You Get What You Pay For

This was destined to be a tumultuous day in Watson District.

After failing to hijack the transport, Royce rushed back to his gang's stronghold—the abandoned All Foods factory.

This factory housed the spoils from their past heists and was the most heavily fortified asset of the gang, worth a fortune.

As soon as he returned, Royce immediately rallied his men, seized control from the inside, and declared a leadership change.

This was a long-planned coup. His loyal followers erupted in violence, slaughtering the former boss Brick's die-hard supporters. The remaining members were either neutral or already on Royce's side.

Orders quickly spread beyond the All Foods factory, reaching the bar Royce had coveted for a long time—Totentanz.

But then they ran into an unexpected wild card—Ellis Carter, Brick's right-hand man. The moment Carter realized what was happening, he downed an entire bottle of Black Lace and charged out like a berserker.

Royce was furious when he got the news—not just because Brick's loyalists were still resisting, but because of another problem.

[Sender: Anthony Gilchrist]

[Anthony: I know you hit the convoy. The company won't let this slide.]

The message was from Militech. Royce's head buzzed—

Hadn't the heist failed?

Why was Militech panicking like this?

Soon, he heard that Militech operatives were openly hunting down the Maelstrom gang for answers. This felt surreal—

He assumed some corporate lackey had skimmed off the stolen goods and pinned the blame on Maelstrom.

But after digging deeper, he realized Militech was truly desperate.

That meant… if the convoy was actually hit, then Brick might still be alive.

What started as a botched job had somehow turned in Royce's favor—Brick, that spineless coward, was finally out of the picture.

But now, there was a chance he wasn't.

Seeing Militech's desperation, Royce had an idea—he could use this to cut his losses.

[Royce: Heard there's some corporate clown throwing money around for answers. That must be you.]

[Royce: Getting nervous, huh?]

[Royce: If I were you, I'd beg properly instead of acting tough.]

[Anthony: So it really was you. You're dead.]

[Royce: Cut the act. You're the one who's screwed.]

[Royce: I know what you're after. A corporate dogfight.]

[Royce: I didn't take your shipment. You're barking up the wrong tree.]

[Anthony: You think I'm a fool?]

[Royce: Shut up and listen.

[Royce: The guy you want is Brick. He planned the hit. If you want answers, find him.]

[Anthony: Since when are Maelstrom psychos so generous? What's your angle?]

[Royce: I want him dead.]

[Anthony: I see. He was the boss, and you're the backstabbing traitor.]

[Royce: I was always meant to be boss!]

[Royce: Kill that bastard, then we'll talk. Otherwise, I wipe the data, and you get nothing.]

[Anthony: Fine. Don't try anything stupid.]

[Royce: Bring the heavy firepower. You know what's in those transports.]

[Anthony: They can drive, but the mechs are locked down.]

That was Royce's deal with Militech—Night City was a strange place. A man could go from being a robber in the morning to cutting deals with his victims by nightfall.

And that was how Royce got his hands on armor-piercing rockets from Militech.

He never expected they'd actually come in handy.

[Dum Dum: Boss! It's a Behemoth APC! Looks like Brick!]

[Dum Dum: Direct hit! Holy shit, that was insane!]

Victory after victory—Royce lounged on the sofa, watching another half-dead Brick loyalist being dragged away, leaving a long streak of blood on the floor.

He stood up suddenly and walked over. The lackeys dragging the man stopped immediately.

A twisted grin spread across Royce's face as he grabbed the barely-breathing man by the chin.

"Traitors... get their limbs ripped off and hung on the wall."

"If you're lucky, you might get a word with your pathetic boss before you die."

He turned to the rest of the gang and laughed.

"ON THE WALL! HAHAHAHA!"

His closest lackeys, amped up on Black Lace, howled with laughter. Even the more level-headed ones chuckled nervously.

Though deep down, they all had the same thought—

Wasn't the real traitor this psychopath standing in front of them?

But who was boss? Whoever said they were.

Royce shoved the man's face aside and was about to leave when—

[Dum Dum: Shit! They've got reinforcements!!]

—

Meanwhile, Brick and his last few men huddled behind cover.

He hadn't expected Royce to get his hands on anti-armor rockets in under a day.

Fortunately, Ellis Carter and Brick weren't your average street thugs.

With Sandevistans engaged, they shredded several Maelstrom gangers high on inhalers, using the wrecked cars and debris for cover.

But their ammo was running out.

Royce was the official boss now—he had numbers on his side.

Click.

Shotgun empty.

Carter tossed it aside. His Mantis Blades snapped out—he rammed them through a car door, impaling a screaming Maelstrom ganger.

"Got ammo?!" he shouted to Brick.

Brick's shotgun was just as empty. He swung it like a bat, cracking another thug's skull.

"Yeah! I got a supplier!"

"A supplier?! What the fuck, not a merc crew?!"

"You wouldn't get it."

Then Brick's Sandevistan activated.

The reason?

His enhanced hearing had just picked up the sound of heavy gunfire.

A sound he'd heard earlier today.

An MK31 heavy machine gun.

Brick peeked from behind cover—orange tracers streaked across his vision.

Bullets rained down like a storm, tearing through every vehicle in sight.

He ducked as the deafening roar of gunfire became the only sound on the battlefield.

BOOM.

One explosion.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Twelve parked cars detonated in sequence as Nomad vehicles roared onto the scene!

The Maelstrom gangers were blown sky-high.

The ones with decent cyberware sprinted for cover, but the unlucky ones were reduced to scrap metal and bloodstains.

Screeeeeech—

Six heavily modified Galena G240s screeched to a halt in the middle of the street. Their turret-mounted machine guns still smoking.

Silence.

Nomads leapt out, moving in perfect sync.

The few Maelstrom who tried to peek from cover—

BANG.

A sniper round blew their skulls apart.

Two Nomads sprinted toward a pair of black Mackinaws—Nomad-owned vehicles.

From behind the trucks, Panam and V stood with sniper rifles locked and loaded, keeping Maelstrom's heads down.

As the Nomads fanned out, Leo called Brick.

[Mysterious Hero: Merch is here. Cash on delivery.]

Brick smirked at Carter.

"Told you. supplier, Carter."

"Lets fucking go!!"

[Brick: Damn, man! That was amazing!]

[Mysterious Hero: Of course. You get what you pay for.]

[Mysterious Hero: Do you want the vehicles too? Selling them with the turrets included.]

[Mysterious Hero: Six Galena cars, all mounted with heavy machine guns. The cars are old, but the guns work great.]

[Mysterious Hero: Package deal, 400,000. Special friend discount.]

[Brick: Buy! Buy! Buy!]

At this moment, Brick was beyond hyped, itching to jump in and wreak havoc.

However, when he entered the transfer amount and hit confirm, a problem arose.

[Transaction Failed: Insufficient Account Balance]

[Current Balance: 652,148 Eurodollars]

The total price was 740,000, but he only had access to 650,000!

[Mysterious Hero: Can you hurry up?]

[Brick: I only have 650,000 on hand, can—]

[Mysterious Hero: Fine, then it's 800,000. Pay the rest within a month.]

[Brick: Deal!]

[Transaction: -650,000 Eurodollars]

The moment the transfer went through, two vehicles immediately drove off the street.

Brick waved a hand, signaling his crew to hop in.

"Get in, boys!"

Royce's Maelstrom gang heard the cars revving up and quickly peeked out—just in time to see Brick and his crew boarding the vehicles!

Armed with fresh firepower, they went all out, firing wildly and lobbing grenades. The heavy machine guns provided cover fire, pinning down the attackers and breaking through the encirclement in an instant!

Brick manned the turret, shooting and tossing grenades as the industrial smog of North Watson blew against his face.

Laughing wildly, he shouted, "Fuck you, Royce! You're dead meat!"

The vehicles sped down the streets, leaving the stranded Maelstrom gang in the dust.

Brick and his crew were riding high, already picturing Royce's twisted corpse hanging from a noose.

And then... the wind died down.

Clunk clunk clunk—clunk.

The Galena started sputtering like an old tractor.

Was the car busted?

No.

Carter screamed, "Quit laughing, dumbass! We're out of gas!!"

Brick froze, then scrambled out of the car, yelling for his crew to push it into an alley.

So this really was a case of 'you get what you pay for'...