Chapter 4: Restful Pause
After a few days, the news was still ablaze with bad news for Arasaka. The company is crippled after the tower assault ordered by Michiko and carried out by V, Ayaka, Kenichi, and a group of Power Armored soldiers.
Alt destroyed the Mikoshi network and the Secure Your Soul labs and Secure Your Soul's purpose of controlling the world via enslaving people's engrams has been exposed to the public. Governments and Megacorps find Saburo and his company untrustworthy, which all goes into Michiko's plans.
Hanako is looking at this from the Arasaka Estate to be dumbfounded at how bold Michiko's attack was and crippling the company was at the height of its newfound power. "Michiko, what have you done," she said as she got a call from her father. "Father," he said.
"So, it's true Michiko has done this?" Saburo asked not being pleased with this.
"Yes, she has confirmed it. Her strike team has purged Mikoshi and Secure Your Soul labs. It's all gone," Hanako said.
"Yorinobu and now this. That girl was always poisoned by those cursed Western values," Saburo felt disgusted with his granddaughter.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"We need to control the situation. The leaks of Secure Your Soul are spreading like wildfire and hurting our reputation," Saburo said.
"I am afraid a lot of people within the company seem to be on the side of Michiko after her stunt. Also, my brother's faction is becoming very aggressive, they are emboldened by this weakness we are showing," Hanako said.
"Cockroaches. Find them out and purge them. This needs to be contained, recent events have done unthinkable damage to the company," Saburo is hiding his anger for his ultimate plan for world domination through Arasaka which has been cooking up for over a hundred years has been destroyed in an instant.
Elsewhere V and Ayaka are watching the TV to see Arasaka's stock is falling and taking a huge amount of loss with Secure Your Soul and Mikoshi network being destroyed by their actions. "Hell yeah," he said.
"We managed to wipe out their biggest project and now the company is in a crippled state. Now Michiko will gather her allies and begin to strike back. Taking the company piece by piece until it's going to be all hers," Ayaka said.
"Would they be looking for us now?" V questioned.
"Doubt it, they got bigger fish to fry now. Governments and Megacorps are wary of Saburo's intentions. He needs to watch his back for a long time. He will become more paranoid with enemies everywhere in the company we will take advantage of," Ayaka said.
"Preem. Why are you packing your stuff?" he asked.
"Well, Night City is going to be chaotic with Arasaka's hold weakening and their street assets the Tyger Claws' leadership got mostly wiped out. Best we go somewhere safe. The FSA capital Sacramento," Ayaka said.
"The Free States of America, why there?" he asked.
"The Dove Faction are welcomed as allies there. They see Michiko as a proper person to work with when she becomes the CEO of the company. Also keeping Militech and the NUSA in check from invading them," Ayaka said as they got into the AV to put away their things to fly off to get away from Night City.
"What about clearance?" V asked.
"Don't worry, we got that set up," Ayaka said as the border guards didn't shoot down their AV letting them pass to head up north.
"Nova. I have been to Sacramento. It's a nice city compared to Night City," he said.
"Damn straight, colorful and bright. You will love it, it will be our base of operations from now onwards," Ayaka said as they flew towards the city.
Within the hour they speed towards the capital. V's eyes light up to see a large enriching city with a big river crossing through the huge city. "So beautiful, a sight to behold," V said.
"Anything is better than that eyesore. This place looks welcoming and warm. The government is keeping the city neat and clean. Making it the crown jewel of the Free States of America. Proper for the FSA capital," Ayaka said as they flew towards his luxury penthouse on top of a large building.
"This is your digs?" he asked.
"Yep, all those eddies I got were well worth having this killer view," Ayaka said as they landed on a landing pad to see the awesome view of the wonderful city of Sacramento.
"Wow, this is Nova," V said as he gently held onto her hand.
"Gee, he got firm hands," she thought enjoying the touch of his. "Nova indeed, come on. I need to show you the place," she said as the interior is very open with the windows letting in the light giving it a very natural look. "This is the living room it's quite big. The kitchen is over there," she said to see a well-stocked kitchen.
She shows an armory room filled with weapons and gear. "You can put your stuff within here. Good to set up mission and whatnot," Ayaka said to keep moving around the place. "There are two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and a trophy room where I put all my stuff I gathered throughout the years," he said as V was impressed with all this.
"Oh boy, this is bigger than the penthouse you have in Night City," V said as she showed him the guest room.
"Well, I have enough wealth to have several penthouses throughout the world and even one in Venus," Ayaka said as V is truly impressed with this.
"Venus huh, with the floating cities," V said as Venus was colonized by humans in the 2030s where they have cities floating on anti-gravity platforms in the habitable zone in the atmosphere having similar air pressure to earth.
"Like right out of Cloud City in Star Wars," she said.
"You are a woman of fine taste," V said as Ayaka giggled at this.
"I try, V," she said gently caressing his shoulder to go into the guest room to let him set down his stuff.
"I got to admit, those Standard D power armors are always impressive," V said.
"Indeed," she sends him the data via wireless transfer. "We got these Power Armor or ACPA(Assisted Personal Combat Armor) models. The Standard D is a suit of armor with the protection and maneuverability of an ACPA while being light enough for stealth operations. ACPAs have a defense rating between an IFV and an MBT. Quite hardy machines in combat, we have a ton of these for our operatives to give us an edge," Ayaka said.
"Very impressive tech when used in the tower raid," he said to look around his guest room. "Speaking of large, this is very spacy," he said for the room is quite spacious.
"This will be your space V, get comfortable. I need to talk with Michiko," Ayaka said to step out of the room to contact Michiko. "So, what is the deal now?" Ayaka asked with her long tail swooping across the floor.
"Well, the chaos will keep Arasaka busy. Within FSA, we should be safe with our allies covering us. Relax, you earn it. Both of you," Michiko said.
"Thanks," Ayaka said.
"So how about getting close to V's pants?" Michiko teases him as Ayaka blushes from this to put her slender finger twisting around the tip of her metal tail.
"Yeah, I am getting there. He can't keep his eyes off me. My boobs, my legs, my butt, and even more tail. He can't stop looking," Ayaka said feeling her two hearts beating in her chest.
"Well, you are getting there. Show him around and check out the mall complex with him, it's pretty fun down there," Michiko said to cut off the line.
"Well, I need a shower and change of clothing to show him around town and then hit up the mall later on the week," she thought going into her shower to strip out of her clothing to go into inside to let the water wash over her body.
"Oh, this hits the spot," she said as her long metal tail curled up from her being happy with her muscles easing up from the warmth. She puts soap into her long silver hair along with her thin dragon horns among a sea of silver.
She hums to herself to use a washcloth to wash away all the grime from her figure. She uses her washcloth to rub her breasts to flinch a bit. "Oh, they are sensitive," she thought to get out of the shower to dry herself off to put on a pair of blue panties along with a blue strapless bra.
"I am done, just got out of the shower?" he asked.
"Yes, I am going to take you on a tour of the capital of the FSA. Getting to know the area will aid you when we do missions within the city," she said walking away with her feeling his eyes on her curves. "Keep your eyes on me. Young man, we are getting closer," she thought as her metal tail swayed along with her hips seductively to catch his attention. Her long silver hair spreads down across her slender back looking like a silk sheet. "Like what you see V?" she teased him.
"Looking pretty fresh," he said to see her tail was barely above her panties seeing it connected to her spine, Ayaka giggled at this.
"Well, I got a nice dress to wear. You need to get ready to explore the city," Ayaka said with her sweet Japanese accent flaring up to put him into a nice trance making him enjoy the sound of her voice. She goes into her room with V following after her to see it's quite lovely.
"Lots of interesting things here," V said to see items, paintings, and objects she has been gathering for decades.
"Oh, this is nothing, my trophy room is where the real magic happens. I will show you later," she said to put on a lovely bright pink sundress. She adjusts it and fits her tail through a built-in slit in the back of her skirt. "I feel nice, what do you think?" she asked.
"Very pretty, fits you," V said as she giggled at this.
"Thanks, you should get dressed up before hitting the town. We got time to burn," Ayaka said as she sat on the couch to wait for him to change into something else. Her tail comes up with the pointy spear-like tip getting touched playfully by Ayaka.
"Ready to go," V said wearing a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers.
"Looking cute and comfy, come on. Time to show you Sacramento," she said to head outside with the whole penthouse area covered in trees, grass, and a swimming pool nearby.
"Preem pool," V said.
"I take some nighttime dives in it. The stars look beautiful outside," she said as there were two AVs parked on the landing pad with drones maintaining them. "Thankfully I have robot guards here and defenses just in case someone is gonk enough to rob me," she said getting into her luxuryExcalibur with the AI piloting them to a parking garage to land on top of a landing pad.
"Damn, no joke," he said to see the colorful buildings and rows of houses and businesses set up in this massive capital city. The two went down onto the street to feel the energy of the people there. "Gee, it's pumping me up," he said feeling energized.
"I know, it feels different from Night City. People here want a fresh start and create something new afar away from the NUSA," Ayaka said.
"Arasaka backed them in the war, right?" V asked.
"Yes, but the Dove Faction is in charge of protecting this nation. Michiko's pet project, she lived in these places all her life. She has a strong attachment here. She is investing a lot into the FSA and in turn people like her a lot here," Ayaka said with the wind brushing against her skirt and her long silver hair dancing against it making her look very lovely right out of a painting.
"You are doing good work here. Working with Myers showed me what kind of woman she is. She only cares about the glory and nothing else," V feels sympathy for Songbird being used like a tool by Myers and putting her out of her misery to end her suffering while denying Myers her weapon. "Do you know about what Myers is doing?" he asked.
"We have an idea but no. Why?" she asked.
"Dogtown has a nasty secret. Militech was creating their version of Soul Killer. Project Cynosure," V said as Ayaka was confused by this.
"I never hear of this," Ayaka said as V held a data shard, he kept about the project to hand it to her.
"I got this when I was doing a gig in Dogtown. I was going to use it as leverage if Myers ever went after me. Give it to Lady Michiko, she will know what to do with it," he said.
"Interesting, Militech has buried huh? Just the data we need to hit back at them and that bitch Myers," Ayaka said feeling anger coming from her gentle voice.
"What's wrong?" he asked as they walked among the crowds.
"Michiko lost everything to that monster Myers. If you want more, you should speak with her. I think she would want to talk with you more about Cynosure," Ayaka said as they found a large gun shop. "Oh, we are going to need some new weapons. Come on," she said to grab his hand to enter inside to see a load of guns on display and a firing range to test them out.
"Welcome you two to Dead Aim. I hope you enjoy our wares here," the shopkeeper said as V noticed there were a lot of Arasaka weapons on display.
"Gee we got Masamune and Nowaki burst fire assault rifles, The Aki Ashi burst fire tech precision rifle. The Shigure SD, Minami 10, and Senkoh-LX submachine guns. Nobunaga smart sniper rifle. Yukimura, Kenshin and Tamayura pistols. An Arasaka weapon buffet," V said.
"As they say, if you want the best. You go Japanese. We have been giving the FSA a ton of weapons and gear to support their defense against the Militech and the NUSA. Flooding their markets with our wares," she said as she grabbed a Nobunaga smart sniper rifle which had a magazine loaded on the left side holding 6 rounds of homing rounds
"Would be useful," V sees more Japanese weapons from the Tsunami Arms Megacorp. "They got some banger weapons as well," he said.
"Oh yes, works of art they made there. Just as good as our stuff," she said as V grabbed a Kyubi semi-auto battle rifle loaded with classic 7.62x51mm rounds in 20 20-round box magazine. He pulls back the rear charging handle to look through the holographic sight.
"Arasaka and Tsunami are the best in making cutting-edge weaponry. We got two prototype weapons called the Monsoon and Mayhem. Both are based on tech lost in the data crash but got recovered recently. The monsoon is a shotgun/machine gun hybrid which holds 800 rounds with 80 rounds 4mm rounds per barrel to have 10 barrels on the gun," she said.
"It's similar to how the L-69 Zhuo works right, it fires 6 shots per trigger," V said.
"Exactly, the Monsoon has a crazy rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute unleashing a wall of bullets per shot. Great for Full Borgs and Power Armor troopers. Then we got the Mayhem, a rail gun launcher that fires a molten steel core that can punch through the toughest of armor like tanks, Full Borgs, power armor, doesn't matter. It's a next-generation armor-busting weapon," Ayaka said.
"Cutting-edge stuff," V said wanting to get his hands on this stuff.
"You are one of our best solos. You could test out our stuff," she said taking the rifle to go up to the firing range to use her smart link to lock onto the moving targets to fire rapid shots with the Nobunaga's semi-auto fire. "Nice rifle, I should buy this," she said.
"Got any other solos I should know?" V asked to use the Kyubi to shoot at the targets along with Ayaka.
"Well, there you, me and Kenichi. Then there is Cho the best sniper in the Dove Faction. She was a former Kang Tao agent recruit in the States to spy on Militech and other forces like the Texas Republic and the FSA," Ayaka said.
"She was a Kang Tao agent?" he asked sounding surprised.
"Yep, when Michiko rescued her. She was indebted to him and puts her 110 percent into everything she does for the Dove Faction," Ayaka said.
"Interesting," V said to shoot down targets with his battle rifle.
"Then there is Zell who is an expert Power Armor pilot. Wearing his own custom Standard D model, becoming a powerful force on the battlefield," Ayaka said.
"We got some big hitters under Michiko's belt," V said.
"Yes, she is lucky to have us to back her up," Ayaka said as they finished practicing their aiming. "Okay I should request these and send them to the penthouse," she said to transfer the eddies to buy the weapons. They get out of the gun shop to go down the streets.
"Come on, let's see the huge river," V said as they reached the big river which runs through the entire city with many people enjoying themselves by the river with a large bridge nearby crossing over it. "That is a view," V said.
"It sure is, it goes through the park upward. It gives this city a more organic feeling behind it. Places like Night City are too artificial and this allows it to give the capital some life to it. The several parks also help with this as well," Ayaka said
"No crazy amounts of trash," V said.
"That would make the city look disgusting. People and drones keep the streets clean," Ayaka said as the capital city must make a good appearance to not show weakness to their enemies.
"What a loving view indeed but I have a better view right in front of me," V said as Ayaka giggled.
"You know how to make a girl special," Ayaka said as they took in the sights. "Man, the sights here are the best. The best beaches are in California, you would love it, I will wear the cutest bikini and enjoy the sunshine," she said.
"You in a bikini, now that is a treat on the eyes," he said as she made a sexy smirk.
"Oh, you will see me in one sooner than later sweetheart," she said in a teasing tone for V sits on a beach near a small park right by the river crossing in the middle of it.
"The view is lovely here," he said as Ayaka spread out her arms beyond her head taking a pose and stretching out her back.
"Indeed, it is. Can't have this in Night City," Ayaka said feeling the breezes getting harsh.
"Oh shit, the winds are getting stronger," he said as Ayaka's sundress's skirt flies up to expose her legs and underwear.
"Damn it," she said to hold her skirt down but V can see her curvy snow-white legs, blue silk panties with a little white bow in the front, and her long slender combat tail leaving a lovely image in his mind.
"Thankfully no one saw it beside me of course," he said as Ayaka put down her skirt with the V imprinting the image within his mind.
"Cute bow Ayaka," V teased.
"It's cute and pretty," Ayaka said to put her hands on her hips.
"I know, you can be cute sometimes," V said.
"Such a sweet talker. Come on, let's get something to eat," she said to take him to one of the many food vendors on the street. "The street food is pretty good here. Sweet potato fries and meat buns please," she said.
"Pricey stuff, only the best madam," the vendor said as he handed them their treats along with bottles of cherry-flavored water. "Enjoy," he said taking eddies from the lady.
"Over here, we can enjoy our snacks here," Ayaka said to sit at a bench to look at the people enjoying themselves.
"This smells pretty good," V said as the fries were rich with herbs and spices while being very crispy while the meat bun was filled with juicy meat and zesty sauce.
"You need to know the right vendors to get the best food here. I love my 5-star meals but street food has its richness to it," Ayaka said as she bit into the fry to let her mouth explode with flavor. "Damn this is good," she said with a big smile.
"This is delicious Ayaka," V said to dig into the meat bun.
"I am happy. I am glad you are by my side, it makes life more interesting," Ayaka said to lay her head on his shoulder. "I feel secure when I am around you," she said.
"Yeah, when we are together. Nothing can stop us when I was in the tower last time. I was alone but when I went back there I had you by my side. I am lucky," he said as Ayaka kissed him on the cheek.
"No, I am the lucky one. Being so lonely and this handsome brave young man slips onto my lap. I have someone worthy of me," she said lightly caressing his face.
"Well, we should enjoy ourselves and the rest of the day," he said.
"Quite," she said happily as the duo were enjoying their time together while eating snacks in a colorful city.
Elsewhere Michiko and Kenichi got the data from V about Cynosure and Songbird. This data greatly disturbs them. "Unthinkable, that woman is willing to risk humanity for more power," Kenichi said with his robotic voice sounding angry at this.
"It fits her character perfectly. This data would help bring down the NUSA along with Militech. The right people in other nations getting this data will bury Myers and her legacy in the trash," Michiko said feeling good about this.
"We need more data with no room for error," Kenichi said.
"You are right, we need even more. You can gather data from Dogtown from the old Cynosure labs under there," Michiko said as Ken nodded his head.
"Of course, I will sneak in and gather more data. Bury the NUSA once and for all," Kenichi said.
"Agreed, I am looking forward to that," Michiko said to set up a good scheme to bring down NUSA dragging Militech with them.