Splitting money is always exciting.
Jefferson gave Leo three million, but strictly speaking, the money wasn't entirely his.
First, there's Aldecaldo.
This time, Aldecaldo deployed 20 vehicles and engaged in some battles, although overall things went pretty smoothly.
That many vehicles aren't cheap at market price.
The Aldecaldos didn't really mind helping Leo for free—in fact, they felt they were earning too much and might even need to chip in themselves.
However, Leo thought it wasn't right to leave it like that. Even though Saul treated them like family, when it comes to real family, money still needs to be handled properly. Paying for work done is only natural.
So, accounting for labor costs, fuel, and all sorts of other expenses, the total came to 350,000. It was still a good amount when split among everyone.
[Panam: Saul's always stingy, and our clan's dirt poor.]
[Panam: Yet you're throwing around cash in Night City and somehow thriving—talk about unfair.]
[Panam: Ever think about joining us? If you just said the word, the Aldecaldos would make you the new leader. Saul wouldn't even complain!]
[ Leo: Cut the chatter. Tell the clan to get into position.]
[ Leo: Go study the development plan I sent you. Pick your own people to come over.]
The Red Shirt Psychiatric Hospital would serve as the export transfer station, and in the northern part of Watson, they would establish the real production and storage areas, stockpiling a lot of goods stripped from the Maelstrom gang.
The Aldecaldos numbered in the hundreds of thousands—a lot of people—but this time, they weren't just getting scraps anymore.
[Panam: Got it — seriously though, are you really only 20 years old? You seem more mature than Saul.]
Not really 20 — to be precise, his physical age was 18.
This was a big sum of money, but V and Jackie had no complaints.
The second chunk went to hiring David's crew — but that was pocket change. 150,000, and they were thrilled.
Because, frankly, if they had gone through a middleman, they'd have been lucky to pocket 50,000 from it.
Leo wasn't a stingy boss either — David just got lucky.
Lucky too that V didn't raise any objections.
Now, the big expenses: the flying motorcycles. They were modified from production Nazare models, which cost about 30,000 apiece.
But according to the blueprints, the modifications required a turbofan, a high-pressure jet module, an extremely precise electronic control system, and a lightweight frame.
And that's not even mentioning it — high-precision machining of high-strength materials was extremely complex, let alone custom work.
If you tried to buy these parts on the regular market, you basically couldn't even find them at any price. Only because of Sherman's company connections could they source them.
Naturally, this wasn't cheap.
"And then there's our equipment cost — one bike will cost 100,000 to build."
"100,000?!" V's eyes widened.
Leo stared back at her:
"You think 100,000 is a lot?!"
Come on — if Cyberpunk world megacorps tried to research this stuff, the R&D alone would cost millions.
The kind of propulsion engine with this insane thrust-to-weight ratio was normally used in hovercars now!
Leo was basically hacking reality by skipping R&D — without that, you could dream of building something this advanced for 100,000.
So Leo was feeling pretty confident.
V slumped back in her seat, grumbling:
"Fine… for the sake of the bike, 100,000 it is. So, we're deducting 200,000 for two bikes?"
"Right, 200,000." Leo continued, "Then there's the vehicle. We'll need the truck to carry both bikes and the linear frames — we'll have to expand the trailer."
Expanding the space was just one part. Since equipment would need frequent adjustments, they'd also need robotic arms, welding gear, electronic fine-tuning systems, etc.
The Mackinaw truck was big, but now it was starting to feel too small.
The most important thing: They might even try to install turbofans on the truck itself. The engine, chassis, outer shell, and internal structure would all need Adrian to take a look. The final version of the vehicle could absolutely wow the world.
But that was for later — Leo wanted to leave it as a surprise for V and Jackie.
Leo sent a concept image to Jackie and V.
"We'll convert it to dual rear wheels, and the chassis design is inspired by the Thorton Merrimac"Warlock". It'll look something like this."
Jackie whistled:
"Now that's a beast. You can tell it's heavy-duty just by looking — must be expensive."
"It is expensive. Our modifications cost even more."
"Wait a minute—" V suddenly said, "Wasn't Thorton sponsoring us for free? And if we mod it like this, is it even a Mackinaw anymore?"
A philosophical question, perhaps — but Leo knew V wasn't actually asking about philosophy.
"Good question!" Leo praised. "But don't you think if the Legendary Mackinaw looked just like every other Mackinaw, it wouldn't feel special?"
"So, this new model — sure, you can say it's not really a Mackinaw anymore. It's the Legendary Mackinaw."
As for Thorton, Sherman would handle the connections — Leo figured vehicle equipment should be free.
But for other upgrades, they'd have to pay themselves.
"Anyway, why are you asking so many questions? You won't understand the tech stuff — just say whether you want it or not!"
"I'm in," Jackie raised his hand immediately, only for V to yank it back down.
V bit her thumbnail, thinking hard.
Oh no, she really did want to upgrade her Mackinaw.
Although the reference image Leo provided looked tacky and clumsy, the basic model Mackinaw was clumsy too!
What did it have to do with the Mackinaws they drove anyway?
This was bad—really bad—she had originally planned to trip Leo up over team expenses.
Otherwise, there would be no excuse; she wouldn't be able to pin the spending on Leo at all.
Their debt was shrinking fast, and it felt like ants were crawling in her heart.
Leo immediately noticed V's conflicted feelings:
Heh, this spending? Flawless. This car? Definitely gonna come out of the team project's budget.
After all, back then, he had landed himself deep in debt precisely by miscalculating project funds as personal expenses.
Jackie, meanwhile, gave Leo a rare look—the kind you give someone you don't think is too smart—then meaningfully picked up the ChroManticore next to him.
"You guys work it out yourselves."
"Fine!" V made up her mind. "How much?"
"A full upgrade set: 300,000."
Leo sent over the price list, then quickly moved the conversation along.
Not like either of them was going to actually look at it.
"Next, the gear: the linear frame needs upgrades, the gauntlets need optimization based on combat feedback, and the landing apparatus too.
Also, your leg prosthetics, your skeleton, and your Sandevistan might all need further upgrades, and then..."
As V listened, she suddenly realized: the more they spent, the less they'd have to split later!
Meaning her share would shrink too!
The magic of math.
"Enough!" V cut Leo off. "Just tell me—how much for all of it?"
"Rough estimate? Set aside at least 600,000. I'll also see if there are any new materials or tech we can use."
Jackie spat out his drink: "How much?!"
"Fine!"
V agreed without hesitation.
Leo shrugged and explained to Jack,
"Later upgrades will need more sample parts for testing. That costs money."
"It's not that I mind spending," Jackie muttered. "But damn, V's arm wasn't that expensive. How good can a prosthetic costing hundreds of thousands even be?"
He glanced at his own arm—the one he'd traded blood and sweat to get, the "Champion's Arm"—and struggled to imagine what a multi-hundred-thousand setup would even look like.
"Actually," Leo thought for a second and said,
"Finding powerful, tough equipment and materials is easy. Finding safe ones? Different story."
The Maelstrom gang was a prime example.
V and Jack immediately understood what Leo meant.
Yeah—out on the streets, you could find plenty of cyberware with insane combat capabilities.
All you needed was to strap a projectile launcher onto your arm. One shot, and you could blow up most vehicles.
The launcher didn't even have to be fancy—it could be cobbled together with rusty second-hand cyberware parts. As long as it could fire, it worked.
But with junk like that, failure rates were sky-high.
And they weren't broke street rats anymore. A quick glance at the Maelstrom gang told you everything you needed to know.
Did those half-mad Maelstrom guys really have more implants than they did?
Not necessarily.
"The good news is," Leo continued, "we've got a lot of supply channels. Plus, Maelstrom's got a big stockpile.
Once Adacado finishes inventory, we can pull from that stash."
"Maybe we won't even spend the full 600,000."
"After some miscellaneous expenses, we're looking at a total of 1.2 million to split—so 400,000 each."
"In fact, not only might we not use all 600,000, but—"
[New message: Bryce]
[Bryce: You're with the Maelstrom?]
[Bryce: Never mind, not gonna pretend. I know you're there. Remember the three contracts I mentioned before?]
[Bryce: One of them has a follow-up. A runner might have fled into that area.]
[Bryce: Send me some data.]
[Leo: Meet in person.]
"Perfect timing," Leo said. "Looks like we might have another job coming in."
"No!" V suddenly shook her head.
"Safety first. You blow through that 600,000! Also—maybe give Adacado and David a bonus while you're at it?"
Leo gave V a weird look.
"You feeling okay?"
"I said spend it! Big boss can't be stingy!"
"You—"
Jackie leaned against the window, sipping his drink, unconcerned about whether 400,000 was too much or too little.
That kind of money... was something he never even dared dream about before.
Driving a Mackinaw, drinking ChroManticore, running around with badass cyberware as a legendary boss—
he had made it this far.
What else could he possibly ask for?
Maybe... it was time to think about marriage.
[Unstable energy surge imminent.]