Infinite, Progress Begins with Arasaka

"Fuck, you bitch!"

Someone shouted, his voice carrying through the blast wave, hysterical to the point of madness.

"Arasaka! Fuck, those spineless cowards hired Arasaka! Damn it, Militech is full of sons of bitches too, and they didn't even fight this... That Arasaka bitch! She deceived me, damn it! Nothing good ever happens when corporate dogs show up. Bitch, don't let me catch you!"

A fierce-looking latino bald thug burst out in a panic, carrying an MK.31 heavy machine gun and spewing curses.

Beneath his worn reddish-brown coat, which still spat sparks, was a heavily modified, muscular body. Artificial muscle fibers, steel-reinforced bones, enhanced Achilles tendons, and subdermal armor were all plainly visible.

"Boys! Go save our property! Anything you get out, I, 'File' Beard, give you my word—you get half!" the thug roared.

In the world of street gangs, those were undoubtedly generous terms.

But the quick-witted ones had already sensed that something was wrong. They began stuffing valuables into their pockets before greasing their heels and running.

Arasaka? Asking them to stop Arasaka people was no different from sending them to their deaths.

Others, perhaps because they had enjoyed looting too much in the earlier operation and fried their brains on drugs in their excitement, or perhaps because they had long been cowed by their gang leader's authority, were stirred up by his words. Wild-eyed with frenzy, they grabbed their weapons and charged into the gang camp that was burning from the explosions.

"Bastards, a bunch of ungrateful wolves!"

Although he was furious at the men who had turned and run—especially those subordinates he had valued and entrusted with important duties because they were clever—and wanted nothing more than to shoot them and toss them into a grinder, Beard knew that running was the priority now.

Hopefully, those drugged-up lackeys could delay them a little longer.

With that thought in mind, he strode over to a nearby modified car and dove inside. His rough movements made the exposed-weld interior rumble. Ignition, hard turn, gas, steer, accelerate.

Vroom... vroom...

Inside the gang buildings where the flames were spreading, gunfire, explosions, shouting, howling, the thunderous collapse of walls, and the crackling burn of construction materials had all blended into one.

Thud! Thud! Thud—

In the blink of an eye, firelight flashed and crossed.

Through the rearview mirror, Beard saw the shifting light and shadow—and the bloody, mangled scene.

At the camp entrance, a gang lackey who had howled and charged in a second earlier was pierced by a discarding-sabot armor-piercing round. His entire body was split in two, his torso spinning helplessly through the air a few times before crashing heavily to the ground.

God knew how monstrous the weapons of those damned Arasaka killing machines were.

His gang brothers were like paper before the three Arasaka Heavy Soldiers that had appeared, crushed to pieces.

Crushed in the literal sense, like meat in a grinder. Under the firelight, shrapnel flew everywhere. Every gang member who stood in their way was blown apart. Red-hot Nano Blades swept across twisted bodies with exposed cheap cybernetic wiring as easily as cutting plastic.

Beneath the Arasaka soldiers' signature tactical helmets with upright fixtures were Demon Masks smeared with blood and minced flesh. Embedded mechanical tactical goggles glowed red, staring directly at him.

Having witnessed the brutality of the Arasaka Heavy Soldiers, Beard felt even his full-power cybernetic spine turn cold. Without thinking, he floored the accelerator.

He spun the wheel wildly, cursing in Spanish as he operated the illegally installed heavy machine guns on the modified car. He aimed everything he could fire at the Arasaka soldiers standing still in place. Wait! Standing still?

Why had they stopped...

"Not good!" Beard sensed danger.

In an instant.

Bzzzt—

Beard suddenly shuddered from head to toe, and his vision went black as if he had been electrocuted.

His optical implant connection circuit had shorted out!

Warning: Intrusion detected.

Arasaka Hackers!

Then, bang!

A muffled gunshot rang out. The window shattered. Beard felt his chest tighten, as though he had been struck hard by a pointed warhammer. Agonizing pain surged through him, and all the strength in his body seemed to drain away in an instant. The next moment, the world spun.

The out-of-control modified car slammed headfirst into a trapezoidal stone bollard by the road. It pitched upward violently, flew off the road, rolled onto its side, scraped and skidded, then crashed into a wall.

"Urgh—"

His head felt like mush. By the time Beard regained his senses, half his body had been blown apart, and the health monitor inside him, newly back online, emitted a piercing alarm.

The sniper round had torn a bowl-sized bloody hole through his chest. His body, considered top-tier on the streets of Rio, had been warped and twisted by the impact and the crushing wreckage, exposing the mechanical structures inside. White coolant and blood flowed across the ground.

Tap, tap~

At the end of his life, Beard saw the Arasaka Heavy Soldiers approach. The Arasaka Hacker who had been hiding at a high vantage point finally revealed himself as well, carrying a Nekomata Tech Sniper Rifle. He came before Beard and crouched down.

Then he pulled out the connector on the hacking terminal attached to his arm, grabbed Beard's bloodied head, and forcibly jacked in.

"Warning: Unauthorized access..."

By then, Beard could no longer speak. He could only let the Arasaka Hacker breach his system and read the data from his information bank. Everything was searched through one by one—gang information, contingencies, funding caches, safehouses.

In less than half a minute, after squeezing out the last drop, the Arasaka Hacker stood.

"'File' Harkson Beard. Execution."

The brilliant muzzle flash was painfully dazzling in Beard's gradually unfocused eyes.

Fuck Arasaka. Fuck corporate dogs. That was his final thought.

That evening, in Rio de Janeiro, the day-long slaughter drew to a close. Overall, the riots had largely been quelled, leaving only scattered firefights.

The setting sun was blood-red. The cleansing operation of the Arasaka Special Rapid Response Unit ended successfully. Of the names on the list, 1,328 marked major offenders had been executed, with countless collateral casualties.

Arasaka's prepared sweep had been forceful and effective.

After the operation, gang leaders large and small across the streets of Rio de Janeiro had been wiped out. Fixers, mercenaries, and those who normally had serious criminal records with corporations or the city government had been cleared out along the way.

Only a very small number of clever people, lucky survivors, and corporate black gloves escaped.

"It's over."

Finally, in the early hours of the morning, the final group of the Special Rapid Response Unit returned with their seized spoils. Vera, dressed in a crisp uniform, stood quietly before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window that covered an entire wall, her arms folded over her chest as she looked down over nighttime Rio de Janeiro from a god's-eye view.

The streets of Rio no longer had any lights. The neon signs of skyscrapers in the City Center flickered.

Here was heaven.

Beyond the city center, there was a chaotic war zone—a purgatory.

In the morning, the sun would rise as usual. But many people would never see a second dawn...

"..."

Turning around, Vera silently raised her head to look at the building's layered interior, as well as the conspicuous Arasaka Clover logo.

After a long while, she looked away.

"It's time to return to Night City."

As she walked toward the combat center, Vera brought up the miniature display built into her optical implant. "This is Vera Adelheid. The Rio de Janeiro riots have been suppressed. We are entering the final cleanup phase."

Summary Report: Arasaka Group South America Investigation Team

Arasaka Information Department, Operations Supervision Department Committee Meeting—Night City

Executor: Vera Adelheid Russell, Arasaka Security Department, General Security Bureau Special Rapid Response Unit Team 6—Night City

Location: South America / Brazil / Rio de Janeiro

Mission Description: Assist the various South American branches of Arasaka Corporation in providing security services, suppress riots occurring in Brazil, and eliminate terrorist organizations hiding in Rio de Janeiro

Date: 2074/5/24

Status: In Progress → Pending Completion

The So-Called Vera Adelheid Russell

Northern California, Night City.

City Center, Corporate Plaza.

Gray-white clouds gathered in clusters and scattered across the sky. Beneath the clear heavens, a massive 130-story building stood silently at the heart of Night City like a black tower.

Compared to the neighboring Militech Tower and Kang Tao Tower, its design appeared conservative and characterless. Its entire body was made of black reinforced glass curtain walls and steel, giving off an oppressive feeling of cold severity.

It could be seen clearly from most areas of Night City.

Just like its overwhelming presence in Night City, no one here could ignore it—not even the "legends" who had once blown it into the sky.

Arasaka Tower.

Full name: Arasaka America Division Night City Headquarters.

The tallest building in Night City, as well as the symbol of Night City's new militarism and Arasaka's hegemony.

Countless people hated its existence and wished they could blow it up and level it to the ground. Yet just as many longed for it, willing to give everything just to climb Arasaka Tower, kiss its cold black marble plaque, and dream of rising through the ranks, gaining wealth and status, and becoming someone above others.

"Hey, did you hear? The South America Investigation Team pulled off something huge recently. They executed more than a thousand criminals in Rio de Janeiro."

"Your information is outdated. I heard the people from the Company Engineering and Construction Department are nearly worked to death. They worked overnight designing Rio de Janeiro's reconstruction plan, and the Market Department's negotiators have already flown to Brasilia ahead of time."

"Brasilia is very satisfied with this security service. The Security Department scored big again. They should be back soon, right? This field assignment bonus will probably equal several months of our salary. Looks like Ms. Adelheid's next promotion isn't far off."

"No comparison. The Security Department is Arasaka's favorite child. Us? Heh, we're the stepchildren..."

Before the elevator that went directly to the Counter-Intelligence Department office floors, a woman with her sleeves rolled up, wearing a wine-red office uniform and sporting a shaved sidecut, listened to her passing colleagues' discussion. She frowned, her expression turning thoughtful.

"Security Department... Adelheid?" she murmured.

"No way, V. I remember you attended Arasaka Tower Academy too, right?"

The woman's companion wore a puzzled expression. "Ms. Vera Adelheid is one year ahead of you. She's your senior." Then, in a somewhat envious tone, he quietly teased, "With that connection, why not give it a try? Maybe you could find a way in..."

"Fuck off!"

Hearing this, the woman called V turned her head. Her beautiful face and fierce brows instantly brought the word wildness to mind.

She hurriedly cut off her companion's unrealistic fantasies.

"Of course I know. She was the Chief graduate of the class of '73, a name even Tokyo Headquarters knows. A future big shot with a bright future ahead of her. Me? I'm just a nobody, a class of '74 intern who hasn't even been formally hired yet. I've never even met her. How am I supposed to get anywhere?"

The current education model was nothing like the word-of-mouth teaching of the previous century.

The bonds between teachers and students, even classmates, were extremely weak. Unless someone stood out and received special attention, nearly all instruction was done by AI.

V shook her head. "We aren't even in the same system. She attended the School of Military Administration and Law, while I attended the School of Information, Communication and Intelligence. Our required and elective courses were completely different. We have nothing to do with each other. That's not how you force a connection."

Vera Adelheid belonged to Arasaka Corporation's largest and most famous Security Department.

V, meanwhile, had joined the Counter-Intelligence Department.

Its internal security level was high, but the department did not have a particularly good reputation.

"Showing up at her door rashly would probably just get me covered in trouble. In a place like a corporation, if you aren't close, who knows whether she'd sell you out and make you count the money for her? I'm not in a hurry. I'll just let things take their course..." As she spoke, V waved her hand. The elevator arrived just then, and she stepped inside.

They remained silent all the way.

The elevator reached the floor where the Counter-Intelligence Department offices were located.

"Well then, V, good luck."

"You too."

V parted ways with her companion and headed toward her office area. At the moment, only her acquaintance Harry was at his workstation.

The honest-looking Black man's eyes immediately lit up when he saw V. He stood and waved. "Hey, V, Jenkins wants to see you."

"Jenkins?" V murmured. Arthur Jenkins, an executive in the Counter-Intelligence Department. She had seen him a few times. Was it about becoming a full employee? Her performance during her internship had been quite good.

"Harry, do you know why Jenkins wants to see me?" V asked quietly.

"Don't know." Harry shook his head and spread his hands, wearing an expression that said he had no idea. This was definitely not something a low-level employee like him could know.

"Okay."