Prick would have probably continued on for a whole hour longer, if not for the commotion the other passengers were starting to build up to.
Thankfully whatever legalise magic Rogue scrapped together for this seemed to satisfy the stick rammed into the customs officer's asshole as he very reluctantly gave me a special pass to enter the city.
Fucker should learn to control his envy better. That was just sad.
Throwing that whole situation to the back of my head, I allowed a bit of my earlier excitement to return. The locals may be cunts, but exploring one of the richest cities of one of the wealthiest European states sounded downright nova right about now.
-------
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