"No! Please!" bang

Dominator pumped her shotgun, causing the used shell to pop out. With the last man's face turned into little more than gooey paste, she could take a moment to admire her work. Blood painted the walls and floors, and the splintered guts made it clear to all who entered just how gruesome her massacre was. Someone hired Padre to clear out the wannabe gang that had moved into the tiny warehouse, and he was right to pick her for the job.

This was her third successful gig since she started working for Padre a week earlier. The jobs paid well enough, and she got to keep anything she found so long as whatever the client requested was delivered. That's how she got her hands on a sweet pump-action shotgun and a bulletproof vest. Though it looked like her vest would have to be tossed, as she got a little too reckless with that fire fight just now.

Dominator located the requested data files by referencing the info Padre wrote down for her. She didn't have a way to download them, so she took the entire laptop. Then she set about looting all the ammo, guns, and paper eddies she could carry. Anything good she keeps and then sells the rest. She didn't find anything worth holding on to this time, but at least the Valentinos were always willing to buy.

Walking through the streets of Night City tended to be the low point of her day. Between the stench that never went away and street advertisements that always managed to drown out any hope of a peaceful stroll, Dominator hated her new home. In outer space she was a god, but down here she was V the common street thug. She was another face in a sea of millions. She was just another nobody, and no amount of slaughter was going to change that. If Dominator wanted to regain her godly status, she needed a plan. But first she needed a place to think, away from the rot and white noise.

She was about halfway back to Padre's gym when the sound of gun fire caught her attention. Dominator followed the sound, going against the flow of the panicking crowd. It led her to a car park where a bunch of Valentinos where duking it out with members of the Maelstrom gang.

Dominator didn't know much about Maelstrom. Apparently, they were from a northern part of the city and currently at odds with the Valentinos. They were also known for taking the whole cybernetics thing to an extreme. Maelstrom members were easy to spot, as most looked more like robots wearing skin suits than actual people. It wasn't uncommon for them to have wires sticking out of their bodies and they always replaced their eyes with glowing orange optics that often resembled arachnomorph eyes.

Dominator reached for her pistol, but hesitated. For the first time in her long life, she didn't want to fight. She had no reason to. She wasn't a Valentino. Jackie was, but she wasn't with Jackie anymore. He threw that out and sided with mommy dearest instead. She was alone.

With that depressing thought now invading her mind, Dominator turned around and continued towards Padre's.

"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce," Padre counted out the 100€$ slips and handed them to the green mercenary. "1200 eddies, as promised. Good work V."

"Gracias," Dominator nodded to the fixer. She stood up to leave.

"Jackie was here earlier. He's worried about you," Padre said, causing her to freeze up. "It's not uncommon for friends to fight. The important thing is to forgive one another."

"No," Dominator said. She looked over her shoulder, making eye contact with the man. "No friends. Just V."

"Be careful, por favor. Night City is not kind to those unfamiliar with her ways. It would be wise to have a friend." Despite his warning, Padre only received a shrug in response.

After selling her unwanted guns at a local vendor and throwing away her broken armor, Dominator decided to wander around. There was nothing to do at the motel, and she would have to leave again for dinner anyways. Instead, she started walking north. She had yet to check out the City Center and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. It was an hour's walk from The Glen, which she only knew because she kept checking the map on her new holophone. Dominator's old galactic phone was destroyed with The World Eater, but she was thankful the locals had something similar.

Eventually, Dominator found herself in Corpo Plaza. On all sides were massive skyscrapers, possibly the tallest in the whole city. They were for sure taller than the Residential Megabuildings. Four in particular stood out among the rest. She couldn't read the signs on the buildings, but could guess that they belonged to the four biggest megacorporations in Night City.

On the north side of the Plaza, there was a construction site. It was in the early stages, but all around were signs boasting the tallest skyscraper in Night City. Again, Dominator couldn't read the name, but the logo was easy to identify. Three circles with lines connecting to a point below them; it resembled a minimalist depiction of a tree or flower.

Dominator was about to leave when she noticed another sign with the same logo off to the left side with the number 2023. Unlike the ads around the construction site, this one almost seemed somber. There were concrete pillars covered in small writing and decorated with candles, like some kind of graveyard or monument. Dominator followed the designated path. It led into a glass building that felt like an art museum or zoo. Floor-to-ceiling windows showed off a building destroyed long ago. The handfuls of visitors present were silent, watching the ruins that were immortalized. Did they expect to see ghost, or for the ruins to spring back to life?

Dominator continued down the path, enjoying the eerie lack of sound in the otherwise noisy city. She was analyzing a sealed off conference room when a voice came over the speakers.

"In this spot, in 2023, an explosion from a terrorist attack brought down Arasaka Tower, claiming the lives of 12,000 victims. May they rest in peace."

Dominator did some quick math in her head. The current local date was year 2071, meaning that the tower fell 48 years prior. She had no idea if that was a long time. It would take a while to adjust to the local time and figure out how it compared to her planet's time system. It sounded like a long time, raising the question as to why these 'Arasaka' people were only just now rebuilding.

"I like your chrome," a young woman whispered, pulling Dominator out of her thoughts.

"Hm?" Dominator looked at the woman in confusion. She looked fairly young, but her bright, yellow eyes were a dead giveaway that she embraced cybernetics.

"Your synth skin. I'm loving the green," the woman said. "If you're not busy, we can go talk somewhere less… depressing."

Dominator didn't respond right away; too busy trying to decode the words spoken to her. Once she was able to translate, she remembered that no one knew she was an off-worlder. Everyone she passed on the street thought her body was synthetic.

"No, gracias," Dominator said, forcing herself to smile at the woman. She made herself scarce after the encounter, rushing down the path out of the memorial site. She didn't need that; another reminder that in Night City, she was just V the common street thug.

"Why V? Just why?" Dominator asked herself.

After leaving the memorial, she went exploring Downtown. And out of all the shops and vendors she passed, a flarfing sex shop is what caught her attention. And because her naturally curious self can be such a gropsack at times, she went inside. And she perused the selves, her eyes wide at the perversions she witnessed. And when the shop owner asked her if she needed help, she panicked and pointed at the fake penises. She bought a sex toy like a desperate, incompetent dork.

After leaving, she rushed back to the motel, hood up and eyes down in her walk of shame. The maroon bag from the sex shop didn't have any labeling, but that didn't help with the paranoia she felt. If Jackie ever found out, she would probably die of embarrassment.

"Stop thinking about him," Dominator scolded herself. "Jackie left you out to dry. If you see him again, you should just punch him. Or better yet, shoot him."

In a desperate bid to refocus her mind, Dominator stopped at a general store near the motel. She bought some microwave noodles, a six pack of sparkling water and a makeup kit. Being able to paint her eyes again would give Dominator some much needed normalcy on such a primitive planet.

Back at the motel, she went through her usual routine. Dominator paid for three more nights in her room, took a shower, ate her noodles, and then lied down on the bed. Normally she would spend a few hours on her holophone trying to learn all of its functions without a complete grasp on the English alphabet. But today she reached into that stupid, maroon bag from the sex shop and pulled out her most regrettable purchase. She held a rectangular box with an actual size picture printed on the side.

"Maybe I can return it?" Dominator turned the box in her hands, trying to resolve her internal conflict.

It was a disgusting use of her limited funds. She needed to be thinking up a plan to get off this armpit of a planet. She would need resources, connections, and lots of eddies if it came down to building a slip space engine with pre-warp tech. But instead, she had become a gun for hire and blew a not insignificant chunk of her most recent payday on a silicon penis. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

But then again…

It had been an awfully long time since she had any action. Back on her home planet she tended to swing both ways, but the years leading up to its destruction were a dry spell for her. After she became Lord Dominator, she relied on planetary conquest and mass genocide to get her rocks off. She didn't even masturbate all that much during her time on The World Eater. But with her warship destroyed, it may be time to fall back on more traditional methods. It would be a nice way to relieve stress, and it's not like anyone in Night City would kink shame her. She's the last of her kind. Her options are asexuality or xenophilia.

"What's the local phrase? 'Fuck it'?"

Dominator slipped off her bra and panties before breaking the seal on the box. She removed the toy and took a moment to examine it. She chose the red and orange one, as it kind of reminded her of Volcanium X. She assumed the shape was accurate to what a local male would look like. Her only reference was the pictures she saw back at the shop. She couldn't say if those ads were in anyway truthful. Fantasy and reality rarely aligned, and that went double so in the sex industry. But on a planet where any part of the body could be modified, Dominator decided that it was best not to put too much thought into that.

Lying back, Dominator rubbed her palm between her legs for a few minute to get ready before using the toy. The next morning, she woke up feeling sticky and with a bite mark on her middle finger.

Two days later, Dominator received another message from Padre.

"Job for 3. Need 1 more," the text read. Dominator's extremely limited English had become common knowledge at the gym, so Padre made it a point to keep his messages for her short and simple.

Dominator hadn't done a group job since she hit a man with Diego's van. She preferred to work alone. To be on a team meant that you had people you we not allowed to shoot, and could potentially get in your way. She'd rather be given a location and kill everyone on site. But her funds from her last job were running low and she didn't want to break into her emergency eddies unless she had no other option.

"Big eddies?" she asked. Padre responded immediately.

"1800"

Dominator smiled and responded with a thumbs-up emoji. She got dressed and made quick work of her makeup before leaving for the gym.

The green mercenary strolled into Padre's gym with a bounce in her step and an unusually calm smile on her face. She actually felt somewhat normal for once. Dominator was donning her signature black tears makeup and clean bleeding heart crop top. With no work from Padre, she spent the last few days on self-care, cleaning her clothes in the shower and doing some basic exercises. Even her new toy was proving quite useful, though she would never admit it out loud. Now that she had a job lined up, she could tackle it with a clear mind ready for murder.

That refreshed feeling disappeared when she saw Jackie and Isabel standing next to Padre's table.

"V. I'm glad you could make it," Padre said.

"NOPE!" Dominator spun on her heals and started to leave the way she came.

"Hey! Hold up, chica!" Jackie ran forward to block her path and almost received another punch for his efforts. "Whoa!" he shouted as he caught Dominator's fist in his hand. "Let's talk this out."

"No," she said, pulling away. Dominator raised her middle finger at Jackie as she tried to side step him, but he wouldn't let her pass.

"We know you need eddies," Jackie said. "Being a merc means always looking for your next job."

Dominator didn't know what 'merc' meant, but Jackie's description was spot on to her current predicament. Either she took the gig or risked going hungry in the near future. So she relented, and walked back to Padre's table.

"I'm in," Dominator sighed. Isabel let out a giggle, but stopped when the green woman's red eyes snapped to her with a deadly glare.

"Muy bien, V," Padre said. "Sit and I will explain."

Maelstrom had been making some bold moves against the Valentinos. The fighting between the gangs was a result of Maelstrom trying to set up operations in Heywood and push the Valentinos out in the process. Padre and the other leading members of the Valentinos were done screwing around and made a plan to strike back.

Maelstrom was running their Heywood operation out of Vista Del Rey, the slums of Heywood. Near Megabuilding H5, there was a long abandoned tavern that Maelstrom took over and set up in. The plan was to have Isabel sneak inside and install malware on their main system with Jackie providing cover. The building was well guarded so Dominator would provide a distraction, opening up the back for Isabel and Jackie. The Valentinos were already setting up a wide perimeter to prevent backup from reaching the Maelstrom members on site.

Dominator rubbed her temples in thought. It was a solid plan. She would rather just storm the place, but sometimes you need a scalpel and not a hacksaw. Her part was simple and she could bail once the others were safely out of the building. Still, there were a lot of ways these things can go wrong and she didn't have the proper equipment to be taking on cyborg psychos.

"Need three things," Dominator said. "Armor. Grenades. Big gun."

"I can give you an armored vest," Padre said. "Anything else you will have to acquire yourself."

"We can trade guns," Isabel spoke up, earning curious looks from everyone else at the table. "What? I can be nice. And it's not like an assault rifle is much use when being tranquila."

Dominator unhooked her holster that held her revolver and passed it to Isabel. Isabel handed the rifle on her back to Dominator. Once the green woman had her promised body armor, she left with the two gangsters.

Jackie had recently managed to fix his motorcycle and drove it to the gym. It was just as well, as Isabel's car was basically a tiny box with an engine and two seats. Dominator hopped into Isabel's passenger seat, and started to mentally prep herself for the job. The drive to their destination was short, but that didn't stop the Valentino girl from trying to make small talk.

"He is worried, you know," the Latina woman said.

"Hm?" Dominator grunted. She kept her eyes forward, locked onto the back of Jackie's bike.

"Jackie," Isabel clarified. "Mind you, he's still fucking pissed. You did try to hurt su madre. But that doesn't mean he wants you getting yourself killed."

"Not friends. Not need."

"You say that. You may believe that. But everyone at the gym can see how lonely you are. It's all too common in this world. You and Jackie have a connection, V. You would have to be a total gonk to-"

"ISABEL!" Dominator shouted, turning her fiery gaze at the woman. "Shut. Up."

"Right," Isabel sighed. "Let's just focus on the job."

The car was silent for the rest of the drive.

Dominator set up inside a rundown apartment building that was across the street from the Maelstrom base. The complex was mostly abandoned with the only residents being drug abusers and a few homeless people. Dominator founds an empty second floor apartment that faced the tavern. She barricaded the door with an old couch, knowing that her targets would probably try to flank her. If they tried to force their way in, she would switch to her shotgun.

Outside the two-story tavern was a pair of Maelstrom guards and a security camera that looked new. The camera wasn't of any concern, seeing as she was to be the distraction. Her biggest concern was grenades. Dominator didn't have any to throw at the cyborgs and if they managed to chuck one through the window, she was pretty much screwed. Her only real hope was to hit the deck, preferably facing away from any potential explosion.

Figuring she had given Jackie and Isabel enough time to find a back door, Dominator lined up her rifle sights with one of the guards and pulled the trigger. The gun fired a three-round burst with all the bullets leaving the barrel before the mercenary felt any recoil. All three rounds hit their target, breaking one of the Maelstrom thug's optics and causing him to falter. His partner was quick to spot her and the fire fight began.

Dominator focused her shots on the guard she already hit, taking him down with two more burst. The second guard returned fire, forcing her down into cover. The guard stopped after a few rounds, giving Dominator time to line up a shot. She hit him in the chest, but the man barely seemed to notice. The bullets punctured the Maelstrom member's skin only to bounce off the metal just below. She pulled the trigger again, aiming for the neck and head. The three rounds hit, completely destroying the man's optics and causing him to fall to the ground shaking.

As predicted, losing their two guards pissed off Maelstrom and more members came flooding out of the building. They all opened fire on Dominator's position, blasting holes in her cover. Realizing her stark disadvantage in firepower, Dominator decided to find a different window. She shoved the couch out of the way of the door, her adrenaline making it easier to move. Running down the hall, Dominator found another open apartment. This one had a few people inside, all of which were cowering and begging for their lives.

"OUT!" she shouted as she ducked down behind the window. All the locals scattered, leaving Dominator alone to assess her situation.

The Maelstrom thugs had stopped shooting, but were on high alert. A female member started making her way to the building, but Dominator stopped her with a clean shot to the temple. The girl fell with a single burst, and the fight continued. One of the cyborgs tried to throw a grenade, but it bounced off the building and exploded midair. Using the sudden blast for cover, Dominator ran out of the room to find yet another apartment.

This continued for several minutes. Dominator would take out two or three of the Maelstrom members, usually whoever was approaching her building, and then move to a different room. By the time she had made her fourth switch, someone actually managed to land a grenade next to her. A brief moment of panic overcame the mercenary before she dived out of the way. The grenade let out a high pitched buzz followed by a burst of electrical energy. The shock was agonizing as it caused all of Dominator's muscles to seize up. But as quickly as the pain came, it faded away. One of the Maelstrom thugs must have gotten a good look at her and was trying to short out her cybernetics that she didn't actually have. Climbing to her feet, Dominator ran out of the room to find another usable window.

Dominator had killed another few cyborgs when she realized she was on her last magazine, and she had already used half of it up. Figuring she had kicked the doom dragon nest enough, she started to make her way out of the building, shotgun at the ready.

Without the threat of getting shot while crossing the street, the remaining Maelstrom members stormed the apartment building. Like ants, they swarmed through the halls looking for the green mercenary that had managed to murder so many of them. It wasn't long before two of them crossed paths with Dominator.

"Grop!" Dominator cursed as she blasted one of the thugs. The cyborg fell dead as his partner retaliated. The second thug fired, hitting Dominator in the chest twice before he was killed. "Ow… crop." Even with armor, getting shot always hurt. Dominator forced the pain out of mind and continued forward. She was down to the second level when she ran into more Maelstroms.

"There she is!" one of them yelled. Dominator ducked into an open room, just barely avoiding the hail of bullets. With the hall blocked off, she only had one logical course of action. She shot the window open and jumped out into the back ally.

Dominator was able to land safely, if somewhat messily, from the second story window. Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted to the end of the ally and down the street to where her group parked. It was probably a bad idea to lead Maelstrom to the getaway vehicles, but Dominator was running out of options. She just hoped that Jackie and Isabel were already set to leave.

She was almost to her destination when there was an exceptionally loud bang and she was struck in the back by something high-caliber. Although her armor stopped the bullet, Dominator could still feel the immense force racking her body and possibly fracturing a few ribs. The pain made her to lose her focus and footing, sending her tumbling to the ground. She sluggishly pushed herself up, but stopped when gunfire started to go off all around her.

"V!" she heard Jackie yell, but couldn't pinpoint the direction.

"Grab her!" another voice screamed, its synthesized texture giving the person away as Maelstrom. "Tell Latch to get the van!"

Dominator tried to stand up only to be tackled back down.

"No you don't, bitch," said the Maelstrom woman on top of her. "You're coming with us."

"Hold on, V! We're coming!"

Dominator started to struggle against the woman on top of her, desperately flailing to break free. This only made her situation worse as the Maelstrom woman was able grab her arms and tie them behind her back with enhanced strength. Dominator was wishing someone would just shoot the woman, but then realized that if they missed then she would probably get hit instead. She was the Maelstrom's armor.

Dominator heard the squeal of tires before being pulled to her feet. She caught a glimpse Jackie and Isabel shooting from behind cover. They couldn't do much, as both were pinned down and couldn't get a clean shot on the woman using her as a shield. She once again tried to struggle against her captors, but a second Maelstrom grabbed her legs and they tossed her into the back of the van together.

"Want your amigo back, taco boy? Come and get her."

The van doors were slammed shut, and the Maelstrom thugs took off with their hostage. Dominator did her best to put up a fight. She kicked and screamed with all her might, letting her rage flow free. But there were too many people in the van, all willing to hold her down and make her hurt. They started taking turns to use her as a punching bag. One cyborg would take a few swings at her face before trading out with another. It wasn't long before Dominator could taste her own blood and her vision became blurry.

Dominator didn't know how long she was suffering at half consciousness. Her memories were foggy at best, but judging by the pink, evening sky it had been about six-ish hours. They were in some outdoor industrial area behind a rusty warehouse. She had been stripped down to her top and underwear and tied to a chair. She couldn't call for help as Maelstrom had gagged her with a rag that was tied behind her head. And everything hurt.

Without the adrenaline of battle or the wooziness of repeated punches to the face, Dominator could no longer ignore the pain. Her ears were ringing and her entire face felt swollen. This was on top of the torso bruises she suffered from getting shot. And to really drive the pain home, she felt tiny stings all across her skin. A quick once over of what she could see reveled that someone had littered her arms and legs with tiny cuts.

"About time, Sleeping Beauty."

Dominator's head snapped up to the approaching Maelstrom member. He looked more freakish than most of his companions. In the center of his head was one large optic with two smaller ones on either side. He didn't appear to have mush skin left, as his metal jaw was exposed as were most of implants that riddled his body.

"Name's Connor, and I gotta say, I am impressed," the man said, his synthetic voice cracking as he smiled. "You single handedly zeroed 16 of my guys. Two of them might survive, but the rest? All flatlined. That takes guts, and some preem skill to pull off."

"Of course, my praise has to end there. It's less impressive considering the fact that you were just a distraction. Your Valentino pals were clean, didn't come close to raising an alarm. And whatever they put on our servers completely wiped our Heywood subnet. Seven months of work down the fucking drain."

Connor walked closer and got right in Dominator's face, stepping over the side of the shallow basin they placed her chair in. Despite her bloodied nose, she could smell his rancid breath. They stared at each other for a few seconds, examining one another. Dominator got a good look at his optics, the orange glow not quite hiding the lenses underneath the glass surface.

"When I heard that my boys grabbed a hostage when they delta'd, I was just gonna shoot you in the head," Connor growled. "I thought it would make a nice present for Ibarra. The rotting corpse of Heywood's own up-and-coming edgerunner. But once we realized that you're a 'ganic…" he paused, and stepped away. Connor walked over to a crate with Dominator's things on it and pulled out her knife.

"You're not human," he said, examining the knife. "Your skin, eyes, hair. It's all natural. Even your blood." Connor held up the knife so Dominator could see the dried, green blood on the blade's edge. "So instead of just shooting you, me and the boys are gonna dissect you. Alive. And when ol' Padre inevitably sends his banditos to come save you, we're gonna douse you in CHOOH2 and light you up like a Christmas tree." To emphasize his last point, Connor kicked the side of the basin.

Dominator only understood about a third of the words Connor spoke to her, and even that was a challenge given her damaged state. But she understood enough to know Connor's intentions. Maelstrom was going to kill her, but that's not what made her scared. The part that filled Dominator with dread was that they were going to stretch out the process as long as they could.

"Latch! Get over here!" Connor yelled. A man with significantly fewer implants ran over. He was followed by a small crowd of Maelstrom thugs, all wanting to watch the show. "Hold her head in place."

"Yes, sir," Latch said, standing behind Dominator and placing his hands on either side of her head.

"Quit it with the formal shit, unless you want to be next. Bell, you recording?"

"Fuck yea, I am."

Connor turned to the onlookers, holding up the knife. "Y'all ready for a show?" The small crowd let out a cheer at his question, all of them wearing psychotic smiles. "Left or right?" Again the crowd cheered, this time a mix of people wanting left, and people wanting right. "I think I heard more rights." Connor turned back to Dominator and pulled her right eye open. Once she realized what was about to happen, the green woman desperately tried to shake free, but she was too weak in her state. She could only watch as her own combat knife drew closer.

At first, all she felt was the cold steel at it near seamlessly pierced her right pupil. But as Connor pushed it deeper, her pain receptors began to kick in. The icy metal conflicted with the sudden burning coming from her retina, but Dominator did not scream. She didn't want to give the borg freaks the satisfaction. Instead, she fought the urge, panting through her nose as cold sweat poured from her skin.

Her resolve was shattered when Connor twisted the knife with abrupt force. Dominator let out a muffled scream at the torture of her eyeball being shredded by the blade. The agony was only made more real when she felt her own blood gushing down her swollen cheek. The Maelstrom crowd cheered and laughed at her distress, laughing and calling out request for what Connor should gouge out next. The leader ripped out the knife and let Dominator fall limp in the chair.

"What should we cut out next?" Connor asked. A few people said her other eye, while most started calling out major organs. "A kidney? Does she even have those? Only one way to find out!" The Maelstrom leader turned back to his captive and knelt down at her side. He felt around for a place to slice, but was interrupted.

"That Valentinos! They're on their way! Just a few minutes out!"

"Fuck! Already?" Connor moaned, not wanting the fun to end. But he was no fool and started preparations. "Battle stations everyone!" The crowd dispersed, each Maelstrom going about a different task.

Connor grabbed a nearby plastic container and began to empty its contents onto Dominator. The clear liquid reeked of chemical fumes, further agitating the woman's wounds.

"There we go," Connor said. "Gotta make sure you're wet and ready for your Val Pals." Tossing the plastic jug aside, he grabbed a second and poured it out as well. Once it was empty, Dominator was soaked in the chemical and the basin was filled up to her ankles.

Jackie Welles rode his motorcycle down the highway, leading a parade of Valentinos into the Northside Industrial District. The entire ride he was questioning his actions over the past week. Despite their fight and presumably ended relationship, Jackie couldn't stop worrying about V. So he tried to keep tabs on her from a distance, getting updates from Padre. He thought she was doing fine and requested that she come on the Maelstrom job with him and Isabel. He wanted to try patching things up. But then she was captured, and he couldn't stop blaming himself for it.

After he and Isabel returned to Padre and explained what happened, Jackie went to work on recruiting every Valentino he could to save V. Some were eager to help, and some just didn't care enough to try. Obviously Isabel was in, seeing as she witnessed the kidnapping. Surprisingly, Diego also volunteered and offered to drive others in his van. In just a few hours, Jackie had amassed what felt like a small army to take on Maelstrom.

Thanks to the malware they installed, Isabel was able to read the last few messages recorded before Maelstrom's subnet was wiped. There were several requests for backup, only to receive responses like "road blocks" and "Valentino problems". The last few were about V specifically, how they captured her and where to take her. They had a location and they had man power. All Jackie could do now was hope they didn't arrive too late.

Jackie and his army stopped right outside the abandoned OTEC warehouse before looking for a way in. A couple Maelstroms were spotted, but none opened fire. They all fled in the same direction, as if leading the Valentinos somewhere. Not a good sign. Sure enough, when Jackie turned the corner into the warehouse truck yard, he saw that Maelstrom had a small army of their own ready. They had all taken cover behind crates while the Valentinos were left mostly in the open, but they still didn't open fire.

"V!" Jackie spotted his green friend tied to a chair between the two gangs. He began to run to her but stopped when a bullet struck the ground at his feet.

"Not so fast, bean boy," one of the Maelstroms called out. Connor, the current leader, stepped forward. "It's not polite to rush into another's home uninvited."

"Let her go, you borg fucker," Jackie yelled, "or else we tear you un pelotudo nuevo!"

"How 'bout I instead show you what happens when you get in our way." Connor threw an incendiary grenade at V. It exploded into an intense, red flame and ignited the CHOOH2. The red turned into a deep blue as the chemical fuel burned hotter than any human could survive.

"V!" Jackie cried. He turned to Maelstrom and opened fire. "¡Te voy a matar!"

The entire yard fell in to chaos as the Valentinos and Maelstrom exchanged gunfire. Without proper cover, only so many Valentinos could enter the fray at a time. They were struggling to move forward and were soon being pushed back out of the yard. But Jackie refused to give up. He did his best to give out commands to the other frontline Valentinos, telling them who to target and when to rotate out. But then he noticed something in the blue flames.

Instead of burning to a crisp, V was alive and moving. She had already managed to tip over her chair, allowing her to avoid the gunfire. Jackie knew V liked the heat, but a CHOOH2 fire was next level heat. Not even a fully converted cyborg could survive unless their body was specifically designed to handle it. Still, he wasn't one to question a blessing from El Dios. He turned his attention back to the fight, and more specifically Connor.

The Maelstrom leader was making an aggressive push alone. He looked like he was over 50% cybernetics and was able to take every bullet the Valentinos hit him with. Connor's imposing figure standing unharmed was starting to scare off the younger Valentinos and encourage his force to move up. That was until everyone saw V standing in the fire.

Like a phantom of death, V slowly stepped out of the burning basin and towards the Maelstrom leader. The fuel caused her skin to burn with the same brilliant blue as she dragged the metal chair behind her. All the gangsters, both Valentino and Maelstrom, ceased their fight to watch in amazed horror this demon making her way over to Connor, who was unlucky enough to be the only person facing away from the mercenary.

"Hey! Why the fuck did you all stop shoo… ting," Connor lost his train of thought as he turned in V's direction. Staring back at him was a devil engulfed in her natural element. With the obscuring fire, he could only make out V's outline with the exception of a single, glowing, red eye and bleeding heart insignia.

"GRAAAAAHHHH!" V let out an animalistic scream as she swung the hot, metal chair into Connor's head, knocking him down. She continued to wail as she beat him with the improvised weapon. When that proved not enough to kill the Maelstrom leader, she half-dragged, half-threw him back to the flaming basin.

None of the onlookers stopped V. They were all either too horrified, too enamored, or too dumbfounded to react in a way that would save Connor. They could only watch as the devil pulled the man that scarred her into the hellfire. By the time Connor gathered his wits enough to fight back, it was already too late.

"Let go of me, you freaky bitch," Conner yelled. He wrestled himself free enough to stand up and fight, but soon realized his mistake. V tackled him, knocking them both into the burning CHOOH2. "HEEELLLLLPPP! IT BURNS! IT BUUUURNS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"mmmhehehe… hahahah… HaHaHaHaHa… HA HAHAHA HAAA!" V's psychotic laughter grew louder the more she punched and strangled Connor, his screams of agony fueling her need for vengeful bloodshed. Once the Maelstrom leader was silenced with death, only V's maniacal cackling could be heard, drowning out even the roar of the flames.

Many of the Valentinos began to pray to themselves, refusing to take their eyes off V as they were too fearful to look away. But not Jackie. He was one of the few that felt enamored by the she-demon. He had never witnessed that kind of power before. It was the kind of power that legends were born from. Now Jackie was sure that V and him were destined for greatness. He just needed to make sure they survived this fight. He hopped out of cover and made his way to the burning woman.

The Maelstrom gang had started to back away from V, none of them wanting to be her next victim. Once the green woman stopped laughing and turned her single eye to them, a couple ran away as their nerves finally got the better of them. The rest held their ground and raised their guns when V stepped out of the basin in their direction. The woman knew she couldn't kill them all with her fist and halted her progress.

"V!" Jackie yelled, grabbing the woman's attention. He had closed the distance between them, allowing him to toss V her revolver. "Catch, chica!" V reached out to catch the gun, turned, and shot the closest Maelstrom in the head.

The gang fight resumed with Jackie and V fleeing from Maelstrom. It felt like running through the rain and not getting wet with the sheer amount of bullets they miraculously avoided. Thankfully, the Valentinos' covering fire was enough to get the two gunslingers back to safety. Once they were among allies, Jackie directed V to lie down and let his fellow gang members douse her flames.

"Use the dirt! ¡Rápidamente! We don't need her setting us ablaze!" Jackie commanded the other Valentinos. Once V was no longer on fire, he made sure she was taken care of. "Get her patched up, and find her some pants," he told one of the younger gang members. "The rest of you, we got a score to settle! ¡Hagámoslo!"

The Valentinos roared as one and charged with Jackie leading the way. Maelstrom was fighting with reduced numbers, allowing the Valentinos to quickly gain a foothold against the rival gang. One by one, the Maelstrom members began to fall but the more experienced among them dug in and fought back. Soon, the two gangs were locked into a stalemate, neither one giving up ground and both losing soldiers fast.

Jackie tried to flank on the left and take out the more problematic Maelstroms, but was struck in the face by a rifle stock. Knocked to the ground, he opened his eyes and found himself staring up at an orange optic and the barrel of an assault rifle. Before the cyborg lady could pull the trigger and end him, she was shot in the temple and fell dead.

V ran over and offered her hand. Her right eye was bandaged over and her legs were donning a new pair of blue basketball shorts. Jackie smiled and grabbed ahold of her arm.

"Gracias, amiga," he smiled.

"Gracias," said V, nodding with a smile on her swollen face.

The two gunslingers jumped back into the fire fight, making sure to watch each other's back. They quickly found themselves in a flow, almost as if they were synchronizing. Jackie and V knew when and who to shoot as well as when to reload without using words. A simple glance was enough for one to know where the other was aiming next and when they needed to get down behind cover. Together, they became the most efficient killing machine on the battlefield. The two of them took down more Maelstrom than the rest of the Valentinos combined. Once they whittled down their enemy, they began to push forward.

And then the connection broke…

V saw a Maelstrom fire a pistol in their direction and shot him twice, killing the man. But it was too late. She could already sense something was wrong. She turned to Jackie and saw him grabbing at his chest, blood pouring from a fresh wound.

"JACKIE!" she screamed, watching the only living thing she ever cared about collapse to his knees.

"…V…" Jackie gasped, struggling to breathe. He lied back on the ground as the whole world seemed to spin around him. Soon, everything began to blur and the only thing he heard was V's voice.

"No… No no no," she cried, sorrow filled tears flowing for the first time since she was a child. "Jackie, please… I'm sorry… I'm sorry..." She placed her hands over his wounds in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Don't worry… chica," Jackie struggled to say. He placed his own bloody hand over V's. "I'm not dead yet… Not… Not till we're legends."