The mellow rumbling of an engine that's ready to do so much more creates a steady white noise that settles in. Netty's eyes suddenly start to glow orange... a holocall from a distorted number he's grown all too familiar with comes in. He again ignores it with aggravated spite.
He winces in pain at the lingering effects of Brian's boot.. causing Carter to look over at him.
"You alright kid?"
He doesn't respond.
While at a stop light, Netaniel looks over onto the sidewalk. He sees a group of kids sprinting up the street at full speed... a store owner in hot pursuit as they laugh with huge smiles on their faces. The store owner screams in rage at the kids as he finally gives up the chase completely out of breath.
Netty smiles... reminiscing on his past with his own friends… he sees their smiling faces as they laugh with joy; They sing and chant together in unison to their own made up creed.. breaking out into a euphoric laughing fit together... simpler times now long gone.
As the memories conclude, so does his smile to himself. Carter picks up on his energy… looking for a way in.
"Y'know, I never really had a problem with puttin' iron to use. Guessin' based on your… skillset, you never really had a reason to huh."
"Guess you could say that." Netty responds distant.
"Never really got into running either... always kinda looked at that shit like magic y'know" Carter chuckles.
"Well, ya wouldn't be too far off choom. S'like mixin' chemicals on a timer. You'd be surprised how many runners are out there doin' shit without the slightest clue… Besides… based on your profile, probably wouldn't be the best fit."
Carter raises his eyebrows with a smirk, looking over. "Looked into my 'profile' huh"
"Typical night city street merc. Your gigs suggest precision but your results suggest… inconsistency at best."
"Inconsistency." Carter scoffs with a laugh, refocusing on the road.
"Hey, no judgement here choom… Whorin' yourself out for eds to whatever dregs hand em to you in this city i'm sure has its own unseen perks. I'd imagine trust and loyalty for sale in Night City must really pay well."
Carter looks over with his eyebrows wrinkled. "Aye, we got a problem choom..? I might've missed the memo." He asks offended.. tone shifted in a way we've never heard before, matching Netty's energy filled with animosity.
Netty doesn't respond, instead gazing out the window as carter takes an extended look at him.
A pause takes over the interior of the ride as they weave through street traffic. The morning clouds gradually parting and giving way to the blooming sun.
"Y'know most people got it wrong... Life of a merc is far less cut and dry. One day you're collectin' on a debt from some drug kinping that got too big for his britches. Next you're helping a single mom find her missing daughter kidnapped by some scav street trash after running away from her plush corpo culdesac. Only to find out her corp's the ones who paid em to grab her... tch… Hardly ever as simple as pullin' a trigger and collectin' payment."
"And the crew you used to run with… They uh.. they gone or?" Netty asks.
A brief pause takes place as the idle sounds of the inner city takeover at a stop light. Carter sees a series of flashes... him and his former crew's time together. Their triumphs… their hardships… the ordeals of an unknown, yet capable crew of Night City street mercs. They stand atop a roof towering above the Night Cityscape… clinking beer bottles and laughing together in celebration. He finally responds.
"Gone's relative kid." He mutters in monotone, causing Netty to look over at him. "Even being a solo often means having to count on somebody. Don't really gotta remind of you that though huh."
A series of quick flashes flood Netaniel's mind one after the other... his friends taking selfies… all sporting their own runner masks designed just like his… each with their own unique and distinct color of pixelated LEDs resembling faces. They snap various shots deep in the depths of various top secret and inaccessible corpo facilities. Various unconscious or dead corporate security lay piled up in the corners of the various snapshots. Yet another game of feats they'd often run amuck with.
"What's the story on that mask of yours anyway?"
Netty glances down at it briefly.. resting idle on his lap.
"Is it just supposed to make creepy faces out of pixels? or-"
"-Blocks and jams electromagnetic fields… a quickhacking shield… a counter measure. Think of it kind of like a Faraday bag that works on incoming without fuckin' up any of my outgoing. Limits my options a bit and won't stop everything, especially any serious runners these days… but it'll definitely slow em down at the very least... by then… its already too late. heh… custom made, preem piece of hardware my choom Milton cooked up once upon a time. He was an ace runner but we always felt and told em he was a techie at heart. We'd ask him every now n then how he put em together… he'd tell us, but... we'd usually fall asleep halfway through." Netty sees a quick snapshot of all of his chooms gathered together somewhere deep in a Dynalar black lab facility sporting their black digital masks of varying distinct colors and facial expressions. Some creepy, some intimidating, some just plain twisted. Corporate security lay scattered throughout the background.
Netty pauses for a while, thinking deeply... the mellow rumblings of the engine take back over. He changes subject slightly as a fond memory enters his mind causing him to raise his eyebrows with a smile... looking down at the floor of the van. Almost as if talking to himself out loud.
"Me and my chooms we used to uh… we would have these like… quickdraw contests."
Carter looks over.
"A face to face challenge of speed and complexity... think rock paper scissors with a serious headache waiting for whoever wasn't quite fast enough on the draw. Whoever got the quickest hack on each other won. Heh… my friend Alex, he would… well… he was definitely the quickest. Choom could place a fuckin' program faster than you could blink… haha… was scary at times. Chris was the only one who would be able to catch him every now n then but… god he was so fuckin' good."
Netaniel's smile slowly fades away to mourning.
"Quickdraw Netrunning..? Hm.. jesus… guess the landscape's seriously changed over the years."
"Eh.. remember, most runners tend to be the more shut-in, anti-social type. Most aren't runnin' around out there as a 'pack' let alone think-tanking by doin' shit like this. Think of it more like… unorthodox wax on, wax off type of shit. Pushing the boundaries of whats possible and what's not was often our life blood… whether conventional or not. Funny cuz my dad trained me in pretty much the exact opposite."
Another break in the conversation occurs. The hustle and bustle combined with the unconventional chaos of Night City now in full swing and ready to start its day alongside it's inhabitants. Netty picks back up.
"So what's the story on this guy we're meeting."
Carter looks over. "Riles Tan. Apparently a contact of Brian's. Said he should have the deets we need on this Maelstrom outfit involved with that pipeline we destroyed."
"Riles Tan..? Hmm.. profile's showing pretty bland." Netty says as he casually does a quick search in his holographic, cyberpunk yellow netrunning interface.. alongside a profile picture of Riles. Carter looks over impressed.
"You… found him just like that..?" He asks… Netty ignores.
"Chooms from Heywood… several Valentino affiliates, dealings with 6th street.. etcetera. Jacket's pretty clean though honestly... not much of a crim. Assault, Battery, Resisting, no major affiliates or formal fixer gigs, blah blah blah."
"Is that rose gold EMP threading he's got…? Heh. How fabulous-" Carter mocks glancing at Riles' holo picture.
"-And why the hell are we hitting Maelstrom again…? Been a minute since that shit with the scavs went down and… nothin'. Yesterday's history and tomorrow's a mystery is what I was told afterall. To say Maelstrom is violently proactive is really puttin' it lightly... don't you think something would've happened by now?"
"Heh.. you do still got a lot to learn don't you choom." Carter mutters.
Netty looks over confused.
"Any moves you make in this town significant enough to turn the wrong heads, let alone fuck with the wrong pockets is almost always liable to get an answer if you didn't finish em. Answer just usually never comes how or when you'd expect. This city at times tends to work as one giant membrane... movements over HERE send ripples that affect shit over THERE. If its important enough, word passes from ear to ear as efficient as an e-mailed corpo business memo. Right when you think everything's fine… everything's settled.. riiight when you start to lay back and kick your feet up. Then- "
Carter snaps his fingers. Netty raises his eyebrows.
Carter settles into the driver seat, a lone hand on the wheel. "Like, take this data run we're on right now for example... simple, straightforward, clear goals, players and intentions that should take no more than a few minutes… right? Well kid… in our world, how often do you think things really go down that way hm…? They're the exception… not the standard. Gotta LIVE in eventuality... combat running's something you should probably start to prioritize out here over some… 'wax on, wax off' nonsense-"
"-Hey! I can fuckin' 'combat run' just fine choom." Netty snaps back.
"Tch yeah, cept when the bullets are flyin'… and minus the kicks to the nuts… right?" Carter chimes.
Netty glances at Carter's shoulder where he took the gunshot... a wave of guilt washes over him… he says nothing.
"Anticipation's your best weapon out here kid… Be there before em…. Ready…. That way you never gotta meet em there." Carter concludes in a deep tone... looking over at an attentive Netaniel now thinking deeply.
They arrive at the meeting location… a crowded Capitan Caliente with shoulder to shoulder traffic moving in and out.
Carter's sat with Netty in a corner booth while Netty discreetly fiddles with the hologram display of the Caliente menu… messing with the live feed and switching numbers around on the food prices.
"WHAT'RE YOU GONKED!? 69 EDDIES FOR ONE FUCKIN' CALIENTE CHILI WRAP!?" The guy at the front of the line shouts at the Caliente employee behind the counter who turns and looks at the menu with panicked confusion.
"Are you gonna actually snarf that Buddha Burrito you're nursin' or just keep terrorizin' the blue collars of NC? I mean… you know they're not our target right?" Carter snides looking at Netty who's got his fist rested on his chin... eyes red, flowing with code.
"Corpo rats, Corpo slaves… all the same." Netty resents dismissively as he passively alters the series of transactions taking place at the terminal on the Caliente front counter. He causes the terminal to reflect zero eurodollars… effectively making every transaction that goes through a successful purchase without actually charging the customer. With the busy hustle and bustle of the business, customers and workers alike can't even bother to notice.
The kid can sit around… eat a burrito, and effortlessly alter live-feed corporate datastreams like you or I would twiddle our thumbs.
Five minutes goes by… Carter's eyes start to glow orange as a call on the holo comes in. He turns his head to the side, looking down slightly.
=Carter. What's up choom. We were already late so that makes you extra.=
Netty glances at Carter while listening and frantically wrapping up his Burrtito to toss.
=uh huh.= Carter mumbles, fielding Riles' ramble.. giving us a listen.
=Sorry about that choom… Got caught up. Need a last sec switch. Think you can meet me at the Wash n' Run in Vista Del Rey? There's-=
=-Fuck that.= Carter snap responds deeply with a flat tone while quickly standing up out of the booth.
He slowly steps to look outside the window. =Meet me at the Vanderbilt. On my way there now.= He concludes... promptly ending the holocall. "Lets go kid. Likely got eyes on us now."
The whistling of a cold and lonely wind blows various scraps of paper and debris across and around rusted train tracks. As Carter crunches gravel beneath his boots with each step pacing back and forth, Netty stares down at the chipping and rusted railway.
A look of silent detachment rests on his face. This kid born of the modern day stares down at the tried and true tech of the old world staring back up at him. "How far we've come… or have we?" The silent thought passes by in his mind. The area was isolated… quiet. A direct contrast to Brian's intention with this simple data gather.
"Why'd you change the meet to here? Kind of… sketch don't you think? From both perspectives." Netty asks.
"Know this place well. Look up." Carter nods upward.. Netty turns around.
"See that wall walk up there? Only area that overlooks this section of the yard… cascading outwardly. Only way to get up there is through the other side of that warehouse its connected to. Completely gutted on the inside… only way up there now's with wings. If someone does get up there however… we'll here that creaky ass door rat em out... Only one up there. Also.. there's only one way into this section of the track. Should see em coming from at least half a mile away. Also means… only one way out of here as well."
Listening to Carter not only understand the last minute handpicked area on a deeper level but also analyze potentialities reminds him of Brian. All of this anticipation… unseen planning and thinking… for something this simple..? It intimidates him. Reminds him hes now in a world all too unfamiliar.
A brief amount of time passes by as the afternoon ambience turns to a beautiful early evening orange. A set of wheels screeches to a halt at the end of the Vanderbilt as Riles Tan and his side choom exit the vehicle making their way toward Carter and Netty deeper into the tracks. Crunching rocks and gravel under their boots, Riles in his NC street duds paired well with his rose gold EMP threading approaches… his side choom stops about ten yards behind him with his head on a swivel. Riles points at the pair from the hip.
"Carter right?" Riles asks as he approaches at a steady, no bullshit pace.. his hand out for a shake. Carter shakes his hand as Netty glances at Riles' side choom standing in the distance with a mean mug. The silence in the air is deafening…
"The very same. This' Netaniel." Carter says gesturing toward Netty. "Who's that." He asks Riles while gesturing to his choom, finishing the handshake.
"Ah, just a choom of mine that needed a ride. Told em I was already late to this n' if he wanted one he'd have to tag along. Got held up by some Corpo spat that spilled out into the streets. Traffics fucked." He concludes.
Carter doesn't respond as Riles hands over the rusty datashard and slots it right away, verifying the goods. His eyes briefly glow blue as he skims the data… Netty glances over at Riles who returns the look with a neutral nod.
Netaniel's attention is then turned to the side choom… he notices him pull out a cellphone to either make or answer a call as he casually turns away. Netty's intuition is triggered as an uneasy feeling washes over him.
"So uhh… Brian's back in the game huh? Heh, Shit.. most of us thought he was dead. Maybe choked on a barrel even." Riles mentions with a nervous chuckle.
Carter's eyes stop glowing blue as he glances at Riles briefly while stepping past him with Netty. "Tch, Yeah. Right. Be seein' you choom." He says dismissively
"Well, hey! Hold up! Let Brian know uh… y'know if he needs anything to gimme a call yeah? I'm at his service again! Heh! Like old times huh!" Riles says with arms out.
They hear his side choom ending his call.. putting his phone away while muttering... causing Carter and Netaniel to look over at him.
"We ALWAYS did good… work to-….gether?" Riles trails off as he looks over confused to see a four door come to a screeching halt on the other side of the chainlink fence in the adjacent trainyard.
All four doors quickly open as the side choom speaks at them for the first time… in a thick Russian accent.
"The price of blood to be accosted in this city… the hotel Pistis Sophia… think we'd forget?"
The loud, creaking sound of the door up on the warehouse wall walk rings out alongside chambering iron.
"GET DOWN!!!" Carter screams at Netty while grabbing his head and shoving him down toward the floor causing the side choom's drawn iron to barely miss Netty's skull. The loud crack of the round next to Netty's ear sends a deafening high pitched ringing into it as dirt kicks up. Carter uses the momentum of the shove to wheel kick Riles square in the jaw knocking him out cold on his feet. Before he faceplants into the dirt, Carter grabs him by the throat with his forearm… using him as a human shield. He draws his sidearm, firing a single shot at the sidechoom and nailing him square in the forehead dropping him. The blood from the shot sprays onto Netty's head and hands as he regains his footing and takes off.. ducking behind one of the metal shipping containers as gunfire begins to flood in.
Riles takes several rounds.. struggling as he screams out in pain before going limp amidst loud, booming gunshots. Carter still holding him tightly fires two rounds up at the warehouse wall walk… landing two headshots instantly and sending the shooters falling lifeless some forty feet down. He immediately hears the sound of multiple fortified ankles engaging as the mercs effortlessly clear the seven foot high chainlink fence. He front kicks Riles into their direction.. sending a final round into the back of his neck before he can even hit the ground. Four dead in seconds. He then sprints and dives behind a metal shipping crate barely escaping a volley of gunfire out in the open.
Netty peaks out behind cover.. seeing Carter's position being rapidly closed in on by the group of mercs. Carter trying to return fire catches several slugs causing him let out a familiar roar of pain and sending him to the dirt with blood spraying.
Netty hears Carter's roar of pain causing him to flinch. The moment grabs hold of him tightly… he feels a rush... seeing a quick snapshot in his head... his dead friends in their runner chairs.
It snaps him back into a mentality... a feeling he hasn't had since being face to face with the Blackwall.
Netty hops out of cover.. eyes glowing red and flowing with code as he targets the five assaulting mercs. Two burst out into a scream of cyber augmented pain.. dropping their iron to the dirt as a third merc's head explodes into a shower of blood sending brain and skull chunks flying. The mercs head exploding causes the remaining two to flinch.. skull fragments digging into their skin like shrapnel. They immediately turn their attention over to him.
They open fire… sending a frantic volley of rounds toward Netty in the distance.
He continues to walk toward the mercs out in the open in full focus… death glare on his face while he grits his teeth with stray bullets kicking up dust near his shoes. An incoming bullet grazes Netty's face as it screams by and slices open his skin just below his eye… he doesn't flinch as a second round does the same… slicing his skin and gashing it open just below the first. One of the mercs engages his fortified ankles to leap toward Netty right before the quickhack finishes. The momentum of the jump sends his body flailing through the air lifeless as black smoke trails behind him out of his skullsponge. The final merc's entire body tenses up as a look of shock washes over his tattooed face and his rifle drops to the dirt. He struggles with all of his strength to resist his hand reaching for his sidearm while his other cyber arm remains locked behind his back.
"W- WHA? N- NO NO!!!" He screams as his shaking hand reaching for his pistol places the barrel to his own temple before pulling the trigger... The last thing the merc sees is Netty stood right in front of him... staring directly at him with red eyed intensity. The loud bang sends blood spraying and the merc to the dirt as Netty watches him fall.
His eyes stop glowing red... he takes a long final look down at the dead merc layed at his feet... he then immediately rushes over to Carter's position.
"Carter!!" He screams as he makes it to him… Carter slowly rolling over while groaning and getting up. He rushes to help him to his feet.
"You alright man??"
"Yeah… yeah. Fine." Carter responds, taking a quick glance at the blood running down Netty's face from the 2 fresh bullet gashes. Thanks to the used bloodpump Audrey gave Carter, hes already begun to recover smoother than when he got shot in the street fight.
Carter steps past Netty headed toward their van as Netty promptly follows.
"Good work kid… holy shit." He says flustered, out of breath and gathering himself. "Lets delta. Got the data, no eyes on the otherside of the Vanderbilt… more probably coming. We gotta-" Carter mutters before he hears Netty let out a heavy exhale causing Carter to turn and look at him.
Netty's head snaps back with force as his eyes and mouth open wide in shock. A subtle spark shoots out of the neuroport next to his NTK tattoo as he collapses to the ground motionless… his eyes and mouth remaining wide open. Carter immediately rushes back to him and falls to his knees.
"NETTY?! NETTY!!!" Carter barks as he violently shakes the kid while looking up and around at their surroundings. "COME ON KID!!" He shouts through his teeth. Assuming the next wave of attack is already here, Carter gets up and draws his iron... scanning the area, looking up and around everywhere for a target while trying to cover Netaniel.
Netty's pupils dilate as he lay there motionless... Carter's muffled panic fades out.