Jenkins strode back and forth, glaring at his desk as he listened to the day's update. It was dark enough now that the lights of the city were painting his office. The austere, dark walls and minimalist design was illuminated by the glow of the surrounding buildings and the massive fish that swam in ceaseless circles around Corpo Plaza.
Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, he hissed. "What do you mean you've got nothing? It's been two weeks, how can you have nothing?"
"Sir, we've been trailing the target every day. They spend the majority of time in their office, and you said yourself that they've been keeping above the standard expected for their position." While that was true, it was still a noticeable drop for V. While you couldn't fire someone for excelling less than usual, it was suspicious. It almost certainly meant that they were two-timing him.
"You're saying they haven't done anything even remotely odd or suspicious in two weeks? Are you sure they don't know you're keeping tabs on them?" he hissed back, disbelieving and more than a little frustrated.
"As sure as we can be. They leave work, occasionally visit a bar between the building and their apartment. They've kept to their scheduled company events and meetings with their life coach, and the only notable deviation in their schedule and plans was a trip through Heywood a few days ago to pick up some tailoring. As far as we can tell, they haven't done anything non-work related in this whole time."
"Fine. Keep it up." Hanging up the phone, Jenkins rubbed his chin in frustration. Nothing but work, huh? You'd slip up eventually, V. He was going to make it to the top, and nobody could stand in his way.
Returning to his tasks, it was a couple hours later when a message popped up. 'Target leaving building, heading towards docks. No scheduled appointments, deviating from normal route.'
Gotcha.
The dull green lights and disused morgue equipment of the Afterlife club acted as a backdrop to two tense and pissed off muscular solos. Pressed into the corner of a booth, the hulking masses of sinew, plating, and a distinct lack of shirts known as Dorio and Maine were fruitlessly scrolling through video footage. It had been an increasingly slow couple of weeks, and nothing from Tanaka. It seemed he had swapped things up in response to the theft, and Lucy had confirmed that her new contact had passed on that the mark,Tanaka, was being cautious. Having blown the chance to ambush the man and get the data from his head, they were stuck with Faraday's increasing disapproval.
Sighing as Dorio flipped through the screens again, footage on fast-forward, Maine tapped a finger on his leg before letting his head fall back and thump against the wall. "Fuck me! I almost wish I could blame this on the kid, but this was my fuckup. Shoulda just cut our losses and tried again another time. Woulda been a bit riskier but now we've burnt our best lead."
"Hey, no way you could have known. Besides, it wasn't like Faraday made it clear what he was after," Dorio quipped, before tossing the tablet on the table and leaning back into the crook of his arm. As she did, she felt a slight shudder and frowned. "Babe… you're shaking again."
"Huh?" Glancing over at his arm, he growled, and reached into one of the pockets on his jacket. Removing an injector, he popped it against his leg, the hiss of injection coinciding with a gradual decline in the shaking. "Fuck… swore I already dosed myself today. Musta been a shoddy batch." Dorio frowned, but didn't say anything. It was an old argument at this point. Maine wasn't about to dechrome, but he had been acting a little odd the past couple days.
She was secretly glad that David had gotten the Sandevistan. A piece of tech like that would have pushed Maine over the edge. She was increasingly confident that it might happen anyway if he didn't dial it back. The big man didn't like to talk about what pushed him to chrome up so much, but so far he had kept it under control. Still, she was hoping that he would dial it down a bit. "Well, we got any other work in the meantime?" she said, trying to change the topic.
"Nah, not really. That job with the Scav hideout was a throwaway, and I haven't been sniffin' around for anything big cause I don't want Faraday yellin' at us for not workin' on this. Still, unless we get a new lead soon, gonna have to pick up something for the eddies. Ironically, David's actually getting more work than we are."
Snorting, Dorio tilted her head. "Yeah, but that's all scrub stuff. Probably just chump change. Isn't he out with his uncle watching some guy's house to catch and scare off his husband's lover? Can't imagine that pays well." Tapping her temple for a moment, she glanced up at him. "Didn't he say that was down in Santo Domingo? Should get him to swing by and pick up that package for Pilar at Aldo's on the way back."
"Huh. Good idea. No way that gonk's gonna bother hiking down there himself. I'll send him a message."
Staring at the sky, David tapped his pistol against his leg and glanced over at the doorway. He watched as a pair of extremely hungover club dancers staggered past, then shifted his attention to counting how many of each color car passed by. For a moment, he even looked skyward and tried to see if he could spot any AVs. It had been about 20 minutes by this point.
"THEN HAVE THE BALLS TO SIT DOWN AND DISCUSS IT OR DIVORCE HIM, GILIPOLLAS! DON'T GO FUCKING OTHER GUYS BEHIND HIS BACK! YOU, EITHER FUCKIN' LEAVE OR SIT DOWN, STOP HOVERING!"
"I TRIED TALKING TO HIM AND HE DIDN'T AGREE! WE WORK TOGETHER, I CAN'T JUST DIVORCE HIM! ALSO I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH! "
"YEAH, CHEATING IS NOT THE FUCKING SOLUTION! YOU AIN'T SUBTLE BRO! ALSO, I CALLED YOU A DICKHEAD!"
Uncle Jackie had gotten them a basic low-risk job to catch some unfaithful husband. Not very exciting, but it was money, and it was good practice apparently. The intent had been for them to just scare off the lover and tell the person who hired them, but Uncle Jackie had gotten into an argument with the husband and they had been yelling at each other since. Apparently, the gonk inside had tried and failed to suggest an open relationship to his husband and decided to just… do it anyway. Even he could tell that was a crashbrained move.
Not to mention, he could use the cash. A lot of his first payout had gone towards a fairly basic Galena G240 in wildly uninteresting tan. He had wanted to repaint it, but Jackie made it clear this car was bought with the full expectation that he'd wreck it at some point.
That comment had inspired a bit of a flashback, and he had taken a fair bit of coaxing to admit to Jackie that his mom had driven a yellow Galena, and the idea of wrecking one… it didn't exactly bring up good memories. Rather than brush it off, Jackie had looked him in the face for a long moment, then hugged him. He had offered to look for another model, but David had talked him down. He wasn't gonna be afraid of a car. He was better than that.
The car was parked around the corner, and he was currently keeping an eye on both it and Jackie.
As he continued to observe, a message popped up from Maine.
Hey, you able to swing by Aldo's on your way back? Got a package for Pilar.
Uh, sure. No problem.
Great. How's the job going?
Well…
David temporarily opened the call to outside sound input. After about 30 seconds, he closed it again. Maine was laughing his ass off.
Damn. Sounds like a riot.
After nearly half an hour, it loses its charm.
Fair 'nuff. You pick up those syn-lungs?
Nah. I was gonna, but Uncle Jackie told me to wait and do some more training first. Said not to get used to using cyberware as a crutch.
Hnn. Seems picky to me, but I ain't gonna second-guess your uncle. Talk to ya later, David.
The conversation about the syn-lungs had been a bit more involved, but… that probably wasn't the best thing to share with Maine.
Sitting in the passenger seat of the worn and ragged car, Jackie slowly shook his head. "Nah, man. Just having better lungs won't make you stronger. Yeah, maybe you can get your breath back faster, but you still gotta do the work. Besides, chrome's not going out of style. You can always get it later." Raindrops pattered against the windowsill, and the musty smell that hadn't quite been covered up by the air freshener hung in the background.
"But… I mean, it seems to work for Maine. He's a human wrecking ball," David said, turning the corner as the light changed. "Besides, I'm handling the Sandy alright."
"Yeah, maybe so. But once you get used to having something, it's gonna be tough when it's gone. You're still young, and you ain't bulked up much. You have a limit somewhere, even if it's apparently crazy fucking high. If you gotta dial it back down, that sudden loss of capability might end up with you dodging a bullet a bit too slow." He turned a serious look at his nephew. "I can't really stop ya. But think about it. Maine might be a 'human wrecking ball'… but there ain't a lotta 'ganic left in the guy, David."
Jackie was quiet for a moment, as he looked out the window. "I like Maine. Don't know him well, but I think he looks out for his crew. I just don't like those little pauses or shakes I see him doing sometimes. Looks like he mighta found his limit too, but I dunno if he's going to back down before he hits that cliff's edge."
He didn't really know what Uncle Jackie had been talking about; Maine seemed fine to him. Even so, he had decided to wait. He had a point after all. Maybe if he found another real preem implant, but popping in the standard stuff just cause he could? Probably not the best plan.
Over by the door, the argument seemed to be winding down. Jackie waved as the lover -now ex- hopped in his car and drove off crying, then glared at the husband who was smoking in the doorway with a troubled look on his face. Stomping over, he gestured to David. "C'mon, let's get outta here. Fuckin' gonk…." Shaking his head, he kept grumbling under his breath until they got into the car.
Pulling out, David recalled the message. "Oh, by the way, gotta pick something up on the way back. Package for Pilar. You want me to drop you off first or nah?"
"Eh, no rush. I'll ride along with. Who knows, maybe something interesting will happen when you get to Rebecca's apartment," Jackie said, his mouth curving into a slight smirk. David glanced over at him, and then coughed.
"Why'd you say it like that?"
"You know why." After a moment of waggling his eyebrows like a gonk, Jackie leaned against one fist and looked at David. "Seriously though, that chica seems like a good one. Just keep that in mind." With that, the conversation died down as they threaded through the streets, Jackie calling the client and presumably passing on a summary of what happened. Considering his uncle's words, David eventually had to agree. Rebecca had been pretty kind during the funeral, and she seemed real competent. That was someone to keep on side, for sure.
Apparently, the therapy was not yet done, as Jackie spent quite a while in discussion with the client too. Staying in the car as David snagged the package from Aldo, he kept at it for nearly another half hour. From the pile of eddies that showed up in his account partway through, it might have landed them a bonus so David wasn't about to complain.
When he finally came to a stop, he gave Jackie a little wave and stepped out of the car. Jackie gave him a thumbs-up, cocked his gun, and rested it on his lap as he kept talking while watching the street. Even a hunk of junk like this could get klepped here in Northside. Trotting up the stairs of the rusty multicolored apartment complex, David rapped on the door. He was greeted with a pistol to the face, and it was mildly depressing that he was already somewhat expecting that.
"Oh! Hey David, what's up my man!" said Rebecca, aiming her gun at his face at an angle. Blinking, he lifted one finger and pushed it to one side.
"Got a package from Maine, for Pilar."
"Uuuuuugh." Dropping her arm, she slumped for a second before looking back into the apartment and snapping. "YO BRO, COME GET YOUR SHIT!" A chair rolled back, and then a grinning long-armed wackjob snatched the package out of David's hands almost before he could react. He barely managed to avoid activating his Sandevistan and dodging the grab, mostly because he had never seen another person with arms that freakish. Angrily chewing on her gum, Rebecca leaned against the door. "Fuckin' gonk… Well, how'd your job go?"
Slumping himself, David shook his head. "It was real stupid. Guy who we were watching was a moron, just wanted to get his dick wet and fucked things up. Turns out he was even coworkers with his husband. What a moron."
"Well, I mean… Dorio and Maine are a couple, and they work together fine," Rebecca said, suddenly seeming a bit defensive. Blinking at her in confusion, David ran a hand through his hair as he considered this. Behind her, Pilar was fiddling with something, muttering and whooping in tones of excitement that were building to an almost sexual crescendo.
After a moment, he nodded. "I mean… yeah? So?" Seeing her confusion, he shook his head. "I'm not sayin' you can't work with your input or output. I'm saying that trying to hide shit like that when you've got so much to lose is stupid. Why, did I say something wrong?" Rebecca coughed, then shook her head, looking somewhat abashed. Behind her, Pilar emerged, arms crossed in front of him and proudly displaying his new golden cyberhands. Flashing them back and forth, he waited expectantly, but when the pair ignored him he slumped and trudged back into his cubicle.
"No, no. I just thought… eh, it ain't important. You're right there, anyway. Used to run with the Mox, and people got into drama about that sometimes. Couldn't separate the job and personal stuff." David tilted his head, then raised a finger, mouth half-open as he tried to parse that one. In response, Rebecca just smirked. "They were mostly hookers, David. If you start dating a hooker then get mad when they fuck people for money, that was dumb."
He had to wonder if Rebecca had been in that line of work as well, but there was no way he was asking. So instead, he cast about for something else to say. "Well, uh… up to anything tonight? Was thinking about grabbing a drink with some of the crew if people were free." She seemed to brighten at this comment, and nodded.
"Yeah, sure. The Coyote or the Afterlife?"
"Uh, not sure. Coyote is easier, and I'm not sure I've got the street cred to get into the Afterlife. I don't wanna try to ride in on Maine's coattails either." She nodded, shrugging a little as he glanced at the darkening sky. "Guess I can call around and see who's coming."
Before he could continue, he heard Jackie call up from below. "Hey, David! Gonna have to make a side trip. Seems shit kicked off unexpectedly. We got a pickup to make."
As their motorcycle whizzed through the streets back towards Corpo Plaza, V had to admit they were not expecting this to be how their afternoon went. They couldn't tell Tanaka no, not without giving the game away. So, on his orders, they had gone out to pick up a package he needed for something 'related to the investigation'. Hopefully Jenkins wouldn't make a huge deal of it, he was being unbearable enough already.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for Arasaka agents to go plainclothes and act as a go-between to acquire information. A set of clothes picked up cheap from a local stall, a back-alley handoff, and now they were headed back to the office as the sun set. It wasn't for a task Jenkins set though, so it was possible he was going to cut them loose anyway. He had been glaring at V in the halls for days now, as if offended that they hadn't given him a reason.
Thankfully, they had finally gotten the virus from Lucy a few days ago. It was certain that Jenkins had watchers on them, it was what V would have done themselves. If the bastard thought they were turning on him, he'd look for any excuse to knock them loose as quickly and cleanly as possible. The watchers would be looking for anything that might indicate disloyalty or suspicious behavior. So, they managed to get a handoff via a pickup of the suit jacket they had left at Jackie's two weeks ago from a friendly tailor who was trusted not to steal things out of the pockets. A quiet jack-in to a coworker's computer when they weren't paying attention, and Lucy's daemon was gliding past the Arasaka ICE, subtle and slow. It helped that the changes were fairly minimal, ultimately. Just a slight tweak of function, enough rope to let that fuckhead Jenkins hang himself. Assuming he didn't pull out any surprises.
As they parked their bike in the internal parking garage and removed the box from the storage area, the elevator dinged and opened. Standing there was Jenkins and a pair of Corporate Security Officers. "So, leaving work for a joyride? What the fuck are you doing that needs you to go running off like that?"
"I was picking up a handoff for an executive," V said stiffly, shifting the small package under one arm and turning to face Jenkins. "Not sure why this requires a meeting in the parking lot." Jenkins narrowed his eyes, then strode forwards.
"Given I didn't get any notification of your task, I think you're full of shit V. Gimme that." Snatching it out of their hands, he popped open the box, and his eyes widened. A grin spread across his face like a timelapse of rot consuming a corpse, and he lifted the item inside with amusement. "Well, well, well, V! You take off from work and return with an XBD?" He tossed the cartridge up and down, catching it a few times before he snapped a picture and then dropped it on the ground, crushing it beneath his heel.
"I knew you were up to something, but the truth being this stupid? I almost feel bad for you." His smirk turned into a furious glare. "Almost. Your apartment, your implants, all your corporate privileges? Gone. You're fired, V."
Almost immediately, their head went light, and they tried not to stagger at the sudden change as their corpo-implants went dead. It didn't work, and V had to brace against a pillar. Looking up at Jenkins, they were pretty sure the plan would work, but… just a little push. Just in case. Make extra sure. "I still have my work, my files. I can contact Abernathy, tell her to look at them. She'll see I didn't do anything wrong." Jenkins just shook his head.
"Oh, V. You naive fuck. I started the process to wipe all the files tagged to you as soon as I opened the case. Your personal computer, any backups you made in the system, any single instance on the subnet is gone as of… now." V grit their teeth, and straightened up.
"Guess I better get off the property then. Wouldn't want to be accused of trespassing, huh?"
"See, now you're getting it!" Snapping his fingers, he pointed to the entrance of the parking garage. "Have fun. Hope you got some filthy alley you can crash in, cause your apartment is going to be tough to get into without a valid company ID. Sayonara, V." With that, he turned and walked back into the elevator, the crunching of the XBD cart beneath his foot the only sound.
V's shoulders shook, but they didn't say a word. Just turned and left, as the two security officers watched. They waited until they were out of the building, the door shut behind them, and had walked a few blocks. Then, they let the first laugh escape.
Fuck you, Jenkins. In your haste to cut me loose to secure your own position, you just hung yourself instead. Exactly what you deserve, you reckless moron.
Pulling a roll of eddies out, they hailed a cab. First to Vik's clinic, get the Arasaka implants taken out and trashed before anyone tried to reup them, and then to call Jackie.
No more Arasaka, no more meetings, no more kissing ass and staring at the same blank walls with red lines boring through them. It felt like for the first time in years, there was a weight off their shoulders. It was the first day of the rest of their life.
Jenkins was still grinning to himself as he sat in his office a couple hours later, drink in hand. Then, the door slid open, and a short man with glasses and an enraged expression stormed in at the head of a security squad. Blinking, he stood up, irate himself. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"I am Executive Director Tanaka, you imbecile, and I am here to find out why we've had a god-damn server wipe originating from your office!" At this, Jenkins faltered. Why the hell was an executive director in here yelling at him? He had been busting his fucking ass making sure the brass loved him, even if he wasn't willing to sleep his way to the top like Abernathy. What had gone wrong? Did V have a backup he didn't know about? But he had wiped everything!
"W-what the hell are you talking about? I've been here all day, nothing like that's happened! I wiped the records and personal drive of someone who was fired for trying to bring in illicit materials, but otherwise—"
"Illicit— Did you fire the agent I had assigned to work on my case?" Tanaka said, voice low and dangerous. He stepped closer, slamming his hands down on the table. "Where is the evidence they were sent to retrieve?"
"I uh… I destroyed it, it was an XB—" Jenkins began, throat suddenly dry as he noted how all the weapons in the room were pointed at him. Tanaka interrupted him, voice deadly-cold and low.
"You destroyed the evidence I sent them for. You fired them. You claim you wiped their drive. So, explain to me why terabytes of data are missing. Fully wiped using your administrator privileges. You didn't wipe their files, you utter moron. You wiped every god-damn file they've accessed and been tagged in since they started working in your department. They've all been overwritten! Even the backups for the tower are corrupted, and the netrunner department isn't confident we'll get it all back! Let me see your settings." Shoving Jenkins aside, Tanaka jacked in.
Mind whirling, Jenkins tried to parse what he just said. He had his file-wipe system set harshly, but that was standard practice for Counterintel. Keeping stuff away from potential spies, government audits or hacking attempts meant sometimes you needed to flush sensitive data. It shouldn't, couldn't have done that much damage. Next to him, Tanaka's eyes dulled, and he stood silently. Then, his fist lashed out, and cracked Jenkins' jaw so hard it seemed to echo around the tomb-like atmosphere of the office.
"This idiot has compromised dozens of ongoing investigations, projects, and issues. Execute him for treason against the company." The last thing Jenkins managed to parse through his terrified haze as the security officers squeezed the triggers on their weapon was the look in V's eyes as they had spoken before.
Cold. Angry. Spiteful. But not surprised. Not even a little.
In his very last moments, Jenkins grudgingly accepted that he had been outplayed. Then a bullet parted his brain.
Swinging aside the metal-slatted gate that led to the alley with the entrance to Vik's clinic, V breathed in the heavy, metallic scent of the Night City streets. It hurt, knowing all the stuff they had lost… but the implants were gone, fried and put in a box that was headed to the bottom of the ocean. Vik had pronounced them clean, and as far as Arasaka was concerned, V had ceased to exist once they left the building.
Ahead of them, the rusty, clunky shape of a tan Galena G240 pulled to a stop, and Jackie stepped out, waving at them. They could see David behind the wheel, and another smaller figure in the back seat. Giving a wave back, and a wide smile, V moved up to the car and winked. "So, guess I got fired. What a surprise."
"Yeah? Who woulda thunk." Slapping them on the back, Jackie slid back into the passenger's seat. "C'mon, we got an appointment. Seems David's other crew is meetin' up to have a drink, and we're invited along for the ride. Their gal Lucy just came into a nice payday after havin' stumbled onto a backdoor into Arasaka's systems and selling the info. Funny that."
"Funny indeed." Slipping into the passenger seat, V glanced at the small pale woman next to them, and raised a hand in a mock salute. "Hey there. V, former corpo-rat, now homeless layabout with a desperate need for a job. Know anywhere people will pay me for detective work, naked violence, or both? Kinda my best skill set aside from kissing the ass of people in suits."
Rebecca grinned back. "Sounds like your life's all over, corpo. Good thing we're headed straight for the Afterlife." As the car headed down the short stretch of road between the clinic and the famed edgerunner club, V settled against the cheap seats and smiled.
"Sounds perfect."
