After finishing their conversation, Loki and Rebecca stood up and walked out of the bar.
Passing by the second floor, they ran into Jackie Welles, who was still drinking.
Seeing the two of them leaving side by side, he gave Loki a subtle, knowing thumbs-up.
They soon reached the entrance of the bar.
At this hour, the streets of Night City were largely empty, with barely any pedestrians passing by.
Only the bar behind them injected some lively noise into the silent night.
“Did you drive here, Rebecca?”
“Nope.”
Rebecca shook her head.
She didn’t own a car, though Falco usually drove her around whenever they went out on missions, so she hadn’t felt much need for one.
Tonight was a bit of an anomaly.
“Then let me drive you back.
Where do you live?”
“Thanks.
My place is in Longshore North.”
Rebecca didn’t refuse.
After all, getting back at night without a ride was a real hassle.
“I live in Little China.
It’s mostly on the way.”
Loki summoned his motorcycle through his vehicle link.
He hopped on and patted the seat behind him, gesturing for Rebecca to get on.
Rebecca stared at Loki, momentarily surprised.
She hadn’t expected him to ride a motorcycle, but she didn’t dwell on it for long and hopped on without any hesitation.
“Hold on tight.”
As the engine roared to life and the speed ramped up, Rebecca placed her small hands firmly on either side of Loki’s waist.
She could clearly feel the solid muscle hidden beneath Loki’s clothes.
It didn’t feel like the body of an ordinary ripperdoc at all.
Loki rode incredibly fast, the wind howling past them.
Rebecca sat up straight, leaning forward.
She stretched her head past the right side of Loki’s helmet, trying to get her mouth as close to his ear as possible.
“Who knew a ripperdoc could be built this solid?” she shouted over the wind.
“I work out every day!
Besides, doing this kind of underground business means you have to have the means to protect yourself!”
“Fair point!”
Loki steered the motorcycle smoothly through Night City.
Rebecca, who had leaned in to talk to him, didn’t pull back.
At the moment, Loki was entirely focused on driving, completely unaware of the pair of cute, large eyes staring at him.
Gazing at Loki’s profile for a long time, this was the first time Rebecca had observed this man from such a close distance.
Seeing his focused expression, Rebecca realized that other than being a bit eccentric, he was actually a pretty great guy—especially toward her.
Rebecca’s petite stature had always brought her a fair share of trouble.
Arrogant fixers and patronizing mercenaries often looked down on her and mocked her, and even bar bouncers frequently tried to stop her at the door.
Yet Loki hadn’t underestimated her at all.
In fact, he had placed an immense amount of trust in her.
A warm feeling bloomed in Rebecca’s chest, a sense of validation she rarely felt.
‘Now that I think about it, he’s actually pretty nice,’ Rebecca thought to herself.
With Loki’s bike boasting excellent performance and his skilled handling, they quickly traversed more than half of Night City and arrived at the Northside Industrial Area.
But as they hit the main road leading toward Longshore North, the focused Loki immediately noticed something was off.
His right eye sharply picked up an anomaly in the road conditions ahead.
Adjusting his cybereye’s vision, he saw that the road ahead had been blocked by several vehicles.
Seven or eight gangers stood in the middle of the road, the extensive cybernetic modifications on their bodies clearly giving away their identity as Maelstrom.
Maelstrom held a tight grip on the Northside Industrial Area.
They were pathologically obsessed with cyberware, daring to install practically any modification onto their bodies.
To put it bluntly, they were a breeding ground for cyberpsychosis.
Who knew what kind of chaotic gathering these lunatics were holding tonight.
“Rebecca.” Loki slowed the bike down and called out to her.
“What’s up?”
“Maelstrom’s blocking the road ahead.”
“Huh?”
Hearing Loki’s words, Rebecca gripped his shoulders, pushing herself up slightly to peer over his head.
Sure enough, just as Loki had said, a pack of Maelstrom psychos had gathered ahead.
“Those guys are bad news.
What are you gonna do?”
Seeing the numerous gang members blocking their path, Rebecca knew these lunatics were hard to deal with.
If Maine were here, maybe they could brute-force their way through, but she couldn’t do that—at least, not right now.
“What am I gonna do?
Punch right through them, of course.
Hang on!”
Loki stared at the Maelstrom gangers ahead and flashed a bright smile.
He twisted the motorcycle’s throttle to the limit, charging straight toward them at maximum horsepower.
The sudden burst of speed caught Rebecca completely off guard, throwing her body backward.
She nearly lost her grip.
“Hey!
Are you crazy?!
Why aren’t we taking a detour?” Rebecca yelled at Loki, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist to stabilize herself.
She never expected Loki to choose a direct charge.
How was this any different from a suicide run?
“No need for a detour.
Trust me, Rebecca.”
Loki stared at the Maelstrom gangers ahead.
To be honest, he despised these guys.
They were absolute maniacs, every bit as repulsive as Scavengers.
Since a pack of rabid dogs was blocking his path, the only logical move was to put them down.
“Trust you?
Fine, you absolute lunatic!”
Rebecca recalled what Loki had said about sincerity breeding sincerity.
Since that was the case, she would trust him this once.
Besides, she was already on the bike and couldn’t jump off.
She might as well join him in his madness.
Watching the Maelstrom blockade rapidly draw closer, Rebecca pulled out her pistol and prepared for a fight.
She locked her arms around Loki, pressing her body tightly against his back to keep herself steady.
Feeling the firm pressure against his back, Loki’s smile grew even wider.
At the same time, his mind accessed his system interface and installed a mod.
Meanwhile, the Maelstromers had also noticed the oncoming duo.
The roar of the motorcycle engine grew deafening in their ears.
“Hahaha!
Prey’s delivered itself to our doorstep!
Time for a butcher party!”
“I’m gonna rip his eyes out and use them to watch him get torn to pieces!
Kakaka!”
They stared excitedly at the approaching Loki, their eyes reflecting a manic hunger, as if Loki were already meat on their chopping block.
But to their utter surprise, the oncoming motorcycle didn’t slow down, turn around, or even try to swerve.
It charged straight at them.
“What’s this idiot trying to do?”
Staring at the bike that showed absolutely no signs of decelerating, the Maelstrom gangers failed to react in time.
It was beyond their comprehension that someone would dare to charge at them head-on.
Loki arrived in front of them at terminal velocity, aiming directly for the gap between their vehicles.
Before one of the gangers could even register what was happening, a hand of cold steel clamped onto his face.
The palm grew larger and larger in his vision until it consumed his entire sight, grabbing him with terrifying momentum.
Under the sheer force of the speed, Loki’s powerful fingers sank directly into the man’s skull.
Loki snatched the unlucky bastard up as easily as if he were grabbing a ragdoll, taking him along for a wild ride at a hundred and eighty miles per hour.
With a whip of his left arm, Loki gave the unfortunate ganger another forward acceleration, throwing him straight into a concrete pillar by the roadside.
At such a violent velocity, the head that collided with the pillar burst instantly like soft tofu, leaving a gruesome splatter of crimson blood and gray brain matter painted across the dented concrete.