Chapter 6

I spent the rest of the evening and into the night after seeing Vik tinkering. Between my newly gained Alchemical Abilities, my Mechanicus Chemistry Knowledge, my Omnidisciplinary Science Capabilities, and my knowledge of how to create Vivifiers from Arcana, I was able to tinker up a number of Combat Drugs that would enhance my physical capabilities to a level beyond what would normally be attainable by even the most fit human being.

Best of all, thanks to a little bit of Alchemy, I was able to completely edit out any potential side effects and make each dose last for a full hour. Unfortunately, it took a lot of rendering down various household chemicals down to base components, which meant I was only really able to create a few doses of my new Combat Drug, which I had termed Alpha. Between it, the Advanced Kerenzikov, and the Advanced Sandy, however, I was sure that I would be able to keep pace with any Full Borg currently out there, even Adam Smasher.

Of course, that wasn't really a reason to get complacent either. The last few hours of the evening were spent trying to take apart the Adrenaline Booster to see how it worked and reassembling it. I did that a few times before I figured I had enough knowledge of how that particular piece of chrome worked that I could start designing an upgraded version. By the time I had a design ready to be worked on, though, and got it programmed into my autofactory, it was closing in on four in the morning.

I was supposed to be at El Coyote Cojo no later than one in the afternoon tomorrow to meet up with Jackie and V for our biz with the Sixth Street Gangoons on Hargreaves. I set the Autofactory to disassembling the Adrenaline Booster for parts, fed it some more of my ever-dwindling stash of raw materials, and set it to producing two of them, one for me and one for Vik. Once my Autofactory was humming away on that, I headed to bed to rack out.

Suddenly, I found myself dreaming once more, following Aleksander Yurinov around Night City in my dreams once again. . .

XXXX

This time, I found myself following Aleksander Yurinov as he made his way through the ground floor of a building. Instead of his Robotic Bear, however, this time he had a completely different beast by his side. Two Completely different beasts, in fact. One was clearly some sort of Mephit, judging by the shape and personality, while the other was apparently an Ankylosaurus. Both were robotic versions of their basic forms, yet also, strangely enhanced.

They weren't the only ones, either, and I watched as a shouting Cubano Gangoon in paramilitary fatigues with OSA-Style Chrome came out of a loading bay with a Chadran Arms Jungle Reaper Assault Rifle. That kind of iron was popular among various poorly funded third-world armies. As the Gangoon blazed away with that Scop Iron though, he failed to so much as wound the Mephit, which darted in almost too quick for the Cubano to adjust his aim, Chipped in or not.

The bullets struck sparks off the Mephit for a few seconds before the Cubano's Iron jammed. The Mephit then laughed sarcastically before clawing the Cubano's throat out with razor-sharp talons. The tempered steel shutters of the Loading Bay slammed shut as that happened, the Cubano's fellow Gangoons clearly not wanting to wait to see the outcome of his fight with the Mephit.

"Boris, please do something about that." Ordered Aleksander.

The Ankylosaurus stepped up to the loading bay shutters and swung its clublike tail with enough force to tear through the tempered steel and as it pulled back, tore the shutters out of their housing. Aleksander stepped through into the now exposed loading bay and was targeted by a torrent of gunfire which he somehow managed to leap out of the path of with no visible Chrome of his own to speak of.

He landed twenty feet away in the middle of the group of Cubano Gangoons wearing similar paramilitary fatigues with similar cheap guns and South American Chrome. One of them tried to rush Aleksander with a nano-blade held in one cyber-arm. His swing was ducked away from by Aleksander, who drew a Nova Arms Cityhunter X Heavy Pistol in the blink of an eye and unloaded five rounds rapid into the Cubano Gangoon's Chest.

In a flash, that Gangoon was on the ground, South American Subdermal not able to cope with five rounds from such a high-quality weapon all fired in the same general area. The Other Cubano Gangoons leveled their rifles only for Aleksander's Robot Ankylosaurus to make an appearance and block the bullets. As soon as the bunch of Scop Iron clicked empty, or in some cases, jammed, Aleksander spoke up.

"You gentleman should have taken the Organitskaya's warnings to heart. There are enough gangs in Night City without your Cartel trying to muscle into the city. As you did not heed our warnings, now you pay the price." Intoned Aleksander.

"Vete pa la Puneta! Go to Hell, Russki!" Spat one of the Cubanos.

"You'll be getting there first, I'm afraid." Retorted Aleksander.

Suddenly the Mephit swung into view, darting into the midst of the Cubano Gangoons like quicksilver. It let out a snicker before its eyes glowed and it opened its mouth full of metallic, needle-like, teeth. Suddenly, all of the Cubanos withered away, drying up like prunes as water began to burst forth from their mouths, eyes, nose, ears, and even pores, the moisture in their bodies being sucked up by the Robotic Mephit, which I now realized was a Salt Mephit. The Cubano Gangoons fell to the floor, groaning in agony, unable to move, but still very much alive.

At least, they were alive until Aleksander executed them. In the state they were in, a single bullet to the head was all it took to kill each of the Cubano Gangoons. Moments later, Aleksander walked over to a tank of chemicals being used to manufacture a batch of Synthcoke, took out a lighter, and flicked it on. Then he tossed the lighter into the batch of chemicals, starting a fire.

"Time to leave." Insisted Aleksander, pausing just long enough to klep a briefcase full of eddies on the way out of the loading bay.

As he exited, he dismissed his Robotic Ankylosaurus and Mephit, making his way down the streets of Night City, just one face amongst the crowds even as the warehouse building went up in flames down the street. He headed out of the Northside Docks, moving southeast for Japantown and Jig-Jig Street. I watched him enter Wakako's Pachinko Parlor and be shown to Wakako's Office shortly thereafter.

"I was hoping you'd drop by tonight. I've found something about this V that you've been looking for." Nodded Wakako.

"Do tell." Pressed Aleksander.

"She isn't alone, and her companions seem to be quite extraordinary indeed. I've taken the liberty of showing my findings to an acquaintance with Arasaka Research and Development, and Doctor Hellman hasn't seen anything like it before outside of a Full Borg Conversion. I have to wonder just what it is you've gotten into?" Remarked Wakako.

I wasn't able to find out what Aleksander's Response was, however, because my alarm went off shortly afterward, waking me up from my Vulcan-given dreams. . .

XXXX

An hour later, I was freshly showered, equipped, and ready to fight as I entered El Coyote Cojo with fifteen minutes left on the clock before I was supposed to meet up with V and Jackie. V's Yacatecuhtli was parked in the small side lot and as I entered, I spotted her sipping a Rum and NiCola and eating a plate of Chilaquiles. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to order anything that required cooking, but I knew that there were always a few Tamales prepped and ready to go in the Kitchen at any one time.

I bellied up to the bar where Pepe was working once again and ordered a couple tamales to-go and a shot of Pingo Pálido Tequila. Pepe cocked his head to the side at my order with a frown. That was odd, normally he was good to go with anything that I ordered.

"All right, what's wrong with my order?" I questioned.

"Should you be drinking before a big gig like this? V I get, she's not in the know with how things go around jobs that Padre hires out for specially, but you should know better, right?" Queried Pepe.

"Tio Padre won't care if I have one shot, Pepe. It won't dull my edge any." I pointed out.

"If you're sure. You have to know him better than I do, he's your uncle, right?" Asked Pepe with a shrug.

I nodded at him and Pepe poured me a shot before heading to the kitchen to grab some of the tamales. I downed the shot, not even wincing as the high-proof agave burned its way down my throat and into my stomach. Pepe returned with a trio of tamales wrapped in corn husks. I ordered a NiCola for myself, slapped a few eddies down on the counter when Pepe slid the can over, and tipped Pepe twenty percent. Then I moved to slide into the booth opposite V.

"Morning." Nodded V.

"It's almost one in the afternoon." I snorted.

"Still." Huffed V.

I unwrapped the first tamale as V took a long sip of her Rum and Nicola, taking a big bite before cracking open my NiCola. For a few moments, nothing was said while I finished my first Tamale and V sipped at her drink, taking a few bites of Chilaquiles. Once I'd finished my first tamale and gotten started on the second, though, that's when the conversation picked up.

"Any sign of Jackie?" I questioned.

"Not yet. He crashed with Misty last night, so he might be late." Shrugged V.

"He crashed with his Mainline the night before a big job?" I queried.

"He did. Why is that a problem?" Asked V.

"Not unless he and Misty decided to Stuffit last night." I admitted.

"And if he did?" Questioned V.

"Ay Pobrecito. Misty's a nice girl but she's a bit of a wild thing in bed. Found that out the hard way after crashing with her and Jaquito one night." I sighed.

"Wild enough to affect Jackie's Performance on the Job?" Queried V.

"Probably not. At least I'm pretty sure he knows better than to get worn out the night before a big job like this." I frowned.

"Pretty sure?" Asked V.

"It IS Jackie, after all. Cabron does shit like that sometimes. We'll just need to roll with the punches if he's gassed." I insisted.

V frowned but refrained from saying anything else. I busied myself with my second out of three tamales, taking it down in three bites and washing it down with the NiCola. I wasn't too worried about Jackie. He's always wanted to get hired for bigtime Biz like this by a legitimate fixer like Tio Padre. I was pretty sure he wouldn't have gone and worn himself out with Misty the night before a preem job like this.

Speaking of the Devil, I'd just unwrapped my third and last tamale and V had just cleaned her plate of Chilaquiles when the Man in Question walked into the bar. He looked all right as he slid into the booth next to me. At least, he was all right enough to snatch my last Tamale off my plate.

"Hey, Jaquito, what'd we talk about with you taking food from me? Give it back!" I growled. Jackie just grinned, taking a bite out of the Tamale before giving me a shit-eating grin.

"Want it back now, Ernesto?" He taunted.

"Somebody's feeling their oats." Muttered V.

"Somebody had a great time last night." Shrugged Jackie.

"What'd Misty let you top again?" I snarked.

"Ay, Cabron, I'll have you know she lets me do that a lot." Retorted Jackie.

"No Manches, that's not what I heard." I smirked.

"From who? When?" Demanded Jackie in mock outrage.

"I swear, watching you two interact is better than VR sometimes." Snickered V, rolling her eyes.

"Seriously though, finish that quick, we need to head out." I insisted.

"Yeah, yeah, no need to annoy the Padre by being late with his important biz." Sighed Jackie.

He still finished the Tamale in two more bites. Soon enough, we were piled into V's Yacatecuhtli and headed for Hargreaves Street and the Sixth Street Safehouse. Blessedly, we made it through Vista Del Rey and into Arroyo without getting into a driving gun battle with Sixth Street, V Parking down the street from the Sixth Street Safehouse.

The Safehouse in Question was a massive factory complex that'd once belonged to IHAG Before the Fourth Corporate War which neither Saka nor Militech took control of after the Night City Holocaust and which had been left to rot during the Time of the Red. They'd made plastics here, but now the chemical processing equipment had been put to use in a different way, manufacturing Beta Acid and other chemicals that would then be used to make various drugs, like Dorph and Blue Glass.

Drugs were big business, especially in a place like Night City where the need to get away from how depressing your life was as an average Gonk was a constant. Some folks gambled, others when to hit up a Joytoy, but those cost a lot of eddies compared to buying a hit of Dorph. The gangs made up the difference in volume, flooding the streets with the sort of hard drugs that previously only the big cartels could sell in quantity. The Cartels, meanwhile, had moved onto higher-end stuff like Synthcoke or designer drugs tailored to some Corpo's physiology so they'd avoid the withdrawal and side effects.

What I cared about was that I could use the chemicals being made here for my tinkering. Beta Acid could be used to shortcut a lot of my material shortages from making various chemicals, after all. I was hoping to grab a container or three out of all this by the time we were finished.

As we got out of V's Yacatecutli, we checked our gear, making sure everything was in order before heading into the Factory. The intel was that Darius could usually be found in the loading dock, making sure that various shipments of chemicals were headed to the right supplemental sites for final synthesis. It was a smart choice to manufacture the end product elsewhere, it spread out your drug ring so that if some Gonk zeroed one of your manufacturing sites, you still had a mostly intact production process.

There was one fatal flaw in that, though, which was that if you took out the Factory, you could get the locations of the supplemental sites from the Factory Network even if you weren't a Super-Preem Netrunner. It was why Darius kept twenty guys here most of the time. That much firepower was usually enough to discourage attacks. Not today, though.

Just before we made it to the Factory Grounds, I took a small syrette of yellow liquid and injected it into my arm. The Alpha Combat Drug immediately entered my bloodstream and I felt the effects take hold. Then, I activated my Kerenzikov and Sandy, pulled my Lyndwyrm Pistol, and dashed forward ahead of Jackie and V and into the Factory.

"Hey!" Shouted V.

"Orale!" Exclaimed Jackie at the same time.

I paid them no mind, confident in my abilities and my tech. As soon as I entered onto the Factory Grounds, I spotted the first couple of Guards near the side entrance, the front was boarded up. They didn't even get the chance to call out in alarm before I clotheslined the pair of them, both arms out wide. They hit the concrete and a pair of stomps to the backs of their heads severed their spinal columns. Two down, eighteen to go.

I reached down and pulled the combat knife off one of their flak jackets, holding it in my off-hand as I dashed around the side and into the loading dock, rushing up to a Hazmat-Suit Wearing Gang Member checking some kind of meter and cutting his throat from behind. As he fell to the concrete, a nearby Guard with an Assault Rifle began to turn and level his rifle, only for my boosted physique to let me dash up to him and plant my pilfered knife through his right eye and into his brain, crunching the glass of his optics as I did so.

He went down with a scream, alerting the rest of the guards in the loading dock, but I didn't care. I rushed around the chain link fence as time slowed down for me and I picked my targets. Only one of the various Gangoons was moving at any appreciable speed, a heavily Cybered-Up Black Man in a Tactical Plate Carrier who wasn't quite a Full Borg Conversion, but was damn close. That had to be Darius Miles and I sighted on him as a priority, my ability to Run the Numbers allowing me to calculate my shots to hit him even as he engaged his clearly military Sandy and Kerenzikov.

Five rounds barked from my Lyndwyrm and five rounds hit Darius. He tried dodging, janking to the side, rolling away, and even leaping ten feet into the air to try and get away from the line of fire, but it didn't help. Each of my shots flew on an angle calculated with mathematical and geometrical precision to hit him. He fell to the pavement with a splat, Ganic blood leaking out onto the pavement alongside Chrome fluids, his implants sparking as they malfunctioned from damage, frying what was left of his nervous system from the inside out.

Seeing that, his men opened up on me, but with my enhancements, it was child's play to avoid the bullets, I dashed away at speeds usually reserved for Full Borg Conversions with their hydraulic legs, bullets pinging off the concrete as if I was trailing bullet impacts. As I dashed, I fired four more rounds from my Lyndwyrm, taking out two more Sixth Street Gangoons as two ten-millimeter autogun rounds hit each of them, breaking through their Subdermal Armor and punching into vital organs. As my Lyndwyrm clicked empty, I ducked under a three-round burst from an assault rifle and slid into cover behind a steel cargo container.

I reloaded just as Jackie and V rounded the corner firing their own weapons into the flank of a group of four Sixth Street Gangoons that were trying to push up on my position, taking them down. Ten Sixth Street Gangoons down, ten to go, not including Darius. I popped out of Cover, Lyndwyrm barking to take a Sixth Street Gangoon with a Sniper Rifle that had just climbed onto the roof of the factory through the neck. He fell to the loading dock asphalt below with a strangled, choking scream.

"Nice of you two to drop in." I grinned.

"Hijo de Puta! I didn't even see that guy!" Swore Jackie staring at the fallen Sniper.

"More to the point, why did you rush ahead like that? Are you crazy?" Questioned V.

"No, just cooked up some Preem Combat Drugs the other night." I smirked.

"This the same sort of Preem shit that you had Vik Chip in?" Queried Jackie.

"Yep. Plus the same sort of Preem shit as those guns you're holding." I nodded.

"Nova. Got any more?" Asked Jackie.

"Jackie!" Hissed V.

"I heard gunfire, come on!" Came a shout from inside the factory as the door to the loading dock was kicked open and nine other Sixth Street Gangoons piled out into the loading dock.

"Maybe later, Jaquito. Finish out Biz now." I intoned.

"Shit, are those the fuckin' Valentinos? Don't just stand there, light 'em up!" Roared one of the Sixth Street Gangoons.

The Battle recommenced in earnest as the Sixth Street Gangoons opened fire, forcing me to dash out of the line of fire and forcing V and Jackie to dodge into cover. I fired my Lyndwrym as I dashed away zeroing the Gonk who'd given the order with a pair of shots to the head. I kept firing as I janked to the side, away from a burst of Submachine Gun fire from a Female Sixth Street Gangoon in a Cowboy hat, firing back at her, three rounds breaking through her abnormally tough Subdermal Armor to perforate her heart, lungs, and liver. She fell to the pavement dead as V and Jackie took down another trio of Gangoons, popping out of cover and firing.

I leaped into the air to avoid a hail of bullets as Jackie's Foehammer punched a Cowboy Boot-wearing Gangoon back into another Gangoon in Fatigues, tripping the Fatigue-Wearing Gangoon up. I flipped around in mid-air and aimed down with my Lyndwyrm, zeroing that second, Fatigue-Wearing Gangoon with a shot through the face while he was prone and I was upside-down at the apex of my jump. V took out the last pair of Gangoons with a full-auto burst, bullets punching through Subdermal and splattering organs as I landed on my feet after my jump.

"That should be everyone, but let's check the factory just to be sure." I insisted.

Fortunately, that was indeed everyone. More to the point, we wound up grabbing a huge haul from all this. Twenty guns of various models, twenty combat knives, the schematics for a Custom Techtronika RT-Forty-Six Burya Revolver that Darius was working on, sixty-thousand Eddies, three containers of Beta Acid, and a data shard containing the locations of all of Sixth Street's satellite drug production facilities. We also wound up grabbing a Thornton Mackinaw MTL-One and a Chevrillon Thrax Three-Eighty-Eight Jefferson out of the Car Park, leaving behind the other cars, which we couldn't drive.

We made our way back to El Moto Cielo unmolested. There, Juan and Chela gave us thirty-four-thousand eddies for the Jefferson and Mackinaw, plus another fourteen grand on top for the location of the now-ownerless cars in the Factory Car Park. Juan got on the phone with some of the Guys he knew as I flicked the detes of the Job over to Tio Padre, who confirmed and sent payment to each of us. After all was said and done, each of our group wound up forty-eight-thousand-five-hundred eddies richer for a few hours of work. Not too shabby, in my estimation.

I promised Jackie we'd hang out and celebrate later, but that I had tinkering to do. He grumbled, but let me go with V as we took the combat knives, guns, and containers of Beta Acid back to my apartment. V helped me haul the stuff up to my place before leaving to go to wherever she had her place right now. Then I fed it all into my Autofactory for breaking down into base components and reconfiguring into the sorts of components I needed.

By six at night, I would be ready to start tinkering again. It was a good thing I did, too. Given that Vulcan had sent me dreams that implied Saka knew about me and my unique enhancements, I figured I would need the new tech before too long. My fears would wind up being prescient, though it would take some time. Arasaka was currently busy finishing up their work on the Relic Chip, after all. Before I would clash with them, however, I would need to finish my business with Sixth Street, and that would start with taking out their satellite drug production facilities.

I didn't realize it just yet, but the day's attack would wind up starting a chain reaction that would result in the decimation of Sixth Street and the takeover of their Night City territories by the Valentinos. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. We get a bit more of a look at what Big E can do with his custom cyberware and new Combat Drugs, plus a hint of a future arc involving Arasaka and their knowledge of his tech. Arasaka won't be getting involved just yet, mind you. They're still finishing up the Relic Chip Project and Saburo doesn't want to spread them too thin right now because he's caught wind that Yorinobu is gearing up for some major treachery. It's coming in the future, though.

For now, Sixth Street is reeling and it's time to pour it on to keep up the pressure until they're gone, at least from Night City. That whole deal is going to be very profitable for Big E, Jackie, and V, and will let them make names for themselves as a crew of Solos in Night City. Possibly it will even make enough of a name for themselves that Dex decides to go for someone else to try and steal the Relic, which will drastically change the plot of the Game.

At any rate, the next chapter will be hitting the Sixth Street Satelite Drug Production Facility at the Dewdrop Inn. I'll also have an updated Character Sheet out at some point, plus one for Aleksander too.

Stay tuned. . .