Chapter 2: Scripted Events
A/N: Ubuntu/OpenOffice is causing problems with FFN's formatting. Forgive me please.
Needless to say, V was still alive. He was in agony, but still alive nonetheless. He had asked Jericho where exactly they were headed and was informed that his contact was in Santa Maria, California. This meant that inevitably, V was headed back to Night City whether he wanted it or not. Things would've been fine and dandy had not one of the fore-engines fallen off suddenly mid-flight, causing the AV to suddenly tilt as it now only had 2 engines out of its original 4, the 2 of them sitting diagonally and causing a serious imbalance on the aircraft. Jericho mentioned, rather too calmly, that they were going down and going down at a rather high speed. V had considered jumping out and taking his chances with the surviving the impact with the ground, but stayed inside anyways against better judgment. The last thing he saw before the impact was the dashboard of the AV as they slammed into the ground at nearly 90 miles per hour.
Waking up in your own apartment was getting easier. V wiped his eyes again and got out of bed. Johnny Silverhand was sitting on his couch watching TV, the TV was showing the smoking wreckage of an AV for some reason.
"Hey, V. Looks like we made it."
"I guess. How do I know I'm not dead? Is this hell? Living with you for all eternity?"
"Naw, Hell is just blackness. Nothingness. We're still alive. I think you're unconscious though.", Johnny reassured.
"Shit... Time to wake up...", V sighed.
V woke up. He was currently being unceremoniously dragged through the countryside by Jericho, who had a firm grip on his leg. Johnny walked silently behind them, as an AI projection would since he was not affected by the laws of physics.
"Hey, V. You're finally awake. You took a hell of a fall out of the AV.", Jericho noted.
V shook himself out of Jericho's grasp and took a moment to compose himself before standing up. "Where are we?"
"We're not far from my friend. She's inside the house on top of that hill.", Jericho noted, pointing to a derelict home on top of a hill.
"Aha... Looks like a safe place. Nothing bad could possibly happen.", V noted somewhat sarcastically. Jericho just shot him a glance.
The two of them simply ascended the hill and entered the derelict house. The place was a mess, abandoned for decades at the least with the surrounding neighborhood lying in ruins. Nobody had been here for a long time.
"Are you sure your friend is in here? This place is a scrapheap.", V noted.
"She's inside. Do not worry."
V was worried. What kind of friend would be hiding out in this dump? It didn't really matter, but it was worrisome. V had literally just met Jericho, was now indentured to the man and had no idea where his life was heading. It was still better than being dead, though. Or maybe that was Johnny talking. V didn't know. He simply readied his gun and stood behind Jericho.
Jericho silently crept through the ruined house. For someone with metal arms and legs, he didn't make much noise. His motions were calculated, impeccably precise and surefooted. He motioned for V to follow as he entered the back hallway, towards a rear room of the building. A silhouette of a person sat slightly crouched behind a table. The person was hiding. The person seemingly noticed the sudden intrusion and pulled an RT-46 Burya, raising the gun to level with the perceived intruders.
V saw Jericho shoot forwards with inhuman speed, launching towards the silhouette. Jericho's right arm pinning the person to the wall by their throat, his other arm knocking the pistol from their hands. The person in silhouette gagged and gasped for air for a moment.
"Ghhk! Jericho... Never thought it would be you... Whatever. I don't want to suffer, just make it painless...", the person gasped as Jericho crushed their throat. Jericho just stared at the person. "Well? What are you waiting for? End it. I'm ready."
V was shocked. "What? What are you talking about!? We came here looking for you!"
"Wait... So... You're not here to kill me?", the person asked, still being pinned by Jericho.
"No. Why did you pull your gun on us? Did you not receive my message?", Jericho asked.
"Oh! Nope! I'm just a little bit... in... a... bind... Well, it's great that you're not here to kill me! But...", the person stated as Jericho released them.
"Asher? What's going on.", Jericho asked.
"Well, I ran into some trouble with BioTechnica. And they might have possibly sent a kill-squad after me. It's nothing really, I can handle them... Really!", Asher responded.
Now that V was closer, he could get a good eye on Asher. Asher was a fair-skinned young woman, at the most maybe 5ft tall with light brown hair tied into a ponytail. She wore the standard Netrunner's suit and looked a little unnerved.
"Riiight... Handle a kill-squad? I don't think this girl could handle a locked door.", Johnny noted, once again appearing from the ether next to V.
"A Kill-squad. From BioTechnica?", Jericho asked.
"Yeah... One thing led to another... and then they sent their goons after me. I'm hiding here! But if you found me, then they're probably not far behind.", Asher added.
"Great. V, Asher, stay here. And take your Anti-Rad. I'll be back shortly. Do not leave this room if you value your life.", Jericho noted, turning on his heel and walking out of the room.
V and Asher just stared at each-other. "Well, I'm Asher! What's your name?"
"V" said V.
"Hello, V! It's good to make new friends! I'm a NetRunner!", Asher announced as if it wasn't already obvious.
"Tsch... I think she's got a few screws loose, V.", Johnny added.
"Hi. Um... So how long have you known Jericho?", V Asked.
"A long time. He's great. Hey! Anti-Rad! Don't you just love how it makes you feel?", Asher noted, injecting the hypo. "Ooh, tingly!"
V just side-eyed Asher, this was beginning to get weird.
Jericho stood, scanning the house and also scanning the landscape outside. His sensors picking up several vehicles approaching. The kill-squad had arrived. Although unarmed, Jericho flexed slightly, vent holes on his back opening and closing. His eyes began to glow blue once again and his HUD denoted rising radiation levels. He silently hoped that V and Asher had taken their Anti-Rad. Regardless, it was show time. Radiation spiked as Jericho's unique condition began to enhance his strength and reflexes, his cybernetic augmentations fully activating as his internal reactor powered up.
"High radiation detected. Odd.", one of the soldiers noted.
"Disregard it. This place is a wasteland.", another added. "The target has been located. She hasn't moved."
Jericho noted the entrance of 4 Militech Special-Operatives inside the foyer of the house. He took careful note of their positions, calculating their movements as he stealthily moved from the back hallway towards them coldly and calculated. Precise.
"Hey! Who the hell are-"
Jericho launched forwards with absurd speed and accuracy, his right arm splitting length-wise and revealing a hidden nano-ceramic blade. He shot towards the first soldier, swinging his arm vertically and bisecting the soldier from crotch to chin. The second soldier turned his gun to face him, but suddenly time slowed to nearly a halt. Jericho saw the bullets fire, one after another, slowly floating towards him and dodged them easily, aiming the blade at the attacker. He swung with a wide horizontal backswing, cutting the soldier in half at the waist. On his way past, he grabbed the fallen soldier's firearm and swung it by the butt towards the third soldier, with his greatly enhanced strength he proceeded to impale the third with the barrel of the firearm, the gun now protruding through the operative's torso. The fourth and final soldier in the house met Jericho's left fist, which punched through his abdomen like a mortar shell. Jericho just pulled his bloodied fist back and glanced outside.
Outside, there was chaos. Within only a few moments, they'd lost contact with the Breach Group. A few shots fired, a lot of screaming and then nothing. The three remaining Spec-Ops began to fall back into a phalanx position.
Jericho took note of the new positions of his opposition. Retracting his blade, he split his left arm, his hand retracting and folding backwards against his wrist, some kind of cannon revealing itself. He waited for a moment to aim before he fired, a bright blue beam exploding from the barrel of the hidden cannon, the recoil forcing his arm backwards. A depleted uranium projectile fired from a gauss cannon quickly turned the remaining few outside into kibble. A single shot curved slightly hitting every last soldier and punching a baseball-sized hole through their bodies. Pink mist. There was no more motion outside. Jericho relaxed for a moment as he went outside. The only individual left was a NetWatch operative who was currently shitting his pants next to a Militech Chevillon Ragnar as Jericho approached him.
"Do not fear. This will only hurt for a moment."
Jericho's hands split once again with a flurry of clicks and whirrs as he approached the frozen-in-fear NetWatch agent. Forty fingers lashed towards the agent finding hold on his face and probing for data connections. The only thing anyone heard was a primal scream and Jericho ravaged the poor Agent's mind.
"As expected. Nothing of use."
Jericho, still attached to the agent activated his AZ-5 procedure. He concentrated his core's now spiking power into the Agent, frying him from within. The Agent spasmed and twitched for several moments before lying still and stiff, the electrical discharge melting his bones and fusing his corpse internally. The vents on Jericho's back blasted white-hot for a few moments before closing back up. Radiation spiked for a moment before beginning to diminish. The Scrubber was active now, another part of Jericho's unique physiology.
"And those that feast upon carrion, will feed for a fortnight."
Silence, then screaming, the the sound of meat hitting the floor in wet thumps, the impact of something else hitting meat and then a screech and explosion as if some kind of weapon had been fired. Radiation spiked across V's HUD, massive amounts discharged in only a few seconds, but then the radiation began to diminish until it was nearly gone. Silence. V was about to check the hallway when Jericho burst through the door, nearly hitting him in the face.
"It is done. We have a new vehicle as well. Come, it is time to leave."
"Wha- What did you do?", V asked, the combat had only lasted a few minutes.
"I took care of the kill-squad. We should leave. Night City is the closest major city to our current location. As I am aware, V, you know the city the best. You will be in charge of finding us a safe haven.", Jericho noted, motioning outwards from the derelict house. "Asher, you will use your abilities to grant us access."
"Okay! Cool. No problem, lemme just grab my deck and we'll be good.", Asher noted as she grabbed the small laptop-like device from the floor.
"She's a decker? Isn't that a little... outdated?", V asked.
"She has more abilities with a cyberdeck than NetRunners have. Do not underestimate her.", Jericho noted as he began to walk out of the room. V and Asher followed behind, stepping over dead Militech soldiers.
"Hey! I found the 'Gun-man'!", Asher exclaimed as she took notice of the one soldier that had a gun lodged halfway through his torso. V just side-eyed her again. Asher was weird.
As the group exited the house, V noticed the carnage. He'd never seen anyone killed like this before, massive wounds, bodies cut in half, and a NetWatch Agent charred and smoking near an SUV, the Agent looked like a hotdog that had been microwaved for too long. V shuddered, just what had he gotten himself into? Who the hell were these people? What exactly is Jericho? Asher is overly chipper and talks too much. He felt like he was going insane.
"Jeezus. Haven't seen anything like this since the war...", Johnny added, appearing out of thin air again next to V.
"Shit. I don't know. Can't back out now, though. Jericho said he'd needed my help in exchange for, well, saving my life.", V noted.
"V, you've been in some serious shit. This, this is new. This is the new shit. The hardcore shit. You're up shit creek and about to head down a shit waterfall.", Johnny mused.
"Real poetic, Johnny...", V sighed. He'd actually been missing Johnny's banter, despite the previous situation. At least now he had a friend in him, no matter what happened.
V hesitantly climbed into the rear seat of the Militech Ragnar next to Asher. Hopefully Jericho's driving was better than his piloting, but unfortunately that wasn't the case as the mysterious Nomad applied way too much gas and caused V's head to bounce off the headrest. The Ragnar sped off into the desert once again, picking up speed as it bounced onto the highway that led towards Night City, the City of Dreams. Broken Dreams.
Now that there was a time of respite, V decided to ask some questions. He was full of questions today, like 'Why am I involved in this?' and 'Who the hell are you, really?' and 'What's up with the radiation?' and 'Why do I taste blueberry pop-tarts?'. The last question probably wasn't relevant. Probably.
"Hey, so... I know I agreed to help you, but with what?", V asked, eyeing Jericho.
"I need you to help me find something, a treasure of sorts. It will pay well, so you needn't worry.", Jericho noted as he eyed V in the rearview mirror.
"It's super valuable. It's paid me more than I'll make in a lifetime!", Asher added happily.
"But, what is it exactly?", V asked prodding a bit harder.
"Hm. My memories, V. I do not know who I am, or was. I wish to know. I wish to know why I am what I am. I think therefore I am, but if I am what I think I am, what am I?", Jericho waxed.
V's eyes widened. Jericho didn't know who he was? He was obviously a Solo of some kind, albeit unknown to V as he'd never heard of anyone called Jericho in Night City and there were no tell-tale legends about him like with all the other famous Solos. "You- You don't know who you are?"
"Correct. I know that I am Jericho, only because the Chipset is called Jericho. I am not the Chipset, though that I am sure. I know not of when I was born or created. I know not of where my cybernetics originate. I know not of my past. I wish to know and you are going to help me.", Jericho extrapolated.
V sighed, this was going to be harder than he thought. He thought of another question. "What about your cybernetics? What's up with the radiation?"
"Ahh. That. Yes. As you know, I have been called the Nuclear Nomad. For good reason. At some point in my past, a prototype nuclear fission-fusion hybrid reactor was installed in my body. It is the only device capable of powering both the Chipset and my augmentations. My cyberware is unique only to me and a select few others. I estimate an approximate 95% augmentation has occurred in my body.", Jericho mused. "Primarily, I run on Fusion, which exudes little radiation. However my more... deadly capabilities require more than that."
V just sat in silence. The last person he'd encountered with a 95% augmentation was Adam Smasher, and Smasher was undeniably insane and on the verge of cyber-psychosis half of the time. Adam Smasher, however, had a more militarist design to his cyberware and Jericho appeared to be a normal human. "How is that possible? 95%?"
"I do not know. That is why you're helping me, V."
"Okay... Then what's going on with you two? You and Asher?"
"Asher is another gifted individual. Just like you. Once we've found sufficient 'safe haven' I shall call upon the others. Although scattered, they will be glad our team is reuniting after these long few years.", Jericho mused.
"So there are more of you.", V noted.
"Yes. A few more, with specific abilities."
V just sighed. More funky new friends. Asher was weird, Jericho was cryptic, what else did his newfound friends hold? The sooner he was back in Night City the better, maybe Vik or Judy knew a bit more about these people. Maybe even Rogue had worked with them in the past, he wasn't sure but it was worth a shot asking around.
Chapter End.
A/N: I broke my left hand and left leg a few weeks ago. The other fanfics on my page will be updated accordingly when I have new ideas for them. I've had over a month to sit on this one, so it gets priority right now. Sorry peeps, if you're expecting another chapter of The Ballad.