Pacifica, Serenity Bible Church.
The Haitian community's pews hold more than prayers. This is also where the Voodoo Boys conduct their rites and coordinate their net.
When the Bati Hotel came under attack by Rocky and Rebecca, runners at the church received the alert at once.
"Base is under assault. Move to reinforce."
Several netrunners broke off their ritual and grabbed their gear, ready to head for the hotel. A voice on their internal channel stopped them cold.
"Do not reinforce. Tell everyone at the church to withdraw to the underground site. Immediately. Move."
It was Brigitte, the gang's leader. She ordered a complete pullback to the hidden base.
Brigitte had been in the tunnel site handling Blackwall business. The moment the hotel fighting started, Poseidon's telemetry gave her a clear picture of the situation. The images coming back and the rate at which her people were dying told the story. Sending bodies to the hotel would only feed the grinder.
She consolidated what strength remained and chose to hold the secret base, buried in the abandoned intercontinental maglev tunnel. Outside of the Voodoo Boys, no one should know this place exists. Even NetWatch had never found it despite years of hunting. Brigitte trusted that advantage.
Within minutes, the survivors filtered into the tunnel complex. Panic traveled with them.
"What are those two? What happened in cyberspace? How did they find us so fast? Where did that ICE come from?"
Voices climbed. Fear spread. Brigitte stayed level and worked her console. She cut Poseidon's link to the Bati Hotel, isolating their subnet to prevent a trace, then spoke without raising her voice.
"Calm down. Solve the problem in front of you. Do not burn time on useless questions."
"What if they find this place? None of us gets out."
"They will not," she said. "Do not break ranks."
Confidence steadied the room for half a breath.
A new voice answered from the dark.
"No wonder you lead the Voodoo Boys. Still optimistic at a time like this."
Brigitte knew that voice. It did not belong to anyone in the base. It belonged to the man who had punched a row of her people into meat at the hotel.
Cloaks blinked off. Rocky and Rebecca stepped out of thin air.
After clearing the Bati Hotel, Rocky followed the memory to the tunnel site. The so-called secret base was no secret to someone who had once walked V here under Brigitte's escort.
Weapons rose across the room. Brigitte lifted a hand, and the barrels lowered. She knew these guns would not decide anything tonight. Their presence here meant two outcomes were possible: a deal or a burial.
"Ascension Technology. L and Rebecca, yes?" she said evenly. "I do not think I am mistaken. I am Brigitte, leader of the Voodoo Boys."
She did not waste words.
"The Voodoo Boys attempted to intrude on your data fortress and failed. You are here to collect the debt. That is normal. But I do not believe we need to resolve this absolutely. There may be a way to settle it without finishing each other."
Rocky had not expected this much composure after he stepped into their core. He nodded once. "I am listening."
"For the intrusion against your company, we gained nothing. We paid in lives. I propose we call that even. Beyond that, we will perform several operations for Ascension Technology without charge as an apology."
She met his eyes.
"You know our strengths. Work that is inconvenient for your company to do in the open can be given to us. We deliver results. A gang that can work for you has more value than a dead gang."
Her pitch was clean and practical. It matched how Night City usually operates. Corps rarely soil their own hands. That is why gangs and mercs exist. Most companies would keep a helpful crew alive.
Rocky smiled a little.
Brigitte took the microchange in his face as a good sign. Then he answered.
"Your terms are attractive. I refuse."
He did not raise his voice. He did not repeat himself.
Brigitte had offered sense. She had lowered her posture and placed value on the table. In another city, in another story, that might have been enough. Not here. Not with Ascension Technology.
"We do not need the Voodoo Boys to do our work," Rocky said. "As for compensation for rattling our fortress, I will take it directly from your servers."
Silence fell over the tunnel. Screens hummed. Somewhere, water dripped in the dark. No one moved.
Brigitte's people tightened their grips again. She did not. She understood the new math. The moment these two found the door, the space for bargaining narrowed to a thin line. She had walked the line anyway, because that was her job. Now it was gone.
She set her hands flat on the console and lifted her chin to look at Rocky properly.
"What will it cost to make you leave with only the servers?"