The moment the office door sealed shut behind him, Victor allowed the professional mask on his face to relax slightly.
The silence of the Arasaka office was almost unnatural.
Beyond the reinforced glass walls, Night City continued its endless cycle of greed, violence, and ambition, but inside this room, there was only stillness.
Victor had long since grown accustomed to the ugly realities of corporate life.
People climbed.
People fell.
And when they fell, nobody cared.
The previous director’s fate was simply another example of the same rule.
In Night City, a person’s value was measured by results.
The moment those results disappeared, so did their protection.
Victor felt no sympathy.
Nor did he feel satisfaction.
After seeing similar stories unfold countless times throughout his career, he had become indifferent to them.
Right now, he had more important matters to handle.
The dead director had left behind an entire department, countless operations, hidden assets, and secrets buried beneath layers of corporate deception.
Victor needed to determine exactly what kind of inheritance he had received.
Or perhaps more importantly— What kind of mess he had inherited.
“If that old bastard was useless,” Victor muttered quietly, “then the next few months are going to be annoying.” Without wasting any more time, he activated the office’s highest security protocol.
Immediately, the room responded.
The windows darkened.
The network connections shifted.
Dozens of hidden security systems came online.
A calm mechanical voice echoed throughout the office.
[Beep!
Authentication passed.
Office owner: Victor Vermilles.
Security mode is now active.] [Network security protection enabled.] [Netrunner defense systems deployed.] [Access permissions locked.] The so-called Security Mode was one of Arasaka’s most advanced office protections.
Once activated, the office became a completely isolated environment.
No unauthorized communications could enter.
No information could leave.
No visitors could interrupt.
The room essentially became a digital fortress.
Of course, Victor knew there was another side to the system.
If someone managed to assassinate the person inside while simultaneously intercepting biometric signals…
The victim could remain undiscovered for hours.
Perhaps even days.
A corporate fortress could easily become a corporate tomb.
Fortunately, Victor wasn’t particularly worried about that.
If someone was capable of killing him inside this office, security protocols would be the least of his concerns.
“Hmm…” He settled into the director’s chair and began accessing the files.
One after another, encrypted documents appeared before him.
Operational reports.
Asset evaluations.
Blackmail material.
Termination requests.
Corporate espionage records.
The deeper he looked, the clearer the picture became.
The Special Operations Department wasn’t merely handling routine corporate affairs.
It functioned as Arasaka’s hidden blade.
A weapon designed to operate where official channels could not.
Soon enough, Victor discovered something amusing.
His own personnel file.
The previous director had maintained extensive records on him.
Victor skimmed through the contents.
Performance assessments.
Psychological evaluations.
Combat analyses.
Threat ratings.
Then his eyes paused.
“Dangerous.” That single word appeared repeatedly throughout the file.
The former director had clearly viewed him with suspicion.
Perhaps even fear.
Victor couldn’t help finding it ironic.
The man who had been so concerned about Victor’s threat level was now dead.
And Victor was sitting in his chair.
Such was life inside Arasaka.
Without emotion, he closed the file and moved on.
The dead no longer mattered.
The living did.
The next several hours passed quickly.
Victor carefully analyzed every major operation under his authority.
Several familiar names appeared repeatedly.
Militech.
Biotechnica.
Dogtown.
These three represented the department’s primary focus.
At first glance, they seemed like separate targets.
Upon closer examination, however, Victor discovered they were all connected.
Everything ultimately led back to Militech.
The realization made him smile.
“So that’s how they’re playing it.” The strategy was actually quite clever.
Rather than directly confronting Militech, Arasaka was applying pressure from multiple directions.
Biotechnica.
Dogtown.
Regional influence.
Corporate partnerships.
Supply chains.
Political leverage.
Every move was designed to slowly weaken Militech’s position.
Not through open warfare.
Through gradual erosion.
Death by a thousand cuts.
Victor quickly identified one operation in particular.
The small asset he had previously been instructed to place within Militech’s sphere of influence wasn’t an isolated mission at all.
It was merely one piece of a much larger strategy.
A very long-term strategy.
One measured in years rather than months.
After making several notes, Victor shifted his attention toward Dogtown.
Dogtown remained a unique problem.
Officially independent.
Unofficially controlled by whoever possessed enough firepower.
The upper management’s objectives were straightforward.
Increase Arasaka influence.
Reduce Militech influence.
Expand market control.
Nothing unusual.
The challenge was timing.
Dogtown wasn’t the kind of environment where reckless actions produced good results.
Patience mattered.
For now, Victor decided minimal intervention would be best.
The opportunity would come eventually.
Night City always created opportunities.
And when it did, he would be ready.
That left Biotechnica.
Victor leaned back slightly.
This situation was far more interesting.
Biotechnica had recently performed several lucrative services for Militech.
In return, they had not hesitated to undermine Arasaka’s interests whenever profit demanded it.
The behavior wasn’t surprising.
Corporations didn’t have friends.
They had transactions.
“Heh.” Victor chuckled softly.
“Profit really is the only language corporations understand.” As he reviewed the relevant files, a familiar pattern emerged.
The proposed strategies were exactly what he expected.
Assassinations.
Scandals.
Information warfare.
Media manipulation.
The classic corporate toolkit.
Nothing particularly innovative.
The real challenge wasn’t choosing a method.
It was choosing the appropriate scale.
That distinction mattered.
A lot.
Because despite the hostility between Arasaka and Biotechnica, neither side wanted an open corporate war.
Not yet.
A few executives ruined?
Acceptable.
A scandal exposed?
Acceptable.
Some stock value lost?
Still acceptable.
But if Victor crossed the line and targeted truly important figures…
The consequences would be severe.
Not for Biotechnica.
For him.
Corporate leadership always needed someone to blame when operations became inconvenient.
And history had already demonstrated exactly how that worked.
Jenkins came immediately to mind.
Officially celebrated.
Officially honored.
Officially remembered as a loyal Arasaka employee.
Reality told a different story.
He had been sacrificed to internal corporate politics.
Disposed of once his usefulness expired.
Then repackaged as a symbol.
Victor had no intention of joining him.
“Let’s avoid becoming a corporate martyr.” The thought made him smirk.
He preferred staying alive.
After finalizing several preliminary plans, Victor continued searching through the remaining records.
Then something unexpected appeared.
His eyes narrowed.
“Hmm?” A special access request.
Already approved.
The name attached to it immediately caught his attention.
Adam Smasher.
Victor blinked once.
Then leaned forward.
Now this was interesting.
Among all the names in Arasaka’s database, Adam Smasher occupied a unique position.
A living legend.
A walking weapon.
A monster wrapped in steel.
Most people focused exclusively on Smasher’s overwhelming combat capabilities.
Few paid attention to the fact that the man possessed a functioning brain as well.
Not necessarily a pleasant brain.
But certainly an effective one.
Victor opened the request details.
The explanation appeared quickly.
Arasaka’s R&D Department had developed a new piece of advanced cyberware.
Because the physical requirements were unusually extreme, they wanted additional testing data.
Naturally, Adam Smasher represented the perfect benchmark.
The request also included another detail.
Smasher had specifically expressed interest in meeting Victor.
That revelation surprised him slightly.
Only slightly.
His own reputation inside Arasaka wasn’t exactly modest.
Years of successful operations had earned attention from people across multiple divisions.
Apparently even Adam Smasher had noticed.
“Interesting.” Victor rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
A conversation alone could prove useful.
Both men existed near the top of Arasaka’s combat hierarchy.
Exchanging perspectives might reveal valuable information.
Then another possibility entered his mind.
A sparring match.
Immediately, excitement stirred within him.
Victor loved testing himself.
And there were few opponents more challenging than Adam Smasher.
“If circumstances allow…” His fingers tapped lightly against the desk.
“…I’d like to see how that turns out.” Unfortunately, he also understood why such a match was unlikely.
Their combat styles were fundamentally incompatible.
Victor specialized in speed.
Precision.
Swordsmanship.
The overwhelming acceleration provided by the Sandevistan.
Smasher specialized in destruction.
Heavy weapon systems.
Armor.
Raw firepower.
And his own Sandevistan enhancements.
If the two actually fought seriously, neither could easily hold back.
A friendly spar could rapidly become a battlefield casualty report.
Someone would almost certainly lose limbs.
Possibly more.
“We’ll see.” Victor let the thought go.
The future would decide.
His attention returned to the R&D files.
Specifically, the new cyberware project connected to Smasher.
As he examined the details, another possibility emerged.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“The Cyber-Kong project…” The name immediately triggered memories.
As both a field operative and someone holding authority within the research division, Victor possessed a deeper understanding of cyberware development than most executives.
The project’s capabilities were undeniably impressive.
Potentially revolutionary.
But there was a major issue.
Usability.
Everything depended on whether the technology could function as a practical and adaptable platform.
Without that flexibility, its battlefield value dropped dramatically.
Even for someone like Adam Smasher.
A gigantic combat frame possessed obvious advantages.
Immense strength.
Devastating firepower.
Near-impenetrable armor.
But it also suffered equally obvious weaknesses.
It was impossible to conceal.
Impossible to deploy discreetly.
Impossible to use for precision operations.
Inside a city environment, size often became a liability rather than an advantage.
Assassinations required subtlety.
Corporate operations required deniability.
A massive mechanized monster attracted attention everywhere it went.
And attention was rarely useful.
Especially in Night City.
“Still…” Victor folded his arms.
“The fact that the project started this early is interesting.” The implications were worth considering.
Perhaps much more than the project itself.
For several moments, he remained silent, organizing the information he had gathered.
Eventually, he reached a decision.
Everything important had been reviewed.
The remaining files could wait.
With a simple gesture, Victor archived the documents and locked them behind multiple layers of encryption.
The screens vanished.
The office grew quiet once more.
Finally, he issued his command.
“Deactivate security mode.” The system responded immediately.
[Beep!
Authentication passed.
Security mode deactivated!] The darkened windows brightened.
Network connections reopened.
Normal operations resumed.
Victor slowly rose from his chair and looked out over Night City.
The city glowed beneath the evening sky like a sea of neon fire.
Countless deals.
Countless betrayals.
Countless opportunities.
And now, all of them were his to navigate.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
His predecessor’s legacy had been examined.
The board had been set.
The pieces were already moving.
And somewhere in the city, Adam Smasher was preparing to pay him a visit.
The coming days promised to be anything but boring.
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