"Talk? What do you want to talk to me about?"
As Mercer spoke, V and Panam had already entered combat mode; in fact, the moment the other side drew their guns, both instinctively moved to shield Mercer behind them.
At this moment, Panam was holding a pistol, beads of sweat faintly visible on her forehead. At such close range, given the enemy's firepower, she'd be riddled with bullets after firing just a few shots.
V, on the other hand, looked fiercely determined. She held a gun in her right hand and gripped a grenade in her left, ready to go down fighting if anyone dared make a move.
Claire had already ducked behind the bar, shouting, "Where are the bouncers?"
Several burly bouncers were rushing over, weapons raised, their expressions grim as they yelled, "Everyone put your fucking guns down! Open fire in Afterlife, and you're all fucking dead!"
Mercer, however, simply stared coldly at the group of mercenaries, his focus primarily on the lean man, his Sandevistan posed the greatest threat.
Neither Mercer nor the man spoke, both locking eyes intensely as the tension thickened. But after a moment, the man suddenly burst into laughter.
"Ha ha ha ha!" His laughter sounded odd, almost robotic.
At the same time, his eyes glowed with a red light, and his arm trembled slightly, as if something was eager to spring out.
"Fenrir?" The burly mercenary noticed something was off and turned to look. The lean man he called Fenrir was shaking his head slightly, his cybereye twitching as he stared fixedly at Mercer.
"Shit, this idiot's about to go Cyberpsycho!"
V, well-experienced, widened her eyes and shouted, pulling Mercer back with her.
The bouncers reacted as if facing a major threat, unlocking their weapons and activating their cyberware. Even nearby mercenaries who had been watching the spectacle paled and instinctively backed away.
At this moment, Mercer hesitated briefly... should he upload the program to take the other out now?
If he uploaded the program, it would undoubtedly provoke the madman immediately.
If he couldn't hack him quickly, the madman would likely turn his focus onto Mercer.
The distance between them was only about five or six meters. For someone equipped with a Sandevistan, activating it would allow him to close that gap in less than a second.
The opponent was equipped with military-grade ICE. Without server support, Mercer would likely have to push his brain to overheating to have any chance of taking him down quickly.
In this situation, he wasn't sure if he'd still have the capacity to move.
After a brief moment of thought, Mercer chose to retreat immediately and create distance.
"Fenrir! Damn it, quick, give him the sedative!"
The burly mercenary shouted, and one of his teammates, carrying a shotgun, immediately reached behind his waist and pulled out an injection vial.
However, just as the teammate was about to inject Fenrir, Fenrir suddenly whipped his head around, his hand moved at a speed only barely perceptible to Mercer, grabbing his teammate's wrist. "Medication? No, can't take meds, can't stop."
Fenrir's eyes began to tremble violently as he stared fixedly at his teammate, as if looking at a complete stranger—an enemy.
The hulking mercenary behind him suddenly reached out, wrapping Fenrir in a bear hug with both arms. Though his arms were essentially grenade launchers, he hadn't disguised them as Gorilla Arms just for show.
The Muscle Enhancement caused the muscles in his arms to bulge intensely, with dark veins visible beneath the faintly bluish skin.
At that moment, the burly mercenary used all his strength to pry Fenrir's arms apart, pinning him down while shouting, "Quick, the meds! Now!"
Meanwhile, Mercer seized the opportunity; the moment the target was restrained by his own ally, he began the hack.
Thanks to the provoking netrunner, Mercer was already inside their intranet, bypassing the need to crack the network and going straight to uploading a Cyberware Malfunction program into Fenrir.
His mind raced, and almost the instant he sent the program, his head began to heat up.
All his processing power was devoted to delivering the program, while the ICE program in Fenrir's brain also kicked into overdrive.
The ICE program installed in Fenrir's brain was specialized hardware covering the frontal cortex. This military-grade ICE in cyberware form was essentially a micro-server dedicated to ICE countermeasures.
Mercer's cybereye flickered with streams of blue data. In that instant, his focus was so intense he couldn't even bother to move.
Every bit of his mental processing was dedicated to breaching the target's ICE and deploying the program.
Three seconds.
He needed at least three seconds!
Mercer could sense his brain was capable of more, but his body's temperature wouldn't allow it.
If he pushed any further, if he fully unleashed his brain's potential under Overclock conditions, he'd likely pass out before Fenrir or even burn out his own mind!
"Damn it... he crushed my wrist," the mercenary holding the injectable medication groaned in pain, stepping back as the syringe slowly slipped from his hand.
And at that very moment.
One of Fenrir's eyes eerily tracked the falling trajectory of the syringe, while the other stared directly in Mercer's direction.
"Whoosh!"
Just before the injectable hit the ground, a strange whistling sound cut through the air, followed by an almost imperceptible snap.
The comrade whose wrist Fenrir had crushed didn't even finish his sentence before his eyes widened slightly, and he lost the ability to speak.
Two lines of blood appeared across his neck and waist, and in the next moment, his body was severed into three pieces.
Fenrir spread his arms, two vicious Mantis Blades snapping out from his forearms, now stained with fresh blood.
"No! No, no, no!!"
Another comrade, armed with a rifle, cried out in despair as he raised his weapon toward Fenrir. But Fenrir had already vanished from sight.
Along with him disappeared both arms of the burly mercenary. His two massive cyberware arms were first severed at the wrists by Fenrir, who had activated his Sandevistan, to prevent him from grabbing hold, then with a swift turn, Fenrir completely tore off both his arms.
"Fenrir!!!" the burly mercenary roared in a final, desperate attempt to snap his partner back to sanity.
But Fenrir only responded with maniacal laughter. He seemed to say something, but in his hyper-accelerated state, his words came out as an unintelligible blur of noise.
The true horror of Cyberpsychosis lies in the fact that once they lose their minds, they often become even more powerful than before!
All safety protocols in Fenrir's cyberware had failed. In his frenzied state, every piece of cyberware in his body was operating beyond its limits, nearly overriding the human body's natural protective mechanisms.
Panam noticed Mercer's steps suddenly slowing, his eyes flickering with light, and realized he was likely attempting a hack. She immediately shouted, "V!"
Without hesitation, V drew her pistol and aimed at Fenrir in the distance.
By then, Fenrir had already begun charging toward Mercer.
Perhaps in half a second, his figure cut through the air like a blur, streaking toward Mercer, who simply stared expressionlessly at the approaching threat.
Panam fearlessly stepped in front of Mercer, but he suddenly reached out, pulling and shoving her toward the bar.
She was brave, but against an enemy equipped with a Sandevistan, her skills simply weren't enough!
Caught off guard, she was thrown onto the bar by Mercer, nearly tumbling over entirely, but quick-eyed Claire yanked her behind the counter just in time.
The bar's security opened fire, but their bullets meant nothing to Fenrir; far too slow and erratic to catch his hyper-accelerated, unpredictable movements.
As it turned out, Mercer's action with Panam was precisely right. With one hand, he gripped his Kenshin, charging its shot, while his other hand hastily swung out a monowire in a wide arc.
A blur shot past him; Fenrir was forced back by the razor-sharp monowire. Even in his crazed state, some beast-like instinct retained a sliver of combat awareness.
But just as Fenrir lunged at Mercer again, a furious roar erupted from his side.
"Die!"
Though her cyberware was lacking and her experience as a mercenary was limited, V's astonishing natural talent and muscle memory from countless street fights made her react even faster than Mercer in that moment.
Her firearm wasn't like Mercer's Kenshin, which needed charging to unleash its full power.
V pulled the trigger, and the somewhat battered power pistol in her hand, a Constitution Arms model from the early 21st century codenamed "Liberty", fired a large-caliber round.
Mercer had to admit, he'd underestimated this seemingly ordinary gun.
At least for now, as Fenrir tried to leap past the monowire to finish Mercer off, V's shot sent him staggering sideways.
An unusually large specialized round was lodged deep in Fenrir's temple. Although it only embedded into his Subdermal Armor without piercing the metallic skull that rang out with a "clang" from the gunshot, the tremendous impact still threw Fenrir completely off balance.
Yet Fenrir struggled, shaking his head before staggering onward toward where Mercer had been.
V, quick-eyed and swift-handed, abruptly reached out and pulled Mercer, whose physical speed had slowed due to intense netrunning, into her embrace.
Just then, Mercer's program finally broke through Fenrir's ICE and locked down his cyberware.
Fenrir's speed suddenly dropped. His arms were still stretched forward, Mantis Blades determined to impale both Mercer and V, but his cybernetically enhanced legs abruptly tangled.
His entire body, thrown off by the sudden cyberware failure, tumbled and slid across the ground.
Zzzt... whirr!
The sound of electromagnetic propulsion echoed at that moment. Mercer's pistol aimed at Fenrir's head, and the electromagnetically accelerated tungsten-tipped round struck Fenrir's temple with precision as he slid across the floor.
Unlike V's bullet, the fully charged tungsten round not only penetrated the opponent's skull with its superior piercing power but also triggered a small EMP burst inside Fenrir's head due to the electromagnetic energy it carried.
Fenrir convulsed and froze in place, trembling briefly before finally collapsing limply to the ground, motionless.
It all happened in a flash; the entire sequence took less than two seconds!
Panam, who had rolled behind the bar counter, hadn't even had time to get up and fire before she witnessed Mercer and V, as if having rehearsed countless times, eliminate Fenrir in the blink of an eye.
Mercer pushed her aside and used his monowire to force Fenrir back. V raised her gun for a headshot. Fenrir stumbled to one side, managed to rise and take a step before suddenly losing all control, sliding toward Mercer and collapsing.
Mercer's pistol finished charging. As V pulled him back, putting distance between them and Fenrir, Mercer fired the finishing shot mid-retreat, blasting Fenrir's skull apart.
The fluidity of the scene was breathtaking. Not just Panam, but even the mercenaries who had drawn their weapons moments earlier were inwardly stunned.
Mercer gasped for air, leaning back against V; somewhat embarrassingly, his current height and build made him appear almost petite nestled against the 176 cm tall V.
His head felt overheated, a bit dizzy.
His body temperature had risen several degrees in just a few seconds. Though he breathed heavily, his cyberware struggled to cool down.
His implants limited his performance.
If he had a cyberware set like Songbird's, he might have broken through Fenrir's ICE in just one second.
But to avoid frying his own brain, he could only push this far.
Even so, it was astonishing; a netrunner equipped only with an Arasaka Mk2, without specialized heatsink cyberware, had managed to take down a cyberpsycho outfitted with military-grade ICE in just 3.5 seconds, all while multitasking!
V, too, was breathing deeply, but her eyes blazed with excitement. She laughed, one arm wrapped around Mercer, the other firing three additional shots into Fenrir's body with her pistol.
"Go to hell! What's the use of all that scrap metal you installed?" Mercer felt something soft and fluffy behind his neck, trembling against him with each of V's boisterous laughs.
This height was perfect; not having grown taller was truly a blessing. It would be even better if he could turn around and be held by V instead. Who said being short had no advantages?
"A, you're pretty badass too! Your reflexes and aim, you don't seem like just a netrunner!"
V's excitement hadn't faded yet; she had her arm slung around Mercer's neck, shoulders pressed together, and seemed to have forgotten to let go.
She turned her head to glance at the hulking man whose arms were still spurting blood, spat contemptuously, and taunted, "This is your boss? What a dumbass. Want to invite me for another drink?"
The big guy could only let out low, pained groans now, while the nearby security guards felt both relieved and headache-ridden.
"Holster your weapons! I need to ask Boss Rogue how to handle this," one burly guard said, turning to aim his gun at V, who still held her pistol and looked ready to continue the firefight, his expression tense.
V's confidence had largely returned. Facing the fierce-looking guards, she didn't show a hint of fear, merely smirking disdainfully before tucking her gun away.
Then, she noticed Mercer in her embrace tilting his head to look at her, his gaze calm as he leaned against her shoulder. "Hey V, I don't mind you holding me like this in private."
Only then did V realize the inappropriateness and quickly released him, laughing awkwardly. "...I got a little carried away."
Mercer straightened up and glanced back. Her outfit was quite concealing, so he hadn't realized she was so well-endowed.
V looked around, pretending to be busy, and quickly changed the subject. "So, how'd I do?"
"Not bad. Looks like I didn't pick the wrong person."
Mercer nodded, giving his approval.
In this world, ordinary people facing someone equipped with Sandevistan cyberware were often like lambs to the slaughter.
Forget fighting back. They couldn't even clearly see their opponent's movements.
If a mercenary without any reaction-enhancing cyberware could manage to perceive what such an opponent was doing, they were already considered exceptionally skilled.
But only someone like V, who had no cyberware at all yet could not only see her opponent clearly but also hold her own against them, could truly be called a genius.
Mercer turned to look. The five-person mercenary squad was now completely finished. The netrunner was still twitching on the ground, probably because Mercer's assault had been too intense, Overheating and frying his brain.
Fenrir was completely dead, his head electrocuted into a smoking mess by the EMP.
The big mercenary's two massive arms now lay scattered on the ground, his shoulders still sizzling and spurting blood.
The one who had been holding a shotgun and initially tried to administer first aid to Fenrir had been sliced into three pieces from the start and was deader than dead.
Only the last rifleman remained, kneeling on the ground with a look of utter despair, emitting what sounded like sobs, in the blink of an eye, a mercenary squad capable of making a name for itself in the Afterlife and being respectfully called "boss" on the streets had met its end.
Mercer shook his head, his heart, which had been pounding rapidly, finally calming down again.
Damn.
This was Night City, a place where you never knew when something unexpected would happen.
What a fucking rush!
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Bonus chapter @1500 power stones
7 advanced chapters on p-atreon.com/AstartesTL