Kiwi sat in the shadows of the warehouse corner, her dark red jacket almost blending into the background. She had accepted Rebecca's invitation to cooperate, but trust is harder to come by in Night City than top-tier chrome.
"Alright, don't just stand there." Maine cleared his throat, his voice echoing in the empty warehouse. He first looked at Rebecca: "You brought her, introduce her?"
Rebecca tucked her pistol into the back of her waistband and gestured towards Kiwi: "Kiwi, a solo Netrunner with a good rep on the streets. I talked to her at Lizzie's Bar; her skills should be decent."
Maine formally turned his gaze to Kiwi and nodded: "I'm Maine, the team leader. We trust anyone Rebecca recommends. Welcome to the team."
Kiwi slightly raised her head, observing the crew—Maine's massive frame, Dorio's composed strength, Falco's detached cool, and Pilar's fidgety energy. Her voice came through her mask, steady and controlled: "Kiwi. Rebecca has already told me the basic situation."
"Let's cooperate on a commission first and see if it's a good fit." Her position was clear: temporary collaboration, not loyalty.
"That's best." Maine was satisfied. "We just need a Netrunner to fill the gap. Since everyone's here, just sitting around won't do." He looked at everyone, "We need to get moving, take a job, get some real-world practice, and see how our new combination works together."
"Then it's settled." Maine dialed a familiar number.
"Maine? What a rare guest." Faraday's oily, smooth voice immediately came from the other end.
"Cut the crap, Faraday. Do you have any suitable jobs? Something simple, delivery, escort, anything. We need to break in a new member."
Faraday's voice sharpened, like a shark smelling blood. "Coincidentally, I actually have something suitable. A trip out of the city, deliver to the abandoned 'Route 66 Gas Station' up north, hand it over to someone named 'Lao Mao.' The cargo isn't large, just an encrypted data box. Pay is market standard, simple route, clear objective, perfect for you guys to get some practice."
Maine ran through it in his mind. Out of the city, low risk, perfect for a break-in. "Alright. Send over the specific coordinates, handover code, and Lao Mao's identification features."
"Got it! I knew Maine you were straightforward!" Faraday chirped.
"Alright, the job's here." Maine turned to the team, "Falco, check the vehicle, fill it up. Rebecca, Pilar, check the equipment, bring all standard weapons. Dorio, you get ready."
Finally, he looked at Kiwi: "Kiwi, you'll remotely access our tactical network. We have the equipment from our previous team Netrunner here; you can use it for now. On the way, you'll be responsible for environmental scans and data support. Any problems?"
Kiwi silently shook her head, her fingers already rapidly tapping in the air, connecting to the network. Her focused demeanor made Rebecca slightly ease her scrutinizing gaze.
The team immediately sprang into action. Falco crawled under the heavily modified Goodwood off-road vehicle, tapping and banging. Rebecca and Pilar opened the weapon crates. Dorio began simple stretches, loosening her muscles. Everything seemed normal, just like countless times before they executed a commission.
However, they didn't know that on the other end of the communication, the middleman Faraday, after ending his call with Maine, showed an undisguised, greedy smile.
He dialed another heavily encrypted number, his voice pressed extremely low: "Militech? Yes, it's me, Faraday. I have some news that you will definitely be very interested in – about Maine and his crew."
"They just took a commission from me and are about to head out of the city, to the Route 66 Gas Station up north. This is absolutely accurate intelligence—"
Faraday was selling them out for a quick payday. In his eyes, Maine's crew was nothing more than a group of tools that were about to become obsolete.
What Faraday didn't fully realize was the depth of the trap. After suffering the devastating blow of the global "Blackwall Announcement," Biotechnica, like a cornered mad dog, was bent on bloody retaliation.
Maine's crew, having previously attacked a Biotechnica convoy and having their original Netrunner, Sasha, linked to the painkiller scandal, was immediately locked onto.
Biotechnica's internal threat assessment department came to a dangerous, but calculated, speculation: Maine's crew possessed top-tier Netrunner resources, possibly even touching forbidden domains, and that Blackwall incident was very likely directly related to them.
A hefty internal bounty was quickly approved. Whether for revenge or to seize the potentially existing Blackwall control technology, Biotechnica was determined to get it.
Militech, which had always been interested in the "non-standard" yet surprisingly powerful weapons and technologies displayed by Maine's crew, naturally wouldn't miss this heaven-sent opportunity to both test new equipment and acquire rare technology samples after receiving Biotechnica's shared intelligence and cooperation proposal.
Faraday's voluntary defection and betrayal just provided the perfect timing for these two companies to set a precise trap at the abandoned Route 66 Gas Station. The seemingly simple delivery job was a massive, carefully coordinated corporate ambush.