Scott Marcay, Ion Frontier Seattle's Purchasing Team Leader and second best a cappella baritone (don't mock, the competition is stiff) was not happy to see 'All Manager Confab' in his inbox. They never did that scop on a Tuesday morning, especially not with fifteen minutes' notice. This was definitely bad news. Still, his ass was clean. He was on target for his deliverables for the month, and his team knew better than to start drek with anyone without letting him know ASAP. So Scott girded his loins and made his way to the main conference room, which was already dialled in to the Atlanta head office and Maggie Schimmer, the HR Director.
Maggie was a great believer in the language of clothes and accessorizing. She was wearing a black blazer with chrome highlights, an orange neon cross, and bright red earrings. That said to Scott that someone had died, Maggie wasn't happy about it, but no-one in the call was going to be executed live. Scott took his seat and kept his head down.
"Are we all here?" asked Maggie with a bright and cheerful smile on her face, "Wonderful!" She clapped her hands together enthusiastically.
Scott could see immediately that half of IF's Night City managers weren't on the call, so he now knew who had screwed up. He relaxed a little more. He had friends in Night City, but at least he wasn't in the crosshairs this time.
"Okay everyone!" said Maggie in an upbeat tone, "I know you're all really busy, but we wanted to give you a quick FYI and a refresher on Ion Frontier's security policy. Barry?" Maggie waved and directed the camera to Barry Huggins, Director of Security. Tiny guy, lots of chrome, shiny teeth smiling bright against dark skin.
"Hello Everyone," said Barry, "We've just become aware that some people might not be familiar with our policy for handling potentially hostile mercenaries." Ah. That's why half of Night City weren't there. "So, guys and gals, if you happen to spot a merc and think that they might be targetting IF, just give me a call. That's all. Me and my team will take it from there. Thank you." Barry smiled again, and took a step back to stand in parade rest.
"Thanks Barry!" said Maggie, "A short, simple message that you should all be able to remember! Now, just to push that point home a little, let's have a quick review of what happened yesterday evening. Could you please talk us through it, Barry?"
"Sure thing, Maggie," said Barry, stepping forward again, his smile never fading, "Yesterday evening, Mick Hanson, head of sales for our Night City branch, spotted a man called Samuel Perry in the building. Our records show that Mick used to work for United Systems under Mr Perry, before Mr Perry left United to become a mercenary, and Mick left to join us. Small world, huh?" Barry shrugged engagingly. "Now, Mr Perry's meeting was with a junior sales agent, but Mick knew that Mr Perry was a merc, and took action."
"That's good, folks," interrupted Maggie, "We like it when people take action. It just has to be the right action!"
"Thanks Maggie," said Barry, his smile never fading, "So, Mick hasn't been with us for long, and we realise he may not have been familiar with IF's policy on handling high-level security matters. Which, to reiterate, is to inform me. Instead, Mick decided to have Mr Perry pulled into a backroom for 'interrogation'. When Mr Johnson, head of security for Night City became aware of this, he had the following conversation with Mick. Can we run the first video, please, Maggie?"
"Sure thing, Barry," said Maggie, and pressed something on her tablet.
The big screen switched to show Mick Hanson, general smarmy asshole, arguing with a massive tank of a man, poking a finger in the man's chest. There was no sound.
"Sorry, folks, small technical issue with the sound here. Why don't you chat amongst yourselves while we figure it out!" said Maggie.
Everyone in the Seattle waited in silence while Maggie poked at her tablet.
"-HEAD! I AM NOT-" roared out the screen, as Mick poked Johnson's chest, before Maggie paused the video and lowered the volume.
"Nearly there folks," said Maggie cheerfully. She scrolled back a bit and restarted the video.
They hadn't missed much of it. Mick was shouting at Johnson, "You listen to me, leadhead! I am not interested in what you *think* you should do! Sam fucking Perry is not a threat! He doesn't matter. His team come for him, you deal with those amateurs. This small-time scopsucker couldn't make it in United, and he can't make it as a merc! So do your fucking job, kill the bottom-feeder's chooms if they show, and let me handle this, or everyone will know about you and that joytoy that died at-" Maggie cut the video again.
"Hi everyone," said Maggie, "I just wanted to chip in and remind you to be part of the IF family and not keep fun gossip like this to yourself! We have a generous reward program for titbits like this, and sharing light-hearted banter with IF lets me and my little team settle things discretely and with minimal blowback on IF. Don't be like Mick, and claim your rewards today!"
"Thanks Maggie," said Barry, "Think about it, folks. The security footage from the last C-suite Retreat paid for my daughter's new arms!" He chuckled before turning serious again, "So, after that conversation, Mr Johnson took it upon himself to assist Mr Hanson in the 'interrogation' of Mr Perry. This was not the right call."
"No it wasn't," said Maggie seriously, slowly shaking her head for emphasis.
"Now, Mr Perry works as the 'face' for a moderately high-tier merc team in Night City. 'Faces' are generally non-combatants, which explains how Mr Hanson and the IF Night City security team were able restrain Mr Perry. We can speculate that Mr Hanson knew that Mr Perry's team did not include an infiltration specialist, would struggle to fight their way through a relatively high-security building before Mr Hanson slit Mr Perry's throat and escaped via an AV."
Barry paused to smile warmly at the camera. Scott noted with alarm that Barry's chrome canine teeth were slowly extending. "What Mr Hanson neglected to consider was that-" His voice suddenly roared, tendons in Barry's neck straining, "-MERCS HAVE CHOOMS YOU GONKS!" Barry coughed awkwardly, and adjusted his suit before continuing in a more normal voice. "Ahem. Sorry about that. You see, as you know, at the end of the day people often like to socialise with people with whom they share a profession. Mr Perry's team are regulars at a Night City club called the 'Afterlife'." Barry's warm and open smile was back and his canines were back to their usual length, "You may have heard of it - it's a club that caters exclusively to the most capable and effective mercenaries in Night City. So, while Mr Perry was not able to fight the IF Night City security team, and Mr Perry's team did not include an infiltration specialist who could effect his rescue, they absolutely had their pick of the city's best when they decided to call for help. Maggie, could you play the other video?"
"No problem, Barry," said Maggie cheerfully, and pressed something on her tablet. Security camera footage began to play of a very small woman armed with a katana quickly stalking down a corridor.
"Meet Motoko Kusanagi, infiltration specialist, fourteen years old," Barry shrugged, "Age isn't everything. With the right chrome and the right skillsofts, and we believe Ms Kusanagi has a lot of both, you can be surprisingly effective. As we are about to see."
The girl slipped into a break room and took down a building security rent-a-thug in seconds, swiftly stripping him of his gear and dragged him into a cupboard. She quickly dressed herself to look almost like a security drone, and moved on with a confident stroll to the elevator and called it.
"Ms Kusanagi is young, but she is a respected mercenary in her field. An infiltration all-rounder, we can see here that rather than going directly to IF's offices, she is stopping by the building security office on the second floor." The girl used her stolen pass to enter the security office and swiftly overcame the security guard there before jacking in.
"Our landlord in Night City has hired a netrunner to investigate what Ms Kusanagi did to their security system, so we know that she was able to disable all their automated security turrets, blocked automated alerts to the NCPD, and took control of the building cameras. She apparently decided to leave them running, as they would not compromise her op, and shutting them down might have alerted Mr Johnson's security team to her presence."
The girl slipped out of the office, took the elevator to the seventh floor, and knocked on the door to the IF security office.
"Can we pause here a moment?" said Barry, and Maggie tapped her tablet. "I will be making a point to remind my teams," said Barry, his smile looking slightly strained, "that building security officers do not have access to corporate security offices without prior appointment. I apologise on the IF Night City Security Team's behalf for this oversight, as they are no longer able to apologise themselves. Thanks, Maggie." Maggie pressed play.
Someone opened the door, and died. Very very quickly, and very very messily, as the girl cut him from shoulder to crotch with her katana. Scott wanted to look away, but couldn't. Scop like that would get him hauled in front of HR for 'inattention'. Throwing up would probably escalate that to 'rowdiness'. Drek!
Barry spoke as the girl leapt into the room, killing the other two guards in the office with equal speed, one with a thrown knife, the other impaled by the katana, which was not noticeably slowed by the guard's armour. Scott blinked in amazement - it had happened too fast for him to track. "As a general rule, we try not to confront mercenaries on our premises, as it is not cost-effective to equip all our security teams with sufficient chrome to be able to deal with threats like Ms Kusanagi. Armour that is capable of even slowing a thermal katana like Ms Kusanagi's is typically reserved for IF's elite special forces team." He seemed to be slightly embarrassed for his people's performance.
Kusanagi again jacked in, presumably disabling IF's internal defences. "I'd like to point out that Ms Kusanagi had only been in the building for six minutes at this point," said Maggie cheerfully, "She is making excellent use of her time, and we could all learn from her example. Let's study our competition as well as our friends!"
Barry nodded earnestly, "Absolutely Maggie. And it's not just learning to make the most of our day; while we weren't top-tier mercs by fourteen, we can still encourage the next generation to do better than we did. I will make this video available for home viewing, if you want to share it with your children." Maggie beamed happily at Barry's words. He turned back to the video, "Here Ms Kusanagi is weakening an outside window. You'll see why shortly. If you ever find yourself assuming that a combat specialist will naturally be less intelligent than a white-collar worker like yourselves, I suggest you think again."
Maggie chimed in, "Don't forget: when you 'assume' something, you're making an 'ass-'" She giggled at the swear, "-of yourself!"
Once she was done, Kusanagi sneaked through the offices, none of the workers noticing the bloody girl passing silently behind their backs, until she reached a long corridor with a couple of IF corporate security agents at the far end.
"Okay!" said Barry, and Maggie paused again, "Over the next two minutes, Ms Kusanagi will demonstrate why we do not like to have confrontations with high-tier mercs in company offices. Go ahead Maggie." Maggie tapped her tablet.
The video seemed to skip a few frames. First frame, Kusanagi was standing at the end of the corridor with her katana held pointing backwards at hip height; the two security officers hadn't noticed her. Second frame, she was half-way down the corridor, and the first guard was raising his head. Third frame, the guards were dead, and Kusanagi was waiting silently outside the room. The blood on the blade was smoking slightly from the heat put out by the thermal katana. The only other movement recorded by the cameras was the pool of blood that spread down the corridor.
"Ms Kusanagi also has a low-end Sandevistan implant," said Barry, "She is waiting for it to cycle before-"
The men in the room holding Sam Perry died, including Mr Johnson. The girl was speaking with Perry while Mick Hanson was frozen with a massive handgun pressed against his jaw. Wow.
Maggie hit pause, "A quick reminder folks! If you see something suspicious, please tell Barry. Don't try to handle it yourself! Or this might happen-" Maggie hit play, and Mick Hanson's head exploded. Scott, and everyone around him flinched.
The girl cut Perry free, plopped a security helmet on his head, and carried him out the building. She was firing an Ajax she'd klepped from one of the security guards as people screamed and ran. She leapt through the window she had weakened previously and was immediately outside of the range of the security cameras. Maggie closed the video.
Barry smiled at the camera, "So, guys and gals, please remember that the Security team is here to help you. If you need information extracted, we have experts on call who can handle it professionally and, most importantly, off-site. Don't try and do it yourself! We are very lucky that Ms Kusanagi chose to use non-lethal methods when dealing with our landlord's security team, as they are already threatening to pass on to us the costs of their increased insurance premiums. AND YOU CAN BET THAT DREK WON'T BE COMING OUT OF MY BUDGET!"
"Thanks, Barry!" said Maggie, "So let's all learn from this incident! In other news, a number of exciting new job opportunities have opened up in our Night City offices! If you're interested, please get in touch!"