Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by
Guild of Gamers: The Architect
Chapter 03: Abernarthy
– Seiji Moriyama –
No matter how busy you are, it's important to keep up appearances. To play the part that Night City expects of you. I have two 'routines', one for when I am between assignments and one for when I am on the job. It's a set of patterns that I stick to because, while predictability can be dangerous, when you are working under someone like Arthur Jenkins, spontaneity can be doubly so.
"Mhmm, you got the very good stuff this time," Maiko purrs as I hand her a drink and sit back on the edge of my bed, stroking her leg. As I said, keeping up appearances is important, and everyone has their vices. In counter-intel, the cleaner you look the more suspicious people will be. The high-ranking you become, the more vices you're expected to have. If you ever see a high-ranking Corpo who smells of roses and spends his free time petting puppies and volunteering, you know he's into the most fucked up shit imaginable behind the scenes.
"Things are going pretty well at work, I can afford to splurge," I reply calmly, sipping the obscenely expensive whiskey. It's not a lie, but I won't deny that my hormone regulators are currently working overtime to stop me from showing anything on my face.
I've been outplayed.
I had a delivery waiting for me when I got home. A new TV for my living room, some very luxurious food and drinks. Designer clothes. All stuff that I could have afforded, but only if I broke into my secret savings.
It was paid for from my Arasaka Bank account, signed for under my name, delivered to my address. Which is all well and good, but I didn't buy it. She's good, I'll give her that. Abernathy has made her move, and it is far more devious than I expected from her.
See, all this stuff? It's the kind of splurging someone would do if they thought they were going to get a big promotion soon. You see it all the time. At Counter-Intel, we track both internal and external corps for this kind of behaviour. If a mid-ranked corpo is buying a new Rayfield, you know he's come into money or he's expecting to come into it and is taking it on finance. It's amateurish behaviour, honestly.
Someone, almost certainly Abernathy, has forged my financial accounts to make it look like I had a lot more in my Arasaka bank account than I should have had. I keep most of my money in various different accounts, including two off-shore ones, because it is far too easy for my 'coworkers' to get access to my Arasaka bank details. Arasaka itself knows about them, of course, but my coworkers shouldn't.
There are two tiers of this kind of subterfuge. It's practically expected that you hide details from your coworkers because we're all rivals. It is seen as treason to hide those same details from the corp itself. But the point stands, anyone who looks into me at the moment will see all the signs of someone who has come into, or is expecting to come into, a large amount of money. It's far more subtle than some mid-tier pencil pusher buying a luxury penthouse, but that just makes it more suspicious because I would be more subtle than that.
Which is the big fucking problem. I am as high as I can get without crossing Jenkins. If I were expecting a promotion, it would be a promotion to Jenkins' office. So, if Jenkins thinks I am expecting a promotion, lo and behold, he'll think I've sided with Abernathy under the promise of taking his job.
In normal circumstances, I could fix this and pull myself out of the trap she's put me in… but there's one big problem. Jenkins is a fucking lunatic and has been getting increasingly unhinged. I wouldn't fall for this. Jenkins almost certainly will, assuming he hasn't already. Abernathy has spent a lot of money on this, and she's good enough that I'm certain a report on my finances has reached Jenkins by now.
It's more than just a move to distance me from Jenkins. It's a promise at the same time. She's removing an asset from under Jenkins, because he's bound to see this as proof of my 'betrayal' and try to kill me, but she's also offering me his job if I play along. If I try to fix things with Jenkins, she'll try to kill me herself and frankly, I should assume the lunatic will still try to kill me because Jenkins is a barely-high functioning psychopath. She's put me in the sights while dangling candy in front of me to lead me out of the danger she just pushed me into.
I assumed she'd be closer in skill to Jenkins, but this move is laughably more subtle and cunning than anything Arthur Jenkins could think of. Honestly, I'm impressed despite the danger she's put me in.
So, I can either call her out and hope that Jenkins, a lunatic who treats violence as his first and last choice in every situation, believes me, or I can play along with her game. Either way, she's showing me that she has access to my accounts. Falsifying documents isn't that hard; it's Counter-Intel 101, but she's done it with enough skill that even I would have doubts if I were investigating them.
"Ooh," Maiko purrs, her eyes scanning the bottle. I know she's got some decent eyeware, and I can see the way her eyes widen for a split second as she no doubt scans it. I tolerate her ambition because I've compromised everything she has. Once she became my 'regular' doll, I hacked into basically everything she has and placed hidden cameras in her own apartment. "A big promotion?"
Effectively, if someone wants to get to me, Maiko would become a potential opening. I've turned that opening into a trap. She was asked to spy on me once, by a Militech agent, and she refused. She knows I'm Arasaka, and she knows Arasaka control the Claws, who own Clouds. Militech couldn't offer her enough to cross Clouds, the Tyger Claws, Arasaka and me personally. Maybe one day someone will, and I'll know the moment she makes that decision.
"Something like that, I agree. Abernathy has fucked me, but I am, at the core, a corpo bastard and given recent developments, Jenkins' seat would help me stay on top of things. I didn't want to ascend any further because being a field agent comes with more freedom than his desk job, and frankly, it's a big fish, small pond situation.
I am a big fish, the shark of the local Counter-Intelligence branch. It's a decently sized pond with plenty of room for me to swim and fish for me to eat, and few rivals. If I get any higher, suddenly I'm on the global scale. Jenkins is the head of the Night City branch, but he has no reason to waste his time on us field agents because he's too busy vying for power with Abernathy, so V and I are the two big fish in our pond. Jenkins and Abernathy moved up into the open ocean and have bigger things to worry about than us, usually.
Even now, Abernathy isn't worried about me. She's concerned about Jenkins using me. It's a small difference but an important one. I'm not a rival, just a little fish that she's worried is going to bite her tail. She won't try this on V because everybody already knows that Jenkins has her on a tight leash, so she's trying to leash me to counter him.
At the end of the day, she's forcing me to pick a side. I hate that she's put me in this mess, but at the same time… Abernathy is going to win. Jenkins has reached as high as he can go with his unsubtle tactics. He can't get any higher by replacing talent with sheer brutality. V's chaffing under his control, and she's bound to try to break free sooner or later. When she does, Jenkins loses his most effective tool. I'm not going to go and kiss Jenkins's ass and join a losing side.
Fucking Abernathy. I'll play along for now, but depending on how this goes, I might have to make the move to the big pond just so that I can put her down before she becomes a true problem. She's known for being ruthless, leaving a trail of broken bodies in her wake, but she's smarter about it than Jenkins. Once she takes down Jenkins, and she will, she'll either put me in his seat as her more pliable asset or try to take me down as a loose end. I can work with the first; it's how I currently exist under Jenkins. Unless I suddenly become Saburo Arasaka, I'm always going to be someone's asset. It's just how this life works.
Jenkins is going to try and kill me. He won't do it himself, too cowardly. Can't use Arasaka assets with Abernathy running interference. So, who will he send? Why, his loyal lapdog, V, of course. Shame, I do like her but it was always going to end this way.
Maiko moves, pressing her breasts against my back as she nibbles on my ear, wrapping her arms around me.
"You never did tell me what you actually do at Arasaka. I'm guessing it's not a regular nine-to-five," Maiko jokes. This is why she's just a wannabe corpo. She probably thought that was a subtle probe.
"I'm in Intelligence, but I didn't call you here to talk about work," I say, dangling just a little out for her to bite onto. She's not entirely stupid, because the way she stiffens tells me that she's seriously rethinking her actions. I'm not surprised. Arasaka Intelligence has a reputation. Instead, she kisses me as I put my glass down, pulling me toward her. Again, I'm sure she thinks this is a subtle way of changing the conversation away from my job.
"No, you called me here to relax," Maiko agrees between kisses, rolling us over so she's on top with a sultry smile. "Or maybe to celebrate."
"Maybe a little of both," I agree as my eyes roam her naked body, my hands sliding up her waist to her breasts. "I think I'll have a lot to celebrate soon. Actually… can you do something for me?"
"Of course, baby, just say the word," Maiko agrees instantly, grasping my cock and slipping back onto it.
"Pick another doll or two. Like I said, I'm going to have plenty to celebrate soon. You know I don't like Clouds scanning, so you pick some extra entertainment for us," I request, seeing her eyes narrow thoughtfully. "I figure you should know my tastes by now."
"That I do," Maiko agrees with a purr. "I won't let you down."
I give it an hour until Jenkins confirms that I'm expecting something 'good' to happen. I've always believed in ripping off the band-aid, rather than letting wounds fester.
Besides… doll chips are so interesting.
– Rebecca –
Okay, she had to admit, backstabbing corpo assassin or not, Seiji knew his stuff as he laid out the plan for them. Once again, they were in a small booth in Afterlife, meeting with their 'client'. This entire job fucking stunk worse than Pilar's room, but those Biotechnica assholes had Sasha, and she wasn't going to leave one of the crew in the hands of a corp.
None of the others liked her plan of just storming the place without Seiji, so they were stuck working for this corpo trash and waiting for him to inevitably shoot them in the back the moment it suited him.
"How did you get the floorprint so quickly," Lucy asked, suspicion clear in her tone.
"My methods are for me to know, but I can assure you that it is accurate," Seiji replied cooly. "The majority of their security is mechanised. They are running the blacksite with a skeleton crew, and a large amount of employees would just draw attention to it. This works to our advantage, because we can temporarily dampen the connection between the on-site security and the Biotechnica mainframe to prevent any alerts going out. It also means the security will do what it is programmed to do. So, we'll be splitting into two teams. An infiltration team, and a distraction team. Between the three Netrunners we have, we'll be able to gain access, disable the cameras and alarms, and upload the Daemon that will disconnect the site from Biotechnica's systems. It won't last long, but we don't need it to. Once that is uploaded, the distraction team will hit the main office of the Biotechnica Flats, framing it as an act of eco-terrorism. The mechanised security and on-site security will respond, opening the way for us to get in, extract Sasha, and get out."
"I'll lead the distraction team, with Dorio, Rebecca and Pilar," Maine agreed, looking over the plans. "How much damage do we need to do?"
"Barely any. Just make some noise, then fall back. The offices will be abandoned at night anyway; it's all just property damage. Take Kiwi with you; she can help cover your retreat. Then, you'll stand by in case Lucy and I need any covering fire on the retreat," Seiji continued.
"Wait, you want to infiltrate the blacksite with just you and Lucy?" Dorio asked, concern obvious on her face. Lucy didn't look much better. It was obvious that Lucy had one hell of an axe to grind over Arasaka, and was outright scared shitless of them, so she didn't look thrilled at the idea of
"Like I said, the security is light. Between my chrome and Lucy's hacks, we should have no trouble disabling it. At most, there might be a couple of scientists burning the midnight oil and a single on-site security agent. I could clear it alone, but it's better to overprepare," Seiji replied. "I've made arrangements to frame Crimson Harvest for the job. Once I've gotten what I need from Sasha, you'll just need to lie low for a time. In truth, Sasha seems to be just one of several 'projects' they're running at that site. Looks like it might be experimental bioware testing, guessing they've broken a few dozen laws with their newest bioware if they're going to such lengths to hide the tests. Get a trustworthy ripperdoc to replace whatever they put in her with regular chrome, and lay low, and this should all blow over."
"Crimson Harvest?" Maine asked curiously.
"Radical ex-farmers with a grudge," Kiwi answered for Seiji. "Used to do peaceful protests about how Biotechnica was fucking over independant farmers, but that wasn't working so they turned to bombings instead. They're officially a terrorist group now. This is the kind of shit they'd pull, because they'll do anything that gives Biotechnica a black eye. Smart choice."
"One of the projects? What are we doing about the rest?" Lucy asked, her voice unusually tense as Seiji glanced her way, almost dismissively.
"I'm going to burn the site to hide our tracks. They aren't our objective," Seiji replied simply.
"You're a coldblooded cunt, you know that?" Rebecca cut in. Maine gave her a warning look, but she didn't break eye contact with Seiji, who just raised an eyebrow in response.
"And you're a hot-headed bitch, what's your point?" Seiji retorted. "This operation becomes considerably more complex if we try to extract up to a dozen test subjects in varying conditions. Or do you have a plan for where to put them? I have a safehouse in the Badlands we can use to stash Sasha if she isn't in a condition to move, but overcomplicating matters by being a bleeding heart only introduces more failure points into the operation."
"He's right," Kiwi cut in before Rebecca could retort. "Our mission is Sasha. We're not risking our lives for strangers. I'll go with Seiji, Lucy can go with the distraction team."
"Either works for me. Once we are out, we'll extract to my safehouse so I can get the data I need from Sasha," Seiji agreed.
"It's a good plan," Dorio admitted after a moment. They didn't usually have such good intel before a job, she'd admit that much. "Are you sure you won't need more muscle on site? You said it yourself, it's better to overprepare. If we encounter heavy security, it'll be there."
"Maybe," Seiji said after a moment. He stared at Dorio for a moment, eyes narrowed in though. "You might have a point. Very well, you can come along as well. In the worst case, you can carry the asset."
"Sasha. Not the asset," Rebecca gritted out, wishing she had a weapon. Now, why would the backstabbing corpo slime want to take as few people to get Sasha as possible? This just screamed betrayal. He was going to take Sasha and run.
"To you, yes," Seiji replied with a small smirk on his extremely punchable face. "To me, she's the key to the data she stole from Biotechnica. That makes her an asset."
Yeah, a fucking expendable one.
Maine cut in again, with Dorio placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from speaking up as they hashed out the final details.
"I've set up a tab with the bar, drinks are on me for tonight. Consider it a bonus," Seiji finally said. Well, she could at least trust that he hadn't paid Afterlife to drug them or any shit and if she had to deal with a fucking corpo assassin, she might as well be drunk for it. "Stay on standby. I'm still finalising the date of the attack. We only have one shot at this, and I won't waste it by being hasty."
Meaning he was giving them no time to make other plans. He could spring it on them whenever, and they'd have to say 'yes, sir' and rush to join the operation. Everything he was doing just screamed incoming betrayal, and it pissed her off that Maine couldn't see it.
Well, Pilar would be sad he missed free drinks. He wasn't any more eager to work with a corpo either, but she guessed he at least had the sense to not spend any unnecessary time with Seiji. He was smart enough to know that he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut.
"I'm heading back," Lucy said, the moment the meeting was over. Her eyes never left Seiji, who was at the bar now.
"Are you going to be able to work with him?" Kiwi asked bluntly, arms crossed.
"I can," Lucy agreed. Honestly, Rebecca wasn't sure herself. Lucy tried to hide it, but she was terrified of Arasaka, and unlike the rest of them, she didn't know Sasha. "His plan is good. He knows what he's doing."
"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," Rebecca scoffed. "He's too slick. This is Night City, nothing goes that well."
"Half our jobs would, if you didn't let your emotions control you," Kiwi replied bluntly. "He's not wrong to call you hotheaded. All you'll have to do is cause a scene in Biotechnica's backyard, then pull out. It's easy money, and we get to save Sasha as well. Don't fuck this up, Rebecca."
With her piece said, Kiwi headed to the bar herself. Kiwi was the coldest bitch in their group, so it wasn't a surprise that she was most willing to play nice with the corpo. As Maine lectured her like she was a fucking kid, she zoned him out. None of them were going to listen to her worries, either too busy kissing corpo ass or too scared to risk going behind Seiji's back.
As the others started to spread out, taking advantage of the tab Seiji had set up, she spotted Kiwi and Seiji getting cosy. Approaching, she listened as they discussed netrunning shit that went way over her head, every other word sounding like a different language.
"So, how the fuck did you end up a corpo bootlicker anyway?" Rebecca cut in as she sat down, swirling her drink. Despite her mocking words, Seiji just laughed.
"It's in my blood. Both my parents worked for the same corporation and fought in the Fourth Corporate War. They performed well and were rewarded when it ended," Seiji admitted with a shrug. "It meant I got in early and rose quicker than most. Better equipment, better training, better connections."
"So their big reward for fighting in a war was for their son to become a corporate slave?" Rebecca scoffed. Yeah, that sounded about right. Why actually reward your 'assets' when you can put a collar around their kids' necks and make them thank you for it? Fucker was probably brainwashed from birth for this shit. Some corpos treated their corporation more like a fucking cult than a job, and it sounded like his parents had drunk the kool-aid. "You know you're just another disposable tool, right?"
"Rebecca," Kiwi warned, getting an unrepentant shrug from her. She wasn't going to sugarcoat shit.
"I'm not so disposable," Seiji replied coolly. "Far less so than you mercs, anyway. For all your bravado, mercs are corporate tools as well. For when we don't want to get our hands dirty. How many of your jobs have come from a corp working through deniable assets? Of course, there are also the mercs who go the anti-corp route, where they become legends… or corpses. Usually both."
"At least this line of work means I get to occasionally put a bullet in between the eyes of smug corpo pricks," Rebecca mumbled, unable to deny his words. "Like you."
"I assure you… If you managed to kill them, they were not like me. Besides, you think I don't? I've killed more corps than your entire crew, and half the mercs in this bar, combined, and it's not even close," Seiji snorted, sipping his drink. "Corpos don't worry about mercs. They worry about other corpos."
"Yeah, well, you're still a prick," Rebecca countered, feeling oddly insulted that he was claiming to have a higher kill count than hers. "And I bet I'm a better shot."
"There's a weapons shop with a small range one block over. Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Seiji asked, a competitive smirk on his lips. Glaring at him, she paused before she downed her drink.
"You're on, suit," Rebecca growled, slamming the glass down. He'd humiliated her once, but she wasn't going to lose to some deskjockey with fancy chrome.
– Later –
Cunt-fucking-bullshit. He had to have some bullshit, corpo skillsoft.
"Now, now, don't be a sore loser," Seiji taunted, his hand on her head, gripping her hair roughly. She'd show him sore loser if he didn't stop fucking taunting her, her teeth grazing against his length for just a moment before she pulled them back. He continued to pump his hips, his balls slapping against her chin as she paid for her drunken bet. She should have just turned and put a bullet in him instead of taking his bet, they knew where Sasha was now anyway.
Her throat bulged as the fat dick slid down it, and she just glared up at him, one hand on his thigh as the other stroked between her legs as she knelt on her oversized jacket. How the fuck had she gotten herself into this mess? Well, because he fucking hustled her by letting her win the first round and paying up. Nobody suddenly gets that much better at shooting between rounds. After that, her pride did the rest.
"Fuck, at least your bratty little mouth is good for something, merc," Seiji groaned, feeling her throat constrict around his cock. Fuck, why did he have to have a nice cock? Probably bought that shit at some fancy corpo store, made to order. He even tasted good, the cheating cunt.
With a grunt, he thrust into her mouth and held her head down by her pigtails, making her claw at his thighs as she felt his cock twitch and throb. Each twitch sent more of his corpo seed down her gullet.
And here she'd been bitching about Kiwi and Maine kissing Corpo ass.
When he finally pulled back, he gave her a satisfied smirk as a thin strand of saliva and semen connected her panting lips to his still hard cock.
"Yeah, yeah, your made-to-order cock is very nice. How much of Daddy's money did it cost?" Rebecca spat out, wiping her mouth.
"My dad has been dead for over twenty years, and that's all natural," Seiji laughed, stroking her hair as she batted away his hand with a half-hearted growl.
"Bullshit," Rebecca scoffed, looking down at the large cock, still erect and dripping with semen.
"It's a matter of risk assessment. Every piece of cyberware you have implanted is another potential vulnerability. I don't get cosmetic cyberware. Too risky in my line of work, and nobody wants a hacked cock," Seiji laughed, offering her a hand up. She batted it away, pulling her bra back down and rising as she grabbed her jacket and threw it back on, fixing her clothes. She paused for a moment, considering just what a hacked dick would look like. Did it just explode? Overheat? Maybe he had a point there.
"Yeah, whatever. Don't look so fucking smug," Rebecca grumbled.
"I told you before, I got the best training money could buy. You're good, for an untrained street-kid, but natural talent can't beat natural talent, excellent training and experience," Seiji boasted with a cocky grin. "Up for another round?"
"Fuck that," Rebecca spat out. Getting conned out of a blowjob was bad enough. If she wasn't sure it'd fuck over their chances at Sasha, she'd have told him to cut his cock off and stuck it up his ass, lost bet or not.
"Shame," Seiji replied, giving her a once over. "I've got some way better drinks back at my place, and I did pull you away from the Afterlife before you could drain the tab…"
Rebecca paused, glancing down at his dick one last time as he fixed his clothes. She wasn't sure how he'd got the owner to let them in, but the old man hadn't bothered them and Seiji assured her he'd hacked the cameras.
She hadn't gotten off with her hand. This was a really bad fucking idea. He was literally a corpo backstabbing, cheating assassin.
"I'm on top, you don't talk."
Maybe it was the drink talking, but 'fuck the corps' sounded like a good idea right now. She was probably going to kill him soon, but at least he had a fat cock.
— Bonus Scene – Judy Álvarez –
"This isn't a fucking game, Ev," Judy groaned, knowing that Evelyn had already made her mind up and nothing, not even her, could change it. "Maiko gets away with it because she's his regular, but you're just asking to get burnt."
"Judy, stop and think for a moment. Who controls Clouds?" Evelyn asked, and Judy just sighed.
"The Tyger Claws, who you shouldn't be fucking with," Judy pointed out. "You wouldn't be the first Doll to think she can outsmart them."
"And who controls the Tyger Claws?" Evelyn pressed on.
"Arasaka, who you absolutely shouldn't be fucking with. If you piss off our Claws bosses, you end up dead… when they are done with you. If you piss off Arasaka? We'll all end up wishing we were dead," Judy doubled down. "If, if, this guy is as high-ranking in Arasaka as you seem to think he is, you shouldn't go anywhere near him."
Why did she have a thing for ambitious girls? She'd had this same fucking conversation with Maiko when she first became Seiji's Doll of choice. Judy wasn't stupid. If Moriyama was as important as both girls thought, turning him down was just as dangerous as accepting his patronage, so Maiko had a reason to play nice with the far too slick corpo, but Evelyn was actively trying to approach him.
She'd seen Seiji twice, curious to know who was fucking her girlfriend on the regular. She took one look and booked it back into the back of house, away from the most Arasaka Samurai looking motherfucker in history.
If you looked up the phrase Arasaka Assassin on the net, you'd get a picture of Seiji Moriyama followed by him showing up at your house and making your gonk ass disappear. He wasn't the stuble, secret type. He was the type of Corpo Samurai that wore it like a badge of honour, letting you know exactly who you were fucking with from a glance. She'd seen Woodman kissing Seiji's ass, and Woodman hated dealing with clients.
She also knew that Seiji had not been scanned by the Clouds system, which they used to gather data on their clients. Nor did he take the Dolls into one of the rigged rooms full of hidden cameras; instead, he called them to his penthouse, which, again, was not standard Clouds procedure. So, they had a deadly-looking corpo suit that Clouds bent over and spread its legs for. Yeah, he was absolutely fucking Arasaka.
"Whoever he is, he has enough pull to make Clouds do whatever the fuck he wants. You know Woodman took Maiko aside and ordered her to pull out all the stops for this guy," Evelyn pointed out. "This could be our big break, Judy."
"Your big break. You know I'm not exactly attached to this fucking place," Judy pointed out. If Maiko and Ev weren't here, she'd have fucked off months ago. Maybe got a job with the Mox, they always needed braindance specialists. "Besides, Maiko doesn't exactly like you, and she's already his favourite doll. She's not exactly gonna help you."
Maiko and Ev were far too similar to get along with each other. Both wannabe corpos, who thought they were destined for bigger and better things. But this was Night City, nobody was destined for anything and dipping your toes into the corpo waters was just asking for a much bigger fish to pull you in and eat you alive.
"She doesn't have to like me to know the benefits of working with me. Seiji wants her to bring someone else, and I'm the best Doll in Clouds. She can't risk bringing someone who is going to fuck up and disappoint him," Evelyn waved off, utter confidence in her tone. She wasn't exactly wrong on either front. Evelyn was one of the top-rated Dolls in Clouds, for good reason.
"So, instead of disappointing him, your plan is to piss him off when the high-ranking Corpo realises you're trying to use him," Judy deadpanned, getting an almost offended laugh from Evelyn.
"Please, Judy, give me some credit. I know what I'm doing," Evelyn reassured her.
"No, you don't," Judy replied instantly, unwilling to sugarcoat it.
Author's Note: Evelyn on her way to make a scheme that has her, at the very least, betray Arasaka, Dexter DeShawn, and the Voodoo Boys: 'Nah, I'd win.' The more I think about her plan in the game, the more I realise just how delusional this girl is.
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