"Repeat that."
"Faelan obliterated Adam Smasher! —Cynta sounded caught somewhere between hollow laughter and a nervous breakdown— Damn it, I'm still trying to process it!"
The man who inspired fear even in those who had never seen him!
"Cynta! —Hanako tried to steady her with a strict tone— Even if I lent you that satellite to spy on the situation, I don't want—"
"Go to hell, Hanako! —Cynta snapped, dropping her usual respectful tone— Don't talk to me like that. Don't you dare. Do you have any idea what I saw? Smasher—he alone—ugh, I can't…"
The sounds of retching and violent vomiting echoed through the call, making Hanako Arasaka frown in discomfort and distaste, though she waited patiently, thinking.
Because the satellite she had lent to Cynta had stopped responding.
It hadn't been hijacked. It hadn't been destroyed by some stray piece of space debris crossing its path.
It simply had no signal anymore.
It was a considerable loss. Putting satellites into orbit wasn't cheap, nor was building them—especially with all the paperwork and bureaucracy that made the process painfully slow.
But what frustrated her the most was that the data it was supposed to transmit to the backup server—the encounter between Faelan and Smasher—had never arrived.
That left Cynta as the only witness to what had happened, since she had been watching the situation live. Yet she seemed particularly unwilling to recall or even mention what she had seen, which only fueled Hanako's curiosity.
What had happened?
"He said it—I could read his lips —Cynta's voice returned after gargling water and spitting it out— He saw me! I don't know how, but he knew I was watching!"
Those green eyes, just before the signal cut…
Cynta had the lingering sensation that she was still being watched, judged by something she didn't understand.
She hadn't even noticed when she had fallen backward onto the floor.
Hanako wanted to say that wasn't possible—but given how tense Cynta was, calling her a liar didn't seem like a wise move…
"All right, let's set the confrontation aside —even if only temporarily, since she clearly wouldn't get anything out of her right now— Are you sure Adam Smasher lost?"
"I'm sure that guy isn't coming back —Cynta said firmly— Unless there's a clone or something, but even then it wouldn't be the one who died. I checked Arasaka's network with the permission you gave me (and some parts without it). The backup systems and computational resources Smasher kept for himself have been released."
In other words, his death was a fact.
Though, being Arasaka, it wouldn't even surprise her if they had a dozen copies of Adam Smasher lined up, waiting to be deployed as replacement bodies the moment the "original" fell.
"No, I doubt that," Hanako countered.
For Saburo, it was simpler and more efficient to build a new Adam Smasher from scratch using one of his loyalists than to clone the one who had perished. They wouldn't even need Smasher's engram—just load a set of military-grade programs into the software and allocate the computational resources Cynta had confirmed, and they'd have another hunting dog.
"Fine, fine —Cynta had no appetite for sweets, or for anything at all— So, what now? —she asked, taking a breath— Faelan has taken down Smasher and his legend. The consequences…"
Hanako tapped her finger against the table rhythmically.
She didn't believe Saburo would give up. She knew his mindset far too well.
If one hound wasn't enough to bring in Faelan, then he would simply unleash a pack.
It might seem too simple, but wave tactics always worked—as long as you had enough lives to throw at the problem.
Saburo had them.
As a headache began to form, a notification blinked in Hanako's optics. Irritated, she was about to dismiss it with a thought—until she saw the sender.
"What the hell…?"
"What? Please don't tell me we have to do what I think we do…"
"Not yet. It's just that Faelan just sent me a message."
Only a few hours had passed since the incident with Smasher.
"Oh. Well, I suppose it makes sense he'd want to know your reaction. Even if you're business partners, this involves Arasaka—"
"No, it's nothing like that."
"Then what?"
"Any progress on Kawatatsu?"
"Don't dodge the question!"
"I'm not. But compared to the content and purpose of the message, I'd rather send him what we have to distract him and shift his attention elsewhere. He's in Night City—I doubt Motoko's son gets an opportunity like this very often, and it's a debt that needs to be repaid."
"What did he send you that makes you prefer that course of action?"
Hanako hesitated for a moment.
"He wants to make a deal with Saburo. A deal to extend his life."
The line fell silent for a long minute.
Cynta would have dismissed it in the past—but now…
"Can he even do that? We're talking about a one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old man!"
Saburo Arasaka was living proof that with enough resources and money, extending the human lifespan was possible—but even with cutting-edge advancements, reaching that age was already brushing against the theoretical limit.
Saburo was dying. His cells had long since reached their natural limit.
As far as they knew, unless a miracle happened—or he put his brain in a jar—he would be dead within two years at most.
That was why he had been willing to send Smasher to Night City. The longer a human lives, the more they fear the inevitable end.
Saburo feared death far too much.
"Even if he could only extend his life by a decade, that man would pay the price without hesitation."
Cynta didn't doubt that.
"Then the question is: should we allow it to happen?"
"That's why I asked you about Kawatatsu."
"Hanako, it doesn't matter if we distract him for days or weeks—even if we keep him busy for a month, Saburo will only take Smasher's death as proof that this is a thread worth clinging to."
They could delay Faelan's contact with Saburo—but Saburo wouldn't let go of Faelan after this. The only thing they could partially influence was how that second contact would happen, and under what conditions.
Maybe it would be better to let Faelan take the initiative…