The Usual Suspects

Four edgerunners share a fixer and a joint desire to earn some eddies.

Miyagi: Late 30s, bald, nose-pierced, always wearing a clash of thrift-store fashion. A street medic with a mind for chemistry, and a deep interest in Buddhist philosophy. His right hand hides a built-in medical scanner, and his large pistol "Frialita" is a thing of beauty.

Neon: Russian netrunner with a flair for chaotic fashion - comfy base layers hidden under a blindingly colourful jacket. She plays coy about her cyberware, hides her tech, and plays with demolitions in her spare time.

Rollcage: A brick wall of a man with nomad roots, and all muscle. Dressed in colourful chic clothes, his boots and leather trousers give away his nomadish background. Drives like a demon, and fights with a shotgun and lead pipe.

Frost: Early 20s, pink hair shaved at the sides, leather trousers, and a glare sharp enough to cut glass. Fresh meat to the crew. Rollcage's younger sister - though that information isn't shared.

DangerMaus, the fixer, keeps them fed with jobs. A back-alley operator with good intentions, and community roots.

Club Nova Nights

The job starts at Club Nova, a sleepless neon haven pulsing with bass. People from all walks of life are here - hustlers, gangers, dreamers.

Roxy, the bubbly host, takes coats and offers drinks. A stray grey tabby named Muffin curls on the bar - their unofficial mascot.

Most of the crew know each other from previous gigs, but Frost is new, being dragged by the arm alongside Rollcage.

As introductions go around, Miyagi offers a hand but Frost refuses to shake, until Rollcage nudges her with a muttered "be nice." She forces a tight smile and a limp handshake.

The group settles in with drinks. Roxy slides soft drinks across the counter before they even ask - like they were expected. Miyagi upgrades everyone's order to the real stuff.

Frost, frustrated and impatient, storms off into the crowd to find DangerMaus herself. She notices a man with security around him, and makes her way over. He knows exactly who she is, without any introduction.

The Gig

DangerMaus briefs the crew of the gig;

"Got a shipment of pain meds coming in. I need it moved - fast. Viktor's holding it near the river. But the Tyger Claws have been sniffing around, and I don't trust 'em not to start trouble."

The job's simple enough: pick up the meds, bring them back, get paid. Simple jobs never stay simple.

The team agrees - and stays for another round. Miyagi and Rollcage hit the dance floor. Miyagi tries some new moves, spills a drink of a nearby patron, and nearly starts a fight. Rollcage smooths it over with a few eddies and some decent footwork.

At the bar, Frost and Neon finally talk properly. Neon's all charm; Frost, still prickly. When discussing DangerMaus, Neon whispers some advice: "Never owe him a favour."

Still on the dance floor, the music shifts, Miyagi finds his rhythm with the new beat - suddenly a master of movement. Rollcage, meanwhile, can't keep up.

Drinks are downed, and the crew head out.

Roll Out

Rollcage takes the wheel. The car being his personal temple.

"Respect the car, and she'll respect you. Seatbelts on. One song request each."

Frost slouches in the passenger seat, boots on the dash. Rollcage quickly smacks them down.

Neon opens her laptop, scanning blueprints for the target warehouse. It's an old model - low-tech, manual gates, minimal cameras, probably more dust than data.

They pass under the lights of Night City, crossing the river into the industrial outskirts.

A homeless man approaches the car. Miyagi flips him 50eb and asks about the nearby warehouse. "Security guys came two weeks ago. New systems. Don't look friendly."

No Half Measures

They meet Viktor, waiting at the loading docks, surrounded by crates. "I can only give you half the shipment," he mutters."Other half? I need it, money's tight and I've not been paid"

Miyagi loads what's there into the car, while Frost, Rollcage, and Neon head to the warehouse office for a little "negotiation".

Viktor reveals that the men working in the warehouse are actuallyTyger Claw members, and he's hesistant to upset them. With some persistent back-and-forth, a deal is finally struck: "We take out the Tygers, and we leave with all the shipment. We'll even put in a good word with the Maus for ya."

The crew doesn't hesitate to get started. Rollcage informs Miyagi of the plan, and they part ways. Viktor lures a guard into his office - Rollcage and Frost make light work of taking him down silently.

Miyagi slips up behind another worker, choking him out gently. "Please give in - I'm trying to help you."The worker wriggles free of the chokehold and cries out across the warehouse.

Freefire

Gunfire erupts between warehouse shelves.

Neon jacks into the network - sees a digital AI SKUNK watchdog watching her every move. She launches RAVEN - no impact. The AI watchdog strikes back.

Rollcage leaps over the catwalk railing, smashing down onto the floor below. A ganger charges him with rippers; he sidesteps and blasts her chest open with a shotgun.

Frost moves with lethal precision - fires up at a walkway, the bullet tearing through a rail and impaling the ganger behind it.

Miyagi pins a thug under a crate, using their own ripper against them, and crushing their hand with a calm efficiency.

Neon's BanHammer slams into SKUNK, and the thing resists. She grins, slams it again - and this time, obliterates it. The cameras go dark.

Chaos reigns below. Tyger Claws are scrambling, terrified. Rollcage hurls an oil drum across the floor, bowling one over. Frost finishes a downed ganger with crisp, emotionless precision. Miyagi fires non-lethal rounds - knocking down two fleeing individuals. Rollcage, bleeding from a chest wound, steps on the enemy responsible. Crack. Silence.

When the last bullet echoes away, the floor's littered with bodies.

Claiming The Spoils

The crew strips the place - pain meds, weapons, creds, synthcoke, kibble. Neon deletes the security footage. Frost lugs boxes to the car. Miyagi soothes Rollcage's injury as he lies on a wooden pallet, rubbing at the torn muscle.

Back in the car, Frost puts her feet back on dash with a similar response from Rollcage. "It helps with the pain!" Frost lashes out as she places her feet back, her torso bloodied from the shootout. Rollcage takes off his jacket and places it under her feet.

Driving back through the neon smog, talk drifts to corpos - how they rot everything they touch. Frost and Neon spit their hatred. Miyagi counters softly: "Hanako Arasaka will change everything. You'll see." He starts quoting her books like scripture.

A Job Well Done

Back at Club Nova, DangerMaus welcomes them like heroes. He's thrilled - 90% of the shipment intact. He clearly underpaid, but to make up for it:

"You've earned yourselves a roof. Rent-free. Safe. Yours - if you keep working for me."

Rollcage checks in with Frost, quietly: "You good with this?" She nods. "Could do it again with my eyes shut."

The crew accepts.

Home Sweet Home?

Their new safehouse has cracked walls, humming lights, and a half-decent chemistry setup. Over the next week they meet Sammi Sumaq, a Peruvian bodyguard working for DangerMaus - and an old friend of Miyagi's.

As the city hums outside, each of them drifts into their own ritual -Neon tinkering with her deck, Rollcage working on the car, Miyagi toiling away amongst the chemistry setup, Frost leaving quietly with a guitar on her back.

The camera pulls back through the window, out into the neon-drenched streets of Night City.