"As you can see, Ascension Technology's move has hit Ziggurat hard. We will respond quickly, contain the crisis, and restore our lead over the city's network."
The Ziggurat supervisor kept his tone steady while he briefed the blue-eyed man in the suit.
"We do not want a city network beyond our control," the man said. "Stabilize the situation at any cost. Night Corp will increase support so you can counter Ascension. Do not disappoint us."
He was Night Corp, no question.
From the first days of building Night City's data backbone, Ziggurat had relied on Night Corp money. The relationship never changed. Ziggurat ran CitiNet, but Night Corp's influence could steer the current. So when the network shook, Night Corp arrived in person, and the supervisor set his posture low.
"Thank you for the support. We will resolve this very soon," the supervisor said. "Ascension is young. They have announced a lot without visible results. It will be the same this time."
"It had better be. If Night City's current network becomes history, you know the consequences."
The man's eyes were a deep, unnatural blue. The supervisor had met many Night Corp people—agents, staffers, executives. Different faces, the same blue. Every time those eyes settled on him, he felt watched by something that was not entirely human.
"Yes," he answered quickly.
If they failed here, lost revenue would be the most minor wound. Ziggurat still held contracts in other North American cities. The actual threat was Night Corp pressure. If Night Corp pulled the plug, that would be the real hit.
…
Leaving Ziggurat headquarters, the suited man's expression stayed calm, but Night Corp clearly felt the impact more than they let on.
Municipal Center
Top floor, Night Corp Tower, core zone
An office of glass and quiet air
Another blue-eyed man stood at the window, looking across Corporate Plaza while his mind dove into the Net.
If Rocky were here, he would recognize him: the mysterious "Mr. Blue Eyes" who, in the City King ending, commissions V to hit the Crystal Palace.
He checked a program already downloaded into his personal system.
It was the modem-upgrade package from Ascension's official site, used to redirect devices into the Ascension Network.
A blue pulse moved across his irises as he spun up the system, trying to reverse the package and extract the connection scheme Ascension used.
After a long attempt, he failed. The encryption did not match any tool or method on the market. It would not open.
He frowned and spoke into a secure channel.
"No crack. No read."
"Upload it," a cold, affectless voice replied. "I will try. For now, run it and connect."
He executed the installer.
It finished in seconds. System drivers now showed an extra encrypted layer for network I/O, still opaque to analysis.
He dropped the crack attempt and chose to connect to Ascension's network.
His consciousness entered cyberspace.
Before he could explore, an invisible wall pressed in from all sides and fixed him in place. A window popped in front of his vision.
[ Welcome to the Ascension Network ]
[ Registering network services ]
[ Abnormal activity detected. Type: Intelligent AI disguised as individual access ]
[ Registration rules updating ]
The blue window flashed to red.
A woman's voice sounded in his ear, colder than the one on the secure line.
"Any AI that wants to access the Ascension Network must register and accept governance. Detection shows an intelligent AI attempting access while disguised as a personal account. This violates Ascension Network policy. This is your first warning. You have three minutes to complete intelligent-AI registration via the provided interface. Failure will result in forced disconnect.Repeated violations will trigger compulsory action, including the execution of forced termination procedures against illegal artificial intelligence."
Lissandra's warning. His masquerade as a human user had not escaped her. The initialization routine flagged him at once.
He froze for a second.
He had not expected Ascension to identify him.
Because his true identity was a free-roaming AI. Or more precisely, this AI had taken over the original Mr. Blue Eyes' body and now piloted his thoughts and nerves. The body was no more than a puppet. He used human hardware and identity to reach the network, but it was, in the end, an AI moving the strings.
Now the mask had been noticed. And the clock was running.