Arno gripped the muzzle, extracting a cannonball hidden within. This cannonball was specially made by him, a particularly good gadget, and its fun lay in it being timed.
Holding the miniature bomb, Arno operated on the miniature terminal panel a few times and then tucked it into the engine gap of the av.
"In three minutes, the av will explode. At that time, half of the security system will be drawn here, which will be the best time for us to escape."
Jackie and V gasped for breath in the rain, nodding. The calm Arno had clearly become their backbone; whatever Arno said, went.
As for masculinity, no one was more manly than Arno right now. After witnessing such a dire emergency, he could still calmly arrange an escape plan, instantly becoming the team's backbone.
Berry's slightly drooping masculinity had fiercely perked up without her realizing it, making it hard to maintain composure.
Arno walked to the balcony edge in the rain and looked down.
"Brother Arno, what are you doing?"
Rain streamed over Arno's sunglasses and stern face. His vision receiver behind the sunglasses estimated the distance for a while, then he began to take off his clothes. Jackie and V, not understanding his intention, asked in confusion.
"Are you afraid of heights?"
"Huh?"
"I said, are you afraid of heights?" Arno took off his leather jacket and the vest underneath, leaving only his sunglasses and the silver pendant glinting on his chest.
His muscular upper body was exposed to the air, and the falling rain washed over his chiseled muscles. Coupled with his sunglasses, an aura of a lone hero immediately emanated from him.
"No, I'm alright. I even rode a Ferris wheel when I was a kid." Although he didn't know why Arno was asking, Jackie answered honestly.
Arno shifted his gaze to V.
"I, I'm also fine!" Although V, who hadn't been to high places much in the badlands, didn't know if she was afraid of heights, she probably wasn't.
Arno nodded and said to the two.
"I have a plan."
Jackie and V held their breath, listening to the shirtless Arno speak.
But before he could even open his mouth, Arno extended his left arm, and under their bewildered gaze, he placed his right hand on his left arm.
Rip!!!
"Damn!"
"Oh my god, Arno, are you crazy?!"
Arno's actions left Jackie and V speechless with horror. What had they seen?
Arno forcefully dug his right hand directly under the skin of his left arm, and an orange-yellow liquid oozed out. Jackie and V felt a pang of pain just by looking at it.
But that wasn't all. Arno suddenly gripped the skin, then, to their disbelief, he tore off all the outer skin with a squelch. A puddle of viscous orange-yellow liquid, along with the torn, shriveled arm skin, slapped onto the ground, splashing rainwater everywhere.
Arno's left arm was left with only a cold metal arm composed of tubes and metal scaffolding. The metal hand, with its knuckles, stretched in the rain. Arno glanced at the two shocked individuals, then pulled out a metal Grappling Hook attached to a thin chain from his wrist.
Grappling Hook—For Konpeki Plaza use only.
"Whoa, man, so your arm is cyberware. Damn, you almost scared me to death just now." Jackie patted his chest, still seemingly in shock.
They had all thought Arno was crazy just now, but unexpectedly, he literally showed them his hand.
"Who goes first?" Ignoring the two, Arno wrapped the Grappling Hook several times around the iron pillar on the eaves. Once the sharp hook was firmly embedded in the pillar, he turned to the two and asked.
"Hmm..." Jackie and V exchanged glances again, still not understanding what Arno meant. What did he mean, 'who goes first'?
And two minutes later, they finally understood.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn!!!! I can't believe I agreed to you, I must be completely insane!!!!"
"Oh my god, oh my god, I can't open my eyes!!!!"
Two piercing screams, one male and one female, echoed and cut through the air on the back of Konpeki Plaza.
Arno, gripping the taut iron chain, glided through the rain with a whistling sound, carrying two screaming ghosts tied to his waist, one on his left and one on his right.
The two guys who had previously claimed they weren't afraid of heights now had their eyes tightly shut, their faces pale, screaming more piercingly than high school girls.
To be honest, if the situation wasn't so tense, Berry would have burst out laughing.
She had never seen V look so wretched before.
In a flash, Berry had a wicked idea.
She snapped several 4K ultra-high-definition photos—the kind where you can clearly see every pore—of V screaming with his eyes closed and clinging desperately to Arno's leg.
After collecting the embarrassing history, Arno looked back at the towering Konpeki Plaza, using centripetal force to swing downward continuously. With every swing, the iron chain in his left hand extended, ensuring they kept descending.
The only sounds in the air were the whooshing of the wind and the desperate screams of the two below, but otherwise, it was suitable; at least the view of Night City from above was quite beautiful.
Berry wanted to swing all the way to the bottom of the building, but it seemed fate was not on their side, as several uninvited guests appeared in the air.
"Unidentified units! Attack!"
"Da da da da da da!!!"
Several dark drones spotted the three people in the air, shining their searchlights on them, and a storm-like rain of bullets arrived in less than half a second.
"Shit, shit, Arno, we're gonna die!" Jackie was already terrified of the height, and seeing the drones shooting at them scared him half to death. If Arno hadn't tied him securely around the waist with a rope, he surely would have fallen.
Bullets whizzed past the three of them, their ears filled with the dense, explosion-like roar of the passing rounds.
"Damn it! Can't shoot back!" V managed to open his eyes and fire the "Kong" in his hand, but in the swaying, unstable air, the bullets were wildly inaccurate and couldn't hit the drones at all.
The two were scared half to death, but Arno felt nothing.
"Hold tight!" With just a shout, Arno exerted force with his left hand, swinging the three of them toward the glass wall of Konpeki Plaza.
Arno calculated the distance, angled his body, and stomped hard on the glass wall, sending up a shower of glass shards.
Without stopping, as soon as Arno stepped onto the glass wall, he began running quickly. The drone bullets whistled behind Arno in several lines, bombing the glass into exploding white fragments.
While running fast to avoid the bullet rain behind him, Arno extended the cannon barrel from his free right hand backward. The dark barrel roared, and several fiery tracking bombs shot out in formation, arcing in exaggerated curves toward the drones.
"Boom!!!"
"Boom!!!"
Several explosions rang out, shattering the drones into pieces. Flames rushed at them from behind, and the three could feel an unbearable vibration and heat rapidly approaching their backs.
Seizing the opportunity, Arno stomped hard, shattering a pane of glass, and plunged headfirst with the two others into the room.
Glass exploded everywhere. The three tumbled to the floor; the rope came undone, and they rolled into heaps, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Cough, cough, cough... Arno, Jackie, where are you?" The dust-covered V was the first to struggle up from the metal floor, batting glass shards off himself while searching for his companions in the haze.
"Who?"
Just then, a crunching sound came, and V quickly turned around.
Arno, whose body was covered in scrapes, walked out of the dust, stepping on broken ceramic shards.
"It's Arno." V relaxed slightly. The dust had cleared a bit, and V could now see where they were.
A restroom, specifically a men's restroom, because only men's restrooms have standing urinals.
"Jackie? Where are you?" V called Jackie's name while leaning on the wall.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, bleh!!!" Before long, the dust dissipated, and Jackie's figure appeared.
However, V froze for a moment when he saw Jackie's posture.
Jackie was supporting himself with both hands on a metal standing urinal partition, his hair and face soaking wet and dripping water.
"Hey! V, I didn't fall in, I held myself up, really, don't get the wrong idea!" Seeing V and Arno walk out, Jackie widened his eyes and quickly explained.
But as he opened his mouth, the salty water on his face flowed down to the corner of his lips, causing his expression to change drastically. He painfully bent over and dry-heaved several times, immediately tearing off his suit jacket and furiously rubbing his head and face with it, as if he hated them.
"Pfft, Jackie, didn't you like that suit? What a waste to ruin it like that!" Seeing Jackie's appearance, V instantly knew what had happened. He covered his mouth, desperately trying not to laugh out loud.
As for Arno, he took a few more candid shots, as usual.
He'd have some good stuff to look at later.
Jackie, you wouldn't want Misty to see these photos, right?
"V, go to hell!" After finally wiping away the mysterious liquid, Jackie hung his head, looking exhausted, without the strength to even bicker with V. "If I ever get rich, I'll give you a million... V, just don't tell anyone what happened today!"
"That won't do. That look of yours is welded into my brain like an arc weld. You need to add money!" V said teasingly while helping up the crestfallen Jackie.
"You're taking advantage of the situation, V!"
"Hmph, take it or leave it!"
"Two million! Shit, I'll have to work for you for the rest of my life!"
"Don't forget, Arno saw it too."
"Shit!" Jackie covered his face miserably after glancing at Arno, who was wearing sunglasses and staring straight at him.
"We should be around the tenth floor or so. We need to find an elevator to the underground garage. We can call a Delamain car there, or ask Berry to drive in and pick us up."
Peeking their heads out the restroom door and looking left and right, the group formulated a plan.
The signal to start was the imminent explosion on the rooftop.
Arno checked his watch, estimating the timing of the bomb he had planted on the av on the rooftop. That bomb, above all else, was certainly powerful enough to draw away all the Arasaka Agents.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
As if his words commanded reality, before Arno finished speaking, a deafening explosion erupted. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and the building shook slightly.
"Now is the time, let's go!"
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