It had started to rain outside. Roqi sat silently on the couch. Inside the lavish suite, carved marble and gold trim drowned in stillness. Outside, wind and rain danced like neon, coating the world in the harsh now.
Rain falls on the poor and the rich, on the just and the corrupt. Truth is, rain isn't fair—because it falls on a world that has no justice.
"Wait—what the hell is that!?" Roqi suddenly shot up from the couch.
Several strange-looking AVs approached from afar, circling slowly over Konpeki Plaza.
"No, no, that's not possible…" Panic surged through him. He ran toward the full-length glass wall and smacked into it—hard. He didn't even feel it.
"What is that? Arasaka aircraft?" Jackie asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
"It's ZetaTech's Octant drones—painted with Arasaka's logo," V answered instantly. "Trauma Team and MaxTac use them too."
"This… this just a routine check? Arasaka patrols look like this now?" Jackie sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
"Someone's coming," Roqi said grimly, fist pounding the glass. "And they're important."
"The employee wing's in chaos," T-Bug chimed in. "Over two hundred staff, running around like it's a fire drill."
The relic's vault was only halfway unlocked—progress slow as molasses.
"T-Bug, hurry up!" Jackie barked. "Something's going down. You're saying it's really him? Saburo Arasaka!?"
"It's him," Roqi said coldly.
"What!?" V and Jackie both turned to him, stunned.
Roqi didn't answer. He just made a call.
"This is Lucky. Be ready."
No pleasantries. Just that. Call ended.
"This… is what an emperor's arrival looks like," Roqi muttered, a faint smile curling on his lips. Under the red gleam of the relic vault, it looked almost menacing.
Six Arasaka Octants hovered outside, holding a tight formation. It was far more intense than what Roqi remembered.
"We're in!" T-Bug shouted. "Vault's open!"
"Hell yeah." V pulled out his cable as the vault lid lifted, revealing the relic inside—bathed in clean white light.
"Give it to me," Jackie said without hesitation. He scooped up the case like it contained the entire future.
"Status check?" T-Bug asked.
"Biochip integrity: 100%," Jackie read from the display. "Looks good."
"Alright, let's move," V said. Focused. Fired up.
Roqi, meanwhile, stared off—detached.
This was it. The cursed checkpoint.
A thousand times in his memories, this moment had played out. And yet, in the middle of this palatial suite, a chill still gripped him.
No sign of Yorinobu bursting in with Adam Smasher, nor Saburo descending the stairs with Goro Takemura at his side.
But outside, the Octants had already locked down the airspace—scrapping Roqi's plan to escape through the glass balcony.
"Wait… we still have the front entrance."
The only sounds were wind and rain. Yet Roqi swore he could hear the glitchy bassline of a violent anthem, pounding drums, twisted strings, and the hard thump of war in his chest.
"No good! Elevator's on its way down!" T-Bug snapped. "I'll try to stop it—shit! Too late! You need to hide. Now!"
The elevator had hit floor 20. Roqi couldn't see who was inside—but he knew.
Yorinobu.
"You serious!?" V cursed. "Where the hell are we gonna hide!?"
Under pressure, everyone started to crack.
"T-Bug, open rooftop access—now. Pull the Flathead up—we don't need eyes on the Arasaka meatheads anymore." Roqi pressed a hand to his temple, trying to calm down. "V. Jackie. Move. Now!"
"O—okay!" T-Bug stammered.
The three of them bolted up the emergency stairs. The glass door hissed open with a sharp clack.
The rooftop greeted them with a wall of cold wind and torrential rain.
"Shit… that's high," V said, peering down through the glass walkway.
"Stay low, move fast, don't get spotted."
Roqi glanced at the circling Octants, then peeked over the stair rail toward the helipad.
"Yes!" he hissed. "Clear!"
Saburo hadn't landed yet. No giant bodyguards in sight.
"This way!"
Roqi led them toward the far side of the rooftop. Past the pad were antennas and relay towers perched atop access rooms—all sealed off by four-meter fences.
"Down. Quiet."
They lay flat in a narrow groove along the wall, barely wide enough for their bodies.
Jackie gently set the relic case aside and mimicked Roqi's posture. V followed suit.
Three mercs, soaked to the bone, lying like sardines in black suits in the freezing rain.
"Brrrrrrrrr…" Jackie shivered. "Estoy congelado."
"Shhh…" Roqi tapped his foot lightly.
A blinding spotlight swept across the rooftop—an Octant hovering low.
The helipad groaned. A hatch opened with a hiss.
"Who is it?" V whispered.
"Beats me," Jackie said through chattering teeth.
"It's Saburo Arasaka," T-Bug said, voice trembling.
"T-Bug, jack out from Konpeki's subnet—they'll boost ICE protocols any second. Is the Flathead up?"
"Got it—disconnecting now. Flathead's in the conduit—okay, it's here."
"Give me rooftop visuals."
Still tethered to V's port, T-Bug piped the Flathead's feed into his optics.
"Ugh, dizzy—hang on… Two big guys. No one else."
"Let me confirm." Roqi lifted slightly from the puddle, scanning the roof. "Drones are pulled back. It's clear."
He opened a large crate beside him and pulled out a suppressor, which he screwed onto the sleek, custom-made Arasaka pistol at his hip.
"I take one. You two take the other. Just drop 'em. I'll finish the job," he whispered, using gestures for emphasis.
"Copy."
"What are you doing?" T-Bug hissed.
But they were already moving.
Two sets of heavy steps. The guards stopped mid-convo, confused by the noise—then turned around.
Pfft!
A silenced round pierced one guard's eye—straight through the retina. He dropped instantly.
Titanium skull, maybe. But eyes are soft.
The second guard grabbed V and Jackie with terrifying strength. They struggled—until Roqi dashed in and landed a vicious kick to the crotch, then triple-tapped his groin.
No room for error. With their hands around the guy's head, aiming higher was too risky.
The big man fell, eyes wide, body twitching.
"Too easy. Told you, chooms," Jackie smirked. "What now?"
"We take a ride!" V pointed to Saburo's AV, eyes gleaming.
"No. Hell no," Roqi cut them off. "Six Octants in the air, more docked. This isn't Macross, and I don't plan on dying in midair."
"Then what?" V asked.
"Plug Flathead into the AV. T-Bug, crack the system."
"What are you planning?" T-Bug asked.
As Flathead slithered into the console, Roqi grinned.
"Let's fly Night City's most expensive drone—remote."
"Damn. You are crazy," Jackie said, stunned. "Wait, what do you call this again? Decoy tactics?"
"This is tactics, amigo."
Roqi smirked—the same words he'd once said in the Scav hideout.
Suddenly, alarms blared across the entire Konpeki Plaza complex.
"We regret to inform you: Konpeki Plaza has entered full red alert. Please stay in your rooms and follow hotel staff instructions."
"¡Shit! What the hell just happened?" Jackie froze.
"I don't know—Konpeki's net is sealed off. I'm locked out!" T-Bug shouted. "Yorinobu and Saburo—something's happened! I don't have cameras inside the suite."
"No need," Roqi said. "Saburo Arasaka—killed by his own son."
"What!? No way!" V said, shocked.
"There's nothing impossible about it. You can change fate—but the parts left untouched follow the same path," Roqi said quietly. "Yorinobu's resentment ran deep. Without interference, it was bound to happen."
Inside the suite, Saburo's body lay cold on the floor before the video wall.
Cracked glass. Blood smeared across it.
"Mama mía…" Jackie whispered. "What now?"
He looked at the relic case in his arms, lost.
This day at Konpeki had been more insane than his entire thirty-plus years of life combined.
The emperor of Arasaka… was dead.
"Out the side!" Roqi shouted, sprinting.
"But there are drones everywhere!" T-Bug warned.
Roqi reached the glass exit and eyed the narrow ledge around the building.
"You two first. See the ladder under the red light? Go down from there."
He pointed to the yellow service ladder glowing faintly in the storm.
"I'll cover the rear. Move!"
V nodded, eyes resolute.
"You got this, Jackie. Don't look down," he whispered to himself.
But he did. And immediately regretted it.
"¡Shit! That's way too high!"
The two began inching across the ledge. It narrowed to barely a hand's width.
One slip—just one—and they'd be paste.
Then—an AV rose into view, crossing the skyline.
"Trauma Team!?"
"If they're here for Saburo, they're late!" V yelled.
"Hope they didn't see us…" Jackie muttered.
Maybe someone was listening—because the AV soared right past.
Then came the real nightmare.
A black-armored Octant, screaming like a banshee, spewing pale-blue exhaust, dropped into their view.
Arasaka.
They'd been spotted.
"¡Hijo de puta!" Jackie nearly fainted.
"安全上の脅威が疑われる (Potential security threat detected)," the Octant broadcasted.
Its crab-like wings unfolded. Insectoid. Mechanical. Menacing.
It was fate. Even arriving early hadn't changed the outcome.
This was destiny's script.
Wind howled. Rain fell sideways.
Roqi dropped to one knee. Cold water traced down his face. His eyes gleamed—mad and sharp.
"Fate?"
"Fate?"
"FATE!?"
The missile launcher on his shoulder recoiled hard. A plume of white smoke burst behind him.
A warhead screamed through the storm, slamming into the Octant's armor.
"襲撃された (Under attack)!"
The drone spun, trailing smoke, spiraling like a drunk giant. Red lights blinked wildly.
"Still alive!?" Roqi shouted. He reloaded—last shot—and kicked the empty ammo crate off the 300-meter ledge.
"FUCK FATE!!"
The next shot hit square in the cockpit.
BOOM.
The Octant exploded from within, a fiery ball of hell cascading down like a meteor.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!
Shrapnel and flaming wreckage shredded Konpeki's upper floors.
"¡JAJAJA! Vete a la mierda!" Jackie shouted, stunned, then overjoyed.
"Hurry! One more!" V yelled. He leapt—grabbed the ladder.
"Toss the case!"
Jackie stepped forward and lobbed it.
"Move—I'm jumping!"
V ducked. Jackie screamed, launched himself—
"¡Shit—pull me up!" He missed with one foot, hanging off the side.
"Got you!" V reached down, yanked him in just before—
DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM—!!!
Heavy autocannons tore through the upper balcony, glass exploding like paper in a firestorm.
But V and Jackie were gone—safe in the ladder shaft.
One man remained, standing in the open.
Roqi: "…FUCK!!"
.
.
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