Negotiating in Practice

With that traumatic situation dealt with, Ori found himself in the back of Max's car as he drove with Six in shotgun. Max had apparently already planned everything out and was just waiting on Ori to make the final decision... For some reason...

Next to Ori was the damp plastic bag which held Spek's head, the proof they'd need to convince Quentin Fabrosi to work with them. If revenge wasn't a good enough motivator for the young man, then fear that they'd do the same to him would probably tip him over the proverbial edge.

"Kid," Max asks, holding an open pack of cig over his shoulder as he drives, "Relax."

Ori reaches for one of them, only then realising that his hands were trembling... "Y-yeah... Thanks..."

He lights the cig up and looks out the window, his eyes turning upwards to the skyscrapers that were steadily approaching... Was it strange that this was the first time he'd been anywhere near the centre of Night City?

It looked incredible, but he knew that was only to accommodate the greedy suits that lived and worked there. Why else would the rest of Night City basically be giant slums?

Max drives around the outskirts of downtown until they reach an underground carpark, he shows the security guard some sort of identification and they drive in, parking an isolated corner at the second to last floor of the carpark that overlooked some streets on the outskirts of Wellspring.

"What now?" Ori questions as Max and Six begin making themselves comfortable.

"We wait, see if this Quentin' kid want to show or not. Said he'll be here but anythin' can happen."

...

"Alright..." Ori mutters, his eye twitching when he remembered that he was sitting next to a severed head in a bag...

*Beep-Beep*

[Yo, Ori, I know ur probs busy and all but I need to ask u sumthing.] - Judy

[What is it?] - Ori

[VIDEO RECEIVED]

...

Ori opens the file and blanks out momentarily, it was a recording of his fight with that Chromejock yesterday, the one he'd almost gotten zeroed in. It was placed outside of Darren's apartment and showed everything from that perspective... The man's men getting gunned down from inside, him stepping in, then Ori's battle with the guy afterwards.

It showed him getting slammed into the ceiling, then his awkward moments when the Nanites took over, firing pinpoint accurate shots from the pistol to bring the Jock down, finally finishing him off with a shotgun to the face.

He was incredibly thankful that the cam hadn't been able to get a clear shot of his face, his jacket's hood had gotten caught on the sparking Scav holomask, keeping it up even after all the damage he'd taken.

...

It felt incredibly odd looking at it like this, an almost surreal experience...

[Was this u?] - Judy

...

[What do u think?] - Ori

[Dumb. I know its u.] - Judy

[ur mistaking me for someone else.] - Ori

[:P:P ur wearing the same old shoes and pants u wore when u met me. Plus, u r exactly the same height as the guy in the vid] - Judy

[And, what if I was? That a problem?] - Ori

[Ha! No way! U flatlined Ta'xin! Leader of the Safe K Crew... U flatlined almost the entire gang! that's a big fukin deal11!!]

[Ta'xin?] - Ori

[A rising merc who took control of a district in Watson. Big ass hole, huge in fact, liked to take advantage of the fams that lived there. still forced to pay protection money as well. I told Q about him but she said it was outta their hands... ur lucky to be alive tbh, that guy was almost fully borged with albeit crap-tier Cyberware. There was a reason he didn't just run and stomp ur face yknow.]

Huh, well thank fuck he ran into the 'snail merc' then. Hang, couldn't he have just run away then...?

...

*Beep-Beep*

[Besides, this was sent to me by someone we know... U got Rebeccas attention now, shes still texting me about how 'Fucking Nova' that was.] - Judy

That wasn't good... If Rebecca could recognise him, then who else could?

[Who else knows?] - Ori

[Just me and Rebecca, she only recognised u because of your "wimpy lampost figure", or whatever. I managed to scrub the other cameras that caught ur face but this vid is already making it around the net] - Judy

[So I should expect a call from Rebecca then...?] - Ori

[xdxd, no, between u and me, she "doesn't want to look desperate and needy", so she'll probs hit u up in a week or two, probs with a gig to go with it. Don't tell her we talked about this, shes annoying enough with the ammo.] - Judy

[Right...] - Ori

[Oh, before I forget. As thanks for dealin' with the shit the Mox should've been in the first place] - Judy

[+3000§]

[Ain't much but that's from my personal stash <3<3] - Judy

[Thanks... Lemme know if u need anything else... Lets leave out the borg-guys tho, I need a break from that shit] - Ori

He finishes and shoves the holophone into his pocket, then quickly spots a lone man in a Corpo suit slowly and stiffly walking towards them. "Yo, is that him?"

Max and Six look over, both nodding, "Yeah, should be. Six stay in the car, kid bring the bag... And keep your mouth shut."

"Don't need to tell me twice, this is your plan." Ori shrugs and steps out, the suit stopping a couple meters away from the car.

He had light tan skin with short cut black hair that left his fringe long enough to hang, he had visible Cyberware around his head and temple, but nothing indicating any real combat modification. Ori was hopeful he wouldn't need to fight anyone like Ta'xin anytime soon.

"You Max?" the man, probably in his early twenties asks.

Max nods, "Yeah, Quentin?"

"Mhm... Got your message, any of that true?"

"Have you heard back from any of your buddies? Should answer your question." Max calmly retorts, keeping his hands where the guy could see them.

...

"None are responding... I've got calls from their families..." he solemnly utters, "I saw the messages, between the Fixer and my father... Got proof?"

Max smiles grimly and nods at Ori, who empties the bag onto the ground, allowing Spek's severed head to fall with a wet thud. He gives it a slight kick, pushing it towards the quickly paling Quentin.

"That enough proof for ya'? Allen Pretcher, 'Speks', guy who your father called to assassinate your buddies."

Quentin takes a while to recover his composure, obviously used to handling the gorier aspects of society. "You want something from me, then..." he asks questioningly, his brows tightly knit it burgeoning anger towards his father.

"We want Eddies, you want revenge. I'm sure we can come to a deal." Max states, folding his arms.

. . .

Quentin stands there silently for a minute or two, before eventually coming to a decision. "Fine. I'm in. Talk to me."