After leaving all the modifications to Adcardo, Mercer finally concluded his busy schedule, relaxed, and called the team to Rebirth, planning to hold a proper celebration banquet.
Meanwhile, he figured he'd chat with Rogue a bit—selling the stolen biotech information only to Wagako seemed like a rip-off, maybe Rogue had another channel, possibly to make some extra cash?
But there was one piece of information Mercer kept tightly under wraps.
That was about Joanna using the virus immunity drug to try and deceive Military Science into investing in the 'Super Soldier' project.
The whole video of interrogating Emilia, he only gave to Diana Kuno. It wasn't that Mercer intended to keep biotech's dirt under wraps.
Rather, he planned to delete the part about 'Joanna trying to use the creation of the immunity drug to paint a rosy picture and lure investment from Military Science' before sharing this video with others who had connections.
The reason...
Of course, it's because Mercer would love to see biotech seriously screwing over Military Science.
Maybe Dr. Diana would even have to pay Mercer hush money because the initial project funds were already sunk, and the dirt was sure to get out. If they didn't make any profit...
Forget about the director position, she might end up being exiled to the Antarctica to watch penguins.
Once Military Science falls for it, he'll head over to inform them they've been duped, making a hefty sum of intel fee and gaining favors, wouldn't that be sweet?
When dealing with companies, you have to really rip them off, otherwise, why would Mercer be hiding out in Dog Town?
Besides, the machine Mercer wanted wasn't his yet, and he couldn't let Diana collapse too early.
...
At night, at the Rebirth Bar.
When people saw the youthful Rebecca loudly taking a seat at the bar, the Rebirth mercenaries' expressions seemed a bit hard to maintain.
What the heck is going on?
But when Mercer, wearing a mask, and Lucy, with a fox mask, came in, those mercenaries tacitly turned their gazes away.
Out of all the mercenaries present, who could confidently deal with a rampaging Fenrir in just a few seconds?
Because the cyber-psychosis incident that happened was the only combat incident at Rebirth in recent years, unusually making it a hot topic among the Rebirth mercenaries.
And unexpectedly making Mercer, who was new in town, a 'celebrity' heard by many mercenaries.
At that moment, seeing that Mercer now clearly had signs of implants on his body, and the number of his team members had expanded quite a bit.
Many people felt—another soon-to-be-famous new team might emerge at the Rebirth Bar.
"A little Coca Cola?" Claire, behind the bar, shot Mercer an intrigued smile as she greeted him.
"Sure, have a drink before finding Rogue, she should have just finished her work,"
Mercer replied.
Claire glanced at his exposed neck: "What did you change? It's pretty rare for someone to have a neck implant, or is it just for aesthetics?"
In the cyberpunk world, it's not uncommon for people to get implants for looks, some even coat their bodies in silver, making themselves look like metal men, dubbing such style as 'Kitschism', a viewed fashion trend.
The electroluminescent tattoos on Mercer and Lucy's faces are examples of commonplace trendy implant decorations in this world.
Like the outfit in the game V wears with a collar that lights up with LED lights, it also belongs to the street trend of Kitschism.
"What I changed is a secret, but as a hacker, it's all relevant to my work, you could say I'm a classic 'Entropicist', as long as it's useful, I don't really care how I look,"
Entropicism, essentially utilitarianism, opposed to the above style.
After Mercer finished speaking, he paused and chuckled, "As long as my handsome face is still there, I'm good."
"Who knows if you're handsome?" Claire teased, glancing at his mask.
Rebecca suddenly perked up, "I think he's pretty handsome… I like it."
"Hold on, since when have you seen him?" V's eyes widened.
Then V turned to see Lucy, then Rebecca, Qiwei, finally incredulously said, "Am I the only one who hasn't seen his real face yet?"
"Not really... Rebecca took a peek when I wasn't paying attention, it wasn't favoritism,"
Mercer explained, V got a bit agitated: "You liar! Don't think I don't know you've got a Synaptic Accelerator! At Rebecca's speed, you could dodge her attempts ten times over!"
"The Synaptic Accelerator speeds up my brain, not my body... hey! Just so you know, don't you try copying her,"
Mercer quickly warned the eager V, "You're not a kid anymore."
That did the trick for V, who pouted, looked at Rebecca, and finally with a sullen expression, drank down a glass of whiskey.
Claire couldn't help but laugh, "You guys seem closer now."
"Yeah, the ones I brought today are all official members of my team now, V, Rebecca, Pira, Qiwei, Lucy."
Mercer gestured to the people around him, "Spark Team, our team's name will soon resonate in Rebirth."