After receiving Padre’s approval, life began to change for Lena Hale, Valerie, and Jackie.
They were no longer complete outsiders.
At least among Heywood’s fixers, their names were officially registered.
That didn’t make them established mercenaries, however.
Night City didn’t hand out major contracts simply because someone had dealt with a few armed punks.
A reputation had to be built one job at a time.
During the next few days, most of their gigs didn’t involve serious firefights.
They collected overdue payments for merchants, escorted clients through dangerous neighborhoods, recovered missing cargo, and dealt with drunken street thugs who were disturbing local residents.
The pay was modest, but the work was steady.
Their Thorton Galena carried them through Night City’s streets every day, and Valerie frequently joked that they had become an unofficial NCPD neighborhood patrol.
Some jobs ended so quickly that Jackie didn’t even have time to draw his weapons before Valerie had already beaten the troublemakers unconscious.
Not every problem required a corpse.
“Seriously,” Jackie said from the driver’s seat as he reviewed their latest completed contract, “working with a team is a hell of a lot more efficient than operating alone.”
Valerie relaxed in the passenger seat.
“That’s because you used to turn every disagreement into a shootout.”
“Shootouts solve disagreements.”
“They also put you in Viktor’s clinic.”
Jackie rubbed his nose and offered an awkward smile.
Lena, seated in the back, watched them argue with quiet amusement.
The past few days had taught her what mercenary life was truly like.
It wasn’t a constant cycle of gunfights, corporate heists, and desperate escapes.
Most of the time, mercenaries handled problems that ordinary people lacked the strength, influence, or weapons to solve themselves.
They earned money, accumulated recognition, and waited for a contract capable of pushing their careers forward.
At that moment, Lena’s holocall interface lit up.
Incoming Call: Sebastian Ibarra
“Padre?” Lena accepted the call.
The fixer’s calm voice filled the Galena.
“Lena, Jackie, Valerie—I have a contract.
Are you interested?”
Jackie leaned back with a grin.
“If Padre’s calling personally, it must be better than collecting overdue payments.”
“It is more serious,” Padre confirmed.
“A family has asked me to rescue someone.”
Valerie’s expression sharpened.
“Kidnapping?”
“The target was taken by Scavengers.”
Jackie’s smile vanished.
Scavengers were among the most despised predators in Night City.
They didn’t care whether their victims were gang members, mercenaries, corporate employees, or innocent civilians.
To them, every human body was merely a container filled with valuable implants and organs.
“They grabbed an ordinary resident?” Jackie asked.
“Yes.
They intend to strip his cyberware and sell whatever remains.
His family used all their savings and sold nearly everything they owned, but they still couldn’t pay the ransom.”
The line fell silent for a moment.
“They came to me because they had nowhere else to go,” Padre continued.
“I want you to bring him home.”
Mission data appeared across Lena’s optics.
After Padre’s fee, their payout would be fifteen thousand eurodollars.
The file included the hostage’s identity, a suspected Scavenger hideout, and partial information about the enemies inside.
It wasn’t a fortune, but it was their first substantial contract.
Lena looked toward Jackie and Valerie.
Both nodded.
“We’ll take it.”
“One more thing,” Padre said.
“Bring the victim back alive if you can.
His family has suffered enough.”
The call ended.
Jackie started the Galena and pulled into traffic.
“Looks like we’re going to ruin the Scavs’ day.”
Valerie checked the cylinder of her DR5 Nova.
“They’d better pray the hostage is still breathing.”
Lena ran her fingers along the cold frame of the Tsunami Nekomata.
This was their first real mercenary gig.
The Galena stopped outside an abandoned industrial complex in Santo Domingo.
The area had once been part of Night City’s early manufacturing sector, but most of its factories had been abandoned during later development.
Now the district consisted of rusted buildings, empty processing plants, and forgotten warehouses beyond the reach of surveillance or regular NCPD patrols.
It was perfect territory for Scavengers.
Jackie pointed toward a warehouse concealed behind two decaying factory buildings.
“That’s our target.”
Several modified vehicles were parked near the entrance.
The warehouse’s exterior walls were stained with rust, and most of the windows had been covered with metal panels.
Lena reviewed Padre’s intelligence.
The hostage was believed to be inside, along with at least a dozen Scavengers.
They used the warehouse as both a temporary base and a processing site for kidnapped victims.
Valerie gripped her revolver.
“More dangerous than the punks from our test.”
“Scavs are different,” Jackie warned.
“They work with stolen cyberware every day.
Even the stupid ones usually have some dangerous chrome.”
Lena activated her Arasaka Mk.II Cyberdeck.
The feed from her cyberoptics changed as nearby electronics were detected and marked.
[Surveillance Camera Detected]
[Connection Established]
A grainy security feed appeared in her vision. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The camera was old, but the image was clear enough to reveal several Scavengers moving through the main warehouse.
Others guarded the entrance while one worked at a table covered in freshly removed cyberware.
Lena switched between the compromised cameras until she located a stairway leading underground.
Two armed guards stood beside it, and the mission target was being held somewhere beyond them.
“Found him.”
She shared the camera feeds through their team channel.
Jackie examined the layout.
“A frontal firefight could make them panic.”
“If we snipe from outside, they might kill the hostage before we reach him,” Lena agreed.
“We go straight through the front.”
Valerie turned toward her.
“Head-on against more than a dozen?”
“Jackie stays with me.
We’ll hold the main floor while you push into the basement.
Kill the guards and secure the hostage.”
Valerie frowned.
“You weren’t carrying this much chrome when we came to Night City.
Are you sure you can hold the front?”
“I installed the cyberware we recovered before leaving the Badlands.
Viktor also helped me acquire several higher-grade upgrades.
My Subdermal Armor can stop ordinary ammunition.”
The explanation wasn’t entirely true.
Most of Lena’s current cyberware had been recovered by the system from the dead Arasaka operatives, but Valerie had no reason to doubt her.
“Fine,” Valerie said.
“Once the hostage is secure, I’ll return to help.”
Lena chambered a round.
“Let’s bring him home.”
Two Scavengers stood outside the warehouse, talking beside the entrance.
They noticed the approaching trio almost immediately, but their confusion delayed their response.
“This is private property,” one of them called.
“Turn around.”
Lena continued walking.
When she was less than five meters away, one of them finally understood and raised his D5 Copperhead.
He was too slow.
Lena accelerated, her enhanced muscles releasing their full strength.
She seized the nearest Scavenger by his jacket and hurled him into the metal wall.
His head struck the steel with a sickening impact, and he collapsed unconscious.
The second guard drew his weapon, but Lena was already in front of him.
Her fist struck his chest, launching him backward onto the concrete.
Valerie stared at the two bodies.
She had known Lena installed new cyberware, but she hadn’t expected her physical strength to improve this much.
Shouts erupted from inside.
“Someone’s attacking!”
“Get your weapons!”
Lena drew her RT-46 Burya as footsteps thundered through the warehouse.
The remaining Scavengers grabbed D5 Copperheads and DS1 Pulsars before scattering behind cargo containers and industrial machinery.
Their positions were already compromised.
The Cyberdeck synchronized with the warehouse cameras, feeding their movements directly into Lena’s optics.
“Nine on the main floor,” she reported.
“Two behind the center containers, three in the right corridor, and four spreading out to flank us.”
“Got it,” Jackie said.
Lena looked at Valerie.
“Go.”
Valerie rushed toward the basement while Lena and Jackie advanced into the warehouse.
Gunfire erupted.
Bullets hammered the entrance, throwing sparks from the walls and machinery.
Lena pushed forward between bursts, but several rounds came too quickly to evade.
She raised her left arm to shield her face and turned her chest away.
Three bullets struck her arm.
Her Subdermal Armor stopped them from penetrating, but the impacts sent sharp pain through her nerves and forced her back a step.
Lena examined the flattened marks and lifted her Burya.
“You should’ve used something bigger.”
The RT-46 charged with a rising electronic whine.
Lena aimed at the cargo container concealing one of the shooters and fired.
The charged round tore through the metal container and killed the Scavenger hiding behind it.
Jackie opened fire from another angle, his pistols forcing the others deeper into cover.
One Scavenger attempted to circle behind Lena, but Jackie shot him through the shoulder before he completed the maneuver.
Rather than chase immediate kills, Jackie steadily compressed their available space.
Every controlled burst forced the Scavengers closer together.
Lena ducked behind an industrial press and reconnected to the warehouse network.
Camera feeds, motion data, and electronic signatures merged across her vision.
Red outlines appeared behind the cargo containers.
No one could hide.
The system interface flashed, and Lena exchanged her Burya for the Nekomata.
She rested the tech rifle against the edge of her cover and moved the scope across the marked targets.
One Scavenger pulled out a grenade.
“Blow them up!” he shouted.
“Let’s see her armor stop this!”
Lena saw his silhouette through the cargo container.
More importantly, she saw the grenade in his hand.
She smiled and charged the Nekomata.
The tech round pierced the container and struck the armed grenade.
The explosion ripped through the Scavengers’ position.
Fire and shrapnel engulfed three of them before they could escape.
“Jackie, incendiaries!” Lena ordered.
Jackie threw two incendiary grenades behind the remaining cover.
They detonated almost simultaneously, spreading burning accelerant across the floor and surrounding equipment.
Two Scavengers were caught in the flames.
Their screams echoed through the warehouse as they stumbled from cover, desperately trying to extinguish the fire consuming their clothes and cyberware.
The surviving enemies broke formation and ran.
Lena and Jackie were waiting.
The Nekomata fired precise charged shots, each accompanied by a flash of blue electricity.
One fleeing Scavenger was struck through the torso before he had taken three steps.
Jackie’s pistols created a dense wall of fire.
The remaining Scavengers collapsed before reaching the exits.
Within moments, the warehouse fell silent.
After confirming that no one remained on the upper floor, Lena slung the Nekomata across her back and joined Jackie at the basement stairs.
Two bodies lay beside the entrance, each with a clean gunshot wound through the head.
“Valerie’s work,” Jackie said.
They descended through a narrow corridor lit by flickering fluorescent tubes.
The air reeked of chemicals, disinfectant, and old blood.
Dismantled cyberware had been piled against the walls, while several abandoned preservation tanks contained the mutilated remains of earlier victims.
At the end of the corridor, Valerie waited beside a heavy iron door.
“Upper floor clear?” she asked.
“All handled,” Jackie replied.
“What’s behind this?”
“Three Scavs.
They heard the fighting and barricaded themselves inside.”
Lena’s optics identified their positions through the connected security system.
She then interfaced with the door’s control panel.
[Initiating Override]
The indicator flashed before changing from red to green.
The electromagnetic lock disengaged, and two security bolts withdrew into the frame.
“I’ll open it,” Lena said.
Jackie and Valerie moved to either side.
Lena stepped back, braced herself, and kicked the center of the door.
The heavy iron door flew inward.
It struck the Scavenger hiding behind it and smashed him against the wall.
The other two immediately opened fire.
Lena activated the Kerenzikov.
Time slowed.
Their muzzle flashes bloomed like distant lightning, and the bullets crawled toward her through the air.
Lena stepped aside from the first trajectory, raised her pistol, and shot the Scavenger on the left.
She shifted her aim and killed the second before his weapon could correct its angle.
The man struck by the door groaned and reached for his fallen gun.
Lena walked over and pressed the muzzle against his forehead.
His hand froze.
A single shot ended the fight.
Valerie entered after the Kerenzikov disengaged.
“That was preem.
Once we’re paid, I want some high-end chrome too.”
“You’ll get it from Viktor,” Lena replied.
“Nothing taken directly from a corpse.”
Her attention shifted toward two pieces of cyberware mounted on a nearby storage wall.
Her optics scanned them automatically.
[Tier 2 Reinforced Tendons]
[Tier 2 Cellular Adapter]
The Reinforced Tendons enhanced explosive movement, allowing greater sprinting and jumping performance.
The Cellular Adapter was even more valuable.
In this world, it provided a comprehensive improvement to strength, speed, stamina, resistance, and durability.
That power came with a cost.
Its cyberware capacity requirements and potential rejection response were severe enough to drive an incompatible user into cyberpsychosis.
Valerie noticed Lena’s interest.
“Don’t even think about installing secondhand chrome without having it checked.
Rejection can destroy your nervous system.”
“Relax.”
Lena carefully removed both implants and placed them inside a refrigerated container.
“I’ll take them to Viktor.
If he says they’re unsafe, I won’t install them.”
Valerie released a relieved breath.
“Good.
Now let’s find the client.”
Jackie opened the door to an adjoining room.
A metal bathtub filled with ice stood in the center.
Their target lay inside, unconscious and nearly naked.
Anesthetics and surgical tools had been arranged nearby.
The Scavengers had already prepared to dismantle him.
Valerie’s expression darkened.
“Sick bastards.”
Jackie checked the man’s pulse.
“He’s alive.
Barely, but alive.”
They had reached him just before the Scavengers began harvesting his cyberware.
Jackie lifted the victim from the ice, removed a coat from one of the dead Scavengers, and wrapped it around him.
He then carried the unconscious man across his back.
“Time to go,” Jackie said.
“His family is waiting.”
With the hostage alive and the Scavenger hideout destroyed, the three mercenaries left the basement.
Their first major rescue gig was complete.