"Why would you think I'd like this thing, Karl?"
T-BUG showed a touch of reluctance as she looked at the Little Flathead Karl had brought back. "It just looks too weird."
"You don't like it?"
Karl was genuinely surprised—he'd assumed this was right up her alley. "I thought you liked robots."
"I like gear that's functional, supports my work, and doesn't look like it crawled out of a horror flick. Not this."
She glanced at the three guys gathered around the Little Flathead. "But they seem into it. Ask them."
"This thing's sick."
After running a virus scan and plugging in the control chip, V linked with the Little Flathead. Moving it via remote sync, he shared its sensory feedback in real time. "So this is what it feels like when T-BUG pilots Ball? Damn, this is wild. T-BUG, sure you don't wanna give it a try?"
"If I didn't already have Ball, I might be tempted. But I do—so why would I?"
T-BUG declined again. Watching her teammates shouting and laughing as the Flathead darted around the room, her expression remained flat. "Just don't wreck the place. I'm heading upstairs."
"You're leaving already, T-BUG? Not even a second look?"
Oliver turned, but T-BUG was already halfway up the stairs. "This is seriously cool..."
"I don't get you guys."
And with that, the door closed behind her.
"That so..."
Oliver looked over at V. "V, you done yet? I wanna try it too."
"Hang on, just one more minute. I swear."
"You've been saying that for half an hour."
While the two argued, Jack—probably due to being the oldest—kept calm. Instead of fighting for his turn, he turned to Karl.
"Karl, what's the plan for this Flathead? Gonna retrofit it for team ops?"
"I didn't really think that far ahead. Just figured it looked neat and brought it back."
He added, "If you guys wanna make use of it, go ahead. Just don't flash it in front of anyone from Militech."
"Yeah, using stolen Militech tech in broad daylight probably isn't the best idea."
No sooner had Jack said that than Karl's phone lit up.
It was a message from the Netwatch agent in the Free State of Northern California.
"Mr. KK, if your squad is available, please come within the next three days. The matter we discussed has reached a critical point."
Karl straightened up on the couch as he read it.
Netwatch had previously offered them a gig—300,000 eddies and access to one of their immersion pods. The job wasn't ready back then, so they'd reserved the slot and asked Karl not to leave Night City in the meantime.
Karl had agreed, saying he had no travel plans. And now, the signal had come in.
According to the agent, the mission was a covert strike against the Voodoo Boys' leadership. The Animals were too noisy for the job, so once the time was right, they planned to outsource it to KK's team. Judging from the message, that time was now.
Karl dropped the info in the squad's private channel so that even T-BUG upstairs could see. Then he called the rest over, pulling them away from playing with the Flathead.
"Netwatch, huh? Oh yeah, that gig they booked us for—finally go time?"
Oliver remembered quickly. "So when do we roll? They said 'within three days,' so we've got some flexibility. Do we need prep?"
"To be safe, let's not rush it. But we also shouldn't wait till the last second."
Jack thought it over. "How about we hit up Vik tomorrow for some cyberware tuning, then head in the day after?"
"Sounds good to me."
Karl clapped once. Jack's idea was solid—don't dive in unprepared, but don't drag your feet either. They'd only worked one job with Netwatch before, so they weren't fully familiar with the rhythm yet. No need to complicate things.
"If we've got a day in between, we can do a quick retrofit on the Flathead."
V had already piloted the bot over. "It's a stealth op, right? The Voodoo Boys are all elite netrunners. T-BUG's gonna be tied up fighting off hacks, so she won't be able to help us directly. Why not use the Flathead for support?"
"Combat support, huh?"
Karl mulled it over. "V, can you get the modding done in a day? Not gonna burn you out?"
"Relax, I've got this. Remember when I helped T-BUG calibrate Ball? That was before I even joined the squad."
V gave a confident nod. "I'll head to Vik's tonight to tweak my implants, then spend all of tomorrow upgrading the Flathead. Maelstrom's Raven system isn't bad, but the neural sync is way too aggressive. After prolonged use, it causes vertigo and scrambled feedback. I'll reroute the interface, reduce neural strain, tweak the sensitivity—should be ready by night."
He tapped his temple. "I'm already feeling a bit lightheaded just from testing. No wonder Maelstrom guys are lunatics. With how much chrome they stack, and then using gear with this kind of direct neuro-feedback? It's a recipe for insanity."
"They do boast about the sync quality, though."
Karl nodded. Seeing V this confident, he felt at ease. "Alright, I'll leave it to you. I've got my hands full being lazy."
"Wow. Prioritizing laziness. Classy."
Oliver rolled his eyes. "At least help with dinner tonight?"
"Nope. Not my turn, according to the chore schedule."
Karl glanced out the window as the sky darkened, and Night City's neon glow bathed the skyline.
"Yep. Today's a good day."
On the other side of the world—Japan—while Night City fell into night, dawn was breaking.
Longitude 142°10′ East, Latitude 27°45′ North.
Off the coast of Tokyo's Ogasawara Islands, a black ops Arasaka lab sat hidden beneath the waves.
"Today will be a good day."
Inside a submarine, Norinobu Arasaka peered at the glowing island through a periscope.
The moment he'd been waiting for was finally approaching.
The chase was nearly over.
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🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless
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