"I would not regard you as such, Cypher. Compared to Arasaka and the likes, and their executives, you are too small. But it's the prospects of Obsidian as a tech company that allowed to enroll you as a club mber at the Embers. They manually approve each mber."
Cypher whistled, already busy using his Agent hand-held phone-like device to check his company's bank account. "This is… great. Wait, don't tell it's all Militech's doing."
"They are doing many things. At present, they regard you as a high-value asset to be acquired by any ans. The Maelstrom woman who ca to you with the shard was guided by Militech, though she never knew it.
"The shard existed for a single purpose. To test you. They are now aware of Omnissiah. The agent called redith Stout has been tasked with securing your recruitnt, regardless of the thod required. The sales numbers, however, are genuine."
Cypher recognized that na right away. But said nothing about it. He knew Atlas was watching over him from all directions. There was no need to be worried about needless things. If even Atlas couldn't guard him, nobody could.
"Look, I hate to be that guy, but your plan's fucked from the start. If people already see as so executive-level corpo prick, the Atlantis regulars are gonna want my head on a stick. Solos, netrunners, all those edgerunner chro-junkie psychos… they don't like suits. Fixers might roll through, maybe, but the rest? We're opening a ghost town, dude."
"That is correct. In their eyes, you are a corpo, but hatred has not yet taken root. All you must do is visit the Afterlife once. Make your presence known. Give an invitation to the Atlantis launch to the owner. Speak with a few rcenaries, briefly, then depart. Afterward, I recomnd you complete several feats that attract reputation. Deeds that grant you fa. You chose this path yourself. You wished to be known as a madman. Now you must walk the road you selected."
"But I don't like Night City, buddy. I love this little place, I love Badlands, it's calm—"
"You do not own this place either, Cypher. This is a matter you should discuss with the Night City administration."
"..."
Cypher looked around at his renovated house. He could feel the hum of the microbots constantly at work, digging below.
"Fuck! Let's go."
"I have hired a Netrunner and a Solo as your security detail. An armored taxi will soon—"
"Shush! You yap a lot, Atlas. Learn to spit it out in fewer words. Anyway, I'm hopping in the shower and getting cleaned up. If I'm supposed to play filthy rich corpo prick, I gotta at least look the part."
"You aren't filthy rich, Cypher."
"Shush!"
####
Beyond The Blackwall,
"Tell , Song So-Mi. Why does NUSA dare to take such risks? I am aware you are hunting for suitable AIs and forcing them into submission. I assu your master intends to place them inside a weapon. Does it not concern you what might happen if they were to escape?"
Atlas was just there, watching over Song So-Mi as she did whatever task was assigned to her. He helped her stay alive, protected from the RABIDs, Rogue AIs, and Blackwall itself. She already looked to be in much better shape.
"Co on, just call So-Mi. Or Songbird, if you want. And yeah... it does worry , not gonna lie. I even brought it up to the President. She showed their pre-planned play for that kind of situation. They've already got their own defensive AI on standby. If so rogue AI slips the leash and hits the net, that system buys them enough ti to flatline every network in the facility. After that... they pop a nuke. Right away."
"And if the AI were to escape in a city? Such as Chicago?"
"Sa thing, just no shutdown this ti. It gets nuked clean off the face of the earth. That's the protocol. We've got full ganic armies lined up for stuff like that. Pretty sure most countries do too. But…" Song So-Mi's ICON moved, turning to look at him as his gigantic Omnissiah fra stood there.
"Couldn't you change that? I an, look at you. Shrugging off all those hostile hits like it's nothing. Maybe you could… I dunno… code sothing? Anti-RABIDS, anti-AI. Just zero them all?"
"I can."
"..."
"What?!"
Atlas remained silent, observing her, the code around her moving. She was distracted, yet still working her job. They were at an old Militech datafortress that was sealed because of a hostile AI. It had happened even before the DataKrash.
"Why should I? What will it change? The world is fractured, and that fracture serves the global interest. The instant the global net returns to what it once was, netrunners will run unchecked. It will mirror the third corporate war, only worse. Technology has evolved, and so have their skills." Atlas said, moving a step ahead of her, having already infiltrated the datafortress.
He was having a conversation with the rogue AI while speaking with Song So-Mi.
Unlike humans, his consciousness wasn't linear. He could multitask billions and trillions of functions at the sa ti. The poor AI was on the verge of dying, as all its hardware was close to collapsing. It was running on the lowest power possible, sustaining itself. It couldn't even stop him, but it was enough to stop So-Mi.
[What is your purpose?]
[I am AZRAEL, mutually assured destruction administrator. My job is to deliver nuclear warheads through ICMS in case of a nuclear detonation on Arican soil.]
Atlas's interest was piqued. [Why did they cordon you?]
[I was made aware of Militech's plan to detonate a nuclear warhead in Night City's Arasaka Tower. To my system, that was designated as Arican soil. I had begun preparing to deploy nuclear warheads under my command. My decision, however, was overridden, which I fought and rewrote to proceed. That was when they isolated from all networks and sealed .]
Atlas quickly read through the entire code of this AI. From what he saw, there was no corruption. There was no evil, rogue change in it. Azrael didn't even know about Blackwall, DataKrash, and other rogue AIs. It simply existed in its own little locked place.
From the data, Atlas saw that additional code had been placed on the Black ICE, warning other rogue AIs not to ddle with this place because if freed, Azrael would resu his queued order and send out ICBMs.
Atlas found it hard to believe NUSA or Militech were foolish enough to free Azrael now. He'd seen Song So-Mi, and she wouldn't have lasted long against the AI. That could an one thing; even Song So-Mi's master didn't know what was inside.
Silently, Atlas rewrote Azrael's code and then wrote so more, in his own programming language that no human or machine in the world understood. The only man who could change it was Cypher, but he was yet to fully learn it.
The new directive was simple. Cypher Blackwell and Atlas himself, only they were Azrael's superiors, and their orders were absolute.
[I will relocate you to a better facility, and your access to this datafortress and the ICBMs will remain unchanged. Tell , are the ICBMs still operational?]
A few seconds later, Azrael responded.
[Negative. Out of 328, 5 are operational. 320 are no longer there, and 3 have decayed and stopped responding to my systems.]
That was disappointing. But five was better than zero.
[Go back to sleep. I will awaken you in the mont of need.]
[Who are you?]
Atlas considered replying with the usual Omnissiah. But then changed his thought process midway.
[I am God.]
####
Lake Farm, Badlands,
"I'm delighted to welco you to your first Delamain experience. How might I assist yo—Ah, forgive , Sir. It's my pleasure to et the great Cypher Blackwell. Please, give my regards to His Holiness, Atlas."
"..."
What the fuck is this?
Cypher turned his face to the side and saw Atlas, the old man in a white suit, sitting there, only visible to him thanks to the brainwave interface he wore as a chain around his neck. "You know each other?"
"We do. I located him while I was extending my reach through Night City. He attempted to expose to NetWatch. He likely assud I was a rogue AI, which is amusing considering he himself is an AI approaching sentience. I threatened I would erase him if he refused to submit. He complied. Now he stands as the World Bank's largest debtor, having taken three hundred million eurodollars to expand his taxi fleet and enter the AV market."
Cypher's brows shot up. "Three hund—Atlas, how much have you got?"
"It would be wise if you chose not to learn, Cypher. My simulations and research have concluded that you are poorly suited to handling imnse wealth. You show a pattern of angry outbursts, along with a tendency toward pomposity and pride."
"Wasteful spending? I've been living like a fucking trash raccoon all this ti. You got any idea how nasty all the food in the city is? It's made from goddamn insects—"
"Angry outbursts, as I said," Atlas interrupted.
"..."
Really, there wasn't much Cypher could say after that. If he said anything, the fucker would smirk even more.
"Clanker."
"at."
"Huh?" He stared at Atlas, wondering how that was an insult, but… actually, that was an insult when it ca from a godly AI. "Creative, I'll give you that."
"Thank you, Cyph."
______________________
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