As Fast as the Wind!

Brick felt like his scalp was on fire!

Both his Sandevistan and Kerenzikov neural implants activated at once, launching him straight out of the car!

Bang!

Jumping from a vehicle moving at dozens of miles per hour, Brick barely managed to stay upright, but he couldn't stop his momentum!

His feet scraped against the ground, body tumbling out of control—he even dug his Saldara shotgun into the dirt like a brake!

A faint scratch stretched across the surface, sparks flying from his boots as he skidded several meters!

"Goddamn…"

He lifted his head—just in time to see the van from earlier flipped over by the roadside.

The plasma shell had melted through the chassis, carving a massive dent into the vehicle. The driver hadn't been so lucky—his head was nearly split in half.

The van's outer shell dripped with molten red metal from the intense heat of the shot.

The Behemoth APC had stopped, its Centaur mechs now deploying stabilizing hooks—anchoring themselves to the sides of the armored vehicle.

Just like that, the Behemoth had transformed into a moving plasma gun platform!

Brick ducked behind a rock, spat out a glob of spit mixed with electrolyte fluid, and flicked his Saldara shotgun, making sure it was still functional.

"Royce! What the hell is going on?! Why haven't you hacked the damn thing yet?! Royce?!"

Only now did Brick have a chance to look at the remaining Maelstrom vehicles.

Royce—his oversized second-in-command—was staring back at him, his glowing cybernetic eyes filled with… something.

No one could read expressions through those red-lit tactical optics, but Brick suddenly got a bad feeling—

Royce suddenly ducked back into his van, and his voice crackled through Brick's earpiece:

"Go steal it yourself, dumbass!"

There were still four cars left. Bloodied, limbless Maelstrom gangsters littered the roadside, staring in stunned silence as Royce's van sped off without looking back!

The moment set a precedent—another car was about to make a break for it, but Brick reacted fast. Boom! A single shotgun blast blew out its tire!

"You wanna run?! Wake the fuck up! Nobody leaves without my say-so! You think scoring that haul ain't worth it?!"

BOOM!

Before he could finish, the roar of a cannon forced him to drop flat.

The boulder shielding him shattered as a plasma shell blasted through it—thermal shock and kinetic impact breaking it into jagged chunks.

One shot. That was all it took to make cover useless.

And Militech didn't have just one mech.

Brick's head snapped up—another Centaur had its plasma cannon locked onto a wrecked Columbus freight truck.

One of his guys, Dum Dum, was struggling to crawl free from the wreckage.

He panicked. "Boss! HELP!!"

"Shit, this is bad…"

Brick tightened his grip on his gun, ready to go on a suicidal charge—

CRACK!

Out of nowhere, the Behemoth APC veered off-course, crashing toward the roadside!

The two Centaur mechs hooked onto its exterior immediately unlatched themselves, jumping off before the vehicle could tip over!

BOOM!

And then—Brick's advanced optical sensors caught something amidst the dust storm:

A blue ionized trail, streaking across the air—a telltale sign of an electromagnetic projectile!

His head whipped around.

Through the swirling desert sands, two motorcycles were speeding toward the battlefield at insane speeds!

Fast enough that Brick's brain couldn't even process it!

Pushing 200 mph.

This wasn't a racetrack. This was the Badlands.

One wrong move at this speed meant death.

———

Like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.

From afar, a Militech 95 reconnaissance drone hovered above, observing the battle.

This thing had been stolen when the border checkpoint ICE got breached.

Most of the time, it was stashed away in an Aldecaldo camp—but today, it had been loaned to Leo.

And to be fair, Maelstrom had put up one hell of a fight—starting the ambush with mortar shells and even deploying military-grade EMPs.

Militech's soldiers had been completely disoriented.

Leo quickly locked onto the two biggest targets—one bare-chested, one in a leather jacket.

The shirtless one was Brick, the current boss. The other? Royce, his would-be traitorous underling.

But then—things took a turn.

The Centaur mechs deployed.

"…Looks like Meredith's coworkers are a little braver than expected. The guys inside those trucks are fully armed."

Leo muttered as he adjusted his VR control goggles, watching everything unfold in real time.

This was supposed to be a heist.

But in the world of corporate warfare, Anthony had outplayed them all.

The Centaur-class mechs were fully integrated combat units, designed for Militech's war efforts. Deploying them inside Night City's jurisdiction— even in the Badlands—was a massive liability.

According to the contract with Night City, Militech was responsible for policing the Badlands… but only within certain restrictions.

Deploying fully armed Centaur mechs was not within those limits.

Unlike the cyberpsychotic meat puppets Maelstrom usually threw into battle, these corpo soldiers were trained professionals. Calm. Precise. Deadly.

V chewed his gum. "Pain in the ass?"

"A big one," Leo admitted. "Last time, we had the terrain advantage, and the pilots were cyberpsychos. This time? No such luck."

"No way to hack 'em?"

"I can try. But their ICE has been swapped. I can't even pull version info."

"Then we go in loud?"

"We go in loud. I'll mark structural weak points in your optics. Get in close and take out the drivers—these mechs are useless if they don't have a pilot."

Leo switched gears, redirecting his drone's focus.

"And I'll see if I can hack in from here."

———

His personal link to V cut off. The neural cord retracted into V's head.

A notification popped up on his HUD—

[FILE UPLOADED]

[SOFTWARE LOADED]

[Welcome to me!]

V squinted. "Wait… what the fuck?"

He blinked and looked at Leo with suspicion.

Leo shot him the same weird look.

"The hell you staring at? Get to work!"

Although filled with doubts,

V didn't ask much—not now. She spat out her chewing gum, grabbed the edge of the car window, pulled in her abdomen, and swung her legs outside.

The vehicle, moving at 50 mph across the badlands, was bumpy, but she remained steady.

In one swift motion, she flipped onto the roof, then jumped into the cargo hold.

Jackie was already sitting on a motorcycle, stroking the two turbine fans with an expression of pure infatuation.

Hearing V get in, he looked up excitedly. "V, you know, the Nazare ARCH was my first bike! When I bought it—"

V immediately raised her hand. "Not now! Save it for when we're drinking with the Aldecaldos. Right now, we have a job to do!"

"Alright, alright! I just wanted to share how crazy it was when I bought it—people everywhere! I spent—"

[Ejection system charging. Countdown: 10 seconds.]

Jackie kept rambling. Meanwhile, Leo calculated the distance and activated the cargo hold's launch system.

"Ejecting in 10 seconds. If you don't want to bite your tongue, focus. Jackie, I'm talking to you!"

[8]

The locking clamps beneath the motorcycles lifted, suspending the bikes above the floor.

Jackie shut up immediately, following the HUD prompts to start the engine.

Then—he gunned the throttle!

The deafening roar echoed inside the cargo hold, shaking both Jackie and V to the core. They could hear nothing but the engines, relying entirely on the HUD display.

[4]

The Mackinaw truck accelerated to 60 mph—not too fast on paper, but in the rugged badlands, most vehicles would have fallen apart already!

The truck jolted up and down. Gasoline surged through the engines.

The wheels spun wildly in mid-air, turbines roaring.

Leo fine-tuned the synchronization between the Mackinaw's speed and the motorcycles' wheel rotations.

From beneath the cargo hold, several nozzles extended—loaded with high-proof ethanol fuel.

[3]

Jackie and V locked eyes, sweat dripping down their foreheads under the blazing sun. They grinned.

[2]

What a beast. What a high-stakes stunt. Better than any sports car!

[1!]

[Ejection!]

The nozzles sprayed ethanol fuel. A spark arced across them—

Then, an explosion!

The blast force, controlled within the reinforced cargo hold, was directed entirely upward. The turbines absorbed the energy, transforming it into an immense thrust!

Flames licked at their pant legs but couldn't catch up with the speed of their ascent.

The Nazare motorcycles soared into the air!

The sheer force sent their adrenaline surging, blood pumping.

They were airborne!

In an instant, they overtook the Mackinaw—

Carrying the truck's 60 mph momentum, plus the explosion's boost, their speed exceeded 100 mph the moment their tires touched the ground—

And that was just the beginning.

The turbines activated the moment they landed. Guided by the HUD, V and Jackie fired at the ground beneath them, using the recoil to stabilize themselves.

They didn't feel the bumps of the badlands anymore—the air itself seemed to smooth out the terrain.

Like rockets, the two motorcycles landed beside the Mackinaw, then surged forward—

Straight toward the Militech convoy.

Too fast to react to.

"Woohoo!"

Faster than the wind!