"What are you doing?!" Pilar exclaimed when he saw Allen crouching beside a corpse. "This isn't the time to loot Eddies! We have all of 6th Street on our asses! Rebecca, tell him something!"
Rebecca shrugged without even trying.
Allen didn't turn to look at Pilar. Instead, he wore a faint smile when he saw the datashard emerge from the dead ganger's neck.
He caught it and stored it away. Once he was done, he moved on to the next corpse, though he looked disappointed when he saw that Rebecca had blown its head off, which meant there was no neuroport.
"Pilar, relax. For starters, they don't want our asses, just yours. Second, I need the funds right now. I'm broke. And finally..." Allen pointed at Pilar with his finger. "There's always time to loot."
Pilar's eyes widened. He had thought Allen was a sensible person, but he should have guessed that there was no one sane in this city.
"Shit, fine!"
Pilar walked back to the apartment, closed the military crates containing the weapons, and hoisted them onto his shoulder. As he walked past Allen, he stopped.
"You want money, lil bro? There are hundreds of thousands here. We can take this to the Tiger Claws, the Voodoo Boys, the Animals, or those Maelstrom bastards. Whatever. We're already screwed with 6th Street and the Valentinos!"
Allen blinked before smiling.
"Rebecca always said her brother Pilar was a degenerate idiot, and maybe you are, but I like you."
The smile that had formed on Pilar's face froze at the second half of Allen's sentence. Was he being insulted or complimented?
"Good, I like him!" Rebecca laughed. "Those bastards came here to kill us over these weapons. No reason to leave them behind!"
....
Several vehicles came to a stop in front of the Megabuilding: jeeps, Hummers, pickups, all modified with armor, some even equipped with integrated weapons.
The men and women of 6th Street, unlike other gangs, carried a certain air of organization. They weren't just a bunch of gangers who showed up and started shooting at anything that moved.
That didn't mean they were some kind of elite squad or anything similar. They mixed ordinary clothing with tactical gear, and many of them displayed the old American flag on their clothes.
If this weren't a dystopian future with every country in ruins, Allen would have thought they were the modern version of the Confederate army preparing for another civil war.
"There is no response from the men inside!" shouted a woman holding an assault rifle.
A man who was smoking grunted. "Idiots. I told them to be careful!"
In this world, being a merc was a job most people didn't survive for even a single day. Pilar and Rebecca weren't the best, but they had proven that they could survive as mercs. In short, they were strong.
"We've got a lot of people coming down from the upper floors. A pincer operation—we'll kill them as soon as they come down!"
After he finished speaking, everyone began positioning the vehicles defensively while equipping themselves with automatic rifles.
The people near the entrance had a great deal of instinct, just like any civilian in Night City. As soon as they noticed the danger, they moved away. Shop owners closed their businesses, while everyone else hid, escaped, or simply crouched in corners. There were no screams or panic. This Megabuilding was 6th Street territory, and people were already used to seeing hundreds of them coming and going.
Nobody complained. They only hoped that whatever poor bastards had pissed the General off enough to send so many men would die quickly, preventing the shootout from damaging the building too badly.
....
Allen, Pilar, and Rebecca reached the elevator.
"How screwed are we?" Rebecca asked.
A holographic screen appeared in front of Allen, visible even to Pilar.
It displayed the building's structure, with large numbers of red dots on the upper and lower floors.
Shizuka – How should I put it... It's huge...
Allen also took a moment. As Shizuka had said, the Megabuilding was massive, nothing like what they had seen in the game.
Night City officially had twelve Megabuildings in Night City. They housed 1.5 million people. So in this one Megabuilding alone, there were more than 100,000 people living in 8,000 apartments.
How was that even possible?
In the most densely populated areas of the buildings, which were the lower floors, many people shared the same apartment. It was said that there could even be sixteen people living in a single apartment. It only went to show how miserable living in this world could be.
Amanda – It looks like a city inside another city...
MJ – The video game doesn't do justice to the true size of these buildings...
Rogue – Obviously. My PC would explode if I had to render a building three blocks wide!
"Hey, what do we do?" Rebecca called out to Allen, who had remained silent while looking at the 3D model of the Megabuilding. "Do you want to use another exit?"
Unlike the game, where these buildings seemed to have only one entrance and one exit, in reality there were several. It made sense. Walking three blocks just to get out of these hollow mountains would be insane.
"Wait," Allen said and concentrated, quickly scanning the entire building.
[There are 345 6th Street gangers on the floors above, 103 on the lower floors, and 32 at the entrance.]
"Shit!" Pilar exclaimed, beginning to sweat. "There are that many?!"
"Aniki, we're literally in 6th Street's home. Did you think there would only be a dozen?"
"Well, considering there are a hundred thousand people here, that seems like too few," Allen shrugged and smiled. "Besides, fortunately for us, we're not going up. As for the plan, of course we'll go out through the main entrance."
....
Twenty seconds later, the elevator opened, and immediately, a rain of bullets came from inside.
However, there was no target.
Three gangers stepped out of the elevator, confused.
"Hey, didn't you say they were here?!" one ganger shouted at his companion, who had a visor.
"That's right! My scanner saw them through the wall, but how?"
*Bang*
A bullet pierced one of their heads, and before they had time to react, another bullet killed the second ganger. The only one left was the man wearing the scanning optics.
"It's called a counter-hack," Allen smiled, appearing in front of him. "The problem with optics is that they're not real eyes. Once they're hacked, they can even show you whatever the other side wants you to see."
The man went pale, and in a panic, he aimed and fired at Allen. However, the bullets passed straight through Allen's body.
"Hey, what did you do to him?" Pilar asked when he saw the ganger shooting at the wall while screaming.
"Magic," Allen smiled as he entered the elevator.
Rebecca followed him, ignoring the man, while Pilar scratched his head and simply stepped inside as well.
"What kind of cyberware do you have?" Pilar asked.
It wasn't just the fact that Allen could perform quickhacks. The speed at which he performed them made it clear that his equipment wasn't basic. It could even be military-grade or experimental. In that case, where the hell had he gotten it?!
Take Allen's optics, for example.
Optics capable of scanning through walls were expensive, but anyone could have them if they were willing to spend ten thousand Eddies. Considering that the average monthly salary of a police officer was one thousand Eddies, they weren't something just anyone could afford.
Even regular mercs could make good money after risking their lives on dangerous jobs, but they had to subtract many expenses from that income: weapons, ammunition, repairs with ripperdocs, the Fixer's cut if necessary, or the Netrunner they hired to help them, and of course, the everyday expenses everyone had.
That meant they would only have a few thousand Eddies left over each month.
Imagine having that salary and being able to afford the more than one hundred thousand Eddies Allen owed just to be able to perform quickhacks.
Unexpectedly, there was a ganger with high-quality optics right here. Unfortunately, he had picked a fight with P2W Walker.
Pilar shook his head and smiled. Looks like his little sister had caught a big fish. Though it didn't really matter. Allen didn't smell like a corpo. On the contrary, his combat skills, even without physical implants, had shown Pilar that this young man was someone who had been fighting his entire life.
Once inside the elevator, the three of them remained silent for a moment.
"Darling, do we break through the center or eliminate everyone?" Rebecca asked Allen while reloading Guts.
Pilar jumped. He had been thinking about throwing some grenades and getting the hell out as quickly as possible. It was almost a suicidal plan, but they had no other choice.
"Hey, hey, hey! What do you mean, eliminate everyone?!"
Allen, who was reloading his revolver, paused as he considered the situation before answering.
"They won't let us leave that easily. Judging by their actions, they're well organized. Let's clean up the entrance."
"Clear them?!" Pilar exclaimed.
Pilar's complaints were drowned out when the elevator suddenly came to a halt. Allen pulled a cable from his arm and connected it to the elevator terminal.
'Lenalee, please.'
[Yes, yes.]
The elevator began moving again, making Pilar laugh.
"Lil bro, you're incredible. Seeing a Solo this complete is pretty rare. I'm sure you'll eventually earn yourself a drink named after you at Afterlife."
Allen immediately shook his head at that.
"No thanks. To do that, you have to be dead."
....
When they reached the lower floor, Allen glanced at Rebecca. She smiled, and two drones emerged from her jacket and flew out first.
Pilar's mouth fell open. He had already seen his little sister pull Guts out of nowhere, but he hadn't said anything. Now, however, seeing two drones come out of her jacket was difficult to ignore. Even so, he didn't ask. Even he knew this wasn't the time.
Outside the elevator, the two drones shot forward, taking four waiting gangers by surprise.
The drones had two red lenses that scanned the area, identifying the enemies. Without wasting any time, they opened fire with their integrated machine guns.
Two gangers fell into pools of blood as their implants were shattered by the bullets.
"These bastards have attack drones!"
The ganger who shouted had his head pierced by a bullet and fell as well. The last one tried to destroy a drone, but suddenly his optics stopped working, and the drone took advantage of the opening to kill him.
Allen, Rebecca, and Pilar stepped out of the elevator.
"Machine guns?" Allen laughed.
"What?" Rebecca snorted. "Shut up. You started it!"
After several years of seeing technology from different worlds, including the technology of 2B's world, which was thousands of years more advanced, Rebecca had the ability to create all kinds of weapons straight out of science fiction. However, she had remained discreet since arriving in this world. It seemed that, just like Allen, she had decided to limit her own abilities.
"That's true," Allen said before scanning a camera, allowing him to access the surveillance system and see what was happening outside. "Well, well, we've got a lot of friends here."
The vehicles were armored, which would make them difficult to destroy with ordinary weapons. However, Allen wasn't going to play fair.
The 6th Street gangers were tense. They knew reinforcements were coming from both above and other parts of Santo Domingo, but until they arrived, they would have to hold out on their own.
There were almost thirty armed people. A terrifying force.
It was true that mercs were much stronger than ordinary gang members, but even a team with backup wouldn't pick a fight with the gangs. It was simply impossible for a team of five people, which was usually the standard size for a merc team, to fight hundreds of gang members, or thousands in the case of the major gangs.
That was common sense...
But now something strange happened. Three Edgerunners, just three, had not only come down through the main entrance knowing they were there, but had eliminated twenty of their comrades without suffering a single injury.
"This isn't normal," one of the gangers said, sweat running down his face.
As if his words had been a premonition, one of the parked jeeps started up under everyone's incredulous gaze and rammed into another vehicle. It wasn't the only one. Immediately afterward, another vehicle started up and drove straight into two gangers, running them down without mercy.
"Shit!"
"They hacked them!"
"Someone stop them!"
"Shoot the tires!"
The gangers weren't unfamiliar with vehicle hacks, so three of them quickly connected their terminals to the vehicles to regain control. However, that was a mistake. Their neuroports were soon invaded and burned.
"Don't connect! They've got a dangerous Netrunner!"
Despite the warning, it was already too late. Three gangs had their brains burned. And before anyone could react, bullets began coming from inside the Megabuilding, killing even more gangers.
"There they are!"
"Fire!"
Despite losing the initiative, bullets began raining down from the 6th Street gangers. There were many of them, and that was the only thing keeping them standing.
At that moment, two drones emerged from inside and returned fire.
"They've got drones too!" one shouted.
"Doesn't matter! Kill them!"
The exchange of fire was brutal. On one side were two dozen gangers against three mercs: two known to be dangerous mercs and one combat Netrunner, or whatever Allen was, supported by drones.
Among the members of 6th Street, every so often one of them would lose their head and shoot two of their comrades. Another would have their head burned, become blind, or start shooting at nothing.
"That's creepy..." one man said.
Fortunately, 6th Street members weren't known for having a lot of chrome. Otherwise, they would have already been wiped out. That's how terrifying a high-level Netrunner could be.
Fortunately for the gang members, two Jeeps arrived with ten more people to help them.
....
Inside the building, Pilar fired while laughing. It was like watching a male and even more perverted version of Rebecca, which made the girl embarrassed because billions of people were watching her brother.
"Blood runs strong," Allen teased as he precisely shot a man in the hand just as he was about to throw a grenade. The grenade fell to the floor, and the man was blown to pieces.
Rebecca blushed without stopping her shooting. "Shut up. By the way, enough playing around. At this rate, we'll be surrounded!"
Rebecca was right. Even if the elevator was blocked, that wouldn't stop the hundreds of gang members on the upper floors. Besides, there were plenty more who had to be on their way.
"I understand. Leave it to me. I'll clear a path." Allen scanned the vehicles outside.
[Self-Destruct]
The gang vehicles began exploding one after another, sending many people flying, either dead or wounded, and disrupting the enemy's fire.
One of the gangers tried to stand up, but his damaged optics caused him to stumble. Even so, he managed to see Allen leaving the building.
He froze in shock. On one hand, seeing such an attractive young man in a world where many people chose to destroy their faces with implants was unusual, but what was truly strange was his arm.
Everyone in the Chat had the same question. It was obvious that Allen would choose to use cyberware for Netrunning, first because he didn't need as many modifications as an Edgerunner would, and second because even while restraining all his power to the bare minimum, Allen was superhuman. He didn't need implants like those. But then, what about his arm?
Everyone watched as Allen created a cybernetic arm. It was the first thing he had done, and nobody had understood why.
"Lenalee." Allen smiled and lifted his left sleeve, revealing the silver metal arm. Before everyone's eyes, the arm transformed into a cannon.
[Adjusting output to 12%.]
A light appeared inside the cannon, accompanied by a humming sound that slowly increased in intensity.
Several gangers went pale.
"Fire!" Allen shouted as if he were enjoying himself.
A blast of energy shot forward at tremendous speed. It pierced a vehicle, practically melting the metal like chocolate in the desert, and continued onward until finally stopping one hundred meters ahead.
There was a moment of silence.
"Hey!" Rebecca shouted. "You son of a bitch! Didn't you say no cheating?! That's a fucking energy cannon!"
"..." Allen smiled proudly as his arm returned to normal.
It didn't matter that he hadn't killed anyone. It didn't matter that it was impractical, or that every shot needed to charge. How could he come to a technological world and not put a damn miniature Gundam cannon in his arm?!
It was common sense!