After Jackie secured the unconscious hostage in the Galena’s passenger seat, Lena surveyed the abandoned warehouse.
“Clean the scene.”
It had already become a standard part of their routine.
Jackie and Valerie returned to the basement and dragged the dead Scavengers into a single pile, while Lena gathered the weapons scattered throughout the warehouse.
She then approached the security terminal and connected her personal link.
The Arasaka Mk.II Cyberdeck quickly broke through the obsolete system, granting her complete access to the warehouse’s surveillance network.
Every recording—from the moment they entered the industrial complex until the final Scavenger died—was erased.
Once the deletion was complete, Lena disconnected and drove her fist through the terminal’s storage unit.
The damaged hardware collapsed beneath her enhanced strength, physically destroying whatever fragments of data remained.
In the basement, she crouched beside the collected bodies.
The familiar system interface appeared across her vision.
[Targets Detected]
[Recyclable Cyberware and Materials Available]
Lena placed her hand against each corpse’s cyberware interface and silently initiated the recovery process.
[Tier 1 Item Components Acquired ×36]
[Tier 2 Item Components Acquired ×16]
“That’s everything.”
Jackie poured accelerant over the bodies and ignited them.
Flames spread rapidly across the pile, consuming flesh, clothing, and damaged cyberware.
The three mercenaries loaded the recovered weapons into the Galena’s trunk and left the warehouse behind.
Neon lights swept across the windows as they drove away from Santo Domingo.
Jackie handled the driving, while the rescued man remained unconscious in the passenger seat.
He was still under the Scavengers’ anesthetic, but his vital signs had stabilized.
In the back, Valerie rested her head against Lena’s shoulder and yawned.
“I’m exhausted.”
Lena shifted slightly, giving her a more comfortable position.
“Padre should be satisfied,” Jackie said, glancing at them through the rearview mirror.
“From accepting the contract to finding the hostage, we finished much faster than expected.”
“That’s because someone turned the entire warehouse into a disaster zone,” Valerie replied.
Jackie laughed.
“You should’ve seen Lena from my angle.
She fired through a cargo container and hit the grenade in that Scav’s hand.
Blew up the entire group without exposing herself.”
He shook his head in admiration.
“When I first met you two, I knew you could fight.
Didn’t expect either of you to improve this quickly.”
“My cyberware compatibility is unusually high,” Lena explained while gently massaging Valerie’s temple.
“Valerie has the same potential.
Once she installs better chrome, she won’t be any weaker than me.”
That caught Valerie’s attention.
She opened her eyes and sat up.
“Speaking of chrome, how much did we earn?”
She began counting the weapons they had recovered.
“Six D5 Copperheads and eight DS1 Pulsars.
Jackie, how much can Mama Welles get for them?”
“The Copperheads are in good condition.
Maybe eighteen hundred each.
Around a thousand for every Pulsar.” Jackie calculated silently.
“Combined with the fifteen-thousand-eddie contract, we should clear a little over thirty-three thousand before channel fees.”
“That’s about eleven thousand each,” Valerie said.
Jackie hesitated.
“I didn’t do as much as either of you during the fight.
Maybe I should take a smaller—”
“Ten thousand each,” Lena interrupted.
“Whatever remains after the sale goes to Mama Welles for arranging the buyer.”
Jackie glanced at her through the mirror.
“We’re a team,” Lena continued.
“We don’t divide our money according to how many people each of us killed.
Without your connection to Padre, we wouldn’t have received this contract.
Without Mama Welles, we wouldn’t have a safe way to sell the weapons.”
She leaned back against the seat.
“What you contribute is just as valuable.”
The Galena became quiet for a moment.
Then Jackie smiled.
“You two are starting to sound like real mercenaries.”
“We are real mercenaries,” Valerie said, lowering her head onto Lena’s shoulder again.
“Fair enough.” Jackie tightened his grip on the wheel.
“And don’t worry.
I won’t hold either of you back.”
With the payment settled between them, Lena closed her eyes.
The system interface appeared immediately.
[Installable Cyberware Detected]
[Tier 2 Reinforced Tendons]
[Tier 2 Cellular Adapter]
[Install?]
Lena confirmed without hesitation.
The Reinforced Tendons synchronized with her lower body, strengthening her ability to accelerate, jump, and change direction.
Immediately afterward, the Cellular Adapter began integrating with her nervous system and existing implants.
Ordinarily, chrome taken from a previous user would carry a severe risk of rejection.
The system eliminated that danger, rebuilding and adapting the implants specifically for Lena’s body.
She then checked her stored materials.
[Tier 1 Item Components ×54]
[Tier 2 Item Components ×20]
Lena activated the synthesis function.
[Tier 1 Item Components Consumed ×50]
[Tier 2 Item Components Obtained ×10]
[Current Tier 1 Item Components ×4]
She selected three pieces of cyberware for enhancement: her General Augmentation, Cellular Adapter, and Subdermal Armor.
[Tier 2 Item Components Consumed ×30]
[Upgrade Complete]
[Tier 3 General Augmentation]
[Tier 3 Cellular Adapter]
[Tier 3 Subdermal Armor]
Three core pieces of Lena’s cyberware advanced to Tier 3.
She remained motionless in the back seat as the upgrades changed her body.
Her muscles became denser, while the system refined how efficiently they released force.
Movements that had once required conscious effort could now produce even greater power with minimal exertion.
The Reinforced Tendons improved her short-distance acceleration and close-quarters mobility.
The Cellular Adapter strengthened her body as a whole, increasing her speed, endurance, physical resistance, and ability to support the rest of her chrome.
Beneath her skin, the upgraded armor layer grew stronger.
Ordinary rounds that had bruised her during the warehouse battle would now have far less effect.
Under normal conditions, cyberware had to be upgraded gradually—from Tier 2 to Tier 2+, and only then to Tier 3.
Each stage demanded money, specialized materials, and help from an experienced ripperdoc.
The system allowed Lena to ignore those limitations.
In a matter of minutes, she completed upgrades that would normally require a mercenary to spend a fortune.
Roughly twenty minutes later, the Galena returned to the Glen.
Padre was waiting beside the basketball court.
A woman stood nearby with a young child clinging to her hand.
The moment she saw her husband unconscious in the passenger seat, her eyes filled with tears.
She hurried toward the vehicle.
“Is he alive?”
“Alive and stable,” Lena assured her.
“The Scavengers drugged him, but they hadn’t started the operation.”
The woman covered her mouth as she began to sob.
“Thank you.
Thank you so much.”
Jackie carefully lifted the man from the passenger seat.
His wife embraced him as best she could, while their child stood beside them, crying and clutching his father’s hand.
Padre approached the mercenaries and lowered his voice.
“They sold everything they had.
Their vehicle, their possessions, and the education implants they had saved for their child.
They even surrendered the remaining lease on their home.”
His expression remained calm, but there was restrained anger beneath it.
“I am not telling you this to earn your sympathy.
Night City is filled with suffering, and I have seen far too much of it.”
Padre looked toward the rescued family.
“I thought I might have overestimated your team.
Instead, you recovered the hostage, wiped out the Scavenger hideout, and returned in a matter of hours.”
Lena studied him.
“Your information travels quickly.”
“It is my business to know what happens in Heywood and the surrounding districts.”
“If there’s something you want to ask, ask directly,” Lena said.
“Heywood is our base now.
We don’t need to waste time testing one another.”
Padre gave her an approving smile.
“Very well.
I have far more contracts than simple rescues.
Some clients pay me to save lives.
Others pay me to end them.
That is the nature of Night City.”
His gaze moved across the three mercenaries.
“What kind of mercenaries do you intend to become?”
Jackie didn’t answer.
Valerie also looked toward Lena.
Lena removed a cigarette from her pocket and offered one to each of them.
Padre declined with a small wave of his hand.
After lighting Jackie’s and Valerie’s cigarettes, Lena turned toward the distant towers of Night City.
“We take contracts because we need to survive.
We also want money, better cyberware, and the strength to control our own lives.”
Smoke drifted from her lips.
“But if money and power were the only things we cared about, we could put on masks, raid a ripperdoc clinic, steal every implant inside, and disappear into Dogtown.”
She turned back to Padre.
“That isn’t the road we want.”
Her voice remained calm, but there was no hesitation behind it.
“We’ll kill people who deserve to die, and we won’t accept less than the payment we’ve earned.
We aren’t foolish enough to believe we can change Night City, but I don’t want contracts that sacrifice innocent people just to satisfy someone else’s greed.”
“That kind of money isn’t worth earning.”
Padre remained silent for several seconds.
Then he smiled.
“Jackie chose his partners well.”
He adjusted the sleeves of his cassock.
“From now on, I will take only a twenty-percent fixer’s fee from your contracts.
Your payment for this rescue has already been transferred.”
Padre gave Lena one final nod.
“Well done, Lena.”
On the drive back to El Coyote Cojo, the mood inside the Galena was noticeably lighter.
Jackie laughed behind the wheel.
“That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen Padre accept a new crew.”
Valerie closed her eyes and rested against Lena’s shoulder.
“Maybe it was because someone delivered a dramatic speech while staring at the skyline.”
“I answered his question.”
“Go to sleep, Valerie.”
“I’m only stating a fact.”
Jackie’s laughter filled the car.
When they arrived at El Coyote Cojo, the bar was as lively as ever.
Familiar music played beneath the conversations of Heywood regulars.
Jackie entered carrying one of the weapon-filled bags.
“Ma, we’re back!”
Mama Welles looked up from the glass she was polishing.
“I can see that.” Her attention moved to the bags.
“Good haul?”
“Scavenger weapons.
We need a buyer.”
She opened one of the bags and inspected its contents.
“Six D5 Copperheads and eight DS1 Pulsars.
Most are in decent condition.”
Mama Welles closed the bag.
“I know someone who’ll take them.”
“Thanks, Ma.”
By the following afternoon, she had already completed the sale.
After deducting the buyer’s discount and channel fees, the weapons brought in a little over eighteen thousand eurodollars.
As agreed, ten thousand eddies went to each member of the team when the contract payment and weapon sale were combined.
The remaining amount was left with Mama Welles.
For the first time since arriving in Night City, all three had meaningful savings.
Instead of searching for another contract, Lena turned toward Valerie.
“Come with me.
We’re going out.”
Valerie raised an eyebrow.
“Where?
Aren’t we working today?”
“I’ll show you around Night City.” Lena picked up her jacket.
“We’ll also look for cyberware that might suit you.”
A smile appeared on Valerie’s face.
“Are you taking me shopping?”
“Something like that.”
Jackie lifted his drink.
“Call if you run into trouble.
I’m meeting Misty later.”
Valerie followed Lena outside.
They drove through Heywood and crossed into Watson.
Neon advertisements reflected across the Galena’s windows as the streets changed around them.
Valerie studied Lena from the passenger seat.
“You seem familiar with Night City.”
“I knew a few things before we arrived,” Lena answered vaguely.
Half an hour later, they stopped near an abandoned building.
The surrounding streets matched a location Lena remembered: crumbling walls, heavy graffiti, and piles of discarded machinery.
According to her memories, military-grade cyberware was supposed to be hidden inside—possibly even a high-tier Sandevistan.
Lena kicked open the building’s door and searched every room.
There was nothing.
No hidden container.
No valuable cyberware.
Certainly no Sandevistan.
Reality was clearly different from the game she remembered.
Valerie watched her stand in the empty room.
“What exactly were you expecting to find?”
Lena cleared her throat awkwardly.
“I heard a rumor that someone hid a Sandevistan here.”
Valerie laughed.
“Who would abandon military-grade chrome in a ruined building?”
Lena had no answer.
When she thought about it logically, expecting expensive Militech cyberware to be waiting inside a Watson slum was ridiculous.
They were about to return to the car when several armed punks emerged from a nearby alley.
“Well, look at this,” their leader said, whistling.
“Two pretty girls wandering around alone.”
His companions spread out behind him.
“Hand over your eddies,” he continued.
“Maybe we’ll let you walk away.”
Lena stared at him.
She had wasted half an hour searching an empty building and embarrassed herself in front of Valerie.
Now a group of idiots had chosen the worst possible moment to threaten her.
The leader reached for his gun.
Lena drew first.
Her shot struck him between the eyes before he cleared his weapon.
The others immediately turned to flee.
Valerie raised her DR5 Nova as Lena brought up her own pistol.
Their weapons fired together, and the remaining punks collapsed before reaching the end of the alley.
Valerie holstered her revolver.
“We came out to shop.”
“They interrupted us.”
Lena recovered the Tier 1 cyberware components from the bodies before gathering the corpses together.
She retrieved fuel from the Galena, poured it over them, and lit the pile.
“Let’s go.”
The two women walked away as flames rose behind them, swallowing the bodies and destroying the remaining evidence.
In Watson, no one stopped to investigate.
No one even cared.
]”
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