IDKjust
patreon
Chapter 315 c
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 15:06:01 +0000 UTCChapter 315 c
2-IN-1 chapter
---------------------
Leo hoisted an RPG launcher onto his shoulder and took aim at the distant motel.
The next second, a rocket screamed through the air, trailing smoke.
*BOOM!*
The explosion tore a massive cloud of smoke and dust into the motel’s outer first-floor wall. The entire structure rumbled with the impact.
Inside the security room, three Animals working the late shift were jolted awake. They burst out shouting—only to be gunned down immediately by V and Lucy with a quick burst of fire.
Leo tossed the empty launcher aside and grabbed another one.
Another rocket fired.
This time, he aimed at a second-floor room. He’d already scanned it with his tactical goggles—it was their armory. Spare guns, ammo, RPGs, grenades, landmines—it was all in there.
So when the warhead hit, the resulting explosion was no joke. It engulfed not only that room, but the adjacent one as well, flames ripping through both like a wave.
The blast was so intense that none of the remaining Animals could sleep through it. All were shocked awake.
But the sudden attack left them dazed and clueless about what was happening.
Some idiots were even standing out in the hallway, peeking their heads outside—and got popped like targets by V and Lucy.
After several of them were gunned down with clean headshots—without even knowing where the attackers were—the rest didn’t dare to peek out anymore.
They ducked behind the concrete parapets, blind-firing their weapons over their heads.
At that point, they were just shooting by faith.
But not all of them stayed put. Some of the sharper ones kept low and ran downstairs, hugging the walls.
They weren’t dumb. Judging by where the bodies had fallen, they could estimate the direction the shots were coming from—straight from the motel’s front.
They didn’t charge the front; instead, thinking themselves clever, they ran around toward the back of the motel.
What happened next?
*BOOM! BOOM!*
More explosions.
Leo’s tactical goggles picked them up: the Animals had run right into the laser trip mines he and Lucy had planted out back.
Despite the name, the lasers on those mines could be hidden, and their outer shells came in various camo finishes. You wouldn’t even notice one until you were already inside its blast radius.
The triggered mines tore through over a dozen Animals.
The rest froze.
None dared to make another run for it.
All of them retreated back inside.
Leo loaded a third RPG. The remaining Animals were now clustered behind second-floor hallway parapets, out in the open rather than in rooms.
He scanned the most crowded section, aimed, and fired.
The concrete railing exploded into flying debris, shredding twenty to thirty Animals where they stood. Smoke lingered in the air.
At last, the fewer than forty survivors couldn’t take it anymore.
They charged out of the motel, storming toward Leo’s position.
Thirty-something of them, guns blazing as they sprinted—it was still an intimidating push. Leo’s side only had three people, three firearms, and there were no laser trip mines on the front side.
If nothing unexpected happened, they could’ve broken through.
But there was no “if.”
The armored SUV’s 40mm automated weapon station suddenly came online. The turret-mounted grenade launcher rotated to target them.
*Thunk-thunk-thunk—*
One grenade after another landed among the Animals, the blasts tearing through them like paper.
They dropped like ragdolls, torn limb from limb.
Leo hadn’t brought the armored SUV to Tijuana for two reasons: one, to keep a low profile; two, he’d handed it off to Rogue for upgrades—refitting it for frontline zones.
The composite armor was already tougher than a Delamain cab—no mods needed for protection.
What it lacked was firepower.
So Rogue’s crew had installed the automated weapon station on the roof, fitted with a 40mm launcher.
For safety and reliability, it wasn’t AI-operated like a turret drone—it was manually controlled.
But manual didn’t mean “from inside the vehicle.” It could be remotely controlled.
A few quick-thinking Animals hit the dirt as soon as they sensed something was wrong.
But those few were the exception.
The majority were ripped apart before they could react.
Even the ones who dropped fast didn’t survive long—they only delayed death.
Once the grenade fire stopped, Leo and the others stood up from behind the low wall and began picking off the remaining Animals on the ground, one by one.
The dazed, half-deafened Animals had no way to respond effectively.
And so, the last few dozen Animals who’d charged out all died on the patch of ground in front of the motel.
Leo never planned to take prisoners.
He didn’t care to ask questions either.
These Animals had taken Hector’s money—so they all had to die.
Using his tactical goggles to confirm no survivors, Leo motioned for V and Lucy to get in. They left before NCPD could arrive.
….....................................
................
.
Leo drove out of Santo Domingo and headed back toward Japantown in Westbrook. Glancing into the rearview, he saw Lucy curled up on the back seat like a kitten, sound asleep.
Even V, sitting beside him, was yawning nonstop—her eyelids about to glue shut.
Leo didn’t say anything else. He brought them home, carried each of them upstairs, tucked them into bed himself, and then returned to his vehicle.
It was already past 12:30 a.m.
On any other day, he would’ve been asleep by now.
He was just about to return to his long-unused apartment in the Glen when a sudden call popped up.
“Leo-san, are you awake?”
That voice…
Takemura?
Leo, previously on the verge of sleep, instantly snapped to attention. He looked at the video call display—it was Takemura.
But he couldn’t see him clearly.
The man was hiding somewhere in a dark alley, no lights, looking like some kind of shady Mr. Hands impersonator.
His voice was raspier, too—clearly worn down.
“If I weren’t awake, how would I answer your call?”
“Apologies for disturbing you at this hour.”
Even after all this time away from Arasaka, Takemura’s stiff, formal tone hadn’t changed.
Not all Japanese spoke like that—Japanese Americans born in the States didn’t talk in stilted honorifics. It wasn’t about blood—it was about upbringing.
“Apologizing?”
Leo raised an eyebrow.
Takemura’s tone now was much softer than last time. Leo remembered clearly—when they’d last met, the atmosphere between them had been tense at best. Definitely not cordial.
So if Takemura was calling now, and being this polite, it probably meant he needed something.
“What do you want from me at this hour?”
“I don’t know if Leo-san remembers the proposal I made to you before we parted.”
“You mean false testimony?” Leo’s voice cooled. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—we’re not doing that. I don’t care what your reasons are.”
Over a month ago, after they escaped from Konpeki Plaza, they ran into Takemura waiting at their hideout.
Takemura had been Arasaka Saburo’s bodyguard.
After Saburo’s death at Konpeki, Takemura mistakenly believed Leo and the others were responsible, and tried to detain them—hoping to win favor with his new master, Arasaka Yorinobu.
He had no idea the real killer was Yorinobu himself.
Yorinobu had even assigned people to tail Takemura—ready to silence him if he discovered the truth.
That’s how Leo’s group and Takemura had ended up temporarily aligned.
After escaping the pursuit, Takemura had asked Leo to lie—to help him make a false statement.
Leo refused.
And that was the last he’d heard from Takemura.
Leo had assumed he was dead—or had run off somewhere remote, like Tahiti.
He didn’t expect Takemura to still be alive in Night City.
Let alone still pushing the same agenda.
“Leo-san,” Takemura said, sounding desperate now. “If you help me, I promise the benefits will be worth your while.”
Leo didn’t bother arguing.
Traditionally, Japanese culture frowned on troubling others. Takemura’s persistence was already borderline disrespectful.
And Leo had made his annoyance clear.
But if Takemura still wouldn’t back off, then there was no point continuing.
“I’m going to sleep.”
Takemura rushed to stop him.
“Wait—please, wait. I understand. I’m sorry. It was improper of me.”
“I won’t ask you to give false testimony. But… I need one other favor. Will you hear it?”
Leo’s finger hovered over the "End Call" button for a moment… then moved away.
He wanted to hear what Takemura had to say.
“Go on.”
“I’d like to ask you to come with me. To meet someone.”
“A friend of yours from Japan?”
“Yes. He knows many important people—he might be able to help improve… my current situation.”
Leo closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.
First, it was unlikely this was a trap.
Takemura had no reason to harm him. After all, Arasaka Yorinobu wanted Takemura dead, not Leo. Even if Takemura tried to hand Leo over, Yorinobu wouldn’t spare him either.
Takemura... he understood the implications.
So Leo figured it wouldn't be unreasonable to accompany him and see what this was all about.
“When?”
“Can you come out now?”
“Now?”
“Daylight’s no good. Arasaka’s eyes are everywhere in the city. There’s no better time to meet than in the middle of the night.”
Coming from Takemura, those words sounded ironic.
He had served Arasaka his entire life—and now he was forced to sneak around, hiding from the same corporation.
“I can come now, but first you need to answer a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“If you’re not asking me to commit perjury, then why do you need me to meet this person with you? You worried he’ll try something? Want me to act as your bodyguard?”
There was no way Leo was going to perjure himself. Not now, not ever.
Anyone with a brain knew that lying for Takemura was the same as handing yourself over as a pawn—letting Arasaka’s higher-ups play with your life however they pleased.
This wasn’t paranoia—it was reality. If you believed that doing a favor would get a megacorp to favor you in return, you were dreaming.
Especially when it came to Arasaka.
But since Leo had already made it clear he wouldn’t lie under oath, what exactly did Takemura want him there for?
“No, I trust him. We’ve had plenty of chances to kill each other, but never took them. He values honor. He’s not someone who can be bought. That’s why I trust him.”
“I want you to testify—for real—that Arasaka sent ‘Troy’ to silence me.”
Takemura Goro’s tone was sincere, and his posture humble.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Leo thought it over. If that was truly all, then fine.
Of course, if things looked bad once they got there, he’d leave without hesitation.
Who said you had to follow through just because you agreed to something?
Even the president made promises he couldn’t keep.
“Alright. I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I don’t think I’ve done anything worth thanking for.”
“Maybe not in your eyes, Leo-san. But for me, it means a lot.”
….................................
............
.
The meeting spot Takemura picked was an old, long-abandoned dockyard in Japantown.
To get there, they had to pass through a disused tunnel—who knew how long it had been since anyone last walked through it.
Trash was everywhere, the air reeked, and the contrast with the glittering skyscrapers on the other side of the canal was stark.
This was one of the many stains hidden beneath Night City’s glamorous surface.
Leo’s armored SUV moved slowly through the tunnel. As they neared the exit, he eased the vehicle toward the left wall and stopped it.
He activated his tactical goggles and scanned the ruined dock.
He quickly spotted Takemura, whose cyberware had long since been remotely deactivated by Arasaka.
Takemura wasn’t standing out on the dock—he was perched atop an illegal makeshift structure near the tunnel’s exit, hidden in the shadows.
It looked like life hadn’t been kind to him since they’d last parted ways.
After confirming the meeting point was clear, Leo restarted the engine and rolled the SUV onto the dock.
He stepped out, walking toward one of the few intact concrete barricades lining the edge.
He stared at the black seawater, silent.
Takemura still hadn't come down from his hiding place, watching to see if Leo had brought backup.
Leo smirked.
He didn’t have time to play along with Takemura’s little drama.
It was late, and he wanted to get some rest.
So he called it out directly.
“How long are you planning to stay up there? Weren’t you the one who asked me to come? What’s the point of hiding like a scared rat?”
