Chapter 18: Decisions
The landing pad outside of Monarch's corporate headquarters was quiet, a few other corporate AV's landed and various workers or business partners left and headed for the elevator doors across the long bridge that separated the parking structure from the rest of the building. The top floor of the landing structure had a nice view of downtown London, the Thames having widened and swallowed most of the streets and leaving an odd partially submerged London as a result. A few hovercraft-modified construction vehicles worked tirelessly far down below building a floating highway that connected the taller mega-buildings with the victorian architecture. Many of the older historic buildings had also been raised from their foundations onto floating platforms that moved with the tides, no doubt due to whatever plan Monarch had promised. The only person at the Horus was Asher, the rest of their merry group was missing. V just sighed and looked over the railing. They weren't leaving any time soon, so instead of stay in the AV with the quirky NetRunner, V just made his way back into the corporate building.
As V pressed the elevator button again, the doors opened suddenly revealing another squad of Corporate Guards, another leader in similarly decorated armor reached forwards and grabbed V by the collar and pulled him inside. "Come with us.", he stated. His nametag read 'Ponsonby'
"What did I do?", V asked in surprise as he was forcibly pulled into the elevator.
The guards didn't say anything, the just shuffled around the confused merc and pressed another button on the control panel, the elevator began to rise again, flying past the 45th floor towards the upper levels. V figured that Jericho had something to do with this, or perhaps Siegfried had seen their pit fight and was now mad at V for some reason. He had no idea.
The elevator eventually stopped on the 90th floor, the doors opening into another long hallway with blue and gold accents on the walls and carpeting. Massive family portraits lined the hall as it continued down into a set of red cedar double doors. Commander Wejj was standing outside of the doors at the end of the hallway. Ponsonby and his own set of troops just shoved V forwards and began to escort him towards the office at the end of the hallway. V noticing the portraits as he was pushed past them. Two of the portraits depicted Sigmund and his father dressed in royal regalia, another one of a woman he didn't recognize, but due to the facial structure, was presumably Hildegarde's mother. The final portrait was of a younger Hildegarde with both eyes, longer hair and the same permanent scowl that seemed to run in the family.
"Hail! Ponsonby, thank you for escorting Vee. I'll take over from here.", Wejj added. Ponsonby saluted before turning and leaving.
"Hey! What's this about? I don't really like being manhandled by corpo cops every day!", V asked in confusion.
"You'll find out soon enough...", Wejj sighed as he opened the doors behind him into the CEO's office.
The inside of the office was overly ornate in a clearly victorian style with the wall architecture looking like something from Buckingham Palace had been lifted and copied directly into the space. A massive mahogany desk sat at the adjacent wall with a wingbacked chair behind it. Sigmund paced around the room while Hildegarde and Jericho stood in front of him. Scotch was helping himself from the CEO's own wet-bar completely oblivious to the conversation that was happening in the room.
"...And you're sure about this? How would we even get that to work?", Sigmund ranted, V clearly missing the first half of the argument.
"It is a reliable technology. Your plan of a 'Floating London' simply isn't feasible without the required technology. There is a Revolution coming, and the only way to guarantee Monarch's survival is to ensure the city is protected.", Jericho noted.
"He's right, Siggie. We both have the same cores powering our cybernetics. A larger one could easily power the entirety of London...", Hildegarde added. Sigmund just continued to pace around between the two of them.
"You could move the entire city away from the British Isles if you so chose, or you could interlink every city in the UK and move the entire country. The power is near-limitless.", Jericho added.
"It would require minerals imported from Mars. The radiation shielding on such a reactor would be insane...", Sigmund argued.
"But cooling it would be simple, since you already have an abundance of water underneath your city.", Jericho mused.
"And we've been building a Floating London for decades. The structure is already there, it just needs a power source.", Hildegarde added.
"Hrrrmm... Look. I'll buy the designs from you, Jericho. I'll send them to the Crown. If they agree to this proposal, then we'll move forwards with it. I doubt the rest of the world will agree with a mobile city, but we have to do what we have to do to survive...", Sigmund relented.
Jericho didn't say anything else, he just handed over a small datapad to the flustered CEO of Monarch. V surmised that Jericho had told the man about his plans of a Revolution and that this was one of the ways that Monarch could survive the impending fallout. So much for 'death to all corporations'. Jericho turned around and finally noticed V standing in the doorway next to Wejj.
"Aha, V. You're awake. How do you feel?", Jericho inquired.
"Good, I guess. New cyberware... Feels a bit off, but I'll get used to it.", V noted.
"No noticeable glitches, then? Good. By the way, pit fights are to the knockout, not the death."
"Yeah, I know. Had a little bit of a... compatibility issue I guess."
"Just be glad I went easy on you, V...", Hildegarde sighed.
"You went easy on me? I think I had you on the ropes there for a second."
"Perhaps, but I still won."
"Now, children. It's time for us to leave. We've had our fun for the day. It's time to get down to business...", Jericho interjected. He began to leave the office, walking past Wejj and back towards the elevator.
V and Hildegarde just followed behind the cyborg. Their next destination awaited, wherever that might be.
The long walk back to the AV landing pad was uneventful. A few corpo lackeys asked for Hildegarde's autograph or wanted to pose with her for pictures. Despite apparently being the most wanted woman in Europe, she was still a popular Legendary Merc in her home city. V idly wondered if she was as ruthless as she was now back when she worked for Monarch when she was younger. Her approach to most situations definitely seemed to stem from the cutthroat lifestyle of a corpo queen, use others to gain an advantage and eliminate them before they have a chance to use you. Except instead of the usual office-betrayal it was actual betrayal that ended bloody. V's overall standing in the world was a lot simpler, be free, survive, get a job to get money, use money to survive, rinse and repeat. He thought about Jericho's lifestyle, he didn't need to eat or sleep although he could if he chose to for appearances and his days were of endless plotting vengeance upon those that had wronged him. He also had some downtime between his plotting and used that time to rail Hildegarde as it had become awkwardly apparent.
Jericho just walked up into the AV, taking his usual seat at his computer desk. The screen of the laptop-like computer was already abuzz with text and maps of their next location. Scotch wobbled his way into the pilot's seat against better judgment and began to start the flight sequence. Despite being absolutely hammered, his Vehicle Zen did the work for him. Asher was already in the co-pilot's seat and had their Veil up as the rear hatch closed behind Hildegarde as she entered. It wasn't long before they were in the skies again, this time heading west towards North America.
"Where to now?", V asked.
"Scylla. In Manhattan.", Jericho noted.
"Silla? What's that?"
"My brother's new corporation. A biotech company using my old designs for their mass-produced cyberware. Cheap toys compared to my superiority. He has contacts with Militech and Arasaka and has been selling them modified designs for decades. It's time to pay him a visit.", Jericho mused.
"Jericho. Are you sure he's even still alive? I mean, you're like 90 years old. Your brother's gotta be pushing 85..."
"I am 89 years old, V. My brother still lives and still runs the corporation. His will be the first to fall. The first of be fed upon by those who feed on carrion.", Jericho sighed cryptically.
"Really? Who's next, then? You can't really take down all of the corpos!"
"Militech... Arasaka... Kang Tao... SovieTek... The big players in this war to end all wars...", Jericho noted.
"And? Are we flying all over the world again? Destroying corpos and taking names?"
"Oh no, V. We only have to return to where this all started... Ouroboros... Night City... The City of Shadows."
V just sat back for a moment. Night City? Jericho's Revolution would start there, in the last Free City in the world. What was he planning? V still had friends in Night City, if his plan was to level the place, this wouldn't work. He couldn't let everyone die. Vik, Misty, Judy, all of his Fixer friends, Jackie's mom, Pepe, everyone. This was the turning point. Make a decision and live with it for the rest of your life.
"Y-You wouldn't... Level the city would you?"
"V. I promised a Revolution. The city will stand, but we will wash away the Shadows that curse it with eternal Night. Cut the heads off their false kings. Start an uprising that others will follow. The end of an age and the beginning of a new era... of Mankind Divided against corporations and their toxic influence that enslaves us!", Jericho explained. "Do you still stand with us? Or will you too turn your back on us?"
V tried to read Jericho's body language, but it was difficult. Hildegarde sat on the couch and leaned forwards as well, awaiting his response. Once again, he was present with a choice, a false choice. If he chose to oppose them, he'd end up flying out of the AV screaming all the way down until he made interesting artwork on the streets below just like Anders Hellman. If he chose to go with them, the world was going to burn. But just like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, perhaps the world would be better then there were no corporations anymore. None of the big players, at least. Monarch and the other smaller corpos would live and rebuild the broken world after this cataclysm. He could see the light above, but was still hesitant to fly too close to the sun, shaken by fear that his newfound freedom; his wings, would be burned away.
He did still have a plan, though. Hildegarde's neck and head were her weakness, the rest of her body heavily armored. Asher had NetRunner skills but no other cyberware to note of. Scotch was perpetually drunk. Jericho was the oddball out of the group being a full-borg with an unknown power limit. He'd taken on Adam Smasher and won, so he had some idea of what to do, but the Chipset made everything so much harder with its integrated enhancements and AI failsafes. If he had to, he could probably take them all on, taking out Asher and Scotch first before focusing on Hildegarde. When she was dead, Jericho would probably go on a rampage, blinded by fury and sadness. He could make his moves then and take out the cyborg before too much damage was done. It was a terrible plan that would end with him getting irradiated to death, but it would save the world he knew.
But then again, was the world he knew any better? What if the Revolution was successful? What if Arasaka and Militech were dissolved? What if smaller corporations rose up and promised a better future? Monarch would be the herald of reconstruction as that was their forte. What did that future look like? He didn't know and couldn't imagine it for some reason. For all of this time, he'd simply waited for the time when he could ride off into the sunset with Panam and the Nomads, but what if he didn't? A choice he had to make right now. Everyone was waiting for him. Play his cards close to chest, and know when to fold 'em.
"I stand with you. It's time to end this once and for all.", V announced. Hildegarde gave him a quiet golf-clap before sitting back. Jericho just nodded to him in acceptance. Asher and Scotch just accepted his vows. It was time to go.
V just laid down on his cot. He needed to rest. Needed to sleep on this major decision. He could still back out, right? He could run... But then Jericho would still find him. He could try to fight them, turn sides in the midst of combat... But then Jericho would destroy everything. Or he could just submit to his fate and accept the eventual consequences. He shut his eyes and attempted to get some rest.
"Wake the fuck up, V! This is war!", Johnny screamed at him. V stood on a battlefield, bodies falling around him as Night City burned in the background. He found his Malorian already held in his hand, aimed at a plum-purple outlaw who just stared at him in anger.
"So now you show your true colors... So much for standing with us... Did you think we wouldn't notice?"
V looked around, Asher's dead body laid at his feet, her chest blown in by the penetrating shots fired from the Malorian. Scotch wasn't too far off, also dead and face-down in the sandy desert of the Badlands. Panam and her Nomads fired back against the various mercs. There was a sudden blast of Cherenkov-blue energy as Panam was disintegrated along with half of the Aldecados. V couldn't see where the blast originated, but since it had arced overhead, knew that Jericho was to blame for this. Corpo cops and Militech soldiers seemed to struggle against an unknown force, gasping for air before their bodies began to wither and die; radiation. V ran forwards, only for the Outlaw herself to intercept him in his tracks.
"We trusted you, V...", Hildegarde sighed as she took aim on him.
"Reflex! Now!", Johnny exclaimed.
V aimed and fired, his shot hitting Hildegarde in the throat with a grazing shot. The outlaw seemed to stumble for a moment, her hand going for the wound as bright red crimson began to flow.
"You're going to die.", V noted. "I'm sorry."
V ran up to the incapacitated outlaw, pulling a grenade from his pocket and shoving it down Hildegarde's body-suit. He made sure to stuff it down deep, planting it squarely between her large breasts. He stood back as the grenade exploded, her own body-suit keeping the blast focused on its target. There was nothing left but giblets of the once infamous outlaw. Bits of Hildegarde rained down on him, her severed head displaying a look of horror as it fell to the ground.
"I do not take betrayal lightly, V. You swore to us that you'd stand with us, but you've forgotten all we've done for you. You would be dead if it weren't for the gift I gave you.", Jericho noted appearing just behind V.
"Wha?"
"You killed Hildegarde. A surprise in itself. But you shall go no further.", Jericho stated coldly and stoicly not showing any emotion at all.
V didn't even have time to respond before he was hit by the burn of radiation. He felt his own flesh begin to melt off his bones as the glowing blue light within Jericho began to envelope him. He raised his gun, but his arm just sloughed off into sludge. His legs melted, dropping him into the ground. Limbless and prone he could only stare into the glowing blue eyes that had saved his life a few months ago.
"I gifted you with greatness. Yet you are nothing. You will forever be nothing."
Jericho's arm-cannon simply extended, the burning radiation still scorching V's body. The barrel of the cannon aiming onto his face as blue energy glowed deep within. The cannon fired, the Cherenkov-blue blast whiting out his vision as he was disintegrated, there was no pain, just a feeling of absolute failure as everyone he loved died around him. Night City was enveloped in a nuclear blast, the shockwave extending far into the surrounding states and reducing the countryside to a sea of glass.
"FUUUUUUCK!", V screamed as he awoke from his nightmare. He slammed his head into the cot above him, awakening Asher who was currently asleep. The force of the hit catapulting the quirky NetRunner out of the bed and onto the floor. V just laid back down, rubbing his forehead.
"Bad dream?", Hildegarde mused noticing V's sudden awakening.
"Terrible. I saw the end of the world.", V sighed catching his breath. He was back in the AV and they were still flying towards North America. Jericho had taken the pilot's seat and Scotch was currently sleeping in the cot above Asher's, he snored loudly like a small 2-stroke motorboat.
"Well. That's not going to happen. A new future awaits us, V.", Hildegarde reassured.
"I dreamed that I killed you..."
"Yeah... okay. Sure... I bet that went well for you..."
"It didn't."
Hildegarde just chuckled lightly. Of course it wouldn't go well. She'd either kill V or Jericho would. V didn't have a power core. He was just like Asher or Scotch, just a bit more underpowered since he didn't even have an RTG to add additional power when needed. "Now you know not to try anything. You already made your promise."
"I know..."
Asher just got up off the floor from where she'd been launched. She just turned to face V.
"You have a hard head, V. I'm sleepy! Don't throw me out of bed again!", the NetRunner complained as she climbed back into the cot.
V couldn't sleep anymore. His own brain was betraying him and filling his memories with fallacies. This was the unification process that Jericho had warned him about, he was sure of it. He just walked over to the coffee maker and got himself a cup. He'd be fine. He could see the eastern coastline of the NUSA approaching. It wouldn't be too long before they finally landed and the Revolution began.
Chapter End.