Kai and Maine's crew left Gloria's apartment.
Pilar, the one Maine had left behind, immediately started messing with the apartment door and muttering to himself,
"For a guy like me, familiar with all kinds of weapons and hardware..."
"Fixing a door isn't exactly rocket science."
"I should be able to get this done in three minutes."
"See? Already fixed!"
Standing outside, Pilar fumbled around and slapped the apartment door back into place, then slipped away the instant he had the chance.
The security gate did not even last two seconds before collapsing again and crashing heavily to the ground.
Pilar's voice echoed down the dark hallway.
"Sorry! I just didn't have the right tools! If you still want repair money, go ask Rebecca!"
Gloria looked at the wrecked apartment, rubbed her forehead, and frowned helplessly.
David, who had been standing by the bedroom door the whole time, suddenly asked,
"They're gone. Is the problem solved?"
Only then did Gloria shift her attention back to David, who had just woken from his faint.
She walked over, helped him back into the bedroom, and forced out a small smile.
"It's fine. Everything will be settled. Get some rest. I'll ask the academy for leave tomorrow."
David looked at his mother's exhausted face and remembered how she almost collapsed on the sofa every morning from fatigue.
He remembered the way she had humbly begged the principal just to scrape together his tuition.
He remembered how she had cried for the first time because he said he did not want to keep going to school.
Ever since that vivid dream, he felt like something inside him had changed.
All this time, he had thought the one forcing him to attend Arasaka Academy was his mother.
The one forcing him to enter Arasaka Tower and keep climbing was his mother.
The one forcing him to treat her dream like his own was his mother.
But in truth, what was really forcing him was poverty and hardship.
It was his own weakness and powerlessness.
His mother only wanted him to have a future he could actually see.
Only his mother could hold a dream that selfless.
After realizing all of that, David said softly,
"Mom, I'm fine. I'll go to Arasaka Academy tomorrow."
Hearing David say on his own that he would return to Arasaka Academy, Gloria felt her chest warm.
She gently pulled the blanket over him.
"Okay. Get some rest."
After saying that, Gloria left the bedroom.
Tears slipped out at the corners of her eyes before she could stop them.
She tilted her head back and tried to steady herself with a deep breath, fighting down the ache and the emotion.
More than anyone, she wanted David to have a carefree and beautiful youth.
Seeing his boyish spirit slowly ground down by reality hurt her more than anyone could know.
She could only murmur quietly,
"David... maybe only when you really climb to the top of Arasaka Tower will you be able to chase the dream you truly want."
Gloria felt that maybe it was a kind of survivor's bias, but when she saw someone like Kai, barely older than David, already holding a high management position inside Arasaka, she could not help believing David might really be able to do the same one day.
"No matter what, I have to repay Mr. Kai's kindness. His future is beyond limits."
She clenched her fist.
The dream in her heart had never gone out.
"If all you're doing is talking business, then I'm leaving."
The tall woman in red folded her arms over her chest and spoke to Maine as she walked.
Maine's heavy voice carried a trace of apology.
"Yeah, Kiwi. Head back first. I'll handle the rest myself."
He had originally thought this trip might turn into a fight, which was why he had specifically brought along the team's netrunner, Kiwi.
Instead, he found out Kai was an unchromed man with no implants, which meant there was no room at all for net intrusion to matter.
Kiwi nodded, but her eyes lingered on Kai for a moment, then shifted to Lucy, who was quietly smoking to herself as if thinking through something.
In the end, Kiwi turned and left the group.
"Call me when there's work."
Maine answered in a low voice,
"Don't worry, Kiwi. You won't get cut out."
The heavily built woman in the jacket beside Maine turned to Lucy and asked,
"Lucy, what about you? You coming with us?"
Kai, who had been walking at the front the entire time, suddenly stopped and said in a low voice,
"I still have a score to settle with her."
Lucy stared at Kai's back with a hint of caution, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.
Kai continued,
"Relax. It has nothing to do with Arasaka. If you don't want to get dragged into what comes next, the less you know, the better."
In the shadow beneath the streetlights, it was impossible to read Lucy's expression.
Her neon-colored eyes rested on Kai in silence.
"You really think I still have the luxury of choosing?"
Lucy knew full well that the moment she had lifted that chip from him on the train, she was already in too deep.
And the contents stored on that chip involved high-level Arasaka secrets.
If the military-grade Sandevistan was not handled properly, it would not just be Maine who could no longer stay hidden.
She would be in the same position.
Kai turned to face Maine and the others, doing his best to make his expression look sincere, his tone almost kindly persuasive.
"I think everyone deserves one chance to change their life."
"If I remember right, fixers are always saying that in Night City, everything is negotiable."
"I may work for Arasaka, but I don't care for the corp habit of taking by force."
"So the choice is yours. Talk to me, or take the Sandevistan and walk away. Decide for yourselves."
Kai knew perfectly well they had no real way to refuse.
Still, he had to make it look like he was leaving them some room.
A classic principle from back home.
Subdue the enemy without fighting.
Maine himself was not sure what to do.
He knew the basic survival law of the street better than anyone: never cooperate with a corporation that devours people without spitting out the bones.
At the very least, you found a fixer to stand between you and them.
This had originally been a very simple transaction.
Gloria would steal and deliver the implant.
Maine would pay.
A private deal between private people, with no outsiders involved.
Now an Arasaka man had suddenly shoved himself into it, which meant there was a deeper whirlpool underneath.
Under normal circumstances, Maine would have given up on the implant right then and there.
But right now, he desperately wanted to get stronger.
He had to install this military-grade Sandevistan.
Dorio, the powerhouse in the jacket, tried to persuade him.
"Maine, forget it. Let's pretend we never saw this implant. We can find another one later."
Maine's thick hand gripped the bag holding the implant even tighter.
The look on his face made everything clear.
He did not want to let it go.
Dorio understood him well.
For all his easygoing image, Maine was stubborn to the core.
Once he locked onto something he believed in, nobody could talk him out of it.
And that was exactly when someone needed to remind him to step back.
After staying silent the whole time, Maine finally raised a hand to cut Dorio off and said heavily,
"I'll cooperate. But only this once..."
The words seemed to cost him a great deal.
Working with a corp meant abandoning the rules he had always lived by and accepting that he could be swallowed alive at any moment.
Dorio snapped in anger,
"Maine! You're going to get everybody killed!"
Even Lucy, who had remained calm the whole time, furrowed her brow.
Working with a corporation usually led only one place.
Straight to hell.
(End of Chapter)
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