Cyberpunk: I'm Not Cheating Chapter 63: Weeds

Vito hadn't heard of the Chaos Blades before. The Wraiths were a different story. He knew them as the Aldecaldos' old enemies.

Nomad clans spread wide. Seven major tribes, and from what Vito currently knew, the Night Wraiths weren't limited to just one branch. The Chaos Blades were just one piece of that.

If he was going after the Night Wraiths, he needed the Night Wraiths' enemies at the table.

He assessed the job and told Romano:

"The Night Wraiths aren't a corporation. They're not easy to pin down. I won't be buying you a bottle for this one. Go ho and wait for news."

Romano already knew this wasn't simple work. But Vito's crew had left a strong impression on him. Better to go straight to Vito than sit at the Afterlife waiting for Rogue to find soone.

"Fine. Keep updated when anything moves."

After Romano left, Vito called Carlo. Carlo was with the Serpents clan. He'd have dealt with the Chaos Blades before.

"Hey, Vito. I'm still pulling your supplies together. Can you give a few more days?"

Carlo assud the call was about the shipnt. The Night Wraiths had been grinding him down lately, making it impossible to move cargo, especially the large orders like Vito's.

"The supplies can wait. Carlo, you know the Chaos Blades?"

Vito gave him a quick summary.

"Know them? Those animals set up shop last year specifically to make our lives hell."

"Good. I've got a commission that puts us on the sa side. I need to find the Chaos Blades' base. Do you know where it is?"

Carlo was quiet for a mont. Then:

"The Chaos Blades move their camp the sa way we do. Vito, co out to the Serpents camp. I'll tell you the location in person, and we can work out the Chaos Blades situation from there."

The Serpents were desperate. Carlo just gave an outside rc their camp's location, and Nomads kept that tighter than most people kept their eddies.

"Good. Send the coordinates. I'll head out shortly."

Once Carlo sent the location, Vito went straight to the garage behind the Wild Wolf and knocked. Jackie ca to the door half asleep, Golden Hellcats in hand.

"Vito. What are you doing at my door at this hour?"

"Another job. We were born to work. But this one should cover the Wild Wolf renovation. Our journalist with a conscience, Romano. He just handed us a serious payday."

Jackie let him in. The garage was his room as well.

"Co in and sit. I was barely asleep. Rough night."

"What happened?"

"6th Street. The Wild Wolf has enough of a reputation now that the Valentinos are using it for business, and 6th Street wants a piece. They ca by last night looking for trouble. The two sides almost started shooting up the bar."

"When you renovate, put two Type-31s in the ceiling. Nobody causes trouble after that."

Jackie cleared space on the couch and threw a jacket over his shoulders.

"You're not serious, mano. The Wild Wolf is a bar. Two heavy machine guns hanging over people's heads and nobody's getting past their first drink. They'll have pissed themselves before the bottle's open."

"Put a wolf head casing on each one. Problem solved."

Jackie stopped and actually thought about it.

"That's not bad, Vito. That is genuinely not bad. I'd never co up with sothing like that."

Vito noticed sothing on the table.

"What is that? Why is it so ugly?"

Jackie was offended.

"I made that with my own hands. It might be a little strange, but it's not ugly. Misty told it absorbs negative energy."

Vito looked around the garage.

"This whole place needs work. If I were you I'd be embarrassed to bring Misty back here."

Jackie finished gearing up, weapons and ammunition sorted.

"Forget about for a second. What's happening with Ms. Wesley?"

Vito stood as Jackie got ready.

"Liying and I are together. Once this job is done I'm bringing her to the clinic to help Gloria out. And I'm setting up a modification workshop next to the clinic. Our commissions are getting bigger and the firepower needs to keep up.

I'm converting the Magician to full armor plating and adding a mini-missile launcher. You want to do anything to the Kusanagi?"

Jackie imdiately waved him off.

"Leave my Kusanagi alone. That bike is my treasure. I am not turning it into a rolling gun platform."

...

They took the Magician straight to the coordinates Carlo had sent. The Magician was built for this. Off-road, it handled better than it did in the city.

To avoid any misunderstanding, Vito called Carlo when they were close. The last thing he needed was Nomads with PTSD from the Chaos Blades opening up on an unfamiliar vehicle.

Carlo and his crew had been waiting. He'd talked it over with the Serpents' leader, Max. Vito was a serious rc, and having him involved might be the thing that broke the deadlock the Chaos Blades had dragged them into.

The situation was bad. Supplies couldn't get in. Cargo couldn't get out. The Chaos Blades moved through the Badlands like a wolf pack. The mont the Serpents tried to run a shipnt, they hit it and took everything, people included.

And whenever Max organized a force to fight back, the Chaos Blades lted back into the Badlands.

Running ard escorts on every shipnt would hollow the Serpents out within months.

Two days ago the Chaos Blades had raided the camp directly. The Serpents took serious losses. Max had fought his way out with his people at the edge of what anyone could ask of a leader.

Carlo brought Vito and Jackie to the heavy transport vehicle at the center of the camp. This was Max's ho. He'd taken it from a corporation single-handed in his younger years, which said everything that needed saying about what kind of man Max had been.

"You're Vito? Welco. I'm Max, the Serpents' leader."

Vito had to admit the na hit him a certain way. He shook Max's hand.

"Good to et you, Max. This is my partner Jackie. I hear we've got a common problem. I ca out to see if there's anything we can do for each other."

He'd been running a quick read of the camp on the way in. Big operation, but the mood was down. Everyone was moving like the weight of it was already on them.

"Carlo tells you're looking for the Chaos Blades. That's sothing we can help a friend with."

Max was an old hand. He didn't say a word about needing help himself.

"I hate to ask, Max, but any chance my partner and I could get sothing to eat first? We've been driving and we're running on empty. Sorry to impose."

"Of course. Carlo, take them. We'll talk after."

After eating, Vito ntioned he had a thing for weapons and asked to look around, saying Nomad gear wasn't sothing you saw much in the city. Carlo and the others walked him through the camp.

After a full circuit, Vito ca back to Max's transport.

"All right, Max. Let's talk about what we can do together. Your camp is being bled out by the Chaos Blades. I can help with that."