Rebecca arrived at El Coyote Cojo.
After asking Pepe where Loki was, she was led by a server to a private booth.
Inside, the two men who had been deep in conversation stopped talking the moment Rebecca walked in.
Seeing her arrival, Jackie Welles pushed off his thighs and stood up.
“In that case, I won’t play third wheel.
I’ll take off first, L.
You two have fun chatting.”
Jackie turned around, patted Loki on the shoulder, and gave him a knowing wink.
Jackie’s expression made it clear he hadn’t expected Loki to go for this particular type, but he could respect it.
Loki was completely speechless under Jackie’s gaze.
He could only roll his eyes in sheer exasperation.
At this point, he was practically on the verge of a breakdown.
What on earth was wrong with everyone’s brains?
Could they be normal for once?
It was just a business meeting.
“Have a good one, ladies and gents.”
With Jackie’s parting blessing, he and his companion left the booth, and Rebecca stepped inside.
“Have a seat.
What can I get you to drink?”
“Just a soda.”
At Loki’s gesture, Rebecca sat down naturally.
“Didn’t expect a ripperdoc to double as a fixer.
Alright, spit it out.
What’s the gig?”
Loki didn’t bother explaining that he was the actual employer.
He ordered the soda Rebecca wanted from the server, then pulled out a data shard and slid it over to her.
“The details of the job are in there.
Take a look first.”
Rebecca took the shard, slotted it into her neural port, and began reading.
The details of the job unfolded before her eyes.
“So the job is just…
making deliveries?
Ten thousand eddies?
Real generous.”
“That’s right.
Your job is to safely deliver the goods to these ripperdoc clinics and collect the corresponding payments,” Loki explained.
The gig wasn’t complicated—just deliver the goods and bring back the cash.
But it wouldn’t be easy either.
More than ten target clinics were scattered across Night City.
On top of that, there was a massive volume of goods this time.
If Loki were to deliver them himself, he wouldn’t be able to fit them all in one trip, and it would likely take him an entire day.
It made much more sense to hire someone.
Not only would this establish a connection with Rebecca, but it would also throw off anyone trying to trace the source of the serums.
It killed two birds with one stone.
As for the cost of the contract, it was practically nothing compared to the profits from a single batch of orders.
Besides, spending money on Rebecca didn’t bother him at all.
That was why Loki had offered a price significantly higher than standard market rates.
“This job won’t be a total walk in the park.
If any of them refuse to pay, you’ll have to rely on your own methods.”
When Loki made the deliveries, the clinics naturally wouldn’t dare refuse to pay.
But it was hard to say how they would act with Rebecca.
After all, her petite stature didn’t exactly scream intimidating.
“Huh?
You doubting me?
I’ll take the job.
I guarantee you won’t lose a single eddy.”
Rebecca pulled out a pink-and-green-painted pistol, racked the slide, and waved it in front of Loki’s face with a confident smirk.
Looking at Rebecca’s confident, cute demeanor, Loki couldn’t help but smile warmly.
“As long as you’re confident.
Here’s to a good partnership.”
Loki clinked his glass against hers.
Their very first joint venture was officially set in stone.
“Tomorrow morning, head to the warehouse marked on the shard.
I’ll hand the goods over to you.
Just try to finish the deliveries within the day.
As for right now, we can chat.”
“Chat about what?”
“You.”
“Me?
Why?” Rebecca asked, slightly confused.
“I want to get to know you better.
We’ll have plenty of chances to work together in the future, and I think we could be friends.”
Sensing the sincerity in Loki’s eyes, Rebecca took a sip of her drink and laughed.
“Ha, friends?
I thought you fixers only cared about making the mercenaries under you follow orders.”
Loki shook his head at her teasing.
“I think you misunderstand.
I’m not a fixer; I’m the employer.
I don’t know many mercenaries, and I’m just hiring someone to help me get things done.
In my eyes, anyone who can help me is a friend.”
“You’re not a fixer?
So you didn’t even know me before this?
And you still dared to hand such an important job over to me?
Are you insane?”
Rebecca had assumed Loki was a Night City fixer who knew her track record and had chosen her based on that.
But now it turned out this guy had handed a massive contract over to her after meeting her only once.
It was a lunatic move.
Wasn’t he afraid she would mess up, or just run off with the deposit and the cargo money?
“Maybe.
But I’m usually a good judge of character.
You give off a very reliable vibe, and I trust you’ll do a great job.”
“Reliable?” Rebecca stared at Loki.
Looking into his serious eyes, she dithered for a moment.
To be spoken to so earnestly was enough to make even her lose her train of thought.
But she quickly recovered and flashed a reassuring smile.
“Fine.
Since you put it that way, I’ll make sure this job gets done right.”
Though it was hard to believe anyone in Night City would actually trust a complete stranger, being trusted was, at the end of the day, something to be happy about.
She was starting to feel that the man in front of her was a bit different from the others.
It made her curious about what kind of person he really was.
At the very least, he was far more interesting than those sour-faced fixers.
“With you saying that, I can rest easy.
Oh, right, I have one more request.
The source of this job cannot be known by anyone but you.
That includes the rest of your crew,” Loki said after a brief thought.
“What kind of weird rule is that?” Rebecca looked at Loki, puzzled.
Stared down by Rebecca’s large, adorable, and confused eyes, Loki explained.
“I have to protect myself.
There’s a saying: in Night City, the only person you can trust is yourself.
If you get sold out, you can only blame yourself.”
Loki recalled the classic lines of the Edgerunners.
In this dystopian city, no one could ever guarantee how well they truly knew someone, nor could they guarantee they wouldn’t be betrayed.
When it came to Maine’s crew, only Rebecca—whose loyalty was maxed out—could truly put him at ease.
As long as he could bring her over to his side, Loki believed she would never betray him, and she would become a powerful asset.
As for the others, Loki couldn’t make any promises—especially with Kiwi, that ticking time bomb, still in Maine’s crew.
“Then why did you choose to trust me?
Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you out?”
“You’re the exception.
Besides, I can’t just give up on this business because I don’t trust others.
And trust has to be built step by step, right?
What’s the saying?
Sincerity breeds sincerity.”
Loki gestured as he explained.
For a brief second, he felt a bit like Jackie—spinning a whole web of smooth talk.
It seemed hanging around the guy for so long had infected him.
Then again, making friends Jackie’s way was definitely much easier.
Looking at the strange man before her, who was clearly highly paranoid of others yet mysteriously trusted her, Rebecca chuckled helplessly.
“Alright, I promise you, you weirdo.”
“Come on, cheers.
To friendship.” Loki raised his glass.
“To friendship.
So we’re officially friends now?
Is making friends always this casual?” Rebecca remarked, draining her soda in one gulp.
“It’s always this casual.
The guy who just walked out taught me that.
It’s called fate.”
“Well, I guess having another friend isn’t a bad thing.”