Chapter 453 66. Alvin Protocol

“We’ve taken this job.”

After the final commission exchange with the Smith, Karl watched Daphne hang up the phone.

The client’s commission did not conflict with Blanca’s commission, and they could even be considered the same purpose. There was no reason not to accept this kind of task that could be solved all at once.
“The ladies who worked for the new America.”

Karl looked at Daphne: “We should be considered temporary companions, can we show our true appearance now?”

“We shouldn’t have any more contact after this mission.”

Daphne stared at Karl and said, “Since there will be no more contact, there is no need to show you my true face, and I might have a different face the next time we meet.”

“It sounds like an actor has many faces. It seems like you must have done similar work before.”

Seeing that Daphne was unwilling to show her true appearance, Carl didn’t care too much. This was just his curiosity. Now that the two sides had reached a cooperation, he had no reason to force himself to satisfy his curiosity.

The mission Smith assigned to Team Carl and Team Mann was very clear: they needed to track down the military technology team and ensure that the operation they planned to use the equipment of the Terrorist Mobile Team against an important figure in Dog Town failed.

Blanca’s mission is to ensure that this team is eliminated and the plans of the person behind this team are thwarted.

Although the two do not have exactly the same goal, the process is the same, and what needs to be done is also the same.

Anyway, it is definitely the right thing to do to get rid of that military technology team.

“Well, now let’s go back to the beginning.”

As the leader of their team, Mann came to discuss things with Carl and the others: “So, when you first came to us, you wanted to use our experience in Dog Town to find the group of military technology people, right?”

“Almost. So it just happened to be a coincidence.”

Karl turned his head and stared at Daphne: “But now there is a better candidate. I think a hidden person should have more information channels than us.”

In terms of information, Mann and his team are also half-outsiders. Compared to them, Carl and his team are only slightly more familiar with Dog Town, but they are nowhere near as familiar with the people who have infiltrated here specifically to work for the “country”.

Daphne did not deny Karl’s words. She calmly glanced at the store, climbed out from the counter, walked to the door and closed it, then pulled all the curtains in the store, maintained a posture of avoiding guests, and turned around again.

“Come with me.”

After saying this, she walked further into the store.

Carl glanced at V, who understood and followed immediately. Then everyone split into two groups. Everyone in Mann’s team except Mann, and everyone in Carl’s team except Carl and V, all stayed in the bar. Only Carl, V and Mann followed Daphne to the back.

After passing through the kitchen which had some greasy stains but was generally clean, they came to an elevator.

“I haven’t been down there for a long time, and I thought it would be a long time before I went down there again.”

Daphne turned her head and spoke to Karl, and at the same time the camera above the elevator began a verification scan.

Being scanned by the camera, Carl asked in confusion: “What is the place below? Is it the intelligence center?”

“This place was once a safe haven for people like us, but because of a betrayal by an asshole who should be dead, I’m probably the only one in Night City who’s still using this thing.”

As Daphne spoke, she input something next to the elevator, causing the elevator, which had turned red while scanning Carl and the others, to turn back to a safe blue light. Then the elevator opened and she walked in.

“Come in, it’s on the basement floor.”

“Is this the underground space mentioned in the original architectural drawings?”

Realizing that this was probably some kind of hiding place, Carl stepped into the elevator and looked at the name of the basement floor displayed on the button screen.

‘Boiler room’.

The boiler room is a machine room where boilers, water pumps and other ancillary equipment are placed. It is quite suitable to use this place as a hiding place.

The elevator didn’t last long before it reopened, and the underground scenery revealed in front of Carl was pitch black.

Compared to his teammates, Carl’s eyes are still original eyes after all, and they need a period of adaptation to the darkness. After adapting to the darkness, he found that the underground space was unexpectedly large.

Even if it can accommodate more than ten people, it may be more than enough. It is conceivable that at its peak, before the New America and military technology attacked Night City, this place might have been filled with people working for the “country” to handle various matters. But now…
All I can say is that this place may have been covered in dust for too long. Carl can even smell the unique smell of dust.

“Wait a moment, I’ll check the power supply. This place hasn’t been maintained for six years. I don’t know how much equipment is still intact.”

As Daphne spoke, she went to the power source and checked it. After checking for a while, she reached out and turned off the switch.

As Daphne moved, the light enveloped the dim underground space again. Although the lights only illuminated some places due to some equipment damage, it became brighter overall.

In the light, Daphne turned around and looked at Karl: “You cannot know my face, but my name is quite common. In order to prevent the name Daphne, which still has some value, from being exposed to those with ulterior motives in your communication, you can call me Alex from now on.”

“Are you reluctant to give up the name of the bar owner Daphne, Alex?” Carl thought for a moment: “It sounds like a male name, another pseudonym?”

“For people like us who work in this field, real names are no longer used as often as pseudonyms. If someone calls me by my real name, I would be stunned for a moment before I realize that it is my name.”

Alex took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it. After looking at the direction of the smoke, he put the filter into his mouth:
“We have been doing this for a long time and we don’t know whether the face behind the mask is ourselves or the person underneath is ourselves. It seems that there is no problem with ventilation underground, so we can rest assured.”

Alex said, not caring whether Karl listened to him or not. He walked to a device, started it, input a string of things for confirmation, and said to Karl and the others who were walking over: “Come on, the information you need is all here. The authority has been released to you according to the requirements above.”

Carl walked closer and looked at the screen of the old-fashioned electronic device. The first line he saw was:
‘Alvin Protocol Sustainment Plan’.

“This is.”

At the same time, Alex, who had not watched it before but was watching it at the same time, also had a look of surprise on his face.

What is the Alvin Accord? It is a peace treaty signed by New America and Arasaka six years ago. It stipulates that the military forces of New America are not allowed to set foot in Night City. It formally divides the sphere of influence between Militech and Arasaka. It is also a paper guarantee that there will be no fifth corporate war between the two parties. And now this intelligence says that the Alvin Accord needs to be maintained! ?

Is something unexpected about to happen that will threaten the survival of this agreement?
Is someone trying to disrupt the already fragile balance between military technology and Arasaka, causing the corporate war of the past to ignite again around the world?
Alex quickly clicked on the screen twice again, and finally the information was displayed on the entire screen.

This intelligence was sent to the Night City intelligence file by an agent with a hidden code name, and its overall content is:
Agent Code: Hidden (Confidentiality Agreement 2)
Mission Briefing: Alvin Protocol Sustainment Plan

Person involved: Kurt Hansen
Intelligence Summary: According to the latest intelligence, military technology personnel are planning to use the equipment of the Terrorist Squad that is not yet restricted by the regulations to attack the target Kurt Hansen. The purpose of this action is to eliminate Kurt Hansen and plunge Dogtown into chaos, so as to support new “patriots” and enable the power of the country to intervene in Night City again, thereby realizing the Alvin Protocol sabotage plan.

Instructions for hidden personnel operations:

Infiltrate the City Council, find out the details of the Terrorist Squad’s equipment and possible leaks, monitor Kurt Hansen’s whereabouts to ensure his safety, collect the attacker’s identity information, assess the current security situation in Night City, develop an emergency response plan to prevent Arasaka from intervening, stay hidden, avoid attracting unnecessary attention, and ensure the secrecy of the operation.

Operation: Restraint

Execution time: Immediately

Note: This operation is extremely important. We must ensure that the stability of Night City is not undermined. All operations must be carried out in secret to avoid causing public panic. After completing the mission, evacuate the scene immediately without leaving any trace.

Urgent Note: KK Team has taken over the cleanup mission, and all personnel are assisting to the best of their ability.

Command authority: RM.

Alex read the entire document and finally stopped at the command permissions.

RM?

After seeing the English abbreviation of this command authority, Alex’s heart beat faster.

Because in the authority, there is only one person who has such a name that does not require complicated data code and only uses these two English letters as the abbreviation.

‘Rosalind Myers’.

Rosalind Myers!
This is permission from the President!
This mission command authority is very important. Alex has never received such a command authority in her past career of serving the country. However, her former betrayer, who was the leader of the agents, often received orders from the president.
Throwing away some complicated thoughts in his mind, Alex looked at the urgent note again.

‘The KK team has taken over the cleanup mission, and all personnel will assist to the best of their ability.’

Isn’t the mission that the KK team is involved in the same mission as the one they just took on to clean out the military technology personnel? In other words, the reason why that group of military technology soldiers seized the equipment of the Terrorist Mobile Team is that they want to use the weapons that have not been installed with positioning and restrictions according to regulations to kill Kurt Hansen, the “king” of Dogtown, and then support people who are loyal to the “country”, so as to allow the tentacles of the New America to extend into Night City in another form?
Even without seeing the person who holds the command authority, Alex can understand from his past experience that this is definitely military technology or something done by people in the new United States who are dissatisfied with the current president.

In the eyes of the general public in North America, Rosalind Myers has two identities. One is an FXS member who violates the freedom and sovereignty of independent states, and the other is a patriot who protects the reunification of the country. But no matter what her identity is, the unification war carried out during her term is definitely an unavoidable point. Whether those who oppose or support her, they all agree that this war is only half completed and has not yet achieved her original goal.

Those who opposed her were grateful that Arasaka helped maintain Night City’s sovereignty, but at the same time they were also afraid that Night City would become the next free state land that she would reunite with force;
Those who supported her were happy about the unification of most of the country, but they were also afraid that her strong measures might lead to a conflict with Arasaka, which would lead to another corporate war that would affect the world.

Everyone on each side agrees that this has not achieved the goal Rosalind Miles originally envisioned, and they all admit that now is not the time to “liberate” the Free States and “unify” the United States. What if, at this moment when both sides are opposed to Rosalind Miles taking further action, it is revealed that the New American army has violated the Alvin Agreement and is about to invade Night City again?
Whatever the reason, Rosalind Myers was a prime target of attack from both sides because she was the incumbent president and, in the popular perception of the public, the leader of all people in the new America.

People don’t tend to think about factionalism within government, and if that had happened, Rosalind Myers’s tenure would probably have ended.

Alex already understood what was going on behind this.

Patriotism dealt with Kurt Hansen, a “traitor” in the de facto sense, for the sake of national unity. Supporting “patriots” was fake. The real purpose was that some people in the new America and military technology planned to use some means to drive Rosalind Miles out of office.

While Alex was figuring this out, while V and Mann were still pondering and wondering about the contents of the document, Carl had also figured out the whole thing.

Because if this matter is linked with the work he had done in the past, it is not difficult to guess the true thoughts of those “patriots”. Moreover, it is not difficult to know that the abbreviation RM is the abbreviation of Rosalind Miles by roughly spelling it.

After understanding things, Carl’s idea was simple.

“Countries and companies in this era are really the same. They fight among themselves and fight among themselves. If they had the energy to fight among themselves, they would have dealt with other companies and countries and dealt with most of the troubles long ago.”

but
“That way we won’t have any use for mercenaries, which is not good.”

　ps. There is only one update today, but 4,000 is almost enough (I wrote it fluently, so it’s okay)

　
(End of this chapter)