Chapter 203: Beginning and End
“get V to a Ripperdoc.. hah... get V to a Ripperdoc...” Dexter muttered, slamming his fist against the TV and roaring:
“You bastards knew damn well we couldn’t delay! Dammit! All of Night City is buzzing about last night! You blew the whole thing wide open! And now you tell me you had to waste time finding a Ripperdoc?”
He spun around, fury blazing through his sunglasses.
“Last night was the best window to pull out, but no—you had to go chasing a Ripperdoc! Now it’s not just one corpse—we’re all headed straight to hell!”
“This mess... doesn’t exactly land on us,” Arthur said evenly, his eyes still hidden beneath the brim of his gambler’s hat.
“The mission, the plan—you laid it all out. We followed it to the letter. The rest? Accidents.
And besides... your netrunner dropped the ball at the worst possible time.”
“Plan?” Dexter’s voice cracked with rage, practically screaming.
“Plan? You mean the fucking plan where you killed Saburo Arasaka? The Emperor himself? You could flip Night City upside down, and Arasaka’s dogs would still drag the killers into the light.
And the netrunner—you don’t know? That poor girl’s brain got fried by Arasaka’s netrunners! Fried straight out of her skull!”
He sucked in air, chest heaving, forcing a show of composure.
Then he raised a finger, his tone suddenly feigning concern.
“How’s V?”
“Dead...” Arthur said flatly. The lack of grief in his voice made Dexter stare hard—until Arthur added, “Maybe not dead. Still unconscious. Doc says odds of survival are slim.”
“My condolences...” Dexter’s voice softened with false piety. “God be with us.”
Given modern medtech, “slim chance” was as good as dead already. Only catastrophic brain trauma earned that prognosis.
“Oh, right...” Dexter asked with little interest, “What about the target? The chip?”
“Didn’t get it.” Arthur’s reply was short.
“That’s... good news. Irrelevant, but good news.”
Dexter rose slowly, glancing toward the door. His bodyguard stepped quietly into the motel’s open space.
“Friends... best you leave now,” Dexter said, pointing lazily at the exit. His voice sounded weary. “New location, new IDs... strategy matters in getting out clean. For now, go rest. Once I’ve arranged everything, I’ll contact you.”
Arthur’s eyes flicked to the doorway, then back. His boots didn’t move.
...
“Bang!”
The gunshot tore the silence.
Dexter’s bodyguard toppled before he could react, a neat hole in his forehead spilling blood with ruler-straight precision.
Dexter’s pupils blew wide as he stared at Arthur, disbelief twisting his face.
“We debated killing you...” Arthur’s voice was calm, yet to Dexter it cut like ice scraping bone. “Didn’t expect you’d be thinking the same.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?! Shit! You betrayed—”
“This is a world of outlaws,” Arthur lifted his head at last, his eyes visible for the first time—a small show of respect.
“Look at us... desperadoes. We don’t go to church.”
“And one more thing—you forgot we’ve got a netrunner too. The people you staged upstairs? Waiting in the hall on both sides with light machine guns...”
Arthur looked him up and down, slowly shaking his head.
“You never should’ve come back to Night City. But it doesn’t matter now.”
“Bang!”
Silence fell over the motel.
“Shit... cleaning up after Arasaka makes my skin crawl,” Jackie muttered, shrugging oddly.
Arthur shot him a look. “This cleans up for us too. If Yorinobu Arasaka’s blocking the investigation, he’ll need a story.”
He shoved Jackie toward the door. “And the guys outside? Their backup’s almost here. You didn’t think I was bluffing, did you?”
“Fine...” Jackie drew his dual pistols, raising them. “Let’s drop them first.”
The iron door creaked open...
Eyes glinted in the shadowed corridor.
But instead of two men stepping out, three muzzles poked through the doorway. The watchers squinted, confused why the targets weren’t moving—some even leaned forward to check.
Gunfire erupted.
The ambushers collapsed fast, their comrades scattering in panic. The survivors bolted down both ends of the hall, dropping weapons in terror.
Arthur and Jackie slipped away, vanishing into the back of the run-down motel.
...
Night City was anything but calm. Arasaka’s furious manhunt had the whole city on edge. But beneath the panic, something about their “investigation” felt off.
In the underworld, rumors spread like wildfire—truth and lies tangled together. Everyone wanted the heads of those bold enough to strike at Arasaka’s throne. No one had dared pull something like this in years.
Little China stayed as chaotic as ever...
Arthur’s crew finally found some quiet. Mama Welles of the Wild Wolf Bar had locked her son at home again.
He’d caused real trouble this time—or rather, all of them had.
In Vik’s clinic, V still hadn’t woken. Vik had operated on her three times in a single day. Only when he pulled the grenade fragment from her skull during the last procedure did they truly understand how close she’d come to death.
Vik’s brow never eased once.
...
“When things quieted down, Arthur went back to his place.”
Until one morning, when he opened his eyes—and froze at the sight in front of him.
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