Chapter 14 — Entrance Ceremony
Ignoring the cyberware doctor's teasing, the mohawked teenager named David flopped onto the sofa, eyes drifting toward the stained ceiling of his cramped apartment.
"But I hate the way they look at me. The moment I signed up, they all looked down on me. So why am I even trying so hard to get in?"
Cyberware Doctor: "Heh, that's the path to becoming a corpo mutt..."
Clang!
The lights flickered on.
"David!"
"Whoa—" David scrambled to end the call, eyes darting to the door. A red-haired woman in a yellow coat had stormed in, her glare burning through him.
"Mom." David lowered his head.
"I didn't buy you that BD wreath for entertainment," Gloria Martinez said as she entered, voice tired yet full of concern. Seeing David not in his Arasaka Academy uniform, she sighed deeply.
"Yeah, yeah… I know, sorry, Mom…"
"No more excuses. Just show me. Today's the Arasaka Academy freshman ceremony. The clinic barely gave me the day off after pulling a night shift—only because it's an Arasaka event. You've gotta rise to the top, David."
She placed her handbag on the coffee table and began fussing over him, smoothing his hair, straightening his collar. Then she pulled out his pressed Arasaka Academy uniform, urging him to change.
David took it silently, emotions stirring inside him.
"Go on, put it on. Look sharp. We can't be late for the ceremony."
As David walked off to change, Gloria turned on the holovid and switched to the local news channel, expecting coverage of the Arasaka event.
"Good morning, Night City!"
Stanley's familiar, booming voice echoed across the room. An old friend—if you could call him that.
Just as Gloria reached for the remote to change the channel, Stanley's latest rant poured out.
"Yo yo yo—yesterday's Dead Person Lotto! How many bodies, folks? Was it thirty? Fifty? A hundred? Nope!
"Thanks to Maelstrom's boneheaded attempt to rip off Arasaka, Watson Industrial Park became a damn war zone! Hundreds dead last night—at least what's left of 'em.
"You all know the saying: 'New broom sweeps clean.' Arasaka's got a fresh head of security, and the Maelstrom gonk squad picked the worst time to pull a stunt. Guess what? They got wiped out—hard. Talk about using a few dead gangsters to send a message!"
Gloria barely paid attention, but the words "hundreds dead in Watson" stuck in her mind.
David's tuition fees were crushing. Gloria worked 18-hour shifts just to keep up. But maybe... maybe scavenging the battlefield Arasaka left behind, even just sifting through Maelstrom's trashed territory, could mean quick eddies.
"Mom?"
"Mom?"
"Mom!"
"Huh? David—"
Startled from her thoughts, Gloria looked up at her son. He now stood in the living room, dressed in the Arasaka uniform. She had to admit, despite everything, the uniform suited him. Arasaka aesthetics never missed, even if the company was soulless.
"Mom, what were you thinking? You looked kinda zoned out."
"Oh, nothing. Just figuring out how I'm gonna reward my son after today." She smiled, brushing off the concern. "Let's go—I'll take you to the Academy."
---
June 1st, 2074 — 07:50 AM
Corporate Plaza, Westbrook District
414 Russell Apartments
"Haaa~"
Vera stretched luxuriously as she stepped out of her luxury suite, cracking her neck. After a night of stress relief and a deep, satisfying sleep, she felt recharged. She strolled lazily toward the AV landing pad.
"Destination: Arasaka Academy."
---
Chapter 15 — Aftermath
Excalibur Executive AV AI:
[Confirmed. Route planned. Departing for Arasaka Academy.]
The AV's landing gear retracted. Cabin doors sealed. Four vector engines ignited, their blue afterburn flares pushing the craft gently skyward.
Inside, the system auto-played the morning news per Vera's default settings.
"This is Night City Inquiries—breaking news: Last night, heavy combat erupted in the old industrial zone of Watson District..."
Vera glanced at the stiff news anchor projected onto the holo-screen, then slouched into her recliner and pulled up her neural interface.
She sent a few thought-signals.
"Bodyguards on standby at the Academy."
"This is Vera Adelheid, security division. I've pre-registered for the ceremony—double-check that."
As a high-ranking Arasaka executive, Vera filtered her digital life with strict precision. Unless it was high-priority, most messages—admin reports, routine emails, consultation requests—were intercepted by her OS filters. She wasn't some wage slave on 24/7 call.
Not during peacetime. Not during corpo wars. And definitely not during off-hours.
She scrolled through her files—until one flagged her attention:
> [Dead Person Lotto]
Congratulations! You guessed the body count! You've won 66,666 eurodollars and a brand-new Emperor 620 RAGNAR SUV!
"…Huh."
Vera switched over to Stanley's channel, where his manic voice was still going:
"Heard one of Maelstrom's mid-level bosses flatlined. Got their chrome peeled right off! That gang's been gutted, but they ain't got the spine to push back—not against Arasaka!"
As Stanley rambled, Vera's mind wandered. The Dead Person Lotto was satire, sure—but a profitable one.
People thought Stanley was fearless for trash-talking corps, gangs, even the NCPD. But he was just a puppet. A clown owned by the very megacorps he mocked. His show, full of barbed jokes and fake rebellion, was owned by a media group in Arasaka's investment portfolio.
Why did the corpos let him live?
Simple: he was useful.
He gave the people a place to scream into the void, to laugh, to vent. Better to keep the citizens distracted than have them rise up.
And besides, Vera knew why she won the lottery.
No one counted the actual dead in Night City, but she'd dropped more bodies than anyone else last night. The sweep on Maelstrom's warehouse was brutal—and efficient.
The "lottery prize"? A new SUV, tastefully modded to her preferences, and a cash bonus with a numerological flair. She accepted it all without guilt.
Night City had rules.
And she played them better than anyone.
She closed the prize notification, took a sip of fresh orange juice—real, not synthesized—and relaxed.
[Approaching Arasaka Tower Academy.]
The red-and-blue koi fish projections lit the plaza ahead. Arasaka Tower loomed like a monolith, its Military Science and Kang Tao buildings flanking it—silent, cold, and absolute.
---
The AV glided through the building corridors before stopping at the ceremonial plaza near the Arasaka Academy annex. Personnel guided it down with laser-mapped safety zones.
As the hatch opened, Vera descended, poised, commanding. A middle-aged man with a thick build and tinted glasses stepped forward.
"Supervisor Russell. Welcome back to Arasaka Tower Academy."
---
Chapter 16 — Arasaka Tower Academy
"Supervisor Russell, I'm Marcus."
"I'm Sugihara."
"Hoyle, at your service."
The Academy's faculty greeted her with the usual corporate pleasantries—cold smiles, practiced charm, mutual respect disguising unspoken agendas.
Her bodyguards had arrived ahead of time.
"Brian. Laurie."
'Black Fury' Brian and 'White Fury' Laurie flanked her without needing further instructions. The others spread out instinctively, forming a discreet but undeniable perimeter. Even if she didn't need protection here, the visual presence mattered.
This wasn't some street-side tech school—it was Arasaka Tower Academy, the most elite corporate training ground in the Western hemisphere.
Technically, Arasaka Tower Academies existed elsewhere—in Paris, Tokyo—but the Night City branch held its own brutal prestige.
Here, students weren't just learning. They were being shaped into tools, weapons, and future leaders of the corporate world.
And Vera had once stood among them.
Now she returned—an executive.
One of the sharks.