Beneath the East Dock Vault

The service lane bends toward Selene’s shuttered shop, two blocks from Euran Cross’s repair stall. Rain beads on the security shutters while municipal noise fades behind them.

Selene’s concealed systems recognize her approach through encrypted biometrics. A blank section of wall unlocks, revealing a narrow interior route lit by low amber strips.

Mara Quell and the courier remain near the concealed entrance, watching the rain-dark lane. Euran Cross follows Selene inside, close enough that his repaired prosthetic hand occasionally brushes hers.

Selene lets out a breath that trembles through the amber-lit passage. Rain ticks against the concealed wall, while Euran’s prosthetic servos settle into a quiet hum.

Euran’s crooked almost-smile disappears. His grey eyes stay on hers, and his mismatched hand rises before stopping just short of touching her face.

Beyond the hidden entrance, Mara and the courier remain outside with the evidence. Inside, the shop’s dormant systems recognize the tension and dim the route lights.

Selene breathes hard through the confession. Amber light catches the moisture in her eyes as the hidden passage falls quiet around them.

Euran’s hand finally reaches her face, mismatched fingers resting carefully against her cheek. His crooked smile returns, unsteady and openly glad.

Selene leans closer beneath the amber lights, leaving the remaining distance between them for Euran to cross. His hand stays warm against her cheek.

Euran closes the distance and kisses her, careful at first, then with the certainty he has been holding back. His prosthetic fingers steady her jaw.

Heat rises across Selene’s face as the kiss leaves her light-headed. Her dazed expression remains when Euran draws back, his thumb still resting carefully against her cheek.

His crooked smile turns cautious, though his hand does not retreat. The amber route lights reflect in his grey eyes as he searches her face for balance.

Behind them, dormant shop systems wake in silent sequence, recognizing Euran’s presence beside Selene. A concealed workbench unfolds from the wall, its surface waiting beneath soft white task lights.

Selene grabs Euran and launches into him, arms and legs locking around his frame as she kisses him back with sudden, unrestrained force. The tackle drives them against the unfolding workbench.

Euran catches her under the thighs and shoulders before either of them falls. His prosthetic servos shriek under the combined weight, and the bench slams against the wall with a sharp metallic report.

He kisses her back immediately, crooked smile lost against her mouth. One boot skids across the floor, but his grip tightens and keeps her securely held against him.

The impact triggers the shop’s dormant security system. A muted amber alarm pulses through the hidden passage, and outside, Mara’s voice cuts sharply through the concealed entrance.

Selene keeps kissing Euran, one arm locked around his shoulders while her free hand snatches a loose diagnostic puck from the workbench and throws it toward the entrance.

The puck clatters against the concealed door beside Mara, emitting a bright proximity chirp. The shop alarm doubles in volume, and the amber lights shift to urgent red.

Mara retreats through the opening, dragging the courier with her and sealing the concealed entrance. Their footsteps fade into rain and municipal static.

The thrown puck has cracked its casing against the door, draining the workbench’s reserve battery into a persistent emergency broadcast. Euran keeps holding Selene securely.

Selene moans with brief pleasure, then irritation at the pulsing alarm. She shifts carefully from Euran’s hold, boots finding the floor as he lowers her without letting her stumble.

Euran steadies himself against the workbench while Selene crosses to the damaged diagnostic puck. Its emergency broadcast floods the local mesh with her shop’s encrypted distress signature.

Her fingers bypass the cracked casing and sever the broadcast at its source. The amber alarm dies, the lights return to soft white, and the shop’s systems fall silent.

Euran steps close again, one hand braced beside her on the workbench. His repaired prosthetic hums evenly, and his crooked smile returns as the hidden shop settles around them.

Selene gives Euran a deliberate, half-lidded look and stalks toward him, fingers catching the zipper of her mechanic’s jumpsuit. The teeth descend with a quiet metallic rasp.

She opens the top far enough to make the invitation unmistakable, then hooks a finger toward him. The shop’s white work lights soften as its privacy systems engage.

Euran steps into her space, his crooked smile returning as his hand settles carefully at her waist. The concealed shop seals its inner door and mutes every external sensor.

The amber privacy indicator changes to a steady blue. Beyond it, Night City’s rain and alarms fade from awareness as the two of them disappear into the protected room, leaving the rest for the morning.

Later, the protected room remains dim and quiet. Euran stands beside the sealed inner door, jacket gathered around him, while blue privacy light glints across his repaired prosthetic.

A dormant wall display wakes without prompting, recognizing Euran’s presence. It reveals a buried authorization lattice beneath the shop systems, marked with government encryption and Selene’s concealed officer credentials.

The display decrypts one additional file before the privacy system can seal it: Voss’s next purge order, scheduled for dawn, with Euran’s name removed and Selene’s covert designation newly attached.

The admission settles beneath the blue privacy light. Government encryption crawls across the wall display, confirming each piece without exposing anything beyond the sealed room.

Euran steps closer, jacket hanging open and his repaired prosthetic flexing with a quiet servo hum. He studies her face, then the exposed authorization lattice.

Selene laughs under her breath, smiling with sharp certainty as she draws in the room’s filtered air. The wall display catches her expression and wakes to her command authority.

Her investigation crosses the exposed purge order with emergency traffic, witness tags, and Voss’s collapsing command net. A hidden operations hub resolves beneath the old East Dock exchange, with Voss physically present.

Selene slams her hand into the table. The display opens a clean route through abandoned freight conduits and marks Voss’s command chamber, surveillance blind and reachable now.

Euran’s crooked smile fades. The wall display paints his scarred brow and tired grey eyes in cold light while Voss’s command hub waits beneath East Dock.

He reaches for her hand, his mismatched prosthetic servos whining softly. The display confirms a clear freight-conduit route and places Voss inside the command chamber.

Selene turns from the route display and places her palm against the shop’s concealed control surface. Government seals bloom across the wall, replacing the harmless fixer’s interface.

Panels unlock throughout the room. Armored cases rise from beneath the floor, displaying compact firearms, intrusion rigs, signal ghosts, and weapons marked with restricted development codes.

She opens the deepest case and reveals a black command harness threaded with neural interfaces. Its encrypted display identifies her burned designation and active authority over the East Dock operation.

Selene faces Euran beneath the white work lights, the command harness open between them. Restricted systems wake around her, accepting her authority without hesitation.

The harness seals across Selene’s torso with quiet mechanical clicks. A tactical overlay spreads across the wall, mapping East Dock, Voss’s chamber, escape routes, and every active surveillance node.

A compact signal ghost slides from an armored case into Selene’s palm. Her shop becomes a command node, routing false credentials through the freight conduits and hiding their approach.

The offer hangs beneath the tactical overlay. Selene’s command harness reflects across Euran’s scarred brow while the open cases wait with surgical tools, armor plates, and restricted weapons.

Euran places his mismatched prosthetic hand on the workbench. Its cheap servos whine once, then settle as Selene’s diagnostic rig locks onto the old firmware.

The shop accepts his authorization. Upgrade paths unfold across the display, separating reversible combat firmware from permanent implant work while a fitted armored jacket rises from its case.

Selene begins the work without waiting. The prosthetic hand is already secured to the bench, and her weapons-development rig takes control of its diagnostic feed.

She strips away the cheap firmware limits, installs a responsive combat package, and tunes the mismatched fingers until their servos answer with quiet precision instead of their old whine.

Armor plates lock into a fitted tactical jacket. Selene adds shock-resistant cabling, a compact sidearm, a nonlethal suppressor, and a modular weapon system calibrated to Euran’s reach and strength.

The final diagnostic clears every upgrade as reversible and stable. Euran flexes the restored hand, tests the weapon’s balance, and steps into the armor while East Dock glows across the tactical display.

Selene’s star-bright stare lingers on Euran for one dangerous second. Then she turns to the tactical display, where Voss’s command chamber resolves beneath East Dock.

The command harness seals around Selene. She launches the signal ghost, blinds the chamber’s surveillance, and opens a direct freight-conduit route into Voss’s sealed room.

They emerge inside the command hub beneath a wash of false credentials. Voss turns from the central console, weapon half-raised, but Selene’s suppressor fires first and drops him instantly.

Voss dies before he can trigger the purge. His command lattice collapses under Selene’s override, releasing every witness file and exposing the remaining cleanup network.