The three mercenaries continued their advance.
In less than ten minutes, bodies littered the perimeter of the cold-storage warehouse.
More than twenty Scavengers had guarded the facility when the assault began.
Now, only four remained beside the Mountain Ghoul.
The survivors finally understood the truth.
These were not ordinary Heywood mercenaries.
“Boss…”
One of the Scavengers swallowed, staring at the three women and men approaching through the smoke.
His voice trembled despite his effort to control it.
The Mountain Ghoul ignored him.
His gaze remained fixed on Lena Hale.
She had led the attack from the beginning.
Every blast from the DB-2 Testera in her hands had torn through multiple men, and even sustained gunfire had failed to slow her down.
A direct confrontation would be suicide.
“When did Heywood produce a monster like this?” he muttered.
Then he glanced toward the warehouse.
“Bring out every gas canister we have.”
The remaining Scavengers hesitated.
“Move!”
They rushed inside and returned moments later carrying several heavy metal canisters.
“If bullets won’t pierce them,” the Mountain Ghoul said, “we’ll see how they handle neurotoxin.”
Valerie’s Kiroshi optics immediately identified the containers.
[UNKNOWN CHEMICAL AGENT DETECTED]
[WARNING: POSSIBLE NEUROTOXIN]
She raised the Yinglong without hesitation.
Smart rounds screamed from the muzzle, curving toward the canisters in the Scavengers’ hands.
If she ruptured them now, the toxin would wipe out the remaining defenders before it could become a threat.
The Mountain Ghoul moved first.
He stepped directly into the bullets’ path.
Rounds hammered against his Subdermal Armor, sparking on impact.
EMP charges discharged beneath his skin, sending violent currents through his cyberware, but he remained standing.
He glanced at the scorched marks across his chest.
“Kang Tao’s newest toy?” he growled.
“Not bad.”
The Mountain Ghoul seized one of the canisters with a single hand.
With his heavily augmented strength, the adult-sized container looked almost weightless.
He twisted his body and hurled it.
The steel canister tore through the air toward Lena and the others.
A thunderous shotgun blast answered.
Lena’s DB-2 Testera erupted, releasing a dense cloud of pellets that struck the canister in midair.
The container exploded before it could reach them.
Metal fragments scattered across the warehouse entrance as pale-yellow gas billowed outward.
“Fall back!” Lena ordered.
Valerie and Jackie retreated with her, putting distance between themselves and the spreading cloud.
A gunshot cracked through the toxic fog.
The bullet struck Lena squarely in the chest.
The impact forced her half a step backward.
The outer ceramic plate of her tactical vest split apart, scattering fragments across the floor.
The round punched through the damaged armor before slamming into the Subdermal Armor beneath her skin.
The deformed bullet dropped harmlessly at her feet.
Lena lowered her eyes toward it.
“Not bad.”
Her Kiroshi optics switched into scan mode.
A red silhouette appeared within the fog, revealing the Mountain Ghoul standing at its center, apparently unaffected by the toxin.
He held a rugged revolver in both hands.
An Overture.
The kinetic revolver was popular throughout Night City’s black markets.
It lacked the sophisticated systems of a smart weapon or the penetrating technology of a tech gun, but it compensated with reliability and overwhelming stopping power.
The Mountain Ghoul aimed again.
The Overture roared.
Lena deployed her Gorilla Arms and crossed them before her chest.
The large-caliber round slammed into the armored plating, forcing her several steps backward.
Her boots scraped across the metal floor, carving two dark trails into it.
When she lowered her arms, only a shallow dent remained.
The bullet itself had shattered into several flattened pieces.
Lena casually brushed away the fragments.
The test was over.
Even without blocking with the Gorilla Arms, the combination of her Subdermal Armor and Cellular Adaptation should allow her to withstand a direct hit from an Overture.
That did not include the additional protection and physical reinforcement provided by her Dense Marrow and other internal cyberware.
Inside the toxic cloud, the Mountain Ghoul stared at her in disbelief.
The Overture in his hands was not some worthless vending-machine pistol.
One clean shot could tear an ordinary man apart.
Yet the woman ahead of him had blocked it with her arms.
“Listen, sis,” he called, lowering his weapon slightly.
“If I offended you, just say so.
I haven’t touched the kids in the basement yet.
If this is about a debt, give me two days.
I’ll pay every eddy.”
Lena signaled for Jackie and Valerie to separate and cover both sides of the warehouse.
She removed her backpack and pulled out the Nekomata.
“Nothing personal,” she said.
“We’re Heywood’s photography crew.
Your boys misunderstood the situation and started shooting.”
She raised the tech sniper rifle.
“Don’t move.
I need to take your picture.”
The Mountain Ghoul’s expression went blank.
Through the toxic fog, his Kiroshi optics clearly showed Lena drawing a full-sized tech rifle from a backpack and aiming it at him.
There was no room left for negotiation.
The instant he emerged from the gas, Valerie acquired a targeting lock.
The Yinglong rotated toward him.
Smart ammunition burst from the muzzle.
Years of surviving black-market firefights saved the Mountain Ghoul.
He threw himself into a roll, allowing the first volley to pass over his shoulder.
Then the bullets changed direction.
They curved through the air and came after him again.
“Son of a bitch!”
He twisted around and fired the Overture.
The large-caliber round struck one of the smart bullets, producing a shower of sparks.
Before he could celebrate, a second and third volley followed.
The Mountain Ghoul sprinted between abandoned refrigeration units, using rusted machinery as cover.
Valerie’s bullets pursued him relentlessly, adjusting their flight paths around every obstacle.
Then he heard gunfire from his flank.
Jackie had circled behind him.
Both golden La Chingona Dorada pistols flashed simultaneously.
The rounds struck the Mountain Ghoul’s legs.
He screamed as the bullets ripped through his synthetic skin and smashed into his reinforced cyberware.
Sparks sprayed from his joints.
His heavy Subdermal Armor absorbed part of the impact, but it could do nothing to prevent the kinetic force from disrupting the machinery beneath.
His right leg locked.
The Mountain Ghoul stumbled and crashed to one knee.
Blood ran from the damaged cyberware interfaces, dripping onto the metal floor.
A warning flashed across his vision.
[LEG CYBERWARE FAILURE]
[JOINT STABILITY COMPROMISED]
He clenched his teeth and forced power into his Reinforced Tendons.
If he could make one more jump, he could reach the ruins beside the warehouse.
His Black Mamba repair system could stabilize the damage, and his armor would keep him alive long enough to escape.
The cyberware began to activate.
Click.
Something cold pressed against his forehead.
The Mountain Ghoul froze.
Lena stood directly in front of him, holding the charged Nekomata against his skull.
Blue arcs danced along the rifle’s body as electromagnetic energy gathered inside the barrel.
“I told you to stay still for the picture.”
Her finger tightened around the trigger.
“Are you deaf?”
The fully charged Nekomata fired.
The electromagnetic projectile pierced the Mountain Ghoul’s skull before he could react.
Blood, bone, and cyberware fragments burst from the back of his head.
The impact hurled his body onto the floor, and the Overture slipped from his lifeless hand.
Silence returned to the warehouse.
Lena surveyed the bodies before activating her salvage scan.
[SALVAGEABLE CYBERWARE DETECTED]
[TIER 3: KIROSHI OPTICS]
[TIER 3: RECOIL DAMPENING SYSTEM]
[TIER 3: REINFORCED TENDONS]
[TIER 3: BLACK MAMBA]
[TIER 3 ITEM COMPONENTS ×12]
[TIER 2 ITEM COMPONENTS ×36]
[TIER 1 ITEM COMPONENTS ×40]
“That’s one hell of a haul.”
Lena stretched before glancing at Jackie.
“Same routine.
Pile up the bodies and burn them.
Put the usable cyberware in sacks and send everything to Mrs.
Welles.
She’ll know how to move it.”
“Got it.”
Lena turned toward the warehouse interior.
“Valerie, come downstairs with me.”
The two descended into the basement.
Upstairs, the air still smelled of gunpowder and scorched flesh.
Bullet holes covered the walls, while dark blood pooled between the seams of the metal floor.
The deeper they went, the quieter it became.
The silence soon felt unnatural.
Valerie activated her Kiroshi optics and scanned the basement.
Then she stopped.
“Lena…”
Her voice no longer carried the calm certainty she had maintained during the battle.
Lena followed her gaze.
Several rusted metal cages stood against the rear wall.
Inside them, five children huddled together.
The oldest could not have been more than ten.
They wore filthy, mismatched clothes.
Dust covered their faces, and several had locking collars fastened around their necks to restrict their cyberware and movement.
When they saw the two women approaching, none of them called for help.
Instead, they pressed themselves deeper into the corner.
The youngest girl silently rolled up her sleeve, exposing her arm as though she expected them to take blood.
An older boy stepped in front of the others.
His legs trembled, but he forced himself to remain between the strangers and the younger children.
“Are you Scavengers?” he whispered.
“Or did you come to buy us?”
Valerie froze.
Every reassuring sentence she had prepared vanished.
She slowly crouched until her eyes were level with his.
“We came to get you out.”
Valerie removed the Yinglong and grenade belt from her waist, placing them on the floor.
She disabled her scanning display and pulled several candies Misty had given her from her pocket.
The children stared at them.
After a long hesitation, the youngest girl cautiously reached out.
Her movements were painfully slow, as though she expected Valerie to snatch the candy away at the last second.
Valerie did not move.
The girl took it but did not unwrap it.
Instead, she looked back at the others.
The older boy studied Lena and Valerie for several more seconds before finally nodding.
“It’s okay,” he whispered.
“They don’t look like bad people.”
“How did you end up here?” Valerie asked.
None of them answered immediately.
Finally, the older boy spoke.
“My name is Alek.
They kidnapped all five of us.
They said they weren’t going to harvest our organs.” His voice grew quieter.
“They said if we cooperated, they’d turn us into football stars.”
He could not finish the explanation.
He did not need to.
Valerie understood.
The operation would have filled the children with experimental cyberware, forced them through brutal training, and used them until their bodies failed.
If they survived two or three profitable seasons, they would be discarded and replaced with a newer batch.
In parts of Night City, kidnapping was not even necessary.
Predators could promise desperate families a better future, and parents would willingly surrender their children.
Lena opened a communications channel.
“Jackie.”
“What is it?”
“Finish the cleanup.
We’re bringing some people out.”
There was a brief silence.
“Kids?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.” Jackie exhaled heavily.
“I’ll get the car ready.”
Lena ended the call and approached the cages.
She raised one Gorilla Arm and gripped the locked door.
Metal screamed.
With a single pull, she tore the cage open.
“Come on,” Lena said quietly.
“You’re leaving.”
The children emerged one at a time.
They still kept their distance, watching Lena’s cybernetic arms with frightened eyes.
As they passed her, Alek stopped.
“Big sister?”
Lena looked down.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
She rested one hand on his head and gently ruffled his hair.
“Stay away from dark alleys.
If you hear gunfire, don’t stop to look.
Run as fast as you can.”
Outside, Night City’s neon lights continued to burn.
Floating billboards advertised cutting-edge cyberware, luxury vehicles, and manufactured celebrities.
BECOME A BETTER YOU.
CHANGE YOUR BODY.
CHANGE YOUR DESTINY.
The advertisements echoed across the city while Jackie drove the children to Padre.
He would locate their families and decide which homes were safe enough to return them to.
Valerie lit two cigarettes and placed one between Lena’s lips.
“Good thing,” she murmured.
Lena glanced at her.
“What is?”
“Good thing we arrived before they were shipped out.
Good thing their parents weren’t the ones who sold them.”
Valerie stared at the distant lights.
“What do you think will happen to them?”
Lena exhaled a stream of smoke.
“At least they won’t die tonight.”
“That’s already more luck than most people get.”
Valerie fell silent because she knew Lena was right.
In Night City, survival itself was a form of good fortune.
Still, she could not accept it.
“This entire city is rotten,” Valerie said.
“Isn’t anyone going to stand up and change it?”
“There are people trying.”
Lena took another drag from her cigarette.
“The problem is that they know how to tear down the old world, but they don’t know how to build a new one.
So everyone keeps waiting—waiting for someone powerful enough to replace the megacorps and create a new order.”
“Waiting for what?”
Lena looked toward the horizon, where the first faint light of dawn struggled against Night City’s endless neon glow.
“The sun.”
Her voice was calm, but there was something in it Valerie had never heard before.
“A sun bright enough to burn away the decay and purify everything.”
]”
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