Stott could only sigh helplessly after hearing Gail Gibbs' panicked orders.
Damn it. This entire situation was caused by her. She was the one who claimed to be the head of Military Tech's Night City branch. Had everything just stayed peaceful, none of this would've happened.
But she just had to provoke Peter. And now that he was knocking at her door, she had the audacity to blame everyone else for being incompetent?
To be honest, Stott had never actually seen footage of Peter in action. If he had, Gail Gibbs would've already been gagged and handed over to Peter without hesitation.
"Alright… We'll do everything we can to stop those mercenaries," Stott said stiffly, barely able to hold back his frustration.
There was nothing more he could do. He had already cursed Gail Gibbs and her entire family multiple times in his heart.
"Get moving! The last five floors are your responsibility! If you die, fine—but you better slow them down long enough to stop them from reaching me!"
Gail Gibbs barked at Stott like a drill sergeant, as if they weren't even human.
Stott didn't bother responding. What was the point? Gail Gibbs had never seen her subordinates as anything more than disposable pawns.
Leaving the office in silence, Stott immediately placed a call to headquarters.
Ironically, Stott almost wanted to thank Peter. If he hadn't hacked the entire surveillance and network systems of Building 747, this call wouldn't have gone through at all.
---
New York Headquarters
Inside the bustling conference room, tempers flared. People were arguing so loudly that Donald Lundy had a pounding headache.
He had called Gail Gibbs more times than he could count. Not only did she refuse to answer, but no one from the Night City branch's intelligence department would pick up either.
"Goddamn it, Gibbs! What the hell have you done?"
Donald slammed his phone on the table and cursed, though it did little to ease his fury.
What he didn't know was that Gail Gibbs had dragged every single person from the Night City branch to plead with Peter and his mercenaries to leave.
Not one staff member was still at their original post.
"President Donald! There's a call coming through—it's someone claiming to be the Deputy Director of Security for the Night City branch!"
An assistant suddenly burst into the conference room, nearly tripping over himself in a panic.
"Who let you in—Wait, what did you just say? Put that call through, now! On speaker!"
Donald had been ready to lash out at the assistant, but the moment he heard those words, he switched gears.
The only satellite footage they had captured showed Gail Gibbs negotiating with Peter for a few minutes before he entered the building with his troops.
Ten minutes later, Peter and his mercenaries stormed the building.
Donald was desperate to understand what had happened.
"You're the Deputy Director of Security? Tell me exactly what's going on!"
Once the call was connected, Donald didn't waste time with pleasantries. He demanded answers immediately.
Stott didn't hesitate. He reported everything he knew, starting with the basic background information on Peter.
However, Stott didn't know much about Peter's combat capabilities. She had no interest in spending millions buying black-market data on a guy who, up until now, seemed more myth than man.
"A mercenary? Are you seriously expecting me to believe that? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Donald's face turned red with anger. His veins bulged as he struggled to remain composed.
He couldn't believe a single mercenary had managed to destroy an entire military base—let alone detonate the nuclear fuel storage room.
But Stott anticipated his disbelief. She quickly forwarded satellite footage they had saved earlier.
"These are visuals of Peter's assault on our military base. Honestly, I shouldn't even call it a battle. It was a slaughter."
Up until now, the higher-ups hadn't seen any detailed footage. In fact, if it weren't for the seismic data detecting a nuclear explosion, it might've taken them another hour or two to even realize something had gone wrong at the base.
Now the video played in the conference room for all to see.
At first, the audience reacted with mild surprise when Peter punched a group of soldiers into blood mist.
But that surprise turned into stunned silence as Peter slammed more than a dozen Military Tech soldiers into a wall within seconds—using nothing but his bare hands.
Then came the moment that froze everyone in place.
Peter's eyes lit up with searing energy, releasing a wave of heat so intense that it incinerated every soldier in his line of sight. Within moments, he had vaporized the facility.
And then—boom. The nuclear explosion filled the screen.
---
Silence.
The conference room, which had been filled with heated discussion moments ago, now felt like a tomb. No one said a word. You could hear people breathing, even swallowing nervously.
"…President Donald," someone finally broke the silence. "I think the video's authenticity is questionable. I mean, how could a person fly, or move so fast that satellites can't track him?"
"Exactly," another chimed in. "And lasers from the eyes? Come on. This must be CGI—some video game company messing around."
A few others nodded in agreement.
"There's no way one man could blow up an entire military base, let alone with his own body."
Hearing these comments, Donald Lundy and Melissa Cruz exchanged a glance, both visibly exhausted by the ignorance in the room.
"Are you people blind?" Donald snapped. "Look at the facility layout in the video! It matches our base exactly!"
He slammed a stack of documents onto the table—detailed schematics of the Night City military base.
One by one, the doubters compared the footage with the layout.
Their faces went pale.
There was no denying it—the video was real.
"…Gail Gibbs, what kind of monster did you provoke?" Donald growled, practically foaming at the mouth.
He turned his attention back to Stott on the call.
"You—arrest Gail Gibbs immediately. I'll give you all the authority you need. Bring her back to New York!"
Stott gave a bitter smile.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, President."
From her position, she could already hear gunfire echoing through the building. That meant Peter had breached the defenses on the lower floors.
Based on his speed, he would reach her position within the next two minutes.
"President Donald, that mercenary... Peter... he's already made it to the top floors. I don't think I'll be able to deliver Gail Gibbs to you."
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out. The sound reverberated through the phone.
And then—the line went dead.
---