After stabbing Saburo's corpse a few times, Vash and Jackie smashed the window and climbed out.
Outside was only a narrow ledge — barely wide enough to plant a boot. High above the city, the night wind snapped their clothes like whips.
"Holy shit — this is high, choom!" Jackie glanced down and his stomach rolled.
Vash flattened himself against the hotel's exterior wall. If his timing was right… Adam Smasher would be coming back any second.
Before moving, he rewrote the Flathead's execution program, ordering it to crawl deeper into the elevator shaft. The moment Saburo died, Konpeki Plaza would kick into max security; it was only a matter of time before someone spotted the bot.
"Friday." Vash ordered, "Make every smart robot in the hotel go feral."
Friday had already rooted Konpeki Plaza's systems. The instant the command landed, it pushed a rewritten stack of permissions and directives across the network.
Konpeki Plaza was a near-unmanned hotel. Aside from a handful of golden staff and executives you rarely saw — and the netrunners quietly maintaining security — the whole place was run by drones and service bots.
And anything that followed code could be made to follow a different set of orders…
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Meanwhile, Adam Smasher burst out of the elevator shaft.
He'd barely hit the level when a security Militech drone dove at him with zero hesitation.
BAM!
Smasher clenched his fist. One punch — clean and brutal — and the drone became scrap raining across the floor.
Beep-beep-beep—
Every smart device in the area started screaming warning tones, glitching and strobing like it was possessed.
Elsewhere, Yorinobu and Takemura ran into the same chaos.
Takemura drew his katana, "Young Master Yorinobu — Konpeki Plaza's robots and several smart systems have been breached. For your safety, take shelter at once."
As he spoke, he cracked open the door to a nearby room.
"Takemura — you must catch the murderer!" Yorinobu rushed inside.
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Back outside the window.
Jackie saw armed aerodynes sweeping in from the distance.
"V — company's here!"
Saburo was a top-tier Trauma Team client. The moment his vitals flatlined, Trauma Team spun up and moved at full burn — even if they were still a little late.
But medical response was only the start. Saburo getting "poisoned" was an earthquake.
After Yorinobu ordered Konpeki Plaza sealed, he also triggered Arasaka's internal security protocols. Even MaxTac showed up to sniff around.
With one glance, the sky was already filling with armed AVs converging on Konpeki.
Vash shoved the Relic case into Jackie's hands, "Jack — take it and run. Run like your life depends on it. Because it does."
"V, what the hell are you saying? You're staying behind?!" Jackie froze, "Chingada…"
Now was the time to disappear.
Vash's voice stayed steady, "We're one step away from being legends in Night City."
"V — forget being famous!" Jackie snapped, "Focus up!"
"Jack, it's not just you." Vash said, gripping his wrist and forcing the case into his palm, "I want that name too. When we first met, I told you I didn't want a cut — just one condition. This is it: listen to me. Take the Relic and move!"
Jackie blew out a hard breath and clenched the case in his big hand, "I'll stash the Relic in the Delamain — then I'm coming back up to fight beside you!"
With that, he dropped from the ledge. Mid-fall, he tore off his suit jacket, revealing the compact flight rig strapped to his back.
At the same moment, Arasaka's AVs and combat drones reached rooftop altitude. Searchlights raked across the façade and locked onto Vash.
「Suspicious individual detected. Initiating extermination mode!」
A mechanical voice rang out — and Arasaka's drones opened fire.
In the storm of autocannon rounds, Vash double-tapped the triangular pendant. Nanoparticles wrapped his body like a second skin as he crouched and launched forward — straight into the kill zone.
His arc cut through the night and the tracer fire. He landed on top of a drone, mantis blades dropping like guillotines — piercing straight through the chassis. Metal screamed.
He ripped free, then snapped his left hand out. Monowire hissed into the air — thin as a hair, sharp as a promise. The filament bit, and with a flick he jumped again.
The mantis blades carried the momentum into a downward slash; when he landed, the second drone split apart and spiraled away.
Only then did a nearby AV fully wake up. Combat mode engaged. The hatch blew open, and weaponized security bots poured gunfire down at him.
Arasaka wasn't just a megacorp — it was one of the top arms manufacturers on the planet. Once the highest-tier lockdown kicked in, even the "last resort" combat frames got deployed.
Vash blurred and dove straight into the AV.
Inside that narrow space, muzzle flashes exploded. Mantis blades chopped. Monowire sang — molecular-edge hiss cutting through steel and polymer like paper.
Seconds later, every combat bot in the place lay in pieces.
At the same time, a bold DANGER alert flashed across Vash's HUD.
He turned — and saw Adam Smasher at the window.
Smasher's arm had already reconfigured into a cannon. A heavy grenade thumped out.
Just before impact, Vash kicked off the deck and launched out through the hatch.
BOOOOM!
The AV detonated midair, bursting into a shower of fire and debris like a twisted fireworks show. Vash dropped into free fall.
At the window, Smasher jumped after him. Shoulder plates irised open, revealing gunports — then the machine guns lit up, stitching the air with dense fire.
Vash controlled his descent on purpose, dragging the line of fire across Arasaka's own drones and combat frames.
Once Adam Smasher started shooting, he didn't care who was in the way. Reinforcements vanished in sparks and shredded metal — friendly or not.
As the ground rushed up, Vash actually chuckled.
What Jackie couldn't imagine was that the "one step" Vash meant… was trading blows with Adam Smasher.
"Little rat! Found you!!"
Smasher's cannon arm started vomiting indiscriminate shells. Even Konpeki Plaza's exterior defenses got hammered into thick smoke by a handful of shots.
By now, everything within five kilometers of Konpeki Plaza had been placed under martial lockdown.
Arasaka's highest-security directive meant one thing: erase every target inside the zone.
Up in the sky, on an AV belonging to the NCPD Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.).
One armed officer asked their superior, "Sir, aren't we gonna open fire and help Arasaka?"
"Rookie." The superior said flatly, "You don't understand corporate face in Night City. When something happens, the corps handle it themselves. Our job is only to make sure they don't push past the containment line. Understand?"
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want 20 chapters ahead, smut chapters or spicy images of this novel for just $5, or enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations (free or starting at $1.5): MrBlackWing (you know where to search)
Take a look at the new book I'm translating on my profile, Umamusume Pretty Derb: I'm Just a Trainer! Its also on my website for $5 too!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)