Brick’s Ransom

[TN: here the two chapters i owned]

[Panam: All the AVs are here. Are we really going for a frontal assault?]

[Panam: I mean, aren't we NCPD contractors?]

Panam was a fearless nomad—by the time she was a teenager, she was already driving with her clan, raiding corporate outposts.

But the MaxTac riot squads in any city were the stuff of legend—the street's equivalent of a corporate armored division in the Badlands.

Caution was necessary.

Their NCPD contractor status was a contingency plan—if things spiraled out of control, they could just bail. The riot squad wouldn't waste time on them.

But Leo was here on a mission, with a goal of his own—

The priority now was keeping their target alive. The riot squad would only get what Leo allowed them to.

[Leo: Strategic necessity.]

[Leo: We have two shots. We must take down all the AVs.]

[Panam: Yeah, sure. Two shots to take down three AVs? If anyone else said that, I'd think they were hallucinating.]

[V: Found the antenna.]

[Leo: Good. Plug it in.]

Click.

Inside the warehouse, V located the factory's antenna array port.

The less footage the riot squad got, the better. Leo needed a powerful transmitter to jam communications and hack into their systems.

If there was one thing Maelstrom's warehouse had in excess, it was black-market tech.

In 2077, setting up illegal antennas and unregistered networks was a cybercrime. The only way to get such equipment was to steal it.

So, the place was stacked with high-power antennas and networking gear—more than enough for Leo to create a full-spectrum signal blackout.

The quality wasn't great, but it would work. All he needed was a moment.

Meanwhile, Jackie's cybernetic eyes flickered as Leo marked two salvageable ports on the cyberpsychos' bodies.

With precision, Jackie crushed the connection points and injected both men with a prepared serum. Then, with a firm grip, he ripped Brick and Carter out of their battered cybernetic shells.

Splash.

A mix of fluids spilled everywhere. Jackie quickly stepped back, but some still splattered on his boots.

Sizzle.

Sparks flickered. Brick barely regained consciousness—his glowing cybernetic eyes twitched.

His torso was in ruins, his insides barely functioning. Through the gaps and tears in his body, one could see the struggling organs inside.

Air was sucked into his semi-mechanical lungs through open wounds, his heart beating weakly.

"Motherf—" Brick didn't open his mouth, yet his throat emitted a voice—muffled, unnatural. Clearly, his speech no longer relied on traditional airflow and vocal cords.

"Kill Royce for me—one last job. Otherwise, you're not getting paid."

"You're out of your damn mind." Jackie flicked him on the head. "Who's gonna believe you can still pay in this state? You've got balls, I'll give you that—still thinking about taking out a traitor at a time like this."

"Traitors must die! Any gang member knows that! If he lives, what the hell does that make me?!"

Jackie smirked at Leo's signal, then grabbed Brick's head and lifted it to eye level.

"But you? You've got nothing. No money, no tech, no crew. And most importantly—MaxTac is hunting you down."

"We could just hand you over to the cops, and make a little extra cash."

Jackie counted on his fingers, laying out Brick's dire situation in the simplest terms.

Brick's mind was in shambles, too overloaded to think straight.

But as Jackie listed out the problems, he grasped the severity of his situation.

And then—his brain just shut down, like an old computer crashing from too many errors.

Jackie seized the moment, locking eyes with him. "Royce's life, your life—you can buy them back. But not with money."

"…With what?"

At that moment, three more military-grade AVs arrived on site.

The roar of their engines filled the sky, vibrating through the factory's steel framework—deep, urgent, shaking everything to its core.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP—

V unplugged from the factory's network, and sparks crackled from exposed wiring along the walls!

Hidden omnidirectional antennas adjusted, energy surging.

Maelstrom's stolen gear was coming in handy—no need for on-the-spot modifications.

Jackie glanced up as the trembling roof shook loose dust and debris.

He looked back at Brick. "No time left. Are you buying or not?"

Buy or not?

Brick's mind wrestled with two clashing thoughts—he desperately wanted Royce dead, but more than anything, he was screaming inside:

What the hell do you even want from me?! Say it already!

But there was no time to think. No room to negotiate. His hardware couldn't handle the delay.

And then—an even stronger tremor hit.

This time, it wasn't the engines—

It was gunfire.

BANG!

The first bullet tore through the roof, an incendiary round flaring like the morning sun piercing through the clouds.

Then came the storm.

Bullets shredded the rooftop like paper, punching through beams and columns, collapsing structures in a cascade of fire and dust—

BOOM!

Through the smoke, past the flaming gaps, AVs filled the sky.

Brick's sluggish mind snapped into overdrive at the sound of metal colliding.

"BUY! I'LL FUCKING BUY! WHATEVER YOU WANT, IT'S YOURS!" His metallic voice roared.

His shout twisted, turning into a sharp, piercing frequency—overlapping with an auditory overload in the riot squad's neural comms, deafening them in an instant!

V gripped her pistol tight. She couldn't see clearly, but her cybernetic eyes marked the perfect firing angles—

All she had to do was cut through the interference, stay steady, and pull the trigger.

Her specialty.

BANG!

BANG!

Two shots.

Straight through fire and smoke—

Direct hits.

[MaxTac Command: Eagle Eye One, this is Command Center. Confirm target environment and surroundings. Over.]

[Eagle Eye One: Target is inside the factory. Factory interior schematics have been uploaded. Twelve observation points have been established on the perimeter. No visible activity. Over.]

[MaxTac Command: Copy that. Prepare for breach.]

[Assault Team: Received. Engaging.]

BOOM—

Engines roared as the Scorpius VTOLs descended, guns blazing!

The intense metallic streams of fire looked like lasers to the untrained eye.

Hiding in a distant, abandoned building, Panam tightened her grip on the sniper rifle.

[Panam: Leo, they're opening fire!]

[Leo: I know.]

[Leo: Cutting comms soon. The bikes will enter through the breach, and we'll escape in the chaos of the VTOLs crashing.]

A plan straight out of a sci-fi fantasy. Panam found it absurd.

First, the Scorpius VTOLs were still intact, yet the plan demanded they be taken down in just two shots.

What kind of weapon had that much power?

Neither V nor Jackie looked like they were carrying rocket launchers.

Second, even if Leo somehow jammed all communications, how would the autonomous riding software on the bikes still function?

But she had learned the team's golden rule:

Trust first. Doubt later.

So, she simply watched as the three Scorpius VTOLs poured down relentless firepower, the factory's rooftop appearing less like it was getting shot through and more like it was melting.

The VTOLs lowered their altitude, scanners sweeping the area—

That critical firing window would only appear when they descended to a certain height and moved toward V's position.

Panam was an elite sniper, and thus, an elite spotter.

Even if the shooter was two streets away.

Explosions thundered, smoke billowed, and as the VTOLs shifted position, Panam instinctively held her breath—

BOOM—

A massive section of the rooftop finally collapsed under the assault. Two Scorpius VTOLs moved simultaneously, creating the perfect opening!

[Panam: NOW!]

[ZAP—!]

Suddenly, the dim factory flickered with arcs of electricity.

All frequency bands encountered immediate jamming interference, static flooding every channel!

BANG!

The first bullet pierced through the VTOL's side engine, exited cleanly, and shot straight toward the cockpit of the second VTOL!

Sparks burst from the armored glass—

The pilot's collarbone exploded in a spray of blood. He slumped over, dead!

The two Scorpius VTOLs veered off in different directions, spiraling out of control and crashing—

Exposing the third VTOL's front.

BANG!

The second bullet tore through the VTOL's cockpit armor, skimmed past the pilot's helmet, passed through the fuselage, and struck the fuel tank!

BOOM!

A fireball erupted!

The sudden interference, the crashing VTOLs, the raging explosion—

Even the battle-hardened MaxTac was momentarily stunned, completely missing the motorcycles racing down the street!

They only managed to turn their sights toward the bullet's origin when—

V and Jackie leaped high over the wreckage of the falling VTOL.

The burning Scorpius conveniently blocked the enemy's line of sight—

Allowing them to land safely beyond the bullet-riddled factory ruins, swiftly maneuver through the wreckage, and hop onto the waiting motorcycles!

VROOOOM—

Perhaps the VTOL's final crash had destroyed the factory's communications equipment, because suddenly—

The comms came back online.

The MaxTac could only watch as the motorcycles blazed away into the distance.

"Cough—"

Amidst the rubble, Captain Rory pushed himself up with one hand, his face livid.

He had just wanted to blow off steam by putting down a few street thugs—

Yet by the time he got here, the VTOLs were already wrecked!

Might as well have arrived sooner!

VROOOOM—

The motorcycles roared through the streets.

Hanging onto the back, Brick felt the wind rush past him, his mind suddenly clearing.

"Holy shit, that was insane, brother!"

"Not bad yourself—" Jackie laughed into the wind. "How come you look even more alive with just a head left?"

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" Brick's cybernetic voice crackled with distortion. "WHERE ARE WE KILLING ROYCE?!"

[TN:Lol they made them a full on borg lmao]

Where was Royce?

That was a real problem.

The whole North Watson District was in chaos, yet Royce hadn't shown up where he should have been.

Luckily, Leo quickly received new intel.

[Sender: David]

[David: Boss, we spotted a sketchy-looking car on the move.]

[Leo: Location, photos, description. Also—follow it.]

(End of Chapter)