Fully Loaded Epic Win
Five in the morning.
Kerry's crapwagon chugged along Sutter Street, having lost the momentum gained from exiting the off-ramp. The thing rattled, feeling like it was ready to fall apart. The windows didn't roll down, the seats screeched when adjusted, the smell was unidentifiable but thankfully not … organic. The engine whined badly, particularly when approaching the limits of its abilities, which was far too often.
Judy had spent the entire trip through Japantown holding the door beside her, as if to stop it falling out of its frame, as Cassidy floored it. She regretted sitting in the front passenger seat behind him, as his rapid handling of the controls made her feel like he would break something.
At last, Cassidy let the car coast to slow down, and turned gently into the near-abandoned parking lot of Lizzie's, the world outside going from streetlight orange to neon blue.
The dizziness relenting at last, Judy slumped in her seat.
"Jesus Christ, I thought that would never end," Judy said, "Why did we have to take this thing again?"
"'cause no one would take a second look at this piece of shit," V said, "If Kerry Eurodyne can get around unnoticed in it, I figured we could too."
It had been the same thing he said before they had started, though she suspected that it was as much to do with tempting Arasaka or the Tyger Claws to do something. The other occupants were just as happy for it to be over.
"Next time, let me at least take a look at it before we go," Judy replied, "Might be able to stop it grinding like that."
Cassidy's moustache twitched as he turned to her. "I already did take a look," he admitted, "Trust me, there's nothin' under that hood you'd want to see." As in knowing would likely not result in improvement of the ride quality, and was far more likely to prevent anyone who did know getting in the thing.
Judy groaned, kicking the dash, the plastic buckling under the force. "Fuck," she said, "I can't believe I got talked into this shit." She couldn't resist a chance at getting the Mox to play bigger and smarter... but it was a really long shot.
The reason she had overcome the urge to not even try made herself known: Blue Moon's head appeared between the front seats, looking out the windscreen at the bar. "That's Lizzie's?" she asked. The compound irises in her cybernetic eyes seemed to scan the building and the bouncers standing outside.
"The one and only," Judy said, "I'm surprised you didn't slum it down here at least once. I know V used to." V in his corpo days and Jackie in his street merc days, that is.
"It was on the list, but then the whole stalking thing happened," Blue replied, with a sad smile, "Once V fixed that, word got back to our agents and they put us on the first flight back to Tokyo."
"Stalking?" Cassidy asked.
"Long story," V called from the back, "The bouncers are looking antsy we're just sitting here, best get moving."
Judy looked forwards again and sure enough, the usual two on the door had been reinforced with another two from the cloakroom, pistols and shotguns ready but not quite aimed at them.
"Here we go," she said, opening the door and stepping out onto the concrete.
Judy led the way out of the darkness and into the glow of the Lizzie's logo. Luckily, it was Rita on shift, she could be the most reasonable of the lot.
"Judy, that you?" the bouncer asked, her posture relaxing as she approached. It seems she was satisfied enough, as she shoved her dual pistols back into their holsters under her arm and moved forward to greet them. The other bouncers hung back, relaxing now that they were
"Yeah Rita, it's me," Judy sighed, bringing the bouncer into a hug, "How are you?"
"I'm good," Rita answered, squeezing back with both arms, "You look even better. Country life suits you. You shouldna come back."
"Yeah, I shouldn't have," Judy said, craning her neck to look back at V, "I wonder whose fault that is?" He simply stared back, like he wasn't the man responsible. Which was only partially true. Arasaka and even her own instinct to return to the Bend had some part to play too.
"Is that V I see?" Rita asked, breaking off from her and wandering over, "Miss me?"
V glanced from side to side, theatrically, putting his hand on his chest. "Who me?" he asked, before adding, "With all my heart. I promise."
"Then visit more than once a year," Rita said, crossing her arms, "You used to be a great customer."
Back when he was with Arasaka.
"Yeah, well, things change," V shrugged, his tone a little sad, "The life where I could arrive in a luxury AV and drop ten large on a night out? That's all on hold, maybe permanently."
Rita narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, heard that too," she said, turning to Cass and Blue, "You're dropping more bodies than eddies these days, but..." She stopped, cocking her head at Blue.
Judy muttered a curse under her breath, knowing she should've done more to disguise the pop star. They had managed to ditch the electric blue everything that seemed to dominate her wardrobe, but even the Second Conflict hoodie couldn't hide that hair from the front.
The girl herself wasn't worried though.
"I'm not here," Blue said, winking at the bouncer.
Okay, time to intervene.
"Yeah, she really isn't," Judy added, interposing herself between Rita and Blue, "Really, really isn't. Get my meaning, Rita?"
The bouncer seemed to pout a little. "If you say so, Jude," she said, "Not here for a drink?"
"Unfortunately not," Judy replied, "Gotta take these gonks to see Suze."
Rita whistled and shook her head. "Well, good luck with that. She's gotten worse since you left," she said, "Without you, those of us wanting to take our thing bigger? We just haven't got a say any more. You'd hate it."
Judy grit her teeth. It was exactly like she had feared it would be. They didn't have a hope in hell of getting what V wanted out of the Moxes. "Well, I'll guess I'll have to ruin Suze's night," she said, "It's the least she deserves, if that's all true."
Rita cocked an eyebrow, glancing at Blue and the others again. "She's in her office right now," she said, "Checking the night's take... and it was a slow night."
Which meant the boss was probably in a bad mood.
"Of course she is," Judy scoffed, "Talk later Rita."
"Later better not be eight months this time," the bouncer replied, hugging her again.
Susie Q's office was exactly like Judy remembered it; half storage, half admin desk. One corner had filing cabinets under a desk, monitors for security and a computer. The other corner was lockers, stacked boxes and something like a personal gym stowed away on some shelves.
The boss herself was huddled over her keyboard, dressed in her classic yellow jacket that her muscles practically bulged out of. When the door opened and Judy appeared in it, she looked up and scowled. "Look what the cat dragged in," she said, returning her attention to her monitor, "What the hell do you want?"
Judy smiled, knowing full well what was about to happen.
"Wow, is that any way to talk to an old friend?" said V, over Judy's shoulder. He slid past and into the office, like he owned the place, looking around. Cassidy and Blue Moon did the same, albeit without the bravado.
Susie spun in her chair and crossed her arms, putting her arm cyberware on display and leaning way back. "What is this, a shakedown?" she asked, directing the question at Judy, "Am I supposed to be scared?" Despite her words, the boss' eyes never left the biggest threat in the room; V.
Even if Judy didn't know her, it would be obvious that she really was afraid.
"No, we've got a business proposition," Judy said, taking loan of the threat of into her voice, "And I don't wanna hear about how you're too busy to listen."
Susie said nothing, continuing to stare at V as he browsed the gym equipment on the shelves, smiling over his shoulder in return. Judy felt her face burn, angry that he wasn't stepping in here. Yet he wasn't, for some damn reason she couldn't understand. So there was no other way of proceeding.
She took a breath. "We want the Mox to hit the Tyger Claws," Judy said, "They're getting into it with 6th Street down in Charter Hill, and the Valentinos are getting dragged in too. There's a chance of taking them out of Watson for good."
Turning her head slowly, Susie looked over with pity. Pity that made Judy want to scream, because she knew where it came from... And because it was unexpected.
"Look, I know you want revenge for what happened at Clouds," the boss said softly, "But that whole thing is a reminder of why we can't do shit like this. Only reason they didn't drop on this place too was because you were independent at the time. We can't survive if we're out there for revenge, not business."
It was exactly what she would have said a year before, just more polite on account of the dead friends she knew were on Judy's conscience. She spent a lot of time thinking about whether Maiko had been right all along, when she was camped by the roadside.
"The same old argument," Judy growled, "Except the variables have changed, Suze. We're not talking about taking a block in Kabuki or a club, and we're not talking about doing it alone. The Claws have pissed off everyone around them. We may never get a chance like this again in our lives."
V cleared his throat pointedly, wandering over again. "It might also be the only chance you have to survive," he said, "Tyger Claws are gonna lose this war, but they might survive it. If they do, they'll lose Charter Hill at least. They're gonna look to their weaker neighbours to keep the eddies flowing in."
He sat down on the desk beside Susie. "But you already know this," he said, "The Claws up at Kabuki Market have already been sniffing around, haven't they? Three in hospital already on your side, two on theirs."
Judy knew intel from Alt when she heard it. V could've got into the NCPD databases to check out what they have, but only the AI could've compiled it into something you could draw that sort of conclusion from so quickly. Feeling excited that she had the drop on Suze like this, she decided to let V play it out.
The boss looked like she had just bit into a lemon, clearly not pleased that someone had done their homework. "There have been hiccups recently," she admitted, "Nothing we can't handle. The deal between us has lasted ten years, it'll survive this."
"What happens when the big bosses in Japantown need a big win to keep their underlings from cutting their heads off?" V continued, miming a sword swing with his hand, "Or worse, those same underlings succeed and need a win to make it look like there's a new sheriff in town?"
He made a gun gesture with his hand and pointed it right at Susie.
"They're gonna look for easy meat," he smiled, "And since you aren't burnin' Kabuki down for the shit they've already pulled, they're gonna think it's worth the risk. After all, they slapped you and you did nothing about it, and the Claws have got twenty times the numbers you have."
"Sounds like you're making my argument for me," Susie replied, "The numbers aren't in our favour."
"Oh but they are if you're willing to make a play right now," V countered, "Valentinos and Sixth Street already make the figures look a whole lot better. And this isn't a straight backstab we're putting on the table, we're talkin' about a coordinated attack at the same time. No low brow gangster shit, this is war."
Susie's eyes grew the size of oranges. "You're fucking crazy," she said, "The biggest gangs working together? And what do you think they are? Marines in LatAm? Think we're an army?"
Judy's blood boiled at that objection. "No, you're the Mox, fuckin' act like it," she said loudly, "We showed the Claws before. You could be an army if you wanted to be. We used to get requests for help from all over the city, and we only ever brought a tiny number in. That was a big mistake."
"We didn't survive all this time by me playing at being a general, Judy," Susie replied, "I kept us all alive by being a businesswoman."
"Then perhaps you should look to the corporations as an example?" Blue Moon said politely, out of nowhere, "Arasaka, Militech, Biotechnica, these are businesses too. Are they unarmed? Do they keep to themselves? No."
Blue walked over and leaned over the desk corner, right in between Judy and Susie, getting in the boss' face. "Businesspeople expand their businesses," she said, her voice dropping a register in tone, "Or they go out of business. It is true in every industry. You rise up or you get stepped on. This is the rule of the universe. Capitalism is not for the faint-hearted."
Judy snorted at her rhetoric. It was all stuff one of Blue's co-stars in Us Cracks liked to say a lot, namely Purple Force. Blue herself preferred not to believe a word of it, even if the world did.
The boss shifted herself in her seat, to back away from the pop star a little. "Well that's just great for Arasaka," Susie growled back, "But I'm not Yorinobu-sama. Even if we did have numbers, we don't have the guns, the intel, the training to do what you're saying."
Blue shrugged with a flick of a hand in the air, like such things were trivial, and returned to her place by Cassidy. The boss was shifting the goalposts now. Weakening her position.
But Judy and V had already discussed an answer for her point, and the merc was happy to deliver it.
"Intel and training ain't a problem," V said, "You have a whole bunch of braindance equipment, we have Militech training shards we can give you. As for intel, I could probably get you the personal addresses and hangouts of every Claw in the city inside a day. Between street surveillance feeds and net pings, we could go for live tracking on most of them too."
Susie's head snapped up from glaring at Blue. She looked genuinely interested for the first time since the conversation began. "You can do that?" she asked.
Feeling triumphant at the sudden change in attitude, Judy smirked to herself. "It's nice working with a real professional, isn't it?" she said, pointing at V, "Brings all sorts of advantages to the table."
"Plus he's the sort of guy who'll help out a girl in need," Blue pitched in happily, referring to the stalker incident.
"Ah shucks, you're making me blush," V joked back, raising his hands.
Blue straightened up and rolled her eyes at Judy, which was somehow very exaggerated thanks to her cyber-eyes. Judy couldn't help but let out a laugh, getting a smile back from the pop star in return that warmed her.
Susie muttered something under her breath. "You're bullshitting me," she said, "No way you have the sort of information we could use. Even the NCPD don't have that intel."
Judy snorted. "Right, because the pigs are who you want to measure against," she chuckled, "Takes them days to collect a body, you can forget about them having active tracking on gangoons."
"I on the other hand absolutely do," V insisted, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "But I knew you'd need proof, so I prepared it."
He showed her the screen of his phone, which showed an address.
"My address," Susie frowned, "That wouldn't be hard to find out."
"Yes, but this might be harder," he said, showing her again. This time a table of names and places appeared.
The boss grabbed the phone, not taking it out of V's hands but pulling it closer. Shock fell over her face. "...That's everyone who has been at my place," Susie said, "Ever. And their locations."
"Like I said, I can get the information," V replied, reclaiming his phone and putting back in his pocket, "It's all out there, if you know where to look... You might want to upgrade security on your building's doors, by the way."
Not that it would help, Judy knew. Alt could break any security without ICE specifically designed to counteract her. V was throwing out misinformation, in case someone else was listening. His annoying corpo instincts still sharp as ever.
"Okay, so you have training and intel... that still leaves weapons," Susie countered, "We get ours at Budget Arms for a reason. Plenty of pistols, shotguns, flamethrowers around, all modded to the hilt... but nothing military grade. Only advantage we have over the Tygers is cyberware, we've got better rippers, though some of them are up at Kabuki Market where the Claws have access to them too."
Judy nodded in agreement. Firepower was the one thing the Mox never seemed to have, but chrome wasn't ever really a problem. Not with Cassius Ryder up in the industrial zone, Rainwater at the market, Bucks near the circle, and of course, Viktor Vektor over in Little China.
"Guessing that the cut you send to the Claws would've gone a long way in the armaments department," V pointed out, "But there's nothing we can do about now, you certainly ain't gonna win any wars with Budget Arms shit."
Cassidy cleared his throat politely. "V, couldn't our new friends cut a slice off for this?" he asked gruffly, "You know the ones?" As if to give him a hint, he pulled on his ear.
Mystified, Judy tilted her head at the cowboy, though he did not explain further. V seemed to understand what he meant though, the poor guy sticking his tongue out through his teeth in an unpleasant grimace.
"Abso-fucking-lutely not," V replied to Cass, "The less we owe to those ones, the longer we all keep breathing."
Something clicked, and Judy knew he must be talking about Militech. But what the hell was the ear thing about?
"There ain't exactly a lot of options, V," Cassidy said, "We don't exactly have a lot of ordnance just laying around to spare."
Judy doubted that. She had seen the contents of the Beast's trunk... V had quite an arsenal, most of it custom-built. Though that wasn't exactly enough weapons for a hundred people plus.
"The Aldecaldos are going to war with the Tyger Claws too?" Susie asked, curious, "You didn't mention that. Aren't all of you out in Arizona now?"
Oops.
"Some of us might be," V frowned, giving Cass an evil eye for even implying it by mentioning their own shortage of iron. The cowboy waved it off, knowing he had made a mistake. V accepted the non-verbal apology, begrudgingly.
The critical moment had arrived, though. Judy could sense it. Susie asking questions like that was a sign. It was now or never.
"Let's say you get the guns," Judy said, steering everyone back to why they were here, "Does that change things?"
There was no immediate response. Susie leaned far back in her seat again, rubbing her mouth with a hand as she thought, fingers brushing the chrome along her chin. It was her tell. She was not playing, she was really considering it. They had presented a case she could not just ignore, brush off as crazy and unrealistic.
Judy felt a rush come on, her heart beating faster. She couldn't believe it. The longer Susie didn't give an answer, the more excitement washed over her.
"I want guns and transport. Armoured trucks, something that can take a hit," Susie said at last, "And when the dust settles, all Watson south of Kabuki Market and Jig-Jig Street belong to the Mox."
And there it was.
Judy didn't care that V didn't have the guns yet, and who knew where the hell they were going to get the trucks... She couldn't contain herself, slapping the desk hard and jumping in a circle on the spot, pumping her hands in the air. "Finally!" she shouted, before realising the entire room was staring at her like she was crazy. Except Suze, who was quietly amused.
Judy quickly grew embarrassed.
"Sorry... it's just... you have no idea how long I've waited to hear her get on board with something like this," she explained quickly, "All this time, I've been thinking how things might've been different if... Clouds might not have gone the way it did?"
A pang of guilt shot through her chest. Blue quickly grabbed a hand and tugged on it, pulling her out of the spiral she almost fell into. Judy felt better immediately, thanking her.
"I'm not doing this for your guilty conscience, Judy," Susie warned, before adding, "But between you and me, I'm glad it's the Claws you want to hit. What they did is unforgivable."
Judy felt like someone had slapped her. "If you feel that way, why didn't you do anything?" she asked.
"Nothing we could do," the boss replied, "Until now."
Back at Kerry's villa, two in the afternoon, the next day.
The air thrummed with the sound of guitar, drums and bass. It wasn't quite a celebration, but a reward for a hard night's work, for taking a gamble. They had all gone to bed in a great mood, and woken up still buzzing. Judy's enthusiasm for the plan had infected everyone else, and it had continued over coffees and croissants.
Now, they had switched to beers, mixers and spirits. Misty, Viktor and Kerry had appeared to join, and it had become a full blown jam session. Kerry and V pumping out the Samurai classics, and Blue Moon even tried her hand at singing Never Fade Away.
It took a while, but eventually the full-on jamming ended and everyone settled in a circle on the couches, relaxing. The sound of the rain outside against the windows was partially blocked out by Kerry strumming on his guitar, while everyone else talked about nothing important at all. Sports, people they didn't like, local fashions, shit that was happening on the other side of the planet.
Judy herself curled up, with Blue Moon and Misty to either side of her, nursing an empty beer. She wasn't listening to the others any more... Instead, she sat staring at the table in the middle of the ground, where a scented candle was flickering, giving off the smell of oranges. Her mind was working as normal at last, despite the alcohol, and the practicals of the Mox going to war occupied it.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Misty asked. Judy didn't respond, barely hearing the question until the mystic gave her a gentle nudge.
Judy shook herself out of the trance she was in. "Sorry, just thinking about what the Mox need to do," she said, "And how I can help?"
Misty smiled sadly. "You're not a merc, Judy," she said, "I know the feeling of being afraid that what you are doing is not enough. But they have to walk their path. You should only join them if you absolutely sure."
She glanced at Blue pointedly... it was a message for both of them. Judy knew Blue was struggling with how deep to get into this whole thing, even now. She kept putting off the tarot reading Misty had offered, particularly because V swore by it.
But Blue could have a real future without joining V's little war... Judy probably couldn't. Everything was riding on V coming out the winner. Arasaka would destroy everyone around him if he didn't, regardless of their involvement.
"There are things I can do though," Judy said, "Loads of Moxes have doll implants, and I developed code that can make dolls fight like demons before. I could do it again. Turn the dolls into warriors."
"No, Judy," V interjected sternly, pointing his own empty beer bottle at her, "That's openin' Pandora's box for no good reason. If Arasaka or Militech find out about it, you'll never be safe, unless you plan to sell that tech to them. But then you'd be helping them turn the world into even worse of a place. Like we told Susie, we can lay our hands on as many Militech training shards as we could need."
Judy blinked... In some ways, V had changed a lot. He had been the one to say she could've become the richest Judy in the NUSA by selling the doll-warrior code. Silverhand really had influenced him... or perhaps it was Panam.
He spun the bottle in his hand like it was a revolver, before setting it down on the table and leaning forward on his knees.
"The shards aren't as good as your code, but the Moxes ain't like the dolls in Clouds either. Many have been in a real, life or death fight before," he continued, "Their experience plus the training will give them an edge over Tyger gangoons any day of the week."
Blue hmmed to herself. "I started with a Militech training shard," she said in support of V, eyes looking up in thought and a finger on her chin, "My personal trainer insisted. It was really helpful. No way I could've had the confidence to fight before I used it."
Judy couldn't ignore that endorsement, having seen what Blue had done in the Coyo first-hand. Girl was a true gunner. If the Moxes fought even half as hard as Blue Moon had, the Tyger Claws didn't stand a chance. "Need to do somethin'," she said.
There was an ugly noise from the guitar as Kerry put it aside.
"You're already helping more than you know," he smirked, "V here is like a fuckin' lost puppy without his Queen of the Highway and her merry band. He needs all the moral support he can get. You seem to like him for some reason, so I guess that's good enough."
"Panam is the brains of the operation," Cassidy added while chuckling, piling on.
V punched Kerry on the arm, hard enough that the rockerboy cried out in pain. But V didn't deny what he had said. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn't, but moral support wasn't enough when literally everyone she knew seemed to be gearing up for the fight. And speaking of gearing up.
"I know I accepted on behalf of you," Judy said, looking at V, "But are you actually good for the deal you offered Susie? The trucks, the guns... you can get them, right?"
V grabbed another beer out of a cooler by his feet, popping the top off on the edge of the table. "The trucks aren't a problem," he said, "We captured a shitload from the Raffen Shiv in Arizona. Brand new up-armoured trucks among them. And Panam took a bunch in Nevada too."
"It's the iron that's gonna be tricky," Cassidy grunted, "I still say we need to divert some of the Militech guns. That'll have the Claws shitting bricks for sure."
His fellow Aldecaldo pursed his lips in disapproval.
"Militech finds the guns they allocated for the nomads in the hands of a city gang, and it's going to be my ass," V said, taking a long drink before resuming, "And if we ask for even more guns, Militech's going to extract a heavy price for it. Probably a contract to stay in the city, or work for them wherever like Blackhand did."
"So where do we get the guns?" Judy asked, "You got nomad smugglers who can bring in a shipment? Going to heist a Second Amendment warehouse down on the docks?" Two realistic enough options, she thought.
V drank again. "We'll get them from the biggest stockpile of guns in town, outside of corpo hands that is. And they just so happen to already have skin and chrome in this game," he answered reluctantly, "6th Street. Gun obsessed 'patriots' be praised." He saluted, with all due sarcasm.
Judy stared at him, trying to tell if he was joking or not. He didn't seem to be.
Kerry raised a glass to the stupidity of that idea. "So lemme get this straight," he chuckled, "You're going to get guns from 6th Street... so you can get the Mox to attack the Tyger Claws... because the Valentinos won't help you attack Arasaka without it."
God damn dominoes. "Yeah," Judy replied, "Doesn't sound great when you lay it all out like that."
"I'm no expert, but it sounds fucked," Kerry continued, "And it's going to get worse. Without money, you need to offer 6th Street something. So they'll probably get you to kill someone for them, or steal something."
"6th Street should be all for helping to fight the Tygers," Cassidy said, "And we do have money, though I'd prefer not to spend it on this. The Mox ain't gonna fight Arasaka. Anything we spend on them is only indirectly hurting the real enemy. No offence, Judy."
"None taken," she replied, "Getting Susie to go up against the Tygers took years. It would take me a century and the power of a Militech exec to get her to attack Arasaka."
V looked away as soon as 'Militech exec' was mentioned. Weird, enough that Judy determined to ask him about it later. But her theorising about V's strange aversion to Militech all of a sudden was interrupted by the ripperdoc.
"Hold on a minute," Viktor said to Kerry, "Don't you have money? More than enough to fix this little problem?"
He began waving his hand at the literal mansion all around them. Gold fixtures, fine wood panelling, the most comfortable furniture money could buy, priceless musical instruments and supercars worth millions...
All eyes turned to the rockerboy.
Kerry opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He had realised he had just walked himself into a bill for a bunch of guns. When his tongue did loosen, the result was predictable.
"Ah fuck."
