Edgerunners2077

V:9

[ARCH: An American motorcycle manufacturer in Night City]

District: Arroyo, Santo Domingo

The motel courtyard smelt like gun smoke. It was deserted, not a flicker of movement in sight. There wasn't a single light in all the windows, not a murmur, a whisper, a peep.

Nothing.

The idle calm before the shit storm, I was sure of it. We hurry up the steel stairwell and rush to Room 207, where we left Rebecca. The smell of gun smoke only got stronger as we raced up the second floor. The closer we got, the more I already knew we were too late. Instinctively, I brace myself for impact.

Hinges from the door were snatched off the frame, solid wood, nothing left but the splinters. This easily could have been taped off as an NCPD crime scene with the amount of bullet holes in the walls, and the blood splatter on the sheets. The air was hot and thick, as if the disaster only happened moments ago. Like I could still feel of all the heat trapped in the atmosphere from all the gunmen that pass through this very room. Empty, but still very much spilling over with the essence of life. A life and a body, that was nowhere to be found. Our worse fear had indeed come to pass.

Becca was gone.

I give David and Lucy some space. I didn't know the pigtailed girl long but these two on the other hand belong to the same crew and were obviously quite fond of her. From the moment I closed the door behind me, I counted each footstep I made, the slight sound my boots loud in my own ears, and in their ears, too. I knew they were listening in, waiting for me to be out of earshot for what came next. It didn't take a genius to know these two had A LOT of catching up to do. I could sense as a couple they had more enough to talk about, or in this case yell about. Which to no surprise resulted in a full-fledged argument the moment I reached the first step on the staircase.

They blamed each other, and normally where most mercs would take the opportunity and leave, I too blamed myself. I was one of the last ones to see Rebecca unharmed and both David and I thought it best to leave her alone in a room where she would be safe. We were wrong. We are all at fault one way or another.

There wasn't a large amount of blood in or around the motel room, and David's yellow EMT jacket had vanished. Becca had to have been taken alive, I guarantee it, and they were using her as bait. Whomever holds her captive is counting on David and The Edgerunners to come to her rescue.

A classic hostage situation, except I know this one held little to no room for bargaining. If Maelstrom took her, they would want both Becca and David dead, Lucy too. If The Animals weaseled their way into this out of pure fucking luck we can strike a deal with the leader Sasquatch, a fair trade were the both of them can come out of this alive. That trade either being a lot of eddies or new spilt blood. I don't believe in Gods or any sort of Deity, but I say a silent prayer to the universe in hopes Maelstrom wasn't the ones who took her.

While the love birds have their spat, I decided to scan around the motel for clues, anything that can give us a lead in the right direction. Using my Kiroshi Optics, I do a deep scan on the perimeter.

I walk up and down all flights of stairs and scan every inch of the courtyard. I knocked on the few doors that were locked, asking if the quiet tenants hear or saw anything within the last hour that could be useful. I even checked at the front desk where the Help was very "in the nicest way possible" unhelpful. The clerk claims they didn't see nothing - hear nothing, the most used statement in all of Night City. I thought about using a little bit of muscle, forcing my way into the backroom to check the security cameras but if we are to face either Maelstrom or The Animals, I need all my strength both physically and cybernetically. I'll save the data on my hacking software when we get close to their Netrunners.