Leo frowned slightly as Rebecca tapped her tech pistol against her temple, a playful gesture akin to scratching her head.
"Maine ran off to upgrade his cyberware again. Dorio wouldn't let him go alone, so she went with him. Sasha's sleeping in—she worked all night and was completely wiped."
"You're telling me Maine's at it again?" Leo blurted, uncharacteristically swearing under his breath. Not long ago, he had supplied Maine with a pair of powered arm bracers—now Maine was already heading back for more?
Then Leo realized it wasn't simply a lust for power. Maine was the leader of his own team, just as Leo led his. A captain bore the duty of protecting his squad, so Maine pushed himself with one upgrade after another. The possibility of cyberpsychosis likely scared him less than the thought of letting his teammates down.
…
Leo drove toward Watson's northern industrial zone, eventually pulling up near North Longshore Road at the city's edge. A few decrepit factories still functioned nearby, huge chimneys venting white smoke day and night. There were a handful of tall buildings, but far fewer than in a bustling district like Japantown.
Rebecca and Pilar's apartment stood across the street, a worn-out old structure reminiscent of another era. Leo didn't have to wait long before the automatic doors whooshed open. Dressed in an oversized jacket, Rebecca peeked out. After spotting Leo's SUV, she dashed over.
She almost took the front passenger seat but, seeing Lucy seated there, climbed into the back instead.
"Rebecca, I don't think you've met our newest teammate," Leo said.
"Rebecca, this is Lucy; Lucy, meet Rebecca."
"Hello."
"Hey."
They exchanged polite greetings, both keeping a hint of distance. Rebecca stowed her gear under the seat, then leaned forward over the back of the front row. Noticing Leo's white coat, she grinned broadly.
"Leo, you look like you're headed to audition for a TV host job."
He shook his head. "Give me a break. That's not my scene."
Hosting might look straightforward—and it paid well—but in Night City, landing such a gig was hardly guaranteed. Plenty of hopefuls with top-notch degrees never so much as stepped in front of a camera. Without certain connections, you ended up fetching coffee and praying for a promotion that might never come.
…
As Leo steered the SUV toward Santo Domingo, Rebecca chattered constantly from the back seat, firing off question after question.
"So what's the job? Who's paying?"
Leo glanced in the rearview mirror. "It's from El Capitán… You all operate out of Santo Domingo, right? Must've heard of him—Muamar Reyes?"
"Sure have," Rebecca replied.
"Oh? Tell me more."
Rebecca puffed out her chest. "We got most of this from Sasha—our netrunner. Apparently, before he made a name for himself, El Capitán worked for a corp under his real name, Muamar Reyes. He eventually got sick of the corporate game—figured it's either you get screwed or do the screwing, and he liked the second option better.
"Plenty of folks who've escaped poverty want to help others in the same boat, and El Capitán's no different. He's the go-to fixer for half of Santo Domingo's working stiffs, and they've helped him fill his pockets. But he's not just greedy or selfish. Everyone who's worked with him respects him, the same way he respects them.
"People started calling him El Capitán after he gave them a hand. He's famous for saying, 'The corp-ruled world is a plague. Sooner or later, power will return to the people. We're the flesh and bone of this city, and we will succeed—just watch.'"
The more Leo heard, the more peculiar it sounded. He cut Rebecca off with a slight wave. "You're sure Sasha got this right? He almost sounds less like a fixer and more like…"
Leo paused, unable to find the perfect word. "Anyway, I guess he's a decent guy. You said your team usually works with Faraday, though."
Rebecca shrugged. "Yeah, we do."
"You might think about switching fixers at some point," Leo advised.
"Huh?"
He raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you signed your life away. Why stick with one? Faraday's got a rotten reputation—if he gets the chance, he might sell you out. You're from that part of town, so you know how many mercenaries and gangoons he's burned."
Slouching against the seat, Rebecca kicked her dangling feet beneath her oversized jacket. "I know what you're saying, but Maine…he's drawn to those big-money jobs Faraday lines up."
Leo's tone grew serious. "High pay means high risk. You do bigger jobs, so you buy more implants to survive them—then you want even bigger payouts, which require even riskier missions, leading to even more upgrades…" He gave a small, weary sigh. "It's a vicious cycle."
Rebecca lowered her gaze, her voice subdued. "Maine won't listen no matter what we say. Dorio's tried talking sense into him too, but once he's made up his mind, nothing can change it."
Leo couldn't help a resigned sigh. If Maine had been part of his own crew and refused to see reason, he'd have pinned him down and knocked some sense into him.
But that was Maine's business, not his.
The atmosphere in the SUV turned solemn. Lucy, resting an elbow on the door with her fist near her chin, coughed softly to change the subject. "Leo, maybe you could fill us in on the details for this gig."
He nodded. "El Capitán wants us to head into Eden Gang territory to rescue a netrunner named T-Bug. She tried to break into their subnet, but the Eden Gang netrunner trapped her inside an aggressive architecture. It's basically a lethal firewall, and if T-Bug can't escape, it'll fry her brain."
In 2077's netrunning scene, you could browse the net via phone or computer if you just wanted to surf. Real hacking, though, required a deep dive port wired directly to your brain. Entering the swirling neon labyrinth of cyberspace let you infiltrate networks at far greater speeds—but if you lost in a netrunner duel, you might literally get your mind scorched.
"An ordinary runner would've been toast the moment that firewall kicked in," Leo continued. "Their brains would've exploded like fireworks. But T-Bug isn't ordinary—she's been dodging everything Eden's netrunner is throwing at her. Problem is, she can't break free."
Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. "So she needs a rescue."
"Right. She paid El Capitán to hire someone to infiltrate Eden's base and yank that netrunner's cable. Once he's disconnected, T-Bug can slip away."
Unplugging a netrunner sounded simple—and in many ways, it was. As soon as a netrunner jacked in, their mind was in cyberspace, leaving their real body limp and unaware of threats in the physical world. The only problem: that body was on Eden turf, presumably surrounded by more gang members.
Still, El Capitán had offered them a detailed map of the Eden Gang hideout, including a secret route in. It didn't show patrol schedules or guard posts, but if they stayed quiet and used the hidden passage, they might just sneak in, pull the plug, and slip back out without attracting attention.