Reaver staggered back, his chest heaving with exhaustion as he looked down at the smoking remains of the machine. Starr lowered her gun, breathing hard as the tension slowly began to ebb. The drone was nothing but a pile of twisted metal and sparks now, its red eyes dimming to nothing. For a moment, the chamber was silent, save for the faint hum of the power systems around them.
Starr wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to Zeke, who was struggling to his feet, his face contorted in pain. His armor had taken most of the hit, but Starr could see the blood trickling down from a cut above his eye. He winced but gave her a nod, silently confirming he was still in the fight.
"Good work, Byte," Starr said into the comms, her voice still a bit shaky from the adrenaline. "That turret saved us."
"Anytime," Byte replied, the relief in her voice palpable. "But you need to move. I don't know how long the system will stay quiet. Get to the extraction point and get out of there."
Starr nodded and motioned to Reaver and Zeke, pointing to the now-open exit. They were battered and bruised, but they still had enough strength to push through. They had to.
"Let's go," she said, leading the way.
They stepped over the wreckage of the drone, the heat from its smoldering parts radiating into the room. The door ahead was open, a faint breeze from the outside world drifting in. It was the first hint of freedom they'd had since entering The Mind Maze, and Starr wasn't about to waste it.
The three of them moved through the exit and into the night, the cool air of the Badlands hitting them like a wave of fresh relief. The stars above were barely visible through the haze of Night City's distant glow, but it didn't matter. They were out.
Parked near the edge of the outpost was an old Quadra Type-66—their extraction vehicle, just as Byte had promised. The sleek, black car sat idling, its engine purring quietly in the darkness. Starr's heart raced with the knowledge that they had actually made it.
Zeke grunted as he climbed into the backseat, his massive frame barely fitting into the cramped space. Starr slid into the front passenger seat, glancing over at Reaver as he took the driver's side. He gave her a look—one that carried with it a mixture of exhaustion and silent appreciation. But no words were exchanged. There was too much unsaid between them, and this wasn't the time to unpack it.
Reaver floored the gas pedal, and the car roared to life, speeding across the barren wasteland as they left the outpost behind. The tension that had gripped Starr's chest finally began to loosen, but she didn't relax entirely. They had survived the maze, escaped the drones, and overloaded the system—but they weren't out of the fire just yet.
"Byte," Starr said, leaning back against the seat as the car sped across the cracked, empty landscape, "we've got the data. We're clear. Where do we meet Chimera?"
There was a brief pause, and then Byte's voice came through, quiet but confident. "You did it, Layne. Head back to the city. I'll ping you the location once Chimera's ready for the handoff. Just… don't get comfortable. You know how these things go."
Starr let out a breath, closing her eyes for a brief second as the wind whipped around the car. She knew Byte was right. Just because they'd completed the mission didn't mean they were safe. Not yet. Not in Night City.
As the Quadra sped across the Badlands, the faint lights of the city began to appear on the horizon—an endless sprawl of neon, steel, and smoke that seemed to stretch into infinity. It was home. It was chaos. And it was the only place Starr knew how to survive.
Reaver drove in silence, his hands gripping the wheel tightly as they approached the outskirts of Night City. Starr glanced over at him, studying his profile in the dim light of the car. There was a storm behind those dark eyes, a tension that simmered just beneath the surface. She could feel it, too—something unspoken that had lingered between them ever since their paths had crossed again.
But she didn't press him. They had just survived hell, and whatever conversations needed to happen could wait. For now, they were alive. And in Night City, that was more than most people could say.
The towering megastructures of the city loomed closer as the car sped down the highway, the neon glow reflecting off the wet pavement. Starr sat back, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts—about Chimera, about the mission, and about the data they had stolen from Arasaka. Whatever was in those files, it was powerful enough to change everything.
And for better or worse, Starr Layne was now a part of that power play.
The city swallowed them whole as they drove deeper into its heart, the noise, the lights, the chaos pulling them back into the only life they knew. Starr's hand instinctively moved to the hilt of her blade, her fingers brushing against the cool steel.
This was far from over.