Chapter 136 - First Job with T-Bug

"Order's ready. Here's your fried noodles."

"Yeah, sent the payment over."

Nodding, Karl grabbed the disposable chopsticks and started eating.

At the same time, he had just about finished reviewing the intel T-Bug sent over.

Alright, let's summarize the key points.

First—the target.

An 18-year-old corpo's daughter. Decent-looking—four eyes, one mouth, one nose…

Yeah. Real unique aesthetic.

Then—the kidnappers.

Figures. Tyger Claws.

And the reason?

They planned to sell her off to Cloud Club as a sex doll.

Cloud Club. Full name—Cloud Club Dollhouse.

The name alone says it all—it's the best dollhouse in Japantown, hell, probably in all of Night City. Even picky-ass corpo execs were loyal customers.

Selling the girl there…

Yeah. That tracks.

Jackie mentioned yesterday that Wakako had some ties to the Tyger Claws.

If she's brokering this kind of job… yeah, something shady's going on.

Still, none of that mattered.

Cloud Club was Tyger Claws territory.

Grabbing a girl off the streets and selling her there was just another Tuesday for them.

Only thing that slowed it down?

Territory disputes.

The Tygers running Cloud Club weren't the same ones handling the kidnapping.

Different bosses.

That small complication was why the sale hadn't gone through yet.

If Karl had delayed any longer, the girl would've already been shipped off.

Then the gig would turn into a Cloud Club raid instead.

Which—honestly?

Karl wasn't opposed to wiping out a few Tygers, but waltzing into a dollhouse wasn't exactly his idea of a fun day.

Better to get this over with fast.

The kidnappers?

A small Tyger Claws crew.

They lost a few guys recently, now sitting at 21 members total.

Currently holed up in Kabuki, Watson District.

Headcount? Check.Location? Check.Objective? Check.Payout? Check.

All that was left—

Execution.

Love jobs like this. Simple. Direct. No bullshit.

"When are you planning to move in?"

T-Bug was still on the line.

"Right now."

"Right now?"

Hearing Karl's chopsticks clink against the bowl, T-Bug hesitated.

"Wait—you're still eating?"

"Last bite. I'm done."

Karl stood up.

"Heading over on foot."

"...You're walking?"

T-Bug sounded a little unsure.

"What about your car? Your crew?"

"Car's with my friend. Besides, it's close. Driving's just gonna get me stuck in traffic. As for my crew—"

Karl glanced at his phone.

"They're probably still asleep. I'll call them on the way—see if they wake up before I get there."

T-Bug fell silent for a second.

Then—

"And if they don't wake up?"

"Then I won't bother them."

Karl yawned, rubbing his neck.

"No point in waking people up for nothing. I'll just have them pick me up when I'm done."

"...You're going up against twenty-one full-fledged Tyger Claws."

"Yeah. I know."

And?

Was that supposed to impress him?

Karl had something better than 21 gangsters.

He had one of himself.

"...I just hope you make it out alive."

Karl chuckled.

"Appreciate the vote of confidence."

Stepping into the Scene, Facing a Gang Alone

Karl, who took down ten Maelstrom goons in seconds early in his merc career, clearly didn't take T-Bug's words as actual concern.

To him, her comment just sounded like a standard job blessing, so he even thanked her for it.

Hearing his polite response, T-Bug couldn't help but feel that this so-called infamous mercenary might not be as reliable as his reputation suggested.

She flipped through the files she had pulled on KK.

Taking on twenty-one guys alone?

Sure, he went toe-to-toe with an ACPA before and wiped out an Arasaka Special Operations squad just last night—

Wait.

She paused.

Her habit of scanning background data had pulled up something strange.

Taking a closer look, she realized something—

She had only heard KK's name before but never actually studied him in detail.

T-Bug, someone who spent her free time reading books and refining her hacking skills, wasn't exactly the type to waste time on online gossip or viral vids.

So, she had no idea why KK was so famous.

Now, after watching the video that had spread all over Night City…

She understood.

For this guy? Taking on twenty-one gangers really wasn't a big deal.

But last night's Arasaka Special Ops fight…

That vid was suspiciously fresh.

She wasn't sure who recorded it, but it looked like a satellite feed covering the entire battle.

Every moment—*getting ambushed, the gunfight, even their retreat—*was perfectly captured, as if someone was watching the show from orbit.

That didn't feel like an Arasaka Intelligence Division job.

Based on what she knew, Arasaka's intel guys would write up a 300-page report just for using a few seconds of satellite footage.

Recording an entire firefight?

That would be a waste of resources—even for them.

But the way it was filmed…

Definitely had an Arasaka-style recon feel.

Weird.

T-Bug kept watching but couldn't figure it out.

No way some random Arasaka exec saw the battle and told the Intel team to record the whole thing, right?

Would they really micromanage Special Ops footage that hard?

And after Arasaka's team retreated, the footage kept rolling on KK's squad—

So… who was the real target here?

After thinking for a moment, T-Bug came up with a plausible explanation—

"Probably Militech."

They must've recorded it just to screw with Arasaka.

Only Militech would waste company resources just for the satisfaction of pissing off Arasaka.

While still chatting with T-Bug, Karl reached Kabuki and finally got a reply from Jackie and Oliver.

Jackie: On my way.Oliver: Got a job? I'm coming.

These two assholes woke up just as he was about to arrive.

So… did he just walk here for nothing?

Karl sighed.

Here he was, being considerate and letting them sleep in, and they still show up anyway.

Mumbling under his breath, he sat down on a bench by the street and waited for them to arrive.

While at it, he added T-Bug to the squad's comms.

Karl: Meet our netrunner for this gig—T-Bug.

PS: Minor rant—T-Bug really doesn't seem to browse the net much.

Like, in Evelyn's braindance, she scanned the guy beating her but didn't even recognize Sasquatch.

That's wild.

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