Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 147

Boom!

A chorus of shrieks broke out.

They might have been only four people, but they were professionals armed with far greater firepower. The firefight lasted barely a minute before the Scavs lay silent. The team stepped out from behind cover, surveying the living room now drenched in blood and wreckage.

"Are we clear?"

Leo scanned the room again with his tactical goggles. "No. There's one more."

Jackie, V, and Lucy all dove for cover on instinct. A moment later, a barrage identical to Jackie's thundered through the air. A burly man had crawled out from beneath a comrade's corpse and was now firing the same model of heavy machine gun Jackie used, spraying a relentless stream of rounds at them.

But Leo didn't duck. His hand was already on the sword's hilt at the exact moment the gun roared. As the torrent of metal ripped through the air, leaving ripples in its wake, Leo's crimson blade sparked twice in quick succession. Muramasa deflected the first two bullets, then shifted to intercept the third and fourth with perfect timing. The metallic clangs rang out as each round bounced off the blade's edge.

In the next heartbeat, Leo kicked off the ground, torso low, pouncing on his opponent like a panther. He whirled Muramasa in an impenetrable cyclone, batting aside every bullet that dared approach. The muzzle flash lit up the big man's face, revealing a slack jaw and eyes wide with shock. He had seen people use Sandevistan to dodge bullets or equip subdermal armor that turned them nearly invulnerable, but never before had he witnessed someone deflect gunfire with a sword.

"N-no, stay back—!"

His roar of terror went unanswered. Leo closed in, flashing past him in one fluid motion. The blade sliced through flesh, organs, and cyberware alike as though they offered no resistance.

Blood gushed like a fountain. The machine gun clattered heavily to the floor, its wielder stumbling back. He tried to speak, but only thick, dark blood bubbled from his mouth. His eyes dimmed as he collapsed. The last thing he saw was Leo calmly flicking blood from his blade and sheathing it.

...

With all the hostiles eliminated, the team headed for the bathroom beyond the living area—the final room in the hideout. The door slid open. One look inside and their faces grew grim.

It was a cramped, dirty bathroom. The toilet had no lid, the tiles were caked in stains, and there were bloody handprints on the walls. An old tub, filled with ice and water, held two bodies. One was a man Leo immediately knew was past saving, even though outwardly he looked slightly better off than the corpse in the Scav's makeshift operating room. Inside, however, most of his organs and implants had already been stripped.

As for the second person in the tub, that was their target. Lucy knelt on the tub's edge and carefully pulled the woman's naked body out of the ice water. She then unspooled a personal link from her wrist and plugged it into the victim's neural port.

A torrent of data flooded Lucy's vision.

[Bio-monitor system booting... Complete.]

[Sandra Dorsett, age 29, blood type AB RHD+, Platinum TT code NC570442]

[Life support compromised.]

[Attempting to administer emergency dose...]

[Error: resources depleted.]

[Sending distress signal...]

[Error 238: GPS module offline.]

[Please reconnect the GPS module.]

[Rebooting system...]

[Sending distress signal...]

[Error 238: GPS module offline.]

[Please reconnect the GPS module.]

[Rebooting system...]

Lucy blinked rapidly. "Lucy?" Leo asked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She waved off their concern. "That neuralware had a virus. It treated my hack as a threat."

"And?"

"It slammed into my offensive firewall. I wiped it out. Don't worry—she's safe now." Lucy paused. "I see what they did. The Scavs must've jammed her neural link with a chip to block any outgoing signal. Once we remove it, she should be able to call for help."

She pressed gently at the port behind Sandra's ear and found a chip inserted there. Lucy removed it and tossed it aside.

"All done."

Sure enough, Lucy's retinal feed shifted:

[Distress signal sent.]

[Uploading medical data...]

[Upload complete.]

[GPS signal reacquired.]

[Location confirmed. Signal confirmed.]

[Trauma Team emergency evac en route. ETA: 180 seconds.]

"TT will be here in three minutes," Lucy announced.

Jackie scratched his tied-up hair. "Damn, that's fast."

Leo smiled. "Well, she is Platinum, you know."

"True enough. Let's wrap up. The sooner we're outta here, the better."

Jackie nudged them. This job hadn't been physically exhausting, but it definitely grated on the nerves. The filth, gore, and cruelty typical of any Scav nest could send your blood pressure through the roof. Most mercs who made a name for themselves avoided Scav-cleanup gigs—too much hassle, not enough pay.

"I got her." V stepped forward to relieve Lucy and, for safety, jabbed Sandra with a dose from a pneumatic injector. After all, no one wanted her flatlining right when rescue was about to arrive.