The Sensible Brick

This convoy was indeed a big score. Even after Jackie took down one Centaur mech, there were still six left—quite the fortune.

Clearly, these mechs were meant as evaluation samples for the NCPD. If they were stolen, Night City's government wouldn't be able to assess them properly, potentially disrupting future policy decisions.

At this moment, that guy Anthony was probably panicking—higher security levels meant more power, but also more responsibility.

And that was exactly what Leo wanted.

[V: Leo, is this precious bike alright?]

[Leo: Of course not! Check it when we get back, but it should be fine.]

V looked at her airborne motorcycle with a bit of heartache—she hadn't even properly flown it once. The first time she used it, it was all about emergency dismounts and aerial dives.

Good thing this bike was built tough.

The Maelstrom goons, battered and missing limbs, obediently placed the stolen goods by the roadside, awaiting V's inspection.

Brick dropped both the wrecked and one intact Centaur mech onto the ground, shaking his hand as if he were a laborer toiling under the scorching sun.

To an uninformed bystander, this scene might have looked like two ruthless plantation owners cyber-modifying disabled workers and forcing them into labor.

Thud.

The heavy Centaur mech hit the ground. Brick, hands on his hips, checked his recently repaired left hand to make sure it hadn't broken again from the exertion.

"This should be enough, right? Choom, I'm really in a hurry here."

"Hold on," V shook her head. "One more thing. Who tipped you off about this job? Got any proof?"

Brick suddenly felt that this situation was deeper than he had thought.

Still, he pointed at one of his gang members—a ganger who had been about to flee with Royce earlier.

Brick had blown out the car's tires, flipping it over. The guy had dislocated an arm and hadn't even had time to fix it yet.

"It was her informant. Patricia, get over here. Any proof?"

Patricia, already shaken, hesitated. She had almost abandoned his boss just moments ago!

Brick realized this too and spat on the ground fiercely: "Your problem can wait. When I tell you to talk, you talk!"

This guy had a mohawk of fiery red hair and looked like a woman, but when he spoke—it was a man's voice.

[TN: I'm gonna keep this up here but in the original game Patrica does look like awomen and sound like one to I don't know if they're trans but they do have a female voice so I don't know how the author can mistake their voice beside the distortion making their voice sound raspy.]

"No proof, boss! Everything was in my private inbox!"

V nodded and stepped closer to Patricia—

Sching!

Mantis Blades unsheathed!

Brick's Sandevistan activated!

[TN:will use the right pronoun even if they are trans or not as the author keeps on calling her a man]]

As it kicked in, he realized something: while V was fast, she hadn't yet reached Sandevistan-level speeds. That meant, in his accelerated perception, she still looked slow.

Patricia, on the other hand, had a Kerenzikov implant. Her reaction speed spiked, and her expression turned to sheer terror.

Brick faced a split-second decision: should he intervene?

After all, Patricia was one of his own. He had just promised to deal with her later… Wouldn't breaking his word now make him look weak?

Thoughts raced through his enhanced mind, countless possibilities flashing by.

In the end, he chose to swallow his spit.

Patricia's Kerenzikov activated, and her instincts told her to dodge. she noticed that V, while fast, didn't seem as quick as a full Sandevistan burst.

Her expression hardened—she had a chance!

Her still-functional left arm jerked up, and from her forearm, a small protrusion snapped open!

From that spot, a hidden blade shot out at high speed—

It would definitely stab V in the eye before she could land her attack—Patricia was sure of it!

However, as the blade flew, V's speed suddenly increased. Despite activating her Kerenzikov later, her movements surpassed Patricia's!

The same cyberware—yet V's was superior in both grade and skill.

She even had time to adjust her blade path in this slowed world. She flicked aside the flying knife and slashed toward Patricia's arms!

Shunk!

Both of Patricia's arms were severed! The remaining Maelstrom gangers were stunned, jaws dropping.

Even Brick was internally shocked—so this woman hadn't even used Sandevistan during the earlier fight?!

The deflected knife spun into the air before landing right in V's hand.

With her other hand, the Mantis Blade pierced Patricia's throat, stabbing through to her spine.

The embedded cyber-hacking circuits in the blade activated, sending a faint pulse of electricity.

As Patricia stared in stunned disbelief, V withdrew the blade—then, with a flick of the knife he had thrown, drove it straight into her red cybernetic eye.

Thud.

Patricia fell to his knees, then collapsed face-first onto the ground.

Silence.

Clap.

Spittle hit the ground—it was Brick who spat.

He had just let go of the saliva he was holding in when he activated his Sandevistan and growled, "That's what happens to traitors!"

He didn't know why V did that, but he knew one thing—V wasn't coming for him.

But if he didn't make a statement and one of his underlings started shooting, then maybe V would be coming for him.

V waved a hand. "Alright, that's it. Since we seem to have some fate tying us together, hit me up if something comes up. We'll see if we can work something out."

"Good! Just for that, I'll make sure to have your back—Dum Dum!

Get your ass over here and check on the ride. If we don't get back to the factory soon, that bastard Royce is gonna be shitting all over the place!"

Brick rushed over to the Behemoth APC, rounding up his still-intact crew to get the vehicle upright. Then, without wasting time, they took their spoils and headed back to the city.

They had to hurry.

With some quick tinkering on their rides and cyberware, Maelstrom's battered vans and the Behemoth APC rumbled off into the distance.

As they departed, Leo pulled up to the scene in his Mackinaw.

"How's it feel?"

"Awesome," both Jackie and V gave a thumbs-up.

The Mackinaw's cargo ramp lowered, and the two began loading up, cramming the Centaur mechs into the already tight cargo space.

But one thing still puzzled them.

While pushing a crate, Jackie asked first, "Weren't we supposed to take out Maelstrom? Why'd we let that guy go?"

"Remember the artillery in 6th Street's hands?"

Jackie nodded. "That little punk who thought he could stage a coup."

"Same thing's happening in Maelstrom now. Someone thought Brick was dead and ran back to claim his inheritance.

But now Brick's still alive—so just sit back and enjoy the show. The more Maelstrom kills each other, the better for us."

Brick and Royce's conflict was now out in the open. And as an usurper, Royce definitely had his own loyalists.

Now, a bloodbath was inevitable.

Jackie's eyes lit up with realization, and he shot Leo a thumbs-up. "Damn, you're one sneaky bastard."

V, walking behind Jackie, burst out laughing when she heard that and also gave Leo a thumbs-up. "Damn, you're one sneaky bastard."

Leo, expressionless, just honked the horn to hurry them up.

—

V climbed into the passenger seat. "Why's the bounty on Maelstrom's boss so low?"

Jackie, lounging in the back, immediately answered, "I know this one. No gang boss does their own dirty work, so their bounties aren't that high.

If someone does have a high bounty, they're not a boss—they're just muscle. Learned that back in the gang days."

"But hey, twenty thousand eddies ain't exactly chump change either."

Leo nodded approvingly. "Not bad, gang life actually taught you something."

"Hell yeah." Jackie chuckled, then held up his hands. "But my cyberarms are kinda busted…"

Both of his arms looked deformed, with patches of synthetic skin peeling where they hadn't properly reattached.

Leo glanced over and said, "We'll fix it back at base. Maybe even throw in some upgrades."

"Hell yeah! What do you think—could we slap one of those micro-rockets on my arms? Then I could literally rocket-punch people!

Man, that'd be way cooler than that Desert Chef guy. I'd be… Doomfist!"

V gave Jackie a look. "You sure got a knack for names, huh? Funny how you weren't this creative when we were naming our crew."

Leo couldn't help but find the name Doomfist oddly amusing.

"Oh, and Leo, what the hell are your bullets made of? They nearly broke my damn hands."

"I told you to be careful."

—

Militech Tower.

"Gone?! The convoy is gone?!"

In the conference room, Anthony stood in the corner, clutching his head in frustration.

The meeting table was surrounded by various Militech managers from Night City, all waiting for him to move to the next agenda item—

A presentation on what new resources HQ had allocated to them to gain an edge in the upcoming mayoral election.

Those supplies would dictate their campaign strategies.

But Anthony's bloodshot eyes revealed his stress—his cybernetics couldn't even regulate his skyrocketing blood pressure anymore, and blood from burst capillaries tainted his high-end cyber-eyes.

[Anthony: You told me the mechs would be operational!]

[FIA Agent #0079: They were operational. I've got damage logs right here. Take a look.]

[Militech Centaur Mech Damage Report]

01:03 Structural integrity dropped to 87%, recalculating power distribution.

01:08 Structural integrity dropped to 85%.

01:35 Structural integrity dropped to 66%, left arm unresponsive, pilot experiencing cognitive failure, defense systems disabled.

[…]

[Anthony: Are you fucking kidding me? A fully operational mech just got dismantled out of nowhere? Did Arasaka deploy mechs too?!]

[FIA Agent #0079: Even crazier—the combat logs from our unmanned mechs show that the enemy took them out with a single hit.]

[FIA Agent #0079: I don't know if it was Arasaka. If I were you, I'd be investigating your own mole.]

[FIA Agent #0079: Don't contact me again—I've got my own problems.]

The call cut off.

Anthony wanted to scream at the agent, but the sender's address had already been wiped clean.

His mind was racing with questions.

For example, why did the Centaur mechs have full damage logs, but the unmanned ones didn't?

Who exactly was present at the ambush, and who took out the convoy?

Too many questions—all sinking into the abyss with the agent's final words: Don't contact me.

If Anthony didn't know better, he'd have suspected this FIA agent was working with Meredith Stout.

But why would the agent screw him over?

Unless… was the enemy really capable of dismantling a mech in five minutes?

If someone was that powerful, they wouldn't need to steal anything. They could just ask for money—hell, Anthony would gladly pay them.

Watching Anthony's meltdown, Meredith finally felt a sense of relief—

This was a disgrace Anthony couldn't afford.

This was his first major operation since being assigned to Night City.

And now it was a disaster.

Time for him to pack his bags.

Anthony turned back to the conference table, hands braced against its surface, his bloodshot eyes locked onto Meredith.

"…Fuck this. Arrest her! The shipment's gone!"

Militech security stormed into the room, pinning Meredith down.

She feigned shock, eyes darting around in panic—making sure every camera captured her innocent expression.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"