Chapter 57

Jackie sat in the back of the cab, grumbling with pent-up frustration.

This time, Leo hadn't driven his own vehicle. After all, that SUV had originally come from the Bakker clan, courtesy of McCoy. Its distinctive Nomad-style modifications clashed starkly with the opulence of North Oak. If they wanted to avoid attracting attention, bringing that ride here wasn't a good idea.

But a Delamain taxi was a different matter entirely. It was Night City's premier cab service and wouldn't look at all out of place in a neighborhood like North Oak. While renting it, Leo had also paid extra for the best possible package—the "Excelsior Package." That not only made them VIP clients but also gave them access to the taxi's combat mode if things went sideways.

Leo turned to Lucy, who was sitting in the back. "Have you hacked into the estate's automatic alarm system yet?"

Lucy shook her head. "Their ICE is pretty thick. Remote intrusion isn't easy."

ICE—short for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics—was the firewall protecting a network. To gain control of a building's security and alarms, they first had to crack that ICE.

V surveyed the area outside. "Leo, we can't stay parked here for too long. The longer we wait, the more likely something unexpected happens."

"I know," Leo said with a nod. "Lucy, if you can't shut down the automatic alarm system, then trigger it."

Lucy blinked. "Wait, what?"

V and Jackie both looked confused.

"Don't ask. Just trust me," Leo said. As V had mentioned, time was critical, and they couldn't waste a second.

After a brief hesitation, Lucy gritted her teeth and did as he asked, activating the estate's alarm.

Instantly, a shrill klaxon cut through the night. The entire compound's lights switched to emergency red. Security guards in the courtyard snapped to high alert. 

Moments later, a convoy of NCPD vehicles, lights flashing red and blue, roared up the road and halted at the estate gates. The officers hopped out, only to be barred by the Arasaka security the owner had hired. From inside the taxi, they couldn't hear the confrontation, but they could see the officers and guards exchanging heated words. In the end, the police returned to their cruisers and quickly left.

Once the NCPD was gone, the estate's security team completed a thorough search of the grounds. Predictably, they found nothing, concluding it was a false alarm. The red alert lights were switched off, and everything went back to normal. Patrols resumed, and the gate sentries returned to their posts.

A few minutes passed.

"That should do it," Leo said. "Lucy, set it off again."

She triggered the alarms a second time. Again, the NCPD raced over in full force. And just like before, they were turned away at the gate. When the security guards again confirmed no threat within the estate, the alert was canceled, and patrols resumed as though nothing had happened.

"Now that they've had two false alarms, next time we trigger it, the cops won't respond nearly as fast," Leo said. "Let's go in and wrap this up."

They exited the taxi, each carrying a silenced kinetic firearm. Using the surrounding greenery for cover, they slowly moved in. By 2077, real plants and trees were already quite scarce—yet here in North Oak, wealthy homeowners lavished money on landscaping just to show off. Taking advantage of these manicured hedges and ornamental shrubs, Leo's group crept close enough to strike.

Leo gave a quick order over their team channel. "Do it."

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Three security guards patrolling the courtyard dropped simultaneously, each with a neat bullet wound to the head. Near the gate, two other guards heard the soft thuds of bodies hitting the ground and turned, uncertain whether to open the gate and check inside. They hesitated a moment too long. Two more silenced shots rang out from the darkness, snapping their necks where they stood.

In the span of a heartbeat, the front gate guards and courtyard patrol were all eliminated. Leo and the others rushed from their hiding spots, charging for the estate. Without waiting for orders, Lucy and V started hacking the cameras within the grounds. 

Meanwhile, Leo and Jackie rifled through the guard's corpses for the access tokens to open the main gate. V and Lucy slipped inside first, while Leo and Jackie hauled the bodies in after them, making sure no one out on the road noticed anything amiss. Then V closed the gate.

They hacked every courtyard camera and switched them to "friendly" mode. Leo activated the scanning function on his tactical goggles, confirming the layout and headcount in the compound.

"Lucy, Jackie—you two take the security room. V, stay here in the courtyard. I'll go inside the villa and deal with the target."

Everyone split up to handle their tasks.

…

On the second floor of the luxurious villa, Ichijo Daisho removed a braindance wreath from his head. Normally, he spent his evenings immersed in black braindances, relishing his own twisted creations. But for some reason, he felt unusually uneasy tonight.

"Forget it. I'll head to 'Cloudtop' and find something fun," he muttered.

He set down the wreath and stood up to leave, followed by two sumo-sized bodyguards constantly at his side. They were nearly at the stairs when they heard footsteps coming from below. The two bodyguards reacted instantly, tugging Daisho behind them and shielding him with their bulky frames. Then they spotted a young man in a white coat climbing the stairs.

"Who…who are you? How did you get in here? Guards? Guards!"

Leo rested his hand on the hilt of his blade, wearing a cordial smile. "No one's coming. Unless you count these two sumo gentlemen, there's no one left alive."

Ichijo Daisho's pupils contracted; disbelief and shock spread across his face. The two sumo guards, courtesy of Arasaka security, wasted no time. They exchanged glances and attacked. One whipped out a "Masamune" kinetic assault rifle from his back. Bullets shrieked in a deadly stream toward Leo.

He dove sideways, snapping out his leg to flip a decorative table for cover. But he sensed a massive shadow looming overhead and glanced up. The second bodyguard had leapt into the air, bringing down an enormous spiked club, both hands raised above his head. Its steel studs glinted menacingly.

Leo rolled away just in time. A split second later, the spiked club smashed into the table, reducing it to kindling and blowing a hole right through the ornate wooden floor.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The first bodyguard with the Masamune slammed in a fresh magazine and raked the floor with gunfire, forcing Leo to dodge and weave in a relentless storm of bullets. Sometimes he used the powered gauntlet on his arm to deflect, sometimes he twisted aside behind furniture. Eventually, he sprang off a wall, vaulting over the line of fire, and drew his heavy-caliber revolver. While airborne, he squeezed off five rounds at the rifle-wielding guard.

That guard quickly covered his face with both forearms. Each bullet sparked off his reinforced "Gorilla Arms," leaving only shallow dents. 

When he lowered his arms and prepared to retaliate, Leo fired the revolver's sixth shot, timing it perfectly. The bullet slipped past the guard's visor, lodging itself deep into his right eye in a spray of blood.

Even then, the huge man only staggered backward several steps before dropping to one knee. His massive body refused to collapse outright. Arasaka's sumo-class enforcers represented the upper tier of corporate security.

 Besides "Gorilla Arms" that boosted raw power, they also came fitted with "Subdermal Armor," "Pain Editor," and "Biomonitor" military-grade implants.