“What?
Arasaka at the Coyote Cojo?” V’s voice was sharp with disbelief over the comms.
“Yeah, V.
The Arasaka dogs are here.
I’m cutting the feed—gotta handle this.
We’ll catch up properly later.” Jackie killed the call, disconnected the cable from Levi’s neck, and stood up.
“Mama,” he called out to Mama Welles, “I’m going down to handle this.” He turned to Levi, his expression hardening.
“Mano, stay here.
Let me see what they’re playing at.” Levi grabbed Jackie’s shoulder, stopping him.
“What is this, Jackie?
Trying to be a hero?” “V told me, Arasaka dogs don’t move unless they’re coming for blood,” Jackie said, locking eyes with him.
“I haven’t made a name for myself in this city, and I might not be ‘big time,’ but on my turf?
Not even Saburo Arasaka is taking you from me.” “Bullshit.
I caused this, I finish it.
Let’s see if their guns are faster than mine.” Levi shoved Jackie back into the leather booth and descended the stairs.
He’d accepted Jackie as his brother; he wasn’t about to hide while his friend risked his life for him.
At the base of the stairs, a group of Valentinos had the three Arasaka agents surrounded.
The agents looked less like hostages and more like annoyed aristocrats.
“We’re here for Levi,” the leader, sporting a traditional samurai topknot and classic red-and-black suit, stated coldly.
“Hand him over.
Don’t make this difficult.” “Who the hell do you think you are?
Corp-rat filth!” a Valentino shouted, but the agent didn’t even blink.
He merely glared at the man, and the Valentino’s cyberware sparked, hissed, and he collapsed, twitching.
“Arasaka Netrunner!” Jackie hissed from behind Levi.
“Watch yourself, Mano.
That’s a high-grade one.” Levi stood on the landing, looking down.
“You looking for me?” The agent turned his gaze toward him.
“You’re Levi.
You killed a secretary for Vice Minister Ichikawa yesterday.
The Vice Minister promised a bounty for your head.
Come down.
Now.” “Vaya, esperen,” Jackie stepped in, slapping the agent’s hand away.
“Did you forget whose turf you’re standing on?” The second agent, wearing external red optical lenses, stepped forward to block Jackie.
“This isn’t going to go well for your health.
Quedas claro?” “Ha,” Jackie scoffed.
“You pull a trigger, we pull one too.
It’ll just end with a lot of dead bodies on this floor.” The Valentinos surrounding them drew their pistols in unison, turning the bar into a firing squad.
CLANG.
The samurai-topknot agent’s arms hissed as Mantis Blades extended from his forearms.
“Then you die first!” He triggered a Sandevistan—the world turned to sludge.
He lunged at Jackie in a blur, his blades descending.
HISS.
The kinetic assist system on Levi’s back vented, propelling him forward in a sudden, violent surge.
He slammed into Jackie, knocking him out of the arc of the strike just as the blades missed their mark.
Before the agent could recover, Levi jammed his Atlas 45 against the man’s forehead.
“Bang.” He pulled the trigger.
The agent dropped, a clean hole in his skull.
“Baka yaro!” the netrunner agent screamed, his optical lenses flaring orange as he attempted to hack Levi’s OS.
But Levi was faster.
He’d already spent 100 Rep on a smoke grenade.
He hurled it.
It detonated at the netrunner’s feet, filling the bar with a thick, chemical fog that blinded the agent and severed the connection to his Arasaka Mark 3 Cyberdeck.
Impossible!
The netrunner’s panic was his final thought.
A single gunshot ripped through the smoke, finding the center of his head.
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