chapter 61

Fixer Level

"How did the conversation go, Karl?"

Jack looked up as Karl approached, glancing at Blanca, who was heading out of the Afterlife Bar. "What's the mission about?"

"It's not urgent. We'll discuss it when we're back," Karl replied.

The crowd outside the private room made it an unsuitable place to talk about the mission. Instead, Karl turned his attention to Jack and Oliver. "What were you two up to? I saw you chatting with the bartender earlier."

Jack grinned. "The drinks here have legendary recipes left behind by past icons. Oliver and I were thinking about reserving one for ourselves."

"Reserving a drink?" Karl asked as he sat down next to Jack. "I thought the legends of Night City were all buried six feet under?"

"Not all of them," Oliver interjected. "There are still a couple of living legends—Adam smasher and the owner of this bar, Rogue, the legendary fixer. They're the exceptions, but their names define what it means to be a Night City legend."

"Fair point," Karl said, leaning against the bar. "So, what concoctions did you two dream up for your 'legendary' drinks?"

Jack was eager to share. "Mine's a shot of vodka on the rocks, lime juice, ginger beer, and the most important ingredient—love."

Karl raised an eyebrow. "That's just a Moscow Mule with a corny twist."

"Love makes all the difference, Karl," Jack replied, smirking.

Karl turned to Oliver. "And you? What's your creation?"

"Thirty milliliters of whiskey, a splash of Dolin vermouth, and some ice."

"That's a Rusty Nail. You both copied existing cocktails."

Oliver shrugged. "What matters is when people order these drinks, they'll hear my name. That's enough to make me happy."

"You should leave a recipe too, Karl," Oliver suggested.

"I wouldn't know what to create. If I had to pick, I'd probably copy something just like you two," Karl replied, waving over the bartender. "I'll just have a soda."

"Soda? Really?" Oliver teased. "And Sprite with red wine? That's a sorority special."

Karl sipped his drink calmly. "Someone's got to stay sober. You two can drink all you want; I'll keep watch."

"Then I'll trust you to take care of me when I'm drunk, Karl," said a familiar voice.

Karl turned to see Maine walking toward them with a beer in hand.

"Thanks for looking out for me on the last mission," Maine said, raising his bottle in greeting.

"It wasn't a big deal," Karl replied. He already knew what had happened after the mission: most of the mercenaries had visited him in the Arasaka-controlled hospital to check on him before leaving. Mann had been the last to leave, returning only four hours before Karl woke up.

"You saved my life. I owe you," Maine said, taking a long swig of his beer.

"It's all part of the job," Karl replied. "Are you on vacation now?"

"Yeah, just got out of a firefight. Figured I'd take some time off. Most mercs live day to day, but you guys seem too eager to jump back into the action. Didn't you just wake up today?"

"We're just gathering intel for the next job. We'll rest first," Karl assured him, sipping his soda. "By the way, did your fixer pay you yet?"

"If he hadn't, I'd be breaking his kneecaps," Maine joked. "How about you? Did Faraday pay up?"

"Yeah, he wired the money an hour after the mission was done," Jack said.

"Speaking of which," Jack added, "how much did your fixer pay you for that mission, Maine?"

"150,000 euros—the highest-paying job I've ever had."

Hearing this, Karl and his team did a quick calculation. Their team had received 300,000 euros for the job, split equally among three people, which came to 100,000 each. Compared to Mann's payout, it was clear that Faraday had skimmed off a significant chunk.

"That bastard Faraday took a lot of our money," Karl muttered.

"What do you mean?" Maine asked, puzzled. After learning about their payout, he shook his head in disgust. "Faraday's greed knows no bounds. He's like a stray dog scavenging scraps on the street."

Oliver grimaced. "So Faraday took a bigger cut than most fixers would. Great."

"Let's focus on the next job," Jack said. "With Karl's reputation, we don't have to rely on fixer like Faraday anymore. We can pick our own fixer."

"You know someone?" Karl asked.

"Yeah, my contact is Father—the fixer from Heywood."

Maine raised an eyebrow. "The Father? His level is way above Faraday's. Why haven't you worked with him before?"

"I didn't feel worthy before," Jack admitted. "But now I know better. Why settle for scraps when we can work with someone like him?"

As Jack finished, a tall, muscular blonde woman approached their group.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked with a smile.

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