Chapter 94 – Creating Chaos
Tanaka woke with a jolt, just moments after Maine and the others had slipped out of the building.
His vision swam, body aching, but his cybernetic augmentations were kicking in now—top-tier Arasaka implants, the kind reserved for executives who mattered. Not that he could fight, but he could think, analyze, talk.
And that's exactly what he tried.
"I know you..." Tanaka rasped, his voice still hoarse, eyes narrowing on Arthur. "Arthur Martinez, right? Arasaka knows your file. You were that mechanic—fixed the Green Lab at Arasaka Academy, didn't you?"
Arthur didn't respond. He stood there, cigarette in hand, eyes fixed on the corner of his HUD, where a timer ticked down in the lower-left. Three minutes. That's how much longer he needed to wait—just long enough for Maine's crew to get into position before the fireworks started.
Tanaka kept talking, weak but persistent. "What a waste. You have potential that doesn't match your path..."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected a recruitment pitch.
"Let me go," Tanaka continued. "Help me, and I'll make sure Arasaka takes you in. You'd be welcomed. Studied, yes—but rewarded. A cyberpsycho who clawed his way back to rationality? That's... valuable. Rare."
Arthur let the words hang in the air, the faint buzz of the city vibrating through the walls.
"You don't understand the world, Martinez," Tanaka muttered, voice trembling through the pain. "Arasaka is power. The name alone is divine. To fight us is to fight gods. That never ends well..."
Arthur turned to glance at him. The man was pale, shivering, pushing up his glasses like he could still maintain control through protocol.