With all the data Kiwi had provided, Nova began mapping out multiple escape routes. Each one had its own risks, and none guaranteed survival. He couldn’t just stash weapons along every path or hide vehicles on standby—it would be impossible to prepare that much ground. The only way he could ensure an edge… was through cyberware. That was what he was good at.
With that thought in mind, Nova locked himself in his workshop. Sparks flickered in the dim blue light as he worked nonstop. Wires, steel, and glowing circuitry scattered across the table—it was like watching an artist lost in his masterpiece. Every enhancement, every line of code, every bolt slid into place like a puzzle he’d solved a thousand times before.
Meanwhile, the crew gathered quietly to avoid detection. They’d hired Falco as their driver—smooth, steady, and with enough guts to outrun Arasaka if it came to that. David, Maine, and Dorio were fully loaded, their reinforced bodies gleaming under the flickering neon lights. They had weapons, a plan, and a mission.
Just as they were about to move out, Nova arrived—breathless, carrying a heavy backpack.
“Finally!” Rebecca scoffed, smirking. “You’re late. No guns left for you.”
“Share some with him,” Dorio said, half-laughing.
Nova caught his breath, setting the backpack down. “Don’t need ‘em. Got something better.”
He unzipped the bag and revealed a pile of custom-made gear—his real work of art. For Pilar, he handed a visor capable of tagging heat signatures even through solid walls. For Maine and Dorio, a combat exosuit that redistributed kinetic force into their arms, reducing impact while boosting strength. For Kiwi, a pair of monowires reinforced with adaptive steel, and a glass-lensed visor that enhanced her hacking interface and boosted RAM.
Then came Rebecca—he handed her a customized shotgun with quadruple the output of a regular weapon, and a lightweight machine gun loaded with explosive rounds. The perfect match for her Gorilla Arms.
David got a Sandevistan external upgrade—allowing longer bursts and faster cooldowns, drastically reducing his risk of overloading or slipping into psychosis.
Pilar looked through his visor, a wild grin spreading. “Yo, I can literally stalk people without them even knowing. This is sick!”
Maine flexed his arm, feeling the exosuit adjust smoothly. “Fits perfectly. Doesn’t even slow me down.”
“Amazing! I’ll call you Wild Dog,” Rebecca said lookimg at her machine gun, “and you, Guts.” She hugged both weapons close, starry-eyed. “Ah, love at first sight.”
David tested his new upgrade, a faint hum pulsing around him as time seemed to slow. “Incredible. And you, Nova? What about your gear?”
“No time to make mine,” Nova replied calmly, checking his wrist interface. “My Sandevistan’s still good.”
Rebecca laughed. “Don’t worry, pretty boy—these babies’ll keep you safe.” She spun her guns playfully.
“Alright, let’s move.”
Padre had supplied the crew with an armored vehicle, heavy ammo, grenades, and tactical armor. With Nova’s upgrades, they were stacked—but Nova couldn’t shake the unease building in his gut.
They drove out toward the outskirts of Night City. The road was empty, the neon lights fading into a sickly orange glow on the horizon. Up ahead, five Arasaka armored trucks guarded the target—the transport carrying the Cyber-Skeleton. Millitech was supposed to intercept later, giving the crew a small window to strike first and vanish in the chaos.
“Only five trucks guarding it?” Pilar asked suspiciously.
“Probably trying not to draw too much heat,” Kiwi replied, her eyes glowing faintly from her visor. “Alright, they’re close. Once we hit contact, we’ve got twenty minutes before Millitech shows up. We take control of the cargo before that happens.”
They accelerated. Within seconds, tracer rounds whizzed past them—Arasaka had spotted them.
“Here we go!” Maine shouted, bracing himself.
Rebecca leaned halfway out the window, launching a rocket straight into one of the armored trucks. The explosion didn’t destroy it—but it sure as hell took it out of the fight.
“Five per truck, two in the cargo one!” Pilar called out, tracking their heat signatures.
“Kiwi!” Maine barked.
“On it,” she replied coolly, diving into the neural grid. Sparks crackled from her monowires as she hacked the driver of the left flank vehicle, forcing it to swerve violently.
With two trucks disabled, Maine and Dorio pushed forward, shredding through the next one with gunfire.
“Two left!” Dorio yelled.
“I got this!” David activated his Sandevistan—time fractured, colors blurred, and within seconds he was slicing through the remaining guards like a phantom.
Nova followed suit, diving out the window with lightning reflexes. His blade hummed, cutting through metal and flesh alike. A bullet grazed his arm, but his healing implant kicked in fast, sealing the wound almost instantly.
When the last shot rang out, silence filled the air.
But something felt wrong. Nova looked toward the main cargo truck—it wasn’t moving. There was no driver.
“What the hell…?” he muttered, scanning it with his optics. No life signals. No heat. No one.
He jumped back into the van. “The cargo’s got no driver!”
“What!?” Pilar yelled, double-checking his scanner. His eyes widened. “He’s right… the seat’s empty. There’s nobody there.”
The realization hit them all at once.
Something—or someone—had planned this.
This truck’s not going to hold. We gotta get into the cargo. Kiwi—can you ghost-drive it from inside? —David snapped, seizing command.
“Yeah. If I’m in range I can do it,” she said.
Nova didn’t waste time. He lit his Sandevistan, slammed into the cargo box and cracked the rear hatch with his encrypter. The door yawned. Maine and Dorio dove in first. David, turbo’d and lethal, shoved Rebecca and Falco through while Pilar stayed on the tailgate priming breachers and charges. Then he jumped in.
“If we take control of this rig, we can use it to pull Lucy out,” David said, breath like steam.
“No! You install that and you’re a corpse. Lucy won’t want to be rescued if you’re dead,” Nova shot back.
“If she’s dead, what’s the point of me being alive?” David answered, flat and iron.
“We do this together,” Maine said, voice tight but hopeful — not his usual roar.
Kiwi’s fingers flew across her HUD, slicing code. “Ivan’s been fiddling with data here. I found her — Pacifica. We can swing through, pick her up, then try to lose anyone on the grid.”
“That’s insane. You expect us to cruise a stolen Arasaka cargo through the city while Arasaka and Millitech tail us?” Nova’s face went from calm to disbelief.
“And sit in the desert waiting to be trapped? We have zero cover.” Kiwi’s eyes didn’t leave her console. “If we drive through the city we have more routes to fold into. We do it fast.”
So they drove into the teeth of Night City. Arasaka convoys and corporate helos closed in. Casing rounds pounded the cargo; the armor held, but it couldn’t take a sustained beating. Kiwi tossed Nova the gadget he made.
He opened the door, slotted the module, and took control. With one pulse he barked orders and hijacked a pursuing helicopter, turning its guns on its own convoy and buying them a moment. When he shut the hatch everyone stared.
“You a netrunner now? Since when can you hack from four blocks away?” Rebecca asked, incredulous.
“I always could,” Nova said, shrugging like it was nothing. “Just never had the RAM. This thing lets me stretch, but I can’t spam it.”
“Save the interviews. We’re on a clock,” Kiwi snapped. “Parked it in an old lot. We got twenty at best.”
They ghosted into a condemned parking structure. Pilar, Rebecca and Falco stayed to lock down the rig; the rest went for Lucy. Kiwi guided them to a buried facility — a concrete mouth under a cracked plaza. She cracked the hatch and ushered them inside, then split.
“Go now!” she said, sparking the lock.
“My job’s done. All units converge. Remember the deal.” Kiwi said calling with Faraday
“Relax. Nobody will touch you. You walk out clean,” Faraday answered, voice silk and barbed. He had Arasaka whispering in his ear.
Inside the facility Lucy was wired into everything — limbs and skull threaded with cords, eyes vacant as she forced encryption across multiple terminals. Ivan watched, smug, fingers steepled. He’d already got what he wanted: control code that could override users who’d bought the marketware Ivan had ghosted into circulation.
“Motherfucker!” David roared and lit his Sandevistan to run Ivan down — but something grabbed him first. Not a net, not a string — a physical arm, steel and intent, brutal enough to stop him in his tracks. David spun and fired; she ducked like a cat.
“Rina!” Nova cried from the back side.
Ivan smirked and cradled Rina’s face like a prize. “Do you like my toy?” he said. “I must admit I am surprised to have guests Too bad — you’re late. Controlling psychos was easy. Controlling people who still own their minds? That’s the real trick. Kushinada’s skill made the encryption possible — not only can I flip psychotics, I can push implant users to peak performance.”
“You’re sick,” Nova said, disgust sharp as a blade.
“Sick, rich, and on the map,” Ivan replied. “I don’t need to run with the corpos — I just need the power. This gives me influence.”
Rina stood there, eyes empty. She wasn’t whole. Nova’s brain clicked over the tech — the code would be brutal to rip. He didn't have the time right now.
Dorio and Maine lunged for Ivan. Rina moved like a living battering ram — not just strength, but technique, using their momentum against them. David and Nova both hit sandevistan, time folding around their strikes. They thought they had the edge — until other sandi-users appeared, faster than ghosts. Collisions crackled. David dodged one attack; Nova countered another with Muay Thai precision and put a man down. He was about to finish it when a stabbing stitch punched across his back — something pulling him away.
“Forget it. I’ve got sandis to hand out,” Ivan said with a cold voice, amused. “Cheap models, sure — but good enough.”
“Nova! We’re fucked!” Rebecca screamed, voice shredded. “Get out now!”
“What? They’re already here? That fast?” Dorio said
Then the main blast door didn’t just open — it detonated sideways like paper. Everyone froze. The room felt hollowed by a presence; even Ivan’s grin thinned. The silhouette in the doorway filled the corridor with menace.
Adam Smasher stepped through.