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The next couple of days flew by pretty quickly. Nothing strange or unpleasant happened. We would still leave the camp and go and smash one or two of the Wraiths' bases, and then we would return to the camp. Dakota was paying us regularly for the camps we destroyed. And Kiwi and Judy, taking turns, were easily able to hack the bandits' systems, get extra money, and also find new places where they might be.
"David..."
One of the Aldecaldo members came up to me.
"Yeah?"
"Some flame came to see you..."
I blinked in surprise.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. She says she has business with you, but she looks like a whore from Chop-Street."
I sighed and got up from my chair where I was resting from work, because despite destroying the Wraiths' camps, no one had canceled the work of upgrading and customizing weapons.
"Alright, let's go..."
I looked at the person who had brought me the news and, following him, I went to the place where that flame was.
"Ahem..."
I didn't know what to say, since the girl didn't look like a whore from Chop-Street at all. She was a tall, very beautiful girl with pink hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a black, form-fitting dress with a deep neckline and a high cut that showed off her leg. She had a red jacket with a white fur collar on her shoulders, and a red purse in her hand.
"So?"
I looked at the girl, not understanding what she could possibly want from me. She wasn't a whore from Chop-Street, of course, but she was dressed provocatively enough to give the impression of an elite, corporate courtesan. And what could a babe like that want from me...
"Right here?"
The girl raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"What's wrong with this place?"
"My employer was hoping for a more private conversation..."
A teasing grin appeared on the girl's lips.
"If you're so afraid of a fragile girl, I can go through a search... you can grope all of me and put your fingers in every one of my holes..."
"Get to the point."
I cut her off pretty sharply, although my companion, as well as the clan's sentry, were clearly smitten by the girl's tone.
"Either we talk here, or we don't talk at all."
"Ah..."
My Sandevistan was already working, albeit at a minimum, because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. And for that simple reason, I preferred to be cautious. So even though it was hard for me to follow the conversation with my chrome activated, I preferred a little discomfort to foolish courage and overconfidence.
The girl's eyes lit up, signaling that she was talking to someone... her body flinched a little, as if someone had cut her puppet strings, but she didn't fall. She just hung her head a little, after which her head came back up, showing me that her eyes were still glowing.
"Greetings, David Martinez..."
The girl's tone changed, as did her demeanor. If before, the girl was trying to show off her assets, now, after looking herself over, she grimaced slightly in contempt and pulled her jacket up so it would cover her bare shoulders a little better. Now, in every one of the girl's gestures, you could see a kind of arrogant superiority.
"I'm listening..."
I lowered my Sandevistan's output to a minimum, carefully watching the girl in front of me.
"Ugh... " The girl looked around.
"...I was hoping for a more... comfortable place to talk."
I shrugged.
"Letting a strange girl, who was sent by who knows who, into my territory? How stupid would I have to be to do that?"
"Alright... my name is Hanako Arasaka..."
The girl looked at me expectantly, and I gestured for the clan members to get out of sight. They weren't fools, and after hearing the name she said, they quickly retreated as far as they could.
"Well, you know me."
"Yes... your skills and abilities interested me. Especially since you were previously connected to the Arasaka Academy, and because of that, you should understand that working for a corporation is more profitable than working for yourself."
"Are you serious?"
I raised my eyebrow in surprise, and the girl froze. A surprised look appeared on her face.
"I don't understand..."
"You were clearly misinformed. Your Academy is a hotbed of intolerance for anyone who isn't a part of the corporation to begin with. The kids are spoiled, and from a very young age, having advanced chrome, they treat anyone who isn't in their social circle as trash that they can and should wipe their feet on. The adults, who are supposedly responsible for their education and for promoting talent, just turn a blind eye to the antics of these rich kids. They also present the success of any smart enough person in a way that makes the rich kids think they're just obligated to torment the smart poor bastard."
I grinned.
"That's... not what I was told."
"I would advise you to hire a runner who will hack the academy and check its data. I think you'll either find a lot of interesting things, or you'll find that a lot of interesting things have been deleted from the storage servers. Both of those options would confirm my words."
"I... I knew when Takemura came back that you didn't have any good feelings for the Arasaka corporation, but I thought that reminding you about the Academy might soften our conversation a little..."
The girl's lips formed a thin line, showing her displeasure.
Heh, she probably prepared for this conversation, and the data they gave her wouldn't let her steer the conversation in the direction she wanted. It looks like some heads are going to roll in the Academy soon...
We were silent for a bit.
"And yet I hope that I'll be able to convince you that working for me is very profitable."
I shook my head at Hanako's words.
"No, you won't be able to do that. I'm not going to get involved in fights between corporations, or in fights within corporations. A move like that would make me a pawn..."
"Oh, you're severely underestimating yourself. You won't be a pawn. You might be a bishop, or a queen..."
"Uh-huh..."
I nodded.
"...and when the time comes, I'll just be wiped off the board. I might not have been a part of your corporate kitchen, but I understand perfectly well that the pieces never win. They're always wiped off the board. Only the Players can get something."
"You think you're a player?"
A slightly sarcastic smile appeared on the lips of the Proxy, through which Hanako was still talking to me.
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...of course I'm a player. It's just that I differentiate between playing poker at a VIP table for special, rich clients and playing a game that's just a little above the regular level. There are players at both of those tables, but their level and capabilities are drastically different."
"I see... but you still won't be able to ignore my offer."
"Oh, really? And why not?"
"My brother will be able to find this Proxy, he'll find out where she went, and he'll understand that I was trying to hire you. And he'll decide to preemptively zero you out..."
A smile of superiority appeared on her lips.
"Well, I'll deal with that somehow..."
I shrugged with confidence, although I didn't feel that confidence at all and was already starting to figure out where we needed to move the clan's camp. Or maybe I should just tell Saul to get the clan ready to pack up and leave right away?
Fuck... we still haven't fixed all the cars we got from the police warehouse! We've only fixed the Basilisks and the Behemoths. And we also took the reactors off the Manticores, providing the clan with electricity and water thanks to that same electricity.
"You're very overconfident."
"I just know what I'm capable of..."
"My brother has a solo in the big leagues. I don't think you'd be able to handle someone like Smasher..."
"Well, then I don't need to side with you, because if I do, I'm almost guaranteed to run into him."
She pursed her lips into a thin line again.
"And yet you should think about working for me... it would be a very significant step forward. We can not only pay you well, but we can also get you experimental chrome. For example, we can replace your Sandevistan. Believe me, a regular Sandevistan is nothing compared to military or experimental ones... Optics... Muscles..."
"Just say it simply. You want to turn me into a borg, getting me addicted to your meds, without which I'd quickly descend into cyberpsychosis. But I don't need that kind of 'happiness,' even if it's free."
"Heh, I'm going to show my hand a little now, of course... but I guess that's for the best..."
Hanako fell silent, using the pause to build up the atmosphere. But I didn't give a damn and just raised an eyebrow in question.
"The thing is, we took some tests at the Academy, and based on them, if we do everything correctly, you won't become a cyberpsycho. You can become a borg like Smasher, and you won't need a single drop of medication to function stably."
"Uh-huh..."
I nodded, as if confirming that I believed her. But I wasn't trying to keep a poker face, so Hanako could clearly see my real feelings about what she was saying.
"...but becoming a borg doesn't interest me either."
"But you do realize that only borgs are in the big leagues... no one else lasts there..."
Surprise was in my interlocutor's voice.
"And I'm not going to that big league. I'm happy with the place in society that I have right now."
"Happy? When you can have a place that's much higher up?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty happy with everything... I live a decent life, I can provide for myself..."
I shrugged.
"Why should I try to bite off a piece of pie that I'm more than sure I won't be able to swallow? I'll have problems just chewing it."
"Tch... but you should still think about it... and I have to go..."
I didn't say anything, and a couple of seconds later, the Proxy staggered and just barely managed to shift and regain her balance.
"I hate this..."
The girl slowly massaged the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed.
"Do you have to do this often?"
"It's my job..."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Every day, there's someone who can't or doesn't want to show up somewhere, and they need a Proxy's services to show up without actually being there."
"I see... some water?"
"No..."
She turned around and, without saying goodbye, she went to her car, got in, and calmly drove away.
"Goddammit..."
I shook my head. I definitely shouldn't have gotten involved in this whole story from the very beginning. I mean, V got her first chrome somehow in the canon... But I got involved, and I just couldn't leave her alone, feeling responsible for her...
Inhale... exhale...
I called the lookouts, then turned around and headed toward my dwelling.
"David, did something happen?"
"Another attempt to drag us into corporate infighting... this Arasaka story just won't let us go."
"What happened this time?"
"A Proxy controlled by Ms. Hanako Arasaka herself..."
"What the fuck?!"
Becca stared at me in surprise, and so did the other girls.
"Yeah, you heard me right... a Proxy came to me, and she was on a job for Hanako Arasaka."
"And what did she want?"
"She offered me a job working for her personally."
"And?"
"Well... I refused. It's completely natural, given my unwillingness to get involved in fights between corpos, or within the corpos themselves."
"But?"
Judy seemed to sense that I wasn't telling the whole story, and she quickly clarified.
"But they threatened me, saying that her brother would find out that she tried to talk to me, and I might become a target for elimination. In short..."
I shrugged.
"Right now, I'm thinking about what I should do... either I take you, the clan, and get the hell out of Night City, or we stay and try to fight for our place in the sun..."
"Is there even a choice?"
Becca looked at me in surprise.
"Yeah, David, you're talking as if we have a choice..."
Judy and the other girls nodded at Panam's words.
"We're staying."
Lucy drew the line on their decision, and all I could do was accept it.
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