Flashback 26: Checkmate.bd

A woman wearing gold earrings and an elegant white jacket walks swiftly and determinedly through the corridors of Arasaka Tower, passing attendants who are cleaning rubble with large brooms while some repaint the ruined walls.

After walking some more, the woman arrives in front of a long hallway. Large screens are installed on the walls spaced by windows with plants inside.

The woman begins to adjust her tidy blond hair, mirroring herself in the reflection of the double doors that suddenly opens. She enters the room, finding herself facing a huge white-covered office at the end of which is a wall completely covered with red monitors alternately showing the earth and a variety of stock market data. A japanese man, wearing glasses and a white robe sits on an armchair, leaning against a massive white table.

Yorinobu: President Myers! It's a real pleasure to have you here.

The woman walks without saying anything until she stops in front of the table.

Myers: Yorinobu…I wish I could say the same thing.

The man suddenly becomes serious and adjusts his glasses, then stands up, walking near Myers.

Yorinobu: No bowing? Come on, let's stick to the formalities.

Myers stares at Yorinobu for a few while, stymied. Then clenching her fists, she pulls her arms close to her body and bends slightly, stopping looking at him for a few seconds. After raising her head she notices that he is still standing straight in front of her, his arms behind his back, watching her with a smug grin.

Myers' lip begins to tremble, betraying a growing anger. Yorinobu extends his hand, pointing to a sofa at the end of the room, embedded in a wall covered with blue LEDs.

Yorinobu: Please, after you. I redecorated the office, do you like it?

Myers walks toward the couch.

Myers: I didn't come here for interior design advice.

Both sit composedly on the sofa.

Yorinobu: Would you like something? Sakè? Whiskey? Maybe something to eat?

Myers: No.

Yorinobu leans on the sofa resting his arms on the backrest.

Yorinobu: I understand. It must have been difficult weeks…it would do you good to ease the tension.

Myers stares at Yorinobu, disgusted.

Myers: My God how far we have fallen…I came to talk about what happened and figure out when you're going to make things right.

Yorinobu gets up from the sofa, walking toward the mirrored wall next to it. Placing his hand on it he makes a small bar appear from the wall by a small sliding panel.

Yorinobu: I really don't understand. We have restored power to the city, the Net is operational again, as are all the essential services…At the end of the day, we can dismiss it as a minor miscalculation, nothing else.

Myers: A minor miscalculation…

Yorinobu pours himself some whiskey in a glass, then he starts drinking it.

Myers: Do you know what the miscalculation was?! Thinking we were dealing with a man of your father's caliber. Instead I can only see an incapable, dressed in a nightgown. 

Yorinobu freezes, holding the glass in his hand.

Myers: Six months. It only took you six months to destroy everything your father had created through centuries of hard work. Your sister is dead, Night City is in disarray and the whole world knows that the largest and most powerful company on the planet has been robbed by a petty mercenary and a beggar... I must confess to you that in all my political career I have never seen such a sudden fall.

Yorinobu drinks more from the glass, then turns suddenly toward Myers, smiling.

Yorinobu: Could you follow me? I would like to show you something.

Yorinobu heads across the room as Myers reluctantly follows him. Eventually they both stop in front of a huge wooden table covered with a chessboard full of tokens. Myers lays her hands on the side as she watches the board, puzzled. 

Myers: The hell is this?!

Yorinobu: Oh this is a little game I invented. It's simple but complex at the same time. There are two factions…well now there are three actually…and several players. The difficult part is that if you move one pawn you have to move all the others, they are all tied together.

Yorinobu grabs the controller attached to the table and hands it to Myers.

Yorinobu: Would you like to try?

Myers stares at him, annoyed.

Myers: I don't play games.

Yorinobu laughs, amused.

Yorinobu: Please…However, it is not just a game, it is much, much more than that. For me it's a kind of drawing…I mean, you have your notes while I prefer visual memory.

The table begins to make a sound, like an alarm. From a small slot near Myers, sheets of paper begin to come out, as if printed from some kind of fax machine, Yorinobu moves her to get them.

Yorinobu: Excuse me, do you mind?

Yorinobu begins to read the papers, adjusting his glasses, then smiles.

Yorinobu: Wonderfull.

Myers gets up from the table, stymied.

Myers: Can't believe it. You made me come here from Washington just to show me a damn video game. Goodbye, Yorinobu.

The woman starts walking briskly toward the office doors as the sound of her heels echoes through the room.

Yorinobu: Don't, or you will give orders for my guards to shoot you, president.

The woman freezes, then turns sharply toward Yorinobu.

Myers: Excuse me?! How…

Yorinobu: How dare I?! HOW DARE YOU! How dare you come into my office and lecture me, trying just for a moment to think that I don't know that this whole situation is for your benefit. Do you think I'm not aware of his little adventure in Dog Town?! Or how she manipulated him to get her little bird back ?! And what about Bennet and how you used your fixer to convince him to change teams? 

Yorinobu turns around as Myers stares at him with an icy stare.

Yorinobu: I know very well that you have been rubbing your hands in your stupid office since the assault on the tower… Night City, The lost crown jewel of the American empire…Why stop there when he can get Dogtown, too…right?!

Yorinobu takes a sip from his drink and then chuckles.

Yorinobu: A petty mercenary…

Myers approaches Yorinobu by putting her arms behind her back.

Myers: Come on, then. Why are we here?

Yorinobu: Because there is one thing I want to tell you. Stop trying to move the pawns. This is not your game, it's mine.

Yorinobu walks near Myers, threateningly.

Yorinobu: YOU do not touch him, you understand?! He is mine. MINE.

Myers bursts out laughing and stops watching Yorinobu.

Myers: Do you think I am interested in him?! He's just...He's just a man. And you're not that either.

Myers comes even closer to Yorinobu, smiling.

Myers: You are not worth the nail of your father's toe…And as for your precious Night City, well that's already fallen, that's already mine. You have nothing, not a fucking thing. I've already unified most of the United States, and when I'll take back those few little statelets you fill with money…I'm going to kick your slant-shaped ass and what's left of your family of degenerates back across the ocean. 

Yorinobu drinks from the glass, one last time, smugly.

Yorinobu: Please, president...Are you telling me that you are willing to start a war on a world scale just to realize your little dream of glory? 

Myers: How limited you are. Think you have a chance because you have an army?! I have the Net, Yorinobu. You talk about war, but it would look more like extermination, I guarantee. 

Yorinobu smiles, as if he has received the answer he wanted.

Yorinobu: For now, Myers. For now.

Myers: Mhm. Goodbye, Yorinobu.

Myers heads for the door again as she has her back to Yorinobu. He raises his index finger, mocking.

Yorinobu: One more thing, president. You know, I am literally fascinated by the attitude of the American people...I mean every empire has a beginning and an end. We know it, the Italians at Biotechnica know it, but you seem...reluctant to this concept. As if the only thing that unites you is the desire to rule the world. Why not let go?

Myers opens the door, keeping her back turned.

Myers: You could have asked your father before killing him.

Myers finally gets out of the office as Yorinobu finishes his drink, setting it down on the couch. Then he slowly approaches the table with the tokens, lifting one representing a woman floating, then he smiles, smugly.

Employee: President? I am deeply sorry to disturb you….

Yorinobu turns to the employee and sees him bowed in a servile manner, he turns back to the table, disgusted.

Yorinobu: What now?!

Employee: We have... We just completed another cycle, would you like to talk to him?

Yorinobu: Sure.

Yorinobu passes by the employee, opening the office doors.

Yorinobu: Stop staring at the floor like an idiot. I think I've made it clear that I'm not interested in this nonsense…

The employee recomposes himself, startled, and then follows Yorinobu toward an elevator, both of them entering it, beginning to descend.

Yorinobu: Did he say anything?

Employee: No…no.

Yorinobu lowers his gaze, disappointed. After a long descent the elevator arrives in the basement of the Arasaka tower, the two begin to walk toward a small room covered in white, inside which there is a white metal chair covered with green leather. Sits on which lies tied, a Japanese man with his hair pulled back behind his head, wearing a white lab coat.

Employee: We have... We tried to get something but…

Yorinobu stares at the man in the chair staring into the void. Around him, scientists are frantically looking at monitors surrounding the chair.

Yorinobu: Everybody out, please.

All the scientists freeze and leave the room, along with the employee. Yorinobu approaches the man in the chair.

Yorinobu: Takemura, why are you doing this?

Takemura stares into the void, silently.

Yorinobu: It's not possible, really. Don't you understand? He's just a murderer…

Takemura: Like you.

Yorinobu lifts his glasses, rubbing his eyes, disappointed.

Yorinobu: Listen… Do you want to be stuck down here, staring into the void for the rest of your life?! Don't you want to get back to Tokyo…Maybe seeing your family again? 

Takemura: I had a family. I was your sister and your father.

Yorinobu explodes in a fit of rage.

Yorinobu: YOU KILLED MY SISTER! ALONG WITH HIM. You dragged her into this, not me.

Yorinobu raises his right hand sympathetically.

Yorinobu: Don't you understand what's at stake?! Once the game is started it cannot be paused, don't you get it?! This time we can't afford any more mistakes or deviations... There is no room for maneuver. 

Takemura: 試合…[The game…]

Takemura stops looking at the void and stares at Yorinobu, straight in the eyes.

Takemura: お父さんの言うとおりだ.お前はただの横柄なガキで,それ以上の何者でもない.私はあなたを助けない,決して...あなたはここで時間を無駄にするだけだ.[Your father was right…You are just an insolent brat, nothing more. I won't help you, never...You're just wasting your time here.]

Takemura turns again, looking back into the void. After a moment of surprise Yorinobu grabs him, in anger.

Yorinobu: お前は哀れなバカだ!私の言うとおりにしなさい,なぜか知りたい?従業員だからだ...お前は俺のものだ,竹村.[YOU ARE A POOR IDIOT! You will do what I tell you. Want to know why?! Because you're just an employee…You're my stuff, Takemura.]

Takemura: どうするつもりだ?東京で私の家族を殺したいのか?どうぞご自由に.[How do you plan to do that?! You want to kill my family in Tokyo? Be my guest.]

Yorinobu lets Takemura go and then smiles at him.

Yorinobu:男同士の恐喝だよ,竹村.お前はただの犬だから,口笛の吹き方を考えればいいんだ...以上.[Men blackmail each other, Takemura. You're only a dog and I just have to figure out how to whistle…That's it.]

Yorinobu walks toward the room's exit, leaving Takemura behind a sliding door. A group of employees surround him, anxiously waiting for him to say something.

Yorinobu: Subject him to another cycle. This time increase the voltage, though.

Employee: But… But sir! It will destroy his implants…

Yorinobu: I DON'T CARE! 

Yorinobu walks away toward the elevator, annoyed.

Yorinobu: We have a warehouse full up to the ceiling…Replace them.

Yorinobu walks to the elevator and presses a button the doors begin to close, but are blocked by a man, he winces.

Deckard: President Yorinobu? Detective Deckard, Netwatch…Do you have a minute?

Yorinobu: No. Talk to my secretary.

Yorinobu presses the button again, Deckard forces himself into the elevator.

Deckard: I'm afraid It's not possible. I need access to the Mikoshi mainframe. For me and my team.

Yorinobu bursts out laughing as the elevator ascends.

Yorinobu: Why don't you use the tunnel?! I mean that's where they came in, right?

Deckard blocks the elevator angrily, then turns to Yorinobu, stymied.

Deckard: You find that funny?! It's not to me, at all. If you won't cooperate, I'm going to disconnect the whole building from the Net, including the users who use your implants and communications…I wonder what you'll tell your investors tomorrow…

Yorinobu turns to Deckard with a mocking smile.

Yorinobu: You know what Detective? You won.

Yorinobu presses the button for his office again, after a while the doors open and he steps out, turning to Deckard.

Yorinobu: Go back to the basement. My employees will escort you to the Mikoshi.

Deckard: You're not coming?

Yorinobu smiles.

Yorinobu: Oh no, I will stay here. You, on the other hand, go down.

Deckard looks puzzled at Yorinobu as the elevator doors close.