Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077

A door on the left side of the corridor suddenly opened. A woman poked her head out, as if expecting her child who had been out all night finally coming home. But the moment she saw four people with weapons, her face went pale with fright.

V raised a hand, signaling her to hurry back inside. She nodded frantically and closed the door. The four continued deeper into the corridor until they reached the door marked 1237.

"Don't rush in. Let me check first."

Leo stood outside and activated the scan mode in his tactical goggles. A pulse of light invisible to others spread through the area. Instantly, about a dozen red silhouettes appeared in his vision—most standing, while three lay on the ground.

Those standing had to be the Scavs who had kidnapped their client. The three who were lying down included the target they had come to rescue. Luckily, the target was still alive. They weren't too late. Under normal circumstances, the Scavs could have reduced a living person to a pile of cyberware and organs within a few hours, probably selling them off to some shady clinic.

But evidently, these Scavs had also kidnapped two other hostages and had been busy dealing with them instead, giving the one they needed to save a brief reprieve.

Lucy's eyes glinted red. It took her just two seconds to unlock the door from the outside. Then, the four eased through. The first room beyond the entrance contained no hostiles. It was a cluttered mess, with items strewn everywhere, trash on the floor, and an overhead light and ceiling fan still running despite nobody using the place. An unfinished pizza sat on a table, attracting a swarm of flies. When they moved closer, the flies took off like buzzing fighter jets.

They didn't linger. They headed straight for the next room, which appeared to be where the Scavs butchered people for parts. Various devices for monitoring vital signs lined the walls, along with a surgical lamp and an operating table.

A body lay on it under a black cloth.

Jackie moved first, striding to the corpse and pulling back the covering. The moment he saw what lay beneath, his face twisted, and he nearly gagged.

"Díos mío…"

Quickly, he covered the body again. "You don't want to see this."

Leo had already glimpsed it anyway: it was indeed a corpse, and a gruesome one at that. Everything—implants, organs, even the eyes—had been carved out. This obviously wasn't their target; it looked like one of the other unfortunates the Scavs had dragged back here.

No one in Night City had truly clean hands. Even Jefferson Peralez, who tried to do right by the lower classes, ended up taking shady campaign donations to run for mayor.

But this… The Scavs were on a whole different level of scum, loathed by other gangs and regular citizens alike. They hunted careless people, law-abiding or not, harvested implants, and sold them on the black market for profit. To them, human beings were nothing but piles of components to be sold.

Night City had gangs of every stripe: Tyger Claws prized "honor," Valentinos believed in God, and the 6th Street Gang preached justice for their neighborhood. But Scavs had no real creed. They cared only for eddies. They were vicious and morally bankrupt. Their methods were crude—attack, kidnap, kill, strip for parts—but it earned them plenty. People who fell into their hands vanished without a trace. If an implant was worth a few eddies, they took it, then dumped or burned what remained.

The four reached the door leading to the next area.

"Heads up—there's one inside," Leo murmured, sharing the hostile's position with everyone else. A lone Scav stood by a tub filled with ice water, rummaging around as if searching for something.

V eased the door open without a sound. "Cover me," she whispered.

"No problem," Jackie responded.

"Understood," Lucy said.

Leo only nodded.

V crept forward, making no noise. When she drew close, she slammed the butt of her gun into the back of the Scav's neck, nearly knocking him out. She seized his head and shoved him face-first into the ice water, forcing her pistol under the surface to press against his skull. Then she pulled the trigger. The water muffled the gunshot along with its silencer, preventing the noise from reaching the others.

"Nicely done," Jackie joked. "Almost as good as me."

Leo gave V a thumbs-up.

Moving past that room, there were only two places left in the Scav's hideout: a bathroom and a living area. The two remaining hostages, including the person they needed to rescue, were in that bathroom. To get there, they first had to pass through the living area, where the rest of the Scavs had gathered.

They pressed themselves against the wall just outside the living room, listening to two Scavs closest to the exit having a conversation.

"Hey, how many did we bag this time?"

"Three. Two had junk cyberware, but in Watson, there's always somebody who'll take it."

"One of 'em's got a reinforced ankle implant we can rip out. The doc'll pay a decent chunk."

"That corpo bitch is the best one. We'll find a private buyer for her. She's got primo gear that'll fetch a real nice price!"

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