When the elevator reached the top floor, two Militech agents stared coldly at the pair. "Does maintenance require bringing the elevator all the way to the top floor?"
Mercer wore a matter-of-fact expression, but the hand visible to V gave a slight signal. "But if we don't run a test cycle on the elevator, how are we supposed to figure out what's wrong with it?"
"This area doesn't need inspection. You will immediately" Before the Militech agent could pull the trigger of the gun in his hand, he saw a flash before his eyes.
The next moment, V, who was behind Mercer, transformed into a phantom, flickering as she impaled both men, one on her left and one on her right, and lifted them into the air.
Her Mantis Blades pierced through their throats and out the backs of their heads, preventing them from even crying out a warning before they were instantly neutralized.
V's Mantis Blades weren't just sharp; these Thermal Mantis Blades could instantly heat up to over a thousand degrees Celsius, cauterizing the target's blood vessels into charcoal in a split second.
Mercer glanced impassively from side to side. The security bot by the elevator, still on its wireless charging pad, hadn't even had time to activate before he had forcibly hacked and shut it down. After modifying its Identification Friend or Foe protocols, it returned to its quiet standby mode.
With a casual flick of her hands, V tossed the two corpses against the wall. They slid slowly to the ground, dark red blood flowing from their wounds as they twitched and died.
"Fuck, lucky I was quick enough to get what you meant," V grumbled, shooting Mercer a look. "You could've given me a heads-up."
"I knew you'd understand what I meant."
Mercer just smiled at the two agents' bodies, then said, "The people in the security room must have noticed the camera feed freezing. You need to take them out before they realize something's wrong and call for backup."
As Mercer spoke, his cyberoptics glowed. He shed his maintenance worker's jacket, revealing the netrunning suit underneath.
The heat sink cover on his back was already open. In that instant, the hallway cameras and the elevator were all hacked by Mercer. Finally, he connected to the computers in the security room and began to take control of all security equipment.
Mercer pointed down one side of the hallway leading from the elevator. "The security room is this way. First door on the right."
V flicked her hands, shaking the blood from her Mantis Blades. "Feels like the more I use these things, the worse the self-cleaning gets. A little sticky, don't you think?"
"I'll give them a cleaning and maintenance when we get back. I guess you could call it a drawback of the Thermal Mantis Blades," Mercer said, multitasking. He then tilted his head, indicating the direction she should go, while he himself remained at the elevator entrance.
The top floor here still followed the basic design logic of a hotel. After exiting the elevator, there was a long corridor. One side led to the rooftop terrace, the other to the suite where Diana was staying.
The moment Mercer nodded for her to make her move, V, who had already understood, moved to the corner of the corridor in front of the elevator. She activated her Sandevistan and Kerenzikov in unison.
It took her only a second to rush to the security room door. The instant Mercer opened it, she stormed inside. Not even a single gunshot rang out from inside, only a few heavy thuds. Then, V casually walked out of the security room and gave Mercer, who was around the corner of the hallway, an "OK" sign.
Only then did Mercer nod and walk down the hallway toward her.
"Let's go, quickly. I'm not sure if the guys in the security room requested backup the moment they noticed something was wrong."
Although Mercer said this, he still believed that he and V had likely not been exposed yet.
When a normal person in a security room notices a camera feed stuttering, their first reaction should be to confirm if there's an anomaly, troubleshoot the malfunction, and check the situation with the agents at the door.
This entire process would take at least three to five seconds, which was about how long it took V and Mercer to deal with those guys.
Still, Mercer remained cautious and didn't act immediately. Instead, he and V hid inside the security room, waiting patiently for two seconds while Mercer used the security room's camera feed of the rooftop to monitor the agents up there.
Seeing that the dedicated agents were still patrolling the rooftop, Mercer breathed a sigh of relief. He could confirm they hadn't been exposed.
"The suite is divided into three areas. The outermost area has seven agents: three on guard in the reception area by the door, two on patrol, and four from the next shift who are resting. The innermost area is Diana's personal living space."
Mercer paused, then continued, "I've already highlighted the targets in my cyberoptics. When we make our move, I'll upload a virus to jam communications first. Wait for the virus to take effect before you act, to prevent them from raising the alarm."
"Got it. Why are there so many people here?" V asked with a frown.
"In fact, the first thing Diana Cuno did after we agreed to cooperate was request to live in this VIP suite and have Militech guys provide her with security."
Mercer scoffed, "She's probably having nightmares about us suddenly showing up at her door."
V shook her head, then pointed upstairs. "The ones inside the building can be taken down one by one quietly, but there's not much cover on the rooftop. What's our plan then? We're at this point already, don't keep me in suspense."
"Alright... Do you know how those large dumpsters in Night City are usually collected and emptied?" Mercer changed the subject, asking her a question.
V was taken aback. For a moment, she really couldn't think of the answer. Who pays attention to how dumpsters are collected?
After a moment's thought, she said, a little uncertainly, "I think some kind of drone-like machine collects them... Holy shit, you're not planning on using one of those things to fly us out, are you?"
V had a look of repulsion on her face. "I think we'd be better off just fighting our way out through the ground floor with Diana..."
"Relax, don't worry. The standard payload of a Canopy is 300kg, with a maximum of 500kg. It's a bit slow, but these things are all over Night City. We'll use one to delta from the sky."
Mercer said with a grin, "I've been wanting to try this for a while. Remember the first time we infiltrated the Biotechnica building? I hacked a drone back then as a backup escape plan. Now, we finally get to use this thing."
"Damn, hiding in a garbage container to get away? That's disgusting," V grumbled, but in the end, she nodded with a sullen look on her face. "Fine. But you'd better pray it doesn't smell weird in there."
"Diana gets tossed in, and we just stand on top, right? We can even enjoy the night breeze, look at the moon and stars. How romantic."
Mercer's words earned him a disgusted look from V, but she didn't say much more, only making a fist. "If we fall off and die, we'll probably become true Night City legends."
"Hahaha," Mercer laughed heartily, simply waving his hand. "Let's go, let's go. We need to grab Diana quickly. The sooner we settle the deal with Militech, the sooner we can go home and rest."
V pouted, stretched her body, and then walked straight out the door, heading for the suite.
Mercer highlighted the enemies in his cyberoptics. She had no need to worry about running into an ambush; she just had to wait for Mercer to open the electronic doors and then coordinate her attack with his.
The reason Mercer always liked to team up with V wasn't entirely due to personal feelings, but because their efficiency when working together was just too damn high.
Just like right now, V walked in front with Mercer following close behind. As they neared the enemies, Mercer activated Overclock and unleashed a volley of Quickhacks.
The moment the Quickhacks hit, stunning their targets for an instant, V would seize that one-to-two-second window to send them to their physical demise.
The deadliest part was, if it were some kind of malicious virus, like one that disabled their cyberware or inflicted Synapse Burnout, their ICE might hold it off for a while. By the time the program executed, the target would often have a one or two-second margin for error.
But the Quickhacks Mercer was using in coordination with V, like "Sonic Shock" and "Memory Wipe," were all about speed, precision, and ruthlessness.
If a malicious virus needed a second to run and take effect even after breaching the target's ICE, a virus like Sonic Shock that directly affected the neural pathways could be said to take effect the very instant it was executed.
And an enemy's first reaction to a netrunner planting a virus in their brain was usually to eliminate the netrunner immediately, not to call for backup.
By the time they realized how absurdly fast the hack was, V would already be in their face, giving them no room to get distracted.
When the deadly duo struck together, they were simply unreasonable, just as V was demonstrating now.
Having developed a tacit understanding with Mercer, she didn't rush in for the kill, even when facing these highly skilled enemies who were even equipped with Sandevistans.
She only needed to wait for Mercer to hack them, then act the instant their cyberware alarms were triggered. The enemies were always caught completely off guard.
Those with quick reflexes could activate their Sandevistan and trade a few blows with her. The slower ones were dispatched with a single slash of her blade.
And the agents who did activate their Sandevistans would be sweating bullets just dealing with V's fierce and rapid assault. But after a second or two, they would realize with horror that their ICE had been breached. The moment the virus executed, their minds would go blank.
Losing focus in a duel between Sandevistan users?
That was a one-way ticket to death. All V had to do was take advantage of the moment their minds went blank and their bodies lost control to stab through their heads, and she could easily take care of this group of elite agents.
From the reception hall to the living quarters, the pair's speed was almost no different from if they had just walked the whole way.
By the time they reached the door to the living quarters, all that was left behind them was a group of corpses, most of whom hadn't even had time to scream before being jointly killed by the pair.
Only one agent, equipped with a Sandevistan, managed to curse "Fuck" the instant his ICE was breached before V's blade pierced through his eye socket.
"Is she inside?" V let out a long breath. From storming the building to getting inside, she had activated her Sandevistan at least four times, each for two to three seconds.
This frequency was no small burden for an ordinary person, yet she only seemed to have a slightly fast heartbeat and a faint flush on her face.
"Yep. I bet she's anxiously thinking about her escape route right now. Let's go, give her a surprise."
Mercer walked to V's side, and the high-end electronic door clicked open as if welcoming its master.
It had to be said, these rich people lived damn well. This penthouse suite dedicated half its space to security, yet the remaining living quarters alone were about the size of Mercer's base.
A separate living room, bathroom, and even a kitchen, a definite rarity in Night City, a wine cabinet, a walk-in closet...
Mercer and V checked the rooms as they went, finally stopping in front of the bedroom.
After exchanging a look, Mercer reached out to stop her for a moment. V didn't ask why, quietly waiting with him for half a minute before Mercer nodded at her.
The bedroom door clicked open automatically, and V, like a bolt of lightning, grabbed the stunned Diana Cuno, who was standing by the window, by the neck with one hand and slammed her against the glass.
"Don't! Don't kill me!" Before Diana Cuno could finish, V's pistol was pressed against her face. V then turned her head to look at Mercer.
Mercer smiled and gave Diana a slight nod. "Good evening, Diana."
"Listen to me! A, I didn't mean to"
Before she could finish, Mercer chuckled. "You even found out my name? Not bad."
"It was... it was Militech. You know, that fixer, Faraday, put a public bounty on you. Your physical descriptions and everything aren't a secret now."
Diana's face was pale with fright as she pleaded, "Listen to me, A, we can sit down and talk this over..."
"Alright. One million for a chance to speak. How about it?" Mercer casually pulled over a chair and sat down in front of her.
Diana Cuno's eyes darted away, not daring to look at him. "I... I don't have any money right now..."
"I seem to recall you had quite a bit of buy-my-life money you promised me before," Mercer said with regret. "Looks like we have nothing to talk about then."
"No, no, no! I'm still useful! Listen to me, A, that immunity agent, I'm serious, there's a real chance it can be developed!"
Diana Cuno looked at Mercer with desperation. "Think about it! If this universal immunity agent is developed, how important will it be for humanity? Humans will no longer have to worry about any biological viruses. Whether it's the common cold or other viral infections, even if we can't achieve complete immunity, we can reduce the side effects to a minimum!
We won't need to worry about unclean water sources anymore, nor will we have to fear using animals that carry diseases. As long as we develop this drug, it will usher in an evolution for the human immune system!"
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, but Mercer just shook his head with disinterest, a mocking look on his face. "Perhaps. So what? A fraud and a wanted criminal discussing the future of humanity. Ha."
He let out a laugh and gave a crisp flick of his fingers. V immediately pushed her forward until she was in front of Mercer's face. Mercer pulled out the data cable from his wrist and, giving Diana no room to object, plugged it into her neural link.
"Don't get excited. Let me just check what you've been busy with."
As Mercer spoke, Diana found herself unable to form words. Mercer's data transfer speed was too fast; just passively providing the processing power required for the data transfer made her feel like her body temperature was soaring.
After just a few seconds, Mercer chuckled. "No wonder you're out of money. You spent so much to book a single-passenger flight ticket to the moon. You really are cautious. I thought hiding out in Europe was far enough for you."
After unplugging the cable, he shook his head at V with regret. "She's really out of cash. Spent it all on her escape plan."
V understood immediately. "You knock her out, then. I'm afraid I'll crush her to death."
"Alright," Mercer said. Before Diana could even beg for mercy, a crimson notification box appeared in her cyberoptics. Her cyberware was forcibly shut down, and after a twitch, her eyes rolled back and she passed out.
"Let's go."
Mercer pointed upward, and V tossed Diana directly to him.
She's pretty heavy. Mercer simply grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her along the ground. It was less effort that way.
V shot him a disdainful look. "You should work out a little."
"With my Body stat of eleven, I'd rather not waste the effort. No matter how hard I train, it's easier to just get a new pair of arms," Mercer said, full of self-righteousness. "V, I'm not like you. I use my brain."
"...When we get back to the base, I'll train you." Judging by V's meaningful gaze, what kind of training it would be was anyone's guess, endurance against beatings?
Mercer just smiled nonchalantly. The two of them returned the way they came, and once in the hallway, they headed straight for the staircase leading to the top floor.
At the door, V didn't rush to open it, instead waiting for Mercer to highlight the targets.
After marking them with his cyberoptics, Mercer said directly, "You take the few lighter-colored ones up close. I'll handle the ones farther away."
"Be careful. Don't stick your head out," V said, drawing her pistol. She took a deep breath, first nodding at Mercer. Then, as soon as Mercer opened the door, she once again charged out ahead of everyone.
This time, there was no need to worry about being discovered, mainly because there were a full eleven people on the roof. Expecting eleven elite agents not to even send out a distress signal when attacked was somewhat unrealistic.
On a rooftop with only some ventilation ducts and the like for cover, there was practically nowhere to hide. The moment V stepped out, she was already spotted by the agents. But V was simply too fast. The moment the door opened, the high-powered pistol in her hand had already begun to roar.
In V's grip, the pistol, which could be described as a hand cannon, only made her wrist twitch slightly before she steadied her aim and targeted another enemy.
Aside from two elite agents equipped with operating systems who could react instantly, the other agents were nothing more than toys for a speedster.
They couldn't even get a clear look at her silhouette, let alone aim.
V's bullets tore through the air. The speed of her successive shots pushed the firearm to its continuous firing limit. To onlookers, it sounded like a string of firecrackers suddenly going off.
Four agents had their heads blown apart by bullets before they could even turn around. Two other soldiers, equipped with a Kerenzikov, managed to narrowly dodge by relying on their accelerated thought processes and their own chromed, superhuman physiques.
As for the two Militech soldiers equipped with a Sandevistan and a Berserk OS, one moved to the flank while accurately firing his rifle in bursts toward V's path, creating space for his partner to engage head-on.
The other flicked his hands, and two Mantis Blades crackling with electricity unhesitatingly clashed against the Mantis Blades in V's hands.
This time, V finally felt a bit of a struggle. The Sandevistan and Kerenzikov these two had were not cheap; they were top-of-the-line Militech models. At the same time, their physical conditioning was excellent, and most importantly, so were their combat skills.
V came from the streets. Although she knew a fair bit about boxing and had outstanding natural talent, she honestly didn't know much about melee combat.
In the past, she had always been in street shootouts with other small-time thugs. When had she ever received professional training?
Although the Militech agent before her was a step slower, the strength in his thick, clearly chromed arms was by no means inferior to V's, and his technique was obviously superior.
For a moment, the two were locked in a stalemate in close-quarters combat.
In an instant, they exchanged more than a dozen blows with a clang, sparks flying through the air. V did her best to control her position, dealing with the man in front of her while carefully dodging the bullets constantly coming from her side.
The agent facing V suddenly turned his head and said rapidly, "Take out that netrunner!"
The agent responsible for providing covering fire didn't hesitate. He also activated his full speed and rushed toward Mercer's position.
V didn't hesitate either. With a single slash, she forced her opponent back and immediately turned to rush toward Mercer.
"Trap!"
Mercer only had time to project those two words to her cyberoptics, but V instantly realized the problem. She abruptly dove, sliding across the ground.
Sure enough, a projectile from a Projectile Launch System grazed her upper body and flew past, landing on the other side of the rooftop and blowing an agent behind cover into the air.
Mercer, with a cold expression, simply pulled Diana Cuno in front of him, causing the agent who had raised his gun in the distance to curse and shift his aim.
"The ICE can't hold," an agent managed to warn before he suddenly convulsed and collapsed. This was like toppling a domino; in an instant, the other agents began to fall to the ground in unison.
As Mercer's primary targets, sparks even shot directly from the heads of the two agents with the operating systems installed.
In fact, it was the time spent prioritizing the breach of their ICE that had allowed the other agents to live for that little while longer.
V panted, spinning around and slashing without a moment's hesitation. The head of the agent she had just been locked in a fierce battle with went flying. Another agent holding a rifle could only stare, his face a mask of astonishment and despair.
They had never imagined Mercer could breach their Self-ICE in such a short amount of time.
And to so brazenly hack multiple targets at once.
V, still accelerated, took a few large strides and, with a hint of fury, plunged her Mantis Blades into another agent's chest. She lifted him high with both blades, using his body to block the bullets from the only two remaining agents who could still fire, then charged straight at them.
This senior agent's body was equipped with top-of-the-line ballistic armor; the bullets pinged and ricocheted off him completely.
Without even needing Mercer to hack the remaining agents, the berserk V swept through them like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, finishing them off one by one.
"Whew..." V let out a long breath. Now she was genuinely a bit tired.
She flicked her hand, her Mantis Blade flinging a line of blood. Turning her head, she looked at the two senior agents who had possessed operating systems and said with some annoyance, "These guys have a really disgusting fighting style. I need to go back and figure out how to deal with their kind in the future."
"The two of them have a set combat strategy. The one you were facing specialized in defense, in stalling the enemy. The other only activated the lowest level of his Sandevistan for suppressive fire, all to wait for you to hit your Sandevistan's limit. Once you've activated your cyberware for too long without finishing your opponent and hit the fatigue period, the other guy would have immediately moved in to flank you, taking your life while you were exhausted."
Mercer's combat skills might not have matched V's, but he saw things clearly and understood them. "And at the end, he deliberately called out to lure you into protecting me, creating an opening for the other guy to use his Projectile Launch System."
"Tsk." V looked a little unhappy.
Mercer smiled and patted her shoulder. "What? You took on two Militech senior agents by yourself and you still think you're not good enough?"
"...I'll go back and practice some more," V said, unconvinced. "Next time we meet, I'll finish guys like this in three seconds!"
Mercer shook his head, then said, "You're already very strong. Not just anyone has what it takes to face two opponents of that caliber at once."
Mercer wasn't just offering simple comfort; he was speaking the truth. For a solo who had come up the hard way, V's ability to fight two senior agents to a standstill relying on combat instinct alone was a sign of absolutely exceptional talent.
But V seemed full of confidence as she said, "It's just that I don't usually run into experts like this. Wait till I get back and think it over, figure out some moves and routines. It'll be different next time. I feel like I'm faster and stronger than him, I just lack a bit of technique."
"...Then wait for me to go back and think it over. Anyway, once this is all done, we should lie low for a while. I'll see how I can help you improve your technical skills."
Mercer thought of his Relic. Its priority in his future research would certainly be high. He might as well start by thinking about how to develop something for V that could enhance her combat techniques. As the two were talking, a drone spouting blue flames and carrying a large dumpster slowly approached from the distance, stopping precisely in front of Mercer and V.
Mercer opened the lid and glanced inside. It was still filled with some miscellaneous trash, which made V show a look of disgust.
"Let's get our VIP in first," Mercer ordered V. V, somewhat used to it by now, simply lifted Diana with one hand and tossed her directly into the dumpster.
Then, she just leaped up, sat on the drone's support frame above the dumpster, and extended a hand to Mercer.
Mercer reached out and was pulled up by her, also sitting on the drone's frame. Then, the Canopy drone reignited its engines, took off vertically, and flew up into the sky.
You know, it was actually a little terrifying.
This drone wasn't developed to be a vehicle. Sitting on the dumpster, Mercer could only hold on for dear life by gripping the drone's robotic arm-like components to steady himself. Looking down, the entirety of Night City seemed to shrink into insignificance.
The evening wind became somewhat biting at high altitude. As the Canopy drone gradually accelerated and flew outward, the perceived speed became even more frightening.
Mercer could only hurry and busy himself with something else, his cyberoptics glowed as he connected to the cameras on the first floor of the Biotechnica restaurant.
He had taken control of such things in passing on his way through. Now, he just used the cameras to lock onto the agent who had previously questioned him and V about why they were there and had seen his face. Then, he began to hack him through the cameras.
The agent's ICE didn't even react. Because he was connected to the first-floor security system, it meant that once Mercer had secretly breached and hacked the first-floor security server and cameras, his LAN was completely defenseless against Mercer.
It just took a little more time to find a vulnerability in the target's ICE. Then, the agent only realized he had been hacked when a strange program suddenly started running in his head.
The result, naturally, goes without saying.
"Why is your face so pale?" V's voice brought Mercer back to reality.
He turned his head to look at her, then unconsciously tightened his grip on the drone's robotic arm. "Damn, if I'd known, I would've just fought our way out with you... No, I have to get this drone to descend sooner."
"...Hahahaha!" V was stunned for a moment, then burst into unapologetic laughter. "Didn't you want to see the stars and the moon?"
"Damn, this is totally different... I'm not like you, able to do a one-arm pull-up while holding onto the drone with one hand. If I lose my grip, it's really game over."
Mercer looked around apprehensively. He had been extremely confident when flying in the exoskeleton that morning. He never would have thought that sitting on this drone would, on the contrary, make him feel a bit uneasy.
V, still laughing, reached out and grabbed his arm. "Alright, I'll hold on to you then. Don't worry, even if you jumped off right now, I could still catch you. Let's just fly straight out of here. I don't want to be chased around the city again."
"...Fine." Although Mercer felt a bit awkward, mainly because being laughed at by this woman was a little annoying, he also genuinely felt much more at ease. He glanced from side to side, then grabbed her wrist with his free hand. Only then did he truly relax, his other hand no longer death-gripping the drone's mechanical arm.
Mercer gazed at the city, now ablaze with lights and neon colors. He looked out into the distance at the various drones flying in a scattered yet orderly fashion at low to mid-altitudes. For a moment, he found himself captivated by the sight.
V felt much the same, it was the first time either of them had seen the city from such a height. At the drone's altitude, even the faint, pervasive stench of Night City seemed to have faded considerably.
"You know, it's actually kind of beautiful," V said softly.
She seemed completely relaxed now. With one hand gripping the drone's arm, she showed no fear of falling. Instead, she swung her legs casually, her feet occasionally tapping against the dumpster with a soft clatter.
Mercer tilted his head back to look at the sky. The stars flickered in and out of view behind the clouds, much like the neon lights below.
Maybe those aren't stars, but satellites, he thought. The idea suddenly made it all seem less romantic.
Mercer turned his gaze and saw V looking up at the stars as well.
Framed by her white hair, her fair profile didn't look like that of a street kid at all. When she was quiet, she had an aloof, cool aura.
The maintenance worker's uniform she still wore didn't make her look shabby; instead, it added a touch of nonchalant, free-spirited charm.
V hummed a little tune, her mood cheerful. When she turned her head, she saw Mercer staring at her, which made her feel inexplicably flustered.
She instinctively looked away, then immediately stared back, putting on a smug expression. "What? Is your big sis pretty?"
"You know, when you're not talking, you're quite good-looking," Mercer said, a little disappointed. He wished she would switch her expression back, that cool, aloof look from a moment ago was so much better. Why did it lose its appeal the moment she opened her mouth?
V huffed and pretended to pull her hand away from his grasp. Mercer immediately changed his tune. "Beautiful! Fucking beautiful! How about we don't go back tonight and just wander around somewhere?"
"Get lost. Aren't you afraid Rebecca will snap your neck when you get back?"
V shot him a playful, disdainful look. Then, her eyes darted around and she said with a grin, "It's not impossible to go on a date with me, but you'd better think it through. I don't like my boyfriends getting flirty with other women."
She leaned her face closer, feigning composure as she tried to tease him. "If my boyfriend dared to cheat... I'd crush them with my own hands."
V squeezed her hand slightly, making Mercer wince. But he quickly retorted with righteous indignation, "Cheat? Don't be ridiculous. I'm a faithful, good man. V, I think you have the wrong idea about me."
"Then swear it right now. If you're lying, you'll fall off this thing in a minute."
V's lips curled into a smirk as she deliberately rocked the drone.
The drone wobbled in the air, and Mercer immediately shut his mouth. A moment later, he said, "Well, I think I am"
"Oh, give me a break!"
"Just you wait," V said irritably, looking at him with disdain. "There'll come a time when you'll have plenty to worry about. If you ask me, a little brat like you should start thinking seriously about your future instead of obsessing over your unreliable nonsense all day."
"What's all this about consciousness transfer, Soulkiller, cloning, and whatnot... Honestly, what are you racking your brain over all that for?"
V looked away from him, gazing down at the city below. "Are you really planning to take on this whole city by yourself?
We can take out a convoy, we can shoot our way into a hotel, but that's only because we had the element of surprise.
What if one day it's our turn to get ambushed... Anyway, have you even considered any of this?"
V let out a long sigh and said with a heavy heart, "Sometimes I really don't know if following you in this madness is the right choice."
"Don't think about me, think about the money. I promise, this time, your cut is all yours.
I don't have much use for money right now. The team funds from this job can be used for everyone to upgrade their gear. I've got enough of my own junk to keep me busy for a while."
Mercer raised an eyebrow at her. "Think about that. Doesn't that make it a pretty good choice?"
"I might be willing to risk my life for money, but what about you?" V retorted, looking back at him. The night wind rustled her short white hair, and her bright eyes seemed to hold a star from the sky.
"What are you risking your life for? A sense of justice? The thrill? Or is it just for your own satisfaction?"
After her string of questions, V shook her head. "You need to think about the people around you. I mean, can we really go up against those corporations to the very end?"
Her words carried a note of dejection. "A corporation can afford to lose once, twice. They can lose ten people, a hundred, a thousand, it doesn't matter. Arasaka alone has over a million employees worldwide.
But we only have to fail once... Like if this piece-of-shit drone suddenly malfunctioned right now, we'd both be dead."
"Hey, don't say things like that," Mercer said, grabbing her arm tightly.
V chuckled. "I thought you weren't afraid of dying at all."
"If I weren't afraid of dying, why would I go through all the trouble of getting Biotechnica's cloning equipment? I am afraid of dying... mainly of dying before I get things done."
Mercer continued, "If I could, I'd honestly plan to live for two or three hundred years and die only after I've had my fill of fun."
"I wouldn't have guessed. I always thought you were just a reckless maniac who wasn't afraid of anyone, the type to live each day to the fullest as if it were your last," V remarked, somewhat surprised.
"That's because I'm not living a full life right now. That's why I'm reckless."
Mercer sighed and looked down at the glowing city below. "I'm willing to risk my life for the chance to live one day to the fullest. Even if occasionally... alright, often... I think this shit is a fucking thrill, if I really had to choose..."
He thought for a moment, then said seriously, "I'd rather find a nice, loyal, pretty girl, have a home of my own, doesn't have to be big or small.
Being able to eat some meat and fresh vegetables every day, and take a clean bath, I'd be pretty content with that.
Maybe go see a movie or travel with the girl I like once in a while.
Have a kid in my thirties, build a stable family, and then in my seventies or eighties, kick the bucket in my old lady's arms. Wouldn't that be a good life, too?"
But then, Mercer just shrugged, casting aside such an unrealistic fantasy for now. "But look at this city. You could be walking down the street when a bunch of gang members suddenly start a firefight, and a stray bullet could end your life in an instant.
The medicine you buy for a cold might give you a side effect that kills you right in your home. The drink you casually buy might have an overdose of addictive ingredients. The meat you eat is made from bugs, and the rice you eat is a byproduct left over after Biotechnica extracts fuel.
The job you find might make you take out a loan to work for twenty years first. Even the washing machine in your own home requires a monthly subscription to use.
Who knows, in a few more years, corporations will be using neural signal technology to control your brain, imperceptibly turning you into a complete stranger, a living being, but one who has become a puppet robot in the hands of a corporation.
You call this a fucking life?"
Mercer resentfully gave the city the middle finger. "These asshole corporations make my life miserable, so I'm definitely going to make their lives miserable too. I don't know if I can do it, but I sure as hell can't live my life feeling this miserable. I'll go crazy sooner or later."
V fell silent for a moment. She gazed down at Night City below, and after a while, she sighed in frustration. "I think you're right, but with just the few of us, is what we're doing now even useful?
Aren't we just a bunch of mercs living on the edge? The jobs we do don't mean anything to this city.
Then do you think someone like Johnny Silverhand, who goes around all day yelling about burning this city down and gathering hundreds or thousands of fanatical followers, can pull it off?
Or someone like Bartmoss, who spends all day digging up corporate dirt to expose to the public, thinking that'll wake them up?"
Mercer said seriously, "We need money. The only thing that can fight a system is another system. The only thing that can fight a corporation is another corporation.
We need to have the skills, the ability to give ordinary people a choice, before they can muster the courage to follow us and choose a different way of life."
Mercer looked down with V at the increasingly dilapidated cityscape as a drone flew over the urban district toward Santo Domingo.
"So we have to save money first, then research technology, and improve our strength at the same time. And then... wait for an opportunity."
Mercer's words made V look at him sideways. "What opportunity?"
"Right now, the corporations are, to put it bluntly, big fish eating small fish. If you want to start from scratch and create a corporation to play their game, you're just dreaming. The moment you show the slightest bit of momentum, those guys will team up and devour you."
As Mercer spoke, a determined look appeared in his eyes. He turned to look at V and promised, "Anyway, you don't have to think about it too much right now, but I already have a plan in mind. If everything goes smoothly, we will definitely be able to seize an opportunity to change the world."
Yorinobu Arasaka.
Although Mercer felt that Yorinobu's heartfelt fear of Saburo Arasaka somewhat lowered his opinion of him, objectively speaking, aside from that point, he was absolutely Mercer's best partner.
As long as he could help him get rid of Saburo, Arasaka under Yorinobu Arasaka's leadership would become Mercer's greatest ally. And with Arasaka at the forefront, Mercer could then confidently and boldly change this city. By then, he would no longer need to hide in fear, but could openly, as an ally of Arasaka, wage war on shitty companies like Militech, and Biotechnica.
Whether it was a corporate war or one that eventually evolved into a company war, it would be better than the present, where beneath the glamorous city lay nothing but a pool of filthy, murky water.
And the key for Mercer to get close to Yorinobu Arasaka was Johnny Silverhand.
He needed to use this matter to establish a connection with Yorinobu Arasaka, and he also needed Johnny Silverhand to determine whether Yorinobu had made up his mind to have a decisive battle with Saburo.
Once Yorinobu Arasaka chose to cooperate and handed Johnny Silverhand over to Mercer, it would be equivalent to Yorinobu having made his choice, placing himself in complete opposition to Saburo.
If Yorinobu Arasaka refused, it meant the time was not yet right. If he agreed but didn't send Silverhand over, it meant he hadn't yet made up his mind.
Moreover, through Johnny Silverhand, Mercer could also gain a large number of allies, including Rogue. If it weren't for Silverhand, she would definitely not be willing to take such a huge risk for Mercer.
This was the real reason why Mercer was so insistent on rescuing Silverhand from Yorinobu Arasaka.
He... was just too damn useful.
"If you don't want to say, then don't." V pouted as she watched Mercer trail off and start getting lost in thought again.
"It's not that I won't tell you... It's that if I told you now, you'd probably think I'm crazy."
Mercer said helplessly, "A secret leaked is a plan ruined. Some things, I'll tell you when the time is right. If I tell you ahead of time, it will only add to your worries. It's meaningless."
"Fine, fine, you have high Intelligence, you think far ahead, do whatever you want," V muttered, lazily lying back on the drone and looking at the stars.
Mercer looked at her and smiled. "We can definitely change this city, V."
"I don't care," V said languidly. "If one day I feel like messing around with you will only lead to a dead end... I'll just run away."
"...Really?" Mercer looked at her with a grin. "Leave me all alone to wait for death?"
"...Damn it. If you really didn't want to die, you'd definitely run way faster than me. If you're hell-bent on getting yourself killed, then what am I supposed to do, go with you?"
V said stubbornly, "Rebecca and Lucy might be willing. Go ask them. Anyway, I bet Rebecca would grit her teeth and go with you to her death."
"Oh, come on. When it really comes to that, you definitely wouldn't be able to leave me either," Mercer said, the corner of his mouth hooking up.
"Screw you, in your dreams." V rolled her eyes. "Go back and get a good night's sleep. The me in your dreams should be very obedient."
You're actually quite obedient in real life too.
Mercer smiled without a word. After a moment's hesitation, he also lay down.
The two of them just lay there on the drone, gazing up at the starry sky, and neither spoke again.
It wasn't until the drone had left the city and slowly began to descend that V suddenly blurted out a sentence.
"Anyway, if you die, I'm definitely not willing to fight to the death for this bullshit city and this bullshit future. If you don't want me spending your money and splitting your inheritance to go live it up alone, you'd better be more careful in the future."
"You're thinking too much. You'd be last in line to split the inheritance."
Mercer grinned, raising his eyebrows. "How about... I let you cut in line, give you a chance to get in on the angel round?"
V didn't reply, just cast a deep, searching gaze at him.
When it comes to dividing the inheritance, why am I last?
Her mind spun for a moment, and finally, she narrowed her eyes.
"I'm last? Looks like you and Kiwi have gotten pretty close recently, huh?"
Whoa.
Mercer tilted his head and looked at the scenery.
The moon is so... moon-like tonight!
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7300words