The Mox never expected to recover such a massive haul from Maelstrom's warehouses—let alone that the tip-off would come from the new corporation that had been drawing so much attention lately, telling them that today's guards were all rookies.
It would take them months to digest the profits, and they'd come out stronger, richer, and with fewer problems.
To be honest, they thought that even if the info turned out to be solid, they could just ignore the corp like they were deaf. After all, in a way, they'd handed over a symbolic blank check for the warehouse intel—they could always choose never to cash it in.
Until they found out. Until they saw that.
A colossal dark tree had grown out of Maelstrom's headquarters. Rumor had it that it swallowed the entire gang like a snack, and if anyone had doubts, all they had to do was walk up and put their ear to the bark.
Not that anyone dared. Even NCPD investigators had to be threatened with termination just to get close enough to see what the hell was going on.
Some of them quit on the spot.
The reason behind it all?
If what was whispered on the streets was true, Maelstrom had somehow pissed off the nightmare of the scavengers—the Night City legend they were now calling The Druid.
Not just because of the tree incident. It's possible someone behind the scenes took the initiative to spread that nickname before someone else came up with something completely ridiculous.
Like Butterfly Man. That would've been humiliating.
Now, The Mox felt like what they had in their hands was no different than an Aztec treasure looted by pirates—a cursed bounty in every sense. Whether they used it or not didn't matter. The debt existed either way.
So they might as well make use of what they'd gotten. At this point, it was the only consolation.
"What do we do now, Noa?" asked a Mox with a fluorescent skull tattoo on her face.
Noa Sweller was the current leader of the gang—the big sister everyone turned to when things got messy. But even she felt a migraine creeping in from the situation. She regretted accepting a deal that had seemed too good to be true.
Only now did she realize how expensive that deal really was.
"Have we been able to confirm if the Druid is actually part of Naturtal&Co?" she asked in a tired voice—she hadn't slept well since the tree thing. "Merc? Investigator? Whatever he is."
The Mox had wasted no time digging into the corp that had made them the offer. And after what happened with Maelstrom, they were sure there was a connection between that urban legend and the company.
Others might only suspect. But to them, the link was definite—they just didn't know to what extent.
"You've heard the stories, how things go when he's around," the Mox who was asked stretched her hands out helplessly. "As usual, camera footage and everything else is unrecoverable. I tried seeing if any of Maelstrom's implants survived long enough to leave a trace, but it was useless."
At this point, the degradation of implants and tech was basically one of the telltale signs he'd been there. But no one understood how he did it—just like the rest of it.
"Alright," Noa ran a hand down her face. "If any Mox runs into that guy, I don't want him provoked, got it? And if Naturtal&Co contacts us—I want to know within the minute!" she ordered. "Also, keep digging. I want the gang to build a shared file in the cloud. Add anything you find."
…
Meanwhile, at Galina's house.
"You call that leaving a small message?!" Kiwi was shaking Faelan in a way that was only possible if the boy allowed it.
That damn tree was not exactly small!
Or were they using different systems of measurement?
"Alright, alright, let's calm down a bit..." Galina pulled Kiwi away from Faelan, who sighed in relief that someone had stepped in. But to his dismay, Galina followed Kiwi's example and grabbed him too before starting to shake him. "You call that leaving a small message?! Ну ты и наглец!"
Faelan felt like crying from the unfair treatment.
How was he supposed to know Maelstrom would be better fertilizer than he estimated?
When he finally escaped Galina's grasp and saw Sasha approaching with an eager gleam in her eyes while warming up her joints, he shot her a glare that made her stop reluctantly.
"It wasn't supposed to be that big, alright?" he finally got the pause he needed to defend himself. "The tree was only meant to reach the ceiling of All Foods, maybe dent it a little—but not this!"
"And what went wrong?" Sasha asked with her arms crossed. "Did you mess up the moon phase or something?"
"No," Faelan gave her a dry look. "They just turned out to be better fertilizer than I expected—which I'm not even sure is a good or bad thing."
"Gloria just called," Galina's eyes dimmed slightly. "I calmed her down, but you're in for a serious talk with her."
Faelan groaned in resignation. He had been avoiding Gloria ever since his… physical awakening.
"Look, the problem is that soon we'll have the NCPD knocking on the company's door," Kiwi flopped onto the couch. "Between checking permits, safety inspections, and the thousand excuses they'll come up with to flip everything upside down, I estimate they'll shut us down for a few months at least."
Strictly speaking, that didn't matter much—Faelan could grow food wherever he wanted. The company was more of a public cover for his origins and a money-printing machine for them.
"And what do you suggest?" Faelan sat next to her, his idea now completely out of control, and he had no answer for the current situation.
Maybe if he had a few days, he could come up with something—but they didn't have that time. If Kiwi was right, the NCPD could show up at the company tomorrow.
Kiwi stayed silent while refining the idea she had.
"Those potions you call Substance X-27 and Substance C-65, would it be a problem to give them a few vials?" she asked tentatively. "Stuff like reverse-engineering, creating replicas, etc."
Substance X-27 was the potion to revitalize soil, while Substance C-65 was to "purify" bodies of water. One vial of X-27 could nourish and green up several meters of soil around it, while a single vial of C-65 was enough to clean and make drinkable up to three hundred cubic meters of water. Even if it were filled with nuclear waste and synthetic trash, two vials at most would turn it drinkable and safe.
"No," Faelan didn't even take a tenth of a second to answer. "While it would be very easy to figure out what they're made of (natural herbs), both potions require my magic as a catalytic agent to work. Even if they copied the recipe, got the herbs, and figured out the process and ratios, all they'd get is a smoothie that does nothing."
Considering the potions required Severus Snape-level attention to detail…
There was a reason he had to spend weeks learning the basics properly.
"Are you sure they couldn't replicate them?" Kiwi insisted.
"Absolutely. At best, they'd get very expensive herb smoothies," he shook his head confidently. "But… why would we give the NCPD some vials?"
"To prove they stole from us," Kiwi leaned back and clasped her knee with both hands, narrowing her eyes shrewdly. "We just discovered that someone from Maelstrom broke into our lab and stole key samples from various ecological projects."
Sasha seemed to catch on and was already putting on her helmet to start forging internal data, earning a nod of approval from Kiwi while Galina rolled her eyes but didn't stop her.
Stuff like this was basic in their old line of work.
"So… Maelstrom tried to mess with the samples without knowing what they did, and ended up like that?" Galina guessed, pointing at the tree on the screen, amazed by the plan the girl had pulled from her sleeve so easily.
Basically, it said:
"Our hands are clean, they were the idiots who messed up. Totally their fault!"
"Naturally, why else would we choose to set up in the badlands?" Kiwi shrugged like she wasn't lying through her teeth "It's not like we were short on funds. These were safety measures to ensure there were no victims in case of an accident, and to allow for safer field testing. We're very responsible~"
It was so ridiculous it might just work!
"So, we just hand over a few vials and that's it?" Faelan didn't believe it could be that easy.
"No," Kiwi shook her head "We're going to have to put on a little performance..."
…
As they expected, six NCPD vehicles showed up at the company with various warrants prepared, likely authorized by the mayor himself. To avoid unnecessary confrontations with personnel, Kiwi had warned the employees to take the day off while the company "repaired the sprinklers in the fields."
Although each car carried at least three NCPD officers, most would wait outside while the main team handled everything, only stepping in if absolutely necessary.
In other words, they wanted to prevent anyone from trying to escape.
As for the main team?
Lieutenant Vera "Steel" Morozov, 38, tall and athletic. Black hair tied in a braid, cybernetic gray eyes with a visible scar crossing the bridge of her nose.
Inspector Max "Sparks" Ortega, 29, slim and average height. Shaved head with blue neon lines implanted in his dermis, silver cybernetic arms with exposed ports.
Field Officer Dwayne "Block" Jefferson, 42, extremely bulky and two meters tall. Shaved head, square jaw with reinforced implant. Wears smart black glasses and standard NCPD heavy armor.
Since Dorio had taken the role of Head of Security, it was up to her to act as the guide for the inspection or whatever it turned out to be.
["Shit, just seeing them makes me anxious. Sasha?"]
["Got it. Lieutenant Vera is known for being incorruptible and brutal if she detects any malicious cover-ups. Inspector Max is basically a tech nerd with a thing for scanning everything, and Officer Dwayne… there's not much, just mentions of his SWAT background."]
["Great, a sharp one, a geek, and a heavyweight. Why couldn't Aunt Galina do this? 😭"]
["Just do what we practiced. The rest of us will handle everything else."]
"I'm Lieutenant Vera. This is Inspector Max and Officer Dwayne from the NCPD." The woman stopped two meters in front of Dorio, whether out of caution or to reduce tension, only she and her team knew "Seems like the company was expecting us. You're Dorio, Head of Security, correct?"
Dorio held back a grimace—of course they had to know about her.
"Yes," she stuck to the script, playing it cool "How can the NCPD be of assistance?"
Officer Dwayne frowned at the loaded phrasing in Dorio's question.
But Lieutenant Vera acted as if she hadn't noticed the exact wording, only the general intent.
"Due to the recent tree incident in Night City and the activity occurring in this territory, we have reason to suspect your company is involved." she explained in a neutral, professional tone "We've brought several authorizations to inspect the facilities and—"
"Oh, that," Dorio feigned surprise, then nodded "Actually, the NCPD showing up saves us a big problem." She exhaled in relief.
"A big problem?" Lieutenant Vera repeated.
"We were robbed," Dorio gestured for them to follow her inside and began explaining as she led the way "You might think we only deal in organic food, but the boss has his sights set on something much bigger. So—"
"Is your boss present right now?" Lieutenant Vera cut in sharply "It would be helpful to exchange information with him."
"I'm afraid not," Dorio shook her head like she didn't pick up on the lieutenant's true intent "He's been depressed since the robbery. He's invested a lot into his research."
"You mean, besides being the head of Naturtal&Co, he also acts as and fulfills the role of R&D director?" Inspector Max asked in surprise.
How could he not be surprised?
It was almost a rule that company heads were the ones handling the money, but their actual academic backgrounds were… lacking. Only the major megacorporations were exceptions.
"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that..." Dorio scratched the back of her neck "Whatever! The point is, we found out we were robbed recently, and after I yelled at him, he was going to call you guys to help us with the issue."
"Aha." Officer Dwayne looked around "So what was stolen, the lettuce?"
"Watch your mouth and don't speak when you don't know anything." Dorio turned to him seriously "The boss's research is no joke."
Lieutenant Vera raised a hand to calm the officer.
"Could you give us more details?" she could tell Dorio had led them to the research area. She hadn't expected it to be this easy.
Dorio stared at the officer a few more seconds, then acted as if she'd let it slide—just this once.
"I can't say much since I don't know a lot about science," she shook her head "But the boss authorized sharing a snippet of internal info." Her optics lit up as she sent a file to the three of them, clearly redacted and fragmented "The thief—or thieves—stole samples of Substance X-27 and Substance C-65 from the R&D department." she explained while they entered a clean room with carefully organized vials inside highly reinforced glass cases "The tree incident, as you're calling it... We suspect the perpetrators were Maelstrom and that they handled Substance X-27 ignorantly, which caused... well, the tree."
Lieutenant Vera reviewed the document closely.
"Fascinating," Techie Max was already scanning several vials without waiting for Dorio's permission "The components are unusual, the synthetic content is almost zero..."
"If you want to keep that arm, don't try taking anything from the cases." Without turning, Dorio warned Officer Dwayne, who had silently extended a hand toward one of the displays for unknown reasons.
"Is that a threat?" the officer asked with a scowl.
Dorio rolled her eyes like she was dealing with an idiot, grabbed what looked like a half-eaten veggie burrito from a nearby table, and threw it onto the glass case the officer had nearly touched.
SSShhhhhh!
To the stunned gaze of the three NCPD agents, the burrito "melted" into a purplish-black sludge within three seconds of touching the surface.
"My boss has upped the security measures since the robbery. That's one of the basic ones." Dorio explained, unfazed "I said the arm, but it really depends on how fast you react to amputate the limb. You might only lose up to the elbow if you're quick!" she added cheerfully.
The officer silently withdrew his arm.
"Excuse me, is this information real?" Lieutenant Vera asked, raising an eyebrow "Because the effects seem a bit…"
"Yes, yes," Dorio waved her hand dismissively as she led them to a corner of the room, where six vials (three of each color) rested quietly inside a foam-padded case on a metal table "The boss expected some doubts, so he reluctantly agreed to hand over three samples of each stolen substance to the NCPD." Her optics lit up as she sent over a batch of documents prepared by Kiwi, Gordon, and Galina "Of course, you'll need to sign these documents in order to take them."
The three agents quickly skimmed through the paperwork.
It was a comprehensive compilation of legal clauses essentially requiring the information to be kept confidential, forbidding the sharing of samples with third parties, prohibiting requests for additional doses, and so on.
"This is very… thorough," Techie Max was sweating as he scrolled through the HUNDREDS of clauses. Whoever wrote this clearly knew how megacorporations exploited legal loopholes.
"My superiors will need to review this first," Lieutenant Vera stated, with no interest whatsoever in reading it all herself.
"No problem!" Dorio shut the cases, and seconds later, they were automatically sealed beneath a reinforced glass cover identical to the others "I can wait a bit."
Translation: No signatures, forget about taking anything out of here.
Lieutenant Vera forwarded the documents to her superiors, adding a note urging them to hurry so they wouldn't have to make a second trip.
"Since we have to wait, could you show us the scene of the robbery?"
"Of course!"
…
Three hours later.
The lieutenant, the officer, and the techie exited the company building with two briefcases handcuffed to their wrists and three large crates of fresh strawberries as a courtesy gift. The freshly harvested and chilled fruit was quickly distributed among everyone present—after all, they knew that if they brought them back to the station, they wouldn't get a single bite.
God, they had never tasted anything so delicious in their lives.
Tender, sweet, juicy, and with a delightful aroma.
Suddenly, everyone felt like they should ask for a raise for the entire NCPD—just enough to afford Naturtal&Co food once a week.
"Forget about that for now. Let's get the samples to the station," Lieutenant Vera said, glancing anxiously at the briefcases "We have the data, took statements, completed the inspection, and stumbled into a crossover case. Thoughts?"
Field Officer Dwayne spoke up first.
"Looks like a legitimate robbery, and the timeline checks out," he was putting his years of experience on the line, but he was confident "I've seen robberies in several corporations and this one fits the usual pattern. Judging by the scene, it was just one thief—otherwise, they would've taken a larger amount of samples. They also clearly facilitated both entry and escape."
Techie Max was reviewing the data again.
"I don't get it," he scratched the back of his neck "I know I'm more of a tech guy than a bio guy, but the data lists extinct plants whose properties shouldn't be able to produce anything like what the report describes."
"We just have to test them later," Lieutenant Vera shrugged "She told us how to use them. It's very straightforward."
"Alright then, I want to see if the effect is really as magical as they claim," Max scoffed, without realizing just how on point his comment really was.