After staying over, Becca had gone home to sort things out. They had been texting a few times a day since,with her assuring him she was okay but she needed some time to sort through Pilar's things and decompress. It had come with the reminder to let her know if any jobs came up, because her rent had just doubled. She seemed to be holding up well enough, but he had been tempted to stop by and check on her a couple times over the past week to make sure nothing was wrong. That, and he was already missing the feeling of warmth and contact from falling asleep with her in his arms. Not that he would admit that out loud where his tio could hear.

Faraday's payout had been pretty substantial, but it seemed as though it was the last one they could expect from the fixer. Kiwi had messaged the remaining crew informing them that Faraday had retreated from the fixer business, seemingly having joined up with Militech.

Now, he was just wandering down the brightly lit and chaotic turns of Jig Jig Street as he approached the address he had been given. Red and purple lights colored the pavement, and the various sex shops and gambling partners were reaching out, trying to tempt in the passerby to spend. Dancing figures writ in holographic light, the sounds of sex, and open doors showing half-glimpses of intriguing wares. The pavement was covered in discarded food containers and broken bottles, swept aside by the passage of feet and replaced just as quickly.

Ducking into the pachinko parlor, he was immediately assaulted by rapidfire dings and nonstop metallic clacking as the players sat glued to flashing screens. Cramped and sticky, it was dark and hard to see beyond the flashing screens and illuminated faces. A curtain of glittering disks in the back beckoned, and he walked up to the suited Tyger Claws who were standing on either side of the door.

Within, V and Jackie were waiting. The office was fairly minimalist, with a circular emblem of golden squares and straight lines on the back wall and dark wood paneling in a clearly Japanese style. On the expensive-looking desk were three cups of tea, still steaming. Sitting in the chair was a small wrinkled woman who somehow projected a feeling of calm menace. "Ah, Mr. Martinez. Please, sit. Your friends here arrived a few minutes earlier."

"Yeah, I uh…had to park the car. Sorry, took longer than expected." Sitting down in the chair, he glanced between V and Jackie. His tio gave him a wink, then refocused on the woman across from them. Wakako Okada, the fixer who ran things in Japantown. Fixing him with a long stare, she reached into her desk and removed a shard.

"This job will require a few moving parts. The target is a Scavenger hideout located in the northside of the area, just near the highway between us and Westbrook. The scum are a problem at the best of times, but they have also stolen a shipment of data drives from the client. They are currently holding them hostage while they make increasingly ridiculous demands to the client with every communication. They have threatened to destroy the drives as well. Thankfully, we do have one advantage. The drives have remote status indicators which tells us they are currently still intact, and still in the transport van, but not where that van is exactly."

Looking to each of them, she handed the shard to Jackie, who slotted it in. "If they believe they are being assaulted, they will likely flee with the goods and hide them elsewhere. There will also be issues if they manage to chase down a fleeing transport van. I believe you will require two teams. One on assault, and one on stealth, each with a wheelman. I will leave the rest up to you. Good day."

Sitting back in her chair, Wakako nodded firmly. Noticing the others standing, David hurriedly stood as well and followed them out. As they left, V glanced over at Jackie and David.

"So, we've got the three of us. You said Rebecca was in for work?" David nodded in response, and V tapped their chin for a moment. "Alright. Mind calling Rebecca and Lucy, I'll call Kiwi? I'm going to assume Dorio is not up for…" Jackie was already shaking his head. "Got it." Wincing, David took the unspoken hint that Dorio was still grieving, and it wasn't pretty. He hadn't heard from her since the day Maine died. Jackie looked troubled at the question, turning a half-step away from V and rubbing his face. His uncle's friend stepped closer, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning in.

Probably best to give them space for a moment. David started heading for the car, sending a quick text to Lucy asking if she was interested in a job and to call him if so, then dialing Becca. After a moment, she picked up. "Heya, Dimples. What's up?"

"We picked up a job, grabbing some drives back from a group of Scavs. Seems like a good pick to shake off some rust. Thing is, it seems like we're going to need two wheelmen for this one. You got Falco's number?"


"So, I hear you're the famous Red Rider?" Falco quipped as he slid into the booth in the back of Afterlife, raising an eyebrow at V. The three of them had headed for the Afterlife for a meetup about the job, and David had gotten a text back from Lucy saying she was interested, but she'd just ask about it in person. Bit odd, but whatever. Becca was currently at the bar getting a drink, but thankfully Falco took the seat on the other side of the booth instead.

"Son of a bitch, who talked?" the ex-corpo groaned, immediately dropping their head into their palm. "I'm perfectly fine on a bike, thank you. I don't know what it is about cars, but I cannot get the fucking things to work for me."

"Hey, it's all good. Some people are better in the gunner compartment or scoutin', no shame in it." The unusually well-coiffed Nomad shrugged casually, reaching over and grabbing a bottle from the ice bucket in the middle of the table. "So, I understand you need a wheelman. Gotta be honest, wasn't expecting to hear back after the news broke about the big man. Got the details?" He lit a smoke, taking a deep puff as the fumes spiraled towards the roof.

As V slid the shard across the table, a flicker of ethereal color caught David's eye and he glanced towards the door. Smiling, he waved down Lucy, who returned the smile and began heading towards their booth. Becca, who was returning to the booth, glanced behind herself and cracked a grin as well. "Heya, nerd. Glad to have ya with us." Heading towards the booth, the petite shotgunner glanced at the quickly crowding seating. "Here, sit next to David."

"Wait, where are you going to sit then…?"His response trailed off as Becca simply plopped down in his lap and took a long sip of her drink. Lucy's lip twitched as she lowered herself onto the booth's cushioned seat.

After a second, she turned away, chuckling. "Jesus, it's like a cat after catching a mouse from an old cartoon. You look so pleased with yourself, Rebecca." Grabbing a bottle of beer as well, Lucy glanced over. "Falco, good to see you. You in on this gig as well?"

The Nomad's glowing eyes dimmed as he finished reviewing the data. Refocusing, he glanced over as he was addressed. "Lucy, darlin'. I do believe I am. So, what's our plan then?"

"I have a…proposition, if ya will." Jackie piped up, spreading his hands and looking expectant. From David's lap, Becca raised an eyebrow.

"So, V's got a plan, and you're trying to make it come off as less suspicious?" His tio looked affronted at that, glowering at her before chuckling in rueful admission.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. So V's a better planner than I am. Sneakier too. But this isn't all their idea. Listen, I think we work well together. I admit, I don't know you chicas as well as I know V, or David. We've done a couple jobs, had some drinks. You seem like good sorts." The big man spread his hands, looking back and forth.

"I think it helps a lot, havin' someone to count on. You got people for bigger gigs, tougher challenges. I'd like to keep runnin' together, maybe with you too, Falco, if this goes well. See how Kiwi feels in a bit."

It wasn't a big surprise that Jackie was proposing this. David had gotten the sense that his uncle was eager to keep the momentum that Maine's crew had gathered, but several members of that team were now dead or stepping away. While he wasn't quite up to Maine's level of sheer damage, Jackie was a fairly competent heavy. Meanwhile, V brought a level of stealth and tactics that the team had been lacking before. It did raise an unspoken question though, one which Lucy voiced. "So, you're proposing taking over from Maine? Little bit of a hostile takeover?"

She was staring at V, and when Jackie went to speak, she held up a finger. V put a hand on Jackie's shoulder, then looked back at Lucy. "Nope. I don't think any of you know me well enough to trust me with that except maybe Jackie. I'm proposing an equal partnership. Stealth and tactics from me, heavy work from Rebecca and Jackie. Netrunning from Lucy and Kiwi if she decides she wants in, with David and possibly Falco on support and wheels. I might propose plans, but it'll be up to the lot of you to get me that info and decide if you want to do it."

Lucy kept staring V down for a long moment, then sighed. "The thing is, I can see it. I know you're proposing this because it sounds reasonable, and half the group is likely to agree with you anyway. You're not wrong, though. I'm willing to at least give this a trial run." She glanced over at David, and quirked an eyebrow. "After all, David and I are partners."

There was a slight tremor from Becca at that, but it was followed almost immediately with a slow exhale and an easing of the tension in her back once more. Falco tapped the side of his face with one finger pensively as he scanned the assembled edgerunners. "I admit, I don't know fuckall about any of you except Lucy and Rebecca, but I'm willing to give it a look-see as well. I admit, I like the sound of your pitch, Jackie. Makes me a mite nostalgic." Puffing on his cigarette for a moment, he shrugged.

"So, guess we're killin' some Scavs?"


In the parking lot, David remained pressed low against the ground. He, Lucy, and V were operating as the stealth team, while Jackie, Becca, and Falco came around from the front. There were only two exits from the building. One was a large garage door, which would be where the van with the data would presumably be taken from. The other was a side entrance which led down into the warehouse. The stealth team would head downwards through the side entrance while the assault team waited out front for their signal. Once they were ready, the assault team would blow open the garage door to give the stealth team a chance to bolt with the van.

The location in question was the basement and part of a parking garage for a massive cluster of overlapping buildings. Looming just off the raised highway, the towering teal construction probably included apartments, offices, and the usual eclectic collection of Night City occupants. The lower area, according to faded and torn signage, had been a medical company of some sort. Now out of business, its former base of operations had become a Scavenger den.

Outside the side door, Lucy was leaned against the wall. Her eyes were closed as she sorted through the ICE on the local network. David and V flanked her, keeping an eye out. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked back. "Alright, I took a scan. There's a few cameras, but nobody watching them. Looks like they're relying on the cameras' automatic alarms. There's two of them acting as guards in the room just beyond this door. Hard to get a full count, but I'd say at least twenty of them in the whole place."

"Not the worst odds, but the more of them we can take down as we head for the target, the less Jackie and the others have to deal with once we go loud," mused the team's ex-corporate ninja, running a hand along their chin.

"I thought the goal was to not go loud?" David admitted he didn't have as much experience with this, but planning for "when" they got caught seemed weird. Maybe they'd pull this off without a hitch.

"Stealth is a coin toss. The second someone sees a corpse, notices three people creeping around corners or even just gets the feeling something's off, our job gets a lot harder," V responded, slowly drawing their katana. Its edge was sharply serrated and had a series of notches which were leaking a green mist. It smelled acidic and it looked a bit worn as well. Looked more like a looted weapon than something they had kept from their old job.

"Alright. So, I go for the one on the right, you hit left, Lucy covers anything we miss?" Nodding, V gave him a thumbs up and glanced back at Lucy. She moved to the side of the door, and then slid it open. It revealed a small waiting room with a large central desk and a few benches lining the walls. Most of the decorations and furniture had been wrecked over time. The two Scavs were towards the back of the room. One was leaning against the side of the receptionist desk, and the other was standing beside the doorway and smoking.

In an instant, the air tinted blue-green and things seemed to slow to a crawl. David glanced over at V, raising an eyebrow as he began to run forwards. Despite the slowed time, V was moving visibly. Legs pumping, their sword was kept low to the ground as they lunged for the Scav who was mid-turn.

Meanwhile, David arced around the other one, bringing his hands up and towards the man's neck. Taking a deep breath, he dropped the acceleration as he grabbed the man's head and twisted sharply. Closing his eyes for a moment as the acrid smell of blood and ozone filled his nose, he exhaled sharply and turned away from the body. Still couldn't quite get used to seeing someone die like that, even if the fuckers deserved it. After seeing what Scavs did to their victims, any sympathy he had for them had vanished pretty quickly.

Trying not to let his mind drift back to the charnel house aesthetic these scum cultivated, he nodded at Lucy as she slipped inside and closed the door behind her. Together, they gathered around the door to the small waiting room they had entered and took stock of the situation.

Through the glass door was a hallway, white and sterilized at one point but now left to fill with trash, mold, and rot. Piles of crates partially blocked the hallway, and there was a camera at the far end sweeping slowly. Lucy narrowed her eyes, raising three fingers then sweeping them back and forth across the hall. Group of three patrolling. A comm channel opened up courtesy of Lucy.

V made a "follow me" motion, and slid the door open to creep down the hall. Stepping around the broken bottles and empty fast food containers, David followed them until they got to the point where the hall branched off. Peeking around the corner, two of the guards were leaning against opposite walls and chatting outside a door, while the other was fiddling with a beaten-up vending machine that had been propped haphazardly in the far end of the corridor. A few more doors sat open between them, leading into offices which appeared to have been ransacked and then abandoned. After a moment, V's voice came through.

"Lucy, can you get the one wearing the Us Cracks T-shirt? I'll get the one with no shirt and an apron who's smoking a cigarette. David, hit the one focused on the vending machine? We'll go on your signal." Creeping around the corner, David kept close against the wall as he headed towards the man currently examining the NiCola options. As he got a few steps away, the squatting Scav grunted and straightened up, starting to turn around.

"Shit, now now now!" he barked through the call, launching himself at the man and driving a fist into his head. However, a hand snapping up, catching his wrist. Immediately flickering the Sandevistan, his leg snapped up and drove into the fork of his opponent's legs. The man was still moving unusually fast, but not fast enough to keep up with the miltech grafted to David's spine.

Hitting the ground with a groan, a quick stomp to the side of the head left him unconscious. Turning, David got to see the last few instants of the other two Scavs. They had begun to draw weapons as they noticed their fellow ganger fall to the floor, but one was moving a hand to his head as electricity flickered across his body. The other was dropping his machete as V's katana slipped between his ribs.

Deactivating the cyberware again, David winced. So far, he'd had to use his Sandy more often than he'd have liked. How the hell had the guy reacted so fast? Putting his query to the more technically experienced duo on comms, he asked, "Hey, just had something weird happen. I went to deck this guy, but he sped up. Didn't feel like a Sandevistan, though."

"Hmm. Faster reflexes might have been a Kerenzikov, or a Synaptic Accelerator. Not quite up to the level of your Sandevistan, but it can close the gap in quick bursts of a moment or two," V said, flicking the blood off their katana as they glanced back. "Probably best to be prepared in case someone fires up speedware to catch up with you."

They kept heading forwards, moving through the door and down an internal staircase. Reaching a basement level, Lucy spoke as they approached the door. "There's five more I can see on this level. The entrance to the parking garage is on the opposite side of the floor. Cameras have about half of the gang in the garage, looks like. No way we can take all of them out in such an open space. They'll notice us ambushing them."

David frowned. Yeah, that sounded like a terrible idea. In that case… "Well, let's take out the ones in the lower level, then get the other team ready to storm down. We can use the distraction to hit them from the back and grab the van."

Opening the door, they crept down another decrepit laboratory hallway. This one also led to a four-way intersection. To the left was another pair of rooms, and to the right was an empty office and a storage closet. Up ahead, splashing and squelching echoed wetly through an open door leading to a surgical suite. There was a heavy door marked "Parking" just past that, and V hummed in consideration. "I'll take the surgical suite. Lucy, keep an eye on the cams. If it seems like the ones in the garage are alerted, tell the other team to go loud. I think the door's thick enough to cover gunfire, and if not, we'll give the other team a distraction rather than the other way around. Hit them hard and fast, let's get this done."

Taking a deep breath, David nodded, and Lucy flashed a thumbs up as she pressed herself against the wall. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out his new pistol. A Constitutional Arms Liberty, thick and blocky but tuned to hit like a truck. The room he was creeping towards had a window in it, and he gave a quick glance over the edge of the dividing wall. Inside, a pair of Scavs were watching TV and smoking. As the door slid open, he brought his gun level and aimed down the sights.

The heavy pistol barked, and one of the Scavs slumped in his chair, now missing most of his head. The other one dove for cover, fumbling for his gun. David spun around the door frame, taking cover as shots peppered the wall where he was, sending chips of painted metal scattering like leaves. Down the hall, he could hear yells and gunfire as the rest of the Scavs reacted in alarm. Waiting till the shots from within the room stopped, he leaned around and fired at the approaching Scav. The Scav who, it seemed, had not actually run out of ammo as his gun chattered in response. A couple rounds raked across his left shoulder as he threw himself downwards.

Rolling over onto his back, he pointed his gun straight up at the man's chest and emptied it. Breathing hard as the Scav slammed into the wall with several new holes in his chest, he pushed himself up. "Lucy, V, we good?" He reloaded, shoving a fresh magazine into the Liberty and dropping the slide, slipping the spent one back into his jacket. His hand came back out with an airhypo, slamming it into his shoulder and feeling the medicine start to clot the bleeding.

"No sign of movement from the crew in the garage."

"Surgical suite is clear, c'mere and take a look." V sounded a bit distracted, and as David jogged down the hall, he could see why. Sitting in carefully packed boxes were a number of pieces of cyberware. V was holding a pair of Mantis Arms, considering the blades as they muttered. Glancing up, they flicked their head to the side. "Here, see these? There's a few high-spec pieces, worth seeing if there's anything useful enough to maybe help you handle the Sandevistan. Think I saw a Synaptic Signal Optimizer over there."

"You're just gonna take this stuff? They ripped it out of people's bodies." He felt his face go a little pale. V frowned, focusing fully on him.

"Yeah, of course they did. That's why I killed them. But the people these belong to are already dead. Even if we torched all the gear in here, it wouldn't make a difference there. Denying them resources is smart, but I'd rather know these blades are going to kill more Scavs than ending up in a scrap heap. Gotta load up." It was then that David noticed that V had, at some point, produced a pair of collapsible duffle bags that they had then proceeded to stuff full of everything that hadn't been nailed muzzles of several guns were poking out of one, glinting in the surgical suite's flickering overhead lights. The other one bulged in odd places, but had been fully zipped up. Tossing one to David, they went to sling one over their shoulder before Lucy held out a hand to stop them.

"As much as I hate to agree with the Arasaka playbook here, they have a point. Decide quickly, we have to get ready." Lucy said, glancing inwards through the door. "I'll carry the cyberware. Worst comes to worst, we just sell it." Nodding, he reached out and pulled the case V had indicated off the shelf. Handing it over to Lucy along with the duffle bag, he cracked his neck slowly and psyched himself up, breathing deep and warming his legs up as he hopped from one foot to the other. Lucy's eyes glowed as she looked away, then gave a thumbs up. "We move in forty-five seconds. The others are hitting the garage entrance in three, two, one." Even through the heavy door, the sound of a muffled explosion seemed to make the room shake slightly. V moved to the door, katana ready, and tapped their foot. The seconds seemed to drag by until finally, Lucy called out, "GO!"

Ripping the door open, V sprinted inwards, sword already swinging for one of the Scavs crouched behind a concrete barrier. Makeshift cover was set up all around, but the guards were all focused on the two people currently firing from behind cover further up the ramp. The sudden assault from behind ripped into their exposed backs, and bodies began falling under the two-way attack. The van was sitting in the middle of two rough semicircles of crates and repurposed parking barriers, with a gap just large enough to drive the vehicle through the two barriers.

Jackie popped out of cover, his two pistols dancing back and forth as he pumped lead into anyone dumb enough to be sticking their head out. Beside him, Becca planted her assault rifle against her shoulder and swept the room, shots forcing most of the gangoons into cover as she cackled loudly. One of them hurled a grenade, but another burst from Becca's rifle caused it to explode in midair without reaching its destination.

David sprinted for cover, firing his Liberty into the side of a surprised Scav with a Defender heavy machine gun. The covering fire he was laying down cut out suddenly, allowing V to bury their katana into the neck of the next one along. Ducking behind the recently-vacated concrete barrier, he sucked in a breath then popped up, aiming at the shotgun-wielding gonk who was currently advancing on his position in order to separate him from his allies.

As the guards tried to adjust to being flanked, Falco's voice became audible over the call as he spoke up. "Shit, there's three more vans pulling in! Looks like these fuckers have backup." V slid under an attempt to blow their face off with a shotgun, slamming the hilt of their katana into the woman's knee. The Scav stumbled, and V spun with the motion to slice her head right off with a vicious backhand stroke.

"I'll go out the side, Jackie, you come with me," Lucy suddenly cut in. "Falco, meet us at the side. Rebecca, you go with David and V, they're going to need a gunner and I won't cut it. We'll try to split the pack. David, head for the van… NOW!"

Suddenly, the half the remaining Scavs convulsed as their implants arced and spat electricity. In the momentary lull, David bolted for the van. Opening the van's door, he grinned when he saw the keys in the ignition. As V slid in through the sliding side door, he floored it. The passenger door still open, he headed up the ramp as the hefty vehicle started to gain momentum.

From near their cover, Rebecca came running. As she ran, she pulled a flashbang from her oversized coat and hurled it down the slope before diving into the open door. Scrambling onto the passenger seat, she slammed the door shut with a wide grin. "Fancy seeing you here, Dimples."

As they reached the exit to the parking garage, three vans with Scavs hanging out the windows spun into the parking lot. Bearing down on the exit, they were suddenly forced to swerve as Falco's car suddenly accelerated from where it was parked and T-boned the one on the right. Falco immediately backed up, and David took a deep breath.

"Okay, ride the edge, ride the edge, just a bit…" With gritted teeth, he flickered the Sandevistan for just a moment and jerked the wheel. The van slid around the Scav reinforcements with a screech of tires and a trail of burnt rubber as Falco's car reversed towards the other exit, and they were out and on the main road.

A glance over his shoulder, however, told David that two of the vans were roaring out of the parking lot after them. In the seat beside him, Rebecca was rolling down the window and bringing her Masamune rifle to bear on their pursuers. The mid-day sun illuminated her pale face and wild, carefree grin, and David couldn't help but grin a bit himself as he began to focus on weaving through traffic. "Fuck 'em up, Becca!"