"Hey, Bug. You in yet?"
Jackie's voice hit the shared channel at its usual volu.
"A little longer. They set up a separate subnet here. Will take a bit but not long. If you're bored, smoke a cigarette with Vito."
T-Bug was working her way into the Maelstrom subnet. Today's target for Vito and Jackie: Kanter. The Maelstrom boss.
After falling completely behind in their war with the Tyger Claws, the Maelstrom lunatics who'd been welding chro all over themselves had retreated into the old industrial district up north. They ran stims and moved stolen cyberware, occasionally hitting corporate cargo runs for extra.
In Night City, cyberpsychosis had once been practically synonymous with Maelstrom.
Kanter was the new boss. Being a gang leader had beco a high-risk occupation these past few years. The previous one had gone offline in a street firefight last year.
When Kanter took over, resistance inside the gang was imdiate. The previous boss's second-in-command, a man nad Royce, never stopped complaining. Kanter found him exhausting.
How do you win over the crew?
Kanter thought about it for days, burned through more stims than he could count, and finally landed on an answer.
Avenge the previous boss.
Problem: Kanter couldn't touch the Tyger Claws, and Dex DeShawn had already run. But making a hacker's life miserable? That he was happy to do.
So he put the word out: whoever flatlined T-Bug beca his lieutenant. Second seat in the gang.
That was how the trouble found her.
"Done. Maelstrom's subnet is compromised. This Kanter isn't much. His network architecture is like a piece of rotting cheese. I've shut down their turrets. Using the caras to find Kanter now."
T-Bug's voice ca back through.
Vito was looking at the AllFoods factory. He pulled Jackie's shoulder and pointed.
"Jackie. See that fence down there? That's where I was when I first got to Night City. Nothing on but myself."
Jackie thought he was joking.
"Well I'm glad you had pants on when I t you."
"Found him. Kanter's on the second floor, center of the AllFoods factory. Sending you the position now. Look it over and tell how you want to go in. I'll plan the optimal route."
T-Bug sent the AllFoods factory layout.
Jackie looked it over and turned to Vito.
"Complicated layout. What do you think, mano. Split up or go together?"
Vito studied it. The AllFoods factory was packed with Maelstrom. If a fight broke out and they called for backup, he and Jackie could end up boxed inside.
"Bug. Is there a way to get Kanter to co outside himself?"
"Sure. You could ring the doorbell and ask him if he wants chicken wings."
T-Bug was not entirely serious.
Vito had already thought of sothing.
"We call Kanter out. You hack their gate access. The mont he steps through, you close the gate behind him. Can you do that?"
T-Bug assessed the intrusion delay.
"Yes. But are you really going to do it that way?"
"The inside is too complicated. An assassination in there will alert everyone. We can't give them a chance to call backup and box us in."
"Jackie. Get the car ready. The mont Kanter's down, we move."
"On it!"
Plan set. Vito walked up to the Maelstrom entrance.
"Hey, hey, hey... is Kanter in?"
"The hell are you? What do you want with the boss?"
"Listen carefully. Tell Kanter to get out here and face . Or wait for a bullet."
The Maelstrom mber at the door had never t anyone this brazen in his life. He threw the door open with a machete in hand and got right in Vito's face.
"Are you out of your mind? This is Maelstrom territory. You want trouble here?"
Thud.
No extra words. Vito sent a front kick into his chest. The Maelstrom mber went airborne, hit the ground, and lay there feeling like his cyberware had stopped working.
"Tell Kanter to get out here. Or I blow this factory into the sky."
The mber hauled himself up and threw back threats.
"You picked the wrong people. You're going to regret this."
Inside the factory, Kanter was on a call with Royce. Discussing new recruits. Or rather, not discussing.
"Royce. Did soone swap your brain out for adhesive? I told you to go find people and you bring two idiots and a lunatic? Can't you just grab so people off the street, lock them up, and get so cyberware installed? Who looks for volunteers? What? Hell, I've got sothing here, hanging up. You'd better handle this properly, Royce."
Hearing about the commotion at the entrance pushed Kanter's mood off the edge.
"What is this. Every stray cat and dog in the city thinks they can take a bite out of us. Everyone. Get your weapons."
Kanter stord to the gate with his crew and found just one person standing at the entrance. He drew his gun and walked out.
"Kid. I'm going to dig your eyeballs out and put twenty new ones in."
The mont Kanter stepped through the gate, the remote command hit and the gate slamd shut behind him.
"Hey, Kanter. T-Bug says hello."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The Ajax rifle's distinctive report. Night City's answer to the AK, and the large-caliber rounds that ca with it, shattered Kanter's ambitions on the spot. A high-explosive round hit his modified compound cybereye and took half his head off onto the wall behind him.
Screech.
Jackie pulled up in the Magician right behind Vito.
"Target is flatlined. They're reacting. Gate has four seconds before it's out of remote control."
Vito didn't rush. He pulled the modified Type-31 heavy machine gun out of the car.
"He killed Kanter! Take him out!"
"Gate's open! Get through!"
When the Maelstrom mbers poured out, they understood too late that closing the gate had never been about keeping them inside. It had been about keeping Kanter outside.
The Type-31 opened its accounting. Every entry took sothing off the board. Stray rounds punched through a gas tank inside the factory and triggered an explosion. Maelstrom mbers ca apart in the blast and the screaming.
When the ammunition ran dry, Vito tossed the gun back into the car. He walked up to Kanter with Eddie in hand.
"Damn. A gang boss running all this budget chro. Wasted all that planning to lure you out."
Bang bang bang bang.
Vito confird the situation, got back in the car whistling, and drove away with Jackie at a comfortable pace.
He'd actually misjudged Kanter. There was an external combat fra in the factory that Kanter kept for serious situations. It just hadn't crossed his mind to bother putting it on for so random rc who appeared to have a death wish.
"Bug. Commission complete. We make a good team."
"Birds of a feather flock together."
"Well said, Bug. Didn't know you were a philosopher."
"That wasn't . That's Aristotle."
"Uh. Aristo-who?"
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