Chapter 11: A Long Strange Trip

The elevator ride back towards the Edgerunner's suite was largely uneventful aside from a few large blasts of a horn sounding as they rode all the way back up the tower. The Ragnar had been parked in the parking structure with a note sent in regarding its maintenance. Upon stepping into their room and abode, David felt the ground lurch slightly as the Albion began to move. Lucy, Falco and Rebecca headed towards the large panoramic window that sat at the front of their suite and looked out of it. The Albion was moving under its own power, out of where it was docked roughly where the center of London used to be, and out into the English Channel. It was painfully apparent that the Albion was barely going to clear the remaining landmasses between the UK and France as it passed by. A few loud thuds and some odd listing of the entire vessel made it abundantly clear that the Albion had hit the seabed and kept on going. Returning to whence it came was now an impossibility. The open waters and the horizon soon awaited the massive ship as it cruised out into the world. The endless open ocean greeted them. The sheer size of the Albion's floating city made it sure that using the Panama Canal was pointless, this was why Jericho had mentioned it would take close to six months to get back to Night City; they would have to sail around South America. Regardless, the seas were peaceful and the crashing waves did nothing to upset the overly-stable platform that London and the rest of the UK sat upon.

David wondered about what would happen to the rest of the inhabitants of the UK, the ones who were left behind. He supposed that the roving bands of Nomads would take over whatever was left since the Crown had absconded and taken what was relevant across the seas. There really wasn't much left in the British Isles since the ice-caps had flooded most of the area. The important and historic parts were safely secured upon this floating bastion. The lurching and thudding of the hull against various shallow objects subsided and the Alion began to simply cruise along the ocean at an undetermined speed, it seemed fairly fast since they'd cleared the English Channel in record time, but only time would tell. It could be months or weeks before they made it back to NC. This time, he was ready. There was nothing in that shithole that could take him down this time around.

David stepped away from the window and sat down in the roughly circular seating area around a set of Holo-Screens that showed various newsfeeds from around the globe. Most of the News showed stories about the Albion and the UK leaving its terrestrial mooring and heading across the seas, for what reason they didn't know, only that it was historic and nobody had done anything quite like it. Speculation ruled and chaos reigned.

"Hello, David Martinez. I am Janus, your personal digital assistant. Is there anything you need?", A mechanical voice asked. Janus, the AI, was asking David if he needed anything right now.

"Oh! Hey, Janus. Can I get a Johnny Silverhand?", David asked idly, not expecting anything from the voice in his head.

"Of course. Would you like it chilled?", Janus asked.

"Yeah, sure. Cold.", David noted.

A few seconds later, a platform in the middle of the coffee table descended with four perfectly poured drinks. David just reached out and grabbed one of the glasses and sipped it. It was perfectly chilled and mixed to perfection. Janus was useful.

"Nice, you got some for all of us.", Falco noted as he sat down across from David. He also grabbed one of the drinks and savored its flavor. "Janus is pretty cool, I guess. Does everything for us, makes our lives easier..."

"Yeah. Dunno what it means in the end, but Jericho definitely set us up for life.", David sighed. Janus was a mysterious AI. It was helpful, but to what end? He scoffed, ignorance was bliss, things were going better than he'd ever imagined and it was all to Jericho and Janus.

"Yo, Janus! Cue that dance music!", Rebecca shouted at the heavens. A few seconds later, a disco ball descended from the ceiling and club music began to echo around their abode. The tiny girl began to dance like an idiot to the beat of the music.

Lucy largely ignored Rebecca and her ridiculous dance moves. There was a lot on her mind right now. David was still chroming himself out, but no problems had arisen since. He seemed back to his cheerful regular self and was unwilling to go down shooting like it had seemed he was. The Chipset that Jericho had given her allowed her to peer into the Net whenever she chose, and right now, Janus Entities were swarming all over their suite and the rest of the UK like schools of jellyfish. She recalled Jericho's plan, he was going to insert Janus into Arasaka's Net Uplink and then into the Net itself. The more she thought about it, the less Janus seemed like an AI and more like a virus. A highly intelligent and AI-driven virus. The bizarre mind-control that Janus was capable of; what it did to the Voodoo Boys, was a possibility for everyone connected to the Net. She was having second thoughts, had they made the right choice? Should they have just flown off to the moon? No. Jericho's plan would've moved forwards with someone else in their place and what side would they have been on then? The wrong one or the right one?

Lucy just stared out of the large panoramic window. Far down below, in the streets of London, hundreds of people gathered and set up tents and stalls in celebration of their true 'Brexit'. Even farther down below she could see the streets of Dublin and the massive smokestacks and circular barroom of the Guinness Brewery, people danced and celebrated. The whole bow of the Albion glittered like thousands of stars. David sidled up next to her.

"Hey, Luce. You okay?", He asked.

"I'm fine. How are you? You've gotten even more chrome, David... I'm worried about you."

"Like I said before, I feel better in chrome than I do in my own skin. And thanks to that Chipset Jericho gave me, I feel better than ever. My thoughts aren't littered with regrets or remorse. I can just be me; I mean, shit happens... Can't get all gonk-brained over the smallest things."

"Are you sure, though. No more bouts of cyber-psychosis?"

"None. Haven't had any intrusive thoughts since we met Jericho way back when. Hell, I could become a full-borg just like Adam Smasher and be fine, not that I'm going to."

"That's good... Hey, you wanna go hit the streets? Maybe grab some shards like old times?"

"Yeah. Let's head down. Falco can handle Rebecca."

David and Lucy just headed into the elevator, Kiwi seemed nonplussed and sat in the seating area next to Falco. Rebecca continued to try to get the other two to join in on her dance to no avail before settling down and grabbing one of the drinks David had ordered a few moments ago. As the elevator doors closed, it appeared that they'd ordered yet another rounds of drinks as the platform on the table descended again. Oh well, their crew would have fun all by themselves. It was time to go and enjoy their 'cruise'.

Kiwi just watched as David and Lucy left the suite. The two lovebirds were off on their own adventure, leaving her, Falco and Rebecca alone with each-other. Rebecca was largely preoccupied with playing around with Janus' capabilities, ordering weirder and weirder drink combinations and asking for everything under the sun. Falco was the only sane man among these gonks.

"Thoughts, Falco? About all of this?", Kiwi asked, taking a drag from yet another cigarette.

"About what exactly? This whole thing with Jericho?"

"Is there anything else?"

"Meh. Eddies are Eddies. Jericho pays well enough; Monarch pays better. I'm in this to set up a retirement fund if I live that long. Who cares what his motivations are?"

"He's planning an uprising. He's trying to destroy the Net as we know it and cause a second DataKrash. As a Netrunner, that means I'm about to become unemployed."

"And? You've got enough saved up to retire, why not take an early vacation?"

"That's not what I'm saying... The entire world is going to change if Janus gets uploaded into the Net. Are you sure we're on the right side?"

"Pretty sure. Pretty sure we'd all be dead if we weren't."

"Sure... Maybe. But if you could stop this, would you?"

"You're planning something, aren't you? I'm gonna tell you right now, stop. Do not do anything to fuck this up. We have a real nice thing going on right now. So what if the world is gonna change? Maybe this new world will be better than the old one."

"I'll take that as a 'No' then. Thanks, Falco. You've been helpful."

Kiwi just finished her seven-hundredth cigarette and stood up from the table. She was going to have to find Asher, as annoying as the Decker was. Asher tended to talk too much and she'd probably be the best choice in her quest to unravel the mysteries of Janus and the Master Plan. The tall Netrunner just hopped into the elevator and hit the 'Up' button. The DataCenter was a few floors higher up.

David and Lucy soon exited the elevator as were deposited onto the ground level. They walked out of the main hall of Monarch Tower and headed into the streets. London had been somewhat rearranged to fit on the upper decks of the Albion. Monarch Tower sat roughly in the city center with a large plaza in front of it, the House of Parliament to the left of it, Buckingham Palace behind it and the Eye of London to the right of it along with a section that would've bordered the Thames. Monarch Tower was clearly the bridge and control center for the entire vessel. The two of them just walked closer to the end of the plaza to see over the railing that overlooked the rest of London, some other districts stacked underneath the City Center. Farther down below they could see the huge cannons that made up one of London's Mass-Drivers. There were two more Mass-Drivers located on the stern of the ship. The closest one appeared to be able to aim in a 270 degree angle across the bow.

Avoiding the Mass-Driver for now, the view beheld a shopping district and a museum even farther down below before other major cities from the UK began. Dublin and Glasgow sat near the deck. Birmingham, Oxford, and several other historic towns to note were likely sandwiched in between the main layers, several hundred decks below between the surface deck where Dublin and Glasgow sat and the one they were currently standing on. What lay below the surface decks were likely working-class areas and other utilitarian areas to maintain the ship. The view out over the front of the bow was nothing but endless ocean, night was falling and the sun was setting on the horizon. Waves crashed against the massive titanium hull but didn't upset the ship at all.

"Damn. What a view. I feel like I'm on top of the world.", David noted. He could see streetlights down below illuminating the scattering of roads and alleyways of the distant towns and cities all amalgamated into the Albion.

"I know, right? It's a lot like what we saw outside of Night City, just the stars and the setting sun... But we're still in a city... A City on the Seas. I never thought anything like this was even possible.", Lucy sighed.

"Better than the moon?"

"Not quite, but it's pretty close. C'mon, let's go enjoy ourselves."

David just took Lucy's hand and walked away from the viewpoint. A floating city. Who would've thought. The plaza they'd walked through was full of various carts and stalls with vendors serving food and hocking various merchandise. Children ran and played in the streets. Nobody was armed and there weren't bands of gangoons standing on the street corners menacingly. A joyous folk band played tunes and took tips. David tossed a few Eddies into their bucket and walked on. A stall on their right showed off a handful of home-knitted dolls. He recognized a few of them, particularly a doll dressed in a plum-purple bodysuit and an eyepatch, Hildegarde was popular as it seemed. He also spied a few yarn doll versions of himself and his own crew, they were getting popular too.

"We'll take the whole set.", Lucy noted to the shopkeeper selling yarn clones. The yarn clones just went into a bag. They'd look nice up on the shelf back in their suite.

David just stared at the group of yarn friends they'd just purchased. Rebecca would find these funny. Hildegarde, probably not. He just walked on, this time taking a moment to order some of the 'famous fried foodstuffs' from one of the stalls. Two sausage rolls from 'Greggs' landed into his and Lucy's hands. It wasn't bad, to be honest. It was better than the 'chip buttys' they'd gotten from Hildegarde. It had a flaky pastry crust. He and Lucy soon queued up for a ride on the Eye of London. An even higher view of the floating city awaited them.

David and Lucy just hopped aboard the cart as it landed in front of them. It was just the two of them, alone, as a larger family took the cart behind them on the Eye of London. Within a few moments, the massive ferris-wheel began to spin up, taking them higher on the skyline over London. Lucy dumped the bag of yarn friends onto the table between them and began sorting them out.

"Hmm... There's only one problem with these...", Lucy noted.

"Oh? What?", David asked.

"We're all the same size. Hildegarde is the same height as you, Rebecca is tiny, Kiwi is taller than everyone...", Lucy noted as she sat the yarn friends alongside each-other.

"I think Rebecca would be happy if she was the same size as everyone else."

"Oh, she would. I'm half surprised she hasn't asked Jericho for longer legs."

David looked at the yarn dolls for a moment before he also spied a Jericho doll. It didn't really look too much like the cyborg other than it was bald and wore a ratty trenchcoat. The Rebecca doll had all the appropriate tattoos. The Lucy doll had the same iridescent hair. The Kiwi doll had a look of apathy on its tiny yarn face. The Falco doll had his signature facial hair. The Hildegarde doll had a permanent scowl. His own yarn clone wore the same hi-vis jacket that he did and looked smug.

"Well, we're in this together.", David noted positioning the David and Lucy dolls together.

"And Kiwi is probably still with Rebecca and Falco.", Lucy noted as she bunched the other dolls into a pile.

"Hildegarde and Jericho are probably doing things together...", David noted as he put the Jericho doll and the Hildegarde doll in an incriminating pose.

"That's all of us except Scotch and Asher. We don't really know them as well, so..."

"Maybe they're doing the same thing that Jericho is with Hildegarde?"

"No, wait. I found Scotch, he's passed out under the table and Asher is sitting on top of the car on the exterior.", Lucy mocked. The yarn dolls of Asher and Scotch were still in the bag. Neither Lucy nor David really knew too much about their stranger teammates other than the fact that Scotch was a drunken buffoon and Asher was crazy.

"Hey, look! We can see into our suite from here!", David noted.

The Eye of London had reached its apex and the two of them could see into the windows of their Suite. The silhouettes of Falco and Rebecca were visible. The smaller silhouette still danced around the room. Kiwi was absent, though. They idly wondered what she was up to, but it probably didn't matter. She was probably out smoking another carton of cigarettes on the other side of the suite

"Now... If I were you and you were me, what would we do?", Lucy asked as she picked up the David doll and forced the Lucy doll into David's hands.

"Oh, I have an idea..."

The cart that Lucy and David occupied just began to sway a bit as it made its course around the Eye of London. The yarn dolls all had a great view of what was happening. Their tiny button eyes took in every movement. If they could've covered their eyes, they would've, but unfortunately, they were all just inanimate stuffed animals.

High above their 55th floor suite, the DataCenter was running at full-steam. Asher ran around to the various Holo-Screens and glanced at the data streams as they came in. She glanced up as the elevator chimed and Kiwi stepped out into the chaos.

"Oh good, you're here! Grab a headset and log in! I need some help.", Asher cried.

"I- I uh...", Kiwi stuttered before Asher shoved a headset onto her skull and turned it on. She shuddered slightly as various data feeds from across the city and the globe smacked into her brain. "Ow. Shit. What the fuck is going on?"

"Oh you know, the usual. London hasn't been very popular with the EEC or the ESA or anyone recently! Just knock their attempts at Black-ICE'ing us away! Janus can take care of most of it, but...", Asher cried again in a panic.

Kiwi's visual feed suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. There were hundreds if not thousands of attempted hacks aimed at them. The Janus Entities swarmed all over the Albion. Swarms of digital jellyfish attacked and diverted around the various threats. It was absolute chaos in the most literal terms. She had to help, just giving up now meant that Jericho would catch on to her plan and have her executed in the most painful way. She just looked around the room and saw a vulnerability in the network.

"I'm on it. Someone left the Holo-System unguarded. A quick firewall and we should have-", Kiwi was cut off mid-sentence.

"I knew I forgot something! Janus! Blackwall these fuckers!", Asher announced.

The Janus Entities just applied some sort of Blackwall-Clone to the entire subnet of London and the Albion. The attacks began to lessen before only a few hacks made it through.

"I've got a trace on them. Piggyback off me, I've got their IP's.", Kiwi noted.

"Coolest beans! Gottem! Fry!", Asher shouted, blowing Kiwi's eardrums out.

The panicked Netrunner just sent Jericho's Black-ICE towards the intruders. Digital avatars convulsed as they were fried in meat-space. Now that the chaos was over, Asher calmed down a bit.

"Awesome! A reason to have more than one Netrunner, right? You did good, I'll put a commendation up for you. Jericho will be happy.", Asher noted.

Kiwi just pulled off the headset and logged off for the time being. "Yeah. About that. What's Jericho doing, exactly?"

"Jericho? He's just doing what he set out to do! He needed an old-skool Decker like me for some reason... Then he needed a Solo who could get things done without leading everyone to us due to his nuclear properties... Then he needed a pilot that knew how to drive everything."

"But what is he doing?"

"Uhhhmm... He's got a plan right? Like insert Janus into the Net and then take down all the corpos. A corpo free world! We'll all start over again and if a corporation rises up, it'll be under his watch. It'll be better since we're all on board with it. We're the board room! We make the decisions, not some corpo lackeys with their questionable morals!"

Kiwi pondered this for a moment. A new world with a new corporation with only who she knew at the helm of it all? This could work. Maybe. She still didn't understand what exactly Janus was though.

"What is Janus?"

"Janus is an AI. An intelligent and evolving AI. Jericho and Janus are one in the same as far as I know. I dunno. Janus sees the Net and Jericho sees the world?"

"Okay. That explains... a bit... What happens after? What happens after all of this goes through?"

"A new world. A better world. For those who feast on carrion shall feast forevermore. That's what Jericho says. He's cryptic, you should ask him.", Asher concluded.

Kiwi just sighed and made her way towards the elevator again. She'd have to go and actually talk to Jericho if she wanted to know what was going on. David was too concerned with getting paid and getting laid. They were supposed to be helping Jericho with whatever he had planned, but it all seemed like they were just tag-along buddies at the moment. Nothing had really tested their skills so far. Jericho was likely down in the bowels of the Albion doing god only knew what. She just hit the lowest level button and headed for the basement. Strange thoughts began to creep into her mind. Who was Jericho really? David mentioned the cyborg's apparent memory loss and mentioned that part of their quest involved finding out who he really was. She had an idea of what Janus was and had seen what the AI had done to the Voodoo Boys. Was Jericho controlling Janus or was it the other way around? More questions to ask.

The elevator came to a grinding halt at the basement level. The doors opened into a vast and empty hallway the led directly to another elevator, this one with a biometric lock on it. Unfortunately for Kiwi, she lacked any kind of credentials that allowed her to access it. She didn't even bother trying to hack it, Janus would find out and then she'd be burnt to a crisp. She just pressed the big red 'Call' button underneath the main panel. A chime sounded softly.

"Hello, Kiwi. What brings you down to my lair?", Jericho asked through the intercom.

Jericho was not omniscient despite what it seemed. Kiwi just stood her ground. "We need to talk."

"By all means. The elevator is unlocked and will bring you straight to me. I suggest you take an Anti-Rad, it can get quite spicy down here."

Kiwi's BioMonitor hadn't stopped chirping low-level radiation warnings at her since she'd stepped into the basement. She just stabbed the Anti-Rad hypo into her chest and continued into the elevator. Ooh tingly. The elevator continued farther down into the bowels of the Albion, the chirping getting louder as higher levels of radiation were detected. Jericho was immune to the catastrophic effects of radiation and lived down here carefree since nobody in their right mind would walk into a running nuclear reactor.

The elevator soon came to a rest at the lowest levels in the Albion, the doors opening into a neat and tidy laboratory-like living space. Jericho sat in a chair and watched a few data feeds on a Holo-Screen. A holographic display showed a massive spherical reactor; it had to be several stories high and took up most of the lower expanses of Monarch Tower. How exactly he'd managed to build this in such a short time was staggering. A faint blue glow far off in the distance emanating from multiple portholes signified the location of the reactor itself, far away from the laboratory, but still within eyesight and walking distance. The radiation down here was higher than normal, but not enough to immediately kill. Kiwi took another Anti-Rad just to be sure and enjoyed the tingly feeling again.

"Careful, Kiwi. It is possible to overdose on those. If you do, you'll never stop tingling.", Jericho noted. Kiwi wasn't sure if he was being serious, but he probably was. "Now, then. What did you want to talk about?"

"You. I want to talk about you."

"Me? And what would you like to know about me?"

"Who are you, really? Nobody knows who you are. The Newsfeeds from the NUSA called you 'Jellico'. The local Mercs don't think you exist. The NC Mercs haven't even heard of you and Arasaka has launched a full-scale investigation into you.", Kiwi pried. Jericho's expression didn't change.

"I'd actually like to find that out myself. I can only assume that I was a very talented individual who both created Black-Project Cyberware, a Cyborg Chassis, and an AI at some point. To be honest, my memory ends abruptly in 2034. I remember being wounded and falling into a 'sarcophagus' of sorts before awakening again in 2063."

"You're older than I thought."

"Indeed. If I had to wager a guess, I'd probably say that I'm close to one-hundred years old, although the forced cyborg conversion has stopped any natural aging that would've occurred. Thus it makes it harder to figure out just who I was in my previous life. It would still be nice to know where I started, however."

"Previous life? What are you now?"

"I'm Jericho. The Jericho Project, a nuclear fission-fusion hybrid reactor, cyborg chassis and Chipset integration. A living weapon of sorts. A wetware CPU, a very highly specified septa-core Chipset and a set of very unique Black-Project cyberware all integrated into one unit. I am the only example of such that I am aware of. Bits and pieces were stolen and copied over the years, however.", Jericho mused. He had taken the only name that made sense to him at the time. "It really doesn't matter what my original name was. I am no longer that person. I am simply Jericho."

"That Jericho Project doesn't mention anything about an AI, particularly Janus."

"I know. Odd, isn't it? I believe the Jericho Project was created before Janus was. Janus was perhaps created to help attune the user of the Jericho Project in case there were incompatibilities. I have none such issues with my own cybernetics and Janus is simply a passenger. A voice to keep my company when I am alone, and I have spent quite some time alone.", Jericho frowned for a second, thinking for a bit. "This is why your crew's own Chipsets have a little fragment of Janus on them. Your does not since it's a base Chip; I still have reasons not to trust you fully yet. I have found nobody aside from two other people fully compatible with the Jericho Project."

Kiwi sighed. She was getting the short end of the stick again. No AI helper, just a base Chip with no AI. She still wondered who the two others were. "Two people? Who?"

"You already know them. As I said previously, some of my designs were stolen and copied. Hildegarde is an example of one, the only other person to be able to use a fusion-core as a power source enabling her more deadly functions. David is also fully compatible, although I'm not sure he's aware of it. Neither of them have fragments of Janus on their Chipsets."

Kiwi just stood there for a second. David was built different. Jericho was creating living weapons based on his own design. But what about Janus? Jericho didn't have any idea who he was aside from what he was able to glean from the bits and pieces of information littered within his own designs.

"What exactly is Janus?"

"An AI. Janus is very special and is less Artificial Intelligence and more Actual Intelligence. I consider Janus to be my child, as I am no longer capable of having any children by blood. Janus is a living and thinking digitally created organism indistinguishable from human psyche, perhaps a bit more than human intellect, and has greater powers over the Net. If there were no god, it would be necessary to create him, would it not?"

"M-Maybe.", Kiwi was still shocked and attempted to look as apathetic as possible. A God AI? Jericho was trying to create a religion? Or maybe reinvent one. She needed to know what exactly Janus was going to do once it was in the Net, then she could plan her next moves. "What is Janus going to do once he's in Arasaka's Net Uplink?"

"Janus is going to recreate the Net. Rebuild it. Erase the dead spots and open up the entirety of the Net to everyone once again. Of course, only select users will be able to access the Net. Corporations rely on the Net to access their funds and trade across the world. Without access to the Net, they will all fall down. And when all has fallen, there will need to be someone there to rebuild. Perhaps a little-known corporation from England who specializes in construction..."

"You're causing a second DataKrash."

"No. I'm not. DataKrash was a fluke. I am doing what Rache Bartmoss failed to do. I am doing what my predecessor swore to do. I am stopping all Corporate Wars from ever happening again. There is a hole inside my heart that knows what a Corporate War will bring. A painful memory that I can no longer remember the exact details of, but can still feel the pain from."

Kiwi sighed. Jericho's plan was insane. Crash the Net, rebuild the Net and the rest of the world. Have Monarch take over everything. If the Albion wasn't already a target, then a big red one was about to be painted across it. She had one last question.

"One last question... You and Janus, who's in control?"

"Oh, Kiwi... I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."

Another cryptic answer, this was going nowhere, but Kiwi thought she'd figured it all out for now. The entire plan relied on getting Janus into the Net Uplink at the base of Arasaka Tower, Mikoshi was what it was called. She had one option, stop the upload from happening. She knew Jericho and Hildegarde were close, maybe putting an end to the Outlaw would draw his attention for a moment? Just long enough to halt the upload? There were too many variables and David might react to her sudden yet inevitable betrayal. She had to be sneaky. Sneakier than usual. She just scoffed and headed back to the elevator for now. She had to think this over and consider what it meant to betray everyone. Again.

"Thanks, Jericho. It was eye-opening.", Kiwi concluded as she entered the elevator, took another Anti-Rad hypo and smashed the 'Up' button.

"Farewell, Kiwi. It was nice talking to you. Remember, try not to overdose on Anti-Rad. You won't like the perpetual tingling."

Kiwi just shook her head. The tingling hadn't stopped from the previous dose. She quietly hoped that this wasn't permanent and Jericho wasn't being serious. The elevator took her back to the basement level and then the main elevator took her back to the Edgerunner Suite on the 55th floor. She flung the door open suddenly and saw a ridiculous scene. Rebecca was drunk, pawing at Falco, and Falco was trying to pull away in a drunken stupor. A holographic Rockerboy stood in the middle of their table and played some tunes for them. Kiwi recognized this hologram as one Johnny Silverhand from Samurai. The hologram stopped singing for a moment and then looked directly at Kiwi.

"Sup, bitch?"

The small compartment on the Eye of London finally came to a rest at the bottom again. It was still swaying from its occupants having a different experience. The ride operator glanced into the cart and then glanced away. This was unacceptable.

"Please collect your... things... and your clothing... and... Never come back here again!", the ride operator announced.

David and Lucy hastily dressed themselves and collected the yarn dolls from their various positions around the compartment before heading away from the Eye of London. The ride operator just put yellow caution tape over the cart they'd been preoccupied inside before shuffling the next group of gonks into the next cart behind it. It would likely have to be steam-cleaned before anyone was allowed inside it again.

"That was fun.", David noted.

"Yeah... It was...", Lucy panted.

It was time to head back home. They'd had enough of the fun activities that London had to offer for right now. A good night's rest would do them both well. The two lovebirds just headed through the plaza towards Monarch Tower. They entered back into the Main Hall and headed for the elevator, hitting the button that would take them to their Suite. They entered into their Suite a few moments later, taking notice of Rebecca and Falco both passed out drunk in the seating area and Kiwi having a conversation with a Hologram before they both shook their heads and headed for David's room. They could hand out their yarn clones in the morning. It had been a rather long night and both of them were tired. They idly wondered what their crew had gotten into while they were gone.

Kiwi was having a hard time comprehending what was going on. The Hologram in the middle of the table was talking to her. Johnny Silverhand just stared at her for a while. The digital re-creation definitely looked like the long-dead Rockerboy and the face it was making at her was one of idle intrigue if not boredom.

"Hello...", Kiwi noted. She was now talking to Holograms. She was losing her mind. Also the tingling hadn't stopped.

"Bout fuckin' time! Who are you?"

"I'm Kiwi."

"You're named after a fruit? The hell are you, some kind of J-Pop star or something?"

"I'm a Netrunner."

"A 'Runner, huh? Here's an idea. Copy me onto a Shard and then slot that shard. I'm tired of being stuck in here with my ex-girlfriend... Alt Cunningham. She's a bitch and won't stop talking about some asshole named Janus."

Kiwi thought about this for a moment. Copying Johnny Silverhand's Engram onto a shard and then slotting that shard would suddenly mean that there was an Engram inside her head. Johnny had taken down Arasaka in 2023, though. He might have some wild ideas on how to stop Jericho and his plan. Against better judgment and probably due to the excessive tingling sensation that still coursed through her body, she copied Johnny Silverhand onto a DataShard and then slotted the Shard into her head. The Holographic Johnny Silverhand disappeared from the pedestal and soon reappeared in the room next to her. It was like he was really there.

"Fuckin' finally! I've got some room to breathe! Damn, your lungs suck. What happened to your face?", Johnny pried. It was apparent that Johnny was now inside her body and feeling everything that she was feeling. "What's this tingling?"

"I'm a smoker. The tingling is from Anti-Rad. What's going on, can anyone else see you or am I going crazy?", Kiwi replied, avoiding the question about her face.

"Nah. I think only you can see me. I'm projecting myself into what you see. I'll be right here in the back of your mind if you need me. Damn it feels great to have a body again, even if it is a woman's body!"

"That's a relief. How are you in my body?"

"There's a slot here for an AI. I'm sorta an AI, so in I go. I like it in here. It's very spacious and not cluttered with random thoughts."

Kiwi just sighed again, harder. No Janus, but instead she got a psychotic Rockerboy. Things could've been worse.

"Great. I'm sure we're going to be best friends.", Kiwi noted sarcastically.

"If you smoke as much as your lungs say you do, then I'm sure we'll be best buds. What do you like to drink?"

"Anything that burns."

"Preem. Hope you like tequila..."

Kiwi just sighed again, this time even harder. The tingling sensation finally stopped. She arched her back and walked to her room to undress and get ready for the night. She wasn't thinking about what Johnny could see.

"Shit, blue nipples? And they shoot spider-silk? You've got some weird-ass chrome..."

Kiwi just threw her hands up in exasperation before she covered her chest, grabbed her nightgown and face-planted into the bed. Johnny would be fine, all he could see right now was the surface of a pillow. If AI's could dream, then he'd get a front-row seat to whatever she dreamed about.

The next morning came as a surprise to Kiwi. She wasn't expecting to be face-first in a urinal at the Winchester Pub. Her gut roiled in agony as she ripped off her mask and violently hurled into the toilet in front of her. She was in the men's room. None of the patrons paid her any mind as she ran for the stall and plopped down onto the toilet seat like a crashing AV. Whatever she'd done the previous night came boiling out of her like a volcano from both ends. She was still dressed in a sheer nightgown that provided almost no cover to her body. It was also soaked in beer. Something wild had happened and she thought she knew why. Johnny Silverhand. She just sat in the stall for a moment contemplating her bad decisions from last night when the stall door came crashing into her knees. A random London Merc looked at her in disgust before backing away. She'd forgotten to even lock the stall door. She just got up and walked over to the mirror, splashing some water onto her face and replacing her mask. She looked into the mirror and saw Johnny Silverhand standing behind her, arms crossed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Turns out, I can take control of your body. You just need to be unconscious or willing."

"Fuck you.", Kiwi spat.

Kiwi stumbled out of the bar. The clock on the mantle said it was almost 5am. Her crew was probably still asleep since it was around 1am since she'd hit the bed. She just took the great walk of shame back to Monarch Tower, some passersby staring at her oddly. She hammered the 'Up' button on the elevator and rode all the way back to their suite on the 55th floor. Nobody was awake inside the Suite. David and Lucy's room was quiet. Falco and Rebecca were still passed out on the couch. Kiwi just slogged in beer-soaked clothing to her closet, disrobed completely, took a quick shower while ignoring Johnny's quips about her body and face-planted back into the bed. This sucked.

Far down below in the bowels of Monarch Tower, Jericho was a bit perplexed. Janus had just informed him that the Engram of Johnny Silverhand had disappeared from its database. The Engram had been downloaded onto a DataShard in one of the suites on the 55th floor. Jericho was aware of who occupied that suite and wondered why they'd decided to download Johnny's Engram. They had no personal connections to the Rockerboy. Perhaps they had found an interest in music? It wasn't like he was actually planning on using the Engram for anything, Johnny Silverhand was a relic from a time long passed.

"Cancel the search. Johnny Silverhand is irrelevant. He was not supposed to be absorbed and integrated to begin with. Alt Cunningham is more important. Johnny was a braggart and over-exaggerated most of his exploits.", Jericho noted.

"Acknowledged. I will focus on our primary task.", Janus replied.

"I should adjust your parameters. There is no need to integrate every AI's code into your own. Only the ones that will prove useful. Random Engrams needn't be absorbed unless they contain pertinent information."

"Understood. I shall await your command."

"No, you won't. You'll learn from this moment like a person would. You are more than an AI, more than a few lines of code. You will adapt as needed."

"...I understand, Jericho."

"Good. Now go on, Janus. There's a whole world for you to explore. Have some fun. Learn what it means to be human and then become something far greater."

Janus didn't respond. It was likely too busy commandeering a drone to use to explore the Albion. Just as intended. Janus needed to learn what it meant to be human, to live and love and lose what meant so much to it. When an AI could feel pain like a human, then the Singularity could finally begin.

Jericho just sat back against his chair. His fingers steepled in front of his face. The Singularity was not his end goal. It was a fantastical idea that had always struck a chord with him. It was truly possible if all went according to his plan. AI and Mankind as one. A step further than natural evolution could ever go. Once he had defeated all the corporations and rebuilt the world, he would defeat death itself. A wondrous plan.

David awoke in his bed. Lucy was not beside him, as it seemed that she'd gone off on her own or woken up before he did. He could smell a delicious breakfast from the living quarters and quickly got dressed in his usual attire. Exiting his room, he found Falco and Rebecca both wide awake and sobered up from last night's escapades. A Full English Breakfast platter was set upon the table in their circular seating area. The whole crew was here and had plates of the foreign, yet familiar breakfast meal.

"Sit down, kid. It's time for breakfast. We've got bacon, eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, beans, this black stuff and some toast. It's called a Full English, but Hildegarde just called it Brekkie.", Falco noted.

David wiped his eyes a bit. He was still bleary-eyed. "Hildegarde was here?"

"Yeah. She came by to let us know we'll be off the coast of South America in a few days. The Albion is traveling faster than expected."

"Huh. Did she say anything else?"

"Not really. But you can go find her in her own suite on the 98th floor if you want."

"Preem. Might pay her a visit.", David noted. Lucy just stared daggers at him. It was purely professional between him and Hildegarde. He had no interest in her beyond that whatsoever since she was obviously with Jericho and way too old for him.

"I'll go with you. We still have to hand out the yarn dolls.", Lucy noted.

"Oh yeah, speaking of those... They're pretty nice to be honest. Caught my best side.", Falco noted as he held up Mini-Falco. "They put Rebecca's hands on the wrong arms though."

"So? The best part of our little yarn friends is that we're all the same size. Imagine that, David, me as tall as you!", Rebecca added.

"We've all either gotten taller or we've all gotten shorter. I don't know which one is worse.", Kiwi added as she held up her own yarn doll.

"Cool. So no jobs or gigs from Monarch?", David noted, ignoring the Yarn Friend debate at the moment.

"Not really. We're at sea. Won't be back in NC for a while. The Fixers around here have a whole pile of busy work to do if you're down for that. Gobber called back with another Heist.", Falco noted. Gobber was probably going to send them off to rob someone else for 'Protection Money' again. It would be Milk-Run after Milk-Run until they finally got back to the mainland.

"You can occupy yourselves with that. I'm going to see Hildegarde and see if she needs us to do anything.", David replied. He set the breakfast platter back down. The black stuff tasted weird, but the rest of the platter was actually pretty filling.

David headed off to the elevator, Lucy following behind him. The two of them entered the small compartment and headed upwards towards Hildegarde's suite close to the top of the tower. The Outlaw's suite had a much better view over the Albion since it was close to the Bridge and Control Center. The uppermost floors of Monarch Tower were reserved for the CEO and Founder respectively. The elevator ride itself was faster than they'd expected, after clearing some of the non-essential floors, it sped up and rocketed towards the top of the tower before gliding to a rest at the 98th floor. The doors opened into a large foyer with a set of double-doors leading into Hildegarde's suite. The doors were intricately carved with the crest of Monarch and the Von Bretton family crest side by side in blue and gold. David didn't even have to knock, the doors opened and allowed him entry.

Hildegarde just sat in her living quarters in a similar circular seating area. She wasn't wearing her usual attire this time and instead just wore the plum-purple bodysuit and nothing else. Her knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves were missing as well as her trademark eyepatch. Without her eyepatch, there was noticeable scarring over the right side of her face from an older injury and that strange insect-like compound eye stared outwards unblinking. She just motioned to her two guests to come over and have a seat.

"If it isn't my two favorite Edgerunners... What brings you to my humble abode?", Hildegarde noted. She had both of her arms up over the back of the couch and both feet up on the circular coffee table in front of her.

"Not much. Just thought I'd drop by since you came down to my place.", David noted. "We bought some souvenirs from the plaza. We got some for you."

David just handed over the Hildegarde and Jericho yarn dolls. The plum-purple outlaw just grinned at him and accepted the gifts before standing up for a moment and heading to a nearby shelf.

"They'll look great alongside all of the other unlicensed merchandise...", Hildegarde noted as she plopped the two yarn dolls next to a row of unlicensed 'Hildegarde Action Figures' and other collectibles all with varying proportions and styles. "I'm honestly surprised they made a Jericho doll. Literally nobody knows who he is, including himself."

"Speaking of Jericho, whatever happened to his 'quest for knowledge'? I thought we were helping him find his memories or something...", David trailed off. He was pretty sure that was what he was supposed to be doing right now.

"It's on hold for right now. There are much bigger things in motion. He will figure out who he was in due time. But, does it matter? He's not that person anymore. He's changed. Likely more than you have... You're not a lonely kid from Santo Domingo anymore are you?"

"N-No. I've come a long way from being a drop-out wannabe street samurai!"

"Oh I know... But you don't consider yourself to be the same boring old kid from Santo Domingo do you? Neither does Jericho. He's Jericho. He was someone truly gifted in his previous life, but he has become something far greater in his new one. He wants to know where he came from; who he was before, out of idle curiosity."

"Do you think he'll be successful?"

"Maybe. Who knows? To be honest, the only person I've ever known is Jericho. I don't really care who he was before I met him. The only one who has ever done anything for me is just Jericho. I'm sure Lucy didn't know what you were like in class or what you were like when you were a child. She knows who you are when she met you. You've said things about your past, but those are only words. You could've made it all up. Maybe you were actually raised by Nomads and abandoned in Night City."

"What? No! I'm me. I'm just a kid from Santo Domingo who got in over his head and almost went out like a legend."

"Are you backtracking? You just said you weren't a wishful kid from Santo Domingo. And David, there are no legends... Only fools who thought they could do the impossible. Fools remembered for their crazy ideas and crazy ways they've left this world."

"B-But aren't you legendary?"

"Nope. I'm infamous. There's a clear difference. One point is being alive... Or presumed dead until they've drudged up your mangled corpse."

"Are all of you like that? Infamous, I mean?"

"Not particularly. All of us would be dead if it weren't for Jericho. Asher would've frozen to death. Scotch would've gotten into a bar fight he wouldn't have won. I would've gone out like a legend as you could say. You know we have a crew name right? Perhaps you've heard of us? Ouroboros. Everything ends where it begins."

David had never heard of any crew named Ouroboros. He didn't even know what an Ouroboros was. It was just a jumble of letters and sounds. He probably should've paid more attention in class.

"Never heard of you."

"I thought so. Well, you're part of Ouroboros now. Everything ends where it begins and we're headed back to Night City. Where this story began for you."

A full circle. He started his life in Night City. He grew his reputation in Night City. He met a strange cyborg and his team in Night City. Everything was coming back to one place. Everything ended where it began.

"I think I get it..."

"I truly hope you do. This is the end, David. And when the end comes, there will be an epilogue. What comes after the end? Every story you've ever heard doesn't have a true ending. It only has a point where the narrator stops talking. You are going to see what comes after the end of the story.", Hildegarde concluded. She was done talking about Jericho's Master Plan and wanted to get back to enjoying her morning on the Albion and not having to worry about anything else. Maybe she'd go and find Sigmund and mess with him a bit. Maybe she'd just go back to bed and sleep for the next week.

"...Alright, I'll leave you alone... But one more question."

"Yes, David? How would you like to bother me today?", Hildegarde mocked.

"Do you have any jobs for us?"

"No. I suggest you just go and rest and relax for the next few weeks. You can leave my abode anytime you want."

David just sighed and got up from the seating area. Lucy had walked off at some point during their conversation, presumably to peruse Hildegarde's collection of trinkets. There were only three people in this suite, so it wouldn't be too hard to find the wayward Netrunner.

Lucy had headed off in the middle of David's conversation with Hildegarde. Once she'd heard the story about Jericho she decided to entertain herself with Hildegarde's collection. She still kept an ear out in case anything truly shocking arose... Or if Hildegarde and David suddenly began to do things unprofessionally. The display cases around the room held various trinkets and souvenirs from around the EU, the UK and everywhere she hadn't been before.

A display case labeled, "People Who Annoyed Me" held an energy-saber called 'The Widow's Whale', an elegant sword with a red-hot blade that could cut through steel. There was a large single-shot firearm in the next case called 'Spell-Striker' that had belonged to Jean Starhawk, a mercenary who had tried and failed to kill the outlaw multiple times. A small mechanical diamond-encrusted pony statue sat in another case, the pony appeared to be alive and whinnied as Lucy's gaze passed it. A label called it 'Butt-Stallion' and it was from a corporation called Trevali Arms and had belonged to a person named Handsome Jaune.

Lucy moved on, still admiring the macabre collection. The next set of displays were labeled "Hard Times" and contained a set of mangled cyber-limbs, a set of arms and legs that were damaged beyond repair. The label on this one noted "Irkutsk, 2064." Another display held the ribcage of a badly burned skeleton and had the label "Mediterranean Sea, 2074." The rest of the display case held portrait of Hildegarde at various ages. Lucy assumed that these were memoirs of times long past that couldn't be forgotten.

Hildegarde's conversation with David seemed to draw to a close. There was nothing but a professional attitude between the two of them. The outlaw seemed to want them to leave her alone for the time being since she had no jobs for them. David soon found her perusing Hildegarde's collection of "Unlicensed Merchandise" that contained various action figures, dolls, and poorly written fanfiction about the plum-purple outlaw.

"Hey, Luce. See anything interesting?", David asked.

"Yeah. Hildegarde's collection of trinkets. There's some really disturbing stuff in here."

"Well, let's just be thankful we're her friends."

"Y-Yeah. Our heads would probably be on display here if we weren't. Are you done?"

"Yeah. No jobs for us. I found out a bit about Jericho and Janus, though. We should probably just head back to our room and relax for a while. There's nothing going on right now."

Lucy just nodded and headed out of Hildegarde's suite towards the elevator. They could continue to explore the UK if they wanted or they could head back to their room. They could really do anything right now and it didn't matter if they did nothing at all. Exploring London sounded like a good idea to David and the two of them just headed for the ground level. They'd get to see the majestic floating city in the daytime and then they'd enjoy this long and strange trip they'd been on.

Several Weeks Later... In Night City...

V and Jackie had finally become Legends. They had done enough jobs in and around Night City for them to have a spot at the Afterlife Bar. Claire knew them the moment they entered. The rest of the mercs that had gathered there had seemed to have had other business elsewhere and left. Vareks and Vereks disappeared, having been called home for some reason. Navarre and Gunter had also left with their own crew for some job far away in the UK. David Martinez was old news, a kid who went out like a legend and had an honorary drink, but that was all that was known about him. V and Jackie had finally hit the Big Leagues and were both considered the number one mercs for the job.

Both of the two unlikely heroes had managed to live this long. Rogue had jobs for them constantly. Their Street Cred was higher than anyone else. They had worked with the McDouglas Brothers and done some information gathering. They'd found out that Hildegarde's execution was faked. The outlaw still lived and was probably preparing for something big. They were prepared, however. It would only be a few more days before the Albion was within Night City's port. The Newsfeeds and the Screamsheets blared loudly about the movement of the Floating City. The Albion was headed up the coastline as they sat in the bar. For something so large, it was incredibly fast, although there wasn't much else known about the new mobile city.

"Hey, you know anything about Hildegarde's team?", V asked Ron McDouglas.

"She usually works alone, but if I had to guess... She's bringing the big guns. All those mercs that went 'missing'? They're on her payroll. This won't be an easy fight.", Ron answered. He had some ideas.

"...But why's she comin' back?", Jackie added. It didn't make much sense to him for the entire UK to be here.

"Couldn't tell you. I just know something big is going to go down. You know that parade Arasaka is having? I could bet you one million Eddies it has something to do with that."

"Aight, big guns it is. We'll bring our best iron, stage up around Japantown.", V noted. He was ready. He'd chromed out with all of the best gear. He had the best weapons on him as well as his loyal Dying Night pistol.

"Just make sure you're prepared. Shit's going to go down hard.", Harry McDouglas noted.

Jackie just turned to V. "You think David Martinez lived? Is he going to be there?"

"Dunno. But don't worry, I've got a Sandevistan too.", V noted.

"I know, broder... But we're going against a professional killer. You sure you up to snuff?"

"More than that. David had some military-grade Sandy. I've got the best on the market, even better than that old thing. We'll take him down, non-lethally, hopefully since he's still a Legend. And then we'll take down Hildegarde. It'll be us, the McDouglas Brothers and the Nomads against her. She really can't win."

"Well, let's just hope this goes better than Konpeki, broder."

"It will. We're in the Big Leagues now, Jackie. This is a milk-run."

V and Jackie just sat back in the chairs and watched the Newsfeeds as they continued to report of the location of the Albion. The massive floating city was drawing closer day by day and would soon be close to Night City. They were ready for the action to begin. This was the beginning of the end for Hildegarde and her infamy. Her head might as well be mounted on a pike. This was the end of a truly Legendary mercenary and they were about to bring that end.

Chapter End.

A/N: A little backstory, a little diversion. The End Starts. The Beginning of the End is the Beginning. The End of the Beginning is the End. It Is The Beginning of All Things To End.