The attack on Arasaka Tower had its final death toll counted some six hours after the fighting had stopped. At any one point in time, the tower is occupied by about two-thirds of its total staff when accounting for rotating schedules. Of the two-thirds of Arasaka employees in Night City, thirty-four percent of them died, and twenty-two percent of them were unable to be revived afterwards.
The majority of the deaths were on the security team. That accounted for roughly eighteen percent of the total casualties, the majority of them went on to become permanent casualties. A small number of deaths were in executives and standard employees, who combined made up the remaining percentage of deaths and permanent deaths.
The Trauma Team, according to their agreement with Arasaka corporate leadership, prioritized higher-level executives, then security, then lower-level executives, and then standard employees. While they attempted to do so, they also suffered immense casualties in the fighting. A total of nineteen percent of all Trauma Team employees in the vicinity suffered permanent death.
The Tower itself also suffered immense cyber-assault damage in the fighting, of the many electronic devices within the tower (including security cameras and the Mikoshi Engram Database), roughly one-third of it remained active afterwards, and another third was salvageable. The remaining one-third of devices hit by this cyber-assault were deemed unrecoverable, which included the majority of the security footage of the attack itself.
Indeed, all but forty frames of footage in the entire tower during the event were catastrophically corrupted. The majority of the evidence for the attack itself was found from more old-fashioned forms of investigation, observing the bodies of the victims and the attacker that were left behind. From observation of the bodies and other circumstantial bits of evidence (path of fighting, remanent bullet casing, damaged rooms) it was determined that the tower was breached in two places simultaneously.
The first was an immediate assault from directly above, the roof of the building landed upon by a hostile force with enough explosives to breach into the top floor. It is theorized that this force had an experimental stealth system to allow them to carry that much explosives past the vast array of sensors and scanners Arasaka Tower utilizes. After the security teams were mobilized they proceeded to engage the first attacker before eventually calling for backup. The front of the tower was reduced to minimum regulation guards as they moved to deal with the first threat.
After this movement of security, the second force assaulted Arasaka Tower en masse, charging in armored buses from halfway across the city before crashing into the front of the building and then deploying in force against the reduced security. No less than 48 soldiers per bus in heavy armor, carrying assault rifles and grenades, and equipped with stealth systems. Three of these buses crashed into the first floor entrance room, and nearly one-hundred and fifty heavy infantry engaged in lightning-speed attack against a reduced and distracted internal security team.
Although the Arasaka security fought valiantly, they were unable to resist the assault. The attackers proceeded inwards and killed all employees they encountered as they dispersed in teams. They only made it through six total floors of the tower thanks to the valiant defense of the security team, and most all the casualties they caused were revivable afterwards. This was ultimately the lesser danger.
At the top of the tower, a force composed of no less than two individuals and no more than 6 individuals breached the tower roof. The security team and their reinforcements were unable to slow the movement of this force. As the force moved downwards through the tower, a skilled netrunner within the group engaged in an open data-assault against nearly all things in the tower, starting from the top and slowly working down. This data-assault even targeted seemingly random targets, such as lights, clocks, and microwave ovens.
The force proceeded downwards, killing all employees along its path, and pilfering several valuable items from individual rooms (including the personal chambers of Assault-Asset ADAM S., which was robbed). The force eventually hit the security team on floor 3 from behind, linked up with the conventional force, loaded up in one of the armored buses, and drove until an experimental stealth system was activated and hid the bus entirely from electronic view.
The bodies of the attackers that were downed revealed no identifying markers, but the DNA markers occasionally lined up with recorded markers from agents of no less than four separate rival corporations. The only forty frames of security footage recovered was of a brief shot of one of the attackers from the tower roof.
A seven foot cybernetic frame with an armored wide-brim helmet and lower faceplate covered in a black hemp-weave neck covering. An armored blue longcoat that stopped at the chrome forearms. A ballistic vest on the torso covered in additional ammo bags, armored weave pants and combat boots. A dragoon-class ammo bin backpack that linked belts of ammunition to two grenade launchers.
The attacker form was indistinct and blurry, as if the film was smudged with an individual's thumb. The attacker was walking past a slain employee, which burst into viscera upon its passing. It was determined that this was the attacker that focused on defending their associated netrunner, of whom footage was not recovered.
Arasaka's response was immediate. The remaining PR and Marketing employees went on overtime hours to downplay the overall amount of damage that the Tower suffered. All agents in non-critical missions or deployments throughout all of North America were immediately recalled and used to reinforce the military strength. Many of them had to be assigned to the few remaining empty temporary apartments erected under order of Assault-Asset ADAM S.
The sudden and immediate resurgence of Arasaka agents in the region of Night City mostly prevented immediate gang response to try to take advantage of the situation, although there still were scattered attacks. News of the attack was deliberately leaked in a way that reduced the impression of overall damage Arasaka took, even with such measures taken Arasaka stock prices dropped by 0.2 percent overnight, although it quickly stabilized around that area.
In accordance with legal agreements, all employees with relations with one of the unrevivable employees of at least c-level authority or greater were informed of their relation's passing. They were then observed to see if they leaked any of this information to outside sources, of which only three did by accident. Their actions were noted on their files and appropriate discipline was distributed.
Many internal experts from other regions of global Arasaka influence were pulled and redeployed to oversee the redevelopment of the region. Among these numbers were several top ranking executives, top-class security and assault assets, and a veritable army of engineers and netrunners. Included among these agents was Guerrilla-Asset KAGEKAZE, now assigned to oversee Arasaka security in the region.
Internal security experts of Arasaka called it the second worst assault on the Tower in its history, immediately after the Blackhand raid and subsequent nuking. It was carried out by, at most, 150 agents. This sent a clear message to Arasaka military planners. The weapons and soldiers of the past decades were no longer enough.
They needed better.
—
David wanted to sit and do nothing for a few days, after hearing the news. But he had made a promise a day ago, a promise to help out the faithful Voodoo Boys take out their heretic brothers. A man is his word, afterall. Besides, if he manages to get this done fast enough, then that will probably alleviate some of Smasher's anger when he gets back.
…It probably won't do anything to help when he reads the casualties listing.
Katsuo's face, expressionless as his eyes slowly fill with realization…
Still, he had been expecting another series of quick-fire raids and assaults on positions. He had always been on the attack before, always being the one to act and force others to react.
He supposed it was about time that he was forced on the defensive.
He activated his sandevistan. He jumped over his cover and to another broken car, taking another dozen shots while in the air and killing another dozen attackers. He was out of shotgun ammo now. He threw his shotgun.
His sandevistan deactivated. He landed behind cover just as his shotgun crashed into the attacker's face. David stabbed him in the eye before he could recover and stole his assault rifle. Shots came at his position, David threw one of his pilfered grenades in the general direction and waited for his sandy to cool off.
The faithful had called him in emergency after only about four hours of sleep. The heretics were performing a direct two-prong assault, seemingly wanting to use their superior numbers to outright crush their former brothers before they could start taking too much damage from David's raiding. One prong was a physical assault with as many mercs as they had on hand, the other was a data-assault that was consuming currently all of the faithful inner circle's netrunners and Lucy's help to fight off.
Occasionally they sent an armored car or a chromed-out heavyweight their way. Becca took care of both, her ACPA carrying nearly a hundred reloads in a massive ammo backpack. She was stationed nearly a mile away, every now and again turning a massive target into blood and scrap.
David was on the flanks constantly. Hit and run at large groups, only ever striking within sandevistan time or when he absolutely had to. By jumping he could limit the amount of physical movement his body made in sandy time while still moving from point to point. He was going to have to get some jump-boosters to improve this, because it increased his sandy endurance by a huge margin.
He had already activated it eighty times in the last two hours. He was winded, but he could still go for two more if he needed to. Another thing he needed to thank Smasher for when he got back, who told him of the trick to improving sandy endurance was limiting the body's physical exertion. David had figured out the jump thing on his own, Smasher didn't do a whole bunch of jumping, he would break most everything he landed on if he did.
His sandy cooled down. He activated his sandevistan. He jumped to another point of cover, he shot the first target until it died, it seems he needs three bullets for each. He shot three for the next nine targets, running out of ammo on the tenth. He threw the gun at the tenth.
His sandy timed out. He landed near the tenth, he stabbed him with his knife. He stole the tenth's gun.
…aw, he hated submachine guns, they were fucking pitiful. He grabbed a second one from nine.
David had never been on the defense before, but it seemed a lot like an offense but one in which the enemies came to him instead. He found himself kinda enjoying the change of pace.
…wait a minute, wasn't the Militech division assault also a defense? How the hell did he forget about that? Thinking back on it, it wasn't very important, was it? David pondered that for a bit.
His sandy cooled down, David threw a grenade at a group, and activated it. He jumped for the other group coming for him. Two hours in, nearly six-hundred gonkfuckers dead by his count. How many mercs did the faithful say that the heretics had again?
…He was starting to get Smasher, this was downright therapeutic, no wonder the growly tin man liked doing it so much. He had it down to a series of automatic responses now. The enemy was this and they performed these actions, what do you do? It was almost like… running.
"Good, why?"
—
It was nearly an hour later that David got a message from Lucy. Her netrunning allies had fended off the attack, but were being attacked by an unknown force. Everyone now and again, a netrunner from both sides would suddenly disappear from the net-space. David had the sudden realization that his comms had been silent for nearly an hour now. They should have been filled with chatter from the allied mercs.
David finished off his flank, clearing it of all hostiles, and ran. He ran back to where the bulk of the fighting was supposed to take place. His comms still eerily silent.
He rounded a corner to see a massacre.
Every merc in the region directly in front of the tower was dead, it was a fresh graveyard that stretched for multiple city blocks. Literal piles of corpses that could be used as makeshift cover. David was suddenly overwhelmed with the reminder of just how many people had already died in a fight that had lasted no more than five total hours.
Why hadn't the heretics retreated when their losses grew too much? It made no sense.
The ramp into the fortress was propped up, and the entryway unbarred.
David ran in, and down through the halls. He ran down to their netrunning room. He heard voices inside.
He burst through the doorway.
It was another massacre.
Sixty faithful plugged into netrunning chairs, a hundred and twenty mercs to guard them.
All of them are corpses. The floor was now solid red. In the center of the room, he saw a group with gorilla masks and chrome arms. A big man in the center was directing them to loot the place, he had chrome arms, dark skin, and facial reconstructive surgery to look like an ape of some kind. David didn't know which kind, he doesn't know much about apes.
"Come on boys! Let's pack up all this loot and get back to tha gym! George Goode is feeling like a party tonight!" The large man said.
David looked around. He recognized a few bodies. A brief count got him to sixty. Ah, seems like none of them survived, huh.
The large man turned, eyes widening almost comically upon seeing him. He started to point and shout something. David activated his sandevistan.
Time slowed to a crawl, he started firing, not really caring where he hit so long as he did. Men and women in ape masks started falling. He fired until he was out of ammo. His sandevistan timed out.
George activated his sandevistan, and was suddenly in front of David. David flew back and crashed into the far wall. Ah, that was painful, what happened there? He looked up to see George there with his fist extended.
Ah, he had gotten punched. He pulled himself off the now cracked wall.
"I didnya have a fight with ya, but now that you've flatlined some of my troop I gotta turn you into hamburger. Understand, yeah?" The meat said. Lips pulled back in an aggravated smirk.
"You all die." David responded.
They activated their sandevistans. David rushed forwards in a punch, the meat did the same.
The meat staggered its motion about a half-moment before hitting David, dodging his punch and responding with a heavy uppercut that sent David back up the stairs to the right. It hurt, but his armor was enough for it.
Their sandevistans deactivated. The fucking meat started talking again as it walked up for him. He pushed himself up off the stairs.
"Ya see, we apes be smart. Taking out the VD boys head on? Talk about stupid man. Taking out the VD boys while they flatline eachother? Easiest shit in the world. Acting like an info-bro for both was enough to get em to start brawling."
His sandevistan cooled down. David activated his sandevistan again and jumped in a kick at the meat. The meat staggered again, sidestepping David's kick, grabbing the leg, and spinning him around to toss him further away from the other dead meats to be.
Their sandevistans deactivated, David crashed into a wall. It hurt, he ignored it.
The fucking meat kept gibbering.
"Now we apes are in a good spot, we can take all the shit that the VD boys were hoarding, and get big gains from the whole thing. A king like me needs to eat, ya see?"
"Shut up."
They activated their sandevistans. David rushed forwards again, The meat was about to stagger again, that gets predictable you gonkfucker. David stomped the ground and frontflipped over the oncoming punch. His axe-kick landed squarely on the meat's collarbone.
Their sandevistans deactivated. David heard something snap and grinned. He pushed off the meat to avoid the return blow.
He didn't wait for the sandevistan this time. David rushed forwards and avoided the stagger again, he lashed out in a vibrating kick that hurt his few remaining bones to perform. The meat did a double-stagger, dodging out of the way entirely. His kick hit the wall, the already crumbling wall exploded outwards, raining the street outside with rubble.
They activated their sandevistans. The meat lashed out with a straight punch, David blocked it with crossed arms. He flew back out into the street, and rolled with the impact.
Good, this place was full of guns, he could use those. Their sandevistans deactivated.
The meat walked through the dust of the shattered rubble and out into the gore-filled streets with him. The meat pulled out a cigar and lit it with a pocket lighter. David saw red again.
Their sandevistans activated. David grabbed the nearest gun he could and unloaded it at the meat. The meat raised one chrome arm and took the shots on it. Their sandevistans deactivated.
The meat kept gibbering.
"Pretty preem, am I right? These arms are orbital crystal shit, fucking damn near unbreakable it what they are. You could shoot me with all kinds of shit and I'd be able to smack it away."
The meat pulled the cigar out of its mouth and blew out smoke. The meat was grinning.
"Yep, things are looking up for the king of tha concrete jungle. Though, not sure what your problem is, not like you knew any of them. They just hired you, right?"
His problem was that he liked them. His problem was that he had already spent so many bullets and time helping them. His problem was that his friend's mother just died, just like his did in the past. His problem was that he was finally trying to help Smasher out, and some fucking meat came along to ruin all of them. His problem was that this meat's voice pissed him off.
"My problem is you."
They activated their sandevistans.
Behind George, a great many men and women in ape masks were loading items onto a ramshackle and armored bus.
—
The arena was hosting another tournament fight as usual. It was early in the morning, so not many people were in attendance or participating. It was going to get much more busy in about an hour or so.
An armored bus crashed into the entrance, a host of heavily armored soldiers poured out and opened fire. The audience started panicking and firing back. The cheapo security started firing back.
Armored buses crashed into concrete fences in two other areas in the Pacifica district, the temporary housing projects and the production facilities area. Both of which loaded men in heavy armor and carried heavy weapons.
They poured out and opened fire upon the Arasaka security agents in each area and the cheapo police that was assigned to them.
Corpses quickly began to pile up.
In the net, the shadow of a many-armed thing loomed over Pacifica, and code-tendrils began to lower down upon it.