Arthur kicked the door open with one foot. In the darkness, his eyes narrowed beneath furrowed brows as he scanned the room left and right, then slipped back into the shadows of the corridor.
Right after, lanie hunched over and slipped into the room.
“Listen, V—next ti you can handle this kind of job.
Though I doubt there’ll be a next ti. From now on, I’m carrying grenades. That way... I can just blow a damn toilet open when I need one.”
Arthur muttered irritably at her.
“Don’t be like that, Arthur. It was just a small inconvenience.
There are still Scavs hiding in this building, and lanie has no combat skills. Being cautious isn’t a bad thing.”
Though her words sounded like an explanation, the faint smirk tugging at V’s lips gave her away—like a mischievous girl who’d just pulled a prank.
The little episode ended quickly, and the three piled into their beat-up sedan.
“So... ma’am...
What now? Do we take you straight back to your base?”
V sat in the back with the researcher, lanie. Arthur was driving this ti, which made the ride rough. His sudden braking had the two won in the backseat bouncing around like rag dolls.
“Hey!
Maybe we’re not in that much of a rush!”
V snapped, bracing herself against the seat.
“Yeah, but with you two bouncing around back there, it reminds of getting chased by wild boars.”
Arthur’s answer wasn’t exactly satisfying, but V had no patience for him now. She had more pressing concerns: getting information out of the woman beside her.
“Rescuing you put us at serious risk. As paynt, we expect to take the results of your research.”
Her tone wasn’t forceful—not at first, anyway. She simply laid out the situation.
“This was already agreed with your associate. The one nad Nord.”
Neither she nor Arthur voiced the suspicions gnawing at them. When V ntioned that security man under suspicion, her tone didn’t shift at all. She just studied the small woman across from her, searching her face for a clue.
Like her stature, lanie’s face was small and round, faintly reminiscent of Asian features. But her small nose was sharp and straight, and her eyes—though half-hidden behind thick glasses—held a deep-set sharpness more common in European faces. She looked like a woman of mixed heritage.
And when the subject brushed against the suspected traitor, she didn’t flinch.
Had she really not noticed?
For soone buried in research, a lack of awareness wasn’t unusual.
But... had she truly not noticed?
“Of course.”
She lifted her gaze slightly—not timid, not bold either.
“Since we’ve agreed, I’ll give you what you ca for.”
Her voice was muffled, deeper than one would expect from her slight fra. Then she stopped. She didn’t seem much of a talker—or simply didn’t care to be.
But V wasn’t letting it go.
“ZetaTech threw a lot of weight into hunting you down.
Mind telling us... what happened?”
The dim light inside the car, combined with lanie’s oversized glasses, hid most of her expression.
She hesitated. Then, deciding there was no point in keeping secrets, she spoke slowly.
“The problem wasn’t with the Cyberware itself... but with a technology connected to it...”
She paused again, maybe deciding there was no point in pretense.
Her hand rose, tugging at the thick fras until she slid her glasses off bit by bit.
Light from outside the car fell across her small face, washing away much of its timid expression.
“People change...”
She waved her hand casually, nodding faintly, her gaze drifting as if trying to avoid sothing.
“Yes... people change. Just like...
You’ve probably already noticed sothing.
Maybe I’ve only just realized it myself. We’ve known each other for over a decade, worked side by side...
We went through the hardest tis together. Back then, he’d even give us the scraps he pulled from trash cans... while he was starving himself.”
Her words faltered, her logic unraveling. lanie stared blankly ahead, at the abandoned tower looming larger in the night.
They had arrived...
...
“We’re here.”
Arthur’s hoarse voice finally broke the silence from the driver’s seat. His tone stirred no reaction, and he let quiet swallow the car again.
...
“Right. We’re here. Let’s head up. And while we’re at it... collect your paynt.”
lanie composed herself quickly. So people always preferred to hide away, and maybe she was one of them.
But don’t forget—this was still a woman who once founded a startup of her own. In Night City, where gacorps suffocated everything, running a tiny company was tougher than running a street gang.
Her past alone proved she wasn’t just so timid researcher.
The three stepped out and cramd into the creaking old elevator, rising back to the crude but wind-sheltered floor above.
In the open space, the children instinctively shrank back into corners. But the mont they spotted lanie trailing behind the two adults, they rushed forward, cheering.
“Aunt lanie!”
“You’re back! Finally!”
...
Amid the chatter of the children, lanie’s eyes curved as she smiled, relief breaking across her face.
“Yes, I’m back. But you haven’t been very good, have you?
If I’m not mistaken, it’s bedti now.”
She nudged the kids lightly, and with laughter and noise, several adults guided them off toward their tents.
“Many of these children lost their mothers or fathers... We all grew up together...”
This world is often baffling. So people would have given their lives for those around them...
Betrayal. Maybe it’s a word everyone despises. Like a thorn lodged just under the skin—so close, yet impossible to pull free.
It’s easy enough to ignore, isn’t it? But press against it, and the sting is unbearable...
By the ti they reached the familiar room, the burly man was already there, standing silently at the doorway, as if nothing had happened at all.
But the thorn... had already pierced into everyone’s blood.
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