A/N: I've been playing a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 lately, so I figured why not make a Cyberpunk-styled Arkos chapter. Also has a little inspiration from the Judge Dredd series too, but this cyberpunk world will be more reminiscent of the Cyberpunk 2020/2077 world.
2132: An Arkos Cyberpunk Story
Pyrrha kept an eye out upon the busy street of Remnant City as she stood leaning against the side of her car. Another night, same as yesterday, she thought to herself as she lit a cigarette with her cybernetic left hand and took a drag. Her scroll buzzed and she fished it out to find a message from her friend Neptune. "Be there soon." Another few minutes passed and a blue-haired man garbed in red showed up.
"You made it," Pyrrha remarked, passing the cigarette to her friend.
"As if I'd miss this gig, especially coming from a fixer like Lionheart," he said as he took in a puff and passed it back.
"This is just the start for us, Neptune. This may be a small-time gig, but soon we'll move on from constantly doing small-time assassinations or aid in police busts." Pyrrha fished out her scroll to read the gig details, though she has read them three times already. "All we gotta do is an exchange. We're buying some kind of Atlesian military tech from someone and Lionheart gave us the money for it."
"I take it you've got Lionheart's money already?"
Pyrrha motioned towards her car. "In the trunk, it's all there." Pyrrha smooshed her cigarette into the pavement and the two jumped into her car and headed for the meet-up location.
Neptune turned and began to stare outside the window and the neon-lit streets of the massive Remnant City. "You ever think this city will get better?"
"With how big this city is? Doubtful."
Remnant City is the only mega city on the planet, stretching across the continent of Sanis between the former kingdoms of Vacuo and Vale and remains the one of the only two places not devastated by nuclear radiation, ever since the Great War from nearly a thousand years ago ended with the detonation of nuclear weapons on Atlas when all four kingdoms clashed. Since then, Remnant City popped up as the last haven for humanity, though it became anything but in the last couple of centuries. Between rampant crime so bad that you needed to carry a concealed pistol just on your way to work or to go shopping at the mall, not to mention the Remnant Police Department in recent years having to hire mercenaries to aid in "closed books" cases when they act outside of the law to take down criminals and bust crimes, and the growing pollution crisis, Remnant City was more the place to live when you have decided "fuck it!" and take your chances. There was the Badlands outside of the city, but between the scenic view of desolate deserts, nuclear wastelands, and roving nomads that will either kill you, rob you, rape you, or all three, Remnant City gave you a better chance to try to live a somewhat decent life, and Pyrrha knew that, having been born and raised in the Mistral Badlands before she came to Remnant City for a new life. If you were born in Atlas Zero, the ground zero that turned their homeland of Remnant into this hellhole, then you were better off staying there before your misshapen, radiated form mutated someone from your presence, assuming you were not shot dead by travelers that mistook you for some deformed monstrosity.
"Maybe it will, you don't know."
"By the time the suits running things unfuck themselves, we'll both be long dead by then, so who cares. All we can do is make sure we're not forgotten after we die," Pyrrha remarked as they stopped at a red light, where she quickly lit a new cigarette.
"Suppose we can stop for a quick bite before the job?" Neptune asked. Pyrrha gave a small nod before turning down a street where they stopped by a nearby food kiosk.
"Something with tuna as usual?" Pyrrha asked her friend as she exited the car, answered by a nod. She came back a while later with a "hot dawg" for herself and a tuna burrito for him, who scarfed it down as soon as it entered his hands.
After finishing, Pyrrha started up the car again, but Neptune's voice made her stop. "You said earlier about how we should strive to not be forgotten when we die. Don't you have any other wishes or desires?"
Pyrrha stayed silent as they passed another traffic light. On her left she could see some people arguing amongst each other before one pulled a pistol and began firing, wherein she immediately pressed down on the pedal, though not so fast to make the tires peel out. "No, not really. What about you?"
"I dunno, maybe find myself a nice girl and settle down, something like that," Neptune answered.
Pyrrha chuckled. "Good luck with that. I'd rather focus on staying alive and making Lien." They continued on until they reached the meet-up location behind an abandoned warehouse. They arrived early, as Pyrrha intended. She arranged her car to be facing towards a possible escape into the streets and the two made sure they had their guns ready, with a fully-loaded submachine gun in the backseat and their pistols in their back pockets. Pyrrha also gave Neptune a flash bang grenade. "If shit goes south, prep it, drop it, and get in the car," she instructed him.
"It sucks how we always gotta be ready for a gig gone bad, you think we'll ever grow out of it?" he asked as he stashed the grenade into his pocket.
Pyrrha smirked. "That'll be the gig that finally kills us."
The two waited a while, sharing a cigarette and drinking warm cans of Vale Citrus that were lying on the car floor until their business associates arrived: three cars pulled in opposite them, with one of them near the exit way that Pyrrha planned to go out of, making her curse under her breath. That'll be a tight fit, but I'll have to hurt my baby getting out in a hurry. Pyrrha watched as a number of Valestorm gang members got out to greet them, all of them armed, chromed up with cyber augments that made her own cybernetic arm implant look tame by comparison, and one carried a large steel briefcase. The hell is Lionheart doing business with Valestorms for? "Be ready for anything," she whispered to Neptune.
"Alright alright alright!" said the Valestorm in charge, named Avi. "You got the money?"
"Nep, show him the Lien." He grabbed the briefcase from the car and popped it open, revealing neatly stacked Lien cards. "What are we buying from you anyway? Lionheart didn't bother telling us."
"Show them, Janus." The guy with the briefcase laid it down and opened it, revealing a robotic walking drone.
"Pyrrha, that's a high-tech spider drone they've got!" Neptune carelessly blurted out.
"Ha! Pretty boy knows his tech!" went Janus.
"We're not here to swap tech knowledge. Give us the drone and we'll give you the Lien and we go our separate ways." Neptune came forward with the briefcase while Janus closed up his for the exchange. Pyrrha kept her head pointed towards her friend and Janus, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Valestorm thugs peer closely at her, as if he was examining her, then he quietly made his way to Avi and whispered into his ear as well. He gave Pyrrha a puzzled glare and whispered something to his pal, and in turn, Pyrrha slowly unclipped her pistol from its holster, ready for whatever may come.
"Nep, get back!" Pyrrha suddenly cried out, but Janus already had Neptune in a choke hold, the briefcase of Lien falling to the ground and scattering. "The FUCK are you doing?!" she demanded, her pistol already in hand and herself ducked down behind her car as other thugs drew guns.
"Fucking Lionheart thinks he can send a pig thinking we won't know!" Avi shouted.
"I knew I recognized her! I've seen her helping the RCPD!" cried the whispering Valestorm.
Pyrrha cursed under her breath, upset that her previous work with the police for Lien has caught up to her. "I just worked for Lien, nothing more! I ain't a cop!" she tried to explain.
"BULLSHIT! Pigs are all the same! Kill them and take the money!"
"Nep, NOW!" Neptune was smart, already having his flashbang in hand before he was grabbed. He pulled the pin and dropped it.
"GRENADE!" Janus shouted as the flashbang went off, coating the warehouse backyard in a blinding light. Pyrrha jumped into the car and started it up, waiting for Neptune to get in the car. It was only when the light began to fade that Pyrrha saw Neptune's body filled with bullet holes pressed against the passenger door. With tear-filled eyes, she slammed on the pedal, peeling tire, and her car sped off for the exit, smashing against a Valestorm car, but making it out intact.
I'm sorry, Neptune, I'm so sorry…
Pyrrha made it out onto the streets, slowing herself down to avoid attention, but that's when a Valestorm car stuffed with thugs appeared from behind, with two thugs leaning out of the windows with submachine guns. "OH FUCK!" She ducked down as bullets rained down upon her car, taking out one tire, but she maintained control. She quickly popped a grenade and dropped it out of the window. "C'mon c'mon…"
KABOOM! The grenade detonated right under the front wheel, causing the vehicle to blast off and onto its side. Pyrrha sped off before the police arrived, eventually getting as far from the scene as she could before she ducked into a parking garage.
Breathe…breathe, you dumb bitch… She forcibly inhaled and exhaled rapidly, her eyes still streaking tears. She then slammed her fists into the steering wheel, her yells ringing out in the car. Pyrrha did not know what to do, but she knew she needed sleep. She headed for her apartment in the Argus district, well out of Valestorm territory. There, she mindlessly undressed and sat in the shower while hot water cascaded down her body, her eyes aimed towards the whiten floor. After that, she dressed in some underwater and went straight to bed, but sleep refused to settle in, resulting in her awakening every few hours during the night.
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Her sleep was interrupted by a phone call on her scroll, which turned out to be Lionheart. "Pyrrha, I didn't hear from you yesterday. How'd the exchange work out?"
Fuck, no point in dancing around the issue. "It was a failure, Lionheart. Neptune is dead and we didn't get the drone."
His voice wasted no time from sounding upbeat "You still got my money, right?! Tell me you still have my money, Pyrrha!"
Thanks for being so worried about my health or offering condolences. "No, Lionheart, I don't have the money."
"That was MY money, Pyrrha! Mine! It's coming out of your pocket too!"
Her mouth formed into a teeth-grinding growl. "No, I ain't paying you shit."
"Pyrr––!"
She hung up and threw her scroll across the room, where it clattered across the floor, though it did not shatter. Pyrrha sat upon her bed stewing in her frustration for the entire morning.
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After Pyrrha hung up on him, Lionheart fished through his contact list of mercenaries before he fell upon one named "Jaune" that he tapped. Within seconds, a blond-haired young man appeared in his video feed. "Lionheart, it's been a while."
Lionheart put on a friendly smile and composed himself. "It has been, but I'm calling you to inform you I have a contract for you. I know you've been wanting to give some of the new blood a chance, but this is someone I feel you're the best shot at taking down. I'm sending you the details. I'd advise being silent about this, if you can." With that, Lionheart hung up.
Jaune got a beep on his scroll as Lionheart sent him a picture of Pyrrha, her apartment address, and a quick message detailing why he wants her dead. "She is plotting against me after she purposely botched a gig I assigned to her. She's likely grieving the recent loss of a friend, so you'll have an advantage. Take her body to the garbage dump on 4th Street in the Argus District and send a picture of her dead body before you dump her. Lien will be deposited into your account upon completion."
Jaune read over the details, studying the picture of Pyrrha closely, showing the redhead with a smile and a cigarette in her mouth. He took note of the cybernetic left arm too, wondering what sort of augments or cyberware that might have. She might be the one I need to help me, he wondered as he slung his tech rifle onto his back and slid his revolver into his holster before heading out on his motorbike.
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Pyrrha was already deep into three beers when the doorbell rang twice. She stumbled towards the door with her beer in hand and it slid open to reveal Jaune standing with one arm leaning against the frame. "What'cha want? Can'tcha see I'm in mourning here?"
"You Pyrrha?" She nodded. "Excuse me then," Jaune said as he forcibly went past her into her apartment.
"Oi, this is a lady's place!" she spat.
Just as expected, she's drunk. Hopefully this will be easy.
"Didn'tcha listen ta me?!" Pyrrha came forward and slapped her hand onto his shoulder, which is when Jaune spun with a taser in hand and hit her in the neck, shocking her for a moment before she fell to the floor unconscious. Jaune immediately grabbed the fallen beer can before it could spill onto the carpet and set it onto the nearby table.
"Sorry, Miss Pyrrha, but you're going to have to cut your mourning session short, especially if you'll be keen on getting back at Lionheart," Jaune remarked. Taking a deep breath, he hoisted Pyrrha up and set her onto the bed, where he bound her wrists and ankles together with some handcuffs (a leftover from a previous gig with the RCPD). He finished off the half-drunk beer, then hoisted the unconscious merc over his shoulder and headed out.
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It was about an hour later that Jaune threw Pyrrha's body, now with red dripping from her forehead into the Argus trash compactor, took a picture, and sent it to Lionheart. "You were right. She was already buzzed by the time I shot her in the head in her own apartment."
A beep came less than a minute later. "Excellent work, Mr. Arc. I'll send you the Lien now. I hope to see you again in the near future." was Lionheart's message.
"Overconfident fool…" Jaune scoffed before he jumped into the unmoving compactor and carried Pyrrha's body out, still in her underwear.
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Pyrrha awoke in her apartment a few hours later with her wrists and ankles still bound, but she was alive. Nearby, Jaune sat sprawled out on the couch watching her, making her flop about on the bed in desperation. "Fucking perv!" she spat.
"Sorry about tasing you like that, but I had to convince Lionheart that you were dead," he explained. Pyrrha peered over towards the mirror in her open bathroom and saw a streak of what looked like blood running from her forehead. "Relax, it's not yours, just a bird I shot to substitute."
"So you broke into my apartment, tased me, and laced me up with bird blood because…?"
Jaune came over and showed her the gig for her murder on his scroll. "Lionheart put out a 5000 Lien bounty on your head, and you're lucky he sent it to me."
Pyrrha growled. "That bastard…all because I didn't get his stupid drone."
"You're not the first. Lionheart trusts no one, but he loves to use people, and if they fail him, he kills them."
Pyrrha struggled with her handcuffs, but it was useless, even with her left arm; police-issued handcuffs are designed to resist any strength enhancements in cybernetic implants. "So why didn't you kill me? It would've been easy for you."
"Because I need your help." Jaune tapped on his scroll a few times and showed her a series of messages from various people, all with one thing in common: they wanted Lionheart dead. "His trust issues has made a number of people angry, and they each would be happy to pay me to kill him, but he's surrounded by well-paid goons that I can't take on alone."
"And you want me to help you?"
"Your reputation precedes you, Pyrrha. I've heard you're quite…aggressive in fights."
Pyrrha let slip a smile and began to relax a little. "You should see my shotgun/pistol combos. I can shoot so fast I've had people think there was two of me."
Jaune smiled back. "And I promise, if we pull this off, I'll split the Lien rewards evenly with you."
"How can I trust you though? I mean, you tased me and who knows what you did while I was unconscious." Jaune's answer was to unlock the handcuffs, allowing her to rub at her wrists.
"Do this with me, and I'll help you find the Valestorms that killed your friend." Pyrrha's mouth fell open. "Lionheart regularly does deals with the Valestorms and even employs them sometimes, so seems obvious that's who killed your friend." She nodded. "Well…partners?" He stuck out his hand.
Pyrrha stared at his open palm for a moment before letting out a sigh and slapped hers into it. "Partners."
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A couple weeks passed and Lionheart began dealing with the Valestorms again, hoping to get ahold of that drone he coveted so much, and this time, he agreed to meet them in person, hopefully to mitigate tensions after the failed attempt with Pyrrha and Neptune, though he brought his own goons with him this time, where they met at the same abandoned warehouse.
"Gentlemen, I hope we can do things peacefully this time."
Avi lead the pack once again. "Better be, that red bitch killed four of my boys."
"Yes, I'm very sorry for your loss, truly tragic, but rest assured, she is dead." Lionheart raised his scroll and showed Avi the photo of Pyrrha lying in the trash compactor.
"Good to hear that she's trash food now. Let's do business."
Jaune and Pyrrha were currently hiding in the warehouse, peering from broken windows that overlook the business deal. "Wow, colored me impressed," Pyrrha whispered.
"I'll let Ciel know you approved of her comms hacking," Jaune noted with a smirk. "You remember the plan, right? You sure you can handle this?"
"I've gotten out of worst messes than this, I can handle some thugs and Lionheart's cowardly ass, especially with you as backup. Your cyberdeck is loaded up with hacks, right?"
"Yup. I've got weapon jamming, an incendiary attack, something to blind them, and even a suicide hack."
"Geez, I didn't know they make cyber hacks like that."
"They don't come cheap either, but this was worth it."
Pyrrha glanced out the window again. "Just remember to leave Lionheart to me." She headed for the first floor, shotgun in hand, while Jaune remained in position with his tech rifle. He waited and used his Atlesian optics to scope out the scene, tagging Lionheart and the Valestorm thugs to keep track of them, and soon he saw Pyrrha move into position from outside the meeting spot.
"Wait for my signal…" Jaune looked towards Lionheart's limo and performed a simple hack to make the car alarm start blaring, catching everyone's attention long enough for Pyrrha to sneak in and slide in behind a Valestorm vehicle. Down below, Lionheart furiously apologized for the sudden alarm while one of his goons rushed to fix the noise. Once the noise was stopped, the business transaction resumed. That was when Jaune started hacking the Lionheart goons, jamming their weapons instantly, but it caught their attention that something was amiss. He quickly used his incendiary hack to set fire to a Valestorm, who began thrashing upon the ground, then set his rifle upon them, firing rail energy upon one of the Lionheart goons while the Valestorms began shooting up towards him, forcing him to run and take cover. Pyrrha activated her Berserk cyberware and felt the familiar rush of adrenaline and strength course through her. She jumped from her hiding spot and unloaded her pump shotgun upon the nearest Valestorms, both who went down fast. She moved onto the next, firing one shell before jumping upon him, deploying the wrist blade built into her left arm into his neck. The second Valestorm she shot, still barely alive, tried raising his pistol at her, but a round from Jaune's rifle put him down for good.
"Kill her already!" Lionheart shouted at his last goon as he hid nearby. Jaune, however, shot a hack at him, instantly blinding him. "Damnit!" The goon began blindly firing, but Pyrrha deployed a shield from her left arm that deflected the bullets as she ran forward, this time slicing off the goon's legs with one swipe and swiftly kicked his legless body backwards, where he bounced off the hood of Lionheart's limo. Up above, Jaune fired a charged rail shot, killing a Valestorm hiding in cover, leaving only Pyrrha and Lionheart alone. She found him in his hiding spot shaking like a leaf and dragged him out into the open and threw him onto the ground.
"Pyrrha…how…?!" Lionheart looked up and saw Jaune in the open window, where he jumped down from the third story with a tuck and roll. "Jaune…you bastard… you betrayed me?"
"Nothing personal, Leo, just doing it for the money, but it's Pyrrha here you need to worry about," he said coldly.
"Pyrrha…um…what do you want? You want money, I can give it to you and more! Weapons, drugs, men? Hell, women if you prefer that instead!"
Pyrrha's response was to plunge her wrist blade into his leg, making him howl in pain. "You tried to kill me! Neptune is dead!"
"His death is your fault!" he yelled in anger. Wrong answer. Pyrrha felt another rush of rage and jumped upon him, ramming her fists into his face repeatedly, each punch followed by a raging scream and furrowed brow. By the fourth punch, Lionheart stopped resisting, and by the ninth, he stopped moving, but even the blood on her hands would not stop Pyrrha, not until Jaune tackled her to the ground.
"Enough! He's already dead!" He pulled her fist back, and after a few long breaths, she finally calmed down. "It's done." They took a moment to gather themselves, grabbed the Lien Lionheart had and the spider drone the Valestorms had, and went on their way after Jaune took a picture of Lionheart's corpse and sent it to his clients. Once the money had all gone through, Jaune transferred half of it all to Pyrrha's account instantly, as he promised. The two divided up the briefcase of Lien and Jaune then took the spider drone, claiming he would have better use of it, which Pyrrha did not object to.
"I suppose this is goodbye then," she remarked as they both shared a cigarette on the hood of the limo.
"Doesn't have to be. If you want, we can partner up. You're quite the force to be reckoned with," Jaune suggested.
Pyrrha smiled, passing him the cigarette. "You've got quite the tactical mind yourself. Cyberdecks and hacking is never my thing, I prefer blasting a guy in his face, plain and simple."
Jaune took in a drag and passed the cigarette back. "Then wouldn't our two schools of combat be an ideal match-up?"
Pyrrha thought it over for a moment. "Yeah, maybe you're right." She held out her hand to him, and he took it in his.
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A couple months passed, and both Jaune and Pyrrha's reputations grew. They adopted the name "Arkos" after a few cliental began calling them it in the Paradiso nightclub in the Argus District, a hot spot for mercs in Remnant City, and the name stuck. Soon gigs began pouring in for them to complete, and with it, their bond as partners became that of friends.
It was in that Paradiso nightclub that Jaune sat at the counter waiting for Pyrrha to arrive; he texted her with news of a new gig and she was about ten minutes inbound. The bartender Reese shook up a cocktail speciality for him and poured it into a shot glass. "You seemed worried."
"That obvious, huh?"
"Once you work in a place like this long enough, you can read people like an ebook," Reese poured a beer into a glass and slid it down the counter into the open hand of another customer. "and I can tell that you're not worried about a gig, so tell me, what is it?"
"It's Pyrrha…"
"Hoo boy, I know where this is going! You like her, don'tcha?" Jaune's face went beet red. "Haha! I knew it!" Reese disappeared around the counter corner a moment and came back with a red rose, though like most plants in Remnant City, it was artificially created. "Trust me, this will always work. Just put your arm around her with the flower for her to notice, then while she's distracted, give her a kiss on the cheek."
"You really think so?"
"And if she kisses you back, you know you snagged yourself the big one. All that's left is to take her to bed!"
"Geez, she's my friend, not a prize to be won."
"Hey, I'm just saying, it works every time, but first and foremost, you gotta make sure she likes you first, cuz last thing you need is for Pyrrha to twist your arm behind your back for trying to smooth talk her."
"Says the one suggesting the smooth talking approach."
The nightclub doors slide open and Pyrrha waltzed in, sporting a neon bomber jacket and an assault rifle on her back. Reese let out a chuckle. "Well, here's your gal, so now's your chance."
Pyrrha saddled over and sat down beside Jaune, who was about to try Reese's trick when Pyrrha popped out her scroll to show him the newest gig they got. "Looks simple enough, we just gotta kill this guy trafficking in women. He's got a setup down at the Higanbana Harbor where he hides them in shipping crates before they're loaded onto ships."
Jaune let out a sigh at losing his chance. "So we killing him or capture?" He could see the glint of murder in her eyes. "Operations like this are sometimes the work of suits, and if we just leave him to the cops, he'll be back out on the streets with bail within a week to keep him from singing."
"Then let's kill him and dump him into the harbor for the fishes," suggested Pyrrha.
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"Looks simple enough," Pyrrha said Jaune thought later that day as he lied upon the harbor with his hand over a stomach wound. They had underestimate their target and Jaune took a bullet while Pyrrha continued fighting on. He quickly injected a health hypo into his arm to relief some of the pain and tried to scoot closer to Pyrrha's position, hoping to provide her some support. Pyrrha, meanwhile, was blasting and slicing her way through several thugs until she found their target. Without wasting a second, she dodged his pistol fire and blasted him in the leg with her sawed-off shotgun, then leapt upon him and plunged her wrist blade through his neck, silencing him for good. She rushed back to Jaune and was relieved to see that he was still alive.
"Don't you die on me, damnit! I ain't losing another friend!" she shouted at him before pressing her hands to his wound. She fished out her scroll and hit one of the contact numbers. "Doc, I need you at Higanbana's harbor NOW! Jaune's hurt!" She hung up and returned to tending Jaune. "You're going to be just fine, the Doc is coming, and we'll head home and bank on this kill, you got it?"
"I…won't die…that's a promise…" Jaune moaned.
"Cuz you say so?"
"Because I've got you…" From his pocket, Jaune produced the rose, though its artificial petals had fallen during the fight, leaving but a few remaining.
Pyrrha smacked it aside. "There's no time for romance BS, you idiot! You're dying, you realize that?!" As angry as she sounded, there was no hiding the tears in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you…" His response was to reach up and kiss her lips. "If you really want to show me how much you care, then survive this day…"
Pyrrha's friend Doctor Poledina soon arrived in his car, where he carried the wounded Jaune to his car while Pyrrha took care of the gig details; she later hailed a cab back to the Doc's clinic.
A few hours later, Doctor Poledina had Jaune patched up, the bullet removed, and thanks to the heal jet, with a permanent scar leftover upon his stomach. Doctor Poledina gave Pyrrha some painkillers and instructions for Jaune before sending them on their way. Pyrrha opted to take Jaune to her apartment, which was closer.
Inside, she set him down upon her bed and went to work undressing him to inspect his wound, where her fingers ran over the round scar on his stomach. "Doc always seems to work miracles…" she mumbled aloud.
"Remember when he healed you up after you took that shotgun blast at point blank?" Jaune chuckled, followed by a cough.
"Thank the Gods I had on a vest otherwise I'd be dead." she retorted.
"You remember how afraid I was for you?"
Pyrrha smiled. "Yeah…" She fished out the painkillers and gave him two coupled with a warm cola from the coffee table. "We make a great team, huh? Always looking out for each other…" She watched him drink the pills down with a "pwahh" sound. "Why the rose?"
Jaune winced. "Just a trick I thought I'd try to try to kiss you…didn't work out so well, given the circumstances."
Pyrrha smiled. She rested her hands upon his shoulders and drew close to him. "I think it worked quite well," she said before pressing her lips to his with a soft hum. His arms found their way around her waist and he pulled her closer. They broke apart, a strand of saliva connecting between their lips. "Jaune…why me? I mean, look at me." she whispered.
"I dunno…I guess it just kinda…happened. I saw you one day and thought 'my partner looks so beautiful today' and it just grew into love after that." Pyrrha's cheeks flushed red. "It's stuff like that that makes you so cute."
She smiled, removing her bomber jacket and tossing it aside, exposing her body to him in a skin-tight bodysuit that formed around her features. She blushed a deep red again before descending down upon him with another kiss. "You know, you're pretty cute as well." She held him close as the two fell backwards onto the bed, lying side by side with each other, both of them staring at each other.
"So, what now?" Jaune asked in a hushed whisper, his hand taking hold of her human hand, their fingers intertwining. "How should we move forward from here on?"
Pyrrha let slip a smile. "Together, as we always have been."
"No, I mean…"
"I know what you mean." She moved closer to him, now speaking in a whisper as well. "We'll look out for each other, not just in gun fights, but off and on the streets as well. No matter what happens, this city will not tear us apart. If we gotta kill, we'll kill. If we have to burn this city to the ground, then we'll let it burn…"
"I…geez…I dunno what to say…" Jaune answered. "…Honestly, I wish we could stay like this forever…I don't want to get up…"
"Then let's stay like this for as long as we can…"
And so they did, until sleep overcame them both and they spent until the next day embraced with each other. When they awoke, they received a message from one of their fixers, Glynda, with a job to hunt down someone and retrieve some stolen goods. "Well, shall we go take care of this?" Pyrrha asked Jaune after they had gotten dressed.
"I'm ready if you are."
Together, they headed out the door, hand in hand, unsure of what life in Remnant City will hold for them, but knowing that whatever comes, they will face it together.