Chapter Text
There were very few people who were allowed on the 127th floor of Night City’s Arasaka Tower. Of the few allowed in, only a fraction of them were allowed without notifying the floor’s one and only resident beforehand.
Because the 127th floor of Night City’s Arasaka Tower was the personal residence of Adam Smasher.
The Old Man, Hanako, Yori, and Kage were all in Japan right now, Michiko was still fucking around with her cats, which left either Ripper or someone they’d need to powerwash off his fucking walls. Adam paused his black-box playback to stomp over to the other side of his floor, scowling at all the utility drones making a mess of things.
“Ripper,” he greeted, staring down at the Spaniard. “The fuck is this?” The room had been furnished, with an Obake charging station in the corner, a low table with kneeling mats, and a few hung scrolls on the wall.
“New delivery from the big-boss. It arrived just this morning,” Ripper said, motioning to the data-pad in his hands. “I thought you were informed.”
“I wasn’t,” Smasher replied, glaring at the cultural shit infesting this room. It’s not like he was using it for much- or that he was hurting for space. But it was the principle of the damn thing. You don’t fuck with a man’s space. Knowing the Old Man, these fucking scrolls are the originals from the fucking Edo period or something.
“It’s… ah. It is your daughter,” Ripper said, interrupting Smasher’s train of thought. Smasher glared at him, wordlessly ordering him to explain right the fuck now before he needs to call a clean-up crew after all. “Says here that she is a cyberform, raised mostly on your black-box recordings, and grown from your genes,” The Spaniard continued, motioning to a line on the pad.
“...God fucking damn it.” Fucking Old Man and his fucking obsession with family. He was Adam fucking Smasher; he didn’t need anyone. He learned that a long fucking time ago. Old Man hadn’t learned that, though, what with the way he kept fucking insisting on Adam making ‘friends’ with whoever.
He had his guns, his frame, and his black box. That’s all he needed.
Adam scanned the inside of the charging pod and was slightly surprised to see a completely stock Obake on the inside. He’d have expected something better, given the fact that she came from the Old Man directly.
That’s not saying the Obake was bad. The Obake was Arasaka’s in-house version of the Gemini FBC, with 50 years of newer tech. At standard, they were indistinguishable from humans without a full scan. It even came with a fake stomach. It was designed to be the ‘off-the-clock’ body of the Lung and DaiOni Full Body Conversions- since there was only one person who could survive being in a DaiOni longer than a few hours without going fucking Cyberpsycho, DaiOni Jockeys needed another body to be in while they were cooling off.
The Lungs were wastes of fucking chrome. Built more for style than actual combat, they were based on his own day-to-day Dragoon frame, except built so that the borg didn’t need to use a whole pharmacy’s worth of drugs.
He had an Obake himself, stashed between his old Geminis and Samson frames. He only ever took it out when the Old Man wanted him to join in with one of his tea ceremonies. He wasn’t entirely convinced the Old Man hadn’t put the stomachs in to force him to participate in those. It’d be just like him.
“Bull-fucking-shit,” Adam said.
“I don’t believe it myself, but it’s right here,” Ripper said, offering the datapad. He left soon after, as Adam bored holes into the pad.
Adam read it, pure anger growing within his circuits. Ripper was right. There was a message directly from the Old Man, telling him he had a daughter now. It had some poetic bullshit at the end too, about how Hanako made him a better person, and how he hoped ‘Ume’ would do the same to him.
Adam swore under his breath, glaring some more at the entire room, and internally cursing at the Old Man. The pod opened up as he turned to leave, and a cyberform with the appearance of a college-aged woman left the charging pod.
The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was the same as his, back in his meat days, just longer. Same sandy-yellow mop that someone tried to attack with a comb. Her eyes were his old pale green.
But there were a few things that were different. A few things tried to tug at his heartstrings, remembering the days before he got in his Dragoon for the first time.
“C’mon, Smasher- dance with me!”
“Heh, alright princess-”
“Remember not to step on my foot again, okay?”
“No promises.”
He shoved the feeling away. He had no heart, not anymore.
“Father,” the bot said, bowing. “It is nice to finally meet you.”
…
Fuck it- if the Old Man wanted her to stay with him, she’d have to pull her own fucking weight. “Follow me,” he said, stomping off the elevator.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Downstairs- it’s Ripper’s fucking fault you’re up here, so he’s gonna give you some half-decent fucking chrome so you can pull your own weight.” The bot paused before turning around. “The fuck are you going?”
“I am dressing myself,” she answered, entering her room. Adam didn’t understand- she was already wearing a shirt and jeans, that was enough.
Ignoring that, the bot needed some weapons- he wasn’t about to offer his own stash- and some clothes that won’t get ripped up if she moves wrong. Technically, he needed to place in a few dozen more forms, and he would need to requisition the bot’s new limbs.
In reality, however, he was Adam Fucking Smasher. People weren’t in the habit of telling him no anymore.
<[{(_+_)}]>
The 27th floor of Arasaka Tower was dedicated almost entirely to a Cybernetic clinic, which is where all employees within the city, and all mid-level executives in North America, got their implants done. It was also one of three locations on Earth that was allowed and able to work on Arasaka-produced Full Body Conversions.
It was also the place that performed any repairs on Adam Smasher’s various bodies, so the staff there were used to him showing up at random. They only glanced at Ume long enough to realise she was with him, and let her pass as well. Ripper was in his office, arguing with someone who was probably mid-installation when he sent down his message.
“Listen, Ma’am, someone higher up than you requested me personally-”
“Bullshit!” she screeched, pointing with her one functioning arm. “Do you know who I am?”
“A piece of fucking meat that’s about to become my daughter’s first kill if you don’t fuck off,” Adam growled, catching her off-guard. Ume entered a fighting stance, and he felt a small burst of pride when he recognised his own stance.
The meat ran off after a moment, probably scared shitless. “Fucking finally,” Ripper said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Thought she’d never leave.”
“Ripper,” he said.
“Right, right, of course,” he said, tapping on the installation bed. “Get on, let’s see what needs to be done.” Ume paused for a moment, looking back and forth between him and Ripper. Eventually, she clambered up, lying down on the bed. “Right, so I got your message, and I’ve got two options for you,” he said, pulling out a reinforced crate. “Option A is waiting for your orders to come in from ‘Saka Prime next week, and just let her stay with those things for now.” He put the crate down on his desk and went back to pull out another one.
“You don’t have any in stock?” Adam asked, confused. It’s not like he asked for anything revolutionary. Thickened Myomers, shielding, and quick-change ports were fucking standard for Arasaka Security. Well, shielding was at least, but anyone who wasn’t a fucking idiot would get the other two addons as well.
“Nope, fresh out, sorry,” Ripper said, placing a second crate on his desk. “Anyway, option B is this,” he continued, opening both crates. In a layer of cushioning foam was a pair of arms and legs, still wrapped in the antiseptic packaging. “They’re Climbers for the Obake chassis. Should integrate with your girl just fine.”
“Some fucking novelty arms?” Adam asked, glaring at Ripper. “Did you finally fucking lose it?” Adam hated novelty cyberware, especially in the limbs.
There were two types of musculature compatible with the Obake: standard Synthmuscle, and Myomers, with Myomers being generally better than Synthmuscle in every way except cost- but he didn’t care about that, since the Old Man was footing this particular bill.
As a rule of thumb, the more muscles you had, the stronger you were. No shit, that’s what Thickened Myomers were, but a fuckton of people didn’t get that memo, and put shit like blades and projectile launchers in their arms. There was nothing a novelty arm could do that couldn’t be done with some other type of equipment.
Mantis Blade? Get a fucking sword.
Monowire? Just get a spool of the stuff and use it that way.
Projectile Launcher? Have you ever heard of a fucking gun?
Gorilla Fists? … actually, that one got a pass, because that was mostly in the hand and wrist. Still, it was better to just have more muscles than fire-fists or some dumb shit like that. If you really needed to burn shit with your hands, that’s what wrist-mounted flamethrowers in gauntlets were for.
“I know you hate them- but Grippers like these come standard with both shielding and Thickened Myomers, since you need the strength to pull up the frame with one arm. It’s only a tiny bit weaker than a pure TM arm, and it comes with two grappling hooks, a jump height of 20 metres from a stand-still, and pseudo-adhesive hands,” Ripper explained.
“Fine,” Adam spat, “Give her the fucking arms. And legs. And give her my spare Sandy,” he added, “You’re not a fucking idiot, so do whatever else you need to- I’m gonna get her some shit so she doesn’t have to fight with her bare hands.”
“Got it,” he said, “I’ll send her up when I’m done.”
“You fucking better,” Smasher said. He stomped off, scaring the shit out of Miss “important” on the way out. Serves her fucking right, harassing his Ripper like that.
<[{(_+_)}]>
Ume Smasher examined her appearance in the elevator’s mirror, feeling the smooth motion of her new limbs as they moved. Mr Alvarado was very quick and efficient with the exchange and has even given her new optics that integrate with both Smart-Link weapons and her new grappling hooks.
She turned to the doors as they opened, revealing Father’s quarters. They were bland and understated, with the only marks of habitation being her charging module, Father’s bench, and his many, many rooms of weapons.
She knocked on Father’s room, the door opening to reveal the Night City skyline on one side, and Father on the other. “Good, you’re done,” he said, turning to look her in the eyes. “I got you some equipment- it’s in your room. Go put it on, and meet me back at the elevator,”
“Understood,” she said, turning around. The equipment provided to her by Father was rather simple. A Hebi ACPA underlayer, and an Arasaka Security uniform to go over it. For weapons, she was provided with an Arasaka JKE-X2 ‘Kenshin’ pistol, an Arasaka LPR-K7 ‘Chemshot’ shotgun, and an Arasaka ‘Reaver’ Katana.
It was the standard loadout for Arasaka Security forces, except for the Hebi underlayer. It all fit her perfectly, of course- the benefits of being a Cyberform.
Ume returned to the elevator, where Father stood waiting. “Let’s go. We need to see if you’re half-decent in a fight, and I need to go kill some meatbags.”
“Understood, Father,”
<[{(_+_)}]>
Smasher smiled as he received a set of coordinates from Rogue, the fucking cougar sending him the location of a gang of Scavs for him to smash up. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: the cougar got free pest removal, and Adam got to squish a bunch of meatbags. And since he wasn’t getting paid for it in anything other than slaughter, he couldn’t get into trouble for it.
His handler would probably bitch about it, but it’s not as if she could actually get him to do anything- she was just the meatbag that was responsible for telling him what new and exciting thing the Old Man or Dickless needed killed.
If Dickless got involved, he’d just say something about improving unit cohesion or something. If the Old Man got involved, he’d call it father-daughter bonding or something.
Think of the devil, Arasaka’s NC president messaged him as the elevator doors opened, revealing the Garage. It had some other name, but it’s where the tower kept all the toys that needed to be on ground level- armoured vehicles, tanks, trucks, that kinda thing- and it's where he kept his car.
He stomped towards his muscle-car, the rustling of fabric from the uniform he ‘borrowed’ from Security letting him know where Ume was at all times. He pulled out his keys- because fuck having wireless doors, that’s how you get your shit stolen by netrunners- and got in.
He connected his personal link as the bot entered his car. The monster of an engine purred under his hood as he guided it to the front. Security opened the door without him needing to say anything, but he noticed the raised eyebrows and hushed whispers when they saw Ume in his passenger’s seat.
They drove north, up to Yaiba Tower in Kabuki. He parked on the side of the road outside, and he could already see a good twenty heat sources inside the building.
“Clear that building,” he ordered, pointing at the Scav-infested building. The bot nodded and got out, unsheathing her sword with a flourish, reminding him of the flashy-ass dance moves the Lungs are pre-programmed with.
Luckily, it seemed the presentation was the only thing she took from them, as she kicked in the door and disappeared from view. He received a message from the cougar’s pet netrunner, connecting his HUD to the camera system.
It was a fucking bloodbath. Ume had picked up his target prioritisation skills, having split the only meatbag with a gun that could pierce her armour first. The rest of the Scavs reacted in slow motion as she walked over to the one with a grenade on her belt. She ripped the grenade off, breaking her spine with a thorough kick. She threw the grenade in the middle of the meatbags before jumping through the roof.
It exploded as his Sandevistans wore off, mulching the ones in the lobby. He switched his view to the second floor in time to catch her pulling a desk into a group of Scavs, pulling out her pistol to end them in one quick multi-kill.
She ran out of the room, slicing one of the meatbags in two as she did. She pulled a shotgun towards her with her ropes, switching it with her sword. The Scav did catch it…
With their head, the blade flew right through him into the wall. His friend was erased with one clean meatshot. She spun around quickly, crushing another’s head against the wall like a grape.
Adam would have grinned if he still had a mouth. He could work with this. Especially if she could keep up this bloodbath.
<[{(_+_)}]>
Ume Smasher cleaned the blood, plaster, and other debris off her exposed surface, returning the Realskinn to its pale, inhuman colour. Her hair would need to wait until they returned to the Tower. Until then, it would stay a dusty white.
She shook her head, turning around to return to Father. The car’s trunk opened as she approached. “Stash your clothes in there- this is genuine leather, and you’re not getting Scav blood on them.” She followed his instructions, placing the bloody clothing in the plastic-lined container before sitting inside the vehicle.
She nodded and sat back while Father drove them back. As they arrived, she noticed a large number of NCPD vehicles outside the Militech offices.
Light flashed off the blood splatter. One of the vehicles shook as a large man stood flatly on the other side. Electricity sparked as the now-broken electronics shorted out in the rain. Wordlessly, Father stopped the car, and Ume leapt out.
She heard the bullets ping off the man’s armour, bright flashes and sparks illuminating the night, giving a sharp edge to the soft blues and reds from the police vehicles. “Got us a Cyberpsycho!” one of them said, “Raise MaxTac-”
An explosion from a projectile launcher in the man’s arm drowned out the noise, killing two men.
One officer hid behind another car, a shotgun ready to shoot him point-blank. He was split apart by the psycho’s mantis blade, followed soon by his fellow officer, who charged at him with nothing but a pistol.
Ume reached him then, pulling his gun away with one hook and pulling her towards him with another. He grabbed at the rope, ripping it off his artificial skin with a sickening rip. Luckily for her, however, he didn’t have many ways to stop her- and a 300-pound projectile moving at some 30 miles an hour will hurt, no matter how much armour you have.
Except if you were Father- he could shrug off anything.
She pulled up her Kenshin as she ran behind cover, charging it completely as he split apart another NCPD officer.
Her instincts yelled at her to activate her Sandevistan, and she did- catching the psycho activate his own. A fully charged shot blasted through one of his hands, but it was too late for the various NCPD officers he had executed. His Sandevistan deactivated as Father finally arrived.
The psycho’s bullets, now inaccurate due to her attack, were not enough to break through Father’s armour, especially as his Sandevistan was fresh. “All that tech, wasted on meat like you,” he growled, sending a missile downrange.
Ume took the opportunity and hacked one of the psychos’ legs off. She jumped back just as her own Sandevistan ran out, launching her well clear of Father’s missile. All that was left of him was his torso, the armour now holding a soupy mess of blood, organs, and tech.
“Good work,” he said, and Ume felt like jumping up in the air and screaming. It was as if her entire torso had been filled with hydrogen. “Now come on- let’s get you back inside.”
<[{(_+_)}]>
New Cyberware Unlocked:
Arasaka ‘Parkour’:
A full set of cyberlimbs dedicated to enhanced urban manoeuvring. Comes standard with Thickened Myomers, EMP/Microwave shielding, and Reinforced Joints for all 4 limbs. Also comes with 2 grappling hooks, 6 ft range, mounted on the inside of the wrist. Increases the jump height gained by Thickened Myomers from 50% to 100%.
Compatible with the ‘Obake’ Full Body Conversion.