"Stop the vehicle. Prepare for inspection." Hearing the shout from the group of men in green uniforms, all armed, Oliver obediently brought
"Stop the vehicle. Prepare for inspection." Hearing the shout from the group of men in green uniforms, all armed, Oliver obediently brought
"Stop the vehicle. Prepare for inspection."
Hearing the shout from the group of men in green uniforms, all armed, Oliver obediently brought the car to a halt.
He knew who these guys were.
These were Kurt Hansen's guard dogs—the force that allowed him to keep control over Dogtown—known as the Barghest.
If Hansen was the king of Dogtown, then the Barghest were his soldiers. If he was the boss, they were his personal NCPD. Simply put, they ran things around here, and that included gatekeeping.
Dogtown wasn't the kind of place you could just stroll into. Of course, if you had connections, that was another story. But for everyone else, a physical pass was required. To many folks in Night City, a Dogtown pass was a golden ticket—a way to disappear after a crime, the perfect hideout.
Getting a pass wasn't hard for Karl and his crew. Just like Afterlife only stopped punks too green to know better, once you hit a certain level, nothing was out of reach. But today, none of them had brought a pass.
The reason was simple.
They were here under the Arasaka name. There were Arasaka personnel inside Dogtown they were scheduled to meet, and during Karl's contact with them, he'd been told that everything had been arranged—they just had to show their faces and they'd be let through.
As the Barghest soldier walked over, Oliver lowered the window, expecting his face to do the trick. But to his surprise, the young soldier—who looked barely over twenty—just looked annoyed.
"What are you staring at? Got a paper pass or not?"
"Huh?"
Oliver blinked. The soldier clearly misunderstood his silence. "No? Fine. Hold up, I'll scan your face. Let's see if you're registered for a digital pass."
The guy pulled out a scanner and waved it over Oliver's face, then checked the results. After a moment, he looked back at Oliver with disdain.
"Nope. No digital pass either. You're not registered. Turn around and get lost. Come back when you've got the paperwork. And what's with rolling up in this beat-up Hera like you own the main road? Don't you know the rules? Civvies take the side lane. Freakin' newbies, begging to get into Dogtown like it's a theme park. This ain't your playground."
Before Oliver could say a word, he was already getting chewed out. His first reaction, after a moment of stunned silence, was pure outrage.
"Begging?! I'm from Santo Domingo, dammit! Born and raised before the New Zone was even built! You Dogtown dogs are the ones squatting in our backyard like kings. Just some desert rats who got lucky and now think you're big shots—running around like wannabe wolves with feathers shoved up your asses!"
"Local, huh?"
The Barghest guard gave Oliver a long look, then scanned him again just to double-check.
"Doesn't matter. Local or not, no pass means no entry. Go back to grandpa's place and have him print out a couple of passes for your punk ass. Maybe he knows how things work better than you do."
"I swear—"
"Hang on, Oliver. Let me try."
Just as Oliver was about to go off again, Jackie leaned over from the passenger seat, trying to keep the situation calm. "Maybe my pass is active. Mind checking me?"
"You…"
The soldier narrowed his eyes. Jackie looked vaguely familiar, but not enough to place. Still, the guy scanned his face—and got the same result.
"Nope. You're out too. Buncha clueless city boys…"
"I'm from Heywood!"
"Oh, another genius from the city who doesn't know the damn rules."
Watching the soldier roast them both, Karl—quiet in the backseat—felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
What was this? A "your granddad's a real OG, don't even try" kind of vibe?
So this was Dogtown, huh? Colorful place. The gate was already full of fireworks.
But wait… neither Oliver nor Jackie's passes were working? Could it be that something went wrong on Arasaka's end?
Their Arasaka contact in Dogtown was Kenichi Kazuhide, the nephew of Kenichiro Arasaka himself. Karl remembered that Kenichi had been assigned to coordinate here after Kenichiro got sick of Karl always contacting him directly. Kenichi might have risen through the ranks thanks to family ties, but he was still extremely competent. If he said everything would be handled, it should have been.
Lowering his window, Karl finally spoke up.
"What about me? Do I have a pass?"
"You?"
Now the soldier was visibly irritated. What the hell was up with this car? One after another they were taking turns having him check them. He was busy—either you had a pass, or you didn't.
With a grunt, he lifted his scanner and waved it at Karl.
Halfway through the motion, something felt... wrong.
This guy looked really familiar.
More familiar than the musclehead in the passenger seat.
Where had he seen this face before?
The scan completed.
Access denied.
"Nope. You're out too."
"I'm out too, huh?"
"No pass, no entry. That's the rule. Go home."
Just spitting it out on autopilot now, the soldier repeated his script—until his brain caught up.
Wait a second…
This guy looked really, really familiar…
He knew him. He definitely knew him.
The name was on the tip of his tongue—just couldn't quite—
"KK."
Oh shit. That was it. That guy was KK!
The moment realization dawned, someone behind the checkpoint suddenly screamed out:
"It's KK!"
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