Vito and Jackie stayed out of the Serpents' internal business with the traitor. They stood next to the Magician and picked at the damage.
"Vito. Your car needs serious work."
Jackie ran his hand along the bullet holes in the body panels. The sympathy in his voice was genuine.
"This is not what my car looked like before today. My car doesn't have this many holes in it."
The Magician was his first vehicle in Night City. He'd taken care of it. Looking at it now was not pleasant.
"The Badlands gangs hit hard. That fight felt like an actual war. You see that one over there who got cut in half? He pulled a shoulder-mounted missile launcher out and pointed it at us. Nearly gave a heart attack. I had to put two rounds in him fast."
Jackie pointed at one of the Night Wraiths' bodies. He was still coming down from it.
"These aren't ordinary raiders. You have to hit back hard. Jackie, your kit needs an upgrade. Going into Badlands combat with just Reason and the Golden Hellcats is asking for trouble."
Jackie nodded.
"I'll pick up a Defender. Top up the firepower."
He lowered his voice.
"You know, I actually feel a little bad for Toby."
"How do you an?"
"Flash started out as a short-term stimulant. High-intensity work, people push themselves. Plenty of people picked it up.
Then sothing changed. Vik told more and more people were getting addicted, and he said soone had been putting new compounds into the formula, acetaminophen derivatives, things like that. I don't understand the chemistry.
But the result was that more and more people beca addicts without ever realizing it was happening."
Vito had seen enough of that in Night City. Addicts lying in the street. Passed out in abandoned buildings. When he moved through the city as Cube Head, passersby and gang mbers scattered at the sight of him. Addicts just stared, hollow-eyed, unmoved by anything.
Once, underneath a scav outpost, he'd seen a group of them surviving off scraps the scavs threw out.
"Night City treats everyone equally. Even if you only co into town now and then."
On Max's end, the internal matter was settled. After a public reckoning before the clan, Toby was executed by the squad mbers he had betrayed.
Boop boop.
Vito's comm lit up. Wakako Okada.
"This is Vito. dical Dispute Resolution isn't taking commissions for the next three days."
"Heh. You're always entertaining, Vito. What have you been up to?"
"Nothing much. Keeping the lights on."
"Is that right? Why not stop by my shop soti? In case you've forgotten the address, I'll send it now."
"No need, Wakako. I've had a small disagreent with the Tyger Claws lately. Give it a few days for things to settle down, and then I'll co by."
"I heard. Though I'm curious. Is your way of settling disagreents to find another Tyger Claws club and work through it?"
"Possibly. Depends on whether they're sensible about it."
"Perhaps you need soone to help smooth things over between you and the Tyger Claws. Believe , it would be good for your business. Thirty thousand eddies, and I make sure they stop coming after you."
Wakako's voice was perfectly light, like she was discussing sothing too small to bother with. That was the thing about her. She actually could touch every part of the Tyger Claws' operations and both of them knew it.
"I'll pass, Wakako. I enjoy playing with cats. They hiss and scratch and none of it reaches , and they can't do anything but rage about it."
That got a laugh from her.
"Co by the shop when you have a mont. My business and yours are a natural fit. Don't take too long. I'm not known for patience."
"I'll be there. Soon as I finish this job. That's a promise."
Call ended. Vito got into the Magician.
"Move, Jackie. We need to push. Send Toby's personal terminal to T-Bug. Have her impersonate him."
Jackie got Toby's data and terminal from Carlo and started the call to T-Bug.
By the ti the group made it back to the Serpents camp it was evening.
They were in Max's transport again. The space had more or less turned into a war room.
"Next step is the hornet bait. Max, the Serpents run a cargo shipnt. I'll plant a chip in the load and put a tracker on the vehicle, double coverage. The shipnt needs to be substantial. Big enough that the Chaos Blades will want it brought back to their base rather than stripped on the road. That part is on you.
My netrunner impersonates Toby, explains why the last ambush failed, and leaks word that the Serpents are moving sothing valuable.
One suggestion on who drives: Carlo."
Max bit down on a cigar. The expression around it wasn't entirely friendly.
"Should we pack the shipnt with explosives? Once you have the data, we detonate remotely."
Vito was fairly sure the old man was imagining him going up with it.
"No need. I'll deliver the EMP myself. But I like part of the idea. I'll adapt it."
Max handed him a cigar.
"Good. I'll get the cargo together. Rest up at camp in the anti. And the situation with Samir, I'd prefer that stays between us."
Vito took the cigar but didn't light it.
"Fine. Is there any alcohol in camp? Jackie and I have been running all day. We need to decompress."
Max gave his arm a pat.
"Of course. I'll have Carlo bring so over."
Vito nodded, said thanks, and stepped out of the transport. Jackie quietly sent him a ssage.
"Did Max just put all of this on Toby?"
Vito replied.
"Ninety-nine percent he's dumping everything on Toby. The old man played the struggling elder for us earlier in the week. Now that the internal problems are handled, we watch our backs. I'm setting up a contingency."
Back at the temporary tent the Serpents had set up for them, Carlo arrived with two baskets of bottles.
"Thank you for helping us deal with the mole, Vito. I'll transfer a commission fee as my personal thanks. And your car. So of the clan are already working on it. They're good with vehicles. It'll be back to normal by tomorrow."
Vito pulled Carlo down to sit with them. The three of them drank and talked as the night settled in.
...
"Every one of those Yakuza is a complete idiot. Shoji was supposed to be bait to draw out Cube Head. How does a rc end up taking him out?"
Sato Yoshitaka was having a bad stretch. Everything was going sideways at once.
Liu Yongzhe, the one the company had disposed of cleanly through a borrowed blade, had sohow had his data leak, and the doves, Arasaka Michiko's people, had gotten hold of it and were pushing their fingers in.
"Go approach those two rcs. I'm out of patience watching them run small jobs. Lead with money. If they don't take the hint, make it a threat."
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