Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ [Incoming Call: Mr.
Hands] At last, the man on the other end seemed unable to endure Cade’s repeated calls.
The line connected with a soft drip.
“Mr.
Hands.
Finally done being busy?” Cade spoke through a haze of pain.
He did not want to imagine how much blood he would have lost if the severed arm had been natural.
Thanks to technology, the artificial vessels at the break were clamping themselves shut, which at least kept him from dying on the spot.
Blessed be chrome.
He could still walk a little.
“Impressive.
Very impressive, my friend.
With your abilities, you could do quite well in this neighborhood.
Unfortunately, Hansen needs everyone involved with that shipment to keep quiet.
I hope you understand.” Mr.
Hands clapped softly.
His expression was perfectly natural, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
‘Good.
So that’s how you want to play.’ Cade felt he had been giving the fixer far too much respect.
“I understand shit.” Pain ground his voice down between his teeth.
“Wade Bleecker.
You really thought no one knew?” For the first time, the ever-composed Mr.
Hands went silent.
“Curious how I know the real name of a corpo dog like you, aren’t you?” Cade’s smile was cruel.
It really did fit.
He was the lion watching Hands’s wild bull.
In his old life, Cade had studied the main stories of this game world inside and out.
He had not planned to treat the fixer this way.
Unfortunately, some people did not stop pushing until you slapped them hard enough to make them remember.
He had wanted to grow slowly in this little district.
Learn the world.
Build a life.
Now, with one arm gone, legends and rewards meant nothing.
Cade only wanted to stay alive.
Mr.
Hands’s breathing grew heavier through the holo.
He could not understand it.
These things should have been buried under ash.
How did this bloody young man know them?
Mr.
Hands had never believed anyone else knew where to cut him.
Now he was afraid of the kid with blood on his face and stubborn light in his eyes.
But Cade was not the kind of man to swing once and stop.
He wanted to break Mr.
Hands slowly.
So he kept going.
“A Petrochem executive.
You climbed high, didn’t you?
Should I tell Hansen there is a repainted corpo dog curled up in his own kennel?” “You wanted your retirement money in Pacifica.
You even built yourself a family.
In this city, you want to retire in peace…” “Are you ready to pay what that takes?” Mr.
Hands’s expression finally sank.
Calling this young man a lion had been a careless joke at first.
Now the stone he had lifted had landed squarely on his own foot.
He was not going to sit still and wait to die.
“Young man, the past means very little.
You threaten me.
Do you have enough weight to do that?” ‘Good.
Still stubborn.’ Cade almost laughed.
The fixer had gotten stupid from years of being obeyed.
He still thought they could talk as equals, trade threats, and come away balanced.
Mr.
Hands was a fixer with a corporate past, a dog under Hansen, and a man who handled things nobody wanted in daylight.
If you respected him, you could call him powerful and well connected.
If you did not, he was a weather vane dressed as a king.
Cade’s own desire was much simpler.
He had come out to earn some money and find a way to live.
Why did that have to be so damn hard?
Since the other man still would not yield, Cade decided to rip off a larger strip of skin.
“I think I also know you like backing two of Hansen’s officers.
Let me see…
Jago?
Bennett?
How long do you think you stay sitting in that Black Sapphire kennel if the colonel learns you enjoy gathering votes and praying for the day someone slits his throat?” “You thought that would make you a little emperor of Dogtown, didn’t you?” “And…
you have not been shy about contacting Havana either, have you?” Step by step, Cade hammered Mr.
Hands’s face and mental defenses into the floor.
For the first time, the calculating fixer had been seen through from front to back.
“My friend, enough-” Cade cut him off with threats and curses.
“Who the fuck is your friend?
I am giving you two roads.
First, crawl to Hansen and repeat everything I just said.
See how the good colonel handles you.” “Second, get your ass out of the Black Sapphire, remember where you stand, and figure out how to make Hansen stop this operation.
On top of that, figure out how to keep me alive.” “I already had copies of your information made.
Maybe a few runners have them too.
Either way, that data is tied to my life.
I die, and it goes straight to Hansen.” “Plenty of choices, right?” Cade’s eyes were shot through with blood, but his voice stayed normal.
In truth, he was close to his limit.
‘God, that felt good.’ It was the first time he had understood how satisfying revenge could be.
Whether Mr.
Hands would still be Pacifica’s fixer later, and what that would do to the story, Cade did not care.
What happened if this cruel world lost one fixer?
Even if the whole timeline tangled itself into knots, what did that have to do with Cade Mercer?
Mr.
Hands had always been composed, but tonight that composure finally cracked.
Cade had seen him too clearly.
“Calm down, my friend.
Tell me your location.
My people will come for you at once.
I guarantee your safety.” Cade laughed.
“Come for me?
Are you stupid?
Find me a few routes out of Dogtown.
One hundred thousand eurodollars.
If Hansen or your people catch up to me even once, I send your file immediately.” The money would pay for cyberware and identity work.
As for the escape routes, Cade did not plan to use them.
Just like the “data,” they were smoke.
Honest people died waiting in Night City.
Cade did not plan to die.
He had already decided to stay in Dogtown and keep his eyes on Mr.
Hands.
At this point, the place had become a real safehouse in the only sense that mattered.
Dogtown would be Cade’s first step up.
Mr.
Hands nodded.
Sure enough, one hundred thousand eurodollars entered Cade’s account, not a single eddie missing.
His face was dark enough to drip.
“Once you leave Dogtown, do not come back.” Cade bared bloodstained teeth.
“Not promising that.
You’re angry now.
You’re thinking about how to get me once I’m in Night City.
Thing is, I like moving around.
Maybe one day I’ll pay you a visit.
That’s it.
Later.” The call ended, and Cade’s strength finally gave out.
The quiet night wind, the savage pain, Barghest sirens in the distance, Hansen’s speech, and the hum of AVs overhead all ground against his nerves at once.
Cade sank to his knees.
He had prepared as best he could and called the ripperdoc contact he had picked up earlier in the stadium black market.
Money might persuade a Dogtown ripper to include pickup service.
Rustle.
Grass shifted nearby.
Cade’s head was barely holding itself upright as he made the call.
He still heard someone approaching.
A pair of polished corpo-dog heels appeared in front of him.
Beneath tailored slacks, pale, slender ankles caught the low light.
‘Seriously?’ ‘Another one?’ ‘A corpo dog.
A woman…’ Cade was so tired.
With the last of his strength, he lifted his head and looked at the woman standing over him.
‘Pretty, though.’ The thought came anyway.
‘Fine.
Not bad.
Got my revenge, and before dying I at least got to see the cyberpunk beauty who came to execute me.
I can make peace with that.’ “Who are you?” He asked the question, rolled his eyes back, and passed out.
The woman looked down at the man collapsed at her feet and frowned faintly.
“Shit.
He can still walk like this?” She reached down.
The lines of cyberware under her suit sleeve stood out as one hand lifted Cade from the ground.
“Can you hear me?
Stay awake.” She slapped Cade’s cheek.
His consciousness had already gone blurry.
He seemed to nod.
“Damn it.
Looks like you are about to flatline.” “Fine.
I’m with Arasaka Counterintelligence.
My name is-” “V.” ✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.