"I found a way around their line of sight. Keep it quiet."
T-Bug sent over a shortcut route highlighted on the minimap—it led through a hole in a side room that would drop them deeper into the complex.
Unfortunately, Roqi didn't have any cyberware, so he couldn't see it. He just had to follow behind Jackie and V.
Three gangers were spread out across the main hall, minding their own business—completely unaware that three sneaky bastards had just infiltrated their base.
"Nope, not this one." Roqi gave a door a shove—it didn't budge.
Elsewhere, V suddenly jerked back like he'd been shocked.
"There's someone out there," he said urgently. "Almost spotted me. He's got a machine gun—tough customer."
"We need to draw his attention," Roqi replied, eyes scanning the room.
The only way forward was blocked—stick your head out and you'd be spotted instantly. They needed a distraction.
"Use the quickhack on his cyberoptics. Blind him. I'll handle the rest."
Roqi's face read trust me.
"Alright. Give me the signal, and I'll upload it. Upload takes three seconds."
V crouched beside the doorframe, ready to launch the hack the moment Roqi gave the word.
Roqi got low, peeked through the hole in the wall toward the doorway, and pulled out a grenade.
"Three, two, one—go!"
He shouted the cue to V, then waited a second before lobbing the grenade.
SKRZZZZT—!!
A jolt of interference scrambled the ganger's optics.
He panicked immediately, but before he could call out, a loud explosion went off in front of him.
"Enemy spotted! Open fire!"
That shout came from Roqi.
The grenade had blasted one guy near the door to pieces.
The others spun around in confusion, seeing the chaos—but no visible enemy.
But the big guy who'd just been blinded didn't know that.
He instinctively raised his beloved machine gun and squeezed the trigger.
BRRRRRRRRATTT!!
The heavy-caliber rounds shredded through the wall and tables, bullets tearing through the air in a spray of mayhem.
"Return fire!"
Roqi kept up the act, yelling as he fired his pistol at the panicked gangers—dropping a few of them with clean headshots.
When he'd played Cyberpunk 2077, there had only been a handful of enemies in this room. But real life was much rougher—there were way more of them this time.
But now? All of them were down.
As the hack wore off, the big guy blinked through the visual static—
And then Jackie stormed out with two pistols blazing, pumping his skull full of lead.
"No motion detected on the scanner. Looks like you wiped them out. Proceed."
T-Bug confirmed their kill count once V and Roqi did a clean sweep.
"Where's the target?" V asked.
"Search the area. She's gotta be close."
Jackie let out a huge breath, rubbing his shaved head.
"Damn, bro, they died not even knowing what hit 'em."
"That's tactics, amigo." Roqi grinned, pocketing some eddies and skimming through the emails on a nearby terminal.
"Looks like they were harvesting a ton of implants."
"Scumbag organ peddlers," Jackie spat.
No matter the country or era, organ traffickers were the lowest of the low.
V shoved open a door and marched inside.
"Motherf—what the hell…"
"Summer's favorite—ice baths," Roqi whistled. "Only this one's a little too chilled."
Two naked, unconscious people floated in a tub full of ice.
It was the go-to method for these traffickers—brutal, crude preservation, like tossing meat in the fridge.
V reached in and hauled one of them out.
"This should be her—target confirmed."
"Are we too late? Is she alive?" T-Bug asked urgently.
"V, link to her biomonitor. Check her status."
"She's been soaking in a damn tub of ice… with another body. Shit. Ice-chilled humans…"
"Don't panic, V. Even if she survives, she'll likely have memory loss. Some light trauma to the subconscious, nothing more."
V grumbled bitterly,
"I've heard people who survive this shit start freaking out with no warning… twitching like they're back in the ice."
The woman twitched in V's arms.
He pulled a cable from his wrist and slotted it into the data port behind her ear.
Roqi watched as V started reading the data.
"Sandra Dorsett, NC570442. Trauma Team Platinum member."
Jackie nearly choked.
"Platinum?! Shit—cut her finger and they'd have Trauma Team kicking the door in!"
"They probably jammed her signal. Either her firmware was flashed or a neuro-virus did the trick…" T-Bug theorized.
"Less talk, more doing, T-Bug!" Jackie snapped.
"You see this place? Ice baths, hooks, butcher knives—fucking cyber horror show!"
"Straight-up slaughterhouse," Roqi added.
He was outside the room, scouring computers for useful intel.
He had zero interest in peeking at naked bodies—he'd rather figure out how these "Scavs" pulled this off.
"Bet it was those synth-protein-eating bastards," T-Bug snorted.
"Check her neural port—should be a chip. Yank it out. That'll restore her signal."
"Is that safe? Shouldn't we get her out first?"
V looked at the twitching woman in his arms, clearly shaken.
"We worked this damn hard. No screwups now. Get the signal back online—check for internal bleeding. Just do it!" T-Bug insisted.
V found a chip in the back of her head and slid it out.
"Got it."
"Now check her signal—"
Before T-Bug could finish, Sandra's biometric display lit up again.
"Hello, Sandra. If you are conscious, please assume the recovery position. Emergency evacuation is en route—ETA 180 seconds."
V looked up.
"Trauma Team says they'll be here in three minutes."
"Pobrecita…" Jackie sighed.
"Get her out of that ice."
V heaved her out of the tub and suddenly panicked.
"Shit! No heartbeat!"
"Lucky! That stim I gave you earlier—where is it?!"
"Here—catch!"
Roqi sprinted over and tossed the small injector.
V snatched it midair and jammed it into Sandra's chest.
"Ugh—!"
The seizing woman gasped and fell still.
"Let's move. Take her to the balcony," Jackie ordered.
Moments later, a massive Trauma Team AV swooped in, stabilizing just outside the terrace.
A rapid-response team rappelled down.
"Docking now. Step back! Defense protocols active—obey all instructions."
The wind blasted them in the face as they shielded their eyes.
Trauma Team operatives pointed guns at them, then approached cautiously with a foldable stretcher.
"Quick, place the patient down!"
V stepped forward, laid Sandra down—then was immediately shoved back with a rifle butt.
"Back off. Five steps."
Another operative used a pneumatic device on Sandra's chest.
"TT-133 to control. Patient NC570442 secured…"
"Adrenaline administered. 70mg dopamine. 110mg norepinephrine. 800 units of fibrinogen…"
Sandra was swiftly loaded into the AV, which still hovered with weapons trained on them.
Once she was onboard, the agents finally backed off.
With a hiss, the AV sealed its doors, then took off at blistering speed.
"Shit. You good, V?" Roqi patted him on the shoulder.
V nodded, rubbing the spot where he got hit.
"Let's get outta here. Elevator goes straight to the garage," Jackie sighed.
"Rich people…"
"Well, at least that shitty job's over." T-Bug sighed too.
"I'm logging out. Catch you in the next one."
As they trudged through the chaos, Jackie let out a breath of relief.
"Hey, mano, I got a favor to ask… mind lending me your ride for a bit?"
"Hmm~" V made a thoughtful noise.
"I've got a date with Misty, but… come on, I can't show up taking the metro! That'd be way too lame!" Jackie chuckled awkwardly.
"My bro's reputation is on the line—I gotta help you out, Jackie. But just this once," V agreed.
Of course, that's what he said.
But Roqi was sure that even if Jackie asked again, V would still hand over the keys.
Jackie let out a long breath. Finishing a shootout only to head straight to a date—one kind of pressure swapped for another.
"Ahh, my lifesaver, V. Thanks, man. Want me to drop you two off first?"
Roqi and V had rented apartments near each other, on the same floor. The place wasn't great, but the price was cheap and they could look out for one another.
"You drive, then. I've got no energy left." V nodded, locking eyes with Roqi to make sure it was cool.
"Oh, almost forgot—I gotta call Wakako. Let her know the job's done." Jackie hit the elevator button.
"I'll do it." V pulled out his phone and made the call. It barely rang before it was answered.
That raspy, croaky voice—Wakako Okada's signature tone—came right through.
"Ahem! V? How'd it go? The client still alive?"
"Of course. Didn't you say you wanted her in one piece?" V replied casually.
"Excellent. Your payment's with me—come by anytime to pick it up. Right now, if you want. Though I bet… you'd rather just head home and crash, hmm?"
"NCPD's locked down Watson. They've declared martial law in the area. If you don't want to get stopped at the barricade, you'd better hustle."
"Thanks for the heads-up. I'll swing by in a bit." V hung up.
None of them disliked Wakako exactly—but they definitely weren't eager to have long chats with her. That odd, calculating old lady always gave off a weird vibe.
"What's the lockdown for?" Roqi asked, curious.
He hadn't played far enough in the game to know what this was all about.
In fact, it wasn't until Jackie's death that the lockdown in Watson was lifted in the story.
Maybe he'd missed something—but it didn't feel like it could've been over just one dead cop.
An incident like that might draw more cops, maybe even a tactical squad, but full-on lockdown? Unlikely.
"No idea." V shook his head.
"Maybe some VIP caught their spouse cheating," Jackie joked.
Then again, maybe that wasn't too far off. As ridiculous as it sounded, when you were dealing with powerful people… secrets had a way of dragging whole districts into chaos.