Desert Opal

Three days later a large truck pulled a half-broken caravan through the dirt-covered highway, kicking up sand as they hit the road at eighty miles an hour. It was already late in the afternoon and the desert chills starting to set in.

In the distance, the horizon was lit up as if it were sunrise but everyone present recognised it for what it was. Massive amounts of light pollution for, as Pilar put it, 'The shining shit hole'.

"I see it!" Rebecca shouts, leaning out of the caravan's window far enough that Ori had to grab her jacket to stop her from falling out.

"That's great, now get your ass out the way so the rest of us can get a look." Pilar huffs, squeezing next to her to get a view.

Before they even get into sight of the glowing city however, the group spot a border checkpoint, one heavily fortified and manned by what must've been hundreds of men.

"Okay... Did no one think about how we're gettin' through that?" Pilar wonders aloud.

Lucy leans back in her seat and nods, "Kiwi sent me the info on what we'd need to expect. I've already got a daemon for it," she takes out a piece of white plastic from her pocket, one she and Ori had managed to scratch a specific barcode into.

They'd be using a backdoor that'd been created for DMS agents that needed to lie low during investigations. It hadn't been easy to get, but Lucy, Kiwi, and Sasha were effective enough alone, let alone working together.

Thankfully, once they reach the crossing the card works perfectly, allowing them to bypass all the border security without any questions asked. A mile later down the road, Las Vegas came into view, almost blinding everyone who looked from the sheer disparity between it and the darkness of night.

It was absolutely humongous, not as large as Night City with all of its individual districts, but the verticality of it, both up and down allowed it a far larger population. Gleaming, almost crystalline skyscrapers reached for the sky, monumental art projects that made liberal use of hologram technology.

It was as if someone had stolen the holographic goldfish from Memorial Park, scaled it up a thousand times, and allowed anyone who wanted it to have it.

Giant erotic holographic dancers, giant advertisement boards, giant lights projecting images into the distant clouds above. It was almost baffling to everyone that the skies weren't filled to the brim with AVs, drones, and other flying machines like how Night City was usually run.

The only negative thing they could spot from such a distance was the sheer density of traffic on the roads... Since Las Vegas had a large population than Night City and less space to accommodate them, you'd be better off heading places on foot as opposed to trying to drive.

"Why don't you like this place again, Pilar? Looks pretty nova to me..." David mutters in awe, never having left Night City before. The sight before him was somehow even more impressive than the space sim Lucy had taken him.

Pilar scowls and folds his arms, "Not that I care, but this place is worse for the 'little people' than Night City could ever be. MOLE PEOPLE EXIST HERE! Sorry assholes who've never seen the sun in their entire shit lives! I heard there were even people hired to keep them from coming up and flooding the streets!"

David glances at Lucy, "That true or is he just talkin' out his ass again?"

She wets her lips and nods, "It is, 'City Maintanance' is what they call them. They don't clean anything though, just walk around armed to teeth, kicking people who don't look good enough off of the streets. The suits who own the city don't like seeing the poverty they cause."

"Er, and these are the people you want to get help from?" Christy remarks from the side. "No wonder my life went to shit..."

"And my life went to shit because of you, get over yourself." Ori sniffs derisively at her, "Where're we going once we get in?"

"Your friend Quentin managed to set up a meeting with a Fixer in a casino on the strip. We'll need to look the part if we're gonna be walking around though." Lucy explains.

"What 'should' we look like? I'm assuming no punk clothes like what Pilar's got..."

"We aren't gonna have to wear suits are we? Because that shit's rough." Pilar complains.

Lucy shrugs, "No idea, I think as long as we don't look like hobos we're good..." she gestures to her dirt, blood, and sand-covered outfit, "Which means all of us needs a makeover."

"Hey, look! The Las Vegas sign!" Rebecca's shout brings everyone from the discussion, prompting them to take a look.

Indeed, there it was further up the road, the almost ancient-looking 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign was barely standing among a bunch of rubble. It'd been heavily eroded by wind and sand, with little to no maintenance performed on it. Last but certainly not least, were the thousands of bullet holes adorning it.

"Shit, if they shoot at their own sign what're they gonna do to us?" Pilar muses, "Not that I can blame 'em."

"Just stick with the plan and we'll do fine." Ori assures, "I trust Quentin enough to not screw us on this." he says, hoping the guy hadn't found out who was responsible for flatlining his friends...

"Someone tell Falco to stop at one of the scrap yards outside the city. My accounts have already been shut, and any that haven't are probably been tracked... We'll need to pawn off some stuff for the Eddies." Lucy states.

"Think they'll accept the box full of body parts and Cyberware we got stashed?" Pilar asks.

Lucy firmly shakes her head, "Scavanging, cyberware theft, and the desecration of corpses are all outlawed here... We might be able to sell a few off at a dealer, but a whole box? We'll have to run to New York to lose everyone..."