Chapter 60: Cooperation

"You want a can, Carl?"

Sitting in a booth at Afterlife, Blanka lazily sipped her drink. When she saw Carl approach, she gestured toward an unopened can of Bum Bum Monkey on the table.

"I'll pass on Bum Bum Monkey. High-fructose corn syrup drinks just taste sickly sweet to me."

Carl casually sat down on the couch, glanced at the selection of drinks in front of Blanka, and picked one for himself.

"I'll just have sweet tea."

The flavor reminded him of iced black tea—one of the few things in Night City that gave Carl a familiar taste of home.

Blanka watched as Carl popped open the bottle and took a sip. She continued drinking her own beverage, and only after finishing the entire thing did she lean back into the couch, finally looking relaxed, her posture lazy and unbothered.

"You've been making a name for yourself in the city lately."

"I know. I barely woke up before my friends started telling me about it."

Carl didn't really get why his employer was bringing this up. He was here for a job, not small talk. Just like before—give him the payout, the location, the target, and he'd get it done. Simple and clean.

"Do you know who was piloting that ACPA?"

The pilot?

Now that caught Carl's interest.

"You know something about that?"

"How could I not? Do you think I'd have the time to just sit around drinking and waiting for you if I didn't? I got promoted. Took over a management position related to this whole mess."

"So this really was a Militech operation?"

"I figured you'd piece it together."

Blanka wasn't surprised. After all, there were only a handful of corps that could smuggle an ACPA into Night City unnoticed.

But there was one thing she needed to correct.

"Don't pin this on me, though. I had no clue about any of this before. I wouldn't have dared to mess with Arasaka's princess even if I did. This was pulled off by a group within Militech who weren't too happy with Michiko Arasaka. They worked together with the young bloods inside Arasaka."

"The young bloods?"

Carl frowned slightly. He remembered Hanako Arasaka calling this whole thing a trial. Could these so-called young bloods be the real wildcard in all this?

After all, judging by Hanako's reaction, the ACPA showing up was completely unexpected. And the only ones who could pull something like that under her nose... were people within Arasaka itself.

"You know Yorinobu Arasaka?"

"Yorinobu Arasaka."

Carl thought for a moment, and the information surfaced in his mind.

[Yorinobu Arasaka]: Heir to the Arasaka Corporation, the youngest and only surviving son of Saburo Arasaka.

"The famous Arasaka heir? Yeah, I've heard of him."

Things were already pretty clear.

"They want to use Hanako Arasaka's death as a catalyst to provoke a war between Arasaka and Militech?"

"To be precise, their target wasn't Arasaka's princess—it was her mother, Michiko Arasaka."

Michiko Arasaka was the daughter of Kei Arasaka, Yorinobu's older brother, and a Japanese-American woman. Having been born and raised in the United States, she identified more as an American. Even though she later returned to the Arasaka family, within the corporation, she was still considered one of the key figures aligned with Militech. Naturally, this made her a threat to the Hawk Faction and to certain individuals within Militech who were also eager to escalate hostilities.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Looking at things that way, all the seemingly inexplicable events started making sense.

Saburo Arasaka had always been suspicious of Hanako's bloodline. After all, she was the daughter of Michiko and a full-blooded American. For reasons unknown, Hanako willingly submitted to a bushido-style blood purity test conducted by Saburo himself.

And during this process, certain factions within Arasaka and Militech—those specifically targeting Michiko—tampered with the situation.

That's how an ACPA, a full-fledged war machine, got thrown into the mix.

And as a result... Carl ended up getting his ass kicked.

What kind of bullshit is this?

Blanka, seeing that Carl had fully grasped the situation, spoke again. "The reason I'm telling you all this is because there's still some unfinished business that I need you to handle. Let's circle back to the original question—I got sidetracked with your questions. Do you know who that ACPA pilot was?"

"All I know right now is that they were from Militech."

"Well, now you're going to learn a little more. His callsign was One-Zero. His real name was erased the moment he joined Militech. He was the best pilot our company had trained in years."

"So?"

"What that means is, there were others—not as skilled as him, but still top-tier. And every single one of them feels humiliated by One-Zero's death. They can't go after Adam Smasher, because he's under Arasaka's payroll now. So instead, they've set their sights on you."

"On me?"

This feels like one of those 'We can't beat Adam Smasher, so let's just take it out on some street merc' situations.

"Well, let them come. I'll just take them down one by one. It's not like they're going to sneak another ACPA into the city."

"That's unlikely. Just this one already caused enough chaos—Arasaka and Militech are blaming each other and shifting responsibility back and forth. But exoskeletons... those are still within an acceptable range."

Exoskeletons.

"Do these guys seriously have nothing better to do? Are they just lining up to die? Doesn't Militech have actual missions for them?"

"Their R&D division is very interested in their combat data. The department heads are more than happy to use you as a test subject—comparing ACPA performance against exoskeleton warfare."

Blanka smirked. "That's why I reached out to you, Carl. I want to team up. Let's wipe out these ACPA elites."

"What's in it for you?"

Carl stared at Blanka's smirk. "Didn't you just say you're in charge of this department now?"

"These guys were under the previous management—the ones who've already been sunk to the bottom of the ocean. I don't trust them."

In other words, if she did trust them, Carl would've been their target instead.

"Figures. You're a true corpo dog."

"So, how about it? Team up?"

"I'm in. But I expect to get paid. You're the one benefiting from this, right? All you have to do is feed me intel and sit back while I handle the work. Meanwhile, I'm the one risking my life."

"Technically, this is also to save your own ass. But yeah, I knew you'd say that."

Blanka already understood how Carl operated. She held up two fingers.

"I can pull some strings and get you two Militech cyberware implants. No backdoors."

"Pleasure doing business."

Carl clasped Blanka's hand without hesitation.

PS: Bloodlines and honor are taken very seriously in Japan, and Saburo Arasaka is exactly the type of man who upholds these values. If you want a detailed depiction of bushido philosophy, check out Hideo Miyashita's Sengoku manga series. The way it illustrates the samurai way of life is incredibly well done—especially Volume 8, where the fall of Nanao Castle and the public display of severed heads hit hard when compared to the earlier build-up.