Scavengers

"Got a job?"

That was Karl's first reaction, followed by his second: "Faraday? Who are you?"

"Faraday?"

Hearing the name Karl mentioned, Oliver was quite familiar with it: "I remember, that's a Fixer who operates in the City Center, Watson District, and Santo Domingo. Back when I was with the Sixth Street Gang, some guys took jobs from him."

Jack lowered his voice and asked, "How's he?"

"Bottom-tier merc paired with a bottom-tier Fixer."

Oliver's hushed tone made it clear that this Fixer wasn't up to much. However, Karl on the other end of the line didn't read into it as much as they did. After learning from Oliver that the person on the other end was a Fixer, Karl understood his intentions.

"A Fixer, huh? Are you planning to give me a job?"

"An old client of mine from the Corporation recommended your number, saying you're quite capable. Want to try your hand at something?"

"An old client from the Corporation..."

The only Corpo Dog Karl knew well was Blanca. So Blanca must have thought his services were good and recommended him to someone.

"What's the job? Can you give me the specifics?"

Of course, he had to take a look if there was a job, even if he had just finished a big one today.

"Just a small task to get your feet wet, rescuing someone from those kidney-snatchers. Don't think of it as a formal assignment. Before any major collaborative deals, I always like to gauge the other party's abilities. Considering the difficulty, the reward won't be too high, just six thousand eddies. You don't mind, do you?"

Six thousand eddies...

Hearing that number, both Oliver and Jack felt strangely like they were being taken for fools.

Saying he wanted to test their abilities before any major collaborative deals was something only idiot mercenaries would believe. In reality, it was just empty promises. The real meaning behind those words was that there would be all sorts of suicide missions for them to do later, but he was afraid they couldn't even handle this, so he'd give them a small, unprofitable job where he skimmed off most of the money as a test.

But since he was at least the first Fixer to come knocking, Oliver and Jack didn't voice their objections for Karl's sake. Karl was in charge of taking on jobs and negotiating for their small team. If he thought they could do it, they'd do it; if not, they wouldn't. They just listened, did the work, and then waited to split the money.

"Rescuing someone from those kidney-snatchers, huh?"

Karl thought for a moment before saying, "Send over the specifics, what's the time limit?"

"I'll send you the details right away, and the deposit of fifteen hundred will be transferred as well. As for the time, it's up to you. If you're willing, you can go sooner; if you're busy, later is fine too. The client's bare minimum expectation is to at least get a body back, and the money they're offering is pretty much the baseline price for that."

Faraday's subtext was that the client's money was only enough to save a corpse.

"I understand. Send it over first, and I'll decide whether or not to take it."

"Alright, I'll hang up here."

The Fixer Faraday clearly didn't take it too seriously either. Within ten seconds of hanging up, a file was transmitted. Karl used the access point's built-in program to scan it, and after confirming that it didn't contain any common viruses, he opened it and started reading.

"Fixers just grab a few street rats who don't value their lives, give them money that wouldn't even buy them a decent piece of cyberware, and send them out with guns to fight Scavengers. I always thought that was just talk, but I didn't expect to actually encounter it myself."

Jack glanced at the potato chips he had just opened but hadn't had a chance to eat yet, sighed, and picked up his Saratoga.

"Tell me about it."

Oliver looked at Karl's expression and knew that he had most likely accepted the job. He also sighed, stood up, and started preparing. He had just finished eating, and now he had to work. He was afraid he might throw up later.

"I'm still watching, and you guys are already preparing?"

Karl finished reading the file and looked at Oliver and Jack, who were starting to get ready. "Isn't today supposed to be a rare day off?"

"Do you want to rest?"

Oliver checked his equipment and said, "Let's go. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can come back and continue eating. Just think of it as working off the meal."

"Don't you want to rest a little longer?"

"Come on, Karl, we know ourselves."

Jack gave Karl the middle finger: "Killing those kidney-snatching scum, and you're still pretending to ask what's up? Let's go quickly. If we're late, who knows, someone might have spent their entire fortune on the job, only to get back the corpse of their friend or relative who's been emptied out."

"Didn't know you were so kind-hearted, Jack."

Karl smiled, but he also stood up from the sofa, put the full bucket of french fries on the table, and prepared to eat them when he got back. "Yeah, we really can't let those bastards do any more disgusting things."

As for scum like the Scavengers, not to mention having a job, Karl, Oliver, and Jack would clean them up on the side even if they didn't have a job. After all, no one wanted to see someone they knew walking down the street and being kidnapped by them, their body emptied out without them even noticing.

The three went downstairs and squeezed into Oliver's beat-up car.

"Why are you complaining about my car being beat-up again? I'll make you walk back yourself, believe it or not, Karl."

"I just said it in my heart, I didn't mean for you to hear it."

"Bullshit, you were practically saying it out loud. Fine, if you think it's too small, I'll have someone modify it later and see if they can stuff you into the engine."

"Alright, we're already cramped enough, talk less, don't move around, my face is almost pressed against the window."

Jack complained about Oliver and Karl's restlessness and started talking about the Fixer from earlier: "Speaking of which, this job is for six thousand eddies. How much do you think that Faraday guy skimmed off?"

"That guy's treating us like idiots, so he probably won't give us much. I suspect he skimmed off at least half."

Oliver thought about the complaints from the people in the Sixth Street Gang who had taken jobs from Faraday: "I heard that taking half upfront is just the inherent nature of these Fixers."

"Judging by his appearance, it's probably more than half. I'm afraid he'll quote three or four times that much, empty the client's pockets, and all they'll get back is the corpse of a friend or relative who's been emptied out."

Jack shifted his body to the side: "I moved over a bit. Karl, where's the location? Let Oliver speed over there."

"Alright."

This was important, so no need to mess around.

Karl quickly gave the address.

The Scavengers were located in the City Center.

[City Center]: The heart of Night City, where corporations cluster. The safest place in all of Night City. Rumors of robberies and gang violence are just that to corporate personnel: rumors.

NCPD Threat Level Assessment: Safe