The evening light was good, so Vito caught a ride with Maine to the Wild Wolf bar in Heywood. Maine was happy enough to build a relationship with a client who paid well and kept things simple.
The mont he walked in, it was a familiar layout. He didn't rush around looking for work. He ordered a bottle of Four Hundred Rabbit and settled into a corner.
He'd been drinking for a while when his Kiroshi picked up soone watching him. He ran a sweep. Gang mbers. Three of them, in the look.
Two walked straight over.
"Hey, pretty boy. You're in the wrong place. This isn't sowhere you belong."
Vito grabbed the bottle and took a long pull.
"Isn't this a bar? Or did you drink so much you think it's your own place?"
Pepe the bartender rapped his knuckles on a table tucked into the corner of the bar, waking up a large muscular man who'd been napping there.
The two gang mbers exploded.
"The hell? You got a death wish, pretty boy?"
Crack!
Half a bottle of Four Hundred Rabbit connected with one gang mber's face. The second one moved to retaliate and caught a fist in his cybereye, followed by a kick to the chest that put him flat on the floor.
"Hey, choom. Nice hands. But this is the Wild Wolf. Drinking's fine. Fighting isn't."
A large man with a topknot ca over to smooth things out.
Vito wiped the spilled liquor off his hand.
"Jackie. Not my fault. They ca looking for it."
Jackie stopped.
"You know ?"
"Jackie Welles. Future Night City legend. Who doesn't know you."
Jackie laughed loudly.
"Ha! Choom, you've got a mouth on you. I don't even know your na yet."
"Call Vito."
While they were talking, the two n on the floor hauled themselves upright and threw a parting shot at Vito.
"You're going to regret this, you gonk. You picked the wrong people."
Vito didn't bother looking at them.
"Even the exit lines are off the shelf."
Jackie pulled Vito over to the bar and had Pepe pour him a tequila.
"Those two are Valentinos. Doesn't look like they're going to let this go quietly."
Vito clinked his glass with Jackie's.
"They started it. If they're still feeling brave when I walk out of here, I don't mind sending them a couple of rounds."
"Damn. Looks like they picked the wrong person."
Pepe, cleaning glasses behind the bar, chid in.
"Those two had their eyes on everyone the mont they walked in. You're a new face, sitting alone with a full bottle. They circled you like sharks that slled sothing."
Jackie grinned. "Pepe had his eye on the situation. He'd just woken up when I looked over and saw you'd already handled it."
Vito finished his glass and turned to Pepe.
"Thanks, Pepe. Pour three more. This round's on . Let's have a proper toast."
Jackie brightened.
"Now we're talking. Say sothing. To tomorrow, to friends, sothing like that."
Vito thought about it, raised his glass.
"To our long-awaited reunion."
Jackie stared at him. That was the toast? He let out a helpless laugh.
"You're a strange one, Vito. All right. To our long-awaited reunion. Though I'm pretty sure we've never actually t?"
The three clinked glasses and drank. Pepe drifted off to handle other custors, leaving the two of them to pour their own.
"Vito. What do you do?"
"A bit of everything. Except harvesting people. I haven't been in Night City long. Just getting started. Lately I've been handling dical disputes."
Jackie frowned. "dical disputes? That's a job in Night City? What does that even an?"
Vito explained patiently. "It ans clearing out unlicensed clinics that work with scavs and redistributing their assets. Honestly, I've had a lot of problems recently with ripperdocs who forgot what the job is supposed to be."
Jackie started laughing again.
"That's a dical dispute? Ha! You're doing all this by yourself?"
"By myself. Walk in with a gun. Barrel at the head. Transfer the eddies. Bang. Walk out. Sotis I pocket a couple of MaxDocs on the way."
Jackie shook his head, still grinning.
"Vito, you're sothing else. How long are you planning to keep that up?"
"Done with it for now. Need to find new work. A friend told the Wild Wolf might have so gigs, so I ca to have a look."
Jackie poured another glass and sighed.
"Wild Wolf's not primo. Nothing like real first-rate work here."
Vito clinked his glass against Jackie's.
"Start with small gigs, build the reputation. Street Cred doesn't climb itself. Thousand-mile journey, one step at a ti."
Jackie nodded at that.
"I like that. We're cut from the sa cloth, choom. I just walked away from a gang myself. Trying to carve out sothing real. Vito, you want to be a Night City legend? Like Johnny Silverhand, Adam Smasher, Morgan Blackhand?"
Vito signaled Pepe for two more bottles of Four Hundred Rabbit and pushed one across to Jackie.
"We'll be legends one day. But like I said, one step at a ti. Tonight let's just be legends at the Wild Wolf. Drinking race. You in?"
"You're on, Vito. Though looking at your fra I'd say your odds aren't gr hey, nobody said start yet."
Jackie watched Vito tip the bottle back and started chugging to catch up.
"Ha! I said your fra wasn't going to cut it! Co from behind and take it, that's how you do it. Winner: Mr. Jackie Welles!"
Vito wiped his mouth and smiled slowly.
"Congratulations. Your prize is a full dozen bottles of Four Hundred Rabbit. All of them, tonight."
Jackie froze.
"Vito. You're joking."
Vito burst out laughing.
"Of course I'm joking. You drank all twelve you'd be shopping for a new liver tomorrow."
Jackie slung an arm around Vito.
"You're incredible, you know that? Co on, let's keep going. And none of this bottle stuff. Pour it properly, glass by glass."
After several more rounds Vito turned down Pepe's offer to walk him out, told Pepe to get Jackie to bed, and stepped out of the Wild Wolf heading for a cab back to Santo Domingo.
While he was waiting, two shapes stepped out of the shadows in front of him. They had clubs and unpleasant expressions.
"Thought you were tough back there, pretty boy. Let's see you fight your way out of this. Smart move is to transfer the eddies now. We'll even go easy on you."
Vito's eyes were unfocused, legs not entirely steady under him.
"Who are you again?"
The two Valentinos exchanged a look.
"He's completely wrecked. What do we do?"
"Beat him down, drag him back, make him transfer it all tomorrow when he's sober."
"Works for ."
Bang. Bang.
Vito looked at the two Valentinos on the ground and put a few more rounds into each of them.
"Pull a gun instead of throwing hands. So much for becoming a grandmaster. There's your eddies, chooms. Satisfied?"
His cab was already pulling up.
"Good to see you again, Vito. Thank you for choosing Delamain. With Delamain, leave your troubles at the door."
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