Chapter 16: When Hellfire Freezes
The Horus soared through the skies again, this time headed north over China and into the USSR. Their destination was Irkutsk, where Hildegarde had nearly been killed several years ago by a man named Jean Starhawk. The rival mercenary and his team would soon be dead at the hands of the infamous outlaw as it was always meant to be. The infamous outlaw herself just sat on the couch reviewing her stock of ammunition, her weapons and her own power core's levels. She scoffed at her power supply, 22% would have to do, it would allow for several hours of light combat and a few minutes at full strength if she used all of her enhancements at the same time. It wasn't enough for a full-on war, by any means, but Starhawk was small potatoes in the scheme of things. Of course, running out of core power would mean that her reflex enhancements would fail and then Starhawk would finally get his revenge. She just shook her head and tried not to think about that too much.
"You're sure you can take him alone? I mean, I can help you out if you want. Maybe take some of the heat.", V asked.
"Yes, V. I'm sure. The only way he'd get a killing blow is to either shoot me in the head or snap my neck. My reflex enhancements won't allow that to even be a thought in his sodding head!", Hildegarde snapped.
"Look, I can just hang back and let you do your thing. If shit goes sideways, I can jump in."
"V. Just leave her alone. This is Hildegarde's battle.", Jericho noted, turning away from his place of meditation at the desk in the corner.
"Look, she could die! Really!", V added.
"Hildegarde is stronger than you think. I'd even call her my equal in combat...", Jericho sighed.
"So I've heard. But he's probably got a crew as well, you can't take them all!"
"I can V. Just watch.", Hildegarde reassured. "Be a peach and send a tell to Starhawk, Asher. I want him to know I'm coming for him."
"Okay...", Asher noted hesitantly, she liked Hildegarde. Hildegarde was fun. She didn't want her to die horribly. "Patching you through now..."
"Who the hell is- Hildegarde!?", Jean Starhawk answered in surprise.
"Heard you were looking for me. Unfinished business, I suppose. Did your bollocks grow back after I shot them off or something?", Hildegarde half-mocked.
"Y-You're dead! When I find you-"
"You'll do what? Kill me? What is this, the third time you've tried?."
"You won't be mocking me when I've got my Spell-Striker shoved down your throat!"
"That's the name of his gun, by the way. Pathetic, who names their gun?", Hildegarde mentioned to the crew.
"I can't wait! You know, I don't have a gag-reflex so I'll be laughing at you even if you do manage to get me into a good position..."
"Fuck you, Hildegarde! Where are you!?"
"I'm in your backyard, killing your dreams."
"Irkutsk!?"
"Yep. You guessed it. Hello, again!"
"Bring it, Hildegarde!"
"Oh I will. Why don't we fight honorably? One-on-one? As it was meant to be?"
"Deal. One-on-one. We'll duel. And you'll die."
"Really, Jean? I'll die?"
"Yes! You will! You'll die gurgling your own blood onto the floor in front of me as you beg for mercy!"
"Well then... Come, child... Come bring me death once again!", Hildegarde shouted through the comms system before Asher severed the connection.
"They have a NetRunner, they almost got a bead on us. Had to cut the wire...", Asher added. "The Veil only hides our physical presence and our ID's on the Net, they can still trace our phones."
"Wouldn't have mattered if they found us. They'll all be dead soon.", Hildegarde reassured. "They have a team of mercenaries, we have a Jericho"
"And a Vee!", said V.
"Stay behind, V. This is Hildegarde's fight.", Jericho noted. "If you decide to disobey my recommendation, then I cannot guarantee your survival."
V just sat down and grumbled. As much as Hildegarde seemed to hate him, he really didn't want her to get herself killed as that would probably send Jericho over the edge. He'd seen Jericho's backstory and seen the picture of a loving man, a loving wife and a small baby in a blood covered photograph. If Jericho's new lover died, who knows what would happen?
"The end of the fuckin' world, V. When a man has nothing to lose, the whole world will burn around him.", Johnny added.
"For once, I agree.", V noted.
"Let them fight it out. If shit goes south for our curvaceous outlaw, we'll have to step it up."
"I know..."
"Jericho's got only got a few strings holding him back from a full-on rampage. Better not let that last one break..."
"I know, Johnny. Hildegarde will hate us, but it's better than what could happen if she dies."
"Cut your losses, V. Play the cards you have and know when to fold 'em."
V sat back, the AV would land in Irkutsk soon. He double-checked his ammunition and prepared himself. This was his choice, intervene and receive Hildegarde's disdain or let her die and watch the world burn. "Fuck me."
As was the issue in Anchorage, the same problem had persisted across the ocean in Irkutsk, the polar shelf had shifted causing most of Siberia to experience a near-perpetual winter. The streets of the ancient city were covered with a blanket of white snow and ice. The few cars that drove the streets were outfitted with spiked tires to grip what remained of a driving surface. The city was mostly empty, its populace leaving for warmer areas towards the USSR's western border, the few that remained here had received little support from the government, but the usual amenities of the NUSA were still here. Braindance parlors, shady Ripperdocs, a few arcades, and a bar on almost every corner were spread among the historic buildings that hadn't been renovated since the early 21st century. There was no shining neon lighting like the other cities they'd been to, instead dim incandescent lights shone yellowish light onto the icy streets with shadows hiding who-know's-what in every alleyway.
Irkutsk was where Jean Starhawk and Starhawk Industries lived and worked. His garage sat on the southernmost road near an abandoned cement plant in an industrial zone, a large grey plot of farmland sat across from it frozen in ice. From what was aware, Starhawk wasn't originally from the USSR, his family had moved here at some point from Roanoke, Virginia before the polar ice shift. Back then the industry was booming and SovOil had planned building a massive CHOOH2 refinery. That planned construction was abandoned after the polar shift froze the ground solid and destroyed any hopes of growing the bio-modified grain necessary for the vital fuel source.
The Horus had landed some distance away at the old cement factory a few blocks down the road from Starhawk's garage. Jericho and the rest of the crew except for Hildegarde stayed behind. Asher had managed to hack into Starhawk's CCTV system and was currently displaying the camera feed onto Jericho's computer. Everyone was crowded around it.
"Looks like he's waiting for you.", Jericho noted, seeing the red-haired man pacing around the garage.
"Good. This will be quick. See you soon.", Hildegarde stated before leaving the AV and heading down the road. Asher stared at Jericho.
"Are you sure? I mean, you've been with her the longest... What chance does she have?", Asher asked.
"Hildegarde is more than capable. However, her power core is low... I have faith in her abilities regardless."
"And what if this doesn't end the way you think it does? What if Starhawk kills her?", V asked. Jericho just stared at him for a moment seemingly contemplating the plan in case of her failure.
"V, do you remember how many people died in Night City in 2023?", Jericho asked.
"Uh yeah..."
"Triple that number by about ten-fold and erase Irkutsk from the map of the USSR.", Jericho noted.
V didn't say anything. Jericho would go nuclear on this city. It would be worse than the Chernobyl disaster in the 20th century. The world would burn.
"But, she won't fail. It's impossible. Even with a dead core, she has the experience and skill to find a way to survive.", Jericho added. "To put a definitive answer to your question in non-cryptic terms, a few more names will be added to my list of those to seek vengeance upon..."
V shuddered. He'd get to see Jericho's true unlimited and unbridled power when this all inevitably went tits-up in the worst possible way and because of the hacked CCTV system, he'd be there to see the gory moment when the outlaw was finally put to rest for good. He triple-checked his Malorian and holstered it, he also double-checked Dying Night for good measure and slid the reliable old firearm into his belt. The rear hatch was still open and he could run after the plum-purple clad woman at any time. For the moment, he just stayed and watched the camera feed.
Hildegarde just walked down the street. It was cold, nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit and her bodysuit provided little protection from the piercing cold. She was well aware of what this was doing to her chest and subtly hoped that perhaps Starhawk would be too distracted by the obtrusion to focus, allowing her the first move. With her hands and lower legs cybernetic, the extreme cold wasn't a problem for maneuverability and her core still showed a steady 22% available to use as she chose. Easy, no problem, this is just a game she told herself, but if her core ran out at the wrong time then this would be the end. She just scoffed and walked up to the garage door, the entrance wide open, and turned the corner to face Jean Starhawk.
"You did come alone! I'm surprised, thought you'd play dirty like the pirate you are!", Starhawk exclaimed.
"You know, this is all your fault. If you'd have just sold the RTG's to me nobody would've died. Your family would still be alive and you'd still have the ability to carry on your pathetic bloodline. You'd get to stay here and work on ramshackle cars until you died of old age.", Hildegarde ranted, waving her hand into the air in exasperation. "You were a shop keeper, not even worth the time of killing, but then you decided to double-cross me... You tried to kill me. So I killed everything you loved and I'll do so again, right now."
Jean Starhawk just raged, his angular face twisting into a scowl. He raised his bolt-action single-shot Spell-Striker and fired toward's Hildegarde's smirking face. The outlaw just activated her Reflex Core and tilted her neck slightly, dodging the shot.
"Wow. Not even ten paces? I thought we were dueling.", she half-mocked.
"Just die already! She's here! Get in position!", Starhawk shouted, his teammates running from the corners of the garage where they hid taking cover behind other objects and taking aim on Hildegarde.
"This seems unfair. Have you no respect to honor the rules of a duel?", Hildegarde mocked scanning every member of Starhawk's team; just a few 2-bit mercs.
"Funny, coming from a woman who has killed everyone she's worked with when they weren't of use anymore! This is an execution!"
"Fine. I guess I'll just have to slag every last one of you..."
Hildegarde launched sideways with her Reflex Core activated and fired a volley of shots towards Starhawk, a few hit him in the legs revealing a set of fresh cybernetics, the red-haired man jumping backwards and taking cover. She just rolled to a halt near the side wall and catapulted herself up the stairs onto an overhead catwalk allowing her free reign to fire upon the red-haired imbecile below. Starhawk danced like a drunken father at his daughter's wedding around the hail of bullets that rained upon him before running into the damaged AV that sat on one of the automotive lifts. He was hiding like the coward he was, no matter the rest of the team was still here, they'd have to die first. The sacrificial lambs.
"She's outnumbered, Jericho. This is bad...", Asher noted as she watched the feed.
"She's fine, hasn't even broken a sweat.", Jericho added.
Hildegarde ran down the catwalk, the hanging platform wrapping around the garage and leading to a small office on the second floor. Her Perception Core detected sudden movement, activating automatically and forcing her Reflex Core to accelerate. She dodge a beheading blow from a previously unseen Arasaka Assassin, the blade slicing milimeters above her face. She slid to a stop halfway across the catwalk and turned to face her attacker.
"An Arasaka slave? What the bloody hell did Starfuck do to recruit you?", she asked not expecting an answer.
The female assassin just stared at Hildegarde with an equally icy glare, raising her sword in a preemptive strike.
"I am Suzuka Sakagura. You killed my brother. Prepare to die!"
"Oh I remember him, Ichiro right? He died like the pathetic overworked underling he was, didn't even fight back, just begged for his life before I killed him like an animal. You corpo-rats with your hoity-toity superiority. Too bad he didn't know how to fight back when faced with death.", Hildegarde ranted remembering the poor sap she'd killed when it was obvious he was just a low-level cubicle slave and not the high-ranking corporate spy he'd said he was.
Suzuka shot forwards in anger with her own Reflex mods accelerating her speed, aiming her sword for Hildegarde's throat. The plum-purple outlaw barely had time to dodge the attack before the sword found its mark. Not applying too much pressure, Suzuka just stood there with her blade against Hildegarde's throat, using just enough pressure to draw blood, the silvery Synth-Blood trickling into the outlaw's collar.
"Oh no...", Asher sighed as she watched the camera feed. "She's already lost..."
"Hmf. You've got me at swordpoint. Any reason why you're not killing me?", Hildegarde asked as she traced the blade with her eye. "Don't you want to avenge your brother?"
Suzuka just applied a bit more pressure, Hildegarde was a few millimeters from a free tracheotomy and a few inches from a violent beheading. The assassin just stared daggers into the outlaw's grey eyes.
"I promised Jean Starhawk that I would spare you. Only he will be the one to kill you and end your reign of terror!", Suzuka replied.
"You're an idiot."
Hildegarde just grabbed the blade with her enhanced reflexes and twisted it from the assassin's grip. She turned the blade away and pulled on it before crushing the metallic weapon with her enhanced strength, courtesy of her Strength Core. The blade shattering and leaving behind half of the length of metal. Once again using her Reflex Core, Hildegarde just shot forward with just the end of the blade in hand before ramming the 4in shard of metal into the forehead of her would-be assassin. Suzuka Sakagura died just like her brother, in surprise and sadness.
"You should've killed me when you had the chance instead of taking the time to gawp at me like a twat.", Hildegarde cursed staring at the twitching assassin's body.
A shot from below activated Hildegarde's Reflex and Perception Cores causing the plum-purple outlaw to dodge upwards and backwards. The Animals Ganger was here, just below the catwalk and firing a shotgun through the grated metal platform. Hildegarde backflipped onto the corner panel, a solid metal landing, and out of the line of sight. A dark-haired girl a little younger than Asher ran out of the office and stared at her in surprise.
"Y-You killed Suzuka!"
"Yep, quite pathetic really."
The dark-haired girl's eyes shone green for a moment. "Burn!"
Hildegarde wasn't expecting the NetRunner, honestly. They usually stayed back and didn't try to engage, but here they were and it was a nice little quick-hack. Hildegarde just laughed, she didn't even have to use any more Core Power for this.
An error screen shot over the dark-haired girl's internal HUD. "Access Denied. JANUS system Activated."
"Wha-What? What is this-", the dark-haired girl was cut off as a holographic multi-faced skull shot towards her with a trail of tendrils flailing behind it. The holographic entity slammed into her skull and began to glitch her systems. She fumbled trying to pull her own sidearm, the gun slipping its way into her grip, but her cybernetic arms didn't allow the gun to aim onto the outlaw. She felt herself seem to fall backwards as if pulled by a bungee cord that was rebounding before her balance returned, she could only watch as her own limbs betrayed her.
"Nice try. Have fun with that.", Hildegarde sighed as she watched the NetRunner try and fail to control her own limbs. The only thing the dark-haired NetRunner could do was yell about it.
"Jean! I've got some kind of virus! I'm out! I- I can't do anything!", the dark-haired girl screamed helplessly as her limbs betrayed her.
"Melina! Fight it!", Jean Starhawk shouted unseen from within the AV. He was still hiding, but keeping an eye on both Hildegarde and Melina, the former not even taking any action except to mock the NetRunner and the latter flailing around in terror.
"I- I can't!", Melina cried as her own arm and sidearm raised up and pointed the gun at her own head.
"Jean Starfuck has no meat and veg. That's a pretty good reason to kill yourself, isn't it? He's just there for personality, and there's not a lot of that either...", Hildegarde half-mocked as Melina brought the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger, her cybernetically enhanced brainmatter splattering against the wall as her body slumped downwards. Too easy. Where the hell did he find these people?
"What was that?", Asher asked as she watched the rival NetRunner have a conniption fit before killing herself.
"Janus.", Jericho answered matter-of-factly.
"Oh. Why didn't that happen to me?"
"You didn't try to kill me."
Back in the garage, Hildegarde grabbed the railing of the catwalk and flipped herself back down to the lower level acrobatically throwing herself into the Animal Ganger's face feet-first before landing prone on the floor. The blow to the face knocked the larger foe off-balance for a moment. Hildegarde's HUD blared at her, 16% Core Power Remaining. A warning. She went to jump back up, but her Perception Core had deativated suddenly and the Animal Ganger had recovered and caught up to her, the massive muscled arms reaching forwards and the gargantuan hands wrapping around her throat. The hands just squeezed, Hildegarde's air supply being crushed from her.
"I don't care what I promised to Jean. I'm going to rip your head off!", the Ganger shouted, spittle hitting Hildegarde in the face.
"Aysha! Just knock her out, don't rip her head off!", Jean Starhawk shouted from his hiding place.
"Sorry, Jean. I can't do that. Her head is coming off for what she did to my family! She killed them like animals, we did nothing wrong except exist!"
Aysha the animal just tightened her grip, feeling Hildegarde's pulse begin to struggle as she crushed the outlaw's neck in her massive hands. The outlaw's legs kicked helplessly as she was lifted into the air. Her eye widened as she realized just how fucked she was at the moment.
"Hildegarde still needs to breathe, right?", V asked as he watched the outlaw being strangled, flailing helplessly as she was lifted into the air.
"Yes she does. I have faith, though. This isn't over yet.", Jericho added, eyes still glued to the camera feed.
"I mean, she has titanium bones so her neck won't break, but if her throat is crushed...", Asher sighed. "She's a goner."
Hildegarde struggled, her Strength Core was inactive and she couldn't get it to function at the moment. 13% Power Level blared at her as a reminder to her impending demise. She deativated all of her active Cores and simply struggled to reach her own firearm. Aysha's grip tightened even more cutting off all of her air supply. She choked and gagged as her throat was crushed, her vision beginning to darken. This was her only fear, that she'd be unable to fight back and her core would fail.
"Die!", the Ganger shouted as she began to simply twist the outlaw's neck towards its breaking point.
Hildegarde focused and pulled her rail-gun free, aiming upwards and against Aysha's jaw, the larger foe not realizing it. Her core blared warning signs, but she forced an override. 'Core Critical', the warning blared.
"You... urgghkkll... first."
Hildegarde shot. She shot multiple times just in case the Animal had armoring in her skull and unleashed six charged shots into the massive overly muscled creature. A few of the last shots penetrating the top of Aysha's skull and splattering her brainmatter on to the ceiling. The ganger fell, hands still wrapped around Hildegarde's throat, on top of the plum-purple outlaw herself. Hildegarde struggled to pull herself out from under the huge woman with just her natural strength. She slid backwards, out of breath and propped herself up on her arms as she surveyed the area, there were more of Starhawks mercs somewhere... A shotgun racked close to her head.
"End of the line, Hildegarde.", a young man's voice stated.
Hildegarde turned and just started down the twin barrels of a shotgun, the gun in question being held by a nervously shaking young man with blond hair.
"If you're going to shoot... Shoot. Don't make me wait.", Hildegarde mocked still catching her breath.
The boy just shoved the shotgun closer, leveling the gun with her eyes. "No sudden moves! Jean will get his revenge! Gillman III, come and help me!"
Hildegarde scanned the room again, using a bit more Core Power and noticed a reprogrammed Militech Assault Robot enter the back room, it was painted pink for some reason and its guns were trained on her. "Pink? Why the hell did you paint it pink?"
"Shut up!"
"James! Do you have her pinned down?"
"I do, just come over-"
James was interrupted as Hildegarde quick-hacked Gillman III, changing its targeting to James himself. She just smiled as the robot fired upon the young boy instead.
"Gillman! Stop! Shut down!", the boy screamed as gunfire erupted around him, the confused robot fighting against its conflicting orders.
Hildegarde just reached up and grabbed the shotgun, tearing it out of the boy's hands. She gripped his skull with both of her hands and pulled his face close.
"Burn for me!", she shouted.
Hildegarde just charged up, like she was preparing a rail-gun shot. The contacts in both of her hands crackling with violet energy as she completed the circuit with James' head as the conductor. Her core sent a full unbridled 8 megawatts of current through the young man's skull, the boy screaming as smoke and flame erupted from his eye sockets and mouth. He convulsed violently as his entire nervous system was fried to the last nerve ending. He screamed like a dying animal before lying stiff and burned on the ground. 6% Core Power blared across Hildegarde's HUD.
"Everyone is dead, Jean. You've lost. They've all died because of you!", Hildegarde shouted as she grabbed her rail-gun off of the ground. "Some kind of mercenary you are, getting your entire team killed!"
"You- You fucking monster!", Jean screamed from inside the AV.
"Oh I forgot, the Assault Drone...", Hildegarde mused for a second before quick-hacking the rogue robot and exploding it like a firecracker. "Now everyone is really dead. Forgot about your toy there for a second. Why don't you come out and play?"
Jean Starhawk erupted from the AV, launching gunfire towards Hildegarde and reloading as fast as he could. A single-shot pistol wasn't very useful, but only one shot was needed. The infamous outlaw was only wearing a thin body-suit and a matching jacket. He only needed one good shot to incapacitate her before firing the killing blow.
"Are you sure you really want to fight me? I heard there's a huge bounty if I'm taken alive. You could do a lot with 500k, Jean.", Hildegarde half-mocked. "Maybe even buy some better friends that won't die so easily..."
"Money won't replace my friends!", Starhawk raged, firing again and again hopelessly. Hildegarde's Relex Core was too powerful.
After a few uncanny dodges, Hildgarde had finally caught the poor schmuck and kicked him in the side with a kidney shot, knocking him prone onto his knees. His Spell-Striker landing a few feet from him. She just aimed her rail-gun pistol at his head. She stared down on him in disgust.
"This was all your fault. If you'd have just honored your deal, then everyone would be alive and you'd still have your balls. Everyone is dead because of you and your stupid father. If he never decided to background-check me and you'd have sold the bloody RTG's to me anyways nothing would have happened! You could've had a normal life, but you chose the hard way.", Hildegarde ranted in anger, making sure to drive home the 'All your fault' point. She just charged her rail-gun, a powered shot would remove this tumor of a human being from her side forever.
"I'll see you in hell!", Starhawk cursed.
Hildegarde just sighed and pulled the trigger, her firearm charging up as a violet energy began to emanate before it suddenly faded without warning. She glanced down at her weapon for a moment, her eyes darting between it and Starhawk. "Wha- What?"
'Core Critical, Weapons Systems offline'. The warning blared. Hildegarde's eye just widened.
Jean Starhawk took his opportunity, Hildegarde had slipped up. He grabbed his own gun, Spell-Striker, and slammed it into her chest, aiming upwards between her large breasts and firing the long-overdue killing shot. The outlaw was blasted backwards and into the air from the blast, she rolled a few times after hitting the ground finally laying prone on her side.
"Jericho! Hildegarde is... She's... She can't survive that!", Asher screamed as she watched what had happened.
"Perhaps I was wrong...", Jericho noted. The radiation inside the Horus began to rise slowly.
V was already out the rear hatch and headed for the garage. He'd make it there. He knew he would. It wasn't that far even without a speed enhancement. He only hoped that he would be quick enough to save the plum-purple clad outlaw before she was killed.
Hildegarde lay in agony on the ground. She'd been shot, a lucky shot. Her HUD blared 4% power remaining, not nearly enough to use her own firearm as it was powered by her core. There was only one trick left and she hoped that it would be enough, otherwise this was it, the end of her story.
"Lucky... shot...", she gasped, her hand pressed against where she'd been hit. She pulled her hand back for a moment to examine her wound before covering it again, seemingly holding her own guts in.
"You're dying, Hildegarde. You used up all your strength. How does it feel to be helpless?", Starhawk asked mockingly.
"Feels great, Jean... Like I've always imagined... You haven't... won...", the outlaw gasped between breaths, bright-red blood dripping down her chin in between her words.
"I have. I've killed the Infamous Hildegarde! But I can see you're suffering, you're in pain... Let me end that for you!", Starhawk shouted triumphantly.
"You haven't... I have one... last... trick... up my... sleeve...", Hildegarde gasped more blood pouring from her mouth, the crimson liquid running down her throat and onto the floor just as Starhawk had boasted earlier.
"Really? Let's hear it!", Starhawk asked. He knelt down close to her face, his Spell-Striker firmly planted against her throat, angled upwards against her chin.
Hildegarde just spat a mouthful of bright-red blood into Jean Starhawk's face. The red-haired man recoiling for a moment before wiping the liquid from his face. He was distracted for a brief second, but that was all it took.
Hildegarde just wrenched the gun from Starhawk's left hand, twisting his hand around and breaking his wrist. She rolled onto him bending his arm backwards against its limits before also breaking the limb and forcing the man downwards onto his chest. She stood up suddenly and planted a foot firmly on his shoulder and held him down. She held Spell-Striker firmly in hand and aimed it at its owner's skull.
"How!? You- You're not even injured!", Starhawk exclaimed.
"Trade secret, Starfucker. But, you just fell for the oldest trick in the book. Feign Death. It was fun, but now we're done. And it's a shame we wont get to play again...", Hildegarde whispered close to Jean Starhawk's ear before she just pulled the trigger, the .50 cal pistol firing and blowing off half of the man's face. Jean Starhawk's lifeless body just slumped to the ground among his crewmembers. The end. "Had you any bloody sense, you would've realized I don't even have red blood. But, I expected no less from you, you put up a nice fight even if all of the fighting was due to your pathetic 2-bit teammates.."
Hildegarde just examined the Spell-Striker before sliding it into her belt and grabbing her own rail-gun pistol. Her HUD blared 2% Core Power remaining. Just enough to get back to the AV and fall asleep for a few days. The sound of approaching footsteps pulled her attention and she instinctively aimed her rail-gun towards the intruder, not that it would've even been remotely useful at the moment.
"You... You're alive?", V asked as he was completely out of breath after having run the entire way to the garage.
"I am. Although not without my bruises... Were you expecting a rescue or a beautiful corpse?"
"Yeah... Maybe both... I dunno...", V gasped.
"Well, you missed the good part anyways. A shame. Time to go home, V. We're done.", Hildegarde sighed. Her ribs hurt where Starhawk had shot her, her own Nano-Fiber Mesh body-suit had prevented a sucking chest wound, but the force from it still left an aching soreness in her sternum. "If I randomly pass out on our way back, you can pretend to be the hero."
"Will... do...", V gasped again. He wondered what had happened since he'd ran out of the AV. Regardless, Hildegarde had won and Jean Starhawk was dead just like his crew and family. One less thorn in their sides. Now there was just the issue of a certain Bounty.
The return of both V and Hildegarde to the Horus was triumphant. The outlaw walking up into the AV with Starhawk's custom pistol held aloft. V just staggered in behind her as he was the one who needed to be carried back to the base; he was freezing and out of breath. Jericho just stood up and gave Hildegarde a hug, the outlaw wincing slightly from the embrace.
"I knew you could do it.", Jericho crooned.
"If I had more power, it wouldn't have even been a fight.", Hildegarde noted.
"That's a cool gun, though! What's it called again? Caster?", Asher added.
"Spell-Striker. It's useless, it's a single-shot bolt-action pistol. It'll look nice on the wall, though.", Hildegarde turned towards Jericho. "You doubted my armor. You said it just looked nice and made my tits look good. It bloody works, Handsome Jaune wasn't blowing smoke!"
"I stand corrected. It is functional after all. Had it not worked, you wouldn't be standing here.", Jericho mused.
"Wait... Handsome Jaune? Who the hell is that?", V asked.
"The creator of my body-suits. They're special. He doesn't make them anymore. He's a bit... off... in the head.", Hildegarde noted.
"Another one of our allies. You'll meet him someday...", Jericho mused.
"Now, if you don't mind me, I'm going to sleep for the next three days...", Hildegarde sighed before pulling her cot down from the wall and going to sleep. She needed to regenerate her core's power. Besides, the trip to London would be a long one with multiple stops along the way. The only thing left to do now was go and 'claim' her 'bounty'.
"So, next stop London?", Scotch asked.
"London. Take us to Monarch.", Jericho stated. "Stop for rest if you need to, we have plenty of time."
The Horus took off from the abandoned cement factory. As they rose higher into the skies, a few local police vehicles could be seen far down below responding to the gunfight earlier. Those poor corpo-cops would have a huge surprise on their hands when they finally found Starhawk and his team dead in their own business. Asher didn't bother to wipe the CCTV feeds as Jericho had said it would leave a good example as to why nobody should mess with them. V just sat on his cot. One step closer to the end of his own journey. He didn't want to fight a war, he just really wanted to be free from everything.
Chapter End.