Faraday's AV had been flying for only a short time when he had his subordinates perform a quick surgery behind his ear. It was a minor procedure and was finished quickly, after which the AV began looking for a place to land.
Maine, sitting on Falco's roof, looked exhausted. Saliva drooled uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth. Due to his immense cybernetic bulk, he could only sit on the vehicle's roof.
He gently tapped the roof with his massive chrome arm, wanting to communicate with the people inside the van, but his personal loaded phone had been rendered useless by Heather's Communication Short Circuit earlier.
Maine had no choice but to lean his head as close to the van window as possible. The wind was strong, so he had to shout loudly, "Little A, you think Lucy's with Faraday?"
To make communication easier, Heather leaned half her body out. "Lucy must have been captured by Faraday, eh? Oh, right! I can track Faraday. I forcibly inserted myself into your communication line just now... Wait a moment…"
Heather pulled herself back inside and restored the previous connection from her history log. In no time, she had captured Faraday's signal. She took out an Arasaka tablet, plugged a cable from the base of her palm into it, and within a few seconds, Faraday's real-time location appeared on the screen.
She handed it to Maine on the roof. "It's done! We can go after Faraday and rescue Lucy!"
"Good! Very good!" Maine roared. "We'll go after him now!"
Heather relayed the message to Falco. Falco, of course, would drive at full speed, but he made it clear that they couldn't catch up. They were in a van, and the other party was in an AV. Their speed was far inferior, and the AV could disregard terrain and roads.
Heather told Maine the situation. Since only her phone was working, she had to climb up and down to relay messages, which was proving to be a problem.
Maine's gigantic steel arm grabbed Heather, who was exposed from the waist up. He laughed heartily. "Can't you think a little bigger? We can't catch up because the other guy's in an AV, right? Dammit, did you forget? I'm an AV now too!"
Heather didn't immediately understand what he meant, but the digital image of Dog Brother appeared beside her, offering an explanation. "Kid, doesn't Maine's chrome currently have two AV compressed thrusters? That's why he says he's an AV.
He's even lighter than an AV, so he can fly much faster. Did you forget how he single-handedly wiped out that entire Militech unit just now?"
Maine held Heather with one hand and grinned. "Here, hold the tablet tight; I need to see it at all times. You ready?"
Heather nodded vigorously. Blue flames erupted from the thrusters on Maine's back, and his acceleration was incredibly fast, giving them the sensation of being almost catapulted away.
In the back seat, Rebecca yelled loudly, "What the hell are you doing?! Why did he just fly off?"
Falco answered her as he drove. "He's probably flying to rescue Lucy. Little A just used a hack to locate Faraday. Little A said Kiwi kidnapped Lucy last night, and she should be with Faraday now."
Rebecca looked furious, glaring at the unconscious Kiwi. "Old hag, how dare you betray us? I'll make sure you're ruined." She was just venting at Kiwi, who couldn't talk back for now.
Rebecca was usually rash and had a bad temper, but she was also loyal and valued relationships. Even if Kiwi had betrayed everyone, Rebecca might not be able to bring herself to harm her; at most, they would just cut ties in the future.
"Hey, Falco, let's hurry into the city and buy a phone," Rebecca said. "Otherwise, we can't contact Maine and Little A."
"We might have to go to many stores," Falco replied. "There aren't many places that still sell phones now."
The speed was too fast on their journey. Heather's short hair was blown back like a rooster's tail, and the digital Dog Brother's image beside her was laughing.
They finally caught Faraday's AV at a farm south of Night City. First, they repeatedly verified the location to make sure it was the right one. Then, Maine landed to drop off Heather.
After that, he flew above the AV, his two large arms gripping it firmly, and the thrusters on his back increased their output. Maine's military-grade chrome was more powerful than the AV, forcing it down to the ground.
Heather, running up behind them, rushed toward the AV. Maine didn't hesitate; he violently tore off the door. After a series of ear-splitting sounds of metal deforming, the AV was crippled.
To Maine's surprise, there was only one person inside, and it was neither Lucy nor Faraday. Maine felt he had been played and roared menacingly at the man, who was already terrified from the AV being forced down. The moment the door was ripped open, his pants were already wet. He crouched, holding his head and shouting hysterically. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
Heather had just run up. "What happened? Where are they? Where's Lucy? Where's Faraday?"
Maine slammed his fist on the AV's roof. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Dog Brother's image appeared beside him. "It's not that you tracked the wrong person; it's that old fox Faraday who took off the loaded phone beforehand and left it in the AV. If you don't believe me, go look."
Heather activated her optical implant and scanned the car's interior, easily finding the tiny loaded phone. She had been tracking the signal of this small device all the way here. Now, discovering she had been tricked, she was extremely frustrated and stomped her foot in anger.
Dog Brother looked calm. "Don't rush, interrogate this coward in the car."
Heather was in a bad mood. She grabbed the man in the AV, her eyes wide. "Where are they?"
The man, who had peed himself in the AV, immediately spilled everything. "Please calm down, both of you! Calm down! I'm just Faraday's errand boy. He landed when he was in Night City, told me to fly south, and he himself switched to a ground sedan."
Maine roared. "Then where's Lucy?! Where's the short-haired girl you captured?!"
"I heard Faraday say they sent that girl to Arasaka Tower..."
Maine's voice grew even louder. "Why would they send Lucy to Arasaka Tower?"
"Oh, oh! I don't know! I'm just an errand boy!"
The digital Dog Brother paced back and forth. "Hey, Heather, tell your hot-tempered brother to calm down. Don't be so emotional right now; it'll only slow down our rescue efforts. Arasaka Tower? This is a bit tricky."
Heather felt Dog Brother had a point and began to try and suppress her emotions. "As far as I know, Arasaka doesn't just kidnap anyone; they only kidnap important people. Lucy might be hiding something from us. Maine, did Lucy ever have any connection with Arasaka?"
"I don't know," Maine said. "She never said."
"She's even younger than me, and her hacking skills are so deep," Heather said. "Oh, right, should we meet up with the others to discuss how to rescue Lucy?"
"Yeah, Lucy must be rescued," Maine said. "She's family."
Heather was just wondering how to contact the rest of the crew when an unfamiliar call came in. Heather answered, and the other person was very agitated. "Hey! Is this Little A? It's Rebecca! Did you rescue Lucy?"