"...as of three hours ago, all known active participants in the disaster that occurred at the beginning of this week have been found and delivered due punishment in accordance with their legal culpability…" Yorinobu was certainly good at delivering speeches to the masses, standing in front of a crowd of a few hundred, half of which were probably reporters of some variant. He was dressed in what Uriel had come to understand as his standard outfit, a three piece suit but with the jacket replaced by that red and black leather jacket of his. Coming with his slicked back hair and angular features, he likely made for a subject of no small number of female fantasies.

Rich, famous, professional with a layer of rebelliousness, rumored to be skilled in a fight, Yorinobu was a popular person among the masses. There were many reasons for this, one of which was his ability to command an audience with his presence. Nothing he was saying was particularly fascinating by itself, but the context it was understood to be in and the way he said it elevated it to another level entirely.

Uriel could admit, he was utterly outclassed in this regard. He knew how people worked, and could manipulate others decently if he needed to, but this was a master at play. This was charisma, that knowable but unquantifiable feature that made people follow you. Yorinobu had charisma in spades, and he knew how to wield it to capture an audience's attention.

"...thanks to the sacrifice of long-time security officer Kagekaze, the orchestrating villain of this massacre had been slain, and his final weapon of spite had been transported beyond where the blast could do any substantial harm to the city. The storm and bay water in conjunction was able to restrict the radiation from spreading for miles, instead being restricted primarily to the northern districts…"

Uriel glanced around the room from where he was seated in Adam's Gemini, his arms were crossed over his chest and face pulled into a slight grimace. Everything in his body language subtly signaled that he didn't want to be here and was annoyed at having to be. This was deliberate, keeping in character with Adam's persona and the careful sympathies Uriel was trying to cultivate in the public.

No one liked attending press conferences. Look! Adam Smasher is annoyed too! He's just like me!

To increase his own chances of survival, he had to make people like Adam. Uriel hated lying, so he wasn't going to do that. All that was left was emphasizing Adam's more likable traits, and careful wording to ensure appeal while maintaining truth. This was the part of talking that people always did subconsciously, but neither Adam nor Uriel were so lucky. They had to do this manually, consciously.

Uriel was good at talking to people, but he hated doing it. He hated dying much more though. Uriel let loose a slightly stronger 'breath' than normal from his nose, and furrowed his brow.

Once he and Adam had realized they could do this, he stayed at home to train the kids more, and Uriel was sent out to attend the meetings that Adam didn't care about. This was far more efficient overall, even if he now had to actually go out into the world again.

It had been a while since he had gone out as Agent Sunshine, and before that a while since he had a body at all. At least, a body for longer than about five seconds. He didn't mind being bodiless, not really, so it was a distinctly strange experience to be out in one for so long. He'd get used to it eventually, if they were going to keep this up.

He and Adam had shared a brain for the last five months, Uriel knew exactly what he was like and vice versa. There was no worry about messing up in that regard. The frame was one of the most upgraded in the world as well, he wouldn't have to worry about fighting anyone or anything except another panzerbot. If he was fighting another panzerbot, he'd just signal Adam and stall for as long as possible.

Having a game plan helped him ignore his nervousness at being isolated in the world again. He had gotten used to the security from being a ghost in someone else's head. That was a flaw, a weakness, he would simply remove that by forcing the issue. Exposure therapy and whatnot.

"...which is why we at Arasaka are announcing a collaborative venture with Militech. The formation of a joint corporate endeavor, and the reformation of a familiar company. The International Electronics Corporation, or IEC for short, will be re-established with split ownership and begin sales of its flagship product coming this June. An Arasaka-developed proprietary technology, it is perhaps the single greatest innovation in the field of cyberpsychosis treatment since the development of CPS-23, also known as Immunosuppressants."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I announce the LEASH, the anti-cyberpsychoic neuralware implant. I will now open the floor to questions for the remaining duration of this conference."

This announcement was followed by an immediate flurry of questioning and shouts from the assembled, most of which were rather useless to know, pointless clarifications on technicalities and other garbage. Uriel let out a frustrated huff and leaned back slightly, waiting for the next fifteen minutes of this half-hour segment to pass. Acutely aware of all the cameras and sensors that were also on him, he made sure to pose in a way that emphasized the plasteel musculature of the Gemini, straining the dress shirt and pants he had been given for this.

Sex appeal was yet another weapon he had to use.

"Blue jacket and glasses."

"Yes, when you say that this product will be released in June, is that June of this year or next year?"

"That's June of this year, six months from now. Next, Top row, red sweater."

…He could be managing Pacifica right now, this sucked.

After a long time spent sitting on a reinforced chair they had specifically brought for Adam, the fifteen minutes had passed, and the initial announcement was over. He uncrossed his legs and arms and stood with a frown. He mimed the motions to cracking his neck and rolling his shoulder as he walked over to the empty podium.

Next was Adam's segment, the announcement of the Zenith for the Pacifica construction. For some ungodly reason they wanted him to announce it, probably because he was the new face for the territory overall. That's not all either! Because immediately after this meeting he was supposed to attend a talk show. Uriel fucking hated talk shows, talk shows and social media and just about every other form of vapid celebrity worship that could be imagined.

Unfortunately, Adam hated them more, and thus Uriel was going to be dealing with it.

Before he entered that hell, he had to give an announcement. Speaking clearly, powerfully, and in Adam's signature metallic voice, he began with an undertone of deliberate irritation.

"In addition to offering aid in the ecological cleanup, the EEG extended an offer to Arasaka regarding the Pacifica development. An amount of investment funding equal to four-hundred percent the then-current Arasaka corporate funding being invested into the region. This would be in exchange for utilizing ecologically-friendly planning outlined in a series of documents handed over. The plans detailed a form of Arcology that would, when complete, encompass the entirety of Pacifica."

"This arcology is referenced as a ZENITH in the document, so that is the name that will be used moving forwards. These plans were modified to be more robust and defensible, and then approved by both parties. The plans were determined to be mostly sound, and no large permanent construction projects have been commissioned in the Pacifica region yet that would be disrupted by the construction of the Arcology. As it was free money and urban development plans, this was accepted."

"It is to my understanding that they wish to put their name on it, but not act as chief developers. Thus if their plans are shit and fail, they can push the blame onto Arasaka. If their plans succeed they can then advertise that the product came from them and take credit. A classic corporate scheme, one that's expected and inoffensive enough. The ZENITH is designed to be a city that is ecologically friendly. This sounds like something of a lost cause at this point, but oh well, I'm only paying for part of it."

"That is all, I will now be forced to answer questions."

As expected, there was a lot of immediate shouting and nonsense that he didn't want to listen to. So, he decided to simplify the entire thing by just starting from the top left and going down until he got all of them or ran out of time. He raised a finger and pointed.

"First one, top left."

"Yes! Mr. Smasher, do you stand by your accusation of the motivations of the EEG?"

He stared at the reporter for a moment. "You just heard me fucking talk meatbag. That's a pointless question, feel ashamed."

He pointed at the next reporter in line. "Second one, top left."

"Ah! Mr. Adam, do you know why you were chosen to represent this announcement?"

"Fuck if I know. Third one, top left."

It was about at this point that the reporters realized he was just going to go in order, and started fighting each other for earlier positions. Uriel made absolutely no effort to stop them. Internally he grinned, it was like watching a bunch of brightly-colored babies brawl as quietly as they could while shuffling their way through a crowd of similar babies. Adam was going to get a laugh out of this.

—

A full twenty-five minutes later, he exited the conference to head to the talk show suppressing a grin. Goddamn who knew that messing with a bunch of medias in such a way would be so amusing. No less than five of them had to be escorted out due to drawing weapons on the others. It only got more and more violent as things progressed and it was clear that the time for questions was shrinking.

A brawl in the last five minutes between people who barely knew how to fight, it was almost like he had the old internet back again.

He opened the car door, got inside, plugged up the interface cable, and started the car. It growled underneath him, but the interface plug assured him that was completely intentional with this one. The citypop came out of the radio, and he caught himself before he hummed along to it. Adam wouldn't hum, so he wouldn't either. Had to keep the mask on for this to work out.

A couple of minutes of driving later, he parked the car in the studio parking lot and got out. He walked past the guards, who were expecting him and into the side door. A woman was standing inside with a datapad, and she looked up as his heavy boots hit the floor. She gave a plastic and polite smile as he came to a stop.

"Ah, Mr. Smasher. If you wait over in the lounge, I'll tell Mr. Q and we'll call you over when we're ready."

He grunted and walked over to the aforementioned lounge. As he opened the door and looked to the room, he noticed an immediate problem. The lounge was one of those stupid ones with the table and chairs in the center going down into the ground. He let out a dissatisfied rumble and walked over to sit on the floor and rest his feet on the ground, his legs passing over the intended chairs.

Adam was eight feet tall, his legs wouldn't fit into one of these tiny bullshit seats. He had to stretch a bit, leaning forwards and letting his elbows rest on his knees. Then it was time to wait until he was called in.

—

"Goooooood Evening Night City!" The voice came from the slightly out of tune radio. Abbey had never figured out how to fix that, and it was never really worth the effort to hire a techie.

She didn't have a job this evening, so there wasn't much to do for a while. She just leaned back on her Adams, munched on some fried-bird flavored kibble, and indulged in one of her timewaster hobbies. Listening to talk shows. She munched as she listened to the radio play.

"Our special guest for tonight? Be ready for a big surprise because it's none other than the Most recent hero of the hour himself, Adam Smasheeerrr!"

She wasn't sure about this flavor, it had something off about it…

Her chewing slowed. She turned to the radio with a mouth full of kibble. Over the radio the sounds of faint stomps were heard for a moment before stopping. Then the sound of someone slowly lowering themselves onto a couch.

"Adam, do you mind if I call you Adam? Let me say it's a special treat to have you on the show."

"I am here because I was ordered to be."

Slowly, her tail started to wag as she stared, wide-eyed at the radio.

"Not a fan of interviews huh? I completely understand. Don't worry, hopefully we can make this one be painless for you, huh? Let's dive right into it, Everyone's dying to know, what is it like being you?"

"Clarify."

"You know! The mega-man in the chrome, the hero of the fourth corporate war, the oldest solo in the biz, the conqueror of criminals, the hell-hound of Arasaka! What's it like being you compared to all of us non-Night City legends?"

"I haven't been a meatbag since… 2006 I think, that's right around seventy one years ago. I barely remember what it was like. I'm strong enough to punch through concrete, and tough enough to ignore most guns. I'm fast enough to outrun anything slower than a car, and quick enough to dodge bullets. I've been killing since the 1990s, meaning more combat experience than just about everyone else on the planet."

"I can see in just about every camera option invented, and hear in just about every audio and radio communication method invented. I'm heavy enough to break weaker chairs, I'm tall enough to have to duck through most doors, and I constantly have to deal with meatbags who annoy me. I barely remember what it was like to be meat at all, let alone what it's like to be a bog-standard meatbag."

"I know what it's like to be me, I have no idea how to explain it to any of you. I can't imagine being so weak anymore."

She set her bag of kibble down on the floor and swallowed what was already in her mouth. Just to make sure she didn't spill it from excitement. Her tail smacked around furiously, and she sat on it to stop it's wiggling from distracting her.

—

Michiko let herself be pulled by Juliet, who was quite insistent on her coming to the break room as soon as possible to hear something. She was slightly worried, but mostly amused as she kept pace with the blonde woman tugging her arm through the halls.

Inside the break room were all her elite girls that weren't currently on a job, sitting around and listening to… The voice of Ziggy Q? She walked over to look at the screen head on and froze.

"...that's quite a lot to unpack there, so you say you've been fighting since the 1990s? Just how old are you really?"

"I did not say fighting, I said killing. My business is murder, don't skirt around it. And yes, you never forget your first kill. Mine was in 1997, some fat man with groceries coming around the corner of the street. I bashed him in the knees and then the head, then ran off with his bags. I ate well that night."

"Well that's quite a story… wait, just how old were you, you didn't answer that."

"Hmm… I was discharged in 2005, I spent three or so years in the army… Maybe thirteen?"

"Thirteen?"

"...Yeah, about thirteen, mom left about five years before that, and it was my eigth birthday. So thirteen sounds about right."

"Your mom was… Well what about your father?"

"Oh, he was long gone by then, left me a bat though. That's how I got my nickname back then, Bats, meanest kid on the block."

"Is Adam Smasher your real name?"

"Nah, after the Army killed my bloodboys and pinned me down, they gave me a job offer and I signed up. After they realized I didn't have any paperwork, they wrote some up and Adam Smasher was my new name. No idea what it was originally"

Michiko slowly sat in the offered chair and stared at the floor. She never liked to hear him tell this story. She ignored her girls, giving her concerned glances.

—

She jumped slightly when her door slammed open. Quickly she jerked her hand back to minimize the amount of spillage, before carefully setting the tea cup down and slowly turning to glare at who just burst through her door.

"Akai, don't slam my door open like that, you'll break the hinges." She said to the girl her age in comfortable ladybug themed pajamas at her door. Vibrant red tech-hair, expansive bug-eye optics, and a sleeping hat with a stylized mushroom on it. The Red Menace was at her door interrupting her favorite tea-time.

"Yeah sure, whatever, get into the living room, Adam Smasher is on Night after Night right now." She said excitedly, practically vibrating in place. She raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds neat, I'll watch the recording later."

"He's dissing Lizzy Wizzy." Akai said with a grin. In a very dignified manner, the idol known as Purple Force got up from her very comfortable chair, wiped up her tea spill on the table with the napkin, and dashed after Akai into the main room.

Aoi was already there, with a wide smile on her face as she watched the screen. Akai practically jumped onto the couch again, and she followed to not miss anything.

"...still don't know why meatbags have such dogshit fashion, but I've long since started to expect that of them. I don't know who the fuck this 'Lizzy Wizzy' is, but on top of having a stupid name, and a sub-par cybernetic body, she also has some of the most awful aesthetic sense I've ever seen. No wonder the celebrity-worshiping meatbags look so awful these days, if they have this as an example of what 'good' is."

"It wasn't this bad back in 2020 or 2010. Sure you had some stand-out shitters, but it wasn't every single meatbag I see roaming around like it is nowadays. For the most part people still understood what was and was not good fashion. It must be the plastics in the water going to their brains, because brain-damage is required to appreciate this."

"Woah, those are some strong opinions from the strongest man around. You said a 'subpar cybernetic body'? Well I'm not a fullborg, so would you mind elaborating on that?" Ziggy Q was having the time of his life drumming up this celebrity drama, and it showed.

"I've been operating a fullborg body for seventy some years now. That clip you showed me had her struggling to move with fullest dexterity at some parts. That's the sign of a shitty frame. A bog-standard borg frame is as nimble as the most nimble an unenhanced human in the world can get."

"No particular armor, no particular strength, subpar installation. All the signs of amateur hour bullshit by someone who doesn't know what they were buying, installed by dumbass medics who didn't know what they were installing. It doesn't even look good, it looks like chrome spray paint on a mediocre woman's body."

"Chrome skin doesn't look good on its own. Then again this part of the fashion is just another in a long line of bad decisions. She's a dumbass meatbag who should have stuck with an actual borg body for a first timer instead of jumping into some ugly custom job she commissioned. An Alpha or Gemini frame would have been perfectly fine, but she had to spend the money on pretending to be special."

"Now look at her, ugly body with ugly fashion. Fucking meatbags piss me off, but scrapbuckets are just as insulting."

She was struggling to hold back laughter.

Akai was outright laughing.

Aoi was giggling the word 'mediocre' to herself over and over.

Serves that bitch right.

—

That evening's special episode of Night after Night lasted for a total of four hours as the host, Ziggy Q, engaged Adam Smasher in a laundry list of topics. Most of which Adam Smasher spoke at decent length over while displaying a grouchy, old-fashion charm.

It would prove to be a very popular episode. Especially as the call-in questions segment began.