Chapter 145: Captured David
Lucy's investigation largely dispelled David's doubts.
If the foundation was indeed related to Arasaka's pharmaceutical production, their ability to provide the drug made sense.
As for the impure background? In Night City, which large organization had a completely clean history?
The intense desire to save his mother ultimately overwhelmed his last shred of caution. David decided to go to the "Stillwater" Clinic.
But he didn't lose his head completely.
He found Rebecca, explained the situation, and asked her and Lucy to act as backup.
His plan was to enter the clinic alone. If he didn't come out within thirty minutes, or if communication cut off, they would find a way to intervene.
"You're pretty sharp, kid, knowing to get someone to cover your ass." Rebecca patted his shoulder. "Fine, Lucy and I will go with you. If those white-coats try anything funny, I'll blow their clinic sky-high!"
Lucy nodded in agreement.
The three took an inconspicuous vehicle provided by Falco to the "Stillwater" Clinic in Charter Hill.
From the outside, the clinic indeed looked like a high-end private medical facility—quiet surroundings, strict access control.
At the entrance, David took a deep breath, nodded to Rebecca and Lucy, and walked in alone.
The receptionist seemed to be expecting him, enthusiastically guiding him to a private assessment room. Everything seemed normal.
However, the moment the assessment room door closed behind him, the atmosphere changed abruptly.
Two "doctors" entered—wearing white coats, but with the muscular builds and sharp eyes of corporate security. They locked the door behind them.
"Mr. Martinez, we need to run a few basic physiological tests to ensure the safety of subsequent medication," one of them said, approaching with a device resembling a scanner.
David sensed something was wrong and instinctively took a step back. "What tests? You didn't mention this step before."
"Just routine procedure. Please cooperate." The other's tone hardened, reaching directly for his arm.
David tried to struggle, but apart from a basic neural interface and a learning data-jack, he had no combat cyberware.
His strength and speed were laughably inadequate against professionally trained, possibly enhanced corporate operatives.
The operative easily twisted his arm and pinned him against the wall.
The other "doctor" quickly produced a prepared syringe and plunged it precisely into the side of his neck.
Cold liquid flooded his veins. David felt a wave of intense dizziness and weakness wash over him. His vision blurred rapidly, and his body slumped to the floor.
Before losing consciousness completely, he faintly heard one of them whisper into a comms unit: "Target secured. Preparing for transfer."
Waiting in the car outside, Rebecca and Lucy watched the minutes tick by.
The agreed-upon thirty minutes passed. David didn't come out. Rebecca tried calling his comms, only to hear a disconnected busy tone.
"Shit, something happened!" Rebecca slammed her hand on the car door, her face dark.
Lucy immediately tried to trace David's personal terminal signal, only to find it had vanished shortly after entering the clinic—clearly jammed or destroyed.
"Contact Maine!" Rebecca decided instantly, pulling out her pistol. "Lucy, check the Net, see if you can find anything! I'll watch the door!"
The news quickly reached the Badlands bastion.
Maine, Dorio, and the others mobilized immediately, gathering gear and vehicles, preparing to head to Charter Hill.
Deep within the manufactorum, Joric's massive frame stood before the console, analyzing micro-data on Bartmoss's neural structure transmitted by the servo-skull.
Suddenly, a low-priority alert from the perimeter surveillance system triggered a thread in his processing core.
The alert was linked to a micro-subroutine he had implanted in David's personal monitoring program.
The bio-signals and location data returned by the program showed an abnormal interruption and violent fluctuation, consistent with forcible abduction.
Joric's crimson optical lenses flickered slightly. He rapidly pulled up the data logs surrounding the alert and the last known location—Charter Hill, "Stillwater" Clinic.
"A predictable development," his steady synthesized voice echoed in the empty workshop, devoid of emotion. "Desire without the strength to protect it is always prey for others."
He did not take immediate action. He was already aware of Maine's crew mobilizing.
Since Maine's team was on the move, this incident served as a perfect test of the crisis response capabilities of the squad he had invested resources in.
At the same time, this would be the first severe trial from the real world that his young apprentice had to face.
He needed to observe—observe David's reaction, observe Maine's crew's efficiency, and observe the true objective of the mastermind behind the scenes.
Then, his attention returned to the unique neural connection map of Bartmoss's brain.
In comparison, the kidnapping of an apprentice was not yet enough to disrupt his established research rhythm.
The city's shadows swallowed a young soul, while a far more massive presence watched calmly from the darkness.
The Badlands bastion was instantly enveloped in tension.
Maine's roar echoed through the open space. "Everyone! Gear check, moving out in five! Falco, bring the car to the front!"
Dorio rapidly shoved heavy magazines into her tactical vest, her tone steady but unyieldingly resolved. "Target is 'Stillwater' Clinic, Charter Hill. David is MIA inside, likely compromised. Hostiles unknown, but methods are professional. Stay sharp!"
She did not don the power armor Joric had made for her. That thing was too conspicuous. Even just wearing the two power fists without the full suit would be eye-catching in Night City, potentially drawing MaxTac.
So, unless necessary, she wouldn't use that trump card.
Pilar muttered while checking his weapon ammo, "I knew this 'charity' crap was no good... Now look, the kid's been grabbed as a lab rat."
Kiwi and Sasha were already at their data terminals, fingers flying across the light-screens.
Kiwi was attempting to slice into the municipal surveillance around the clinic, looking for suspicious vehicle and personnel movement.
Sasha tried to dig deeper into the foundation info Lucy provided, searching for network traces behind it, hoping to find clues about transfer routes.
Outside the clinic, Rebecca and Lucy waited anxiously for backup.
Rebecca drummed her fingers on the window frame, her green cyber-eyes constantly scanning the clinic exit and surrounding streets. "Where the hell are Maine and the others! If they wait any longer, who knows where they'll ship David off to!"
Lucy remained relatively calm. She jacked into the Net again. Although she couldn't penetrate the clinic's internal shielding, she began scanning local comms signals, trying to catch any encrypted transmission that might be related to the kidnapping.
(End of Chapter)