Chapter Three
June 16th, 2077
Night City, Northern California
Arasaka Tower, Sublevel-Four
Dr. Sims and the rest of her staff rushed to back up whatever data they could get their hands on. She and her colleagues had no idea that events at Konpeki Plaza could affect them here in Arasaka Tower.
When news broke at 22:00 hours about an incident at Konpeki Plaza, Arasaka sent as many security teams as possible to lock down the entire plaza.
This mass deployment enabled a domino effect, with corporate and government organizations activating their security personnel.
NCPD units were recalled en masse, and Night City's elite MAX-TAC detachment was on standby for immediate deployment.
Militech marshaled their battalions around their central spire and critical infrastructure. If that weren't an indicator of the dire situation unfolding, then Sims would eat a bullet.
Reports suggest an intense gun battle between Arasaka Security and multiple unidentified personnel.
The first indication things were going awry was when Abernathy and her Nightstalkers discreetly evacuated the Tower without so much as a word. Then news started trickling in, and before anyone could make sense of the mind-boggling information pouring into the Tower, the bombshell of the century was dropped.
The unthinkable had occurred.
Saburo Arasaka was dead.
Official news outlets broke the earthshaking story a few hours ago, but it didn't matter to Sims or the rest of the staff.
Most of the Tower's employees were staunch supporters or representatives of the Kiji Faction, and his death was the final fuse to the powder keg that was Arasaka Tower.
Yorinobu now had his opportunity to expand the Taka Faction's influence, and his target was Arasaka Tower.
His intent was clear, eliminate all Kiji supporters and install Taka as the mainline faction inside Night City. Thereby also taking complete ownership of projects and operations conducted out of Arasaka Tower.
Yorinobu sent complex orders to all Arasaka Security Teams, disorienting the commanders and leaving the Tower vulnerable.
Its only manner of defense was a few dozen security personnel and a handful of armed mercenaries.
An hour ago, a PMC group numbering a few hundred personnel locked down Corporate Plaza and surrounded Arasaka Tower. It became apparent to those inside that Yorinobu was washing his hands clean.
The Mercenaries outside were a part of the Black Element Mercenary Corps, a Ruthless PMC with a savage reputation amongst the world of private contractors.
They were also supposedly Yorinobu's private army, to which they executed his will to a tee. Anyone who tried to connect him and the company didn't live very long.
Sims doubted the Tower could stand up against those odds.
The clap of gunfire drew closer, explosions shook the Tower infrastructure, and terror began to creep upon the faces of her staff.
They were all dead men walking.
'Dr. Sims!' The project sub leads attention was stolen momentarily by one of her staff.
'What is it?!'
'Deputy Acheron wants all staff evacuated to the upper levels now. The Mercs have breached the main lobby.'
'You tell Acheron if he wants to be employed after this catastrophe, then we need more time to back up our data and projects, damn it!' The bug-eyed scientist looked at her incredulously.
'But Ma'am, if we don't leave now, we won't make it to-' Sims rounded on their subordinate and made her displeasure known.
'It doesn't matter what happens upstairs. We need this data!'
If Yorinobu got his hands on Prometheus or any project, the balance of power inside Arasaka would ultimately favor the Taka Faction.
Should that come to pass, the whole city would pay for it.
The Sublevel Elevator slid open with a terrifying ring, and Sims felt her heart skip a beat.
Fortunately for them, it was only Dr. Kingston.
He left to speak to the building director when the news of Saburo Arasaka's death first broke.
'Listen up. I want every project and piece of data we have uploaded to my tetratomic. Once you've completed that, start fragging everything stored on the level. I will not let Yorinobu Arasaka take my life's work for his own.' Scientists across the Sublevel scrambled to perform their duties and started fragging as much data as possible.
'Dr. Sims, come with me.' Kingston walked into the room holding Project Prometheus, probably the only place to talk in private.
They wouldn't make it to the room in time.
The entry to Sublevel Four slid open again, silencing the entire Sublevel.
An object was tossed into the laboratory, bouncing around like a pinata, before settling at Dr. Kingston's feet.
The object was a Mark 5 EMP grenade.
At that moment, Kingston realized that the Mercs did not want to kill anyone on the Sublevel.
No, they wanted them all alive, which somehow frightened him more.
Whatever insights the Director had left were hushed by the EMP's electronic burst, and his vision was consumed by darkness.
l==l
A squad of Black Element Mercenaries followed the electrical blast, and a one-sided massacre ensued.
Those that avoided the EMP were immediately engaged and rendered inert.
Yorinobu Arasaka wanted every scientist under the Kiji factions wing brought in for processing.
The reason was of little concern to the Mercenaries executing the task.
Dead or alive, the paychecks would still clear.
Specialist Danforth stepped over the spazzed-out body of Dr. Kingston and proceeded to secure the room. One of the scientists attempted to flee to lord knows where and his reward was two EMP shots to the back of his head.
Hopefully, it didn't scramble too many of his coveted brain cells.
'Left clear.' Danforth's squad leader called out.
'We got a runner.'
Another scientist's face met the pavement.
'Richter, clear the next room with Diaz.'
Two more of their Squad peeled off into a side room. A choir of screams and begging supplanted their entry.
Two gunshots were their only response back.
'One's going for a room!'
One of the scientists, a blonde identified as Dr. Elizabeth Sims, ran for the final uncleared room in the Sublevel. Danforth fired off a staccato of gunshots in the Doctor's direction, but not before the door behind her closed.
'Damnit.' Danforth's section lead cursed under his breath. 'Diaz, splice through this goddamn door, bitch is making it harder on herself.'
While Diaz started hacking the security lock, the squad surrounded the final door.
They weren't sure if Sims was the last scientist, so there could be one inside with a firearm for all they knew.
'Stack up, we-'
*BANG!*
The door shook with a sound of thunder, echoing throughout the Sublevel, and immediately put Danforth on his heels.
His squad was no better.
Every single one of them was spooked out of the boots.
'Diaz… was that you?' The squad's tech expert shook his head slowly and backed away from the double doors.
'What the fuck was that?' The only answer Richter received was another clap of thunder.
Incredulously Danforth could see the imprint of a fist begin to form at the center of the door.
Before he could think about what transpired, the lights to the sub-level cut out, but it didn't stop there. The cooling systems and every piece of technology in the sub-level switched off, leaving the entire squad in darkness.
'What the hell? They weren't supposed to turn off the power. What gives!' Wolcott, Danforth's team leader, called out.
'Stow it, Wolcott, keep your nerves and switch to night vision. I shouldn't have to remind you.' Those nerves were tested again when a third thunderclap reverberated through the corridor.
Now Danforth was sure there was something inside that room, and it was not happy.
Richter began to readjust the grip on his Carnage, Diaz was losing his nerve slowly, and even his section lead, Bradford, started feeling the clutches of terror surrounding his heart.
'Backup. Backup Now!' Bradford's tone left no room for argument, and almost immediately, Danforth turned to the rear of the formation.
He never made it. The heavy double-set doors to the concealed laboratory flew off their hinges and caved outwards.
A massive hand torpedoed out of the room and clutched the back of Bradford's head. The squad leader was immediately dragged into the darkness. His cries of pain were met with a barrage of gunfire.
One of the most disciplined squads in Black Element's employ was shitting its pants like rookies out of basic.
Soon a pitched skirmish broke out between his squad, and whatever the hell just snapped Bradford's neck.
A black shadow practically leaped from the doorway and streaked toward Richter at breakneck speeds.
Richter dumped two shotgun shells into the Shadow's upper chest, but his bullets bounced off it like paper. His weapon was batted away, and a hand burst through his upper chest before he could blink.
In the same motion, Richter's body was thrown straight into Diaz's rifle, unbalancing the tech expert and smothering him in Richter's remains. Danforth advanced on the Shadow with his Copperhead on, but the lights switched back on, blinding his vision in a bright green color.
When Danforth reorientated his eyesight, the last thing he saw was a grey-plated fist crunching in his faceplate. In his final moments, he could feel the agonizing pain blossom across his body before falling on his back.
The last thing he heard was Diaz's howl of anguish and the desperate gun battle in the background where the rest of his squad fought for their lives.
l==l
The Mercs put up a fight, but they were grossly outmatched.
Cyrus picked at the bone fragments stuck to his gauntlet. He put too much weight into the strike and was still removing bone fragments from his gauntlet.
Years of fighting Brutes and Elites have left Cyrus underestimating his strength.
He retrieved what passed as a rifle in this place and seized as much ammo and equipment as possible before pressing onward. Chamber gave him a quick rundown on the situation outside, two factions, same company.
One wanted more power, and the other tried its damnedest not to give it up. Cyrus could feel the continued detonations rocking the building and the echo of discharging firearms.
He didn't care who was in the right or who was in the wrong.
The simple fact remained that both factions were in his way.
If they shot at him, he would respond in kind.
If they decided to run, he'd let them run.
They weren't a priority for him.
All Cyrus wanted to do was get the hell out of this building.
'Chamber, threat analysis?' His partner in crime produced a holographic layout of Arasaka Tower.
There was still heavy fighting in and around the lower floors. However, the so-called Black Element Mercenaries seemed to be making a concentrated push for the executive levels, leaving infantry squads to clean up any stragglers they might have missed on their way to the top.
'Black Element Mercenaries do not possess any energy shields to speak of.' Chamber relayed. 'Their armor is top-of-the-line when it comes to protection. However, everything has a weak spot. I recommend aiming for the upper lobe if you want a clean headshot and aim just below the heart for a torso shot.'
Cyrus scavenged the most viable equipment around him.
He already had a Nokota D5 Copperhead, so he retrieved a Carnage shotgun and a pair of M-10AF Lexington automatic pistols. All he was missing was enough ammo to see him through the rest of this Tower.
'Huh, that's neat.' Chamber's stated.
'What is it?'
'Did you know these weapons have a secondary application?' Chamber could practically feel him roll his eyes at the question.
'How would I have known that?.'
'The Copperhead and Lexington, you monkey, allow bullets to ricochet off hard surfaces.'
'So, it's a primitive version of a Fuel Rod Cannon, and here I thought it was just my shields ricocheting the rounds.' Cyrus loaded a fresh magazine into his Copperhead and took stock of his total loadout.
A static feed impacted his HUD. 'Your sarcasm is noted and not appreciated.'
Cyrus recalled the elevator and braced his body against the far wall, his Carnage waiting to unleash hell on any poor soul that walked through those doors.
When the elevator arrived, no one was there to be greeted by shotgun shells.
The Headhunter quietly stepped over the unconscious form of Dr. Jeremiah Kingston.
Chamber silently thanked the good Doctor for making their stay at Arasaka Tower enjoyable. What with the constant prattling and general incompetence in accessing their MJOLNIR armor.
'I designated Black Element soldiers in Red and Arasaka Security in Green, you know, in case you don't want to shoot everyone you come across.' Cyrus leaned against the elevator back railing, even as the vertical contraption strained against his weight.
'You know me so well, Chamber, any civilians in the area? As much as I enjoy dispatching everything in my path, I have my limits.'
'None in our immediate vicinity at least, most if not all of them are either unconscious or taking shelter in the executive levels.'
'Good. Which level are we headed to?' A schematic of Arasaka Tower materialized on his HUD.
Arasaka Tower stood at an impressive 130 stories, quickly attaining the title of the tallest building in Night City. Each level would usually be teeming with security personnel and other Arasaka Employees. Today, however, they were all too busy fighting off a horde of mercenaries.
A fact Cyrus was most grateful for.
The schematic centered around Level 55, the Arasaka main server room. Every piece of data held by Arasaka had to pass through this server room before it went anywhere else in the world.
'Chamber, we're supposed to depart the building, not go further inside.' Chamber's endearing smirk popped up immediately after his statement.
'Cyrus, this server room belongs to the planet's most dominant and influential corporation. I'd eat my foot if they didn't have every little piece of classified intelligence this planet offers.'
Cyrus could understand the military applications behind it.
Arasaka had its hand in every industry possible, and he didn't need a complete explanation.
'How long will it take?'
'Three seconds tops, give or take a second or two.' Cyrus hesitated to agree, but he always gave in to Chamber's demands.
'Fine, expedite us to Level 55. I don't want to be here when they stop shooting each other.'
'You got it.' She tried to ignore Cyrus's breath of exasperation.
He wouldn't regret this decision.
She would make sure of that.
l==l
When the elevator doors slid open, a Black Element Mercenary was to Cyrus's immediate right, most likely on guard duty while the rest of his squad cleared the room. Cyrus seized the mercenary's head and hurled him down the corridor, impacting one of his squad mates.
The Spartan briefly scanned his surroundings.
A long walkway to his front separated the room into two sides, containing rows of packed cubicles surrounded by glass panes that reached the roof.
His target was the primary server room at the end of the walkway.
Cyrus shifted right, laying down a heavy base of fire onto the startled Black Element squad.
Three had their heads blown off while the rest sought protection behind the cubicles. A mercenary popped out of cover to return fire but was immediately shot down before he could blink.
'Cobalt Actual, this is Cobalt Five. We've been engaged! Need backup over!'
The Headhunter sprinted down the far-right corridor straight towards a Black Element merc, taking cover behind a glass pane.
Switching to his Carnage, Cyrus erupted through the glass and blasted the mercenary through the abdomen, leaving his buddy covered in his guts.
'WHAT THE FU-ARGH!' The Spartan snapped the arm holding his Copperhead before grasping him by the collar and using him as a human shield.
Cyrus advanced down the corridor at breakneck speed, causing three Black Element mercenaries to panic, release a barrage of gunfire, and punch their squad member full of holes.
'Cobalt Five, this is Cobalt Actual. What is engaging you over?'
Discarding his now useless meat shield, Cyrus was amazed when a Black Element Mercenary geared in a lighter set of armor charged straight at him.
Usually, Cyrus would have filled him with lead, but he momentarily hesitated when blades popped out of the soldier's forearms. The Black Element Berserker was faster than he predicted and seemed to phase through the air like a streak. However, the Berserker wasn't fast enough to get past a Spartan's Reflexes.
The Spartan could feel his augmentations kicking in, specifically his Neural Dendrites. The Berserker may have believed he was faster than the human eye could follow, but in Cyrus's gaze, he was going no faster than a snail.
Cyrus used the Carnage to block the Berserker's downward strike, his blades slicing straight through the weapon's structure. The mercenary's face turned into a triumphant smirk, foolishly believing he was inside the Spartan's guard.
His victory was short-lived.
Cyrus seized his forearms and stretched his arms out in a spread-eagle manner, separating the Berserker's limbs from his torso.
The mercenary could only stare in disbelief as he fell, human and synthetic blood pooling on the ground.
'Cobalt Actual, this is Cobalt Five. We've been engaged by a mech! Unknown classification. We need backup now!'
Cyrus slid underneath one Merc, kicking out his right foot and breaking his fibula in two. A single shot from the Headhunter's Copperhead silenced his cries before they could echo throughout the chamber.
Three more Black Element soldiers took positions in front of the server room's mainline security door, seeking to prevent his entry no matter how futile their resistance was.
Cyrus quickly dispatched them with three well-placed shots to their lower breastplates-ballistic shells shattered through their armor, allowing shrapnel to pierce their hearts.
They were dead long before they hit the ground.
Taking a deep breath, Cyrus took in his surroundings and situation.
Unfortunately, he lost his Carnage, an entirely preventable loss but no point in worrying about it now. Before signaling Chamber, he scavenged a few more grenades from the Black Element corpses around him.
'Cobalt Five, this is Actual. Do you copy over!' The silence was his only answer.
'Fuck! Red Crown, this is Cobalt Actual. Cobalt Five is down, requesting immediate assistance to level 55 over!'
'Chamber, pop the door.' The security door slid open just enough for Cyrus to slot in a frag grenade.
'GRENADE!'
*BOOM!*
Cyrus kicked down the metal door and burst into the access corridor with his Copperhead at the ready. Four Black Element Mercenaries had their bodies torn asunder by the fragmentation device, leaving a lone survivor helplessly trying to pry open the security door leading into the server room.
*BANG!*
A bullet found a new home in the Merc's skull.
'Red Crown copies Cobalt Actual. All available units divert to Level 55 and begin sweeping procedures. Cobalt One, Cobalt Two, and Butcher Nine continue pushing to the roof. I want this situation handled, gentleman!'
Yeah, that wasn't happening anytime soon.
This situation can only get worse from here for the Mercs.
Cyrus reloaded all spent magazines and headed breached the main server room.
Hopefully, no one would cause him problems, and he could finally leave this Tower.
'Red Crown, this is Azure Six. We found Butcher Two at Sublevel-Four something tore through a fucking door. Scientists are secured, but our boys are dead over!'
'Chamber cut access to the elevator. That should stall them a bit longer.' Predictably the Arasaka Radio erupted in anything but exaltation. Cyrus felt a smile creep upon his face for the first time in a long while.
He was having way too much fun right now.
'We better hurry. I can't stop Black Element from taking the stairs.'
Cyrus pushed along the corridors of Level 55, and the cubicles were swiftly replaced with rows of server boxes. Chamber brimmed with anticipation as he moved his way toward their control room.
His motion tracker had gone silent on him, so he was, at the very least, clear of any contacts on the rest of Level 55.
Chamber opened access to the server room, and the Spartan marched in without incident.
The server room was filled to the brim with electronics, gargantuan server boxes, and workstations surrounding a console at the center.
'Insert me here.' The Headhunter reached behind his head, removing Chamber's AI Chip. As Cyrus moved to insert her chip, his instincts kicked in instantly, and his ears picked up an alert from his motion tracker.
He wasn't alone.
'Cyrus, lookout!.' A katana sparking with excessive voltage crossed his vision, forcing him back on his heels. Instead of working against his momentum, Cyrus followed the motion rolling off his back and resting on his heels.
Copperhead at the ready, the Headhunter put his optics on his newest adversary.
A Black Element Nightstalker.
They were far more capable than your average Mercenary grunt.
They were decked out in an impervious black bodysuit, with ceramic kneepads and a segmented breastplate laced with Kevlar and Polymer. Their augmentations were top-of-the-line, enhancing their strength, speed, and reaction time.
Nightstalker were the cream of the crop for Black Element, and today it was time to find out how they match against a Spartan III.
The Nightstalker struck first, using her Tetratomic to destabilize the workstation before Cyrus, sending sparks of electricity and waves of fire toward the Headhunter's helmet.
Cyrus blocked a slash from the Nightstalker with his left forearm. Electricity shot through his arm and his upper body. Cyrus could feel the intense temperatures practically through his MJOLNIR, even as his energy shield fought against it.
This Nightstalker was packing some quality gear.
The Black Element Elite deftly avoided the Spartan's retaliatory punch and responded with a kick to Cyrus's solar plexus. When the Spartan didn't budge, the Nightstalker attempted to kick off his sternum but was prevented when the spartan grasped her left ankle.
Cyrus whipped her body into a workstation, detecting a cry of pain as her back was smashed through the electronic workspace. She stabbed at his right elbow, seeking to separate his arm, but Cyrus snatched the middle of her katana with his free hand and snapped it in two.
The Nightstalker attempted to retrieve her sidearm, but Cyrus launched her body into the air in one fell swoop. With the Nightstalker off balance and unable to reorientate herself, she was left at the mercy of a right fist crashing into her sternum.
The impact smashed her upper plate and crushed what remained of her ribcage into broken pieces. The agony and violence of the punch left the Nightstalker choking as blood flooded her lungs.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Three shots from his Lexington ended the short skirmish between the Spartan and the Nightstalker.
Cyrus stepped over the broken remains and returned to the central console, inserting the AI into the system.
'You ok?' Chamber inquired.
'Nightstalker was a statue,' Cyrus replied, glancing at the Nightstalker's broken corpse. 'Motion tracker didn't even pick her up until it was too late.'
The blood drooping from her carcass was a mix of human red and a green synthetic substance. Cyrus kneeled next to his adversaries' body, dipping his hand into the pool of blood forming next to her. He mixed the body fluid between his fingers, and a question immediately echoed to the front of his mind.
Who was more human, him or her?
l==l
'Three seconds, huh.' Chamber's face was as sour as she could make it.
'Bite me, Cyrus. Next time you can compile a trillion gigabytes worth of data in ten seconds. See how far you get.'
Cyrus pushed past the Black Element corpses left in his wake, paying no mind to his moderately fuming companion as he strode toward the elevator.
Their command structure was still in flux, and all attempts to respond to his massacre were hampered by Chamber sabotaging the power grid. The lack of electricity forced the Black Element mercenaries to blast through even the most rudimentary doors.
'Chamber, Elevator.' The fire escape door swung open as the elevator closed, and a swarm of Black Element Mercs stormed into the room.
'I'm surprised.'
'About?' Cyrus adjusted the stock on his Copperhead, adjusting the sight slightly to the left.
The damn thing was off by an inch to the left, and it bothered him every time he used it.
'The Nightstalker, they're even better than I believed they could be.'
The woman put up a better fight than the rest of her peers. The average Black Element grunt could be dispatched with no issues, but he might have his hands full if he ran into an entire squad of Nightstalkers.
Whatever gear they were equipped with inflicted more damage to his shields than their ballistics.
'Focus Chamber, how am I getting out of this Tower.'
'Level 33 contains several AVs we can use for extract. We can find a good spot to bail and disappear into the city's nightlife before anyone is the wiser.'
'Where are the rest of the Mercs at?'
'Most are still scrambling around the upper levels looking for you. I've played hell with their communications, so they're disorganized and wandering the Tower. Three more infantry sections were deployed at the tower base.'
Cyrus's attention was again drawn to the Black Element radio net when some interesting chatter was discerned.
'Red Crown to all units, be advised Black Hand is on-site and proceeding to the executive levels over!'
'Whose Black Hand?'
'Adam Smasher.'
'Am I supposed to know him?' The picture of one ugly bastard was plastered on Cyrus's HUD.
Adam Smasher was a full-fledged cyborg with little in the way of human flesh on his body. He was covered head to toe in nothing but cybernetics and what might as well have been a mask of meat, if anything else.
'He looks like a tough cookie. Think you can take him?' Tempting, but Cyrus had enough of this Tower already.
'One day, but not today.'
The elevator doors slid open, and for once, the floor was quiet with no personnel insight, which made it all the easier to confiscate the AV.
The entire level was purely used for transportation and was closed off by a hangar door at the far end of the bay.
There had to be at least two dozen AVs on standby.
However, there was space for at least a dozen more.
It appeared that a select few Arasaka Employees were able to escape if the smell of burnt fuel was anything to go by.
'So how exactly are we getting out of here, Chamber? The Mercenaries have their own AVs up, and these vehicles have no defensive armaments.'
In response, Chamber activated every single AV in the bay. Engines turned over; systems started up.
The bay erupted into a symphony of running machines and turbines.
'We're not taking just one AV, Cyrus. We're taking all of them.'
'Chamber, I ever tell you you're the best.' The AI beamed in response.
'All the time. Now pick your favorite, but don't get attached. We're dumping it as soon as possible.'
Cyrus climbed into the nearest AV, and it became abundantly clear that the people who owned these vehicles lived a life of luxury. With an adjustable incline, a Leather seat, and a damn mini-bar with the finest winery this planet had to offer.
It was a shame he couldn't fit into the damn thing, so he was forced to hang off the side like a damned primate. His weight alone nearly tipped the whole AV over on its side.
'Chamber, is this thing going to hold me?' The AI gave him a crossed look.
'Would I tell you to use it if I could?'
'Maybe.'
'Stop worrying about it, you monkey, have a little faith.' The Spartan gave the AI his own crossed look.
'Monkey, funny.'
Chamber launched the fleet of AVs in response, shifting Cyrus's weight in response. All twenty-four AVs tossed themselves straight into the Night City Skyline.
Mercenary Gunships immediately shot down the first two to exit the hangar bay, but eventually, the sheer mass of AVs broke through the blockade around Arasaka Tower.
'Red Crown, this is Dagger Four. We have Arasaka AV's breaching containment over.'
'Dagger flight, break off from the Tower, and take down those leakers now!'
Three Black Element AVs gave chase immediately, followed by the rest of their flight.
Cyrus watched as the rest of their makeshift fleet scattered in all directions, attempting to separate AVs' flight on their tail. The AVs split up as best they could, leaving one to chase after the Headhunter's AV.
'We got a tail Chamber.' Cyrus pointed out.
'I know! Give me a moment.' Chamber accelerated the AV's turbines dipping behind Mega building H10 before breaking east towards Japan town. The Black Element Gunship was still on their tail and gaining on them.
'Chamber?' The AI gave a snarl of irritation.
'I know, I know. Get ready to bail.' Cyrus readjusted his grip on the AV.
They needed to break a line of sight if this would work.
'3.' The AV dipped between skyscrapers, narrowly missing a billboard with an explicit advertisement.
'2.' The Black Element gunship let loose a flurry of heavy ordinance that clipped the AV's turbine.
'Chamber!' The AV dropped altitude, heading straight for an abandoned apartment complex and breaking the gunship's line of sight.
'Jump!'
Cyrus released his grip on the AV and fell straight through the roof of an abandoned apartment complex. The Spartan broke through the first five floors before coming to a rough stop on the complex's ground floor level. For all of a Spartan's augmentations, even they could still feel the pain of gravity.
The Headhunter blinked his eyes away, attempting to gather his bearings once again. Looking to the stars, he recognized the telltale signs of smoke and fire bursting out of an adjacent building.
The Spartan let slip a quiet groan and rose to his feet.
He lost this Copperhead on the jump, so he was stuck with his two Lexingtons for weapons.
Unfortunate, but he could make it work.
'Thank you, Anders Hellman,' Chamber stated.
'Who?'
'The previous owner of the AV we knicked.' Cyrus chuckled and leaned back against a wall for support.
He noticed a shimmer of light off to the wall next to him; looking over, the Headhunter observed a liquid substance untainted and propped against the wall.
Reaching down and grasping the object, he wiped the dust and grime from the drink's label.
O'Dickin Whiskey.
'Well.' The Headhunter raised his right hand, grasping his helmet and slowly lifting it off his head. Dipping his head in honor of Hellman's destroyed AV. 'Here's to you, Mr. Hellman.'
Popping the lid to the whiskey off with a flick of his thumb, Cyrus raised the glass of whiskey to his mouth, depositing the bitter taste of the Irish product with such speed that it would have put the average human on their back.
However, a Spartan's metabolism burned through the liquid like water on a hot stove.
Tossing the whiskey bottle to the side, Cyrus donned his helmet, enjoying the familiar taste of filtered oxygen.
'Oh, if only ONI could see you now. A spartan drinking whiskey, oh the audacity.' The AI proclaimed with a smile. The Headhunter could only grin in response.
'There are some conditions even ONI couldn't fix.'
Cyrus into the night.
The events at Arasaka Tower in the early morning of June 16th would be the day the ever-complicated power dynamic in Night City would drastically change.
A Headhunter has arrived.