11:30 am.
Kai and Grim pulled open the backdoors of the car and sat in.
Grim shimmied in effortlessly and without a word, while Kai swayed the entire vehicle with his unaccommodating size, groaning and grunting.
"Rag, I fruckin' hate your car," was the first thing Kai said as he finally settled down. His voice was deep, scratchy in a way. A faint Samoan accent.
"And I love 'er, Kai," Raga shifted gears, pulled out of the alleyway and drove out. He grinned. "Not many people that can say that for you."
Kai groaned, then gazed at Arthur from the rear view mirror. "Who's this?"
"This here's Arthur," Raga said. He steered right, sped up and narrowly passed a yellow blinking traffic light as it turned red. "Good bloke. Our fourth for the job."
Kai stared at Arthur with judgemental eyes, awaiting a response.
"What?" Arthur said with a low but firm voice. He wasn't afraid of bodybuilders or roid junkies who relied on physicality to intimidate rather than technique and skill.
Kai stared for a few seconds and a thin smile cracked his face.
"At least you're not a coward." He paused, posing a scrutinizing question: "How long you been in the Game?"
"A day," Arthur said casually and looked out the window.
The Samoan laughed. "Good one. But seriously. How long?"
Arthur said nothing and the Samoan's face slowly paled. "Naaah, man. You can't be serious."
"Cut him a break," Raga said mercifully. "Not his fault he skipped a few levels. Jack Boys raided a delivery job and he killed a few on his first day."
Kai hummed to himself and leaned back as best he could, his head curving along the top of the car. He said:
"Someone tell me what we're setting out to do."
"You didn't read Snake's message?"
Kai shrugged.
"She didn't tell me much. Told me to ask you."
"Sure. Sure she did, mate." Raga sighed, holding the wheel with one hand. "We're heading to a Machinist Factory. One of the leading wireheads wanna meet… need help for a gig they wanted to explain face-to-face."
"Aw, just great." Kai said sarcastically. "Nothing more I want than to enter a den of crazies that can pull out my search history with a snap of their fingers."
Raga barked a laugh, looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Your search history is what you're worried about?"
"If you know what was on there you'd be too."
Arthur wasn't in any mood to laugh, but the corner of his lips curved ever so slightly in amusement.
Grim remained silent throughout—a quiet observer.
"But you've got it wrong, Kai." Raga stopped laughing and shook his head. "They're not Ghostrunners—well, no gang's complete without 'em, but that isn't their speciality. They're more like… inventors."
"Aye aye, captain," Kai said, pulling out a heavy silver Deagle that fit in his massive hand and giving it a polish. "Whatever you say."
Arthur checked his Maps, noticing the higher resolution and smoother location updates as they drove along.
They were a few hundred kilometers away from Le Mont—a grand bridge on the North side of Synth City that allowed entry from the Outer Lands and neighboring settlements.
In fact, Arthur could see the Le Mont Bridge as he peered through the window, past the powerpoles and incomplete highrises—a long stretch of road held up by rising cables that curved up and down.
A great streak of vehicles spanned as far as his optic could see. Cargo trucks, vans, busses containing workers. He even spotted a Corpo convoy, heavily armored and protected, marked with the word "C.O.B.A.L.T" on the side.
Above the bridge, armed drones buzzed in unique formations—black Flies that scanned the cars that entered and left the city—either heading into the hot haze and harshness of the desert, or the diving into the cold maw of a ruthless city.
***
12:35 pm.
The car slowly glided to a stop, near a grim-looking warehouse studded with cameras on the sides. Antenna poked out from the top.
A black banner with white coloring draped over the side of it, displaying the mark of the Machinists:
A frowning skull made from circuits framed within a cog.
Subtle, Arthur thought. From the corner of his vision, he could've sworn he saw a crow with glowing crimson eyes that disappeared in a split second. What was that?
"Sick frucks," Kai said abruptly, looking at the shadowy silhouette of the warehouse. "They creep me out."
"Let's calm down, eh?" Raga said, smiling. "Just in case everything goes tits up, we've got Sora on standby."
"That slag?" Kai said, annoyed. "Holier than thou cause she can read a few lines of code. She creeps me out too."
Arthur thought about the Korean Ghostrunner.
Grim, like usual, said not a word, his face a hard mask of apathy. He clutched his pistol—a Heckler & Koch silencer USP. He holstered it. Kai gave him a wary sideglance and said nothing.
Slowly, the gate hinged open automatically.
Raga drove forward slowly. He eased into a semi-occupied lot. The skeletal remains of cars lay strewn around—scavanged for parts and metal.
"Stay calm, boys." Raga adjusted his coat and hair. "We're here for business, not war. Just don't let your guard down."
The four exited the car just as the warehouse door opened and a group of Machinists emerged.