Arthur never would have imagined that this whole setup would turn into such a complete win.
Not only had Counterintel come through without losing a single person, they had also rooted out Carter, the mole inside the department.
At the same time, they had managed to slam the woman he hated most in this world and make her swallow a humiliating defeat.
Arthur had successfully shown upper management just how incompetent Susan was, which gave him more leverage to survive inside the company.
Right now, he was happy, genuinely happy, the kind of happiness built on someone else's misery.
Arthur's happiness was built squarely on Susan's misery.
The only thing he found lacking was that they had failed to secure the mission's primary target, the implant itself. That meant he would not have much to stand on at the board meeting, since the assignment had originally been handed to Counterintel.
Still, even if someone had to take heat for it, the main firepower would be aimed at Susan. He had every reason to dump the blame onto Special Ops.
But the moment Kai told him they had also obtained the human runtime data from Militech's experimental military-grade Sandevistan, Arthur felt like Kai was Santa Claus himself, always showing up with another surprise.
It made Arthur think again that he had truly seen the man clearly back then, when he had pushed past all objections and promoted Kai.
With that thought, Arthur's excitement spilled over.
"Kai, this is a major merit on your record! No matter how we reward you, it still won't be enough!"
"I'll make sure to fight for what you're owed at the board meeting!"
"You gave me a surprise, so I'm going to arrange one for you too. Just wait."
Different people do not share the same joys and sorrows, so Kai only answered with a polite smile.
"Arthur, I'll process the runtime data on my side. I'll bring it to you tomorrow during work hours."
"Good. Watch yourself," Arthur said. "The Arasaka elite squad has already returned to the Tower and reported in. You need to be especially careful around Susan for a while."
"With her temperament, she's definitely going to make another move against you."
Hearing the concern in Arthur's voice, Kai once again felt, in a very direct way, that in a place like this, being valued meant proving you were worth something.
If Caitlin had been the one to succeed tonight, then she would have risen another step in Susan's eyes too.
That was just how cruel Arasaka's workplace was. Not everyone got lucky enough to do things over a second time.
"I know."
Kai knew Susan would have more cards to play, but for now he still wanted to see how the old hag planned to talk her way out of this tomorrow.
After exchanging everything they needed to exchange, the call ended.
Jack, who had been sitting in the car the whole time without getting a word in, finally had his chance. He raised a big thumbs-up at Kai, grinning like crazy.
"Hermano, that was seriously badass. You completely shut Militech's little punks down."
"You should've seen the look on that uniformed woman's face. She looked worse than if Death himself had shown up."
"At first I thought we were really about to grab a handgun each and go pick a fight with Militech. That was insane."
"Hell, I was about this close to panicking."
"But once those two Arasaka gunships rolled in over us, I don't know why, but suddenly I felt like I had all the confidence in the world."
"Honestly, I kind of get it now. Riding around like a corporate heavyweight does feel pretty damn good."
Kai took advantage of Jack's excitement and teased him.
"If you'd been the one who stepped out and negotiated with Meredith, they'd have been even more shocked."
Jack immediately played along, putting on an exaggerated look of disbelief.
"My God! Since when did Night City's favorite Heywood big brother turn out to be the son of some Arasaka dynasty?"
Then he laughed and added, "I don't look anything like the kind of guy who comes from corporate royalty. You do, though. Good face, girls would love it, and you've got that whole noble young master entrance nailed down."
Kai smiled and decided to give Jack an example.
"You joke, but the Arasaka family did produce someone who ran with street trash for a while."
"When Yorinobu graduated from college at twenty-one, he disappeared the very same night during the celebration banquet."
"Gone for four whole years. During that time, he founded the Steel Dragons and spent every day going directly against his father, Saburo."
Jack had heard bits and pieces of that before, but he had never really understood what drove Yorinobu to do it.
"Yeah, but Yorinobu ended up going back and becoming Arasaka's heir anyway. So what, did he just wake up one day and decide power, money, and status weren't enough for him?"
Kai looked at Jack seriously.
"It wasn't that simple. People always say Yorinobu did it because of his ideals, because he wanted to end Arasaka's rule of blood and control."
"There are even street rumors that Johnny Silverhand was his idol. But when has the truth ever been that easy for the world to see?"
When Kai's expression stayed serious, Jack leaned in at once, feeling like he was about to hear some world-shaking secret.
"So what is the truth?"
Kai answered with four words.
"It was Hanako."
Jack froze.
He clearly had no idea what that was supposed to mean, so Kai continued.
"Saburo was terrified that the filthy world would stain Hanako's purity, so he raised her inside the family estate, isolated and protected from everything."
Jack blinked.
"Wow. So how exactly was she supposed to pass the time in that crystal cage of hers? Origami? Crossword puzzles?"
Kai kept going.
"Hanako was only allowed to leave the estate once a month. And every time she got that chance, she did everything she could to see her brother, Yorinobu."
"Later, after learning more through the Net about the blood and cruelty Arasaka was built on, Hanako developed... different feelings toward Yorinobu, the brother who dared to openly defy Arasaka's absolute authority."
Jack stared.
"What?!"
He looked completely wrecked by what he was hearing. It sounded like gossip, except Kai was delivering it with such dead seriousness that he didn't know whether to laugh or panic.
The main thing was that Kai, as an Arasaka executive, definitely had access to far more reliable information about the family than random street chatter ever would.
"You're kidding me. Are you telling me those two actually had some twisted, taboo thing going on? That's insane."
Kai stayed silent, neither confirming nor denying it.
Jack hurried after him.
"Brother, you have got to tell me where this came from. Is it real? How real?"
"I swear, this is the kind of thing I'd need the whole night to process."
As he spoke, he unconsciously pressed a hand to his chest, like his heart was still racing.
Kai leaned back against the soft leather seat and answered lazily.
"From Hanako's secret biography, Silent Flower, obviously. It was even promoted on Tonight Talk a couple days ago."
"The writer's got guts, I'll give him that. The last guy who tried writing a biography of Hanako ended up with ten bullet holes in the back of his head and a one-way trip into a coffin."
Jack said nothing.
(End of Chapter)
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