Mykel’s violent resignation

Mykel stood there, watching as the corpses around him were dragged outside. How did it come to this? Living in a shitty apartment, with a pair of gangsters and a trashy Nomadic desert-monkey, actively being hunted by all of the big-name corporations in the city.

Just a week ago, his life was going well

Mykel wasn't a model employee by any means, but he did his job and avoided causing trouble. This all started when he arrived late one day…

————————————————————————

"Goddamn traffic" Mykel uttered as he entered the company headquarters, it was a pain having to drive on the street, especially in a place like Night City where a shootout could happen in any corner, at any moment without warning.

Mykel pulled out his phone, the latest model of course, and checked when his Aerodyne will arrive. Two more weeks. Until then, he'll have to deal with the troubles of driving on land.

"Viggs, you've been requested by Mister Vega" a man sitting at the counter stated, "top floor, sir"

"Mister Vega wants to see me?" Mykel froze in his tracks, it was the last thing he expected to hear. In the Zetatech ladder, Mykel was around the middle of the ranks, not like an office worker or a receptionist, but also not at the manager level, he had some respect but not enough to garner the attention of the PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY.

Mykel hurried into the elevator, rapidly tapping the 'close' button. Right as the elevator doors were about to shut, a hand slipped in, halting the elevator.

"Mykel Viggs. How do you do?" Asked a booming voice. Mykel knew who it was immediately, that voice wasn't exactly one you'd forget, loud and commanding.

A man stepped in, sporting a trimmed beard, a shitty man-bun and wearing a silver suit.

"Conroy" Mykel forced a smile, hiding the utter disdain he had for the man.

The man's gaze went to the elevator buttons, "…President's office…whose dick did you have to suck to receive such honors?" Conroy chuckled, "maybe if you spent less time joking around, you'll also get to meet the President…" Mykel kept his eyes forward.

After a moment of awkward silence, Conroy spoke up

"…Vega likes to fire his employees personally…he claims it's out of politeness, but I know that's not the case…he's like me" Conroy glanced over, "we just like to see the absolute, crushing defeat on someone's face as we fuck up their life…once you fall from the top, it's hard to climb back up" he placed his hand on Mykel's shoulder, "…so you'd better hope this is a promotion that Vega is calling you in about…" he smirked, before stepping off the elevator.

Mykel flipped Conroy off as he walked away, what a prick.

After a short while, the elevator doors opened to the President's suite.

———

"Don't come to me with excuses, if EDO isn't functioning properly, then figure out the reason why and fix it…that's what I paid you for"

Vega was using a built-in phone located in his head, Mykel hated those things, makes it confusing trying to figure out if someone's speaking to you or over the phone, at least with a physical phone, you can save yourself the trouble…and the humiliation.

Vega turned around, giving Mykel a signal to sit down, he really had no choice but to comply.

"Tweak its behavior, do whatever it takes? just get it done!!" Vega hung up the call, taking a seat across from Mykel before staring at him in silence.

"…You…asked to see me, sir?" Mykel tapped his shoes against the ground. The man sitting across from him was certainly younger than any President he's ever seen, despite being quite young at 34 (at least, for someone in his position), Vega has quickly turned Zetatech from a standard tech company to one of the largest corporations in the world, just below Militech.

What most of the public does not know is that the company has gathered dirt on almost all of its competitors, from Nightcorp to Sovoil, the only exception to this being Arasaka.

To have a man of such immense power sitting across from him, Mykel felt like an ant in the presence of a bird.

"…You're fired" Vega stated bluntly.

"Fuck!!" Mykel shouted, he wasn't too surprised, why else would the President call him into his office?

"Pack your things and go, your days here are done" Vega spun a ballpoint pen.

"Sir…can you at least tell me why?" Mykel asked.

"I CAN tell you…but I don't want to" Vega answered, "time is precious, and I wouldn't wanna waste it explaining something that you can figure out yourself…"

This job was all Mykel has, without it, he'd lost everything.

"…I can see by the dumb expression on your face that you're starting to realize…this is not a job you can afford to lose…twenty thousand employees working here…and with two simple words, I can throw them back onto the streets, forced to live among the very people they'd always looked down upon…"

Vega stood up and leaned against the desk, ha back facing Mykel

"…you're not fired…I just wanted to see your reaction"

Mykel immediately let out a sigh of relief.

"…and to give you a warning" Vega added, "…come to work late again…and I will have you dropped off in the middle of Maelstrom turf without a single eddie to your name"

"U-Understood, boss" Mykel nodded.

"I know you do…now, since you came late today, I'm sure you'd be more than willing to make it up to me? All the seconds you weren't present meant a loss of potential revenue for me, after all" Vega slicked his jet black hair, staring at his reflection on the window in front of him.

"Of course…sir" Mykel kept his head down.

"…I want you…to deliver a hard-drive" Vega instructed, "you'll find a briefcase in the second floor restroom…it'll be filled with all sorts of blackmail, in case you're wondering, and I want you to deliver it to those Patriotic fucks on 6th Street. That's it, a simple delivery"

"Of course" Mykel said immediately, do this one simple task and he may even get a promotion.

"Get to it then" Vega pulled out a smart pistol, placing it on the table, "here…for protection" he smirked.

Mykel reluctantly grabbed the gun and headed back to the elevator, feeling Vega's eyes on him as he left.

Mykel let out a sigh of relief as he clicked on the elevator button.

———

"I'm here" Mykel sat in his car, the briefcase in hand.

"Oh great, do you see a thug in a cowboy hat?" A booming voice spoke over the phone.

"…Yeah…" Mykel sighed, they could've had anybody else to assist him on this mission, and they chose Conroy.

"Walk up to him, hand over the briefcase, he'll hand you a grenade and-" "Wait what the fuck?!" Mykel interrupted.

"Afraid of a little hand grenade?" Conroy chuckled, "it's not live, just bring the grenade back to us and your job is done"

"…Okay…okay" Mykel muttered to himself as he exited the vehicle.

-

As Mykel approached the man in the hat, he could feel several 6th Street members eyeing him down.

"'Ey Shag, get the grenade" the man in the hat nudged one of his lackies, who immediately rushed off.

"They sent one guy?" The man laughed, "I'm just here to drop this off, get the…grenade, and leave" Mykel responded, "if you don't mind me asking, why am I getting a grenade? I'd expect to pick up some cash from you guys or…something that's actually valuable in return"

"Don't judge something by its appearance…it may look like a standard grenade on the outside, but in reality…" The man grabbed the grenade from his lackey, who seemed rather shaken and inexperienced.

"It's a brainwashing device, fucks with your brain, makes you more susceptible to Cyberpsychosis and stuff, be careful not to pull the pin" the man grinned.

"This thing…can give you cyberpsychosis?!" Mykel screamed, "what the hell does Zetatech want to do with something like that?!"

"Not my problem, they gave us what we want, we give you people what you want, our business is concluded"

Mykel was getting ready to leave, when suddenly a 6th street member came running, nearly crashing into him.

"We got a situation!! Them Valentino's are comin', lookin' for trouble!!" "The hell do they want?!"

Right as they were warned, multiple low-riders drove into the neighborhood, drifting to a complete stop and blocking the whole street.

"Hey, I'm not looking for trouble" Mykel glanced at one of the 6th street members, who seemed more focused on the rival gang members than some Corpo.

He watched as several Valentino's exited the vehicles, all holding a gun, rifle or some other machinery capable of death and destruction.

"Yo…" one of the Valentino's stepped forward, his hands gripping a silver pistol with engravings.

"We heard you've been making deals with the corpos…why don't you share what you got with the rest of us?"

"Naw…why don't you lot head on back to Heywood? Y'all got no place here" a 6th street gang member yelled.

"Listen, I have nothing to do with this" Mykel approached the Valentino's, "just let me get to my car and-" "WOAH WOAH, BACK THE FUCK UP!!!" The thug pulled out a pistol on him, "…you know about our boss, Tezca?" He asked Mykel.

"N-Nope…I don't typically involve myself in gang activities" Mykel raised his hands up, still holding the grenade.

"He took over the Valentino's a while ago, shortly after Gustavo Orta 'disappeared'… difference between him and our old bosses? Tezca is willing to work with corpos…whatever 6th Street is offering, we can give double"

"Ya dirty cunts, tryna steal our business?" 6th Street drew their weapons on the Valentino's.

"Guys, it's not my place to make these choices, you can bring that up to my boss" Mykel tried to explain, "…Conroy…I need some help here" he muttered.

"You have a grenade in your hand, genius, use the damn thing" Conroy answered.

Mykel looked between the two gangs, tension was surely rising.

Suddenly, a single gunshot rang throughout the neighborhood, and it soon devolved into a gunfight.

Mykel stuffed the grenade into his pocket and rushed to his vehicle, trying to start the car, "Come on!! Damn land vehicles!!" He slammed the dashboard, "fuck!!!"

Mykel jumped as the car door was pulled opened, and he was yanked out by a Valentino member, "our boss wants to talk to you!!"

Mykel reached into his suit, pulling out his tech pistol, "Stop!!! I know how to use this thing!!" He lied.

"You're pulling a gun on me?!" The Valentino cackled, punching Mykel in the face, "you ain't got the balls"

Mykel had his finger on the trigger, reluctant to pull it, he's never killed a person before…at least not directly.

"I guess talking's outta the question…we'll just have to torture you into working with us" The Valentino sighed, almost like HE was being inconvenienced by all this.

Mykel let out a yell and forced himself to pull the trigger…nothing happened.

"What the-" Mykel pulled the trigger again, nothing happened…"what the fuck?!"

Mykel was suddenly kicked in the jaw, "stupid corpo!! Didn't even have a bullet!!!" The Valentino laughed.

Mykel spat out some blood, slowly reaching for the grenade. "I don't have a bullet…but I do have this!!" Mykel pulled the pin, throwing the grenade right at the Valentino's face as it bursted into a flash of bright light.

The Valentino stumbled back seemingly blinded by the light, as he slowly came to, he quickly reached for his gun and started firing at nothing.

"EYES!! EVERYWHERE!" The Valentino screamed, firing blindly at the sky, as if he's seeing things that aren't there.

Mykel glanced around, seeing the briefcase that he'd initially handed over, no covered in synthetic blood. He crawled over and held onto the briefcase for dear life as he made a run for it, sprinting down the street as the gang war was dying down with losses on both sides.

——————————————————

He just got double-crossed. That gun was empty, and if Mykel recalled correctly, Vega was the one who handed that gun to him in the first place.

For all he knows, they might've assigned Conroy to help him knowing full well that guy would be no help at all.

"What do I do…what do I do" Mykel paced back and forth, his suit wrinkled and his shoes creased, he was a complete mess.

If he returned to Zetatech, they'll probably find some other way to get him killed. He can't return home either, since they knew where he lived, and upon discovering not only his body, but the briefcase with all the blackmail was gone from the scene, they'll likely go after him first.

"Shit…FUCK FUCK FUCK!!" Mykel kicked a nearby trashcan, everything was fucked, all because he was late to work.

"…Just relax" Mykel tried to calm himself, first things first, he'll need a place to stay…

Luckily for him, there was a vacant apartment just near where he currently was, only downside is that he'd have to share the place with others, but it can't be that bad, right?