The tournant day was approaching. The Devil's Boxing Club was wound up tight preparing on Vito's behalf. Vito himself had no particular feelings about it. He ate, he drank, he picked up the occasional gig for cash.
What? What do you an having a cheat ability makes a difference? It's all talent and hard work. Vito is not cheating.
Business at the cyberware clinic had picked up considerably. A steady stream of Valentinos were coming by to deal with small issues, and while they were at it, getting a read on Vito.
The Valentinos were not people sitting on a lot of money. They knew Vito was the real thing, and they wanted to put so bets down and walk away with sothing extra.
Johnny once said, after watching V's past:
"You just had the guts to go a few blocks further from ho to make a living."
Sharp. True. Valentinos territory wasn't small, but they had over six thousand mbers. A lot of them had only joined because they needed sothing to keep them alive long enough to grow up. Their lives, aside from regularly having to dodge bullets, weren't much different from anyone else's.
"Thank you, Gloria. I feel so much better."
A Valentino finished thanking Gloria for his treatnt and ca to find Vito. Vito was in his chair at the entrance, beer in hand, book open.
"Hey, Vito. Real talk. How confident are you?"
Vito didn't lift his eyes.
"If they don't bring Mantis Blades or Monofilant Wire into the ring, I'd call it ninety-nine percent."
The Valentino hesitated for a mont. Then made up his mind.
"Hell. That's enough for . I'll get the brothers to show up and have your back. Any Animals or other garbage gangs try to pull sothing, we'll take them apart."
Vito gave a slight nod.
"Don't worry. I've looked at the entrant list from every district. Nobody legendary. Unless the Animals can bring in Adam Smasher, nobody is taking your money."
The Valentino walked away already on his phone. Vito went back to his beer.
Boop boop boop.
Standard Night City ringtone.
T-Bug. After Kiwi went back to Maine's squad, Vito and Jackie had run a few jobs and gotten a working feel for T-Bug.
T-Bug was not so half-assed street hacker. She was careful and precise. If it weren't for Dex DeShawn's ss dragging her into it, she wouldn't have co to Vito's crew.
"Sothing up, Bug? Or have you finally decided to et the team in person?"
Vito kept his voice lazy.
"No. eting in person can wait. Vito, I found a job. Wanted to run it by you."
T-Bug's voice was calm. But Vito caught sothing unusual underneath it.
"Not gonna lie, Bug. You're third-in-command and technical director of the dical Dispute Resolution Group. But you still can't take jobs and tell us after the fact. Talk. What's the job?"
T-Bug was quietly exasperated. Vito was never serious in ordinary life, and Jackie was a walking cannon. But when these two actually worked, they beca completely different people. Efficient. Precise. Exactly what they claid to be.
This situation was complicated. T-Bug had no choice but to ask.
"I'll be straight. This involves personally. Dex DeShawn's job last year went sideways, and the people who got burned can't find Dex. So now they're coming after . Saying that since Dex and I were close, maybe Dex is hiding at my place. How the hell would I know where he went."
As a professional, T-Bug always kept her emotions managed. The fact that they were coming through now said sothing about how urgent the situation had gotten.
There's sothing every person who works the Net already knows: the worst thing that can happen to you is being tracked down in the physical world. Especially when the people tracking you down are ard and covered in soone else's blood.
"Okay, Bug. Run this through normal commission procedures. Send the mission target. Send Jackie a copy too. We'll get it done fast. Jackie's been completely obsessed with the championship lately anyway. We need to give him sothing to do before it gets worse."
T-Bug let out a breath when she heard Vito agree without hesitation.
"Thank you, Vito. This one I owe you."
Vito waved it off.
"Don't say it like that. Once you put in a commission it's a job like any other. No owing. You haven't been with the team long, but you're still third-in-command. We can't let the core of this group get hit by garbage."
T-Bug knew what Vito was doing. Making sure she didn't feel like she was carrying a debt.
"All right. I'll send you the target. Hanging up."
The call ended.
Gloria ca out and added ice to Vito's bucket.
"Stay safe."
Vito put the book down and smiled.
"Small job. Shop's been busy lately. I'll give you a bonus at the end of the month, Gloria."
Gloria shook her head.
"I ant the boxing. I've seen a lot of people get ruined by dirty moves in the ring. Hope you're not next."
"It'll be fine. Worst case I just cheat. Chro active, bullets bounce."
Gloria smiled and nodded. Then she asked a question.
"Did everything in the warehouse sell? If it did I'll update the accounts."
Vito shook his head.
"Dismantled. Used it for modifications."
Gloria looked at him. Concern ca into her eyes and stayed there.
"Vito. Are you performing cyberware surgery on yourself?"
Vito was quiet for a few seconds.
"Yes. But it's upgrades, not new installation. You've connected to the personal interface too. The machine is stable. Nothing is going to go wrong."
Gloria didn't quite know what to do with that answer.
"But that's dangerous. If you do surgery on yourself and sothing goes wrong, you won't wake up. So much cyberware, you're stripping it and modding it and stacking it onto yourself. This is going to cause a serious problem eventually."
Vito waved his hand.
"It's a controlled experint. I can push cyberware quality to a level I can manage. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. The subdermal armor modifications I've been running are already close to military-grade. Eventually they'll be better than military-grade."
Gloria's fingers twisted in her white coat.
"Please stop treating your own life like it doesn't matter. Vito, you're a good person. The kind of good person I genuinely haven't t before. You should-"
Vito cut her off gently.
"Relax. I value my life. Actually, we're all the sa in this. All of us want to get capable enough to protect the people we care about and see their wishes co true as fast as we can. You're like that. Jackie's like that. David's like that. I used to think all of this was a ga. But when I ca to Night City and got to know all of you, I understood. Night City is still as grimy and disgusting as it ever was. But I have my ho here."
Gloria's eyes were wet. She looked at this man who had carried her back from death.
That day, the last of her own will had kept her conscious. She didn't believe in God. But she had found herself praying anyway, without being able to stop, until this man lifted her from a bed she was dying on and carried her to one where she wasn't.
"Vito. I know you know what you're doing. But please don't reach the day where you need to swap out your heart too. All right?"
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