MHGA Chapter 224 – A Hacker to Stun the Crowd!
"A job that's freakin' huge?"
V raised an eyebrow, then sat down right across from Kairo Retsu.
"I know you Hunters have been stirring up plenty of action around Night City lately… To be honest…"
She eyed Kairo as she spoke:
"You guys seem like rich boys with too much money and nowhere to spend it—so you decided to come do charity work in Night City."
"Well, that's just perfect. From now on, call me Young Master Retsu, thanks."
Kairo scratched his chin.
"…Tch. Actually, 'Master Retsu' sounds pretty damn off."
"No joke though, I am here to hire you for a big job. But this isn't the right place to talk about it."
Kairo glanced around the Afterlife Bar.
"Too many eyes and ears. Tonight, I just wanted to meet you in person."
He snapped his fingers and pointed at V.
"Same question: a nobody… or a name known across the world?
Which one do you pick?"
"If you don't make a name for yourself, you're nothing but a corpse."
V narrowed her eyes. "That's how it works in Night City. No other options."
"Right, right. But you still have plenty of choices."
Kairo said this as he stood up.
"Come on, our ride's already waiting outside. I booked us a prime spot at Afterlife. Let's talk business."
"Holy shit—Afterlife?!"
Jackie nudged V in excitement.
"Chica! You hear that? Afterlife!"
"I heard it, Jackie. Chill."
V, clearly excited too, kept it in check.
"You're the Hunters' leader, huh… Being able to freely enter Afterlife, sit down with us, and talk shop—"
"Don't call me leader."
Kairo grinned wide.
"Call me Guildmaster."
The group exited the Afterlife Bar, where a rugged off-road vehicle flashed its lights as it pulled up to them.
From the driver's seat, Joseph popped his head out and called:
"Guildmaster! Car's ready!"
"…."
Looking at the quiet street, hearing the oh-so-familiar voice lines, and seeing that vehicle driven by this fresh-faced menace to all things automotive…
Kairo had a moment of serious doubt.
Was it really a good idea to ride this thing to Afterlife?
Still, once they got in—nervous but committed—Kairo finally opened up.
"This trip to Afterlife? Mainly so you can meet the people you'll be working with on this job.
Of course, you can also hear the job first and then decide whether you're in."
"If you're being this cautious… it's gotta be one hell of a job, huh?"
V asked.
"Don't tell me you're planning to blow up Arasaka Tower."
"Heh."
Kairo flashed a mysterious smile.
"…?"
V got visibly unsettled.
"You're not seriously planning to blow up Arasaka Tower, are you?"
"C'mon. You think we'd pull a stunt like that?"
Kairo waved it off.
"We don't have that kind of firepower."
Truthfully, he just wanted to mess with V's reaction.
"But this job is related to Arasaka."
Kairo snapped his fingers.
"Did you know… Yorinobu Arasaka is already in Night City?"
"Yorinobu Arasaka?! The prince of Arasaka Corp?!"
Jackie shouted.
"He actually came to Night City?!"
"Yup. This job's about him."
Kairo continued, "He's staying in the top-floor suite of the Konpeki Plaza.
…Damn, that place again."
"The job is simple: infiltrate Konpeki Plaza, locate Yorinobu Arasaka…
Piece of cake, right?"
V didn't look amused.
"You say that like it's nothing—he's Yorinobu Arasaka, heir to the damn empire!
If anything happens to him, the fallout would be astronomical!"
"Who said anything's gonna happen to him?"
Kairo shook his head.
"We can't let anything happen to him. If something did… who'd we negotiate our deal with?"
He opened his hands.
"All we want is to sit down and have a very important business talk with him.
That's it."
"Bullshit! You've lost it!"
V finally snapped.
"If you wanted a meeting, there are hundreds of ways to go through Arasaka channels!
You just had to pick the time he's living in one of the most heavily guarded buildings in Night City to go say hi?!"
"V, calm down."
Jackie jumped in to play peacemaker.
"There's gotta be more to it than that—"
"You said it yourself—'through Arasaka.'"
Kairo crossed his arms.
"No rush. Once you meet the people we've assembled for this mission…
You'll see it's not that hard."
He nodded toward the front seat.
"Say hi to our top-tier netrunner. You can call him Joseph."
"Yo," Joseph finally spoke up.
"…Huh?"
V blinked.
"This kid… what is he, twenty? He's your netrunner?"
"You're kidding me, right? You think we're just playing pretend here?"
V grabbed Kairo by the collar.
"I don't know what kind of delusions you rich boys have, but we risk our lives for every job!
We don't have time to march into suicide!"
"Uh-oh! Joseph—she's doubting you!"
Kairo raised an eyebrow.
"Show her what a legendary netrunner looks like!"
"I'm not a netrunner… I don't even know how to use this tech crap."
Despite saying that, Joseph still acted.
But V didn't see any movement.
Her instincts kicked in.
Was he about to launch a hack?
Stay calm… she wasn't the best hacker, but she knew her way around ICE and breaching.
This kid looked barely old enough to—
And then blackness—
Suddenly, she lost all control of her body.
It only lasted about thirty seconds.
But it was long enough to know—this wasn't normal.
"…I gotta ask," V said, staring straight at Joseph behind the wheel.
"What kind of hacking was that?"
She'd been around the block.
But she'd never been hit with something she couldn't even sense coming.
"…Guess you could call it hacking."
Joseph muttered as he drove.
All he'd done was send a tendril of Hermit Purple to interface with the cyberware in V's body…
Hermit Purple really was ridiculously useful.
"When we get there, you'll see what it means to truly stun the crowd."
Kairo glanced at V and added:
"If you're wondering why we came to you…"
He stroked his chin and looked her up and down.
"I've got a custom Braindance.
Wanna try it?"
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