During the time when T-Bug was silent just now, she remotely drove Saburo Arasaka's Rayfield Excalibur floating car, playing a life-and-death speed game with two Arasaka Octants in Night City's sky.
She had intended to pull off an extreme aerial drift in the high-rise-filled company plaza, but unexpectedly there were several anti-aircraft missiles on Arasaka Tower. Evading excessively led to a stall and crashed right at the entrance of Arasaka.
"It's fine, they didn't discover it at the beginning, which already bought us some time." Loki said unconcernedly.
"More Arasaka reinforcements are heading there, you guys need to get out of there quickly." T-Bug began to access surveillance footage from nearby merchants in Night City and infiltrated NCPD's communication channel, "NCPD is also on the move, be careful."
"Alright, we're heading out now." Loki stepped out of the elevator, striding over a dead Arasaka soldier's body at the door, "V, where's the chip for that car? I have an idea."
V's eyes glowed blue, scanning the surroundings, finally stopping on a car: "Emperor 620 Ragnar, all-wheel drive, Arasaka's armored SUV version, can withstand most rifle bullets, good stuff... what are you planning to do?"
"Delamain, go to a safe location and wait for us to rendezvous." Loki said.
"But I recommend you get in the car immediately." Delamain replied unhurriedly.
Loki shook his head, "Please do as I say. Also, I suggest your company change the ridiculous rule of not being able to change routes midway, thank you."
Jackie had been trapped in Delamain unable to change the route. If there was a way to find old Vic, maybe he could have been saved.
Just like the bus seen in the news before - because of the door, window, and climate control system malfunction, when the bus arrived at the station, all the passengers were found dead from heat inside.
That's the terrifying aspect of AI; once it lacks emergency response measures, it can lead to serious consequences.
"Your suggestion has been received, and customer feedback has been recorded." Delamain started the engine, "Vehicle started, choose Delamain, leave your worries at the door."
"Quick, get in the car."
Loki hurriedly called the three of them into the Ragnar.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Just as they closed the car door, reinforcements from Arasaka soldiers started shooting bullets at the rear of the Delamain combat taxi in front of them, all of which were deflected by the high-strength bulletproof alloy and glass.
"V, follow Delamain." Loki observed and said.
V, gripping the steering wheel, nodded and followed Delamain out of the garage entrance.
"How many people did you kill?" Jackie, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn't believe it as he leaned on the car window.
Outside the garage on the road, there were also many dead Arasaka soldiers.
The scene was too gruesome, the rainwater mixed the blood everywhere, and the entire road turned red.
"..." Mo Er ignored Jackie.
"Bang!—!!!"
Just then, a figure wrapped in steel burst out of the roadside green belt filled with night scene lights and punched Delamain's front askew.
After quite a bit of bumping, Delamain finally regained all four wheels on the ground.
"Holy shit, it's a sledgehammer!"
V slammed on the brakes while driving the Ragnar, and everyone in the car was shaken.
"Road ahead is blocked." Delamain started reversing, aiming to ram the blockade in the middle of the road.
"Bang!—!!!"
Two ordinary Arasaka cars were knocked away, and V drove the Emperor 620 Ragnar right through the gap.
The engine slowly accelerated, and the sound of the car speeding brought some calm to everyone.
At this moment, Loki rolled down the window, took out the pistol he had grabbed from the Arasaka guard earlier, and fired a series of "ding-ding-dang-dang" shots at the ground behind Delamain's rear.
"I don't understand why you're doing this." Delamain asked, with no one in the car.
"This is called deception!" Loki said, gritting his teeth against the wind.
On the empty night streets, two cars were racing one after another.
It looked like the Arasaka company was chasing the people in the car ahead.
But who would have thought that all of this was a self-directed and performed act.
"Good plan." V steadied the steering wheel, letting out a sigh of relief.
The Indigo Tower and Arasaka forces were receding behind them, and the two cars melted back into the night.
As they say, trouble never comes alone.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"An enemy floating car has locked onto us." Delamain warned.
A few poorly aimed bullets came from the air behind them, hitting Delamain's car body and making a crisp ricochet sound.
It was those annoying Arasaka Octants, accompanied by two "Griffin" sidekicks.
"It's you who got locked on, not us."
Loki loaded a magazine but didn't lean out to shoot.
First, doing so would render their carefully designed disguise useless. Second, ordinary weapons were ineffective against armored gunboats in the sky, as this was the real world.
"Can't they just leave us alone?" Jackie complained.
"With all the commotion we've caused, do you think Arasaka would let us go?" V countered.
Loki made a call.
"Hey, it's Lucky, yes, now, come out right away." Loki glanced at the map on the PDA, "I'm at... California Street and Cartwright Street. Wait for us at the Clarendon Street intersection. We're in an Arasaka Emperor 620 Ragnar. There might be a Delamain in front of us, and an Arasaka Octant is chasing us."
He hung up the phone.
"Lucky, who were you talking to?" Jackie asked.
"Regina's people, they'll come to support us soon." Loki looked at the Octant in the sky, somewhat worried, "V, head south."
V nodded.
Meanwhile, Delamain, speeding ahead, had opened the eight-chamber hive launcher in the trunk, firing non-stop at the sky with "bang, bang, bang."
This was a real battle taxi, not just a turtle shell that only took hits and relied on passengers to fight back.
"Shi…"
"Clang, clang, clang—"
A small Griffin, following the Octant, was hit by the machine gun, burst into a shower of electric sparks, and rolled on the road, emitting black smoke.
Delamain's roof was full of bullet marks, but surprisingly, the interior seemed undamaged.
Maybe the Octant's machine gun caliber was too small, or perhaps Delamain's skin was too thick. In any case, this steel can was quite durable, a worthy vehicle that could charge into war zones and provide services.
A voice came through the earpiece, and Loki perked up, no longer pretending to shoot, and retracted into the car.
At the T-junction ahead, a fat van turned out.
"V, get close to that van, I'm going to jump over." Loki leaned forward and said.
"What?" V either didn't hear Loki clearly or didn't dare to believe, "What are you going to do?"
"Stay parallel to that van, I'm going to jump over!" Loki repeated loudly.
"Alright!" Although V didn't know what Loki was planning, he trusted him unconditionally.
From the initial preparation stage to the final escape stage, Loki's plan played a crucial role.
At this point, no one doubted his decision.
"Get ready, steady, I'm jumping." Loki climbed out of the window, onto the roof of the Ragnar, then aimed for the open side door of the van, leaving a slight forward angle, and leaped out fiercely.
"Bang!"
With both arms slamming hard onto the van door, Loki crashed into it.
Jackie Chan style.
"Made it!" Loki shouted.
"Wow, real-life stunts, you should go into movies!" Jackie cheered as well.
"What now?" V maneuvered the steering wheel, making a sharp turn.
The three cars turned around the big bend of Clarendon Street, entering the southern coastal road of the Watson district.
Here, the three sea-crossing bridges and a subway track were all blocked by the NCPD, and the bridge was full of cops.
"I'm going to... show you a big treasure!"
Loki pushed open the back door of the van with a "snap" and squeezed himself into the exoskeleton mech fixed inside the compartment.
"Isn't that military-grade exoskeleton tech?" V gripped the steering wheel in shock, quickly returning his focus to the road ahead.
"Right, as long as it kneels down, it still fits in the van."
Loki struggled to put his hands and feet into designated positions, panting heavily.
"Then it turns into... a fixed turret!"
In fact, there was no other choice, because the thermal cannon and power core were both embedded in the mech. Loki didn't have the tools, nor the expertise to dismantle it and weld it onto the roof, so he had to resort to this.
The thermal cannon was raised, knocking against the roof of the van, and aimed at the persistent Arasaka Octant in the sky.
The trigger was pulled, and the muzzle and barrel began to emit a blazing red charge.
"Humming, humming, humming - whoosh!"
"Eat shit!"
The front armor of the Octant quickly melted, the circuits and motherboard were damaged, the flight posture collapsed, and it crashed onto the ground with an immense noise, rolling into a ball.
There was also a tiny, pathetic Griffin combat drone flying in the sky, pierced by a second square energy beam.
"Wow~!" T-Bug whistled on the channel.
"Hell yeah!" Jackie clenched his fists.
V breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally shook those guys off."
A battle taxi, an armored SUV, and a dusty van sped along the empty streets of Little China.
The tires zipped across the wet ground, making a "zizz, zizz, zizz" sound.
"Be careful, the NCPD has deployed a terror response team. I guess Arasaka called the cops," T-Bug suddenly warned nervously.
"Arasaka calling the cops, doesn't that sound weird?" Loki laughed helplessly, wriggling out of the exoskeleton, and said to the van driver, "Follow the taxi ahead and head to the No-Tell Motel."