Previously.

"And this is where they meet their demise." Wyatt stood up and approached the open doors. His shield pulled upon his arm, and he held his gun with a tight grip. He leaped out of the chopper, perfectly, and gracefully landed on the rooftop. He took cover behind a roof-ventilation machine. Sparks and bullets reflected off of the machine. Wyatt popped his head up and started to ignite the soldiers full of bullets. Reloading every so often. I broke my fall with my knees and began to give Wyatt cover. I kept my back arched forward and ran over to Wyatt, seeking cover.

Bullets started to bounce over the top of the ventilation machine. 

"Just drop and roll, fuckers." Wyatt growled, reloading his clip. I popped my head up and aimed at the one closest to the door. Johnny and Casey followed behind us. Even though we were squished for cover it made it riskier. But let's be real, we have more firepower than them.

"Ronin. Try this." Casey called out, she passed me a grenade that was shaped like a ball. My thumb hovered over the glowing circle in the middle. With the smallest amount of pressure, I activated it and rolled it to their feet. The soldier's gaze snapped from us and to the blinking ball. Their sixth sense kicked in too late. The four of us tucked our heads down. A cloud of bright blue and white flames collected their remains. It remained their demise as I could recall from Wyatt.

A frustrated sigh escaped my lips, this was only the top floor. There were around fifty more floors to search, probably crawling with Corpo's like ants to an anthill.

"Remember the plan, get the payload onto the elevator, arm it, and let gravity do its thing." Casey reminded the group. She struggled to pass the duffle bag over to Wyatt and I. She forgot about passing it to Wyatt, he held out his hand, but she dropped it at his feet.

"Jeezuz, Casey! That shit could have gone off when you dropped it!" Johnny yelled. Casey shrugs the comment off her shoulders and ignores the comment as if Johnny didn't say it loud enough.

Casey stayed silent and hurried over to the doorway that led to an elevator. I knew this place was crawling with Corpo's like ants to an anthill. Still, I couldn't help but think that after we blow this place to pieces, it will be reported as an act of terrorism. 

We didn't have to destroy the labs and workplace, but if it meant saving Panam, then it was worth it in the end. I personally didn't know her, but Wyatt knew her best. And if Wyatt didn't ask me to help as an asset to this mission I wouldn't have come without an invitation.

A part of me was telling me that destroying the floor with the laboratories was for the best. This was where they put the lotus virus to action, using Breanne as a guinea pig for their experiments.

"Explosion rocks the foundation, tower crumbles- chaos, screaming, roll the credits." Johnny phrased it as if he was narrating a movie.

"Exit window's gonna be tight." Casey sighed. We pushed through the doorway and ran over to the elevator door. 

A red light scanned over us, "Access denied."

My eyes traced over a machine where you're supposed to swipe your card, that only Corpo's had to provide for their workplace.

"Shit, where are we going to find a key card?" I questioned.

Casey smiled and placed two fingers on the earpiece on her right ear.

"Spider, set an evacuation announcement. Broadcast it across all frequencies and let's get moving." Casey contacted Spider and shared her quick and brilliant plan.

I only assumed Spider was a hacker, just like T-bug.

Spider scanned through Casey's contacts and traced a vibrant, translucent, beam of light over the elevator. Minutes began to count down as Spider was working her magic to hack through and bypass everything in the building that was available.

"Sheesh, who wrote this manifesto?" Spider said softly. I could sense an area of frustration in her voice. This meant that the bypass and codes were different from the ones she's worked with before. Besides Arasaka was the oldest family in Night City.

"Really need me to answer that question?" Casey said with sarcasm.

The doors slid slowly open, and it proved not to be an elevator. The doors led to a floor, with a couple of staircases leading down to the next. The lights were dim and blue. 

The second I stepped through the door, shots started going off. A Corpo rolled behind the railing that separated the first staircase from the next. The moment the opposing side began to send bullets my way, the others began to open fire.

I took cover behind the frame of the metal doors, I aimed closer to the corner of the wall, and lowered my gun with persison. With gravity and force, the bullet would project off of the corner and hit him. It was enough to tease him out.

An explosion cycled from the chamber of my gun, and a hot piece of brass bounced onto the marble floors. The copro yelled in agony and hid in the same area. Damn, even when he was shot he didn't move from his cover. Wyatt jumped up on the rail and slid down, keeping his arm extended for the moment he hits the bottom. A loud blast was made and the Corpo's body began to roll down the second staircase.

With a satisfied smile, I watched as Wyatt began to breach the doors below. I activated my heat vision, I looked through the translucent walls and saw two men standing guard near the elevator.

I followed Wyatt right on his heels. He halted at the automatic doors that led to the floor where the elevator was on.

"You take the one on the right, I got the one on the left," I whispered to Wyatt. He replied with a simple nod. My heart began to stammer, as usual, the flight or fight response. I wasn't scared, nor fearless, I just knew that anyone here could die in a flash. Wyatt placed the 'payload' down.

At the same time, the door opened soundlessly and my wrist twisted to the left and shot the Corpo. Wyatt on the other hand didn't shoot the one on the right. He quickly disarmed the Corpo free of his weapons.

The Corpo continued to struggle, Wyatt placed his gun beneath the hideous Corpo's chin. I wondered how they hired him with appearances that belong in a gang. The Corpo reminded me of Dumb-Dumb but with a suit on. The usual red eyes and the oily skin over his metal skeleton structure.

"She sought it with thimbles, she sought it with care, pursued it with forks, and hope..." Spider recited, the group was silent and was unsure what to say to Wyatt's actions.

"Wyatt, finish him off, we don't have time for questions. Deliver the payload!" Casey suggested to Wyatt. I began to have this odd feeling crawl up from the depths of my gut. Did anyone tell Casey who we were really here for?

"I've got this," Johnny assured Wyatt, he picked up the bag and entered the elevator. A line of modern lights led to the elevator, where two glowing, blossom plants were on each side of the doors.

"I'm giving you one chance to walk out of here alive, have we found common ground?" Wyatt growled, his intimidation tactics seemed to be working with the Corpo. The Corpo nodded relentlessly.

Wyatt fished through his pocket and pulled out a translucent polaroid of Panam and him at the Coyote'. He held it in front of the Corpo's face and gave him time to look at the photo.

"Have you seen this woman?" Wyatt questioned him.

"No, I haven't." the Corpo trembled in fear.

"Don't lie to me, man!" Wyatt smashed the Copro on the side of the temple with his gun.

"Give him what he wants. And I'll promise your freedom." I stepped in trying to get the Corpo to tell the truth.

"I may have seen her in the labs, she's located on the same floor we're on." the Corpo revealed, cooperating with Wyatt. Wyatt pulled the trigger.

A part of me felt empty for always killing people on missions, who specifically didn't wrong me in any way. The Corpo's body collapsed onto the ground, and a blue shade of blood began to pour around him, forming a puddle beneath his lifeless body.

Johnny knelt down and placed the duffel bag in the elevator. He unzipped the bag and began to arm the bomb.

"Bushido II - what's the bomb's name?" Johnny retraced his memory for the name of the weapon, after reading the label on the silver cased bomb. He began to press a few buttons, and the lining of the ash-sliver bomb began to light up.

"Wrap it up, we have delta!" Casey warned Johnny. My heart began to pick up the pace, after hearing Casey worry like that.

"The demolition, we're good to blow," Johnny replied to Casey.

"Elite Saka's heading your way! Run for it." Lyle the second pilot to the chopper, warned us after he saw movement on the same floor we were on. 

"Johnny, get the fuck out of there!" Casey warned Johnny. Johnny jogged back over to Wyatt and I and began to count his rounds. I aimed my gun towards the cables of the elevator.

"Ronin! Shoot the cables!" Casey ordered.

Johnny followed my lead and we both began to shoot the cables. Sparks began to scatter, as the elevator began to descend.

"Get the rotors running, Shaiton!" Casey called out to Shaiton. I checked my lip and began to reload, as things were being taken up a notch.

"Wait, we're not done yet. I still have to feed this to their subnet." Wyatt held up a small black box.

But Casey saw right through the lie, she knew that wasn't his intention. She knew this was all for his Ex. Casey began to wave her arms in the air in frustration. She turned her back on Wyatt.

"I fucking knew it! This was never about 'corporate colonialism', this was about your missing Ex, that you care for so much, isn't it?!" Casey revealed.

"Who gives a shit, we don't leave people behind!" I began to feel frustration take over my mood and optimism.

"Oh, so you're in this with him as well?! I should have known." Casey shoved me back and turned her heels towards the doorway that led to the Elite Corpo's marching our way. I grabbed her collar, bringing her back to me.

"Ever put your hands on me again? And I'll spray paint your ass with a bullet." I threatened, Casey ripped her collar out from my grip and dusted herself off.

"I don't even know how you like this chick, Johnny," Casey mumbled to Johnny, leaving me in my thoughts after I heard that. It didn't make me react like the shove, it made me think. I wasn't sure if she was being generally honest, by saying Johnny liked me. Maybe it was a friendship.

"Nah, you wouldn't understand, Casey," Johnny denied, backing up both me and Wyatt.

"Well then, I am giving you four fucking minutes. Chopper isn't going to wait one second longer!" Casey screamed at Wyatt. He didn't react much besides rolling his eyes. I had to admit he had better self-control than I will ever have.

"Door locks breached. Arasaka sons-a-bitches incoming!" Spider warned us.

"Love ya, Spider." I joked.

"Aww thank you, Ronin. The whole world loves me." Spider admitted, briefly cutting the conversation short. After all, we still needed to find Panam in four minutes! Wyatt stole the Corpo's key card. It was drenched in blood. Wyatt wiped it on his pant leg and raised his gun for action.

Wyatt swiped and scanned the card against the panel next to the door.

One of Arasaka's elites fell forward when the doors opened. Wyatt widened his eyes and pulled the trigger on the elite. I chuckled, they weren't so elite after leaning against the door. It almost was too easy to take out these guys and they called themselves 'elites'. I may have been too overconfident after I watched how easy it was to screw up.

I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. The floor began to shake as the bomb went off on the first floor. It almost made me panic that we weren't going to make it out here alive, after all the explosion would have climbed up the elevator shafts.

"Wyatt! Bad news." Spider warned Wyatt. Both Wyatt and I took cover behind a zen stone in the middle of the sand garden. The room was Japanese-themed and had a second floor for office space.

I watched Johnny take off the opposite way, Wyatt tossed the black box to Johnny.

Johnny caught it and began to climb the pillar, up onto the second floor, where a fancy decorated office was.

"What is it, Spider?" Wyatt questioned. He kept hope that this wasn't going to be overall bad news.

"Panam was reported escaped, earlier before we arrived. I checked through their system and it's written down as a code red, along with Breanne's name." Spider informed Wyatt. I widened my eyes, why didn't Spider let us know earlier. Then we would have perceived that no harm needed to be done to the Arasaka's corporation. But something stuck with me, Thompson warned us earlier there was an army of elites heading our way, but the thing was, where were they?