Chapter 74: So Mi

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So Mi time!

-x-X-x-

Song So Mi is having a pretty terrible week. But then, at this point it's just the capstone to a god awful decade, isn't it? Still, for all that everything has gone to shit, she takes a certain vindictive pleasure in watching the architect of her current woes pacing back and forth across the room with a snarl on his face and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

They'd just gotten done watching Myers' address together. Her miraculous return to NUSA a mere day after deserters, namely Hansen, tried to assassinate her… and failed completely. So Mi isn't surprised that the President immediately arranged a press conference after she made it to safety.

She IS surprised by how fast V managed to get Myers out of Night City and back behind friendly lines, however. At first, So Mi had assumed that the stream was doctored, that it was faked by Myers' government to try and make it seem like they hadn't lost their Head of State. Hansen had believed the same thing.

But no… no, this was real. And watching Myers effectively get on screen to give Hansen the proverbial double middle finger and a speech that boiled down to 'I lived bitch' was… therapeutic in a way.

"What did you do? Who the fuck did you hire that they managed THIS shit?"

Ah. Finally, Hansen turns his anger in her direction. Technically, she IS his prisoner. But she's been treated more like a guest so far, even afforded a gilded cage of a room at the top of his personal fortress of a skyscraper, the Black Sapphire.

As such, So Mi sits primly on the edge of a sofa, no restraints holding her down, nothing physical binding her in place. One leg over the other, she grasps her knee with both hands and gives him a withering look.

"I hired who I had to. Because someone decided to back out of our deal and betray me."

Technically not true. So Mi had contacted V before Hansen revealed his true intentions were to kill Myers rather than capture and ransom her back to NUSA. Still, he didn't know that and if she had things her way, he never would.

As is, the Barghest Leader just scoffs, sneering down at her as he crosses his arms over his chest. Maybe he thinks he looks intimidating looming over her like this. He does hold her life in his hands after all. But So Mi is decidedly unimpressed.

"I haven't backed out of our deal yet, Songbird. Don't make me start considering it. Our arrangement still holds. Myers was just more useful to me dead than alive."

So Mi's nostrils flare and her grip on her knee tightens up. He speaks so casually of altering the terms of their agreement. As though it wouldn't affect her at all if he just… assassinated the Head of State for an entire damn country while retrieving her from the President's clutches.

Maybe it shouldn't have. Rosalind Myers was a monster and So Mi had known that for a long time. She'd survived the woman for over a decade at this point even as she'd been forced to cut off pieces of herself to make Myers happy. And right now she was dying because of the woman.

… But at the same time, Myers had always been rather kind to her when it came to everything else. So Mi knew the President saw her as more of a pet than a person, but better a pet than just an asset all things considered. Sometimes, she even found herself wondering if Myers knew she was ever so slowly using So Mi up. Her Songbird… couldn't last forever.

Then again, that was why she'd had to cut and run. That was why she had to escape Myers' clutches and seize the opportunity to fix her shit before she up and died. Unfortunately, So Mi's options were limited. NUSA was no global superpower, but with the backing of Militech, the number of entities who were willing to go against Myers and NUSA were slim to none.

Ultimately, her options were either Arasaka… or Hansen. One was just as bad as Myers and Militech and So Mi feared they would use her up rather than actually helping her. The other therefore became her only other option, an arrangement that SHOULD have been a simple transaction.

All Hansen had to do was stick to the plan. Ground Space Force One, capture Myers and the rest of the crew to sell them all back to NUSA while claiming So Mi died in custody or something. From there, So Mi would give Hansen the rest of what he wanted and he would give her what she wanted.

But no… Hansen had turned around and changed his mind about Myers. And now the other nine crew members of Space Force One were dead because of So Mi.

"Still, this is ridiculous. How the fuck did they get her out of Dogtown and back to NUSA in less than a day? Just how many fucking FIA moles do I have in my fucking territory?!"

So Mi just smirks at that. She's not about to tell him anything. Of course, the answer is really very, very few. Sure, there's enough of a FIA presence in Night City as a whole to eventually smuggle Myers back to NUSA. But it would have taken at least a few days.

She'd expected Myers to use V to activate assets like Solomon and Alex, and from there, Solomon Reed would have been able to handle the rest. But she knew for a fact that everything had happened way too fast for that. For Myers to be back in NUSA territory in less than twenty-four hours… that was all V. Had to be. But the details escaped So Mi entirely. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

Of course, she's not about to tell Kurt Hansen that and he's not at all pleased by her smirk. Narrowing his eyes at her, he points a finger in her direction.

"Count yourself lucky that you're still necessary, Songbird. Our arrangement still holds… for now."

So Mi just holds her head high, staring right back at him and showing no fear. After a long moment, he pulls back the finger and then huffs out a laugh.

"I suppose dealing with a bitch like Myers for as long as you have, not much scares you anymore, does it? Get some sleep. I'm moving up the neural matrix extraction."

That causes her to narrow her eyes.

"You don't want to rush these things, Hansen."

Hansen sneers.

"Don't I? My enemies certainly aren't going to wait around for me to make the next move."

Tilting her head to the side, So Mi purses her lips.

"And the… assistance you promised?"

Grunting, Hansen waves a hand dismissively.

"They'll come sooner. I'll offer them a bit more eddies and they'll come running. Money is all those types care about."

Well, he's not wrong about that. And they would have been in Dogtown by the end of the week anyways so it's not like moving things up a few days would be all that much of an issue for the Cassel Twins. It's just unfortunate because So Mi had been using their absence as a stalling tactic while she thought up a new plan.

After all, she's not a fool. Hansen might pretend like he's still going to hold up his end of their bargain but at this point So Mi knows better. Once she's extracted the contents of the neural matrix that his people recovered from that underground Militech bunker for him, So Mi loses all leverage and becomes… disposable.

She'll be entirely reliant on Hansen's good nature at that point and obviously she knows not to trust that anymore. Frankly, she never did trust it in the first place, but she was desperate and he was her only real option.

Grunting one more time, Hansen turns away and stomps out of the room, leaving So Mi alone. Or at least, she assumes she's alone. When motherfucking V shows up in front of her a moment after Hansen disappears, So Mi's eyes widen and she jumps to her feet.

"V?!"

But the mercenary shakes his head.

"Not in the flesh, I'm afraid."

Oh shit. Immediately, So Mi sends a ping to Hansen's security systems, hoping she might be able to slip in and wipe the last few seconds of surveillance before anyone notices her talking to empty air. Of course, even as she's doing so her hopes aren't high, she knows full well that Barghest Netrunners have been keeping a very, very close eye on her since her capture.

Only… when she finally connects, its like hitting a wall. Someone else is already in the systems and they're managing to move around without Barghest or Hansen's knowledge. Everything is taken care of, somehow.

"Don't gotta worry So Mi, we've got it handled."

That single sentence tells her a lot. One, V knows her name. Not just her callsign, but her full-ass name. She doubts he would have learned it from Myers either, the President hasn't called her anything but Songbird in the entire time they've known each other. Two, he just said 'we'. And somehow, she doesn't think he's talking about the dead Rocker Boy that SHOULD be in his head, fucking with his mind.

So Mi hadn't had much time to look into V's background before connecting to the Relic in his head by way of the Blackwall. But what she had found hadn't said anything about a crew… or at least, not a living one. Which meant her information had been sorely out of date.

"… How did you get Myers back to NUSA so fast, V?"

V looks amused by the question, even as he moves over and pretends to take a seat. Legs spread, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, he leans forward and looks at her.

"Me and some friends got it done. Wasn't hard. I'm more worried about you now. The Black Sapphire is a lot more fortified than the rest of Dogtown."

Yes it is. But if V can get in here, if he has a crew… So Mi sees a light at the end of the tunnel after all. This might just be what she needs to solve her issues.

"It won't be so much either tomorrow or the day after."

V tilts his head to the side, raising a brow.

"Oh?"

Nodding, So Mi bites her lower lip.

"Yeah. Hansen's throwing a party. Gonna have extra special guests brought in. That might be your chance to slip inside…"

"Hm… thought the party was later in the week."

That… that's more information than So Mi was expecting him to have. Again. Frowning now, she looks at V… really looks at him.

"You got Myers back home too quickly. It's made Hansen nervous and he's starting to run scared. You can use that too, because he's bound to make mistakes. But if you're not ready to move on this opportunity, then we might have to go for the next."

"Oh? What's the next?"

She's not sure how much to tell him, especially when it's clear that he knows a lot more than she thought he did at first. But… at this point V is her only lifeline out of this mess. The problem is, So Mi needs what lies within that neural matrix as much as Hansen does…

"If we can't meet up at the party and get things done there, then our next opportunity comes the day after the party, when the freelancers Hansen has hired will be ready to work. They're the pleasure before business types so they'll be at the party too, but if the first opportunity passes us by, they'll be the next opportunity. You'll need to get in touch with an FIA Agent first though to get the necessary tools for the job. Her name is-"

"Alex. We've already picked her up."

So Mi jolts and this time she can't just let it go.

"What the fuck V? How the fuck do you know that name?"

V just shrugs.

"Myers gave us a few assets to activate in order to help you. We're leaving Reed inactive for the time being, but Alex has skills that will be instrumental to your rescue so we've brought her on board."

At this point, So Mi has so many more questions than answers. But… she holds her tongue. Because it's obvious now that the reason V is contacting her at all is because Myers wants her back. From the sound of things, it's still a mercenary-client relationship at least. Maybe So Mi can convince V to betray Myers when the time comes… or maybe she'll have to betray V.

Then again, betraying V was always the plan wasn't it? The cure that So Mi is after… it won't work for V. It will only work for her. And she's always known that.

Being very, very careful not to let anything show on her face, So Mi just slowly nods.

"… Good call. Reed takes orders, but only from those he actually considers his superiors. He would have demanded operational leadership the moment you brought him on board. Alex should be more… flexible and willing to work with you."

V just smirks.

"Right. And I'm sure you're not at all biased given you had to betray him at the end of the Unification War. As well as leave Alex in the dark these past seven years about Reed's true allegiances."

… Nope, So Mi isn't going to react to that. At this point, V is just showing off and she's not rising to the bait anymore. Instead, putting his scary amount of knowledge out of her mind, So Mi focuses on the present.

"So V, which option should I prepare myself for? Do you think you and your crew can handle shit at the party, or should we treat that as reconnaissance and take the next day's opportunity?"

V leans back for a moment, humming in consideration. Then, he opens his mouth and gives her an answer.

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[X] V tells So Mi they'll take care of everything at the party, no point in wasting time - 81%[ ] V tells So Mi they'll use the party for just reconaissance and handle things the day after - 19%

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