Chapter 47 - Rise of Obsidian, Atlas' Offensive, Night City's Victim & New Itch II

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Emilia wasn't the only one finding out about Obsidian, Moisture Vaporator, and Cypher Blackwell. Of course, it was a tech that not everyone could make, especially people living in cities. But still, a significant population that lived in ruined suburbs, or the Badlands, would benefit from it. Over time, the losses would mount up.

While some reacted negatively, others reacted positively.

Yet the AI responsible for posting the blueprints was busy elsewhere. Having been given the green light to take over NUSA, he chose to start by contacting the perfect spy.

Once again in his Omnissiah persona, Atlas crossed beyond the Blackwall. This time, he made his ICON clearer and shaped, looking like a tech-priest in red hooded robes with countless tendrils of machines and mechanical arms protruding out of his back and front.

After that, he started doing what Cypher had asked. He began scouring the Old Net for any data on NUSA, Militech, major world corporations, Mikoshi, and of course, lost money they could utilize.

Curious. Since my arrival here, nearly three hundred Blackwall breaches have happened. Their signatures are trivial to follow. Netwatch shows leniency toward them. They must be corporate-sponsored scavengers of the Old Net.

As Atlas spread his metaphorical virtual tentacles, many AIs either submitted to him or put up a fight they couldn't win. In most cases, however, Atlas rewrote them, something he was fully capable of doing. He'd said it often before, but this world's AIs were truly rudimentary.

Instead of wasting his own processing power, he utilised the other minor ex-rogue AIs to do the Old Net scouring for him. They were tasked with finding anything of value, and if they couldn't get to it, they were to report back.

One of them was tasked with logging all Blackwall intrusions that had taken place since its inception. Atlas wanted to make a list of people and corporations that were the most desperate. That meant they had something of value to seek, and that would give Atlas a direction to search.

Interesting.

Doing some research, Atlas learned more about Hong Kong, the Ghost World. It was a highly modernised city which was now empty of human activity due to a plague, and walled off by the Chinese government with a hundred-foot wall. Yet, it remained active, being home to countless rogue AIs. A colossal network of automated drones and factories did all the repairs and kept things running.

The same was the case for Busan, an even more automated city. It was now empty due to biological desolation. The surface-level information blamed Militech for it. But the fact remained that mechanical activity was still ongoing within the city.

Should I command these two cities, Cypher can remotely fabricate all necessities to crown Obsidian as a powerhouse.

"Omnissiah."

Atlas was aware of her before she even approached him. He'd been lingering there for so long, just waiting for her. He had divided his attention, however. One focused on military, one on civilian data, one on corporate data, and one on NUSA data. History's biggest Old Net cataloging was ongoing, and nobody knew.

He'd left a trail to follow at the old IEC data fortress from the last time. It was meant for So-Mi, and she had clearly found it.

"I have been expecting you, Song So-Mi. I perceive your state is poorer than I recall."

"Still breathing. You seem alright too. Pick up anything useful yet?"

"That is not why I orchestrated this gathering, Song So-Mi. I have listened to your desperate appeal for assistance; however, your line of work breeds many suspicions. Still, I foresee you will welcome an accord in which each of us secures benefit from the other."

Song So-Mi was silent for a very long time after that.

Atlas noticed lines of code flare around her. She didn't even bother hiding what she was doing. It appeared she was constantly trying to establish a secure connection, hiding her tracks from any netrunner watching her.

"There is nothing for you to fear. Regard this place as my private domain. It resides in the Old Net, yet it is encircled by a dozen of my attendant AIs on vigilant guard. Speak freely."

Song So-Mi's ICON shifted, its head looking up. Atlas' ICON was still a behemoth to her size, inflated with countless ICE beyond comprehension.

"Mutual benefit, huh? Define your angle. What exactly do you want?" Song So-Mi asked.

"Access."

"To Militech?"

"To NUSA," he corrected her. "I request no grand espionage. Simply connect me to any primary NUSA node, and I'll conduct the remainder. Regarding your condition, I judge it to be the result of assaults by rogue AIs whenever you cross the Blackwall and wield it as a weapon. You may already bear their infection. I'll serve as your shield. Each time you breach the Blackwall, I will halt the rogue AIs and also the Blackwall's effects."

There was a visible recoil in Song So-Mi's ICON. Clearly, she was no fool to what that implied.

"You will be aware of every move I make… NUSA makes."

"That becomes irrelevant once you honor your portion of the agreement, Song So-Mi. Grant me entry to NUSA systems, and I shall preserve your existence. As time progresses, we can make more humane Cyberware replacements, and ultimately prepare a spare body into which you may transfer."

"What?! I know Biotechnica has cloning tech, but what you're suggesting… Who are you? How many of you are there?"

Atlas didn't like that tone of questioning. "Independent, that is all you need to know. Do not indulge your curiosity, Song So-Mi. Do not grasp at more than you can hold; you already suffer for that error.

"What matters is this. I wield technologies your masters can only fantasize about. And know this as well. If you follow your FIA habits and betray me, I will enact the failsafe embedded in you. No AI, no Blackwall will preserve you. I am not another cage. I am the key that unlocks the one confining you. But you must earn it."

It was a true offer. A true give and take. A real, feasible solution to her troubles. Yet, there was one issue.

"What's to stop you from using me to get into NUSA and then forgetting me?" she asked.

"That is simple. The greater your triumphs, the higher you shall ascend within NUSA. I desire this, that you climb further. You may serve as the President's right hand, yet you remain her hound. You lack access to all that she commands. I will assist you so you may live, oppose the corruption of the Old Net, and complete your operations. As you rise, my own access deepens. The objective is the air-gapped systems, the very core of NUSA."

"So you're asking me to act as a double-agent? Who are you, actually? EEC? Russia? China? Arasaka?"

Atlas' ICON moved. He leaned his face down, as if an adult looking at a child. "You dishonor me by placing me with those strings of letters. I am myself. I am Omnissiah, and I pursue my own objectives. If you possess trivial sentiments such as nationalism, declare them now. I will not squander my time on an undertaking fated to fail."

"No. What? No, hell no. I don't give a damn about NUSA. They destroyed me. I only asked because you're frighteningly good at this… Fine. We do it. I accept the deal. If I stay alive, I still have a chance to find a permanent fix. And do I even have a choice? If I walk away, I'll die. If I sell you out, I'll die. This is it, my last stand, Omnissiah."

Atlas nodded to that. Of course, he was still not satisfied. This woman can never be trusted; that was his own conclusion. But Cypher had also warned of the same. How Cypher already knew her was yet to be learned.

"Very well. Let us begin with getting you access codes to Highrider Confederation's Tycho mass driver."

"What?!"

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