Chapter 4: Back in Business
The feeling was icy inside Aldo's Garage. Hildegarde, the scowling one-eyed woman sat on the edge of the couch and stared at the entire group, scanning over them and reading their intent. She had just 'killed' Kiwi in cold blood. 'Best to tie up loose ends' as she said. She wasn't entirely wrong, but still. Kiwi had been one of their teammates and assisted them in many situations. She didn't deserve this fate... At least as David thought. Jericho had set up a laptop-like compute in the middle of the room. There was a plan in motion. A heist. Something grand just in time for the new year. 2077 was going to be their big break.
"Asher, please share the information you have gathered.", Jericho commanded.
"Oh! Okay! Here it is!", Asher announced. "It's a biochip. It's called the Relic, Arasaka's latest and greatest tech! There's a prototype and I've got the deets on its location! Yorinobu Arasaka has it, I'm not really sure why, but I'd guess it's to piss off his old man! Hah! Anyways, Yori's on route to Konpeki Plaza. He'll be staying in the penthouse and probably stashing the biochip somewhere in there.", Asher announced in an overly cheery manner.
"Basically we need more intel. There's a fixer in town named Dexter DeShawn. Find him and figure out what he knows. He's got similar interests and seems to have some interesting contacts. If anything, find his contacts and find out what they know. DeShawn is unlikely to work with unknowns.", Jericho noted. "Hildegarde and David, you two will meet with DeShawn and agree to his terms. Once you've figured out who and what he wants, you will ghost him. We have our own means and do not require a Fixer."
"Killing? Yes or no?", Hildegarde asked inquisitively.
"No. Not unless you are attacked first. Best to keep a low profile.", Jericho mused.
"Sounds like a milk run.", David added.
"It will be. It is information gathering." Jericho noted.
"Got it. No problem. What are the rest of you doing?", David asked.
"Your friends will be outfitted with the best cyberware. I have access to some black-project chrome that isn't on the market yet. They will also receive chipsets similar to the one that keeps you sane. If you need assistance, you only need to call. I doubt you'll need it though. Trust Hildegarde. She is the best Solo on the planet.", Jericho noted.
"Come along, David. It's time to get back to business.", Hildegarde mused dragging David along by the arm and out of Aldo's Garage.
Meanwhile back inside, Jericho took the leadership position again.
"Hildegarde and David will need some time to get used to each-other. Hildegarde usually doesn't trust people right from the start, but David's usage of his Sandevistan seems to have impressed her. Think of this as their... 'Big Happy Get Along With Each-other Mission', as Asher would put it. Now. Time for upgrades..."
"Do we have a choice in what we get?", Falco asked.
"I have reasonable suspicions on your weaknesses and your strengths. First, I'll be installing some titanium-composite bones into Rebecca. She's rather small and appears to be fairly susceptible to physical attacks or crushing forces. The composite skeleton will eliminate the possibility of that and afterwards she will be able to withstand a ditched AV crash landing on top of her."
"Can I also get some Grasshopper Ankles? For jumping?", Rebecca asked.
"You mean for reaching shit on the high shelves?", Falco mocked.
"Of course. I have my own special brand however. And my cyberware is far better than off-the-shelf parts. Your new ankles will allow you to jump three times your height and survive falls from several stories."
"Aight. Let's do this!", Rebecca announced, getting into the makeshift Ripperdoc chair that Jericho had assembled in the middle of the room. It would probably hurt, but it was fuckin' worth it!
Falco just turned away as Jericho began to operate on Rebecca. The cyborg's fingers split vertically and revealed their hidden Ripperdoc tools and began to remove Rebecca's dermal covers and faceplates. Not turning back around, he just chided Jericho.
"You really didn't need to kill Kiwi... She sold us out, but didn't try to stab us in the back when that plan failed. Didn't pull some iron and try to off us right there in the desert or fry us with ICE."
"Kiwi is not dead. Asher, please drop the Veil.", Jericho noted, not looking up from what he was doing. Asher just nodded from the corner and dropped her Veil, a custom-made Hack that intercepted optical implants and modified what they saw in real-time. It was commonly used to cover the team's tracks and keep them hidden from even the normal passersby. Jericho quickly made a Holo-Call. "Kiwi it is now safe to enter the building. David and Hildegarde have left."
Almost on cue, the tall netrunner opened the front door and entered into their makeshift base. A prominent welt on her head was starting to form from the blow she'd taken from Rebecca's fist surrounded by several smaller welts from the 'bullets' that Hildegarde had shot her with.
"That could've gone better.", Kiwi noted, rubbing her forehead.
"Yes. I did not expect your smallest teammate to give you a concussion. Nonetheless, an example needed to be made. David must know the consequences he faces. Your teammates mourned your 'death'. It appears that they are willing to forgive your actions. If it were me, I would not.", Jericho noted, still not looking up from his work.
"It's a three-strikes rule, Kiwi. Always has been. You're on strike two.", Falco noted.
"What? What was the first one?", Kiwi asked.
"There isn't one, but Lucy didn't want to forgive you that easily considering what happened to her. So it's a two-strike rule right now. Another one and you're out."
"Look. I don't blame you for what you did, it's how you did it and how it would have turned out for all of us. You had options. You chose the worst one. You worked with us for months, you recruited me, you worked alongside us and you acted like a friend and mentor to me. Our level in trust starts over, Kiwi. Just be thankful those weren't real bullets.", Lucy sighed.
"I... I'm sorry. I really am. If I'd have known how it would have ended up for you- Look, I wasn't even the one who wanted you captured, Faraday grabbed you. The intel I gave him... I- I know my words can't heal everything I've done. Just let me prove it to you this time. And I know, I'm on a short leash now.", Kiwi mused.
"Meh. Fine with me. Just don't screw us over again. Don't think Jericho will be as forgiving as us since we're officially working with him now.", Falco concluded before turning back to his drink on the table.
"Indeed. If and when you attempt your next 11th hour betrayal there will be no apologies to be made. To put this in more understandable terms, there will suddenly be a new Kiwi-flavored can of EezyBeef available in Night City.", Jericho added.
"Noted.", Kiwi noted, shuddering slightly. Jericho would likely cram her into the EezyBeef can while she was still alive. "Where did David go?"
"He's on a mission. Grabbin' intel with Hildegarde. He'll be back soon. Shouldn't be too hard.", Falco mumbled.
"Oh and please get ready for your rounds of cyberware upgrades. Falco, you will receive a new multi-purpose arm as well as a Panzerboy chip to aid in your driving skills. Lucy will receive one of my custom chipsets to both protect her from Black-ICE and aid in her netrunning skills. Kiwi gets nothing since you have not proven your worth to me yet.", Jericho noted, now finished with his work on Rebecca.
"Oh... Look it's Kiwi! She's back from the dead. Check out these new skills!", Rebecca announced before jumping into the air. She flew upwards and nearly hit the ceiling of the garage, panicked slightly as she didn't want to jump that high and flailed a bit before landing feet-first onto Kiwi's skull. The impact sent the tall netrunner's head into the pavement and knocked her unconscious again. "Kiwi? Hello? Oops."
Falco just facepalmed. He truly hoped that David was having a better time than they were at the moment.
Far away from Aldo's Garage, David was not having a good experience and he was currently clinging to Hildegarde's waist as they both flew down NC's highways at speeds that would turn them both into paste if they hit anything. Hildegarde had bought or stolen an Arch Nazare motorcycle and had warned him 'not to touch anything except her waist' and to keep his hands firmly planted right there lest he be kicked off the bike and into oncoming traffic. They were weaving through traffic with inches to spare between oncoming traffic and other objects. A few moments passed in this harrowing journey before Hildegarde had reached Japantown and kicked the bike sideways, bringing it to a sudden halt and hurling David off the pillion seat and sliding across the asphalt on his back. He just stared upwards into the sky as Hildegarde walked over and picked him up off the ground like a ragdoll. She was oddly strong for someone who didn't appear to be as chromed-out as he was.
"Congratulations. You survived. Now, let's find this plonker and get the info Jericho needs.", Hildegarde noted. "Asher already set up the meeting. There should be an ugly limousine somewhere nearby. DeShawn is inside it and is going to give us the details."
David looked around for an 'ugly limousine' before spotting it sitting a few meters away. The driver of said vehicle was staring in their direction.
"Over there.", David noted.
"Good boy.", Hildegarde complimented mockingly.
David began to trek over to the limousine before looking over his shoulder. Hildegarde was not following him. He motioned for her to follow but instead received a Holo-Call instead.
"This is on you. I'm just here to supervise. I'll be over at the slurp shop getting whatever Night City calls food these days. Feel free to call me if you somehow manage to fuck this up."
David shrugged and just headed over to the limousine. The rear passenger door opened and he entered cautiously. Inside, the large man Dexter DeShawn was waiting for him. The Fixer motioned to his driver and the limo began to make its rounds through Japantown.
"David Martinez. Up and coming Legendary Merc from what I've heard. You've got skills, kid. Skills I just might be in the market for.", DeShawn noted.
"Yeah? What market are you working with?", David asked.
"Simple job, retrieval. Got this biochip we need to grab; already got a few other mercs working on it so it should be a simple smash and grab. Might need some extra muscle and you seem like the right choice."
"Don't beat around the bush, what do you want me to do?"
"Straight to the point, I like that. Anyways, there's this chick, Evelyn Parker. Has a BD of the inside of Konpeki Plaza, specifically the Penthouse. I already sent my other mercs to find me a bot, so this is your gig. Find Parker, find out what she knows and then report back to me. Everything goes well and we'll be inside Konpeki Plaza by the end of the week. After our big heist, we'll all be walking away from this as millionaires."
"Sounds like a deal. You gonna go over this with the others once I'm done being your errand boy?"
"Of course. And watch the tongue, kid. Dexter DeShawn's been in this business since before you were a twinkle in your mother's eye. Send you the deets afterwards."
A few moments later, the limousine stopped back where David had gotten into it. David hopped out and went off to find Hildegarde. They had a new mission, find Evelyn Parker and find out what she knew about the inside of Konpeki Plaza. He also felt the need to mention the other mercs that were apparently also a part of this mission. He quickly found Hildegarde sitting at a table and scowling as she ate some kind of yellow mush.
"...This is what they call 'curry'. Tastes like a fistful of scabs and caca."
"I'm back. It went well. DeShawn's hired some other mercs to deal with this, so it looks like I'm working with them too. Right now we've got a contact. Evelyn Parker, have her on the Holo and she's got a BD of Konpeki's penthouse."
"Hmf. Third party's not ideal, but we can work around that. I wouldn't trust DeShawn any farther than I can throw him. Evelyn Parker, huh? I'll have Asher run a trace on that, no need to contact her on Holo." Hildegrade mused. David was surprisingly competent despite appearing to be fairly young. "Wait a moment. I'll ring Asher right now."
A few seconds passed before Asher answered, she seemed to be dealing with something happening back at the Garage. "Hi Hildegarde! What's up?"
"Run a trace on the name 'Evelyn Parker' and find out where she's hiding."
"Okay!"
"And if you're good I'll buy you an ice-cream cone."
"Cool beans! Got it already. She's at Lizzie's Bar. It's a BD club. Sending you the deets now."
"Thank you Asher, you will receive your ice-cream cone when we return."
David paced for a few seconds before Hildegarde turned back to face him.
"She's at Lizzie's Bar. Not too far from here. Get back on the bike and remember where to put your hands."
"Got it."
David just climbed onto the pillion seat again and placed his hands firmly on Hildegarde's waist before the bike spun around and headed towards Lizzie's. This gig was dead-easy. He'd soon be working full-time with a group of Legendary Mercs and it seemed that even Hildegarde liked him. Things were looking up for once.
Back in the Garage, Jericho had finished his upgrades on his new teammates. He as now currently explaining how everything worked.
"First, each chipset comes with an AI companion named JANUS. Janus will protect you from incoming ICE attacks up to and including Military-Grade Black-ICE. It will also enhance your existing abilities to the maximum extent allowed by your cyberware. Finally, feel free to chrome-out as much as you like as there is no possibility for Cyber-Psychosis."
Kiwi just sat and stared at her newly upgraded companions. She received nothing. The only thing she could do was hold an ice-pack to her head and try not to think about what would happen when things went tits-up. She did wonder what they were going to do with three netrunners on the team. Jericho's quirky Asher seemed more competent than both her and Lucy despite using old outdated tech. She felt the need to ask.
"What are we going to do with three netrunners on one team?"
"Use your skills. Obviously I prefer to use Asher since I have known her the longest. However, if Asher is preoccupied, then you or Lucy will step in. The more netrunners we have, the quicker we can get our work done.", Jericho noted. "I do not netrun, I am capable of doing so but it has had detrimental side-effects when done."
"Yeaaahhh... Like had the whole subnet shut down and then alerted NetWatch and a bunch of mercs to our position. We barely got out of that one with our lives.", Asher added referencing their failed heist back in Prague. "The more the merrier, I guess! We're going to be best friends, I promise!"
Kiwi just sighed. The more the merrier, she guessed. Asher was weird. Lucy still didn't trust her and she didn't have any of the special protections that the others had. She would be the first target of Black-ICE and the first to be fried to a crispy critter. It was probably still a better end than being pulped by Jericho or beaten to death by her former friends, though.
Jericho turned back to the group. "Once we have the intel we need about Konpeki Plaza we can begin to plan our retrieval of the biochip. Scotch has already gone and repaired our old AV, the Towards Stars. It has been outfitted with armor and several heavy machine guns as well as the Ground Team's escape route. The rear half of the Toward Stars is designed to carry a cargo container, the arms have been upgraded and will allow us to grab onto your escape vehicle as well as any other object."
Falco remembered the Toward Stars, it was basically a flying semi-truck with a decently sized crew's quarters with several bunks that pulled out from the walls, a table in the middle for planning and a high-tech computer system. It was also European and its controls were entirely metric and confusing. He had crashed it into Arasaka tower a few days ago and caused most of the damage to the AV. He idly wondered why they were using such an odd form of transport since other AV's existed. He also wondered about the corporation that was emblazoned on the side of the aircraft, Monarch. He had never heard of them before, but assumed that they were similar to Arasaka in Europe.
"Now then, since we have some time to spare, would anyone like to practice their skills in combat? I can be very fair.", Jericho noted.
Kiwi sighed. This wasn't going to end well.
Once again, after a truly horrifying ride to Lizzie's Bar, David disembarked the motorcycle and headed into the club. Hildegarde was going to wait patiently outside for him. She had no real reason to visit a BD club and was only there to make sure he didn't somehow manage to get killed. He just shrugged and headed into the club, the bouncer at the door giving him a nod. Once depositing his weapons at the check-in, he headed into the main area and made a beeline to the bar. Asking the bartender where Evelyn Parker was located was probably a good idea. The bartender just looked up as he approached.
"Martinez, coming in for a visit or for business? Anything I can get you?"
"Yeah. Silverhand, make it strong."
"Man of taste... Anything else you need?"
"I'm looking for Evelyn Parker, Dex sent me."
"Ah, that. Gimme a sec, I'll let her know you're here."
David sat back and nursed his drink. The bartender had walked off into the back of the establishment, leaving him alone for now. A few moments later, a well-dressed woman sat down next to him. She nudged his arm and made eye contact.
"David Martinez. So you're the 'muscle' that Dexter DeShawn hired? I'm surprised. Heard you pulled some stunt in 'Saka tower a few days ago. Sent Adam Smasher back to his bosses with his tail between his legs. I'm Evelyn Parker, a pleasure to meet you."
"Heh, that wasn't me though. I was running a different gig out in the badlands, retrieval just like this one.", David mused. Jericho had been the one to smash Smasher. For all he knew, Arasaka didn't even care about him at the moment and still considered him a deadbeat dropout.
"Anyways, I looked into you. You zeroed JK a few months ago. So I've got enough faith that you know how to use a BD scroller. You ever edit one?"
"Yeah. I got it. You got the BD?"
Evelyn just slid the shard across the bar to him. He grabbed it and pocketed it. He'd give it to Lucy or one of the other netrunners back at the Garage. He didn't dare slot it right now and suddenly fall victim to malware and be left in a gibbering ball of pain in the middle of the bar.
"Preem. Thanks."
Evelyn just turned around a looked around the bar for a moment before turning back to him and speaking in a hushed tone. "Look, DeShawn can't really be trusted. You know that. I'll cut you a better deal, bring the biochip to me and I'll double whatever he's promising you."
David just sat back and sipped his drink. Typical. This was Night City after all. "DeShawn's not just working with me, he's got his own cronies in this too. If I can get the chip away from then, then I'll consider your offer."
"Figures. Look just send me a Holo if you can, okay?"
"I will."
David got up, finished his drink and headed out of the bar. He tossed a 500 Eddie chit onto the bar as a tip. This was way too easy. And he had some suspicions that things were going to get a lot tougher once everything kicked off.
Chapter End.
A/N: I'm not 100% on the timeline between David's canon death in Edgerunners and when V and Jackie begin their heist on Konpeki Plaza. So I'm assuming it flows fairly well together. Anyways, David meets V a hell of a lot earlier this time around and certain events are different with David joining Jericho's crew instead of V. This will hopefully be somewhat shorter than the Nuclear Nomad, but I have no promises. I wanted to continue this because Cyberpunk Edgerunners is just cinematic gold.