“I see.” Adam Smasher said after he quickly reviewed what I had sent him and he glanced down at Bruno. “You would be proud if he joined.”
Bruno smiled and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Adam looked back at . “You have caused this company a major security breach.”
I shook my head. “No, I revealed one.”
The hallway fell silent for a few seconds and no one moved or spoke.
“You set off an unknown explosive device.” Adam stated, his voice slightly deeper.
“No, Bruno did.” I corrected him. “That's the only way to have suffered that much damage.”
Adam stepped over Bruno and close to . His IEC Dragoon combat fra borg body was 7 feet 6 inches tall and he looked down at , since I was only 6 foot 3 inches.
“Semantics. You brought an unknown explosive device into this building and caused severe structural damage to this entire floor. The board of directors are severely injured...” Adam raised a chanical hand and tried to poke my chest with a finger. “...and you are the one responsible.”
I caught the finger before it touched and used both telekinesis and my technopathy to lock him into place. “Before you get your nuts and bolts in a knot, a basic scan would have revealed it. That so of the upper executives didn't bother using basic security procedures when they stole Atlas Incorporated property, is not my fault.”
Adam couldn't do anything as I fully checked him over, now that I was in physical contact with him. His various protection programs tried to do sothing, probably to try and purge whatever it was I was doing to him, and they couldn't. There was nothing to fight against. I was using his superstructure and not any programs at all.
Since most of his brain was cybernetic, it was easy to map it and copy the information he had stored there. I very carefully forced myself to not throw up at so of the BD recordings he had saved in his favorites files. Murders, rapes, flayings, decapitations, and none of them were in that particular order. When I reached deeper into his hardware, I found out sothing interesting.
This Adam Smasher wasn't the original. He was an edited digital copy with a good portion of his emotional range dampened, or in so cases, outright deleted. Every ti he transferred himself into a new chassis, it wasn't actually him. His original backup was still inside the Arasaka Server archives, their digital fortress secured in the basent.
The next thing I discovered was the reason he never succumbed to cyberpsychosis, despite being almost completely replaced with cybernetics. It was because crazy people never do. He couldn't fall into the trap other less adjusted people fell into. If you were already unhinged, what would replacing body parts do? They only made you into a much more efficient killing machine.
“Hey! Let him go!” The security team mber shouted and swung at .
I didn't move to stop him. Adam Smasher did. His other chanical hand swatted at the fist just before it hit and shattered every bone in the guy's hand.
“AHHH!” The guy yelled and pulled his arm back. He looked at his two pulped hands and just stared at them, as if he couldn't believe Adam would do that to him.
“dic.” Adam said and two of them ran out of the conference room and dragged the injured man off to the side and propped him against the far wall of the hallway before they tended to the injuries. By tended, they checked him over and decided amputation and replacent was the best option.
I handled the attack that way, just so no one would question what I was doing. Plus, Adam taking the responsibility saved from further inquiries. He was the head of security, after all. I quickly did a lot of reprogramming of Adam's systems, since most of it was chanical and cybernetic, and essentially made his brain into a passenger in a self-driving vehicle.
I only felt a little guilty about that, since isolation like that was essentially torture. However he had done so many horrific cris that he should have earned solitary confinent in prison decades ago. I was just delivering his sentence to his current body, since his original consciousness could only be accessed if you physically went down into the Arasaka Servers.
Oh, I guess I could do that with Adam Smasher's security codes. I thought and barely stopped myself from smiling. I installed a communications shunt through his Black Ice protections that allowed permanent access and I could control him like a puppet. He could now operate autonomously, without input from his at brain, only he wouldn't do anything not approved of by his new programming.
Just as I finished my tweaks to make sure his mannerisms and speech would match all previous patterns, the elevator opened and a moderately average black woman walked out wearing a perfectly cut executive business suit and skirt at regulation length. Her long black hair was pulled back into a severely tight ponytail, too.
I thought her look was a little odd, because she had obvious RealSkinn replacent parts on her face and her ears looked modded with tal attachnts pretending to be earrings. If she spent so much for replacents, why wouldn't she enhance her beauty instead of making herself look less attractive?
I pushed that thought aside as I let Adam's finger go and stepped aside. The woman approached us completely unafraid and I knew it was because Adam Smasher had restrictive programs in place to stop him from acting out against corporate executives.
“Smasher, what's the situation?” She asked, her voice firm.
“Susan Abernathy.” Adam responded, a little derogatorily. “An academy student smuggled an unknown device into the school this morning. It was confiscated by the guard when it was discovered after lunch and brought to the board of directors. Upon opening, the device exploded, exposing everyone within the vicinity with exotic particles and caused heavy damage to the building and personnel.”
Wow, it sounded really bad when described clinically like that, didn't it? I thought, slightly amused.
Susan's face showed slight anger as her eyes went to , since I was wearing an Arasaka Academy uniform. “I assu this is the culprit you've taken into custody.”
“We were just discussing that.” I said.
Susan's eyes squinted. “There is nothing to discuss. The facts here are clear. You are at fault and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
“They are biased and incomplete facts and I fully welco an independent examination from a competent authority to determine who is at fault and for what.” I responded and I could almost see her proverbial hackles rise at the insult.
“Listen to , punk. I'm in the Counter-Intelligence Departnt and I'm this close to becoming the Director of Special Operations for the entire Arasaka Company.” Susan said and reached up to poke in the chest with her index finger. “I won't have so snot-nosed corpo baby, that committed treason and bombed Arasaka Tower, tell how to do my job or what the facts are!”
I looked down at her finger, then back at her face. “Kindly remove your finger and calm down, or I will be forced to remove it.”
Susan moved her finger back and poked again, hard.
With a sigh, I moved in a blur, grabbed her finger, and snapped it right off.
“AHH!” Susan yelled in pain and pulled her hand back. Little sparks ca from the hole in the RealSkinn of her hand and I held up her cybernetic finger and crushed it.
“Either you haven't been properly briefed, or you're not in charge of employee orientation in your own departnt. After a quick check, the security team knew who I was without having to state my na.” I said and dropped the lump of crumpled tal and mangled RealSkinn to the floor. “Adam Smasher, tell her who I am.”
“His na is Veder.” Adam answered and Susan's face showed shock. “He was hired for the Reclamation Division and transferred to the Counter-Intelligence Departnt when his Cleaner program was discovered and was used to remove all foreign influences from loyal employees and their personal systems.”
I could tell by the expression on her face that she knew she had royally screwed up. Her thoughts on the other hand, let know who had contacted her to handle my introduction to her departnt. I was to be placed under her rival's authority in the departnt and I would be working as an agent for him to set him up later for betrayal.
Play stupid corpo gas, win stupid corpo prizes. I thought and gave her sparking hand a glance. I nodded at Adam and he turned to face the conference room.
“dic.” Adam ordered and another one ca out.
The man saw Susan's missing finger, then looked down at the crumpled lump, and shrugged. He tended to her and stopped the neural feed to the missing finger and cut the power access. Susan stopped flinching when the sparks stopped and she nodded at the dic. He ran back into the room and away from the current drama that all of them had easily overheard.
“Are you ready to hear about all of the facts this ti, Miss Abernathy?” I asked.
Susan clenched her damaged hand into a fist and nodded.
“It all started innocently when I revealed a food printer I had built and programd over the weekend...” I started and her face lost so of its color. I didn't even have to embellish anything, since I could now provide security footage of all the players involved in robbing a new corporation, thanks to Adam Smasher's security codes.
By the ti I finished with the altercation with the security team and then showing up in the hallway, Susan looked like she was going to be sick. Apparently, proving that the entire academy board was corrupt and the principal was involved, with both taking bribes from other executives and willingly admitting it to a student, was a huge breach of her own departnt's directives.
Susan needed a few minutes to consult with soone and stepped away for privacy. She didn't get any, since both I and Adam could easily hear her. I piggybacked off of Adam's systems and he used his security authorization to monitor the communication.
It was kind of funny to witness people panicking on both sides of the conversation as they tried to figure out how to twist the situation to both benefit the company and to cover it up. The elaborateness and the extent of what they were going to do, was a little ridiculous in my opinion. I an, they should use the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid. Anything more than that was just asking for the secret to leak. I didn't say anything, though.
Susan walked back over to us. “Smasher, have repair teams fix everything. Evac the board mbers and the principal with Trauma Team and deliver them to the designated recovery unit.”
I did not miss the corpo speak for 'dispose of them quietly'. The dics didn't, either. Most of them stopped trying to help and only stabilized the people they were working on. I didn't ask if it was necessary, either. They took corporate espionage seriously in this world and betraying the company usually earned you a quick death.
“Once this place is cleaned up, end the lockdown.” Susan ordered.
“It will be done.” Adam said and walked away, his security teams following him.
I left him a directive that he would ask the board mbers if they would chose exile. Just in case, I checked them with telepathy and surprisingly, none of them were going to accept. They thought being quietly disposed of was better for their families and dying in a tragic AV accident wouldn't tarnish their nas.
I didn't understand that view and wouldn't force them to chose to live, so I removed the directive and let Adam arrange everything Susan ordered.
“As for you.” Susan said and looked at . Her face was composed; but, I could see the fear in her eyes and her thoughts were completely focused on not angering . “Follow .”
I nodded and she led down the hall towards the elevator. As we walked, I followed the threads of her thoughts and discovered why she was afraid of . I hid my surprise when I found out that Hanako Arasaka sohow knew I was both Veder and Atlas and had inford her niece, Michiko Arasaka, whom in turn told Susan what to do to arrange my new posting that would boost her into the Director position.
What the hell kind of connections did Hanako have to discover I was... dammit. I've only revealed myself as Atlas to a few people. It was only one that I had insulted recently, so it had to be Wakako Okada. However, it was possible that Hanako had a contact in the Mox Gang, or even knew Susie Q herself. My bet was on Wakako, though.
Susan Abernathy used her security pass and we rode in the elevator up to the floor the Counter-Intelligence Departnt was on and not back down to the academy. I'd have to explain in class tomorrow about why I didn't return. Then again, none of the students had been surprised by the ergency lockdown and they might not bother asking about it. Just showing up to class might give them all the answers they needed.
The elevator doors opened and Susan led to a smaller section on the floor that was full of cubicles and desks, so of which had a few people stand to stare at us. There were several offices, one of which was empty in the corner and seed to be the biggest. Hers was on the right side of the departnt and the other on the far left contained my handler, Arthur Jenkins.
Susan hid her damaged hand in her suit coat pocket and opened the door without knocking.
“Abernathy.” Jenkins almost spat as he stopped what he was doing. “What do you want?”
Wonderful. I thought as so of that animosity splashed over onto , just because I had arrived with his rival.
“Jenkins.” Susan said amicably back and the man almost snarled at her, which was why she said it that way it. “Because of the lockdown, I took it upon myself to retrieve the departnt's new intern.”
Jenkins gave a glare. “Make sure you keep your boot-licking sycophant away from and my agents.”
Susan smiled and it was so fake, her face almost cracked. Yes, really. The RealSkinn covers on her cheeks bulged and almost buckled. Apparently, she didn't smile a lot and they had a hard ti flexing in that direction.
“Considering Veder has been assigned to your division, I'll leave his directives in your capable hands.” Susan said so sweetly that butter wouldn't have lted in her mouth.
Jenkins looked surprised before he blanked his face. “Fine.” He said and glared at her. “You've played your ga, now get out of my office.”
“Gladly.” Susan said and turned around. Her shoes clicked constantly as she quickly walked as fast as she could to get away from the both of us.
“You should expect drek like that from her all the ti.” Jenkins warned .
“Only from her, sir?” I asked and he gained a stern look.
“You will address with respect, Intern Veder.” Jenkins responded.
“Respect has to be earned, sir.” I responded back and he looked angry. “Do I bring a chair in here to share your tiny desk or should I find a cubicle to squat in until you calm down and tell what to do?”
“Out!” Jenkins shouted and stood. “Get out of my office!”
I gave him a small nod and walked out through his still open door and everyone in the departnt was staring at . They obviously heard the entire exchange, which was why Susan had left the door open when she brought into her rival's office. It put square into everyone's sights and brought to their attention.
There was a clear divide between the people loyal to her and loyal to Jenkins, because nearly half of the n and woman scowled at and the rest had contemplative looks on their faces, like they couldn't decide if I was going to support Abernathy over Jenkins.
Since I wasn't going to support either, I didn't say anything and walked down the aisle to the first empty cubicle and sat down. There was nothing there besides a desk and a chair, so I didn't have to worry that soone was off sick or sothing and this was their assigned spot.
The first thing I did was send a request to the maintenance departnt to send up a company approved cyberdeck and the rest of the basic equipnt requirents needed for an employee in the Counter-Intelligence Departnt. I wouldn't be able to do my job until they arrived, so I leaned back and crossed my arms as I waited.
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