Chapter 237: The Grand Finale
Meanwhile, elsewhere... In the darkness, Arthur’s Kiroshi Optics once again proved their worth. His scan revealed numerous fragmentation mines scattered across the staircase, blocking his advance.
He hoped this route would take him deeper into the core. At his back, strapped over the bulky BARGHEST armor he wore, rested the massive Giant sniper rifle.
The sight wasn’t out of place. Thanks to supply chains, Tsunami Defense Systems’ advanced Tech Weapons were common within the BARGHEST. The rarest custom builds remained scarce, but at least V had managed to bring back a cutting-edge piece called the Rakshasa.
The EBM Stadium’s vast scale made things even trickier. The darkness stole much of Arthur’s sense of direction, leaving him to rely on intel as he pushed toward what he hoped was the core.
The only signal for this mission was the chaos V was creating elsewhere. For now, the BARGHEST base still operated in order—that meant the real fight hadn’t started yet.
On V’s side, though, things had reached their most dangerous point... Hansen seemed to have caught a whisper from the Bureau of Interconnected Affairs and was still probing.
In the core of the BARGHEST stronghold, Hansen lounged in a ring of sofas, entertaining his “distinguished guests.”
The two supposed European netrunners before him had conveniently stumbled across an activation code. It concerned a Matrix server Hansen had paid a fortune to acquire—the Beidou Host. He’d sunk tens of millions into the project, so caution was second nature.
He feared the Bureau might have gotten to these two. If the New United States had offered them enough, greed alone could turn them.
After plenty of diplomatic sparring, Hansen finally started to relax. He never imagined the two in front of him weren’t even who they appeared to be.
New United States’ tech was that good—good enough to fool him face-to-face without a crack in the disguise.
“Excellent... To a fruitful partnership.” Hansen raised his glass, the smile on his broad, brutal face anything but kind.
“It’ll be fruitful. We’ve both got what we wanted.” V smiled easily. Even wearing someone else’s face, she looked perfectly at home.
The three of them tilted their glasses back and drank.
“As agreed,” Hansen nodded, then turned to another. “Leave one behind to brief me...” He tipped his glass toward the lab below. “Begin. Nightingale will assist you...”
V exhaled softly, rising with graceful restraint, and descended toward the stairs.
The lab lay on the level beneath, housing the satellite-like Beidou Host. Leading the way was So Mi, her body almost robotic—every patch of skin exposed was nothing but black cyberware.
“I’ll run the system through to the last step,” So Mi said, her words clearly meant for Hansen. “You just need to input the activation code.”
At the same time, her human projection—built through the Blackwall on a secret channel—was already conspiring with V.
“When I flip the system, I’ll hack the entire base. We use the chaos to escape.” Her phantom image appeared beside the Beidou host within V’s senses.
It was uncanny: the same person, existing in two places at once.
No words were needed for V to communicate with her.
“What’s my move...?”
“Just follow the plan. But I’ll probably be weak after—it may fall on you to carry me out.” The phantom explained, while her real self worked the host.
As So Mi’s hands moved across the console, the giant metal column in the lab began to shift. Its inner machinery parted, exposing a glass-like core glowing with contained light.
“Hah—” So Mi lifted her head. This time, both her projections did the same. “Enter the code.”
Expression steady, V keyed in the string.
“Done...” So Mi’s phantom form looked strained, eyes darting nervously to the exposed device. “Notify Alex.”
V raised her fist—the signal. Sparks erupted across the lab. The crimson red of the Blackwall surged into her vision, consuming it entirely—then just as suddenly, it cleared.
Her disguise was gone.
All around, the base lights turned red. Sirens howled. Above, Hansen was shredded by his own automated defenses before he could react. He tried to trigger his Sandevistan—too late. Alex, seated beside him, held him down for a fatal instant.
“V! Time to move!” So Mi clutched her knees, voice breaking. She had burned too much processing power through the Blackwall.
V’s gun was already drawn.
Arthur, meanwhile, felt the shift. The alarms drove every BARGHEST soldier toward the same point.
He had already slipped out of Hansen’s abandoned sector, moving with the tide unnoticed.
In the crimson wash of lights, the base widened into a vast assembly hall. At its front, a black man with chrome arms was shouting:
“Brothers! New United States abandoned us, and now they want us dead! Now! Those Bureau bastards—”
Arthur didn’t care for the speech, but he caught the key detail—Hansen was dead.
Even better, the one rousing the troops wouldn’t last long either.
Arthur drew the Giant. In a shadowed corner, the rifle’s magnetic system hummed to life.
“Bzzzt.”
The sound was no louder than an insect’s wings. The speaker fell flat, headless.
The mob froze in silence. Arthur, silent too, slung the rifle back across his armor. His skull mask left him no different from the dazed men around him.
Moments later, the chaos grew worse. Arthur slipped away in the confusion.
No BARGHEST would trust a fellow uniform again. Many would die tonight at their own comrades’ hands.
Arthur opened comms to V—and this time, the link was clean.
“The Blackwall severed my link to So Mi in my head,” V explained, transmitting her coordinates.
“Establish the connection,” Arthur replied curtly. Jessica patched V into the secure channel.
The link was alive with chatter. Outside, the assault went smoothly—nearly every BARGHEST squad was rushing into the stadium center.
“So Mi’s with me,” V reported, her gun barking nonstop as she cut down incoming enemies. She and So Mi were huddled behind cover.
Thanks to Arthur taking out the commander, resistance was scattered. Elite soldiers trickled in one by one, but never in force.
“V, hurry...” So Mi struggled to stand. The Blackwall’s toll was obvious—her focus was gone.
“Mi! We clear this wave first.” V kept her eyes on the fight. Retreat wasn’t on her mind—not yet. Her crew was closing in. Every enemy she dropped now meant fewer casualties later.
The Central Stadium wasn’t the only objective tonight: Konpeki Plaza, the port, the market, the Dogtown checkpoint—all were targets.
If the BARGHEST regrouped at any of them, those places would turn into fortresses. They had to fall fast. Capturing them would also net fresh prisoners—potential new recruits.
V reloaded, peeking out—then froze.
Among the BARGHEST, one stood out: the oversized Nekomata sniper rifle strapped across his back. She exhaled, relieved.
Arthur.
“Thought I’d have to shoot a few rounds before you recognized me.” He pulled off the skull mask.
“Not gonna lie, green suits you.” V grinned, tapping his shoulder. “Looks like we’ve got control.”
“They’re all rushing coreward. Our people just gotta chase ‘em down.” Arthur replied, his eyes drifting toward So Mi.
For the first time, he saw her in person—her body so heavily modified that below her neck, no flesh remained.
“So Mi?” His gaze lingered. She looked frail, her head sagging.
Arthur turned to V in question.
“To hack the whole stadium? No implant could do it. She borrowed power from the Blackwall,” V explained, extending a hand toward her.
So Mi reached to her waist, producing the glowing core of Beidou Host.
“V... You know why I lied, yet still trusted you?” she whispered, handing it over. “Because you kept calling my name. It felt... like friendship. Like I was still human.”
Her face wavered between tears and laughter. “I used you... always. I’m a bird. Every time a feather grows, they pluck it. Wrap the wound. Wait for the next...
I’m pitiful. You’re unlucky too. We’re dying, struggling... Maybe I’m worse. I used you. I hate myself for it. I deserve no pity.
Better to escape than die. Better to die than be dragged back.
Whatever you choose—I won’t complain. I don’t deserve to. Just one request... don’t say it’s for me.”
The words wracked her with coughing.
V only sighed, lifting her from the floor like a dying flame.
“Mi, stay positive.” She pushed the Beidou Host core back into her hands. “We’re not NUSA, and we’re not the Bureau. Sure, we used you—but we won’t silence you.
Beidou Host isn’t unique—it’s just too costly to replicate. In this age, the gap is only between zero and one. Nothing is beyond reproduction.
And... I have other treatments.”
She steadied So Mi, resting her arm across her own shoulder.
“Rest. This is just exhaustion. We’ve got time. Our people will take care of you.”
Together with Arthur, the three pressed on. The closer they drew to their gathering point, the quieter the voices became—until silence, waiting for their command.
The wide hall was filled with over a hundred—BARGHEST prisoners and Arthur’s soldiers alike. Exhausted, stripped of will, the rank and file had no stomach for resistance—too many were old acquaintances.
Jackie burst in, buzzing with excitement, clad in a scavenged uniform.
“Massive haul. We hit ‘em so fast Hansen’s people never reacted. Weapons, files, deposits—damn near all of it’s ours.”
V handed So Mi to others for care.
“The faster we move, the better,” she decided. “Arthur, you and Jackie take the port and market. I’ll secure the Dogtown checkpoint. Emerald Tower can wait till last—it’ll be heavy.
By dawn, Dogtown must look unchanged. We need quiet to consolidate.”
And so it went. With Night City’s top mercs leading both fronts, resistance was thin. Arthur’s veterans followed orders without question, drilling discipline into every move.
By sunrise, Dogtown looked the same—broken, battered, ignored. Yet everyone knew the truth: the sky had changed.
...
Days later, in the stadium labs, much equipment lay fried by So Mi’s attack. Thankfully, most systems had auto-shutdown failsafes.
Now Melanie had taken over. The researchers adjusted quickly—new boss, same work.
She unplugged the cable from So Mi’s wrist, glancing at the restored Beidou Host core.
“Overall... it’s a computational host, a new kind entirely.” Even she looked awed.
“Conventional computers rely on microcircuits—conductors, semiconductors, physical matter. This one? It runs on stored energy, bound by force fields. It breaks the scale.”
Arthur rubbed his temples. “So... can we make another?”
Melanie shook her head. “Not in time. It’d take massive reverse engineering. But now I see why the Highriders wanted So Mi treated.
This process is one-way. The energy can’t be replenished, but the data it produces... it’s priceless.
That data could repair your brains. Each is unique, so it’ll take two passes. But split right, this host could slow your condition—maybe even let your brains heal.”
“We’ve got no choice,” V muttered.
So Mi just watched silently.
Arthur added, “Then rest, Mi. Maybe we even pay Yorinobu Arasaka to send people.”
Dogtown grew quiet. Hansen’s absence barely rippled.
Business went on, same as ever.
Time passed.
V entered surgery for the third—and final—time that month.
Arthur sat nearby, slouched under his hat brim, eyes heavy.
The End.
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