Hanako Arasaka spoke. David raised an eyebrow.
He heard the command in her tone. The hesitation and nerves he sensed were not fear of the "monster" in front of her. She simply felt awkward about asking Yorinobu Arasaka for mercy on a matter like this.
She had never really taken David or Ascension Technology seriously.
In Hanako's eyes, David was a pawn in Yorinobu's hand, no different from Arasaka security. A loyal dog of the corporation.
As Saburo's daughter and Yorinobu's sister, she believed she controlled the board. She assumed David would not dare defy her.
At least, that was her belief before she received a direct order from Yorinobu. So she felt very confident.
It is evident that although Yorinobu doted on his sister, Hanako had little real contact with company affairs.
She never denied her class standing. She accepted Arasaka's rule, accepted the exploitation of the public, and accepted that she stood above David.
Hanako thought he would obey and lower his weapon.
David smiled instead.
"Using Yorinobu to pressure me? I do not know him. I follow one person. If my boss says die, you die. If he says live, you live."
His figure blurred.
A heartbeat later, Goro Takemura's and Sandayu Oda's heads separated cleanly from their bodies.
A bloody blade sat in David's hand.
He ran the PROJECT: Sword Saint suite at full output and paired it with a custom adamantium alloy edge.
It was an Alpha Strike. In an instant, two heads fell.
The result proved it. If he fought for real, the two of them would not last a second.
He had given them a chance. They failed to take it.
Hanako trying to order him around with identity and status was a joke.
If Adam Smasher had been here, perhaps he would have listened to Hanako and spared the two men. Whether Smasher could even beat them was another question.
But the one standing here was David. He followed Ascension Technology and carried out Rocky's orders.
"Good. Very good."
Hanako's face flickered with fear, then settled. She said nothing more and turned back into her room.
With her usual assumptions, Hanako had misread the relationship between Ascension Technology and Yorinobu Arasaka.
David's obedience to Rocky shattered her pride.
The North Oak incident ended under David's hand. Hanako had no chance to disrupt the meeting again.
Moments after she returned to her room, a fresh security detail replaced the dead Arasaka guards and took position.
This time, they were not Arasaka's weak in-house officers. They were combat robots from Ascension Technology.
…
On the other side.
Arasaka Tower.
One hundred forty floors above Night City, the CEO's office.
Rocky and Yorinobu stood before a vast world map that marked Arasaka bases across the globe.
Tokyo. Paris. Dubai. Many sites showed a ready status.
Yorinobu's armed grab for power would not happen only in Night City. His forces worldwide were in position.
Backed by the Hawk faction, he planned to launch a decisive operation and crush the other two factions in one stroke today.
"All base units are ready. Once we deal with the board, we start the war at once. L, how are your reinforcements?" Yorinobu asked.
Rocky nodded. "When you deploy, Ascension Technology's support will arrive immediately. Do not worry about that."
"Good. Then let us go greet the board."
…
Seventy-sixth floor.
The Jungle.
Above the atrium sat an indoor rainforest. The views were beautiful and the air fresh, which made it a favored venue for important board sessions.
Elite Arasaka security patrolled among the trees. Armed sentries stood at every lane.
At the center, a square table held the core members of the Arasaka board.
They represented the major factions and held Arasaka's core power. Any one of them would be untouchable to ordinary people.
They had gathered in Night City for Saburo Arasaka's funeral, then were called together by Yorinobu for a meeting.
The agenda covered Arasaka's strategy and direction after Saburo's death.
Voices tangled across the table. The Green Pheasant faction argued for maintaining Saburo's old line, keeping stable relations with other corporations, and seeking development. The Dove faction pressed for change. Neutrals tried to smooth things over.
Amid the noise, the radical voices of the Hawk faction were conspicuously absent.
As a hardline group, the Hawks' pro-Western stance found little support on the board. Their influence lived higher up among Arasaka's top elites, not around this table. Here, the old men of the Green Pheasant faction usually called the shots.
The meeting time had already arrived, but Yorinobu Arasaka and the Hawk representatives still had not appeared.
"Where are Yorinobu and those two?" a Green Pheasant director asked.
Michiko Arasaka answered. "Yorinobu told us we could start without him. He likely has something else to handle."
"He summons us, then fails to show. Are we his clowns now? He must be plotting another trick," another director said.
Many on the board knew Yorinobu had other plans. They could smell a different kind of scheme around this session.
In their view, he would use small tactics to strengthen his position. They did not believe he would dare go further.
They were board members. They did not think Yorinobu would actually move against them.
What they did not know was that Yorinobu Arasaka was far crazier and far more certain of himself than they imagined.