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David's sudden curse made the inside of the car go silent.
The other men turned toward him immediately, their eyes sharp and cold. The casual anger in the cramped vehicle felt like a blade pressed against his throat.
David had never experienced this kind of pressure before. He was still just a kidāArasaka Academy uniform under his jacket, dreams bigger than his wallet. His fingers tightened around the grip of the pistol Arthur had given him. His palms were sweating.
Arthur Vale raised a hand lazily.
"Relax."
The tension eased at once. The others looked away, though confusion remained in their expressions. None of them understood why Arthur had brought this teenager along on a job like this.
Arthur glanced at David with a half-smile.
"David, isn't your dream to become a corpo executive one day?"
David swallowed.
"What do you think we're doing right now?" Arthur continued calmly. "We're working for corporate people. Same thing. Think of this asā¦ an early internship."
He leaned back in his seat.
"A field experience."
"Iā¦ Iā¦"
David's throat felt dry. He didn't want this. He didn't want guns. He didn't want gang politics. He wanted to climb the corporate ladder and escape the streets, not sink deeper into them.
After a long pause, he lowered his head and whispered, "I want to go homeā¦"
Arthur reached over and patted his shoulder.
"What nonsense are you talking about? We're brothers. I'll send you home before your mom finishes work. She'll never know."
That wordāmomāhit differently.
David knew resistance was pointless. Arthur was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that meant decisions were already made.
After hesitating, David asked quietly, "Arthurā¦ why did you give me five thousand eurodollars this morning? That'sā¦ that's a fortune for a student."
Arthur shrugged.
"Is it?"
Then he smirked.
"Handle this mission well and I'll transfer another five thousand after."
David froze.
Ten thousand eddies?
That was more money than he had ever held in his life.
He usually bought black-market braindances from familiar ripperdocs and sold them quietly at Arasaka Academy. Each sale earned him maybe twenty, thirty eddies. Fifty at most. And every time he did it, he risked expulsion.
But thisā¦
Five thousand. Just like that.
David thought of the thick bundle of cash sitting inside his backpack.
A bitter thought flashed through his mind.
So this is the adult worldā¦
Of course he was tempted. Who wouldn't be? He studied hard for years so he wouldn't be looked down on in Night City. So he wouldn't end up like every other street kid scraping for survival.
Money meant power.
Money meant choices.
And Arthur was offering him both.
---
The car rolled to a stop near their destination.
An abandoned factory stood ahead, its front gate torn down long ago. The outer walls were rusted, patched, and reinforced.
It wasn't abandoned anymore.
After Will Hanson's renovations, it had clearly become a small armed stronghold.
Arthur didn't step out immediately. He studied the structure quietly.
"Brother Arthur," Bain asked, "frontal assault? Or rescue hostages first?"
"No rush," Arthur replied. "Let me see what's inside first."
He turned slightly.
"David, stay with Bain. He'll keep you alive."
Bain nodded and gave David a surprisingly friendly smile. He didn't question Arthur's judgment. If Arthur valued this kid, there was a reason.
David nodded nervously.
---
Arthur activated his netrunning abilities.
The world around him faded as his consciousness slipped into the local network.
There was almost no resistance.
Within seconds, he breached the factory's internal system and seized control of all surveillance feeds.
Camera after camera lit up in his mind.
No dedicated netrunner on security. Amateur mistake.
He scanned the data layers.
Thirty-plus 6th Street gang members.
All armed.
Most had basic cyberware. A few had solid ICE defense installed in their neural ports.
That explains why they're not worried about being hacked, Arthur thought.
His digital presence glided between camera feeds, mapping positions, memorizing blind spots, counting patrol patterns.
In the main hall, several men were gathered.
And one of them stood out.
A figure dressed in black robes.
Face concealed behind a mask.
Only cybernetic eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.
Arthur probed the ICE around the man's neural network.
Thick.
Layered.
Professional.
A Voodoo Boys netrunner.
Inside the hall, Will Hanson's voice echoed angrily.
"We're dealing with a rookie netrunner! This morning he burned out my brother's optics! Thinks he can disrespect Will Hanson like that?"
Arthur almost laughed.
Planning to kill me? Over that?
The black-robed netrunner nodded slowly.
"I've reviewed the details. You can't move directly against him because of gang politics. That's why you hired me."
His voice was calm, cold.
"You pay. I eliminate. That's all."
Arthur understood immediately.
Will Hanson didn't dare confront him openly. So he outsourced the problem.
Classic Night City solution.
The Voodoo Boys were one of the most dangerous gangs in Pacifica. Fewer than three hundred members, but every one of them a skilled netrunner.
They specialized in diving beyond the Blackwallāprobing forbidden sections of the Old Net.
They hacked corporations. Stole secrets. Sold information.
And sometimes, they took private contracts.
Like this one.
Arthur continued scanning the facility.
Behind the main hall was a storage section converted into holding cells.
Metal cages.
Inside one, a woman.
Minimal cyberware.
Young. Beautiful. Terrified.
So that was the client's lover.
Arthur counted.
Twenty cages total.
Two empty.
The restā¦ occupied.
Human trafficking.
His expression darkened.
---
Arthur disconnected from the cameras.
Back in reality, he opened the metal equipment case at his feet.
Inside were EMP grenades.
Bain raised an eyebrow.
"Complication?"
Arthur handed three EMP grenades to David.
Then he activated their internal neural comm channel.
[There's a Voodoo Boys netrunner inside. I'll burn the leader's brain first.]
[After that, you throw EMPs. Disable cyberware. Clean up the rest.]
[I've masked our vehicle signature. They don't know we're here yet.]
Bain's tone turned serious.
[Understood.]
Everyone moved into position.
David followed Bain instinctively.
Running now?
He glanced at Arthur.
No.
He couldn't escape.
And even if he couldā¦ he wasn't sure he wanted to anymore.
The promise of another five thousand eddies weighed heavily in his mind.
---
Inside the factory.
The black-robed netrunner suddenly stiffened.
He sensed something.
A ripple in the network.
Arthur struck.
A powerful quickhack surged directly toward Will Hanson's neural interface.
There was no warning.
No time to react.
Will Hanson's body jerked violently.
His cyberware overheated instantly.
Steam hissed from behind his ears.
His eyes rolled backā
Then his brain flatlined.
He collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Chaos erupted.
"WHAT THEā"
The Voodoo Boys netrunner reacted instantly, launching defensive ICE and scanning the network aggressively.
But Arthur was already gone.
Outsideā
"NOW!" Bain shouted.
Three EMP grenades flew through the broken windows.
The explosion wasn't fiery.
It was silentā
Thenā
A violent electromagnetic pulse rippled through the factory.
Cyberware shorted out.
Optics flickered.
Smart guns malfunctioned.
Neural links disconnected.
Half the gang members screamed as their implants failed mid-connection.
Bain and the others stormed in.
Gunfire erupted.
David flinchedābut he didn't freeze.
He remembered the cages.
He remembered the money.
He remembered his mother.
And something inside him shifted.
He fired.
The recoil jolted his arms, but the shot landed.
A 6th Street ganger dropped.
Smoke filled the air.
The Voodoo Boys netrunner tried to counter-hack blindly, but without a stable connection, his response lagged.
Arthur re-entered the system for a split second.
Overheat.
The black-robed man screamed as his neural circuits burned.
He collapsed beside Will Hanson.
Silence followed.
Broken only by the faint hum of damaged cyberware.
---
When the shooting stopped, Bain lowered his weapon.
"All clear."
Arthur stepped into the factory calmly.
He looked around at the aftermath.
Efficient.
Clean.
He walked toward the cages.
The rescued woman stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.
Arthur unlocked the door.
"You're free."
---
Outside, David stood still.
His heart was pounding.
His ears were ringing.
His hands trembled slightly.
But he was still standing.
Arthur approached him.
"You did well."
David looked up.
"Was thatā¦ really necessary?"
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
He simply transferred funds.
David's neural link buzzed.
+5,000 Eurodollars Received
Arthur smiled faintly.
"Welcome to the real world, David."
David looked down at his trembling hands.
Then at the factory.
Then at Arthur.
Night City didn't care about dreams.
It cared about power.
And tonightā
He had taken his first step into it.