The corridor stretched before Starr like an endless tunnel of polished chrome, reflecting the faint green glow from overhead lights. This wasn't the grime of the streets; this was the heart of corporate security, an entirely different battlefield. Silas Konrad's personal fortress was designed for paranoia, meant to keep out the city's predators. Yet, Starr had slipped through, her cybernetic legs making her as silent as a phantom.
Her cloak rippled gently as she slid into cover behind a stack of crates. With a thought, her cybernetic vision flickered on, revealing heat signatures of more guards patrolling the hallways ahead. Each guard was armored, heavily augmented with corporate-sponsored implants that turned them into walking tanks. But that didn't make them invincible.
She had been in worse situations.
Her wrist blades retracted with a soft click as she pulled out her Kenshin Pistol, a precision energy weapon perfect for close-quarters. The weapon hummed softly in her grip, its sights locking onto the guard closest to her position. She could feel the beat of her heart syncing with the rhythm of the city, her focus narrowing as she prepared to move.
But suddenly, her HUD blinked. An alert. Someone had tapped into her feed. She froze, her enhanced hearing picking up the faintest static in her earpiece. Then came a voice, smooth and taunting:
"Having fun in the corpo's playhouse?"
It was Raze.
Starr gritted her teeth, the hair on the back of her neck standing up as the gang leader's voice echoed in her mind. She should have known that taking out Silas wouldn't be easy—not when Raze still had a grudge. His gang, the Razorteeth, had their claws deep in Night City's underbelly, running drugs, weapons, and tech through the black markets. Raze himself was more machine than man at this point, a towering figure in the underground racing scene who had lost more than pride the last time Starr had bested him.
"I'm not in the mood for your games, Raze," Starr muttered under her breath, scanning her surroundings. She couldn't let him distract her, not when she was so close.
"Oh, it's not a game, Layne. You made it personal. Now, I'm just making sure you don't leave this tower alive."
The connection cut out, leaving Starr in cold silence. Her pulse quickened, but she didn't let the adrenaline cloud her judgment. If Raze was here, it meant he'd sent more than just his voice to haunt her. He'd have muscle, too. No doubt, Razorteeth were crawling through the building's lower levels, gearing up for a full-on assault.
But she couldn't back out now.
Konrad's Office was on the 50th floor, accessible only by a heavily secured lift. Starr crouched low, blending into the shadows as another patrol passed by. Her eyes flicked to the lift doors at the end of the hall. She had to time it right—get in, bypass the security protocols, and get out before Raze's goons caught up.
She took a deep breath, activating her cyberdeck. The interface flooded her vision with lines of code, neural implants linking her directly into the building's systems. The lift's security firewall was impressive, but Starr's implants were faster. Her fingers moved in the air, manipulating the code like an artist at work, and in seconds, the door opened with a soft hiss.
As she stepped into the lift, the tension in her muscles eased ever so slightly. But it wouldn't last. The real challenge lay ahead.
The lift hummed as it ascended, taking her higher and higher, closer to Silas Konrad. Starr's thoughts drifted to the job. What had he done to deserve such a brutal end? The details were sketchy, but enough to disgust her—taking street kids, ripping out their humanity, and replacing it with cold, malfunctioning tech. She'd seen the aftermath on the streets: children-turned-machines, cast out like broken toys when their upgrades failed. It was the kind of cruelty that couldn't be forgiven in Night City.
Her mind snapped back to the present as the lift slowed, approaching the top floor. Starr took a deep breath, preparing herself. This was it—the final leg of the mission. No turning back.
The doors slid open.
Silas Konrad's Office was nothing like she expected. It wasn't a sterile, corporate suite filled with sleek technology and cold metal. Instead, it was warm—almost disarmingly so. Floor-to-ceiling windows revealed a panoramic view of Night City, the neon lights far below twinkling like a sea of stars. Luxurious leather furniture filled the room, and along the walls, real wood paneling. Expensive. It all screamed decadence.
Konrad himself sat behind a massive wooden desk, his fingers steepled as he stared at her with an unsettling calm. He was older than Starr had imagined, his silver hair slicked back, his eyes cold and calculating. But there was something off about him, something that her enhanced senses couldn't quite pinpoint.
"Ms. Layne," he greeted her, his voice smooth as glass. "I've been expecting you."
Starr stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "Then you know why I'm here."
Konrad smiled, leaning back in his chair. "I know exactly why you're here. But before we proceed, let me make you an offer. One that I believe you'll find… intriguing."
Starr's grip tightened on her pistol. "I don't make deals with people like you."
"Ah, but you haven't even heard my proposition." His smile widened, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You and I both know that Night City is a machine. It chews people up and spits them out without a second thought. But you… you could rise above that. With your skills, your talent, and the right backing, you could have anything you want. Power. Wealth. Influence. I can make that happen."
Starr's jaw clenched. "You think I'd sell out for some corpo fantasy?"
"No, not a fantasy," Konrad said, his tone turning cold. "A reality. One where you don't have to scrape by, taking mercenary gigs and hoping to survive another day. I can give you a life of comfort—of control. All I ask is that you leave this office. Walk away. And we both pretend this little encounter never happened."
Starr stared at him, her mind racing. She'd heard pitches like this before, from other corpos who thought they could buy loyalty. But what Konrad was offering wasn't just money—it was freedom from the grind. A chance to rise above the dirt of Night City, to stop running, to stop fighting.
But at what cost?
Her mind flashed to the children she had seen, broken and discarded on the streets, their bodies malfunctioning, unable to survive the cruel experiments that Konrad had subjected them to. Her blood boiled at the thought of it. How many lives had he ruined for his greed? How many more would he destroy if she walked away now?
"No deal," Starr said, her voice hard as steel.
Konrad sighed, a faint trace of disappointment flickering across his face. "Pity. You could have been so much more."
In an instant, the room was flooded with movement. Hidden turrets emerged from the ceiling, tracking Starr with deadly precision. Konrad stood, his body suddenly shifting, muscles rippling under his skin as cybernetic enhancements activated. His calm demeanor was gone, replaced by the cold efficiency of a predator.
Starr moved on instinct.
Her wrist blades extended, catching the first turret as it opened fire. The sound of gunfire echoed through the office, but Starr was already moving, her enhanced reflexes allowing her to dodge the incoming rounds. She slid behind Konrad's desk, using it as cover as she fired her Kenshin, the energy blast tearing through the nearest turret.
Konrad moved faster than she expected, crossing the room in a blur. He slammed into the desk, sending it crashing into the windows with a deafening shatter. Glass rained down as Starr barely dodged his next strike, rolling to the side as she fired again. The blast caught him in the chest, but it barely slowed him down.
"Did you think it would be that easy?" Konrad growled, his voice distorting as more of his cybernetics activated. His arms, now fully mechanical, transformed into razor-sharp blades that gleamed under the neon lights.
Starr gritted her teeth, her mind racing. She was fast, but Konrad was faster. His enhancements were top-tier, designed for close-quarters combat. She couldn't beat him head-on.
She needed a new strategy.
Her eyes flicked to the shattered windows, the cityscape beyond them glowing like a beacon. The room was high up, far above the chaotic streets below. But for someone like her, heights weren't a problem.
Konrad charged again, his blades slicing through the air. Starr dodged, narrowly avoiding his strike as she backed toward the window. Her cyberdeck flared to life, hacking into the building's environmental controls. With a quick command, she disabled the gravity compensators.
The shift was instantaneous. The room's gravity dropped, sending everything into chaos. Konrad stumbled, his body momentarily disoriented as he tried to compensate. Starr took the opportunity, launching herself toward the shattered window.
She hit the glass with a grunt, tumbling through the air as the wind whipped around her. Her body plummeted toward the streets below, the lights of Night City flashing around her like a kaleidoscope.