The Whirlpool Gang again?

"You're here."

"I'm here."

He really wanted to launch into some "you shouldn't have come" spiel, but Karl figured his Corpo Dog employer wouldn't get the reference, so he shut his mouth after the greeting.

This was the second time he'd seen his employer. Unlike their brief first encounter where he'd only registered her imperious air, Karl now had time to take her in.

She'd been wearing makeup the first time they met. She'd looked pretty enough, but Karl had been too focused on the promised ten thousand eddies to really study her face. Now that he was taking a closer look, he'd guess she was around twenty-three or twenty-four, with striking features: high eyebrows, deep-set eyes, short black hair, dark irises, and a somewhat dark complexion. Looking closer, she had the distinct features of someone from Southern Europe, specifically Spain or Italy – a Latin face, as it were.

Karl was somewhat face-blind when it came to white people, but he could still distinguish races based on general characteristics. Still, her distinctive look didn't strike him as particularly odd in Night City.

After all, America was a nation of immigrants, and Night City was a melting pot of races from all over the West Coast. In Night City, Karl wouldn't be surprised to see a Corpo Dog with Latin features, or even someone claiming to be a descendant of the Mohicans. After all, the so-called "Mohawk," that tribe's signature hairstyle, was all the rage in Night City these days.

His employer seemed to be waiting for something. Even if Karl knew what it was, he wasn't planning on acting. She stood in front of the No-Tell Motel, not particularly conspicuous. Without makeup or a suit, dressed only in a black jacket, she was just a bit prettier than the girls hanging around the street. Karl, on the other hand, with his mercenary look, was drawing plenty of attention. However, most of the girls who passed by lost interest when they saw someone standing next to him, and those who did approach were quickly deterred by the cold glare she shot their way.

The silence between Karl and his employer stretched on for a while. Then, as if to alleviate boredom, or perhaps to give her bodyguard a better understanding of the situation, she spoke. "My name is Blanca. You can call me that during the operation."

Blanca, a common Spanish name meaning white, pure. Karl remembered that there was a wise French queen from Castile in the thirteenth century with the same name. But comparing the name to the person...

Karl looked at Blanca, dressed in all black, and thought about the meaning of her name. It felt completely backwards.

"For the task at hand, all you need to do is protect my safety. Look less, say less. I don't need you to participate in anything, and if you hear anything, forget it. I think you can do that, right?"

Karl simply nodded, projecting an image of taciturnity. He wasn't Oliver, he didn't have that much to say normally.

But even though he responded with silence, his employer kept talking, shifting her weight from foot to foot, as if to relieve tension. "There should be about ten people on the other side. If the negotiations fail, I'll make a gesture of flicking my hair. When you see that, you kill the person I'm talking to, then cover my escape. Understand?"

"Mm."

Karl silently filed away the information: ten enemies, kill after hair flick, protect NPC (employer), reward fifty thousand.

Easy enough to remember.

Karl wasn't going to ask Blanca why, as a corporate employee, she had to negotiate alone and hire a mercenary like him as a bodyguard. It didn't matter if Blanca couldn't trust anyone in the company, or if it was just her personal business and had nothing to do with the company. Karl didn't care.

He only cared about how many enemies there were, whether they could be killed, and how much the reward was. With that information, he felt like he could handle the job.

Well, if he had to add any other information, it would be where the enemies were.

Blanca, seeing Karl's calm demeanor, as if he didn't give a damn about the ten people on the other side, was about to say something more when a black Sky-Hera EC-D I360 pulled up on the road in front of them.

[Sky-Hera EC-D I360]: The first model in the Hera series. Because it was so durable, easy to repair, and affordable, it almost bankrupted the manufacturing Sky-Hera company. At the same time, this made the Sky-Hera board of directors understand a truth: product quality can be excellent, but it cannot be *too* excellent. This vehicle, first produced in 2023, is now outdated, but there are still many owners who love it and continue to modify it. It can still be seen on the streets of Night City.

Like Oliver's Sky-Quartz EC-L R275, it was a Sky-Hera product. These types of cars were generally used by the middle class and the lower class, and were representative of durability and affordability.

As Karl and Blanca watched, the back door of the Hera EC-D I360 opened, revealing an empty back seat facing them, as if inviting them to get in.

Karl felt his employer's breathing become a little heavier.

Looks like this was the car to take them there.

Good, it was better than squeezing into a two-seater. Karl always had to squeeze together with that strongman Jack in Oliver's car, and it was even more uncomfortable after Jack got his Subdermal Armor. He'd had enough.

The employer walked towards the car, and Karl immediately followed closely behind. After getting into the car and sitting down, Karl saw the person in the driver's seat turn his red-glowing head around. Or, more accurately, the driver turned around, his eight cybernetic eyes flashing red.

That was too iconic, a posture that completely disfigured the entire face. Karl sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, it was those Maelstrom psychos who didn't treat themselves like people. Old acquaintances.

He was tired of killing them. Couldn't they change the target?

No one knew what Karl was thinking. After the Maelstrom driver confirmed their identities, he turned back around. Then the car started, and they drove towards the northern Industrial Park in Watson District, the most important place where Maelstrom was entrenched.

Looks like this employer had something else in Maelstrom's hands besides the initial leverage.