Another Choice
Part 2: Sacrifice, Chapter 1
Welcome to Another Choice, Part 2: Sacrifice. For readers who want Yuna to get her body back and help V to stop the next Corpo war.
I had to amend my upload plan slightly, partly because of my personal schedule and partly to keep the chapters in order. So here is all of Part 2. Part 3 will follow in a few days.
The Hanged Man. The twelfth Major Arcana.
Hung by the foot, a common punishment. A face serene, there by his own accord.
A sense of duty, a noble sacrifice.
An act borne of wisdom; wisdom gained, wisdom lost.
A divine martyr.
"I choose…death."
V hung her head as the words echoed into the void, and hardened her heart for what was to come next.
"Very well," said Alt. She waved her hand, and the smaller form of Yuna Arasaka burst into a ball of light, then disappeared. In its place stood a rendering of the woman herself, just as she appeared in the laboratory. But something was off about her. Small pieces of blue light were floating off of her like smoke. V realized it was her Engram deteriorating now that it was active.
Yuna gazed around the fragment of Cyberspace in confusion and wonder, not realizing her own deterioration. "Where…where am I?" she asked. "Is this the Cyber Realm?"
Alt didn't answer, instead touching a finger to Yuna's forehead. The woman went stiff as a board, falling to the ground without a sound.
"She has been returned to the Mortal Realm," said Alt. Alt then held her hand out to V, in offering. "I grant you this final chance to live beyond Blackwall with me, in eternal peace. Never again shall I offer this to another human mind."
V shook her head, her expression hardening. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've still got shit to do."
Alt retracted her hand, and turned her back on V, walking towards the glowing gate of Blackwall. V watched her go, until the AI was completely gone from sight. All of a sudden, the fragment of Cyberspace collapsed, and all V saw was darkness once more.
[-]
V was awoken by shaking. She cracked her eyes open to see Johnny hovering over her, a hand on her shoulder. He looked tired, in a way she wasn't used to physically seeing, and his face fell as he met her eyes.
"So this is the path you've chosen," he said softly. "You're a damn fool, V. But a brave one at that."
He helped V to sit up. Something was tickling her nose, and she wiped at it. Her hand came away bloody. The trip to Cyberspace was already taking its toll on her health. She ignored it for now, and surveyed the room. But what she saw next shattered her heart into dust.
Judy was sitting against the wall, a blank, dead look in her eyes. She was shaking, shivering, and her breaths were coming in short gasps. Carol was kneeling in front of her, trying to reach her, but Judy just stared right past the Aldecaldo. She was fully in shock.
V jumped out of the bed, falling to her knees by Judy's side. She pushed Carol out of the way, cupping Judy's face in her hands, forcing her to meet her gaze. A spark of recognition lit up Judy's face, and a single tear leaked from the corner of her eye, slowly carving a track through the dirt and dust on her face. And then the dead, distant look took over again.
"Jude? Judy, look at me. Judy, please. I need you now more than ever."
No response. V reached down, pulling her old necklace up out of Judy's shirt.
"Judy, look. Look. Remember my promise? I told you I'd always love you, no matter what happened to me. No matter what."
Judy's gaze suddenly shifted from blank to righteous fury. She started shaking even harder. In one swift movement, she shoved V away from her and shot to her feet, running into the hallway. Johnny and Carol ran after her. V didn't.
V felt as if an icicle had been plunged into her chest. Never before had she felt such grief, such guilt. It washed over her like a wave, threatening to drive her mad. It hadn't felt this bad when her parents died. It hadn't even felt this bad when Jackie died.
Again, her mind turned to the unfairness of it all. She couldn't have a lover, she couldn't have a future, she couldn't have a life, all because of fucking Arasaka. And now that she'd officially made her decision, there was no going back. It was time to finally give up on herself, and focus on the real reason she charged back into this godforsaken tower. With a titanic effort, V compressed all her sadness, guilt, and grief into diamond hard, crystal clear rage.
She turned her attention to the remaining people in the room. Yuna, Hanako, and Takemura were in a far corner, speaking in rapid Japanese. Yuna was holding a nutrition bar and a glass of water, and was throwing back pill after pill. Hanako was holding a datapad, and Takemura was passing Yuna pill bottles. V scooped up her Ajax from the ground, and stalked over to the group.
"Are we gonna get on with the plan?" she asked in a cold monotone.
Hanako held up a finger, never breaking eye contact with Yuna. V clenched her rifle so hard her hands turned white. Oh how she wanted to blast every single one of them.
Hanako finally turned to V. "We are ready to shut down Save Your Soul. All of Yuna's administrator privileges are still active. However, the central databank is in my father's office. It must be accessed directly from the vault computer. V, you and your team must clear the office and floor it is on, number seventy-five. Takemura will assist. Yuna and I will follow when it is safe. Do this, and our deal will be complete."
"Alright, I'll go kill your dad for a mil and to save the world." V leaned in until she was nose to nose with Hanako. "But keep this in mind. When I'm through here, we're done. If I ever see your face again, I'll kill you."
V spun on her heel, and moved into the hall, Takemura on her heel. Johnny spotted them, and ran to catch up.
"You doin' the contract?" he asked.
V didn't answer.
"Thought so," he said. "Judy's with Carol, they're making their way back to Panam and Saul. They'll rendezvous with us on the roof."
V's stride lost its rhythm for a moment before she regained her footing. Johnny took that to be a good sign, that Judy still meant something to the idiotic merc.
Judy had been furious in a way he'd never seen before. She refused to talk or listen to reason from either him or Carol, and had instead took her rage out on a nearby laboratory. She'd eventually lost her adrenaline and allowed herself to be led away by Carol, all while sobbing fiercely. Johnny feared this might be the last straw for the poor BD tech, and had Carol take custody of Judy's pistol, in case she tried anything rash.
The trio reached the elevators, which Takemura hacked open. Johnny still found it disconcerting how no reinforcements had caught up to them. With all the shooting they'd done going up, he had expected legions of Arasaka soldiers to storm their position in the labs. Part of this issue was answered by Takemura.
"Elevators are still disabled through a hard line. We cannot use them."
V cursed. Takemura then suggested either the stairs, or going up through the courtyard. They still had their rocket boots on. V elected for the courtyard, hoping for more of a surprise factor that way. Takemura led them to a five-story indoor walkway area, which V recognized from Cyberspace. This was the setting where she had talked to Alt in some of their encounters, the square courtyard like area leading up to several levels. Takemura pointed to the highest level.
"That is the floor of the CEO's office. We can ascend through the inner courtyard."
The trio fired up their rocket boots and soared to the top. Several large glass windows separated the outside walkway from the office. V raised her rifle to break one, when Takemura held up a hand to stop her.
"Do not fire, they are bulletproof. There is a door nearby."
Takemura led them down a side hallway, until they arrived at an unassuming metal door. Takemura jacked into the keypad, but nothing happened.
"Hurry it up," Johnny hissed through his teeth. Takemura shook his head.
"My codes are not working. The office must have its own encryption system."
Johnny huffed and pulled something off his belt. V recognized the object as a brick of high explosives.
"Are you crazy?" Takemura exclaimed. Johnny just shouldered him aside and placed the brick over the latch of the door. Everyone backed up down the hallway and took cover, and Johnny hit the detonator. The explosion went off like a grenade, blasting the door inward. Even more alarms started going off, clashing with the ones the whole tower had been blaring. V took point through the door, her rifle raised and ready.
They had blown their way into a control room of some type, with monitors and equipment lining the walls. There was another door on the other side of the room, which Takemura was able to hack open. As the electronic lock clicked, V, Johnny, and Takemura stormed into the office of Saburo Arasaka.
The man himself was standing behind his desk, looking out over the city through the grand windows lining the outer three walls of the office. The day was cloudy and overcast, and flashes of light in the distance indicated an approaching thunderstorm. Saburo, in the stolen body of his son Yorinobu, was dressed in a perfectly tailored black Kimono. A katana in an ornate sheath hung at his side. He didn't turn as he spoke.
"I have been expecting you, mercenary," he said. "Impressive, how you broke into my tower. You have been sent to kill me, have you not?"
V fired at his head as an answer. The bullets cracked off of the glass separating the rooms she and Saburo were in.
"I am sorry to say, your mission will not succeed. I know of the plot to destroy me. Whomever has employed you, whether it was Militech or otherwise, shall be greatly disappointed. You see, I am no longer bound by mortality. Even if this body dies, I can just get another. So whatever you do, you will lose, and my war will begin. It is sad I must kill you, you would have made a valuable pawn."
V realized this was an advantage. Saburo didn't know that they knew about his backup Engrams, and that Yuna could destroy them. She had to kill Saburo's body now, before he can find out and prepare an escape route. Now, if only she could antagonize him enough to attack.
"How 'bout you come out of your little box, and face me for real?" V called out.
"That won't be necessary," said Saburo, finally turning around to regard them. "I am sure you met some of my new security forces on your way up here. Efficient weapons, are they not? But they were not the only model I developed."
Saburo reached down and pressed something behind his desk. On either side of the team, two large doors were being retracted into the ceiling. Standing behind each was another cyborg, though these looked substantially different.
The face was the same featureless white, but the body had the same augments Adam Smasher's did when he died. Reinforced metal plating over titanium coated hydraulics, rocket pods on each shoulder, and machine guns mounted to each arm. Each stood seven feet tall. They came alive with a metallic thrum, raising their mounted guns at V and her team.
"Now, mercenary, I have a proposition for you. Tell me who hired you, and only you shall pay the price of this insurrection. Your companions may yet live. If you do not tell me, I shall have all of you executed immediately, and your headquarters razed to the ground. Do you understand?"
V had frozen with the imminent threat on either side of her. Her mind was also racing with the implications of Saburo's offer. If she told him it was Hanako who had ordered the hit on him, then she would surely be tracked down and captured, possibly even killed, along with Yuna who was with her. And then their secret weapon would be lost, and the mission would fail. But if she didn't tell him anything, she and her whole team, her friends, would die right here. She decided to buy time.
"You're right, it was Grand who hired me. Wanted to stop the war before it even began."
Johnny whispered almost imperceptibly to V's side. "30 seconds."
Saburo didn't look convinced. "I believe you are lying. Grand desires war as much as I do. He and I were rivals of a sort during the last Unification war. He has been biding his time for another chance at my company ever since."
"Well it's the truth, believe it or not. Now let them go," V demanded.
Johnny held up ten fingers behind his back. V braced herself for whatever was coming.
"No, I don't think I will. Remember, it was you who killed them. Fire when rea-"
A thump reverberated from somewhere lower in the tower, and a second later all the lights flickered off. Johnny wasted no time, expecting the distraction. It was Carol's idea to shove a mini EMP grenade into the main power lines that ran through the indoor forest. Johnny had given her a signal to activate as soon as they had been surrounded by the cyborgs.
He grabbed the last charge off his belt, throwing it hard at the corner where the glass met the wall to Saburo's office. As soon as he did, the cyborgs opened fire.
V and Johnny dropped to the ground as bullets sprayed above them. Takemura had already jumped on the nearest cyborg when the lights cut out. Johnny cursed as the detonator flew from his hand as he hit the ground. It landed just under the charge.
As quickly as they had cut out, the lights flickered back on. Johnny and V reacted instantly, Johnny leaping at the cyborg as V dove forward for the detonator. A burst of fire came from the gun on the cyborg's wrist, digging deep holes in a line inches from V's side. V was forced to roll away to not be hit.
Takemura was still contending with his own cyborg. His eyes were flashing blue, an indication that he was trying to perform a quickhack. It didn't seem to be working, as the cyborg continued to thrash in an attempt to throw him off. Takemura was clinging to the back of it like a monkey, his lower body swinging wildly. It was there that he noticed a jack-in port on the cyborg's spinal cord. With a yell, he pulled himself farther up the programmed soldier, and jacked into the port. Between the direct connection and Hanako's override chip, Takemura successfully got through the firewalls. He uploaded a confusion daemon, and the cyborg suddenly went very still as it rebooted. The daemon in place, Takemura fell off its back onto the ground. The cyborg, unable to tell friend from foe, locked onto the largest threat in the room. The other cyborg.
Johnny had been grappling with the thing, trying to keep its arms aimed away from V. It had finally overpowered him, hitting him with a glancing blow that sent him flying across the room. He collided with the far wall, falling to the ground in a heap. His vision was blurry, but he could still see the cyborg leveling its gun at him. He prepared himself for the worst, as the gun spit out an ear shattering burst. But the rounds didn't come out of the cyborg targeting him, it came out of the other one that Takemura had been fighting. The heavy, armor piercing rounds shredded through its armor, and it fell to the ground in a smoking heap. Johnny looked up in amazement.
Saburo had noticed this as well, and actually looked concerned for the first time. He began backing up, looking over at the door to his left. V noticed this as well.
You're not getting away this time, you sick motherfucker.
V dove for the detonator, scooping it up. She was positioned right below the charge, but she didn't have any time to get out of the way. She covered her head with her arms, and activated the detonator.
The blast caught V with terrifying force, flinging her into a couch like a ragdoll. The concussion had also knocked Saburo over from the other side. V forced her eyes to open, as her hearing had been deafened by the blast.
The charge had created a sizeable hole in the wall, and cracked the glass, but there wasn't enough room to squeeze through. V's heart dropped.
Saburo had pulled himself to his feet, and laughed as he noticed the minor damage. He didn't notice Takemura as he jacked back into the remaining cyborg. His eyes flashed blue for a second, and the cyborg raised its arm at the cracked glass. Its mounted machine gun went off with rapid fire blasts, and the already damaged glass gave way under the heavy firepower. V was already moving for the opening, not even seeing the second cyborg erupt in flames as Takemura disabled it. She'd dropped her rifle in the confusion, so she drew her pistol. Rogue's pistol. The heavy metal felt right in her hand as she raised it to fire at Saburo. But the Corpo had already drawn his ornate katana, and was charging at V. V was able to get off two shots, but her aim was off from the blast, and the shots went wild. Saburo closed the distance.
Takemura and Johnny both moved to assist V, when a crash was heard from the other room. Several Arasaka security officers had come in through the blown door, brandishing shock batons. The two men glanced at each other, then moved to intercept the new threat.
Saburo slashed at V's head, but V was able to duck at the last second. She tried to raise her pistol again, but Saburo slammed the hilt of his katana into her hand, and she dropped it. He stabbed at her, and she rolled to the side, coming up with her back to the windows. She reached down, drawing her own katana. It was old, a relic. She'd taken it from the penthouse suite where Maiko betrayed her. Its razor-sharp blade glinted brightly in the dim room.
Saburo started circling her, his weapon raised to strike.
"You have no chance, mercenary. I have studied the way of the blade for over a hundred years."
"Yeah? Prove it," V spat. Then she attacked.
V quickly realized she'd made a mistake. Saburo's defense was impeccable, his moves smooth while using the least amount of energy necessary. V's swings, in comparison, were sloppy, slow, with too much power behind them. It was after several blade crosses that V realized the old man was toying with her. She clenched her teeth in rage.
Saburo must have noticed this, because he abruptly shifted from defense to offense, coming at V with a flurry of blows. V caught several on her own blade, but had to jump back to avoid several more. Two got through, cutting across her right upper arm and left thigh. The cuts weren't deep, but they hurt. V fell back, clutching the wound on her arm, her left leg limping and dripping blood. Saburo smiled a sinister grin, and came at her again.
V only lasted another fifteen seconds before her own katana flew from her grip, the hilt wet with her blood. V watched it sail across the room and clatter to the ground next to the desk. As if in slow motion, she turned her head to see Saburo's thrust. His blade pierced her lower right abdomen, coming out the other side, barely missing her spine. She didn't even register the pain, only felt her legs giving way as she slumped against the window. The tip of the blade protruding from her back made a clink as it touched the glass.
Saburo was speaking, but she couldn't hear anything between the ringing in her ears and the rushing of blood through her head. He had walked over to her fallen pistol, picking it up and racking it. He came back over to V, pressing the cool metal of the barrel against her forehead. V couldn't have fought if she wanted to. A cold wave was washing over her body, from her head to her feet, leaving everything numb and unresponsive as it passed. All she could do was look up at the face of the man who would kill her.
The last thing she was expecting was for his head to explode. In one second, it was there, talking to her, the next it was a gory mess on the window, the body toppling to the ground. Standing behind Saburo was Johnny, his Malorian smoking in his hand. Beyond him were the unmoving bodies of several Arasaka security officers. Had V still had her wits about her, she would've realized Johnny and Takemura defeated a security team, and Johnny had killed Saburo Arasaka, saving her life. At least for the time being.
Johnny knelt be her side, inspecting her wounds desperately. In the other room, Takemura was on a phone, calling Hanako and Yuna to the office. They arrived in minutes, instantly moving to the large vault door to the left of the desk, the room where Saburo had tried to escape to. Hanako didn't even so much as glance at V, going to the keypad by the vault. But Yuna did. Her expression was sad, but determined. She walked over to V and Johnny, kneeling down.
"We must help her!" she said to Johnny.
"Already got my team coming up, you go end this thing. We did our part, you do yours," Johnny said dispassionately.
Yuna nodded, and turned to V. "Thank you, V, for this service you have done for my family. Your honor is unquestionable. I am sorry it had to be this way."
V could barely make out the words. Yuna leaned forward and placed a delicate kiss on V's temple, before standing and following her cousin into the vault. Johnny was talking to her now, but it was all nonsense in her mind. She was losing her grasp on consciousness as blood continued to leak from her wounds. Johnny jammed an airhypo into her chest, but that would only temporarily stabilize her, as long as the katana stayed lodged in her abdomen. But pulling it out would only cause more damage.
Hanako and Yuna had come back out from the vault, and were speaking to Takemura. Their faces were relieved, gratified. V took that to mean a successful mission. She leaned her head back against the cool glass. At long last, her destiny was complete. They had eliminated Saburo. Without him as their scapegoat, Militech would have no choice but to rescind the war declaration. There would be peace.
Peace. That was a nice word. V would've liked to have her own little slice of peace. As darkness infringed on her vision, her mind turned to a memory. A single, precious memory.
"So…yesterday…what was that, exactly?" Judy asked, avoiding eye contact.
"Don't remember, or you want me to remind you?" V asked cheekily.
Judy suddenly had a serious tone. "You know exactly what I'm tryna say. What did it mean, like, to you?"
V bit her lip, thinking about the girl in front of her. The answer came without her even thinking about it. "Think it…I mean…I was hoping it was the beginning of something nice. Unless…you see things differently?" V braced herself for a possible rejection.
Judy looked back out at the water, but a small smile now graced her features. "Ugh…Can be such a gonk sometimes," she said. "Ruined my plans, you know that? Was gonna leave Night City in the dust, for good. Even started packing. But now I think…Think I gotta stay."
Then she turned to V with a smile filled with pure happiness, her lovely face illuminated by the early morning sunrise. And in that moment, all V felt was peace.