Chapter 152: My Patience Is Wearing Thin
Joric's surveillance network switched camera feeds, intermittently tracking her trajectory.
Leveraging her familiarity with the spaceport's layout, she evaded search teams, eventually infiltrating the underground vehicle dispatch zone. She hijacked a cargo truck, rammed through a barrier, and burst out of the spaceport's restricted area, merging into the intercity traffic.
Shortly after she entered the flow of traffic, Joric detected a brief outgoing call from her personal encrypted communicator. The destination number was routed through multiple relays but ultimately traced back to a registration belonging to Jackie Welles.
"Seeking external assistance. A logical choice," Joric murmured.
He immediately intensified surveillance on Jackie Welles's frequent communication channels and the cameras around his residence.
Soon, footage showed Jackie speeding in his car to a secluded rendezvous point agreed upon with Valerie, picking up the blood-soaked, pale woman.
Inside the car, Jackie was visibly shocked and anxious about Valerie's injuries and the fact she was being hunted by the Corp.
By hacking both their personal terminals and utilizing lip-reading software, Joric parsed parts of their conversation.
Jackie: "Jesus! V! What... what the hell is going on? Why does the Corp want you dead?"
Valerie (V): Voice weak but clear. "Political purge... Jenkins is down... I've become a loose end... a witness that needs cleaning..."
Jackie: "Shit! So what now? I take you to Padre? Or..."
Valerie: "No... Padre might not be able to stop Arasaka's hunt... We need... stronger protection."
Jackie: "Maine! Right! Let's find Maine's crew! They just went toe-to-toe with Arasaka and won! That mysterious 'Boss' behind them..."
In Joric's processor, the variable weight representing "Maine's Crew" ticked up slightly.
Their performance had indeed attracted broader attention, even becoming a potential source of aid for the desperate.
Just as Valerie struggled with her uninjured hand to operate a burner encrypted communicator, attempting to contact Maine, Joric's monitoring showed the alert level within Arasaka's internal security system rising again.
A special operations unit was activated. Member designations were obscured, and their equipment signal signatures were distinct from regular security forces. Their predicted trajectory pointed straight at the sector where Valerie was last seen.
"Cyber-ninjas. Compared to the Assassins of the Officio Assassinorum, they are crude and primitive." Joric identified the unit type.
These were the terrifying killers Arasaka used for various covert missions, though in Joric's eyes, they were like the clumsy work of a child.
Meanwhile, at the Badlands bastion, Maine and the others received Valerie's faint distress signal on their comms channel.
"Valerie? How are you... what did you say? Arasaka is hunting you? This..." Maine's voice carried shock.
Dorio, Rebecca, and the others gathered around, faces showing disbelief and hesitation.
Aiding a former corporate executive, especially one actively hunted by Arasaka with full force, carried risks far exceeding their usual street skirmishes.
Just as Maine hesitated, weighing the pros and cons, a cold, steady, synthesized voice cut into their comms channel without warning.
The voice overrode the original frequency directly, carrying an unquestionable authority.
"Permit her entry into the Badlands zone." It was Joric.
The channel fell instantly silent.
Maine and the others were clearly stunned by this sudden, direct intervention.
Ignoring their shock, Joric continued in that factual tone. "Coordinates have been sent to your navigation system, Jackie Welles.
"Proceed along the indicated route to temporarily evade routine tracking.
"Pursuers are three Cyber-ninjas. Estimated time of arrival at Badlands perimeter: twenty-seven minutes."
His words held no emotional fluctuation, as if reading a weather report.
But to Maine and the others, this brief message contained massive information and suffocating pressure—the Boss not only knew Valerie was asking for help and that Jackie was present, but he also already knew the specific model, number, and precise arrival time of the pursuers!
On the other end of the line, Valerie and Jackie heard the voice too.
A flicker of shock passed over Valerie's pale face, followed by the complex emotion of finding hope in a desperate situation.
Jackie almost instinctively yanked the steering wheel, driving according to the new route map that suddenly appeared on his navigation screen.
Joric cut the direct link to Maine's crew, his attention returning to the main console.
A mechadendrite tapped lightly on an interface. The defensive surveillance systems on the Badlands perimeter and several dormant automated weapon platforms were quietly activated.
Simultaneously, he tightened his monitoring on the Cyber-ninja squad's route. Their signals were as distinct as fireflies in the dark against the city's background noise.
He did not intend to deal with these clumsy toys personally.
Maine's crew needed live combat to test and improve themselves. Whether Valerie lived or died made no fundamental difference to him.
What truly caused the weights of "Efficiency" and "Tranquility" in his logic-core to shift was Arasaka Corporation itself.
Once, twice... like a virus impossible to eradicate, continuously generating unplanned interference.
Jenkins' compromise failed to bring stability; instead, it invited more radical purging and hunting from HQ.
This cycle of internal chaos and external provocation was, in his eyes, proof that the system itself possessed fatal redundancy and inefficiency.
Continuing to invest resources in passive response or limited deterrence was no longer the optimal solution.
His crimson optical lenses seemed to refocus on Bartmoss's neural map, but a high-priority independent process had been activated.
The data from his previous infiltration and monitoring of the Arasaka network was rapidly retrieved, integrated, and analyzed.
The goal was no longer merely observation or intel gathering, but a systematic vulnerability assessment: physical locations and defense levels of core data nodes, biometric signals and behavioral patterns of key personnel, encrypted comms links between HQ and the Night City branch, and even the primary hubs of their energy supply...
Inside the manufactorum, the hum of the power conduits seemed to take on a different frequency—a low pitch hiding a sharp edge ready to strike.
He was no longer satisfied with trimming the tentacles reaching out.
He was preparing to locate the core source that kept breeding trouble, and then execute a thorough, physical-layer formatting.
In the darkness outside the Badlands, Arasaka's killing machines were approaching at high speed.
They thought this was a hunt to clean up a traitor.
They did not know they were charging toward the focal point of an observer's gaze. And this observer, having lost his last shred of patience due to the ceaseless noise interference, was preparing to wipe the observed target itself completely from reality.
Everything continued to unfold methodically under the gaze of those crimson lenses deep within the workshop.
Only now, that gaze no longer held any interest in exploration. There remained only the cold countdown before the final purge of a massive system about to be designated as "scrap."
(End of Chapter)