In the plaza, the shape of the standoff had already become clear.
Faraday, despite being a powerful fixer, still lacked the standing to openly challenge an Arasaka-backed representative.
Faced with Gloria's relentless pressure, Faraday kept his proud expression, but in the end chose to distance himself from the trouble and protect only himself.
His words and attitude made one thing obvious.
He did not want to openly offend Arasaka over a Militech commission.
More than being a fixer, Faraday wanted a high position inside a major corporation. That was the real reason he kept tolerating Militech's arrogance and bossing around.
Only by entering a corporation could someone truly become one of the people at the top.
Whether it was Militech or Arasaka, he did not care.
Faraday's triple optics flickered as he searched for a way to end this confrontation, one that should never have happened in the first place.
Gloria paid him no mind at all. Instead, in a cold tone, almost like she was issuing an order, she said,
"Maine and I still have things to discuss. If there's nothing else, you can leave now."
She had no intention of pressing the matter of Tanaka's car any further, because Kai had not instructed her to pursue it.
Using the Tanaka incident to pressure Faraday and to show Maine that Arasaka's power far exceeded Faraday's had already achieved the desired effect.
When he heard himself being dismissed, Faraday's hand inside his pocket clenched into a fist.
But as a man with real experience and self-control, he would never show open emotion on his face. In business, results mattered, not what came out of your mouth.
Since this Arasaka-backed fixer had no intention of pursuing the matter of Tanaka's car, then clearly the person backing her was not from Tanaka's faction.
Faraday hesitated briefly, then the aperture in his optics rotated as he signaled his driver-bodyguard to open the car door.
He turned to leave.
But just before getting in, he turned his head and stared at Maine with all three optics.
"Our cooperation continues."
"And one more thing."
"She may not be part of Tanaka's faction, but she's too close to Arasaka."
"Even if you know her, I'd still advise you to be careful."
After saying that, Faraday got into the car and shut the door. The dark red sedan slowly started moving.
As it passed the Arasaka convoy, Faraday paid special attention to the long executive sedan in the center and silently committed it to memory.
Kai, for his part, had never taken a Night City fixer that seriously.
Faraday was not important.
Poaching talent, stealing talent, even kidnapping talent, those were all common corporate methods.
Back in the day, Morgan Blackhand slaughtered an entire gang by himself, and that same night Militech came looking for him and invited him to join a special team.
After Alt Cunningham created the foundation of Soulkiller, Saburo Arasaka had her abducted.
Faraday was already on file in Counterintel.
The major corporations had all conducted targeted investigations into these Night City fixers.
A lot of dirty corporate work could not be handled openly, so the corporations contacted people like them, who then passed those jobs down to street edgerunners.
Someone like Rogue, queen of the Afterlife, who could stand above Night City, operate independently, run a bar, and build a first-rate intelligence trading hub, was an extremely rare exception.
But before Rogue became the queen of the Afterlife, she too had relied on corporate power to some extent, and had even worked with Adam Smasher.
No matter what her reasons were, one truth remained.
In Night City, it was almost impossible to establish yourself without corporate permission.
After Faraday left first, Maine cursed under his breath.
"Damn it. Stirring the pot one last time before leaving."
That parting remark had basically pushed Maine into direct opposition to Arasaka.
It also made Gloria fully aware that Maine was still taking work connected to Militech.
Only then did Maine finally ask, "Gloria, what exactly is going on here?"
"And the one behind you... it's him, isn't it?"
At this point, Maine was already seventy to eighty percent sure.
But Gloria did not answer his question directly. Instead, she glanced back at the convoy behind her.
"I'm not sure how he sees it."
The person inside the car still had not acted or made any statement.
Gloria guessed that meant he wanted her to keep going.
She quickly steadied herself again. With an old acquaintance like Maine, there was no need to keep putting on airs.
Her clash with Faraday had already ended in a clear victory of presence and momentum. It was a very good opening.
"It's not that complicated," she said.
"I've got a commission for you."
"Market rate."
"I need you to find someone in Watson."
"I know that area is familiar to you."
Maine only looked more puzzled.
He truly could not imagine what kind of commission Gloria could possibly have, especially considering that the thirty thousand eddies she had made before had ultimately come from him.
Maine turned his head and glanced at Dorio and the others, wanting to see how his crew felt about it.
Dorio nodded slightly, indicating they could at least hear Gloria out first.
Maine turned back and asked again, "What kind of job is it? Does it involve Arasaka?"
Gloria tossed the small chip in her hand to him.
"Take a look first. It has nothing to do with Arasaka. It only brushes up against gang business a little."
Maine caught the chip with his heavy hand and slotted it into his neural interface to read it.
Valentinos?
Riley Hein?
Missing?
Maine quickly grasped the situation. The commission really had nothing to do with Arasaka.
"This job isn't that hard," he said, "but you still need to explain your connection to Arasaka."
"And you know I'm still holding a job from Faraday, and that target is Arasaka."
"If I start taking work from both sides, things are going to get complicated fast."
Gloria had already thought about that.
Kai had chosen not to pursue the matter of Tanaka's car, which meant the two sides were not from the same faction inside Arasaka. There was no reason to do free labor for Tanaka.
And the internal struggle among Arasaka's higher-ups was not something Gloria had any right to interfere in.
So the best solution was to act as if she knew nothing and simply handle the matter Kai had entrusted to her.
"Haven't you already figured out what I'm doing?" Gloria said.
"Maine, don't make it more complicated than it is."
"Just like I said about the rules. You complete the commission, and I pay you."
"As for everything else, don't ask."
"And he has no intention of pursuing the Tanaka matter. Otherwise, Faraday would never have made it out of this plaza."
"As for your cooperation with Militech, that's your business. I won't ask about it either."
"If Arasaka higher-ups start paying attention, then all I can do is remind you not to act blindly."
"I have no hostility toward you. Neither does he. On that point, you can trust me."
Compared to Faraday's arrogant attitude, Gloria's tone was clearly far more sincere.
Maine was gradually accepting the fact that Gloria had become a fixer.
But she had only just stepped into the role. Even with an Arasaka executive backing her, she was still little more than a corporate proxy for now.
"I get that," Maine said. "I can take your commission, but you..."
Gloria could tell why he hesitated.
He clearly felt that getting too close to Arasaka would inevitably bring trouble sooner or later.
"Maine, when you were willing to pay part of the deal up front, I knew you were the kind of friend who understood loyalty."
"This time, this is my own choice."
"After all, in Night City, who knows whether tomorrow might turn out even worse?"
"Maybe if I take the chance, things might still turn in a new direction."
Hearing Gloria speak so calmly, Maine found it hard to keep trying to dissuade her.
Arasaka had not done anything to make things hard for him today.
And Gloria had only focused her pressure on Faraday.
That slippery fixer had dumped the problem on Maine the second things looked bad. It was infuriating.
Still, seeing that Gloria's life had found a new turning point, Maine, being the straightforward man he was, genuinely felt happy for her choice.
"You're right," he said.
"In Night City, you have to gamble a little. You have to push forward."
"I accept your missing-person commission."
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]