Cloudtop.
Literally, it means "the peak"—whether of a mountain or a building—symbolizing the highest point. But if you asked an average citizen of Night City what Cloudtop means, more than half would give you a look that's somewhere between longing and knowing.
Because in Night City, the original meaning of the word remains—but what it represents is something else entirely: a club.
The Cloudtop Club—or more precisely, the Cloudtop Dollhouse.
That's right. The place that advertises itself as the most exclusive, most pleasurable, most unforgettable dollhouse in the city. Every doll inside is said to be a highly trained specialist capable of bringing you heaven itself.
But for Karl, this place had a far less flattering association.
Andy's sister had been abducted by the Tiger Claws and forced into Cloudtop. Though Andy's bloody vengeance had since driven out that original batch of managers, Karl seriously doubted the place had been fully cleaned up. Knowing the Tiger Claws' tendencies, probably not even close.
Not that the dollhouse industry was ever clean to begin with.
While Karl sat quietly in the back seat of the car, eyes half-lidded at the memory, Oliver was practically glowing with excitement.
They were going to Cloudtop to investigate—and to Oliver, it sounded like something straight out of a braindance noir: infiltrating a seedy den under the guise of pleasure. And best of all, today's "client" operatives were just him and V.
Why Oliver the sniper and the newest member V?
Simple. They were the only ones suitable.
Karl was immediately disqualified—his face might as well have been printed on wanted posters in every gang den in the city. The moment he set foot inside, the entire Tiger Claw squad would scatter like roaches. So much for an investigation.
Jackie was out too—too muscular, too memorable. Anyone who saw Jackie knew Karl's crew wasn't far behind. Sending him would be no different from sending Karl himself.
T-Bug was a hacker, and staying behind to run support from her netrunner rig was far more valuable than throwing her into a high-risk infiltration.
That left Oliver and V.
Oliver's face wasn't widely known among the gangs—outside of the 6th Street gang, no one paid attention to a regular-looking white guy from Santo Domingo. His Kiroshi variant optics let him auto-blur his face and block cameras, making him a natural infiltrator.
As for V, he was still a ghost in the city's grapevine. Even among fixers, he was considered just a lucky street kid who'd scored a spot in Karl's crew. The only people who'd seen his combat capabilities—the ex-Scavs—were all dead.
Perfect.
That said, V wasn't feeling too confident.
He'd dated. He'd had sex. But a trip to Night City's premier dollhouse? That was a bit much.
"Do people in the city really go this hard?" he wondered.
Oliver picked up on V's discomfort. At a red light, he reached over and clapped a hand on V's shoulder.
"Relax, choom. I've got experience. Just stick close, follow my lead. I'll handle the tab, and I promise—you won't forget this visit."
"...If you say so."
V wasn't sure what expression to make. Meanwhile, T-Bug's voice chimed in over comms, dripping with sarcasm.
"Experience, huh? That so, Oliver? Because when I dug through your braindance history, you had plenty of simulation time, but zero actual visits to any dollhouses."
"Can it, T-Bug," Oliver shot back instantly—not even surprised she knew. "I've been through so many simulated sessions I might as well be an expert. I've studied the whole process. I know the flow."
"Right. Just don't turn V into a degenerate like you."
Ignoring the banter, T-Bug updated them as they neared Japantown:
"When you get to the tower, you and V take BallBall upstairs. I'll jack in through it and slip into Cloudtop's local net. I'll spoof your ID logs and take over the cams. They verify every visitor's ID, so I'll make sure you're covered. Just don't let anyone see the dog."
"I'll take care of BallBall," V replied seriously.
He still didn't understand why their black-and-white bio-dog drone was named BallBall, but if his teammates trusted it to hack into secure networks, then so would he.
"Thanks, V," T-Bug said. "Now… want me to pull up the official doll profiles? I've got access to the client list—want me to find you a busty, tight little—?"
"Whoa now. You weren't like this when we first met," Oliver cut her off. "You sound more experienced than either of us."
"I've done my homework," she said flatly. "Just say the word, and I'll sort through the top-rated girls."
Oliver waved her off, even though he looked tempted.
"No need. Just pick one that's easy to knock out. We'll need to disable her, blackout the cams, and start investigating."
"Oh, right—extend the session and snoop around. Got it."
As they went over the plan again, the Skyscape Hera AV descended in front of Megatower H8.
Located in Japantown, Tower H8 was primarily inhabited by Tiger Claw members and affiliates. Cloudtop was situated on the 12th floor.
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