Lucy's voice commanded the attention of everyone present. The Afterlife gathered the finest mercenaries in Night City, but clearly, they were merely mercenaries.
The power of the flashbang was simply too feeble against this crowd; aside from the few unlucky bastards David had targeted directly, the others remained almost entirely unaffected.
Their cyber-eyes filtered out the intense glare instantly, rapidly focusing on the young girl at the entrance—Lucy!
At the exact moment their attention was diverted, David activated his Sandevistan, tearing through the crowd to reach Maine.
"You..." Noticing his sudden appearance, Militech's Meredith started to say something, but David gave her no chance.
He grabbed Maine's hand directly. Inside that seemingly slight frame lay strength rivaling a ninja; the Sandevistan fired again, and everything around them slowed to a crawl.
Almost instantly, he appeared at the doorway dragging Maine, moving like a gust of wind, bypassing Lucy and exiting the Afterlife.
"...Wait a moment, I am a representative of Militech..."
Meredith's words only tumbled out after he was already gone; David and Maine had already cleared the bar.
"Alright, face-to-face complete, I'm out of here." Seeing Maine out safely, Lucy waved, then immediately turned and ran.
Thrilling!
Lucy felt as though she was standing at the focal point of the world, everyone's eyes deadlocked onto her. Right now, she was Night City's ultimate superstar.
"Where is everyone else? They're safe, right?" David dragged Maine to the side of the street, quickly ushering him into the car.
There were plenty of others around, but evidently, they didn't know Lucy was right here; mercenaries didn't share intel casually.
"Of course they're safe, I didn't let them leave the crib. I planned to pick up a gig alone, but then this mess happened, and I couldn't leave at all."
Maine had suffered a calamity out of nowhere. He had come looking for work as usual, only for Saburo Arasaka to place a bounty on Lucy. Everyone at the Afterlife knew Lucy, so naturally, there was no possibility of him walking out.
"As long as everyone's okay. Tell them to stay hidden. We'll talk specifics when we're safe..."
David hadn't expected it to go this smoothly. He had slightly overestimated the mercenaries of the Afterlife, or perhaps, he had underestimated his current strength.
His Sandevistan had already broken through physical limitations. The power of a ninja was inherently supernatural; powerful Karate infused into his body had transformed his Sandevistan into a 'Cursed Technique'—a 'Jutsu'.
"What are you chatting about over there? Get in the car!"
Lucy caught up from behind; she had released an EMP before leaving to prevent anyone from chasing too quickly.
"We were waiting for you." David pulled Lucy towards the car. As for Maine? He could go to the passenger seat.
"Move it, I've got a bad feeling." Sitting in the driver's seat, V urged them impatiently. Her intuition told her something had been overlooked.
Just as the car door opened, the angle of the rearview mirror shifted. Her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the view for a split second. Her cerebral cortex trembled violently, converting it into an intense danger signal.
'That is—a Sniper Rifle!'
"Get out!" V kicked the door open and dove out of the vehicle.
The instant he saw her move, David activated his Sandevistan, dragging Lucy out of the car.
In the slowed world, a beam of light crackling with electric arcs pierced through their vehicle, accurately striking the engine and punching clean through it.
Fortunately, it had only targeted the engine; Maine, sitting in the passenger seat, was not skewered.
"I must say, you people are far too rude. Maine, don't you dare take the money and not do the job."
Meredith walked out from the Afterlife behind them. On the main street, several Manticore armored vehicles pulled up, subtly encircling them.
"Militech?" V recognized their identity immediately.
A large number of soldiers wearing dark green ballistic armor dropped from the armored vehicles, surrounding David's group.
Their weaponry and equipment were extremely complete; one look confirmed they were regular army, not something small-time mercenaries could mess with.
"One million was the price to get you the person to talk to. That deal is closed." Maine signaled that he had never agreed to help capture Lucy.
"Hmph, I knew it would be like this. However, you underestimate Militech."
Meredith wasn't angry. Business was business; he had indeed called Lucy over, and that was enough.
Over a dozen fully armed elites. Although Militech's power in Night City was inferior to Arasaka, this was the foundation of a megacorporation.
The vehicle was destroyed, and they were trapped in an encirclement. Meredith did not intend to give them a chance to flee.
"We aren't exactly enemies. If Arasaka can put up one hundred million, we can too."
"Hand over what Saburo Arasaka wants, and we can all part on good terms, how about it?"
Anything that could be solved with money wasn't a problem. One hundred million in exchange for Arasaka's 'secret' was no loss.
"I don't even know what he wants with me." Lucy wanted to agree with them, but the problem was, she didn't know what kind of madness Saburo Arasaka was suffering from either!
"Then there's no helping it. Come with us." Meredith waved her hand, and the surrounding soldiers raised their guns, aiming at them.
This was absolutely terrible. David and the others frowned slightly. If they were truly taken by Militech, they would surely be imprisoned until death. They didn't know what Saburo Arasaka wanted, but they knew they couldn't let him succeed.
No one would trust a megacorp. It would be perfectly normal for them to dismantle Lucy just to find the secret. They had to find a way to break out.
David constantly scanned the surroundings, trying to find a breach, but the dozen Militech soldiers were well-trained; their encirclement was extremely tight.
'Hey, kid, we'll draw their attention. You think of a way to escape the encirclement.'
Just then, he received a message from Rebecca's group. They had been guarding the perimeter of the Afterlife, also trying to figure out how to save Maine.
'Make some noise on the left. Don't provoke the machine gunner on the right.'
'No problem!'
The Militech soldiers held their guns on David's group; they knew David's Sandevistan effects were abnormal and had to remain extremely vigilant.
However, from a distant alleyway, a rocket was fired directly out.
Subconsciously, several soldiers dodged the rocket. David seized the opening created in that instant.
'Sandevistan Activate.'
Inside the time-dilated world, David grabbed four daggers in his hand and threw them simultaneously. Each dagger flew with extreme precision toward a different person—it was Shuriken-jutsu!
The daggers sank into the wrists of several soldiers; subdermal armor couldn't stop such an attack at all. He wanted to press the attack, but discovered the other soldiers suddenly moving with agility, their speed not weak compared to his own.
It was the Sandevistan! Militech had sent elites! They all had the 'Apogee' installed!
Almost the same speed. Although slower than David, they had greater numbers!
The muzzles of Tech rifles glowed with light, firing at David simultaneously. The only one they wanted to capture alive was Lucy.
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