05/10/2077
The Afterlife, Watson District
Night City, California
V
-
The silver-skinned borg had given V a harsh pat on the shoulder, heavy-handed and rough but friendly nonetheless. The Afterlife mercenaries who had solidified and constructed a main operating base out of the club begun cleaning out the parking lot. V hadn't noticed before, that there was a bright, neon red sign declaring that the Watson nightclub was closed until the sign's bright glare went dead once more.
"How did you even?" Shaitan began.
V shook his head. "Long story, but Panam here found me in the desert. If it weren't for her, for the nomad clan she's a part of, I'd be dead. I've known her for a long time, really."
Panam approached, her submachine gun tight in her grip. She'd tightened the strap around the grip of the weapon, slowly slipping it across her back as she walked towards the two heavily-mechanised mercenaries. "Known me long enough to get his ass saved a few times more than normal. Nice to meet ya."
Shaitan huffed something that V assumed was a laugh. "Ain't that a coincidence that you saved the dumbass who tried to fight Adam fuckin' Smasher. Never took you for a gonk, V, guess you must be dumber than you look."
"It was either that, or we don't escape at all," V grunted, casually reloading the two empty pistols before sliding them back into his holster. "What's been happening, those Claws must have been brave to get themselves flatlined attacking Afterlife."
Shaitan shrugged. "Come on in, you missed a lot of shit."
Panam was the first to get down the steps into the main club. The staircase had been turned into a killzone, laser tripwires connected to mines, heavy-gun turrets dangling from the roof above the stairs. V had taken his time, as he and Shaitan took the time to make sure no other Claws arrived for another firefight. It bugged V more than it ever had done, the fact that any group of gangoons had grown the sack to actually consider attacking Rogue's base was a warning. Them being equipped and prepped by 'Ex-Arasaka' contractors were known, they were a Japanese gang funded by a Japanese corporation, the connection was obvious but it was always a rumour on the street.
Groups of mercs moved the wrecked cars and to the side of the carpark, a group of dirty-looking men and women pushing them away into the nearby storage units filled with welding and cutting tools, the wrecks destined to be stripped for parts. The Outlaw drifted neatly into a parking space as three rows of traffic bollards and security barricades rose up from the ground, blocking off the road. Bodies were gathered, burnt away into nothing except charred bones and melted chrome.
V followed Shaitan, the pair of mercenaries catching up to the nomad smuggler as they walked through the main corridor and into the club. Emmerich wasn't at the door, instead replaced by two heavily armed and heavily cyberized soldiers, most likely Maelstrom if V had to hazard a guess. As they entered the club, Claire and her male co-workers focusing on fixing and wiring explosives and parts together. The club's heavy thudding dub-music and lightning-fast lazrpop replaced with something more historic, the synth sound was gone, replaced with the audio of what seemed to be genuine drums, guitars and bass. Mercenaries settled at different areas of the club, bringing out more ammo and supplies before they went back to normal, smoking and standing around, ready for conflict.
The trio turned to the booth where Rogue always sat, with Squama and Emmerich at each side of the entry to the old solo's private seat. They'd approached, and V had soon laid his eyes on a familiar face. The late leader of the Maelstrom, Royce, his hollowed-out metal skull sat in the centre of the table, a trophy for the female crimelords extensive collection. As they went past Emmerich and Squama, he gained a cheesy smile from the Haitian soldier, largely different to the curt nod that Emmerich had given him.
It was Rogue's new crowd that was a surprise. Dum-Dum, the aggressive Maelstrom second that V had encountered getting the Flathead. His five eyes had turned from a bloody red glare to a grass-green glow as he took another hit from his skeef inhaler. Across from him, was Rita and a group of other girls from Lizzie's Bar and the Mox. Rogue's eyes widened for a solid few seconds before she realised she was in front of her criminal compatriots and calmed herself down.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Rogue announced. "The prodigal son returns. Welcome back, V. I heard reports from Shaitan that you died in the desert."
"Ain't no grave that can hold my body down," V grunted, joining the group as he sat next to Dum-Dum, Panam sitting close as Shaitan remained stood up. "Silver Soldier here said some shit went down when I was gone."
Rogue tutted. "A veritable assortment of fuck-ups, anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Royce here tried to test me, so I had his head ripped off. Dum-Dum here is a lot smarter than he sounds. The Tyger Claws razed the Sixth Street Sixers because why the fuck not, then tried it with the Valentinos but Mr Orta had his boys zero any Claw that walked into Valentino territory. The Voodoo Boys haven't said shit, so that's good. The Mox here weren't so lucky. Suzie Q got killed in revenge for what happened to the Devil of Kabuki, and Lizzie's got attacked. Oh, and Smasher has been on a rampage."
V had been quiet as the legendary mercenary spoke, detailing how every single aspect of gang warfare somehow managed to collapse at the feet of the Tyger Claws when they struck out and ripped the city apart. The defences of the inner club, V started picking away at as he examined each mercenary. Most were from the Afterlife, easily visible as Rogue's group of killers, but V picked out the others who were high on turbo-roids as the Animals or the heavily augmented guys and gals who were from what remained of the Maelstrom.
"Did you get anything from Bartmoss' cyberdeck?" V asked.
Shaitan gave out a loud sigh before Rogue handed him a holo-tablet. It lit up as soon as he touched the screen, and he could hear the wheezing of Dum-Dum at his side as he tried to open the tablet. ICE security that refused to be broken when V jacked into it, coding, encryption that re-encrypted itself and changed the entry code every ten seconds, the countdown a taunt to an impossible puzzle.
"Nyx got himself killed cracking it, and it dropped out some old theoretical theories from Bartmoss, blueprints for future-tech that we haven't tried to decrypt and a set of locations. I went with Shaitan and Squama to each one, and in the last one, all we got was the tablet. It's meant for Spider, which makes sense because we haven't been able to crack it." Rogue spoke. "Should have expected it. They always did like chasing white rabbits on the net."
Panam looked puzzled. "Spider? As in Spider Murphy, the net-runner that ran with you guys in the twenties?"
Rogue nodded. "The very same went missing as soon as she lost contact with Bartmoss. Paranoid, but I can't blame her. If the corps could get Bartmoss, they could get her."
"So, we still need to find Spider," V grunted. "Right, let's get on it."
"Not a chance, fucko." Dum-Dum growled from his side. "We have an issue, and we need it fixed before you guys go on your wild goose chase. The Claws need putting down, and it needs done now."
"As much as I hate looking at his ugly ass, I gotta agree, V," Rita said from the side. "We lost Suzie, and we lost Lizzie's to the Claws. We're hiding out here for now, but we haven't heard shit off Judy or Evelyn since it happened. She knows a way we could get rid of the Claws, and I'm pretty sure she might be able to crack that fancy pad of yours there. You just got to get her."
Rogue turned to Rita. "Who's leading the Mox right now, Rita?"
"As of now, me." The purple-haired Mox stated. "I'd be, willing, to give it to you as long as the girls are looked after and we get some proper security. But the Claws need to go first, they killed our founder, they killed Suzie, but burning down Lizzie's was the last straw."
It was of no surprise to anyone else that the Moxes wanted to get rid of the Claws for good. The Claws killed Lizzie, the founder of the club and they had always tried to bring them down, kidnapping girls for their own trafficking and prostitution ring and now they'd killed their current leader and burnt their base down. The Tyger Claws waged gang war like the best of the gangs, but they never realised that the same could happen to them, and in a decisive way to burn them root and stem.
Panam had to smother a laugh before she got up and walked off. "Shit never stops here, does it?"
The group looked at the female nomad. V's head turned. "Where you going?"
"Getting Judy and Evelyn. You guys can jack off until I get back." Panam replied, stopping at the exit. "You coming, V?"
V turned from Panam to Rogue, and then back to Panam before he turned to Rogue once more. "Can't be that bad right, it's a three-on-one gang war. Mox, Animals, and Maelstrom, we can just raid Clouds now and get this over with."
Dum-Dum hit his inhaler once more, taking a heavy huff of skeef as Rogue and the Mox took a light sip from the drinks that had been provided to them. Of course, it was never going to be that simple, why the hell would it be. The Tyger Claws was getting a push from Arasaka, there was no other way they would have gained such an edge to just exterminate two gangs and push the others back in such a way, so quickly.
"Not at all," Rogue said, grinding her teeth, her jaw tightening. "We need to prepare, take them apart slowly or wipe them out with one strike. If Judy knows a way to do it, then we need to get her. Once we get Judy, exterminate the Claws, then we can find Spider, get rid of the Voodoo Boys and then see why Arasaka was keeping Johnny on a fucking bio-chip."
"Well, shit. Forgot that she thinks she's still on the train of thought that I'm still on a piece of plastic and code." Johnny interrupted, attempting to lie down like a model on the table, his hand on top of Royce's head. "The fewer people that know the better, but Rogue can be trusted. Besides, she's getting that look again, she's starting to care about people. Shaitan, Spider, Squama, you."
V grumbled internally. "We'll tell her when we get Judy and Evelyn."
"Your decision, V. Whatever you say."
"Right," V got up. "We'll get Judy and Evelyn back here; you need to start gearing up for whenever we start gunning for the Claws again."
Rogue nodded. "V, be careful this time. Don't bite off more than you can chew."
The pair of nomads had left without another word, making their way out of the club as Shaitan and the rest were left in the dust. They had no doubt that the pair would manage to get the job done, at least in their own special way. That, and they would probably make a big news story out of the entire situation. V and Panam had jogged up the steps, readying themselves for whatever might greet them on the way to find the two women, and the inevitable conflict when they came across the Tyger Claws once more.
-
Judy's Apartment Complex, Kabuki Sub-District
Night City, CaliforniaThe drive was short, mainly due to Panam's manic driving in a car that was much smaller and quicker than her beloved Warhorse. The Outlaw was deft and swift, and whilst it never packed the turret or armour of her truck, it made up for that in the sense of pure speed which the female nomad had exploited for all it was worth. They'd sped through the small roads, traffic was less packed and dense, easier to get through, Kabuki was so tightly clustered that people were forced to be slow.
Not that Panam knew the meaning of slow, living life one quarter-mile at a time. She'd drifted and slid through the crossroads, she'd handbrake on the tight turns, forcing the engine to scream louder than it ever had before. If people didn't know that they were around, they certainly would have as soon as they heard the demonic screech from the hypercar's engine.
They'd gotten to the complex, curling into a quick stop in the centre of the parking lot. The apartment complex was smaller, smaller than ninety-nine per cent of the buildings in the centre of the city. The sun had just begun to set, and V took a quick moment to look out at the dock which the apartment block shadowed before he caught sight of the Claw cars parked outside too. He followed Panam into the apartment block. He tightened his gunbelt as he ran up to the stairs, right behind the headstrong Aldecaldo as they reached the floor of Judy's apartment.
He'd taken the first steps, taking out a pistol before he pushed in the door. It was ajar, and his gun was raised immediately, as was Panam's. The main room was a mess, kitchen utensils scattered on the floor, shattered plate shards cracked and broken apart. Blood and cybernetic oil were splashed on the kitchen top, some of it dry, some of it fresh and runny. Panam had ducked into the bathroom and the single bedroom, both unoccupied before they approached the final room across from Judy's mechanic set.
The door was closed, not ajar unlike the apartment entrance. The two nomads had split on both sides of the door, Panam's hands tight on her rifle as V went for the handle. With a quick twist and push, he was greeted by a triple-shot of heavy revolver gunfire directed, just missing his head by millimetres. The ringing was fresh in his ears as he pulled back from the door as Panam made her move.
"Judy! It's Panam and V, it's okay! We're here to help you out!" Panam had called out. "Judy, you okay?"
"Judy's not…" a shallow voice replied. "Judy's not here."
Panam had stowed her rifle to the side, pushing forward into the room. It was Judy's bedroom, and huddled up into the corner with an Overture heavy revolver was the pale, scratched-up face that V recognised. Evelyn was cornered, trying to merge into the wall to get away from the corpse of the Tyger Claw with a hole in his head and his chest. Her foot pushed her nowhere but further into the corner that she couldn't advance into any more than she already tried.
V was slow to walk in, putting his pistol away as he flipped the body over. A clean shot through the head and the left lung, distinct tattoos and augmentations that marked the man out as a Tyger Claw assassin. His smart-pistol had been lopped onto the floor, his katana still sheathed on his belt.
Panam was quiet, speaking in a hushed whisper. "It's okay, Evelyn, we're here to help."
"You, you're…" Evelyn muttered, halfway to silence. "I can't remember your name, but him. I know him."
Panam dropped to her knees, slowly crawling forward. "That's V, we helped Judy save you from the scavvers."
The woman who V had taken his cursed contract with was shaking, violently so as the revolver jittered and jolted in her light grasp before it dropped to the floor, clicking empty as Panam continued her approach. V had remained away from Evelyn, he didn't know what she was going through, whether she was able to even look at anyone the same way as she did before she was sold to the monstrous scavvers.
"Judy, Judy…" Evelyn mumbled. "Not here, she said she'd stay."
V scanned around the apartment, and Judy just wasn't there. "Panam, it's best we go and get Evelyn out now. We can find Judy separately. Let's go."
He'd peeked into the room, and caught Panam slowly slide her hands across Evelyn's skin. Her jittering nature had calmed immensely, slowing down as Panam circled around her and gave her a gentle hug, carefully lifting her to her feet and escorting her past the body. She'd kept Evelyn from looking at the body, with V forging ahead down to the car. Down to the Outlaw, V had unlocked the car.
"I'll give a call to Judy, see if she picks up," V muttered, Panam sliding Evelyn into the passenger seat before gunfire ricocheted off the nearby cars. "Fuck! Get down!"
The gunfire was heavy, the bullets pinging and flying off as the armour that was welded to the car made itself useful. In the silent spaces, V popped up to fire off a few rounds as he ducked behind his car. He'd opened the driver-side door, activating the Crystal Dome settings before Panam joined him. He'd pushed her into the car.
"What the hell are you doing?" Panam exclaimed before V had already closed the door. "V!"
"Get out of here, I'll meet you at Rogue's! Go, now!"
V jumped up, both pistols firing blindly at whichever Tyger Claw had popped up from their hole. Reaching the corner of the building, he'd went to turn as soon as he felt a bullet drive itself into his vest. It threw him to the floor, thankfully saving him from a bullet to the brain, the bullet impacting where his head once was. He'd reloaded as quickly as he could, with one Claw being unlucky enough to get a bullet driven into his skull as he rounded the corner.
His chest heaved, his lungs felt tired and bruised and he'd forgot how much falling his ass had hurt without sub-dermal armour. He'd cursed to himself, pushing himself further before he ducked behind a nearby dumpster to the right, narrowly dodging multiple bursts of gunfire as he threw himself into cover. Bullets dented the dense steel of the dumpster, V catching his breath as he blindly fired at wherever the gunfire was coming from.
"Shit…" V grunted, sucking in the air as quickly as he could before he poked his head out, recoiling back before his head got blown off once more. "Fuck!"
He'd patted down on his waist and his thigh but was greeted with nothing but two more magazines for his pistols. No heavy explosives, no stunners, nothing. Once more, he fired blindly into the crowd as he pushed out and away from the garbage dumpster. His blind fire gave him a chance to corner the apartment building again. He'd used his cyberdeck to highlight anything he could use, granted a small boon in the form of a gas pipe and a parked Apollo motorcycle.
As it had done since he'd arrived back in Night City, gunfire pressed towards him, pressuring him to do something to save his life. In the quick absence of gunfire as the Claws went to reload, V turned out to face them, firing as quickly as he could before aiming his last bullet in the magazine at the pressure pipe. Burning steam shot out, pushing back the Claws as they fired back, two of the Japanese gangoons falling to the floor screaming in pain as steam burnt through their skin.
V slipped his pistols away, sliding onto the cycle as he jack-wired into the bike, the engine revving loudly as V ripped his wire out. The bike sped off, V barely managing to get control as he swerved out of the dead-end, through the steam and across the parking lot and into the road. Gunfire whistled past him, two bullets ripping his first tyre apart before his remaining wheel was tee-boned by another car.
He'd felt unsafe many times in his life, that apartment gunfight was no different, but he'd never felt flighty or weightless. The car that crashed into him finally forced him into the position, with V and the bike flying over the side of the cliff. All that was below was the docks, a makeshift shantytown with a series of small fishing boats and sailing vessels. Rusting metal roofs came closer and closer as V managed to just grasp the body of the bike, using it as a downward battering ram as V crashed through the roofs of the metal houses.
He could barely feel his right arm, the silver prosthesis felt lifeless and limp. He'd rolled off of the motorcycle wreck, onto his stomach as he used his left arm to push himself up from the ground. His arm felt numb, but the left side of his body echoed pangs of blunted pain with every step he managed to take without falling back down into the dirt and rusting metal. Just managing to haul himself out of the temporary doorway, he collapsed into the wet dirt and sand as the small home collapsed behind him.
He could hear the flickering, the slow-growing smell and feeling of flames that rose from the wreck of the bike. Shouts from above reverberated down the cliff, where V could hear the low-pitch Japanese shouts from his hunters. His left holster was absent, his silver arm flopping against dirty jeans where one of Jackie's pistols once rested. Pushing himself up, he forced himself to his feet as he walked through the shantytown.
"Fuck, fuck!" V grunted as he limped through the dockside settlement. "Sorry, Jackie, I'm fucking sorry."
How much worse could it possibly be, he'd lost one of Jackie's pistols, torn himself apart out of a pure accident. His left hand slapped down on the handle of his remaining pistol, reassuring himself of its presence as he continued. The very few that wandered around that area of the settlement looked at him like some odd artistic structure that had been set up in the centre of Corpo Plaza, something to gawped and gawked at as he pushed past them.
His vision blurred, and his thoughts wandered to others. Jackie was gone, Meredith, everything from the second life he had made for himself was all gone now. Arasaka had taken it away, Smasher ripped it away from his grip and spat on it, with extreme pleasure. That hate, the need to crush the borg's skull between his hands and piss on the corpse of him was keeping him going. Everyone said, the legends said, the dead men said, that Smasher was invincible.
V would prove it wrong, one way or another. He'd put a bullet in his head, whether it condemned him to death as well, killing him would be worth it.
As his vision continued to blur, he started to notice that his HUD was buzzing too. A shouting from somewhere in the dock-town pushed more people towards him, rushing and fearing as V huddled himself into the crowd, stumbling with them as he struggled to stay on his feet. Gunfire, shots erupting from behind as V rushed inside the crowd, ducking and diving through alleyways, crossing a thoroughfare that linked the shantytown to the main docks below Kabuki and the steps back into the city.
He'd cursed himself once again, fate was no longer on his side, that much was true. Rogue hadn't been lying, but then again, what reason did she have to lie to him? Zero, the Tyger Claws had dropped their trousers once again and let everyone know what they were about. Looking back, as he rushed alongside the crowd, he'd managed to hide in a small alcove between two huts where he could take a breather.
Fighting Smasher out of pure impulse was stupid, he'd rushed into the fray once again and now he was paying the price. His back ached, his arm needed fixing, but the thought that Smasher had even the faintest clue of what his name was, his entire life (or what was left of it) was at risk. The two people he cared about the most, Misty and Vik, they could easily be found out, subjected to fates worse than death at the hands of the bastard corporate whore.
"Gotta keep going, V." Johnny muttered, appearing to crouch in front of V as the mercenary slid to the ground. "V, don't stop now because you got fucked up a little bit. Ain't no time to die, not now."
The nomad sat still, his sight blurring with black spots in his eyes. Gunfire sounded getting closer, dull thudding turned into a pop-pop-pop as V managed to drag himself up. "I fucked up, twice in a row."
He felt a sharp twinge of pain in his cheek, a spark that originated from Johnny slapping him across the face. Was that even real? "Stop being a bitch, I didn't force you to crawl out of the desert to die in a fucking slum. Get up, call Judy and get back to Rogue and Panam. If you don't, I will take this body and force you."
"Shut the fuck up, Johnny."
"Make me, V. Get the fuck up, Samurai. We have a city to burn."
The fuzz and blur in his sight, his HUD cleared up as he saw the shadowed form of somebody in front of him. V himself was obscured, hidden away in the dark as he caught sight of the shotgun in his hands. A Tyger Claw, separated from his pack that was hauling ass further up to the docks. They knew their prey was down below, not on the roads, they'd hunt V down and strip him for parts, sell him off as a body-pillow for some scummy piece of shit that needed a body to fuck.
That body wasn't gonna be him. V lurched forward from the shadows; his arm wrapped around the neck of the Tyger Claw as he dragged the man into the darkness. He panicked, writhing helplessly in the grip of an experienced cyber-soldier. V felt the sharp pangs of an elbow in his side, powering through the pain as he wrenched his neck violently from the left to the right, a loud crack ripping through the silence as the Claw's body dropped into the mud.
"Try breathing now, you piece of shit…" V grunted, tumbling from the shadows as he pushed himself further, hopping in and out of shadows. "…damn it. Gotta get out, get into the city."
He'd slinked back to the thoroughfare, rushing across the small bridge into the city, sprinting as quickly as he could. Into the city's seedy underbelly, he snuck into a nearby neon-lit underbelly, collapsing against the wall as Johnny reappeared once again.
"Good fuckin' job, V. Like a real fuckin' sneaky ninja."
V shook his head. "Nice to know you appreciate some real skill."
"Fix that arm, and then we can talk about some appreciation." Johnny flexed his left arm, and what was left of V's right silver arm flexed too. "Me and you, one the and same. The sooner I get in that chip, the fewer problems we have. Might be able to put me in some holo-projector. Then we won't have to worry about turning into the same person."
"That can happen?" V asked.
"Worst case scenario."
V let out a massive sigh, flicking up his HUD and the holo before he slid through his contacts. Judy, Misty, Vik, a multitude of corpo contacts that he had no reason to speak to. He was dead to them, dead to the world that wasn't the underworld of the City of Dreams or the Aldecaldos. He selected Judy, waiting as her avatar of the cute anime ghost appeared before her face popped up on his HUD.
"V? What's up?" Judy asked, her eyes wandering before she caught V's state. "Oh shit, are you okay?"
V grunted something, words even he couldn't make sense of. "Third alley off the Kum'N'Grab away from the Kabuki docks. Need help. Evelyn's… safe."
"I'll be right there. Just, don't flatline!"
The call was cut not long after that, from Judy's end rather than V's. He remained slumped in the alley, his arm was limp and his body numb. The dull fuzz and scramble in his HUD returned, a light thudding and drumming bouncing around his head, pounding in his school. His version started to blur, black spots came in and out as his head lulled from left to right. His silver arm sparked a little, little jolts of electricity tickling the neuro-patch on his shoulder where his old arm used to be. The black spots became longer and longer, and just as he fell out of the loop, he felt himself getting dragged across the ground, by a woman with striped, green-pink hair.