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"We've got a problem..."
Panam said this as we were driving back from a gig. The job was nothing too crazy, since Vik still hadn't given me the all-clear for fieldwork. That meant all we could take were tech-related jobs. Well, sometimes a hack job if there was access through a public access point...
Not that I couldn't take on a bunch of opponents, but Vik was all about precision and attention to detail. So he kept demanding that I show up at his clinic every other day for check-ups and fine-tuning. And all I could do was train...
A lot of training...
Just so I could figure out what my body was capable of now.
"Hmm?"
"Two vans, one black and one gray... they've been following us for a couple of blocks now..."
I connected to the Thorton's systems. We still hadn't switched cars yet, although we would be getting a new one in a couple of days. The upgrades on it would be finished then. And instead of one turret on the roof, there would be two, and they would be hidden in compartments where the cops usually carry their drones.
After watching the vans for a while, I sighed.
"Well, that was to be expected..."
"Huh?"
"We've stepped on too many toes. And I'm not just talking about Biotechnica, which was running those experiments on that farm. I'm talking about Faraday and Dex, as well as the gangs whose bases we're consistently clearing out. And we're even taking scavs for all they're worth more often than others, snagging their chrome for ourselves..."
"You think it's one of them?"
Lucy had already connected to my systems and was sending the feed I was seeing to everyone but Panam.
"Who knows? Could just be some drifters..."
"Plan A?"
"Yeah. Drive somewhere where there are fewer civilians... we don't need a firefight on a busy road..."
Panam subtly changed the route, but thankfully, our pursuers didn't seem to get suspicious. So, after thirty minutes, we were in one of Night City's half-ruined blocks, where there were hardly any residents.
And that's where Panam took a sharp turn, pulling a ninety-degree angle. Becca leaned out the window with her rifle, Judy connected to the machine gun, and Lucy and Kiwi got ready to hack the enemy systems.
I calmly got out of the car, though I had to go around the hood to head toward the stopped vans.
"Who are you and why are you following us?"
I spoke loud enough for them to hear me. And to my surprise, a guy in a suit got out of one of the vans. A clear corpo wannabe...
"We're from Faraday..."
"And what do you want?"
"Faraday wants to talk..."
"We don't."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I am."
"We can do this the hard way, you know..."
The slick guy theatrically snapped his fingers, and solos poured out of the vans. A lot of solos, although you could tell he had hired them on the fly. There was no standard gear, no organization, nothing.
"And that's supposed to scare me?"
"There are less of you..."
I sighed.
"There are less of us, but we're a few leagues better. We'll take you out and not even break a sweat."
"You're full of yourself!"
One of the solos shouted this and, apparently to intimidate me, he pulled the trigger. The bullet flew close to me and hit the Thorton's armor.
"I didn't start this..."
I shook my head.
"Wha..."
They were probably being watched. Maybe they were transmitting data from their vans. I didn't believe Faraday would hire this kind of rabble for no reason. So I used my Sandevistan at a level that a regular Sandevistan would have on the street. Thankfully, Vik and I had worked on this, and I knew I only needed to activate mine at twenty percent.
Yeah, it was nowhere near the speed I was used to. I was moving fast, but my opponents weren't completely frozen. They could probably see my afterimage blurring behind me, and I could see the bullets they were already firing at the spot where I had been and at my girls.
They clearly hadn't trained to work together... and they were scum who didn't give a damn about their comrades.
How did I know?
I just shifted to the side, and those who were trying to hit me riddled their own negotiator with bursts of fire... Despite the uncharacteristically slow speed of my movement—or rather, because of it—I saw the shock, fear, and confusion that slowly appeared on his face. But I had no right to stop...
Or to get in front of the opponents...
Why?
Because Becca and Judy were having fun! If I went for the opponents now, they'd have to stop firing. But this way... I was just pretending to go toward them. They were keeping me at bay with their gunfire, while the machine gun, controlled by Judy, and Becca were reaping a bloody harvest.
Thirty seconds of real time...
That's all it took for my girls to take care of all the enemies, and that's when I turned off my Sandevistan. Groans and cries of pain hit my ears, but I ignored them and calmly headed toward the opponents. Chrome works for a couple of minutes after its user's death... so I could get a lot done... if it was installed correctly, of course. A couple of minutes isn't much... but there were still survivors among the opponents...
That same negotiator was lying there, groaning in pain.
He was my first target. I walked up to him and slotted a shard into his port... The same procedure was done to all the surviving solos, as well as the on-board computers of the vehicles they came in. After that, I just waited. I didn't have to wait long, and soon the girls reported that they were finished and the data had been transferred to me. So I went about cleaning up the loose ends...
I pulled out all the shards... delivered a few final knife strikes to the head to make sure the brains were damaged, and then I finally got back to the Thorton and nodded to Panam.
"Home."
"To our place or to the clan?"
"Ah..."
I waved my hand.
"...whatever you prefer. In my opinion, since we did some work on the Behemoth, the standard of living is pretty high in both places."
"Well, yeah..."
Panam nodded.
"...honestly, I never suspected that life in a clan could be this comfortable. No, Saul promised that when we drove to Night City, the standard of living would be, like, AMAZING! But in reality..."
Panam got a little distracted from driving and looked at me, waving her hand.
"...if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known it could be like this. No one would... Yeah, we're still a bit limited in what we can do, but having converted one Behemoth into a full-fledged sauna with showers... you could say that the standard of living has risen to a level we never thought possible..."
"Well, I have to admit that compared to our first visit, the Aldecaldos' camp is really a nice place to be now..."
Judy nodded.
"City girl..."
Panam scoffed, which brought grins to everyone's faces.
"And I'm proud of it!"
Judy stuck her nose in the air, pretending to be proud.
While the girls were talking, I checked the data they had sent me. Well, there wasn't all that much data, other than the fact that Faraday had really hired them. He hadn't paid them an advance, though, and the solos themselves weren't that rich. That was clear from their gear.
But even so, I divided all the money we got and sent the girls their shares, of course, taking into account how much I had spent on them lately.
"There you go again..."
Lucy shook her head.
"Lucy, stop talking and think about how you're going to crack those corpo shards. You still haven't cracked a single one. And there was so much bravado! Like, 'we'll do it!' 'Rely on us!'"
"The ICE turned out to be much tougher and trickier..."
"Those are all excuses... you just need to work... Look, Kiwi's going to have to make another payment to Faraday soon..."
"I have money for that right now..."
Kiwi quickly chimed in.
"Kiwi, the key word in your sentence is 'right now.' You have money to pay this month, and I'm sure you'll pay next month, too, but what about after that? So work. Remember that our well-being depends on this. Cracking these shards can give us a stable income that doesn't depend on jobs."
"We remember that..."
Judy joined the conversation.
"Alright, fine... the data you found confirms that Faraday put these solos on us. But for now, he's within his rights..."
"Huh?"
"Well..."
I shrugged, to the girls' surprise.
"...he probably chose the contractors to make sure there was no way we could part ways peacefully, but you can't prove that. And the orders he gave... there's not a single word about an attack."
"And we're going to let that slide?"
"Becca, what can we do?"
Becca defiantly drew her right thumb across her throat.
"Yeah... and turn all the fixers in the city against us?"
Becca pouted.
"Although..."
"What?"
Everyone looked at me in surprise and with a little interest.
"We could try one little thing..."
I closed my eyes and called Regina.
"Something happen?"
"Well... let's just say Faraday has started to act. Formally, we can't charge him with anything. The contractor attacked us against his orders, but the kind of contractors he chose..."
"So he's started to act... And what do you want from me?"
"Well... let's just say... I'm willing to compromise some of my principles regarding the jobs I'll take. And if, completely out of the blue, there happens to be a client who's willing to pay for some big problems... that will suddenly appear for Faraday..."
"Just problems?"
"Well, an elimination would work, too..."
My image on the call must have been grinning with anticipation right about now.
"Hmm... Alright, I'll see what I can do... are you going to give Rogue the same problem?"
"Why not?"
I shrugged.
"You have different contacts, and it's quite possible we could get a double payment for Faraday."
"You're a tricky one... Alright, I'll see if I have anyone in my contacts who's willing to pay for Faraday's problems or his life."
"Thanks..."
I ended the call and immediately contacted Rogue.
"Ghost?"
"Rogue... question, do you have any jobs on Faraday?"
"Hmm... just like that? No beating around the bush?"
"You know me, I know you... why should we beat around the bush if neither of us likes it?"
"I'm guessing Faraday crossed a line?"
"He hired some solos..."
And I told Rogue about the encounter with the solos Faraday sent to "negotiate." Rogue just chuckled as she listened to the details.
"He's got a signature style..."
"Huh?"
"This isn't a popular topic... and he rarely gets turned down, but in general, this is his usual strategy. This is how he gathers data on the people he's going to hunt down soon. Be ready for two or three more tests like this, and after that, the real confrontation will begin..."
I shrugged.
"Well, I won't show him what I can do... so I doubt he'll be able to get an accurate assessment of our capabilities. And I'm still hoping that you have people in your contacts who would be willing to pay for his life."
"Well... I think I do... I need to talk to a couple of people..."
"Then I'll wait..."
"Yeah..."
The connection was cut.
"So?"
Lucy was the first to notice that I had opened my eyes. It wasn't necessary to close my eyes when I was talking, and I didn't do it while working. But in my normal life... I guess it was a habit from my past life, where I didn't have this kind of tech or these kinds of abilities, and so I would constantly close my eyes just to focus on the person I was talking to.
"I cast a line to Regina and Rogue. I think we'll have a job for an elimination soon..."
"Did they finally get to you?"
"Not that they got to me..."
I shook my head.
"...I just don't like it when people pressure me like that. And Rogue said that this kind of tactic is common for Faraday and that we should expect a couple more tests before he decides to act seriously..."
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