[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-protagonist-system":3,"chapter-the-protagonist-system-the-protagonist-system-chapter-539":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Protagonist System",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1824147,2426,"532 A Day To (Not) Relax Conclusion","the-protagonist-system-chapter-539",539,"\u003Cp>It was fun unpacking everything and putting it all across the coffee table. Most of the parts didn't come with instructions or inherent programming, which I would have ignored and removed anyway. I checked them for anything embedded or hidden and cleaned them, both physically and electronically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the parts prepped, I let my 'Tinker: Yes' power out to play and used that and my advanced scientific knowledge to assemble the parts. I added extra wires, different circuit boards, slipped in isolinear chips for the programming, and improved the hardware and storage mediums to make the thing more robust and nearly indestructible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the advanced library of replicator patterns I had in my inventory, I used a superfluous cord attachment with my neck to do the programming it needed. Since it was mostly made with off-the-shelf parts, it didn't matter that I didn't spoof the security cameras. Someone could reproduce exactly what I did and it wouldn't come close to working, since it was much more than the sum of its parts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I used factory bought panels to cover the thing to hide all of the internals and left the microwave-sized opening exposed. I piked the thing up and walked over to where the closest power receptacle was and plugged it in. I brought up the interface on the display screen attached to the side of it and chose a seedless tomato.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I kid you not, the damn thing performed just like a replicator from Star Trek and instantly formed a tomato. The micro-control server arms, that I had installed to fake the thing assembling food items molecule by molecule, had been bypassed because it took too long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I lifted out the tomato out and bit into it, made a disgusted sound, and spit it out and tossed it into the trash. It didn't taste bad at all, since it had worked. I just had to keep up the pretense. I sighed exaggeratedly at the discrepancy in the programming and carried it back over to the coffee table and hooked myself back up to it to adjust the programming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It needed to work the way I wanted it to and not how it should, so I had to make a few physical adjustments as well, so the micro-control arms could move quicker and give the appearance I wanted it to have. Instead of taking a second to physically generate a tomato, it took almost eight seconds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tasted it and nodded, happy that it actually worked, and chose to make a bushel of tomatoes. Once that was done, I made a bowl of lettuce, a few peppers, some carrots, shredded cabbage, black olives, and a few other staple salad ingredients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once I had enough to fill a crate, I pretended to go to the hall closet and pulled one out, assembled it, and filled it. I packed them appropriately, and separately, then assigned a shipping label to it. Was I going a little overboard for my promise to Kei to give her enough tomatoes to make a salad? Yes, I was. It would also let everyone know I would go above and beyond any set deals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was getting close to suppertime, so if I was going to deliver it, I had to head out now to beat the traffic. I went to the vending machine and popped out two of the expensive alcohol bottles and set one on my kitchen table and the other on top of the crate. I then had the newly minted food printer print out a couple of bananas and a bowl of cherries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I put them on the crate and carried everything out into the hallway. It was deserted as usual and I made it to the elevator without seeing anyone. When the doors opened, a woman was there and wore a blue wig, red leather thigh high boots, a silver sequin-covered dress, and a leather coat with a dark pink and light green fur collar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She looked bored with life as she leaned against the back wall with her arms crossed. She completely ignored me when I stepped inside and I ignored her as well as I turned around to face the doors. She was going to the lobby already, so I didn't have to hit the button or ping it electronically. The doors shut and the elevator started moving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that a real banana?” She asked, her eyes wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cherries, too. Stems and all.” I answered without thinking. My Danger Sense went off for the first time in a long time and I moved my head back just as something that looked like a long piece of neon pink plastic swished through the spot where my head had just been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since my hands were full, I ducked the next very fast swipe and set the crate down. The sound of tearing metal caught my attention and I tucked and rolled to the side as I glanced up. The pink thing was actually a katana that looked like a kid's toy and the woman's angry face, because her sword was now caught in the side of the elevator, made her look hauntingly beautiful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't want her to get it unstuck, because it was pretty rare for anything to set my Danger Sense off and I didn't want her attacking me again. I stood and tried to punch her arm away from the handle, fully expecting her to let the handle go and I could then kick the blade farther into the elevator wall and possibly break it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was my plan, anyway. Unfortunately, her forearm didn't have any reinforcement at all and the normal human bones shattered from my blow. She screamed in pain as many bone shards tore through the muscle and skin of her arm as it was pulped from the inside. Her arm flopped around and she dropped to the floor, with disbelief on her face and tears streamed down her cheeks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I paused my follow-up attack and stared at the woman as she cradled her pretty much destroyed arm. The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Tank standing there, with murder on his face and his hands posed to strangle the woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't try to stop him as he grabbed her by the neck and working arm and yanked her out of the elevator and tossed her away from me and towards the security desk. The move looked so smooth that it was almost like he had practised it, because she landed right beside the desk, smacked her head on the metal side, and fell unconscious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I'm really sorry about that, Veder.” Tank said as he turned back to me, his face full of worry. “Are you all right? She didn't cut you, did she? I saw her attack you on the security camera.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I'm okay, I think.” I said and glanced back at the elevator. There was a blade hole in the side of the elevator where her first strike missed me, then a nearly perfect cut across the back of the elevator that had stopped when it hit the main brace on the back of the elevator car and embedded into the metal. “Where did she hide something like that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In her leather coat down the seam.” Tank said and stepped by me and over to the wall. He braced himself with a hand on the wall and gripped the sword's handle with his other hand. With a slightly difficult pull that showed off his strength, the blade tore free with a screech of metal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shockingly, the thing was unharmed. There wasn't even a chip in the blade after hitting the brace or was warped from Tank pulling it out like he had.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I never suspected a regular visitor could have anything like this hidden on them, not after the scanners on the door passed her.” Tank groused and hefted it like it was little more than a toothpick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whoa!” I gasped and caught his arm before he swung it. “Easy there, choom. That thing cut through plate steel like butter and only stopped because she wasn't strong enough to follow through with the swing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank nodded and turned it over once in his hands, then he changed his grip on the handle so that he could carry it pointed down to the floor. “I'll log it, scan it again, and try to see if the system can pick it up. If it can't...” He sighed. “I'll have to start frisking everyone again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I understood his reluctance. There were a lot of people in Night City that no one would ever want to touch, especially if you knew they all carried weapons for protection and didn't want to hand them over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I'll give you a hand with scanning and updating the software. I'm not happy she got into the building with a weapon that big and no one knew, not even her client.” I offered and Tank gave me a grateful smile. He looked even more grateful when I picked up the crate and he saw the bottle and the fruit. Since they weren't inside, he guessed they were for him and his squeeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We walked over to the security desk and spent a few minutes getting an accurate scan of the weapon. That also revealed why my Danger Sense went off. The damn thing had a contact poison that could induce excessive bleeding and interfered with someone's cognitive functions, essentially making them forget that they could dodge or block.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew the second part wouldn't work on me; but, a sword through the head was a sword through the head. It would mess anyone up. I hadn't been outside in the sun for a whole lot of time in this world, either. My Kryptonian heritage would protect me for the most part, too. Even with that and magic at my disposal, there were always exceptions to people's powers and abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I've already called Arasaka Security. They'll be here soon to take her into custody.” Tank said and looked down at the blue-haired woman. “It's a shame, though.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A shame?” I asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She's a popular doll and has been here a few times.” Tank said and put the security system into test mode before he lifted the sword and walked over to the front door. He stepped through and the security alarm went off, making him smile and nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed at me to reset it and I did so, then he walked back through. The alarm went off again and he gave me a thumbs up. I killed the alarm and he came back over to the desk and sat down behind it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There's even a rumor she's been in to visit Yorinobu Arasaka himself in the tower.” Tank said in a whisper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked down at her and thought about what to do. “What do you think they'll do to her?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She attacked an Arasaka Academy student. They'll interrogate her, find out she's a popular prostitute, and will either have fun with her before letting her go or they'll tell their boss about her and then have fun with her.” Tank said with a shrug.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What if she really is the favorite of the company head's son?” I asked and brought up Hanako Arasaka's contact info.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then no fun will be had by anyone.” Tank said with a chuckle. “No one touches company property and gets away with it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That... is a very good point.” I said and sent a direct message to Hanako to let her know what was going on. It seemed like something a counter-intelligence operative would do, even if I hadn't been brought into the department yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I received a priority response on my cyberdeck and opened it. It was from Hanako.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stand by. Do nothing to stop the squad picking her up. It has been handled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I mentally nodded and sent an acknowledgement.Understood. It involved your brother, so I felt it was only proper to inform you of the mess he could be involved in or could bring the company into.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You have done well, Veder. You will be contacted later.Hanako responded and cut the connection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All righty.I thought with a mental chuckle.At least she's direct and doesn't waste any time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I used telekinesis to pull apart the front of my shoe and sock, so I could touch the unconscious woman with my bare toe. I pulled a lot of the bone shards back into place and healed a good portion of the damage to her arm. I couldn't heal everything, since Tank had described her condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be up to them to heal her the rest of the way. At least she wouldn't lose the arm because of my mistake of assuming she had a cybernetic arm to wield such a dangerous sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since I was touching her, I made a copy of her archived BDs and the joytoy programming. It was neat to find out that it was a separate upgrade implant to the one she already had in her head, unlike the one I had encountered in the volunteer. However, the programming was similar to what I had found in the reprogrammed joytoy and that was a little concerning, so I started trying to fix what I could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The front door of the apartment building opened and several armed and fully armored personnel stormed into the lobby, setting off the alarm that Tank turned off. They cased the place perfectly, as if they had done it hundreds of times before, and another one walked in through the door and strode over to the security desk as if they owned the building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where's the prisoner?” The mechanically disguised voice asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had just managed to isolate the controlling program in the implant and pulled my foot back slightly and resealed my sock and shoe. I pointed down and the helmeted head jerked slightly and I heard a muffled curse. Since I was no longer distracted, I noticed something odd. The armor suits almost looked identical. Almost. The patches and rank insignia were right, as was the company logo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What I noticed was odd on the person in front of me was that the helmet didn't quite sit right, as if it had been hastily put on. Why did the squad leader wait until the last moment to armor up? Did they give an inspiring speech or was something else going on?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thiago! Wheeler! Front and center!” The armored person ordered and two of them ran forward. “Immediate extraction for med-evac! Go! Go! Go!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two saluted and holstered their weapons, grabbed the prisoner under the shoulders and by the ankles, and easily lifted her. The pair almost jogged as they went to the door and the third armored person opened it for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that the suspect's weapon?” The remaining armored person asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank nodded and handed it to her. I stayed silent and didn't move or say anything, even though I now suspected that these people were not the actual Arasaka Security team Tank had sent for. Hanako had ordered me to stand by and do nothing, after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It will be logged and destroyed.” The person said and turned around and walked just as quickly as the others and waved for the one at the door to go out ahead of them. Almost as soon as the door closed, we could hear the sound of an AV craft flying overhead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. I didn't, because I knew that was the real team arriving and not the fake team leaving. A few minutes later, the front door opened and several armed and armored personnel stormed in and cased the place, as if they had done it hundreds of times before. Tank turned off the alarm and stared at them, as if he couldn't believe he was seeing them again so soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another armored person walked in through the doorway and over to the security desk as if they owned the building. “Where's the prisoner?” They asked with a mechanically disguised voice and pulled out a security badge, which was something the other armored people hadn't done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahh, fuck.” Tank said and slapped a large hand over his own face. “I am so fired.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you do not hand the prisoner over immediately, things are going to become difficult for you in the next few seconds.” They said and the weapons pointed at the elevator and covering the front entrance, turned to point at Tank and myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tank, go ahead and play the security video.” I said and gave the armored people my best corpo smile, the same one that let you know you're about to be screwed over and there was nothing you could do to prevent it. “You're all going to want to see this. Trust me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank let out a few soft curses under his breath and did as I asked. I turned the display to face the security team and watched them closely. My smile didn't lessen when I saw each of them flinch the moment the fakes appeared on the recording. They recognized the armor, the same tactics, and the same inquiry that was said with authority that expected to be answered immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So fired.” Tank whispered and rubbed his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sent him a private message that if he was, I knew of a new corporation that just started up and was looking to hire people with experience. I mentioned better pay, security work at either the front office or at the warehouse, and more benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank gave me a grateful look just before the armored person in charge started berating him about not following proper procedure, being lax in his job, and overall screwed over the Arasaka Company by allowing a potential murderer to escape. The only thing they didn't do was fire him, although they heavily hinted that it was going to happen soon and he should look forward to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the armored people left and the AV flew away, I handed him the expensive bottle of alcohol.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thanks, choom.” Tank said and opened it, took a swig of it, and shivered. He swallowed loudly and sat back on his chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wordlessly handed him a banana and sat on the desk. I ate a cherry and watched as Tank ate the banana between much smaller swallows of alcohol. They didn't nickname it 'smash' for no reason, after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cutting out early?” I asked and handed him the second banana and the bowl of cherries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tank nodded and put the banana into his pocket, held the bottle and bowl like they were made of gold, and stood. “I already called in the night guy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I picked up the crate and Tank locked the external door and we went out through the parking garage exit. I offered him a drive and he thanked me again. I put the crate in the backseat and he climbed in and sat on the passenger side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I drove out of there to bring him to his squeeze and then to make the delivery to Kei that I was supposed to make before supper. It was well past supper and I hoped she would still appreciate it, even if it was much too late for her to enjoy it as much as I had intended.\u003C\u002Fp>",3231,"2026-06-09T05:52:49.484Z",1,"novelbin.me","59f1e489b0a1411c49bebb0280a0adf5d4c96313496b1de83099b72f9ca93441","the-protagonist-system-chapter-540","the-protagonist-system-chapter-538",542,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-protagonist-system-cover.jpg"]