Faelan's actions had triggered far more alarms in Night City than he expected. People across various power structures were unsettled by the second tree rising imposingly where the Animals used to gather.
Everyone knew who was behind it. After all, this wasn't the first time they'd seen him.
Some even started asking questions.
First Maelstrom, now the Animals—who would be next?
Sure, technically they'd been provoked, but... the reaction was beyond what was normal.
Some turned their eyes toward the remaining major gangs—Tiger Claws, Valentinos, the Mox, 6th Street, or the Voodoo Boys—waiting to see their reactions before taking any steps or making any moves.
As for the idea of some mid-tier gang trying to "move up a league" by taking advantage of the chaos, no one was dumb enough to try it now—not when the city was just looking for a target to vent its twitchy trigger fingers. They'd wait for the heat to die down, then slowly sniff out their opportunities.
But the results were eerily dull, leaving many confused.
The Mox folded their arms, whistling distractedly with sweat-drenched backs, and the Valentinos acted like they saw nothing—some even praised the change of scenery, saying how more greenery would do the city's air some good.
The Tiger Claws were unexpectedly quiet about it, almost as if they'd received direct orders from the top to stay out of this.
But people put two and two together quickly.
They were, in fact, benefiting greatly from the disappearance of those two gangs.
It'd be strange if the Tiger Claws took action against their "benefactors."
6th Street, on the other hand, was forced to start digging. They had been the most dismissive, the most vocal in belittling the situation, and now they were scrambling to figure out just what the hell they might be up against—and how much ammo they'd need to deal with it.
They were like bugs dropped onto a hot skillet.
The strongest reaction came from the Animals' mortal enemies: the Voodoo Boys. They couldn't believe those muscleheads were really gone for good.
Instead of celebrating while reclaiming (and expanding) their territory, unease gnawed at them. The question of who's next lingered... and for some strange reason, they had a gut feeling it might be them.
They deployed their best netrunners to extract intel, and were alarmed to find... gaps in the data. As if someone had taken bites out of the files—slicing away the most important parts and leaving behind only crumbs.
Worse yet, they tried hacking some secured data cores and failed.
Was it the work of an AI? Or were there netrunners in Night City they hadn't accounted for?
Good netrunners. With quality chrome.
And yet, the external gear needed for deep netrunning was something they always kept tabs on. They secured the best components and always knew who bought what. They even had medtechs on payroll to notify them when someone got fitted with specialized implants.
So how the hell were they doing it?
…
"This is the sixth wave in the last hour," Sasha groaned, visor down, while helping Kiwi fend off the annoying fish trying to nibble at the company systems.
Anyone else in her position would be screaming at the ceiling in frustration.
The Voodoo Boys might not be using their full capacity, but they'd dedicated a good chunk of people and resources to their current offensive. They never would've guessed the other side was using only two people to hold them back.
"We just need to hang on for twenty more minutes while I finish transferring the data to the new secure physical server, plant the forgeries, and install a new ICE for show," Kiwi replied calmly.
Far from being submerged in chilled water tanks for a deep dive, both of them were lounging comfortably, occasionally sipping cold water. Turns out, the potion Faelan made to help Kiwi manage the system's heat worked perfectly—ideal for the intense sessions they were dealing with now.
Sasha could vouch for it. She'd never pushed her implants this hard before, afraid she'd fry something or need to replace a scorched part.
Now? She didn't even feel a hint of heat—just cool and comfortable.
The Voodoo Boys would kill for that potion.
"They're probably fuming right now," Sasha laughed, kicking her legs. "Then later, when we're gone, they'll think they finally have a shot at breaching the ICE, and after, like, another six hours of hardcore hacking, they'll be celebrating their progress, all happy and stuff…" She paused. "What exactly did you leave as bait, Kiwi?"
Kiwi laughed and shot her a sinister glance, even through the visor.
"Nine composite files that have to be combined and opened in a specific order to generate a new compressed archive with 250 passwords—each at least twelve characters long. One mistake resets all of them. The final decompression leads to documents totaling ten terabytes."
She took a sip of cold water.
Sasha swallowed hard. Something like that… would take her at least two months without external help.
"That's one hell of a bait."
Kiwi tilted her head toward her.
"Oh? That's just the basic setup," she clarified. "Besides…"
There was more!?
Only once Kiwi finished describing what amounted to a digital nightmare did Sasha finally ask:
"What will they find if they actually open it all?"
Curiosity was eating her alive.
"Well…" Kiwi's lips curled into a slight smile. "Remember that old movie we watched one night? The one with the dinosaur park from decades ago?"
Sasha lifted her visor and stared at her, hoping she misunderstood.
"You mean… after all that time and effort, what the Voodoo Boys will get is a daemon that locks their entire system down and displays that guy wagging his finger on all their monitors, making that annoying noise?"
"Yup," Kiwi popped the 'p' with smug satisfaction. "Though I have no idea if the ones logged in at that moment will survive. But if they're dumb enough to open the file, let them crack open Pandora's box."
It was a little side project she'd been tinkering with in her free time. At this point, even she didn't know how strong that daemon had gotten—but it should be a hell of a scare.
"Remind me to never piss you off," Sasha muttered, pulling her visor back down to keep dealing with the intrusions.
"I will. You're kind of annoying sometimes," Kiwi promised, flatly.
"Hey! I'm just—"
"Yeah, yeah. Adorable. We know." Kiwi rolled her eyes.
That's what she meant!
Sasha puffed up her cheeks in a pout, but said nothing more.
…
"So, you're not going to be working on the formulas for Hanako-sama?" Galina asked as she accompanied Faelan, temporarily replacing Dorio as his bodyguard. "And how long is Dorio going to keep sleeping? Her snores nearly unscrewed the bolts in the apartment."
The two were currently in a car driving through Night City, with Galina behind the wheel, heading toward an address Faelan had given her.
"She'll sleep for at least a couple more days. As for your first question: until the company's warehouse containers and part of my workshop are replaced, I can't make the formulas in significant quantities," Faelan replied, tapping his fingers on the car window.
Even if they'd already hired firms and staff for the reconstruction, it had only been a day since everything happened. They could move faster—but that'd mean more money. A lot more.
"Do you know a guy named Kawatatsu?" Faelan asked.
Knowing Galina had been close to his mother, he figured she might know the guy.
The fact he only knew his name made Faelan uneasy.
"How do you—? Ugh, never mind," Galina tightened her grip on the wheel. "Yeah, I know him. Back when I was still running with Tasogare, we crossed paths with that leech more than once." Just mentioning the guy left a sour taste in her mouth. "He was also part of a team—his crew was called Hyena. They handled the real dirty work for Yorinobu. Don't ask me what kind of stuff. Boss would flip if I told you."
Wow. Being the son of her best friend really added new layers to this.
"Kawatatsu's the one who, after my mother died, took custody of me… and sold me to—"
SCREEECH!
The car skidded as Galina slammed on the brakes, pulling off a maneuver Faelan couldn't begin to understand—dropping down to the lower road and sliding into a gap between parked cars.
Galina grabbed him by the shoulders, hard.
"Are you SURE about that?!"
"That's what the guy from Arasaka told me—though he seemed confused too. Apparently, someone else was supposed to be sent in my place—"
"Kenichi Zaburo-sama," Galina finished, slumping back in her seat. "Hanako-sama would've sent Kenichi…"
Faelan was about to ask for more details, but Galina suddenly slammed her fists on the steering wheel, warping the alloy frame.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" she screamed, angrier than he'd ever seen her.
Now everything made sense.
There's no way the boss wouldn't have told her when she went into labor. It was that bastard—he intercepted the communications and faked Faelan's death.
Not only that, the bastard emptied Makoto's bank account, sold her kid to a factory, and—
Wait!
A terrifying possibility formed in her mind.
The boss would NEVER have allowed Kawatatsu near her during something as vulnerable and intimate as childbirth—not in the same building, not even the same city.
Giving him custody of her newborn child after her death? Even less likely.
…
Did Motoko Kusanagi really die giving birth?