After a morning meeting to confirm the information and steps to follow on the appointed day, Faelan and Dorio moved out at night, when Japantown was at its busiest and people were deeply immersed in their business and vices.
Kiwi and Sasha would operate remotely.
Faelan didn't stay invisible the whole way—only once he was a block away from entering the zone did he stop behind a dumpster and drink the potion. He had prepared enough for thirty minutes of invisibility, which should be enough to reach his entry point and have some left over while sticking close behind Dorio, who was acting as a crowd breaker.
The place was extremely rundown, downright disgusting. Faelan didn't think that even once he was an adult again, he'd ever want to come to such a sordid place—not even for a drink.
It was far from meeting any kind of quality or hygiene standards!
He almost stopped involuntarily when they passed an alley with a shop labeled [Wakako's Parlor], since it was the "hidden" workplace of the fixer in charge of the area, Wakako Okada.
The very same who got Rebecca and her older brother into the merc business, some time after what happened to their father. At least that's how he remembered it—those parts of the siblings' lives were a little fuzzy.
Faelan was a bit relieved that the megabuilding they had to infiltrate wasn't H8, since that one was crawling with informants for Wakako and the Tyger Claws, especially in the infamous Clouds.
No, the megabuilding they had to investigate was H5.
Dorio would enter through the main entrance and act like a resident, while Faelan would move toward the waste area behind the megabuilding and gain entry through the ventilation system.
"I haven't tested if turning into butterflies keeps me invisible," he realized belatedly. "Whatever—more material for the legend. I should start thinking of a name or something, I don't want some idiot slapping an unpleasant title on me and having it stick."
The first step was for both of them to be in position in front of the panels when the next twenty-minute cycle started, which would be in eleven minutes. If they missed the exact time, they'd have to wait for the next cycle.
Dorio pretended to be looking for a place to smoke, leaving Faelan in position before checking for any cameras and heading toward the main entrance.
Since Faelan lacked implants, he had to use a battery-powered earpiece to stay connected to the call.
Once he was sure he was alone and no prying eyes were nearby, Faelan dissolved into emerald green butterflies and darted into the ventilation system. Two minutes later, he reappeared on the highest floor with a cable panel.
"And here I thought trash and squatters only gathered on the lower floors," he thought in disgust as he looked at the condition of the hallway.
Two unconscious men covered with cardboard like blankets and several piles of garbage, with energy drink cans and cups of instant synthetic noodles scattered around.
He didn't have to wait long before Kiwi's voice came through his earpiece as he headed toward the floor section with the panel he had to wire.
["Fae's inside. How are you doing, Dorio?"]
["The damn elevator jams all the time. Give me a couple minutes."]
["Then take the stairs. You're fit—you'll be fine."]
["No way! Maybe after the first panel, and only if it's really necessary."]
["Sasha here! No anomalies on the net, you're clear to proceed."]
["Hey girls, I found the cable panel. Let me know when Dorio's in position and we can start."]
Faelan looked at the square yellow panel with a bright "DO NOT TOUCH" warning sign above it. The panel was wide open, one hinge already unhooked, and there was even a soda can stuffed with cigarette butts inside.
Once again—what a disgusting place.
While waiting for the signal, he examined the exposed wiring and looked for the ones he had to connect.
"Blue wire, red wire, green wire, wire..."
Ah, there it was. Zebra-striped black and white wire.
["Alright, I'm in front of the wiring panel."]
["The camera pointed at you is on a loop."]
["Time until the next cycle?"]
["Two minutes. Wait for my signal."]
…
["You're good to connect."]
Faelan grabbed the wire and plugged it in, a sudden surge causing sparks to fly.
["All clear—no trap triggered. Dorio, head to the panel two floors up. Fae, your next one's three floors down."]
And so the twenty-minute countdown began.
Twenty minutes to connect the cables and for Kiwi and Sasha to locate the door where Vanesa was hiding so Dorio and Faelan could capture her.
Faelan returned to the vent he came through and fast-traveled toward his next target.
Dorio's frustrated voice came through the earpiece.
["Shit! The elevator's occupied."]
There were only three elevators for several hundred people in the megabuilding, so the weird part was that he managed to use it earlier with no one else around.
["Stairs, Dorio~"]
["Mind your business, Sasha!"]
"Second panel connected," Faelan reported while plugging in the corresponding wire.
["Already?!"]
"Yeah, heading to the third."
Sasha's voice replied.
["Yeah, about that… you might want to go for the fourth one first and come back for the third later."]
Faelan paused for a moment, waiting for more details.
["Security guards?"]
["Not exactly. There's a group of six big guys being very passionate in the corner where the panel is. I don't think you want to see it, and I need to scrub my eyes with acid when we're done here. I'm too young for this."]
Faelan's eye twitched.
Maybe he didn't want to see it, but… wait until they were done with their "meeting"? That might be worse, since he doubted they'd clean up whatever mess they left behind.
He moved toward the zone, and as he began hearing unspeakable noises—flesh slapping and mechanical springs—he felt his stomach churn. Still, he didn't hesitate. He took out a sealed bottle, poured the liquid on the floor, and generated a bit of air to guide the vapor toward the source of the noise.
The sounds soon stopped, replaced by loud snoring.
Faelan took a deep breath and turned the corner, taking only ten seconds to come back with the cables connected. He walked up to the nearest trash can and threw up with all his might.
It was the first time Night City had ever disgusted him this much—he hadn't known implants like those existed, and he'd rather have stayed ignorant!
["Did you hit them with some kind of anesthetic? That stuff looks pretty strong."]
["Sasha, I don't think Fae's in any shape to answer anything right now…"]
["Second panel connected!"]
["Alright, we've still got twelve minutes and just one panel left on each side."]
["Data's still quiet."]
Faelan felt lucky he'd decided to wait until after the op to eat—he didn't have much in his stomach to throw up, and after a minute, he could keep going. Though he doubted he'd eat anything at all tonight…
Before leaving, he pulled out another bottle with a bitter expression and sprayed the red mist into the restricted zone.
["Faelan, dare I ask?"]
["Depends on whether you still want dinner tonight, Sasha."]
["Go ahead then, I don't think I'll be hungry after what we saw."]
["I'm muting you two on my and Dorio's end."]
Faelan waited until he rematerialized on the fourth floor to answer as he made his way to the fourth wiring panel.
["You know those itching powders? Think of this as a more irritating, aggressive, and... permanent version."]
["How aggressive are we talking here?"]
["Let's just say that when they wake up, they'll wish they were as chromed out as Adam Smasher."]
This was a blend Faelan had come up with before moving on to real potions, just to test his instincts—but it had been overstimulated by magic.
Eighty percent velvet bean, ten percent powdered nettle, five percent dry grass microfibers, and the rest corn starch as a dispersing agent.
All plant-based.
It was already dangerous to handle under normal circumstances, but with druidic magic added to the mix…
Saying those guys would scratch themselves raw wasn't an exaggeration!
And considering the red mist had coated every inch of their bodies…
"You should've gotten a damn room like everyone else, assholes," Faelan muttered with pure, unfiltered malice, still tasting a bit of bile in his mouth as he stood before the last panel.
He broke the lock with a single hit and opened the door, looking for his target.
["Girls, I've got a bit of a problem here."]
["I knew it was weird how smoothly things were going. What's up?"]
It wasn't going smoothly! That's what Faelan wanted to shout, but he bit his tongue.
["Last panel on my side's done!"]
["Nice work, Dorio. Get comfy and wait."]
["I found the fourth panel, broke the lock, opened it and… there's nothing."]
["What do you mean, nothing?"]
["Literally. Not a single wire intact—it's like someone took giant scissors and gave it a third-rate barber cut. I'm guessing we can't just skip it?"]
["Not if we want to find her within the next twenty minutes."]
["Open to ideas."]
["Got any trash nearby? You're the handyman—try to improvise something."]
That was a good point. If there was anything useful in the trash, maybe he could fix it.
He rummaged quickly through the various bags and gathered a few things:
Broken headphones with braided wire.
A scorched motherboard—barely usable, but with intact copper traces.
An empty NiCola can, but with a metal lid.
A half-full lighter.
A broken binder clip and some miscellaneous debris.
"Alright, let's see if this works."
He stripped the headphone wire to expose the fine copper, scraped the panel to uncover copper traces, tore open the can, and cut out a thin metal strip with sharp edges—just enough to act as a makeshift conduit bridge. He bent the binder clip into a clamp to hold the joints together.
Then, he twisted the stripped headphone wire around one of the severed wires in the panel, used the can strip as a flat connector, pressing it against the exposed copper tips. To finish securing it, he used a piece of the headphone's plastic casing, melted into place with the lighter.
"Calling this a janky fix would offend a lot of people," Faelan thought, eyeing his invention.
He wrapped the joint with a bit of crumpled aluminum foil to act as both conductor and shield. He sealed the whole mess with saliva and soot scraped from the vents, forming a crude adhesive.
"And now for the most technical, delicate part…"
He jumped and delivered a spinning heel kick straight to the panel.
A hum, a spark, a whiff of burnt ozone—and done. The panel lit up.
["We've got connection!"]
["No idea how long that thing'll hold, so hurry your side up before I end up causing an explosion."]
He'd basically made an electric bridge that was a Frankenstein's monster of copper, aluminum, and urban grime.
It wouldn't last.
But in this city, nothing ever does.
He approached the ventilation grate again. As soon as they had the location, he would head there directly.
…
Sasha's voice suddenly came through.
["We've got her!"]
Followed by Kiwi's calmer voice.
["Twentieth floor, door thirty-two. Six minutes before the cycle ends."]
["Hahahaha, I'm coming, bitch!"]
Twentieth floor?
Faelan looked at the number painted on the nearby stairwell.
Twenty-first floor.
He stared at the number for three seconds, then simply began descending the stairs at a steady pace. He ended up near door forty, so he only needed to move a bit.
["Ah, Faelan's already there."]
The boy stopped and looked around.
["Any cameras in the hallway?"]
["Two, actually. One in the corridor, and another at the far end that can rotate to cover that area. Don't worry, it's all blocked. To be precise, they're still transmitting, but not recording anything."]
["Dorio?"]
No answer was needed — the heavy breathing and quick footsteps gave away Dorio's arrival within a minute.
"Need a minute to catch your breath?"
["Three minutes."]
"No, let's go. I want this over with."
It was clear the merc just wanted to end this mess as fast as possible.
"Alright. Let me phase in and open the door from the inside."
Faelan once again dissolved into butterflies, slipping through the narrow space in the sliding door.
He didn't linger in the all-pink apartment. The moment he reformed, he hit the door's unlock button. Strangely, right after he opened it, a ceiling panel popped open and dropped something in front of him.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Dorio's skin crawled when she heard the all-too-familiar beeping — one that quickened with each passing second. A standard proximity mine, the kind used by NCPD. Instinctively, she dove behind the wall.
Faelan stared at the square package with its flashing red light, mere inches from him.
"Of course..."
BOOOOM!
Only after the explosion did Dorio fully realize what had happened — and what she hadn't done.
Why didn't she grab Faelan before diving?
Shit, Galina's going to gut her!
That is, if Kiwi didn't get to her first...