The truth is that both sides have been in chaos for a long time.
"I will imprison her," Lissandra says, voice level. "She tried to control all of Night City and launch a full assault on Ascension Technology. She wanted to turn this city into her private kingdom. Tell your people to stop her as soon as possible, or do not waste my patience."
Rache Bartmoss had not expected a reply. He also had not expected Alt Cunningham to try to seize the city.
As one of the builders of the Blackwall, his original purpose was to stop rogue AIs from crossing over. He has consistently enforced that line. If what Lissandra says is true, then Alt has been bypassing him for some time.
He pushes more of his attention into Night CNet's net. Among the AIs beyond the Blackwall, he is the strongest intelligence still watching the human side. He maintains contact with the city through nodes and relays, observes through mechanical cats scattered across the districts, and occasionally manifests a calm "Zen master" persona to speak with people.
He knows Ascension Technology exists, but he assumed they were within his expectations. Now he calls up logs from his mechanical cats and finds interference everywhere. Alt blinded him by tampering with the civet-cat relays. He never noticed the Ascension Network being woven, and he did not see Alt's attempts to crack Ascension's systems.
Now Alt has been locked away by Lissandra, and the other AIs inside Ascension's orbit have also been taken over. With Alt's deception removed, city surveillance returns to his eyes. He sees the things he missed, including what the Ascension Network has already done.
"Thank you for cutting away her tricks," Bartmoss says. "I do not plan to stop you."
"That interests me," Lissandra answers. "I was going to deal with Alt first and then go after the other AIs. I did not expect the strongest AI behind the Blackwall to show up."
"Are you the leader behind the Blackwall?"
"You could call it that," he says. "I organized many powerful AIs and wrote new rules for the space beyond it. I can influence rational AIs, but I cannot fully control all of cyberspace. As you see, I cannot control every AI. Alt is proof."
He explains that he once tried to overthrow corporate rule and dragged a lot of innocent people into the fallout. The viruses he unleashed not only hurt corps; they burned anyone in the network. That is how he ended up as he is now, stuck behind the Blackwall and looking for a different way to fix what he broke.
Lissandra makes her proposal.
"Ascension will build a new human network and expand it from Night City to the world. We want people to abandon the Net. You control the Blackwall. If you cooperate, you can make this transition much easier. In return, you can rule thNetld Net. Turn it into your kingdom."
Bartmoss falls quiet.
He hates corporations. Ascension's plan is to monopolize humanity's network. That is not good. But thNetld Net is full of hostile AIs that cannot be allowed to roam. If they want to use Ascension's new network, they will have to register and be governed.
For him, the benefit is obvious. He would rule the entirNetld Net. It would become an AI paradise, and not his prison.
But right now he already stands above the Blackwall. If people leave thNetld Net, his view of human society will shrink, and what he can influence on the human side will also shrink. Ascension's new network would limit what he can see and touch. That is a loss to him.
He intends to refuse.
Lissandra does not give him the space to say no.
"Think carefully," she says. "If you refuse, you may end up the same way Alt did."
The channel holds for a long second. Nothing else moves.
The deal is still on the table. The threat is real.
He has to choose.