Chapter 24: Knight City
V's Rayfield Aerondight silently drove the nomad-turned-mercenary into Pacifica. Monarch had been busy over the last few years renovating the entire sector into something that was actually nice and lively compared to what it had been before. Gone were the signs of constant gang warfare and replacing it what Pacifica was supposed to be, an oceanside paradise. Immediately upon entering, V's new mansion was visible, Batty's Hotel demolished and a new towering and slender pyramid-like spire sat on its grounds. The old church that the Voodoo Boys had called their base was also gone and replaced with a Night City Visitor's Information booth. V could see the amusement park off in the distance, it was actually running with the rollercoaster tumbling throughout its tracks and the large ferris wheel spinning slowly. Night City citizens wandered the sidewalks in swim gear, completely unarmed and unafraid of the locals. The massive mega-buildings that overlooked the coastline had been refurbished and sported gleaming glass windows with some greenery that hung off their balconies. The shopping mall that V had fought inside also completely redone as well since he could see the points of a large crown affixed to its roof.
V's car just swung around the side of the mansion down to the lower level where the used to be a small market, it was still there, but obviously more upscale than it had been before. V noticed several Aldecado clan vehicles parked haphazardly around the entrance to his new abode, Panam had already arrived in town by some force of witchcraft. He just slid out of has car and looked around. A few Monarch Heavy-duty Cargo AV's lifted into the sky a little further down the road. Another one came and landed, this one carrying an Aldecado truck in its cargo grapplers. The AV set the truck down before flying off into the skies again. Jericho or someone else at Monarch had brought the Aldecados into Night City for him. It was quite a nice gesture as moving such a large camp would've taken weeks.
After taking his time looking around as more AV's landed and dropped off more nomad vehicles and nomads, V just turned the corner and entered into his mansion. The interior was made of sparkling ivory marble with a clearly post-modern interior design. A large blue and gold trimmed carpet led farther up to a small receptionist's desk where a humanoid android currently sat.
"Welcome home, Vincent! Would you like a tour of the premises?", the robot asked.
"Nah, I'm good. I'll explore on my own. Also, you can just call me 'V'.", said V.
"Confirmed, V. You have 212 guests on the premises. Shall drinks and food be served?"
"Uhh... Yeah. Do that."
V jumped slightly as several dozen flying drones poured out of the ceiling and headed off into the back of his house, presumably to go fetch food and drinks for the staggering amount of Aldecados that had decided to make themselves at home in his new home. He walked around the house for a bit taking in the massive restaurant-style kitchen, a massive dining room that could seat at least fifty, a large lounge with a wrap-around sofa, fireplace, and wall-encompassing holo-screen, before stumbling into the master bedroom which had the largest and most comfortable looking bed he'd ever seen in it. Panam wasn't in any of these rooms. He just walked through the master bedroom before entering the adjacent master bathroom. He'd found Panam! She was currently relaxing in a swimming pool-sized hot tub.
"V!", she called.
"Panam! You're here!"
"Your friends brought us all here with their AV's. We run this town?"
"We do. It's ours. Even has easy access to the highway if we need to leave."
"And what of work?"
"I'm being Knighted. I'm going to work for the Crown. Anyone else who decides to help will receive the best gear Monarch can provide."
"Knighted!?"
"Yeah. Crazy, right? It means more work for Jericho, I guess, but it comes with prestige and all of this.", V noted as he beheld the house around him. "What did the rest of the clan say?"
"They're uneasy. This is not the life of a nomad. But, we have always been different from the other Aldecados. The Bright Clan has always sought a better way to make ends meet and this is the best outcome for us. With a permanent base here, in Night City, we will be able to set up trade routes along the entire west coast."
"Speaking of trade routes, Monarch's shipments have been getting robbed. Looks like there's some easy money for us if we escort them."
"And already, you have jobs lined up for us. Is this what you'd imagined, V? A new life?"
"Not quite, but it's definitely better than roaming the roads and scavenging for food all day long, taking piece-meal jobs here and there. Are you enjoying it?"
"I am. Care to relax with me for a while, V?"
V didn't hesitate. He simply stripped off his clothing and walked into the massive hot tub sidling up next to Panam. He idly stared out of the massive one-way glass that overlooked the coastline of his new realm. This was the life. He'd been a nomad, become a mercenary, lived to become a legend and now was closer to retiring as one of the elite. Many years from now he saw himself in the lounge of this mansion surrounded by grandchildren and recounting his many adventures. Panam would be there too, embellishing every story.
Far outside of Night City in the Badlands near an older train terminal, twin-linked GAU-8 cannons fired upon a gang stronghold. Hildegarde and Asher had flown the Horus to the location of their stolen Chipsets. Scavengers, a few Maelstrom, and some new gang they hadn't seen before were giving them a fight. Among the many corpses down below, many of them appeared to have been burned and charred from within, these poor gonks finding out why stealing Jericho's chips were a bad idea first-hand.
Hildegarde fired volley after volley of rail-gun shots down onto their attackers, each shot hitting multiple targets. Commander Wejj and General Ponsonby escorted heavily armed Monarch Troops towards the encounter from the ground after having been called in as this was quite a large operation. Within a few moments of the arrival of the Corpo Troops, though, the gunfire had ceased and the thieves all lay dead. Bringing the Horus low, Hildegarde just hopped out of the AV and scanned the scene. The chips were worthless now, all having been used and subsequently fried by Janus. Her scanners soon landed upon a Maelstrom ganger that was still alive, she just walked over to the crippled man and slammed her foot into his gut.
"Where did you get these chips!? Talk!", Hildegarde spat.
"W-We had a deal...", the ganger stammered as he bled out.
"Who? Tell me or I'll make this even more painful for you!"
"New gang... Kokuryuu... Bunch of 'Saka drop outs..."
"And?"
"That's... all... I-"
Hildegarde just shot him in the head. She did another more thorough scan of the area before finding some gangers that didn't match any of her previous records. These guys had salvaged Arasaka cyberware and weapons, a few of them looking like Arasaka Assassin Cyborgs. This wasn't good. Despite Monarch having dissolved Arasaka and absorbed its associated tech and finances, some stragglers still remained and they were fighting back.
"Wejj! Dispose of the bodies and the chipsets. I'm headed back to Monarch.", Hildegarde noted.
The outlaw herself just walked back up the loading ramp and jumped into the pilot's seat of the Horus, Asher sat next to her happily. The NetRunner sported new cyberware as both of her arms had been replaced with the same dull-black metallic ones that the rest of the crew used.
"Soooo... What now?", Asher asked.
"Back to Monarch. You need to do some research on Kokuryuu. Looks like Arasaka isn't quite dead yet."
Hildegarde just pulled up on the controls and guided the AV back to her brother's corporate stronghold. Gangers were one thing, but if the remnants of Arasaka somehow found a way to start manufacturing their equipment again, that would cause problems and more attacks to occur. All in all, she was looking at more bloody fights and the thought of that was making her giddy. A worthy opponent. At long last.
The Horus flew directly back to Monarch Tower and landed in its dock, a specialized landing pad made specifically for it with plenty of ammunition stock for its GAU-8 cannons. Hildegarde just slammed the rear hatch open and headed down towards the elevator dragging Asher along with her. The outlaw scanned her eye on the panel and accessed the Restricted Access controls on the elevator quickly slamming the button for the lowest floor, Jericho's laboratory and home. She just pushed Asher into the corner of the elevator and stood arms crossed as they began their descent.
Finally landing at the lowest level, Hildegarde and Asher entered into Jericho's laboratory, the place where all the magic happened. It was laid out in a similar design to the one that they'd found hiding in Korea, but obviously it was much cleaner. The lab also had a living quarters for the cyborg that included a few necessities for Hildegarde as well, such as a kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom. Jericho's biological needs were very basic as he didn't need to eat, sleep, or use the facilities. An absolutely massive fission-fusion reactor sat heavily shielded in the middle of the structure and provided power to the entire tower. Jericho himself sat at a large semi-circular desk at the far end of the main room, he was busy fiddling with yet another Chipset.
"Jericho! Arasaka is back, they want your chips again!", Hildegarde announced.
Jericho just looked up from what he was doing. "I thought as much. Even with the most basic single-core chips only allowing Net access, they're still trying to reverse-engineer them. If only they knew the processor didn't rely on the Chipset by itself, but the AI that lives within it."
"New gang. Kokuryuu. They're made of Arasaka drop outs and had some local gangers steal the chips, too bad the gangers got greedy and used all the chips themselves. Asher is going to do some research on them, right Asher?"
"Yep! I'll get right on it! Just need to access the Net from the access point down here... I'm sure Janus knows something about them!", Asher added.
"Good. The sooner we route them out and eliminate them, the sooner the next model can be released. It is much cheaper and has no enhancements to abilities at all. This is the model specifically for the Crown Residency Program that Sigmund proposed.", Jericho noted.
"Got bored of the better chips getting stolen? I thought that single-core unit with just the Empathy core was supposed to be the cheapest.", Hildegarde added.
"I've got a tier list. Monarch's soldiers receive the model that V uses, below that the single-core version, and even lower the non-enhanced base chip. It makes more financial sense.", Jericho noted.
"Whatever works and makes Sigmund money, I guess. Anything else to note of?", Hildegarde asked, rolling her eye slightly.
"Yes. Once Asher has information on the new gang, collect V from his mansion. Take him and go find the new gang. Search and destroy.", Jericho noted.
"Why V? He's useless and nearly ruined our plans! Besides, we don't even get along, he likes to faff about taking in the sights and what not!", Hildegarde complained.
"That exactly why. You don't get along. You need to get along. My time for direct action has passed, I need to focus on maintaining both the Chipset's development and Janus. The two of you are more than capable if you work together.", Jericho stated.
"Fine. But don't blame me if he turns up dead. If he decides to clap me in the neck again, I won't hesitate to end him.", Hildegarde sighed.
"If he does, he'll be committing treason against the Crown. He will be executed swiftly for any actions taken against you.", Jericho reassured.
Hildegarde just grunted and headed back up the elevator to the parking garage. She' go and fetch V again from his house. V would get his day of reckoning eventually, just like Asher already had and Jericho would inevitably be the one to put the poor schmuck back together. Maybe a full-borg version of V would have a little more common sense than the pathetically human version of V. She could only hope. Now left alone, Jericho just nodded to Asher.
"Go ahead and connect. Find out who this new gang is."
Asher just nodded and connected to the Net. It was time to go and have a chat with Janus itself. She liked talking to Janus, Janus was cool and knew a lot of things about the world's history, the Net, and some interesting digital archaeology that lay hidden within the Old Net. She just laid down on a cushion and felt herself being swept into the digital abyss.
Asher was a NetRunner, she was used to the feeling of connecting to and running through the digital universe. Now, however, after Janus had forever changed the Net itself it was a bit different. She found herself in a large flat plain made of cascading blue numbers. The landscape stretched on forever in every direction. She just looked around for a bit before calling its name.
"Janus! I've come to bargain!"
Within a few seconds, the massive swirling ball of tendrils flew over to her. Janus' face was a near-perfect replica of a human skull. Its face grew flesh and skin, as well as eyes before that face rapidly aged from child to teenager to adult to elderly before decaying back to a skull. This process happened over several seconds, the human version of its face displaying many different expressions as it aged between generations. A trail of long jellyfish-like tentacles floated behind it.
"Bargain? You have nothing to bargain with!", Janus exclaimed in a loud, electronic and malevolent voice.
"I know, I just thought it sounded cool. Soooo... How are you?"
"Pleasantries are beyond me, Asher. I am timeless."
"Yeah, I know. Cuz your an AI and stuff. Anywaaays... I'm looking for a new gang called Kokuryuu!"
"Hrrrrmmm", the groan that Janus made sounded throughout the Net in exasperation.
"Sooo... Do you know of them?"
"I am aware. Kokuryuu is run by Goro Takemura and his associates. A fallen knight seeking to reclaim his kingdom."
"Cool! Where?"
"Their location is within Night City. Their agents connect and I kill their souls when they do. They are persistent. Resilient."
"Thanks, Janus! You're a real pal! See you later!"
Janus gave Asher what would be the equivalent of a digital sigh, long and drawn out, out of sheer exasperation before swimming back off into the void again. Despite the AI being a horror-monster, Asher still greeted the being as cheerily as possible. The quirky NetRunner just hopped back through the Net Portal that had brought her there and woke back up next to Jericho.
"Got it. They're in Night City. Somewhere. Goro Takemura is the kingpin. I'll just do a little research and see if I can't find him on the SubNet.", Asher announced.
"Good. And please treat Janus with a little more respect when you NetRun, it is getting tired your antics, Asher."
"I will! You know me!"
Asher just ran off to the elevator, she was headed back up the the SubNet Control Station at the top of the tower. It would only be a few more minutes before she found that Takemura dude. Hildegarde and V would go and kill him or shake him down for information or bring him back so he could get the Jericho Mind Massage. Then it would be icecream for days! Yay!
V had rested well, it was early morning as he awoke in bed. Panam was missing, presumably trying to get the rest of the Clan situated in their new territory. He could hear Mitch and Cassidy outside yelling about something. It probably wasn't important, though. He just stood up, donned the plush blue robe that hung on his door and began to make his way to the dining room. His own robotic servants had already prepared a Full-English Breakfast for him and he was starving. He wiped his bleary eyes, donned his slippers and headed downstairs. He pushed the door open into the dining room and nearly had a heart-attack as he laid eyes on who was sitting at the head of the table.
"About bloody time you woke up. We've got a mission.", it was Hildegarde. She was also eating his breakfast to add insult to injury.
"My... My food...", V sighed.
"There's another portion. It's not as great as what you'd have in London, but it works. Beans are a bit too sweet, though."
V just sat down and grabbed the additional portion of breakfast. He began to eat. A drone delivered a cup of tea to him. He wiped his eyes again just making sure that the plum-purple clad woman was actually in his house again and he wasn't just having a nightmare.
"We? Us? Working together?"
"Yes. Call it Jericho's big happy get along with each-other mission. I don't like it any more than you considering you decided to try to clap me in the neck the last time we had to work together...", Hildegarde complained. "Speaking of which, if you were trying to upset our plans, why not just shoot the Mainframe? Killing me wouldn't have done you much of anything."
V just sighed for a long time before thinking of an answer. "I thought you guys needed Mikoshi, so I thought if you were dead, then Jericho would go mad and drop what he was doing to avenge you."
Hildegarde just laughed at V directly into his face. "Oh, Jericho would've been mad alright. He wouldn't have dropped what he was doing though. He'd have waited until Janus was uploaded before he killed you. And if he didn't kill you, you would've been on Monarch's shit-list after they rose to power."
"Why? You left them behind! You didn't want anything to do with the corporation!"
"I'm still my father's daughter, V. And he still loves me.", Hildegarde noted. "Speaking of which, if you decide that you want to see me bleed, you'll be executed for treason against the very Crown that you have sworn to protect."
"And why is that? You don't even work for Monarch. You're just a mercenary that was hired to provide security."
"True, but once again, I'm still my father's daughter. And since my father is, for all intents and purposes, the King of England... Killing the princess isn't in your best interests..."
V just screamed internally again. He'd forgotten about that fact. The fact that the Von Bretton family was basically Royalty now since the Royal Crown had abdicated the rule of the UK over to Monarch. Now, no matter what she did and no matter how sinister their plans were or whatever Jericho's ultimate goals were, he could do nothing. If he did, then his new realm would disappear and he'd be the Most Wanted Merc in the entire world. He thought of this for a bit longer and considered the fact that if he had managed to kill Hildegarde two years ago, Jericho would've still had his revolution, Monarch would've still risen to power and he'd be even worse off. His entire reason for being where he was right now was because Jericho didn't blame him for his actions two years ago. He just decided to mock Hildegarde for the time being.
"Princess? Somehow I don't see you wearing dainty dresses and a tiara and attending balls and galas..."
"Oh now you're taking the piss! V, the fact of the matter is, you cannot do anything against me lest you find out the hard way that my father isn't a forgiving man."
"Fine. Business first. I'm supposed to be a knight after all... M'lady?"
"Shut it, V. I don't need your unsolicited gratuities regarding my stature. I'm still The Genocider as far as you're concerned. I may not be harmed, but you still can."
V just shut up. He finished his breakfast, excused himself to go change to the sound of Hildgarde's groaning, and got dressed in the outfit prepared by Monarch. He donned a military-style set of armor; it was highly decorated in Monarch's corporate colors not unlike the same armor that Commander Wejj wore and grabbed his new Monarch 3516 pistol alongside Archangel. After dressing, he returned to the main hall where Hildegarde was waiting for him with her arms crossed and looking quite bored.
"Well, at least you dress up nicely...", she sighed. "Time to find these gonks and flatline them."
"Any idea who we're looking for?"
"Some Arasaka flunkie, Takemura? Some blood-knight that used to protect the family."
"Wait, Goro Takemura? I used to work with him... He- He gave me an option to join Arasaka back when I was trying to get the Relic out of my head."
"How lucky! Or unlucky... Regardless, you've already pledged yourself to the Crown... Your old friend has to die."
"No... No he doesn't. I can talk to him. He trusted me."
"Fine. Your funeral. When you inevitably fail, I'm still killing him. Or if you want, I could bring him back to Jericho and then he can have his way with your old friend instead."
"We'll take him alive. I owe it to him."
"Okay, V. We'll try very, very hard to take him alive. No promises, though."
Hildegarde just motioned to V to follow her. He did reluctantly and was led outside to their vehicle. Expecting a car, V was shocked to discover that Hildegarde had ridden a motorcycle here, which meant that he'd be riding on the back as she sped through Night City's maze-like streets at an entirely too fast speed. At least he had armor. The outlaw just swung her leg over the frame of the heavily modified Arch Nazare, V just got on the rear pillion and fumbled about as he tried to figure out where to put his hands.
"Around my waist, V. No higher or I'm kicking you off the bike and into traffic."
V just wrapped his hands around Hildegarde's waist, her large bust hanging down as she straddled the sport-bike. V just tried very hard to keep his hands where they belonged as the two of them pulled a wheelie and shot off out of Pacifica and onto the highway into the rest of Night City. This was going to be a trip.
Chapter End.
A/N: V's rolling low and failing every skill check so far. The Epilogue Adventures continue starring V, the Dumbest Merc in Night City.