Friday Night Firefight: A Cyberpunk Isekai

“Alright, kid. Follow the light,” Vik muttered as he waved a tiny penlight in my face. I was slouched in the exam chair in his basement clinic, feeling like I’d been run over by a tank. He’d just got done poking and prodding me like I was some busted-up machine he was trying to fix. And now he was trying to blind me. Also probably checking for a concussion, but honestly? At this point, I had no idea.

I blinked, trying to focus on the blinding light. Most of the equipment Vik had scattered about his clinic was a mystery to me. One piece of tech looked like a fancy pair of tweezers. He had another that had blinking lights at the end. Everything was all future medicine, and I wasn’t a ripperdoc so I didn’t know what half the stuff did. But I trusted Vik to patch me up, so I just followed the light with my eyes.

“How you feeling?” asked Vik, stowing the penlight on a rolling bin he brought over next to himself. He shifted his focus to my ribs and carefully pressed his fingers down on them – exactly where Brandon Frost had tried to turn me into mush.

“Well, I feel like shit, doc,” I said, grimacing as his fingers found a particularly tender spot. After the fight, once all the adrenaline had worn off, Diego had dropped me and Cyndi at Vik’s place to get checked out. My head was pounding, my ribs screamed with every breath, and I swear I could feel the bruises from Frost’s headbutts spreading on my body. But hey, I was still breathing.

Vik frowned, his fingers pressing more gently now. “Hmm. Doesn’t seem like you’ve got any internal bleeding. You’re lucky,” he muttered, grabbing another tool. It buzzed to life and sent slow vibrations through my chest as he ran it over me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Cyndi. She was sprawled out in Vik’s chair at his work desk, feet kicked up on the counter, flipping through what looked like a digital catalog of Vik’s inventory. Her eyes sparkled as she took in all the new implants and mods he had, like she was a kid in a candy story. No doubt she was already planning all the chrome she’d get once our crew landed our next big job.

Vik’s hand moved to my face, tracing along the edge of my jaw, where my face implant rested beneath my skin. “Might’ve got yourself a concussion,” he mumbled. “You said the guy headbutted you? Could’ve knocked something loose. I wanna check your…uh, cyberdeck.”

“Cyberdeck?” I frowned. “Feels like it’s running fine to me.”

Vik hesitated, his hand pausing for a moment. He shot me a sidelong glance, then looked over at Cyndi who was still engrossed in the tablet, not paying us much attention. And then it clicked. Vik didn’t know that Cyndi was in the loop about my face implant. The thing was still experimental, and he knew corps would kill me if they found out about it.

“It’s cool, Vik,” I said, waving off his concern. “Cyndi already knows.”

Cyndi chimed in without even looking up. “Knows? About his creepy face thing? Yea, I know.” she said with a smirk, flipping to the next page on the tablet.

Vik let out a breath, his shoulders relaxing as he nodded. “Good. Just didn’t wanna spill any secrets.”

He turned back to me, more focused now, his hands moving from my face to my neck, then down along my arms and torso, tracing the nodes embedded beneath my skin. I’d almost forgotten how much of the implant was spread across my body. Vik’s scanner beeped and whirred as he checked each node carefully, making sure nothing was fried or out of place.

Finally, he stepped back and wiped his hands on his pants. “Well, you’re banged up, but nothing too critical. No internal bleeding, ribs are bruised but not broken, and everything’s still working. Just—” he gave me a knowing look “—stop picking fights with borged-out psychos, and you’ll be fine.”

“Now that that’s done,” Cyndi said, slipping off Vik’s chair and moving over to us. “You got any berserk operating systems in stock?”

Vik raised an eyebrow at her, clearly caught off guard. He leaned back in his chair and gave her a quick once-over. “You wanna let your Lynx Paws settle in first before slapping on more chrome. Let your body adjust a bit, unless…” he turned to me. “You need more firepower for something coming up. Are you planning to move in around here? Are we gonna be neighbors soon?”

I blinked, thrown off by the question. “Neighbors?”

Vik looked from Cyndi to me, his expression somewhere between amusement and mild concern. “Look, people tell me things. Word is your crew’s looking for a new place to set up shop. If it’s around here, I’d appreciate a heads-up. I can shut down for a few days while everything…plays out. If you’re planning on picking a fight with the Claws, that is.”

Oh. He thought the Pack was moving into his neck of the woods. “Nothing like that. No. We’re not setting up shop here. We’re still trying to figure things out.”

Cyndi picked back up her tablet and went back to scrolling through Vik’s inventory. She didn’t even look up as she asked, “You got some plans? John’s been scouting around a lot lately.”

I shrugged. “Yea, a few. Rocky Ridge maybe. It’s just outside the city. Lots of open space. Could make a good base.” I knew about it from the game. V and Panam had used the place to set up an ambush for a few carloads of Raffen.

Vik stopped what he was doing and looked over at me. “Rocky Ridge? I’ve heard of it. It’s pretty far outside the city. You really thinking of moving your whole crew outside Night City?”

I sighed, scratching my chin as I thought about it. “Yea, that’s the thing. It’s pretty isolated. But we could make some cash partnering up with the Nomads. You know, play the middleman. If any clan wants to move goods in or out of the city, we provide protection, muscle, connections…whatever they need. But I’m not sure it’s the right move.”

Cyndi didn’t miss a beat. “What about the drive-in you were talking about? That’s still sorta in the city.”

I waved it off. She was talking about the drive-in movie theater from the game, where V takes Rogue out on a date for Johnny. It was abandoned and could possibly be a good spot for us. “It’s still out on the edges. Feels too disconnected. I don’t want us cut off from the action.”

Cyndi tossed the tablet onto one of Vik’s workbenches. “John says he’s found a couple other spots, mostly Downtown and Watson. They don’t have a bunch of big gangs operating out there. We could move in easy.”

“Yea,” I nodded. “But Downtown’s crawling with cops and corpos. Sure, Anna could probably help us smooth things over with the badges, and having them on our side wouldn’t hurt. But still, setting up there means more eyes on us – cops, corpos, and everyone else with a stake in the city.”

A message flashed on my optics.

Angelica: set up the meeting with my boss. Sending the pin now. Rancho Coronado. Don’t make me regret this.

A pin dropped on my map, marking a spot deep in Rancho Coronado. It looked like an old paint factory. Definitely not the place you’d pick for a casual chat. My gut tightened a bit and I sent out a message to Anna and Diego.

Noah: time to get to work.

&&&&&&&&

Anna and Diego pulled up in Anna’s old Archer Hella to pick us up. Despite all the eddies we’d made since forming out little crew, Anna hadn’t upgraded much of anything she owned. Same car, same apartment. She said she liked things the way they were, but I still figured she’d buy something with a bit more flash.

Cyndi and I climbed into the back, and as soon as we were settled, Anna glanced over her shoulder at me. “Your precious cargo’s in the trunk.”

“How’s he doing? He’s not gonna die on us, is he?”

“Diego patched him up. We figured he only needs to be conscious and awake until we hand him over to the Animals.”

The ride was quiet after that. Anna and Diego weren’t much for small talk, and I was too busy running through all the ways this meeting could go sideways. I only needed Brandon alive and kicking long enough to make the handoff. After that? His fate was out of my hands.

As we left the bright lights of Night City behind and passed through the edges of Heywood, we started to venture out into what I thought of as the suburbs of Night City. The neon faded, giving way to empty streets and half-abandoned buildings. Rancho Coronado always felt like a place where civilization had given it a half-hearted attempt and then just shrugged and left the area to rot.

Anna slowed down as the pin on my map got closer. We turned down a street lined with crumbling warehouses, each one looking worse than the last. Finally, we pulled up to a building that looked like it had survived a few wars. Painted on the wall outside the front entrance of the building were the worlds “Tripple Xtreme Epic Workout Center.”

Cyndi snorted. “They misspelled Triple.”

The place was an old paint warehouse, a rusted hulk of metal sheets and no windows. It looked more like a bunker than a gym. It wouldn’t have looked out of place in some forgotten corner of a third-world country. There weren’t any windows, just walls of metal with the occasional sheet that was so pockmarked it looked like a screen door. It had the vibe of a place that had been abandoned and then claimed by people who didn’t care about appearances.

Anna parked the car, and she, Cyndi and I got out. I left Diego with the Hella, figuring it was best to have him here to keep an eye on things – and our “cargo.” The last thing I needed was for someone to jack the car and screw up my deal with the Animals.

Two Animals were stationed out front of the building, built like they’d been designed in a lab for maximum intimidation. Neither of them moved as we approached, but I could feel their eyes sweeping over us. One of them, a hulking brute with arms thicker than my legs, stepped forward to block the door.

“Fight night tonight,” he growled. “Two hundred eddies a head for the cover.”

I gave him a quick glance and a half smile. “Yea, I know it’s fight night. I’m here to meet Angelica. We can do that out here, or you can let us in.”

The second Animal, just as big but definitely dumber, crossed his arms and gave us a smug look, like he had sized us up and found us lacking. His gaze flicked between Anna and me, and he smirked like he was trying to be clever. “Angelica, huh?” His voice had that rough, deep edge, like he thought it was enough to rattle us. “What makes you think we give a shit about her around here? She doesn’t run this place.”

“Angelica knows we’re coming,” I said, turning my attention to the first Animal, the one that looked like he had at least a few brain cells to rub together. “We’ve got a meeting with her boss.”

That seemed to hit the mark. At the mention of Angelica’s boss, the first guy’s face paled a bit. He pulled out an Agent from his pocket, thumbing through the screen as he dialed. Meanwhile, the idiot sidled up next to Anna, acting like he needed to prove something. I knew what was coming. I hadn’t risen to his bait, so he was going to try and get on my nerves by using Anna. Maybe he thought we were together or something, and by hitting on her in front of me he’d be proving he was a man. Not for the first time I started rethinking my plan of working with the Animals.

The idiot stepped closer to Anna and gave her a once over. “Like we said, two hundred eddies a head for the cover. But if you want, we can come to a different agreement.”

Before I could respond, Cyndi slid in. She draped an arm over the guy’s shoulder like they were old pals, her Lynx Paws letting her move so quietly that even I forgot she was there. The guy flinched, his eyes going wide as if he hadn’t even noticed her approach. Her excitement was contagious though. She was practically bouncing on her feet, her eyes darting around like a kid in a candy store, eager to get inside the gym.

“Can we move this along?” Cyndi asked, grinning. “I wanna see the fights. Heard they’re worth the trip out here.”

The idiot stiffened, clearly rattled by her sudden appearance. He didn’t say anything else though. The guy with the Agent finished his call and pocketed the device. He stepped aside, giving me a wary look like he wasn’t entirely sure we belonged there. “Angelica says you can come in and wait. The boss is finishing up a fight right now. After that, you’ll have your meeting.”

I gave him a nod and we moved past, stepping inside the gym. The smell hit me immediately – a sharp mix of sweat, metal, and the faint tang of blood. The warehouse was a no-frills setup. Nothing fancy. Half of it was filled with rusted, aging equipment, weights scattered around like no one gave a damn about putting them back. The other half was the real attraction: a massive open space with a deep pit in the center – probably where they mixed vats of paint, judging by the stains still clinging to the walls. The Animals had repurposed the pit into their version of a fighting ring. No ropes, no barriers, just a sunken hole in the floor where people beat each other senseless.

The whole place had somewhat of an amateurish feel to it. The Animals had thrown together a set of stands around the pit where people could sit and watch the fight, but most people weren’t using them. They were crowded around the pit, leaning over the edge to get a better view of the action. There wasn’t anyone selling food or drinks, but the place still had a decent turnout. People obviously weren’t here for the amenities, because there wasn’t any.

Noah: so…I think I screwed up. Didn’t know I’d be walking us into an Animal hideout. The three of us are kinda naked here.

Angelica: relax. I had some of my people come in earlier to watch the fights. They’re blending with the crowd. My people are here if things go sideways.

We pushed our way through the crowd to find a spot where we could peer into the pit. The Animals and the usual Night City crowd were screaming and cheering, their eyes glued to the carnage of the fight. Cyndi was practically buzzing, her excitement spilling over as she moved through the mass of bodies like she was a kid at her first concert.

When we finally got to the edge of the pit, I got my first real look at what had everyone so glued to the action. A massive woman – easily seven feet tall and a solid wall of muscle covered in tats – was absolutely demolishing another Animal like it was nothing. Her fists crashed into him like wrecking balls, each punch sending blood and spit flying in every direction. The guy she was fighting wasn’t small by any means, but next to her, he looked…fragile.

Every punch she threw sent the poor bastard stumbling. His face was already a mess of blood and swelling, and it was clear he wasn’t going to last much longer. She was toying with him, beating him with a casual, almost bored expression on her face.

“Shit,” I muttered, my voice lost in the roar of the crowd. I wasn’t focused on the fight. Hell, it couldn’t even be called a fight. It was a massacre. And it’s not what drew my attention. I was instead focused on the woman herself. I zoomed in with my Kiroshi’s and scanned her and her file popped up almost immediately.

Matilda K. Rose. AKA Sasquatch. Wanted for: First-Degree Murder, Performing Unlawful Genetic Alteration, and a laundry list of other crimes.

The name hit me like a punch to the gut. I’d fought her so many times in the game. She was always a nightmare. Her insane strength and ability to tank endless amounts of damage made her one of my least favorite boss fights. She had this brutal spinning hammer attack that could knock you on your ass, and now here she was – in the flesh – absolutely wrecking some poor bastard without even breaking a sweat.

“Oh, yea!” Cyndi squealed, leaning over the edge of the pit, her eyes wide with excitement. She was soaking it all in like she was watching the best show of her life.

Noah: so, that big chick is who we’re gonna be meeting with. Things might get…bad.

I watched as Cyndi and Anna read the message. Cyndi’s grin somehow got even wider. Anna, on the other hand, looked unsure – her brow furrowing as she glanced around the gym. I was sure she was updating her new recruits to tell them to be on guard.

The crowd’s roar reached a fever pitch, snapping me back to the pit just in time to see Sasquatch raise one massive arm. An Animal standing ringside tossed a sledgehammer down into the pit. The crowd went absolutely wild, their cheers deafening as Sasquatch hefted the weapon with ease.

And then, with a single brutal swing, she brought the hammer down. The Animal she had been fighting had his head smashed apart like a melon. Blood, bone, and brain matter sprayed the walls of the pit. The guy’s body collapsed, lifeless, while Sasquatch stood tall, raising her arms in triumph, basking in the bloodthirsty adoration of the crowd.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Angelica standing at the edge of the crowd. She noticed me and sauntered over, but her usual swagger seemed slightly dampened. Was it tension there? Fear? Her eyes flicked to Sasquatch, who was still in the pit, egging the crowd on to cheer louder.

“My boss is pissed,” Angelica muttered as soon as she got close. “And honestly, I can’t blame her. You kept her waiting. She expected to meet with you right after the election, but it’s been…what, a week or two now? She’s not happy.”

I clenched my jaw, already knowing this meeting was going to be rough. “Thanks for the heads-up,” I said, keeping my tone low. Cyndi was still buzzing from the fight, but even she could sense something was about to go down.

Angelica didn’t get the chance to warn me further before Sasquatch’s gaze snapped to us. She paused, wiped some blood off her knuckles, then with a seemingly effortless leap, launched herself out of the pit. It had to be an eight or nine-foot jump, but she landed right next to me without so much as a wobble. The crowd instinctively got out of the way for fear of being squashed by a mountain of muscle raining down from above.

I realized right then that the whole fight she’d been having had been a show, meant to get inside my head and rattle me. Sasquatch didn’t just want to meet with me; she wanted me to understand exactly who I was dealing with. The guy she just tore apart? He was easily twice my size, and she’d turned him into a ragdoll like it was nothing. This was a power play, plain and simple.

Sasquatch stopped just inches from me, her breath heavy and hot from the fight. Her bulk cast a shadow over me and every instinct I had screamed at me to run. She glared down at me, her lips twisting into a sneer.

“You know, when I heard about you, I wanted to get you into the ring,” she growled, her voice like gravel grinding in an engine. “My people had that election job locked down and then you—” she jabbed a finger into my chest, hard enough to make me step back “—come in and fuck it up. But it looks like someone already beat on you before I could.” She motioned to the bruises and black eye that I was sporting.

I could feel every set of eyes in the gym locked onto us now. Cyndi had gone dead silent, and Anna, though calm, was watching every move. I wanted to work with the Animals, but I knew that if I rolled over now, I’d lose whatever shred of respect I could earn with Sasquatch. That much was obvious.

I stood my ground, meeting her gaze even though my heart was pounding like a drum. “You think this is bad? You should see the other guy,” I said, my voice steady. “In fact, he’s waiting outside in the car. I can introduce the two of you.”

For a heartbeat, I wasn’t sure how she’d react. The crowd in the gym probably thought the two of us were just chatting, but the subtext was clear to both of us. You’re pretty tough surrounded by your Animals. We can step outside and talk where you don’t have backup.

I noticed some movement in the crowd and guessed it was Anna’s recently recruited badges. They were getting ready in case anything went down. Sasquatch’s eyes narrowed. “Lead the way.”

I started walking back to the entrance of the gym, and the moment Sasquatch and I turned away from the fighting pit, I could feel the crowd’s focus shift. The Animals quickly set up another match, and the crowd lost interest in us.

“So, I wanted to talk about a mutually beneficial arrangement between The Pack and the Animals. We’re both looking to expand. We both want more territory, more power. We can either fight over it, or we can help each other get what we want.”

“Territory?” she scoffed, her voice thick with disdain. “Animals don’t give a shit about territory. We don’t need it. Night City’s a jungle. The whole damn place is our hunting ground. Only chickenshits like the Tyger Claws and Maelstrom feel the need to put down roots. We hunt wherever the hell we want.”

I’d wondered about that. The Animals never seemed to care about controlling turf like most of the other gangs in Night City. Sure, they had their gyms and night clubs. But they weren’t like Maelstrom or the VDB. They were more like roving bands of hunters who roamed wherever the food went.

I couldn’t help myself. Something about the way she casually dismissed the idea didn’t sit right with me. “And how’s that working for you?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I could feel the air shift. Her eyes narrowed, lips curling into a snarl. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face me fully. “What do you mean?” she growled, her voice a dangerous rumble.

“How much are you making from that fight back there?” I asked.

“200 eddies a head,” she replied. “We got a good crowd in for the night.”

“200 eddies? You’re underselling it. If it was me, I’d only charge a ten eddie cover charge.”

She scoffed, but before she could say anything I continued. “It’s enough to keep out the poor, and it gives you a larger crowd. You got bookies taking bets. The fights are good. But look around. You don’t have anyone serving food. No booze. No drinks. People come, watch a fight, and then leave. You’re leaving so much money on the table.”

She snorted, clearly unimpressed, but I could tell I had her attention. “And you think selling drinks and snacks is gonna make us rich?”

“Not just rich,” I said. “You could triple your income easily. When people drink, they stick around. They place more bets. They get more invested in the fights. And this is one gym out in the boonies. What if you set up rings all throughout the city? What if those rings were attached to casinos? And nightclubs? You could make the Animals the name in entertainment in Night City.”

She didn’t interrupt, so I pushed on. “The NC Blackouts aren’t selling a basketball game. Joytoys aren’t selling sex. Casinos aren’t selling the chance to win big. They’re all selling an experience. You should be competing with them. Make it an event. Fights, food, drinks, betting, VIP sections for the big eddies. You’ve got the muscle to put on a show. Hell, people should be lining up to throw their money at you, they just want you to give them a reason.”

Sasquatch didn’t say anything for a moment, her eyes scanning me like she was trying to size up whether I was full of shit or onto something. I could tell she was slightly taken aback. “You’ve got other plans too, don’t you?” she finally asked, her voice quieter, less confrontational than before.

I gave her a smile. “I’ve got ideas. And I’m betting they’re worth hearing.”

We eventually reached Anna’s Archer Hella. Diego was perched next to it, arms crossed, keeping watch. As soon as her eyes landed on him, Sasquatch’s face twisted into a sneer. She gave him a quick once-over and noticed he was completely uninjured.

“It doesn’t look like you put up much of a fight against him,” she said. “No scratches or anything.”

“Diego? Nah. He didn’t give me these bruises.” I sidestepped around the car, sending a quick message to Anna to pop the trunk.

With a faint click, the trunk opened, revealing Brandon Frost crumpled inside, barely conscious. As soon as the trunk opened, he started up at me with barely contained rage. But when his gaze shifted past me to Sasquatch, I saw it – the flash of fear in his eyes. His bravado crumbled the second he realized who I was delivering him to.

“Brandon Frost gave me the bruises,” I said, casually gesturing towards him. “Sorry about his hands. He wouldn’t stop throwing punches. I wanted to give him to you in better shape, but…well, we don’t always get what we want.”

Sasquatch studied Frost for a long moment, her expression hardening. Without warning, she reached out with one of her massive hands, her fingers wrapping around his neck like a vise. I stepped in quickly, raising a hand to stop her. “Whoa. Easy there,” I said, meeting her gazes despite the withering glare she shot back at me. “Remember…you’re selling an experience.”

She paused, her grip loosening slightly as her eyes flicked back to Brandon. His terror was palpable now, his wide eyes practically begging for mercy. Sasquatch’s lips curled into a savage grin as she looked at Brandon then turned back to the gym where the latest fight was just wrapping up.

With a chuckle she released him. “You’re right. And while he’s entertaining everyone, you can chat with Angelica. Tell her about all your plans.”