Suzi was looking around, puzzled, as we arrived at Lizzie's. A bright pink neon lady holding her leg up in a sexual way caught her attention. "This is Lizzie's?" She said.
I explained to her that it was a BD club owned by the Mox. We stepped inside, and a woman in a blue shirt stopped me at the entrance. She wanted to talk to me about something, but I told her I was busy and that I would check out their BDs another time. Surprisingly, the woman introduced herself as Jill and informed me that The Mox was willing to offer backup if I ever needed it, as a thank you for helping them organize a cease fire with the Tyger Claws and Crimson Blades. I thanked her for the offer and regrouped with Henry and the rest.
As we looked around, I spotted Slippery Sam sitting on his own, his eyes fixated on a hologram of a woman dancing. I told Henry and the others to wait by the bar while I went to talk to Sam.
"Max! It's been a while since we last talked. How's life?" He said with a smile. "Fancy a drink?" I declined his offer, as I was solely focused on getting the contact and getting out.
The way he was sitting made me want to kill him right here, his arm resting on the top of the seat, his eyes still fixed on the hologram of a woman dancing with his other hand in his pocket, doing god knows what in there.
“I know how badly you messed up on the previous gig I gave you, so this one should be a lot easier to follow.” Sam pulled out a data shard. “On this, you will see the location and what you need to do. It's a simple search and find; you won't run into any trouble.”
I slotted the shard into my phone. I looked over the gig and noticed something shady that I had to question.
“A briefcase full of eddies! That's what I'm collecting! What's the catch?”
Sam took his fixation off the hologram, looked at me, and said, “No catch. Don't you trust me, Max?”
No, I didn’t trust him; in fact, if I had any sort of common sense, I would have told him to shove the shard up his ass and then shoot him in the head, but given the fact that I never completed his earlier contract, I had no choice but to do this.
“Do feel free to have Henry tag along as well, seeing as though you two are chooms or maybe a bit more.” Sam turned his attention back to the hologram.
His comment suggesting that me and Henry were more than friends made me want to rip out his throat.
I walked back to Henry and the others and laid down what was going to happen. First, I gave Alejandro the detes of Vincent and told him that while me and Henry were busy, he should go do some gigs. As for Suzi, I asked if she was willing to help out with The Mox. She may not be able to fight, but she does know her way around computers.
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With everyone going to do their separate things, Henry and I left Lizzie's, but instead of getting back in the four-door car, I gave Henry the shard that contained where we needed to be and told him that I would meet him there while I gave Ruby her car back.
Henry asked why I didn't have one of those self-driving functions in my car, to which I responded by reminding him that the feature was discontinued in 2078 because of the food market incident. In summary, someone plugged into the car's system and forced the car to drive through a food market.
Several people were injured, and some sadly lost their lives.
Max and Henry went off their separate ways. Back at Lizzie’s. Jill noticed that Suzi seemed bored and asked her if everything was alright.
However, Suzi was too busy working on her laptop and didn't pay attention to Jill's words. Jill tried once more to get Suzi's attention, but her attempts were in vain. Finally, Jill decided to close Suzi's laptop, which only made Suzi more annoyed, as she was in the middle of something and didn't want to be interrupted.
Suzi snapped at Jill, asking her what she wanted.
Jill explained, “You seem bored out of your mind. And your so-called “friends” left you behind. I just wanted to see if you were alright.”
Suzi quickly defended her friends, saying that Max was like a big brother to her and that he might seem cold and heartless on the outside, but he was caring and nice on the inside. As for Henry, Suzi saw him as a friend who was always willing to share their thoughts and opinions with each other.
Jill was still curious why Max and Henry had left Suzi behind, and Suzi explained that they had a biz that required only the two of them. Jill then suggested that Suzi could spend her time in the basement, where there was a lot of computer equipment that she could use.
The two headed to the basement, where Suzi was amazed by the amount of hardware that was stored there. From the looks of it, it seemed like the equipment hadn't been touched in months.
“It was equipment that an old BD editor used when she ran with us before eventually packing up and leaving NC,” Jill explained.
“What’s the catch?” Suzi asked.
Jill didn’t understand what Suzi was talking about and reassured her that there was no catch. She wanted to make sure that she was fine. “Put it like this. Max helped my people; I’ll help his.” Jill said before leaving Suzi on her own.
Switch Back to Max
I parked Ruby’s car in the parking lot. I wanted to knock on her door and tell her that her car is back safe and sound, but I felt it would be best if I just gave the car back and left, as she was still pissed off with me. I got back in my quadra and called Henry.
Max
“On my way, where are you?”
Henry
“Good, I'm still on the train.”
The train’s tannoy could be heard in the background.
The next stop is Rancho Coronado.
Max
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Who sets up a deal there, out all places in Night City?”
Henry
“I take it you still hate this district.”
Max
“Hate it!? I fucking despise it!”
Henry
"Look, I know it's where your mom and dad live, and I also know it's where you and Luca obliterated 6th Street, but keep your head on; I don't want this gig to fuck up like the last one.”
Max
"Sorry, it's just...never mind, I'll pick you up at the station.”
Call Ended