The drive to Night City ended up being more entertaining than I would have thought, though Sable did not appreciate being laughed at. She was still clearly shocked by some of what I showed her, so every few minutes, she would bring up something else, and I would have to confirm that, yes, she had held and fired two different types of plasma pistols. Yes, I had stabbed myself and healed it in seconds with a single injection. Yes, that did mean my courser frame was completely biological. Yes, I made a power armor that could bench press a truck and do a backflip.

  While I had gotten a glimpse of this while showing off the basics to Misty, Mama Welles, Vik, and Rebecca, I had gotten a lot more in-depth in my reveal with Sable, so the waves of disbelief that she kept having were, in my opinion, much funnier. Again, she wasn't the biggest fan of the smirks and chuckles, but she kept on asking, so clearly she wasn't too upset.

  Eventually, we pulled into a small parking garage, which was tucked into a. It was on the far outer edge of the city center, just along the line of Heywood, an area I wasn't familiar with at all. That wasn't entirely surprising, however, considering the more realistic, expanded scale of the city as well as how little time I spent exploring while I lived inside the limits.

  "I'm going to introduce you to our employees first. Then we have a ride to shake hands with some of the teams working with your tech," Sable explained. "Just be aware, expect the red carpet. They are going to want you on their side. No one is going to flat out try and poach you, probably, but expect to be wined and dined a bit."

  "I doubt they can stand up to what we have back home," I pointed out with a smirk, Sable laughing as well.

  "A few hours ago, I would have disagreed with you," She admitted, shaking her head. "Now I know you aren't actually kidding."

  We stepped out of the car and walked through the garage to an elevator. After Sable entered a security code, the elevator started to rise, and soon, we were stepping out into an. It wasn't anything incredible, just a clean, crisp office space with various people working at clean, modern desks. The view wasn't half bad either, but I could definitely tell that, once we owned and had cleared Maelstrom out of Watson, Sable would absolutely be looking for a new office space, something to really show off with.

  After introducing me to her assistant, an energetic girl whose smile was as artificial as my clothes, Sable led me deeper into the office, before stepping into a large room filled with half a dozen people. As we entered, everyone looked up, quickly standing out of respect once they spotted my escort. One member of the group, an older man of about fifty or sixty, stepped forward and gave Sable a slight bow.

  "Ms. Arcturus, it is good to see you," He said. "I'm happy to report we finally managed to settle our deal with for the internal coolant systems, though at the lower price you designated."

  "Well done, Setsu, the lower price is fine," Sable said confidently, looking over at me to explain. "EBM is a massive company. Even if we barely make any money off the deal, we are setting ourselves up later for a much larger profit. Besides, if they are satisfied with the product, they will lock in a larger deal next time. We can bump up the price then.

  "All about getting your foot in the door," I said, with an understanding nod.

  "Exactly. But business can wait," Sable said with a smile. "Setsu, I want you to meet Jackson, one of the geniuses behind what we have been working with."

  I stepped forward to shake the older man's hand, careful not to squeeze too hard.

  "Mr Jackson, it's good to finally meet you!" He said happily, eagerly accepting my handshake while bowing just a bit deeper than he had for Sable. "Your team's creations are very impressive! Selling them had been remarkably easy with how well they work."

  "I'm glad to hear that," I said with a nod. "Thank you and your team for all your hard work."

  Setsu gave us a brief tour of their workspace and explained a little about what they do, introducing the other members of the team, which apparently had just recently expanded. Their job was one part salesman, one part engineer, and one part rumor mill. By keeping their ears to the ground and tapping into sources and friends, they would advertise and show off my creations to people working on high-priority projects, doing their best to get our parts into the hands of cutting-edge developers.

  Of course, they were also selling them to older projects and getting them in on updates and newer models, but that was considered almost intern work. The whole system seemed a bit aggressive, predatory, and very much more dramatic than necessary, but I wasn't going to argue with the amount of money that had been piling up in my accounts.

  Once I had met the core team, I was also introduced to some of the ancillary groups, including a trio of lawyers, all of which seemed excited to work with TinkerTech, even if one of them admitted she had started as a personal favor to Sable.

  Eventually, the introductions were over. My arm was beginning to get tired from all the handshaking, and I had dozens of names bouncing around in my head. Of course, I knew that none of them had any chance of sticking. Sable admitted that she had wanted to sit down and have a bit more of a formal meeting, but my show-and-tell session had cut into that time, and if we wanted to be on time for our other meetings, we would have to make some adjustments to the schedule.

  With a final goodbye, we headed back to the garage, the elevator lowering slowly until we could step out, both of us climbing back into Sable's. As we pulled out of the garage, she began to explain what we were about to step into.

  "Alright, our first stop is at an Arasaka offshoot site," She explained. "We are meeting with a head engineer and their Corporate Manager, though I highly doubt that's all. They are showing off a project in which three of your parts have been integrated, though I'm sure this is more of an opportunity to show off their laboratory facilities."

  "Really? They are letting in to see a product before it's released?" I asked, not quite believing it. "That seems… strange."

  "It's all about impressing you," She explained, shaking her head. "Like I said, they won't flat out try and poach you, not while I'm around at least, but they will try and make you jump ship. Showing you the cutting edge and what sort of facilities you would have access to…"

  "Right. It would be really tempting for anyone that's not me," I finished, nodding in understanding. "Any idea what they are showing off?"

  "No, just that it involves three of your creations," She responded.

  We drove through Night City, passing through the city center but continuing on. Arasaka Tower loomed over us, then behind us as we continued on past it, eventually arriving at the off-site research facility. It was a large industrial park, though not the one you visited in the game. It was surrounded by walls, with cameras at every corner and plenty of armed security patrolling.

  As we drove towards the entrance, we slowed at the checkpoint. Sable had a short conversation with the man on point, sliding her ID over as well as a small stack of eddies. I barely caught myself before asking about it before the man nodded, scanned her ID and waved her through, keeping the money as he handed her ID back. As we pulled into the parking lot nearby, I looked at the white-haired woman in confusion.

  "Why did you bribe him?" I asked, a bit nervous. "I thought we were supposed to be here."

  "We are," She said, focusing on her driving as she parked. "That was just to get us through quicker."

  "Seriously? What do they do, refuse to let you in?"

  "Oh, no, they just usually pretend to be having some sort of computer issue, making the process take a bit longer," She explained, as if that was completely normal. "Not like I gave him much, just fifty eddies."

  "Jesus. And I thought tipping culture was messed up."

  After we were properly parked, we climbed out of the car. We had only managed to take a few steps away from it, towards what looked like the main building, when a woman dressed in a sharp outfit, which I couldn't help but notice showed an excessive amount of her assets, greeted us with a smile.

  "Hello! You must be Ms. Arcturus and Mr. Jackson," she said, stepping forward to shake each of our hands. "My name is Molly, and I will be your guide through this facility today."

  "Nice to meet you, Molly," I said with my own smile, keeping my eyes on hers. "Thank you for having us."

  "Of course, we are happy to invite someone who has already contributed to this project to see it," She said before gesturing back towards the building. "If you follow me, we can get back inside, and I could start a tour of the facilities."

  Sable nodded, and together, we followed behind the rather beautiful woman, who was very clearly attempting to catch my eye even as she walked ahead of us both. I gave Sable a look and was surprised to find that she had just the barest hint of annoyance peaking through her usual cool facade. After a moment, she caught my knowing look, so she rolled her eyes and shrugged. I couldn't help but smile, this time genuine.

  As we entered the building, Molly led us straight through the front entrance to an area that was a little more private. Our first stop was a small room with nothing but a table and some chairs in it. There, our guide passed us a rather comprehensive NDA to sign about what we were about to see. Sable went through both of them and signed hers, so I followed her lead.

  It wasn't like I would actually follow it when push came to shove. Sure, I didn't want Arasaka hit squads coming after me for revealing secrets, but this NDA was only worth the paper it was on to me. Only convenience was what kept their secrets for them.

  After potentially signing our souls away, we followed Molly to a much thicker security door. We waited a moment before the security system granted us access, and we stepped into a research lab. Or rather, we stepped into a long hallway that surrounded a research lap, with large windows pointing in so you could see everything that was going on. The interior was a clean room of some kind, with everyone wearing sterile suits as they worked, tapping on computers and talking to each other.

  At the center of the room was a raised platform, which was the laboratory's current project. It was in several pieces, so it took a moment for me to recognize it as some sort of military bot. One half was hunched, with an almost crab or lobster-like aesthetic, though more squat and centered. It had a "shoulder" mounted weapon, some sort of rotating barrel, mini-gun-esque set up, with what looked like arms but were more likely just a connection point for more weapons almost tucked up under its "shell."

  Stolen story; please report.

  The other half, clearly the bottom one, was a squat base with six powerful-looking legs arranged in a way similar to a spider. As we walked around the lab, still inside the observation hallway, I could see two researchers looking up under the legs while another worked on a different leg, one currently detached from the main frame. Had the two halves been stacked on top of each other, they would have been almost one and a half times my height.

  "As you can see here, the code name Scythe model mech is in its final design phases, thanks in part to the designs provided by TinkerTech," Molly explained with a saleswoman. "Your servomotors have increased the mech's maneuverability by fifteen percent, and your gyroscope design has been used extensively. I believe this mech had four of them in the legs and two in the top half. Had you been an Arasaka employee, you would have likely been promoted at least once for such a contribution."

  As our guide talked, I couldn't help but think she sounded like she was reading from a script. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Arasaka had teams of specifically attractive people who acted in roles like this, using implants to sound as if they knew what they were talking about.

  Molly continued to discuss the development of the mech, though also leaving out a great deal of details concerning things like how it was controlled or if it was intended to be piloted. Eventually, after making a full circle around the facility, she led us both to a meeting room off the side of the encircling hall.

  As Sable and I sat down, Molly asked if we would like any drinks, and while I asked for water, Sable asked for champagne. Molly didn't bat an eye at her request, and a minute or so later, she returned with a glass of champagne and a pitcher of water, ice cubes clinking as she put it down next to a glass. After a few more words, she left us to ourselves, waiting in the meeting room for the manager and the head engineer, both of which arrived several minutes later.

  I had thought Molly had been obvious, but the Manager and the Head Engineer had taken her blatant flirting and showing off and blew it out of the water. Stilted mentions of massive budgets, assurances that top engineers receive plenty of benefits, randomly bringing up company-sponsored vacations and trips around the country, all of it in a forty-minute meeting in which barely any science or engineering was discussed.

  A small part of me was disappointed, as I had honestly expected better. I had been envisioning these massive threats, subtle masters of influence and espionage, hunting me down, trying to twist me into joining them. Instead, all I got was barely passable smarm assuring me that the quality of their monthly team ramen party was top rate, like a project lead promising me a pizza party back home.

  By the end of the meeting, while we were all shaking hands, I could tell that both of the Arasaka employees were feeling confident. After all, the surreptitious terms they had "offered" were enough to make most people drool, so surely I was interested. Besides, Arasaka was a premier company, and any sane person would jump at the chance to work there at such a high level.

  When we finally left, Sable and I quietly headed to her car, pulling out of the parking lot. This time, she did not need to bribe the gate guards, and instead simply drove through while barely slowing down.

  “So…. that was…”

  "You are so fucking lucky, you know that?" Sable said, cutting me off and shaking her head. "Those two have been hiding you from their bosses. I expected high-level recruiters, but instead, we got middle management promising cheap benefits."

  "I was wondering if that was normal…"

  "No, it was most definitely not," She said with a snort. "That was… it was two amateurs assuming they could do their boss's job, all because they wanted to keep you a secret."

  "So why am I lucky?"

  "It means Arasaka higher-ups have no idea you exist," she said, shaking her head. "It's not gonna last, not with you buying out Watson soon and starting to build there, but still. Honestly, those two are living on borrowed time. The second their bosses get a glimpse of what they have been up to, they will be lucky to be just demoted."

  "So the other meetings won't be like that?"

  "No, not even close."

  True to her words, the next five hours were not nearly as amateurish as the Arasaka meeting.,,, and were all significantly more persuasive and subtle, wining and dining me under the guise of thanking me for contributing to their projects. As Sable had said, no one had flat-out attempted to poach me, but it was clear that they all wanted a foot in the door with me and the think tank that Sable had been claiming I worked with.

  It was obvious that these people knew exactly what they were doing, picking up on what would most put me at ease in seconds, shifting easily to accommodate me and Sable. It was subtle, convincing, and, if I had any less of any idea of what was really going on, probably very successful. Thankfully, I did know what was going on, so it all sounded rather hollow, despite their skill and resources.

  Out of the entire afternoon, there was exactly one positive side to the hours spent shaking hands, acting polite, and generally just schmoozing it up with the companies who were paying us so much money for our parts. Beyond, of course, the humor of them paying us despite many of them being directly in my crosshairs for the future.

  During the last meeting, seeing as it was getting late, the group meeting us had taken the liberty to order some food. Among that food was a few platters of Sushi made from real ingredients. There was salmon, tuna, unagi, and even some Western mixes that reminded me of California rolls, all of seriously high quality. Possibly just as impressive as the raw fish was the fact that, as far as I could tell, the vegetables were real as well, including the cucumber and avocado. Someone must have noticed my interest because as we were shaking hands to leave, we were handed a farewell box of Sushi, a variety pack of everything we had just sampled.

  This was the kind of quality food that just being rich wasn't enough. You needed to have connections with the right people and groups in order to even talk to the people who had access.

  I was so excited by what they had given me that as we left, I couldn't help but offer a few words of advice for the project they had shown off, a drone that was utilizing my gyroscope design. It wasn't much, just a trick I had learned from Fallout about more efficiently cooling sealed systems. It would likely save them some eddies if they listened, and I could tell at least one of them understood what I had just handed out for free.

  Sable waited until we were in the car, leaving the worksite behind until she brought it up.

  "So, what, feeling generous or something?" She asked, giving me a side-eye. "You know, watching someone give something away for free like that is a good way to take years off my life."

  "For free? For free?!" I said excitedly, resisting the urge to open the Sushi package, instead tapping it with my fingers. "Do you have any idea just what they handed me?"

  "I don't know, lunch?"

  "If anyone eats this, I will personally kill them," I assured her confidently. "No, they just handed me . Nearly a dozen different food samples, neatly packed in a box! Salmon, tuna, eel, rice, avocado, cucumber, nori, shrimp, roe. Stuff I've been looking for ways to get my hands on for nearly a month! And they just handed it to me for free!"

  "... Wait… are you saying you can reproduce those things?" She asked, her eyes now wide. "How?'

  "... Have you never had dinner at the Ridge before?" I asked, looking at her, trying to remember if she had ever eaten anything we had made. "Oh, now I really feel bad. Okay, let me see if Jackie is up for cooking tonight. If he is, you are staying for dinner."

  The corpo woman seemed sceptical, but I ignored it. You would think, after seeing everything I had been working on, that she would be more trusting when I said I was going to blow her mind. Jackie was luckily already at the Ridge and was already cooking dinner. Apparently, he had stumbled upon a chicken parmigiana recipe, and he was using it to test a new ingredient. I assured Sable she was in for a treat and promised Jackie one hell of a surprise when we got back.

  After arriving home, I basically ran through the Shack to see Frank, who was waiting for me, as was Jackie. When I opened the high-end cooling box, Jackie's eyes went wide. He immediately realized the significance of what he was looking at.

  "Frank, my man, tell me those are big enough samples," He asked, peering into the box like I had opened a briefcase of gold bars for him.

  "I believe I will be able to make due for most of these materials, barring any significant cross-contamination," he assured both of us, taking the box from me. "I will begin work right away. We are likely on a running timer."

  Jackie and I high-fived, before turning to see Kaytlyn and Sable walk in, followed by Vik and Rebecca.

  "What's going on?" Kaytlyn asked, Sable following her in. I could see the striking Corpo woman was a bit lost, though she hid it well. "What's got you guys so excited?"

  "We just got about a dozen new samples of food for Frank and Jackie to play around with," I explained. "The corpo execs who were trying to woo me sent me home with a doggie bag of the good stuff."

  "Holy shit, are you serious?" Kaytlyn asked, shaking. "Way to go, sucking up to our corporate overlords choom."

  "I wasn't sucking up to them. They were sucking up to me," I explained, raising my chin snootily. "The whole thing was kind of pointless, and the Arasaka group was pitiful."

  "It wasn't pointless," Sable said, shaking her head as she sat. "We need to look like a company that plays ball. We need to seem reasonable. I know you got some big ideas in that head of yours, and I promised I'm along for the ride, but if you want TinkerTech to serve as protection, we need to at least engage with them occasionally."

  "Along for the ride?" Kaytlyn asked with a raised eyebrow, looking between Sable and me. "You showed her everything then? All the way down?"

  "Pretty much," I said with a shrug. "She has earned at least some trust, and with the bunker done, we are safe, even if someone blabbed directly to Saburo."

  "... fine, but I reserve the right to say I told you so," Kaytlyn said, sitting down at the table.

  "Don't be a dick, Kayt," I said with a frown. "You were in her shoes not too long ago. Should I not have let you into the know?"

  Kaytlyn rolled her eyes, but some of her hostility seemed to fade, something Sable seemed to pick up on. With my package handed off to Frank, the group moved over to the vault, once again gathering in Jackie's apartment. Already, it showed signs of being modified, with his kitchen filled with even more tools of the trade and the dining room table doubled in size. As we all claimed seats, Sable still looked more than a bit out of her element. Meanwhile, Jackie brought out glasses of a red drink and put it in front of us.

  "So I've been experimenting a bit with Frank's help, and I think we managed to do a pretty good job at making our own soda syrup using some of the fruits we've been working with," He explained. "I wanted to take a crack at some of the older colas, but we don't have the ingredients we need. So, instead, this is Peach and Strawberry soda."

  I reached down and grabbed my cup, about to take a sip, when I spotted Sable. I couldn't help but smirk as she looked down at her cup with apprehension. She looked around to see what everyone else was doing, only to pick up the glass out of some sort of communal obligation. She winced as she finally took a sip, before her eyes went wide. She pulled the glass away and coughed, the shock of the taste catching her off guard.

  "This... tastes amazing?" She said as she recovered, almost like it was a question. "It has none of the… aftertaste that other soda has."

  "'Cause it's all-natural ingredients," Jackie said. "Well, about as natural as you can get. It's still made by that machine that Frank and Samwise made. It's always going to be more subtle 'cause it's not made in a lab to be ultra sweet and sharp, but the flavor is much more enjoyable."

  Jackie continued to talk about the process of reducing the flavors into syrups he could use, explaining that he had a few others he was excited to try. By then, the smells of his cooking had spread throughout the room, making everyone eager to eat. Vik and Rebecca, still the least used to Jackie's cooking, were heavily affected, nearly drooling, while Sable, used to fine dining, was more confused that something could smell so good and not be costing her several thousand eddies.

  Around half an hour after Jackie had put out drinks, Sable was starting to loosen up a bit, chatting with us as we talked about our last job, the vault, and working with the Nomads. At one point, I stepped out to drop off my courser frame, returning a minute later, no longer wearing an artificial body but sweatpants and a t-shirt.

  Once I was back in Jackie's apartment, I reclaimed my previous seat, barely getting comfortable before Jackie started bringing out food. It was a feast, with a massive pot filled with spaghetti, two huge trays of chicken parmigiana, a basket of garlic bread, and a large pile of shredded cheese, which Jackie put down last.

  "This is what inspired me to cook Italian today," he explained with a smile. "Frank and I have been working on cheese flavors, and I think we managed to nail Parmesan. So, mangia mangia!"

  Vik laughed at Jackie's attempt at Italian, which was terrible, while we started layering on food. I could see that Sable was attempting to go with small servings, but was immediately overruled as people happily served for her, piling on the food. As we started feeding ourselves, the table went quiet, all of us incredibly distracted by the wonderful flavors. It took Sable to break the silence, the corpo woman reluctantly taking her first bite, her eyes going wide.

  "Fuck me…" She said quietly. "This is incredible… It tastes like real food… real food. How do you even have a source for this? This chicken… It's incredible!"

  "It's all made right here," I explained. "Jackie and I have been gathering samples, and Frank has been working on replicating them. Then Jackie cooks them."

  "It's a real team effort," Jackie assures her.

  "I... damn, I owe you an apology," She admitted, looking back down at her food. "I've been sitting here with an upturned nose, only to find you've been eating like royalty."

  "It's okay, choom," Jackie responded with a smile. "I get the hesitation. Just glad we could share."

  Jackie returned to his meal, clearly considering the subject complete. Sable looked at me in confusion, and I could only shrug as I fought back my chuckle. I gestured to her food, and after a moment, she shrugged as well, digging into the home-cooked meal.