We camped outside the building Regina gave us coordinates to, waiting for the dozens of armed guards to thin. It'd been twenty minutes and not one ounce of damn luck in that regard.
"Fuck. This is gonna take forever, and then they'll prob'ly do a shift rotation," I said in my head to the only person who could hear me.
Johnny sunk to one knee beside me, both of us staring over the blockade I hid behind. "Agreed. Let's get this show on the road."
Tapping into my cybernetics, I pinged the surrounding area using a nearby terminal. Within a few seconds, I highlighted all cameras, electronic devices, and guards within my field of vision. "See their locations?"
"Can you?" Johnny turned his head to look at me over the rim of his glasses.
I flashed him a sidelong glance before returning my attention forward. "Yes?"
"Then it would stand to reason I—"
Grinding my teeth, I let my eyes fall shut. "Johnny."
"Yeah, Val. I can see 'em." A tiny smirk crept at the corner of his lips, and he shook his head.
"Alright, all cameras on friendly mode. Should make it easier to take the ninja approach."
Johnny leaned on the barricade, letting his hand dangle. "And you said you ain't a netrunner."
Scoffing, I scanned the buildings, noting locked doors I couldn't bypass. "A few basic hacks don't make me a netrunner, Johnny. I'm no Alt Cunningham or nothin'."
"Valerie Vega," Johnny crooned as he leaned in front of me, blocking my view. "The jealousy leakin' from you just then? Interesting."
After cringing at him using not only my birth-given first name but my full name, I squared off my jaw. "Jealous? Of an AI? Please."
"No." Johnny tore his Aviators away, locking our gazes. "What she was to me before all that went down."
Heat flushed my neck. "We'll talk about this later," I grumbled before scurrying to the first closest building when a guard turned his back.
Johnny glitched beside me once I stopped. "You can count on that, sweetheart."
Lifting my head high enough to peer into the bottom edge of the window, I noted one guard distracted by an Us Cranks music video on a holo monitor. After slowly opening the door, I crouch-walked behind him and, taking out my frustration, quickly snapped his neck.
Johnny appeared by the monitor, leaning his ass against the desk and crossing his arms. "Someone's in a sudden huff. Wonder why?"
After positioning the guard on his chair to appear as if he was sleeping, I turned to Johnny with my arms folded, glaring daggers into his Aviators, willing them to crack. "This you actin' like you're an asshole or bein' one? Lines tend to blur, Silverhand."
Johnny pushed from the desk, uncrossing his arms, and sauntering in front of me. His hands rested on my face, palms pressing against my jaw, his thumbs swirling my cheeks. "I like to keep you guessin', Samurai." He planted a quick kiss to my lips before his eyes snapped over my shoulder. "Duck," he yelled.
I dropped to my knees just as the white lights of a flying drone guard passed by the window. "Fuck," I whispered, my hand resting on the hilt of my pistol.
"Well, look at it this way. One guard down, thirteen to go." He interlaced his fingers behind his head. "Be another fifty fucking years by the time we finish at this rate."
"Extra eddies," I said in a sing-song tone.
Johnny shook his head as he waltzed to the window, sliding his glasses down his nose to get a better look. "She feeds you that horse shit every damn time you take a gig. But has she ever once specified how much? What is this short descent in madness from fucking boredom worth to you?"
"Listen, rockerboy." After the drone puttered away, I stood and poked a finger at his chest. "You don't have to pay rent."
Johnny snatched my hand, bringing one finger to his lips. "Fair point," he whispered, slipping my finger into his mouth, sucking on it, and giving it a quick nip.
Biting back a smile, I yanked my hand from his grasp and forced my focus to the task at hand. "Can you keep watch behind us? Gonna sneak into the next building, but that one guard keeps changin' paths."
He kept one hand on his hip as he moved past me with that classic Silverhand swagger. "Never gotta ask me twice to watch your ass, Val." His hand swatted said ass, a wicked grin conquering his lips as he glitched outside.
I remained squatted until Johnny flashed me a thumbs-up through the window. Scurrying through the doorway to the next building, crouched all the while, I ducked behind a desk, holding my breath when I realized there wasn't only one guard in here, but two.
"Shit. Johnny, I—"
A hand touched the small of my back. "Already here, princess."
Johnny. Fuck. I was really on edge today.
"Tell me when one or both of 'em are distracted."
Johnny shook his head. "The gonks are doing their actual damn jobs."
Fucking perfect.
My leg suddenly jerked, my knee slamming into the desk and making it creak. I snapped my gaze to Johnny, glaring. "What the fuck, Johnny?"
"Me?" He pushed a hand to his chest. "How y'figure I did that when you're the one with the damn body?"
"Forgettin' what we did?" I poked my head, reminding him of the upgrade implanted that allowed him joint control.
Johnny slid the Aviators from his nose and dragged a hand down his face. "Fuck. I guess I got antsy and made your, my, our knee jerk."
"Did you hear that?" One gonk guard said to the other.
Fuck me.
Johnny slid the glasses back on and dipped his face into mine. "Again, I ask, V, is this shit really worth it to you for a handful'ah extra eddies?"
"You're right. Fuck it." Winking at Johnny, I yanked the Malorian from its holster and stood, aiming it.
"What the—" One guard swiveled on his heel, immediately going for his piece resting on his hip.
Too bad for him, I was a lot faster. No sooner had his forehead aligned in my crosshair, I pulled the trigger, turning his head into an explosion of red liquid confetti.
"Holy fuck." I stared at the weapon that belonged to Johnny resting in my palm. "You weren't kiddin'."
"Told ya. Reloads like a dream too." Johnny pointed to my left. "Got another one don't forget."
The other guard raised his shotgun and I launched my foot into the desk, sliding it across the room into the guard's gut. As soon as it connected, I lodged a bullet into his skull.
Johnny trotted to the opposite wall and pointed at two different spots. "Guards outside. Here and here. 'fraid to come in I'd imagine. That won't stop the Malorian."
"What you sayin'? This can shoot through walls?" I stared at the blue holo screens glinting off the gun's chrome.
Johnny grinned devilishly. "Why don't you try it and find out?"
I smiled wickedly back at him before lifting the gun, watching Johnny's hands move to keep me informed on where the guards were on the other side of the wall. Firing two quick shots, the gun's trigger quick on the draw, the sounds of two large masses slumping to the ground made my fucking clit tighten.
Sensing that urge coursing through my veins, Johnny glitched in front of me, pressing his lips to mine, backing me up until my ass hit the wall. He pulled away, pinching my chin with his real hand. "If only we had the time for me to bend you over this fucking desk."
"We'd certainly distract 'em that way." I slid my knee up his side, and he ground his growing hardness against me.
"You're right. I don't want 'em to see you naked when I'm not around to bash their fucking skulls for gawkin'."
I sucked on my bottom lip. "Now, who's jealous?"
"Come on out. We can talk about this," a guard yelled from outside.
Lifting the Malorian between us, I grinned. "Wanna give it a go?"
Johnny groaned as he moved my left hand to the gun, making me stroke it. "Fuck. My dick was already hard. Now it's damn concrete." He nudged his chin behind me. "Take yours in your right. We'll go out there with double firepower."
As he asked, I plucked my pistol from its holster and grinned. "You can shoot with your left hand?"
"You tell me. You've seen what I can do with this silver hand." He sank his face into mine again just as the building door blew off its hinges.
We stormed for the open doorway with Johnny controlling the Malorian in my left hand and me controlling the right. As the murder ensued, at one moment, my left arm would glitch into Johnny's chrome one, and in another, it'd morph back to mine, but Johnny maintained control the entire time. Whenever the Malorian needed reloading, Johnny would pull his fancy maneuver of flipping and twirling it like some old American West cowboy. His glitchy form dipped in and out of my body as we performed this deranged waltz, eventually leaving trails and heaps of dead bloody corpses until we finally reached the lab where the netrunner was imprisoned.
"Fuck, that felt good." Johnny stepped from my body, lighting a cig and propping a foot against the building. "Miss some good 'ol fashioned anarchy." He smirked.
"Oh? Nukin' a building not enough for ya?" I used my cybernetics to tabulate the code for the door and unlock it.
"Was a long time ago. 'bout due."
Smiling at him as I passed, we stepped into the dimly lit room. The netrunner lay on a gurney, a cable running from the back of his shaved head into a device behind him. I reached for the plug, ready to yank it from his skull.
Johnny glitched in front of me with his palms up. "Wait. One thing I've learned from my long list of fuck ups? Ya never yank the plug when they're jacked in."
"Okay. Know what the 'jacking out' button looks like then?" I bobbed my brows at him.
Johnny scratched the back of his head and shrugged.
"You're so helpful, choom."
He lowered his chrome hand to my groin, fingers tapping my clit, making me tense. "I know I am."
Wincing but grinning, I scanned the control panel and hovered my hand over a big red button. "Red is normally universal code for emergency, right?"
Johnny folded his arms and leaned on a wall. "Good'ah guess as any."
With a firm nod, I pushed the button and snapped my gaze to the netrunner before pulling the cord attached to the back of his skull. The room went dead silent.
"Don't tell me we fuckin' killed 'im." Johnny glitched closer, bending forward to squint at the netrunner's face.
The man's eyes suddenly burst open, and he gasped, making both me and Johnny jolt in surprise, and I aimed the Malorian at him. The netrunner's grew as large as moons, panic and shock flooding his features before he gripped the armrests, lurched from the chair—and bolted.
"The fuck—" I blinked, standing dumbly with the gun still aimed at the empty chair. "Did he just—"
"Chop, Chop, V. That's our eddies runnin' away." Johnny pointed behind me.
Growling, I shoved the pistol in its holster and sprinted out the exit, catching my shoulder on the doorway with a grunt. The netrunner crawled out a window leading to street level, and I turned a corner, heading for a door I hoped would lead in front of him to cut him off. The brightness made me squint as I arrived outside, catching sight of the netrunner rounding the corner.
Hadn't been fast enough.
"Fucking shit," I snarled, running after him.
My lungs burned, fatigue settling in, and soon warm liquid rested on my upper lip. I blew out a breath, my steps slowing, and wiped the blood from my nose away with two fingers.
"Can't stop now, Val," Johnny said as he glitched into my body, his legs becoming mine, propelling me, giving me the energy needed to catch up to the netrunner and tackle him to the ground.
The netrunner struggled underneath me, throwing sporadic punches, some connecting to my shoulder, and when one hit my chin, I shoved my forearm into his throat. "Why the fuck are you runnin'? Came to save your sorry ass."
My voice hadn't sounded enitrely my own—a mix of mine and Johnny's, with Johnny's coming out as a distant whisper.
"I don't want to be saved," the man yelled, blocking his face with his forearms. "Do you have any idea what those other people make me do? I'd take being jacked in for life anywhere else but there."
Leaning forward, I glared at him. "I don't give a shit what you want. I told you I'd return you to 'em, and that's what's gonna happen."
The netrunner glared back and spat in my face.
I couldn't be sure if it were my rage, Johnny's, or a combination of both, but I raised my left fist, Johnny's silver arm glitching down it before I punched the netrunner square in the nose, knocking him unconscious.
My shoulders slumped, tiredness traveling through my body as Johnny let me in control of my limbs fully again, appearing in a crouch beside me. "Time to call Regina."
Nodding, I brought up the holo, and she answered within seconds. "Got the netrunner. You sendin' a transport?"
"On the way, V, but fucking hell, what happened to discreet? Heard it turned into a bloodbath over there."
I shook my head and shrugged. "Does it matter? The gig's done."
Regina looked all sorts of unhappy, and I couldn't give a rat's ass. "That it is. As soon as the car arrives with the package, I'll transfer the eddies."
"Preem."
The netrunner groaned as he started to wake up, and I slammed my elbow into his face to knock him out again. Johnny arched a brow at me over his Aviators.
"Don't judge me. Didn't feel like hearin' his whinin'."
After the transport arrived and, I, thanks to the recently installed gorilla arms, tossed the netrunner into the trunk, headed straight home.
No sooner had I passed the threshold, Johnny was in front of me, coaxing me backward until my back fell onto the bed. He crawled over me, his silver hand gripping both my wrists and pinning them above my head. His other hand slipped under my shirt, thumb circling one hardened nipple.
"You always get this turned on from a gig?" Johnny asked, pinching that same nipple.
I rolled my hips in response to his touch and shook my head. "No. Only 'cause it was a gig I did with you."
His hand disappeared from within my shirt, and he tore his glasses away, staring down at me with ravenous intent. Nudging his chin at me, he slid back onto his haunches. "Your clothes. Off."
Obeying his command, I whisked them from my body, and only when I was stark naked I lay back, closing my eyes. When I re-opened them, Johnny was naked and on top of me, forcing my wrists above my head again, holding me captive. He pushed into me inch by glorious fucking inch, keeping our gazes locked as he rocked in and out of me.
I wanted to do this forever—gigs by day, screwing each other's brains out by night, only to rinse and repeat every damn day for the rest of my life. But not only was the nature of my and Johnny's relationship unconventional, but it also had an expiration date that wasn't years from now. The sight of him above me shifting forward and backward, strands of his raven hair falling over his gaze, brought me back to the present moment, and a smile curved my lips.
He smiled back and kissed me as the night wore on, giving ourselves to each other in the only way we could. And I should be thankful there was a way—we'd both been through enough torture—was it so much to ask for these tiny moments of bliss?
Afterward, we nestled naked on the couch, Johnny smoking a cig and slouching into his seat. I rested my feet in his lap, sipping on a tumbler of whiskey as I flipped through endless screamsheets. My blood froze when I saw one headline in particular: Kerry Eurodyne Labeled Suicidal.
"Hey, Johnny?" I frowned at him and flipped the device around to face him. "Ya might wanna read this."
He leaned forward, blowing a puff of smoke from his cheeks and squinting at the text. "Bullshit. That don't sound like Kerry."
"How long's it been, though, huh?" I dropped the device in my lap as Johnny's gaze panned to my feet in his lap, and he trailed a finger up and down my shin.
"A long fuckin' time."
I shifted to my knees and sat on my heels next to him, slipping a hand to rest on his thigh. "Exactly. Might wanna take the chance to tie up loose ends with 'im while ya got it."
Johnny nodded as he slipped a hand over mine. "Not a bad idea."
"Fuck. Do one last gig with the whole band. You get Kerry to send out a call to arms and guaranteed they'll be down." I downed the rest of the whiskey so Johnny could feel its alcoholic calming.
Johnny moaned and let his head rest on the couch's back. "Not to sound like an arrogant prick, but ain't no Samurai without me."
"Silverhand would be there." I straddled him and wrapped my hands around the back of his neck, gazing down at him. "Through me."
He grabbed my ass, pulling me closer. "You serious 'bout this?"
"You deserve to finish your unfinished business much as I do, Johnny."
His gaze cast downward as he mulled it over, his fingers kneading my ass before he gave a curt nod. "We delta first thing tomorrow, but tonight?" He pushed on my shoulder, lowering me until I could feel his hardness pressing against my folds. "I want to be through you."
Taking his face in both hands, I kissed him, grinning through it all. "Again?"
"Again, princess. And again, and again, 'til we can't no fuckin' more."
