Chapter 13: Deal

"You dare!"

I turned my head to look at Jun, a nonchalant expression on my face, "There is nothing daring about it. If anything, you ought to be thanking me."

Marcus narrowed his eyes, "You level such an accusation against one of our own and expect us to thank you?"

I withdrew a data-shard from my coat pocket and tossed it onto the table, "From the horse's mouth itself, gentlemen. I don't deal in bad faith. When I say something, I mean it, and I always keep up my end of the deal. If I say Hiromi Sato is slacking off on the job and costing you money, then Hiromi Sato is doing just that." I gestured to the shard, "Take a look if you don't believe me."

Jun looked at Marcus, "信じられない!"

Marcus gestured to the shard, "見てみる."

"Care to fill me in, gentlemen?" Marcus shot me a look, and Jun reached over to the table, grabbing the shard and inserting into his slot, reading the emails as his eyes glowed a vivid red colour. I turned my attention back to Marcus, "Fun guy, huh?"

He seemed to be in no mood, "What do you want?"

I smiled at him, "The same thing I always wanted: peace. To hammer out a deal that is mutually beneficial, so that we can both walk away richer than we came, and our people can stop killing each other."

Marcus did not seem amused, his tone growing dangerous, "You think you can kill our men and get away with it? You think the Tyger Claws will tolerate this?!"

I quirked my eyebrow, "And what makes you think I will? If I didn't want peace, I'd be off orchestrating the death of the Claws as we speak. The simple fact of the matter is that the kill ratio is not in your favour. You keep this up, and you'll lose. You'll give us a bloody nose in the process, to be sure, but you'll lose."

Jun pulled the shard from his slot, and somehow seemed even angrier than he was just a moment earlier, "あの怠惰で不名誉な野郎!" He looked me up and down, reappraising me, "I thank you for this. Hiromi Sato will answer for his incompetence."

I nodded and leaned back in my seat, "So, can we get down to business?"

Marcus started us off, "You say you want peace, but a trade goes both ways. What do you have to offer save threats?"

I nodded my head languidly, pondering my options, "A lot, if you're willing to offer more than peace."

The two men shared a look before Jun continued the negotiation, now speaking evenly and calmly, with only a hint of steel lingering in his tone, "And assuming, hypothetically speaking, we were?"

"Well, hypothetically speaking, if you were willing to dial back some of your operations in some of the nastier sectors in which your gang operates, then there may or not be a number of financial and potentially even... legislative, benefits in it for you. As you may well know, I am the frontrunner to be the next mayor of Night City, and that makes me a very powerful friend to have." I poured myself a drink and took a sip, "Take drugs, for example. The Tyger Claws are one of the biggest drug-runners in Night City. I won't be legalising Glitter or any lethal crap like it, but one of the less harmful variants..." I shrugged my shoulders, "An argument can be made for legalisation, and naturally, one of the first firms to receive a licence for sale would be yours."

Jun looked sceptical, "I hear nothing but promises. Nice ones, to be sure, but nothing I can rely on."

I allowed a touch of exasperation to bleed into my tone, "I told you, I don't deal in bad faith. I make a promise, I keep it, come hell or high water. Ask any one of my business partners, and they'll tell you the same. Plus, it's not like you have much of a choice. I promised my voters an overhaul of the NCPD, to make it more combat effective and to rid the city of the worst of organised crime, and I meant it. After this new NCPD are done kicking Maelstrom and the Animals around, who do you think's gonna be next? Can your operations withstand that kind of heat?"

Marcus narrowed his eyes, his tone becoming dangerous, "I already told you we won't tolerate threats..."

I met his gaze head on, "It's not a threat, it's a fact. I am not the kind of man you want as an enemy. And you aren't the kind of men I want as mine." I leaned forwards, softening my expression as I did so, "So, lets work out a deal."

Jun looked me up and down, "Forget your election. What can you offer us now? Something we can take back and use to get the rest of the gang to accept this peace."

What indeed. Money? The Claws had enough of that already, and I imagined the amount that they would require would be extortionate. Power? I wasn't eager to share anything with these people. Emotion? Unlikely. The Claws were renowned for their business sense and ruthlessness, and any notion of honour had been left behind decades ago. It was telling that when I told them about how Sato had been turning a blind eye to the way that Woodman had been treating the dolls, he wasn't angry at the abuse, but rather the financial costs of turning a blind eye.

These people were not easily dealt with, and I'd already played the best hand I had, and failed. Time to improvise, "What do you want?"

Marcus and Jun shared another look. When Marcus spoke, it was in Japanese, "この白人の男の子が私たちにワトソンをくれると思いますか?"

Jun shrugged and polished off his drink, "わかりませんが、試してみる価値はあります."

Marcus nodded and addressed me, now speaking in English, "Watson. We want Watson."

I resisted the urge to scowl, "You ask for so much and give so little. I'm just making inroads in Watson, and now you want me to give all that up? I brought law to lawlessness, and now you want me to throw those good people under the bus?"

Jun did not looked moved by my concern, "That is our condition. Cede to us control over Watson, and you will have the peace you desire. Don't, and we're more than happy to call your bluff."

I nodded, still scowling, "You people drive a hard bargain, but so do I. You want Watson, fine, I'll give you Watson. But I have some conditions of my own."

Marcus frowned, "Conditions?"

"Watson is almost notorious for crime. I was beginning to change that, and I won't let my efforts be abandoned. You want territory, I want a well-governed territory, regardless of who's governing it. So, if you want Watson, you have to swear to uphold your end of the deal. You'll have to continue my efforts."

The two shared a look, and Jun turned to me with a look of amusement on his face, "So, you want to give us Watson, on the condition that we eliminate our rivals there?"

Marcus smiled, "I think we can do that."

I was not amused, "Not just keeping out other criminals, but clamping down on violence of your own. I don't care if you kill other gangoons, but you start killing innocent civvies, and we will have a serious problem." I looked at the two with still in my eyes, "Am I understood?"

Jun chafed at the accusation, but relented, "You are understood."

"I mean it. I pull out of Watson, and you guys don't keep up your end of the deal, then I'll-"

The two men looked confused as I reached over to my ear and then though better of it. Over my earpiece, shouts could be heard, and out the window, flashes of gunfire could be seen in the distance through the rain. I stood, walked to the window to get a better look, and surreptitiously reached back into my coat, withdrawing a gun, temporarily masking it from their vision. My eyes watching the fight on the streets below, I spoke, "Did you set me up?"

Marcus spoke, "No."

I spun around, the muzzle of my gun now trained on Marcus's skull, "Then why did the Claws just attack me men on the street below, hmm? Did you think you could play me?"

Surprised at the escalation, Jun picked up the baseball bat resting against the side of the couch, holding it threateningly in the air as he inched forwards, "Think very carefully about what you do next..."

I switched my aim, now training my pistol on Jun, my finger slowly inching towards the trigger, "Answer the question. Why are there Claws down there?"

The two men shared a look, their faces settling on a mixture of concern and paranoia, and Marcus addressed Jun, "タキだと思いますか?"

Jun pointed at me as he spoke, his tone speculative, "彼は和歌子を通じて会議を設定しました..."

Marcus seemed sceptical, "彼女には多くの敵がいます. どうすればわかりますか?"

Jun seemed more certain now, "タイガークローを指揮して恨みを持っている人を他に知っていますか?"

Marcus nodded, and turned back to face me, "We told you that the Tyger Claws do not all believe that peace would be favourable, that we would have to sell such a peace to them. It appears that one of those people have decided to turn that belief into action."

I thought his words through, "You telling me that the Tyger Claws are now in a state of civil war?" They shared another look, but it was enough for me, as my earpiece once again crackled to life, "Well, whoever it is, they're clearly serious. My team is being overwhelmed down there, so we're on a clock up here." I holstered my weapon, and extended my hand, "Do we have a deal?"

They shared one final look, and nodded, and I grasped their hands, shook both firmly once, and we parted ways. The two men rushed off to the roof, intent of flying out, but I was forced down to street-level where the battle was raging to seek my escape. As the elevator doors opened, a stray bullet pinged against the door, and I leapt out onto my stomach, weapon withdrawn, and crawled on my belly till I reached some cover. Once there, I looked around, searching for escape routes.

As the Tyger Claws advanced, and my men were cut down and overwhelmed one by one, the cacophony of gunfire grew louder. Bullets whipped past my head as I crouched past, and I could feel the heat from from the shots passing by in my scalp. I pushed open the door to the side of the building, taking the time to steal a cap from a nearby corpse, and I emerged onto the rain-soaked streets, walking away as unsuspiciously as I could manage, hoping to slip away from the violence unnoticed.

Alas, such was not my luck, and I could hear one of the men utter a cry in Japanese, a fresh wall of bullets headed in my direction. I ducked into a nearby alley, and blind-fired from the side, sticking my hand out and blindly depressing the trigger. Ordinarily, I would be worried about accidently striking bystanders, but with the length and ferocity of fighting, I would be surprised if anyone was still in the vicinity and out in the open. Anyone with even a lick of sense would have either sought shelter or escape by now, and as far I was concerned, anyone else was officially stupid to live.

At this point, it would just be natural selection at work.

I kept pulling, my gun getting gradually lighter as shell after shell was ejected from the side, and my wrist began to ache. Seemingly, I had gotten lucky, and one of the men could be heard screaming in pain, presumably having been hit by a stray bullet. About halfway through my magazine, I turned tail and ran, and thinking I was still there, the Claws opened fire in response as they slowly advanced. Soon enough, they realised my trick and took off in pursuit, perhaps a dozen strong, by which point I was already round a corner.

I ran and ran as much as my body would allow. My heart pounded, my lungs burned, my half-healed ribs ached, and my vision began to blur. Even still, I stopped only to loose a few more rounds at my pursuers as I led them through the narrow alleys of Night City, using the tightly-packed array of buildings as my cover. It was a pitch-black night, and I would have long since escaped, were it not for the harsh glare of neon lights illuminating my person like a damn Christmas tree.

I kept running, stopping round a corner, and loosing a few actually aimed shots this time, landing maybe two of six shots. After the seventh, the dreaded click could be heard, and I tossed my now-empty gun to the side and kept running. At this point, I had covered maybe a mile-and-a-half of ground, and been personally responsible for the death of maybe five separate Tyger Claws. In any other circumstance, I would have been found feeling guilty over their killings, but I was too busy running for my life to notice or even care.

As far as I was concerned, they could go fuck themselves.

The last of my strength draining away, I squeezed through a narrow alley, my legs on fire from muscle-burn, and made two turnings in quick succession, before ducking into a seedy bar with the hopes of ditching my tail. I sat by the bar, slowly regaining my breath, and waited with muscles tense. Once seated, I almost collapsed from exhaustion, and resolved to myself to exercise more, if ever I got the opportunity to do so.

I stayed stock still as the shadows of men could be seen running past the bar, and watched with baited breath as I counted them. One, two, three... four, five...

The sixth man never came, and for a moment, I convinced myself I was safe, and relaxed. My watch was beaconing out to the world, and it was only a matter of a few more minutes before my men came for me. I looked around, sat at the bar, and ordered myself a celebratory beer. On the screen above, the news channel was on, and one of my speeches could be seen, though the volume was muted. Some patrons stared at me with an odd look on their face, recognising the man from the news, but covered in mud and soaked through, my face hidden by the shadow cast by my cap, many shrugged it off as a coincidence.

One woman on the bar, a blonde with an impressive figure, kept eyeing me, here eyes flitting between the screen and my half-hidden profile, a similarly strange look on her face as she nursed the drink in her hands. She made no moves to approach me, and I ignored her presence as I waited.

Only a matter of time now.

Alas, it was too much time. The sixth man came back, one of his buddies in tow. They were clad in full gangoon attire, one wielding a fearsome looking samurai sword, another brandishing a rife. Their faces were hidden behind masks, but their eyes were not, and those eyes landed on me the moment they came in. Filled with rage at the death of their colleagues, they came over, the man with the sword smashing my head into the bar, before hoisting me into the air by my lapels, my entire body held aloft by the strength of a cybernetic arm.

The man raised his sword to my throat with a cruel look in his eyes, and readied himself to cut my throat and be done with me. I took the moment to glance around, and saw some patrons of the bar looking nonchalant, being accustomed to violence and others shocked at the violence. Seemingly, all of them had been cowed in fear by the Tyger Claw insignias on both the gangoons clothing, and nobody made a move to help or interfere, not even the proprietor. It appeared that this was the way that my journey in this world was to end. I shut my eyes, and prepared for the pain, the cold steel beginning to kiss the skin on my neck, slowly working it's way through, the man holding me aloft clearly revelling in my fear.

I waited for the blade to sink deeper, but it never did.

When I opened my eyes, the man's head was missing. It fell to the floor almost in slow-motion, making impact with a wet thump. The man's grip relaxed, and I fell from his hold, his corpse tumbling to the ground. The man with the rifle looked on with shock, temporarily frozen, before a scowl flashed across his face, and he shifted his rifle, intending to take the life of my supposed saviour.

He was too late.

A pink blur launched itself forwards, and the man was cleanly bisected, a cut passing through his torso, just below where his heart would have been. Simultaneously, his gun arm detached itself from his body, falling to the floor. By the time his brain had caught up and opened up his mouth to scream, he was already dead. The two different parts of his corpse fell at different times, the upper body sliding off the lower half, blood spilling out as it landed with a soft squelch. His legs toppled over just a moment later, entrails spilling out as it landed.

The sight made me gag, and I rose to my feet uncertainly, my clenched hand staunching the bleeding on the fortunately shallow cut on my neck. The blur solidified in my vision to become the blonde who had been eyeing me at the bar, the mantis blades in her arms retracting back into her as she turned her gaze onto me, a mildly crazed look in her now-glowing eyes. Her breasts jiggled almost uncontrollably, threatening to spill out of her pink crop-top as she walked up to me, extending what was now once again her hand for me to shake, and spoke, "Name's Gonz. What's yours?"

"Huh?"


This chapter is a tie-in with the World of Gonzo side story.
Due to events in my life, I will be slowing updates to once a fortnight. The once-a-week schedule has become unsustainable. I'll aim for it, but don't be surprised if it takes longer than that for next update to be posted.
Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you guys are enjoying the story thus far!