Chapter 9: Heist: The Full Game
The Ragnar stopped outside of Night City, near the cavern where V and Panam had fought back against the Raffen Shiv at the start of their journey. The cave opening was small, and V was unsure of how Scotch managed to get an AV inside there, let alone how they were going to get it back out. The group exited their stolen Ragnar and hid it fairly close to the cave mouth. V looked around in confusion for a few moments.
"Jericho, if you had this AV here the whole time, why did we even bother with the Ragnar?", V asked.
"We didn't have it here the whole time. What did you think I've been working on this whole time? Hildegarde 'borrowed' the AV and decided its nomenclature and I made the necessary modifications to it. As much as I love that little Garage you found for us, we need a more mobile solution since the Toward Stars in currently buried in the sand nose-first and missing half of its engines." Jericho noted. "The fissile material you retrieved was used to construct a cold-fusion reactor to replace the need for refined CHOOH2 allowing us for long-distance flight. Other appropriate modifications have been made to its armaments and armoring."
"Aye, it's basically a flying Militech Behemoth, lad. It's even got a few cots that fold up on the inside if we need ta sleep! I took the liberty o' removin' the seats for the troops so we haf more room.", Scotch noted, now opening the rear hatch of the AV.
The AV had been very heavily modified, the side-doors having been welded shut to allow for the folding cots to extend from the walls. A small corner-desk sat with Jericho's computer on it while six jump-seats still remained close to the rear portion of the aircraft. A small wet bar sat against the opposite corner, presumably for Scotch's exuberant consumption and a small metal table was bolted to the floor in the center. In the cockpit, the two front seats also had seats bolted to their backsides with drop-down monitors hanging in front of them, presumably for the gunners as V noticed several large GAU-8 cannons attached to the upper and lower fuselage, four in total in addition to the AV's normal armament.
"What? Did you think we all just sat around and played Parcheesi while you were out getting drunk and being stupid?", Hildegarde mocked as she entered the AV, sliding into one of the jump seats at the rear. "You can thank me later for getting us this."
Scotch and Asher proceeded further up and got into both of the pilot's seats with Scotch attaching his personal link to the AV's flight computer. Asher began to set up her Cyberdeck and establish their Veil. Jericho took the rearmost jump-seat and V took one a little further from the two of them. Setting his seatbelt, V winced as the AV began to hover, hoping that they wouldn't crash into the cave's ceiling as Scotch began to turn the AV around and fly them out. The AV maneuvered expertly moving almost as if it was robotically controlled and soon took to the skies, flying high above Night City at a speed much faster than anticipated.
V looked at the rapidly approaching skyline. He felt the need to sing for some reason, perhaps that inner Rockerboy. "Be mine, Sister Salvation... Jericho and Johnny are coming to my cremation...", V sang, music seemingly broadcasting across their comms. "Be mine, Sister Salvation... Closer now, comes the Revolution..."
"Heh. Looks like we finally got our Rockerboy after all.", Hildegarde cackled, finally giving V some kind of respect.
"Yeah, V! Take those corpos down!", Johnny yelled from one of the jump-seats.
"Lad! You've found your role!", Scotch yelled from the pilot's seat.
Jericho said nothing, only staring outwards towards the approaching Corporate Center. The AV was much faster than trying to drive the maze of gridlocked streets. It had been a moment since he was able to fully power up his reactor and he relished in the moment. Radiation began to spike, Asher, Scotch and V all taking their Anti-Rad supplements, a tingly sensation washing through their bodies. It was almost time to jump.
"Hey, guys! Guards on the rooftop. They don't really suspect anything due to the Veil. We just look like another Militech AV to their scanners.", Asher noted.
"Go. Go now.", Jericho added, jumping out of the rear of the AV which still flew several hundred feet above the rooftop.
V just watched as the Nuclear Nomad rocketed towards the roof, as the man got lower a set of golden wing-like jets appeared from his arms and shoulders slowing him down for a nice landing. Hildegarde jumped next, now that the AV was lower and rolled to a stop next to Jericho, her gun already out and firing its violet blasts of energy towards the guards. V jumped last, having finished his song and tumbled less gracefully to the ground next to them. By the time he'd landed, all the guards were already dead, most of them shot by Hildegarde and a few of them with their heads twisted a full 180 degrees presumably by Jericho.
"What the hell kind of gun is that, anyways?", V asked idly to Hildegarde as Jericho scanned the rooftop for an exit.
"It's a rail-gun.", the outlaw noted.
"But- But where's the power source? I've shot rail-guns before and they're nowhere near as portable as that thing."
"It's powered by my own fusion reactor, V. It's hard-coded to only work with my own cyberware. Maybe when we're done you could ask Jericho to craft some for you..."
Hildegarde wasn't mocking him relentlessly anymore. Maybe his impromptu musical performance had calmed her nerves? V just looked around, also scanning the rooftop for an exit. He stopped as he noticed a well-hidden hatch underneath the heli-pad. "Over here!"
"Good. Looks like it goes down. A ladder into a maintenance hatch.", Jericho noted. He just knelt down and grabbed the hatch, forcing his fingers into the gap between the door and the roof itself and pulled the hatch completely off its hinges.
"Heyyy! I had that! I was just about to open that for you!", Asher complained loudly over their comms.
"And you probably would've set off every alarm in the entire Corporate Plaza, too...", Hildegarde goaded.
"Nuh-uh! I'm taking this seriously! I want my icecream cone!"
"There will be a time and place for that later, Asher.", Jericho sighed. He'd been working with this group the longest and simply brushed off Asher's siliness. V wondered idly how he had managed not to strangle the quirky NetRunner after all these years.
"Cool beans. I want banana-nut crunch, by the way. Hey! Also, there are some more guards in the hallway adjacent to the maintenance tunnel. They don't seem to notice you since I've cut their comms! Hah!", Asher added, actually doing her job correctly for once.
Hildegarde rolled her eye and headed down the ladder that Jericho had revealed, shimmying into the small crawlspace that separated the maintenance corridor with the actual hallway. A few vents allowed the group to see what was beyond the wall. There were two subtle clicks as a set of small spikes extended from Jericho's wrists. He simply slammed both of his fists through the wall grabbing one of the guards and pulling him into the newly created hole. The guard's neck was snapped instantly and the dead solider slumped to the ground in between them.
"What the-", The other guard shouted in confusion as he too was also pulled into the wall and killed. Jericho just stepped out of the hole and into the hallway. There wasn't anyone left.
"Save some for me, will you?", Hildegarde chided.
"Hildegarde, traps?", Jericho asked.
V noticed a violet glow from underneath Hildegarde's eyepatch. Her other eye was shut tight, she scanned around the hallway and also looked downwards as if looking through the floor as well.
"There's an ID checkpoint on the elevator. Laser grid on another room, but it doesn't appear that the target is inside there, just a bunch of workers and scientists.", the outlaw noted, as she opened her eye.
"Hm. Asher will handle the ID check. Let's proceed for now.", Jericho noted as he headed further down the corridor towards the elevators.
"So you do have an eye under there! What's it do?", V asked, half-expecting to be punched in the face.
Hildegarde just raised her eyepatch, revealing a solid black and slightly iridescent unblinking compound eye. "I can see what cannot be seen. The eyepatch is just for appearances, V. It's a little unnerving to most."
"Aha...", V noted, slightly unnerved by the strangely insectoid eyeball.
"And before you start asking the stupid questions... Yes... I've seen your 'Imaginary Friend' as well.", Hildegarde added, leaning towards V's face with a smirk.
"Oh shit! V, she can see me!?", Johnny exclaimed, suddenly aware that he's no longer a figment of V's imagination.
"Oh yes. Hello, Johnny Silverhand. I'm glad you think I've got a great rack. Too bad you're not a real person...", Hildegarde noted, looking at the suddenly panicked AI projection. "Mind keeping your lewd comments to yourself?"
Johnny just disappeared, his voice still ringing out into V's head.
"Can she still hear me?", Johnny whispered.
"Can you hear him right now?"
"Nope. Only when he's visible can I hear him. Lemme guess, he's commenting wildly about my body and telling you all the dirty thing's he'd like to do with it.", Hildegarde noted as they walked down the hallway towards Jericho.
"Uhhh... Yep. That's what he's saying right now."
"Hah. Well... As expected. Tell him that although I can't hurt him... I can still hurt you."
"Yeah, V. I'm just gonna be quiet now.", Johnny sighed before going quiet for once.
V just shrugged. Maybe Johnny was actually valuing him for once. He didn't seem to care too much before, but now that it was official that they had to live together, perhaps keeping him alive was a better choice than trying to get him killed in interesting and unusual ways. He continued down the hallway until they'd reached the elevator. Jericho stood in front of the elevator waiting.
"Asher? Have you got it?", Jericho asked.
"Yeppers! Got it. Just press a button. I've overridden the entire system. No alarms, no worries!"
"Good job. I think an icecream cone or three are in your future!"
"Yayyy! Icecream! What flavor do you want, Hildy!?"
"Hildegarde. Do not shorten my name, Asher, or I will beat you until the candy comes out.", Hildegarde threatened, the NetRunner making a squeaking noise. "And I'd like mint-chocolate chip."
V just stared at the two of them. How in the hell had they been able to work together? Of course, V was seeing their dynamic for the first time, but it still didn't make much sense. "How the hell have you been able to work together like this?"
"Easily, V. We're like a family. And now you're part of it as well.", Jericho quipped.
"Yeahh! It's like Daddy Jericho and Mommy Hildegarde and their three ugly stepchildren!", Asher added as the elevator doors opened.
"Shut up, Asher!", Hildegarde exclaimed, shutting up the funky NetRunner.
The three of them simply entered the elevator, pressing the button for the 133rd floor. The doors closed and the elevator began to make its way down lower, cheery Chinese folk music playing in the small box. Hildegarde looked at the speaker in the ceiling, V thought she was about to shoot it out, but she didn't. She just sighed and stared straight ahead.
"Scans?", Jericho asked.
"Nothing yet. Target appears to be in his office as it's the only heat signature I'm picking up. He's working late. No guards on that floor, just a few office punks in the cube farm further down.", Hildegarde mused.
"Good. Ignore the mooks. If they die, they die. Target is priority.", Jericho noted.
The elevator doors opened, the hallway was clear aside from a few random office workers. They took no notice of the plum-purple clad outlaw, the mechanical man or the Johnny Silverhand impersonator. The Veil was working.
"Is it casual day already? What's the theme? Legendary Mercs?", one of the office workers laughed as they passed.
"Anders Hellman's office is the third one down. Should we knock?", Hildegarde noted.
"Perhaps. V, maybe you should be the one to enter first since you've worked with him before.", Jericho added.
V went over to the door and knocked.
"Come in.", a voice answered from inside.
V entered and noticed Anders Hellman who was busying on his computer. Hellman did not look up from his work and continued to type on as the group of mercs entered his office and shut the door. "Hey. Long time no see..."
Anders Hellman shot up from his workstation, not expecting to hear the voice of the man who had kidnapped him several months earlier. He scrambled for a sidearm before the click and whine of a charging rail-gun cut him off.
"We just want to talk... Particularly about a certain Biochip you created...", Hildegarde hissed, her gun aimed at the poor man's head.
"I told you everything! I cannot help you anymore!", Anders pleaded.
"Not everything. Where did you get the designs for the Biochip? What was the inspiration behind it? I know you know. It was Sefirot, wasn't it? A long forgotten design...", Jericho mused.
V ran around the desk and slammed an Anti-Rad hypo into Anders' chest, the tingly sensation surprising the poor coder.
"Agh! What is this!? What have you done to me!?"
"Saved your life. My friend over here is nuclear. You know more about the Relic than you've been telling me. Why don't you tell us?", V stated.
"I don't know a Sefirot! The- The designs were sold to me, I found them through the Black Market. I used Arasaka's Soulkiller as firmware for the chip. I do not know where the design for the chip came from! Please!", Anders pleaded.
"Jericho? Use your magic touch...", Hildegarde added, keeping her firearm on the shaking man.
Jericho simply walked over to the man. "This is going to hurt. A lot.", his fingers folded back and split open on his left hand, a multitude of jacks and sockets appearing from his fingertips attached to prehensile cords. The pervasive tools crawled over Anders' face until they found their marks, the poor man screaming in agony as Jericho ravaged his brain for information. Anders Hellman convulsed like a dying fish for several moments before Jericho removed his hand from the man's face.
"He was telling half-truths. The designs originated on the Black Market. An IP address traced its location to a market in Anchorage. He knows nothing of the Chipset. Sad.", Jericho noted. "I expected so much more from someone so brilliant."
"Are we done here?", Hildegarde asked.
"I believe so. Bring him along, anyways. Best not to leave a mess in this office."
Hildegarde grabbed Hellman and hoisted him to his feet, the man stumbling as he attempted to walk out of the office. It was a 'Weekend at Burnie's' situation, but the man was nearly catatonic instead of dead. She foisted him out of the door and back into the hallway. It was now time for their escape. This had been a simple grab and go job, not nearly the chaos she was used to bringing down on the corporations. Perhaps Jericho had other plans.
Jericho stared around the room. Anders Hellman was in captivity, his arms and legs now bound by some strong cables that Hildegarde had pulled out of a small pack. It was now or never, they had to leave and get out of Night City. Undoubtedly, the mercenaries that had previously been hired to take them out would catch wind of this and that wouldn't be good for anyone.
"Hildegarde, take him to the elevator. Get ready for extraction. We're done here. I have one last small thing to do...", Jericho noted. He jacked into the computer system, allowing his spindly finger-jacks to pierce their security measures. He sat for a moment before getting back up. "We should leave now. Their data has been copied. I now have all of Kang Tao's information regarding any kind of Biochip. Also, the power regulator at the base of the building is being overloaded. Best not to leave any loose ends."
V's eyes widened. He ran towards the elevator. Jericho had overloaded the power running to the building's central processor. Most corporate buildings had some kind of small power core inside of them. This was going to go badly for everyone involved if they didn't leave immediately. Alarm klaxons began to ring and office workers ran into the hallway towards emergency exits.
"Bad news bears, guys. Since you overloaded the power system, the elevators are locked down tight. You'll have to use the stairs.", Asher noted. "Stairs should be at the other ends of the hallway through the cubicle farm."
"Shit! Run!", V exclaimed as he hauled ass away from Anders' office. Hildegarde tossed Hellman over her shoulder and followed behind. Jericho quickly outpaced V and slammed through the mess of panicked office employees.
"You guys are the only ones running... I can fly!", Johnny exclaimed as he took a Peter Pan-esque pose and floated through the air behind V. Hildegarde shot the invisible man a look and kept going, shoving random gonks out of the way as she ran.
"Help meeeee!", Anders shouted, the office workers largely ignored him as he was being carried by a rather angry-looking woman at the moment. Hildegarde just punched him in the skull and knocked him out.
Jericho, who didn't bother stopping for the closed door, simply kicked it open and kept going. He jumped up the first flight of stairs and landed on the 134th floor. Hildegarde skidded around the corner and ran up the stairs, making sure Anders' head hit every rung on the banister on the way up. V followed behind them as Johnny hovered like a demented angel behind him.
"Taking too long!", Jericho shouted before he grabbed Hildegarde around the waist and jumped onto the 135th floor landing. V hurriedly ran up the stairs behind them as Johnny continued to fly around like an asshole.
"Aye, lad! I see ya on the scans. We're at the atrium! Jump in, the door's open!", Scotch called over the comms. "Ach! We're taking fire, though!"
Jericho just hurried through the hallway and into the large open atrium. This floor was apparently some kind of break room with a large glass window surrounding the entire middle section of the floor. A small lazy river burbled through the middle among some tables. Traditional Chinese artworks littered the area. Kang Tao security was currently taking potshot as their AV, having noticed it had backed into the large window and sat with its cargo hatch extended into the room.
"Aaagh! Help! I'm being kidnapped!", Anders yelled, having woken up.
V pulled out the Malorian, aiming from behind cover and fired, the first shot going wide. He fired again, this time hitting one of the guards in the chest, but not killing him. Hildegarde tossed Anders onto the ground head-first, once again knocking him out and pulled out her rail-gun, violet blasts of energy searing towards the battalion of Kang Tao guards that had heard Anders Hellman's cries.
ericho didn't even take cover, instead he ran towards the first two guards, dodging the onslaught of bullets before leaping into the air. As he came down, he grabbed both of the guards' heads and slammed them together, a crackling signaling the shattering of bone on bone. He moved smoothly and almost electronically towards the second set of guards, locking eyes with them and dodging their attack as well, he moved so fast it almost appeared that the gunfire simply phased through him. His nano-ceramic blade deployed with a quiet 'shink' noise before he sliced in wide upwards arc through both of the guards, cutting one in half at the waist and the other through the chest and neck.
"Go! Go now!", Jericho shouted as more guards began to swarm towards him. Hildegarde unceremoniously threw Anders Hellman into the rear of the AV before climbing into the aircraft as well. V jumped from cover to cover before also jumping the small gap between the building and the AV as well.
Jericho looked at the AV and spun for a moment, small launchers extending from his upper arms. He launched a circular series of small flechettes around the room, the flechettes exploding as soon as they landed dazzling the guards and causing them to recoil from the blasts. He took a moment to compose himself before running for the AV as well, but he didn't step inside immediately. Instead, he flexed his arms and let off a heated blast of white-hot fire from the vents on his back, the radiation spiking past the limit on V's HUD. The guards behind the mechanical man seemed to hesitate before grabbing their stomachs and puking on the floor. Some of the guards appeared to suddenly have a severe sunburn on their faces and exposed skin. Many of them were too crippled or dazed to take any further action as Jericho just calmly walked into the awaiting AV.
Chapter End.