Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
The video call chimed.
Leon Black casually answered. On the screen was Arasaka Yuto, his expression serious.
"You Dou, something wrong?" Leon asked while sliding into his chair.
"Captain," Yuto said stiffly, "Okada Wakako just gave us a new mission."
"At this hour?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "What's the job?"
"Locate a woman named Evelyn Parker," Yuto replied, forwarding the mission data. "The pay's rumored to be quite generous."
"Oh? That so?" Leon laughed. "Then take it. So, how's the intel work treating you?"
Yuto sighed. Only after taking over Lena Fox's former tasks did he truly realize how exhausting they were.
Night City was chaos incarnate. Dozens of incidents occurred every day. His job was to sort through them all—every news item, no matter how small, had to be logged, compared, and cross-referenced. On top of that, he had to analyze every mission area using daily reports provided by Ethan Cross.
Even with AI assistance, the workload was overwhelming.
"Hacking isn't just about cracking networks," Leon said patiently. "You need to build your intelligence-gathering instincts too. Otherwise, when chaos hits, you'll freeze."
Leon never held back when it came to teaching. He wanted all his people to grow in every aspect—intellect, morals, strength, aesthetics, and even labor. But reality wasn't ideal. His team was excellent, sure, but they were young. Far from top-tier.
After ending the call with Yuto, Leon hesitated for a moment before dialing another number.
Beep… Beep…
"Hello? Captain? Something up?" Lily Cross's voice came through the line, her speech slightly muffled as she slurped ramen.
"Mid-meal, huh?" Leon chuckled. "I need a favor from your old man."
Lily froze, chopsticks in hand. "You want to speak to my dad?"
She turned toward the living room, where Tachibana Kanade sat with a newspaper. At her words, the older man looked up curiously.
"Here—our Captain wants a word," Lily said, handing over the phone before diving back into her bowl.
"Leon-kun," Kanade said politely, "what can I help you with?"
They'd met before. Kanade had vetted Leon personally—he wouldn't have entrusted his daughter to the team otherwise.
"Uncle, I ran into an Arasaka Academy student earlier tonight. Name's David Martinez..."
Leon gave a quick summary of the encounter.
"Oh? That's quite interesting," Kanade said, intrigued. "Alright. I'll keep an eye on him."
"Appreciate it."
"It's no trouble."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the call ended.
Lily immediately turned toward her father. "So? What did the Captain want?"
"Something interesting. Doesn't concern you," Kanade replied, keeping things vague.
"Oh... okay." Lily shrugged and returned to her food. It wasn't the first time her dad and Leon exchanged cryptic messages. Eventually, she stopped trying to get involved.
---
Meanwhile, David Martinez returned to their alternate safehouse. As he settled in, his communicator lit up with a new message.
"New mission received."
David's eyes lit up. For a guy scraping by on scraps, money was the most important thing in the world.
But as he read the contents of the mission brief, his excitement faded.
"David?" Lucy walked over, her expression concerned. She hadn't known him long, but she'd been moved by his sincerity. She'd chosen to follow him.
"This job... it's serious." David handed the data pad over.
Target: Anthony Gilchrist
Title: Director of Military Technology's Operations Division
Objective 1: Investigate target whereabouts
Objective 2: Conduct an assassination disguised as Arasaka involvement
Lucy's face darkened.
"He wants to pit Arasaka against Military Technology..." she muttered.
With Arasaka still recovering from internal power shifts and Military Tech growing stronger, such a hit could easily spark a war.
Kill with a borrowed knife.
Leon Black wasn't without grudges. When Lily Cross was kidnapped by Military Tech goons under Stout's command, it was a slight he hadn't forgotten. With Anthony now in charge, he became the natural target of Leon's retaliation.
War? Leon welcomed it.
Because in war, the elite weapons, secret gear, and rare materials often fell into the hands of scavengers—people like them.
"The reward's insane, though," David added. "A hundred thousand total. Highest-paying job I've seen yet."
To him, politics and corporations were just smoke and mirrors. What mattered was survival. And this mission came with the kind of payout that changed lives—cash, equipment, and top-tier black-market rewards.
"Are Arasaka folks always this rich?" David asked, glancing at Lucy. He knew a little about her past—a hacker raised under Arasaka's roof.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. Hacking gear costs a fortune."
Even though she'd earned a lot back in the day—selling stolen data, rigging corporate accounts—Lucy had reinvested everything into upgrades. Now, she barely had enough to scrape by.
While they sifted through Anthony's encrypted trail, far away, another storm brewed in Military Technology's R&D labs.
"How are the test results?" asked Megan, arms folded as she observed the flurry of white coats.
"Flawless—aside from a delayed onset time," replied Aclesia, her voice almost manic. "It's Veronica. The future of human evolution!"
"But... fifteen years to activate? That's too long," Megan frowned, flipping through digital reports. With war looming, who had fifteen years to wait on a bioweapon?
"That's the ideal rate," Aclesia replied with a shrug. "Science takes time."
Megan narrowed her eyes. "Let's test it. Release a sample."
"Let me remind you," Aclesia said coldly, "it's highly contagious and uncontrollable. Once it's out, we won't be able to predict the consequences."
"Exactly," Megan grinned. "Perfect for field testing. Let's choose a border town under Military Tech's control."
They'd been losing ground to Arasaka's slow rebuild. It was time to collect some interest.
"You're the boss." Aclesia didn't argue. She welcomed chaos. It would be the perfect stage to gauge Veronica's true strength. Rumor had it that Sparta was stationed in that town.
Once Megan left, Aclesia moved to the back of the lab, where a massive cryo-freezer hummed softly.
Inside lay an old man, skin mottled with red-black patches—grotesque and unconscious.
Aclesia smiled faintly. "Dear Father… finally, you're good for something."
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