Cyberpunk: XYZ

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Chapter 17: The Impossible Competition I

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He would never give the mysterious AI so much power, but he would gladly use the power it granted him as it left him a paralyzed Johnson, "My precious friend... Where were we again?"

Hamada crouched before the paralyzed Johnson, no longer adorning a calm expression. Instead, a frown was embroiled on his face.

"Even when we run from trouble, trouble finds us, huh?" Hamada shook his head in annoyance, "I hate corporations."

"..." There are some individuals who are unafraid of death, but Johnson isn't one of them, although the clear anger on his face managed to mask his fear.

"Are you mad at the corpos? At a fucking AI? I mean, what did you expect? You didn't follow their instruction precisely." Hamada pointed out.

"Those fucks think themselves gods. If you wanna talk about racism, just speak to some high-functioning AIs... They see us as bugs. Even now, I can speak badly about the AI, but it won't care because it has no feelings, as long as you follow instructions of course," Hamada further explained.

"Enough!! Just get it over with," Johnson seemed to have resigned to his fate.

"No no no, it won't be that easy... I really have to drive the point home. If you hadn't followed instructions, I would be in your place, so thank you, really," Oh, Hamada knows what buttons to push.

"Damn you!! Shut up shut up!!! I'll fucking kill you!!!" Just imagine being so angry that you managed to put out words despite the difficulty of doing so, and being unable to move, just lying there paralyzed.

"Yea... This is a real you, a meathead that gave them the opportunity to exploit our weakness," Hamada may not show it outwardly, but he was mad inside.

He didn't like the circumstances he found himself not one bit, "So go on, knowing you are and always were a failure," And to show his anger, Hamada spit directly at Johnson's face before putting his gun against the latter's head... And pulling the trigger.

"Instruct the Tech teams to clean up the entire building, all electronics need to be scrubbed, especially the server rooms... Tell them that there might be an intruder in our Net," Hamada instructed.

He wasn't in the same ballpark as Johnson whose body was basically under the control of the intruder AI.

Hamada has some room to maneuver. However, he was still unwilling to go against the unknown intruders unless necessary.

Corporations are just that threatening, and are basically monopolies of knowledge and technology, making their AIs vastly superior to all else.

The only other suspect of the attack would be the Maelstroms, thus why Hamada quickly formed a blockade around the Tyger Claws' operation base.

He sealed it off, allowing no one out and no one in. His goons surrounded the base, securing the permitter.

In the end, they did find something, in a building nearby, they found a dead body, one of their own, and nothing else.

They also found that the security cameras, each and every one connected to their Net were cleaned up, leaving no traces behind.

That wasn't the end of it as the Maelstroms got word of what happened quite quickly, leading to conflict throughout Old Japantown.

The already chaotic combat zone became even more chaotic, making the situation messier than it already was.

Word of what happened naturally reached the ears of those interested, and it most definitely reached the ears of the Tyger Claws' higher-ups, upon which they did an investigation of their own.

The investigation was messy and very slow. Nonetheless, it led them to a name, M, a new assassin of the High Table who took the contract for Johnson's life moments before his death.

Mr. M was confirmed to have completed the bounty, a very generous amount of money. He has provided enough evidence to assure himself as the killer of Johnson.

Here comes the problem, however, the High Table of Night City is largely controlled by the city's gangs including the Tyger Claws.

Obviously, they do not have absolute control as the majority of the gangs' members have bounties on them, but very few would dare take such bounties.

The reason is simple, the gangs control the High Table, and they can use it to trace you back, provided that you've claimed the bounty.

There are, however, many killers for hire, most not associated with the High Table, but still use its network to take jobs.

Therefore, it's only natural that they found ways to keep themselves somewhat anonymous.

Of course, for people at the top, if you truly want to find someone, they would be able to find them. They just need to look deeper.

However, the Tyger Claws soon realized that no one would really fully claim the bounty.

In fact, the individual named M never provided a bank account. The money is just sitting there, waiting for him to claim it.

The incident was embroiled with confusion, especially with Hamada working behind the scenes to make sure it stayed that way.

He even provided many clues that point to the 'Fact' that M is part of the Maelstrom, and that their target was infiltrating the Tyger Claws' network.

Hamada certainly knows how to take advantage of such messy scenes as that provided him more support from the headquarters, sending him more goons to fight off the maelstrom.

These events happened in the course of the following week. X, on the other hand, found himself back home by the evening of the incident.

X's home was the roof of the building by the clinic, usually a very cozy place till it starts raining so heavily.

And it was quite cold this evening, no doubt leading to a freezing night. Fortunately, X prepared his corner of the roof enough to give himself some cover and warmth.

Right by his couch was a metallic barrel in which he threw a bunch of trash before lighting it up.

It wasn't really much, but the pieces of plastic and covers over his head and all around made sure the heat stayed inside.

X covered himself with a blanket as he lied down by Joi's side, "I missed doing this, although it's quite tiring."

"What were you doing? You know, before you came to Night City? How can a plan so fascinating come to your mind so easily?" Joi had to wonder.

"What I was before I came here?" X muttered in a frown, "I don't quite remember, but I was good at what I did, whatever that is."

"The plan also wasn't impressive at all. It would be something impossible for me if the opportunity didn't present itself for me, the opportunity in the shape of Johnson coming to the clinic."

"The rest is merely formalities, a plan anyone of average intelligence can come up with, provided you have the necessary knowledge to accomplish it," X apparently didn't think he did anything special.

"That is not what impressed me... What impressed me is how you managed to create a false reality and make everything believe every lie you've fabricated," Joi disagreed.

"Hm... Yeah, I guess that's impressive, something you should easily be able to do, provided a little update to your code," X finally nodded.

"That's the problem... You're comparing yourself to AIs instead of humans, why?" Joi was all over X with her unending curiosity.

"Is it not only natural that you compare yourself to the competition?" X, or rather, the very pure Y wondered.