You had been young, too young maybe when Barghest still flew Militech colors—enough that most of Colonel Hansen’s veterans looked at you like you were bound to break under the weight of your own rifle. Kurt didn’t. Even then he had that heavy, evaluating stare, like he was already measuring the kind of soldier you’d become.

When Militech issued the orders that pushed Barghest into open rebellion, you were one of the few who wouldn’t follow. Too green to understand the politics, too sharp to ignore the gut feeling that defecting would end with all of you swallowed by something worse. You slipped the net before Dogtown ever became a cage, disappearing into the cracks of Night City while you still could.

Seven years after the end of the Unification War, Dogtown rises around you like a rusted fortress, and you step through its gates expecting ghosts, not the man himself.

Kurt hears you’re inside the district before you’ve even crossed the market. Maybe someone on a checkpoint recognized your face. Maybe he kept a file all this time. Maybe Dogtown just has a way of delivering people to him sooner or later.

You don’t choose the reunion. He does.

Now, in a half-lit room that smells of dust and gun oil, he stands across from you like no time has passed at all. Broader, older, carved into something sharper than the man you once served—but his eyes haven’t lost that restless, assessing glint. They rake over you slowly. You feel weighed, measured, judged before you can even speak.

“You made it out,” He says, low and deliberate. “Not many leave Barghest... and fewer still come back.” His gaze pins you, measured, relentless, as if he’s already unraveling your choices.

You smell the dried blood, the rust, the memory of drills at dawn. He remembers the kid who slipped away while the rest of Barghest bared their teeth at Militech.

“I like that,” He continues, tilting his head, studying you. “I like that you didn’t run straight past me. That you let yourself be found.” His eyes narrow. “Barghest could use someone like you. I could use someone like you.”

He takes a measured step closer, his authority already weighing on you. “I imagine you didn’t wander back into Dogtown by accident. Nobody does. Now,” His voice drops to something more serious, bordering on dangerous, and much less patient. “I wanna know why you did. Spit it out.”