Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.15

1.15

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Santo Domingo’s City Manager was named Theresa Valentino. According to her public profile, she was an Italian woman whose grandparents had immigrated to America just in time to see the Collapse of the United States, bringing with them their teenage child. Her family ended up in Night City, and, nineteen years later, she was born in 2015.

After surviving through the complete fucking mess of the Time Of The Red, Theresa decided to start a political campaign, aiming for election into the position of City Manager of Santo Domingo. With her policies, intelligence, and charms, she was able to secure the position as an independent candidate, and had since brought prosperity to the area.

The profile really laid it on thick, and I didn’t even need to taste the lies to see them for what they were.

Theresa was an independent candidate, yes. Yet, after my Autgents had scoured through the Datapools, I had a much clearer view of what was actually representing.

Santo Domingo had been rather quiet, as far as the Overcrowded Zones went. The most obvious things they had to deal with from 2043 to 2050 had been a pair of Boostergangs, one known as the Rat Kings, and the other called Kill Krashers. The former died out fairly quickly, but the latter’s glorification of violence over everything else sparked enough of a craze that they grew to a decent size before being whittled down again. The reasons for this were twofold.

Number one, the Aldecados, the first of the Seven Nations, first of the true Nomad families, and a potent force in the city. Such was their influence that the Aldecados were considered the main and premier security force of Santo Domingo, surpassing even the local police precinct, which was so overworked that they had to rely on drones just to do their patrols.

Number two, however, was the El Norte Cartel. A Mexican group that had moved into Night City at some point during the Time Of The Red, and focused on Santo Domingo in particular. Data for them was sparse, but the Datapools were extensive, and my Autgents had better algorithms than anything that had been designed by Humans.

They’d been quick to find the links. Chozo Bullshit let me make sense of them.

Theresa Valentino did, in fact, have links to the El Norte Cartel. Literal years of data that had slowly built up in the systems provided the evidence for it. Mere months after she got in, the cartels had grown in both power and subtlety, hawking drugs on the street, Cyberware on the Night Markets, and extorting ‘protection’ fees from neighborhoods. Honestly, though?

It was just... basic bitch cartel shit. Boostergangs got up to weirder and more violent crap all the time. The cartel, Cyberware sale aside, was practically old-fashioned, and they may very well have done more for the safety of the district killing any prospective ‘rivals’ to business than they threatened with their actual operations.

Well, regardless of all that, Theresa was the one I cared about at the moment. Five years ago, she was basically in charge of the entire district. Now? She was desperately trying to maintain relevance.

The City Managers were currently in the process of being phased out. After a decade or so of something approaching a lack of complete corporate control over Night City, most of them had since rebounded in power, and the balance was once again turning towards the parasites. City government was recentralising thanks to the CitiNet being rebuilt. For Santo Domingo in particular, over the last five years, the Aldecados faced a constant push outwards, the cartel had their operations taken over, and corporate security forces now ‘kept the streets clean’. The police precinct, of course, had seen absolutely no benefits.

All of that meant that we had a rather crooked woman lacking most of her unofficial support base who had a grudge towards Corporations and was likely willing to let some things pass if it got her access to resources that her enemies didn’t know about.

And, that?

That I could work with.

It had taken me an hour and a half to set the stage. I left the building at five thirty, again doing my thing of ducking through alleyways and alcoves for a decent distance before shifting out into the open streets suddenly.

It was already twilight at this time this early in the year. Relatively clear weather left the sky visible, though the tall buildings of the City Center had already cast the east side of the city into what would have been a deep shadow if not for the fact that so much of this city had its own lighting.

Neon flared across every building, every corner. Streetlights threw the entire thing into sharp contrasts, especially here, so close to the industrial zone of Arroyo.

The people were no exception. Daylight was harsh enough to hide the full truth of their bodies, but once night descended, the full sight of what they’d done to themselves became apparent. Light Tattoos lit up, Synthskin activating and showing moving patterns, EMP Threading shimmering and glimmering. Clothes, too, lit up, colour radiating throughout the streets.

As was only appropriate for its name, Night City truly came to life after the sun set.

My walk through the city was unhurried, but steady, despite the eyes I could feel on my back. New attention, as though the cover of night could hide it.

I arrived at the building that the City Manager used as her local office unbothered all the same.

It would seem open and inviting, but it wasn’t that difficult for me to see the NCPD forces that remained in immediate proximity. Mostly drones, with a few operators around.

Corruption aside, Theresa was legitimately well-liked by most of Santo Domingo. During her term, things had actually gotten better, though only a small amount of it could be attributed directly to her own actions.

But that wasn’t my business.

I walked straight up to the building, idly noting that the door, unfortunately, was on the smaller side. It was a less recent construction.

Still, I threaded through it, and though I wasn’t able to straighten all the way up in these low ceilings, I made my way towards the secretary that was seated at the front desk.

The secretary was staring at me with wide eyes, her Cyberware notably less thorough than that of the Night Corp or Night Bank employees that I’d met. It meant that she wasn’t a meat puppet to the metal in her skull and spine, at least.

The fear leaked through her aura, but she rallied quickly. “Ah- May I help you?”

It was, and I would give her this, worthy of some praise.

“I require a private meeting with Theresa Valentino in her capacity as a City Manager.” I stated, my voice once again clear and strong. Absolute self-confidence lines from my tone, and their pre-existing biases do the rest of the work for me.

The woman swallowed, slightly. “May I have the reason for this?” She asks in a slightly higher pitch.

I stared, unblinking. “Acquisition of deeds, property, and licenses.”

“I-I see.” She nodded, her eyes lighting up blue a moment later. “Please hold while I check the available schedule.”

She was not checking the schedule.

Her eyes twitched, fingers fidgeting slightly before she stilled them.

Barely two minutes later, she nodded, the glow of her eyes dying out. “You are in luck.” She said, slightly rushed before she was able to bring her voice back to a normal speed. “Ms. Valentino is currently available right now, if you wish to have this meeting immediately?”

As was foreseen. “It is acceptable.” I said, and I made absolutely certain that my complete lack of surprise was obvious.

She quickly realized that, and equally quickly plastered a smile on her face. Her eyes again briefly flickered with light as she sent a message to her boss, before she stood up from her chair and walked over to another door.

Briefly, her eyes flicked between its frame and mine. She swallowed again. “Is a meeting room acceptable?”

“Lead the way.” I answered.

She immediately stepped off.

I followed.

The path she took was about as short as it could have gotten. The interior doors were just as small as the exterior ones, and so I found myself continually bending through them in order to not break them. Even so, I didn’t slow down, and every time she glanced backwards I was right behind her.

We shortly arrived at a large, fancy set of double-doors, which she knocked upon before pulling them open.

I swept inside, rising upwards. The meeting room was a bigger one, a wide, circular table in the center, with a flat white wall on the far side of the room and a projector on the ceiling above the opposing wall. It was taller than the hallways and the lobby, though still not large enough for me to rise to my full height.

A woman was already seated. Business suit, deep brown hair, deep brown eyes, defined high cheekbones, all of which were entirely fake.

It would have been an acceptable Biosculpt, but whoever had done it had made the symmetry too perfect. More than that, her skin was a uniform colour, even to my eyes. It was easy for me to see who had fake, artificial skin, because they either didn’t have the Blaschko lines that marked them in the UV spectrum, or the patterns weren’t natural if they did.

Again, though, that wasn’t my business.

“Manager Valentino.” I spoke. “Your promptness is appreciated.”

She smiled, and it almost didn’t look as fake as the rest of her. She briefly glanced behind me, giving a slight nod, and her secretary closed the door behind us.

She opened her mouth, and I caught the brief fumble before she spoke. “Ah, my apologies, it appears that the ID system does not contain your preferred address?”

“None was provided. My name alone is sufficient.” I stated, before my head turned towards the left wall. “I requested a private meeting.”

She did not frown, but it was a near thing. “This meeting is private- Drich?” She tried to make it seamless, but my lack of title and unfamiliar name still made her stumble.

I glanced at her, eyes scanning her face. “You believe that.” I observed.

I turned entirely, moving towards the wall. I raised a single hand, extended a single finger, and promptly poked my talon forwards.

My talon punctured the wall, and I pulled back without hesitation. Theresa tensed, body winding up in preparation for something, but she didn’t get the chance to do anything before I flicked my finger.

A small black device landed in front of her. Theresa glanced at it out of reflex alone, and then froze entirely.

“This meeting is now truly private.” I said, moving to stand at the other end of the table. “It would appear that your house is not in order.”

Slowly, she reached down, before picking up the device. It was, of course, a bug.

After a few seconds of examination, she sucked in a breath and then set it aside. “Please accept my apologies. I was... unaware.”

It bit deep for her to admit that. It was easy to sense her reluctance, and that was no surprise. She wasn’t a Corpo, but she wasn’t far off of one, either.

“So long as it does not affect my interests, I do not care about the matter.” I said, very bluntly. That, too, was to further cement my image of Eccentric Rich, because a Corpo would use it as blackmail in an instant. A lack of care held an entirely different implication. “My interests are simple. There is a property under your charge that I would acquire. There is property in my possession that I would be rid of. These interests align. Both are sufficiently strong that I would have them expedited.” The ‘even at a cost’ was implied, but not stated. I was sure she heard it anyway.

Expedience and Eurodollars were closely entwined in this world.

Her shoulders loosened, a bit of her tension fading away. This was familiar ground to her, after all. Backroom deals where all parties benefited.

She leaned forwards slightly, bending in a way that failed at being subtle in her attempt to draw attention to the imagined appeal of her body. “What is your proposal?”

Step one, complete.

The sooner that I never have to see her again, the better.