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Ahmm (tired sigh).... new record... again... you're killing me...you tell me 4 good things in the last chapter, I get motivated and look what happens.... another "@~$$&!!!! chapter of 8128 words... So, again, grab a drink a had fun!
As always I hope you like it.
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20th September 2072. The day of the anniversary of the death of NIght City creator, Richard Night. 5:00 PM, four hours before the inauguration of the Gala in his name.
In a completely renovated old warehouse, the facilities of one of the new and promising companies of Night City were located, in the Vista de Rey sub-district, adjacent to the corporate center district, the building had been expanded with new floors for offices and administrative areas.
The original space of the warehouse had been divided into two distinct areas. On one side, there was the workshop, intended for the custom and artisanal assembly of the Iron Beasts. On the other side, there was a fully mechanized area dedicated to the production of the more affordable version of the Iron Beasts, featuring standard models and a reduced catalog of animal breeds.
However, both options had a large waiting list, due to the large number of orders from the promising young Night City company, Iron Beast.
-
Judy's POV
I was walking through the corridors of the workshop, asking the same question to anyone from our team that I encountered: "Have you seen Sora?" I always received the same response, with none of them having seen him.
With each passing second and each person I asked, I could feel my anger growing. That despicable Sora... he had promised me he wouldn't leave me alone... and it took him just a few minutes to get bored and disappear, especially under these circumstances.
We had spent the last two days preparing everything for the visit of his mother, the main and sole shareholder of our company, the very Hanako Arasaka herself. And it wasn't just her; our grandparents had also come at Hanako's request. And when Natasha found out that our families would be there, she wanted her own family to come as well, to make her parents proud and show them how good their daughter had ended up.
This caused a snowball effect that eventually led to the families of our first employees also attending. Most of them were the families of the same girls that Sora had saved and I had helped with their doll chips three years ago. And a few others, like specialized staff that we needed, recommended by Hanako herself from her scholarship program.
All of them, along with their families, were nervous because of the important person who was coming to review the promising company, for which I would like to think they worked happilya, and wanted their families, whether it was their partners with their children or their parents and siblings, to be proud of them
'I can't blame them; I also feel the same way when I see how Ainara and Peter look at me...'
Lost in thought, I found Natasha accompanied by her parents and her younger sister, showing them the workshop. Without hesitation, after greeting her family, I asked her, "Natasha, have you seen Sora?"
Natasha hesitated in her response, and after seeing my nervous tone and expression, she finally broke the silence. "He's in his dog-hole" she said with a slight smile, a hint of guilt for not telling me earlier.
'How could I not have checked that place before!' I thought exasperated, getting even more furious. 'How could Sora think of hiding right now? Doesn't he understand how important this day is?' Without showing my anger and bidding farewell politely to Natasha and her parents ('I would have time to get back at her later when they weren't present'), I headed for the elevator.
After descending to the sparsely populated basement of the workshop, I walked through the narrow and dark path between the machinery of the assembly plant on the floor above. The larger parts were installed in the basement to save space. Finally, I reached the bottom of the basement and in a hidden corner among the machinery...
I opened the cover of an electrical panel of the old warehouse installation. Moving some fuses that seemed broken, as well as adjusting the voltage and amperage meters to "10" and "48," respectively, without having any idea why Sora chose those numbers.
Not believing the stupid reason he told me when I asked him about it and instantly annoyed me when he responded with one of his silly "Man-bat" stories or whatever it was called.'If he didn't want to tell me, he shouldn't have said anything instead of uttering such nonsense.' I thought.
"Ahmm, men..." I sighed to myself after adjusting the last dial to '48,' causing the adjacent brick wall to open, revealing a descending bar and a small elevator that could barely fit one person. I decided to avoid both options due to past bad experiences.
Instead, I used the third option, descending a spiral staircase with each step secured with a metal plate and beams placed at regular intervals to ensure the structure's stability. As I descended, I could hear a noise that grew louder. I couldn't identify it exactly; it seemed like a stroke, but it ended with a sound similar to a small explosion.
When I arrived, I refrained from angrily shouting his name. when I saw Sora focused and motionless, with a distant look in his eyes while they seemed to glow blue. He was wearing a tight black shirt that accentuated his familiar muscles, and a harness with his new Malorian 3516 that he proudly showed me and started carrying everywhere. He also wore a white mask covering his mouth.
He remained still... until, for a brief moment, I saw vapor suddenly emanating from his body. Then, with his left arm tattooed, with a glove, blurred in front of my eyes. Nailing his legs to the ground and delivering such a strike to the head of the reinforced test dummy... that it ripped off, separating the metal and cable spine. Creating a loud noise a current of air that managed to move my hair, even though I was meters/feet away at the entrance.
"So, how was that one? It must be a new record. With this one, I felt my knuckles cracking through the glove." Sora asked towards the large monitor, removing his mask and lighting a cigarette, completely absorbed in his thoughts, oblivious to my presence. He stared at the screen of his "Dog-hole," as Natasha and I called it, the only ones in the company who knew about its existence.
The room resembled a small cave, which was Sora's response, to telling him that he need an office in the workshop, naively thinking that he would occupy one of the offices upstairs... instead, he dug a hole like a dog in the basement of the workshop, without telling me anything, with the help of Eco and some old spider walking drones that were used to build the city, which he found and repaired.
He created a secret refuge outside the building's blueprints. With a worn-out sofa in one corner, a wall filled with tools and weapons—some of which were still left in the garage—and embedded workbenches scattered with pieces of his Okami armor and Iron Beast parts. Also, there were stacks of boxes containing various cables and jumbled piles of response parts and materials. And, as a makeshift floor, at least the area Sora used, he covered it with metal plates fused together
At the center of the room, serving as the focal point of the cave, was a large quantum computer connected to an even larger screen that Sora embarrassingly called — "Okami-puter" — again something to do with the "Man-Bat", connected to several narrow tanks reaching the ceiling, containing different metallic liquids—black, silver, gold, copper, and more. All of them were Sora's nanobots from various materials and alloys.
An adorable "Waaf" could be heard from an Eco puppy lying on the keyboard of the "Okami-pu-" 'computer!' connected to it, controlling and displaying data from Sora's strike, along with the information collected from the mask he was wearing, showing the absurd amount of oxygen Sora had breathed in and the significant amount of carbon dioxide he had exhaled.
I walked into the cave, feeling a strange mix of envy and anger. There was Sora, while I was all nervous, he had grown bored of waiting and had gone off with Eco to do whatever they pleased...
Engrossed in his thoughts, reading the data while smoking, seemingly unaware of my presence or pretending not to see me. I approached him and concentrated my anger into a shout in his face while he continued to look at the screen. "SORA! What the hell are you doing here, you bastard? You promised you wouldn't leave me alone! And look where I find you, 'playing' with Eco."
Closing one of his eyes, as he received my shout... "Eco... Your idea of 'making it shorter' really worked. You're a genius, or maybe I am for creating you... and JUDY as well, of course. Concentrating that state into an instant doesn't burden the body as much, and my left punch is getting closer to the right. Not bad, let's give it another try."
He continued talking to Eco as if I weren't there. At least Eco had the decency to look away from me when he saw my anger, but Sora... He even evaded me just as he had said, to change the test dummy to "give it another try", throwing the headless one into a pile of broken ones, without acknowledging my presence, acting as if I didn't was there...
Causing me to stumble in my attempt to address him. "So-Sora, I hope you're really sick or crazy and can't see me... because I swear I'm going to-"
"Judy, darling!, what a surprise! What are you doing here?" Sora interrupted me, reacting as if I had just arrived, dropping the new dummy with a feigned surprise.
'Damn shameless bastard' I thought. "You want me to kill you, do you?" I said showing my anger by unintentionally slurring my words.
However, unlike me, Sora calmly replied, gesturing with his hands, "Depends on the context. Death by 'snu snu,' yes! The rest... no." He finished by shaking his open hands, denying the last part.
Seeing my face. "It's a joke!... Well, kind of... I firmly believe that 'by snu snu' is the best way to go..." He said, taking a drag from his cigarette between the base of his fingers, covering his 'lovely' smile with his hand. 'Tch, damn it... Why do I still find him charming, even when I'm angry with him?... Focus, Judy!' I said to myself
"I'm not in the mood for your jokes today! Get dressed right now and come with me. Your mother must be about to arrive!" I said, inadvertently placing a hand on my hip and pointing towards the exit with the other... sounding like a mother scolding her children.
And I wasn't the only one who thought that. with Sora replying, "Tch... okay, Ma-"
I interrupted him before he could finish. "Sora, I swear if you finish that word, I won't let you touch me for a month."
Seeing through my bluff, Sora quickly responded, "You wouldn't last that long."
Refusing to back down, I saw his hand and decided to raise it, I smiled as I approached him and asked face-to-face, "Want to try?"
With our faces inches apart, Sora was the first to avert his gaze. "Okay, Marvellous Girlfriend. See, I wasn't going to say it!"
I pointed towards the exit, exasperated, and said, "Sure... Let's go!"
"Wait, I need to 'charge up' first," Sora said, turning around. He picked up Eco, from the keyboard and placed him on his shoulder. Then he placed his black hand on a machine adjacent to the computer, connected by several black tubes to various containers with nanobots.
All of them were shining blue as his eyes when he placed his hand, and simultaneously, a percentage appeared on the computer screen. As Sora's black arm gave a strange sensation as if its parts were moving, yet at the same time... not moving at all. When the percentage on the screen reached 100%, it didn't stop until it reached 115%. At the same time, new tattoos in the same style as the others appeared around Sora's neck and the back of his head, blending with his hair.
'I guess I'll have to ask him to upgrade mine to keep up with him' I thought while Sora, before moving, crouched down in front of the rectangular machine, shaped like a narrow podium, where he had just placed his hand. And grabbed a small cylindrical container, about the size of a forearm, from its base and attached it to the lower part of his back, creating a small sling bag on top of Getsuga to hold the container...
I envied how functional his nanobots were.
Once, I asked him about it, and after looking at me seriously for a few seconds and confirming my answer, he only affirmed and said nothing more, and a year have passed since that conversation.
After he finished 'charging up,' probably to get ready for the Gala, I asked him, "Are you done?"
"Yes, I am, Ma'am," Sora replied, standing at attention, playing along with his joke, as if he was going to call me "Mama" but changed it at the last moment. He handed Eco to me like a ball and put on his cross-closure jacket with a high collar to partially conceal his new neck tattoos, which he had left on the back of the chair in front of the computer.
As he finished putting on his jacket and adjusting the sling backpack. He took Eco back and placed him on his shoulder, and together we headed toward the exit.
"You woke up playful today, didn't you? I hope you use up all that energy now and behave at the Gala. It will be filled with CEOs and representatives from the most important corporations in the world, Sora... will you behave, right? Lately, I've been having the same nightmare, imagining that your actions at the Gala trigger the fifth corporate war, and Night City turns into ashes..." I shared my genuine fears as the two of us squeezed into the elevator, with only waist-high railings separating us from the elevator shaft.
My words made Sora look at me for a moment, surprised, until he whistled impressed and added, "Thank you, honey!. It's comforting to know what your partner thinks of what you're capable of... Your words always make me not undervalue myself or set limits.
With those ironic words as a response, I rolled my eyes as we exited the "Dog-hole."
After we got to the main floor of the workshop, it was empty, indicating that "she" must be about to arrive. "Let's go," I said, grabbing Sora's arm and dragging him to the main entrance, where all the workshop staff were formally positioned in front of the building, leaving a gap for us in the middle, while their families were more relaxed and positioned on one of the far sides.
As we stepped out, all our employees, formally lined up to welcome our main "shareholder," turned and sighed in relief upon seeing us. "See! I told you there was nothing to worry about. She's caught him. Now get back in position; they must be about to arrive,"
Natasha said loudly, re-centering everyone to return to their positions, as she greeted her parents and sister, who looked at her with warm eyes, like the rest of the families of the girls who were kidnapped by the Tygers, happy to see them smiling after their calvary.
Holding onto Sora to prevent him from escaping again, I dragged him to our spot among our employees, with our grandparents following us and positioning themselves formally behind us. Peter, although he was an employee, stood behind me with Ainara, while Musashi and Aoi stood behind Sora.
"It's about time, Sora! And could you stop smoking? Look what you're doing to your weak and old grandfather!" Aoi said, forcing a description that didn't fit the imposing pillar of muscles with his four cybernetically enhanced limbs, of "Musashi-Ojii-san." Everyone in the company respected and feared him, after witnessing what he is capable of, in his sporadic "sparring" with Sora in the spacious training room of the Workshop, which it ends up in drag afterward.
Where Musashi gave his martial arts and self-defense classes to any member of the company with some exceptions, starting with it after finding out about the past of the girls, our first employees, as a form of therapy for all that I couldn't erase from their doll-chips. Which was undoubtedly a great success.
And now that stocky figure was having a hard time staying in place as he leaned forward and began to inhale heavily the smoke from the cigarette that Sora was still smoking, causing Sora to make a face of displeasure, looking like a pervert was sniffing his hair from the back of his head.
Sora turned around and, before responding, blew the smoke from his last drag at his grandfather, causing him to back away a little, like a dog being thrown a ball, while Musashi actively inhaled as much of the smoke as possible, even cupping it in his hands.
"Weak and old, really? Go lie to another grandchild; this one won't believe you anymore. Besides, if you have a problem with me smoking, tell that to the grave of Tyger leader, fan of your husband, what was his name? Shiro? Shindo? Shirly? Ah, whatever! I don't remember, who gave me my first cigarette... Ahm, memories." Sora said, ending with a gaze at the horizon, for something that only happened 3 years ago.
"I didn't mean physically weak... I meant mentally... just look at him," Aoi replied, her eyes dull as she looked at her husband, who was still trying to inhale the nonexistent smoke.
---
A few minutes later, a convoy of black SUVs arrived, that blocked the entrance of the workshop to the street. Then, a large number of men dressed in suits and assault gear came out of Suv`s and began to secure the area, parking their cars meters away from the building entrance.
Due to the security staff's insistence on verifying the area, due to the dangerous nature of Night City and the recent "terrorist" incidents against Arasaka, Sora started to get bored and raised his head, looking around at the other employees. He noticed something and complained, "Oi, why don't I have an assistant?"
He asked, in disagreement with the division of employees by gender, with my side having beauties of all ethnicities in their late 20s or early 30s.... While on Sora's side, he turned around and nodded to the employee next to him, one of those recommended by his mother from his scholarship program. The employee had a big smile on his face, delighted to have been placed next to Sora, while Sora was unable to match his enthusiasm with an awkward smile on his face.
"Shh! Sora, not the time," I quickly responded, urging him to behave and drop his nonsense under these circumstances; With all our employees, including myself, nervous, waiting for his mother to get out of one of the cars. But I couldn't help but respond to his cheeky comment, "Are you kidding, right?" I looked at him before returning to my position.
"I'm not kidding. You have Natasha, where's mine?" Sora exclaimed childishly, looking at all the beauties on my side and then quickly back to his side of, let's call them, "men of science", nodding again towards "Jerry," his mother's scholarship at his side
"Well, there is someone we could hire for that. She keeps asking about it, and besides attending all of Musashi-sensei's training sessions, which I must say she took very seriously. And when she witnessed Musashi-sensei and Sora's recent sparring session, she asked about him again" Said Natasha discreetly, without breaking her straight posture.
"Oh, you're talking about her," Musashi instantly recognized the person Natasha was talking about, putting his hand on his chin as he thought about her exceptional performance in his training sessions. Her serious and determined attitude reminded Musashi of his days training his old unit.
"Who are you talking about?" Sora, on the other hand, had no idea.
"Shh, Natasha, be quiet," I said, not wanting to fuel Sora's nonsense while also distracting myself from the situation. "Sora... you barely show up for work, and now you want an assistant?"
"Well, I'm the co-founder of the company, right? Look at you, looking like a CEO of a modeling agency, while I..." Sora looked to his side again before adding; "The Dungeon Master of a D&d game" turning to the person next to him and asking; "Tell me Jerry, what kind of character do you play?"
Jerry, caught off guard by the unexpected question, didn't know what to say and replied nervously with the truth, "I like playing a strength-based character, with a big sword, like a Berserker!"
Upon hearing Jerry's answer, Sora blinked several times, genuinely perplexed by Jerry's sincere response to his rhetorical question-joke. That made him exclaim in exasperation, "See!"
This caused everyone who heard and witnessed the conversation to either laugh or at least smile at the scene. "The truth is that it hits you," Natasha added, thinking about all the strange things she saw in the "Dog-hole" which amplified the laughter, especially among the girls.
Sora leaned forward, looking at Natasha and the rest of the girls who were laughing, and responded with a big smile, "Oh, how funny... you girls didn't behave like this towards me at the last company dinner."
The faces of most of the girls blushed, and some of them wore a amused smile, while looking at their blushing colleagues, knowing exactly what Sora was referring to.
Upon Sora's comment and the girls' reaction, all the men on his side asked in unison, "All of them?" Even Peter and Musashi, who both worked in the workshop in their respective roles, had heard rumors about the infamous afterparty of the last company dinner.
"Hmm," Sora turned his back to the women and revealed the actual number with his fingers to the men. While nodding his head, wearing a stupidly proud smile.
This earned him envious and hateful glances from most of the men present, including Musashi and Peter, disgusted looks from our grandmothers, and a mix of embarrassment and blushing from the involved girls.
Sora turned towards the disgusted looks of Aoi and Ainara and, against my pleading, exposed me, saying, "Don't look at me like that, it wasn't my idea or intention... it all came from the sealed lips here!" Sora pointed his head at me without mercy.
This made my grandparents, Peter, and Ainara "¡Ranita!" "Judy!" exclaims in surprise after Sora threw me under the bus. "Sora! You promised we wouldn't tell them!" I protested.
"I didn't promise anything! I just grunted in response. It's your problem if you took my vague response as affirmative. Besides... don't you think it's time you had 'that' conversation with your grandparents?"
"Yeah, asshole, but not in front of yours and our employees!" I said, bringing my hand to my head, covering my embarrassed face before sighing and adding, "Um... Grandparents... I..."
Before I could continue, my grandmother Ainara interrupted nonchalantly, "We know you're bisexual. Do you think you can hide your relationship as lovers and almost like two friends when you see "something" you like? Aoi and I have talked about it many times, we even made bets."
Caught off guard by her words, I exclaimed, "Ah!" in surprise.
"I heard them whispering the other day while I was trying to sleep," Sora told me to my surprise.
"We were just surprised to find out it was your idea, sweetheart. You caught us off guard with that..." added my grandfather Peter, making me panic at the thought of being seen as a pervert.
"No-no, it's not how you imagine it... we were partying, a bit drunk, and Sora and I were together. When the girls saw us... I didn't need it! But since we were doing it together... things got heated... it was only one time!" I struggled to explain, feeling embarrassed.
Meanwhile, contrary to me... "And what a time it was! How could I hide something like that!? Right? High-five!" Sora said raising his arms proudly without a hint of embarrassment.... 'why can't I be like that?' feeling my embarrassment shrink at the thought of that, seeing Sora.
To my surprise, I saw my own grandfather Peter give in to Sora and reciprocate the high-five."That's my Peter! He gets it..." Sora said, receiving the high-five from Peter, at the expense of my grandmother Ainara's fierce stare that erased Peter's resulting silly grin as he bumped Sora.
With one hand still raised, Sora said, "Come on 'Old man', don't leave me hanging," looking at his grandfather Musashi, who made a feigned attempt to high-five his grandson but quickly lowered his hand upon seeing Aoi's gaze. With someone unexpectedly high-fiving Sora, with Jerry, next to him, leaned back a little so that he could bump Sora's raised hand, intended for his grandfather.
"That's my Berserker!, Oi, Jerry don't think I'll go easy on you as the 'Dm' of the game, for this! And you, grandfather, you disappoint me... I once thought of you as a role model... look at what you've become," Sora paused and looked his grandfather up and down before adding, "A half-man, castrated by grandma!"
'Ahnm,' I sighed, as I watched Sora's words instantly infuriate Musashi, causing him to reach for the hilt of his sword... Becoming more and more certain that I shouldn't have asked him to accompany me to the Gala.
Suddenly, all of us, including our previously lined-up employees in a formal manner, now completely disarrayed, having shifted to hear Sora's nonsense. We all heard an angry "Ahem" that sent a shiver down our spine.
With Hanako Arasaka herself, her customized iron beast, her guards, and what appeared to be her red-eyed, big-breasted assistant... in front of us, looking at us with disapproval and some restrained anger after Hanako Arasaka had to call our attention to her arrival... 'Shit!'
-
General POV
A few moments earlier...
Hanako finally stepped out of the armored SUV, accompanied by her "iron beast" that her son personally made for her, after her persistent security team, led by Oda, finished securing the area. Her eyes landed on her son and his partner's renovated warehouse, bringing a smile to her face, eager to see what they had accomplished during that time.
Without wasting any time, Hanako began walking towards the somewhat disorganized group that awaited her, accompanied by Oda, Yumeko, and the rest of her entourage. However, to the surprise of Hanako's imposing group, the people who were waiting did not correct their disorder at all upon their arrival. Instead, the line completely dissolved, with everyone gathering around those in the middle to hear what was happening.
Hanako's group was taken aback by something they had never experienced during their reviews of companies in which Hanako-Sama was a shareholder or investor. As they approached, they could see and hear the cause of the problem: the co-founder of the company raising his arms while loudly requesting a "high five," distracting the other employees, completely absorbed in their own world without noticing Hanako's group practically right in front of them.
The scene left everyone in Hanako's group perplexed, as they prepared to address the lack of professionalism and respect they were witnessing. However, they were stopped by Hanako's icy gaze, which prevented any of them from moving.
Hanako stood still, saying nothing, waiting for the group in front of her to realize her arrival and correct their behavior. But to her surprise, that moment never came, also shocking the families who watched it, in disbelief at the behavior of their loved ones.
Until Hanako's patience ran out, growing increasingly annoyed with her son, who at this point seemed to be deliberately ignoring her presence. She demonstrated her imminent frustration by audibly clearing her throat, "Ahem" causing the people in front of her, who had forgotten about her arrival, to finally notice. Turning pale as ghosts in the process and remained paralyzed upon seeing the imposing armed group dressed in black with Arasaka insignias before them, and above all... the person leading them.
The sole shareholder of their company, who could very well be considered, due to the family she came from, of the highest nobility of the corporate era. She looked at them with obvious resentment in her cold gaze, especially... looking at the one person who appeared neither nervous nor surprised. On the contrary, a smile grew on his face, opening his mouth, feigning surprise, "Oh! Ma-... Marvellous Investor, How was the flight?"
Judy couldn't help but cover her face again at Sora's sense of humor, firmly believing that he had deliberately distracted/manipulated them to play the same joke on her, on her mother. Increasing her fears of a fifth corporate war... for how Machiavellian Sora could be... for some things, worried that he would do something similar at the Gala.
-
A few seconds later, when everyone returned to their positions and performed the formal greeting with a trained bow before Hanako-Sama and her group...
Sora, not pretending to act like a stranger to his mother unless it was for a joke, or call her "-Sama," squatted down while the others bowed, to greet someone he hadn't seen in over two years: the Iron Pet he had personally made for his mother...
A proud and beautiful black panther with golden eyes and a reserved personality, who only allowed Hanako and... her creator to pet her, purring like a cat as she buried her head in Sora's neck, as if she were talking to him and he was responding, enhancing the sense of conversation between the two. This caught the attention of Hanako's group members, like Oda and Yumeko, who witnessed the scene and knew the peculiar personality of "Niobe," Hanako's reserved pet.
Some, like Hanako's young assistant, felt annoyed by the tender image, not only because of the lack of respect from the co-creator, of which she was already aware due to her work as an assistant, but also because she had tried for years to win Niobe's affection in order to embrace her, as Sora did, but never succeeded.
When they finished bowing, Hanako could see and hear a familiar scene when Judy, upon rising from her bow, grabbed Sora's ear, pulling on it as she stood up. This caused Sora to complain in pain, saying, "Aah!, stop, stop!" to the "Idiot" who had gotten her in trouble in front of his mother, lifting him up forcefully.
While Sora rubbed his ear, Hanako couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth lift, now being the one ignoring her son, warmly greeting Judy and smiling at their grandparents as she took attendance of all the employees, now formally lined up. Slowing her pace for "no apparent reason" as she passed the young women who blushed while looking at her son when she approached. Enjoying their panicked faces as she briefly stared at them.
Hanako also greeted the families of the workers, formally nodding from a distance, not wanting to make them more nervous.
When Hanako finished, she stood in front of Sora and Judy, with Judy acting as a guide, formally pointing with her arm to the entrance of the workshop, saying, "Please, Hanako-Sama, follow me. Despite the little incident earlier, we have prepared your visit to the workshop in great detail."
As everyone began to head into the workshop and the families were led to the workshop's cafeteria, three people remained still. One being a regular troublemaker, another behind the first, knowing that this could happen, and the third, which surprised Hanako... her head of security.
Judy was the first to speak, asking, "Sora, what's going on?"
"Nothing, continue with the workshop visit, I'll stay outside for a moment... I think this guy and I have a problem from the way he's looking at me," Sora responded without looking at her, keeping his eyes on his mother's security chief.
Understanding the situation and seeing how they were looking at each other, Hanako exclaimed at the unusual behavior, "Oda!"
"I'm sorry, Hanako-Sama, but unless you order me otherwise, I would like to stay outside for a while too... I can't condone the attitude of this cheeky young man who takes advantage of your kindness because he's Musashi-san`s grandson," said Oda, looking at the person behind Sora and adding, "Master! I can't understand how you've allowed a member of your own family to—"
He was interrupted by Sora, who didn't mind being insulted but didn't allow his grandfather to be blamed for his behavior. "Oi, 'Useless,' don't drag him into this. If you have a problem with my attitude, then stop talking and do something about it. Wasn't that one of the bushido's foolish things? I'll show you that a 'Useless' person like you isn't fit to protect someone as important as... Hanako."
Oda, after the lack of respect from Sora calling him "useless" and questioning his ability as the one in charge of protecting "Hanako-sama" along with his lack of suffixes to refer to her, was enough to make him growl in anger.
Hanako sighed internally, maintaining her serious expression, unintentionally tightening her grip on the briefcase she had personally carried all the way from Japan. Before continuing with her visit, she turned to Musashi and said subtly without others being able to hear her "Control him, make sure he doesn't go overboard. Oda still has to accompany me to the Gala." Musashi responded with a nod.
As both groups started moving into the workshop, a small group of Arasaka personnel stayed with Oda outside, all of them standing in front of Sora. Seeing this, another group formed, this time on Sora and Musashi's side, to the astonishment of their female colleagues. Led by Jerry, the group of "men of science" stood alongside their "DM." in front of the Arasaka security group.
Sora and Musashi found it amusing to see the scared expressions they were trying to hide while standing firm against their imposing Arasaka counterparts as if they were about to fight... but understanding their intentions by staying with them. Sora waited until the women entered the workshop before turning to them and saying, "They're gone now, you can relax... you weren't bad."
Musashi added, "Yeah, you surprised us, guys. In training, you don't do much, but when you saw an opportunity to look like men in front of women you took it on the fly... you definitely know how to use your heads."
With both of their words, Jerry's group relaxed, returning to their bad poses some arching their backs or peeking out some belly, that they had been hiding while trying to impress their beautiful co-workers.
At the same time, Oda and his Arasaka companions were puzzled to hear them, not quite sure what was going on, but at the same time, deep inside them... understanding it as men.
Shortly after, Sora and Oda confronted each other, with Oda wasting no time and extending his mantis blades, without activating their thermal function, and upon seeing Sora in front of him without drawing the sword from his hip, he said, "Unsheath your sword, boy. I don't want you to think you lost because you were unarmed."
"Tch, for you... all I need is 'this,'" Sora said, and "Wf, waaf... waf-waaf "waf"" Eco echoed on his shoulder, imitating Sora as best he could. As Sora raised his hands, entering in position with the intention of fighting Oda with his fists alone, thinking it would be a good warm-up.
This visibly irritated Oda and the rest of the Arasaka group but had the opposite effect on Jerry and the others.
-
25 minutes later.
Sora found himself inside the workshop, navigating its clean corridors with a somewhat "irritated" expression, due to his left arm being full of annoying cuts of varying depths, some of them quite profound, and his jacket was now a mess, covered in as many cuts as his arm.
With Eco still perched on his shoulder, Sora dragged Oda through the long corridors of the workshop, "graciously" taking it upon himself to escort him to the infirmary. Despite the insistence of his Arasaka companions that they would take care of Oda theyselfs. Sora, being the responsible host that he was, insisted and "convinced" them to let him handle it. He gripped Oda unconscious by the leg with his black arm and "carefully" dragged him through the workshop, causing him to collide with anything Sora encountered on his way, whether it was trash, a bench, or a potted plant.
Leaving small traces of blood on the floor every few meters, which caught the attention of the small cleaning robots that roamed around, Some of them even began to follow the trail, inadvertently bumping into the source, Oda's swollen face
Upon reaching the infirmary, Sora placed Oda inside the first aid capsule. However, still annoyed by his own injuries, he positioned Odawith his head where his feet should be and his feet where his head should. Then, closing it and activating the automated system.
Which lifted the capsule from horizontal to put the patient, to practically vertical when it started up. This caused Oda's body to fall towards the bottom of the capsule, twisting his neck under the weight of his own body, leaving him trapped in a peculiar pose with his legs elevated inside the capsule.
Witnessing this amusing sight, Sora leaned against the wall in front of the capsule and lit a cigarette to calm his irritated mood after realizing that Oda was not as "Useless" as he thought and gave him more war than expected, earning him the cuts on his arm. And now that he was alone, more or less, he activated a black layer from his nanobots to cover the wounds of his left arm, concealing them under the sleeves of his, "again," impeccable jacket.
While Sora smoked, observing the upside-down Oda in the capsule being sprayed with a substance that soaked his clothes and promoted cell division to aid in wound closure, and bruise healing, Sora couldn't help but think about "V" and how on earth he/she could managed to confront Oda and defeat him, in an incident, yet far away that will not happen as he knows... of that Sora was sure... even if he had to kill "V" and "Takemura" to stop it.
While Sora pondered about "V" again, now in a more peaceful way. He received a message from Judy, asking him to come to her office if he was finished "outside". Having fulfilled his duty as a host by taking Oda to receive first aid, Sora left the infirmary and headed to the workshop's elevator, making his way to Judy's office on the top floor.
Upon arrival, Sora was met with an unpleasant sight of two Arasaka guards, in full armor, standing in front of Judy's office. Ignoring them, as he opened the door directly.
As soon as Sora stepped into the room, he was met with a somewhat hostile gaze from beautiful red eyes behind thin, round glasses—his mother's assistant, Yumeko. She was dressed in an elegant black corporate suit with a white shirt, and her jacket partially concealed her ample chest.
Just as Sora was about to speak, one of the other three people in the office interrupted him. "Hanako-sama, as we discussed, I will take Yumeko to design her personalized Iron Beast. We'll leave you alone with Sora, as you requested, so you can discuss your thoughts on our work so far," Judy said, wearing a short jacket that covered her arms, and a tight matching top that accentuated her figure, exposing her tattoos and abdomen. High-waisted pants completed the ensemble, combining both revealing and elegant styles.
Cutting Sora off before he could even begin to speak. Yumeko reluctantly followed Judy out of the office, leaving mother, son, and Iron Beats alone in the room.
In the sudden silence, Sora leaned against the wall and placed Eco on top of Niobe, allowing them to have their own space. "So, what did you think of the visi-"
"It was you, wasn't it?" Hanako interrupted Sora, almost seeming like the rule among the women near him, as she stopped looking out the window behind Judy's desk, with an Arasaka briefcase on it, and looked at her son.
Sora, fully aware of what his mother was referring to, said just in case, "Hmm? Based on past experiences and my lawyer's advice, I'll have to ask you to be more specific. I don't want to say too much and admit something other than what you're referring to..."
Exasperated upon hearing him, Hanako specified, "The assassination attempt on 'Smasher' with the explosion of the ship, on an Arasaka port... the Ebunike, along with the disappearance of the ship's manager, Jeremiah Grayson, the last confirmed person who had... your father's weapon..." Hanako said as she circled the desk, never taking her eyes off her son, and added when she stood in front of him, "It was you, wasn't it?"
"Ah! You're talking about that..." Sora exclaimed indifferently, almost honestly giving Hanako the impression that it wasn't him... until he changed his indifferent expression completely, revealing his sharp fangs in a wide smile, while the circles around his pupils glowed intensely as he added, "Fuck yeah, it was me!" Admitting the government-categorized act of terrorism without a hint of shame or guilt.
With Hanako shaking her head at the increasingly similar character to "him"... "You knew, didn't you..." Hanako thought to herself upon witnessing and hearing her son's admission of blowing up an entire ship within Arasaka's properties.
"Do you have it?" Hanako asked, without reproaching her son's dangerous actions.
In response to his mother's vague question, Sora didn't play dumb. He opened his jacket, revealing his new tattoos on his neck and his father's silver Malorian 3516 in its holster under his left arm.
When Hanako saw it, she felt a pinch in her heart, unable to avoid recalling a phrase that always hurt her, no matter how many times she read it or how many years passed... "𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚, 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙, 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮... 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣"
Noticing his mother's strange state, Sora closed his jacket again, causing her to react again. She walked towards the table and opened an Arasaka-marked briefcase in front of Sora, revealing an elegant black wooden box. "This is for you... from your father. He wanted me to give it to you... under these circumstances."
Those few words made Sora open his eyes in surprise and he stared ambiguously at the black box. Seeing an emotion she had never seen in her son's, Hanako smiled gently and said, "Open it."
Sora, dazed and filled with conflicting emotions, took a while to react to his mother's words, realizing that he had already begun moving without being aware of it... with a contradictory mix of emotions... on one hand, feeling... happy and wanting to know... but on the other hand... he was afraid, afraid to know... to discover who his father really was, whether he was a jerk like Johnny or... the person his mother told him about and fell in love... John.
Sora slowly opened the black box with both hands, revealing an elegant black Malorian 3516, with a slightly longer barrel and small silver details. Despite the beauty of the weapon, Sora's attention was drawn to a small piece of paper, worn by time, on top of the gun.
With his black right hand, he grasped—his father's response upon learning of his existence.
Hanako, before her son read the note, added, "Keep in mind that he tried to avoid saying certain words as much as possible... he wasn't sure if his message would reach us safely... He tried his best to ensure we wouldn't get into trouble because of it."
Affirming his mother... Sora read the note in his hand...
---
"𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚...
𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙮... 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮... 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣, 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙪𝙧... 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙢... 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚... 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.
𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙢, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙, 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩... 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪... 𝙂𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨... 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚, 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙, 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮... 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣... 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚... 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙡-... 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚-𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨... 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢... 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚... 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙.
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨... 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜... 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨."
---
After a few minutes... where Sora had read the short note hundreds of times without moving... Hanako was taken aback when he suddenly looked at him with shining blue eyes that held a hint of hatred towards her, towards her surname and his... towards a part of himself and his own blood. He spoke with a cold voice, almost laughing at his own words, saying, "Can you Imagine? "𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧"... hahaha..."
Hanako wanted to comfort her son but didn't dare. She also felt the guilt of her choices, questioning the dangerous "What if..." What if she had come out of hiding when she overheard John's conversation that made her flee? What if she had returned to him after learning she was pregnant and explained everything? What if...
Her train of thought, with no brakes at this point, was abruptly interrupted when she hears a sudden vibration and saw an intense blue light emanating from her son's arm, which...
"ZzVzvZvzZ" generated a powerful electric shock within the room. That made Hanako watched helplessly as her son burned the note in his hand, with the electrical shock that overloaded the lights and caused them to explode.
Hanako found herself rendered speechless, after the obliteration of one of the few remnants of John's existence, paralyzed by her son's piercing gaze and the bone-chilling question that came out of his mouth "Mother... if I were to kill your father... would you be able to forgive me?"
Before Hanako could recover from the shock of her son's uncontrollable words, the two guards outside the office interrupted them. They burst in with their weapons drawn, alarmed by the powerful discharge and the subsequent overload of the lights. They aimed their guns at Sora while positioning themselves on either side of Hanako to protect her.
Sora tried to calm himself, struggling to control his amplified emotions from his digitized consciousness, his Soulcode. In his current state, everything irritated him, everything enraged him. Making it difficult for him stay calm, when he felt the guns of the "Arasaka" guards pointing at him within his own building, his company, and his 'damn' girlfriend's office, and seeing the Arasaka symbol on their armor. Sora, like his mother before him, couldn't help but recall something, that he had just read hundreds of times, in only a few minutes: "𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙡-𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚-𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨."
'You're fucking right, that I will, old man!' Sora thought, confirming his father's hunch. Taking place a shift in his mind in that instant, changing his strategy on how to "control" his amplified emotions.. by not doing so. Letting them roam free.
Hanako didn't have time to stop her guards and order them to leave when she saw the demonic expression on her son's face. His eyes were as dark as the night, his pupils shining so intensely that it made you look away, and his four fangs that didn't seem human... Before she knew it, he vanished from her sight.
He reappeared next to her, with his leg impaled in one of the guards who were trying to protect her... from him. With a swift kick, he sent the guard flying, his body ending up at an acute angle before crashing through the wall into the hallway.
Without pausing, as his panicked companion aimed at him, Sora disappeared again, reappearing in front of the guard with his demonic expression on his face, amplified by the vapor that momentarily surrounded him.
He struck such a blow, aimed at the Arasaka symbol on the guard's helmet, that shattered it into pieces as if it were made of simple plastic instead of highly resistant polymers. The guard wearing it was sent flying out of the office, just like his comrade.
Crashing against the wall, but with more force and his head, without helmet, making the initial impact, leaving a bloody mark on the hallway wall as he fell unconscious from the blow.
Sora, in his current state not much different from a beast, focused on the first guard he kicked, who looked up at him from the hallway floor with clear fear in his eyes. Pointing his weapon at Sora to defend his own life, but as he did so, Sora vanished again, only to reappear right above him. Delivering blow after blow on his face, until the blood from his left knuckles mixed with the blood of the "Arasaka" guard.