Cyberpunk 2077: Maxtac Path

Chapter 16: You Shall Never Have to Forgive Me Again



(That line as he stops choking Saburo for a moment goes so hard.)

"Damn homes, you're huge! Work out?" Jackie asks the body guard. "Same here, y'know, in the ring. You do some kinda exotic shit? Kempo? Ninjitsu? Think you could take me, drop me?"

"In here." Dex's bodyguard stands to the side.

"This fucking guy."

Stepping into the private area, we can see T-Bug and Dex in a tinted booth. Sounds like Dex is on the phone. "That's right, "excelsior". Cold hard eddies as per usual. Gotta bounce."

"Well if it isn't Mr. V." Dex greets me as we walk in. Alright guess he's gonna gloss over Jackie then. Rude.

"Whole family in one place. Finally!" Jackie seems to excited to notice. He sits down, spreading his arms wide on the couch. Treating this less like heist prep and more like thanksgiving.

"In realspace anyway." T-Bug adds.

"And the flathead?" Dex asks. Ah yes, our wierd robot spider dog.

"Here we are. Maelstrom tweaked it a bit, only the good stuff though minus a slightly more nauseating immersive control system." I say, putting the flathead in a briefcase on the table.

"Nice. Now sit down. Get comfy." Dex asks.

"Sweet booth. It soundproof?" Jackie asks.

"Jackie…" T-Bug tries to reel him in.

"Now, now. Mr Welles is right. We're gonna be going over some sensitive material." I think he just thought that the booth being soundproof would be cooler.

"But if it's all right with yall, I'd like to start with a question for Mr. V. Evelyn Parker - how'd you fare?" Dex asks me.

"I got a look around Yorinobu's suite through a braindance. Know where he's keeping the little chip. Evelyn didn't seem too fond of you though, or me either but I'll chalk that up to excessive prying." I'm keeping the relic's location close to the chest. Dex could drop us and go with another crew at any moment. Floor safes my insurance policy.

"All right. All business, or was she looking for something else?" Dex asks.

"Felt like she was angling to cut you out. Never said it though. Knew I wasn't stupid enough to screw over a fixer and destroy my reputation for a bigger cut."

"Nah that makes sense. Clients don't often understand how things work down here. Not the first time someone's tried to go around me, won't be the last."

"Let's get to it then. What you got for us Dex."

"This." Dex gestures to the table in front of me. There's a suit, the flathead, and two shards. One for me, one for Jack.

"Alright then. Let's hear this plan."

Jackie and I slot the shards into our neural ports.

"Me and Dex've already covered the fine detes. Ops wise, should be a stroll on the beach." T-Bug says.

"Elaborate. I wanna hear it." Jackie inquires.

"Delamain's gonna drop you off at the front door of Konpeki Plaza. You'll stroll right in thanks to your false identities. Then with Bug's help, you'll breach the hotels subnet." Dex says.

"Mine and the flathead's help." T-Bug adds.

"Then you two slip into Yorinobu's penthouse and klep the relic." Dex continues.

"Ideally, there won't be any bodies. Keep it quiet." T-Bug says.

"You'll have T-Bug on comms for the operation. Time for your burning questions."

"Identities. What are they?" I ask.

"Hello Ramón Victorino, and you're Harry Conwell." T-Bug answers, gesturing first to Jackie, then to me.

"Ramón - yeah, ok. What do we say we're there for?" Good question Jackie.

"Biz as usual. Corpo arms deal. Case anyone asks, you there for a bogus meetin' with Arasaka's defense rep, Hajime Taki. Anything else?"

"Nah I'm good, you Jack?" I ask Jackie.

"Yeah, when do we get to the real reason we're all here?" He asks, talking about the part where we get paid.

"Cut for fresh talent's the same and non-negotiable - thirty percent."

"Bro, thirty?!" Jackie asks, enraged at the low cut. Makes sense why he's mad. Split evenly between our crew that's ten percent each.

"Every part in this drama carries its risks. That's the value of yours as determined by me."

"Come on Dex. Prep work doesn't even bump that up by a little? Usually that'd be your job." I ask Dex.

"Not this time, because we're taking tens of millions of eddies here. You're gonna make more than most mercs do in their whole careers, major leagues be damned." Dex responds, and I can see what he's saying. If it's take it or leave it, I'm taking it.

"Alright. Guess it doesn't matter much. More eddies than we'd ever really know how to spend anyway." I say, calming Jackie down. Thirty percent on our usual gigs means nothing compared to this.

"Last thing, Konpeki's got a strict no-iron policy. Security gates, the works. So you dawgs'll leave your lead-spitters in the ride, take the flathead inside in its case."

"Got some deft suits so you'll look the part too." T-Bug adds.

"!Chido!" Jackie's back to excited.

"Thanks, T." I say. She really has planned this out well.

"So, not to count chickens, but when'll we see our eddies?" Jackie asks.

"Depends on how Ms. Parker avails herself of her role, but a week, two tops is my guess. In the meantime we'll lay low. Our Job'll be done anyway. Now as that old Greek dawg says, life's a banquet - so don't go thirsty, but don't get drunk, either. Your chariot awaits outside." With that, Dex leaves the room.

"My cue to delta too. Gotta prep to jack in, be there when you come on comms."

"See you later Bug."

"All right then. Let's get to it." She says as she leaves the room, her excitement finally showing.

"You ready?" Jackie asks me.

"Sure am Jack."

"Then let's go. Eddies wait for no one."

—————————

"Thank you for choosing Delamain services. With Delamain, you leave your problems at the door." The cars ai greets us. Jackie and I are all suited up. Honestly, he pulls it off pretty well.

"Son of a bitch. Better fuckin believe I will." Jackie says.

"I see no reason why you should be using expletives." The car responds to Jackie. Huh, Delamains really are constantly professional.

"Oh yeah? What about the time I tried to hire you for my cousin's bachelor party?"

"Unfortunately, we do not take on such contracts."

"Three months id been saving up scratch… egh, water under the bridge. Hit it Del."

"Before we begin our journey, I must verify the identities of all customers. Please proceed to connect your personal links."

Jackie and I connect to the Delamain.

"Thank you. "Excelsior" package, activated."

""Excelsior"? Man this just keeps getting better!" Jackie exclaims.

"Excelsior? What's that." I ask the ai.

"The "Excelsior" is a package tailored to our premium clientele."

"Top quality don't come free you know. Now watch. Delamain, initiate combat mode!" Jackie yells.

"My apologies, but you do not appear to be in any sort of imminent danger." Well that's anticlimactic.

"Huh, oh well. Trust me, he'll mow down an army of saka ninjas if it comes down to it."

"Damn. Even smasher?" I ask.

"Eh, he could probably take a hit or two, but smashers a walking tank. Not gonna stop him with a limo."

"Excelsior, no better way to cruise into the major leagues."

"Really? I would have thought you'd prefer driving out of a firefight in a sports car with Misty on your arm like some kinda cheesey action flick."

"Nah Holmes. That comes later." Jackie says, smiling at the fantasy. Like some Bushido nonsense.

"But in all seriousness, what are you gonna do with the money after this job? Got any plans?" I ask.

"No idea. Maybe I'll take Misty on a vacation somewhere nice. What about you?" Jackie asks me back. Honestly I can't imagine him ever leaving Night City, at least not for long.

"Not sure. Haven't thought much about the future since I ended up in corpo crosshairs. Like I'm living in the shadows. Could leave, go somewhere Arasaka and Militech wouldn't bother checking. But that just ain't me. Won't leave my home cause I'm scared. Think I'll just keep doing merc work. Maybe meet someone and settle down. Can't imagine it though, a quiet life I mean."

"Well then we'll keep living loud and fast, like legends do."

"Yeah Jackie. Burning bright, screaming loud, and shooting high."

———————————

(Gonna skip to the part where V takes a nap after using the flathead on the netrunner cause otherwise this chapter would be like 20 minutes long. Also because nothing different would've really happened.)

———————————

"What do you think? Why'd he give it all up?" Jackie asks me, waking me from my rest.

"Hmm. Who, Yorinobu?"

"Yeah. The good life, I mean. Old news, I know. Just got to thinking is all."

"Probably got sick of seeing the world through his father's lense. Thought Saburo was just some old fart who got lucky. So he went out and got his ass handed to him. Definely learned one thing. Saburo Arasaka may be a fucked up psycho who sees the whole world as a chessboard for his own goddamn empire, but he is a genius."

"Yeah. Took one look at the real world and came crawling back to kiss his pops' shoes. Poser and a tourist."

"Tourist or not, he just walked into the lobby. Ice is down. Let's do this." T-Bug interjects, giving us the go ahead.

"Perfecto." Jackie says.

"No not perfecto, jack. Sure we should be doing this with Yorinobu in the building. Pretty sure he's got smasher with him like a bodyguard."

"Smasher? Shit, better be quick about this. Can't risk hotel security finding the flathead so we've only got one shot at this." T-Bug says, urging us to hurry up.

Making our way into the elevator, I push the button to head to the 100th floor tavernier suite.

"There's that awkward silence. Wanna hear a joke."

"Fire away Jack."

"Why'd the rockerboy's input kick him out of the apartment?"

"Let me guess. Cause he wasn't chippin' in? Jackie that joke has been told a thousand times."

"Nah Holmes, cause he spent all their money on a silver hand body pillow."

"Hahaha! Now that's fucking funny Jack."

"Look alive gonks. You're at the penthouse."

Jackie and I make our way in. "Bug, any idea how to get to the safe?"

"Look around, should be a switch somewhere. And be quick, Yorinobu's sig has gone dark."

"What is he, some kinda magician?"

"Must have hit a dead zone."

Making my way into Yorinobu's bedroom, I take the iron he left on his bedside table. On the other I see a small button. Touching it, I call out to Jackie. "Is it opening now Jackie?"

"Yep. Come on quick!"

Slowly the safe rises from the floor, cold air rolling off it. "What now T-Bug?"

"Jack in. I'll open the safe." T-Bug responds.

"Alright." I Jack in to the port of the safe.

As T-Bug is cracking the safe, I can hear an AV coming closer. The AV, and two Arasaka drones fly up to the top of the hotel.

"Hey Bug, we've got winged visitors. Know who they are?"

"Don't know, but the staffs abuzz. All of them are scrambling around."

"I don't like this." Jackie tells me.

"Come on T-Bug." I say.

"Got it!" T-Bug exclaims as the safe finally opens.

"Quick Jackie, grab it and let's delta." I say to Jack.

"Bioshard integrity at 100 percent. We're good to go."

"Shit Yorinobu's penthouse bound, find somewhere to hide now!" T-Bug warns us, having spotted the elevator heading up to us.

"Fuck, where?" Jackie asks.

"Behind the smart glass. We stay quite and wait." I say as we move behind the pillar in the middle of the room, hiding behind the glass wall.

The elevator arrives at the top floor. Out of it's steel doors come Yorinobu Arasaka and an entire rippers supply worth of chrome on legs.

"It's really him. Adam Smasher." Jackie says in quiet distress.

"Keep quiet Jack. Doubt this things soundproof. No speaking."

Down from the stairs comes a Japanese man in a black suit, security type, and….

"The damn emperor??" I exclaim before silencing myself. What sort of royal fuck you is this? A clean heist of an object worth hundreds of millions of eddies, with minimal security, and at the last second, Adam Smasher and Saburo Arasaka with all his security decide to make a guest appearance.

"Oh shit!" Jackie exclaims quietly, as the bodyguard starts scanning the smart glass. For a second I think we've been made, but Saburo calls to his dog before he can sniff us out.

"Takemura, leave us."

"Arasaka-sama, I have not finished checking the perimeter." The bodyguard, now named Takemura, tells his master.

"This is my son. Go." Takemura, a loyal dog, heads to the elevator. Smasher follows him out. Thank god.

Once the guards have left the room Saburo finally addresses Yorinobu.

"Did you think I would not notice it had been taken from me?" Saburo asks his son. Oh fuck. He's here for the relic which is now firmly in Jackie's grip. Oh. Fuck.

"Actually, I do not think of you. ever. That's your problem. You think the world revolves around you. Arrogant."

"Yorinobu…"

"Why did you come here? To humiliate me? To personally see that your son knows his place?"

"The nail that protrudes from the wall gets hammered…" Saburo says, likely quoting some Japanese proverb.

"Can't think of anything original to say?"

"And you thought it "original" to sell our greatest achievement to westerners? Our future to these… barbarians?!"

"Our future? Ours?! You are mistaken. You've only ever cared about yourself… and your sick schemes." You tell him Yorinobu.

"I knew this day would come. That sooner or later your impudence would cross the line. There is much for which I could forgive you, but for treason - no." Damn. He cutting Yorinobu off or something?

"I'm just glad your mother didn't live to see this. The heart should break but once." Saburo says to his son. That's the kinda sentence that could make anyone else fly off the handle. But this is the emperor we're fucking talking about. No ones gonna raise a ha-

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

Yorinobu grunts as he lunges for his father's throat, shoving him against the smart glass.

"Oh shit." Jackie says quietly, just as shocked as me.

Yorinobu releases his hands as Saburo gasps for air as he reaches for his son with an outstretched hand. A plea for mercy.

"You shall never have to forgive me for anything again."


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