News about the statements from senior city officials stirred Night City hard. Forums lit up. People questioned whether those officials were telling the truth.
Despite the noise, large numbers are still connected to the Ascension Network. This is Night City; few follow official orders on faith. Ascension's upgrade package kept spreading. Netrunners pulled it past blocks and mirrored it through every channel that would take it.
Users compared bills and services—same price as CitiNet, better throughput and stability, safer sessions. More and more residents adopted Ascension as their daily comms bridge, while the officials' talking points drew growing skepticism.
Night City Municipal Hall.
"Minister Miffel, are you sure you want to submit this motion?" In an office, a secretary in a fitted suit held the packet Miffel had sent over.
Miffel, Night City's Minister of Administration and a member of the City Council, had drafted a formal motion on Ascension Technology. The document claimed the Ascension Network posed a significant security risk. It called for the network to be designated a dangerous project, banned from deployment and use within Night City, and demanded Ascension close all access immediately.
A press release cannot sanction a company. Miffel knew it, which is why he put the motion on paper: push the government to declare the Ascension Network illegal so that enforcement can act, and so using the network itself becomes a crime.
"Understood. I will file it up the chain," the secretary said.
The motion went in. A routine council session three days later would decide whether it passed.
Not long after, Miffel's phone rang. The caller was Lucius Rhyne, Mayor of Night City.
"Councillor Miffel, I saw the motion you submitted," Rhyne said. "Why are you opposing the Ascension Network this strongly?"
Rhyne had once been a councilman himself. His father had ties to Arasaka, and his mother worked in network oversight. During the Unification War, he led Night City's stand against the NUSA, later facilitating Arasaka's return and securing arms to keep the city independent. That path ended with his election as mayor. He had no reason to object to a new project from Ascension, Arasaka's public-facing partner, especially since Arasaka had not made a statement.
"Councillor, I have the right to submit a motion," Miffel replied, impatient. "My reasons are written in it. You do not need me to repeat them."
Rhyne was quiet for a moment. "Then follow the procedure."
He did not believe the listed "risks" were the real reason. Politics runs on interest, and interests were colliding. He ended the call.
Miffel's face cooled. Blue light moved across his eyes. He placed another call.
"The mayoral control plan needs to accelerate. This action exposed too many flaws. Rhyne may have noticed. He cannot be re-elected. Push Jefferson Perales' control forward and position him for the next race."
The Ascension Network dragged a hidden structure into the open: a clandestine group embedded in Night Corp and city government, directed and staffed by artificial intelligences. Their shape began to surface across Night City.
A motion against Ascension Technology reached the Council's docket. Lissandra's intelligence crawlers saw all of it.
Ascension Technology.
Rocky reviewed Lissandra's report stream. Since she had flagged an AI disguising itself as a personal user on the Ascension Network, he had tasked her to watch Night City for the rest. Under Lissandra's scrutiny, the AIs had nowhere to hide.
The scale was larger than he expected. In every district, someone had been invaded. Some hosts were already fully occupied; others were in slow-burning infiltration. The worst concentration sat inside Night Corp and the industries under its umbrella. In practice, entire branches had been hollowed out and replaced by people under AI control.
It matched Rocky's earlier suspicions. Beyond Night Corp, the infection ran through municipal offices and the City Council. Multiple councillors were already controlled. Others had been compromised and were close to losing themselves.
"It seems the ones opposing us are this AI organization," Rocky said. He had assumed the Ascension Network launch would meet resistance, but not at this level. He had expected Ziggurat, the city net builder, to push back on market grounds. What he saw now was different.
The opponent was already inside the city.