"Thanks, choom."
V had been worried. If Rocky refused, things would become considerably more complicated. Fortunately, he'd accepted.
After discussing a few more details with Rocky and Jacky, V left Lizzie's. He had plenty of preparations to make if he was going to manage the aftermath, and no time to waste.
Alone with Rocky, Jacky took a drink.
"L, I thought you were going to say no."
"Why? Didn't you want it? That's a lot of money."
Rocky understood his hesitation. In the future, when V asked him to assassinate Abernathy, Jacky would refuse.
Like most of Night City's cyberpunks, Jacky despised the corporations. He didn't want to serve them. You had to live for yourself. That was the only way out, and he'd always tried to follow that rule.
"It's not that. Getting mixed up with corps never ends well."
Rocky drained his glass and smiled.
"He's your friend, though."
"Yeah. He is. But I think he sold his soul to Arasaka. Talks about climbing to the top. Sounds great, right? Except he's got that asshole Jenkins above him, and Jenkins has Saburo Arasaka above him. V's never reaching the top."
"Hey, you never know. Don't be so pessimistic."
Rocky let him grumble, then asked another question.
"What if I become a corporate dog one day? What would you do?"
"Why're you thinking about that? You run a clinic. What's that got to do with corps?"
"I'm serious. And I don't think that day's far off."
Hearing that he wasn't joking, Jacky turned toward him. He paused, apparently giving the question some thought.
"What can I do? Wouldn't be my first corpo choom. Anyway, enough of that. Let's figure out how we're doing this job."
He brought the conversation back to business. This wouldn't be easy. Unless they actually wanted to die, they needed a detailed plan.
* * *
"Fake identities. Book a room. Hack the targets' door. All of that takes a netrunner. So where's our netrunner?"
Jacky had put his finger on the problem.
After a long discussion, they had the beginnings of a plan. But a job at this level required a netrunner, and their little team didn't have one.
Rocky had studied hacking, but he didn't have a cyberdeck installed. Even with one, his skills weren't nearly enough to penetrate Konpeki Plaza's systems.
Usually, fixers introduced them to a netrunner for individual gigs. This job had no fixer.
"Good question, Jacky. We both know what Arasaka's ICE is like. We don't just need a netrunner. We need someone exceptionally good, and willing to go up against it. Any ideas?"
Rocky wanted to hear Jacky's suggestions first. He already had someone in mind himself.
Lucy.
Arasaka had trained her. Beyond her remarkable skill and talent, she was intimately familiar with its ICE, giving her an advantage against its systems.
That was a major reason she'd been able to dive into Tanaka's system and search his data in Edgerunners. It also helped her burn out the brains of the Arasaka agents investigating the copied intelligence.
She suited this job perfectly. Given her hatred of Arasaka, Rocky doubted she'd refuse a chance to wreck one of its partnerships.
"Why ask me? You're always messing around with hacking tech. Don't you know a few runners?"
Jacky spread his hands. He had nothing.
"Wouldn't say I know her. But I know of one. Familiar with Arasaka, good at what she does, and probably interested in the job. Might take a little time to find her. Can't promise she'll agree."
Jacky nodded.
"Sounds like a good candidate. Reminds me, though. I know of another one. Never worked with her, but everyone says she's one of the best runners in Night City."
"T-Bug?"
"That's her."
T-Bug really was one of the city's best. Her reputation among mercs was excellent. She would be a good choice.
After thinking it over, Rocky decided to try Lucy first. There was a little personal interest in that decision. But neither of them had worked with either woman, and finding T-Bug wouldn't necessarily be easier.
"Let me try my candidate first. If she says no, we'll look for T-Bug."
"Be quick. We're short on time."
"I know."
With that settled, there was no reason to stay. Much of the remaining plan would have to wait until they'd spoken with their netrunner.
Rocky said goodbye, climbed onto his motorcycle, and rode toward the clinic.
Finding Lucy shouldn't be hard. He had Rebecca's number. One call should tell him where to look.
But when he reached the open space outside his clinic, he spotted Rebecca among the lively crowd, drinking.
A glance around revealed Maine, Dorio, Pilar, Falco, Kiwi, and Lucy. The whole crew was here. Apparently he'd caught them celebrating together.
He wouldn't even need to call.
"Same as she's having."
After parking, he went to the mobile bar and sat beside Rebecca. She noticed him, looking both surprised and pleased.
"Hey, L! What're you doing here? Went to your clinic to drag you out for a drink, but you were closed."
Since they'd met, her crew had visited the restaurant again. On one occasion, she'd brought drinks to the clinic, only to find Rocky busy with a patient. She'd watched him operate until he finished, then taken him out for a drink.
This time, she'd found the clinic shut. Having him appear beside her now felt like getting back something she'd thought she'd missed.