Night.
Northern industrial Watson.
A vicious firefight had erupted at the abandoned steel factory, the flashes of gunfire briefly carving light into the thick dark.
Even several kilometers away, the echoes of gunfire and explosions could still be heard rolling through the night, but for Night City, that was hardly anything special.
Caitlin, Deputy Director of Arasaka Special Ops, was doing everything she could to organize another assault and force her way into the workshop where Maine's crew was holding out.
Back when Susan had still been in charge of Special Ops, Caitlin had been one of the subordinates she focused on grooming. Tonight, she had taken the assignment to recover Militech's military-grade Sandevistan.
At first, Caitlin had thought it would be a simple cleanup job, but after Maelstrom had been wiped out, those Watson-born edgerunners inside the workshop were still putting up a stubborn defense.
The first Special Ops tactical team that entered the workshop had been blown apart and forced back with heavy casualties.
She had no choice but to order indiscriminate suppressive fire first.
The bombardment was intense, but according to the thermal scans, the five targets had taken cover in dead angles and escaped the brunt of the blast.
"Those damned edgerunners!"
For this operation, Caitlin had requested three Special Ops tactical teams. That was already a substantial deployment. If the casualties turned into a real disaster, there was a good chance she'd be investigated when she got back.
Worse, she was running out of time. Director Susan had given her a ten-minute deadline, which meant she had to report results before 9:10.
She knew the intel on the deal had come from a Counterintel informant, and that Counterintel would make its move in another thirty minutes.
Susan had already assured her that Counterintel would only send one tactical team, and that the person in charge would be their embedded mole, Carter Smith.
But if the target implant still wasn't secured and the leak was traced back, Carter would be finished, and she would be dragged down with him. She might even end up as the scapegoat.
The first push had failed to crush Maine's group, so Caitlin ordered the suppressive fire to stop.
Then she called into the workshop.
"I know you're trading that Militech military-grade Sandevistan in there. We're willing to pay double what Maelstrom offered."
"We bring the money, you hand over the implant, and afterward everyone walks away. How does that sound?"
As soon as she finished, one of the Arasaka operators tossed an account chip into the workshop.
The chip landed right on the exploded skull of a dead Maelstrom ganger, jutting sideways out of the steaming mess of blood and brain matter.
"There's one hundred thousand eddies on it. Take it, leave the implant, and you can walk."
Hearing Arasaka's offer from outside, Maine shouted back from the workshop's blind spot,
"Maelstrom already took the implant! I've got nothing in my hands now!"
Caitlin's face darkened at the refusal, and she clenched her teeth.
"You're already dead and you're still trying to bluff? Move in and kill them all!"
Two tactical teams surged forward again, launching another assault into the workshop.
The barrage shook the building so badly that dust and bricks rained from the ceiling. The whole structure trembled like it was in the middle of an earthquake.
Inside, Maine was cursing just as hard.
The implant had already been stolen by Maelstrom. It wasn't even in the workshop anymore, but that Arasaka bitch outside simply refused to believe it.
"Kiwi, what about Lucy?"
Kiwi answered immediately, "Still nothing. Militech's already here, but they're refusing to move. They're waiting for us and Arasaka to grind each other down first!"
"Shit!"
Maine swore.
The twin-tailed girl was already so furious her veins were standing out.
"Maine, stop hesitating! Waste these bastards and let's carve our own way out!"
Maine's group stopped holding back.
Machine guns, arm cannons, high-explosive grenades, everything they had was thrown straight into Arasaka's face.
Even fully armored Arasaka operatives couldn't stand up to that kind of concentrated fire.
The battle erupted all over again.
Arasaka's tactical teams started dropping fast under the renewed exchange.
Then suddenly, Maine's arm cannon jammed, leaving a gap in his heavy firepower.
Arasaka seized the opening instantly.
A burst of rounds tore toward him.
Seeing Maine in danger, Dorio threw herself at him and tackled him down.
But she couldn't dodge the whole burst. Three shots tore into her right shoulder and arm. A little higher, and they would have blown out the blood vessels in the back of her neck.
In an instant, the team had lost two key firing positions.
Arasaka's operators immediately began pressing their advantage and pushed up.
Pilar tried to throw another explosive grenade, but before he could pull his hand back, several rounds punched through it and nearly tore the whole thing apart.
He screamed in outrage.
"Shit! They wrecked my beautiful cyber hand! How the hell am I supposed to keep using it all day now?!"
The twin-tailed girl laughed with a savage grin.
"Now this is more like it! Let me handle them all!"
She emptied both pistols, threw them aside, then pulled out a green-cased machine gun and unleashed a storm of fire.
An Arasaka operator in front of her was shredded into bloody fragments and thrown backward.
Kiwi used every second she could to try to crack Arasaka's ICE, but Arasaka's expertise in net security ran deep, and their ICE had clearly been reinforced for exactly this kind of situation. Fully breaching it in the middle of this chaos was nearly impossible.
So she shifted tactics.
Instead of going for a total breach, she launched remote attacks designed to overheat their implants and degrade combat performance.
It worked quickly.
Several operators began struggling to aim, and the operating systems controlling their bodies started failing.
The twin-tailed girl immediately seized the chance and launched into another wild charge, firing the machine gun while laughing like a maniac.
Maine dragged Dorio into cover, but before he could even properly check on her, he had to grab the heavy machine gun and keep fighting.
Nothing mattered until the Arasaka team was dealt with.
But Arasaka's tactical team was disciplined and well trained. Once they forced their way inside, they quickly took cover and established suppressing fire.
The twin-tailed girl kept charging until Pilar nearly got himself killed pulling her back.
To cover the retreat, he threw several EMP grenades overhead.
The blasts momentarily disabled the support from Arasaka's cyberware and caused their firepower to stall.
"Requesting drone support!"
What made things even worse for Maine's group was the arrival of multiple Arasaka combat drones through the workshop entrance.
They flew high and began a murderous run from above.
Maine had to divert his fire upward to bring them down, but after destroying one, the other three immediately opened up.
The entire team was forced into constant motion, scrambling across the workshop to avoid being cut apart.
At this rate, they couldn't hold much longer.
Maine was out of options.
If the team wanted to survive Arasaka's assault, there was only one person left he could rely on.
Just as the situation hit its most dangerous point, Arasaka's assault suddenly stopped.
Then a much heavier barrage erupted outside the workshop, followed by a loudspeaker warning.
"Militech is conducting a special operation. All unauthorized personnel are to leave the area immediately!"
Maine spat out a curse.
"Shit! Militech finally moved!"
Far away outside the factory grounds, Kai and Jackie had watched the entire sequence unfold, from Maine's deal with Maelstrom to Arasaka's intervention.
Even from this distance, the ferocity of the firefight was obvious.
Jackie said in amazement, "Kai, your contact's got real firepower. Five people nearly wiped out two Arasaka tactical teams. That's serious."
Kai nodded.
That was exactly what he had wanted to see. He had used this deal to judge just how dangerous Maine's crew really was.
Now it was obvious that Maine absolutely had what it took to become a legend.
In Night City, if you wanted to become a legend, sooner or later you had to pass Arasaka's test.
At the very least, you had to stand up to Arasaka once to prove you had the guts to go against a corporation.
It might look reckless, but it was a necessary step on the road to becoming something bigger.
Then Kai noticed a figure sprinting straight toward them.
A quick scan showed it was a Maelstrom member.
Jackie pointed at Dum Dum, who was fleeing through the hidden passage.
"Kai, look. Loose end. And he's carrying something. That the goods?"
Kai smiled.
"That's Dum Dum. Small-time Maelstrom lieutenant. Grew up in a nest and never saw much of the outside world."
Without another word, Kai and Jackie dropped from the stacked containers in a few quick jumps and landed directly in Dum Dum's escape path.
"Dum Dum. Long time no see."
Dum Dum had been running while glancing back over his shoulder, checking whether anyone was chasing him. He never noticed the two men land in front of him and block the route.
One hand clutched the case. The other raised a gun at them. His red cyberoptics flickered.
"Who the hell are you? You know I'm Dum Dum from Maelstrom, so move!"
Kai knew him from before. Dum Dum acted vicious, but underneath it he was a coward who ran faster than anyone when things got serious.
"Put the case down. You'll at least get to leave with your head still attached."
Dum Dum noticed the Arasaka Kenshin in Kai's hand, and his expression darkened.
"You're Arasaka. You were waiting here for me?"
Before the standoff could go any further, another set of ragged footsteps came stumbling up behind him.
"Royce?"
Dum Dum turned and saw Royce, his chrome face caved in on one side.
Royce's faceplate had taken massive damage and his vision was badly distorted. He could only vaguely make out three figures blocking the path.
He raised his gun, intending to point it at Jackie and bark an order.
"Move the hell..."
Bang!
Kai raised the Kenshin one-handed and blew Royce's head apart.
That was the end of one more Maelstrom thug.
Kai didn't remember much about him except that apart from the front half of his metal face, the rest of him was all treachery.
He had turned on Brick, seized control, and locked him up in All Foods to starve.
Kai didn't have the patience to hear a single word more from trash like that.
Beside him, Dum Dum was completely rattled by the speed and brutality of it.
He kept glancing between Royce's headless body on the ground and Kai, who had fired without hesitation.
"Do you know who that was? That was Royce from Maelstrom! You killed him, and Brick will never let you off!"
Dum Dum tried to sound forceful, but there was no real backbone in it.
"Even if you are from Arasaka..."
Kai didn't feel anything in particular for Dum Dum, but the guy was amusing, and he'd gotten goods through him before, so he gave him a few extra words.
"Put the case down and take a message back to Brick. Royce was the one who broke the rules first. Besides, Brick never could keep him under control anyway."
"Arasaka did him a favor and cleaned up the rot inside his own house."
Jackie saw that Dum Dum's gun had slowly lowered, but the man was still frozen where he stood, so he walked up, snatched the case straight out of his hand, and kicked him hard.
"You heard him. Now get lost."
Dum Dum staggered backward, then scrambled away in a panic and vanished into the dark.
Once Dum Dum was gone, Jackie looked over the case and saw the keypad lock.
"Brother, it's locked. No idea if the implant's even in there. Want me to just shoot it open?"
Kai thought it was a perfectly good idea. Quick and simple.
He was just about to say yes when a cool voice sounded behind them.
"The code is 1003."
Jackie immediately swung his gun around and aimed at the newcomer.
Kai turned too and found himself looking at a familiar face.
The silver-haired train car thief.
Maine's backup netrunner.
The edgerunner carrying buried secrets.
Lucy.
Under the cold moonlight, her silver hair carried hints of icy blue and pale pink. Her blue-violet eyes still looked like a frozen pool, cold and closed off to the world.
But the sweat on her forehead and the roughness in her breathing made it obvious she had sprinted all the way here to intercept the case.
She just hadn't expected it to already be in Jackie's hands.
Recognizing her, Kai gestured for Jackie to lower the gun.
"She's one of ours."
Lucy saw that Kai knew who she was and spoke quickly, her voice taut with urgency.
"Maine and the others are surrounded by Militech!"
Militech had entered the field. That meant the whole operation was moving into its final act.
Kai had already been planning to step in and close things out.
"Jackie, give her the case. We're going to pay Militech a visit."
Even though Jackie had no idea who Lucy was, he still tossed her the case without hesitation. If Kai trusted her, that was enough for him.
Lucy caught it, and surprise flickered across her eyes. She clearly hadn't expected Kai to hand it over so easily, or to agree to go pull Maine's crew out of the trap.
She tightened her grip on the sharp monowire in her hand.
As far as she was concerned, corpos always stabbed people in the back. That was exactly why edgerunners needed fixers.
Even when you knew the real money behind a job still came from some corporation, you had to pretend not to know, finish the work, and minimize direct contact.
From where things stood now, almost every possible outcome favored Kai.
His corporate rivals had been mauled by Militech. The case was already in hand. The runtime data from James the cyberpsycho was practically his.
If Kai wanted, he could kill everyone tied to this job right here, including her.
That would give him the perfect ending: a flawless operation, nobody left alive to contradict him, and a clean story to take back to Arasaka for reward and promotion.
In other words, the perfect curtain call.
Then Lucy looked up and noticed a luxury AV slowly descending above them.
The door opened, and Kai climbed in with Jackie.
He had just taken a seat when he turned and saw that Lucy was still standing there.
Jackie asked, "If she's one of ours, should we bring her too?"
Kai knew Lucy didn't want anything to do with company people, which was why he hadn't invited her aboard in the first place.
But after Jackie said that, he realized that apart from him, nobody else had much chance of getting close enough to see what was happening inside the workshop anymore.
Militech had sealed the whole area off.
Ordinary people wouldn't get anywhere near it.
But Kai had cards they didn't.
He waved to Lucy.
"If you want to see how Maine and the others are doing, then come on."
He had expected her to accept.
Instead, she only replied,
"I'll wait for your good news."
Then she turned and vanished into the dark, her pale figure swallowed almost instantly.
Jackie shrugged.
"Seems like she's seriously on guard around you. Guess she figures there isn't a single good person in a corporation."
"But if you didn't have your Arasaka identity today, there'd be no way to settle this peacefully."
Kai ordered the assistant to close the door, and the AV lifted off toward the workshop.
"You can only say everyone in Night City has their own past. Who they trust, or don't trust, is their choice."
Jackie laughed.
"Brother, I trust you a hundred percent. But you're seriously saying we're taking this fancy old beast in there to snatch people out from under Militech? Feels like you're underestimating what an armored cannon can do. One shot and we're all getting blasted sky-high."
Kai didn't seem worried.
"Who said it's just the two of us? I've got an escort."
He looked out the window.
Curious, Jackie leaned over and saw an Arasaka armed AV pacing them on the left. Then he looked out the right side and found another one flying alongside them in formation.
His eyes lit up with excitement.
"Brother, I used to hate corporations. But now a corporation's running security for me. Why does that suddenly feel awesome?"
Kai remained unimpressed.
"If you've got enough power in a corporation, you can order even Adam Smasher around, let alone an Arasaka elite squad."
This was force Arthur had loaned him through his own connections. Not using it would just be a waste.
Two armed Arasaka AVs and one fully equipped elite squad was enough firepower to start a small war.
It was one of the highest expressions of Arasaka's security and armed response power.
As the final trump card on the board, that squad was enough to lock down the whole field.
Back when Kai had cut his way into Arasaka Tower, one of the biggest headaches had been those very elite squads guarding it.
And what he wanted tonight wasn't to start a war with Meredith.
It was to catch up a little and pull a few people out.
He believed Meredith would give him that much face.
At this point, Kai had to admit Arthur really did have some weight behind him.
Without that outside support, he and Jackie would have had to face Militech head-on.
Fighting was out of the question.
The only option then would have been for Kai to go talk to Meredith and negotiate, but without hard military weight behind him, he would have gone in with a weak spine.
The way Kai saw it, until his own strength reached the level he wanted, the all-purpose skin of being a corpo was still too useful to throw away.
As the AV formation neared the target area, Kai could already see that Meredith's Militech force had fully taken control of the scene below and had wiped out the Arasaka tactical teams.
Maine's group was in grave danger.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]