Cyberpunk Patriarch-Chapter 107 – I Have Never Seen Such an Arrogant Person!

"I'm not," the agent said coolly. "But I know all about the job Jenkins gave you. We're here for the details. All of them."

V's eyes narrowed. "That's between me and Jenkins. It has nothing to do with you."

A second later, the agent's optics flashed yellow. V staggered backward into the couch like she'd been hit with a migraine straight to the brainstem.

Arthur didn't move.

"You feel that dizziness?" the agent sneered, leaning in with breath that smelled of synthetic cologne and cheaper judgment. "Your access to Arasaka's network has been revoked. In two minutes, every system tied to your ID will shut down. Devices. Biometrics. Clearances. All gone."

"Now be a good girl," he said, pulling out a data spike from his coat. "Hand over the shard Jenkins gave you, and we'll consider this resolved."

Arthur swirled his drink, downed the last of it in one motion, and crushed the glass against the side of the agent's head.

The shatter echoed like a gunshot in the bar's semi-silence.

"Zhuo," Arthur muttered, standing over the agent. "I've never seen anyone this arrogant walk into a bar and still expect to leave with their teeth."

Jack gave a short laugh. "He's not wrong."

The agent staggered but didn't fall—chrome plating in his skull caught the brunt. His hand instinctively went to his hip and pulled a pistol, now shaking in Arthur's direction.

Behind him, the bulkier, sumo-like bodyguard reached for his sidearm.

"On your knees, street rat!" the lead agent barked, his voice now full corpo. "Beg and I might let you live."

V's breath caught in her throat. She could see this spiraling into bloodshed—real, corporate-sanctioned violence. If Arthur and Jack died here, that guilt would live in her head forever. They didn't deserve that. She reached across the table, grabbed the data shard, and held it up.

"Here!" she shouted. "Take it! Just go!"

The agent snatched the shard from her hand and tossed it lazily to the cyclops bodyguard behind him. The bigger man scanned it and gave a slow nod.

The first agent smirked. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it? You could've avoided the drama."

Then he turned to Arthur, still wiping blood from his ear. "But now... I think I've taken a personal dislike to your little friend here."

Arthur sighed. "Of course you did."

The agent leaned forward. "Think you're a tough guy, huh? That swagger's gonna vanish when I upload your file to Blackwall and watch you rot behind firewalls you'll never crack."

Arthur raised his hands like he was surrendering. "You know, I really tried to like corpo types. I did. I kept an open mind. But every time, you remind me why I prefer talking to vending machines."

He exhaled a trail of smoke, eyes narrowing.

Click.

Inside his brain-computer interface, Arthur activated the new Sandevistan he'd installed from Adam Smasher's gear.

Time slowed.

The bar's neon lights dimmed to a crawl. Even the smoke from Arthur's exhale rose like molasses, inching toward the ceiling at a snail's pace. Lucy had been right—this new spine tech was smoother, cleaner. Less nerve strain. More uptime.

Nice craftsmanship, Hammer, Arthur thought.

As the world fell into slow motion, Arthur stood and calmly walked toward the agents. Their heads were turning to track him, painfully slow. The barrel of the pistol rotated to follow, but he was always a step ahead.

Their own Sandevistans weren't fast enough.

To them, Arthur blurred.

To Arthur, they were statues.

He reached the first agent and jabbed two fingers into the side of his neck, disabling the reflex chip.

Then he stepped to the sumo-bodyguard and snapped the barrel of the man's pistol like it was made of brittle plastic. A second strike to the groin followed, because why not? Even chrome has limits.

Finally, he grabbed the third agent's gun and twisted his arm backward until he heard a satisfying crack.

Deactivation—NOW.

The world snapped back into real time.

Three Arasaka agents dropped to the ground in a heap of twitching limbs and choked curses.

V's jaw dropped. Jack was already clapping.

"Hot damn, I love when you get spicy," Jack said, grinning ear to ear.

Arthur lit another cigarette with unbothered ease and sat back down.

V stared. "What the... what are you?"

Arthur took a drag. "I'm what happens when Night City forgets to flush."

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