DateTime Data
June 29th, 2077, 6:47 PM
Today was the day… All this planning came to an end and we actually got to do what we were being paid to. Not all this other shit, though it was admittedly important. Earlier today, we all went down to the El Coyote to play pool, have drinks, and generally just shoot the shit, as was the case for just about every other city-swimmer there. Afterwards Sam and Jackie decided to head out to get some overdue payment from Wakako, as well as Morgynn's errand that T-Bug had given her a couple of days back. I went back home for a few hours, and sat and watched the news waiting for Morgynn to come pick me up and take me to The Afterlife. You see, Morgynn was the only one with a functioning vehicle in this little group of ours, which made it a chore for everyone else to get literally anywhere, an issue I intended to remedy soon. Provided this job went the way it was supposed to, buying shit like a Rayfield would be an afterthought.
After a couple of hours sitting around, doing nothing of real note, I got a text from Morgynn that read, 'here. move ur ass.' To which a small part of my brain said, 'That's funny! NOW SMILE, JACKOFF!' And as if did so, I obeyed and a little, soft, closed-mouth smirk came on my face as I quickly got ready and made my way down to where she was parked. We exchanged a couple of words about each other's current state and errands, and then we were off to The Afterlife.
We pulled up to The Afterlife's parking lot. I could immediately see Sam sitting down next to the entrance in his brown leather trench coat, scrolling through his new holophone with eyes of boredom. Though, when recognized the car, he rose from his sitting position and began to walk over the parking spot Morgynn had chosen. We opened the door to the car and bailed nearly at the same time. Sam approached us in the lot and asked.
"What held y'all? Called ya like thirty minutes ago." He said, addressing Morgynn.
"I know, I know. Got held up in traffic before I got to princesses' place, here…" Morg said, gesturing at me.
I didn't respond with a verbal retaliation, only a scrunched face.'
"…Fuckin' pigs took half-an-eternity to pick up those blocks around Watson." Morgynn stated with a sigh of frustration.
"Yeah. Blows my mind how they can put them things up in only a couple of hours, and slower than a lizard in a blizzard when it comes to tearing 'em down." I added.
"Lizard in a blizzard". You come up with that?" Morgynn asked, looking at me.
"Yep. Right off the dome." I replied proudly.
"Not sure if I should be surprised or just…horribly disappointed in you right now." She said as we returned our conversation to Sam.
"Where's Jackie?" I asked him.
"He's down the steps, on the phone with Misty." He responded.
We approached the entrance to The Afterlife bar and Jackie came walking up the steps, still on the phone. Thought now speaking Spanish, which made me assume it was his mother now.
"Por que ya tenga planes para esta noche!" He exclaimed over the phone, telling her that he'd already made plans for the night. "Virgen Santísima, ma! Te vas a enterar manãna!" He continued, trying to console his mother's worries about his activities. "Yo también te quiero, ma." He finished telling her that he loves her, and putting his holophone pack in his pocket.
He smiled at us three on in front of him.
"Heh. 'Bout time, holmes!"
"What's new with Señora Welles?" Morgynn asked, seeing his frankly tired-looking expression.
He looked down and a peculiar expression appeared on his face, one of guilt. "Ehhh, y'know. She's worried about me – whatever. Can't help herself y'know – checkin' in to see if I'm not rottin' in some dumpster… like most of the Welles boys." He said with an exasperated sigh. "It's really startin' to wear on me. More I tell her everythin's OK, more I feel like I'm lyin'." His expression then returned to one of joy, even if manufactured. "But that's done after tomorrow. Afterlife, here we come, baby! Yeah!"
"Funny…" I said, looking over the entrance to the bar.
Jackie seemed perplexed by my lack of excitement. He gave me a questioning look and asked,
"What?"
"For a club with the hottest contracts in town, doesn't look like all it's bigged up to be." I said, voicing my inner thoughts, outward.
"God, I didn't know you were a crotchety-ass old man, Alex." Sam fired at me for my comment.
"Look, it's what's on the inside that counts, choom." Jackie encouraged.
He shifted his head for us to follow him down the stairs and into the bar proper. Morgynn made the first steps and took the lead behind Jackie as Sam followed in line with her and I took the position of last.
Clearly excited, Jackie turned around while in the antechamber and exclaimed at Morgynn.
"Ready to get your cherry popped?! Yeeeah! Come on!"
"Place used to be a morgue – you guys believe that?" Sam said, apparently having done his research.
"Who woulda thunk…" I stated back, unenthusiastically as we approached the bouncer.
"That's right! Way before our time, that. When proper burials were still a thing for the masses."
We all stopped in front of the door waiting to be addressed by the bouncer guarding the door. His face had been reconstructed with cyberware a couple of times, though not near to the extent of those Maelstrom bastards. But his jawline and nose were reinforced with metal plating, a fairly common cyber-fashion arrangement for people in the past few years.
"An' who might you clowns be?"
Sam seemed to let his excitement overshadow the fact that the man clearly couldn't give two shits.
"Name's Sam, and this here his Jackie, Morgynn and Alex."
Not only did he decide to introduce us to the bouncer, but he did so with the energy of an eight-year-old boy scout, which made it all the more cringe-inducing.
"Oh, is that supposed to sound familiar?" The bouncer replied, playing along sarcastically.
"It will soon. We're here to see Dex." Jackie piped up, surprisingly taking up for Sam.
It was not common for Jackie, or any of us for that matter, to take up for Sam when he went on his periodic social blunders. When he first came to the city, he had business sense, but that was about it. He'd greet people with way too much energy in the mornings and would generally put off the vibe of being an easily-manipulated child, despite being older than me and Morgynn. I didn't know if it was because of his past, or the fact that he'd spent so long on the road, probably only getting to interact with an actual person every two-or-three days, but the man had spirit. Unfortunately, Night City chews up and shits out spirit on the daily.
I saw the bouncers eyes glow blue as he made the call through his R.S.T to Dex.
"Yo, Dex. Got four lives ones sayin' they're here to see ya. Yeah? All right, then." He said over the phone call, afterwards, his eyes returned to their original color. "Says he needs a second or two. Go get yourselves drinks or somethin'." He finished, relaying the info from Dex to us.
Jackie just smiled at the bouncer as the sliding doors behind him opened up and he moved aside.
"Way ahead o' you, viejo."
Song Choice: Empire Of Steel – Essenger, Scandroid
As we all walked in, one after another, and I noticed the whole atmosphere change. Outside, it was wannabe mercs who'd wish they could get inside, it was the goal of life for them. Even I had underestimated this place. Granted, the crowd outside didn't exactly fill me with confidence. Inside though, my ears where greeted by the sound of steely techno music, as would be only proper of an establishment like this. The floors were all steel and with the walls being a mix of glass tile and bright LED strip lights. There were vent units that blew fog out and onto the floors, playing to the whole lore of the place's macabre origins. If one looked around for a just a couple of moments, even badly, they would be greeted with characters the likes of which I'm not sure could be found in any other facet of the city. People dressed in clothing old-fashioned and new-age, a captivating blend of rugged, worn experience, and hot and fresh talent. To this crowd I'm sure our little group would fit into the latter. But by far the most alluring thing was the centerpiece, the bar itself. It had the look of retro diner bar, with some major cavoites. It was adorned in lime green neon lights with a sign attached to the aluminum overhead that read, 'Afterlife'. As a matter of fact, the entire place was doused in lime green light that reflected off of the cloudy fog that hugged the flooring. I had to give it to 'im, Jackie was right, yet again, this place was indeed special.
"This is it…" Jackie trailed off excitedly, trying to pace himself as he approached the bar, to at least come off as cool and collected. "The heart 'o Night City!" He said turning around to us as we all looked admired the place's different offerings. "That's it right there – beating. Hear it?" He continued, pointing at the bar itself. "Can you imagine? Susan Forrest, Boa Boa, maybe even Morgan Blackhand…" He said, letting the excitement drip from his voice now as we all took a seat at the bar. "All sat on these stools, fell asleep at this very same bar."
"And now it's looks like we're up." Sam added, only inflaming Jackie's cheeriness.
Just after we sat down, I saw a woman in a yellow tank-top sweater-shirt, walk behind us and then into view. As soon as Jackie caught a glimpse of her, his eyes widened into the size of tuna fish.
" 'Ey. See that old lady there?" He said turning to us three who were all sat consecutively to his right. "That's Rogue – best fixer in all o' Night City."
I wasn't a merc nerd like those three, and mostly knew about the really big-time ones, like Johnny Silverhand, Morgan Blackhand, and Weyland. But even I knew about Rogue, I think most people in Night City did. Morgynn seemed to have the look of an epiphany on her face.
"Shit. I knew I saw her from somewhere, she was comin' in right behind us."
"Thought Dex was the best." I said, calling Jackie out on his contradiction.
He shook his head and smiled.
"Pff… Rogue was linin' up jobs when Dex was still shittin' in diapers, heh. Place belongs to her."
Just then, the bar-hand came up to us and asked,
"What can I getcha?"
"You order." I told Jackie, giving him permission to get us whatever the hell he wanted. It was his big night after all.
"Four Tequila Old-Fashioneds with a splash of cerveza and a chili garnish."
"A quadro of Johnny Silverhands, comin' up." The bartender said pulling out the necessary ingredients from various spots around the bar.
I looked around as she began to mix the items together, and saw that Sam had apparently taken a liking to her, visually. He followed her every move.
"Right on, chica." Sam blurted out, although feeling no shame in saying it. He'd been around the block too many times for that.
"Somebody did their homework." She said, pointing at Sam with a cheeky grin.
"Looks like the dog ate mine…" I said, joining the conversation.
"Age-old tradition. Drink're named after our regulars." She informed, not necessarily to anyone in particular, as Jackie and Morgynn seemed to already know, and were not in the least surprised.
"Say I wanted a drink named after me – what would I have to do?" Sam asked her, while also pairing his question with a charming smile.
She did not respond immediately, still mixing the drinks together. Once she was finished, she slid the glasses to each of us.
"Snuff it." She responded as we all looked down at her artform. "In mind-blowingly spectacular fashion. Mid-op'd be the best."
Jackie seemed to enjoy every bit of this atmosphere to the fullest I ever seen him enjoy anything. Everything about it, from the temperature of the chamber being colder than a normal bar, to the lore of their in-house tradition. It filled him with a sort of ecstasy.
"Aah, what a beauty of a, TRADITION!" Jackie yelled, his voice climbing, and clearly having fun with the idea.
Afterwards we looked back at our drinks and came to the silent conclusion that it was time for a toast. Sam raised his glass and gestured for me to take it. Jackie and Morgynn also lifted their glasses, lying in wait for my inevitable words.
I lifted my glass, and looked at the clear liquid inside, swishing around. The rim of the glass had been coated in lime juice and chili powder, an appetizing little drink to be sure.
"To this!" I said, happily, eliciting a groan from both Morgynn and Jackie and a hearty laugh from Sam.
"Chingada madre… Fine, have it your way!"
All the same, they took a deep gulp of the drink and cringed at the stiffness. First swig was always the worst.
"Who else can we drink here?" Sam asked, still grimacing from the taste.
"All on the menu…" She responded to him sliding us small paper menus.
" 'Cept there's a spot missing. Morgan Blackhand, right?" Morgynn inquired.
The bartender smiled at her quick wits.
"Heh,'s true. Morgan's yet to make up his mind if he's dead or still kickin'."
"Huh, nobody knows what happened to him… think he's still alive? It's been years…" Jackie commented at the bartender.
"Why not? Look at Rogue. Peeps of that era – a species unto themselves." She responded.
"Guess dyin's a small price to pay for goin' down in history." Morgynn lamented.
"Gotta live like a legend first, though, eh?" Jackie responded, with words of encouragement. "Death… s'nothin' but the final flourish." He trailed off. "Oh, and by the way, name's Jackie Welles. You wanna write down my recipe?" He offered towards the bartender.
"Hmm… sure." She said, not completely certain.
"Shot of vodka on the rocks, lime juice, and ginger bear… oh, and most importantly – a splash of love." He said with a cheeky grin.
I smiled at his confidence to say that out loud, even in this place. It was a cocktail he made for us a lot after we were either sore, bruised, or generally banged up after a job. He'd say, 'Vik can't fix everything instantly, but this sure as hell can.' When he'd offer the glass for us to drink. It was a sort of initiation thing for him. When myself and Sam came along, not sure about Morgynn, but I'd assume her as well. We'd all be offered that drink after our very first job together as a reward, no matter how piss-poor the job went down.
I got a bad feeling in my stomach that I'd been struggling with all day, not sure that Asian stand was the best for me, yesterday.
"Hey got a sick feelin' in my gut. Gonna go open the airlock, K?" I said signaling to them that I was headed for the bathroom.
They all nodded as I got up and left for the bathroom, continuing their conversation with the charismatic bartender.
"So, what's your name?" The voice of Sam said from behind, slowly getting further, and further away.
"Claire…" The bartender replied to him, nearly out of earshot as the ambient sounds obscured her.
As I turned the corner on my way to the restrooms to which I was directed, I passed many different entertaining characters, cowboys with half-metal bodies askin' about yesterday's news. Rich mercs that'd already made it big trying to convince everybody who didn't know who they were that they meant something to this city. But no event was so entertaining as this little interaction I got to observe.
"Rogue told me you were the one to talk to." A tan-skinned woman said, clearly hesitant according to her voice.
"Relax, it's taken care of, we're set. Now, about the eddies. Who's payin', exactly?" The man to whom she was speaking replied softly with a noticeable southern twang to his voice.
I noticed all of this on the fly, and as such, I got a glimpse of the man as I passed them. He had short cut black hair, similar to my own. But he was far bulkier than was, but also a few inches shorter than me, but still stood an inch or two above his female compatriot. My body was built as long and lean, growing up I was always suggested to become a basketball player or track runner. Ultimately, I became a swimmer back in my schooling days, but I begged to become a runner after the first two semesters of that shit. Waking up at 5:30 AM every morning only to dive into what seemed like freezing-cold water every single day was more than a little disheartening for a young teen.
"6th Street. Why?" The woman replied.
The man quickly shook his head, dispelling the thought.
"Nothin', nothin'… Just that I'm runnin' up some pretty steep expenses." He replied to her, stepping a bit closer, and beginning to pace slowly.
"I've dealt with 6th Street before. We do the run, they'll transfer the cred." She reinforced with certainty.
" 'Course, yeah. I'm sure it'll work out." The guy responded, his comrade's reassurance seeming to be successful.
After that, I decided to take one look behind myself as I passed them. I got a full view of the woman's red-leather jacket. It had an interesting and intricate design on it. And said, 'Aldecaldos' on it.
So, she's a Nomad? Figured as much. I thought.
Certain people just give off a strong vibe, and it would have been hard to mistake her for anything other than a nomad, no matter how hard she hypothetically tried to hide that fact. I however, did find it odd that a nomad would be within eight miles of this place, let alone inside of the place. So those two must have been doing something right.
Song Choice: The Good, the Bad and the Dirty – Panic! At The Disco
After I was finished with my… business in the bathroom stall. I exited and washed my hands. I caught my reflection was entranced by it. All the thoughts, doubts, and worries about tonight just came flooding in. I sat there, expressionless, staring at myself I the mirror, and beyond that. I honestly couldn't say how long I was there before I heard a loud metallic banging sound coming from the slide-door to the bathroom.
"Hey! What's goin' on in there?!" A loud, deep voice exclaimed though the thin metal door.
"Be out in a second!" I exclaimed back.
I took some water from the still-squealing sink and splashed it onto my face, to try and dispel the thoughts, trying my best to keep my eyes away from my reflection so as to not me enraptured by its unholy spell again. I took a small towel to dry my face off and once again heard the call to action.
"What the fuck's takin' so long?!"
"I said hold on a fuckin' second!" I yelled back at the man behind the door, no sign of apologetic tone in my voice anymore.
I decided that now was the time to leave, otherwise the guy on the other side was liable to simply break down the door himself I kept him waiting any longer. I went over and unlocked and opened the door. As the lock indicator turned from a digital red, 'occupied' label, to a green, 'vacant' label, and slid open, I saw the exceptionally angry face of the man from before, the man who was accompanying the jacket-lady.
He aggressively grabbed me by the leather collar of my jacket and steamrolled me back into the steel bathroom stalls, making a loud bang in the bathroom as the sliding door closed shut behind him. We were alone, the both of us here.
"Think you can just talk to me like that bitch?" He said still grabbing hold of my collar.
I'd been bullied back in my school days and this reminded me heavily of that experience, it's the only thing that this could be related to. I knew to try and be calm to solve this sort of immature shit before getting violent.
"Calm. Down." I replied firmly, but still no raise in tone.
"Calm down?! Look where the fuck you are right now! I could cold-cock you right here and now if I so desired, and your scrawny-ass wouldn't be able to do shit about it!" He continued on, only growing angrier at my command. As he talked on, spit just kept gathering on my face.
"What's your name?" I asked, still in a stone-cold tone.
"What?! My name?! Are you tapped?!"
"Your name… What is it?" I reaffirmed, hoping the message made it two his brain on the second attempt.
"Nash Bane. And you keep on with this bullshit, and that'll be the last name you ever hear." He threatened.
In reality I'd been trained in just about every form of martial arts known to man at Arasaka, though was a master of none. Even still, it would be more than enough to incapacitate him, and leave him broken and bleeding on the bathroom floor.
Hearing no response from me initially, he lifted my weight from the stall and slammed me back into it, which surely caught my attention.
"I know you're retarded, but I didn't know you were fuckin' deaf too, are you?" He said, getting closer to my face, and showering my face in a veil of spit.
I quickly dislodged his meaty hands from my collar faster than he could react and left him there. I shoved past him and quickened my pace to get out of the cramped bathroom.
"See you on the flip side… Nash." I said, making sure my tone stayed consistently stoic, but also making sure that I made it ominous.
He wanted so bad for me to punch his ass, probably to go tattling to Rogue or the bouncer to have me ejected. I could've done so, easily, but I thought of the job and mostly of Jackie, Morgynn and Sam, and how much fun they were having. More so than losing the meetup spot with Dex and Bug, I'd have hated for them to miss out on my account. I spared him, and not only his life but with zero consequences for assaulting me, I showed him mercy. And in that moment, I was thankful He wasn't present to see that. Had he been… the act of leaving his body in any other state than it leaking its warm blood on the floor would have disgusted Him…
I wiped the spit from my face and continued walking. Apparently, Nash had finally closed the door shut and did what he went there to do in the first place. As I made my way back to the bar, luckily with no black eye or the like that I'd have to explain to gang, I made eye contact for the first time the Aldecaldo woman who was sitting by herself at a table for two, drinking a bear. She'd assumedly been waiting for Nash to return to her, having no knowledge of what had just transpired between us, she gave a silent nod of mutual acknowledgement and I returned the gesture before moving on.
She was definitely bangin' that was for goddamn sure. I thought to myself as I continued my trek to the bar.
As Alex sat himself back down in his designated stool without a word, Claire continued the conversation.
"Heard you were Dex's latest finds."
Jackie waved his hands in a manner that one would when hearing an opinion that they didn't quite believe.
"Just biz, no big deal." Jackie replied, downplaying the mission they had to embark upon that night.
Just then, a man approached the group of young mercs from behind dressed up in a dark brown leather jacket and slim shades. He looked halfway between white and Arabic.
"Mr. DeShawn see you now." He informed in broken English; his accent clearly Russian.
The group all nodded politely and smiled at Claire before rising from our seats.
"Break a leg." She said kindly.
Once they'd all risen, the Russian man made no overt expressions and simply turned around and commanded stiffly.
"This way."
As they walked, Jackie thought to strike up conversation.
"Damn, holmes, you're huge… Work out?" He complimented.
The man just kept walking, only indication he ever offered that he'd even heard Jackie was a simple,
"Mm."
"Same here, y'know, in the ring. You do some kinda exotic shit? Kempa? Ninjitsu?" Jackie once again said, desperately trying to be friendly with the guy and pry some information out of him.
Again, all he offered back was a grunt of acknowledgement.
"Think you could take me, drop me?" Jackie asked him, in no way insinuating a fight of any kind, just guy talk.
As their guide turned the corner in the backroom where he'd taken them, he stood by a door inside and said,
"In here." The man said, taking his position by the door.
Jackie just sighed and commented in Spanish, so as to not anger the bodyguard.
"Este pinche tipo…"
DateTime Data:
June 29th, 2077, 7:09 PM
After being directed in by the guide, they walked inside of what seemed to be a VIP room of sorts, but much more high-end than what Lizzie's offered. It was a chamber inside of a chamber. But as the group entered, they could now hear the voice of Dex clearly talking to someone who was already here.
"That's right, Excelsior." Dex commented, on the phone with somebody at the moment.
There was a large black crate that Alex saw sitting by the entrance to the closed-off booth. Alex immediately recognized it as the Flathead case he handed off to Jackie, and Jackie handed off to T-Bug earlier today, as those were his errands. He picked it up and walked inside behind everyone else.
Once we'd all entered the enclosed booth that Dex had rented out, we received a soft smile from T-Bug and even Dex himself.
"Cold, hard eddies as per usual. Gotta bounce." He said, ending his phone call. "Well, if it ain't the Breakfast Club."
"Whole family in one place! Hah! Finally!" Jackie exclaimed, with palpable energy, his excitement for tonight reaching a fever pitch.
"First time in realspace." T-Bug added specifically looking at Samuel.
"And the Flathead?" Dexter asked to everybody.
Jackie smiled at Alex, silently applauding him still for a job well done.
"Let's see this bad boy…"
Alex then promptly opened the case to reveal the bot in good condition, and held up the control shard to boot, before gently setting it back in place.
"Hey, Bug. Didn't get a chance to tell you before, but thanks for your help back at the scav haunt." Morgynn said, quickly making a small shift of subject.
"A few reapers less in the city – good thing."
"Damn right. City Hall should be fuckin' thankin' us." Sam replied.
At Dexter's behest the three young merc who had yet to take a seat, did so at their appropriate places.
"Sweet booth. It soundproof?" Jackie asked, simply trying to make conversation.
"Jackie…" T-Bug said, trying to keep him on track. He had habit of talking about meaningless shit a lot when he was anxious or excited.
"Now, now, Mr. Welles is right. We gon' be goin' over some sensitive material." Dex countered, taking Jack's side of things. "But if it's all right with y'all, I'd like to start with a question for Mr. Kayden…"
His targeted approach surprised Alex, who really didn't see Dexter as the kind of guy to perpetuate that specific kind of conversation. In Alex's mind, he Dex must've suspected something.
"Evelyn Parker – how'd you fare?" He said, pointing his smoking cigar at him.
"Well as I could have, I guess. Walked around Konpeki Plaza, inside, from that raw BD she scrolled." Sam replied to him, a bit quicker than he thought he should have, given the situation.
"Mhm. Bug already filled me in." Dexter replied calmly, as he was in all things… thus far.
"So you know the target, Yorinobu Arasaka. The emperor's son and heir apparent." Morgynn jumped in.
"Mhm. Man with the million-eddy name and no talent to back it up." Dex spat confidently. "Evelyn Parker's "special friend"… So she just wanna see wha'ss good, or was there somethin' else?" He asked, turning his attention back to Sam.
"Parker chick… I dunno – sent out mixed signals, so I got mixed feelings." Sam replied truthfully.
Sam was still not completely sure who to trust here, if anybody. Although, it was Evelyn who approached him first about cutting Dex out, so maybe she was just trying to get the upper hand, or maybe she only did that because she knew Dex for what he was, and knew that he was new to the City, trying to protect him.
"One night – sippin' Champaradise with Yorinobu. Next night – chattin' it up with regulars at Lizzie's… Worlds don't match up." Sam finished.
"Struck me too…" T-Bug added, falling in with Sam's observations.
"You sayin' we puttin' two and two together and gettin' five? Some part of the equation's missin' then, clearly. S'why y'all got a fixer. Anyone try to fuck you, they first gotta fuck their way through Dex DeShawn's three-hundred-pound ass." He said with a hearty, slow-moving laugh as they all joined-in for a couple of moments. "Anything else?"
Sam thought for a moment. He knew that he and Morgynn didn't have to make that decision yet. Not until they had the chip, at least. Besides Jackie and Alex and T-Bug had no idea about Evelyn's plan and we had yet to go over it with them. And they could hardly do that in front of Dexter himself. So he thought to provide a neutral answer to Dex since he was the chosen mouthpiece, for now, play along a bit longer, at least until they could all communicate it clearly to one another about next steps.
"Think she just wanted to see what our unit was really about." Sam said, hoping that Dex wouldn't be able to pick up on anything in his voice.
He leaned up from his laid-back position in the booth. Now hunched over he repeated.
"Wanted to see what we was about" huh…?"
Dex merely nodded his head, but Morgynn could tell that, even though he accepted the answer, he didn't quite believe it one hundred percent. She decided she'd need to throw him off the scent, and quick.
"How 'bout we go over the plan? Whatcha got for us, Dex?" Morgynn asked, shifting the subject of conversation.
"This." Dex replied pulling out a small black case that was seated right beside him. He slid it over to the middle of the lounge table and Jackie leaned over and pressed the small button on the top. It revealed four small datashards that would most likely be used to transmit the proper information.
"Welp, here goes nothin'" Sam said, having a reputation for not liking the feeling of inserting datashards into his port.
Just before everybody inserted the shard, T-Bug interrupted.
"Me and Dex've already covered the fine detes. Ops wise, should be a stroll on he beach."
To which Alex vehemently disagreed. He'd been on enough "ops" to know that shit never goes completely according to plan, it's why they have mandatory training on improvisation at Arasaka CI.
The four of them, which did not include T-Bug all inserted the shards and had the information actively displayed to them on their eye optics.
"Elaborate, I wanna hear it." Jackie said leaning back into the booth to take in all of the information.
Dex elected himself to be the one to explain the plan to them.
"A Delamain'll drop three of your asses at the front door of Konpeki Plaza. You'll stroll right in thanks to your false identities."
Just as he said that, three names popped up on the datashard's information. "H. Conwell" "R. Victorino" and "O. Cortez"
"Then, with Bug's help, Morgynn here, will breach the hotel's subnet…" Dexter continued on.
"Mine and the Flathead's help." T-Bug made sure to add.
"Last but not least, you, Alex, along with Jackie, slip into Yorinobu's penthouse and klep the Relic."
"And where do I fit in?" Sam asked, not seeing his part explained yet.
"You'll have one of the most important jobs of all… Insurance." Dex said, a devilish grin appearing on his face, as he clenched his fat cigar between his teeth. "You're gonna play overwatch, outside the Plaza. While they are perusing around the place, you'll be sittin' pretty up on high, perched atop a building just far away enough that 'Saka security won't expect a shot to fire from that distance. If shit goes south, it'll be your duty to pick off any half-sensible shmuck that comes along to fuck up our plan. T-Bug tells me you're quite the marksman, that true? Can you do this?"
Sam thought for a moment. He knew he was always the most talented shot back home, could hit a human-sized target from nearly fifteen-hundred meters semi-regularly. But he knew he wouldn't be able to do this with any old hunting rifle, he didn't even bring it for Christ's sake. So, in that, he knew that Dex had to have something in store for him.
"Yeah… Yeah, I can do it."
"Good! Then it's time to unveil the tools of your not-so-honest trade." Dex said, as he picked up dialed up the Russian bodyguard. "Bring it in."
Only a few moments later the soundproof door to the enclosed bot slid open and the large man came walking in with an even larger gun case. He set it down on the table without a word and left, door closing behind him.
"Go on, open it up." Dex said, a hint of anticipation in his voice, the first time any of them had heard him venture from his usual monotone "chillness".
Sam picked up the case and unlatched it. He lifted the lid and saw what laid inside encased and snugly secured in Styrofoam.
"They called it, "Breakthrough", and from the demonstration they gave me, it prices concreate like cardboard." Dex commented, almost as a father would when giving his son a new present on Christmas morning.
Sam looked over the rifle with astonishment and admiration. He ran his fingers over every grove and bolt of the integument. The body of it curved and came to elegant points. The gun itself was entirely unique, obviously taking the technology framework of the Nekomata, but also innovating off of it. He quickly took notice of the custom infrared digital scope that was attached. Weather in blinding light or shrouding darkness… they could not hide from holy fury.
"I-I… Goddamn Dex this is pretty good!" Sam exclaimed with excitement, as Jackie, Alex and Morgynn all leaned over to get a good look at the weapon.
"Mhm. And, just because I'm so nice, if this job goes over, successfully, I'll let you keep the damn thing."
Sam then took out another piece from the gun case and saw it was a rifle-strap, something he got to work assembling at once, as the others continued on with the conversation.
"But, it goes without sayin' we do this on the hush – ideally no bodies, not a one. You hear that, Sam? You are a backup plan do not engage unless absolutely necessary." T-Bug warned.
"You'll have T-Bug on comms for the duration." Dex added, which did a number to comfort the infantry team. "Now, time for any more burnin' questions?"
"Transport's a Delamain?" Morgynn asked, now having free reign to ask about it.
"Preemest cab company in all Night City… Nada mal…" Jackie explained.
"DeShawn don't ever work with anyone but the best. I consider Delamain just that." Dexter said, answering Morgynn's question.
"Yeah, who needs creepy, nosey, cab driver when you've got a clean AI to get you from point A to B in style." T-Bug added while lightly elbow bumping Morgynn in a friendly manner.
"And how he bags a permit to operate every year's still a mystery." Jackie commented.
"If everything goes as planned, Ms. Herrera, Delamiain'll drop y'all off here." Dexter comforted. "If things get sticky, he'll head for the safe house." Dexter finished, quickly returning to reality.
Alex latched on quick to that little detail and asked.
"Which is…?"
"The No-Tell Motel. Quiet, no questions asked. Make our next move from there. But I'm flat certain that won't be necessary." Dexter said, confidence, or rather, bravado dripping from his words. "Anything else?"
Sam looked up, but saw Alex do the same, and decided to let Alex ask his question before voicing his own. Besides he had a new tow to fuck around with I the meantime.
"These new identities – tell us more. What's our cover?" Alex asked out of habit, having done undercover missions a few times in the past. Only difference was that in the corporation, they told you upfront all the details necessary on how not to die, and if you did, it was your own fault.
T-Bug smiled as it would be her to address this, she'd been hoping someone would ask, as it was her to came up with the idea and set it into practice.
She looked to her right, where Jackie was sat, first.
"Hello, Ramón Victorino."
She looked to her left where Morgynn was sat.
"Hello, Olivia Cortez."
And lastly, she looked to Alex who was sat at the far end of the small enclosed room on a chair separate from the main booth.
"And you're Harry Conwell."
Jackie just snickered at his own given name.
"Ramón – yeah, OK. What do we say we're there for?" He asked, to which Alex wanted to slap himself in the face for not thinking of before.
"Biz as usual. Corpo arms deal. Case anyone asks, you there for a bogus meetin; with Arasaka's defense rep. Hajime Taki."
Hajime Taki was a name Alex knew intimately. Many of his fellow classmates who graduated from the training program he did, and did not make the top three, were sent to work for Hajime, instead of being inducted into the counterintel department.
"Any more questions?" Dexter asked once again making sure everyone felt accommodated before leaving.
"Yeah, how are they supposed to get into the penthouse?" Sam asked, now seemingly finished with fiddling with the rifle.
"Yorinobu's got barely any muscle. Hardest part'll be penthouse security." T-Bug explained. "If we wanna disable, we'll need to neutralize Konpeki's dweller – elite 'runner monitoring the hotel's subnet twenty-four seven. Only catch is there's no way to get in the dweller's den from the outside."
"Hold on, no way from the outside? Then how do they not die if they're stuck running all day, every day?" Sam interrupted, asking a pretty logical question.
"Food, or, rather, nutrients gets sent up and inserted into their bodies through tubes. That is, if they even have a digestive system left, most just have it removed, fed nutrients through what are effectively, cybernetic generators where their stomach's used to be. They've got no time to slack, always learning, always getting more proficient with the codebases." Bug explained, and Sam just cringed, seeming not to like the answer he was given.
"So how you want us to get inside a room that you can't get into?" Jackie inquired.
Dex just let out a loud laugh.
"Trust me whenever I say whatever hitch you think up, T-Bug's solved it already."
"This is where the Flathead comes in." T-Bug illustrating to the mere mortals in the room her master plan. "Morgynn will have to get him in the ventilation shafts, guide him to the dweller and force the dweller to… take a break. Flathead'll stay there, jacked into the dweller, but thanks to that, I'll be able to roll out your red carpet into the penthouse."
"Okay, I think we're all up to speed now." Alex said, significantly more confident than when he entered here, despite conducting a raid on Yorinobu Arasaka, himself.
Sam and Morgynn nodded in conjunction with him, showing their approval of his statement.
Dex leaned back in his booth, took one long drag of his cigar and spoke.
"Perfect."
"I got a question. When do we get to the real reason why we're all here?" Jackie blurted out, obviously insinuated the monetary gain.
"Cut for fresh talent's always the same and non-negotiable, thirty-percent." Dex said, firmly, making sure that it stuck in the minds of the newcomers.
Now Sam was really starting to regret his earlier decision of neutrality—to him, thirty was just too low. In her mind, Morgynn seemed to agree, this job was extremely risky—she had always believed the risk of the job should be equivalent to it's compensation. Alex was just flat out disappointed; this was not what he thought the "enormous payout" Jackie described and hyped up so much would turn out to be. Not to mention that it would have to be split unevenly between four people. Bug was exempt since she'd worked for Dex in the past, got her own separate payout.
"Bro… thirty?!" Jackie replied, clearly frustrated.
"Every part of this drama carries it's risks. That's the value of yours as determined by me." Dexter countered, determined to take no sassback from these newbies.
"C'mon, Dex, isn't that a little low? For a job like this?" Morgynn pushed back.
Jackie bumped her in a manner that said, 'Hold on. Lemme take the lead.' And so he did. He leaned up from the previously laid-back position on the sofa-booth, putting his elbows on the knees, he was gettin' into it now…
"Hey, hold on, holmes – who got he Flathead? Who pulled intel from the braindance?" Jackie defended, which the others found themselves really respecting. "We're goin' in a hotel full of 'Saka men to swipe some fuckin' toy from the boss' son. We ARE the job." Jackie continued, his voice ramping up in tone.
Dexter didn't do anything but hold his cigar in his mouth and took yet another long drag.
"Hm, and whose providing transport, weaponry, munitions, a top-tier netrunner, and a lead-proof plan and intel?" Dex said, making his rebuttal without ever rising another octave above his normal speech. Jackie just looked at his feet, his fire taken out of him. It was a stalemate. "You sure you wanna go down this road?"
Alex, usually not one to speak out on shit like this, decided it was time to take up for himself, and for his… family.
"Jack's right, Dex. We oughta get more than thirty, we deserve more."
He hated sounding like some entitled, young, prick kid . But Dex was snubbing us, everyone knew it, even Morgynn. But this job—it was just simply a different set of circumstances.
"Fine. Thirty-five and that's my final offer."
Non-Negotiable, my ass. Alex thought to himself proudly.
It wasn't ideal, but it was something, and the best they could hope for, given the situation.
A soft grin came on Morgynn's face as she recognized the silent pride Alex was feeling right now, having leveraged his corpo negotiation skills to strike a deal.
"I can live with that… it's my final offer, too." Jackie added.
Dex smiled at Alex, who wasn't as good as he thought at hiding his emotions anymore, he was out of practice, and out of weekly board meetings.
"Been awhile since I got a run for my eddies. Actually, kinda fun." He said, chuckling a bit, knowing he'd been defeated in the art of words. "Last thing, Konpeki's got a strict, no-iron policy, and that goes for knives, swords, and whatever other fucked-up shit you got on you. Got security gates, the works. So you dawgs'll leave your lead-spitters in the ride, take the Flathead inside in its case."
"Got some deft suits for you three, so you'll look the part, too." T-Bug commented, finally revealing why she'd been asking for clothing sizes and measurements for the past two days or so.
"Chido!" Morgynn said, exicted.
"So, not to count chickens, but when will we see our eddies?" Sam questioned towards Dexter.
"All depends how Ms. Parker avails herself of her role, but a week, two tops is my guess." He responded.
"And whadda we do while waitin'? Sit around, suck air?" Morgynn said a little unhappy with the limited pay, and now the disappointing timeline.
"You sit tight, heads down, 'cause 'ol uncle Arasaka be watchin'." Dexter retorted, ending the subject there. "Now, as that ol' Greek dawg says, life's a banquet – so don't go thirsty, but don't get drunk, either."
Dex then rose from his sitting position for the first time the entire meeting. Making his way out of the enclosed chamber and walked past Alex.
"Your chariot awaits outside." He said finally, as the door slid behind him.
"My que to delta, too. Gotta prep to jack in, be there when you come on comms. Any other issues, now's your chance." She said, giving us one last chance to get familiar with stuff.
"Plan – what's your take?" Alex asked firmly, almost coldly.
"Enough, I hope, to put me in a luxury Cretan villa from which I'll never set foot in cyberspace again." She said, as an honest, but pained look came on her face.
T-Bug had been vocal for months about wanting to get outta the business of netrunning. She only decided to tutor Morgynn because she saw her as extremely talented, and even that it was out of reluctance. To her, Morgynn was he lasting mark on cyberspace, her protégé, one last good thing done before she flew off into the sunset. This was her out.
"Promise to send me a postcard?" Morgynn joked.
"No offense, but I'm gonna burn any and all bridges – need a clean break away from the city." She replied, much to the disappointment of Morgynn.
"You and Dex know each other a while?" Sam asked, making the conversation flow seamlessly from one subject to another, as Morgynn had her mood dimmed a bit.
"Umm… Why?" She responded, not completely sure the of ulterior route of questioning provided in that statement.
"Ah, y'know, peeps say all kinds of things…" Jackie responded for Sam.
"Everything we hear is an opinion not a fact" – Marcus Aurelius, I think." Was T-Bug's only response.
"Huh, you and Dex – both philosophizin'… No wonder you get along." Jackie observed
They all sat there in an awkward silence as no one could really come up with anything off the dome to reply with.
"Okay, well, I don't think we got any more questions, for real this time." Alex said, breaking the ever-oppressive silence of the room.
T-Bug smiled and slapped her knee in excitement.
"Let's get to work! Oh, and Sam, you should get going to. No need for you to change clothes or anything. I'll send you the geoloc data for a few different viable nests you can head to and get comfy in."
At that, Bug and Sam both got up from their respective positions and made their way out, although not before giving fist bumps to everybody. The door closed behind the two as they exited, leaving only Jackie, Alex and Morgynn.
"So, you guys ready to get goin' or what?" Jack asked them, looking back and forth.
"Yeah, let's start getting' ready. No point in waitin'." Morgynn replied.
"Gettin' rich you mean!" Jackie said jumping to his feet as Alex closed Flathead case and picked it up…