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Chapter 363c
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 15:05:01 +0000 UTCChapter 363c
2-in-1-chapter
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The following day, Leo borrowed a military transport plane from the president to load VR training equipment aboard. Alongside V and Lucy, he returned to Rocky Ridge Mountain.
Once back at the base, he gathered everyone together. He explained the contract signed with the Bolivian president and the company’s expansion into Bolivia.
No one voiced objections. A long-term and stable government contract meant Aurora PMC’s revenue was secured, bolstered by three mineral concessions. The company’s future was only going upward. And as the company grew, so too would their own lives improve.
Leo then made a special trip to the Aldecaldo camp to meet Saul. He spoke bluntly: he wanted Saul’s entire clan to join Aurora PMC.
With three mines to oversee and the obligation to train Bolivian forces, manpower was critical. A few dozen men would never be enough. Saul’s clan was only one branch of the Aldecaldos, but even so it numbered in the hundreds.
They weren’t all veterans like Mitch or Scorpion, but every one of them was a seasoned Nomad with real combat experience—far superior to the Bolivian army or the rebels they faced.
Saul hardly hesitated. The terms Leo offered were too attractive to refuse.
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After Saul agreed, the entire Aldecaldos clan began to move into high gear.
Since they would be heading to Bolivia, the fully constructed base at Rocky Ridge Mountain had to be abandoned. However, abandoning it didn’t mean letting the facility fall into disrepair.
Leo handed over the Rocky Ridge base to Rogue as collateral—an informal security for the large sum she had loaned him. Besides, Rogue had use for a place like this. She could convert it into a secure safehouse.
For people in their line of work, one could never have too many safehouses.
While the Aldecaldos were busy preparing for relocation, Leo reached out to several trusted fixers and began acquiring a vast quantity of supplies—weapon components, raw materials, food, medical gear, and other necessities.
Bolivia, being a landlocked country with no direct access to the sea, would pose logistical challenges. Once they entered Bolivian territory, there was no guarantee they’d be able to return to Night City any time soon.
That meant every essential supply needed to be procured in advance.
Before troops move, logistics must come first—this principle holds true across time and geography.
In addition to working with the Aldecaldos, Leo also contacted Maine’s crew and a few other reputable, well-disciplined mercenary teams to bring them into the fold.
Recruiting the other merc squads was easy enough—they were mercenaries after all, loyal to whoever paid best. And Leo was offering long-term contracts with high pay and job stability. They had no reason to refuse.
As for Maine’s team, although they still held reservations about the corporate world, Leo was different. He had helped them through difficult times, and they hadn’t forgotten that. In the end, they agreed to join him as well.
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Just as preparations were underway and everything was moving forward at full speed, Judy unexpectedly called Leo.
He hadn’t seen that coming.
From what he had heard from people in the Mox, Judy had barely left home since Evelyn had been hospitalized. She’d even stopped going to Lizzie’s Bar, devoting herself entirely to caring for Evelyn.
If not for the need to support herself financially, Judy might have quit working at the bar altogether.
“Hey, Judy. How’ve you been? And Evelyn—how’s she doing now?”
“Thanks to you, she’s been discharged. But…”
“But?”
“What she went through—it really messed her up. She’s not the same person anymore. It’s like she shut herself off completely. She hardly talks. Some days she just sits in one spot for hours, doing nothing.”
That sounded serious.
It was as if she had withdrawn completely.
“Have you taken her to see a doctor?”
Judy replied, her voice heavy with exhaustion.
“I have. More than one. Some couldn’t even tell what was wrong, and others said her condition isn’t something that can be treated—it’ll just take time for her to heal on her own.”
“That’s why I’ve removed everything sharp from the apartment. I even installed security bars on the windows—to keep her from doing anything to herself.”
Leo nodded.
Judy was doing the right thing.
Even though he himself had more than enough on his plate, he still asked,
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“There is… but I’m not sure I should drag you into it.”
“If there’s something, just say it.”
“You’ve been to Lizzie’s, right? Then you probably know it was originally run by a woman named Lizzie. The Tyger Claws killed her, and after that, the Mox rallied together and drove them out.”
“Yeah, I know about that.”
What Judy was giving him was the simplified version.
Leo had heard the full story before—from Suzie Q, the Mox’s leader.
“Well, I think it’s time the same kind of overhaul happened at Cloud.”
“You’re saying the Mox are moving into Cloud?”
Judy, appearing on the holoscreen, shook her head.
“No. This has nothing to do with the Mox. This is my idea. Maybe you didn’t know, Leo…”
“The dolls working at Cloud—they put everything into that job. But most of their earnings get taken by the club. And from what little they’re allowed to keep, they’re still forced to spend it upgrading to newer, more advanced neuralware. If they don’t, they get replaced.”
“So after all these years, Evelyn barely saved anything.”
There was fury in Judy’s eyes.
“Cloud siphons off so much from those dolls, yet can’t even provide the most basic network security. What’s the point of having it all?”
Leo understood her anger.
Back when they had gone to Cloud to find Evelyn, Lucy had already noticed how pathetic their cybersecurity was.
It was hard to believe that a place so technologically vulnerable was actually one of the city’s most well-known pleasure hubs.
The reason the Voodoo Boys netrunners were able to fry Evelyn’s neural link so easily was because Cloud had integrated the dolls chipsets and implant receivers directly into the club’s subnet.
So when the Voodoo Boys breached that subnet, they could easily and directly damage her neural system.
Avoiding this kind of incident should have been simple. All it required was one piece of software to isolate the dolls chipsets and implants from the subnet.
Once installed, the software would monitor for any attempts to alter system-level operations, log the activity, and immediately block the source.
The name of that software was Insight—essentially the 2077 equivalent of Kaspersky from back in the early 2000s.
As long as it was installed, a repeat of Evelyn’s case would be virtually impossible.
The software known as “Insight” wasn’t particularly expensive.
But the upper management of Cloud, unwilling to spend even this small sum, had left those overworked sex dolls exposed to danger.
That was why Judy wanted to liberate Cloud—take it back from the hands of the Tyger Claws.
However, Leo had one question.
“If this isn’t a plan backed by the Mox, then how are you, alone, supposed to take Cloud?”
“I have someone inside,” Judy hesitated, “someone who will help me. And if you’re willing to help too, then our chances will be even better.”
She quickly added, “Leo, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to pressure you or anything, I just—”
“You don’t need to explain, I get it.” Leo thought about it. Preparations would still take some time, and this wouldn’t delay anything, so he nodded. “Count me in.”
Judy couldn’t hide her joy. “That’s great!”
“Don’t get too excited just yet. Tell me your plan first.”
“We go talk to Maiko Maeda.”
“Who’s Maiko Maeda?”
“On the surface, she’s just another doll. But in reality, she’s the second-in-command at Cloud. If we can convince her, then the rest of the plan can move forward.”
The more Leo listened, the more off this sounded.
“Wait—didn’t you say you had a friend on the inside at Cloud? Isn’t it Maiko?”
“No. It’s someone else. I’ll introduce you when the time comes.”
“Alright,” Leo exhaled. “And are you sure she’ll join us?”
“I’m not. But we have to try.”
“Then tell me when and where we’re meeting her.”
“Tomorrow morning. Before eight. On the rooftop balcony of Cloud.”
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After finishing the call with Judy, Leo found V and Lucy.
“Judy needs something from me. I might be gone a few days. I’ll leave the company in your hands.”
V asked, “You don’t want Panam or Mitch to go with you?”
Leo shook his head.
“No need. I can handle it alone.”
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As promised, Leo arrived an hour early. By seven in the morning, he was already at Cloud.
But what he hadn’t expected was that Judy had arrived even earlier.
She was already there when he showed up.
“Leo. Thanks for coming.”
“I thought meeting before eight meant seven-thirty, maybe seven. You’re really early.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You being out here… Evelyn’s at home alone. Is that alright?”
“I asked one of my sisters from the Mox to watch her. I removed everything sharp in the apartment, welded the chairs to the floor, and padded the corners of all the tables.”
Clearly, Judy had prepared thoroughly.
“Talking to Maiko is like playing 3D chess. Be careful not to get caught in one of her loops. But leave the talking to me—I know her better.”
Leo nodded.
“So, have you figured out how you’re going to convince her to join us?”
“I’ll tell her the truth. About little Ev.”
“That’s it?”
It wasn’t that Leo didn’t trust Judy—it was just hard to believe that the second-in-command of Cloud would be swayed by sympathy for a single sex doll’s situation.
