A few bottles of cola later, the atmosphere among the group had settled nicely.
The new member Sasha seemed rather introverted and reserved, not quite warmed up to the group yet. Most of the time, she only responded if someone asked her a direct question.
Once the basic introductions were over, Leo rubbed his chin and announced the start of their first roundtable meeting.
"Since everyone's here, let me go over something. In about three days..."
[3 days, 06:25:16]
"To be exact, on February 24th, I'll be heading out of town. I'll be gone for around a week."
He glanced around at the team and began assigning roles:
"V, you'll stay and watch the house. Jack, focus on recovery. Sasha, I want you to connect more with the team, get familiar, build rapport.
When I'm back, we'll start small—take out that Scav crew 'Ant Nest' as warm-up. Then we'll move on to bigger jobs. Any questions?"
"I do!" V raised her hand immediately, clearly annoyed.
"Speak."
"I'm your bodyguard, right? What kind of employer leaves town and tells the bodyguard to stay home?"
Leo gave her an unexpected look. Say what you want—this street-raised girl really had a sense of loyalty. A solid gold-tier enforcer, no doubt about it.
But, he couldn't take living beings through the portal. He had to go to that damn Gotham alone...
"I'm heading back to my home country—to meet someone important."
A well-crafted excuse. V hesitated, clearly unsure what to say next.
She'd heard how strict border control was in the East. A mercenary without a proper job title like her wouldn't get a visa so easily.
After V dropped it, the next question came from Jack—but his wasn't an objection, just curiosity. "So what's a 'big shot' like over there? Are they super rich or what?"
As someone who dreamed of becoming a big shot himself, Jack was understandably curious about the bigwigs in the East.
Leo thought about the various portrayals of Batman and picked a balanced answer. "Personal net worth in the tens of billions. Total assets in the hundreds of billions. Controls an entire city."
"Damn! That sounds like Saburo Arasaka!" V swore. "You meeting Kangtao's CEO or something?"
Leo shook his head. "Why do you all always jump to Kangtao when I mention the East? We have plenty of corporations too. The person I'm meeting runs a multi-generational family-owned conglomerate."
"Geez… That's way out of my league. I don't think I'll ever hit that level," Jack admitted.
V let it go as well. "Someone like that... If I got within a kilometer, a sniper'd probably pull the trigger."
Even Sasha chimed in with a rare question, "Tens of billions, hundreds of billions—that's in your local currency?"
"Euros."
Leo originally wanted to say USD, but in the 2077 timeline, the US had already declined—so he went with Euros instead.
"Then he's on the same level as Saburo Arasaka. Arasaka Corp's market cap is around 800 billion euros."
Spoken like a true well-read netrunner. Sasha quickly found a point of comparison for this mysterious big shot.
"Saburo-level…"
All three locals went quiet. That information was just too over the top—borderline unbelievable.
Leo was quiet too, though for different reasons. He was thinking about how to squeeze some value out of Batman.
After a while, seeing no one had more questions, he moved the topic along: "Anyway, that's that. We'll resume operations when I return. Oh, right—Jack, Sasha, let's go over your pay. Base salary is €30,000, mission rewards are extra. Same as V."
"For now, we're still a startup. I won't get into complicated contracts yet. Once we get some traction, we'll discuss salary structure formally."
This time, neither V nor Jack raised objections. After hearing about billionaires and city-controlling moguls, €30,000 a month didn't sound quite so big anymore.
But Sasha looked a little hesitant. "This isn't how edge-runner crews usually work. The ones I've worked with split the job payout. No base pay, only money when we take missions."
"You're right," Leo agreed. "But I'm not just a fixer. That's just a stepping stone. My ultimate goal is to start a company. So I'm paying you like employees."
"So what, now I'm a corporate wage slave..."
V looked up at the ceiling. The past few days felt increasingly surreal.
"You're getting paid. Why overthink it?"
"Good point..."
"Alright, that's settled. It's just about noon, let's go out for a proper meal—celebrate the formation of our squad!"
Leo stood up and led the way.
V and Sasha followed, while Jack lingered, caressing the sofa like he didn't want to leave.
"I say we just eat here. It's got style. Come on—it's Afterlife."
"There'll be other chances. Trust me, you'll get sick of this place eventually."
"Never. It's Afterlife, man! I'd sleep on this sofa if they let me…"
Grinning, Jack finally stood and joined the others.
Back in the Afterlife main bar, the place had gotten much more crowded since morning.
Even the music seemed louder, the air thick with smoke and food smells.
"Heading out already? Word is we've got a new fixer in the house—couple mercs were planning to come say hi."
Claire was wiping glasses while somehow keeping tabs on everything happening in the bar. Clearly no ordinary bartender.
Leo smiled politely. "They'll get their chance. I just stopped by to show my face—I've got a lot to handle in Night City."
"Alright, just a heads up—someone from your side dropped by earlier asking about you."
Claire said it casually as she turned to serve another customer.
Your side?
Leo's mind immediately spun. That "your" must mean Easterners. Someone from Kangtao was here earlier?
Made sense, though. This was the mercenary headquarters of Night City. Whether you were after intel or hired muscle, this was the place to be.
It was reasonable for the corps to have scouts posted here.
Definitely something to watch out for moving forward.
Ignoring the stares coming from all directions, Leo kept his composure and walked out with his team.
The noise of clinking glasses and conversation faded behind them as they passed through the front doors.
The security guard Emmerick gave Leo a silent nod.
Leo quickly scanned the crowd near the exit—no immediate threats.
He continued up the stairs.
And that's when the unexpected showed up.
A tall man dressed like a bodyguard—clearly Eastern. Despite the suit and tie, his physique was all muscle, with the intimidating air of a suited brawler.
He stood with rigid posture, the kind of soldierly presence that couldn't be faked.
"You're L? Come with me."
His words were sharp and direct, his eyes locked on Leo like daggers.
V and Jack instinctively stepped forward, shielding Leo.
But they didn't say anything… because they didn't understand what he just said.
Was it Chinese? It sounded like Chinese—but also… not?
Leo understood perfectly.
The man had spoken Cantonese.
...Don't tell me he really is from Kangtao?
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