(Cyberpsycho attack on Arasaka Academy. 13 confirmed kills)
David looks at the news next to his locker closet. He is in his MaxTac unform, about to go out on his patrol when the news from last week came on. He checks on the mirror inside his locker and can't believe how a few days of healing, upgrades, and training can change someone. He was a scrawny kid with big hair just a week ago. Now he is muscular man with short hair. The only thing that reminded him of the past is the zig-zag lines on his head. That is something he told his barber to keep while they were cutting. Want to keep something from his old life besides his cog.
"We have the culprit's name. David Martinez was a Triple Changer Cyberpsycho and neutralized by MaxTac." The news anchor reports. She is a cute woman, especially the all silver skin. Of course, they don't mention the reason he attacked the school on a Arasaka owned news network. Though a part of him wonders if he didn't go Cyberpsycho, would he have just beat up Katsuo Tanaka or kill him?
"Ah… You never eye screw me like that anymore." Melissa jokes as she enters the locker room. She sits next to David and prepares her helmet. "You ready for your first day?"
"Yes." David needs to forget his past. MaxTac has taken him in after his massacre. They gave him a choice of a bullet to the head or a paying job. To Night City and it's people, he is dead and put in a unmark grave. David puts on his helmet and activates the goggles. He checks on his revolver and loads the six slots. The MaxTac operatives leave for their patrol. Time to hunt some Cyberpsychos.
(Cpt Tucker)
"Criminals! Corpo Scum! Murderers!" The 6th Street veteran shouts as he fires at his friends. All he sees is the enemy he fought 50 years ago.
"Captain! Please stop!" One of them tries to get his attention but all she gets is multiply bullets thanks to his trusty shotgun, the very weapon he used in the 4th Corporate War. Three of them tackle Tucker and hold him down.
A Zetatech Surveyor hovers above a 6th Street base. The gangsters grab their weapons and aim at the flying car.
"They are not going to flatline Tucker." One of them shouts and the others yell in agreement. Their captain may have gone Cyberpsycho but comrades don't abandon each other. A couple of gangsters grab Tucker and take him inside a building while the rest fire at the ship.
David and Melissa jumps out of the airship and land next to the gang protecting the Cyberpsycho. Melissa reveals her mantis blades a nd slice through 6th Street gangsters while David fires his revolver. He then transform into his wolf form and bits through a gangster's neck. He then jumps and lands on another gangster to chomp.
One of them takes an axe and swings at Melissa. However, she gracefully dodges it and cuts her hands clean off. Melissa kicks the handless gangster and marches to the building with David transforming back and walking with her. She points at the second floor and he nods.
The 6th Street gangsters are on the second floor with one of them next to the window. The rest are holding their captain down. "Go check where those MaxTac are!"
"R-right." He slowly looks outside only to see a armored car with laser guns on each end. It fires and riddles the room with lasers, including the lookout. Once the shooting stops, Melissa kicks the door down and charge inside. One of them tries to shoot her but her mantis blades cleave through the gangster. Cpt Tucker sees one of their enemies and aims her shotgun. Melissa is distracted with her slaughter and doesn't notice the shotgun.
A robotic wolf crashes through a window and bites into the captain.
"NO!" The last 6th Street in the building not dead or being mauled shouts and is rewarded with her shouting by Melissa kicking her out of the window David went through. The Cyberpsycho tries to rip David off him as Melissa raises her mantis blades behind him.
The 6th Street gangster gets up and spits out the dirt that got into her mouth. She looks and sees the MaxTac squad exit the building with David carrying her captain's corpse. Three cars in red, white, and blue enter and a large group of 6th Street exit out of it. One of them is General Will Gunner. This gains the last survivor's confidence and yells at the two that killed her captain.
"Oh! Your screwed now! The boys and I are going to turn you into scrap and use your pieces to power our cars!" That is when she feels something touch the back of her head.
*BANG*
She falls to the ground with a hold in her head and General Gunner puts his gun away.
"Apologies officers. These idiots weren't thinking. We respect the law." General Gunner said with a smirk. David can tell he is lying and is about call him out.
"No problem citizen." Melissa stops him from talking. "Be sure to call us if you spot any other Cyberpsychos."
Their Surveyor lands next to them and they enter with the corpse. As they fly, General Gunner gets inside his car with his crew and drives off. Mission accomplish. After all, what is the best way to help your comrades in the 6th Street? You get rid of the useless ones.
Within an abandoned factory in Watson, a single police officer walks into what appears to be a massacre. Around eight corpses fill the building with signs of it being an attack. The officer kneels next to one of them and uses an ID Cyberware.
"Doubledealer. Another Edgerunner crew. Why are they attacking them?" He gets up and looks at a wall, where graffiti seems to be recently made. A skull with a giant red visor on it with spider legs coming out of it. It is unmistakable in which gang caused this destruction.
"The Maelstrom has struck again." A detective enters the factory with a squad of officers with him. His mood sours once he sees that officer. "What are you doing here Officer Prowl? The chief told you to not get involve with this case."
Prowl is a officer known around the department for investigating the Maelstrom and their activities lately. Even destroyed one of their warehouses. Though he now finds a lead on them. Specially, the people they have been hunting.
"Detective, this is the fifth crew slaughtered by the Maelstrom. If you search amongst their dead, you may find their Netrunner gone as well."
"This is Night City Prowl. This Edgerunner crew must have piss off the Maelstrom and got flatline to send a message." The detective sees this murder as the same as the others, just normal criminal activity. Something Prowl refuses to believe.
"Netrunners have been going missing and the culprits always link to them. We need to consider the Maelstrom are planning something." Prowl said and the detective just roll his eyes. Another officer comes forward.
"There you are Officer Barricade. Get your partner out of my crime scene."
Officer Barricade grabs his partner and makes him leave the factory. "Scrap, Prowl. I can't keep bailing you out of these situations. You are going to piss someone off if you keep looking."
"I'm sorry Barricade but if the Maelstrom is planning something terrible, we need to stop them. Especially if it has to do with the Net."
(Patrick Baleman)
Once the body has been given to the department, Melissa and David are flying once again. Melissa is cleaning her mantis blades while David thinks about the mission.
"So you got your beak wet. How was it?"
David looks at his hands and wonders. "Why didn't we flatline the rest of those 6th Street?"
"They weren't our target. Those we took down were protecting our Cyberpsycho." Melissa explains and she grins. "Good to know you are bloodthirsty enough to keep going."
The new MaxTac operative sighs at Melissa's praise. He didn't want to keep fighting because he wanted to, he just wanted to take down the 6th Street because of their crimes. But their job is to takedown Cyberpsychos. Not gangsters.
They get a call and David answers. "MaxTac, how can we help you?"
"Hello, this is V. I would like to report a Cyberpsycho."
"Okay. Describe the Cyberpsycho."
"His name is Patrick Baleman." V gives the name and David goes into the database and search that name. Patrick Baleman is a Arasaka Corpo known for targeting only women and has a history with sexist comments and assault. As well as things that make David want to vomit.
"Got it. Once we have him, we will be sure to offline him in about-"
"Don't track him." V said as gunshots could be heard. "He is in my house right now. Would really like some backup now."
Next to V's apartment building, the Zetatech Surveyor hovers around it. Melissa activates her x-ray vision and can see Patrick swinging a axe but V is dodging every attack while punching every time he misses. "She is kicking his ass. Come on David. We can't let her have the fun."
That is when Patrick grabs a rocket launcher and aims at V but she kicks him, causing him to fire the missile out of the window. It hits the Surveyor. Both of the operatives fall of it. David grabs Mellissa and transform into another Surveyor with her in the driver seat.
"You scanned another vehicle?!" Melissa questions this new form. A Triple-Changer has a risk of becoming a Cyberpsycho so having a fourth mode is dangerous.
"We'll talk about this later!" David crashes into the room. V looks at her destroyed room and yells at MaxTech as Melissa exits David, who transform back to human.
"What the hell is your problem?! I called you to kill him, not destroy my home!" V looks at them and Patrick goes for a stab in the back but she disappears from his view. She reappears behind this Cyberpsycho and kicks him towards the operatives. "Now get to it!"
Patrick raises his axe but Melissa unleashes her mantis claws first and stabs through Patrick. He looks at the blades in his chest and he looks confused. "I can't die. I can't die to a woman."
"Whatever." Melissa rips through Patrick's head, bisecting him. V's clapping gets their attention.
"Thank you both for coming." V thanks them for dealing with him. David can't help but remember her disappearing at an instant.
"Do you have a Sandevistan?" He asks.
She smiles and points to her back. More specially her spine. "Yep. Got it a few days ago. It's military grade too."
David nods and Melissa has a question as well. "So... How do we know he was a Cyberpsycho? We want to ask you a couple of questions."
"Come on... He was attacking in my house and shot at you both. That sounds like a Cyberpsycho to me." V widens her eyes and suddenly sends them some eddies. "I forgot to donate to MaxTac. We should always help our law enforcement."
Her devious smile is ignored as they count the 'donation.' While this is a normal interaction for Melissa, David can't believe the amount. This is more then what his mother could've get if she spent a week overtime in the hospital!
"Thank you for your donation. We will be on our way." Melissa said. They leave out of crashed hole by jumping out of it. David transform into a Surveyor with Melissa entering inside him.
David flies away with Melissa questioning David. "So you have another vehicle stored in you?"
"Yeah..." David is worried that she may report him but she simply sits down.
"Okay. Hey we got an alert at Japantown. You can take us there."
"You are not going to report me?" David asks and Melissa laughs.
"David, you are my partner. We going against the same Cyberpsychos we were. We need all the chrome we can insert into us." Melissa said, which makes David feel better. That is until she finishes. "If you go down again, it's my job to put you down. Just like it is your job to do the same for me."
V watches the Surveyor fly away and contacts her boss. "Mr. Jenkins, Swindle sent his lapdog Arthur Baleman after me. Yes. He must have known about looking for dirt. Yes, I called MaxTac to offline him. No sir, I'll deal with Swindle myself."
(Bludgeon)
Two Tyger Claws are destroyed thanks to a rampaging tank going around Japantown.
"What the matter trash?! Come on you little Tygers!" The tank mocks these Yakuza as he fires from the mounted guns to take out any fools coming his way. One of them is a netrunner, looking from the window of a restaurant. He begins hacking the tank and sends an electric shock. He finds the hacker first and fires a shell into the restaurant, destroying the room with the netrunner inside. The late shock however stops the tank in his place. Having no choice, Bludgeon transform back into his human form as David and Melissa land on the streets and looks at the Cyberpsycho's back.
"A samurai?" David questions as Bludgeon turns to face them and Melissa whistles casually.
"A samurai skeleton."
No face, just a skull in samurai regalia roars at them and unsheathes his katana. Melissa takes out her mantis blades while David fires rounds from his revolver. Bludgeon slices the bullets at rapid speed and runs at them. Melissa clashes with the Cyberpsycho while David transform into a wolf and runs behind him.
David jumps on Bludgeon's back and bites into him. "Time to play fetch with your bones!"
"Oh good! A dog." Bludgeon comments as he ignores the pain and grabs David. "I will keep you. First, let's perform your neutering!"
He lifts the wolf and slams him into Melissa. The fall slams her head to the ground and breaks her helmet, which worries David. He transform back into human mode and checks on her. He breathes a sigh of relief.
"Good... She is only unconscious." David gets up and glares at Bludgeon.
"Give me a glorious death MaxTac!" Bludgeon shouts with all his might. David runs at him and transform into a armored car to slam into the Cyberpsycho. The Cyberpsycho samurai laughs as he latches on the car and stabs the front. The car crashes into a building then steps back. He then bombards the building and watches it collapse.
The Cyberpsycho jumps out of the rubble and towards David. He transform into his human form and fires his revolver. It hits his helmet and slashes David's chest. As he falls, Bludgeon lands on top of David and raises his katana. Ready to finish him off.
"Die at the hands of the great Bludgeon!"
A bullet hits through his chest thanks to an awaken Melissa. "Now David!"
He transform into his wolf form and leaps to bite through Bludgeon's throat. They both collapse and David transform into a human. He checks his revolver and aims at the downed Cyberpsycho.
"Wait..." Bludgeon mutters through his ripped throat. "You have beaten me MaxTac. Before you kill me, scan my alt form and take it as your own. I refuse to let my power be forgotten."
David considers his words but Melissa shouts while holding the bloody gash on her head. "Don't think of it! David! You have scan too many forms already!"
David looks at the Cyberpsycho. He should finish him off. Just pull the trigger but his obsession with being better outweighs the risk. He wants to keep improving and the transformations are the best shot. He sheathes his gun away.
"Transform. Let me finish you off with your own tank."
The Cyberpsycho transform into a tank and David scans the form. He transform into a similar tank as well but in purple and fires a round at Bludgeon, blowing him up.
"Cyberpsycho neutralized." David transform back and runs to Melissa to check on her and her head wound. "Looks like it didn't go through your skull. We should call it a-"
He looks down and finds Melissa's mantis blades near his neck. She is giving him a look that says 'Answer of die.'
"Are you still in control? Am I talking to a Cyberpsycho?"
"Come on Melissa. Don't you know by now? When it comes to these modes, I'm just built different." David said with a big smile on his face and helps her up.
Prowl and Barricade are driving in their police car forms in Arroyo. Swerving around construction sites that never seem to finish. They transforming cops has got a call about a possible location on Shadow Striker, the Cop Killer of Night City. Once they enter a construction site, they transform and pull of their guns.
"I'll go around." Barricade points to a door where Shadow Striker is no doubt behind.
"Copy that." Prowl watches his partner leave and he places his back to the wall and next to the door.
"You ready Barricade?" Prowl contacts his partner but doesn't hear anything on Barricade's end. "Barricade? Are you ready to breach?"
Something strikes the back of his head and Prowl finds himself on the ground, surrounded by blurry figures. One of them is a woman, who fits Shadow Striker's description.
"Oh joy. Another cop to add to my collection." Shadow Striker hits Prowl with her boot and everything turns dark.
Next Time- Prowl's Capture