บท 225: Dollar Dollar Bills

*Clank!*

David skids to a stop with a robot falling to pieces behind him, the nearby Lazarus soldiers blearily blinking as the blindness from the flash grenades starts clearing. Activating the Sandevistan once more, he zips around, sliding at superspeed to sever the heads of the nearby men.

*BANG!*

He cringes at the loud sound, ducking his head as a piece of metal flies over and stabs deep into the wall, "HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FIRING!" he shouts but Maine gives a lazy shrug and gets back to the fighting.

"Little bastard!" someone roars behind him, prompting him to use the Sandevistan again. He turns and slowly slides his blade into the charging man's throat while he's still in mid-stab with the bayonet.

Time resumes and the man stabs air, quickly falling to his knees as blood gushes from his new wound. Surprise and shock mar his face, and he's only able to turn onto his back and stare at David as his life expires.

Pilar runs over like he had a metal pipe up his ass and swipes a radio from a corpse, "The fuckin' hive's been kicked! Finish the hell up so we can taste that gold rush!" he shouts and hurries to the sewer pipes, intent on getting a headstart on blowing a way into the Tower's basement.

David just lets out a short breath and gets back to fighting, his boost in fitness and new Cyberware allowed him to last far longer than in the past, but it was still taxing to use the 'Sandy' too much, especially in small, staggered intervals.

He slices an unaware's soldier down his spine, crippling him, but is startled when the man's body explodes into blood and viscera... The cackling of a certain pale-skinned shorty...

"Hahaha! Red suits you a lot better than yellow, Davey!" she laughs, moving on to her next target.

Five minutes later and almost all the Lazarus men had been taken care of, with just a few left hunkering down in groups and blasting anything that moves... David thought to clear it but Maine drops a hand to his shoulder, "Leave it, let'em deal with the fucks who've been watching us the whole time."

"Watchi-" he pauses, looking toward the entrance of the cave and spotting many eyes peeking at them.

"Those god-damn mole people want our shit. Probably heard the shootin' and came running. All of you! Let's go, Pilar should have the bombs ready!"

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"Seriously, we get new clothes and now ruin 'em like this." Falco adjusts his hat as he tip-toes through the shit-filled sewer water.

David forces himself to ignore the occasional softness underfoot, instead thinking back to his last discussion with Lucy, about their future... She'd pleaded, no, begged that they not return to Night City.

Her reasons for why were obvious, she feared Arasaka, what they'd do if they caught either of them. She wanted to get out of America completely, hide away in some European hole where she could make use of her talents to earn them a living income.

She didn't think the crew could do anything to Arasaka that wouldn't be repaid tenfold. That they were just going to doom themselves if they tried... He half agreed, but whether it was pride, ego, honour, or whatever else you'd name it, he couldn't bring himself to abandon his city, or his crew.

Maine and Ori had basically raised him as a merc, both were going to return to Night City and fight Arasaka, for Dorio and everything else they'd done. He'd heard about their hand in what happened to Ori's sister, and back then he'd promised to help get back at them for it. He'd made many promises that wouldn't be fulfilled unless he went back.

He and Lucy had fought over his decision, until she reluctantly agreed to accompany them back. This only made him feel shittier, he was essentially forcing her to follow them to hell. Making her choose between their relationship and her freedom, her safety.

He reaches up and grips his necklace, wondering what advice his mom would give him if she were still here... It'd barely been a year since she passed, even if she worked with Maine as a smuggler, he wasn't sure if she'd be happy with his choices.

Would she want him to run with Lucy, or stay and try to keep everyone from ending up like Dorio...?

"Shit..." he quietly utters.

Pilar walks over and claps him on the back, "I know right! There's so much of it I can taste it when I breathe!"

...

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"I got it!" Ori shouts, the electric traps covering the vault door switching off and a loud 'clacking' ringing out. The mechanism to the door had unlocked, but the nanite's peculiar method of lock breaking hadn't forced it to open.

Thankfully, there were two human tanks present, with Ori and Maine's cooperation they shifted the large metal door slightly, creating a slight crack with which the crew could duck through.

Ori catches the two large duffle bags and is the first to enter the vault, quickly scanning the interior for any remaining traps. Apparently though, the Crystal Tower probably hadn't expected anyone to get this far.

He smacks a fist into the nearby light switch, illuminating the interior with a crack of the lights. "Damn... We're gonna need more bags."

Behind caged off area were huge walls of deposit boxes, some open while others were closed. More importantly, below them were multiple marble pallets carrying more gold than Ori had ever dreamed of, let alone seen in his lifetime.

Stacks and stacks of gold bullion bars shimmered in the light, and Ori had to force himself to not salivate at the mere sight of it. The rest of the crew's reaction was less restrained.

"HO-LEY-SHEET! LOOK AT THAT FUCKIN' MONEY! WE'RE GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING CUNT LICKIN' RICH!" Pilar screams, running over and trying to pry the metal bars of the cage apart, only to fail and sends a helpless, pitiful look at Ori.