12 12: I see dead people

Shadows stretched over the meeting room, ensconced within the towering fortress of Arasaka's headquarters in Night City. The towering, monolithic building stood as a cathedral of corporate power and unyielding dominance from its central location on Corpo Plaza, looming over its lesser neighbours. The greatest sign of Arasaka Corporation's grip in and influence over Night City, the gargantuan structure stood so monumentally tall and wide, it was enough to give a Megabuilding feelings of inadequacy.

Whereas the outside of the blocky building was utilitarian and brutalist, making it stand out even further amongst its bright and illuminated neighbours, the inside of the building was almost refined and elegant, if not for the fact it managed to loom just as menacingly as the tower itself. All of the walls, pristine in their shining black, were regularly adorned with the luminescent hollyhock mon of Arasaka, emitting a stifling presence. This room's centerpiece, a colossal obsidian table of matte metal and gleaming glass, stood as a monument to its owner's authority, flanked by high-backed executive chairs, each one a throne of corporate might and influence in itself.

Holographic screens, stretching across the room's tall, reinforced windows, projected the ceaseless tumult of Night City's neon-drenched streets. These digital windows into chaos served as a reminder that the city's pulse beat in tandem with Arasaka's own, one no more than a mere echo of the other.

Despite its immense size (larger than some habs which the NC residents in the poorer districts had to make do with) there was only a single occupant in the room, sitting on the left seat next to the head at the far end of the table. Anyone on the streets would immediately pin the man as a corpo, the high-tech visor held over and integrated with his eyes a dead giveaway. Two channels led up from the visor to cross the top of his scalp, cutting two deep grooves in his otherwise immaculately maintained blonde hair. He was clad in a simple, but high-quality Arasaka suit. It was custom tailored and done up in a monochrome palette that exuded an air of calculated professionalism, as did all things Arasaka. His demeanor, while composed, held the underlying tension of one accustomed to the cutthroat world of corporate machinations.

The man's face was drawn in focus, but he had been raised within the company's strict culture for long enough to know better than to show any further outwards signs of his anxiety. A simple message to his biomon, a second message dismissing the warning sigs it immediately displayed in return, and his cortisol and oxytocin levels saw a sudden spike. Nothing dramatic, just enough to take the edge off his nerves and keep his exhaustion at bay. He'd pay for it later, but that was nothing compared to the cost of fucking up now.

Especially considering who had demanded his presence here in this dark room, after hours no less. Well, after his hours at least, considering that Arasaka, much like Night City itself, never slept. It was ever awake, ever watchful, and as such, it despised being taken off guard. For some reason, that seemed to go double for his superior.

'Speak of the Devil…' the man silently thought as the formidable entrance to the meeting room, guarded by imposing obsidian doors, slid open with a hushed whisper.

The woman who confidently strode inside struck a noticeable figure, every aspect of her carefully cultivated look bringing corporate power and lethality to mind. Though the man had to wonder how her… 'unique' haircut worked towards that picture (promptly ignoring the hypocrisy in that statement with practiced ease). The sides of her head were shorn clean, a sleek canvas for the intricate cybernetic patterns that crisscrossed her scalp. But it was her fiery red hair that demanded attention. A meticulously gelled mohawk, split into two distinctive streams at the nape of her neck, gave her an air of controlled rebellion amid the confines of corporate decorum.

It was something you'd more likely see on a Heywood edgerunner, but within the stark and meticulously controlled world of Arasaka executives, the contrast only served to further underline her position. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down after all, especially in Arasaka, even in the less-traditionally focused Night City branch. The fact she hadn't, spoke to her skills and value to the company.

By contrast, her clothing was much more subdued, making her personal features all the more striking. She wore a standard Arasaka suit, modeled much like the already seated man if not for the noticeable, geometrically styled deep and narrow cleavage, a more risqué mirror to how the lapels on his own jacket were tailored. The outline of it was apparently supposed to resemble the cut-out of a tie.

Personally, the man always thought they resembled an upside down buttplug.

Not that he'd ever actually voice that thought to the woman.

Her attire bore the signature black-and-red colors of Arasaka, an unspoken declaration of loyalty to the corporation and this scheme was even continued in her cybernetics. The woman's enhancements were a testament to her status and role within Arasaka itself, with black and red cybernetic blocks seamlessly integrated over her eyes, a modern interpretation of the classic cyberpunk visor. These blocks, pulsating with digital information, were her window into the data-driven world of corporate intrigue.

And no doubt had much of his intel already scrolling past her digital eyelids, given her higher security clearance. In fact, considering how much higher the woman ranked than him, he wouldn't even be surprised (annoyed, sure, but not really surprised) if she was allowed access to his personal read-outs, including the little hormone cocktail he'd taken just before her entrance.

Privacy was a big deal for Arasaka after all, but it was a one-way street, and he wasn't facing the right direction.

Given her higher status, she had greater access to Arasaka intel than him and she wasn't the type of woman to not make us of it or read up on a situation beforehand, so it wasn't like he was here just to fill her in on detes she was too preoccupied not to have gone over herself already. Meaning the demand for his physical presence was either to function as a sounding board or (more likely) something convenient to get mad at.

His eddies were on the latter.

"Douglas. Talk me through this shit-show." The woman's voice sounded out like a whip.

'Guess I was right.' The man privately thought, but outwardly he simply bowed his head in acceptance.

"Of course, Kate. Two and a half days ago, executive Tetsuo Tanaka was kidnapped while on route to Arasaka Academy. He has since been retrieved by Trauma Team and his body delivered back into Arasaka custody. The one who ordered his kidnapping, one fixer named Faraday, has been neutralized by the Asset Smasher." He began as the woman stalked further into the room.

"Tanaka's importance to Arasaka and his kidnappers." Kate demanded, even though the now named Douglas suspected she was already informed.

Importance in this case was simply another word for value.

"Tanaka is an executive on the Arasaka Academy board and a close friend to the principal. As such, he is intimately aware of both Arasaka's prospective students as well as Arasaka's lesson plan and corporate training programs." Douglas quickly mentioned, though he knew which details interested Kate more.

Still, it paid to be thorough. Literally.

"Additionally, it seems he had high-level access to some more secretive Arasaka R&D projects."

"Leaking the Academy stuff is annoying, but it's not like our playbook is that different from what the other corps are running, especially the general classes. The R&D stuff. Anything worth worrying about there?"

They both knew it was a moot question: as far as Arasaka was concerned, any intelligence leaks were worth worrying about.

"Just the one pertaining to asset Smasher's possible future upgrade."

"The cyber-skeleton. The one that Militech now likely has access to." Kate summarized, her lips pressed into a thin, disapproving line.

They had no certainty of that of course, it wasn't as if their rival was going to admit to corporate theft after all, but it hadn't been hard to dig into Faraday's personal affairs and realize the Militech connection.

"Most likely, yes. Fixers, even ones as clearly ambitious as Faraday, hardly operate on their own initiative. Immediately following his neutralization, a clean-up crew confiscated much of his personal data, which has since been run through our profiler division. Of course, they can only make a model: things would've been far easier if Faraday himself had been brought in alive for questioning."

It's incredibly difficult (and frustrating) to pick someone's brain when said brain had to be scraped off the bottom of an insane cyborg's foot. Kate clearly didn't see it as such a big loss however, given her shrug.

"We knew when we activated the Asset that it'd end with two things: Tanaka retrieved and his kidnapper dead. He was sent into the field under the assumption that Tanaka was still alive and needed immediate exfil in order to stop potential intel leaks. It was only after the fact that Tanaka's uselessness became known. Even so, Faraday's death was an inevitability, considering we were likely to fall back on utilizing the Asset either way. And do you want to tell him how to operate in the field?" Kate said, sounding self-assured even if she was covering her own ass, daring Douglas to go against her with a raised eyebrow.

Like hell he was. Telling the cyborg how to do his biz? More likely than not the Asset would use him as a test bed for any suggested new techniques. No, thank you, he'd like his testicles to remain where they were. Instead, he coughed slightly, before continuing his explanation.

"Our psych profiler's model is accurate enough for our purposes. Their division's conclusion was that, while trying to blackmail us for a better standard of living is definitely within Faraday's projected parameters, he would be unlikely to act on his own, without a larger entity to fall back on."

"You mean 'hide with'. Tch. Fixers. Think they're hot shit while all they do is just move eddies out of our pockets and into the hands of lowlifes. They're hardly a step up from leeches." Kate said with a cold scoff and Douglas simply bowed his head in deference, neither agreeing nor denying.

Instead, he dryly continued with giving his report.

"As you say. He only would've gone after the schematics if he knew he could trade them. Which means he likely already had a buyer lined up before he ever set sights on Tanaka. Militech is the likeliest client, given they are the biggest in arms manufacturing here in NC. After ourselves of course."

"Any other potential suspects?" Kate mused, drumming her fingers on the glass tabletop.

"A few. Zetatech could be a possibility, bearing in mind their vested curiosity in anti-gravity technology, due to their specialization in aerial drones and vehicles..However, they hardly need to go through the risks of stepping into an open confrontation with us over it considering their own advancements in the field over the past thirty years."

"They could try to secure that advantage over us, keep us from competing. Sabotage, instead of espionage." Kate shot back, though it didn't seem like she was really believing the argument herself either.

"Perhaps." Douglas said in a non-committal tone.

Both of them knew that there were easier and more subtle ways of sabotaging your competition than kidnapping one of their executives in broad daylight in a very public display.

Speaking of subtle…

"The crew Faraday used for the kidnapping itself?" Kate demanded, leaning against the long obsidian slab that functioned as a table.

"His own hired mercenaries for the most part. Looks like Faraday had a habit of regularly rotating out his Huscle: the bodies that were recovered following his neutralization by the Asset threw up no flags with our intelligence departments. A chance run-in with the NCPD confirms however that he has made use of the Animals for the extraction itself."

"He's certainly no stranger to outsourcing work to gangs, that's for certain." Kate groused, referring to the earlier explosive attempt made by Maelstrom.

That should've been Tanaka's warning signal, inform him that he was being hunted specifically. Either he should've moved into Arasaka HQ itself, or done this investigation on his own already, neutralize Faraday himself, save them the bother.

Now they were left with a dead fixer, a crispy corpo and with no confirmation of who was to blame for it all.

"Gangoons are less expensive, perhaps?" Douglas offered, but the woman simply shook her head.

"More expendable, more like."

Fair enough. Arasaka had much the same reasoning whenever they needed some dirty or embarrassing work done by outside agents.

"The role of the Animal group? Does the situation need… resolving? I know the Asset is eager to go back into the field again. According to him, zeroing Faraday had been far too boring." Kate inquired, her own tone showing that she too was eager to see the Asset back in action again.

"He would say that." Douglas let slip out despite his medications, his mouth clamping shut when Kate shot him a warning look through the cybernetic blocks over her eyes.

He still wasn't entirely sure how she actually managed that.

"Ahem… as far as we can tell, the Animal group in question was only brought on to secure Tanaka himself. Going by the Trauma Team after action report and Asset Smasher's own descriptions, a separate netrunner was brought on site to deal with the intel extraction itself. It's unlikely they are even aware of what intel Tanaka had that Faraday wanted in the first place. Profilers agree he wouldn't even have told his own Huscle, much less gangoons."

"The runner he brought on. We know what she managed to pull from Tanaka's brain?"

"Unclear, but likely minimal. She was just as fried as Tanaka Sr. himself and Trauma Team doesn't concern itself with bystanders. Same goes for the Asset."

That went without saying, of course.

"Hmmm… there's too many 'unclears'. Something is not adding up here."

"Could be Militech trying to clear up their tracks?" Douglas offered again despite his best wishes.

Damn, he'd likely have to override his biomon's safeties again if he kept this up, Kate looked pissed enough already as it stood. For now however, the corpo woman seemed too preoccupied with her own thoughts to give his words much attention, mostly thinking out loud to herself as she went over every possibility, pursued every avenue.

"And, what? Hire a fixer to hit us, then go behind his back to find out what Huscle he hired for the job and then hire them in turn to betray him once he tries to make the hand-off? Botch their own job, leave no-one standing once the dust clears. Think Militech would pull something like that?"

"If we assume their intelligence division is at least nominally on the level of our own, and it would be foolish not to, then it should be child's play for them." Douglas defended his reasoning and Kate let up the pressure a bit at that.

"Hmm. Maybe. Militech's hardly subtle though. If they did want to try and clear their tracks, they'd have just wiped the top floor of that building off the map. No, someone is leaving breadcrumbs and pointing fingers…"

She remained silent for several long moments, as if debating with herself, before she snapped her fingers, apparently having cut a knot in her thoughts. Her instructions came clear and confident, even as Douglas' brows rose to above his visor.

"Alright, for now keep an eye on the Animals group, do not engage, simply observe. Hire a solo for it, one we can burn if needed. I don't want to give anyone an indication of what we're looking into. The less our enemies think they know what we know, the better. Keeps 'em guessing, unaware of what our response will be… or against whom it'll be."

"I… see. It will be done. What about the Militech angle?" Douglas felt obligated to press.

To him, it was clear that their greatest rival was the one pulling the strings. Arasaka had already danced to their tunes by doing their clean-up for them: if they continued to turn a blind eye to their enemy's unseen hand in these matters, then they'd all be caught with their pants down their ankles when they suddenly found said hand gripping them by the throat.

Kate was clearly thinking along a different track, however.

"What about the Militech angle? If we did have the ability to look into every little scheme of theirs, don't you think we would've already done so to wipe them off the map? For that matter, what makes you think that, even if we did have that sort of intel, you would even be made aware of it, much less given access? No, if it's Militech playing games, then we simply need to keep an eye on the agents already assigned to watching them. Press that angle any harder, and we give the game away, invite a counter-move. No, we go behind their lines instead, track down the breadcrumbs they left and once we have traced them all back to the source, then we shove the wicked witch right into the furnace!"

For a moment the two of them fell silent, Kate deep in thought and Douglas wisely refraining from disturbing her. He knew better than to voice his doubts again, all he was here for was to double check the facts, not to make any decisions of his own. Even if the thought of putting 'subtle' and 'Animals' in the same sentence was enough to make him wonder what kind of endorphin cocktail she was on.

"Close the Trauma Team file. Delete it from their servers too, we don't want anyone looking into them either." Kate's sharp tone snapped him from his musings.

"The chance exists that someone investigated their angle already. If anyone is wondering what happened that night, and we know that at least the other major fixers in NC are, then the only ones to ask are Trauma Team or the Asset itself." Douglas mentioned despite his earlier caution.

Not because he cared about Kate's objectives, but right now he was tasked with closing the Trauma Team angle, which meant that if said Trauma Team angle ended up getting leaked, it'd be his head, no matter if it had been the medic's own shitty cybersecurity at fault.

Hell, he'd be surprised if someone hadn't already peaked in Trauma Team's files by now. He had, after all.

Kate dismissed his worries with a careless shrug of her shoulders.

"Close off all avenues of intel. If there was a leak, make sure it's plugged. I will not have Tanaka's kidnapping reflect badly on the company. We'll go public only when it is advantageous to do so."

Left unsaid (but definitely not unheard) was that if it never became advantageous, they'd simply never go public. Tanaka's fate would go unremarked and unnoticed to the world, hell, even to most within Arasaka.

"Yes, ma'am." Douglas merely responded and that was that.

"The kidnapping itself. What do we know?"

"Security detail all died during the interception. Heavy calibre shots, likely by a-"

"I don't care about the security detail, much less what type of lead they got flatlined with! I want to know how they got Tanaka!"

Quickly switching tracks, Douglas continued, outwardly seeming unperturbed by the woman's sudden outburst.

"Driver was the sole survivor, one Maxim Kuznetsov. He was still in the car when we found him, refused to come out or answer questions. Given the importance of the situation, he was retrieved and the scroll from his BD implant extracted We have the interception from start to finish."

He didn't say that the BD specialist that had to dive through Kuznetsov's memory threw up all over herself, having to relive how the car got flipped. Motion-sickness is a hell of a thing, even when you're lying still in a chair. No point in mentioning how she nearly had a panic attack either: apparently the threat that had kept Kuznetsov glued to his seat had been vivid enough to practically launch the BD editor out of hers.

It wasn't like Kate would care about details like that. Truth be told, he didn't either.

"Talk me through the kidnapping and extraction." Kate demanded impatiently.

"Tanaka's vehicle was intercepted by a group of Animals, likely supplied with gear by this Faraday. Animals are noted for their shoddy chrome and limited gear: the group in question, while definitely fitting with that theme for the most part in terms of weaponry and vehicle, also had access to an advanced signal jammer as well as a biomon jammer effective enough to spoof Trauma Team's surveillance soft."

"Tanaka had security with netrunning skills on-board, how did they not manage to cut through the interference in time?" Kate asked, revealing that she had indeed already been aware of Tanaka's situation on some level, confirming his earlier suspicions.

"They got blasted with EMP's shot from a grenade launcher."

"Hmm… EMP's would've messed with security's cybernetics. Take out the human element before messing with the tech, ensure it stays down. Smart. Unusually smart." Kate mused thoughtfully, clearly re-evaluating the strike team's threat level.

"They were likely just following Faraday's orders, considering that was his tech in the first place." Douglas dismissed instead and after a moment, Kate shrugged again.

"Possible. If they thought EMP's were enough to halt an Alvarado in its track, then maybe they are as dumb as they look-" Kate said and there was a note of relief evident in her voice, which was shattered when Douglas found himself forced to speak up again.

"Ah, apologies, but the EMP's were solely meant to disturb the security detail and protect the deployment of the signal jammer from counter-hacking. The vehicle itself was stopped by a rising stop pillar for regulation and blocking of city traffic."

"… what?"

"They are the things that come up out of the road-"

"I know what a stop pillar is! You're telling me that they managed to intercept one of our own, a member of the fucking Academy board, simply by throwing a hunk of metal in front of his car?!"

For a moment, Kate's voice resounded off the gleaming walls and all that Douglas could do was shrug somewhat sheepishly.

"They are quite heavy blocks of metal. And technically, they threw it under his car-"

Any further attempts at covering his own ass were halted as Kate cut him off with a sharp gesture of her hand. For a moment, she stood with her back turned to him, gazing out over the neon sprawl of Night City, before eventually shaking her head.

"How did they even manage to utilize it?"

Not knowing if the question was rhetorical or not, Douglas decided to hedge on the safe side of caution and answer as best he could.

"The leading Animal was of an unusual size. He was apparently strong enough to simply pick it up and throw it in the Chevillon's path."

Kate glanced at him over her shoulder, clearly intrigued.

"This 'alpha', as the Animals call their leaders. We have any intel on him?"

"No name, and he disguised his face during the ambush. However, given his remarkable size and the voice lines we recorded from Kuznetsov's scroll has allowed us to gather enough data to pass onto our intelligence division, allowing them to cross-reference it against other Animals dealings. We have run into an… unusual problem, however. NCPD barely has any record of him. A few mentions, but no name or facial description. Those few records left in their archives were heavily edited and scrubbed."

"A friend on the force then?"

"Either that, or he was able to hack them. Intelligence has deemed that unlikely however. After all, everyone knows the Animals don't employ netrunners or possess any worthwhile breaching skills. At the very least we can be certain that this crew doesn't, given that Faraday had to bring in his own 'runner for the intel extraction. As for the 'alpha' himself: we are fairly certain he has been with the gang for a long time now and has been involved with several inter-gang disputes spread all over San Domingo, from Arroyo to Rancho Coronado. Profilers are still projecting his future path and pack's expansion: Animals don't hold territory, making them more difficult to pin down and predict."

"As if I care. Get it done anyways."

"Of course Ma'am."

"Anything else? Or is all our intelligence good for just to tell me that a behemoth of a man is likely an Animal? Because even a gonk from the ass-end of Pacifica high out of his chrome on Black Lace could've come to that conclusion." Kate said in a tone dripping with ice.

"He's a likely suspect for the AV crash into Biotechnica HQ not so long ago. Their surveillance system got hacked that night, along with that whole Securicine debacle, so no footage from inside the building, but our own exterior cams saw an extremely large figure jump out of the top window where the AV crashed through."

Kate's only reactions was to raise a perfectly manicured eyebrow above the cybernetic block embedded in her eye socket.

"You're telling me he can survive suicide attempts now?"

Douglas could only shrug.

"Either that, or there are two eight foot plus Animals wandering around NC. Whichever is likelier."

"A new strain? They're always messing with that hormone formula of theirs…"

"Whichever is likelier." Douglas simply repeated, and Kate snorted in disgust.

"Additionally, I have unconfirmed reports from a Biotechnica shell, out in Rancho Coronado, that got hit by a cyberpsycho earlier today. NCPD was advised by Militech not to respond to the scene; patching into the city's CCTV showed two of their own squads on target. They're doing a full purge, no clue yet what Biotechnica was doing out there that required a Militech response instead of MaxTac, but what little we've managed to uncover so far points to the place being wiped out in an absolute slaughter. Could just be one of their test subjects going 'psyco, it happens in facilities like that, but given the sheer brutality and his earlier strike against Biotechnica and possible ties to Militech, it could be our Animal."

"Tch, again the NCPD proves useless. I thought they were supposed to be on our payroll, how come they are dancing to Militech's tunes? For all we know, they could have ordered the purge of this super-Animal's criminal records!"

"Well, Militech does provide them with all their heavy vehicles and most of their weapons…"

"Pah, put it in the report, I'll kick it up the chain, make sure we lean more on the chief commissioner and Mayor Rhyne. What is the point of kicking out Militech and signing the Arvin Accord if the law in Night City isn't an extension of our will?" Kate said in a heated tone, before calming down somewhat.

"So, besides kidnapping Arasaka board members, our Animal has a hate boner for Biotechnica? What, they withheld his weekly testosterone treatment one time too many?"

"They could be responsible for his freakish growth? Maybe he's a failed test subject out for revenge?"

As outlandish as it sounded, it wouldn't be the first time something like this happened to bite a corp in the ass. Hell, Arasaka had a few loose ends walking around that never got tied off either, but were more than eager to see any of her employees hanged…

Kate tapped her fingers against her forearms an instant, before shaking her head in dismissal.

"Could be, but then I don't think he'd have handled the Securicine scandal the way he did. Too different from slaughtering whatever they were working on in Coronado. Likely someone else has a grudge against Biotechnica, he's just the Huscle. If it was him both times."

"Unknown, but there is a possibility, not an insignificant one either. If true, it would support the theory that he was simply hired by Faraday as someone disposable. It would be our playbook as well. Means he's not a Militech agent either, or at least not exclusively so, which is good news."

"Well, it's typically Animal, if nothing else. End result remains the same, either way. The Animal team intercepted Tanaka, blocked his SOS signals and his Trauma Team scanner soft and then handed him over to Faraday. Where?"

"Uknown."

For a moment, deadly silence fell over the meeting room as Kate's red optics shone starkly in the oppressive darkness.

"You know, I'm really starting to hate that word." She trailed off in a dangerous tone and Douglas was quick to defend himself.

"Backtracking through Faraday's own surveillance logs shows that he left his appartement at nighttime on the same day that Tanaka was kidnapped. He returned a few hours later, Tanaka in custody. The netrunner had already arrived a few minutes before him. Tanaka was badly injured, more so than what his driver scrolled during the kidnapping itself, showcases Faraday attempted interrogation out in the field at first, before falling back to his own residence after having called in a netrunner."

"Tch. Fine. It doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things, I suppose. Although…"

Kate trailed off, and the rapidly blinking red lights on her optics showed that she was looking through data at an immense pace.

"Tanaka and the 'runner. Both fried, you say?"

"That is what the Trauma Team report states, yes. They were both found floating in Faraday's pool, likely to facilitate the netrunner's deep dive."

"Then how did they end up barbequed by lightning?"

"… Perhaps one of Tanaka's implants malfunctioned after Faraday's torture? The biomon jammer was impressive, but Scav tech can only do so much."

"You're both right…" Kate began thoughtfully, sending a command to the immense table.

Part of its surface suddenly lit up, displaying several holographic projections and schematics in front of Douglas' visor.

"… and wrong." The woman finished while Douglas swiftly went through the information.

"Apologies. What am I looking at? These seem to be schematics of some kind-"

"Tanaka's autopsy report." Kate interrupted, before a few blocks of text were highlighted and enlarged, while lines were drawn to a similarly highlighted piece of cyberware on the human model.

"A microgenerator, huh? Badly damaged, likely the origin point of the electrocution. With both of them in the water and with Tanaka's state, it would've happened in a flash. Literally." Douglas went over the read-outs, feeling Kate's heave gaze boring into his skull.

He had to admit defeat, rather than be caught disguising his ignorance.

"Seems plausible enough to me. What is the issue?"

Kate was silent for a long moment, as if debating with herself if he should be clued in, before finally shaking her head slightly.

"Tanaka didn't have a microgenerator." She revealed.

As said, privacy is very important to Arasaka, in that they had access to all of yours.

"Implanted? During the torture, perhaps." Douglas said, but it didn't feel quite right.

"If so, why would Faraday do so? He doesn't gain anything by it."

"Could use the electrifying properties of the implant as a torture tool?"

"Intriguing, but risky. Safer to just go old school. Get an old car battery and clamp some starter cables on Tanaka's nipples; flip the switch, watch him fry. No need for messy implants and invasive surgery. Especially if he attempted a field interrogation first before bringing a 'runner on board." Kate speculated, leaning on the black glass tabletop as Douglas surreptitiously shifted in his seat.

Kate's cybernetic blocks were trained intently on Tanaka's autopsy report, as if it was a puzzle in the Sunday screamsheet she was trying to figure out to win a two-day vacation to Thailand's Pleasuredome. After a while, she shook her head in frustration.

"It just doesn't add up. The frying of the scav tech is what called down Trauma Team on Faraday's ass and allowed the Asset to home in his search pattern. That microgenerator burned him just as it did Tanaka. So, if Faraday didn't put it there and Tanaka himself never chipped it, then who the fuck did?"

"… maybe Tanaka never disclosed installing it to the company?"

"Why would he need to? Why settle for some random ripperdoc instead of installing his chrome in-house?"

"Microgenerators are emergency tech: maybe he got spooked by the Maelstrom attempt and didn't want to look weak in front of the rest of the board by installing a safety feature? Arasaka chrome comes with a lot of Arasaka red tape too" Douglas offered and Kate fell silent with a considering hum.

"We need more intel on his movements and motivations. Only way to be sure."

"His son is still enrolled within Arasaka Academy, though he has been given three days leave to mourn his father's passing. Tanaka's wife lives in Japan, though she has been notified. The situation regarding his death has been treated with a total information blackout, so they don't know anything further than that, as per company policy." Douglas offered, but Kate waved his suggestion away.

"Shut up, stand up and follow me."

Hasting to follow the instructions, Douglas was hot on Kate's heels as she strode out of the enormous meeting chamber and down an immense hallway. The whole time they walked, the only sounds were the sharp clicking of her heels against the black marble floors. There wasn't even a jingle in the elevators as they rode it down to the ground floor, and then even further down below towards the garage…

… and then even further down below to Douglas' surprise once Kate placed her hand against the elevator pad.

Questions bubbled to the fore of his mind, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. There was an Arasaka saying after all: those who wag their tongue, stand to lose them. Finally, the elevator came to a halt and Kate strode outside the moment the doors slid open, Douglas still close behind.

They walked through a large room where several Dwellers were safeguarding Arasaka's datafortress to what looked almost like a reception desk of sorts.

"Kate Tower, authorization level "Kisen", bringing along Douglas Adams for data extraction." Kate spoke to the special agent on the other side of the counter.

'That cannot be good!' Douglas thought to himself as a cold sweat stood out on his neck and he almost took a step back and started looking around for an emergency exit.

Almost, because he sure didn't fancy his chances running from the various turrets he could see embedded in the walls, resting but far from dormant. Despite this, his reaction must've shone through more than he'd realized, as Kate glanced at him over her shoulder, an amused look on her thin face.

"Relax, it's not your data we'll be extracting."

'Somehow, that's not entirely reassuring either.' Douglas privately thought to himself.

"Identities confirmed. Access granted. Be aware that your interactions will be monitored at all times. Follow staff instructions at all times. Failure to comply with instructions or attempts to conceal your actions from the recordings will result in immediate termination." The special agent interrupted in a stern, stoic voice as nearby, two double doors slowly began to slide open with a heavy hiss.

Douglas got the distinct impression that they weren't talking about his contract.

"Welcome to Izanagi."

Kate nodded her head in agreement and stalked through the now opened doorway, while Douglas had to swallow a bit at such a… cold greeting.

"Izanagi? What is-"

"In Japanese mythology, Izanagi is the creator god of life itself. In our world, it's NC's access point to Mikoshi, which is the Japanese term for the shrine of a god when not in their temple. Its servers are hosted on private satellites in orbit, you can only reach it through dedicated access points. Every Arasaka HQ has one, each with differing levels of access and storage, though ours is second only to the one in Tokyo, which is called Izanami, named after the creation goddess of death."

After her explanation, Kate came to a sudden halt, almost causing Douglas to bump into her as she whirled around, fixing him in place with a heavy glare through those blocky black-red optics of hers.

"Naturally, everything I have just told you is so top-secret, even most of our own people aren't even aware of its existence. You so much as breathe a word of this to anyone… and they'll send the Asset to stomp our heads flat, understood?"

"U-understood."

Kate held his gaze for a moment longer, but then the other set of double doors at the end of the hallway opened up as well and she turned away from him, allowing him to sag a bit from his ramrod straight position.

"You mentioned total information black-out with Tanaka's kid and wife. Keep it that way, indefinitely. We hardly need them: there's nothing they can tell us that we can't get from Tanaka himself." Kate said as they moved into what seemed like a large server room.

"But… Tanaka died." Douglas said, feeling a bit lost now.

They had both read the same autopsy reports, right? Trauma Team is good, but even Platinum coverage can't cure a case of Dead.

"True. But that doesn't mean we cannot still question him." Kate said as she stalked over towards a nearby access port.

"You'd be surprised by what Trauma Team can preserve if they're on the scene fast enough. You'd be even more surprised what our techies can turn 1400 grams of fried grey matter into. Jack in."

Given the earlier 'greeting' he got when entering Izanagi, Douglas decided not to try and disobey a direct order, so despite his misgivings, he pulled his custom personal link from the side of his visor and slotted it into the access port.

His sight briefly blurred as a progress bar stating [ESTABLISHING CONNECTION] flashed into being in the centre of his vision.

"You know, you weren't even that wrong when you dissed Asset Smasher crushing Faraday's skull. He only did that because he didn't realize the man was anyone important; if he had, he'd likely just killed him, leave the brain intact. Then we would've been able to do this."

Before Douglas could question what exactly 'this' was supposed to even be, a crimson transparent figure blurred into his vision, before his features solidified as the progress bar completed. Douglas couldn't stop a gasp from escaping him as he recognized the man across from him. How could he not? He had looked at that face in after action and autopsy reports for the better part of the past two days after all.

"Douglas Adams. Meet Tetsuo Tanaka."

"Greetings, Douglas Adams."

The ghostly, shimmering figure stepped closer towards the panting Araska agent.

"Now then, how can I assist you in apprehending the ones responsible for my death?"

//

AN: Dun dun dun! A bit more insight into the Tanaka situation from Arasaka's POV, as well as slight hints to what other parties have been up to in the meantime. Also, Tanaka is an engram! Dunno if I did the Izanagi surroundings justice, any suggestions on how to improve it are welcome. As for Izanagi and Izanami, while the NC access point is called that, I made up the name of the Tokyo branch, but it does create an interesting mirror. Wonder why he'd name the access to Mikoshi in the country he hates after the god of life itself? I could've gone for Amaterasu as well, the child of Izanagi and Izanami, as Japan is the land of the rising sun, but Izanami felt more appropriate.

For those of you who are eager to know how Simba defends his rescue of Gloria to Maine, don't worry, the next chapter will pick up immediately where the previous one (Choom, where's my car?) left off. Even better news: if you wanna read that right now, you can by heading on over to my Patreon!