"So, we can now confirm the contact was the traitor."
Standing atop a distant rooftop, Karl watched as Barghest soldiers slowly surrounded the Luna Moth Bar, preparing to storm it. Turning to Lied—whose face was hard to make out in the dim Dogtown night—he spoke:
"We'll have to figure out our own way to get that chip out. Got anyone else you can reach?"
"No."
Lied's expression was grim in the shadows. He kept his voice low:
"There's no backup. Not even alternative contacts. We had only that one handler. This concerns the President—there's no room for risk."
"So… no contingency at all, huh."
Karl let out a quiet sigh, glanced toward the noise in the distance, and shook his head.
"Well then, we'll have to think really hard about how to slip past Barghest and get out of Dogtown."
He pulled out his phone to check the status of his cover identity.
Unsurprisingly, it had been compromised.
The room he'd left under surveillance had already been reclaimed by Barghest. The young woman he'd used earlier as cover had regained consciousness and figured out what had happened. She was now standing in front of two bodyguard-looking types, absolutely furious.
Understandably so. Though her face showed no hatred, it was far from friendly.
"Sorry about that," Karl thought silently.
Put yourself in her shoes: you meet someone who seems like a decent guy, share a few drinks and laughs—then the next thing you know, you're knocked out and used as bait in someone else's op. Even if you weren't hurt, finding out the guy was just wearing a fake face and using you as a shield?
Yeah, you'd be pissed too.
Karl felt genuinely apologetic. But that realization came with another:
His and Lied's cover was completely blown. Their facial disguises were useless now. Hell, Barghest might even know exactly who they really were.
That... was trouble.
With advancements from Militech and Arasaka, face-changing implants and disguise chips were no longer bleeding-edge tech. If Barghest deployed scanners at checkpoints to detect projection chips or facial alteration implants, Karl and Lied's disguises would be basically worthless.
No backup. No safe identities. No escape plan.
So how the hell were they supposed to get this chip out of Dogtown?
AV extraction?
Barghest shot down Trauma Teams for fun—no way an airlift would work.
Smash through in a car?
Even if Karl and Lied could take the hits, no vehicle they had would hold up under that kind of fire.
That left... stealth. An alternate route out, somewhere Barghest wouldn't expect.
As Karl pondered this, Lied called his name and sent over a series of schematics.
"What's this?"
"Something I found in an old Bureau archive. A route that might let us bypass the main checkpoint. Could be our only way out of Dogtown."
Clearly, they'd both arrived at the same conclusion. Lied had immediately started combing through old Dogtown data and unearthed a potential route.
"These came from the old files we used when Hansen and the New United States military were jointly managing Dogtown. Never thought I'd be relying on them now."
Karl quickly flipped through the files and recognized their origin. The data was slightly outdated—just enough to place it in the time before Barghest was formed, during the Unification War.
"Let's just hope the passage still exists."
Lied's brows had been furrowed ever since they discovered the contact was a mole—and they still hadn't relaxed. While he hoped this would work, even he didn't have much confidence.
The route led through the EBM Petrochem Stadium—a hotspot for underground weapons sales and a place firmly under Barghest control.
Getting through that area would be like diving into a lion's jaws and trying to sneak back out again.
One slip, and they'd be Barghest chow.
Compared to Lied's tension, Karl seemed far more relaxed. He had no objections to the plan.
So the two slipped past Barghest patrols and bounty-hungry gangers until they reached the stadium.
And right on cue—they were spotted.
"Well, that was exciting."
As automated gunfire erupted and a combat mech—model: Minotaur—sprang to life, Karl could only whistle in admiration.
The stadium wasn't just a market—it was another Barghest den. While it may have lacked the density of guards compared to Jadeite Tower, it made up for it in surveillance and heavy firepower.
Karl and Lied's infiltration had been doomed from the start.
Lied might've had the stealth skills to slip past the front checks, but Karl lacked the finesse. So when the guards at the entrance let them in but immediately began exchanging looks, Karl acted on instinct—dodging just as the nearby bot activated and opened fire.
"Well, guess we're doing this—whether that route works or not!"
Karl shouted as he returned fire.
"I'm in," Lied called back.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
As the surrounding Barghest soldiers swarmed in, Karl drew his weapon.
"Figures. A good old-fashioned gunfight is way more my style."
He'd spent enough time playing by an agent's rules.
Now, it was time to do things his way.
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🔥🦾 CYBERPUNK: THE RELENTLESS 🦾🔥
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