As I arrived at the station, I noticed Henry was waiting for me. Once we met, we set out for our meeting, which was to take place in an old building that was currently undergoing renovation. As we walked inside, the building looked deserted, and the only sounds we could hear were the echoes of our footsteps bouncing off the walls.
Each room we passed seemed empty, with only remnants of construction equipment scattered about. The atmosphere was eerie, and we couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
Part of me felt as though we were at the wrong location, but Henry reassured me that this was the place mentioned in the shard. We walked up a set of stairs, and my earlier suspicion of something not being right was made clear as on the steps was someone lying there not moving.
Henry went over to the person by the looks of things the person had recently shot given how fresh the blood looks.
“I knew there was a catch! That slippery bastard!” I yelled.
With things about to get messy, I drew out Eve and Ivy while Henry pulled out his submachine gun. We moved cautiously from room to room, only to find more bodies on the floor with bullet holes in them. While searching the bodies, one of them was carrying a data shard. I immediately slotted the shard into my phone and began reading.
“Karim is nothing but a pushover; he doesn't understand Night City like we do. The mission is simple: Karim will show up with some low-time mercs and a briefcase carrying over one million eddies. What you lot need to do is take care of the mercs, then capture Karim, as I feel we can get a lot, and I mean a lot, more money out of him. Remember the deal will take place on the fifth floor.”
Judging by what happened, it seems that this "Karim" fellow wasn't a pushover. We headed for the fifth floor, hoping that we could find more information on what happened there.
The eerie silence from when we first entered greeted us again on the fifth floor, causing me to ask Henry, “What the hell is going on here?”
“No idea, Max; your guess is as good as mine.”
We spotted in the distance the specific location where the deal would be taking place. The evidence to suggest this would be three dead bodies lying on the floor.
In the background, hearing the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer, I remarked, “Finally some answers.”
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As the footsteps got closer and closer, we could hear the sound of someone’s voice.
“I mean, seriously, man, I'm not made for walking up five flights of goddamn stairs. These people we’re meeting better make this quick and easy. As I! Karim Hakim is not made for this!”
Henry and I turned around and saw a small, fat man carrying a briefcase. Accompanying him were four people who, at first glance, would be average mercs.
The small man started freaking out and yelled, “Who the fuck are you guys?” He noticed the dead bodies on the floor and said, “Oh shit, they are here to kill me. Don't just stand there; fucking kill them!”
The mercs opened fire on me and Henry, and while in cover, I yelled out, “I take it; we can't talk about this.” Henry nudged me on the shoulder, saying that this wasn’t the right time for witty comebacks. We returned fire, with Henry and I unloading all our bullets in the clip on the mercs.
We managed to hit two of them before needing to reload. Not wanting this to go any longer than it should, I activated my sandevistan and laid waste to the last remaining mercs.
Once finished, I deactivated my sandevistan, looked around, and noticed that Karim had delta with the money. We had no choice but to run after Karim.
Running down the flights of stairs, I could hear the sound of someone yelling out. Henry and I decided to split up; I would head to the scream while Henry would head back to the car and cut them off. Outside, I saw Karim on the floor, holding onto his stomach, acting as though someone had either stabbed him or shot him. Adding insult to injury, he didn’t have the briefcase with him anymore.
“What happened to you?” I asked
“Ach. That low life jumped me and took my money! Fuck I think my ribs are broken!”
The sound of a car engine being turned on got my attention. I was able to get a good look at the driver of the car before they charged towards me, intending to run me over. I dove to my left, avoiding the car, and watched it speed away.
I was played. Sam set me and Henry up; he planned that the mercs would have killed us, letting him come in and kill the remaining mercs and take the money from Karim. I do not doubt that he killed the people Karim was originally meant to meet.
Karim tried getting me to go after Sam and retrieve his briefcase, saying, “I’ll pay you very well if you get me my money back.”
I looked at him and remarked on how he ordered his lackeys to open fire on me.
Karim started pleading that I retrieve his money. “My friend, you don’t want to make an enemy of my father, would you?”
I got closer to Karim and stated, “I don’t give a damm who your father is. But if you try to screw me, I will do to you what I will do to Sam.”
Karim started thanking me before handing me his business card. Karim tried pushing his luck and asked if I could take him to the hospital. I told him, “Get a cab; you can afford it if you're carrying a million eddies in a briefcase.”
As Karim left, I could hear Henry yell out, “Max! Max! Max! Get in, Max.”
I opened the side car door and got in the car. “I'm, in just drive the fucking car! Goooo!”