[TN: Happy holidays everyone here one chapter for missing another chapter and 3 more chapter one for today and two more as my holiday gift to yall]
The three dragged the Woodman into a nearby room.
Clap!
The door swung open.
Inside, several women dressed in suits and luxurious clothing were seated. Seeing the three, and the Woodman being dragged behind them, their expressions shifted dramatically!
V and Jackie raised their guns simultaneously, firing a round and blowing their hands apart—
They didn't even have time to draw their own weapons!
Leo asked, "No need for introductions. Who's in charge here?"
Despite the question, Leo quickly zeroed in on a woman dressed in leopard print with heavy makeup.
At this moment, Maiko Maeda, the current manager of Cloudtop, was visibly uneasy under Leo's gaze. Maiko shrank back slightly—confirming her identity.
"I'll give you all one chance: Where is Jotaro Kujo?"
"I can take you!"
Maiko was quick to comply. "As long as you..."
Bang!
A bullet grazed Maiko's cheek.
"Lead the way. No nonsense."
Swallowing hard, Maiko led the three to the building's elevator, which began descending.
The group arrived at what appeared to be Cloudtop's machine room and storage level. The dim, cold atmosphere reeked of foreboding—
The Megabuilding itself was already sparsely populated and naturally chilly.
They proceeded to a recording studio, and a foul stench hit them.
This seemed to be a Braindance Recording Room: a massive purple couch was centered under dim lighting, which cast shadows on a blood-soaked bed.
The bed was covered in fresh bloodstains, and dark red liquid smeared the walls.
Around the bed lay various tools, each appearing horrifying and designed for grotesque purposes. Teeth, fingers, and other body parts were scattered on the floor, with sparking wires dangling from above.
Opposite the bed was a makeshift emergency cot, seemingly meant for keeping individuals alive through transfusions during recordings.
And if they didn't survive—
Leo looked up and saw a partially concealed surgical station in an adjacent curtained area. The stench emanated from here.
A victim's body lay there, unmoved and forgotten. It was a girl with her abdominal cavity still open, her eyes gouged out. Blood had trickled out, congealing into a dark crust.
The trio furrowed their brows.
"Blegh!" Maiko vomited on the spot but quickly regained her composure. "This is all Jotaro's doing! His personal hobbies! He's too profitable, so the Tyger Claws turn a blind eye to all this!
"He summoned us earlier, but then rushed out. We don't know what he's up to!"
"Keep moving."
Leo pressed onward until they reached the server room.
There stood Jotaro, stepping out from the server room. Upon seeing the trio, his face twisted in shock!
"You—!"
Bang!
Jackie fired a shot into Jotaro's thigh.
"Ahhh!" Jotaro screamed, his face contorted in pain, though a flicker of fear danced in his eyes. "You lunatics! Psychopaths!"
V, disgusted, fired another shot, making Jotaro howl in agony.
"You call us psychopaths?"
"What else would you be? Do we have a grudge? Business rivalry? No!" Jotaro gasped. "Are you actually pretending to act on some notion of justice—"
Bang!
Leo fired a shot, shattering Jotaro's other leg. The mingled mass of bleeding flesh and cybernetics twitched with weak electric surges.
"For f—s sake, can you let me finish?!" Jotaro writhed on the floor like a dying dog. "Damn it, you can't kill me... You can't kill me!
"I'm the one keeping Cloudtop afloat, keeping the Tyger Claws' operations running! I provide these damn dolls a place to work!
"If you kill me, they'll starve! Are you going to pay their wages?"
Bang!
Another shot landed on Jotaro's groin, the sound echoing like a metallic clang.
[TN:lol he has a metal dick]
"Aaaaahhh! You... You! If you kill me and bring down Cloudtop, the Tyger Claws will collapse! Only crueler people will take over!
"You think these dolls will thank you for that?"
Bang!
Another shot shattered his hand.
Jotaro's cybernetics kept him alive—barely. He tried gauging Leo's motives, shifting from probing a potential business grudge to pleading about the systemic evil he perpetuated.
But Leo wasn't one to be swayed by moral dilemmas. He wasn't some hot-blooded idealist; he was a pragmatic businessman.
Leo shook his head nonchalantly. "Sure, I can give them jobs."
Jotaro was stunned. "They can't do anything! They're just meat to be used!"
His voice grew weaker with each word.
"What does that have to do with you?"
Bang!
A shot pierced Jotaro's throat. Leo had scanned him earlier, identifying an auxiliary breathing system. The shot's angle disrupted airflow, forcing a torturous sensation akin to drowning while preventing immediate death.
Jotaro writhed on the ground, incapable of speaking, his high-grade life-support cybernetics prolonging his agony.
V found it satisfying. "What do we do with him? Won't a Trauma Team show up?"
"I've already handled that. As for how to deal with him..."
[Incoming Call: Regina]
[Leo: "Jotaro's in my hands. So is Cloudtop. Got any buyers interested in his life?"]
[Regina: "Plenty. And for the Cloudtop data too. I'll pay for every byte."]
[Leo: "Then he's as good as dead."]
"If you want to kill him, be my guest."
"Can we make it more painful?"
"Shoot here." Leo pointed to a specific spot on Jotaro's neck. "It'll give him the longest three minutes of his life before he dies."
The sensation of foreign objects might become bearable over time, but the relentless agony caused by his body's survival instincts would persist.
Jotaro shot them a terrified look, blood bubbling in his throat.
Bang!
Jotaro was finished. Now it was time to reap the rewards.
[Bryce: "NCPD is about to breach. Move fast."]
The trio dragged Jotaro and Woodman, along with Maiko, into the server room.
Now, it was time to dive into the database.
Leo grabbed magnetic electrodes, shoved aside a brain-dead hacker from a chair, and prepared for a deep dive.
[System Alert: Ikegara-Bragg Algorithm Loaded]
Cloudtop's database transformed into a perceivable space, replacing Leo's sensory input.
The ICE defense system resembled an intricately linked set of shields guarding the data. It was formidable but paled in comparison to Bryce's firewalls.
[Bryce: "Boss, start pulling data on the three targets. Having them in hand makes this easy."]
Following Bryce's guidance and improvising his own approach, Leo extracted data from Jotaro, the Woodman, and Cloudtop's server. He navigated the ICE seamlessly.
It felt almost too easy.
As Leo neared the core database, he noticed his AI companion, Little Octopus, reaching out curiously.
Seeing its fascination with the data, Leo recalled something.
[Leo: "Bryce, you ever heard of a honeypot?"]
(End of Chapter)