You're Gonna Dance to my Tune, Papi!
Chapter 3
After 3 hours and 50 minutes, the AV has arrived at the camp on the outskirts of Phoenix. In that duration, Goro and Tobias hashed out the plan to take down Arasaka's goons.
While the Alecaldos were anxious and wanted to blow the AV out of the sky, V requested they stand down. Panam, now the defacto leader of her nomad family, obliged her friend and ordered the totality of the Aldecaldos to stand down.
V was pleasantly surprised as the middle aged Arasaka agent was the first to exit the craft, as she received no warning he was coming. Without any hesitation, she ran to Goro and embraced him.
"I'm sorry V, it is good to see you but this is not just a social visit."
She stepped back and looked at him perplexingly. "Goro?"
"Arasaka has managed to learn of your whereabouts. I've brought the equipment necessary to jam their communications and sensors, so we should be able to escape after we put down their death squads."
"Wait, you would betray Arasaka?"
"I've learned many things from you, V. Most importantly, I've learned what it means to have a soul. Saburo, Yorinubu, Hanako, they have no soul. They are a cancer to this world, and I will fight them by your side, if you will allow it."
V teared up a bit before embracing him again. "I've missed you so much, old buddy."
"I am not an old dog, I do not know why you insist on treating me like one."
V snickered a bit as she pulled away from him. "Never change, Goro. Never change."
"I do have one more gift, although I am not sure if you should be thankful for it."
V arched an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"I have stolen an experimental shard from Arasaka. it should be able to reverse the neurological damage caused by the engram."
She was forlorn at the implications. "I don't know how to repay you, Goro."
Goro smirked. "No, V. It is I who is in your debt. You have given me the inner strength needed to oppose Arasaka."
While Goro and V were seemingly having a moment, they were interrupted. "So this is the bitch!"
V looked to the young Valentinos associated woman looking at her rather furiously. "Um, can I help you?"
Milena scowled, "Let me jog your memory. Remember Reconciliation Park?"
V snickered at her. "Oh, you want revenge for some of your fallen gangoons, is that it?"
"No. My older brother was there, and you killed him! He was all I had, and you murdered him!"
Panam was close enough to hear everything and naturally she drew her Kenshin tech pistol and pointed it at the girl. "It would be in your best interest to step back!"
V protested, "Whoa, chill Panam, she's just a kid!"
Milena proclaimed, "I've decided not to take my revenge. The console of these elder gentlemen helped me come to my senses."
There were two more who approached.
"V, Panam. Heard all about you. Tobias Binotto."
V glared at the hit man, having heard of his shady reputation. "I've heard all about you too. I've heard how you and your choom Adam Smasher loved to brutally torture innocent bystanders on missions."
Tobias snickered at that. "Speaking of, I heard Adam Smasher survived your assault on Saka HQ, and that he's leading the death squad that's en-route to you right now."
"Bullshit!" V looked to Goro.
The former Arasaka loyal confirmed, "I am afraid it is true."
Another among them spoke out of term. "God damn it, Andrea, why the fuck did I let you drag me into this?!"
Milena sneered at his cowardice. "I thought you wanted to look out for me, because you loved me?!"
"I do, but... Adam fucking Smasher? We're all going to die, chica."
Well into the evening, Goro explained the plans for dealing with the Arasaka deployment. V, Mitch, Panam, and other Aldecaldos able to fight would engage the goon squads, while Tobias and Goro would deal with Adam Smasher directly.
V was worried about her friend. "Are you sure, Goro? And do you trust this sadist?"
"I have no choice, we are the only ones who have the training required to take on full-prosthetic targets."
Panam pleaded, "Just make sure, once you have disabled, you let me get in the final blow."
V inquired to her mate, "For Saul?"
Panam nodded. "For Saul…"
Mitch insisted, "Let me get one in too!"
Panam was willing to oblige. "Of course!"
Goro suggested, "Would you like to say something, Tobias?"
"I would, actually. I know, given my reputation as the world's most notorious hitman, you are well within your reason not to trust me. However, I am here for a reason, one that doesn't involve directly killing anyone." He looked to Milena, who was arguing with Francisco over something likely trivial in the distance. He smiled before he continued. "I recently took on a gig to protect that girl, her having lost everything and everyone dear to her, either because of V here, or because of some 6th Street gangoons."
Goro nodded. "And we managed to convince her it in her best interest not to enact her vengeance on you, V."
Just as that was said, Milena and Francisco approached. "So what's the plan?" the girl asked.
Tobias was stern. "Milena, I think it would be best if you retreated with the non-combatants. It will be hard for me to fight at full capacity while worrying for your safety." He pointed to Judy, who was part of the briefing. "Judy here will lead you guys a safe distance from the combat zone."
While Milena was hurt by this gesture, he suggesting she was too weak to fight, she knew full well she was no match for the elite among Arasaka's forces, let alone a demonic being like Smasher. "I understand, Papi Chulo." She gently placed her hands on his face and kissed him on the lips briefly. "Come back to me in one piece, my love."
Judy could not help be a little disgusted by what they just saw. "I hate to ask this, but I just gotta. Do you actually respect her or are you just manipulating her?"
The hit man was in no way shaken by this, he knew full well most would question his altruism towards Milena given his sociopathic and sadistic nature. "I do feel something for her, something I've never felt in all 39 years of my life. That is why I ask you, Miss Alveraz, to get her as far away from here as possible." His eyes tears up a bit. "I could not live with myself knowing pain or death befell her."
Judy sighed. "Sorry I asked..."
Goro suggested. "It's time the bystanders should evacuate."
Panam and Judy nodded in agreement.
Judy motioned Milena and Francisco to follow her. "This way."
"Farewell, papi! Please come back to me!" Milena stole one more kiss from her lover before she and her childhood friend followed the former Mox.
"V," Goro said, "I'm so sorry."
V was taken aback. "About what?"
"I have some back news. It concerns your friend, Mister Welles."
"Jackie?!"
"Yes," Goro replied. "Jackie Welles lives."
"You're shitting me?!"
"No, but he is not the man you remember. Arasaka brainwashed him, removing all traces of you and presumably his other friends from his memory."
V was a tough girl, normally immune to tears, but this time she couldn't hold them back. "No, no, no…"
"Adam Smasher has been overseeing his training, and every minute his humanity slips and further away."
V fell to her knees, forcing Panam and Mitch to run to her side. "Johnny was right. There are those who are beyond all forgiveness and reproach. And the Arasakas are at the very top of that list!"
Mitch asked, "What do you want, V?"
"I want to murder every board member of Arasaka. Hanako and Saburo especially."
Goro pledged, "I will gladly assist you in this, V."
"Count me in," Mitch suggested.
"Fuck yeah," Panam followed up. "Let's kill those Arasaka assholes for good!"
Goro inquired, "What about you, Tobias? You have the most to lose of all of us."
Tobias pondered what Arasaka would do if they ever got their filthy hands on Milena. For once in his life, he considered doing the whole fight for the greater good thing, despite earning billions of Eddies thanks to Arasaka Corp. "I would have normally never considered going against them in the interest of self-preservation, but… Now I have someone who is dear to me. Someone I wish to protect. And it would be in her best interest if Arasaka was erased from this world. Thus, I'm in!"
"How pathetic."
The group noticed Adam Smasher and his men arrived at the scene. However, they were much smaller in number than anticipated.
"Tobias Binnoto. You were once my best student, but it seems you've lost your touch. This new found compassion does not suit you!"
Tobias grinned as he unsheathed his katana. "Nice to see you too, choom."
Adam chuckled before he looked to Goro. "By the way, old man, the plans we fed to you were completely false. Saburo foresaw your betrayal, you were a fool to ever think you could outsmart the Arasakas. Just you wait until you see our trump card!"
A heavy pair of foot steps eked closer and closer. As this particular man came out of the shadows cast by the night sky, V could only look on in horror. "Jackie…"
Jackie looked down on them with a blank face. Seemed his memories being wiped was a fact. "These are the putas we have to kill, eh jefe?"
"That's right. They threaten not just Arasaka, but the entire balance of the corporate and political bodies of this world."
Jackie seemed to acquire a new set of gold plated Nues to replace his La Chingona Dorada pistols, however most notable was his arm implants, which most likely housed top shelf mantis blades. However, he wasted no time extended said blades before he disappeared and reappeared behind V.
"Watch out V, he has a Sandevistan!" Goro warned her.
V activated her own Sandevistan to evade his attack.
"I'm surprised you managed to dodge that, chica. It's quite frustrating, so I guess I'm just gonna have to make your death that much more painful," Jackie threatened.
V felt a panic attack forthcoming. Instead of facing him head on, she ran. She didn't know how far she could go or if she could escape, but she ran, knowing full well she didn't have the resolve to fight, let alone kill Jackie.
"Such cowardice is shameful, would you not agree, Takemura?" Smasher laughed.
Goro was not fazed and laughed. "Too bad for you, I decided to get chrome of my own."
Before Smasher registered what he said, Goro, now sporting a Sandevistan of his own, quickly unsheathed his katana and made several slashes across the borg's backside.
Adam Smasher cursed that Goro's strikes managed to leave him paralyzed. "How the fuck did you do that?"
Goro proudly admitted, "I have spent much time studying your moves. Studying your weaknesses."
Panam and Mitch wasted no time taking out their brass and finishing Smasher off.
Panam cried, "This is for Saul Bright you asshole!"
"For Saul!" Mitch followed suit.
This time there was no coming back, the hail storm of bullets from the Aldecaldos were at last his undoing.
"Get them!" One of the Arasaka soldiers cried.
The remaining twelve soldiers ran towards the group while aiming their rifles, but not before they were quickly cut down by Jackie Welles and his newfound chrome prowess.
"It can't be!" Goro was bewildered.
"What's that, jefe? You really think that those puta's attempt to brainwash me really worked?"
Goro breathed a sigh of releif before they recalled V fled the scene earlier.
"Oh shit, V!" Panam cried.
They all searched the surrounding area for the better part of an hour looking for her.
V had gone into a panic attack and was unresponsive. She could not hear them cry out to her. After nearly an hour, it was Panam that found her, curled up like a fetus behind a large rock. "V, are you all right?!"
V did not respond to her. At this point, Panam wasn't sure if it was the panic attack or her imminent, complete neurological dissolution that was shutting her down.
"V!"
"We have to insert the new shard I stole from Arasaka," Goro suggested, "She's going to die without it! Take her to the my AV!"
Jackie being physically the strongest offered to carry her to the AV.
Goro quickly opened the refrigeration case to reveal not just one but four shards, all seemingly identical. With out wasting time, he took one out and slotted it.
After a quick reboot, V slowly came to. "What just happened?"
Panam had tears in her eyes as she embraced her choom. "V, you're alive!"
"Honestly, I feel the best I've ever been."
"Good, it seems the shard is doing it's job" Goro said, with a sigh of relief.
V remembered the attack. "Arasaka! Jackie!"
"It's alright, Jefe. We took out those sons of bitches!"
V teared up once more. "Jackie?"
"There's no way in hell those assholes could brainwash me enough to forget you, V. I had to play dumb to catch them off guard."
While V was somewhat numb and slow to rise, Panam helped her up. In the mean time, Goro turned to Jackie and offered his hand. "Mister Welles, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Goro Takemura."
"Are you not Arasaka?" Jackie inquired.
"Not anymore. V, with her noble actions, has shown me the errors of their ways. The errors of my ways."
"That's all I needed to hear, mano!" Instead of taking Goro's hand, he scooped him into a big bear hug.
"That's enough," Goro protested, "You have proven your point!"
Jackie laughed at Goro's anti-playful demeanor and nearly non-existent sense of humor. "I like this guy already!" He then looked to Tobias, with his smile evaporating completely. "As for you, I could never trust a puta like you. Asides from Smasher, you've killed more people for Arasaka's benefit than anyone else, Tobias Binnotto, Preem El Diablo."
Tobias smiled smugly and raised his hand. "Ah, my reputation precedes me!"
Jackie got in his face and stared him down. "I see anything funny from you, mano, I will snuff you myself."
Tobias relished the challenge. "I can't wait to see you try, choom."
Jackie sneered before walking away from him.
Wasting little time, they boarded Goro's AV and flew out the rendezvous point.
Milena was overjoyed to see Tobias was still amongst the living. "Papi!" She ran to him and embraced him.
Francisco looked on in disgust until he saw someone he had no seen in a long time. "Holy shit, uncle Jackie, is that you?!"
"Hola, small fry, it's been a minute, ya?"
"How is this possible, mano? I heard you got offed at Konpeki?"
"I was lucky to escape death by the slimmest of margins, thanks to Arasaka no less. But, instead of letting them use me, I outsmarted them. I got what I wanted instead."
"That's tight, mano! What did you want?"
Jackie's usual playful expression was gone. "To see my family one last time, before I take my revenge on the Arasakas."
Francisco smirked. "You're starting to sound like that V puta."
Jackie protested the disrespect towards his best choom. "Hold your tongue, mano. V is nova good people."
The young Valentinos gangoon scoffed. "You think that, both being mercs who worked together, but she killed a lot of Valentinos during a hostage situation at Reconcilation Park. My best choom was killed by her! Hell, I heard that Padre Ibarra even contracted her to murder Gustavo Orta on 6th Streets' behalf! That puta is El Diablo!"
"No, mano." Jackie pointed to the hit man that Milena was flirting away with. "That man right there is El Diablo."
Francisco slapped Jackie's arm. "Got that right, mano! That puta stole my girl!"
Jackie glared at his former Valentinos compatriot. "I'm being serious, ese. That man is second only to Smasher in terms of assassinations. In outright murders! Letting your girl ride with him is not a good look."
Francisco grinned. "I got you, choom! I'm a kill that puta in his sleep!"
Jackie shook his head. "It would never work. Forget about it, mano. Forget about your girl too. It's not worth your life."
Francisco protested, "Jackie!"
"Leave it to me, ese. I know all too well what it takes to bring down a monster like him."
