Progress from Arasaka, Infinite

Beep.

The call ended.

The subtle expression Vera had forced onto her face slowly faded away. She downed the wine in her glass in one gulp, then leaned back into her chair.

"Phew..." It wasn't for nothing that I'd been calling him 'Uncle' so diligently all this time. Mixing it up in Arasaka wasn't any different from mixing it up in the system. Especially in departments heavily influenced by the Japanese side—bloodline, connections, background, and backdoors were all taken very seriously.

Vera took a deep breath.

She had to admit, working the connections really did pay off.

Even in a snake pit like Arasaka, as long as you could keep showing your value, creating value for the company, and knew how to climb up, you really could make it.

Of course, if you failed, that was a completely different story.

That president of New America, Rosalind Miles, started her political career during her service in the Marine Corps, got noticed by Militech, caught the attention of Militech's higher-ups through sheer hard power, was selected as the CEO successor from the competition, and finally became president.

That path wouldn't work at Arasaka, but that didn't stop her from being Vera's senior.

A role model...

For the remaining half hour, Vera didn't stir up any trouble. She stayed in her office, handling a few routine documents submitted by her subordinates from Team 6 of the Arasaka soldiers.

On the dot, beep-beep—

An internal meeting alert.

Vera lowered the partition wall, and several holographic imaging devices outlined a conference table.

Before long, seats sketched out by projection lines were filled one by one with executives from the General Security Bureau. James Thomas, Deputy Security Director, sat at the center. There were people from other teams of the Special Rapid Response Unit, the Mobile Garrison Unit, the Heavy Armored Unit, the Rescue Unit, the Disaster Countermeasures Unit (Chemical Defense Unit), the Guard Unit (regular corporate security), the Protection Unit (bodyguards)...

A bald man with sharp eyes, graying hair and beard, and conspicuous cybernetic implant grooves covering his body surface looked at her. Vera's internal comms chip rang in response. When she answered, the man's voice came through.

"Commander Russell, congratulations."

He looked very old, the oldest person present by appearance, but Vera didn't dare underestimate him.

"Old Man Ram." Figures. Another familiar face, one of Cheap Dad's acquaintances.

So that's why, privately, many corporate dogs muttered that Commander Adelheid's work and promotions in the Night City Security Department were like coming home and picking up something.

And the person Vera had just edged out for this promotion should be him.

The position of Special Rapid Response Unit Director.

Vera looked at Ram's now-thin upper limbs. Clearly, his combat cybernetics had been dismantled. The reason was simple—he had reached his limit.

His nerves were too weak to withstand high-intensity combat anymore. If he pushed through, it would be Cyberpsychosis. Before the signs even appeared, the company's safety maintenance personnel had forcibly removed his combat cybernetics, 'lightening the load.'

Old Man Ram had served the company for over twenty years.

"Want to comfort me, little Vera? Haha... Instead of comforting me, you'd be better off shifting your energy to that biotechnology research you're interested in. Fred raised a good daughter... And I haven't thanked you yet, Vera. That prototype improved inhibitor you excavated and repaired from the Old Net saved my life."

Ram stared intently at Vera.

Vera only returned a smile, saying nothing.

Let them keep their misunderstandings.

A misunderstanding named: 'Vera joined the Security Department to take over her parents' work; biotechnology research is just a personal hobby.'

"Alright."

Finally, James Thomas, Deputy Security Director, cut off the murmurs.

"I won't rehash the commendations for the Brasilia Operation. Vera Adelheid Russell, Deputy Security Chief, is promoted one rank, appointed as Director of the Special Rapid Response Unit, and will participate in General Security Bureau internal management affairs with the rank of Security Chief."

"Arasaka Group Tokyo Global Headquarters: Order issued, effective immediately."

The meeting ended quickly.

After all, everyone had their own tasks and garrison zones. Announcing a promotion order, especially when it wasn't a new commander parachuting in, didn't take much time.

Vera glanced at the updated personal file and clearance level on her office terminal and smiled.

Beep-beep—

A new unread message popped up.

Sender: Arasaka Traffic Management Bureau - Night City

Dear Director Vera Adelheid Russell, please come to our bureau during your free time to pay the management fee and collect the 'Holy Sword.'

So the exclusive hovercar was coming.

But before that...

Vera left her office, carrying a bottle of champagne, and led two bodyguards to the reception hall on the first floor of Arasaka Tower, walking toward the Arasaka Monument set up outside the hall.

Besides commemorating the 2023 nuclear explosion, the monument here also commemorated Arasaka's return to Night City in 2069. The names of Vera's biological parents were on it as well.

She didn't care about the expense of the Heavenly Champagne. Finding the section of the monument with her biological parents' names, Vera silently poured the wine from the bottle. When only half remained, she paused, downed it in one gulp, placed the empty bottle in front of the stone slab, stood straight, and silently bowed her head.

The two bodyguards stood guard nearby.

In the slanting sunlight, within the towering, insulated glass curtain wall of Arasaka Tower, the shadows silently watched this scene.

Still begging for votes (○｀ 3′○).

Chapter 007: Vera's 'Life' and 'Hobbies'

The character I want, and gratitude I also want.

This time, Vera's spine was ramrod straight. She stood upright, lowered her head, and bowed in a standard gesture of thanks toward the Arasaka Monument before her—or, to be precise, toward the names of her biological parents engraved upon it.

In Night City, people still believed in this sort of thing?

Some citizens passing by the monument found it strange. A drunk sprawled in the grass, smelling of alcohol, swayed as he followed the scent. Edgerunners busy making a living cast their gazes over...

When they spotted the two company bodyguards—one in black, one in white, both fully equipped with high-grade combat cybernetic modifications, built like bears—most people's eyes snapped clear. They either hurried away or muttered a disdainful curse under their breath.

Security personnel patrolling Corporate Plaza recognized Vera's executive rank and reflexively moved closer. Their embedded composite cybereyes scanned the crowd without concealment, driving away the unconscious drunks.

Vera remained motionless, head bowed in tribute for five full minutes.

2069, they died in the line of duty.

2074, Vera turned twenty-one and was promoted to director of the Special Rapid Response Unit under the Security Department's General Security Bureau.

Though she was still one major rank below her cheap dad's position—First Deputy Director of General Security Bureau—by the unspoken rules of intergenerational attenuation within the company, this meant Vera was about to exhaust her father's 'legacy.'

If she slowly accumulated seniority, she might climb one more rank.

But to break through her old man's ceiling—even if Vera was confident she could—it meant she would need to rely more on herself from now on. Any further up, and the shade of her father's influence would begin to fade.

"Your wishes will come true. I promise."

Vera reached out, touched the cold marble surface of the monument, and whispered.

You died trying to climb to the top of Arasaka Tower. Maybe the expectations you never got to voice to me were the same. Fine. I'll do it. I'll truly climb—to the top of Arasaka Tower.

The real top.

Lifting her head, Vera gazed up at the peak of Arasaka Tower, where only the clover logo was faintly visible. She narrowed her eyes.

'The timing will be right, won't it? 2077, the Great Upheaval, the Ladder of Chaos...'

After a long moment, Vera turned around and adjusted the high-end crystal bottle of Heavenly Champagne one last time. "Clean it up in five days," she emphasized to the Arasaka patrol personnel in Corporate Plaza. Then she walked toward the main entrance of Arasaka Tower.

"Huh?"

As she stepped onto the stairs, just as she was about to enter the main gate of Arasaka Tower, Vera suddenly paused.

She turned her head.

Who was watching her? And it was a gaze filled with malice and hatred.

From Vera's perspective, on the overpass not far from Corporate Plaza, a white figure that seemed out of place among the surrounding pedestrians flashed past.

Hasty and evasive...

Vera remembered that in that instant, the corner of her eye had caught something glowing.

White. Very translucent. Faint rainbow gradient hair?

"Ma'am?" Vera's unusual behavior immediately caught the attention of her ever-vigilant bodyguard. He stepped in front of the direction she was looking, voicing his confusion.

"Heh..." Her eyebrows lifting slightly, Vera gave a faint smile, shook her head, and turned around. "Nothing. Just saw a very interesting person."

"Haah... haah..."

Heavy, ragged breaths.

In the corner of the overpass, a white-haired woman with eyeshadow, wearing a white off-shoulder jacket and a midriff-baring tight outfit, leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Her asymmetrical side-swept bangs, white with a faint rainbow tint, hung low, covering her startled eyes.

"That corporate woman... was she that sensitive?"

The pretty-faced white-haired woman lifted her head, still shaken. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead.

Because the other woman had bowed to the Arasaka Monument—an act that, given her own past experiences, stirred up nothing but disgust for Arasaka. She'd just stared for a while, muttered a few insults under her breath when the woman was leaving, and that corporate dog had actually looked straight over at her!

Locked right onto her, as if searching for her specifically!

"Arasaka..."

The name of that sinful megacorp, both hated and feared.

"She didn't follow. She probably doesn't know who I am... No, I can't assume that... To be safe, I'll stop the side gig for now..." Just as the woman was about to pull out a cigarette to calm her nerves—ring ring ring—

The violet pupils of the woman's eyes flickered with red data light.

"Hello, this is Lucy... Kiwi?"

Arasaka Tower, Biotechnology Research Department floor.

Old Net Technology Restoration Section.

A pristine white metal corridor. Red-and-white symmetrical umbrella logo. A doorplate marked with the name 'Russell' on a personal lab.

Push the door open. Vera Adelheid, freshly minted director, had left the Security Department—her 'home'—and arrived at her personal lab in the BioResearch Department.

Security work was life, but biotech R&D was the 'character setting' hobby, right?

Carrying her coffee into the lab she hadn't visited in over half a month, Vera casually pulled a document from the desk drawer, glanced at the desktop—someone had cleaned it—then sat down in the swivel chair, leaned toward the office computer, and activated the lab's equipment with practiced ease.

The information pinned at the top of the terminal interface was unmistakably a business document sent by Arasaka's partner company, 'Dangerous Girl'.

A rehabilitation and convalescence service contract.

Well, the client was pressing again.

Vera couldn't refuse.

On one hand, cooperation earned her Eurogold; on the other, it spread her reputation as a genius.

More importantly—

Dangerous Girl, formerly a detective agency, now backed by the Arasaka tree, had expanded its operations to dabble in strategic consulting, legal services, advertising, entertainment, and charity.

It didn't control any vital industries, had a high substitution rate, and was purely a small company reliant on a megacorp to scrape together some cash in the big city.

But its founder was Michiko Arasaka.

Saburo Arasaka's eldest granddaughter.

The only daughter of the late Crown Prince Kei Arasaka, born in the United States to a Japanese-American mother who was relatively receptive to Western culture. She was now a Board Member of the Arasaka Group and the leader of the pro-American 'Dove' faction.

Vera had no interest in discussing her political leanings. The cooperation with Dangerous Girl was simply a natural outcome.