An Engineer In Night City - ch 10.7 (Patreon)

Race to Arasaka Tower (Epilogue)

Mark finishes his discussion with Yorinobu and finally returns his attention to David. "Alright, that's taken care of. Yorinobu will be too busy in the following days consolidating his power after the opposing faction fuck up, so you won't be called to attend meetings for a while. Now, let's get back to Pacifica. Everyone should be worried sick about you by now."

The teen sighs in relief, "I'm glad it's over too. I didn't think things would get this bad."

David's stomach dropped when he heard his employee's chuckle behind the mask. "What's so funny choom?"

"You still need to talk with Lucy and Gloria after this, though Kiwi probably wants a piece of you since she got shot for this."

Gulping, the teen looks left and right. "Can I jump off the building now?"

His response was a shoulder pat and uncaring laughter.

...

Down in front of Arasaka Tower, Maine's Crew is waiting to pick up Mark and David. The few crew members who needed medical attention were patched up by the medical kits from Dorio's stash, while the second in command of the crew got out of trouble on bail, a fat bribe to the detective on her case, and a healthy donation to the NCPD pension fund.

David nonchalantly exits the Arasaka elevator together with Mark in full power armor, the scene looking almost comical anywhere else that doesn't employ Adam Smasher. Stepping outside of the tower, the teen is greeted by the Edgerunner crew with whom he got acquainted these past few months.

The smaller member of the group waves at the approaching pair. "Hey chooms, what took you guys so long?"

They both answer with an equally dry tone. "We had to clean our feet on the carpet." At the crew's curious expression, David elaborates, "We can't bring dirt from outside, so they made us clean up our shoes, then forced us to wear flip-flops inside."

Pillar starts laughing, and soon he is followed by the rest of the crew. Maine is the first to recover from the brief moment of silliness. "Alright, let's get inside and get back home. We're done here."

Mark makes himself comfortable sitting together between Rebecca and Sasha, while David shares his ride with Pillar and Maine while Dorio sits shotgun. "Don't worry David, you will soon be surrounded by girls, just give it time."

The teen tiredly ignores the crew's teasing smiles while he tries to rest after enduring almost a day being treated as a dead weight. Allowing the noises around him to wash off, he eventually closes his eyes for five minutes.

He opens his eyes right after when Maine shakes him. "Wake up, David, we're here."

Cleaning up some droll from his face, he leaves the vehicle and waves off the crew before following Mark. Eventually, they reach the infirmary.

Opening the door, they see the decoration is the same as usual, with the desk, medical bed, and fully occupied chairs with Lucy, Kiwi, and Gloria waiting for the pair.

The first to reach David is Gloria with a tight hug. "¡Hijo mío, estaba tan preocupado por ti!"

As a teen, he would instinctually feel embarrassed by the open display of affection, but after today he's unwilling to deny her this. "Estoy bien, mamá. No te preocupes por eso."

Meanwhile, Lucy and Kiwi are interrogating Mark over the plan that risked David's safety.

"Do you expect us to believe you needed to endanger David in that little stunt with your 'best bud' just to catch some rats at Arasaka?" Lucy yells at Mark while Kiwi flanks him.

"And I was shot and fell from a building. I expect to be paid extra for this stunt. I'm also not amused by you endangering David."

Despite being fully armored, Mark puts his hands up and slowly steps away. "I admit things could have gone better, but it was the perfect opportunity to deal with one last loose end."

Curious, David starts to pay more attention to the conversation. "We need to know how the Factory and the rest of our holdings would fare against an attempt by the other corps when I'm not nearby, and luckily Faraday took the bait instead of someone else carrying out the OP."

"What do you mean?" David asks confused at the implication, "If Faraday didn't walk into a trap his OP could have worked. You specifically prepared the crew to reach an elite level to take care of him and any reinforcements he might have."

Mark turns to David and sighs. "Let me take this off for a moment." Between one blink and the next, the armored figure changes into Mark wearing his casual clothes: a pair of denim, a white T-shirt, and blue sneakers.

"You must be aware by now that I sometimes seem to know something that I shouldn't, right?"

David nods along with the rest, already suspecting as such for a long time now.

"Don't ask me how I know those things, it's a one-off process that can't be repeated. The point is, I am reaching the limit of what I can use to set myself up ahead of time. Now I will need to work with what most people have: guesses and inferences from gathered information."

When the group remains silent he continues. "My spy satellites are good for gathering info but there are limits, part of the reason for the raid was to dig into Faraday's contacts and personal database to know if there's some contextual clue I'm missing that will help me make use of my shrinking privileged information."

"That doesn't mean you had to put him in danger," David's heart skips a beat hearing Lucy defending him, "there must have been a better way to gather this information!"

The teen weakly raises his hand. "Ah, I was the one who suggested this plan."

All three women turn towards him as one. "What!"

He flinches at the attention and boldly meets their gazes. "I overheard Mark brainstorming his ideas, uh, alone," the teen avoids Mark's piercing gaze and continues his tale, "when I suggested using me as bait to sniff out Faraday and other rats. We made up some new rumors about myself and then bam! We caught the rat. Afterward, Yorinobu was brought in and he approved the plan since it could help him get a stronger position in Arasaka, which would help us in the end."

The room falls silent enough that David can hear his heartbeat. His mother releases him and moves to behind her desk, and the teen's eyes widen in realization. "¡No mamá, por favor! ¡No las chanclas!"

She takes the epitomious instrument of discipline and starts raining child education on her son. "Chico estúpido, ¿quieres matar a tu madre de un infarto? ¿Dónde aprendiste eso?"

While David suffers his just deserts, both Lucy and Kiwi stare at the despairing teen. "Honestly, I don't think of a worse punishment for him." Lucy confesses before turning to her former mentor, "Are you recording this?"

"From three different cameras." Lucy 'tsks' as she realizes why can't hack the conventional cameras in the room, "Don't worry, I will send you a copy later."

Once Gloria felt that she had sufficiently disciplined her son she put back her equipment on the desk drawer. "I'm too tired to continue this. We will have words later, David Martinez."

The teen gulps but nods at his mother. "Good night, mom."

"Good night." The teen flinches when the door slams closed as his mother leaves the room. He sighs before turning to Lucy and Kiwi. "I'm sorry I worried you two."

The pair of Netrunners trade glances and upon a silent agreement they flank David and drag him away. "If he still has this much cheek, he can explain himself properly to us in private. Isn't that right, Kiwi?"

"He better have a very good excuse for us." As the pair drags David the man silently mouths 'help me' towards Mark.

David's response is a double thumbs up from the older man.

...

Later, a ravenous David stumbles into the apartment's kitchen to eat something, since it's been hours since he last ate. Finding nothing prepared, and not willing to go back to SCOP unless necessary, he remembers he already had dinner packed. Looking at his inventory, he finds the large, homemade burrito.

Putting on the microwave to heat his meal, he checks the new technology tab to see what new projects Mark is working on, and what improvements to expect next.

The teen remembers when Mark approached him one day.

...

"David, I can feel a lot of potential in you. What do you think about becoming my apprentice in truth, instead of in name only?"

David admits that at first, he was suspicious. "Why do you place so much trust in me, sir?"

"None of that, now!" Mark replies with a slap on David's shoulder, "And to answer your question, there are good chances that I might leave for greener pastures in the future, or worst case scenario I might end up dying from something stupid, like a ninja train-"

"Ninja train?"

"-you will understand it later, now shut up. As I was saying, I might end up dying or becoming indisposed for some reason. When that happens, I want someone else to carry that legacy for me, and I believe you're the best candidate for the job. Tell me, David, what is your dream?"

The teen didn't know how to answer. "My dream, huh? I guess I never put much thought into what I want to do. I keep attending Arasaka Academy because my mother's dream was to see me at the top of Arasaka Tower one day."

The older man chuckles. "A tale as old as time, trying to make your parents proud." He takes a deep breath before turning to David, "What I'm offering to you, is freedom. Freedom to choose your purpose in life. Yes, the powers and abilities are nice, but remember that Power is a means to an end. Joining Wube Inc. like I did will give you large levers to achieve your goals, but you still need to set them first."

David contemplates his life so far, and how it changed when he met Mark, but there was never doubt in his choice, because he believed from a long time ago he was destined for big things in life. "Alright Mark, make me your apprentice."

...

"Fucking ninja trains," now David painfully understood Mark and his obsession with security in his factories.

The microwave pings signaling it is complete, and David takes a big whiff of the heavenly aroma. "If anything, being able to enjoy real food is worth all of it."

"What is worth what, David?"

The teen sets his meal on the counter and pulls out a knife, "I just made dinner. Do you want a slice?"

Lucy gives him a mischievous smile, "I will just steal from yours. Let's get back, Kiwi asked us to bring back water."

David smiles, 'among the other perks.'

...

Somewhere else, in an apartment bare of almost any decoration save a single steel bench, the legendary Adam Smasher sits on his only furniture and reviews the latest combat data of his mission.

The Paratrooper Commandos were good for their purpose of rapid insertion, but in direct combat against a fullborg like Adam Smasher, they were sorely lacking. Theoretically, at least one of them could try to escape pursuit while he engaged with the other units, but it didn't come to that.

The Militech internal security forces deteriorated since the last time he had to deliver a message. The nuke Adam took to the face made Militech too arrogant, in the mercenary's opinion.

His focus changes and he remembers the latest meeting with Militech NC CEO.

"Open the letter and read it." His voice booms as the CEO remains seated.

The man takes the bloodstained container and takes the letter, opening his mouth.

"Just read the summary." The CEO has the audacity of glaring at Adam, who allows his disrespect due to its amusement value.

After quickly passing his eyes over everything he speaks, "... Arasaka will not interfere between the business deals, both over and covert, between Wube Inc. and any other company for good or ill, however, we will retaliate when it directly involves Arasaka employees and other interests."

"Good, you know how to read. Make sure you don't forget it, or your masters will send a new puppet to sit on your throne. That's the old man's last message."

Afterward, Adam left the room he had soaked in blood and guts from the various security and unfortunate regular staff on that floor before they decided to barricade themselves and wait for Adam to go away.

A rumbling noise echoes in the room, but those initiated know it is Smasher's 'guttural laugh.'

Finally, Smasher pulls the combat data, personal recordings, and third-party videos from the fight on Arasaka's rooftop to comb for more details. Upon close inspection and image enhancement, Smasher notices that David made a similar hand sweep motion to the Engineer when he pulled his appearing trick, with the concrete walls manifesting themselves one by one.

"HA HA HA HA! I will get two for the price of one!"

Post Chapter Notes

And with this, we finally ended the Race For Arasaka Tower arc. Hope you guys like the storyline! We're now in the latter half of the second book. Prepare yourselves!