With the corporations preparing for war against me I needed to prepare to conquer unruled lands. The corporations would fall by my hand at a single word, and I would take over. My main AI was constantly taking over hundreds of severs from hidden AI past the blackwall. My droid AI was like a god on the net and could easily avoid the blackwall and do whatever I wanted.
I secretly and silently took over multiple corporations and began mass production of basic droids. I made a few more custom droid AIs to run everything while I sat back and organized the people. My corporation would jump to the top right beside Arasaka and Militech with a push of a button and I'd hopefully be able to quell the rich idiots around the world long enough to at least restructure the americas.
After gaining multiple corps I found some significant ones were now mine. Kiroshi, Dynalar, and Rocklin were all mine with nearly all share owned by me. Those three alone had massive amounts of tech for me but I found they were no where close to the stuff my AI was digging from the AI it had 'eaten'.
The AI had all had small parts of the old net under their control and with what was left of them I had massive amounts of data in the ghost servers. The last part of what my AI had taken was the old war AI in the oceans. There were multiple AI war factories in the oceans that almost completely eliminated sea based travel and trade. My AI had destroyed them and taken over the facilities they had controlled since the datakrash.
The biggest was an Arasaka sea mine factory that had stopped most travel other than ships in waters it couldn't reach and Arasaka ships it recognized as friendly. With control of those facilities I now had near complete control over the oceans. I had even gotten a Cynosure ocean warbot design that while not equal to the monster in game was still good enough to hunt warships.
With control of the oceans I quickly began lots of trade routes and sea cleanup. If I wanted to start this planets restoration I'd need to start in the oceans. Most of my movements were seen as minor as my many corporations and ownerships kept things mostly secret. I already had a small army of droids as all my factories had begun producing them and the rest were transitioning to make them.
I also improved the lives of the people under me as while I was using using obscene amounts of money, I still had plenty and was now paying everyone even more. While I was helping my main AI sort info and data it reminded me of the meeting I was holding with the mercs that had caught my attention. While my droids were great, this worlds extreme phobia of AI would slow my plans for development. Thus I needed some humans. These mercs were the start of that.
Every one of them had met my criteria for a good and possibly trustworthy person. If they agreed to work under me I would be making them into a force that only my own droid armies could compete with. They would be the face of my revolution.
I entered the meeting room with four droids guarding me with the rest staying behind to protect Rena as she did her own thing. She was around five years old now and while I was still teaching her, she still did stuff by herself and was constantly exploring her abilities. My little girl was smart and had my main AI watching over her so I didn't have to worry about her.
As I walked to the podium and took my seat infront of the crowd I checked some things most of the invitees were here and waiting but I had to make them wait longer as some people had yet to arrive. I quickly organized food and drinks to be brought out, with some alcohols, although they were weak as I still needed them all to be sober for their decision making.
It took a bit but eventually everyone arrived and took seats with their refreshments and I began. "Greetings everyone. I'm Ellery, the one who invited you all here. I asked you all here today as I find myself in need of an effective human combat force. Every one of you has passed my requirements for the force I will be making." I gestured to a droid at the side of the room with a stack of databases. "This robot will hand out datapads that will give you information on what the combat force will be and how it will function. I want all of you to read over the information and decide whether you will join me or leave. I however hope none of you leave as I know your all reputable and respected mercenaries who I will be paying absurd amounts of money." With that I waved my own datapad which activated the datapads after they had been passed out. "At the top you'll see the job description along with what I will require of you. Directly below that is what you will be getting in return."
I swear I could feel the air pressure change as nearly a hundred gasps echoed through the room. Everyone who started working for me would it only be payed massively, they'd also get all the technological support my assets could provide. I was even constructing a massive bunker with a town around it outside Night City for their families to live in.
Many people immediately left as they doubted what I would give them. I didn't care though. It didn't really matter much. They'd be more of a front than a true force, and I didn't need the ones that would doubt me. Most who had signed on had joined in my optional trial job where they'd get to see what those who actually joined would get. The only people that stood out that had joined were two I recognized from the anime.
Rebecca was definitely a loli, a short waif with strange bleached skin and pink tattoos. Her brother Pillar was a tall lanky idiot with a talent for messing with tech. Rebecca had obviously signed on as soon as she saw the small list of corporations I had listed as my subsidiaries. Many were weapon manufacturers so she definitely hoped to get ahold of some dangerous shit. Pillar however had seemed to make an actually good decision, probably aiming for the chrome I had listed as stuff they would be provided. The rest of their group seemed skeptical of the info, accept young Lucy.
She was in the net, cross referencing everything she could. I quickly sent her the data on the disgusting project that had made her what she was and an offer to completely erase her from the net. She froze for a solid minute then accepted the offer. She glanced at me and I gave her a nod. I flicked a connection to her and let her watch as my main AI erased her from everything but her new cover. The only things she would exist on were whatever papers were left of her.
She almost immediately joined with Kiwi reluctantly following as Lucy gave her some info. With the meeting mostly done and a bit more talking I grabbed some snacks and relaxed while organizing the new forces and how I would grow them. I'd have to start proper recruitment as fresh blood was easier to train and make loyal.
The biggest prize of all this turned out to be Gloria Martinez. She wasn't just some experienced combat medic like I'd thought. She had had a hard lock on her information and had practically given it to me when she signed for the trial. While she wasn't very chromed up what she did have was extremely heavy duty, hard to get stuff.
She had a gold titanium alloy skeleton with dense marrow and a weak nanobot fabricator. Bionic joints and titanium weave muscles gave massive strength. Scar coalescer and Para Bellum made her even tougher. A decent Kerenzikov and Neofiber increased her combat and survival ability massively. A biomonitor and blood pump were also stuffed in to make her even more of a tank. A weak carapace and chitin made her skin steel like and untouchable by most gonks. Last were Jenkins' tendons making her seem to me like she was trying to be juggernaut.
After looking at some more people and their stuff I found a couple more monsters like Gloria and some Frankensteins monsters like Maine. I left after going over everyone and making sure that they all left with some food and drinks. I arrived back at the penthouse to find my little magical girl making a monster of a droid. I quickly joined in the fun and even added a secret disruptor cannon in case the beast ever needed to thoroughly erase something.