Yorinobu had eventually called in an intern to bring Adam up a pair of pants. Just a standard pair of the armor flak pants that the internal tower security used, in the largest size they had available on hand. He had to be careful not to bend too much in them, because they were rather tight on his massive frame. The intern had to be reminded to leave by Yorinobu saying their name again, too distracted by him putting them on.
Apparently 'had to change frames quick.' was an acceptable answer to the earlier question, and Yorinobu got back to looking over the city until Adam was partially dressed. The red and black leather jacket hanging over his shoulders like an improvised cape. Looking over him again, Adam could see the faint distortions in the air on his hip, just about big enough for a monosword and a handcannon hidden under ghostweave sheathes.
Adam looked at the top right corner of his vision. Six point two-five percent chrome. More of a meat-to-metal ratio than he had seen in a long time outside of Arnold Armstrong. The Old Man had more, but that was because he had to get an arm replaced after losing it back in the day, long before Adam was even born. Without that chrome arm, the old man would have slightly less.
Sounds about right for his kid then. Adam had never talked much with Yorinobu in the past. He worked for Kei most of the time, and after Kei died his old contract died with him. He got offered the long-term contract for his good work by Saburo after they finished putting his brain back in a new body. Before that, Yori was always running around in Japan with a biker gang. After that, Adam was working for Night Parade for a few decades. There simply wasn't much overlap for them to interact.
Kei loved ranting about his 'rebellious baby brother' though, both in barely-expressed exasperation and fondness. It was simultaneously amusing and annoying whenever he'd complain about some minor shipment of parts getting stolen back in Japan in his signature flat voice. Usually followed shortly after by forcing all the guards to watch the video recording of Yorinobu 'doing something subarashii'.
All of Adam's info on the kid came from secondhand sources. That made him an unknown that he wasn't allowed to kill. Uriel recommended caution until they knew what the kid was like.
So, pants on, Adam waited for Yorinobu to talk. He did after a few moments.
"Adam Smasher. Recall your actions for the last twenty-four hours." He said, still looking over the city where workers were swarming about trying to get shit put back together. Adam grunted, but pulled up the appropriate files from his black box. He was pretty sure he remembered one day ago, but checking the memory files was standard procedure.
"I was going through maintenance cycles for eight hours, as per standard operating procedure. Then, at oh-six hundred, I began a personal patrol of the Pacifica region. This lasted until eighteen-hundred, where I was attacked by a panzerbot and about one-hundred and ten cyberforms. This conflict lasted for about twenty minutes, the panzerbot ran after twenty-seven 'DangerGal' operatives showed up."
He took a moment to remove the growl that had built up in his throat. He was a professional, professionals don't growl at the people who pay them.
"I then went back to HQ to swap frames, and walked to the south-side road leading into Pacifica. I broadcasted a message to draw as many hostile forces to my location as possible. I remained in that location for twelve hours, after which I was called in by you."
A moment passed before Yorinobu spoke again.
"Panzerbot is not an official term. I'm guessing you're referring to the previously unknown cyberform martial artists?"
Adam grunted in affirmation. "I was never briefed on them. I just scrapped them whenever they showed up."
Yorinobu paused at this, and turned his head partially to look at Jun. After a few seconds he turned back to the window. "After I dismiss you, remember to go down to intel and give them a copy of your memories of the confrontation, they'll need it." Adam grunted in affirmation, arms crossed over his chest in a relaxed manner.
"You stayed within Pacifica territory instead of going into the city to protect Arasaka employees, why?"
Adam growled in a frustrated manner. It had been real fucking annoying, he was still mad that he missed possibly the biggest rumble in Night City history. "President Jugemu Jun ordered me to remain within the bounds of Pacifica and only leave upon his direct orders."
Yorinobu didn't have a reaction to his, merely moving onto the next question. He took a moment to take another drag from his cigarette before he continued, however. "Are the terms 'Battlegroup Yurei' or 'Project Yokai' familiar to you?"
"Not anything specific, no."
Yorinobu nodded to himself, pulled out the cigarette, and snuffed it out on the window. He pulled out a small metal case, and put the stub inside, before putting it back in his back pocket. He walked over to the president's chair, and sat down on it. Jun was off to the side, and Adam was standing in the middle of the room.
Once seated, he started talking. "As of two hours ago, I have become acting president of Arasaka NC. For the last two hours, I have been asking the former president questions about the activities of the tower for the last few years."
He pulled off his aviators, and set them on the table. "Battlegroup Yurei was the humanoid drones that you apparently fought some hours ago. It was supposed to be impossible for them to go rogue, but it looked like they managed it. Now, the vehicle drones…"
He stared Adam in the eyes. "Apparently, they were doing some research into cyberpsychosis in the bay-floor research facility. Infants were abducted, biopoded, and 'stress-tested' for all factors into the condition. Those vehicles had these biopods inside."
…Well that was downright insulting. He snarled out the next line. "I had been fighting fucking newborns?!" That pissed him the fuck off, he had been pushed back by fucking babies. He should have been slaughtering them without any trouble at all.
Fucking babies had been giving him trouble. This was the most infuriating bullshit he had heard all day. Wait no, second most infuriating bullshit he had heard all day.
Yorinobu nodded in confirmation, and leaned back in the chair. He looked at Jun, and then to Adam.
"Adam Smasher, my first order as acting president of Arasaka NC…" He gestured towards Jun. "Execute former president Jugemu Jun."
Adam took a great deal of pleasure in punching a hole through Jun's chest. A wonderfully sickening snap-crack of a spine and ribcage breaking. He lifted the slightly struggling body up, and slammed it into the far wall. His latest masterpiece, adding a splash of red to liven up the rather plain office space. He let out a smile that was all teeth, his body painted in a fresh coat of gore.
He recorded the moment, and backed it up. He was going to relive the artistry of the moment whenever he needed a pick-me-up. He made sure to memorize the scene, before turning over to Yorinobu.
Yorinobu had stood up, moved behind the chair, and blocked the splatter of gore headed his way with a clipboard. He lowered it and looked down at the red-soaked chair. He turned to Adam and raised an unimpressed brow. He looked to the room that was now splattered in the former president's remains, and spoke deliberately.
"...I wasn't expecting you to make such a mess."
Adam shrugged nonchalantly. "He pissed me off."
Yorinobu hummed in agreement, pulled out a set of chips in the desk, and gestured for Adam to follow him as he walked out of the room. He spoke to the guards as they walked. "Send the scrubbers in to clean up the former president." They nodded and one of them raised a hand to activate their radio.
They walked into the elevator, and up to the roof of the Tower. Walking out onto the surface, Adam saw micro-damages in a few places. There had been a fight here.
Yorinobu walked over to the edge, and got out another cigarette. The wind was strong enough here to make his jacket flutter in the breeze. Pulling out a vintage lighter, and starting to smoke again, he looked like a movie star. How dramatic of you, kid.
After another drag, he pulled out one of the chips and tossed it over to Adam. Adam looked at it, before inserting it and looking over the info. It was the schematics for a device, although he wasn't sure what it did. Neither he or Uriel had much in the way of technical knowledge about things like this.
It looked like a… three part system? An autoinjector, a chipware plug-in, and some sort of neural analyzer. Scans the brain and injects chemicals based on what it reads…
Adam recognized this. It looked a whole lot like the schematics for a Dragoon Mind-Shackle. Scaled down, but very familiar regardless.
"That was the sum of project Yokai's research up until this point. They called it the L.E.A.S.H. When implanted, it forces the subject to operate according to a set of behaviors that supposedly help prevent psychosis, using pavlovian principles. The chipware modulates the subject's behavior, and this behavior is encouraged by chemical incentives, serotonin and dopamine."
"If the subject ever succumbs to psychosis, the autoinjector has enough CPS-23 to last for 24 hours, long enough for them to go to a medical professional for a longer term treatment. The neural analyzer acts as the computer for this, storing the behavioral information and regulating the injections of chemicals."
"All in all, this dramatically improved the chances for the subject to remain sane." Yorinobu had let his voice fill with the slightest hint of anger by the end of his explanation. He took a moment to take a drag from the cigarette.
Yorinobu continued. "Your profile indicates that you appreciate honesty, so I'm being honest with you now. I am testing your reactions to get a personal evaluation of who you are. Having said that, what would you do with this research?"
Adam grumbled in confirmation. He did appreciate not having to deal with corpo double-speech bullshit. It was always a pain in his ass. Uriel asked to take over the talking for this. That was fine by him, he didn't really give a shit about this. Uriel thought for a moment, moving Adam's gaze to the side to indicate this. What would be the best option here?
He looked over the city, and the radiation workers that barely covered the main streets. They would need money for that shit.
…When in doubt, go for broke.
"...Sell the production rights to everyone with the stipulation of an Arasaka set sales price. Then set that sales price to be barely profitable."
Yorinobu tilted his head and raised a brow. Uriel continued at the unasked question.
"This is the kind of bullshit that everyone in the world is going to want. Selling it at massive mark-up ourselves is a good short term gain but shitty long term gain. Selling production rights to literally everyone gets the corps sabotaging each other and not Arasaka, while getting the item on the market for cheap for any meatbag that wants one, and making a huge long-term profit.
"This gives more capital to dedicate into fixing the city after last nights rumble, which is going to be fucking pricey to do without a new income source."
"Getting rid of it now means all those brats died pointlessly. That, and I might get to brawl with meatbags that are actually worth a damn in a fight a few years from now, if they can get more chrome."
Yorinobu turned back to overlook the city. He was silent as he thought over the matter. Uriel stayed quiet to let him think, taking in the view. Adam was replaying Jun's death over and over. Goddamn it was still satisfying.
After a few minutes, Yorinobu spoke again. "That's not the answer I was expecting of you."
Uriel grunted in resigned frustration. "Pacifica has been a pain in my ass, I had to learn this shit after the old man dropped it on me."
Yorinobu smirked. He offered Adam a cigarette, who waved it off. He didn't have lungs to smoke it with. Shrugging, he took another drag of his own.
"...Yes, I think I can work with you, Smasher-san."
—
Adam stalked through the halls of Arasaka tower, he was going to the medical wing, where the brat and the rest of them apparently were. He had checked his old rooms to find them gone, so he had sent a message asking where they were. Another few minutes of walking later, he was in the medical facility adjacent to Arasaka Tower.
He ignored the medical staff that tried to wave him down. They wouldn't stop him, even if they technically had the authority to do so.
Pushing in the door where the brat said they were, he stepped inside.
The brat, the girl, the small girl, the woman, and two others. One was a girl in an Arasaka security outfit, the other was the brat's friend.
The brat's friend was in the hospital bed, looking weak and made of meat. All four of his limbs were a fresh set of Arasaka standard chrome. The medical tape hadn't even been removed yet.
Uriel narrowed his theoretical eyes as he stared at the four tiny AI-women that were lounging around their guns. He stared them down, and they stared back in astonishment. What the fuck were those doing there? Adam scanned over the room. They were all in mostly good condition, scrapes and bruises at best. Good enough for a rumble of that size.
The small girl wouldn't look him in the eyes.
"Heya Smasher." The brat nodded at him. "What's with the no-shirt thing?" He asked.
Adam grunted. "Frame got damaged, had to be replaced quickly." The brat nodded, and furrowed his brow.
"Another panzerbot?"
Adam nodded in confirmation. The brat huffed and glared at nothing. There was nothing said for a moment, before Uriel got curious.
"...The fuck is on your guns?" He grumbled.
The brat groaned and set his head in his hands. The girl and small girl shrugged. The brat's friend guffawed and then kept flinching in pain with each escape of laughter. The security girl gave a polite chuckle. The woman winced in anticipation.
The brat started explaining. "They're scope-mounted AIs that scan for enemies around you, and warn you of oncoming danger."
…What was the joke?
"Sounds useful." He grunted out idly as he tried to puzzle out the humor.
This set off an explosion of laughter from everyone in the room. He glared at them until they settled down and gave him an explanation. After a few minutes of laughter at his expense, the small girl eventually struggled hard enough to explain.
"T-they're anime girls, big guy…" This set off another burst of chuckles. "They're w-waifus… h-holy shit my stomach hurts."
That was it? That was barely a joke. Adam almost felt offended that they laughed at something that mediocre. He glared down at the tiny AI women, who were also chuckling. You fuckers want to laugh, he'd give you a joke. He spoke out the next line in a completely serious tone.
"I'll have to get one then."
The laughter froze. Everyone in the room stared at him, smiles dropping in astonishment. The small girl spoke out. "W-wait, are you serious, big guy?"
Adam grunted out humorlessly. "An AI-ran early warning system is useful to have. I don't use scopes anyway, so I don't lose anything by mounting one."
The brat spoke up. "Smasher, you… they're anime girls on your gun, you don't care about how that's gonna affect your rep?"
"When have I ever given a shit what meatbags think?"
They were all frozen stiff, staring at him for a long moment.
Adam broke the stillness with a tiny smirk and a snort of laughter.
They realized that he was fucking with them immediately. The room burst into relieved laughter. The small girl ran up and started beating on his frame with weak fists.
"You asshole, I was believing you for a second there!"
Now thats a proper fucking joke, take notes for next time brats.
The brat spoke. "Smasher making a joke, Kage's not gonna fucking believe this."
His tiny smirk dropped into a frown and glare at the wall.
They noticed the change in mood.
The woman spoke. "...Is there something wrong?"
He had nothing really to complain about. The old skeleton went out in probably the best way that could be expected. They were old killers, it only made sense that he would get scrapped one of these days.
It still pissed him off. He growled out in a frustrated tone.
"Kagekaze died defending the tower."
—
New Cyberware Unlocked
L.E.A.S.H.
This implant takes up a neuralware slot and requires a neural processor.
The character's base EMP is set to 5 so long as this implant is installed. They reduce any future humanity loss by 1 per d6, to a minimum of 1. If the character's EMP drops below 2 due to humanity damage, they receive an automatic injection of immunosuppressants (3 EMP). This injection always lasts 24 hours instead of the normal duration, but must be refilled manually afterwards.