Chapter 14: Night Raid
Within the night after V and Ayaka made love for the first time. Their bond is made even stronger when V allows Ayaka to call him Vincent who only people he feels the closeness can call him that. Both are still naked on the couch with Michiko calling in via their holo phones built within their spines.
"Good evening, oh am I disturbing anything?" Michiko asked.
"Nope, it's great," V said as he rubbed his face between her breasts feeling her two hearts beating.
"Yeah wonderful," Ayaka said, feeling very happy as Michiko felt good about their bond.
"He did her some good," Michiko feels happy the two are them are getting along. "I am connecting you with the Mayor of Night City to talk details about the operation to raid Night Corp's HQ tower. Sandra's data made this all possible. V you should know Mayor Jefferson Peralez, you helped him out in an investigation involving Night City's AI brainwashing program," Mochiko said.
"Yeah, put him through," V said as Jefferson came up.
"V, good to see you again. I heard you done well," Jefferson said.
"Yeah, I am working with the Dove Faction. Just took out the Iron Legion in Idaho and made FSA safer," V said.
"Well, your services are needed once again. Michiko and Sandra told me about the Night Corp's experiments. I don't believe this, they were suing me like a puppet. You should have something,"
"Come on, like I could do anything without any proof. Now Sandra has exposed the experiments to you and now we can fix this," V said.
"You are right. Sandra says this is in the trial phase. They are going to use this on the whole city and control anyone they deem useful for their ends. I will be letting you go and raid that tower. Gain any intel you find on their subnet and bring it to my wife. We need to tread carefully, people are watching," Jefferson said to cut it off to go back to Michiko.
"We have been hired by Jefferson to raid Night Corp tower and steal their AI brainwashing project. Exposing it to the city and causing them to be gutted from within. Night City is going to be upended after this is over," Michiko said.
"Can't believe we are going to change Night City like that," V said.
"What's wrong?" Michiko asked.
"No one wins in Night City," V said feeling sour about it.
"Until you change the game completely which we are doing. Night Corp is the heart of Night City, once you change that. Anything is possible, which is something you do constantly," Michiko joked lightly about this.
"Yeah, we will get ready," V said.
"Of course, an AV will come to the penthouse within the hour under the cloak of night. Be Careful, also Sandra will be aiding you on this mission since she was an employee of the HQ building. She will guide you through it," Michiko said to cut it off.
"Well, we should get cleaned up and get in our gear," she said grabbing his hand to guide him to the bathroom see despite how strong and graceful she is, her height of 5'3 makes her cute and disarming always taking advantage of this.
They get into the shower to wash each other with rugs. "So, you know a lot of interesting people," she said as V is rubbing her slender back with soap.
"Yeah, I did a few jobs for him. Then I had to hide what happened to him. I had to drop it without much progress," he said as he saw the lines of her EMP threading across her back looking quite nice.
"Well, now you can finish what you started. Time to head back to Night City and upend the status quo once again," Ayaka said as the first tower Arasaka tower getting raided, and now Night Corp HQ is going to be raided as well.
"Let's make this count and leave our mark there," V said.
"Yes let's," she said as they enjoyed their shower together to get into their combat gear. V checks his helmet to look through the visor feeling comfortable inside. He pats his body armor feeling the titanium alloy plate on the front.
They go into the armory with Ayaka in her skintight blue and white combat suit to grab an RT-46 Burya Tech revolver and a modified Ajax with a tactical stock, holographic sight, and a grenade launcher.
Ayaka is using an AKR-53 PDW with a suppressor, optical scope, and a laser sight along with a suppressed Nue pistol with a laser sight. She has her Mist Slicer on her back latched onto her bodysuit.
They go outside to see an AV with Sandra in her black Netrunning suit fitting her slender frame and her shoulder-length blond hair tied in a short bun.
"Hey guys, time to get moving," Sandra said holding onto her Kappa machine pistol and checking her Monowire on her arms. She syncs with her cyberdeck deck in her spine.
"Yeah, time to put those experiments to an end," V said as the trio got into the AV to begin heading toward Night City. Mayor Jefferson gave them clearance to go back to the city borders," Ayaka said as they held tight within the Aerodyne to go toward the chosen location.
"Back to that place, I tried so hard to escape it. Living in fear of them killing me or worse brainwashed by their disgusting project," Sandra said as she felt angry about this.
"You are a classic hacker of justice," Ayaka said.
"When I found out through going through their subnet. I was beyond pissed off, I can't just do anything. I contacted Michiko and gained safety along with keeping the data I had. This led the Mayor to act and hire us to raid the HQ to expose them to Night City and show their real colors," Sandra said.
"I barely know anything about Night Corp. Always looming in the shadows in Night City," V said.
"They are the boogeyman within the city. They think they are untouchable until they are not," Sandra said.
"Well, their Megacorporation's arrogance and ego will be their downfall. There was a big megacorp back in the day. Ever hear of IEC or the International Electric Corporation?" Ayaka asked V.
"Barely," V said.
"They were very big in the 2020s, able to compete with Arasaka and Militech enough for them to see them as a problem. Now they are shadows of their former selves. Another Corp EBM (Euro Business Machines) was big back in the day. They went to do a coup against the German government. They underestimated Old Money are the real power in Europe and they were crushed becoming an afterthought," Ayaka said as two big Megacorps were top dogs but now years have grind them into dust with her still talking.
"Even Arasaka got cocky in the Fourth Corporate War. Thinking they could bully Militech, they were dead wrong. Saburo's ego almost destroyed Arasaka and now Arasaka is in freefall after what we did. Preem time for my good friend Michiko to take over as CEO. EBM, IEC, and Arasaka have their time and it's past their due date," Ayaka said.
"She is right, no Corpo is untouchable. Even Saburo Arasaka, the most powerful man on the planet. Failed several times due to his short-sightedness and massive ego," Sandra said.
"Yeah, we are going to change things again," V said to cock his Ajax assault rifle.
"Exactly honey," she said kissing his helmet.
"We are getting close to the tower. Going into stealth mode," Hawkeye said to turn on a switch to make the Aerodyne disappear into the night sky blending perfectly. "They can't detect us. I will drop you off on top of the roof of the HQ building. I will wait nearby," Hawkeye said.
"Thanks, Hawkeye, we will take it from here," Ayaka said as she drew out her AKR-54 to check the topside magazine to see a glass window to see the ammo stacked inside. She adjusted the scope as they arrived at the roof of the tower. The door opens to fire on the guards on the roof.
Sandra uses her cyberdeck to fry the guards' brains while V leaps down to shove his arm blades into the skull of a guard. He fires his RT-46 Burya to reduce the head of the guard into a red mist made by the white-hot slug.
The two women follow after him with the Hawkeye disappearing into the night. "Time to make our entrance," Sandra said as she pulled out her Kappa smart machine pistol. Sandra looks through her eyes to share a holographic display of the HQ building's outline. "The main server is down in the middle of the tower. We need to fight our way through here," Sandra said to set two guards on fire while blasting rows of smart bullets to tear up several guards.
"We will protect you," V said as they go through a door to go down the stairs to head for the lift which will take them to the server room.
"Thanks. Ever since you came into my life, things have been looking up. Now my efforts will not go to waste," Sandra said as they see a Robot Trooper wielding a Copperhead to detect their presence. Ayaka uses a Short Circuit to make it explode and crash into a burned heap.
Sandra uses her Monowire to chop up robot troopers to bits while using her Kappa pistol to knock down more robots. Sandra hacks a set of cameras to begin destroying robots and cooking human guards with Overheat
V fires his rifle to burst fire into a group of human guards to drop them onto the floor. One of his bullets pierces through the head of a guard's bits of his brain land on a wall.
"Warning, intruders detected. Prepare defenses," the speaker's voice said.
"Good thing I still got my backdoors installed. Net security is so lazy," Sandra said as she activated her program to start disabling the tower's defenses.
They go into an officer space with Wyvern drones and begin firing smart bullets. Both V and Ayaka got hit several times but their armor and skin weave blocked the shots leaving them unharmed.
"The fuck is going on?" the guard questioned. Ayaka and Sandra used Short Circuit to knock out the drones to crash onto the floor and walls.
"Someone has breached our defensive network. We can't call for backup on the lower levels," the other guard said as V fired a slug from his revolver to destroy the guard's skull.
Sandra tags several enemies on the floor with V using his Tech revolver to punch through walls and nail the enemies in the heads dropping them lifeless on the floor.
"Not very defended," V said seeing basic guards and drones guarding the office levels.
"This isn't Arasaka Tower. No one targets Night Corp like that," Sandra said as they saw a lift to see it shut down. "Let's hack into it," Sandra puts her plug into the terminal to begin overwriting the shutdown. "Cover me," Sandra said as Ayaka and V looked over to see guards and Wyverns shooting at them.
Ayaka toughens her skin weave to block Sandra from a hail of bullets taking them all without much damage. "I got you," Ayaka said using her PDW to let the armor-piercing 9x39mm rounds easily rip into their body armor like they were wet paper towels.
Ayaka uses her Nue pistol to knock out the drones with her using her grapple arm to latch the rope on a riot shield to pull it off. She lands a headshot soon after to kill the guard. She lobs a mini rocket from her PLS to blast apart a group of guards.
V fires his Ajax rifle to pour rounds into the incoming guards and robot troopers lying out of a pile of flesh and metal bodies. He tosses an EMP grenade to disable Cyberware and drones with Ayaka blowing them up with her PLS.
"Got it," Sandra said as they slipped inside to go down the levels. "This will take us to the server room. Get all their stuff and get out of here," Sandra said to check her gun.
"Right," Ayaka said reloading her AKR-54 to shoulder the weapon to see the elevator door open to see a bunch of servers on display. "All their goodies are here," she said as they saw a bunch of Netrunners overlooking the system confused by the breach.
"Good night," V put rounds into their heads killing them instantly. They go into the server room with Sandra hacking into the access point to gather info on the AI brainwashing project.
"Damn, so much data here. Night Corp are real pieces of work," Sandra said as she was transferring the data into a data shard. "Hot damn, they are hellbent on controlling Night City through this project and the mayor was the first step," Sandra said.
"Fuck, how deep is this going?" V asked.
"Pretty bad. Some utopia nonsense. Trying to turn Night City into an ideal place of peace and calmness by brainwashing the public and powerful people in business, government,t, and entertainment to make Night City a better place," Sandra said dryly. "What bullshit," Sandra said as she finds something worrisome. "Oh no," Sandra transfers the images on the monitors.
"Who is that?" V asked.
"That is the Mayor's daughter Xochi, why is she here?" Ayaka wondered to see the daughter of Jefferson and Elizabeth Peralez latch onto a chair linked to some sort of device.
"She was supposed to be studying abroad in Europe. Did Night Corp kidnap her for these experiments," Sandra said as she began to trace her location within the building. "Okay, she is on this level. The guards are light there. One of you needs to clear it out and rescue it," Sandra said.
"I will go. I will go get her. I will meet you on the roof," V said as Ayaka kissed him for luck.
"Right, see you topside," Ayaka said as Vspeds off to use his Sandy to easily get to the location fast using his arm blades to slice off the guards' heads. All 10 guards died in the flash to go inside the room to unplug the woman from the machine.
"Xochi, wake up," V said as the young woman woke up from her slumber.
"Oh, man. My head, who are you?" Xochi asked.
"I am V, I helped your father trying to become mayor," V said.
"Oh yeah, he told me about you. You were a great help to him. Where am I?"
"You are in Night Corp. They have kidnapped you and trying to brainwash you like they did to your parents,"
"What the hell, that's very messed up. You here to rescue me?" she asked.
"Well, I am Mario to your Peach," V said lightly making the young woman laugh. "I need to carry you, I am going to take you out of here fast,"
"Okay, lead the way," Xochi gets into V's arms to hold on tight.
"Guys, I got Xochi. What is your status?" V uses his Apogee to speed through the building to go up the stairs to head for the roof.
"We got the data. All of it will be enough to bury Night Corp and upend Night City. The very heart of this corruption will be exposed," Ayaka said on the radio.
"Preem," V said to arrive on the roof to see Hawkeye waiting for them.
"Saving the Princess's V?" Hawkeye asked lightly.
"Sort of," V played along to sit Xochi in the AV.
"Thank you, V," Xochi said feeling thankful.
"No problem," V contacts Jefferson. "Hey, Jefferson. We managed to secure your daughter," V said as Jefferson was both angry and confused.
"Why the hell is she there?" he questioned.
"They kidnap her and were going to brainwash her just like they did you and Elizabeth," V said as Jefferson is beyond pissed with this.
"Night Corp went behind my back and captured my only daughter. They are going to pay for this. Thanks for saving her, Iowen you one again," Jefferson sounding grateful.
"No problem. We will drop her off at your mayoral mansion," V said as Ayakadefendedg Sandra while using her Mist Slicer to chop down multiple enemies. She shocks an enemy to death while severing the head of a guard.
"We are coming in," Ayaka said as the two women got on the roof to leap into the AV to speed off toward the mansion to drop off Xochi.
Elsewhere Michiko is speaking with Jefferson and Elizabeth seeing them hugging their daughter. "Seems like Night City only sees you as a pawn. Not a partner," Michiko said.
"I need to clean house there with all the data you have gathered. Now I can fight back and be exposed to the public," Jefferson said.
"Thanks for the aid," Elizabeth said.
"My pleasure," Michiko said.
"We are in your debt," Jefferson said.
"Indeed. I heard you cancel Arasaka's license to operate in Night City," she said.
"Yes, after Secure of Soul was exposed. My name was on the list. I kicked them out of the city but all their operations and buildings are still there empty," Jefferson said.
"How about my Dove Faction retake this area and we will help maintain order within the city. You still need my military aid when the NUSA comes knocking to take the city for themselves," Michiko said.
"Yes, I agree but your forces are only needed to defend the city. I have plans to enlarge and clean the NCPD while doing other reforms for the city," Jefferson said.
"I understand. I am a Night City girl myself and seeing someone who cares about this broken city is heartwarming. I will aid whatever I can but I do want Night City to remain independent," Michiko said.
"Thank you for understanding. The Dove Faction will resume control of all Arasaka assets within the city," Jefferson said.
"Thank you, sir, I am looking forward to this business partnership," Michiko said.
"I do likewise," Jeffersons said as Michiko made a grand move against her grandfather to steal the Arasaka Night City branch right under his nose.