He did not realize that he and Carl were exactly those mercs he was talking about. Carl gave a vague response, his eyes drifting toward the door.
Someone had just walked in. The man was so tall and broad that he blocked the sunlight from outside, with black braids, clear cyberware marks on his cheeks, and a leather jacket hanging open to show a chest full of tattoos. He looked like trouble just standing there.
That man was Jack Welles.
"Jack Welles, come over and have a drink with us."
Jack Welles had just walked into the Wild Wolf Bar when a few Valentinos members, who had been shouting to Mrs. Welles moments earlier about drinking with Jack Welles, immediately stood up. One of them waved him over, clearly hoping Jack Welles would come sit with them.
Before Jack Welles could answer, Mrs. Welles stepped in with a tray in her hands and cut them off. "Jack Welles, perfect timing. Come help out and take these over to those two guests." "I got it, Mom."
Freshly back home and already pressed into service, Jack Welles could only give an apologetic look to the friends inviting him to drink. He took the tray steadily from his mother and walked over to Carl and Oliver. As he set the food down, he also took a seat beside them.
"What should I call you, mano?"
Jack Welles was right there in the flesh, though for Carl, who had already met Viktor Vektor before, he seemed fairly ordinary. "Carl."
Carl lifted the sweet tea in his glass and took a sip. "KK works too." This sweet tea tasted exactly like Iced Black Tea.
"Oliver."
Oliver raised his bottled Ice-Cold Beer toward Jack Welles in greeting. "You are Jack Welles, right? I heard it earlier. Let's have a drink. I do not mind meeting new friends." "Sounds good."
At first, Jack Welles had only come over to test things out, worried about unfamiliar mercs in his mother's bar. Once he realized these two were not the dangerous types he imagined, he accepted Oliver's invitation without hesitation.
He got up and jogged back to the bar, enduring his mom's nagging while grabbing a beer like Oliver's. He also sliced up a plate of Spanish Ham Slices and carried everything back. On the way, he apologized to his earlier Valentinos friends, saying he had things to handle later and would keep these new friends company for now.
"Then next time, for sure." "Of course!"
With a wide smile, Jack Welles set down the Spanish Ham Slices, sat back down, and took a big gulp of beer. Only after that did he look at the two of them again.
"Have some ham. From the looks of it, you two are mercs, right?"
"We just formed the team yesterday and have not taken a single job yet."
Carl drank his Iced Black Tea and stuffed a piece of French Fries into his mouth. The fries were crisp and tasted great. "We heard you might find work at the Wild Wolf Bar, so we came early."
"A team formed just yesterday?"
Jack Welles looked surprised when he heard that. "The way you are geared up, it does not seem like it. Did someone give you guidance?"
Most rookies did not understand how important weapons and armor were. Even the mercs in the Wild Wolf Bar, many without any fixer, only learned the value of body armor after scraping past death more than once and losing teammates. All they saw were street legends and jumped in unprepared, and there were plenty of fools like that.
"We got some help from a ripperdoc named Viktor Vektor. He is really a good guy."
Facing Jack Welles, who smiled in a way that felt honest and trustworthy and lacked the fierce look from earlier, Oliver did not think much of it. He casually shared what seemed like an unimportant detail.
Beside him, Carl noticed that beneath Jack Welles's big and rough appearance was a very careful mind. With just a few lines of chat, Oliver had already been led to talk. Since it did not really matter, Carl simply ate a few more pieces of French Fries.
The fries really were good, though the Wild Wolf Bar did not offer salt and pepper or ketchup. There was not even any mayo.
"Viktor Vektor?"
Hearing the familiar name, Jack Welles immediately realized it was likely the same Viktor Vektor he knew. "The one in the Watson District?"
"Yeah. You know him too?"
"Of course, brother. We go way back."
Jack Welles's smile grew even brighter, and the last bit of caution in his heart faded. Anyone Viktor helped on his own initiative could not be a bad person. It really looked like he was about to gain two more friends.
After Carl joined in, they chatted a bit more about Viktor. Then Jack Welles talked about himself, saying he was also new to merc work and had only taken a few small jobs so far. He knew one fixer but felt he was not ready yet and wanted to improve first, hoping to get jobs based on skill rather than connections.
"You have ambition, Jack Welles. I am not like that," Oliver said. "I always rely on my dad and my sister, and without Carl, I would not even know how to make it on my own."
Oliver truly admired someone like Jack Welles, who had done jobs and had fixer contacts but chose not to lean on them. Glancing over, he noticed Carl was almost done with the French Fries.
Jack Welles had already seen the nearly empty plate in front of Carl. With a hint of pride, he said, "Carl, how are the French Fries? My mom made them. I grew up eating them with corn chips and never got tired of it."
"They are really good, though I think they would be even better with some ketchup."
"Exactly. That is what I think too, but my mom never agrees. She only likes them plain." Jack Welles felt they were completely in sync on this topic and spoke with growing excitement. He almost wanted to drag Carl over to suggest it to his mom, but before he could, new guests walked into the Wild Wolf Bar.
"Suit and heels. Corpo Rats."
Oliver lowered his voice. Just as he said, a well dressed corporate woman walked in, makeup neat and looks decent, though her arrogant expression ruined it.
"Keep it down, or we will get bitten by a dog."
Jack Welles also lowered his voice, pulling a mocking smile across his face. Few people liked Corpo Rats who served big corporations, looked down on everyone else, and bowed even lower to those above them.
"She is looking over here."
As Jack Welles and Oliver spoke quietly with their heads down, Carl's calm voice made them look up at once. They watched the Corpo Rats woman stride toward them on high heels, step by step.
Oliver and Jack Welles both thought that Corpo Rats had overheard something and was coming over to bite them. Instead, Corpo Rats stopped in front of Carl and looked at his face a few times. The two of them relaxed a little but stayed quiet.
Carl did have a handsome face, but in this era that meant very little. Anyone could get a good face with a visit to a ripperdoc, so that clearly was not what drew her attention. What she noticed was Carl himself.
"I checked the surveillance from Watson District Little China yesterday," she said. "You took out sixteen members of Maelstrom by yourself, right?"
What happened yesterday was already known today, and that said enough about how detailed surveillance was in the Cyberpunk world. Carl kept his thoughts to himself, still unsure why this Corpo Rats had come to him. Taking out gang members should have been an NCPD matter.
"There were others," Carl said. "My friend helped."