Ding ding ding…
As Roqi walked down the street, his PDA suddenly rang.
"I've talked with Dexter," V said.
"Hehe, bet that fat guy gave you a fat job too," Jackie said, as optimistic as ever.
"He wants to test the waters first, but I feel like he's sending us into the mess between Militech and Maelstrom," V replied. Even with dull instincts, he could tell this job was a handful. "There's this prototype military combat robot that Militech made—Maelstrom stole it. Dexter paid for it, but it just so happened that the gang had a leadership shake-up."
"Right, right, I heard. Royce overthrew Brick—hostile takeover," Jackie nodded.
"More or less. Dexter wants us to meet with Royce. He even gave us a number for a Militech rep, but… tch, no idea if she'll actually be any help," V admitted, clearly lost in the chaos of it all.
And this was still just preparation for the actual chip heist.
"V, make sure you reach out to that rep," Roqi said, already flashing a mischievous grin. "Be calm, confident—they're probably pissed their stuff got jacked. Talk to them about raiding Maelstrom's hideout. Whether it's material or firepower, they'll definitely be eager to help."
And if all went well, V might even get a hot little fling out of it. Plus, making friends with someone mid-to-high up at Militech? Always a win.
"Ha, chingón, sounds good to me," Jackie chimed in.
"You don't seem surprised about Royce—don't tell me you know him?" V asked.
"That guy's a freak among freaks. Junkies snort drugs, Royce snorts scrap metal," Jackie exaggerated.
"Well, it's Maelstrom, right? Famous for being cyberpsycho freaks. Their leader has to be the biggest psycho of them all," Roqi laughed.
V continued, "There's one more thing—I gotta meet with the client who's behind this job. Evelyn Parker."
"You? What, Dexter's planning to cruise in his fancy limo and let you do the talking with the lady?" Jackie grumbled. He wasn't thrilled about mercs doing all the work while fixers sat back sipping cocktails.
"Parker asked to meet the person actually doing the job. Dexter's sending me."
"Guess he's already got it all figured out… So what now? Maelstrom or Parker first?" Jackie asked.
V thought for a moment. "I say we meet Parker first, feel her out, see what her angle is."
"I've got something to take care of. Once you're done with her, we'll hit up Maelstrom together," Roqi added.
"Órale, I'll head over to the All Foods factory and scout the area. Hasta luego," Jackie said.
Call ended.
Roqi's expression went from calm to stressed in an instant.
In a game, you could ignore the main quest and just stand around admiring the scenery. But in reality, if you waited too long, Saburo Arasaka's body would be cold as hell. Good luck stealing Relic at that point—might as well go steal air.
If he could finish these side jobs as quickly as possible and get to Konpeki Plaza before anything happened—take out that fat bastard Dexter and dump him in a gutter—then the whole dramatic mess might never even occur, and he could secure the Relic safely.
What he needed now was everything—manpower, materials, money. Anything and everything.
Manpower could mean netrunners like T-Bug, covering her while she hacked in, or speeding up the Konpeki system breach so they could finish faster and bail sooner. Materials could be any kind of air transport for rooftop escape, or a getaway vehicle to ditch pursuers. And money? That was easy—money could buy almost anything in Night City.
Forget the AVs—if he had that kind of eddies, he wouldn't be doing a Relic job in the first place. Ground vehicles? Nothing beat Delamain's combat mode. Reliable, armored, smooth as hell.
But what he lacked most right now—was reliable people.
In operations like this, you could never have enough reliable people.
For example, if you had ten thousand netrunners assaulting Konpeki's systems, screw internal firewalls—even Adam Smasher's mech body would get short-circuited. The AV that shot Jackie? You could probably shut down its engines mid-air.
He opened his contacts and dialed a number V had given him.
"Yeah? This is Regina Jones. What do you want? Make it quick, I'm busy."
The voice on the other end was a sharp one. A woman wearing a cyber eyepatch—a 2077-style cyberpunk pirate fixer.
"V sent me. You can call me Lucky. Got any cyberpsycho cases that need handling?"
"V? He too busy now?" Regina raised an eyebrow.
"No, he's got more pressing things to deal with," Roqi shook his head. "I know you're in intel. You'll find out who I am sooner or later, but time is tight. We can go into details next time."
"Give me the location of the nearest cyberpsycho. I'll head there now—either I come back alive, or you can chalk everything I said up to the ramblings of a delusional lunatic."
"Alright, if you insist," Regina sighed. Roqi had struck a chord. Either way, she didn't have to pay upfront—if he pulled it off, she'd gain another asset. If he died, worst case, her cleanup crew had an extra corpse to haul.
"There was just a confirmed cyberpsycho attack. Word is MaxTac got involved—but no way, Militech already blocked them out. That psycho? Probably one of theirs. Supposedly a Lieutenant Morel. Anyway, the corp's stepping in. I'm doing research on cyberpsychosis treatment. Make sure she's taken down alive before the corp cleans it up."
"Dead pays less. Alive pays more. Simple. I'm sending you the location—details in the attachment."
He opened the message, zoomed in on the map—just near Creek Loop, practically right below Regina's safehouse.
Roqi sighed and flagged down a cab. "Creek Loop. Step on it."
Not a Delamain AI cab, but a human driver. It was barely a kilometer away and over in no time.
The scene was already cordoned off by Militech personnel. Regina sent a message—originally a MaxTac job, but the corp had muscled in and taken over.
Just ahead, four or five elite soldiers in far better gear than your average NCPD cop stormed into the building. Trained, sharp, and professional—and then came the screams, like they'd been ambushed.
A few brutal impacts later, everything inside went eerily silent.
He stepped lightly, planning to sneak down the hallway and take a look—but his foot bumped into something...
Roqi bent down and picked it up—a detachment chip, apparently dropped in a rush.
He pulled out his PDA and scanned the file:
[CODE: RED]
Target: Lieutenant Morel
Threat Level: Dangerous
Subject has shown symptoms of cyberpsychosis. After a consultation with medical staff, the result was: Malignant. No possible treatment. Target is located at the coordinates in the attached file. A surprise attack is possible.
WARNING: Target is equipped with military-grade combat implants. Extreme caution is advised. Once threat is eliminated, send a report via encrypted channel.
Looking around, not a single Militech agent was in sight. Two groups of vehicles were parked separately—it looked like the first team got wiped out completely, and the second got obliterated just as fast.
"BLOOD AND IMPLANTS!!"
"SKRRAAAAAK—!!"
Roqi had just stepped down two stairs when he heard a crazed scream followed by the brutal sound of blades slicing through flesh.
"Mother of…" he flinched.
At the bottom of the stairs was a water-filled courtyard. In an instant, a shadow with glowing green eyes locked onto him and howled.
"…I'M GONNA SNAP YOUR SPINE—WAAAAAGH!!!"
WTF!!
Roqi yelled and bolted. His shoes splashed into ankle-deep water.
A black shadow teleported—once, twice, three times—then swung a blade at him. Roqi nearly collapsed from shock. If that psycho wasn't running Sandevistan and Kerenzikov, he'd have eaten his PDA.
She stayed on him, the relentless pace making it feel like a horror game.
"EVERYONE DIE—WAAAAAAGH!!"
She zoomed past and punched a crate into flaming splinters.
Roqi turned pale. He'd only come to find a strong teammate—but this?
This was a nightmare.
Killing her wasn't an option. Guns and blades were off the table. And she needed to survive with combat capabilities intact.
Trying to subdue a cyberpsycho barehanded… was way harder than he'd imagined.
.
.
.
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