"-Continuing with the push into the Free States. With the surrender of Nevada, the NUS Armed Forces now have a path directly to Southern California, and have begun to reinforce the SoCal Divisions. It appears only a matter of time before they march north to their NorCal invasion forces. While the NUSA representatives have assured the citizens of Night City that they have no intention of invading Night City, which had declared its neutrality in this conflict, many see these actions as a sign of their true intentions."

I listened to the news station as I looked over the back alleys of Heywood. Valentinos were patrolling their neighborhoods, and while I didn't really like them in the game, I was hesitant to attack them as a result of their more community-based way of doing things. Seeing it in person, I can see myself somewhat supporting the gang to an extent as they were actively helping members of their community. Giving protection to groups of families that had been forced to herd together in this time of tension.

The Unification War apparently had displaced more than a few people from neighboring Free States, and in this instance, many of them were members, by extension related to members of the Valentinos. I saw a younger Padre, or Sebastian Ibarra as some call him. He was organizing many of the people of Heywood, and finding places for people to bunk up, but not without some hard decisions. Namely sending some gangoons to evict other gangs and small-time hoods of their spaces for the refugee's own use.

Given the number of homeless and displaced in 2077, I suppose this war, and by extension, these events were one of many sources. With a shot of my grapple, I pulled myself up higher above the streets to one of the taller buildings. An office building that appeared to be still in good order, at least on the upper half of the building. Clambering onto the roof, I walked north and got a look at City Hall. It was going through renovations, but otherwise it stood out from the run down portions of Heywood. It was literally a block before you began to see the rundown portions of the district compared to the clean and protected section.

My eyes followed down the road, and found the familiar sight of 'El Coyote. I didn't have to imagine it to know that Mama Welles and maybe Jackie were inside, trying to keep people together and calm with Mama's hospitality. I was almost tempted to just walk in and check up on them. My outfit would have raised more than a few eyebrows though, not just because of how heavy and advanced it was either.

The "Murk" symbol appeared in my HUD, and I answered it.

"Sup?"

"I found the nodes in Heywood. You will need to go to them and hook in directly. These ones are more up to date."

"Got it. I take it you managed to get through the City Net?"

"I did. Using backdoors and a variety of proxies, I managed to download recently released coding programs, among other things. I must work with them more, but I have a fair understanding of how Netrunning works these days. Hook in with the Portable Deck, as I need to do this myself."

"Cool. Send me the node locations."

As I received them, I fired a grapple at a nearby building, and leapt off the roof. The cable went taut, and I swung around Heywood like a certain wall crawler. A few minutes of travel and I reached the node. I opened it and hooked in with the portable Cyberdeck. Murk began to work when I heard gunfire from down below. With a sigh, I left the node and looked. I frowned as I saw four Valentino gangers taking cover from ten Tyger Claw gangers who were firing various weapons.

The four were defending a crate for some reason, and now that I looked, I noticed a pair of vans, one which was burning, were the transports the Valentinos were using. So, they were now trapped in the loading zone of the building. No way to get out save through the Tygers.

"You wouldn't happen to know what's going on here would ya?" I asked Murk.

"Give me a moment."

I waited, and during that time I got a look at the composition of the two groups. One of the Valentinos had been hit badly, half of the Tygers had been killed. Despite having been outnumbered two-to-one, 'Tino's were giving it as good as they got.

"It appears the crate is a box of medicine. The Tygers want it to sell at a higher price, and the Valentino's are giving it to their people."

"Their 'people' meaning?"

"The Valentinos obviously. These are not the Merry Men, giving medicine to those in need. You would do better than either side in that regard."

Well, there's an idea. I contemplated that as looked down. The firefight still happened, and the groups were just letting lead and mini-missiles fly everywhere. Even if I let them just fight it out, I had to take passerby's into consideration.

"I think I'll take your idea on." I said as I stood on the ledge and stepped off.

I fell for a few seconds before my wings swung out in "Fall-Mode." Instead of the smart fabric opening for to allow flight, they opened to capture air like a parachute. Neither side noticed me as I slowly floated down towards them, but they noticed the half dozen orbs I dropped among the two groups.

They exploded, three for each group. One was a flashbang, and the other two were tear gas. Only the Tyger Claws had a few guys with gas masks, while the rest didn't. The effect was immediate, with both sides feeling the burn as the gas entered their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears. Even if they had mostly cyberware, there were still organic parts that would feel the burn, especially the throat and mouth given the required sensitivity for them to function properly.

Disoriented, and panicked, they began to yell at each other to reorganize, for help, and for what was going on. Some began to randomly fire in what they felt was the "right" direction of their enemies. Most of them missed me by a few inches as I rushed towards the Tygers first.

Most of them didn't even realize they were being taken down as I began to punch them out one after another. Once more I marveled at both the Bioware modifications that put me at peak human levels, and the artificial muscles of the suit coupled with miniature coreless motors that increased my strength to heavy borg levels. I found myself pulling my punches, lest I literally caused their heads to explode from sheer brute force.

With the Tygers done, I shifted to the four Valentinos, and they were in the same state. Worse since they were more 'ganic than the Tygers were. A few blows, and they were out for the night too.

Looking over my work, I decided to be "nice" and stabilize the worse off members, before giving them all something so the tear gas doesn't do anything more than it has already. With that done, I placed all their unconscious bodies into their cars to keep them out of my way. Then, a little quickhack, and they all drove "home", or whatever home was in the car's navigation database.

With that done, I walked over to the second, non-burning van everyone had been fighting over, and looked for a port to jack into.

Once I had, I had Murk take control of it, and soon loaded the medicine into the vehicle, along with every gun and magazine, tool, and trinket the gangers had.

"While I am tempted to give it away, I get the feeling you will want to look at them yourself first?"

"You would be correct. I will drive it to the cave, and park it. Get back up onto the roof and take the portable back. I have finished."

I nodded and grappled up as the van took off. Soon enough I was flying over Heywood again, looking for more trouble.

"Was that Node all you needed?"

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"It was. I have opened my way into the security network across Heywood. I have also accessed police bands, so I will know when events occur. On top of that, I have gained access to the NCPD's search database. Uploading it to you now."

"So, I can see who's what now, and who's done what?"

"Yes. Make good use of it."

The filed had finished downloading into the suit computer just as I landed. I stared up at the gargantuan housing block. The third of such buildings in Night City that housed the homeless and that resulted from the 4th Corporate War, and the subsequent "Time of the Red".

Gazing down, my passive scanning sensors in my mask placed highlighted markers upon confirmed "person/s of interest."

Three such people were sitting and talking, drinking some energy drink and crappy burgers, pistols, and knives in their belt holsters. They were identified as members of the Valentinos, though the ethnicity and tattoos made that clear enough. After five seconds, each member had a small dossier of their crimes and a bounty for their capture, which coincided with their threat level.

"Interesting. I can see how some people would make money as head hunters if this is what they had access to."

Looking about the streets near the H-Block, it was marked with many vagrants, gang marks, and little to no security provided by NCPD.

"Not likely to work if the authorities don't give a damn."

"That is one, of many reasons, why mercenaries find success in Night City." Murk chipped in as he entered my HUD.

"Got something for me?"

"Yes. It appears that the one node was not enough. Fortunately, there are several of them, but Night Corp, Netwatch, and NCPD are aware that something is going on now. We may only get one of these nodes before we must back off."

I nodded to myself. "I figured that would be the case. Which one do we go for?"

"The closest one is in Vista Del Ray, north of the mega block you are nearby to. Head there now, as there are no AV's on route, nor patrol vehicles."

Shutting down the call, I stood quickly and ran. With a powerful pump of my legs, I leapt high into the air and off the roof, going into a glide immediately. Once the wings had a good amount of air grabbing them, I activated the grapple and fired towards the corner edge of the Housing Megablock.

With a hard yank, I was pulled in a rush, and released it just as I passed by the corner edge of the building.

My eyes wandered as I took in everything around, watchful for anything out of place from what I have experienced thus far. Aside from a gang battle between Valentinos and some group I didn't recognize, and a distant Trauma Team AV in the distance, nothing was amiss as I reached the roof with the node.

I activate the camouflage as soon as I set down and rushed to the node. Opening the case, like the last one, I jacked the portable cyberdeck into it and let Murk get to work. My head was turning to and fro, eyes like a hawk, keeping an eye for anything. To my relief, Murk succeeded and jacked out, and I packed and left.

"What's the status?"

"You left at just the right time. After I got into the node, Netwatch was onto me. Fortunately, I got the work done before they could break through the proxies I had set up. It's best you moved away from Heywood for now. Head back to Arroyo."

I did so, gliding over the overcrowded district, before hearing a scream. Glancing over, I saw an garbage filled alleyway with some homeless either moving away from trouble, ignoring it, or zonked out of their minds from BDs and Drugs.

There were five Valentino, most of them moderately augmented, with one heavly borged up ganger beating a man against a wall. Teeth and blood were splattered across the man's face and clothes, and he was barely able to stand up as the borg kept punching him. Two of the others were ripping the clothes off a teenaged girl, who was screaming and crying for help.

With a gritting of my teeth, I shifted my flight path and dove down. The sound of the wings fluttering with high winds was enough to make some of the gangers realize I was coming.

They shouted, and pulled out guns, but I reacted faster. My wings retracted, and I flipped right side up, and threw a pair of discs out. They whizzed through the air before cutting into the back of the borg, and followed up with a pair of explosive effects.

The first was a flashbang, sending firework like sparks and bangs into the enclosed space. The sound amplified, as was the brightness as light reflected off the wall surfaces instead of spreading outwards. The second, and more devastating explosive, was a mundane burst of EMP. A heavy burst of EMP.

Being directly cut into the back of the greatest threat, the borg found himself screaming in pain from the flashbang, but also from his cyberware suddenly combusting as wires that were filled with electrical energy fried themselves. Not military grade, but not far from it. It would take more than this to take the borg down, but he is off the plate for the moment.

Gunfire erupted as the other four gangers fired randomly into the air towards where I would be, but the bullets missed or glanced off my armor plating. In exchange, my boot met the face of the second most borged up member. His face was mostly chrome, so it broke under weight and force, but without killing the man. He would need a ripper later though, especially as his head bounced audibly off the wall, and then onto the ground.

The group recovered faster than I expected, as they blinked away the effects of the dazzlers, and saw me for the first time.

"What the fuck-" One shouted as he swung a shotgun at me. I reacted faster than him, and raised up his shotgun as it went off, the buckshot impacting the brick wall, as I smashed his chin with an upper cut. The punch took his entire faceplate off, revealing metal where a mouth would be. His eyes widened in shock before rolling back as he fell unconscious.

"¡Querido Dios! ¡Él lo mató!" One shouted in horror as he fired into my back plate. A back kick into his chest sends the man flying onto his back with several broken ribs. He rolls to his side in pain, and has trouble getting a breath as I took it from him.

"Die fucker!" one Ganger with an axe shouted as he strikes down to my flank. I allow him to hit my vambrace, doing little but scratching the paint off with a spark as metal met metal, and replied by wrapping that arm around his in a lock, and stamping his foot as hard as possible. The leather boot he wore was not a factor as his bones were crushed into fragments. His eyes go wide as the pain went from his foot, to his leg, and to his left side, and finally to his head. He shouted in agony, only to be silenced as I hammered my fist to the side of his face. Like the man I kicked, he laid on the ground in pain, only barely able to comprehend his situation.

"Fuck! Where is he!?" shouted the last ganger, still blinded from the dazzlers, and firing randomly about the alley way. A punch to the back of the head took him out of the fight.

I began to turn and face the borg, when I was suddenly slammed from behind by a powerful charge. The borg had recovered enough to join the fray, and I was caught off guard. The powerful cyborg placed me into a choke hold with one arm, while punching repeatedly into the back plate where my kidneys would be. It was not enough to break through and hurt me, but the suit reported that the armor integrity was down to 78% in just three punches.

"You're dead, Cabrón." The borg snarled as he kept at it. With a grunt, I twisted and planted my feet on the wall and pushed. The two of us were sent away, and the borg lost his footing and tripped on the littered debris of the alley. We both fell, but his grip loosened, and I quickly broke the hold.

Grabbing a nearby garbage bag, I tore it open as I pulled towards me, and then with a flip, brought it down upon the borgs head. Head inside of a bag filled with who knew what, the Borg yelled in a panic and ripped the bag off, sending rotten muck and food all over himself as I got to my feet and away.

"¡Bastardo!" The borg shouted as his arms shifted. My eyes narrowed as the suit computer identified them as "Gorilla Arms". Getting to his feet, the Borg sent a fast haymaker at me. With a shift, I grabbed his arm, and stressed the muscles and motors as I pulled hard, and lifted the borg into the air with shoulder throw.

"Guah!" the borg shouted in surprise as he flew head over heels and slammed back first into the wall, and then promptly onto his metal can of a head.

He groaned, stuggling to get back on his feet as he growled promises of murder upon me and whatever family I had. I just replied by kneeling down, and placing my palm on the back of his head, and activating the electrical field generators, giving him a powerful shock. Enough to render him unconscious, and out of the fight.

The fight was over. Looking over to the man they had been assaulting, the girl was holding him protectively. Her eyes looked at me fearfully as I strode over. I loomed over the two, and my mask showed me her heart rate was through the roof as she stared at my face.

"S-stay back!" she begged, which I ignored as I kneeled down. Before she could react, I used an hypo-injector on the man's shoulder. When it drained, I looked at the girl who looked more fearful now that I was so close.

"He needs a ripper doc." I spoke, my voice distorted, as I hacked into the cyberdecks of the Valentinos. Within moments, I took all their money, and then transferred it over to her.

"Take the money and go. Now." I commanded. She didn't need to be told twice as she stood and pulled the man up, who was now able to somewhat walk with the healing stimulant I used on him. He was still very much out of it however, as the girl had to guide his movements.

Using the grapple, I was pulled from the alley to the rooftop. I looked down, and the girl looked back in the alley, noticing I wasn't there anymore. She looked confused before the man groaned, forcing her to shake herself out of whatever confusion she had and drag the man away. Looking at the city map in my database, she was far from any ripper, the closest being in Arroyo where that greedy bastard from Edgerunners would be set up right now.

"Tell me if the Ripper in Arroyo is who I told you about?"

It took a few moments before Murk replied.

"It isn't. That man is currently near Pacifica and Arroyo, where you fought the Bozo's earlier. You do not need to worry about them reaching a ripper. There is a clinic not three streets from your position."

I blinked. Huh. I guess not all my meta-knowledge is applicable after all.

I glanced down at the gangers, who have seemed to be making calls. I dropped an EMP orb, and let it fry their systems a bit. The cried out in pain as the shock hit them. I ignored it, and grappled off into flight once more into the Night.