Two months later.
Japantown.
Underground parking lot.
"The girl we're looking for is probably in this building." Jackie leaned back relaxed in the driver's seat. In the dim light, his cross earring glinted faintly.
"The bastards who kidnapped her are likely all here. Keep your ears open and your eyes sharp, V, Berry."
"Rescue missions... we rarely take jobs like this." Berry, in the back seat, pulled out her sidearm, "vitamin b"—professional treatment that ensures you'll never need a vitamin b supplement again.
"Who cares? Wakako said the pay is substantial this time. That's how we Mercenaries are: people pay, we deliver. Nothing more." Jackie shrugged, unconcerned.
"Did Wakako give you any clues about this job?" V asked.
V, in the passenger seat, scanned the surroundings, looking for surveillance cameras that might cause trouble.
"'I'm not your mother. Take the money, eliminate the trouble. It's not hard.' That's what she said." Jackie shook his head, perfectly mimicking Wakako's impatient manner.
"Haha, that's Wakako's temper," Berry grinned.
"If that's the case, let's just go straight in." V nodded toward Jackie and Berry, opened the door, and got out of the car.
"The elevator is this way." Jackie turned his head, holding two pistols, and strode confidently ahead.
The trio walked through the empty, dim parking lot, rounded a corner, and reached the elevator.
After Berry entered last, V pressed the button. The elevator doors closed and began to ascend slowly.
"The target is Sandra Dorsett. Her bio-monitor signal was lost a few hours ago. She is suspected of being kidnapped." The Hacker T-bug accessed the trio's communication channel, her clear female voice sounding in their ears.
"The target might already be dead. I can't confirm if you're too late." T-bug's tone was indifferent, as if she didn't care about the mission's success or failure.
"We won't be late, Bug—yes, we. Even if you're participating remotely, you're one of us, part of the crew." Jackie launched his usual friendly offensive.
"Part of the crew, interesting." But Jackie's friendship magic seemed to have failed; Bug still maintained a cold expression and didn't even lift an eyelid.
"Hey, Bug, lighten up a bit," Berry said into her external mic—since she hadn't undergone cranial modification, she had to rely on an external headset for communication.
"You want friendly and encouraging? You can call a mental health hotline."
Bug didn't appreciate the gesture. Jackie shrugged at the two of them, indicating his helplessness.
The elevator doors opened, and the trio stepped out one after another.
A dilapidated corridor, littered with empty cans and covered in ugly graffiti.
"It's too loud." The three moved cautiously through the hallway. Ear-splitting music drifted in, sounding like someone was throwing a cheap party. Berry, unable to stand it, frowned.
"Find Room 1237," Bug's voice sounded like a ghost. "The target should be inside, but I can't see her bio-signal..."
"I hope we aren't too late. Ugh, I hate these life-or-death jobs. Just hurry up and try to hack the door open." This mission genuinely made Bug uncomfortable; she was even struggling to maintain her usual composure.
"Han, is that you?" An old door nearby opened, and a haggard old woman peeked out, clearly mistaking their movements for someone else. V waved her hand, telling her to retreat inside.
Seeing the trio armed with long and short guns, the old woman quickly closed the door. That was the necessary sharpness of a Night City resident.
"Found it." V saw the sign for Room 1237 on a door to the side.
Berry and Jackie raised their guns and positioned themselves on either side of the door. V's eyes glowed blue as she mentally hacked into the building's surveillance system. The door was quickly cracked open.
"Keep it quiet." Jackie led the way in, holding dual pistols.
Inside the room behind the door, the music was deafening, drowning out all other sounds. When the trio passed through the cluttered room and reached a side room, even though they were battle-hardened Mercenaries, the sight before them still churned their stomachs.
An unidentified female corpse lay on a surgical chair, stripped clean of all cyberware and internal organs, leaving only a red, empty husk of skin and a shriveled head.
On a stand nearby, several male corpses hung. Their spinal cyberware had been half-extracted from their backs, resembling centipedes burrowing out from under the skin. Basins below were filled with blood and organ fragments, and the floor was covered in bloodstains and footprints.
The horrifying scene, accompanied by a pungent odor, hit them. Berry nearly threw up. She hadn't expected the scenes from the game to be so intense when translated into reality.
She knew whose handiwork this was: the Scavengers who made a living selling used cyberware. Her body trembled; she couldn't believe humans could commit such cruelty against their own kind.
These Scavengers truly were beasts wearing human skin.
However, having seen death before, Berry quickly suppressed her physical reaction, preventing the two beside her from noticing anything unusual.
"Shit, are we too late? Is this her? Is this the one we were looking for? V? Berry?" Jackie spoke quickly, rushing forward to examine the female corpse.
"Sandra Dorsett... corporate second-tier personnel. The person we're looking for is a rich girl..."
"Look, this is a Zetatech black market copy. Typical knockoff."
V was very calm, she glanced at the female corpse; the cyberware that hadn't been stripped from her was cheap, indicating it couldn't be the mission target.
"Let's keep looking." V continued to walk.
Just as V opened a crack in a door, Jackie, who was behind her, pulled her back.
"V, hey, look up, there's someone ahead."
V cautiously pulled the door open, and indeed there was a Scavenger with his back to them, shirtless and covered in tattoos, holding a gun. However, the ear-splitting music they had played to cover the victims' screams had now become their own death knell.
V crouched and stealthily moved behind the Scavenger, then stood up and choked him from behind. With a forceful twist of her hands, his neck snapped with a 'crack', the action swift and clean; the opponent didn't even have time to scream.
After stuffing the Scavenger's body into a nearby box, V waved to Jackie and the other person, signaling that it was safe.
Amidst the harsh music, the three of them moved stealthily through the winding rooms, which were filled with bloody cyberware and trash, easily knocked over.
"Don't get distracted, someone's coming, they're about to discover you guys."
Just as Jackie and the others turned two corners, Bug's reminder sounded in the comm channel.
"These fucking kidney-stealing bastards," Jackie cursed softly, quickly hiding beside a cabinet ahead. The other two followed, and the next second, three Scavengers walked in from the large room outside, laughing and talking, not noticing them.
"Don't rush, wait for the right moment to act," Jackie held his gun, vigilantly watching the three Scavengers who were searching for something with their backs to them.
"One for each of us, take the closest one," Jackie swallowed, nodding to the other two.
The three of them crouched, like three lurking cougars, silently creeping towards the Scavengers.
Berry tucked her gun into the front of her waistband so she could fire it immediately if anything went wrong. Her movements were exceptionally cautious, her eyes fixed on her target.
No kidding, she had to be careful; her strength was only eight points, no match for V and Jackie, who could lift a cow.
The Scavenger was still rummaging through something on the table, perhaps a client list, or maybe information on the next victim, but who cared? Berry swallowed, then with a 'thump', she leaped like a leopard, her two arms shooting out like whips, tightly strangling the Scavenger's neck.
Berry could feel the surging in the opponent's throat and the gasping sounds, but even so, Berry showed no mercy. She tightened her grip, and with a 'crack', the cartilage in the neck instantly snapped.
"Nice work, Berry." Beside her, Jackie and V had cleanly dealt with their enemies and were now giving Berry a thumbs-up.
"Alright, no one's breathing now, but there are still a lot of them in the main hall outside, we'd best sneak past them."
Turning out of the room, sunlight poured into the main hall through the blinds. At least a dozen Scavengers were sitting or standing, chatting idly.
The three dared not be careless. Following the positions Bug marked for them on the holographic screen, they used various obstacles and office desks for cover. Amidst the piercing electronic music, they skirted the main hall along the wall and entered a dimly lit small room.
Getting closer to the target, the three became even more cautious, suppressing their breathing and footsteps to the absolute minimum.
"You..."
Just past a small corridor, a sudden voice startled V, who was leading, giving her goosebumps. Beside her, a Scavenger leader, realizing the newcomers were not his subordinates, immediately widened his eyes.
"Goddammit, where did these..." The leader reached for the machine gun on the office desk.
V was shocked by this; the room was small, and if the opponent got the machine gun, they would surely be dead.
V's body moved instinctively, she hit the tall leader's chin with her gun stock, making him stumble.
At this moment, Jackie behind her also saw the machine gun on the table and immediately reached out to knock it off, preventing the leader from getting it.
However, the leader was tall and strong; seeing he couldn't get the gun, he shoved V away and was about to push the door open to warn his subordinates. The music was so loud that the people in the main hall outside couldn't hear the commotion inside.
Seeing this, Jackie and V were anxious but dared not shoot, fearing they would alert the dozen or so Scavengers outside.
Just as the leader's hand was about to reach the doorknob, and Jackie and V gritted their teeth, preparing to throw caution to the wind and shoot, there was a muffled 'thud', and half of the leader's skull flew off, his body falling heavily to the ground.
Turning to look, Berry was panting heavily in the doorway, her chest heaving, and the hand holding "vitamin b" was trembling.
"I brought a suppressor, just in case," Berry's face was pale and beaded with sweat. She managed a weak smile at Jackie and V. It had been a close call, almost escalating into a face-to-face firefight.
"Berry, nice work." V, disregarding the corpse, gave Berry a radiant hug. Jackie also wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking relieved. "We almost screwed up, Berry, it's a good thing you were here."
"The target's last known location is behind the door; you should see her when you push it open." Bug's voice remained calm and flat.
"Bug, you really have no empathy." Jackie let out a long sigh, then tilted his head, signaling V and the other person to follow.
"Alright, let's finish this mission quickly." In front of the coordinates, Jackie opened the door and led the way in. "What the..."
As soon as the three entered, they froze on the spot. This time, even Jackie and V couldn't help but almost throw up from the scene inside.