Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV – September 19, 2075 - Night City.
"Night City is still the same as always," I hummed, gazing out the window in front of us. Then I turned to watch the girls step through the portal. Rebecca and Lucy seemed to sigh, not with relief, but with the familiarity of Night City. Freya was next.
"Oh," Freya groaned as she stumbled inside, bringing her hand to her face and covering her nose and mouth as she paled. "...this world...it feels wrong." Freya moaned, almost dizzy.
"Yeah? I mean, it's Night City and all, but I don't think it's that bad?" Rebecca said, tilting her head as she looked at Freya, confused. I went over to Freya, conjured a seat, and helped her sit down.
"Thank you, dear." Freya moaned as she clung to the seat.
"Don't worry, I really didn't expect you to react that way," I said honestly.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Rebecca asked Lucy, who just shrugged. I sighed.
"The World." I said simply. "For people sensitive enough to magic, nature, and indeed, any supernatural power connected to the world, they would be able to sense it."
"The abundance of life creates a cycle of abundance, even of a fundamental force like magic; the more saturated with life, including plant and animal life, the richer, more abundant, the place is in it."
"But if instead you come across a barren place completely devoid of life, then you have-"
"Our world," Lucy said dryly. "Is our ball of earth so dead that it's easy to notice?" Lucy asked directly. I nodded.
"Mostly, yes. The first time I came, I noticed that the ambient magic was much thinner, almost suffocating for the supernatural beings who live off it, and even now with Six Eyes, I can see just how diminished the world's ambient magic has become." I said with a grimace. Rebecca snorted.
"Nova, another reason why our planet sucks." Rebecca scoffed. Lucy just shrugged.
"Nothing new we don't already know," Lucy said casually, then looked at Freya. "So, you'll be alright?" Lucy asked, turning to Freya. Freya just nodded.
"Yes, I... it was the abrupt change, I wasn't expecting it, I'll need a few minutes to get used to it." Freya sighed with her eyes closed.
"You wanted to come with me," I said playfully. Freya opened one eye and looked at me.
"And I still do. I'll follow you even to the driest planet in the driest universe, my dear, if I'm with you." Freya said immediately, with such intensity that I felt myself blush slightly and looked away. I saw Lucy and Rebecca's mocking smiles, and I glared at them.
"Very well, while Freya recovers, we'd better plan our next steps," I said, changing the subject. Lucy snorted.
"Plans? I was planning to go see the gonk of my brother and check if he's still alive, and maybe the rest of the crew," Rebecca said easily as she plopped down into a seat.
"I already did it," Lucy said. "I just sent them a message, they all replied, and I told them we'd meet up later. I really missed having a connection to the Net. Accessing the Backyard and reality itself might be entertaining, but something was still missing," Lucy said immediately.
"Great! Then I guess we can make a plan." Rebecca said with a groan.
"It's important," I said tersely. Rebecca shrugged. "Well, GLaDOS is working at her clinic. She's been monitoring Adam Smasher's location. It seems our trick at the Ebunike really worked, because Smasher is arriving in less than a week." I said, drawing her attention. That made Rebecca look at me, her eyes slightly twinkling.
"Can I fight him, Choom? I really want revenge for him killing me in other universes!" Rebecca complained excitedly. I snorted.
"If you can do it without using The Light or paracausal arms, go for it," I said playfully. Rebecca clicked her tongue.
"We can always take Smasher somewhere hidden and cut off all nearby recordings. As long as Smasher dies, it doesn't matter how he dies," Lucy said coldly. I hummed softly.
"That's an idea," I said easily. "Really, at this point, Smasher's death is just a transaction; it's the easy part. What I really wanted to discuss was what we're going to do about Arasaka." I said seriously as I looked at Lucy, who frowned deeply.
"Destroy it." Lucy said without hesitation.
"I support the avenger, let's destroy a Corp!" Rebecca said cheerfully. I sighed.
"As much as I'm in favor of destroying a corporation, are you truly aware of the consequences?" I asked slowly. "Even if it's a shitty megacorporation, Arasaka is a true pillar of this world's economy. Destroying it completely would throw the entire world off balance." I said without hesitation, and Lucy and Rebecca snorted loudly.
"Yeah, and why would that be any different from normal? There are already problems with the world's economy. If you're not a Corpo, you're born, you live, you die, and you leave your children and grandchildren with financial problems. That's how this world works. Destroying Arasaka won't change a thing for ordinary people." Rebecca scoffed.
"Megacorporations brought war for their own profit, caused economic crises, and always took advantage of ordinary people, and they do it because they can, because no one will stop them," Lucy said fiercely. I grimaced.
"And would destroying Arasaka change anything?" I asked with a grimace. "I agree with you, Lucy, really, but Militech, Biotechnica, Kang Tao, and more will still exist. Nothing will change. Like you said, megacorporations take advantage of situations without caring about anything. They'll profit from Arasaka's fall, and everyone will want a piece of the pie that is Arasaka's resources."
"That's literally how the fourth corporate war started, two corporations fighting for control of the assets of a third corporation that went bankrupt," I said with a grimace. I didn't really know much about this world's history, but I did know about the fourth corporate war.
In broad terms, IHAG declared bankruptcy, and two corporations, CINO and OTEC, sought to contest control of IHAG's assets. OTEC hired Militech to secure its business interests, and CINO did the same with Arasaka. At some point, both corporations began to openly clash, and the Fourth War officially began.
And the war only ended with the nuclear bomb placed by Johnny Silverhand in the Arasaka tower, forcing the Corp back to Japan. Even then, the victory was costly, resulting in the deaths of half a million people.
"Then we either destroy everything Arasaka has to offer, or we make it all public," Lucy said, frowning. "In a way that leaves no room for doubt, so they know there's nothing left to fight for. We must destroy all branches and any buildings affiliated with Arasaka, without a doubt," Lucy said firmly.
"Or we destroy all the Corps." Rebecca said with a bloodthirsty smile; I growled slightly.
"Yes, and we literally kill all the people on the planet, even if they are shitty bodies, they are the ones that keep everyone alive, the ones that give them jobs, the ones that give them health and food, however bad all those things are, without bodies, the rest of the world literally falls to pieces," I said firmly.
"And they can't replace that Arasaka?" Freya grumbled from the side, still feeling unwell, but joining the conversation. "You said this... Arasaka megacorporation controls the market, just steal it, fill the positions and the gap Arasaka left, before the other corporations do." Freya said with a grimace.
"So... we can do that?" Rebecca asked, confused. "Replacing a megacorporation is impossible, but... it would be impossible for normal people," Rebecca said, emphasizing the word "normal." I massaged my temple.
"You want to replace a Corp? Become what you swore to destroy and all that? " I sneered dryly, Rebecca snorted.
"Yeah? I mean, we couldn't do any worse than any existing Corpo." Rebecca snorted dryly. I looked at Lucy; she squirmed slightly.
"I mean, I've seen how you built your city, you gave homes to tens of thousands of people, you gave them well-paying jobs, you have fair laws in your city, for God's sake, you have free education in Pentagram City." Lucy emphasized, surprised and almost amazed by the concept.
"No, no, no, no, no, and I can't emphasize all the 'no's' I want to say, I will not take charge of a megacorpo." I said immediately while shuddering. "I'm a scholar, in case you forgot, I'm not someone who runs a Corpo, I don't even run my city! Lucius does!" I said incredulously.
"Tell him to run the Corpo." Rebecca said dryly. I opened my mouth before closing it. He… he'd really be capable of it, wouldn't he?
"If we could... we should be able to." I said reluctantly. "Lucius or GLaDOS would be more than capable of running a megacorporation on their own." I finally said.
"I'd be absolutely thrilled to show the rest of the world what Aperture Science can do," GLaDOS said, her voice booming through the speakers, sounding terribly excited. I guess that was for Freya's benefit instead of just mentally sending her thoughts. Lucy's eyes twinkled slightly.
"Let's think this through first. With all due respect to this world, I don't intend to stay and run a megacorporation." I repeated firmly. Rebecca snorted.
"Neither do I, but you said they could do it," Rebecca replied.
"Just because they can, doesn't mean they want to, and I don't intend to force any of them." I said curtly.
" As interesting as it is to run a corporation and force humans to obey me, I'm in favor of not wasting a significant amount of my processing power running a corporation, especially where I wouldn't be able to fully benefit from the technology acquired from Rebecca's template. This world's technology will quickly become obsolete," GLaDOS said once again.
"And it's not just about running the company, it's much more than that. The other corporations won't stay silent if we take Arasaka's place, especially if we come completely out of nowhere. They'll attack, and we'll have to respond until they get the message."
" And even then, very little will change unless those bodies also disappear. The only way to achieve that is by replacing them and taking their places, and that would mean being better than them in every way." I said with a frown.
"Which is easy: arms, implants, healthcare—anything we can do better than them. Especially healthcare; if we're the first to say we have the cure for cyberpsychopathy, we'd shoot to the top immediately."
"And it wouldn't be a lie, once we're inside Arasaka and I get the blueprints for Relic 2.0 and Soulkiller it will be easy, once I know how they are mapping the brain and how Relic is able to use nanotechnology to rewrite synaptic patterns and physically reconfigure neural connections, then it would be easy to reconfigure certain parts of the brain to prevent cyberpsychopathy."
"I mean, I have the memories of the technology they used to download Caroline's memory when they created me, but the forced memory download killed Caroline, so it's useless. I could upgrade it, but I'd need live test subjects to set it up properly. I'd need the Soulkiller to bypass that process."
"But yes, once I have access to Arasaka's data, it will be simple." GLaDOS said easily; I frowned.
"Give them the apple, and they'll come on their own. Once they see we're 'legitimate,' we'll have a foundation to rely on. If we include the health package, we'll start hiring people in droves, both for the destruction of Arasaka and for the cure for psychopathy," I said. My mind started racing, and I could feel Lucy's gaze fixed on me.
Consider the pros and cons, and the possibilities of being able to achieve it before finally sighing.
"For the love of Merlin, we'll do it." I groaned loudly as I slapped my face. "At least destroy Arasaka, damn it. I need to think the rest through. I don't want to be responsible for leading a society into a new, prosperous era or whatever." I growled.
"You're The Traveler," Rebecca said brazenly, and I glared at her.
"It's part of me, but my Garden won't be civilizations." I grunted wearily, finally sighing tiredly. "We'd better finish this quickly." I groaned, trying to shake off the headache that was forming in my head. Which didn't work, so I took out a cigarette and lit it.
"Perfect, the faster the better, that way Arasaka won't be able to resist and the other Corps won't interfere," Lucy said without hesitation. I sighed.
" Fine, fine, fine," I grumbled in annoyance as I tried to think quickly. "GLaDOS, did you complete the robots with the frames we got? The Dragoons and the exoskeleton?" I asked GLaDOS.
"Yes, they're complete and functional. Arc reactors accelerated the whole process. It was easy to assemble and make them functional with rudimentary AI, we can even control them remotely," GLaDOS said. I nodded.
"Alright, we can use that. I had planned to follow Evelyn Parker, meet up with Yorinobu, and gain access to Arasaka Tower—to do it slowly and surely. But we can do it as quickly as possible. I'll enter invisibly and use magic to get into Arasaka Tower and reach Mikoshi with Lucy. Once we have access to Mikoshi, we'll be inside Arasaka's data fortress."
"We should be able to invade the rest of Arasaka's main headquarters from Mikoshi's various access points around the world. Once we have full access to Arasaka's network, GLaDOS will be able to copy all existing data, creating a second datakrash by invading all of their systems."
"With the information obtained, we should be able to know where all their headquarters are around the world. We are capable of teleportation, so while they are busy trying to control their datakrash, we can go and destroy them point by point without any resistance."
"We can go ourselves, or I could start replicating hundreds of GLaDOS's killer robots and have them deployed all at once; GLaDOS should be able to handle a few thousand of them," I said quickly before licking my dry lips as my mind raced.
I truly couldn't understand how all of this had escalated so quickly. The worst part was… it was all decided in just a few minutes. I knew the power I possessed was unparalleled for ordinary people, but devising a plan to change the world order and supplant it… seemingly effortlessly, made it all the more real.
It wasn't even something that happened over my head; if running a city was a nuisance, I don't want to think about what it would be like to run something really on the scale of a megacorporation, or what it would be like after that if we continue with the plan to absorb everything else.
"We could also begin to revitalize the planet," I began slowly. "There's technology from a world, also devastated, where life was completely extinguished—machines capable of detoxifying the atmosphere and the Earth's biosphere. They were able to revive a completely dead world in just a few hundred years. It was a complete marvel," I said, licking my lips.
Then I began broadcasting everything about Horizon Zero Dawn, from the Zero Dawn project and its AI, GAIA, to its subordinate functions, such as AETHER, which detoxifies and stabilizes the Earth's atmosphere and controls the weather, and POSEIDON, which detoxifies the Earth's hydrosphere.
Machines created and left in nature to heal a completely arid planet.
And how incredible it was. GAIA terraformed a completely barren planet, turning it back into a habitable one in just 200 years. And it wasn't a single attempt; GAIA tried several times, having to return the world to a sterile state after each failure before starting again. If GAIA had had the right data and variables, it could have terraformed an entire planet in just a few years. Each failed attempt took GAIA less than a decade.
And to be honest, the world of Cyberpunk wasn't even close to being completely extinct and polluted like the world of Horizon. There, GAIA had to restore the entire planet's biosphere in just a few years. This world was still habitable; it just needed a nudge in the right direction. I was more than certain that with Horizon's technology, the world of Cyberpunk could be completely revitalized in a few years.
But the question remained: did I really want to do it? Did I want to be the one responsible for truly ushering in a prosperous era? I would leave that to my future self.
"That... looks so preem." Rebecca muttered incredulously.
"Okay, that looks amazing, I admit it," Lucy said, her eyes wide. "I saw The Traveler do wonders, but that was with paracausal energy. This... this is pure technology, pure human invention. This is incredible." Lucy said, sounding completely astonished.
"There was that kind of terraforming technology... and you hid it from me?" GLaDOS asked dangerously.
"I didn't think it was necessary when I showed it to you," I said curtly. "It's not like we're terraforming planets left and right," I added with a grimace.
"I feel like I'm missing something," Freya said with a grimace, trying to sit up. I grimaced.
"Sorry, habit, you're not in the mind link." I told Freya before looking her in the eyes. She didn't even hesitate to meet my gaze, and she didn't even bother to defend herself when I started using Legilimency on her. With the link open, I sent her all the information.
"Wow... I knew humans were really capable, but you're right, this is truly incredible." Freya said, sounding genuinely amazed.
"It is, we could buy the complete Horizon technology, right... I think this is expensive ? Or GLaDOS, if you want, you could get the GAIA template? You'd have access to all the programming of that artificial intelligence, and all its subordinate functions." I said easily, I could feel GLaDOS thinking quickly.
"Give me the GAIA template," GLaDOS said without hesitation after thinking it over. I just nodded. Are we really going to do this? I sighed wearily as I pulled out my phone.
Author's Notes: Well, that escalated quickly. I really wanted to rush through this part, get through it quickly—killing Adam Smasher would be ridiculously easy—but while I was writing this chapter, everything kept escalating somehow, and now we're here. Still, I'll try to get through these chapters quickly so I can get back to DxD and then the wizarding world.
Author's Notes 2: Now, I hope you enjoyed having 4~5 chapters! It turns out that being on vacation from my job and my writing gives me a lot of free time. I took advantage of it to go out with friends, colleagues, family, and just go out and have fun in general. I also took the opportunity to catch up on several series, games, and novels that I was behind on, and even then, I still had plenty of time left.
Last week I tried not to write at all; my fingers really needed a rest. But the problem with constant writing is that I'm now so used to having to write something that my fingers feel restless if I don't. So during that week, I wrote something light that ended up being an extra chapter for each novel.
I thought about saving it for a rainy day, but I just saw it there and ended up uploading it, so I hope you enjoyed it, because it's not going to happen again!
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.