"Link established."
T-BUG, operating through Qiuqiu, took control of the surveillance room.
"Got lucky. I've got visual on Wildwoman—she's in the west wing lobby, ground floor. Looks like she's on a call. About ten meters to her left… our target vehicle's parked."
"What's the report interval from this control room to Wildwoman?"
"Every thirty minutes. Last check-in was five minutes ago—so we've got twenty-five left."
"Think you can cook up a distraction? Something that'll pull her away from the car without raising too many flags? Last thing we need is a shootout right next to it—we'd risk trashing the whole ride."
T-BUG scanned the systems via Qiuqiu and replied,
"One minute. I can overload the circuits in that zone—fry the lights, make it look like a power fault. Should be enough to get her attention. I'll cut the power in her vicinity too, but heads-up—it's daytime. Place is full of skylights. Watch your movement even in the dark."
"Copy that."
Jack responded, then checked in with Oliver.
"Oliver, I'll tag hostiles once I get inside. You good to punch them out?"
"No problem. Just make sure your tags don't suck. My cat-bot can pierce through these crappy mall walls like tissue paper."
He added,
"Stay sharp in there."
"We will."
The comms fell silent.
Leaving Qiuqiu behind, Karl followed T-BUG's route. As he approached the western sector, a sharp electrical crack echoed through the building—and the corridor plunged into darkness.
The Grand Empire Mall, barely reactivated by the Animals and powered only in key areas, now sank back into its derelict state, courtesy of T-BUG.
"Power's out?!"
"What the hell is this?!"
"Emergency! Get the boss—something just killed the lights!"
The place erupted in shouts. But in the shadows, Karl moved without a sound, slipping past panicked Animals rushing toward the source of the failure.
Thanks to the heavy internal construction, daylight couldn't penetrate the corridors. And thankfully, the Animals weren't fans of cyberoptics—otherwise, sneaking through would've been a nightmare.
He kept walking, step by step, toward the target vehicle—closing in.
Everything seemed perfect.
But just as Karl thought he'd regroup with Jack and V, grab the car, and bounce—
T-BUG's voice came in fast, laced with tension.
"Hold up—something's wrong. External breach detected. Karl, someone just scanned you!"
"They scanned us?" Karl froze mid-step.
"Didn't we cut every active system? You're in the west control room—how are they still tracking?"
"It's not the Animals. I've been locked in with their netrunner—guy's tough, had me tangled. I didn't catch what was happening outside… but someone new just jacked in."
"Outside?"
"It's the Voodoo Boys."
"...The Voodoo Boys?"
Karl's mind snapped to everything he knew about them.
[Voodoo Boys]: A Haitian gang based in Taiping State, infamous for their netrunning capabilities. Rumored to have breached multiple corp networks and bank systems.
NCPD Gang Threat Rating: Low.
Small outfit—maybe 50 to 250 members—relying on top-tier netrunning to survive in Night City. But now they were scanning Animal turf?
Karl knew their arrival was pure coincidence—no way they expected him or his crew to be here. Which meant their target was the Animals.
But still... they were picking a fight with a gang over ten times their size?
Even with just 29 Animals in the mall—technically now—Voodoo Boys going full aggro? That'd still be suicide.
Did they not give a shit about payback?
His brain was racing, trying to calculate the ripple effects, when V's voice snapped in—tight, urgent.
"Shit! Wildwoman just spotted Jack! That outside breach reactivated the jammers—exposed him! Karl, we're going loud!"
"Oliver—get your eyes on Jack and V, now! I'm heading in.
T-BUG, whatever the hell the Voodoo Boys are up to, they're yours."
"I'll try—"
Even T-BUG, usually full of fire, sounded strained. Handling both the Animal's netrunner and an entire gang of voodoo netrunners was a tall order.
But a second later, her voice firmed up.
"No. I'll handle it."
Karl didn't reply. He trusted her—and started moving.
The moment he stepped into camera view, now hijacked by the Voodoo Boys, an alarm blared.
T-BUG managed to cut it instantly, but she was being stretched too thin. The system reactivated seconds later.
BEEP—BZZZZZT—WEEEEEE!!
"Ignore the alarms!" Karl barked over comms.
"T-BUG, don't waste time silencing them. Just make sure they don't get a lock on us. If they wanna watch—fine. Let 'em. Give 'em a front-row seat."
Karl pulled Endless Night and sprinted forward through the sirens. The Animals were already converging on his location.
"Cont—"
BANG.
First one down.
"Intruder!"
BANG.
Second.
"There! It's him—"
BANG.
Third—
Nope. Bullet hit something solid.
Karl frowned. The round from Endless Night had slammed into a raised arm—piercing the Gorilla Arm plating and subdermal armor, but lodging deep in the bone.
Kerenzikov, huh?
Subdermal armor. Gorilla Arms. Kerenzikov.
They really went all in on brute-force chrome.
The boosted Animal was already charging—zigzagging with boosted reflexes, ready to knock Karl's head clean off.
Karl sighed.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
He stepped forward—meeting him on even ground.
Tilted his head left—just enough to avoid the fist—then sidestepped.
In slowed time, a line of light snapped from Karl's wrist—monowire—and sliced.
One motion. One flash.
He didn't turn back. He didn't need to.
One step.
Two steps.
Time caught up.
THUD—THUD.
Karl didn't glance at the body hitting the floor. Just kept moving.
"Third one."
.
.
.
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