"Leon, do you think Hashikawa's words are credible?" Arasaka Hanako asked after dismissing her maids.
"Possibly," Leon Black replied, his tone neutral but tinged with disdain. He had little respect for Arasaka Yorinobu's faction. Once the commander of the elite Shinobi Assassination Squad, Leon had been dismissed by Yorinobu with a single order.
That squad had originally been entrusted to Arasaka Hanako by Arasaka Saburo, intended to monitor high-level executives. But now Yorinobu had repurposed them into simple foot soldiers for external missions. It was a waste—and perhaps a calculated power play. Arasaka Hanako had little military support to begin with, and now her resources were being drained rapidly.
"What should we do?" she asked after a pause.
"Preserve our strength. Secretly investigate and gather evidence. Even if we can't bring him down, we can make Yorinobu hesitate at a critical moment," Leon suggested.
Hanako nodded. Though reluctant to confront her brother openly, she understood the threat he posed.
"Find a way to contact Takemura Goro. If he dared reach out to me, he must have evidence—human or material. I want to see it."
"Yes, ma'am."
Once Oda Lena left, Hanako leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temples. The stress of the past few days was mounting, and the specter of war loomed ever closer. Yet Arasaka was not ready.
"Hanako~"
A familiar voice echoed in her ear.
"Father?" Hanako stiffened, unsure if it was a hallucination brought on by exhaustion.
"Hanako~"
It was definitely her father! She turned to the computer; the voice was coming from the speakers.
"Hanako! Come to Mikoshi! Don't let anyone see you," said Arasaka Saburo's voice, firm and commanding.
"Yes, Father!" Hanako stood quickly, her expression serious.
---
At the lowest level of Arasaka Tower, Hanako passed by Ethan Cross without exchanging words. With the combat robot Kijiji watching her silently, she stepped into the most confidential section of the building.
"You're here."
In front of a massive, spherical blue data-core stood Arasaka Saburo, seemingly calm.
"Father! You're... you're alive?!" Hanako exclaimed.
"Sort of," Saburo replied. "Tell me everything that's happened."
As she recounted the events, Saburo's face remained unreadable. Yet internally, he confirmed his suspicion—his own son had killed him.
"I expected as much," Saburo murmured. Evidence or not, he knew Yorinobu's capabilities and intentions all too well.
"But... weren't you dead?" Hanako asked, confused.
"I was. Then I returned. Before coming to Night City, my physical body was already deteriorating. I uploaded my consciousness using our latest tech and used my body for experiments."
"It worked?!" Hanako was shocked.
"Not entirely," Saburo said. "There is memory loss upon reintegration into a new body."
"But still, that's amazing!" she said. Compared to returning from the dead, memory loss was a small price.
"Many issues remain. We need more test subjects. The key is the 'container'—the closer it is to the original, the more stable the consciousness transfer."
Currently, only Arasaka Yorinobu's genetic profile was suitable.
"Have Leon coordinate with Takemura to retrieve those two brats. I have a use for them," Saburo said, eyes narrowing.
"Yes, Father."
If her father was 'alive,' then there was only one course of action: eliminate anyone who knew the truth.
---
"Hello, my name is V," she said, shaking Jefferson's hand.
"Doctor Viktor said you're a capable mercenary," Elizabeth smiled and handed V a coffee. "You understand the situation, right?"
"Yes," V nodded, taking the cup.
"I hope you can find something," Jefferson said from the couch.
V began her work. The living room was normal, so she moved to Jefferson's workspace. On the computer was an article about the previous mayor's murder.
"Jefferson started digging into the former mayor's death," Elizabeth explained. "That's when his memory started deteriorating. He even forgot our home was attacked."
"Attacked?" V looked at her in surprise.
Elizabeth nodded. "Security dealt with the intruders quickly."
"Can I see the investigation report?" V asked, her instincts alert.
"Of course."
The decrypted footage had Judy's editing signature. It revealed a name—Queen of Hearts Race, a suspicious club mentioned by both the mayor and deputy mayor.
"If you need more leads, speak to this officer. He saved the mayor during the incident," Elizabeth said, handing her a business card.
River?
V arched an eyebrow and pocketed the card.
Later, in the hallway leading to the bedroom, V noticed cleaned-up bloodstains and patched-over bullet holes.
Elizabeth hadn't lied. A gunfight had occurred here, and Jefferson didn't remember it. The security team seemed complicit.
In the surveillance room, V found login credentials and checked recent logs. The footage revealed that the "intruders" were actually the security staff themselves.
"They're being monitored," Johnny said, appearing beside her.
"We need to find out who's behind this." V traced a cable to the rooftop. There, she found a radar emitter.
"Short-range transmitter. That means the other party is nearby," she muttered.
Sure enough, she spotted a black van equipped with a matching receiver.
"Found it!"
She raced downstairs. The team inside the van realized they were compromised and scrambled to delete data—but V was faster.
With ease, she neutralized them and plugged in a data cable. The intel revealed that the group was surveilling not only Jefferson and Elizabeth but also numerous government officials. Their systems had been rewritten, effectively making them puppets.
"What the hell...?" V muttered.
"Night City's full of freaks," Johnny remarked, but his tone turned serious. "V! Look!"
V looked up to see a tall, blue-eyed man in gray clothing watching her from across the street.
"Who's that?!" She zoomed in to scan him—unidentified.
Before she could move, a car passed, and he vanished.
"Fast. Too fast," V muttered. "We've stepped into something huge."
"The more debts you owe, the less you worry," Johnny chuckled.
---
Back at the apartment, V relayed everything she'd found.
"We were under surveillance?" Elizabeth looked shaken.
Jefferson, by contrast, was calm. Learning his OS had been altered confirmed his suspicions of a shadowy puppet master.
"No need to worry about the rest," he said. "This confirms what I feared."
"This is a small thank-you gift," Elizabeth added, handing V a box. "We won't keep you."
V nodded and left, opening the box to find a Military Tech Manticore Type 4—a semi-automatic rifle with dual-trajectory and a 68-round mag.
"Not bad," V said, whistling in admiration.
Ãdvåñçé çhàptêr àvàilàble óñ pàtreøn (Gk31)