The Edgerunner who defied Night City

Smooth Criminal

March 20 2076

The plan was in motion. 'The butcher' had already been butchered and Maxim was driving the limo toward the diner, the 'Jacked and Coke'. The crew was already on the move to get there before him, with Maine driving, Kiwi on the passenger seat, then Ernesto, David, Dorio and Lucy in the back. Rebecca was already in position.

"Reminder. What is your task?" Ernesto asked his brother with a severe tone.

"I wait until this Maxim guy is wasted on the table. Fire up the Sandevistan, nab his shard, hand it over to Dorio for a copy, then put the shard back before he notices."

"Excellent. Remember: you use the Sandy exclusively for that. What happens next, we'll see."

Dorio groaned. "Why are you jinxing it?"

"Plans never survive first contact. It's something I learned the hard way, in the Legion." Ernesto replied calmly.

"Chill out, dawg," Maine reassured. "we'll klep the nav-data and be out before the shitface even gets up again."

"That's what we all hope. But I prefer be ready for anything."

"Well, you'll soon see." Kiwi commented. "We're here."

Indeed, through the windshield Ernesto saw the bar in front of them. Maine was pulling over slightly behind, knowing that Maxim was most likely going to park right in front of the door. The crew behind disembarked, except for Lucy, who stood ready for plan B. Dorio jogged toward the bar, while Ernesto halted David for a few words.

"Just keep your focus and everything will go swimmingly."

"Yeah...I got it." David said. Tension in his voice, but willing to face the danger anyway.

The older brother nodded and the younger rushed inside, too, with Ernesto looking at him go with a mixture of fear for him but also sincere pride. Then he stepped back on the back of the van and closed the doors. The Captain folded his arms and leaned his back against the chair, making a silent sight that Lucy noted anyway.

"He'll be fine." she said in an unusually reassuring tone. "He has the uncanny ability of getting out of every pinch." she added as a quip.

Ernesto giggled. "He has."

Around five minutes later, the limo finally arrived. Everyone opened the group channel with the intercom and signaled the people inside that the target was approaching. Maxim walked out of the car still very much pissed at having wasted a little fortune on the wrong bet. Sure enough, he was going to take a few drinks to extinguish that fiery rage.

Dorio kept them updated. In the span of twenty minutes, Maxim had finally dropped his face on the counter.

"Go, kid." Maine instructed through the channel.

Just a moment later, the copy of the nav-data was ongoing, a sign that David had done his part correctly. Everything was coming up just gang.

"Hold on," Kiwi said suddenly in the com. "his boss's calling him."

"Sheesh, poor bastard can't catch a break." Maine added. "No rest for the wicked."

Ernesto didn't take too much to get the hint of what was about to happen and already prepared to get out of the van again.

"No good," Kiwi said indeed. "boss wants needs 'im there."

"Shit, on his day off?"

"Data's not copied yet." Dorio reported.

"Fuck!" Maine exclaimed. "Change of plans, kid. Key to the car, grab it. Becca, trip him up."

Knowing well what they had to do, both Ernesto and Lucy jumped down of the van and headed for the limousine, where David had just preceded.