"So damn boring..."
Karl sat at the counter of the Wild Wolf Bar, complaining to Mama Wells, Jackie's mother.
"We're not getting any gigs, Mrs. Wells. At this rate, we're gonna starve to death."
"No need to rush things, Karl."
Mama Wells chuckled as she set down a plate of fries in front of him.
"Not having work isn't always a bad thing. Here, try my newest batch of fries."
"Oh, these are the ones you said have seasoned salt, right?!"
Watching Karl's sudden mood swing from misery to excitent over a plate of fries, Oliver and Jackie both sighed from their seats at the counter.
It had been a week since they'd officially ford their little crew. In that ti, they had taken on five different jobs, nothing too big, but enough to get by.
More importantly, they had learned a lot about Karl's personality—and if Oliver and Jackie had to describe him in one word, it would be sothing Karl had taught them in Chinese:
"Never sits still."
That wasn't to say Karl stirred up trouble. Not at all.
It just ant he literally couldn't stand being idle.
Most rcs would take ti off after a job, especially if the payout was good. So would chill for weeks before even thinking about their next contract.
Karl?
The second they finished a gig, he was already looking for the next one.
Dude was a machine.
To be fair, Karl's workaholic nature had its benefits.
Because of his relentless job hunting, both Jackie and Oliver had leveled up their skills significantly, and their wallets were looking heavier than ever.
That said, they were still human, not preem-tier cyberware.
So today, they'd dragged Karl here to drink and take it easy—forced him, actually.
"Co on, man. Just chill out and have a drink."
Seeing Karl happily munching away on fries, Oliver clinked glasses with Jackie.
"According to Karl, once we're big enough to get fixer contracts, he'll start being more selective with jobs. So we just gotta keep pushing until we get there."
Jackie took a sip of his drink and let out a sigh.
"It's not that I don't like taking jobs, man. We're rcs. Of course, having work is better than not having work. I just..."
He hesitated, rolling the glass in his hand.
"I just wonder—are these small-ti gigs really gonna make us famous enough to get fixers to notice us?"
"You thinking about bigger jobs again? Like our first one?"
"Man's gotta have dreams, right? If every job could net us 30-40K like that one, I'd die happy."
Kids from Heywood liked to joke about death a lot.
Normally, Karl was the one who called them out on it.
But this ti...
"Jackie!"
Mama Wells shot him a glare from behind the bar.
"...Shit. Sorry, Mama."
Jackie imdiately apologized, realizing he had slipped. He'd gotten too used to talking like this around Karl and Oliver.
"Maybe cool it with the death talk a bit, man," Oliver added.
Right then, his phone buzzed—a call from his sister.
She'd originally planned to be back in Night City two days ago, but kept delaying it for work.
Now, she was finally here.
She wanted to et up.
"Welp, I'm out."
After saying his goodbyes to Karl and Jackie, Oliver left first.
Ever since he got kicked out of the 6th Street Gang, returning to Santo Domingo wasn't an option if he wanted to stay out of trouble.
But since his sister was coming to Watson, he could at least et up with her. His plan? Pick her up and grab so food together.
Not long after Oliver left, Jackie got a ssage too.
His girlfriend Misty, who also happened to be Viktor's landlord, wanted to go out for a walk together.
After sending Karl a quick text explaining the situation, Jackie bailed as well, making up so random excuse for his mom.
Mama Wells still liked Jackie's ex more than Misty, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with that today.
In just a few minutes, the rare "day off" for their crew turned into Karl sitting alone at the bar, munching on fries.
What could he do about it?
One teammate was with his sister, the other with his girl—what was Karl supposed to do?
Whatever.
Might as well go ho, study so hacking, or watch so braindances. At least those were actually proving useful for learning.
"Thanks for the fries, Mrs. Wells."
Finishing up his food, Karl left the Wild Wolf Bar, taking a stroll through Heywood's streets.
Then, sothing hit him—
Oliver was the one driving.
So now, how the hell was he getting back to Watson?
The subway?
Never taken it before.
Didn't know the system.
Forget it.
Call a cab.
Just as he was about to hail a ride, his phone rang.
Oh? A familiar number.
Wasn't this the big-shot corpo client who said they'd only call once?
Guess that was bullshit.
Corpo or not, they paid well, so Karl picked up without hesitation.
"I need a bodyguard. Soone to accompany for a negotiation.
50,000 eddies. Solo gig. If you're interested, be at the Wordless Motel in Watson in one hour."
Click.
Hung up—didn't even give him a chance to reply.
Damn.
Alright, whatever. 50,000 eddies is 50,000 eddies.
Arrogant as hell, but who cared? A client's a client.
Karl thought about it for a mont—
No need to bother Jackie or Oliver.
They finally had a day off to spend with their families and loved ones.
If he told them, they'd probably ditch everything to back him up in secret.
No point dragging them into it.
Besides—this was the perfect chance to test his new cyberware.
Over the past few days, Karl had spent nearly all of his job earnings on a major upgrade session at Vik's clinic.
Rolling his shoulders, he felt the new enhancents in his arms—a strange, but powerful sensation.
His fingers brushed against the tech pistol holstered at his waist—
Arasaka's JKE-X2 Kenshin.
A tech pistol—designed to use electromagnetic energy to fire high-speed tal slugs, piercing walls, cover, and enemies alike.
Regular subdermal armor?
Might as well be paper against this thing.
After everything that happened before, Karl wasn't about to take any chances.
Now was the perfect ti to see what he—and his new upgrades—were truly capable of.
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