"Want to bet on who wins more?" Evelyn Shaw asked, her voice soft but steady. "If I lose… I'll treat you to a drink later."
Arthur Vale's smile didn't change.
He could already feel it—the subtle shift in her emotional patterns. The Trojan he had planted earlier was working perfectly. Not overwhelming. Not obvious. Just a gentle adjustment in how her mind weighted attraction, trust, and curiosity.
"Alright," he replied easily. "You're on."
They continued playing, talking casually between rounds. On the surface, it looked like harmless flirting between two strangers who had met by chance in Japantown.
But Arthur wasn't relaxed for even a second.
His neural threads were stretched across the entire casino network. Cameras. Thermal scans. Wireless chatter. Signal strength fluctuations. He tracked it all.
Because he knew—
Evelyn was in trouble tonight.
Someone had already paid Wakako for information.
And in Night City, information never stayed harmless for long.
Still, Arthur didn't mind.
Connecting with Kang Tao aligned far better with his long-term strategy than dancing around Arasaka's shadow. Arasaka was powerful—but suffocating. Kang Tao was ambitious. Expanding. Hungry.
Besides—
If there was one corporation Arthur had no desire to "cooperate" with, it was Arasaka.
If anything, he'd rather gather a crew one day and blow Arasaka Tower sky-high.
Not for politics.
Not for justice.
Just because he wanted to.
…
Midnight arrived.
The electronic chime echoed faintly through Twisty Street as the pachinko parlor began its slow rotation of night clientele.
Arthur and Evelyn stepped outside together.
Neon lights flickered over wet pavement. Distant laughter. Engines revving somewhere below the layered city platforms.
Evelyn kept glancing at Arthur's face.
The sharp jawline. Calm eyes. That unbothered confidence.
She found herself staring longer than she should.
Arthur noticed, but pretended not to.
"Do you have a car?" he asked casually. "Mine's a van. Not exactly corporate luxury. You probably won't like it."
"I do," she replied softly. "It's in the upper parking level."
Arthur nodded.
"Let's take yours. I'll show you a good place."
The faint implication made her cheeks flush instantly.
"Ah… upstairs," she murmured.
Twisty Street was built in layers—concrete stacked on forgotten concrete. What looked like ground level was often just another ceiling to a lower world.
They walked in silence toward the elevator platform.
Arthur tapped the control panel lightly.
The industrial elevator began descending with rhythmic metallic creaks.
For a moment, it almost felt peaceful.
Then—
"Drip…"
A faint electronic sound.
Arthur's gaze shifted slightly.
A malicious voice cut through the quiet night.
"Not bad," a man sneered from behind. "Didn't know a corporate dog like you could hook a rich guy that fast."
Evelyn's body tensed.
She turned sharply, her neural link already preparing to signal her distant security detail.
But her vision blurred for half a second—
And Arthur had already moved.
He pulled her behind him.
A silver blade slashed down from the darkness, slicing through the air where her throat had been a moment earlier.
Tyger Claws.
The attacker moved fast, clearly enhanced.
The distraction had been deliberate.
Evelyn's heart slammed violently in her chest.
She wasn't used to this.
In corporate boardrooms, danger was financial. Political. Strategic.
This—
This was raw.
Violent.
Immediate.
She realized too late that she had sent her hidden Kang Tao "super soldiers" further away tonight.
Because of Arthur.
Because she wanted privacy.
And now—
"Zzzzt—!"
The sharp crackle of electricity exploded through the air.
The attacker dropped instantly, body convulsing violently as his cyberware short-circuited.
Arthur had bypassed his ICE in less than a second.
Evelyn stared.
So fast.
He had slipped past the Tyger Claw's protection like it didn't exist.
The man hit the ground twitching, smoke faintly rising from fried implants.
Arthur didn't hesitate.
He drew his pistol.
The muzzle flashed—
Bang—!
The modified round tore through the night, leaving a faint red tracer tail.
Another Tyger Claw—Turtle Field—tried to activate his Sandevistan.
But his nervous system had already been compromised.
Arthur had pre-emptively jammed his neural acceleration.
The man stiffened mid-motion.
The bullet pierced through his cybernetic eye and out the back of his skull.
Blood sprayed across neon-lit pavement.
The last thing he saw was Arthur's expression.
Cold.
Unwavering.
No hesitation.
No thrill.
Just calculation.
Arthur rotated the muzzle downward.
Bang—!
A finishing shot into the twitching body.
Clean.
Efficient.
Two distant screams echoed from nearby alleyways.
"Ah—!"
"Ah—!"
Arthur tilted his head slightly.
"Two more tried to run," he said casually. "I overloaded their implants."
Evelyn stared at him.
"You…"
"It's Night City," he replied lightly. "This is normal."
Her breathing slowly steadied.
The elevator finally opened with a mechanical hiss.
They stepped inside.
Arthur pressed the button.
Steel cables groaned as the platform ascended toward street level.
Inside the small metal box, silence hung heavy.
But something had changed.
Fear had transformed into something else.
Trust.
They emerged onto Poplar Street.
This layer of the city was brighter, cleaner. Tyger Claw territory thinned here.
Arthur continued scanning, his optics sweeping for hidden heat signatures or signal anomalies.
Nothing immediate.
"How about that drink?" he asked.
Evelyn exhaled slowly, one hand resting over her racing heart.
"Yes. My car's in the open parking lot. Just there."
Without thinking—
She took his hand.
Naturally.
Comfortably.
Arthur did not pull away.
They walked side by side under neon-lit skyscrapers.
Night City shimmered endlessly around them.
Corporate towers glowing like artificial stars.
For a moment—
It felt almost romantic.
"Thank you," Evelyn said softly. "If you hadn't been there… I might've ended up in Tyger Claws' hands."
Arthur glanced at her.
Their eyes met.
He smirked.
"What, are you about to say something like, 'I have nothing to repay you with except myself'?"
She bit her lower lip.
"Well… it's not impossible."
She gathered courage.
"Would you… marry me?"
Arthur stopped walking.
Looked at her.
Then replied calmly—
"I already have a son."
She blinked.
"Don't let my face fool you. I'm not that young."
He shrugged casually.
"My son's almost an adult."
"…What?"
Her brain completely stalled.
Board meetings.
Weapons contracts.
Strategic acquisitions.
All useless.
Because the man who had just saved her life—
And shattered her emotional defenses—
Was apparently a father.
And in that neon-lit parking lot—
Victoria Kross, Kang Tao board director—
Experienced true confusion for the first time in years.