Lena tightened her grip on the RT-46 Burya and glanced at Valerie.
“Check your weapon.”
Valerie drew her DR5 Nova, released the cylinder, and confirmed that all six chambers were loaded.
She snapped it shut and returned the revolver to its holster.
The atmosphere inside the Galena immediately changed.
Jackie watched them from behind the wheel, his usual smile slowly fading.
“We’re really expecting a fight?”
Lena looked through the open border gate.
A faint, battle-ready smile touched her lips.
“Not here.
Whoever received that message won’t be stupid enough to attack under the checkpoint’s turrets.”
Her palm was sweating around the Burya’s grip, and her heartbeat had accelerated enough for her to hear it.
Was she afraid?
Of course.
This wasn’t a game.
She wouldn’t respawn if a bullet entered her skull, and no amount of combat experience could completely suppress the human body’s fear of death.
Beneath that fear, however, was an excitement she couldn’t describe.
“Vehicle cleared,” the checkpoint officer announced.
“Let them through.”
Jackie pressed the accelerator.
The Galena rolled beyond the gate, its engine groaning as it carried them toward Night City.
Night had begun to fall.
Neon lights illuminated the distant skyline, turning the steel metropolis into something beautiful and unreal.
The city seemed to glow beneath the darkening sky, promising wealth, power, pleasure, and death in equal measure.
Nobody spoke.
Only the Galena’s unhealthy engine broke the silence.
From the rear seat, Valerie reached forward and squeezed Lena’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry.
Since we were kids, you’ve always been the brains, and I’ve been the muscle.”
Her expression remained perfectly serious.
“If too many show up, hide under the dashboard.
I’ll kill them all.”
Lena stared at her before laughing.
“You’ve forgotten one important detail.”
“What?”
“I have a gun now.”
Before Valerie could answer, several pairs of headlights flared to life along the dark road ahead.
Five black SUVs emerged from concealed positions on either side of the highway.
Their warning lights flashed as electronic sirens filled the road.
Three vehicles formed a blockade while the remaining two moved to cut off the Galena’s retreat.
Arasaka logos gleamed across their armored doors.
Lena’s expression hardened.
“They’re here.”
She raised the Burya.
Electromagnetic capacitors hummed inside the Tech revolver.
Blue-white arcs crawled along the weapon’s frame as its firing system reached full power.
A roof-mounted speaker activated on the lead SUV.
“Attention, vehicle ahead.
You are suspected of illegally transporting corporate—”
Lena fired first.
The Burya’s report struck like thunder inside the car.
A Tech round crossed the distance in a streak of blue light and punched through the lead SUV’s passenger-side windshield.
The Arasaka agent inside didn’t have time to react before the projectile struck his head.
Blood, bone, and cyberware fragments sprayed across the cabin.
At the same moment, Valerie leaned out of the rear window.
Her Nova roared three times.
Heavy rounds hammered the approaching SUVs, shattering glass and throwing showers of sparks from their armored frames.
Several agents attempting to lean out with assault rifles were forced back into cover.
“Jackie!” Valerie shouted.
“Already on it!”
Jackie stared toward a side road leading away from the blockade.
“Hold on!”
He twisted the steering wheel and slammed the accelerator.
The Galena’s tires screamed against the asphalt.
Its rear end swung outward, sending the old car into a violent drift.
For one terrifying moment, it traveled almost completely sideways before Jackie forced it onto the side road.
The suspension groaned beneath the strain.
They left the highway and charged into an abandoned industrial complex filled with ruined factories, corroded pipes, and stacked shipping containers.
It formed a sprawling steel labyrinth with countless narrow passages.
Behind them, the surviving Arasaka SUVs turned and followed.
Lena’s Kiroshi optics activated automatically.
Enemy outlines became red silhouettes within her vision.
[Target acquired]
[Distance: 217 meters]
[Calculating vehicle velocity]
[Windage correction complete]
[Trajectory prediction complete]
The system calculated the Galena’s speed, the pursuing vehicle’s movement, and the violent bouncing caused by the ruined road.
Lena raised the Burya again.
Her Recoil Dampening System stabilized her hand and wrist.
Even as the Galena struck a pothole, the barrel barely shifted.
She fired.
The electromagnetic round tore through the pursuing SUV’s windshield and struck its driver in the skull.
The man collapsed over the steering wheel.
His vehicle swerved, spun across the road, and crashed directly into an abandoned industrial pipe.
The SUV exploded.
Flames surged into the night as pieces of burning metal scattered across the road.
Jackie glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Madre de Dios…”
Lena was already searching for another target when her vision flickered.
Crimson data invaded her Kiroshi display.
[Unknown network connection detected]
[Hostile quickhack uploading]
[Cyberware Malfunction: 12%]
A sharp pain stabbed behind her eyes.
Inside one of the pursuing SUVs, an Arasaka netrunner stared at the Galena.
A specialized interface wrapped around his temples, and streams of data flashed across his cyberoptics as he forced a connection into Lena’s neural network.
“So the Virtual Body can still be hacked.”
Lena followed the intrusion signal and identified the netrunner’s location.
Before the quickhack could advance further, a wall of blue data rose inside her neural interface.
[Self-ICE activated]
The hostile program struck the defensive barrier.
It shattered instantly.
[Quickhack neutralized]
[Self-ICE recovery time: 15 minutes]
Inside the SUV, the netrunner recoiled.
“She has ICE!” he shouted.
“How the hell did a Nomad get protected neuralware?”
His active connection exposed him.
Lena’s Kiroshi optics highlighted his body in red.
His eyes had rolled upward while he concentrated on the breach, leaving him momentarily disconnected from the physical world.
She aimed at the SUV.
“Valerie!
Netrunner in the second car.
Don’t destroy his head—I want his cyberdeck.”
“Got it.”
Lena fired first.
The Tech round penetrated the windshield and tore into the driver’s chest.
Blood burst across the steering wheel as he slumped forward.
Valerie lowered her Nova toward the same vehicle.
Two shots followed.
The first struck the netrunner through the heart.
The second tore through the side of his neck, severing muscle and blood vessels without entering his skull.
The netrunner collapsed against the window, leaving his cranial hardware intact.
Jackie grinned at the rearview mirror.
“Beautiful shooting!”
Lena released the Burya’s cylinder.
The four spent cartridges dropped onto the Galena’s floor, and she loaded fresh ammunition as quickly as her reinforced hands allowed.
The cylinder snapped closed.
Three Arasaka SUVs remained.
Her Kiroshi optics scanned the agents inside the two closest vehicles.
[Target: Arasaka Response Team Agent]
[Kerenzikov detected]
[Titanium Bones detected]
[Subdermal Armor detected]
[Blood Pump detected]
“These aren’t ordinary security guards,” Lena warned.
Inside the SUV approaching from the right, an Arasaka agent lowered his assault rifle and opened the weapon case beside him.
He removed a sleek, black rifle.
Long electromagnetic rails ran along both sides of its barrel.
Deep-blue electricity began dancing between them as its capacitors charged.
Lena’s optics flooded her vision with warnings.
[Nekomata Tech Sniper Rifle detected]
[Threat level: Critical]
An intense sense of danger raced up her spine.
The agent rested the Nekomata against the window frame and aimed directly at her.
The electromagnetic rails brightened as the weapon approached full charge.
Lena couldn’t evade.
The Galena was traveling at high speed, and the cramped passenger seat left no room to move.
The car’s thin door wouldn’t stop a Nekomata round.
She had only one option.
Shoot first.
Lena raised the Burya and fired before the sniper could complete his aim.
The round penetrated the SUV’s bodywork and struck the agent in the chest.
His Subdermal Armor reduced the damage, but the impact threw him backward and knocked the Nekomata’s barrel out of alignment. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He pulled the trigger anyway.
The Nekomata fired.
Its charged projectile ripped through the Galena’s passenger door as though the metal didn’t exist.
The round had been aimed at Lena’s heart.
Because her shot had disrupted the sniper’s aim, it tore through her left shoulder instead.
“Fuck!”
The impact hurled Lena against the center console.
Her vision vanished beneath a burst of darkness.
Blood sprayed across the passenger seat as the projectile shredded muscle and struck her reinforced shoulder blade.
Her skeletal augmentation activated instantly.
Reinforced bone resisted the impact while surrounding muscles and ligaments tightened to prevent catastrophic damage.
The bullet deflected from her shoulder blade and exited through her back in a burst of blood.
Without the augmentation, the shot might have destroyed her entire shoulder.
Instead, it left a vicious hole through the muscle.
The pain was still overwhelming.
Lena’s left arm trembled uncontrollably.
Blood ran down her sleeve and dripped from her fingertips.
“Lena!”
Valerie’s face twisted with horror.
Then rage consumed her expression.
She swung her Nova toward the sniper’s SUV.
“Motherfuckers!”
“Watch the car on the left!” Lena shouted through clenched teeth.
“I’m still alive.”
“You’ve been shot!”
“And I’ll deal with the one who did it.”
Lena forced herself upright.
The Arasaka sniper had fallen into the rear seat.
His Blood Pump activated, injecting emergency medication and accelerating his body’s attempt to stabilize the wound.
He reached for the Nekomata.
Lena’s Kiroshi optics tracked his red silhouette through the SUV’s metal body.
“You don’t get a second shot.”
She aimed at the silhouette and fired.
The Burya round punched through the SUV’s exterior and struck the agent in the chest.
Armor, flesh, and shattered implants erupted from his back as the impact hurled him across the seat.
The Nekomata slipped from his hand.
He coughed blood and reached for it again.
Lena pulled the trigger a second time.
The projectile entered between his eyes and destroyed the back of his skull.
Blood and fragments of cyberoptics covered the interior of the SUV.
The agent stopped moving.
Lena shifted her aim toward the driver and fired again.
The Tech round penetrated the windshield and killed him instantly.
The SUV veered away, struck a concrete barrier, and rolled onto its side.
One pursuing vehicle remained close enough to threaten them.
“Valerie,” Lena gasped, struggling to remain conscious.
“Take the one on the left.”
Valerie looked toward Jackie.
“Ram them.”
Jackie’s grin turned savage.
“Now you’re speaking my language.”
He slammed the accelerator to the floor.
The Galena’s exhausted engine roared as the car surged sideways and crashed into the remaining SUV.
Metal slammed against metal.
Both vehicles shook violently.
Their doors scraped together, deforming under the pressure as showers of sparks streamed behind them.
The collision threw the four Arasaka agents off balance.
Valerie seized the opportunity.
She forced her Nova through the enemy SUV’s shattered passenger window.
The first shot destroyed the front passenger’s temple.
The second entered the forehead of the agent seated behind him.
The third tore through another agent’s throat, sending blood across the rear window.
The driver released the steering wheel and reached for his sidearm.
He was too slow.
Valerie fired once more.
The bullet entered his temple, snapping his head sideways.
His hands fell away from the wheel as the SUV drifted toward a pile of abandoned machinery.
Jackie pulled the Galena away at the final second.
The Arasaka vehicle crashed into the wreckage behind them.
For several moments, the only sounds inside the Galena were its screaming engine and Lena’s ragged breathing.
Blood continued dripping from her wounded shoulder.
She looked at the burning vehicles receding in the side mirror.
A strange calm settled over her.
Hours ago, she had been an office worker playing a game.
Now she had killed to survive.
Lena Hale’s first battle in Night City was over.