Chapter 11: Revelations

The last few days had been nothing but good news.

Firstly, on the company front, the market cap finally broke past ten-billion eurodollars. Most of the recent growth had been driven by digital sales, Minecraft comprising almost a tenth of the valuation, but it was still a huge milestone. In any case, with many of my facilities throughout Night City being rebuilt, I had turned my mind to diversification and expansion. With the Aldecaldos aiding with inland shipping, I finally had the logistical capacity and security to be able to expand, to the NUSA and the free states both. Texas, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, you name it. All saw a new facility established within days, usually by purchasing an old warehouse, stripping and refurbishing it, and then employing a mix of workers from Night City and locals to staff it.

In addition, the decision was taken to target smaller towns, with no more than one-hundred-thousand people, with the hope of having the least competition and the largest positive impact. Not only had expansion secured my prospects by ensuring a source of income even when my standing in Night City was in trouble, it had the effect of expanding the impact of my business. You see, many of these towns were so small, that they had been neglected by their local authorities. Most significantly, this had an adverse effect on education, and the literacy rate in the NUSA hovered around fifty percent.

Therefore, it stood to reason that a quick, effective and relatively cost-efficient manner of garnering support with those local communities in which my facilities operated was to tackle the problem myself. I simply took some of the profit from each facility, and had it dedicated to the opening of a charter school nearby. I hired some teachers in Night City, had them shipped out, dusted off some old curriculums, and set up an official corporate academy. For the first time in decades, many in these towns had access to proper education, and could finally hope for a better life for their children. So great was the demand for education, that we were forced to dumb down the curriculum to a basic level, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and logic, consequently allowing us to expand intake.

All of this had happened at a breakneck pace. The first facility for growing food was set up in Colorado within a week, and the establishment of the first schoolhouse took place not long after. Recycling facilities were slower to open, and had to be opened near large population centres to be able to be able to take advantage of all the waste they generated, but the first was slated to open near Phoenix, Arizona in just a few days time. Everywhere we went, the local response was overwhelmingly positive, almost to the point where I believed that my burgeoning popularity in many of these regions eclipsed my popularity in Night City. I had never even been to many of these towns, and yet there were proposals to erect statues of me in those places, or so I was told.

On the gang front, the stalemate persisted, though the extent of the violence had abated somewhat. The harshness of my response to the original attacks had seemingly blunted the enthusiasm of the Tyger Claws, and the Animals and Maelstrom appeared to have exhausted themselves through attrition. For the past few weeks, they had launched attack after attack, only for the professionalism of 6th Street to shine through, and for hundreds of Animals and Maelstroms' both to be slaughtered as a result. The Valentinos were less effective, but still made for a perfectly adequate home-guard, and many of them played their part in the war, albeit to a lesser degree.

We had even managed to avert much of collateral damage expected by such a conflict, with many of the gangoons given a strict 'hearts and minds' mandate. If an attack was to occur, which it did frequently, their first priority, besides getting themselves to safety, was to clear the area of civilians and non-combatants. Only after this was done could they begin to fight back in earnest. Naturally, there were some casualties, but far lesser than one would anticipate given the scale of conflict. And the policy achieved it's intended effect, with many of the people in the districts occupied by Maelstrom and the Animals expressing a desire to support us. More importantly, with many of the people in these districts on-side, I now had access to a very large network of potential informants, such that we were then able to step in and attack directly the criminal enterprises that kept my enemies funded.

I knew the locations of drug deals, the details of smuggling efforts, tip-offs on potential attacks, the locations of potential hideouts and more. And all through an anonymous line that I had seen to set up, so long as the area-code of the caller was from a location of interest. Although there were many crank calls, there was an equally large number of genuine informants, and a veritable ocean of intel was soon flowing in. This, above all else, was the primary reason why my men had performed so well in the past few weeks. We knew our enemies movements before they made them, and we capitalised on it, heavily. Of course, Maelstrom and the Animals were chaotic and dangerous enough to hold their ground, but the kill ratio was high enough that they couldn't do anything more than hold their ground, and that was the whole point.

On the election front, the news was also good. The last two attempts on my life had done wonders for my popularity, and the bookies gave two-to-one odds that I would win. The polls were all favourable, and I was set to positively thrash Weldon Holt come election day. Jefferson Peralez, on the other hand, was a much tougher prospect. When I had first emerged from the dead, he was ahead of me by miles. And yet, I had slowly gained on him, and even taken the lead in some of the polls, however, the race was neck-and-neck between the two of us, which was far too close for comfort.

In spite of my performance, which was described as 'surprising' by many, Peralez stood a very real chance of victory, and that was not a chance I was willing to take. As such, I had arranged for the two of us to meet, with the intention of convincing him to drop out of the race entirely. Even if I was unsuccessful, I was willing to bet that the revelation of mind control alone would be sufficient to torpedo his electoral performance and basically guarantee me a victory. Granted, it was a somewhat scummy thing to do, but it was at least easy to rationalise that thought away with the truth. Jefferson, at the very least, would want to know the truth.

It was with this thought in my mind that I ventured into their apartment, my security team, Panam included, just behind me. As the elevator doors opened, Elizabeth was stood there, a wide smile on her face, and she beckoned us to enter, and we followed her to the living room, where Jefferson was sat, a glass of scotch in his hands, awaiting my arrival. When he saw me come in, he rose from his seat, a smile on his face, and came over to shake my hand, "Arthur! Pleasure to meet you face to face!" He gestured to the couch, "Please, come, sit."

I nodded and accepted the offered seat, "Likewise, Jefferson, a pleasure."

He poured me a glass of scotch, "So, you want to drop out, eh? I'm sorry to hear that, but I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to receive your endorse-"

I cut him off, "I'm not dropping out."

The smile slipped of his face, "What?"

"I'm not dropping out. That was just a pretext to get here, to meet you face to face. And to get you here alone, without your security team."

Jefferson's face hardened, and I could see he was reaching for his pocket, likely for a weapon, "Then why are you here?"

I sipped my scotch, "Tell me, was your home recently broken into?"

Shock appeared on Elizabeth's face, "What... how?"

"Let me guess, you remember something, but your security team agrees to disagree?" I pointed at Jefferson, "You find a guy in your apartment, take a shot at him, then get woozy and pass out. The next morning, he's gone without a trace."

Jefferson's tone was impatient, "What are you getting at?"

I sighed, "So that's a yes, then?"

Elizabeth's response was uncertain, "Yes..."

I nodded, "If you'd like, I think I can tell you what happened that day."

Jefferson looked about ready to rip my head off, "What do you mean you think you can tell us?"

The implication in his words were clear, and I allowed myself to laugh at the accusation, "You think I was involved? Oh no, I'm far too busy to do that."

Jefferson still looked suspicious, "Well, then, enlighten us."

I stood from my chair, "Care to point me to the scene of the crime? I have my suspicions, but I need confirmation before I'll say anything."

Jefferson stood and began walking, Elizabeth just behind him, and pointed to where it happened. Looking around, it didn't take too long to find the traces of blood, exactly where I remembered them being, though it was barely visible to the human eye on account of SSI's attempts to scrub it clean. I followed the route I remembered the blood traces created, past two sets of doors and a broken smart-glass, till I eventually got to the hidden door. I turned to look at Jefferson and Elizabeth, "Did you know there was a concealed door here, Jefferson?" He shook his head, "Elizabeth?"

She strained her eyes and came up blank, "Wait, you mean here? Where? There's no door here."

"It's not very noticeable, and near impossible to catch sight of, but if you put your hand," I traced the outline of part of the door, "... here, then you can feel the seam between the door and the wall." I turned back to face Jefferson, "Something left over from the previous owner, perhaps?"

He shook his head, "No. Open it... somehow, please."

I nodded and gestured to one of my men, who proceeded to use their enhanced arms to force the door open. Inside, just as expected, there was a bank of computers, and chairs looking out through the smart-glass into their apartment, "I think we're safe putting your security at the top of the list of suspects."

Jefferson looked almost apoplectic with rage, "They violated our privacy... Those sons of bitches! Under my own roof!"

"Makes you wonder how long it's been happening, huh?"

Elizabeth had now gotten over her shock at the situation, and shifted over to rage just as Jefferson had, "Too long. This ends now. I'm not letting any more of those freaks set foo-"

She doubled over, clutching her head in pain, her sentence cut off in the middle. Jefferson reached down in concern to help, "Are you okay?"

Elizabeth recovered just as quickly, "Don't worry about me. Do what you have to do."

She left shortly after, making to go for a smoke and a drink to calm herself down. Once she was gone, I turned back to Jefferson, "The news gets worse than a simple invasion of privacy, I'm afraid."

Jefferson looked deadly serious, his tone coloured with a murderous curiosity, "What could be worse?"

"They haven't just been violating your privacy. They've been violating your mind as well. Making you think things that aren't real, making you do things that make no sense."

Jefferson looked at me as if I were crazy, "Bullshit."

"Have you ever noticed memories slipping in and out of order? Thoughts not always lining up? Records and conversations not making sense, like you remembering one version of events and the other person another?"

Jefferson frowned, deep in thought, before he shook his head, "I don't buy it."

I pondered on how to convince him, before something struck me, like a bolt of lightning, "Okay, hold on a second."

I turned around and accessed the central computer in the room, though Jefferson looked confused at my actions, "What are you doing?"

"Getting you to buy it." It took a few more minutes, but eventually I found the messages that I remembered stumbling on in-game, "Here, come take a look at this. If that doesn't convince you, nothing will."

Jefferson leaned in and began reading, his eyes widening as he progressed through the messages, occasionally muttering what he was reading in disbelief, "Neural dampening? Subject Alpha? What the fuck?" He turned to look at me, suspicion evident in his expression, "How did-"

"-I know? Your behaviour seemed off in your last interview, and someone tried something similar with me. They didn't succeed, so they turned to more violent measures instead. I can assure you, I have nothing to do with... this." Of course, as far as I was aware, none of that was true. It could have been, for all I knew, at least for the attempt made with the Delamain cab, but there was no guarantee. However, Peralez didn't need to know that, so I kept quiet about it.

"But... why? Why did they do this, and why would you tell me?"

I shrugged, "I have no idea. I can only speculate that they want something from whoever is to become mayor. SSI itself doesn't have much to gain, so I would say that someone employed them to do this to you. I have no ideas who, but I never employed SSI, so it makes sense that there is some third party involved. Holt is likely already in their pockets, the rat, and that just leaves you and me. Now, I happen to be quite the paranoid fellow, so I caught on quick, and they turned to more violent measures. You, on the other hand, have spent the past few months being slowly turned into their compliant little puppet. As for why I told you, it's simple: I like you. If I weren't running against you, I would vote for you. You seem like a decent, well-intentioned person, and that's hard to come by in Night City."

Jefferson massaged his forehead and groaned. When the pain had passed, he straightened back up, and stared me dead in the eyes, "What should I do?"

"You want my advice?"

He nodded almost violently, "Absolutely. You figured this out. You shook off their influence, and you came to tell me about it because it was the right thing to do. So, tell me, what should I do?"

"You're not going to like it."

"Doesn't matter. I still want to know."

I left the room, beckoning for him to follow, and made my way to a nearby couch. I sent my guards to stand in the opposite corner of the room, out of earshot, and when we were both sat, I finally spoke, "You need to drop out."

Peralez's tone had an undercurrent of outrage, "What?"

"There are a bunch of other things you need to do as well, like firing SSI and moving houses, but fundamentally, if you want this to stop, you have to drop out of the race."

Peralez picked up his half-finished glass of liquor and downed it all in one go, "How do I know you aren't just trying to get me out of the way? I mean, you figured it out, and yet you're still in the running. Why should I drop out? Why not you?"

"I'm still running because they tried to get to me and they failed. I am trying to get you out of the way, but that doesn't change the fact that I haven't been mentally compromised in the same way in which you and your wife have. And then there is the question of dependents to consider."

"Dependents?"

I nodded, "When they figured out that they couldn't turn me into a puppet, they tried to have me killed instead. The Delamain attempt, the shooting, that was all them. Now, I don't have any family, or anyone else they could target to lure me out, but you..."

He leaned back in his chair with a defeated expression on his face, "You're saying they'll go after my family? After Xochi, after Elizabeth?"

"Precisely. Of course, you can try and fight them, but then that puts your family at risk. You can also try to undermine them slowly, but that has no guarantee of success. I mean, how do you know that you'll even remember this conversation in a few days time? That they won't have erased it?" I shook my head, "No, the only sure-fire way to shake these people for good is to drop out entirely. If you aren't a candidate for mayor, they don't have a reason to keep going after you, and your family should be safe."

He looked at me, a mixture of hatred and resignation in his eyes, "And I presume you want my endorsement?"

I nodded, doing my best to appear sympathetic, "Yes, though I understand if you would rather not give it."

He was silent for good minute, pouring himself a second glass and downing it to calm his nerves as he thought through my proposal. After some intense soul-searching he lowered his head into his hands and let an annoyed "fuck" slip through his lips. Raising his head once again, he nodded once sharply and spoke, "Okay. If you want my endorsement, you'll have it. We can't run like this, not now that we know. So, if I have to drop out, I want to throw my weight behind the candidate that can deliver the biggest blow to whoever is doing this. Holt is, as you said, a fucking rat, which just leaves you." Jefferson sighed a deep, melancholy sigh, "I can't believe this is how it ends. My ambitions, all crushed, in less than an hour."

I smiled, "All things being well, you've got a long life ahead of you. Take some time to get your head screwed on straight, and then take another crack at it later on. Who knows, you may even be my successor one day?"

Now calmer, Jefferson allowed a breath of laughter to escape out his nose, "Maybe. I can only hope." He finished his drink and adopted a more business-like attitude, "I'll make the announcement tonight, about both my withdrawal from the race, and my decision to endorse you in my stead."

"When are you going to find a new place?"

He shrugged, "When I sell this one."

I shook my head, "No. That leaves you exposed for too long." I reached into my pocket, withdrew my phone, and pulled up the address of one my safehouses throughout the city, "Here, you can use this instead. It's not nearly as lavish as this place, but at least nobody will be fucking with your mind. And if you need security in the short term, I am more than happy to provide."

He waved his hand politely, "No, thanks. You don't need to do that."

I dismissed his objection with a wave of my hand, scribbled the address onto a piece of paper, and forced it into his hand, "We're a rare breed, you and I. If we don't take care of our own, Jefferson, we will surely go extinct. You don't have to use it, but you are always welcome to." I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out an old-school tape recorder, rewound it, and handed it to Jefferson, "Here."

He studied it in his hands as if it were some strange curiosity, "What is it?"

"A recording of our conversation in case you... forget. Or are made to forget. It's a strange enough device, and the label on it should be enough to prompt you to start listening, and hopefully kickstart your memory."

He read the label, which read 'play in case of memory loss', and chuckled, "You really think of everything, huh?"

"It pays to be prepared, Mr Peralez." I stood from my chair, "And now I must bid you goodbye. There is much work to be done, and not nearly enough time to do it in."

Elizabeth sauntered in, having recovered from her sudden migraine, and after being informed of the situation, she appeared similarly consigned to defeat as her husband. It took some doing, but she was eventually convinced of the utility of dropping out of the race. She then accompanied her husband in saying their farewells to me, and escorted me and my team to the elevator.

On the way down, there was no discussion, but I could feel the eyes focused on my back, and I turned to see Panam looking at me with a strange glint in here eye, "Something to say?"

She looked away, and then back at me, "Nothing. Just, what I heard... it's like the stuff you hear on all those conspiracy pages on the Net. If nothing else, I'm going to have to do some re-evaluation."

Another one of my guards spoke up, "Same here, boss."

I offered them a small smile, "The night is dark and full of terrors, gentlemen, the likes of which you and I can scarcely imagine." I turned back to face the doors as they opened onto the ground floor, "But if we don't face them, then who will?"

And so Arthur eliminates one more of his opponents! Is Jefferson's fate connected to that of Arthur?
Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you guys are enjoying the story thus far!