A moment of each group staring at the other passed.

"So, who are you guys?" Rogue belted it out while eye fucking John. Maybe, she liked what she saw there more than this "Johnny" she asked about.

I raced to come up with a plausible story.

"We're Mercs hired for a gig. No names given, just be here at this time. Do what our contact needs. Are you the contact?"

"I... don't... Shit this is just the kind of stunt Johnny would pull." She bit her lip and paced back and forth, and taping her pistol against her thigh. "That fucking gonk. Yeah, I guess I'm your contact."

"Excellent. What do you need?" With my visor down nodding was kind of pointless but I did it out of habit anyway.

"We are hitting Arasaka Tower, while the riots have them distracted. Johnny was supposed to be here, but I guess he sent you instead." Her scowl could have started wildfires.

[ Challenge 1 complete - 1 Reward token ]

[ Meet Contact - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]

[ Meeting was peaceful - 2 Unit Upgrade tokens ]

Whoa! That was a lot for just talking to someone. These Mana Sinks were awesome!

But the tokens didn't appear. Probably got them all at the end.

I turn to my group.

"Let's head out." I turned back to Rogue, "Lead the way." I almost gestured but I caught myself in time. Best not to seem too flippant.

We followed Rogue's people to a more open area of the Alleyways. Lots of dumpsters. The most interesting thing was the very loud AV hovering just above the ground.

The side door was already open and a very aggressive heavy machinegun of some variety was jutting out ready for someone to lit up the night.

"Mine" John said. Let it be a testament to his obvious deadliness that no one said a word of objection.

We mounted the AV, Rogue went up to talk to the pilot.

Eager and Borfen went with Raynor to stand towards the back, to keep an eye on everyone else.

I posted up next to John, So I could look out the side door. I grabbed onto an overhead grip bar lightly. While I kept my SOR pointed out, my accuracy would only slightly be affected by using one hand to shoot, thanks to the enhancements of the armor. Alina's clone, nested in the suit, could practically shoot for me, if needed.

Hmm. there was no exit on the other side of the vehicle, a design flaw as far as I was concerned. It did seem to be quite a sturdy beast though. Shame I didn't have a Probe to scan it right now.

The chrome skinned guy chuckled as John familiarized himself with the HMG, "Good, you know your weapons. Call me Shaitan."

John grunted. He must be warming up to the big guy.

I took quick stock of the rest of the vehicle's occupants. There was a guy in a business suit and a small camera drone. He was speaking to the Drone.

"It will be on this day, August 20, 2023 that the underdogs strike back against Corporate tyranny to liberate one of their comrades... "

Some kind of reporter, I guessed.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

That was shocking, we were 51 years in the past, almost exactly. Wait, I remember Sinn talking about this... fuck I don't really recall what she said about it, just that it changed everything.

There were a number of other folks, some looked military and some looked like nomads. All of them looked ready for a fight.

Then there was a little wisp of a thing, messing with what looked like an extra thick laptop. She was wired straight into it. She hummed and sang little rhymes while working. I had a feeling she wasn't all there.

This time's equivalent to a netrunner. Probably.

So where was Johnny Silverhand? Rogue thought we'd be him. He was supposed to spearhead this group right? I think that was what happened. There should be two other groups, right?

As the AV rose into the air I saw two other vehicles fall into formation with ours.

Rogue came back from the front.

"ETA 5 minutes." She announced. She turned to John, "There are going to be turrets, those are your priority targets. The security forces shouldn't be able to dent this baby with their iron."

One thing I was finding odd, sure the tech had advanced. But not as much as you would expect for 50 years, and the culture seemed much the same. As I looked out at Night City I could see tons of differences in its layout. So why so little change?

A stagnate culture and and barely improved tech. Something was deeply wrong with this world.

Ah screw it, I better get my head in the game.

Other than the reporter and the netrunner everyone was quiet. Lost in their own thoughts or just silent by nature.

Of course, it started raining.

"Alpha Team, 30 Seconds to Contact!" Rogue barked out.

We had swung around most of the city to come at this area from the other side. Though not the same this section of the city mirrored the City Center from our time. Thought the architecture was somewhere between mine Earth's version and the crazy physics defying buildings of this world in 2077.

"Missiles! Deploying countermeasures!" The pilot called over their shoulder.

The AV started yawing back and forth as several light thuds popped off from the tail of the vehicle. Flares and chaff.

Then John fired a short burst, taking out a missile as it was passing our vehicle. Showoff.

Then the AV turned giving us a clear line of sight to the tallest buildings rooftop. We were still farther I than wanted to start shooting from, but not John.

Using tight controlled bursts he took out the first turret before they had even started firing at us. By the time the first turret responded he was already finished with the second.

"You are good!" Laughed Shaitan. He seemed the type to enjoy a good fight.

We circled closer, the security forces had begun trying to hit us, but they were mostly bouncing off the heavily armor fuselage of the AV.

I targeted a few of them and added my two cents the heavy pounding John was laying down. He simply never missed.

The third turret down before we completed the first full circle of the building.

Then a round bounced off John's shield which shattered but kept him intact. Thank goodness no one else was on that gun, they'd be going home in a bag.

The brush with death only seemed to increase John's determination. He walked his fire over to the last turret cutting several bodies in half on the way.

I had managed to hit a couple of the bastards myself, though keeping a stable footing was hard.

A moment later the last turret was down. John turned the gun on the rest of the security forces and nothing they did could save them. Run or hide the bullets found them.

We hadn't even completed a second rotation around the building when John let the gun rest. No more targets.

"Take us down!" Rogue yelled to the pilot.

Less than a minute later we were back on solid concrete and forming up to find out the next step.

The other two AVs set down next to us and disgorged their own cargos of mercs.

The rain hadn't let up, I was happy to be in a fully enclosed suit. Everyone one who wasn't, got drenched in no time.

Most of them didn't stand out too much, but one guy in a trench coat, gave off a similar feeling to John. Not quite as dark, but very close.

"Anybody injured?!" I yelled.

I got a chorus of noes.

Rogue gave me a questioning look.

"Team Medic." I responded with a chuckle.

"Scariest looking medic I ever saw." Said the guy in a trench coat as he walked over with a upright looking fella.

"Morgan, Ronald, are we ready for the next phase." Rogue shook hands with the two guys.

"Yeah, let's get moving." Morgan, the dangerous one said.

"We are ready." Ronald echoed. His team looked like Black Ops soldiers. They were carrying a large duffle bag that seemed to require two to move.

"Alright, we return in 30 minutes, no longer. Don't get left behind." Rogue nodded to them before turning back to us.

"Our target is on the 120th floor. It's a series of labs, we are looking for the mainframe. Extract the target and return here. Questions?" She barked it out, it was obvious this wasn't her first rodeo.

"Can you guide me? We should lead, our armor should be able to hold up to most of what they got." I answered.

"Good Idea. I'll follow you and point the way." Rogue smirked at me. Probably thinking we were about to be torn to pieces.

She had better get ready to be wrong.