Having been kicked out of the Workshop by Osiris, Maine and the others temporarily settled in a relatively intact abandoned house on the outskirts of Wasteland Town.
This house used to be the facade of a small repair shop. Its concrete walls were thick, blocking most of the sandstorms, but time had still left deep marks.
Large areas of the wall plaster had peeled off, revealing dark red bricks underneath. A few windows had no glass, only thick tarpaulins barely nailed over them, which occasionally flapped with the desert gusts, making a 'thump-thump' sound.
The roof seemed to have some minor leaks, and faint water stains could be seen in the corners.
Rebecca had briefly cleaned the place when she planned to stay behind to look after Sasha, making it their only foothold in this desolate area.
She used an old broom, found from who knows where, to roughly sweep the accumulated sand and debris of countless years into a corner. Although the floor was far from clean, at least there were no jagged glass shards or sharp metal pieces to step on.
The indoor space was small, with only a few crooked, worn-out tables and chairs scavenged from other ruins, and a few sleeping bags laid directly on the cold floor, making up all the furniture.
The air was still filled with an unshakeable smell of dust and the unique, rust-tinged dryness of the desert. Compared to their Night City stronghold in Watson—a warehouse packed with modification equipment and weapon crates, full of life—this place was a world apart.
The oppressive silence lasted for a few minutes, finally broken by Rebecca.
She slammed her fist onto a nearby metal box with a loud 'clang,' drawing everyone's attention.
"Damn it! Militech! Biotechnica! They sure think highly of us!" Rebecca's voice was sharp with excitement, her green cybernetic eyes gleaming in the dim light. "They sent AVs, mechs, and those lunatics with Sandevistan! All for a few street punks like us? This is absolutely insane!"
Pilar rubbed his chest, which had almost stopped beating from fright during the battle, and chimed in, "Tell me about it! We used to only fight a few corporate security guards or gang members at most. Who's ever seen a lineup like this? They're treating us like an army!"
Falco leaned against the wall, slowly wiping his sunglasses. His tone was relatively calm, but his eyes also held a hint of an uncontainable, unusual glint: "The scale was indeed extraordinary. This doesn't seem like simple retaliation; it's more like a carefully planned capture operation. They wanted to take us alive."
"Alive?" Maine frowned, his thick fingers unconsciously tapping the table. "Why? Just because we attacked Biotechnica's convoy, or because of Sasha's incident?
Although it's a big deal, logically, it shouldn't be enough for two corporations to team up and cause such a huge commotion, even specially sending cybernetically enhanced soldiers..."
Dorio crossed her arms, analyzing with a steady voice: "Their target might not be us ourselves. Think back, although their initial firepower was fierce, it was indeed restrained, more like they wanted to force us to surrender.
It wasn't until we used the Arc Rifle the boss gave us to shoot down their AVs that they completely lost it."
This statement enlightened everyone.
Rebecca immediately became excited, almost jumping up: "Right! It's the boss! They must be after the boss! After all those gadgets the boss gave us!"
She waved her arms, her face filled with a mix of lingering fear and exhilaration. "Did you see? My plasma pistol melted their armored vehicle with one shot! And the Arc Rifle from the boss took down two AVs in two hits!
And Dorio, you can now catch Mantis Blades barehanded! The corporations must be envious of these things!"
Thinking about how they, relying on the weapons and enhancements provided by Osiris, managed to withstand the corporate elite squad under such a disadvantage, even forcing the opponent to be almost completely wiped out, a sense of absurd yet exhilarating achievement grew in their hearts.
Rebecca was the most direct. She put her hands on her hips, her face full of the street-punk arrogance of someone who doesn't give a damn: "Ha! Those corporate dogs really bit off more than they could chew this time! They wanted to catch us? What happened?
Their AVs crashed, their mechs were Waste, and their precious enhanced soldiers were captured by us! Now we're really famous!
From now on, who in Night City won't know that we Edgerunners dared to go head-to-head with the corporations and made them suffer a huge loss!"
Even the usually composed Maine couldn't help but let a subtle curve form on his lips.
In Night City, being able to resist corporations and survive is itself a symbol of experience and glory.
This undoubtedly proved the strength of their team, and that the path they followed with Osiris, though dangerous, could also lead to unprecedented heights.
Although Falco and Dorio didn't say anything, similar emotions were evident in their eyes—a primal excitement, hidden beneath caution, belonging to street mercenaries who challenge authority and succeed.
However, in this gradually rising atmosphere of excitement, Kiwi in the corner seemed out of place.
She huddled in the shadows, the collar of her dark red jacket pulled high, almost covering half her face.
Her hands were clasped tightly around her arms, her knuckles slightly white from the effort.
The others' discussion, especially Rebecca's cheerful tone, sounded somewhat jarring to her.
She hadn't been in contact with Osiris for as long as Maine and the others, and hadn't, to some extent, grown accustomed to such a supernatural presence.
She was a new addition, and everything she experienced today was too much of a shock for her.
First, a mission trap, then an army-level siege, followed by Osiris' terrifying methods, like a deity descending, instantly paralyzing an entire corporate armed force through the network.
The feeling of her consciousness being forcibly occupied and her body completely out of control still sent shivers down her spine when she recalled it.
That couldn't be described as "technology"; it was more like a... rule-level suppression.
She feared Osiris' power, and she feared the vortex she was being drawn into because of it.
Fighting corporations? It sounded exhilarating, but only by truly being in it could one experience the suffocating pressure brought by that behemoth.
She was just a lone hacker, pursuing freedom of technology and information, not becoming a pawn in this level of conflict.
"...Being famous isn't necessarily a good thing." Kiwi's voice was very soft, with a barely perceptible tremor, interrupting Rebecca's exuberance. "This means we will become a primary target for the corporations. From now on, it might be difficult to move an inch in Night City."
Her words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the flames of excitement that had just ignited. The atmosphere in the room became solemn once again.
Maine took a deep breath and nodded, the hint of excitement quickly fading from his face as he regained his composure as a leader: "Kiwi is right. Excitement is one thing, but we must face the real problems.
We made Militech and Biotechnica suffer a great loss this time; they will never let it go."
Falco chimed in, his tone heavy: "Exactly. The public bounties will definitely escalate, and the covert hunts will be even more relentless. As for the fixers... people like Faraday, who sold us out for profit, won't be the last. For the short term, we can't stay in Night City."