The arrival of the Machetes passed like a breeze over a still lake—without causing the slightest ripple.
In fact, the moment those grunts caught sight of the transport truck and started approaching, V had already pulled the trigger.
A single gunshot cracked through the air. The bullet landed right at their feet, a precise warning: No passage here.
And when those Machete punks finally got a clear look at who was standing beside the truck, their reaction was faster than the neon lights of Night City. In an instant, their vehicles spun around, tires screeching as they fled like prey sensing a predator.
They didn't recognize KK—Karl—who had now risen to the upper echelons of both corporate and street legend status. But V? They knew all too well.
V's name echoed through the slums and gangs of Night City like thunder. He had become almost synonymous with death. Unlike KK, who still maintained a "reasonable" rep, V's blade had no mercy. Every swing promised blood. And the Machetes understood: when faced with V, the smartest move was to turn and run—fast.
Night City was already dangerous enough. But V made that danger feel bottomless.
"What a pity,"
Jack's voice came from the back of Panam's car, tinged with disappointment.
He held an RPG he'd just dug out of the trunk, eyes still gleaming with anticipation. "I was really hoping to give them a taste of this thing."
"Let it go," Karl waved him off, a teasing tone in his voice. "Blasting a bunch of Machete grunts whose most valuable asset is their beat-up modded car? Might not even break even. You know how unstable those things are—hell, even I know, and I'm no gearhead. Someone else drives it and it'll probably hit 'wrecked' and 'exploded' within the hour."
He glanced over at V. "That's probably why you just fired a warning shot, yeah?"
V nodded. "People out here in the Badlands are dirt poor."
"Coming from a former nomad, that actually carries weight," Karl smirked, then looked off into the fading dust clouds, voice softening. "The Machetes out here—they're not so different from a pack of wolves."
"Oh?" Jack raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"They swarm when they smell gain, flee when threatened, won't risk losing a drop. And honestly? There's nothing on them worth squeezing."
"Fair enough."
Jack shrugged, shoved the RPG back in the trunk, and clapped the dust off his hands. "Whatever. They ran, we saved some ammo."
Karl nodded and walked over to Panam's car. Reaching into the driver's seat, he pulled out the comm unit. "No need to waste more time on them. Let's contact Saul. The storm's nearly gone—and if the Machetes caught wind, Saul's crew's probably nearby too."
As soon as he finished, static buzzed through the comms, followed by a choppy voice:
"VV—can you hear me? What's your status over there? Can you hear—?"
"It's Panam," Karl glanced at V and casually tossed him the comm. "Your turn. I've got some things to deal with."
"Deal with?" V caught the unit, brow raised, tracking Karl's movements—just in time to see him pull out a fuzzy bundle from inside the truck.
"Q-ball? No, wait—" V blinked. "Johnny Silverhand? He came along for the ride?"
Karl shrugged, grinning. "Must've gotten stuffed in with the weapons during packing. The legendary Mr. Silverhand's been quiet as a corpse this whole trip. God knows what he's scheming. But I figure now's a good time to let him out for air."
"Watch the hands, punk," Johnny growled. With a swift flick of his paw, Karl let go, and Johnny dropped gracefully to the ground—landing on all fours like it was second nature. He was clearly used to this Q-ball body by now.
Moments later, Johnny's holo-projection appeared over the sand—leaning just how you'd expect: fingers pinching a phantom cigarette, digital smoke curling upward, arrogant confidence radiating from every pixel.
"Just came to see if I needed to bail your sorry asses out," he exhaled, voice casual. "But looks like you handled it fine."
V and Jack exchanged knowing glances and nodded. They'd long figured out Johnny's style—proud, to a fault. Owing anyone a favor was like a personal hell to him.
He had clearly planned for a dramatic last-minute rescue, settling the debt with flair and earning a few admiring looks along the way. Too bad the whole journey had been smooth sailing, and there'd been no chance for heroics.
"Guess all he's getting today is a Badlands sightseeing trip."
"This view?" Johnny scoffed, cigarette hanging from his lips. "I saw worse back when I was enlisted. You think this compares to what we saw down south? This is nothing."
His eyes flashed with a memory—then quickly returned to that same rebellious fire as he shrugged at the trio, as if to say, You lucked out.
"Heh." Karl chuckled at Johnny's swagger. "So what, you thought you'd wait 'til we got overwhelmed, then make your grand entrance and save the day?"
"Even in this body, I could take ten of them at once," Johnny huffed, full of pride.
"That's... quite a claim," Karl muttered, unconvinced, eyes drifting toward the horizon—where a new plume of dust was rising. The Aldecaldo convoy was approaching fast.
"Well, since Johnny Silverhand's so confident, and we haven't exactly spent much quality time together... maybe I'll take on a little job."
He tapped at his phone, fingers flying over the screen. "Just wrapped up the last gig. Might as well close the chapter. Time to take on something new."
He sent a message to a few fixers:
Got room for one more job? Make it worth it—double pay, two-person contract. I'm looking to test a rookie.
Johnny watched Karl's phone intently. He didn't say anything, but the glint in his eye was a mix of disdain and quiet anticipation.
He knew this era—and he knew Karl's type. The guy never picked easy gigs.
And that was just fine by him.
The tougher the job, the better his shot to prove himself.
Even in a dog's body, he was still Johnny Silverhand—unstoppable.
A little merc work?
Couldn't be harder than storming Arasaka Tower. Twice.
-
-
-
-
-
🔥 CYBERPUNK: THE RELENTLESS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔥 THE STORY DOESN'T STOP HERE. NEITHER DOES HE.
Night City breaks people every day.
Some crawl away.
Some disappear.
And some simply refuse to stop.
Cyberpunk: The Relentless has 500+ chapters ahead available for readers who want to keep going.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⚡ NO BRAKES. NO MERCY. NO TURNING BACK.
🔫 High-intensity combat
🌃 Night City
🤖 Cyberware & chrome
💀 Deadly enemies
🏢 Corporate warfare
🔥 Escalating conflicts
⚔️ One relentless road forward
Every victory creates another enemy.
Every enemy leads to something bigger.
And Night City always wants another body.
🔥 500+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 Why stop now?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌐 SrMagnusCorp: https://srmagnuscorp.com/
🔥 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus
🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnuscorp
⚠️ Drop your Power Stones if you want even more Cyberpunk releases!
🔥 Keep moving. Night City doesn't wait.