If she was allowed to judge it, then she would say that she was a good multitasker. Not the best perhaps, but one doesn't run an investigation-focused private military company for a few decades without getting some experience in it. Her taking the four in her car out to a diner served no less than five purposes. She was trying to be efficient with her time recently, because getting everything together for a good public reveal was taking up a lot of her time. She was glad for it though, more time working meant less time dwelling.

The first thing it accomplished was that it allowed her to perform a direct analysis of the four that had caught Adam's attention. Anything that did that was something to investigate further. She knew Adam better than most, she knew how little he thought of other people. For him to tolerate other people so close to him for such a long time…

She had to look into that, Adam didn't do things for no reason. As a general rule, humans were social creatures. They were starvation-adapted, pack-oriented creatures who hunted through ambush and endurance-based pursuit. They formed social groups by instinct, finding themselves in niches and generally attempting to stay in those niches. Almost every human on the planet requires a social network to stay functional.

She said almost, because she knew how Adam works. Adam has never needed someone else to keep going. Not friends, not family, not her.

So he was tolerating the presence of other people in close proximity for extended periods, and investing greatly into their growth as combatants. Why? His statement to Arasaka was known, and while it wasn't discarded, it was lowered in priority. She knew his inflections, he wasn't telling the whole truth when he said that. They were building up to a fifth corporate war, judging from military pressures rising across the globe, but he had recruited them long before that was looking likely.

He had information that she didn't, she just had to figure out what it was.

The second thing was that it allowed her to fulfill Kagekaze's request. He was the single greatest special operations trainer Arasaka had left alive, and was personally responsible for training more than a fourth of all Arasaka spec ops. Getting on his good side was sure to make the operations of her girls easier in the future, and lower the rate at which Arasaka interfered with them. Her girls were trained by Zabby, they were some of the best there were, but they couldn't fight armies.

She remembered Kagekaze from her youth. He would always call her 'kawaii-himechan' and indulgently answer her questions about 'nin stuff' she called it. That was a long time ago, and DangerGal had had many operations against Arasaka in the years between. It was entirely possible that he was operating against her in full. She had a good spy network, but it was hardly perfect, and the old shinobi was probably able to get around it if he wanted to.

The fact that he bothered to ask this favor of her foretold good things, but she couldn't be certain, even with a third of the tower under her nominal control. By control, she meant influence at best. Turns out, when you stop acting like a doll that just recites opinions, stuffy old timers trying to pull your strings stop listening to you as much. Go figure.

The third thing was that it allowed her to block off the old fucker in the tower from getting his grubby little maggot fingers in four new kids on the block. She was doing this partly out of spite, and partly out of office politics. Jugemu Jun was not an especially creative man, but he was filled with a blunt and low cunning that made him dangerous. That, and he was the only one who was written on Adam's contract other than her.

She didn't say leash, never leash, Adam wasn't a dog.

Arasaka was only recently rebuilt here in Night City, back in 2070 when the corporation was welcomed back after the Unification War. But Jugemu Jun had been an operations director of Arasaka interests in the Free States region for much longer than that. The nuke hit Arasaka Tower back in 2023, but it took a few years for the political ramifications to really settle in. It wasn't until 2026 that Arasaka was officially fully prohibited from the region.

A special operations division was left behind, operating from an uninhabited island off the shore and making sure that Arasaka interests in the entire western half of the Americas were preserved. Arasaka special operations American division codename "Night Parade" was the primary hand and arm of their influence against rivals in the region, primarily Militech, Petrochem, and Mexican Metals. Jugemu Jun was not the leader of this division, he was their logistics officer, in charge of maintaining and deploying war assets for the operatives.

Chief among those 'war assets' was Adam Smasher, whom Jun was given direct control over. It wasn't a well known fact, but Dragoons had an inbuilt smart camouflage system and IR thermal dams. It was very hard to spot a Dragoon that was trying to hide. Adam Smasher got his reputation and title as The Butcher from those days.

There was a reason that no one had been able to get rid of Jun in all these years, because he was the only one in the region that could call Adam Smasher down on you. She had been granted second-stage contract authority by her grandfather when Arasaka was welcomed back to Night City officially, but…

She didn't intend to ever use it, which meant Jun stayed unchallenged in that regard. Going after him meant either discrediting him enough to get Saburo to dismiss him, or risking Adam Smasher. As blunt and boring as he was, Jun was very good at cleaning his tracks. He had to be, otherwise he wouldn't be alive today. Fifty years Adam had been under his direct orders. It made her stomach turn.

The fourth thing that this allowed her to do was influence the behavior of others in the Tower. By very publicly and openly opposing and cutting Jun off in the way she did, she signaled her direct opposition to him. A line was drawn in the sand, you were either supporting Jun or you were supporting her. Normally this would only result in death, Jun getting Adam to purge a dissenting element from Arasaka NC, and the rest falling in line again.

This was not normal, because she was Michiko Arasaka, granddaughter to Saburo Arasaka. Even if he could order Adam to kill her, he would not be able to survive grandfather's wrath after the fact. In addition to this, she was on the contract at a higher priority than him. She could, at any time, order Adam to kill him.

Jun, in the eyes of everyone who knew that detail in the tower, just lost his greatest advantage. His blunt hammer with which to smash opposition to his influence. He already took steps to counteract this, it looks like he was well aware of the fragility of his position. He got two DaiOni jockeys from Japan now, so the question of military victory was still in question.

Who wins in a fight? Two DaiOni or one Adam Smasher? That was the deciding line between those that were going to support her or support Jun. Who they thought would win. In the end, politics came down to who had the bigger stick. She didn't intend to order Adam. But the potential was there, and that was enough to get people to align with her.

This was the start of getting Jun removed from Arasaka NC. If she could do this cleanly enough, then she could be in a strong position to request the position of president of Arasaka NC from grandfather directly. Then she would be in control of Arasaka assets in the entire region. Then she would…

She wasn't sure yet, but she'd do something to help people. Something like what was going on in Pacifica.

…

…maybe, he would be willing to help her…

…

Her stomach growled at her, and she reacted appropriately to the guests in one of her cars. Getting them to smile or laugh about it. The fifth thing was that she was hungry, she wasn't lying about not having eaten today. She hadn't been to the diner in a while either, the last time was when Marc was still alive. It was a well-known psychological fact that smiling made a person happy, so she forced herself to smile, even if just a little bit.

"Heh, sorry about that, I wasn't lying about not having eaten yet today." She apologized light heartedly to her guests, who responded with appropriate giggles or smiles. In the case of the lone boy…

There was a wary, sharp look in his eye. His input and mother had similar suspicious looks towards her, but for entirely different reasons she could reasonably assume. He was entirely focused on the safety of what he considered 'his', he would mourn others, but he wouldn't hesitate to flatline them if they threatened that. It was a good attitude to have, he was a cute kid, reminded her of Marc. A sweetheart that always kept trying to pile burdens on himself for the people he cared about. It might have driven the kid to his grave like it did Marc, were it not for Adam's sudden change of heart.

His input was suspicious of everything related to Arasaka, owing to her trauma at the hands of one of Jun's 'cost-saving projects' so many years ago. Danger Gal had learned about it too late, and while her girls tried to help the kids escape, they weren't fast enough. Only little Lucy was left, on her own, on the streets of Night City. She had one of her girls watch after her long enough for her to find a mentor to take her in, it was the least they could do.

DangerGal, the bad guys won't see them coming. Sometimes though, they don't see the bad guys in time. She wanted to help people, she was naive like that.

"It doesn't matter how far or where we go. They'll catch up eventually."

She wasn't quite certain why his mother was suspicious, but she was willing to guess that she was simply looking out for her son. Her son who was just a little while ago face to face, practically glaring directly at the biggest representative of Arasaka power in Night City. It was understandable that she would be tense afterwards.

It was the fourth of the number that was the most pleasant surprise. The girl that kept sending excited glances her way and practically vibrating in excitement. It was always nice to see a fan, and this one was particularly cute about it. There were more XBDs made about her girls than she thought there would be, starting out. So seeing a genuine fan and not a fan was always a pleasure.

She kept the small talk up the entire way to the diner, it was good to make a good impression. She was pretty good at talking at this point, and pretty good at getting information out of people. Often, the best way to do that, was to simply ask in a natural manner. So as they were led to the corner booth in the breakfast diner, she waited for them to order drinks and then start talking. Her girls were already around the building, even if she only needed half as many, they worried after her entirely too much.

"So, while we wait for the old fart in the tower to get busy with something else, introductions are in order I think. I'm Michiko Arasaka, founder and head of DangerGal, nice to meet you." By setting it like this, she could get information about how they saw themselves. Their most important self-descriptor in their minds. It was a good data point to have.

She ignored the spike of hurt from saying 'Arasaka' instead of 'Sanderson'. That pain was only going to dull in time.

"David Martinez, Smasher's apprentice, thanks for the save earlier." Unsurprisingly, the boy took the lead with a firm opening. He was the first to throw himself into a line of fire, he was used to it, and wanted to do it. He was Smasher's apprentice. Not Adam, not Adam Smasher, Smasher. It was informal, but not informal enough to use the first name. It was the kind of reserved, quiet and understated respect that men reserved for each other.

The kid was willing to use himself like a shield. Polite too.

"Gloria Martinez. I'm this one's mother, and former EMT too I suppose." The mother went next, being comfortable with talking, but not enough to throw herself forwards like her son. She was his mother first and foremost, that was her most important job in her mind. Being an EMT was barely an afterthought to her.

She was dedicated to her loved ones. Everything else was secondary.

"Lucy, his input and a netrunner." She kept up her guard, but she was willing to talk. Guarded, suspicious. She defined herself as her primary relationship first, and then personal skills second. She put her-hard earned skills entirely secondary to her love for another.

She was head over heels, and distrustful of others.

"Becca! Re- uh, Rebecca, I'm their friend, a kickass crack-shot, and kindofyourbiggestfan." A nervous, bubbly start. She was excitable, and meeting someone she was very emotionally invested in. Even then she defined herself as their friend first, before anything else. Then she defined her skills next, being proud of her abilities with a gun. Then, and only then did she burst into fangirling.

As loyal as can be, proud and crass, and tripping over herself when it came to things she was invested in.

Michiko smiled fondly. Where the hell had Adam found these people in a place like Night City? Most were entirely too cruel these days. It made her downright nostalgic.

Their server came back, with her black coffee and the drinks for the others. She took a sip, uncaring of the hot temperature. She'll heal up the burn in time for her food to arrive.

"The usual sweetie?" The old server asked, hand on her hip. She nodded, it had been years since she had been here, and old Karen still remembered her. There was a reason this was her favorite diner, even ignoring the fact that she could see the food being made behind the bar to her right. Always need to be careful of people adding things to your dish, this place never did it, but many tried pulling something like that in the past.

She kept them in a casual conversation, nice and loose and nothing important being talked about. She wanted them to like her, that would help her keep them away from Jun.

Hmm, she was still a bit too unassailable to them right now. She needed to make herself seem more 'down to earth'. The best way to do that would be to make a mistake. Now… if she had David's personality down right here…

She yawned, her mug of hot coffee slipped from her fingers, she immediately reacted with alarm. It would be too late, the drink would spill on her lap.

She activated her sandevistan, careful to keep her expression locked and eyes still.

David activated his sandevistan, reaching over and grabbing the mug from her unresisting fingers, using it to scoop up the liquid suspended in the air. He was absurdly fast, perhaps fifty percent faster than she was capable of. She had one of the best sandevistans money could buy on the market.

Her sandevistan deactivated, and she blinked to see her mug being offered to her, David's arm reaching across the table and holding it. She sheepishly took it from him.

"Ah, thanks for that, I guess I'm not quite awake yet." She was gracious in her 'failure' to keep her cup from falling. "A sandevistan, right? You didn't need to do it on my behalf, I have a change of clothes in the car. You should save your use of it for if you need it." She redeemed herself a bit by offering advice and informing them of an existing measure she took. That, and she subtly encouraged him to brag about his capabilities. She could know how well he could use that ridiculous super-sandevistan.

"Ah don't worry, I got more than enough for the rest of the day."

"Really? How many times a day can you use it?" She asked casually, pretending to be trying to steer the conversation away from her 'blunder'. Sandevistans put immense strain on the body, higher class sandys putting more strain than lower class. The sandy that David had, judging from her one time witnessing it in person, must be a corporate custom prototype. The kind of thing that you could only use a few times a day before it became too much.

She knew he had a sandevistan for about a year now, and that it was fairly high grade. But seeing it in person was quite something.

The kid blinked and thought to himself for a bit. "Uhh, maybe twelve times…" Ah, that was really good for such a high-class model, the kid had quite a lot of talent. "...when I first got a sandy, 'bout a year ago."

Wait, what?

"Nowadays I can use it all day, if I pace myself. Smasher's tips helped a lot. Must be because it's one of his spares."

…She took a drink of her coffee, letting out a deliberate hum in response.

…

Adam Smasher's personal sandevistans were not something that could be purchased. They were custom for his use and his alone. Arasaka 'Omagatoki' model Sandevistan. Their performance was so absurdly high that most test subjects broke after a handful of uses. It pushed the user's perception of time to a degree not yet matched by any model of sandevistan currently in active use. The Kang Tao 'Warp Dancer' was the second best, and the best that most elite soldiers could utilize, let alone civilians.

There was no reaction in response to David's statement. It was a fact they were simply aware of. Completely mundane. The boy was telling the complete truth.

The boy could use a sandevistan model that broke most people as long as he wanted to, provided that he 'pace himself'.

She took a deeper drink of her coffee. She was starting to see why Adam took an interest in the boy.

His chrome tolerance was utterly absurd.