Chapter 9

Lizzie's Bar was all the way in Kabuki. V wasn't around for me to bum a ride off of for this trip either, as she'd been contacted by Tio Padre about a Job. Something about a Fixer out in Santo Domingo who needed to be Zeroed with extreme prejudice. Apparently, the guy, Arthur Cormac, had been doing some shit that was no bueno as far as Tio Padre was concerned. He was holed up in the No-Tell Motel right now, which meant that while V was headed to Kabuki as well, she was on a job and wasn't willing to give me a ride.

That meant taking the NCART to Kabuki, which was always a crapshoot. Some days, the worst you'd get was a Homeless Guy pissing in the corner of the train car, but every once in a while, you'd get a bombing or gang shootout. Honestly, the Straphangers who took the NCART to get to their Corpo Day Jobs had it a lot worse than I did. Most Corpses didn't have the same sort of Cyberware I did to rely on in case a Bozo shows up with a bomb on the train or something. Thankfully, the worst I had to put up with was a drunk Gonk loudly singing some annoying, Bubblegum, Scop put out by Us Cracks or some other Japanese Girl Group. I managed to make it to Lizzie's without incident.

Lizzie's Bar was all things considered, pretty fucking distinctive as far as buildings went. A Former Strip Club that'd taken over a Warehouse during the Time of the Red, Lizzie's Bar had been destroyed and rebuilt a couple times, most recently after the Tyger Claws wrecked up the place, and turned into a Braindance Club run by a Gang called the Mox, who recruited pretty heavily from former Joytoys and other kinds of women who lived on the Edge. The Mox certainly had the largest ratio of female members to male members, anyway.

The building itself was a reflection of that sort of focus, covered in neon lights with glowing pink signs showing women with skulls for faces. The Pink contrasted with the turquoise paint covering the building pretty fiercely. The whole look definitely caught the eye and Lizzie's did a pretty decent amount of business, and not even just from the sort of Vidiots who always hung around BD Clubs, but from the average citizen and odd tourist off the street. They had to be raking in the eddies like nobody's business, which was just one more reason why the Mox had beef with the Tyger Claws. Kabuki was supposed to be their territory, after all.

Of course, there was also a long history of fights between the Mox and Tyger Claws, and that meant Lizzie's needed top-notch security, which brought me to my current hurdle. Rita Wheeler. She was a Ranking Member of the Mox and the current Head Bouncer of Lizzie's. At five and a half feet of blue hair, chrome, and attitude, Rita took her job pretty seriously. Unfortunately, that seemed to include not wanting to let me in to talk Biz.

"Susie Q said not to let any Valentinos or Sixth Street Gonks in till you two finish your little turf war. Wrecking up the Bar with firefights is just gonna scare the customers away." Insisted Rita, hefting her baseball bat.

"I'm not really a member of the Valentinos. I was contracted by Padre to do work there. Besides, I have Biz that'll make us both some eddies." I pointed out.

"And Padre's connected to the Valentinos, I can't let you in. Nice try, though." Scoffed Rita.

"No mames! Are you serious? You're just gonna walk away from eddies?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Whatever Biz you think you have, they're not worth causing more beef with Sixth Street over helping you out. Not with how we're already close to pulling iron against the Tyger Claws." Refused Rita.

"Can you just send a message telling Susie Q that I've got one of those Smuggled London Combat Zone Vids that Rich Corpos like to pay for to get their jollies off on watching Gonks hunt down and zero each other? I'm willing to sell at a reasonable price." I tried.

"Yeah? And where'd you get something like that? Looted it from Sixth Street?" Queried Rita.

"Does it matter? It's not like you guys don't have ways to muddle the trail on that sort of thing, otherwise you'd never make the kind of eddies you're making off BDs to begin with." I asked.

"That's fair, I guess. I'll pass it along and flick a message over to Susie Q. No promises, though." Insisted Rita.

I nodded and waited for that to happen. Five minutes went by with me just standing there, while Rita checked IDs and vetted entrants as she waited for her boss to get back to her about whether I was allowed inside or not. It was at the Six-Minute Mark that Rita must've gotten a response because she finished checking the ID of some Bridge and Tunnel Kid from a Beaverville Somewhere judging by how he acted, and looked over at me.

"Looks like it's your lucky day. Susie Q wants to see you. Apparently, she's got a Gig set up for you that you can do for us if you wanna be allowed inside. You gotta say if you're in or not now, though." Informed Rita.

"Sure. I'll bite." I nodded.

"All right, then. Go on in. Anna will take you up to Susie Q's Office. You'll know her when you see her. Just look for Cheetah Print, Chrome, and Spiked Leather." Responded Rita.

She then let me pass and my first impression of the inside of Lizzie's Bar wasn't much different than the outside. Instead of neon signs and electric lights, it was glow-in-the-dark paint and backlights, still in the same Pink and Turquoise color scheme that the Mox seemed to have on lockdown. At the bar, serving drinks, was one of the relatively few male members of the Gang, while various customers sat on scattered pink sofas with BD Wreaths on their heads or danced on the strobe-lit dance floor. The place was packed and I could absolutely believe that a Club this popular would be a major money-maker for the Mox.

I caught sight of my escort just a moment after taking this all in. Anna Nox was dressed in a leather jacket, spiked choker, and leopard print swimsuit. She carried a baseball bat in one hand, slung casually over her shoulder as she weaved through crowds toward me. Not that she needed it, because I could see her whole body was practically Chromed Up. Not enough to be a full borg, but the fact that she seemed to have replaced both arms and both legs with chrome and chipped in some of that plastic doll skin stuff that the Mox seemed to love so much to cover most of her body suggested that she'd hold her own in a fight even without that Bat.

"Come on, Suzie's waiting and my break's coming up. Let's get this done, yeah?" Huffed Anna.

"Right. Lead on." I concurred.

Anna led me up a stairway, past several more Moxes, these ones armed with Kang Tao Chao Pistols and Dian Submachine Guns. Clearly, they were here to guard places the public weren't supposed to go into. Anna led me past those guards and out onto the top floor where there was an office located amidst pink neon. A Desk with a terminal sat in the midst of the office while on the far wall, a window looked out through one of the neon signs on the outside of the building. Seated at the desk was Suzie Q, the leader of the Mox. Her neon yellow jacket covered her arms and most of her torso, but what skin was visible was a similar plastic doll type to Anna's. What's more, Suzie Q's face, head, and neck were almost completely chrome.

"So this is the Valentinos Solo who wants to do Biz with the Mox?" Questioned Suzie Q.

"They call me Big E." I nodded.

"Is that so? What's so big about you?" Queried Suzie Q.

"Cross me or my crew and find out." I challenged.

"Heh, I like him. Mentions his crew, and seems to protect his own. We Moxes think the same way like that. Anna, you can take you're break now." Nodded Suzie Q with a grin.

"Rita said you had a Gig for me?" I asked.

"Yeah. What do you know about a Gonk named Jotaro Shobo?" Questioned Suzie Q.

"He's a Tiger Claw. Middle Management, runs the Ho-oh Braindance Club. He's also killed a bunch of times." I offered.

"Yeah, that first and last part's the most pressing bits. See, Jotaro went and Zeroed a Joytoy from Jig-Jig Street who was under our protection. A girl by the name of Ellen. Ellen had a future, she was saving up to take night classes at one of the Night City University affiliate campuses. She was gonna become a mechanic when she graduated, now she's a corpse. The Mox needs to Zero Jotaro, the only problem is, we can't exactly head to that part of Kabuki without raising a shitload of alarms. If that happens, Jotaro will bombshell outta there in a hurry. We need an outside party to Zero this Gonk." Informed Suzie Q.

"And here I am, conveniently showing up at your Club." I frowned, getting the gist of things.

"Yeah. So, here's what I'm proposing. You zero Jotaro for us. You'll be paid one-thousand-three-hundred eddies for the job, plus whatever you can loot. One of our Members managed to Netrun her way into Jotaro's Calendar and we know where he'll be tomorrow night. You do this for us, then we can talk about this Biz you wanna do with us for that Smuggled BritVid. You good with that?" Laid out Suzie Q.

"I am." I affirmed.

"Good. Then you oughtta head on down to the basement. Punchin' Judy's got the rest of the detes for you." Dismissed Suzie Q.

I nodded, standing up before leaving Suzie Q's Office and heading back down the stairs, past the previous guards, and down some more stairs into what I could only describe as some sorta techno-lair. BD Chairs were set up in an area that looked like some kinda dungeon, while monitors lined the walls around a desk. Presiding over it all was Judy Alvarez, Purple and Green Hair, Tattoos, and Snark wrapped in a petite package. It'd be sorta cute if she wasn't aggressively lesbian.

"You Big E?" Questioned Judy.

"I am." I confirmed.

"So what's that, some sorta dick joke?" She queried.

"I didn't give myself the Handle. That's not how it works." I shrugged.

"It sounds like a dick joke to me." Snorted Judy.

"Call me Ernesto, if you like." I offered.

"Well, Ernie, Suzie Q flicked me the detes about you being the one to head out and handle Jotaro for us. That gives you points in my book. Gonk needs to be zeroed after how many girls he's zeroed himself." Huffed Judy.

"Right. She said you'd have intel for me on where this Gonk's gonna be tomorrow night?" I asked.

"Yeah, I managed to Netrun my way into his schedule for the week. Tomorrow he'll be at Kyoraku Sushi at nine and be staying all night. I gotta wonder what kinda Gonk does all-night Sushi, but then I remembered how many girls this asshole's Zeroed for kicks and just gave up trying to figure it out." Nodded Judy.

"He's not there for the sushi. Kyoraku Sushi's a Tyger Claw Front for an illegal gambling den they've got in the back room there. It's run by a guy named Kyoraku Shinobu who's one of Jotaro's little clique of ladder climbers." I informed.

"You sound like you've been in there before." Mused Judy.

"That's 'cause I have." I responded.

It had been one of the Jobs that Big E had run for Tio Padre back before I was sent into his Body at the start of all this. Some of the Fixers got together almost two years ago after Dex Deshawn fucked up in Pacifica to discuss what to do about everything. Big E had been Tio Padre's one Bodyguard allowed at the meeting. He'd almost gotten into a fight with Dino Dinovic's Huscle, an Ex-Cylon who'd gotten let go from IEC Corporate Security due to budget cuts named Gunther. It hadn't gotten to the pulling iron stage before Rogue Showed up to invite all the fixers to the Afterlife for a more in-depth discussion, but it'd come close at one point. Suffice it to say, I'd be able to find my way around.

"Good. That means you'll be able to get in and find your way around. Listen, I know you Solos tend to go into these jobs with your iron out and ready to zero anyone who might be a problem, but we really don't want a massacre here. We want you to Zero Jotaro, and if this Kyoraku Gonk tries to stop you, Zero him too, but leave everyone else as alive as you can, yeah?" Pleaded Judy.

"Surgical, got it." I agreed.

"Good. In the meantime, I'm supposed to take a look at that BritVid to see if it's worth anything." Returned Judy, holding her hand out for the Vid Chip.

Reaching into my coat pocket, I pulled out the Chip and made to hand it over. Judy reached to grab hold of it, but before I closed my fist around the chip. As Judy paused in her reaching, I let out a warning grunt, keeping a grip on the chip as Judy cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't fuck me on this or the Mox will be on the list." I warned.

"I'm not gonna fuck you Ernie, you're not my type." Smirked Judy.

"I'll hold you to that." I cautioned before letting the Chip go.

"It'll take me a day to analyze this. If it's a bootleg copy, it's gonna be worth less eddies than if it's the genuine article, and the kindsa Corpos who'd pay for this sort of thing have all kinds of ways to figure that out. Best to be thorough, yeah?" Explained Judy.

"I'll be back tomorrow after taking care of Jotaro." I nodded.

"That should be plenty of time." Agreed Judy.

And like that, my business in Kabuki was up for the night. I headed for the NCART and took the train back down to the Glen. This time, I only had to deal with the smell of piss from a Homeless Drunk who'd pissed in the corner of the train car earlier. I could use my cranial implants to shut off my sense of smell, so it didn't bother me too much, though. Plus the stench kept anyone else from the Straphanger crowd out of the car.

When I got back to the Glen, I headed straight for El Coyote Cojo to see if Jackie was around or if V was back. Jackie'd been doing a bit of recon on one of the other Sixth Street Satellite Drug Production Facilities being run out of an abandoned storage facility in Arroyo near the Cytech Factory. If they hadn't moved out of there by now, that was gonna be our next target. I didn't see Jackie or V, so I ordered a Calavera Feliz and some Carne Asada from Pepe at the Bar, who nodded and put my order in before handing me my beer. About fifteen minutes later and a few eddies shorter, I was seated at our Crew's regular booth, digging into my Carne Asada.

Of course, five minutes later, V showed up having clearly been patched up by a Ripper, and made her way over to our booth. I looked at the bandage covering her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow.

"Gig go bad?" I questioned.

"He was ready for company. It turned into a shootout and he winged me. I zeroed him, though." Grunted V.

"Sounds like a story." I nodded.

"What about you? How'd your Biz with the Mox go?" Queried V.

"It's still going. I gotta Zero a couple Tyger Claws Gangoons for them tomorrow night to get them to trust me." I shrugged.

"And Jackie's recon makes three. We've been busy tonight." Mused V.

"It'll pay off, Chica. You just gotta have faith." I shrugged.

"So, interested in swapping stories?" Asked V.

"Wait for Jackie to show up. If we leave him out, Jaquito's gonna get mad." I chuckled.

When Jackie finally did show up, we got to debriefing each other in that time-honored Night City way, telling stories about various Gigs we'd been on while embellishing a bit to make ourselves look good. Jackie's story was the most boring, aside from mine, where nothing even approaching danger was involved. He'd been doing some recon, which at least had the potential for your cover being blown and needing to bombshell. Unless I seriously screwed up, there wasn't gonna be any firefights with the Mox in my story.

Regardless, it seemed that Sixth Street was still in residence at the Stop-N-Leave Storage Facility, but they were moving shit out on trucks. He doubted there'd be much left of the site if we waited a week, though he got a good look at the Trucks and we'd probably be able to track them down. Security on the trucks was two guys up front and one in the back with the Chemicals, while they seemed to be transferring them to one of the other sites, the Abandoned Petrochem Satelite Plastics Factory near the High School. There seemed to be about twenty Sixth Street Gangoons in total currently in and around that factory.

Of course, there was also the fact that more trucks and Gangoons arrived at that Factory all the time, which made Jackie think they were bringing all their remaining Drugs and Chemicals there before transporting them to a new location we had no intel on. It seemed like we'd have to hit them by the end of the week or we'd be screwed on that front.

V's story was the polar opposite of ours. Tio Padre had sent her to Zero a Fixer in Santo Domingo named Arthur Cormac who'd double-crossed some Old Friends of Tio Padre a few months back and now it was time to even the score. Unfortunately, this Cormac Guy was pretty damned paranoid, as you should be if you double-crossed folks on the regular. He'd managed to hole up in a room at the No-Tell Motel that he'd rigged with all kinds of surveillance equipment. V'd had to deal with a miniature turret and while she'd worked on that, Cormac managed to arm himself and burst out of the bathroom shooting. He'd hit V in the shoulder at the same time that V let off a burst of her Submachine Gun that broke through his Subdermal Armor and pulped a coupled vital organs. Both Cormac and V hit the floor, but only V managed to get back up.

"Damn Chica, tu eres Chingona!" Chuckled Jackie.

"It was pretty badass, wasn't it?" Grinned V.

"Sure was. So who patched you up?" I questioned.

"Who do you think?" Queried V.

"Gotta be Vik." Surmised Jackie.

"Bingo, give the man a no-prize." Confirmed V.

"Yeah, well, it sounds like we've got a full schedule ahead of us, so I hope rehabbing the shoulder won't take too long." I warned.

"How do you figure? Can't you and Jackie handle a few Gigs on your own?" Asked V.

"We can, but it'll spread us a bit thin. Remember, we have to hit the Storage Facility and the Petrochem Satelite Plastics Factory. Plus I have to hit the Tyger Claws tomorrow for that Biz with the Mox." I pointed out.

"Don't forget the trucks that Sixth Street's using to move the Chems around. That'd go a lot easier if we had you behind the wheel of your Kombi." Added Jackie.

"I guess." Sighed V.

"We've got a week before Sixth Street Bombshells completely. Just try and rest up before then, yeah?" I offered.

"Right." Agreed V.

"You know what's great for rest? Beer. We should celebrate tonight. Seems like we're moving up in the world, after all." Chuckled Jackie.

And like that, the rest of the evening devolved into partying with my Crew. Honestly, it was a lot of fun, and I was sure I'd be sad when I inevitably had to leave V and Jackie behind to jump worlds. Of course, it wasn't like I remembered much of it from all the alcohol. I vaguely recalled being helped back to my place by V and Jackie and effectively manhandled into my bed, but after that, nothing.

When I woke the next morning to a pounding headache, I used my implants to flush the toxins from my bloodstream. That turned out to be a big mistake as doing that resulted in me puking my guts up into the toilet. By the time I was finished, I was too drained to Tinker much and settled back in to sleep off the rest of my hangover. My alarm woke me up from a non-prophetic dream at seven at night, however.

As soon as I was ready and equipped, I would be heading to Kabuki to take care of the Biz for the Mox. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. Big E finally gets to meet some other Canon Characters aside from V, Jackie, and so on. He's now effectively doing an altered form of the Gig Monster Hunt for the Mox. Meanwhile, things are proceeding apace with Sixth Street and they've got eyes on what looks to be where Sixth Street is stashing all the drugs and chemicals they still have before rabbiting to a new area with them.

At the same time, V effectively whacked Arthur Cormac from the Cyberpunk Comics. If you knew the backstory of those, you'd know he effectively betrayed the daughter of an Old School Valentinos Legend, leading to her death. That isn't something that Padre would have taken lying down. Here, he sent V after him and after a brief shootout in the No-Tell Motel, she killed him but got wounded in the process.

Now Big E's Crew is down a person for the time crunch with Sixth Street all while he has to also hit the Tyger Claws to kill Jotaro. If they pull this off though, not only will it effectively win the Valentino's the Turf War they've got going on with Sixth Street, since it will pretty much wipe out Sixth Street's finances, but dealing with Jotaro as well at the same time will only give them even more street cred.

Speaking of Jotaro, that operation is up next.

Stay tuned. . .