"Soulkiller?" Brigitte's expression changed slightly, then a hint of fear appeared. "What kind of joke is this? Is Arasaka behind you? Or..."
She suddenly thought of a possibility, and her expression became somewhat excited. "Or is it Alt!? You know Alt?!"
"I do know her, but I snatched this thing from Arasaka myself. You might be lucky enough to be its first official target."
Mercer methodically plugged the netrunner station's cable into the port on the back of Brigitte's head.
"Coincidentally, although I've experimented on a few Scavengers, I've never tried digging out that part of the engram and then modifying it. What kind of person would you like to become?"
"No! You can't!" Brigitte's breathing became ragged. "Don't play with my soul! You demon! Let me go! Let me go now!"
"I have no interest in playing with you, only in your memories. Afterward, I'll just happen to run a few scientific experiments on your consciousness. You're sacrificing yourself for the brighter future of all humankind."
At this, Mercer couldn't help but laugh himself. "That's the standard corporate bullshit. How do you like it?"
"No! Don't! Please! Kill me, don't upload me!"
Brigitte pleaded in terror, but Mercer just asked curiously, "Isn't your dream to surrender to the AIs? I'm turning you into an engram. Isn't that exactly what you want?"
Brigitte shouted, her voice nearly breaking, "Don't think I don't know how Soulkiller works! Once you upload my consciousness, you can do whatever you want to my icon and turn my copy into your slave!
You want to enslave my soul for eternity!"
"You know quite a lot. But aren't you guys trying so desperately to breach the Blackwall because you want to be slaves to the AIs?"
His words made a savage look appear on Brigitte's face. She spoke in a near-frenzied tone, "You don't understand anything at all!
Sooner or later, the rogue AIs will destroy the human world like an unstoppable storm, a tsunami, an earthquake! We have simply foreseen this future!
You're a powerful netrunner, don't you know how terrifying those rogue AIs are? When they arrive, humanity will only have two choices: submit or flatline. We are merely trying to embrace that future in advance!
Accept reality! Even you are the same! You've dealt with Alt? Then you should understand even better! Those rogue AIs are terrifying beings! They are the future rulers of this world! The dominators!"
Mercer simply crossed his arms, offering a noncommittal reply, "You're as foolish as a primitive man kneeling to a shadow. It's hard to imagine you're among the best netrunners in Night City."
"So, are you going to save me some time and obediently tell me everything I want to know, or are you going to make me work for it and dig it out of your engram's data later?" Mercer had no interest in discussing the future with these Voodoo Boys fanatics. She was so afraid of rogue AIs, but in the end, wasn't it a person who was going to kill her? Typhoons and tsunamis destroyed the Haitians' homeland, but didn't many Haitians still take boats to the "New World"?
If even natural disasters leave a sliver of hope for survival, what about an AI created by human serendipity?
"...I'll talk!" Brigitte gritted her teeth, unwilling. "But you have to promise you won't desecrate my soul with Soulkiller again!"
"Easy. The value of your consciousness data is so-so to me anyway," Mercer said in a relaxed tone, repeating his previous question. "Did you know a rogue AI has visited your Rezo Agwe server?"
"I don't know! If we knew, why would we still be working so hard to dig into the Blackwall!" Brigitte's expression showed that her faith was shattering. "You must have been mistaken. We've never encountered any highly intelligent rogue AI!"
Mercer just gave a noncommittal nod. "Looks like even the rogue AIs find you lot disgusting... Next question, how much money do you have left?"
Brigitte fell silent, but in the end, she could only say resentfully, "The account I'm in charge of right now only has one million three hundred thousand eurodollars."
"Very good. Transfer it over," Mercer said, sending her an account number.
Brigitte hesitated; she was truly terrified of Soulkiller, but at this moment, she couldn't help but wonder, does he really have Soulkiller?
What if she was being tricked? If she had a choice, she truly had the courage to go to hell with her money and all her secrets.
But after a great deal of internal struggle, Brigitte still couldn't bear to imagine the possibility of being killed by the Soulkiller program and could only dejectedly transfer the money to Mercer.
And so, Mercer asked his last question. "What other valuable deets, data, or equipment do you have? Confess honestly and give me everything, and I can give you a quick death."
Brigitte was silent for a moment, but in the end, she could only say in despair, "All the valuable data is in the Rezo Agwe server. You can go see for yourself. As for other secrets and high-value content, we have a special memory chip for it. It's in my coat's inner pocket."
Mercer reached out and unceremoniously rummaged through her coat, and sure enough, he found a memory chip. "Anything else?"
"Nothing..." Brigitte said, disheartened.
Thinking it over, there was nothing else he needed her to do. So, Mercer simply nodded. "Then you're useless... Goodbye, blan."
This insult made Brigitte's face turn ashen, and she looked as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
Mercer had even deliberately said "blan" in the Haitian's language, clearly to humiliate her with the very adjective they loved to use to degrade outsiders.
Rebecca raised her hand and looked at Mercer.
After Mercer reached out, pulled the blocking chip from Brigitte's head, and nodded at Rebecca, Rebecca drew the pistol from V's thigh and aimed it at Brigitte, pulling the trigger.
After the gunshot and the death, Rebecca handed the pistol back to V, who rolled her eyes; she didn't like other people using her gun.
V watched as Brigitte's body went limp, dead in the netrunner station, then looked around. "What's next? What are we doing?"
"Have Slider's people move the server back to Dogtown for me, then wipe them all out," Mercer said in a relaxed tone. "There's no need for assassination this time. We'll just drive over to their stronghold and kill everyone."
And just as his voice fell, a warning from Morning Star came through his cyberoptics.
[Morning Star: Voodoo Boys from other areas seem to have received the news. They are currently organizing combat personnel and approaching the church where you are located. The closest group will arrive at your position in just three minutes.]
[Mercer: Oh. I'm guessing someone among the Dogtown Voodoo Boys leaked the info?]
[Morning Star: I believe that is the most likely possibility, but I cannot rule out that other lookouts around the church reported the situation to the Voodoo Boys.]
[Mercer: That makes things even easier.]
He turned to look at V and Rebecca, shrugging. "Voodoo Boys reinforcements are here."
"So... we're just going to do this out on the street?" V looked at him, a little surprised.
Mercer nodded, saying casually, "It's a good chance to show our allies a little muscle. Afterward, we can use the combat footage to get some money from Mr. Hands and Hansen."
"Ha! Don't even think about competing with me this time!" Rebecca said, then immediately rushed outside.
V couldn't be bothered to compete with her. She just turned to Mercer to confirm, "The commotion we're about to make won't be small. If those corporations see your invention, you might get targeted by those corpos again."
"Aren't I already being watched by a lot of people? Sometimes, the more value you display, the safer you are."
Mercer had a rather clear perspective on this.
It was like that netrunner brother and sister pair from the game's DLC. They were clearly very famous international netrunners, yet they were executed by Agent Reed just for two fake IDs to facilitate infiltration.
But Songbird, who was involved in assassinating the NUSA president and orchestrated the entire Dogtown incident, survived because of her incredible netrunning talent that allowed her to use the Blackwall.
Although she'd probably just be a tool with not long to live after being recaptured by the NUSA, at least she was still alive, wasn't she?
The NUSA president was even willing to risk breaking the ceasefire agreement to directly attack the orbital air spaceport. It was easy to imagine just how sought-after truly valuable talent was.
The more the corporations felt Mercer was valuable, the less likely they would be to kill him. They would rather capture him and find a way to brainwash him into a tool than let him die so easily.
To put it bluntly, if Mercer were to reveal all his abilities right now, some factions would probably rather see Night City blown to smithereens than let him die.
NetWatch's friendly attitude, Militech not causing him any trouble after burying the hatchet, and even Dogtown's Hansen having to be polite to him, wasn't this all because he had demonstrated sufficient value?
Mercer was now targeting Yorinobu Arasaka, which was actually a very risky move. Once his objective was exposed, especially if Saburo Arasaka discovered what he was plotting, what would come next was anyone's guess.
Given Saburo Arasaka's personality, it wouldn't be impossible for him to drop a nuke on Mercer. After all, Arasaka's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was still conducting regular patrols in the waters near Night City to this day.
Mercer, however, had to start thinking about finding a new backer ahead of time. If things went south, he'd need someone to bail him out and keep him safe, or at least, keep the girls around him safe, to prevent any accidents from befalling them.
Big corporations don't care about ethics.
Hearing Mercer's words, V seemed to have a vague idea of what he was thinking. After sizing him up for a moment, she said nothing, merely stretching her hands. "Alright, you call the shots. Worst case, if things get out of hand, I'll get you out of here."
"Don't jinx it. I came to Night City with no intention of ever leaving!" Mercer said with a smile, then casually strolled outside with his hands in his pockets.
V pouted and quickened her pace to get in front of him. "You just stay put in the church. Leave the outside to us."
"Can do," Mercer said nonchalantly. This time, he truly had no intention of running outside to fight alongside them; the Voodoo Boys' reinforcements would likely number at least fifty or sixty, and there was no way they wouldn't have heavy firepower.
If he ran out there only to get blown away by a sniper rifle or a grenade launcher, it would be a pure comedy of errors.
Jackie, on the other hand, was a little nervous. "Holy shit, we're really going to war with the Voodoo Boys right here? On their turf, waiting for them to surround us?"
"This is what you call 'luring the enemy in to strike their reinforcements'," Mercer said. Sasha couldn't help but laugh. "Is luring the enemy in supposed to mean letting them surround you?"
"Same difference~" Mercer said, cheerfully heading back into the church with them.
—--
Inside, Maine and the others had already prepared for a defensive battle.
The netrunner van had already departed with Maine, Lucy, and Kiwi. They were heading to a high point on a distant skyscraper to set up for sniping.
The APC was parked sideways across the entrance, serving as a line of cover.
The automatic turret on the APC had been activated, and several drones circled high in the sky, all things Mercer had brought along. At this moment, they served as aerodyne reconnaissance, waiting for the Voodoo Boys to walk into the trap.
[Mercer: Slider, how long until your people get here?]
[Slider: Fifteen minutes! Why didn't you give me a heads-up you were gonna hit the Voodoo Boys?]
[Mercer: Didn't the Pacifica Voodoo Boys get the news right after I had someone contact you? If I'd told you any earlier, the Rezo Agwe server would probably have been moved by now.]
[Slider: Are you saying my people leaked the info?]
[Mercer: That's my guess. What do you think?]
[Slider: ...]
[Slider: We'll be there in ten minutes!]
Slider's reply made Mercer chuckle. The guy really seemed afraid he'd settle the score later, but as it happened, that was exactly what Mercer planned to do.
He had plenty of ways to get Slider fully prepared, and plenty of ways to ensure the Pacifica Voodoo Boys wouldn't find out, but he still chose to make his move before having Lucy message Slider.
He had done it on purpose.
Even if Slider's people hadn't leaked the information, he would have pinned the blame on him regardless. How else was he going to get him to reimburse the cost of ammo and equipment damage?
"You and Sasha, don't open the door for any reason. We'll message you when we're done fighting outside. If things go sideways, I'll come get you to delta."
"You two should really just stay in the underground passage," V warned again, while also telling Mercer and Sasha not to get close to the center area directly in front of the church doors.
"Alright, alright! Just go already. I bet the fastest of the Voodoo Boys have already driven their cars to the street corner," Mercer said dismissively. V, a bit puffed up with annoyance, reached out and poked him.
But in the end, she just huffed, turned around, pushed the door open, and went out with Maine, Jackie, and the others to get ready to face the enemy.
Sasha chuckled lightly. "V really cares about you, huh? I'm right here next to you, and she doesn't show any concern for me. That girl, really..."
"She's turning more and more into a mother hen," Mercer complained. "If I married her, I bet she'd even want to control what underwear I wear. I have no idea where she gets this strong protective instinct for me."
"Or maybe a desire for control?" Sasha hit the nail on the head. She casually moved a pew and, following V's advice, sat with her back to the wall to avoid any stray bullets coming in from the main entrance.
She looked at Mercer and teased, "Don't tell me you can't see that she has a bit of a crush on you but doesn't want to admit it. So she's turned that bit of possessiveness into this nagging desire for control.
To put it bluntly, it's her roundabout way of showing she cares about you and hoping you'll listen to her as an emotional response; she probably doesn't even understand why she's like this herself."
This little kitten sure knows a lot.
Mercer looked at her beautiful eyes and spread his hands. "I guess this is the price of being handsome, sigh~"
"Ugh..." Sasha feigned a look of disgust, then burst out laughing. "Anyway, from what I can see, even though you complain, you're actually enjoying it.
Being fussed over by a few girls all the time, I bet you're ecstatic on the inside."
Mercer sat nonchalantly on the table of the church pulpit, swinging his legs. "It's alright, I guess. But in this fucked-up world, who wouldn't be happy to have people who genuinely care about you every day?"
A smile appeared on his face beneath the helmet, his voice light. "Sigh, if only everyone could be a bit more open-minded. I mean, with the way things are in Night City, why can't V be a little more magnanimous?"
"Shouldn't you ask yourself that first? If V turned around and started getting all touchy-feely and flirty with someone else, what would you think?"
As soon as Sasha finished, Mercer immediately became serious. "I'm a conservative and introverted person. I can't stand seeing team members getting into ambiguous entanglements with outsiders.
For the stability of the team, I would immediately eliminate that stupid 'flirtatious interest.' We're all still young and should be focusing our lives on our careers."
Sasha spat out her gum, speechless. "Ha... I never realized you were such a bastard in this regard."
"Sigh, you don't understand. I just long to give these poor girls a warm home," Mercer said, shaking his head with emotion. "Rather than let the girls suffer the heartbreak of losing a good man they love, it's better for me to bear this infamy alone."
Sasha made a face at him, disgusted. "Stop, stop... I have no idea how these good girls all fell for you."
"If you knew, wouldn't that just be one more thing for me to worry about?" Mercer laughed heartily. Just then, the sound of gunfire erupted outside.
Sasha knew Mercer's narcissistic words were mostly jokes, so she didn't take them to heart. Instead, she smiled, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair. "I'm not like Rebecca, V, or Lucy. If I set my sights on you, you'd be finished~"
She giggled confidently, "I'd make you fall madly in love with me, then toy with your emotions, sending your heart on a rollercoaster ride all day long until you begged for mercy~"
"Oh~ I don't believe you." Mercer lifted his chin confidently. "This choom has two hearts in his chest now. At most, you could affect one. The other one would still have room for an emotionally stable girl, so it wouldn't have much of an impact."
Sasha was truly speechless this time and could only concede, "Fine... let's just watch the drone feed Lucy is sharing."
But Mercer had been multitasking and watching the situation outside all along. He now said casually, "No need to watch. Rebecca took out a Voodoo Boys gonk's car all by herself with a shotgun.
Their backup hasn't arrived yet. But Morning Star did say the enemy is starting to organize and gather. Looks like they plan to assemble their forces before trying to take us all out in one go."
Sasha frowned slightly. "V and Rebecca might be fine, but Jackie, Maine, and the others..."
"Don't worry, V and Rebecca won't give them a chance for a close-quarters fight. The moment those guys get near the street, V and Rebecca will definitely take the initiative to strike."
Mercer watched the drone footage with great interest, simultaneously taking over the control authority of a nearby dogbot.
He made the dogbot move around nimbly a few times, then had the mechanical canine run straight outside.
"Your helmet can connect directly to unmanned devices?" Sasha's eyes lit up.
"Mhm, just the most basic function. You want one?" Mercer said with a grin.
Sasha immediately flashed an adorable smile, winking at him. "I want a pretty kitty-cat helmet! I can draw a design sketch for you!"
"Get in line. After I finish mine, it's Lucy's, then Kiwi's, and only then will it be your turn."
After Mercer spoke, Sasha put on a pitiful expression, her watery eyes staring straight at him. "How long will that take~ I know I joined late, but I work really hard on every one of the crew's gigs!
I'm the one who does most of the dangerous infiltration and hacking work~"
"That depends on how much money V and Rebecca's show of force brings in this time. As long as the money's good, I'll make a few more functional Octopus Arms first.
Then the production speed for gear can be greatly increased. Maybe in just two or three months, we can get everyone kitted out with new equipment."
After speaking, Mercer simply admired her cute face, but he showed no intention of letting her cut in line.
Sasha puffed out her cheeks, but then just laughed. "Fine~ It's only a few months. In your words, good things come to those who wait."
The Octopus Arm on Mercer's shoulder braced itself on the ground like a step, propping up his foot and allowing him to sit more comfortably on the high platform.
"But you can send me your cat-helmet design in advance. I need to see its design and start thinking about the functional layout."
"Okay!" Sasha immediately agreed, afraid he would change his mind. She chuckled and said, "When you've made it for me, I'll treat you to a meal!"
Mercer hummed softly, but his attention was focused on the mechanical dog.
Outside on the street, the homeless and the few early-rising pedestrians had long since sensed something was wrong and fled. In Night City, if you wanted to live to a ripe old age, you needed to have a keen eye for trouble.
V and her crew stood guard like menacing deities, fully geared up. By the roadside, a car engulfed in roaring flames was now almost burnt down to its frame.
In the distance, the faint, continuous rumble of engines grew louder as they approached.
[Mercer: Enemy vehicles, approximately 12 cars and eight motorcycles. Total personnel: 62. The leader is the Voodoo Boys' second-in-command, oh, I guess he's the top dog now, Placide.
He's only equipped with a Berserk OS and a body full of heavy cyberware, nothing special. But one of his goons has a Sandevistan and is in a car with a fluorescent blue skull painted on the hood.
Four heavy machine guns, eight light machine guns, and the rest is mostly standard firepower. But I see someone loading a large electronic countermeasures device onto a vehicle, so remember to maintain the squad link.
I'll use the Rezo Agwe server I'm still connected to and give them a little surprise.]
[Jackie: I've climbed to the roof of the building next to the church. I'll lay down some heavy machine gun suppression for you guys in a bit.]
[Mercer: Be careful, mano. Don't get singled out.]
[Maine: I've given the APC's mounted machine gun to Dorio. I'm setting up an ambush with a personal rocket launcher at the church's ten o'clock. I'll hit their lead vehicle directly and see if I can cripple the convoy in the street, forcing them to fight on two fronts.]
[V: Rebecca, let me see the power of those micromissiles Mercer installed for you.]
[Rebecca: Ha, I want to see if that little shoulder cannon of yours has enough kick!]
[Lucy: Kiwi and I are using kamikaze drones, waiting near the ambush point. Once you open fire and stop the convoy, we'll follow up.]
[Pilar: Firing angle is good. I've got a clear view of the whole street. Should I just take out that Placide guy directly?]
[Mercer: Don't let that moron die a quick death. I really can't stand him.]
[V: You have a history with him?]
[Mercer: I guess I disliked him in a past life, anyway, I just can't stand the sight of him.]
When he played the game, Mercer had chosen to cooperate with the Voodoo Boys the first time, only to be screwed over by that bastard. Placide even had the gall to send him threatening texts in the game, which pissed him off so much that he reloaded a save, chose to side with NetWatch, and killed the whole lot of those morons.
If Brigitte at least knew how to keep her thoughts to herself and could act like a decent person on the surface, then Placide was the classic type who couldn't tell who was in charge and would keep up his tough-guy act until he was in his own urn.
[Rebecca: Then why not leave him breathing? We can see if Mercer can squeeze some more money out of him later. He should have a lot of cash on him.]
[V: Good idea. Be careful then, don't blow him to bits.]
[Pilar: Then I'll prioritize breaking one of his legs. We can even pull off a real 'surround the strongpoint to annihilate the reinforcements'!]
[Morning Star: Please be advised, the enemy convoy is expected to enter the block in thirty seconds. In one minute and twenty seconds, the lead vehicle will be within attack range. The vehicle carrying the target, Placide, has been marked. I wish you all the best of luck.]
The squad comms channel suddenly fell silent; everyone was focused on observing the end of the street.
Soon, lights bright enough to illuminate the entire street swept in from the distance. A few Voodoo Boys on motorcycles led the way, their expressions fierce as they cranked their throttles and shouted, charging at the front.
Following them was a whole line of vehicles, an assortment of vans, pickup trucks, sedans, and jury-rigged APCs, their bodies covered in a motley collection of graffiti.
Most of it was done in special fluorescent paint, and in the darkness, the glowing, bizarre graffiti looked quite intimidating.
[Morning Star: Thirty seconds to enemy contact. Mr. Maine, you can aim for the lead pickup truck. Placide is not in it.]
[Maine: Roger.]
[Morning Star: Miss Rebecca, please enable your battle armor's AI permissions. I have already planned the optimal launch trajectory and targets for the micromissiles. Please temporarily grant missile launch control to your AI.]
[Rebecca: But then I won't get the feeling of firing them myself! Still... fine. Make sure they hit their mark. I want to see some big fireworks!]
[Morning Star: I will. As for you, Miss V, you can conserve your shoulder cannon's ammunition. You can engage in close-quarters combat after the suppressing fire ends.]
[V: No way! I haven't even tested this thing's power yet!]
[Morning Star: Very well. I have highlighted a target in red for you. That vehicle has a heavy machine gun. You can try to take it out with your shoulder cannon.
All targets have been highlighted via camera feed. Your designated targets and the rhythm for suppressing fire have been planned in your cyberoptics. Please coordinate accordingly.]
Mercer clicked his tongue in amazement as he watched everyone methodically set up a defensive line under Morning Star's command. In an extremely short amount of time, even the sequence of suppressing fire and each person's assigned targets had been meticulously planned.
That guy has really grown a lot during this time.
[Morning Star: As for you, Master, if you wish to test the dogbot, I have an excellent idea... Why not wait until we've captured Placide alive and have him fight your dogbot one-on-one? That would provide a more accurate test of the dogbot's combat capabilities.]
[Mercer: Excellent idea~]
Mercer readily agreed, immediately canceling his plan to have his dogbot join the chaotic battle. The thing wasn't cheap to build, costing over a hundred thousand eurodollars. It wasn't one of those cheap, cannon-fodder dogbots.
At this very moment, the Voodoo Boys had no idea what they were about to face.
All they knew was that they had lost contact with Brigitte at the church, and that Slider in Dogtown was gathering his people and would likely be storming this location soon.
Placide made what he believed to be the most correct decision; deal with the group that attacked the church first, then rally his forces and use the church as cover, along with the complex terrain and defensive facilities of the underground tunnels, to fight a decisive battle with Slider.
In his view, even if those audacious attackers hadn't left, they must be holed up in the church waiting for Slider's support. Therefore, he never imagined that the group would voluntarily leave their cover, abandon their defensive advantage, and set up an ambush on a wide-open road.
Placide had considered that he might run into landmines, or perhaps some bombs or a rocket launcher attack, but he had never, ever expected this.
When the first rocket suddenly erupted in a ball of fire from a street corner, directly hitting the lead pickup truck and blowing it to smithereens, what followed was a swarm of micromissiles.
Trailing white smoke, they filled the sky and rained down on the convoy as it scrambled to avoid the wrecked vehicle in front.
The continuous explosions made his ears ring, but he still reacted with extreme speed, shouting, "Counterattack!"
The Voodoo Boys' fighters did not disappoint. Soon, the vehicle-mounted machine guns immediately laid down suppressing fire on the positions where the micromissiles and rockets had been launched from.
But the spot where the rocket was fired from was already empty.
And as for the place where the micromissiles were launched...
A Voodoo Boy let out a terrified scream:
"Hell! What the fuck is that thing?"
"Why the fuck is there a baby Adam Smasher here!?"
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