Chapter 138 - Job’s Done

The moment Jackie's shout rang out, Karl had already pulled the trigger.

Four targets.

One bullet for each.

"Splat."

Flesh tore open in sync, and before they could even process what happened, three of them were already dead—gone in a flash.

But only three.

Karl had been about to kick down the door to Room 3, ready to finish off the last five Tyger Claws, when he felt it—time slowing down.

One of them had reacted.

The woman.

Her Mantis Blades snapped out from her forearms, and as Sandevistan activated, time crawled.

She sliced through the bullet flying for her head mid-air.

Mantis Blades + Sandevistan.

Classic combo.

To her, Karl was prey. She lunged, blades raised like a hunting lion, aiming to pierce straight through him.

A flying attack? Cute.

But I've seen this before.

Next.

Data surged.

Cyberware Overheat.

Mid-leap, her body seized up.

Like a kite with its strings cut, she crashed onto the ground, twitching violently.

"You got Mantis Blades and Sandevistan, huh? And you're just a Tyger Claw? No way you had room for anti-hack protection."

Karl stepped over her, barely sparing a glance.

"Sorry, got better things to do. Still gotta figure out what I want for lunch."

Then, with one swift kick, he busted down the door to Room 3.

From start to finish—two seconds.

Inside, the Tyger Claws were still dazed from the gunfire.

Drunk out of their minds, they didn't have the cash for anti-intoxication implants, so their alcohol-soaked brains were still lagging behind reality.

"Pardon the interruption."

Karl, ever polite, raised Twin Night.

One second later.

"All clear on my end."

His voice rang through comms.

Four seconds later.

Jackie's response came next.

"Same here, mano. That leader guy had some tough skin—damn near as tanky as that Maelstrom bastard we ran into before. But good thing my guns hit like a truck now."

"The target okay?"

T-Bug had been watching everything, but she still needed confirmation on the girl's condition.

"She's fine. Clothes are still intact—guess these guys really wanted to sell her for a good price.

"But… looks like they installed some kind of virus chip. She's still unconscious."

"Can you access it, Jackie? Let me check."

"I'll hook in while carrying her down. Data port is… got it. Damn, it's behind her ear, covered by her hair. Guess this girl cares about her looks."

Listening to Jackie and T-Bug talk over comms, Karl scooped up some cash from the bodies.

All together? Barely 500 eddies.

With a sigh, he called an old NCPD contact—Johnson.

"Mr. Johnson, I just finished a gig. Bunch of Tyger Claws got flatlined. Mind cleaning up?"

"Scavs? Sure. Tyger Claws? I'm no corpse collector, that's Trauma Team's job."

"Got some decent guns."

"Send me the address. I'm on my way."

Karl yawned as he gave him the location. He really did wake up too damn early today.

Weapons? Selling them to a shop wouldn't be worth the hassle. Those arms dealers were tight-fisted bastards when it came to used guns. Better to hand them over to Johnson—at least his NCPD squad could put them to use.

Karl knew Johnson wasn't a saint.

Took bribes, shook down street vendors for protection money, and even roughed them up if they refused to pay.

But compared to half the corrupt NCPD in this city, Johnson was a rare case.

When shit hit the fan, he actually faced cyberpsychos head-on and prioritized getting civilians to safety. That alone put him above 90% of the force.

Compared to cops who stole weapons, looted implants from corpses, and basically became Scavs themselves, Johnson and his crew at least did their job.

At the very least, Karl knew these guns would be used to take down Scavs and gangsters—hell, maybe even a cyberpsycho or two.

That was enough.

"Hm?"

As Karl gathered weapons, he felt something hard on the female Tyger Claw's waist.

Didn't notice it while searching for cash.

A chip?

Flipping it over, he saw Japanese characters printed on it.

Karl blinked, then read it out loud:

"Experimental In-House Sandevistan Records – Subject #8."

Experimental Sandevistan…

A Tyger Claw… with Mantis Blades AND Sandevistan.

And who backed Tyger Claws?

Oh.

So that's why a random gang member had both a high-end Sandevistan and Mantis Blades.

Mantis Blades? Sure, cheap knockoffs exist.

But a Sandy? That thing was at least 70K eddies. No regular Tyger Claw could afford it.

Made sense now.

She was a test subject.

Classic corpo move.

They turn you into an experiment but throw in some top-tier cyberware—hard to say no when you're some street punk chasing power.

Corpos preferred using gangsters over random nobodies. At least they had combat experience.

Karl was curious about what was on the chip.

But he wasn't about to slot it in here.

For all he knew, it could fry his implants with a virus. And if that happened?

Jackie and Oliver would have to drag his ass to Vik, and he'd wake up to them roasting him for being a dumbass.

Just imagining it made him cringe.

It was one thing to get screwed over by a client—another to fall for a totally avoidable trap.

That'd be embarrassing.

By the time Johnson arrived, Karl and the crew were ready to leave.

After a quick nod of acknowledgment, they loaded the unconscious target into the trunk and drove to Japantown to meet Wakako for the handoff.

"Nicely done, KK. Target's untouched. Client'll be happy. I've wired your payment—this job is done."

Four thousand eddies. Job complete.

Just as T-Bug was about to disconnect, Karl threw out an offer.

"Hey, T-Bug… interested in teaming up again?"

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