Vista del Rey

  November 14th

  2069

  Sophie’s boots crunched on shattered glass as she stalked through a rundown section of Vista del Rey. Padre’s info had led her there, a place where streetlights flickered weakly, casting long, jagged shadows across the wet pavement. The scent of stale piss and burned rubber clung to the air, mixing with the underlying smell of old blood.

  She crouched low, eyes scanning the area ahead. The faintest hints of scav activity were there; fresh tire tracks, commonly caused by scavs looking to make a quick getaway with their most recent catch. Following the trail, she moved through a narrow alley wedged between two derelict buildings. Then she found what she was hunting for.

  An abandoned parking lot nestled under a crumbling building, its entrance partially obscured by stacked pallets and rusting shipping crates. The air further in was thick and humid, carrying something far worse than the usual city stench. Sophie’s stomach tightened. She knew that smell. Death. And not just fresh, but old. As though caked into the ground and the walls; the very air itself.

  There was light inside, dim and faulty. Sticking to the shadows, she crept downwards, further into the crumbling lot. Inside, a handful of scavs milled about. A rough count put their numbers somewhere between seven and ten.

  Their mismatched and scuffed cyberware marked them as true bottom-tier predators. The kind of scum who gathered together in the bowels of the city, preying on the weak to compensate for a lack of skill. They’d transformed the parking lot into a butcher’s den.

  Blood pooled around a rusted metal table where a lifeless body lay naked and splayed open, chest cavity cracked apart like a grotesque exhibit. Beside it, a scav in a stained tank top rummaged through the exposed organs with bare hands, muttering to himself as he examined the goods.

  Nearby, crates were filled with harvested cyberware, some still coated with blood. Refrigerated containers sat against a wall, humming quietly. Sophie didn’t need to look inside to know what was stored there. Worse though, was the pile of corpses, half-covered by a filthy tarp that loomed in the corner.

  She frowned. Padre’s info had suggested the scav activity in the area was new. However, the scene before her suggested this particular operation had been going on for quite a while. That meant she’d either stumbled upon an entirely different group of scavs, separate from the ones she’d been sent to hunt. Or the group had finally revealed a trace, allowing Padre’s network to finally discover their presence.

  Either way, she’d slaughter them the same. They weren’t people. They were roaches, vermin that thrived in the filth of Night City’s underbelly. And she was the exterminator.

  Still, she planned her approach carefully. There was no need to take unnecessary risks, not when she had the skills to do otherwise. Her first target was a guard lingering near the outer edge of the lot. He was large, easily over six feet and thick with muscle. He reminded her of the Animals she now trained with.

  For that reason, she also knew taking him down the usual way wouldn’t work. Sophie slid from cover, footsteps silent. She approached from behind, moving quickly before slamming her foot into the back of his knee. He collapsed backwards and she wrapped her arms around his thick neck. He grunted in surprise, hands clawing at her, but she tightened her hold, cutting off his air.

  His struggles turned frantic, but Sophie adjusted, shifting her grip so that his mouth was covered as Koda had taught her, preventing him from making noise. The moment his strength waned, she slid a knife into his throat, twisting deep. A wet gurgle escaped before his body went limp. She dragged him into the shadows, wiping her blade clean against his jacket.

  Moving gracefully, she stalked her next target; a wiry scav with jittery movements, likely high on something. He stood near a stack of crates, mumbling to himself, his focus nowhere near his surroundings. Sophie waited until none of the other scavs had a line of sight then struck.

  She casually stepped out from the shadows, one arm clamping over his mouth as her blade punched into his kidney. The drugged-out scav convulsed violently, but she held firm, twisting the knife before dragging it across his throat in a deep, decisive cut. Blood spurted in quick, wet bursts as she eased him to the ground.

  The next few fell just as easily. A woman hunched over a datapad, logging inventory; Sophie slid behind her and with a sharp twist of the neck and she crumpled to the ground with a quiet crack. Another was half-asleep against a crate, legs spread lazily. A quick stab through the eye ended him before he even registered the threat.

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  By the time she took out the sixth one, the remaining scavs started to sense something was off. They became more alert, beginning to pay proper attention to their surroundings. “Oi, where the fuck’s Lenny?” one yelled, glancing around. It didn’t matter though. Sophie had culled enough of them already.

  The last four were clustered together, their attention split between looking for their missing crew and bickering over a cyberarm in a crate. Clearly, they had no sense of danger despite being in a situation that should have been ringing all sorts of bells. Still, Sophie wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. She pulled a smoke grenade from her chest rig, pulling the pin loose before lobbing it into their midst.

  The canister hit the pavement with a hollow clank before spewing thick, choking fog.

  “What the fuck-”

  Sophie moved.

  She slipped into the smoke, her katana flashing as she severed the first scav’s spine in a single attack. He dropped, screaming. The second one barely had time to react before her pistol fired twice, the rounds punching clean through his skull. The last two panicked, firing wildly into the fog. Neither of them picked the right direction.

  Sophie closed the distance easily. A quick sidestep and twist found her blade slicing across one’s throat in a wide arc. She didn’t even feel the flesh part under the superheated blade. The smoke began to part and the last one turned, face contorted in horror.

  A bullet found its mark between his eyes and he collapsed. Silence settled over the parking lot, save for the steady drip of blood pooling across the pavement.

  She exhaled, scanning the carnage. She walked through the area, plunging her katana through the head of each corpse, ensuring they were dead. Sophie holstered her pistol and wiped her blade before sheathing it.

  She took a look around, finding a laptop in the main area of the scav den. It was poorly secured, allowing her to breach it easily and access the required data. Quickly, she found an email.

  Unknown: When will the next batch of organs be ready? We require more test material.

  Petr Anshalov: Chill, choom. You know we wouldn’t cross a big corp like you. You’ll get your organs soon. We just gotta be careful, don’t wanna draw any unnecessary attention.

  Unknown: Don’t make us wait. Three days from now, at the pier. We’ll be waiting.

  The messages were…disturbing, to say the least. The idea of a megacorp working with scavs wasn’t an appealing one, though Sophie was fully aware it was likely a common occurrence. She packed the laptop up and swept the area again. Once she was sure everything of value was safely tucked in her inventory, she left the abandoned parking lot.

  -----------------------

  Dropping the laptop off with Padre hadn’t taken long, and the former priest hadn’t appeared interested in speaking further after reading the contents of the emails. Hence, she’d quickly returned home.

  She gave herself a brief clean, washing off the blood that clung to both her skin and her gear. Afterwards, she settled down to eat and review the notifications she received after completing the gig.

  There was the normal gig completion mission, rewarding her with some L-Coins and a couple thousand eddies but there were also skill levels and a notification for something she’d completely forgotten about.

  Huntress Level +1

  Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency +1

  Stealth Proficiency +1

  Investigation Proficiency +1

  Ambidextrous Proficiency +1

  Sophie grinned, seeing the progress. Most of the skills that gained a level, aside from Basic Unarmed Combat, had been close to leveling up so she wasn’t too surprised by the increase. However, she still liked to see it.

  What really caught her eye though, was the final notification.

  Mission Complete

  Hunt 100 targets without taking any damage. [100/100]

  Difficulty: Very Hard

  Rewards: 50,000 L-Coins, +5 Stealth Proficiency, Assassin’s Cowl, Assassin’s Boots

  Her mouth fell open, staring at the massive number of L-Coins she’d just received. It was the perfect amount to purchase the first inventory upgrade she wanted. In fact, she immediately bought it. An eight times increase to the amount of space she had access to would hopefully open up a number of options for her in the future. At the very least, she’d be able to take home more loot from her gigs.

  Moving on, she skipped past the bonus Stealth proficiency. It was incredibly helpful, but nothing unique. Instead, her attention fell on the two item rewards.

  She mentally accepted the rewards and a pair of mottled black and grey boots, along with a similarly coloured hood, materialised in front of her. She looked them over, quickly coming to the conclusion that they weren’t particularly special.

  “System? Can you explain?”

  The item ‘Assassin’s Cowl’ will assist in hiding your identity during missions, including some basic blurring if you’re caught on camera. It also possesses small resistance to damage. The item ‘Assassin’s Boots’ are a pair of combat boots built for durability and stealth. Your footsteps will be slightly obscured and muffled when wearing them.

  Sophie looked at the items and sighed. She slipped the boots on before walking in circles. They were comfortable and they did indeed muffle her footsteps slightly. But it was barely noticeable. She also couldn’t tell if her footsteps had been obscured. She couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed by the two pieces of gear.

  “These really don’t seem that great. Although I guess the hood might be helpful. I’ll probably go out and buy a different pair of boots later though. Although maybe I could take them apart and combine them with some better shoes.”

  She sighed again, pulling up her status. “Well, at least my skills have seen some good improvement lately. Oh. And apparently I’m a year older now. Have I really been here for a year already? Sheesh. I wonder when I’ll get my growth spurt? I’m tired of being this fucking short.”

  Name: Sophie Morrin

  Age: 15

  Class: Huntress [36/100]

  Passives

  Iron Will [41/100], Flexibility [49/100], Parkour [40/100], Ambidextrous [30/100]

  Skills

  Stealth [41/100], Basic Gun Combat [76/100], Investigation [34/100], Basic Bladed Combat [45/100], Basic Unarmed Combat [20/100], Engineering [15/100], Basic Netrunning [13/100]

  Cyberware

  Kiroshi MK.1 Cyberoptics (Rare)

  Basic Subdermal Armour (Common)

  Basic Wrist Reinforcement (Common)

  MoorE Basic Cyberarm (Common)

  Store: Available

  L-Coins: 10,000

  Eurodollars: 70,800

  Inventory: 2m x 2m x 2m