"Devil, you're back? ヾ(≧▽≦)o"
A busy night passed quickly, and as dawn broke, Riku finally got a reply from Sasha.
The girl seemed to have just woken up, even sending Riku a sleepy-eyed emoji.
"Yeah, I'm back in Night City. I saw your messages from before. Did you run into some trouble?" Riku replied with a smile.
"Does it always have to be trouble to message you?" Sasha, still groggy from waking up, sent the message before her brain fully kicked in.
She quickly retracted it and sent another one, her hacker-level net speed making it seamless.
"Nah, I was just wondering why you've been offline for so long."
Riku, watching the chat window, caught the retracted message but pretended he didn't.
"I was in a far-off place, across districts, and the network there wasn't connecting well."
The explanation came easily—there were plenty of reasons for a dropped connection, the most common being crossing network partitions.
"Got it," Sasha replied, sending a cute nodding cat emoji.
"Over there."
V, leaning against the passenger window, spotted the person they were waiting for.
"Sorry, gotta step out for a bit. I'm working outside," Riku messaged Sasha, noticing Lucy approaching. The girl's vibrant hair made her stand out instantly.
"Stay safe~" Sasha replied earnestly, then got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
Her figure was tall and graceful—curvy where it counted, slim where it mattered, with a perfect balance. She moved like a swaying willow branch, but her toned muscles gave her a strong yet soft presence, like an elegant cat ready to unsheathe its claws.
"You've got this, Sasha," she said to herself in front of the mirror, patting her cheeks. "I've got a meeting with a journalist today. Hopefully, things will move forward."
"You guys didn't forget about me, did you?" Lucy said, sliding into the seat next to Riku, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
She couldn't help it—who could, after days of being ghosted? They were supposed to do a mission together to see if they could sync up, but then they just vanished!
"Sorry, Lucy, my bad. I was out of Night City for a bit and just got back," Riku said, clasping his hands in apology. He hadn't expected V and Jack Welles to drag this out so long.
"It's mostly because we haven't gotten any jobs that really need a netrunner," Jack Welles added with a shrug. Their last gig had earned them some rep, but it hadn't spread as fast as they'd hoped. Plus, people knew Sasha wasn't a fixed part of their crew, so netrunner jobs weren't coming their way.
"Whatever. What's the job this time?" Lucy asked, brushing it off. She wasn't here to complain, just confused.
"Oh, this one's right up your alley," V chimed in, her hair combed back into its usual neat style. She sent Lucy the mission details: deal with a bunch of psychos in Northside's industrial zone and rescue some idiot who got high at Dance of Death nightclub and landed in trouble.
In V's book, anyone dumb enough to get that high deserved whatever came their way, but money was money.
This job was different from the last one. Last time, the target had a decent shot at survival, and their family held out hope. This time? It was less about rescue and more about revenge—or at least recovering a few body parts to call it a win.
In Northside, whether you fell into the hands of Maelstrom psychos or some other lowlife, your chances of walking out alive were basically zero.
"Got it," Lucy said after skimming the fixer's brief. She understood her role—this was a test of her combat skills.
"Let's roll," Jack Welles said, starting the car as Lucy prepped.
Northside Industrial District, part of Watson, was Night City's northernmost edge—a chaotic hellhole within a chaotic city. This was Maelstrom turf, though the kidnappers might not be Maelstrom themselves. The area was crawling with cyberpsychos overloaded with implants.
Jack took this job for two reasons: eddies and to test Lucy's mettle. A skilled netrunner was a game-changer against cyberpsychos, who were vulnerable to hacks in more ways than one.
Soon, their Thorton pulled into Northside. The desolate scene unfolded before them—once a thriving industrial hub, now a wasteland of broken dreams, thanks to earthquakes, failed investments, and Arasaka's corporate greed. Most factories were long abandoned.
"If you're born in Northside, you die in Northside," the saying went. This place was a filthy, chaotic purgatory, devouring everyone who called it home.
The only exceptions were a few shiny apartment buildings near the city center—Night City's version of "luxury villas." But for the corporate dogs stuck working here, it was exile.
The Thorton stopped near the target area. The four got out and started scoping the place. It was a makeshift camp of old shipping containers, a common sight in Northside, where derelict containers and factory ruins were prime real estate.
"Dammit, looks like Maelstrom psychos after all," Jack cursed, spotting something grim through his Kiroshi optics. The others saw it too—a man tied to a wooden cross between containers, his abdomen sliced open, blood dripping into a bucket below. His own intestines were used to bind his wrists and neck.
"Fucking hell," V muttered, disgusted. These cyberpsychos had a knack for torture, keeping the guy alive with twisted methods.
"No saving him," Riku said, looking away and swallowing hard. The scene hit him differently, like something out of a nightmare.
"Eight of them. They've spotted us," Lucy said, her eyes glowing as she hacked into the camp's surveillance. The cyberpsychos were on alert, smelling fresh meat.
"Look, look! I told you this guy would bring us more toys!" one of the psychos cackled, their voices carrying. They'd leaked the info on purpose, luring reckless "cyberpunks" to their trap.
(End of Chapter)