Konpeki Plaza, Night City's most exclusive hotel. Guests included top-level managers who flew in on business, entertainment icons and the world's elite. How the hell Jackie managed to land them a job there was beyond V's comprehension. She knew Jackie was the charmer, a real people pleaser even, but landing them a gig with one of Night City's top fixers wasn't something she had expected out of him. Not only that, but this gig had them stealing top secret tech from one of the most powerful megacorporations in the entire world and, coincidentally, the very same one for whom she had been working for before becoming a solo: Arasaka Corporation. They had been contracted by Evelyn Parker, one of Dexter DeShawn's clients, in order to retrieve a biochip from Yorinobu Arasaka's penthouse suite in Konpeki Plaza. They had spent the past few days preparing for the heist and were now lying in wait inside one of the rooms of the hotel, ready to make a move on the young Arasaka heir's suite once the security measures were neutralized.
Jackie had slotted the control chip for the flathead they had recovered from Maelstrom a few days prior. V had made a deal with one of Militech's agents in order to secure the bot which had landed them in some trouble. Luckily, Jackie and V managed to pull through, cutting through Maelstrom's forces fairly easily. V had come a long way since she was forced out of corporate life. She had been taken in by Westbrook's matriarch and had spent the last 6 months doing jobs for her with the help of Jackie and T-Bug. T helped her level up her netrunning game while Jackie introduced her to the life of a solo merc. There were a lot of old habits she had to let go of but it was all worth it in the end. The amount of freedom she had unlocked was unlike anything she had experienced before and she vowed never to trade the feeling for anything else in the world.
As Jackie's ocular implants sprung to life, indicating that he was interfacing with the flathead, V could see his face slowly contort into an annoyed expression as she walked towards him. She had done a quick scan of their suite, both to ensure that their location was secure, but also to admire the decor. She had always been partial to the corporation's color scheme. Her love of red and black was reflexed clearly in the color of her Kiroshi implants as well as the endoskeleton cyberware that encased her neck. In fact, most of her cyberware was of Arasaka make, jailbroken thanks to Wakako's help when she first arrived in Westbrook. She had gotten a few upgrades since, most notably a pair of cybernetic arms in the same colors as the rest. She had opted for an uncovered look, preferring the look of carbon fiber and metal rather than synthskin. Granted, this would have allowed for more real estate for the extensive glowing Yakuza-style tattoos that covered most of her body, the same ones the Tyger Claws sported. They had been generously gifted to her by Wakako after a particularly gruesome job. She figured they would look good regardless of her lack of skin covering her cybernetic arms.
"¡Mierda!" Jackie swore in Spanish, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Little gonk's stuck."
"Just gonna stand there and look at it?" T-Bug's voice sprung to life over comms. "Gonna have to switch to manual control. V, take the control shard from Jackie. Gonna link your Kiroshis to surveillance so you can guide the bot."
She gave her a silent nod, then held out her hand towards her hispanic partner in crime. Jackie then popped the shard out of one of his chipware sockets and handed it to her.
"You do it then," he huffed. "You two are the tech-savvy ones after all."
A small crooked smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she slotted the shard into her skull. Her ocular implants flashed a bluish hue as the shard booted itself into her memory slot, replacing her vision with the security footage from the surveillance cameras in the room next door. She then started interfacing with the camera, panning it over towards the vent where the cloaked flathead was emerging from. Despite it being camouflaged, V could see it thanks to the control shard.
"Got visual on the flathead," V announced before panning the camera to scan the room.
"See if you can get him to the next vent," T-Bug said. It wasn't long before V found what she was looking for.
"Got it," she replied, mentally ordering the bot to move to the vent she had just uncovered with her Kiroshi implants.
She watched as the mechanical spider bot crawled its way up the wall and onto the ceiling towards the vent, making sure to avoid the guests that were currently in the room. Once the bot was no longer in view, V switched over to the next feed. There were no guests this time around, but a pair of housemaids were cleaning the room and gossiping about hotel guests. One of them was blocking access to the next vent.
"Huhh, T?" V said in an unsure tone.
"Gotta find a way to distract her," the netrunner replied.
"Room's got one of those huge terrariums in it. How about we tamper with the temp and air quality controls?"
"Preem. Sick the flathead on it."
And with that she executed her plan and commanded the bot to move towards the air and temperature controls for the large terrarium inside the room. After a short while, the terrarium lights started to flicker and the housemaid blocking the vent moved towards the panel to check it out. V then ordered the bot to move towards the cleared vent, ushering it inside before switching over to a different camera.
After clearing a few more rooms, the flathead had successfully reached the room where the hotel's dweller was hooked up to his chair. V was surprised to see that there was only one dweller for the entire building.
"Hotel's only got one runner?" she asked, puzzled.
"Decent dweller is as good as a dozen rank-and-file," T-Bug explained.
"What do we do about him then?"
"Have the flathead jack into his chair. I'll flash-freeze him using a daemon."
"Dweller won't realize something's up?"
"He won't have time to react since we'll be jacking straight into his chair."
V nodded and issued her command to the flathead. She then watched as the sneaky little spider crawled its way towards the netrunner's chair, climbing on top of him before jacking into the seat.
"Got him!" T-Bug celebrated, presumingly having successfully neutralized the dweller. "Love those daemons."
"Flat head stays with him?" V asked.
"To keep an eye on him, yeah." T-Bug paused. "Punching into Konpeki's main net. You go ahead and log out."
Visual aberrations started clouding her visions as she ejected the control shard from her neural port. She slid the shard back into its case while she waited for her implants to stabilize.
"¡Así es cómo se hace!" Jackie exclaimed as he turned to see his friend emerging from cyberspace. He looked at her for a moment. "How ya feelin'?"
V slowly made her way towards the bed. "Fine… A little dizzy, that's all."
She plopped herself down on the bed, closing her eyes while the visuals on her implants leveled out.
"How's it goin' on your end, Bug?" Jackie asked.
"ICE is thicker than I thought. Might take me a couple of hours," T-Bug answered.
"Couple of hours?! Can't you do it any faster?"
"Want my brain to burst into flames? Just sit tight and enjoy your snazzy suite…"
And with that, the comm line grew quiet. V let out a long exhale through the nose as she rose up into a sitting position.
"You look tired, V," Jackie said to her. "Maybe you should take it easy for a bit."
"I'm fine, Jackie," she answered in a slightly annoyed tone.
There was a short silence where Jackie turned to face the large window overlooking the city.
"Did you ever meet the guy while you were working for 'Saka?" he asked.
V exhaled slowly as she got up from the bed. "I'm guessing you're referring to Saburo's son?"
She walked over to where Jackie was standing while he nodded in response.
"Nah, never met the guy," V answered. "Was way too far down the food chain to rub elbows with that kind of royalty."
She looked out at the cityscape that stretched beneath them, a sea of neon lights flashing their colorful rays as billboards rose up into the sky. It had always been a mixed bag when it came to how she felt about Night City. A part of her hated the city and all of the scum that festered in the streets, but another part of her cherished the freedom and opportunity it gave her. She had managed to disappear and make a life for herself thanks to Jackie and Wakako's help after she had been cut off from Arasaka. Had it not been for them, she probably would have ended up flatlined and picked apart by a bunch of scavs a long time ago.
"Why'd you think he gave it all up?" Jackie continued. "Yorinobu, I mean…"
V shrugged. "Maybe he got bored…"
"It's just that… The guy's got everything. Eddies, education, a father that can turn half of the world into a nuclear wasteland with a snap of his fingers. But instead he's like 'Nah, fuck it,' and what does he do? Starts a fuckin' gang! Steel Dragons or some shit… He ghosts his fam', chips some RealSkinn and plays gang leader for a few years, and for what?!"
"Got tired of being rich, then got tired of playing tough…"
"Hmmph… Fuckin' tourist…"
That was sort of how V felt when she thought about how she had become a solo. She didn't have the easiest life growing up in a corporate environment, but there were a lot of people who were worse off than her. Most of the mercs she encountered had spent their entire lives hustling in the streets of Night City. She had grown up privileged and it pained her to know she would always be judged for her circumstances.
As the hours ticked by, V and Jackie tried to keep busy as best they could with what limited entertainment they had in their room. They laid in bed for a while, staring up at the ceiling, reminiscing about old times even though it had only been 6 months since V had been cut from corporate life. They had been through so much together in such a short amount of time and though V had never been the kind to let people in that easily, Jackie had somehow melted her cold, distant exterior and had revealed the caring, mushy center that she kept locked away from the world. They had become more than friends to one another; they were family.
"Eyes up," T-Bug's voice suddenly erupted from their comms. "Yorinobu just entered the lobby."
"I take it we're back in biz?" V said as she sat up on the edge of the bed.
"Yup. Penthouse security is neutralized."
"Perfecto," Jackie mused. "Let's get this show on the road."
They both stood up from the bed and headed towards the door. They then made their way towards the elevator, where T-Bug gave them the clearance they needed to reach Yorinobu's suite. Then, it was just a matter of waiting for the elevator to make its way up to their destination. V was looking straight at the door with this deadpan look on her face, a look that Jackie knew all too well since he had seen it dozens of times before.
"V, you're always so serious," he commented, flashing her a crooked grin. "How 'bout I tell you a joke."
V looked at him over her shoulder with the most uninterested look on her face. "Seriously, Jack'?"
"So why'd the rockerboy's output kick him out of the apartment?" There was an awkward silence. "... 'cause he wasn't chippin' in. Hahaa!"
"Jesus christ…" T-Bug sighed exasperatingly.
V looked away from him, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of this man. A few seconds later, the elevator doors slid open revealing Yorinobu's apartment.
"We're here," V announced, stepping into the penthouse as she scanned the room for what they were looking for.
"Huh, not bad bein' heir to the Arasaka throne," Jackie commented as he admired the place for a moment. "Sure as shit better than bein' the son of Raúl Welles…"
"Guys, focus!" T-Bug barked. "Find the safe and make it quick."
"What's the hurry?" Jackie whined.
"Sig on Yorinobu's gone dark…"
"What is he, a fuckin' sorcerer?"
"Probably some kind of dead zone," V surmised. "Try to see if you can pinpoint his location somehow. We'll handle the safe."
V guided Jackie to where she remembered seeing the safe back in Evelyn's braindance. Once they located the container, she hacked into the controls and a few seconds later, it started to rise out of the floor. She then jacked into the safe with her personal link and had T-Bug start breaching the container. While they were busy waiting for Bug to finish cracking the safe open, Jackie and V noticed a large AV flying towards the hotel's landing pad. The two of them stared as the vehicle was escorted to the roof, then turned towards each other with worried glances.
"Bug? We got winged visitors…" V said to her.
"Huhh… Dunno who, but staff's abuzz," T-Bug answered. "All two hundred on their feet."
"Can't say I like this…" Jackie spoke in a worried tone. "How much longer, T?"
"Shit. Yorinobu's penthouse bound."
"Fuck him! Just open the safe!"
"Almost got it…"
V kept glancing back at the elevator door while they waited for the safe to open. She could see that T-Bug's program had almost breached the safe. As soon as it was done, she retracted her personal jack and went straight for the elevator. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be coming up to the penthouse for now. Maybe they were going to pull this off after all. She looked back at Jackie taking the briefcase containing the Relic out of the safe before sending it back into the floor.
"Relic's intact?" V asked, still standing guard near the elevator.
Jackie gave the container a once over. "Bioshard integrity - one hundred percent." He gave her a thumbs up. "Guessin' that means yes!"
"Good, now let's go!"
As she turned towards the elevator, she was met with a horrific sight. She could see the indicator telling her that someone was coming up the elevator, most likely Yorinobu. Her suspicions were confirmed when T-Bug warned them they had company inbound.
"Fuck, too late! Yorinobu's about to walk in - find cover!" she ordered them.
"Where?!" V yelled in a panicked tone.
"Fat pillar, try that!"
"You fuckin' kidding?!" Jackie shouted angrily.
"No! Inside it! Now!"
V and Jackie ran to the other side of the room, with Jackie clutching the briefcase in one hand. After a brief moment the back panel of the central pillar opened thanks to T-Bug and the two of them slipped inside to hide. From there, they could see what was going on outside the pillar. Hopefully, the same couldn't be said about them.
"We're in, T," V announced in a hushed voice once they were inside.
"But this doesn't solve our problem, though…" Jackie grumbled as he held the case up against his chest.
"Fuckin' know our problem's still there!" T-Bug snapped. "Lemme think for a sec…"
The next moment, the doors to the elevator slid open and Yorinobu stepped into the apartment. Right behind him stood a hulking mass of metal and carbon, the most massive specimen V had ever seen. The man, if she could even call him that, meandered into the room scanning the place for danger.
"No way… Is that Adam fuckin' Smasher?!" Jackie gasped.
After a few brief moments, the hulking mass turned its gaze towards the pillar. V recognized him from the braindance Evelyn had recorded of her visit to Yorinobu's apartment. The man was even more unnerving in person and she could have sworn he was looking straight at her with his bulging red implants protruding from his head. V wasn't one to be easily frightened, but this man… no, this thing… wasn't human in the slightest and for a moment, she completely forgot why she had come here in the first place.
"Are they here yet?" Yorinobu's voice snapped her back to reality. He seemed to be talking to someone over comms.
"They're approaching from the landing pad," a robotic voice replied, probably the hotel's A.I. answering his query.
"Who the hell are they talking about?!" Jackie whispered angrily.
"Bug, who we got incoming?" V spoke in a much calmer tone.
"No fucking way…" Bug answered in disbelief. "This is not happening…"
As soon as T-Bug spoke, a man came down the stairs from the landing pad. Walking a few feet behind him was an elderly figure with whom V was all too familiar with. She had seen so many photos of him back when she had been working for Arasaka.
"Oh god… That's Saburo Arasaka," she spoke gravely.
Jackie turned to look at the elderly man. "The emperor? Yet another asslickin' legend…"
"Shush. I doubt this cubby's soundproof…"
The man accompanying Saburo, presumingly his bodyguard, stepped into the living room and stood to the side. He then started sweeping the room with his implants, looking for any breaches in security. Meanwhile, Yorinobu started conversing with his father in Japanese. Also being of Japanese descent, V had no trouble understanding what they were saying, but even if she had, she would have her integrated translator to fall back on, which Jackie was probably making use of on his end. While the two Arasaka men continued speaking to one another, Saburo's bodyguard suddenly walked up in front of the pillar and started scanning for signatures.
"Oh fuck V!" Jackie whispered in a panic.
Her cyberdeck picked up on the unauthorized scan and she quickly went to work trying to mask their signatures. She needed to move swiftly or else they would be found out and who knows what type of chrome this guy was packing, and V didn't even want to imagine what Adam Smasher would do to them if they were discovered. But as soon as she started preparing her protocols, she heard Saburo dismiss his henchman and the bodyguard spoke.
"Arasaka-sama, I still haven't done a full sweep," he said to him.
"This is my son," his boss replied with the same calm tone he had been using since he arrived.
There was a pause. "Of course, Should I retrieve what we came here to-"
"I'll handle it. You may go."
And with that, the bodyguard gave his boss a quick bow before making his way over to the elevator. Adam Smasher, who had been completely silent since the start of the encounter, followed Saburo's bodyguard into the elevator, leaving father and son alone to talk.
"That was close…" Jackie breathed with relief.
"Too close… Not sure I would've been able to prevent him from sniffing us out," V whispered.
"Good thing he didn't. Now cállate."
There was a long pause where Yorinobu and Saburo remained silent. V had seen plenty of pictures of the two and had previously seen Yorinobu up close and personal while scrolling through Evelyn's recording, but seeing them now, in the flesh, was a completely different story. Saburo's aura was austere, even though he looked incredibly old and feeble. V knew better than to be fooled by his appearance. The man had spent the last century building his family's empire into one of the biggest powerhouses the world had ever seen. He had power, influence and capital beyond anyone's wildest imagination. Saburo was definitely more dangerous than Yorinobu's bodyguard standing watch outside his apartment. And now he was here, standing just a few meters from them, questioning his son about the Relic they had just recovered from his son's safe.
"Did you think I wouldn't know it was taken from me?" Saburo said calmly.
"Actually, I don't think of you at all… Ever." Yorinobu replied.
He then leaned back on his seat.
"You see, that's your problem," he continued. "You think the world revolves around you. Arrogant."
"Yorinobu…"
"Why did you come? To humiliate me?! To personally see to it that your son knows his place?!"
Saburo paused. " 'The nail that protrudes from the wall gets hammered…' "
Yorinobu sighed, throwing his head back in frustration. "Couldn't think of anything original to say?"
He then got up from his seat and started pacing around the living room.
"And you think it 'original' to sell our greatest achievement and our future to these western barbarians?!"
Yorinobu let out a sardonic laugh. "Our future? Ours?! You are mistaken. You've only ever cared about yourself… and your sick schemes."
The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The conversation between Yorinobu and Saburo was getting heated which only served to put Jackie and V even more on edge.
"I knew this day would come," Saburo spoke again after a long pause. "That sooner or later, your impudence would cross the line…"
He walked up to where his son was standing, hands still tucked behind his back. He somehow looked even older up close. It was a miracle he was still standing at 158 years old. All things considered, V wondered how it was possible for him to look this good, but then she reminded herself that, for people like Saburo Arasaka, anything was possible.
"There's much for which I could forgive you, but for treason - no." Saburo continued. He then stared at his son for a moment. "I'm just glad your mother didn't live to see this. The heart should break but once…"
There was a brief pause where the two of them merely stared at each other until, suddenly, Yorinobu launched himself at his father, his hands grasping at his neck. In a fit of rage, he started choking his father, pushing him up against the pillar where V and Jackie were hiding as V covered her mouth to muffle the sound of her gasping. This lasted for a few seconds before Yorinobu suddenly let go of his father, a pained expression washing over his face.
"You shall never have to forgive me for anything ever again," he declared to his father, before lunging at him once more and gripping his frail neck once again.
Saburo reached out towards his son, trying to get him to stop, but it was no use. His frail body could not compete with Yorinobu's solid frame as his own flesh and blood choked the life out of him. Time seemed to move at a slower pace, but finally, after a few more moments, Yorinobu released his father's neck, his limp body falling to the floor in a dull thud. V stared at the CEO's body in shock, her mind barely grasping what had just transpired. They had just witnessed the murder of Saburo Arasaka, the one they called the Emperor. Mere moments ago, he had stepped into his son's penthouse and now, just as quickly, his existence had been completely snuffed out by his own son.
For a moment, it seemed as though Yorinobu was about to lose it and start panicking. His hands were still shaking even after he let go of his father's dead body. He started pacing back and forth around the room, trying to calm his nerves. Once he had calmed down, he sat down on the edge of the coffee table and stared at the floor for a while.
"That's it, we're done for!" Jackie exclaimed in a hushed tone.
V motioned for him to stop talking, her eyes still fixed on Yorinobu. After what seemed like another small eternity, he finally spoke again, his voice a little shaky from the emotion.
"I… I wish…" he stammered. "I wish to put the hotel on lockdown."
"May I ask why?" the A.I. responded.
There was another long pause where he knelt down to check his father's pulse. Once it was confirmed that he was dead, he declared:
"Saburo Arasaka has been murdered."
"Code red initiated."
The light in the apartment dimmed as bright red neon lights illuminated the edges of the room. An announcement was made on the intercoms, announcing the hotel's imminent lockdown. Seconds later, Saburo's bodyguard reentered the room with Adam Smasher following right behind him. He rushed over towards Yorinobu and his father.
"What happened?" he asked in an urgent tone.
"Someone… someone has poisoned my father!" Yorinobu lied, turning his attention over towards the bodyguard.
"Poisoned?" The bodyguard didn't sound convinced by Yorinobu's words and glanced over at Saburo's body. "Yorinobu-san… I doubt-"
The young Arasaka heir took a step towards him. "Takemura, what is your job, exactly?"
The man looked confused. "I don't follow…"
"It's a simple question. Answer it."
He glanced over at Saburo's body once again, then straightened his posture and stared directly into Yorinobu's eyes.
"To protect the head of the Arasaka family," he answered.
"I sincerely hope you'll do a better job of executing your duties from now on…" Yorinobu hissed angrily.
Takemura lowered his head shamefully. "Forgive me, Arasaka-sama. I shall not disappoint."
He couldn't stand to look at Yorinobu anymore. Whether it was out of shame or out of disgust, V couldn't tell. A few moments later, the three of them left the room through the elevator, leaving V and Jackie alone in the room now that they could finally emerge from their hiding place.
"What the fuck just happened in there?" T-Bug's voice resonated in their comms.
"Yorinobu just killed his father…" V's voice came out slightly shaky.
"His own fuckin' pops…" Jackie exhaled in disbelief.
"You know what this means? Security's gonna swarm this place any second!" T-Bug exclaimed. "Oh my god, we're so fucked!"
V was trying to stay calm but there were a million things going through her mind. She knew she needed to keep it together in order to get Jackie and herself out of this mess. She took a few deep breaths, pressing her clenched fist against the glass as she leaned against the window.
"Bug, we need you to get us out of here, now." she said in a controlled tone.
"Gimme a sec!" T replied in a panicked voice.
"We don't have a sec!" Jackie answered, seemingly starting to panic.
V pulled away from the window and walked around to where Saburo's body was laying on the floor. She leaned down to have a closer look at him, as if seeing him for herself would make things any more real. That's when she noticed something shiny coming from Saburo's robes. She reached in and pulled out a set of dog tags.
"Got it! Window - now!" T-Bug shouted.
V looked at the tags for a while, then yanked the chain and stuffed them into her pocket. She then made her way towards the glass door leading to the roof and waited for T-Bug to let them out of the room.
"Releasing the lock," she announced. "You should see a ladder… Ladder…? Oh fuck."
V looked at Jackie with a panicked look on her face.
"No no no no - not now!" she heard T-Bug scream. "I've been made..! AAARGH!"
"BUG!" V yelled out into the void. Bug had been disconnected from the call.
"Pinche Dios Santo bendito!" Jackie swore in Spanish, combing his hand over his dark hair. "We just lost T…"
"Fuck!" V banged her fist on the door. "Fucking major leagues… Happy now, Jack?!"
The door suddenly opened, probably as a result of T-Bug's program having completed its job. V stepped into the wet, humid air and motioned for Jackie to follow. The ground was damp with rain as it was pouring buckets outside. V then quickly made her way over to where T-Bug had mentioned there was the ladder leading down the building. There was a narrow gap separating them from the ladder that the two of them were going to have to shimmy their way across. V heard her partner mutter to himself as they started making their way towards the ladder. Unfortunately, their advance was cut short by the arrival of Trauma Team.
"That Trauma?!" Jackie asked.
"If they're here for Saburo, they're a little late!" V shouted over the sound of the medivac.
Seconds later, an Arasaka aircraft suddenly materialized in front of them.
"Suspects in violation of security protocols!" They heard a voice coming from the vehicle in Japanese.
"¡Chingada Madre! Time to bail!" Jackie yelled.
"Jump!" V said as she leapt off the side of the building.
She landed harshly on a set of diagonal windows. She then slid down the glass, Arasaka gunfire sending shrapnel flying in every direction. She looked back to make sure Jackie was still following her and sure enough, he was right on her trail. Unfortunately for them, there was a significant drop once they had cleared the slide and soon the two of them were sent plummeting towards a skylight. The two mercs came crashing through the glass ceiling, falling harshly onto a metal walkway which knocked the lights out of V for a few moments. When she came to, she saw the briefcase lying on the floor between her and Jackie, who was now bleeding from his abdomen. Sparks came flying out of the case, indicating that damage had been sustained either from the fall or from the gunship's fire.
"Oh shit! The Relic!" Jackie exclaimed as he hurriedly grabbed for the briefcase.
"Jackie you're bleeding!" V said to him as she reached over to help him.
Jackie waved her away. "I'm fine, chica! Just check the Relic!"
V lowered her gaze towards the screen on the case. "Container depressurized. Biochip integrity at ninety-four percent!"
"And fuckin' droppin'! ¡Carajo!"
V didn't know what to do. Jackie had sustained a pretty significant injury during the fall and now the biochip's integrity was compromised. If they didn't do something about it soon, all of this would have been for nothing.
"Parker! Call her!" Jackie told V as he clutched his side where he was bleeding.
"And tell her we fried the case?!" V interjected.
"Just do it."
V dialed Evelyn's number and waited for her to pick up. She only had to wait a few seconds before Evelyn's face popped up on her ocular interface.
"V?! Konpeki's all over the feeds!" she answered. "What the fuck is going on there?!"
"Got a problem! Cryocase is fried!" V explained hurriedly. "Biochip integrity is plummeting… fast!"
"Shit…! Okay, listen to me. There's only one thing you can do. One of you's gotta slot the Relic into your neural port."
V shook her head in disbelief. "Are you fucking insane?!"
"The Relic can't be isolated, V! It has to be nested in a safe environment!"
V and Jackie stared at each other for a moment, then Jackie finally decided to open up the case.
"Well, someone's gotta do it," he said in a pained voice.
"Jackie!"
"En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo - Amén…"
Jackie then took out the shard from the case and slotted it into one of his neural ports. For a moment his eyes turned blue as his system was processing the chip. V continued to stare at him, waiting for something to happen.
"Jackie? You okay?" she asked tentatively.
"Dunno… I guess?" her hispanic friend replied. "Don't feel any different…"
"Once you're back, we'll take out the Relic and run a full brain scan and sweep," Evelyn reassured them over the phone. "But you two need to get the fuck out of there first!"
"We're working on it!" V snapped.
She cut the call shortly after and got up on her feet, kicking her heels away as she did. She wasn't about to go traipsing around Konpeki Plaza with heels slowing her down, not when a legion of guards stood between her and freedom. She might scrape her feet in the process but it was better than twisting her ankle mid escape.
Jackie started dialing Delamain's number while they slowly got up from the ground. He groaned and grunted, pressing his hand to where he was bleeding. While it wasn't unusual for gigs to go south, she couldn't wrap her head around how things could have gone so terribly wrong. They had spent the entire week preparing. How come no one knew about Saburo Arasaka's arrival in Night City? V tried to think of something that could help Jackie. She then took off her jacket and started pulling it apart. As fancy as it was, keeping Jackie alive was top priority. She started ripping long strips of fabric using her cyberarms and motioned for Jackie to come closer while he busied himself with Delamain.
"Del…" he called out, wincing. "We'll be there in a couple. Be ready, got it?"
V started by folding a piece of cloth and pressing it to Jackie's wound. She then started to wrap the other pieces of fabric around his waist to secure the bandage. As expected, one of the bullets from the gunship had grazed his side. He was losing a lot of blood but hopefully, this makeshift bandage was going to buy them enough time to get him to a ripperdoc. Once the bandage was secured, she handed Jackie an injector, something that would keep him going and help dull the pain for a while. Jackie nodded, taking the small device and stabbing himself in the thigh. He let out a long groan as he waited for the drug to do its work, then gave V an affirmative nod before moving towards the service door.
"We gotta reach the lobby somehow…" he panted. "Only chance to hit the garage."
He started opening the door, but V interrupted him by grabbing hold of his arm.
"I'll go first," she declared. "This place is going to be crawling with Arasaka guards and I'm not risking you getting even more hurt."
"Come on, V. I'm fine!"
"No, you're not." She gave him a stern look. "We're doing this my way: quick and quiet with no alarms." She could see he was about to protest. "Zip it. I don't want to hear it!"
She pushed past him, crouching down once she heard a pair of voices coming from the lower level. She motioned for Jackie to hold his position while she made her way downstairs. Without her heels making so much noise, V was as quiet as a mouse. Once at the lower level, she hid behind a bar and spotted two guards talking to each other. They were checking to see if there were intruders on this floor. V waited for them to finish giving their report over comms then moved in to neutralize one of them. As she turned around to make her way towards the second guard, she unsurprisingly found that Jackie had ignored her earlier request and was now quietly choking the other guard to death. Once he ceased squirming, he let him plop down on the floor and turned around to see V giving him a disapproving look.
"I told you to hang back!" she scolded him.
"Eh," he shrugged. "Figured it would be faster this way."
V rolled her eyes, checking the guard she had just knocked out for weapons. She pulled out a handgun from his jacket and inspected it for a moment before placing it back inside his pocket. She had a much better ace up her sleeve should she require a more aggressive method of taking someone down.
"Let's move on," she announced. "Carefully. Security's likely to be swarming outside."
She slipped past Jackie and into the next room. Another duo of guards was sweeping the area for intruders, only this time, they also had a camera watching for anything suspicious. Unfortunately for them, they were up against some resourceful mercs, one of whom was a talented netrunner. Using her implanted cyberdeck, she located the camera and started breaching its systems. While she waited for the camera to power down, she also initiated a quickhack program that allowed her to ping all of the surrounding devices currently running on the same network. This allowed her to pinpoint the location of every nearby guard on the network, information which she shared with Jackie in case he decided to wander off again. Once they had both neutralized and stashed the bodies of the two guards, they pressed forward, making sure to remain as silent and discreet as possible.
Now that she had pinged all of the surrounding devices, V could navigate the different floors of Konpeki Plaza more safely. As they both progressed through the hotel, V gradually disabled all of the cameras that were blocking their way. All of the guards they came across were silently neutralized and they even managed to nab a shard from one of the higher ranking officers allowing them to access the elevators. No alarms were triggered on their way towards the lobby. It seemed as though they were going to get out of this without anyone noticing. A good thing too, because Jackie's condition was worsening by the second. He had bled through the bandage she had carefully wrapped around his waist and was starting to look a bit pale.
"Jackie? How're you doing?" V asked in a concerned tone.
"Hahahaha… Of all the fuckin' days…" Jackie chuckled painfully. "Saburo Arasaka… Dead. This is like… some divine comedy shit… hehehe…"
"You think all of this is funny?!" V scowled.
"Yeah… I do."
"You're liver could be fucked!"
"Had it comin', heheh."
"Jesus fucking Christ, Jackie!"
"Chill V… We'll get out alive."
V was in no mood to argue with him. She needed to stay focused if there was any chance for them to get out of this alive and unnoticed. Once the doors to the lobby opened, she quickly slipped out and hid behind a half-wall. She then repeated the same thing she had done before: targeted the lobby's network and disabled all of the cameras. There were a few heavily armed guards patrolling the lobby, but nothing she and Jackie couldn't handle if they stayed quiet. What she hadn't accounted for was the huge mech that patrolled up and down the main area of the lobby as they neared the elevator.
"V…?" Jackie turned to her with uncertainty.
V's eyes flashed red for a few seconds as she trained her Kiroshis on the mech. Too late, the machine had spotted them and was about to open fire. She then pushed Jackie out of the way, forcing him behind a large concrete flower bed, then suddenly vanished. A few seconds later, she suddenly reappeared above the mech, her optical camo melting away as two large glowing mantis blandes suddenly emerged from both her arms. As she landed on top of the mech, the bright red glow from her blades pierced the outer shell, latching her to the machine's hull. This crippled the mech somewhat, allowing her just enough time to upload a mass vulnerability daemon to the machine's system. Once the machine was breached, she sliced it open using her blades just as the last few seconds of her Sandevistan were expiring. She reeled slightly from the use of her implant as the mech slowly came crashing underneath her weight.
She had successfully taken down the mech in a matter of seconds, but this left her completely out in the open where the remaining guards noticed her. Alarms were triggered as they started firing at her. Jackie dispatched one of the guards from his hiding place, shooting him in the face with his dual pistols. V took advantage of the distraction and hid behind another set of planters. Had she taken any of the guns she had found while dispatching the guards, she would have joined Jackie in taking down the guards that were blocking their way towards the elevator. Instead, she decided to target their implants, forcing their opticals to reboot themselves while she emerged from her hiding spot. Her Sandevistan had just come back online and in a matter of seconds, she found herself next to the guards, mantis blades ready to slice them open. One of her blades buried itself into the carotid artery of one of the guards, slashing it open as blood came gushing out of the wound. The other pierced the other guard in the stomach, lifting him up from the ground slightly as blood came spilling out onto V's arm. Once the two were dead, V called for Jackie to join her as she called the elevator. Once Jackie had made his way to the elevator door, V could feel the world returning to normal as her Sandy powered down once again. The aftershock of her implant left her feeling a little dizzy. Consecutive uses of her Sandevistan usually had this effect on her. Once the elevator was finally open, the two of them slipped into the cubicle and ordered the elevator to take them to the basement, where Delamain was waiting for them. V's blades retracted themselves into her arms and she turned to see how Jackie was doing.
"Jackie?"
"Argh… I'm leaking a little…"
"Just hold on! We're almost there!"
The elevator could not make its way down fast enough. As soon as the doors opened, she could hear a patrol of guards opening fire on something.
"I advise that you waste no time in entering the vehicle," Delamain's voice sounded over comms as his portrait suddenly appeared on her ocular interface.
V then booked it towards the cab, avoiding the Arasaka gunfire and slipping into the already opened door. Jackie was close behind her, slipping into the vehicle just as the door was closing behind him.
"Gun it, Delamain!" V shouted as she nervously peered through the car windows.
"Welcome back!" the A.I. greeted them. "With Delamain, you leave your problems at the d-"
"We'll have problems if you don't FUCKIN' DRIVE!"
As soon as she said this, the cab kicked into gear and started barreling through the underground parking, smashing through the door leading up street level. V had to admit this was impressive. She had no idea Delamain cabs were built strong enough to burst through steel doors.
"Not bad!" she commented.
"Client feedback noted!" Delamain said cheerfully.
"How's our ride lookin'?"
"Tiptop! Though, alas, we are being pursued."
She suddenly saw something big making its way towards the car. It was fast and at first, V thought it was another vehicle coming to intercept them. What greeted her on the other side of the glass was something infinitely more horrifying though. In a loud bang, Adam Smasher had suddenly emerged from Konpeki Plaza and was now charging towards the car. V braced herself as the hulking mass of metal came crashing against their vehicle. The impact left a sizable dent in the door and had smashed the window to pieces while also swinging the car around. Now they were left facing Smasher who was now making his way over to the car.
"Combat mode activated," Delamain spoke calmly. "Please remain calm."
"CALM?!" V yelled angrily. "Just get us out of here!"
"Road block ahead. I kindly request that you brace for impact."
The car then swung back around in the right direction, gunning it towards the exit while Adam was in hot pursuit of the vehicle. V watched as the cyborg disappeared behind them, but there was no time for rest. Delamain suddenly announced that a hostile enemy aircraft had a lock on them and Jackie handed V one of his guns so she could try and take it down before it could fire on them.
"Leave it to me!" she assured him.
She hung herself out of the window, firing at the aircraft that was hot on their trail. With a few well placed shots, she managed to take it down. Now she just needed to take care of the two drones that were flying next to it. These were harder to pin down since they were smaller and faster, but V was no lousy shot. After missing a few shots, she managed to take down both drones before slipping back into the vehicle.
"We did it, Jackie!" she celebrated. "We fucking made it!"
As she handed the gun back to Jackie, she realized just how much worse he had gotten since they had left Konpeki Plaza.
"Huh… I guess we did," he said to her, his voice coming out in a raspy mess.
"Jack…?" V inquired worriedly.
"My medical diagnostics indicate that Mr. Welles' condition is critical," Delamain announced through the screen.
"Take us to a ripperdoc! Now!" V ordered.
"Apologies, but that will not be possible. Our itinerary has been pre-arranged and paid for in advance. I am not at liberty to alter it."
"FUCK your liberty! Do what I say!"
V's heart sank to her stomach. Jackie was coughing up blood and his wound had become so much worse. She placed a hand on his shoulder while the other took hold of his bloodied hand. There wasn't anything she could do for him. She couldn't hack into the car's navigation systems and she couldn't just stop the ride and carry him, not when the nearest ripperdoc was miles away. Besides, she didn't think Jackie would survive either way, so she squeezed his hand while holding out hope that he would somehow make it back to Night City.
"It's okay, V…" Jackie tried to reassure her. "I'll hold out…"
"I suggest you try to keep Mr. Welles conscious," the A.I.'s voice said to them.
"Shut up, Delamain!" V barked, feeling her anger starting to boil over.
She could see that Jackie was fading away by the second, but she wasn't ready to let him go. She couldn't, not after everything they had been through. It just couldn't end that way.
"We'll be getting preem jobs left, right and center now," she told him, trying to rouse him back to life. "You hear me, Jack?"
Jackie gave her a weak stare. "You're going to be rich mija… I can feel it."
"No, Jackie, WE'RE going to be rich! You AND me!" She was struggling to keep it together.
Jackie reached over to grab her shoulder, pulling her close.
"The biochip…" he whispered.
He then ejected the biochip from his neural port, handing it over to her.
"Hold on to it… for me," he said to her in a weak voice.
"Jackie please…"
He slotted the chip into her slot, then started slouching against the seat of the car. V grabbed hold of him to prop him up, refusing to let him go.
"Jackie no!"
She grabbed his face between her hands, desperately trying to shake him awake, but it was too late. His eyes glossed over and his body had gone completely still. She kept trying to wake him, punched his chest in frustration, and when the realization finally settled in, she pressed her forehead to his chest and started to sob. She had never been the type to let people in, but Jackie was one of the few people she considered important.
And now he was gone…
She continued to cry into Jackie's chest, cursing and pounding her fist into him as if it would somehow bring him back. How could it have gone so wrong? First T-Bug and now Jack? They were all supposed to make it through together but now… V was alone. So utterly and painfully alone.
"Mr. Welles has passed," Delamain's voice said plainly, shaking her out of her thoughts. "Where shall I take his remains?"
"W-What?" V asked, confused.
She lifted her head to see that the vehicle had stopped in front of the No-Tell Motel where Dexter DeShawn had set up their meeting. V hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped until she heard Delamain's voice speak to her.
"The Excelsior package provides for the disposal of passenger remains free of charge," he explained. "I merely require a destination."
"J-Just give me a minute with him, would you?!" V yelled, her voice cracking under the intense emotions going through her mind.
She turned to face Jackie's body once more. She kept thinking this was all some kind of sick joke, that he would suddenly wake up and yell "Surpriiiiise!" and then laugh at the face she was pulling. She couldn't believe he was just gone, but she also couldn't just stay with him in the car, not when there was still a job to do. If she didn't go up to meet with DeShawn, then all of this, all they had gone through, would have been for nothing.
She reached over to Jackie's shoulder one more time, squeezing it as she said her goodbyes.
"See you in the major leagues, Jack…"
She then ordered Delamain to take his body to El Coyote Cojo, a bar in Heywood that his mother owned. Once arrangements had been made for Jackie's remains, she stepped out of the vehicle and walked over towards the motel's back entrance. She walked across the room without as much as a side glance towards any of the other guests and went straight for room 204. She didn't even care that her feet were sore from walking barefoot all throughout Konpeki Plaza. She merely marched her way up the stairs and into Dexter DeShawn's room, where he and his bodyguard were waiting for her. She banged on the door once, then twice, growing more and more agitated the more she had to wait.
"It's me, dammit!" she shouted angrily at the door.
A few seconds later, the door slid open and Dexter's bodyguard came to meet her at the door. He motioned for her to come inside and, once she had crossed the beaded curtain leading into the main room, she saw Dexter hunched over a TV, watching the news.
"WNS… N54… even the pirate networks!" DeShawn groused. "You blowin' up everywhere!" He nervously sucked at his lit cigar. "And the Jackster? He out in the car?!"
V was trying her best to restrain herself from strangling him. "Yeah… He's there. Dead."
Dexter shot her a surprised look, then his features softened and he stood up from his hunched over position.
"Condolences, friend," he said flatly. "And the Relic?"
V's eyes darted towards the floor. "Things didn't go as planned… Had to slot the chip into my neural socket."
She pointed to where Jackie had slotted the chip in.
"Hmm… I was afraid o' that…" Dexter grumbled.
"What are you talking about?" V interjected.
"Saburo Arasaka? Dead…?! You got any notion of the shit you pulled me into?!"
"You don't honestly think we had anything to do with his death, do ya?!"
"It's all over the fuckin' news! Anyone with so much as a pinky toe dipped in this mess is as good as dead!"
"You're the one who got us into this mess!" V's eyes were wild with anger. "You're telling me you had no fucking idea Saburo Arasaka was going to be there to meet with his son?!"
Dexter turned to look her in the eye. "I don't have access to his personal fuckin' schedule! Besides, nobody told you to kill the old man!"
He then felt V's hand grab hold of his shirt, pulling him towards her as she stared daggers into his skull.
"Let make one thing absolutely fuckin' clear: We. Didn't. Kill. Saburo…" she seethed, her grip tightening with each word.
Dexter's bodyguard reached for his gun, but Dexter motioned for him to hold off.
"Tell that to the 'Saka ninjas they'll send after you…" he replied, taking a huge drag from his cigar before blowing a huge puff of smoke straight into V's face.
She let go of him promptly, waving the fumes out of her face as she shot a menacing look towards Dex's bodyguard. There was an awkward silence where all three of them stood silently in the room. She had to admit Dexter was right about one thing: it didn't matter whether or not they killed Saburo Arasaka. Yorinobu was going to use them to cover up his crimes regardless and he was going to make sure the truth never came out.
"Aight, settle down," DeShawn said after a while. "We gotta be tactical about this."
V let out a harsh exhale through the nose, nodding in agreement.
"Parker, eddies, then we leave the city behind," he continued. "But first... your face. Got blood all over it."
He then pointed his cigar in the direction of the bathroom behind her. V hadn't really paid attention to the fact that she was essentially covered in gore. She gave Dexter a weak nod as she pulled away from him to get herself cleaned up in the bathroom. Once she got close to the mirror, she saw just how bloody her face was and stared at it for a short while. It was all so fucked. She kept thinking back at Konpeki Plaza, wondering if there was something she could have done to spare T-Bug and Jackie from dying. The more she obsessed over it, the more she became frustrated until finally the rage just boiled over and she smashed her fist into the glass, cracking it. She then hung her head over the sink, feeling completely defeated. Things were never going to be the same without Jackie, but she needed to push through the pain and see this through, for his sake…
She emerged from the bathroom a few moments later after washing the blood off her face. As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, she was assaulted by Dex's bodyguard hitting her hard on the head with the butt of his gun. So hard in fact that it sent her straight to the floor. Once she was on the ground, she felt him kick her in the stomach, making her gag and spit blood onto the dingy carpet.
"Just can't risk it, V," Dexter said as he was handed a pistol by his bodyguard.
V spat a small amount of blood in his direction. "What are you doing?!"
"Remember our first convo?" Dex continued, chuckling to himself. "Seems I've chosen the quiet life after all…"
"I'll fucking kill you!"
The last thing she heard was the sound of a gunshot. Everything went black after that. And right when she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse…