Maine pushed the out-of-control Rebecca to the ground and shouted at her.
"Get moving! Kiwi, Dorio — take her! I'll draw the cyberpsycho. Give David and Lucy a chance!"
Everyone understood what going out there ant. Maine didn't care about sacrificing himself. He had more chro than anyone in the squad. He thought it was his place to step up.
Dorio, as the person Maine loved, was struggling to breathe through the pain. But she couldn't drop the ball. In critical monts, she had to hold the squad together.
Dorio used the gap when the heavy machine gun swept to the other side, rushed over to Maine, and took over, pressing the shattered Rebecca to the ground.
Kiwi did everything she could to hack the cyberpsycho's cyberware. Limited results. She managed to reboot his cybereyes, but the man seed determined to keep the trigger pressed in this direction regardless.
"David! Activate the Sandevistan and bring Lucy here!"
Maine drew his pistol and fired to draw fire, sending the signal to David at the sa ti.
David received it and activated the Sandevistan again without hesitation. He locked his left arm around Lucy. His right hand held the compact pistol Vito had given him and fired at the cyberpsycho.
Click.
Rounds empty. Pistol rounds drifted badly past fifty ters. David could only pray that one of his shots had landed, otherwise Maine was going to be shredded by the concentrated fire.
Maybe sothing heard him. One round struck the cyberpsycho's cybereye. His head tilted and the gun barrel swung toward the sky.
The squad regrouped. Miraculously, none of the living had taken a direct hit.
Just as the squad was preparing to retreat, they saw a strange silhouette on their exit route.
David stared at the shadow, murmuring.
"Another cyberpsycho?"
Maine was a veteran who had seen a lot. Even he felt a chill run through him. Everything ca back to the source of that almost-urban-legend figure.
"It's Cube Head!"
Dorio handed Rebecca to Kiwi and shifted into a fighting stance, ready to make a last stand and open an escape route for the rest of the crew.
...
After executing Armored Car, Vito had been walking along the streets. The old Thorton Galena kept creaking, which grated on him.
But he had to drive it back and park it where he'd found it. Because this car was probably the only livelihood tool a family on Night City's knife edge still owned.
Vito walked along the street to clear his head. He was starting to notice that his desire to kill was getting heavier. Just like Jackie said — he was running like a machine, and the nightti runs were often killing for the sake of killing.
Looked like he needed to improve his engineering capability as soon as possible, gather materials to research and make Cyberware Capacity Shards. His UI panel might be slightly off.
He was still thinking this through when he heard gunfire. So distance away. He didn't pay much attention. Could be a gang fight. A robbery. A preditated murder.
In Night City, the strange day would be the one without gunshots.
Ratatatatat!
After a burst of pistol fire ca the sound of an Ajax rifle.
Vito knew weapons. He could hear the Ajax was modified, and most likely by his own hands.
He was imdiately interested. He wanted to see who had his gun and what they were doing with it.
He moved toward the sound. The shooting stopped before he got there. The fight seed over.
"My gun shows up and the problem's solved. Really is a walking advertisent."
Vito slowed down.
Thud!
Thud thud thud thud thud!
Then a heavy machine gun erupted. Vito understood the situation wasn't as simple as he'd thought. Night City loved its guns, but maniacs who dragged a heavy machine gun around everywhere weren't common.
He picked up his pace again and headed for the source.
Getting closer, he saw Maine's squad. Maine was drawing fire to give David and Lucy a chance to get clear.
Critical. Vito raised Punishnt and fired one shot at the cyberpsycho running the heavy machine gun. The distance was a bit far — by the ti the round arrived it had lost most of its montum. But it still caught the cyberpsycho's cybereye and knocked his head sideways, sending the gun barrel skyward.
Maine, David, and Lucy were clear.
Then Vito noticed that Maine's entire crew was looking at him with expressions of pure terror.
Vito instinctively touched his face. He'd forgotten about the mask. He'd assud there was sothing dirty on him.
His hand contacted the device. The holographic projection on the square screen started flickering erratically, like a cyberpsycho about to go off.
Dorio silently took Rebecca from Kiwi and shifted into a fighting stance. Ready to go to the death against Cube Head.
"The misunderstanding seems to be getting bigger."
Vito thought about it.
"Forget it. Deal with the danger first."
He scratched his head, raised the gun barrel to signal no hostile intent, then pointed at the cyberpsycho. The worn vinyl record voice ca through.
"I'm going to deal with him. No need to be nervous."
He swung the Nine Tails rifle from behind him, sighted up, and advanced while firing. The first thing to be destroyed was the heavy machine gun in the cyberpsycho's hands. He directed the remaining rounds into the cyberpsycho's chest to maximize the hit rate.
David pulled Lucy behind him and kept his eyes on the silhouette until Cube Head walked past Maine's crew and toward the cyberpsycho.
When Vito reached the man, he heard him mumbling. He crouched down to hear what he was saying.
"Donald, I'm scared. Donald, save . Save ..."
Vito inserted a data cable and read the man's behavioral logs and personal records.
The cyberpsycho's na was Vance. He'd completed fast-track training not long ago and joined 6th Street alongside his neighbor and close friend Donald, both of them new recruits.
Not long before this, he and several 6th Street mbers had gone to make a deal with Maelstrom. All of them were captured by Kanter's inner circle.
Their eyes were gouged out first, replaced with Maelstrom's fly-pattern cybereyes. Then they were loaded with powerful cyberware piece by piece.
Vance was the only one among them who survived. When he opened his eyes again, he was sothing filled with chro.
He killed the Maelstrom people. Grabbed a heavy machine gun and got out. All along the way, the horrified screams of passersby triggered him. Maelstrom pursued him. By the ti he'd fought his way painfully back to Santo Domingo, two blocks from his own ho, he saw himself reflected in a puddle of sewage. A terrifying monster.
He broke down completely. And at that mont, gunfire rang out. The last thread in Vance's mind snapped. He lost all control.
Vito finished reading and let out a slow breath. This was the story of a Night City unlucky soul. But it was this piece-of-garbage city that took ordinary people and forced them into becoming unlucky souls who deserved to die or didn't deserve to die.
Vito slowly raised Punishnt's barrel toward Vance's head. The processed voice ca through.
"You won't make it. People in Santo Domingo — you probably believe in God. Let say a few words to see you off. For those who trust in the Lord, death is not the end. It's the doorway into eternal glory."
Bang.
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