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“Oh my God, yes!
Rook, I didn’t know you could run like this.
This is insane.
Look at those Arasaka idiots.
They can’t even keep up with a guy from R&D!”
Lucy propped her chin on one hand and looked back at the mob chasing them, excitement bright across her face.
His jaw tightened as he sprinted.
“Keep talking and I’ll throw you back to them.
You haven’t even told me your name, you crazy woman.”
“Fine, since you’re so capable, I’ll reward you.” She laughed as the exhausted Arasaka employees fell farther behind.
“Listen carefully.
I’m Lucy.”
Then she shifted her weight, settled more comfortably against his arm, grabbed his face, and kissed him without hesitation.
“Rook, you could have told them I stole the chips,” she said, still grinning.
“But you ran with me instead.
What happened?
Finally get tired of being drained dry in Arasaka Tower?”
He had not expected her to be this wild.
He tightened his hold, shot out of the station, and cut into a nearby alley before skidding to a stop.
Only then did he set her down.
“Lucy, because of you, I probably just lost my job.”
He had planned to leave Arasaka eventually, but not like this.
Going back now would be a problem.
Even after putting her on her feet, he kept one hand around her wrist.
“Don’t look so depressed,” Lucy said.
“We worked pretty well together, didn’t we?”
She did not mind the grip.
If a stranger had cost her a job and maybe put a warrant over her head, she would have kept that stranger close too.
Of course, what she really wanted was the pile of chips in his hand.
He read her expression immediately.
He ejected his own Arasaka-issued chip from the slot at his neck, added it to the others, and dangled the stack in front of her.
“You just want to steal these back.”
“They’re mine.
I’d only be taking back what belongs to me.”
Lucy reached for them, but he moved his hand away with insulting ease.
Lucy clicked her tongue.
He smirked, released her wrist, and started walking.
With the chips in his possession, she was not going anywhere else.
As expected, she caught up at once.
“Hey!
You’re not seriously keeping all my hard work, are you?”
“Your hard work?” He did not even look at her.
“They’re in my hand now.
And my chip is in the pile.”
He stopped at a street-side drop point and started feeding the chips into the machine.
“Well, look at that.
Arasaka chips are worth more than I expected.
A dozen or so for fifty thousand eddies.”
Lucy stared at him as if he had just kicked a puppy.
“You were going to sell them to a drop point?
Do you have any idea what those would fetch on the black market?
At least a hundred thousand.”
He pulled the chips back immediately.
‘Of course the drop points are a scam.’
“Don’t tell me you don’t have a buyer,” Lucy said, her eyes narrowing with sudden delight.
She studied his face for a long second, as if looking for the word rookie stamped across his forehead.
He clicked his tongue.
He knew Night City well enough from the game, but black-market logistics were another matter.
Back then, he had dumped useless loot into drop points like everyone else.
She finally burst out laughing.
“So you still need me to move them.”
“Apparently.”
“Fine.
Since we’re partners now, I’ll handle the sale.
Once the money comes in, I’ll give you twenty percent.”
“Lucy, do I look that easy to scam?
Like one of those old R&D fossils with white coats and half their hair gone?
A drop point would give me fifty thousand, and you’re offering ten?”
She was worse than the machine.
“Hey, aren’t you from R&D too?
And you weren’t planning to give me anything.
Pretty sure that makes you worse.”
He paused.
Fine.
She had a point.
“Seventy-thirty, in my favor.”
“No.
Seventy-thirty, in mine.”
“Sixty-forty.”
“Forget it.
Fifty-fifty.”
“Fine.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.