The Edgerunner who defied Night City

Future

May 26 2077.

With the massive deployment of the Imperial Army, most of the mercenaries of Arasaka and Militech just gave up, understanding that they stood no chance and that their masters had little time left to live and ensure their pay.

Still, both mega-corps had an elite corp of loyal guards and lots of mechs to defend Corporate Plaza, to the point where a direct assault would've been too costly. The Federal Army was sending in their best units, the Enforcer Corp, equipped with kinetic barriers and specialists urban warfare, so for now Ernesto was waiting with the rest of the crew on the roof of the makeshift headquarters set up for the Emperor in Santo Domingo, staring at the skyline of the city. Most of the lights were still on as the police had managed to secure the power plants and keep the fighting away from them before the arrival of the army. Only the corporate buildings had been cut off from the grid and stood dark in the middle of the city.

From that point it was easy to spot the stream of desperate people trying to flee from the fighting and the chaos, mostly in fear that the situation might get worse. Luckily, the planners in Rome had thought about it, and there were two camps that were being expanded by the military engineers to shelter all that population.

"It's hard to believe the old man knew all this before." Rebecca commented.

"Old E saw many wars before," Maine replied. "he just took his lessons from 'em."

"Well, with all this punch, it's hard to see how we can lose." David commented as another convoy of tanks and foot infantry marched below them.

"But we can try to avoid a massacre." Ernesto said.

"Captain Martinez!" a voice called loudly.

Ernesto turned around to see a soldier of the Imperial Guard standing rigidly. "The Emperor wants to speak with you."

The Captain nodded and said one last thing to the crew. "Be right back. You stand ready to leave just in case."

"Aye, aye, Cap." Pilar commented.

Ernesto followed the soldier into the elevator and was led into the underground level of the building, where the Emperor, Pétran and the generals were gathered around a holo-table with a map of the city.

"Captain, welcome." the old monarch greeted cordially.

"How can I help, Your Majesty?"

"Please, it's simply 'sir' as long as you're military."

"How can I help, sir?" the Legionnaire corrected himself.

Federico nodded to Pétran, who brought up the picture of a figure that had long infested Ernesto's nightmares.

"We called you here to speak about Adam Smasher. He's most likely inside Arasaka Tower to protect its executives, but we need to ask you if you have any more intel about him."

"Other than the fact that he's a crazy killing machine that needs to be put down, no sir." he replied dryly.

"It has been four years since that day, Captain." the Emperor patiently said. "Believe me, I understand you feel hatred toward this person, but if we want to stop him from making another massacre, we need everything we can get."

Finding those words true, Ernesto took a mental breather and managed to reacquire enough serenity to make a more meaningful reply. "I understand, sir. Yes, I have tried to track his activities ever since I started this operation, but what I'm about to say is mostly based on whispers I had no way to verify."

"Whispers is where we always start from at MI6, Captain. Proceed." said the Director.

"Smasher has been involved in the recent confrontations between Arasaka and Militech, though only on small operations to wipe out street gangs aligned with the latter. I haven't heard anything from him for two months, however. I believe he might be undergoing some extensive upgrades."