24Scorpion, Snake & Weasel
Faraday sipped his wine as he gazed at the bottom feeders below. As far as he was concerned, every punk and street rat alive was a stepping stone for his advancement into the Corpo world. He'd make use of every fool he could to make that happen, including Maine and his crew.
He'd just got back from dealing with Maine and his crew of inbred fools. Apparently, they got the data without alerting Maxim or anyone else, meaning that Maine was expecting his damn bonus.
And the reason for their success was the youngblood brat they brought on the team. A new element to the grand scheme of things, wrench in the works… a wildcard. Faraday disliked that.
"David Martinez. A rat who tried being better than he was… and was beaten down for it." Something about the Latino annoyed Faraday. it was probably just the fact he was an Arasaka Academy student… a clear route into the strongest Corpo in the world. He had never managed such a thing at that age. Never had the opportunity.
From the limited profile he could make of him, Martinez was a backwater who lucked into an arasaka scholarship. 'The less said of his worthless mother, the better. The fact he dropped out of the academy only makes his fate more worthless.'
Yet his addition to Maine's crew seemed to boost their efficiency in the field, to both his benefit and detriment. He benefited from a more effective team of lackeys, and who could do jobs he needed done. No sane man would ever complain about having competent minions to do his dirty work. However…
The detriment was that he'd be more pressed to pay the edgerunner team their bonus for doing so well. He often made the promise of a bonus paycheck if they acomplished a job exactly as he wanted it. If they failed, no skin off his back. Most cases they failed to earn it, mostly because even in the rare cases they succeeded, he could find an excuse or condition that would cost Maine.
He wouldn't waste eddies on minions who wouldn't amount to much. 'Though I do need to pay her the bonus, if only to keep the bitch loyal to me.'
He stood up from his seat outside and headed into his secure high rise apartment. He set down his drink and 'David Martinez has proven himself an unknown in my plans. I cannot afford any such obstacles to stand in the way of my path to the corporate world. To do that, I need more intel.'
Fortunately for him, he had a reliable dog that could find out more for him.
_Elsewhere_
The portly man lurched as he was slammed into the wall, blood dripping from his face. "Alright, alright! I'll talk, just stop!"
The man's assailant held him by his collar and lifted him off the ground. He squealed, telling him about the deal he made to cross Faraday. His contacts, his employer, even his personal stashes of hard cash.
He never counted on Faraday's best attack dog to track him down and make him suffer for it.
He was a well built man barely past his 20s, with tanned skin, dark red hair and a scar over his right eye. He wore a dark red trench coat, black jeans and t-shirt. "Heh, that's what I wanted to hear in the first place. Now, was that so hard?"
The portly man didn't answer and just cowered away. He told the scared man everything he wanted to know. "Y-you'll let me go now right?"
The one eyed man leaned down, reached into his coat pocket for something and grinned. "Don't worry… I'll make it quick."
Faster than the prone man could see, he was jabbed in the neck by a syringe. It took less than a minute for the poison to travel into his heart and paralyze it. True to his killer's word, he barely felt anything as he died against the wall in thr street.
The scared man checked his victim's pulse, confirming his death. He closed the man's eyelids, left the syringe in his hands - to stage his death as a suicide - and left the alley. He'd had it applied with his victim's hand prints.
He compiled the data and sent it straight to his… employer. 'Four eyes hasn't given me any bonus for a while, so it shouldn't be an issue if I prod him a bit for one.' He knew he wouldn't get the bonus often, so he'd take what he could get from the would-be Corpo boss when he could.
He seemed to be tempting fate, as just then Faraday called him.
'Boss is calling… greaaat. Wonder what the two-faced stinger wants.' Cobra picked up the call.
Faraday: [ Cobra, I have a task for you. ]
Cobra: [ You sound like you had a bad day, which means you want someone's guts spilled. Alright, who am I flatlining? ]
Faraday: [ I have no patience for your prattling or insolence. Do you wish to anger me? ]
'Yes.' Cobra thought instantly, but he kept that to himself. He didn't want Faraday to get ideas of hurting him… through someone else.
Cobra: [ No. ]
Faraday: [ No. What? ]
Cobra: [ No Sir. ]
Faraday: [ Good, you haven't forgotten your place. ]
Cobra: [ Never, Sir. ]
Faraday: [ There's a certain street rat I want you to look into, one that's proven to be an anomaly in my plans. Investigate him. Start with the school he went to. Arasaka Academy. ]
Cobra raised an eyebrow at that as he leaned against the wall. Faraday went on to explain he wanted reassurance that the kid wouldn't interfere with his plans.
This job seemed kinda… mundane. Especially when compared to usual tasks Faraday gives him. Track down and kill one fucker. Find blackmail material on another fucker. Stage a conflict between two or more groups of fuckers. The usual.
All of the 'fuckers' had done something or another to cross Faraday, and his job was to make them suffer for it. But tracking down this kid - one David Martinez - seemed… petty, by contrast.
Unfortunately, Faraday had final say and rarely agreed with any thoughts Cobra brought up, so he just agreed to do a background check and report back to him.
Faraday hung up, but not before making it painfully clear what would happen should he fail. 'Like I'd ever forget, considering how many times the bastard brings it up.'
Cobra just huffed and started walking. He had a job to do, and the two faced stinger didn't like jobs that went ignored.
_Later_
Arasaka academy was one of the three educational institutes in Night City. The other two were the Militech Academy and the Night City Public school. Technically there was the fourth option, the nomad system of tutors and mentors the few nomad groups form near NC use, but that wasn't counted as official.
If you asked Cobra, the nomad's teaching system - focused more on skills and knowledge for current events in NC - was the best. But that was just his opinion. 'I might be biased, but we nomads know how to learn and teach the essentials.'
Fortunately, he had connections with all of the institutions, and Arasaka Academy in particular. One of them was cowering in the corner out of sight. He spotted the boy just as he was exiting the academy. Tailing him was a simple matter. First chance he could, he grabbed the brat and slammed him into
"Matou! I trust you didn't screw up, did you?" He already knew that, for once, the Saka student with Seaweed like blue hair had proven surprisingly useful.
Shinji Matou was a below average Saka Academy student with blue hair like seaweed and a thin build. He also was a misogynistic sycophant down to his very core. Just the kind of scumbag Cobra had no problem taking advantage of.
"What do you want, Cobra?! I already promised to keep my hands off of Sakura."
Cobra hummed at that, and leaned on the opposite wall, almost tempting Shinji to make a run for it. Fortunately, the boy was smart enough to not run. When he registered what the boy said, he just tilted his head a bit. 'Almost forgot about that threat.' He mostly made the threat on a whim, but appearently, Shinji hadn't forgotten.
"That's good to hear…" Cobra finally said. "But I got other questions you can answer for me."
"Wha- What? No, what could you possibly ask-" he froze as Cobra took out a serrated dagger and whetstone, and started sharpening the dagger.
"Let me rephrase that." Cobra leaned in, dagger poised to strike. "I have questions that you will answer for me. Do you get that?"
Shinji gulped at that. And started talking.
The boy rattled on and on, and Cobra was able to put the pieces together. For the past few years, David attended the academy, funded by his mother's work as an ER medic, and s scholarship thanks to his own grades. He mostly focused on his studies, but earned the ire of Katsuo, the son of an Arasaka corporate executive. Katsuo would taunt and berate David, who for the most part ignored the corpo-brat.
That all changed when about a week ago, David walked into class, wearing a bloodied EM jacket, and decked Katsuo in the face. When Katsuo got up, and started bitching about his father and insulting Martinez, David decked him again. Then David took off his jacket, revealing his bloody back and sandevistan newly installed. He then used it to hit him so hard that Katsuo went straight into a wall. From there, David dropped out of the academy.
Cobra internally laughed at that, but kept his cool. 'That must have been the kid's limit. From there he joins up with Maine's crew. It does fit. Mostly.'
Apparently a few days ago, Shinji was approached by Lubbock, another dropout who had started hanging with David. Before dropping out, the other kid - Lubbock O'Brian, one of a half dozen kids of a corpo manager at some data corporation - had used Shinji as a messenger to send something to katsuo. Whatever it was, sent the brat into another rage.
'Whatever 'I'll look into Lubbock later. Gotta be careful around data corps. For now, let's focus on David and Katsuo.'
'Katsuo's the typical arrogant baby corpo - using his family's influence to boast and holler out to get more gawkers.'
'Ever since then, Katsuo has… mellowed out for lack of a better term. No proud boasts to his peers, no pressuring the lower tier females for favors, nothing.'
'There's more to this story. Something's missing. Katsuo abrubty changes after he sees a message from a friend of David? And abruptly stops targeting him? It's gotta be connected.'
"Do you have the message?" Cobra finally asked.
"Well… that might cost you-" Cobra just gave Shinji a flat look and held his dagger, as if to dare the boy to finish that thought.
"Okay, Okay! I managed to snag it from the trash." Shinji grabbed his bag and rummaged through it, then pulled out a wrinkled and slightly torn note, one made from pieces of newspaper and comic clips. "Gotta admit though, it's kinda… eccentric."
Cobra snatched the note… and had to reread a few times to make sure he read it right. "Yeah… Eccentric indeed." 'These hellraiders certainly know. David and Lubbock are obviously connected to them, but how does a note make an arrogant pissant like Katsuo back down?'
'Blackmail would be the obvious choice, but with what exactly? Which raises the question… What did they do? And how?'
Cobra folded the note and put it in his inner coat pocket. He'd save it for some use later.
"In that case I'll just-" Shinij made to walk away, but a hand on his shoulder made him halt. Shinji turned to see Cobra's vicious looking grin.
"One last thing…" Cobra leaned in so Shiniji could hear his whisper. "You did a good job today… that doesn't mean for a second you can touch that girl. I don't give a damn what your greasy old fuck of a grandfather says. Leave. The girl. Alone. Got it?"
Shinji frantically nodded. He'd had thoughts of taking Sakura, but didn't want to risk getting gutted by Cobra after the deed was done.
Cobra finally let the boy go, who sprinted away, like the Devil himself was haunting him.
The lower branch fixer just huffed and turned away. He mulls over what he learned. 'David Martinez, a drop out turned green Cyberpunk. He also becomes friends with fellow dropout Lubbock. Did they know each other beforehand or become allies after?'
'David gets his hands on a Sandevistan, and seems to be adept in using it, like it fits him well. He's got the makings of a decent cyberpunk, so he'll definitely be useful for jobs… if he lives long enough in NC.'
'Then there's these… Hellraiders. They send Katsuo a message using old school crafts, with such an edgy message too. David's definitely involved with them somehow. Either a client who somehow bought their new services… or a founding member. Whatever method they used, seemed to have caused Katsuo to change his habits. Probably blackmail, but I need to be certain.'
He had the info on David, and some follow up leads he could look into. Now he had to mull over what he was going to tell Faraday.
'I could bring up a connection to these… Hellraiders to Farady, but he'll dismiss it without any proof. No reason to mention it.'
Cobra called Faraday and gave his report. He decided to keep the details of the Hellraiders to himself until he could verify their methods and members.
Faraday complained about his work - he usually finds some way to insult him every call - and pays only the bare minimum of what he promised. Cobra took what he could get. With the task done, he headed for his cabin on the outskirts of the city.
"How to get more data? Can't approach David directly, lest it mess with whatever scheme Faraday's cooking up.
'If they targeted Katsuo to protect David, maybe they'll target someone else to do the same.' That gave the former nomad an idea. He pulled up some data from some recent crimes in Westbrook, looking for one article in particular. It was about a predator who targeted little boys, wisking them away like a monster in one of those classic fairy tales. Hell, he was even named after a fairy tale, given to him by the NCPD. The rest of Night city only referred to the bastard as the meat man.'
No one could identify the fucker… except him. He'd managed to figure out the culprit only recently, as well as the culprit's bitch of a patron. Now he can put that data to good use.
"Peter Pan. the predator who's been active in Night city for a few years now. No one would really complain if he got killed. Well… No one except Gorgon, but fuck her." Cobra looked up his list of contacts. If he was gonna set them up, he'd need to get to work.
The Snake was gonna set the trap and lay in wait for the fools to spring it.
Fixed the typo errors. gonna try and fix the earlier ones before adding more chapters.