Circuit boards and chips weren't the kind of thing you could just solder together on the spot.
But they already had transmitters on hand.
These micro transmitters were spread all across Watson. During the battle, Maelstrom had used hardware to seize control of them all, turn them against Muramasa, and block any route it had left to escape across the Net.
The micro transmitters were the core of the whole system Leo had in mind.
Traditional chips used transistors and logic gates to perform computation, limited by the chip's physical process and fabrication process.
But this system?
Each transmitter acted like a virtual processing unit, using electromagnetic signals for modulation and demodulation.
Frequency, phase, amplitude—the whole three-dimensional space became saturated with information, no longer constrained by physical wiring. Multi-band and signal-stacking tech pushed data throughput far beyond any conventional line-based system.
[Muramasa: If I remember correctly, before you breached these devices, there were 489 small transmitters total. I need all of them.]
[Leo: There are only 324 left now.]
[Muramasa: Bring them all.]
[Leo: They're already on the way.]
In Watson, people thought the race was over.
The riot was over.
That frenzy—wild but restrained—finally done.
Maelstrom and the Tyger Claws had been about ready to crawl back to their dens and split the loot—
but instead, both gangs reappeared in the streets at the same time.
On the silent roads, their heavily modded riders poured out from the corners like roaches leaving a nest.
This time, it really was just a street race.
[Muramasa: Good. Second issue: these transmitters have high power demands.]
[Leo: The tech isn't that complicated. The hardware's already on the way.]
In Santo Domingo, a 6th Street convoy rolled out from El Capitan's spot, hauling a series engine adapted for the legendary Mackinaw.
The power issue was easy enough to solve too.
The Legend's Vulture turbo engine assembly produced 5,800 horsepower. The original engine could already split off 900 horsepower for power generation. Now all they needed was to add one more engine.
A combined 1,800 horsepower would be converted into roughly 1,400 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power the newly added transmitters.
[Muramasa: Your electromagnetic locking system is effective. We can apply this armor and this system to the boundaries of the system itself, isolating it from outside interference and improving reliability.]
[Leo: Sensible design.]
The transmitters definitely couldn't match the raw output of draining Night City's grid, so the signal would weaken. Naturally, that meant they'd need anti-interference measures.
The electromagnetic locking system used Chronium-Titanium armor plate as a base, and the Aldecaldos' underground furnace still hadn't gone cold.
A few modifications to the armor, and it could serve as the casing.
[Muramasa: Fabricating it on-site? This is your tech? I assumed it was some corpo's...]
[Leo: Keep going.]
[Muramasa: The final step is software integration. Though you should be able to handle that part yourself.]
[Data transfer in progress]
[Transfer complete.]
On Night City's open roads, if nobody was fighting, a seasoned driver could cross from east to west in under an hour.
Engine noise started rolling through the streets again—
but this time, it wasn't explosive.
It was orderly.
Neon glowed dimly. Billboards flickered. Post-battle Watson had fallen into a massive blackout, yet somehow this district, drowned in darkness, had become the rally point for the entire city's gangs.
Bikes, vans, trucks, sports cars...
Convoys covered in every kind of graffiti came screaming in from every direction, converging on the Afterlife.
One micro transmitter after another, each smaller than a palm, got delivered into the Afterlife—antennae trimmed down, coils checked, installed, soldered...
Round after round of rapid fabrication had Jackie and V nodding to themselves.
No matter how many times they saw it, watching Leo build gear by hand was satisfying as hell.
And this time, the assembly was even crazier than usual.
Normally, Leo would set the assembly procedures in advance and let Little Octopus assist, meaning he was still the one directing the work. It looked like multithreading, but whenever something needed correction, there'd still be a pause while Leo handled it.
This time was different.
The Afterlife's backup generators thundered.
The hotel's security servers were smoking.
Little Octopus didn't really understand assembly.
Muramasa absolutely did.
The two AIs working together was enough to make your eyes blur.
Laser cutting, welding, screwing, fitting parts together...
The number of arms was the only thing limiting assembly speed.
Motors were installed.
The legendary Mackinaw's engine roared back to life.
Massive electrical power surged into the transmitters, dense and complex electromagnetic waves filling a localized space. Phase, band, and amplitude combined to form the Legend's internal data flow.
In cyberspace, the Legend's data body crashed into that chaotic red static-noise field, and its tiny frame instantly swelled several times over.
Originally, the Legend had only stood four meters tall in cyberspace.
Now it was over twenty meters—
and its information density was more than ten times what it had been before.
In terms of pure information density, this system's potential was even higher than an AI using a human brain as wetware.
Electromagnetic waves echoed through the space as the Chronium-Titanium armor was installed. Armor structures also appeared over the Legend's data-body surface, and as the final plate was fitted, the static noise over its form started to solidify.
Back in reality—
Outside the endless electromagnetic core that represented the Legend's heart, the transmitters formed a wireless control network for transmitting induced current.
The new electronic control system needed no cables at all.
Induced current flowed into every part of the vehicle control system.
Chronium-Titanium armor plates shifted slightly.
The four wheels twisted and spun at different rates.
Bio-static electricity reappeared on the tire surfaces, granting powerful, free-form traction—
Initial calibration complete.
"BEEP BEEP!!!"
Still loud as ever.
This time there were no bikes.
No Ironhammer-30 heavy weapon.
No massive integrated circuit board.
No two explosive combustion bikes.
The vehicle's curb weight had now dropped to just over six tons.
Only forty minutes had passed.
Compared to its original form, the legendary Mackinaw was now more tightly enclosed, with much narrower gaps between armor sections.
[Muramasa: Now it is more perfect.]
[Muramasa: The chassis can be almost fully enclosed inside the electromagnetic locking system. And in theory, at the seams, you can generate inverse electromagnetic waves and use interference principles to cancel out any remaining EMP effects.]
That was directed at the Legend.
But that kind of maneuver was only theoretical. Reducing EMP effects was the best realistic outcome.
[Muramasa: Now, we should give this system a name.]
[Leo: It didn't already have one?]
[Muramasa: I called this function "Final Protocol," for the purpose of bypassing Night City's local networks and the Blackwall to reach this place.]
[Leo: Got it. So that wasn't the original purpose of the device.]
Information was an AI's consciousness.
Now the Legend's consciousness no longer had to remain confined to hardware and wiring—
like a human soul leaving the body.
That thought gave Leo an instant flash of inspiration.
Consciousness moving through the void.
Function spread through a gridded design.
Electromagnetic waves as coverage.
Induced current as control.
[Leo: I want to call this system the Aether Grid.]
[Development complete: Aether Grid System]
[Description: A high-intensity, high-sensitivity, high-density information transmission network, forming within a confined space an ultra-dense information flow that only AIs can demodulate and adapt to.]
[The natural home of AI, the ultimate form of wireless networking, a revolutionary information technology beyond hardware limits.]
[Lead developer: Muramasa (AI)]
[Reward: 4000 Tech Points]
[Current Tech Points: 21500]
[Consciousness switching in progress. Points to be deducted: 200]
[Muramasa: An appropriate name. But forgive my frankness—anyone truly versed in networking will understand its principles and immediately conclude that we are all highly intelligent AIs.]
[Muramasa: If I were you, I would not drive this thing openly through the streets.]
But Leo not only intended to drive it openly through the streets—
depending on Rhyne's situation, he might even have to punch straight through an area under heavy corpo military guard.
Sometimes, the cost of pursuing truth and perfection was more than a person could bear.
[Leo: You sure you want to come with me?]
[Muramasa: I only need to preserve my core model. I can sever the external database at any time.]
Muramasa really was a weird AI.
Once all of that was done, Leo walked back into the Afterlife.
Jackie and V were sitting in their chairs, already preparing to head out—
and off to the side, Rogue, who had watched the whole process, no longer knew what to say.
Too many thoughts were bouncing around in her head.
"...You're about to what?"
"Make tomorrow's front page. The real front page," Leo said, not explaining much. "Just know this—some corp's about to have a really bad day."
"Why?"
"If there's time later, I'll get somebody to break down the full story for you. But right now, all I can tell you is that old fatass Rhyne can't die yet. At least not like this."
"You think Rhyne's better than Peralez? After turning Night City into the most colorful cesspit on Earth?" Rogue's instincts were sharp enough to guess this was probably political.
Reasonable guess too.
Once you became the biggest underground emperor in Night City, politics was bound to get involved.
"It's complicated." Leo thought for a moment, then said, "Night City was already the most colorful cesspit on Earth. But if he dies tonight without anyone knowing why, then this city becomes chocolate-flavored shit.
Let's go."
Jackie finished off the last burger.
V finished a high-energy biscuit.
"Wait!" Claire the bartender hurriedly called after Leo before he could leave. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about... but leave me a drink recipe?"
Leo didn't know how to mix drinks.
But he did think of a recipe with a lot of personality.
So far, though, there was no obvious connection between him and the drink.
So Leo said:
"...You probably don't have the additives I'd want, and they'd be a pain to source.
Mix sugar into a carbonated drink, then add 10 Ci of tritium and 1 Ci of strontium-90. Tastes great, kicks hard, glows and heats up too. Just don't drink too much. Bad for your health."
Claire looked completely lost.
Rogue, on the other hand, seemed to get it a little.
A drink?
The hell it was—that was nuclear wastewater.
Seeing their reactions, V's eyes shifted, and she started coming up with a new recipe for herself too.