At this height, even the lights of Night City seemed distant, while the stars above felt closer than ever...
Arthur hunched his shoulders against the roaring wind. His built-in Cyberware kicked in, a sudden pressure settling over his body, oddly reassuring.
They didn't slow their pace. The mental safety link between them still held.
"No time to explain..." V's voice cut through the comms. "Saburo Arasaka is dead. Konpeki Plaza is going into lockdown any second.
T-Bug? You there? Hey, Bug? Dammit, what's going on with you!"
No answer. Almost at the same instant, the bright white lights of the penthouse behind them flared crimson. The building's PA system blared to life...
Whatever it said was lost to those outside. Not that they had time to listen.
Before them stretched a "path" barely two feet wide.
The ladder Yorinobu Arasaka had mentioned waited on the far side of it.
And their Link stirred with new chatter.
"What the hell's going on up there! ¡Me asustaste cabrón! Scared the shit outta me. Why's it so quiet?" Jackie's voice broke the silence. At least he was still online, even if T-Bug wasn't.
"Shit! Why the hell did everything turn red?!" Jackie yelped again before anyone could answer.
The alarms must've had a few seconds of delay... but there was no time to think about that.
"Didn't you fucking hear me?" V snapped. "Get the damn car ready down there—we need to move, now."
...
Back on the narrow path—
"Shit..." V muttered, her voice shaking as her eyes darted around for any other option. Nothing. No other way out.
"Looks like... we..." Arthur stared down the passage, throat tight. "Uh... doesn't anyone make Cyberware for wings? Or maybe a ladder that isn't a mile away?"
"No choice." V stepped forward first. Her voice trembled, but her legs didn't.
Arthur followed, grumbling. "I thought jumping off a waterfall was the peak of stupidity."
He clutched the box tight—the one worth over a million eddies. Thankfully, it wasn't as heavy as Flathead. Otherwise, even if it was worth a hundred million, he'd have tossed it by now.
"Don't look down... Goddamn, I've lost my mind." V pressed herself against the glass wall, her palms squealing against the surface.
Arthur couldn't see below at all, the box blocking his view.
Ahead, Night City blazed in all its splendor. From this height, every flaw was hidden, every detail swallowed by distance.
Farther away, the towers of Corporate Plaza encircled the city as always, light radiating from the central ring like a second sun.
"A whole new angle... Ha! Corporate Plaza looks like a barrel split clean in half!" V shouted, her voice rising toward a scream. It wasn't bravado—it was a desperate attempt to numb herself, to ignore the abyss yawning below.
Finally, they reached it.
The ladder was right at their feet—just barely within reach.
But to grab it, she'd have to crouch all the way down.
"Fucking hell." V cursed, lowering herself inch by inch.
The move was anything but easy. With glass at her back and no room to adjust, her center of gravity tilted outward as she sank lower.
Her body shook with each breath... but finally, her fingers brushed the cold iron.
"Whew!!"
The breath blasted out of her chest. She was still hanging over the city, but with the ladder in her grip, her heart felt grounded again.
"Damn, that was close. Thought I was about to be street pizza." She muttered, then swung herself onto the ladder.
"Come on." She reached out, steadying Arthur as he climbed down after her. Even the small pull took the edge off his panic.
With one hand free, Arthur shifted the box aside, finally able to see what lay beneath—
A steep curve of glass angled at nearly seventy degrees, flanked by two vertical surfaces. The ladder was bolted to the slope.
Below that stretched the Konpeki Plaza annex—their only way out.
But as Arthur peered farther down, his eyes narrowed. The curved slope tapered into the vertical face, the entire building blending into one seamless surface.
In other words... they'd still have to jump.
V had realized this long before. Her view wasn't blocked by the box. She reached a hand toward Arthur, her tone half-comfort, half-resignation.
"Come on down. At least it shortens the drop, right? Jumping from seventy floors beats a hundred."
Arthur clambered onto the ladder, grumbling. "I just wanna know what the hell this ladder's even for. Giving flies a rest stop?"
"Maybe for that wall-crawling superhero... what was his name? Super popular fifty years back." V replied absently.
This time they moved faster, both determined. By the time they reached the bottom of the ladder, the "landing" still looked bad... but it was the best they'd get.
"We should've dragged Yorinobu Arasaka over here, grabbed him by the neck, and tossed him off first!" Arthur growled.
"Forget it. No turning back now. Just remember—slide the slope, and you'll live. Three, two, one... jump!"
V locked her eyes on the roof of the annex below, sucking in a deep breath.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Jump!"
The ground fell away. Arthur's Cyberware kicked in, his body suddenly featherlight.
He tumbled across the slick glass at breakneck speed, no chance to slow himself. But the implants saved him, making him feel light as a child.
As for the box... let it fall where it may. Pricey or not, its fate was down to luck now.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser