Chapter 281 – Room

"I'm in the area you mentioned, T-BUG. Surveillance room dead ahead. Behind it looks like a private changing space for the dolls. What's the move?"

V crouched low in the shadows, waiting on orders.

"Anyone in the changing room?" Karl asked first.

V leaned in for a peek. "Empty. Guess business is booming."

"Our targets are the ex-Arasaka security personnel. They're carrying a slip of paper — likely coded or encrypted. Valuable. They'd keep it close. Doubt they'd stash it in a doll's locker."

Karl paused, then laid it out. "Clear the surveillance room. Kill whoever's inside. Jack into the local net. Give T-BUG access."

"Roger."

V eased the door open. The Tiger Claw inside barely had time to flinch before V lunged. His hands snapped around the guy's neck — one hard twist.

No chrome enhancements like Karl. No combat training like Jack. Just raw, wasteland-forged strength. A clean crack rang out. Cervical dislocation. Instant kill.

V spared the dolls — just folks selling flesh and pride to get by.

But Tiger Claws?

No mercy.

With the room clear and no alarms tripped, V jacked into the console.

"T-BUG, you in?"

"Already tunneling through your link," she said. "Give me thirty seconds. I'll hijack control. Sending Q-ball to maintain the node."

"Copy."

Q-ball showed up faster than expected. Barely ten seconds later, the black-and-white orb rolled in and unfolded beside V.

"All yours, V. Let Q-ball handle it."

A cable extended from the orb's shoulder port, snatched by a claw and jacked into the terminal. V unplugged, stepped back, and watched the monitors stutter and shift.

"Let's see… Seriously? This system's older than sin. Okay, done — we're in."

Ten seconds in, T-BUG had full control. The feed stabilized, snapping to a view of a luxury suite.

Low lighting. Polished walls. Even art on the damn walls. Four people inside — three sprawled across a faux leather couch, and one behind a desk, elbows on the surface, mid-convo.

"Manager's office cam?" V muttered, eyes narrowing.

He focused on the three on the couch — familiar faces. T-BUG had shown their profiles earlier.

"They're definitely in the subnet zone."

"Running facial match… Confirmed. They're real," T-BUG said, a little looser now. Then she opened comms to Oliver: "Room confirmed. I've updated the vent route. Follow it exactly, keep it quiet."

"You're kidding. I'm still crawling? How far am I?"

"Three-quarters in. You're close."

While Oliver fought off claustrophobia in the ducts, T-BUG activated Q-ball's scan protocol.

Data poured in.

"There. The guy at the desk is Cloud's new manager. No serious cyberware — Kenshin pistol at the hip. But the other three? Watch it. I've got their ware profiles. Arasaka ninja standard."

"Arasaka ninja?" Jack chimed in. "So what — Sandevistan with Mantis Blades?"

"Exactly. Nice one, Jack. Bonus trivia: these three used to run ops in Arasaka's South American special forces. Combat vets. Kill counts near triple digits."

"Damn, how'd you dig that up?" Jack asked.

"I didn't," T-BUG said. "Militech did. They just dropped Arasaka's termination list. All three are on it. It's a long one — 134 names. Most just got relocated to Night City."

"Why the hell is Militech stirring Arasaka's garbage?" Oliver asked from the duct, confused and still crawling.

"Think about it. If other corps get wind of this list, they know who's being cut. Militech leaks it first — sends a message: Want Arasaka intel? Grab these guys before Arasaka black-bags them."

Karl saw it for what it was — classic corpo sabotage. Militech flipping Arasaka the bird was business as usual. Problem was, those on the list but not officially fired yet? They'd start shopping themselves to rival corps. And that meant chaos in the streets.

"Still, Militech screwing with Arasaka makes our job easier. Now we've got full cyberware specs."

Karl moved into position — crouched just above the manager's suite, silent, in place.

"Ten seconds to breach."

"Downstairs ready," Jack said, glancing up.

"Almost there," Oliver added — finally spotting the faint glow at the end of the duct.

"I'm at the door," V said, pressed to the corridor wall, eyes locked on the target.

The team's breathing slowed. Silence.

Then Karl gave the word.

"One target each."

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