Friday Night Firefight: A Cyberpunk Isekai

Diego, Anna, and I pulled up half a block away from a rundown house in Rancho Coronado that had a maroon Archer Hella parked in the driveway. Diego cut the engine and turned to me to ask, “what’re we here for?”

“Malcolm Bell,” I said, pointing to the Archer Hella. “He’s with the border patrol; kidnaps Nomads trying to get into Night City and then delivers them to Jotaro Shobo. I need a delivery to be made to the monster, so I figure we bust into his house, slap him around a bit, and see if he’s got anyone locked up. I doubt he does though.”

“Why not?” asked Anna.

I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to tell her before deciding that she should know. “Two days ago, I watched him deliver someone to the Ho-oh club. I doubt he’s already picked up another victim already.”

I tried to console myself with the fact that there was nothing I could have done to save the person he’d delivered. If I had tried to bust them out of the clutches of the Tyger Claws, I would have been gunned down before ever stepping foot in the club. Night City wasn’t exactly conducive to heroics.

Diego’s expression went blank. I watched as he got out of the car, grabbed his tactician from the trunk, and headed towards the front door of the house. I quickly got out of the car and rushed to follow him.

As Diego and I strolled towards Malcolm’s house, I glanced around to ensure nobody in the neighborhood was paying attention to us. Diego pointed Anna to the rear of Malcolm’s house and I saw her slip into the backyard, her gun drawn, probably headed towards the rear door to make sure Malcolm couldn’t flee that way. Even with our guns drawn, ready to storm a house in broad daylight, nobody in the neighborhood was paying any attention. I knew that no one would call the cops on us, even if they had been watching. Everyone in Santo Domingo knew the score: if something didn’t directly affect you, make sure you do your best to stay out of it.

When we reached the front door Diego checked to make sure I was ready, counted to three, and then pushed open the door. I was pretty sure it had been deadbolted, but with all his cyberware and biomods, a locked door to him was like a slightly stuck door to me. He twisted the doorknob, put his shoulder into it, and the hinges disintegrated.

With my Kenshin in hand, I swept through the apartment, scouting for any threats. Diego had his tactician out and zoomed over to Malcolm Bell, who we caught lounging on his couch watching TV. His shocked expression showed that he had no clue what was happening. He tried to rise from the couch but Diego moved in a blur, slamming the tactician into his face and knocking him back down.

I made sure the rest of the apartment was clear before calling Anna in through the rear entrance. Diego stood looming over Malcolm, who was bleeding from the nose and casting terrified glances in every direction.

“You shits are in trouble,” said Malcolm through a mouthful of blood. His threat was diminished by the fear clearly heard in his voice. “I’m border patrol. They’re not gonna like gangoons breaking down my door. Do you know the world of shit you’re all in? You just put a target on your backs.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll understand when they find out that you work for Jotaro, kidnapping people and feeding them to that monster. When word gets out, they’ll run for the hills. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to take credit for all this,” I said, motioning towards the carnage that Diego had made of the door. Malcolm blanched at my words and broke into a sweat.

“He’s…he’s not gonna like it either. One call and he’ll have you splayed out on a table. He’s gonna flatline you, your families, and all your friends.” He stumbled over his words, trying to sound menacing enough to try and bluff his way out, but the reality of the situation was starting to sink in, slowly weakening his resolve.

If we knew he worked for Jotaro and still went after him, that meant he was as good as dead already.

“When’s your next delivery for Jotaro?” I demanded.

“What? I…what?”

I resisted the urge to quote Pulp Fiction, telling him to ‘say what again.’ Instead, I took a breath and snapped my fingers in his face to draw his attention to me and not the shotgun Diego was threatening him with. “Do you have a delivery scheduled for the Ho-oh club?”

Malcolm kept glancing at Diego, clearly terrified of the tactician hovering above his face, before stammering out. “No. I don’t have anyone lined up yet. I only deliver every couple of weeks or so. Whenever I have a…whenever I find a person he might like.”

I could feel the hate radiating off Diego as Malcolm babbled. I tsked and looked around the apartment to see if he was lying and had someone stashed somewhere.

“I’ve got money. I can pay. Let me just leave town and I’ll give you the money. It’s all yours. Couple thousand eddies. Just…I can leave. I don’t know your names and—”

“We done here?” asked Diego. I nodded and was about to draw my Kenshin to finish off Malcolm when Diego blurted out, “where’s the money?”

Anna and I exchanged uneasy glances while Malcolm looked at Diego with surprise and an inkling of hope that he could buy his way out of this. Letting Malcolm go felt wrong and disgusting. He’d been kidnapping people to deliver to the Devil of Kabuki, and I knew what that sick shit did to them. Did Diego not understand how deranged Jotaro was?

Malcolm pointed to a lamp in the corner. “It’s in the base of the lamp. You’ve got to unscrew the top.”

Diego nodded once and then pulled the trigger of his shotgun. Malcolm’s head disappeared in a cloud of pink and red, and Diego took a step back.

“Anna, grab the money. Noah, toss the place. Make it look like a home invasion gone wrong. Burglars broke into the house, he caught them in the act and got flatlined for his trouble.”

When I didn’t move and instead just stared at Malcolm’s lifeless body, Diego put a hand on my shoulder to draw my attention. “I don’t understand your plan or why you would need someone to be dropped off to Jotaro, but if this looks like a gang hit, the Tyger Claws are going to tighten their security. This way, it looks like a home invasion that ended with this prick’s death. It’s just another day in Santo Domingo.”

Two hours later, we all gathered in the abandoned apartment across from the Ho-oh club that I had used to stake out Jotaro’s entire operation. Deng and Zion had got back from Heywood with a bunch of eddies from all the loot we pulled out of the Scav base, and Anna tossed in the cash we grabbed from Malcolm. All told, our pay from this gig was reaching a respectable amount. We all sat around the apartment, devouring a takeout meal that Deng had grabbed for us, while they peppered me with questions about my plan to take down Jotaro and I asked Anna questions about how well she knew Callum Black.

Zion told me that the apartment had good sight lines and, if my intel was correct and Jotaro mostly spent his time on the top floor of the club, he could simply snipe the monster from the apartment. A single bullet and the whole thing would be done.

“I thought about that, but the only weak spot in his security is the terrace. Everything else on the third floor is covered by security blinds. And I can’t raise them because the NETArch around the Ho-oh club is too strong for me to break into. If I even attempt to probe their security, that would raise all sorts of alarms and I’d probably fry my brain in the process.”

Once I started talking about netrunning, they all checked out. To them, and probably most people living in Night City, netrunning was more akin to magic than anything else.

“No, sniping is probably out. I scouted the club for two weeks and only caught sight of the big man himself two or three times. He’ll occasionally pop his head out on the terrace to smoke, but other than that he mostly stays shut in.”

“Then we wait,” suggested Zion. “I’ll set up a blind in the apartment and hang out for a few days. We’ll get him when he pops his head up.”

“That’s also not going to work. Once he finds out that someone has taken out two of the groups that feed him victims, he’ll know someone is targeting his organization. He’ll tighten security and we won’t get to him without an army.”

“Then why the hell did we attack the Scavs if it makes taking out Jotaro harder?” complained Zion.

“I’m trying to dismantle his entire operation, not just kill one man. We hit the smaller players and work our way up to Jotaro. If we had gone after him first, all the Tyger Claws would have bunkered down and we’d never have gotten a clear shot at the Scavs, Malcolm Bell, or any of the others feeding on Jotaro’s scraps.”

I could sense that Zion was gearing up for an argument, thinking my approach had been flawed. Maybe it was. Maybe I was thinking in terms of video game violence where you take out the underlings and make your way up the foodchain before fighting the big boss. But before Zion could start arguing, Diego cut in. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’ve already hacked into all their communications,” I said, pointing to the laptop open next to me. “I’m waiting for a message from Callum Black to a Tyger Claw lieutenant. He hasn’t delivered in a bit so he should be sending someone soon. If not, we go with my second plan which—”

I cut off as an alarm on my laptop beeped, signaling an incoming message to Takeshi Kazou, Jotaro’s main lieutenant. It was from Callum Black, and I scanned it to find it was notifying Takeshi about a delivery. Talk about good luck and timing. I clenched my fist and punched the air in triumph before opening the full message.

“What is it? Something go wrong?” Deng asked, concern evident in his voice.

“No, nothing like that,” I replied, turning my laptop so they could see the screen. “Callum just messaged the Tyger Claws, saying he’s got a delivery to make. He’s going to bring someone to the club and park in that garage over there,” I said, pointing to the garage connected to the Ho-oh club.

“That’s how all deliveries are made. He’ll meet up with one of Jotaro’s lieutenants. He sent along a picture of who he’s dropping off. I guess that’s to give Jotaro something to look forward to,” I added, disgust clear in my voice. The picture was of a young woman, the latest victim Callum was delivering to the club. I had to be cautious about what I revealed to everyone, still wary of how much they should know about my capabilities.

“If you were going to set an ambush for someone, where would it be?” I asked Diego.

He raised his eyebrows before texting me a location in North Watson. “There. The place is mostly abandoned. Poor sightlines for people driving in. Makes it easy to get a couple people together to ambush a single target. Why?”

I nodded and looked at the address he sent me. “Well, we gotta ambush Callum Black and free his victim. I’ll try and spoof a Tyger Claw address and send a message to him, saying that security around the club has been heightened due to fear of a 6th Street attack, and he should meet a TC representative at that location.”

“Why not just take him at his home, the way we took out Malcolm?” asked Anna.

“Well, I don’t know where he lives,” I admitted.

She snorted and then scooted my laptop closer to her. A few moments of typing later and she swiveled it around so I could see the screen. It was Callum Black’s NCPD personnel file which had his home address written on it.

“He’s in the NCPD database. I’m still technically a cop and my login still works. Let’s just go and hit him when he’s at his home,” she said before checking her watch. “His shift should be ending soon. If he’s grabbing people from the station and saying he’s driving them out to Kiddie Village but delivering them to Jotaro Shobo instead, he’s not going to pull up to the club with them in the back of a patrol car.”

Diego nodded and stared out at the garage connected to the Ho-oh club. “He’ll stop off at his house first to change and stuff his victim in the trunk of his car. We can hit him there,” he said before turning to me. “Keep it simple. Simple is always better for any kind of ambush.”

I nodded before quickly packing up my laptop and giving a few directions to Deng and Zion. Deng would keep an eye on the club and update us if anything changed, while Zion started building a sniper’s nest in the apartment to provide overwatch. Diego, Anna and I left the apartment and made our way out to North Watson towards Callum’s apartment.

About fifteen minutes later, Diego Anna and I waited in Anna’s car while we staked out Callum’s home. We watched as an NCPD patrol car pulled up to his home, the garage door wheeled up, and he drove into his garage before closing the door behind him. The three of us got out of the car and made our way over to Callum’s house. Diego did his ‘breaking shit’ move on the door leading into the garage and Anna was the first one inside.

I was inside shortly after Anna and was able to see Callum look up at the sudden intrusion, a confused look on his face as he saw Anna striding towards him, and then she pistol whipped him. He crumpled to the ground and Diego was there in a flash, stripping Callum’s Nue from its holster and tossing the gun aside.

“Callum, you utter piece of shit. What kind of gonk works for the TC? I always knew you were trash, but you can’t tell me you didn’t know what that monster was doing to all the people you kept bringing him.” She pistol whipped him again, breaking his nose. Diego gripped his arm and jerked him to his feet, preventing him from collapsing in a heap.

“Anna, what the hell are you doing? You’ve killed yourself. You know that, don’t you?” Callum stammered as Anna jammed her Unity under his jaw. Fear flickered through his eyes.

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Callum babbled, the gun pressing deeper into his jaw. “I didn’t know what he was doing with the people I sent to him. Not at first. I thought it was just some underground BD shit. And when I found out…it was too late. You don’t know who he is. What he can do. He said if I tried to stop delivering for him, I’d be starring in his next BD.”

I strolled over to Callum and began breaching the security around his neuroport. The ICE he had installed let him know what I was doing and his eyes shifted to me as he grimaced.

“Let me in or they’ll kill you,” I said. Anna somehow pressed the gun even harder into his jaw, and Diego squeezed his arm as a warning. The security around Callum’s neuroport evaporated, giving me access to his Agent. I temporarily blocked any calls or messages he might send out before turning to the patrol car parked in his garage.

“You’ve got someone in the trunk?” I asked.

All Callum could do was give me a tiny nod. I flashed Diego a look and jerked my head. He understood immediately. I sent him a quick message to ‘make sure not to damage his neuroport.’ Diego escorted Callum into the house, followed by Anna, while I popped open the trunk.

A frightened young woman stared up at me. Her eyes were unfocused, likely due to drugs. Callum would have wanted her compliant when he handed her over to the Tyger Claws and he’d probably injected her with something. She had handcuffs around her wrists, and I had to help her climb out of the trunk because she couldn’t stand on her own for very long. A quick scan revealed her name: Wendy Buchanan.

“Hey Wendy. My name is Noah. Can I ask you a few questions?”

Wendy looked terrified, so I used my calmest voice to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. It took a while, but I was eventually able to convince her that I was there to help and that I’d get her home safely. I asked her if there was anyone we could call, and I probed her with questions to try and get her to open up. I needed her to talk to me while I scanned her.

When Anna and Diego returned to the garage, sans Callum, Diego nearly stuttered to a halt upon seeing Wendy. It was like his protective instincts had kicked in – he saw a young woman in need and wanted to do whatever he could to help her. I put it out of my mind and focused on scanning Wendy until a box popped up in my vision telling me that her behavioral profile was complete.

Anna guided Wendy outside to her car and coaxed her into the passenger seat while Diego approached me.

“What now?” he asked. “You found your victim. What’s the plan? Please don’t tell me you’re going to hand her over to Jotaro.”

“No. Nothing like that. Anna and I can handle things here. Can you make sure she gets home safely?” I asked, pointing at Wendy. Diego seemed to have questions for me but simply nodded and walked over to the car where he introduced himself to Wendy. After they drove off, Anna shot me a questioning glance.

“Uh…I’d rather most people didn’t know I could do this,” I said. Without waiting for her to ask what I meant, I activated the behavior imprint-synced faceplate I had stolen from Farida in Dogtown.

Like a wave washing over me, my subdermal implants changed my face and skin. Freckles dotted my now paler skin, and the hair on my arms disappeared. Anna’s eyes went wide as she stared at me, seeing Wendy Buchanan’s face instead of mine.

“Kinda freaky, huh,” I said, my voice coming out as a 20-year-old woman’s instead of the 19-year-old dude that Anna was used to. “Can you not tell anyone that I was able to do this? Where’s Callum?”

She jerked her head in the direction she and Diego had taken him earlier. I strode in that direction, ignoring the shock and awe etched on Anna’s face, and searched for Callum’s body. I found him in the next room, stashed on his couch, his throat crushed. Bending over him, I slipped my personal link into his neuroport and accessed his Agent, undoing the lock I had placed on his Agent and then sending a message. It was so much easier without him trying to resist.

Callum: Held up at work. Sending my partner in my stead. She’s a badge, just making the drop-off.

I stood, met Anna’s eyes, and asked, “Ready to put Jotaro Shobo in the ground?”