Night City Metro Line 2.
V enjoyed the passing scenery through the window, while Kurt Hansen fidgeted in his seat, visibly uncomfortable.
"Not used to it?" V asked.
"This is my first time riding one of these." Hansen twisted around, unable to sit still.
"Oh? You think the subway is beneath your status?"
"I'm a dumb soldier, I don't care about that crap. I just feel unsafe. You know me—I usually travel with a full squad."
"We're heading to the City Center. Too sensitive. The Phantom Dogs can't show up there."
"Fair. But if we're going to grab someone, shouldn't we hurry? A car is faster than the subway."
"We're actually not in a rush."
"Why?" Hansen looked puzzled.
"Because Reed works the 2 p.m. shift today." V shrugged. "He hasn't been late in years. Never refuses a shift change. Always volunteers for overtime. He's the model employee—across all of Night City."
"To hide his identity so thoroughly… NUSA Intelligence really raises their agents well." Hansen sighed with genuine admiration.
V glanced at him. "Not entirely right."
"Hm?"
"Reed's dedication isn't for secrecy."
"Then why?"
"To make a living.
Ever since NUSA ordered him into silent mode, they stopped paying him a single cent.
He has to support himself. And since the City Center's cost of living is insane…"
"I get it, I get it." Hansen nodded, then added, "Another dumbass brainwashed by Myers. Guy works for free and still thinks he's serving justice. What's he even getting out of it?"
Glory? Righteousness?
V guessed Reed didn't know himself.
He chose to be Myers's loyal hound knowing exactly how rotten she was.
There were countless ways to serve one's country—
Reed chose the stupidest one.
A man who only recognized titles, not people—
If a maggot became President of the NUSA, Reed would probably bow to it.
Blind loyalty like that naturally earned him the title "dog."
Even the program that woke him from cryosleep was called Dog Whistle.
The metro chimed:
"Ding. Alexander Street. Passengers disembarking, please use the doors on the left. Boarding passengers, please step clear of the platform."
"Let's go. This is our stop."
V and Hansen crossed the street, arriving at a bar with a faintly tacky neon sign:
"Electric Orgasm."
"This the place?" Hansen looked around. "I didn't bring my guys. Where are yours?"
"Can't use mine. Reed would recognize Arasaka personnel instantly."
"You're not gonna do it yourself, right?"
V laughed. "If Reed sees me, he'll bolt instantly."
She pointed at the bar's few bulky patrons. "We'll rely on the locals."
"Them? They're weak as hell."
"Weak guys won't trigger a top-tier Intelligence operative's alarms."
"Huh. Fair point. So how will you convince them?"
"Night City tradition—find a fixer."
V called toward the bar:
"Dino Dinovic!"
The bald man in sunglasses turned—and nearly fainted.
"P-President V?! What brings you here?!"
"Need a favor."
"You got it! I'm already rallying fifty brothers—armed to the teeth—no cost, no questions! Night City finally starts looking good and Arasaka Tokyo wants to screw us again? Fuck THOSE corpo bastards—uh—not your Arasaka, Tokyo's Arasaka—"
"That's enough, Dino. I get it. And… thank you. Really. I'll remember this."
"Damn, I should've recorded that—play it for those idiot punks! Better than black lace—they'd jump three floors even with broken legs!"
V laughed.
"After this war's over—you talk, I record. We'll split profits 50/50. Together we'll wipe out Black Lace!"
"Haha! V-President is fucking LEGENDARY!"
"Anyway—today I'm here for something else."
V's expression sharpened.
"You have a security guard named Solomon Reed. I need you to—"
2:00 p.m. sharp.
A tall, plain-looking man walked into the bar at exactly 14:00.
Solomon Reed.
Top operative of the NUSA's Intelligence Division.
He changed into his white uniform shirt and put on his gray cap.
Even indoors, he kept his sunglasses on.
To outsiders he looked like he was trying to "act serious."
But V and Hansen knew:
He was hiding his face.
"Hey, Reed. Boss wants us in the office. All of us."
Reed looked at the group of burly men approaching and frowned.
"Dino? Why does he want all of us?"
"To give us a raise, of course!"
The big men cheered.
"...A raise?"
Reed's heartbeat quickened. His guard loosened a little.
Still cautious, he asked,
"Why would Dino give us a raise out of nowhere?"
"Because of President V, obviously! She raised Night City's minimum wage, started tons of new projects—everyone's hiring. Better-paying jobs are everywhere. The bar next door already lost half their guards! Dino's scared we'll leave—so he's raising our pay!"
"V-President is more good to me than my own mother!"
"No kidding! Night City would still be a shit pit without her!"
"I applied for the Reserve Forces last week. They rejected me because I have a wife and kid."
"I got in! My family died years ago—I'm alone now. My life belongs to V-President!"
"Fucking RESPECT!"
Their voices burned with sincerity, not flattery.
Reed, surrounded by these crude men—
for the first time felt something strange.
These thugs… were a lot like Intelligence officers.
All willing to die for their leader.
It was just that these men could shout their loyalty loudly—
while Intelligence operatives drowned in shadows.
One group shone like the sun,
the other rotted in the gutter.
Why?
Maybe… because they served different people.
V—
a true legend.
Someone who fought megacorps alone, overturned fate, saved Night City, inspired millions.
Reed himself had benefited from her reforms.
If V were the leader of the NUSA instead of Myers…
maybe the entire nation would be better.
Reed forced himself to stop.
These thoughts were treason.
He silently prayed V would survive this crisis.
They pushed open Dino's office door.
Reed saw Dino behind the desk—
and two figures sitting with their backs to the door.
That silhouette—
As a top agent, Reed's instincts exploded.
He recognized one of them instantly.
He spun to escape—
but the door was too narrow
and his friendly coworkers too close.
Within a second,
seven or eight thick arms grabbed him
and someone kicked him directly in the crotch.
Reed had no cybernetic groin.
Reason: he was poor.
His vision blurred.
His knees buckled.
His mind went white.
In that instant of weakness—
they pinned him to the floor.
"Fuck! Reed, you bastard—never thought you were a NUSA spy! I treated you like a brother!"
"Good thing I'm just a nobody—otherwise you'd have milked me for state secrets!"
"Reed, we fought a cyberpsycho together! Listen to me—switch sides! Spit out all the NUSA secrets and join us!"
Reed's soul left his body.
I'm a legitimate government officer—
YOU street thugs are the criminals!
Also—who the fuck kicked my balls?!
He prepared to activate his military-grade implants—
but sparks burst from the neural port behind his ear.
A neuro-electrical surge blasted through his cortex.
His vision shattered.
System Collapse.
An EMP, direct to the brain.
As he lost consciousness, he saw V smiling sweetly.
"Told you he'd run the moment he saw me. Pay up."
Hansen sighed and handed her 5 eurodollars.
They used me…
to make a BET…
for FIVE eddies…?
V is… horrible…
Reed blacked out.
He woke to pain—
because Alex was kicking him in the face.
Both were tied to chairs.
Hands bound.
Only feet free—hence the kicks.
"Alex, STOP!"
"STOP your mother's ass! YOU betrayed me! YOU sold me out!!"
"I didn't! We should work together and escape—"
"Fuck you! I'll kill you FIRST!"
Watching through a monitor, V nodded.
"Good. Myers hasn't activated either of them. They're safe to use."
Hansen asked, worried:
"What if Dogtown has more hidden agents?"
"Nope. Just these two."
"So my anti-infiltration work wasn't bad after all?"
He was proud for one second—
before V dumped a whole bucket of ice water:
"No. Dogtown is just too poor.
Any competent NUSA agent left long ago.
Anyone with a normal brain cut ties completely.
Only the mentally unstable stayed—meaning these two."
Hansen's soul left his body.
For the first time in life, he realized:
poverty… has benefits.
"Alright. With these two nails pulled out,
we can finally work without worrying about the NUSA stabbing us in the ass."
V said to Hansen:
"Come on, let's see your 'treasure.'
Oh, and tell your boys—Alex can kick Reed for another thirty minutes, then separate them.
Reed is still useful. Don't let her kill him."
Hansen waved, and a soldier ran off with a stopwatch.
V and Hansen entered the elevator and descended.
As they went down, Hansen explained:
"In the 2020s, Militech set up secret military labs in this area.
They built bunkers and facilities right under municipal infrastructure.
Fifty years later, clueless developers started construction above them.
Until one site accidentally exposed a lab."
V raised a brow.
"So the 'developers pulled out and the district went unfinished' story was fake?"
"Completely fake.
Militech drove them out.
They walled off the district, claiming gas leaks, incomplete permits, unexploded war shells from the Fourth Corporate War—whatever excuse worked.
In the end… I inherited everything."
"I see. What were they studying?"
"Next-gen weapons and war machines at first.
But after the Net Crash, they switched to bypassing Blackwall."
"Shit."
Hansen continued:
"The Crash came too fast.
Humanity cut the global Net to escape rogue AIs.
Only local networks survived.
When Blackwall was built, rogue AIs were locked out, and we began rebuilding on rubble."
"Technically, we're all refugees living off scraps we grabbed during the disaster.
Behind Blackwall, there's still tons of lost tech.
Militech ran the numbers—
the tech we've recovered is only 39.88% of pre-Crash humanity."
"To reclaim the missing sixty percent,
they had to bypass Blackwall."
"That's suicide," V said.
"Touch the other side, and you die."
"Everyone knows.
Everyone still tries.
Militech does.
Kang-Tao does.
And Arasaka definitely does, right?"
V thought of Lucy—the little mining-truck netrunner girl—and nodded.
"See? All hypocrites.
They ruined the environment, society, species, everything—then made it everyone's burden.
Same with Blackwall.
They dig quietly now, but once shit hits the fan they'll say it's humanity's fault."
V didn't deny it.
"Environmental collapse, extinct animals—that's one thing.
But Blackwall is about the survival of the species.
Nobody can be allowed to break it."
Hansen shrugged.
"Then tell the big shots, not me."
"Sorry. I let my emotions out."
"Nothing wrong with emotion. Makes you human."
Hansen chuckled.
"Anyway—we're here."
The elevator opened into a massive underground chamber.
A two-story-tall object stood under a huge tarp.
"This is my little treasure.
Militech's masterpiece:
The Chimera."
Hansen ripped off the tarp.
A six-legged steel war-beast emerged—
cold, brutal, mechanical.
A true next-generation main battle platform.
Not a vehicle—
a weapon.
Multi-layer composite armor, radar-absorbing coating,
six massive hydraulic legs, thick transmission rods,
red energy conduits like exposed veins.
Every seam lit with neon-green data lines, feeding its core AI.
If damaged, panels would open to release micro repair-drones—
tiny metal beetles swarming out to patch wounds—
turning the Chimera into a near-immortal war beast.
And that was just the defense.
Its head was packed with compound-eye sensors,
hexagonal lenses scanning 360 degrees.
Once a scarlet targeting laser locked onto an enemy—
total annihilation followed.
KL-274XYA Arrow Rockets
PAN-12 Burst Laser Cannon
GD27 "Fear Pattern" Launcher — ground & air capable
Combat gas sprayer
Smoke generators
TYA-12 Military ICE cyberdefense suite
A mobile war factory.
Designed with a single purpose:
Destruction.
"Shame the top is a weak point," V said.
"What?" Hansen blinked.
"Roof armor is too thin.
It can't withstand vertical strikes.
Poor performance in dense urban combat.
Not a flawless design.
—Arasaka internal assessment."
"No wonder Militech only built thirteen." Hansen nodded.
"So… we activating it?"
"Of course. We're broke.
We need every asset we can find."
V climbed atop the Chimera, found the core port, and plugged her data cable in.
"Militech wiped the original AI.
It's been dormant ever since.
I'll write a new one.
Half an hour."
"Half an hour for an AI? Reliable?"
"You want me to write it for an hour instead?"
What am I, a joytoy?
V rolled her eyes.
"Relax. Half an hour is enough—unless something unexpected happens."
And then—
Something unexpected happened.
Hansen had previously linked the Chimera to the Phantom Dogs' network.
When V connected—
another netrunner presence appeared.
Not on the Chimera—
but on the Phantom Dogs' terminal elsewhere.
"Operation Little Dipper…?"
V smirked.
She knew exactly who had arrived.