Jonathan Manderby, age 60, was a very well-dressed, well-groomed man, and known for his impeccable behavior and work ethic. He was also a man who knew his place. His grey hair, thinning from age, was neatly combed over, his goatee trimmed into a perfectly proportioned chin puff style, and his grey, three-piece business suit was nicely ironed without a hint of dirt, grime, or food to be found on the fabric. Such a well-dressed and distinguished man gave off the appearance and aura of a high ranking Corpo, but in truth, Manderby was as middle management as middle management could be.
And that was fine by him. He knew his lot in life, and he knew his bosses knew. He was irreplaceable because he could keep secrets and because his position as a meager restaurant manager was well, too boring. He only looked this good because he worked and lived in North Oak, and he only worked and lived in North Oak because he had connections, ones that weren't good enough to get him with the in crowd, but good enough to let him play pretend that he did. Said connections took the form of a 45-year-old woman named Madeline Joanne the 5th. An incredibly portly, porcine, unpleasant woman, one that wouldn't even give him the time of day, and in any other situation he'd be happy like you wouldn't believe. but he had the misfortune of being able to make a mean burger and that was good enough for her to invite him into her bed, and said invitation took the form of 'fuck me or I'll ruin your life'. He was just a side dish though, seeing as her husband probably couldn't figure out where to stick it in, her words not his, so of course he couldn't fully enjoy the material benefits this relationship provided, just the physical.
Keep in mind that 'enjoy' was in very thick quotation marks, and even if Miss Joanne wasn't so plump, her personality would have made this an impossibility in any other situation.
And at 2AM, he was called in from Heywood to partake in her 'delights', because when your Corpo sugar mommy wanted a booty call, you damn well better answer. He used the money she gave him to drive all the way up to Corpo Plaza, where he exchanged his beat-up car for a fancy one she bought for him, got all the way up to North Oak, parked the car in her driveway, went up to her door, and was immediately let in.
And the second he stepped foot into that house, that's when his life as he knew it was over. He just didn't know it yet.
His intuition told him he should turn right around this instant and never look back. The lights were on, but there was nobody here. Usually there would be a butler or a maid, but the house was completely empty. it felt like if he continued any further, then this would be the last mistake of his life.
His common sense told him that if he wanted to keep pretending to live the good life, he better march his ass right in there and get nookie, and maybe, hopefully, he'd be the man tonight. He stepped into her condo and headed towards the main elevator that led to her room. He got out his card key, swiped it, and nothing happened. The card didn't even get rejected, there just wasn't any power going to the elevator. 'How odd.' To be honest, Manderby didn't know why Madeline had an elevator. Her condo was on a cliff and it was a one-story house. All it did was shake a bit, the other elevator door opened, and he was in her room for some rough…ugh…loving. Oh god!
That urge to run was once again suppressed as he headed for the stairs. She probably wanted him to be nice and tired by the time he got up to the top floor so he'd be weak and moldable for her. The second he put his foot on the first step a wall of black fire shot up in front of him.
To his credit, Manderby didn't scream. It looked like he was taking this in stride, what with his cold, detached expression, but no, that was just his survival instincts taking over. A fully organic man like him needed a poker face this good when you worked in Night City's fast food district, but there's being held up by some little white kid thinking he's in the Voodoo Boys, and then there was the wall of black fire in front of him. He didn't have any cyberware in his body, so that meant that unfortunately, he couldn't write this off as some illusion brought on by a quickhack.
"Well then." He smacked his lips and nodded, thankful once again for his lifelong devotion to being fully organic. If he had any Cyberware in him he'd probably be forced to walk into whatever the hell this was, but instead, he was going to walk down the stairs, leave the building, use his burner phone, call the cops, and get the hell out of here.
All he just had to get to the entrance, which was just a quick walk away! Which was a quick sprint away!…..which was a quick mile…from…. "What in the world?!" He stopped, exhausted from all the running. He must have run a mile at least, yet the door was only 2 feet away from him! Grinding his teeth, he reared back and bolted for the door once more…only to turn right around and head through the living room, his legs moving on their own, and his arms kept to his sides against his will. Fear and panic began to overwhelm him as he moved through the house, where he soon found the clothes of Madeline's staff, and where there would be blood, viscera and gore, as typical with a Night City raid on a Corpo house, there was nothing but ash and their various accessories. "Oh god…"
He exited out the back door and onto the porch, where a gorgeous view of the lights of Night City. he couldn't help but be in awe as he stared at it, because that was all he could do. His arms, his legs, his eyes, even the slightest twitches of his mouth were out of his control. He couldn't even blink!
And that's when he heard Madeline scream. "MANDERBY!" It was coming from the pool down below, a pool that should not be making this bubbling sound. She screamed for his name again, but the gurgling screeching as she was submerged into the pool and drowned. He could somehow still hear her screams despite that.
"Terribly sorry about that I am." A distinguished and jovial man said with a British accent. He was right behind him. "You of all people should know how aggravating her personality is, so I had to terminate her employment with me! You understand, right Manderby?" Manderby couldn't even nod in fear. "Excellent! Now you seem like a good enough man, know when to lie down and take your beatings if the toys with your name upstairs are any indication, you randy dog you!" The murderer put his hands on Manderby's shoulder, and it was as though all the life was sucked out of his body from just that tap. His temperature dropped so hard he felt as though he was going into shock, but it was with this monster's 'good graces' that he was allowed to live. "Oh goodness!" He It exclaimed. Manderby refused to acknowledge this creature as a living being. "You don't even know who I am, do you?" It gave off an embarrassed chuckle. "Well, allow me to remedy that!"
The creature, and yes, creature was a very apt word for this thing after what it put him through, teleported right in front of him, sipping a transparent glass of tea, Earl Grey from the smell of it. Manderby never drank a sip of tea his whole life so he had no idea how he knew that, only that this thing wanted him to know what type of tea it was for some reason. It was a good distraction mind you, because if this thing was a demon, then it had to be the stupidest looking one he'd ever seen.
The thing that murdered his boss was a parody of a dapper gentleman from Europe, if designed by an overly creative child using one of those antiquated AI image generators complete with multiple fingers on both hands. It's coke bottle glasses shined with a white light, hiding Its eyes from the human man. It's beard and hair combined to form the shape of an open-mouthed skull, where Its gaunt, unnaturally thin face hid. On top of Its head was a 3-foot-tall top hat where there were… just a bunch of skulls cluttering it like a bouquet of flowers.
Skulls, bats, and bones. That was the theme of this creature's attire. It wore a buttoned-up black vest under a long-sleeved, off-white dress shirt with skull shaped shoulder pads. Its collar was way too high, shaped like the wings of a bat, but instead it came off looking more like a dog funnel that was cut in the middle. The cuffs on its snow white tailcoat were in the shape of a bat's head, with glowing red eyes, the suffering expression on them making it seem as though they were choking on his bony hands. Don't ask Manderby how he knew they were suffering since he hadn't seen a torture session in his life; he just knew.
That bone motif extended to Its pant legs, which were patterned afterhuman ribcages, which exposed the creature's pale thin, underweight legs. Its footwear consisted of two bats, and by that, Manderby was pretty sure this thing just grabbed two bats, formerly living ones judging by the looks on their faces, and stuffed Its dying feet into their still breathing bodies. "Right-o! My name's Gentleman; just Gentleman!" The thing produced a cane -made out of femurs- in Its hand and twirled it around as it talked, circling Manderby like a shark. "My previous contractor has been, shall we say, indisposed, and I have taken back my property along with the measly payment of her life!"
It stopped in front of the human and grinned, showing Its yellow, rotted teeth. It snapped his fingers, and all Manderby could hear was Madeline's screams of pain. "Luckily for me I found a new contractor!" It put a finger on Manderby's chest, nowhere near his heart, but he felt it stop just for a second. "And that is you, good man! You have been invited to a one-of-a-kind, non-negotiable deal of a lifetime! Riches, women, money! All of it can be yours if you just perform one simple task for me!" The screaming stopped, and the pool began to glow a bright green. "And what, you may ask, is this task?" It asked with a laugh. "Well let me ask you this?" Its eyes met his. "Have you seen any superpowered tots in embarrassingly short skirts making the news lately?"
There was silence for a fool minute before It let out a laugh. "Oh, that's right, I forgot!" It snapped Its fingers. "My apologies, I've been dealing with her for so long that I've just made a habit of shutting her up just so I can get a word in edgewise!" Manderby fell to the ground, breathing as though he just had his first gulp of oxygen in hours. "But back to my question, surely you've seen who I'm talking about, yes?"
"YES! YES I HAVE!" Manderby admitted, tears running down his face. His biological functions returned in full, and that meant he had a lot of fear induced sweat beginning to exude from his body. "EVERYBODY KNOWS ABOUT THEM!"
"Oh…them." The displeasure and disappointment in Its voice was palpable. Manderby didn't even know if this was his sixth or seventh heart attack in the past five minutes. "So there's more than one. And what, pray tell, are their names?"
"T-the Rabbit and Firefly?"
It stared at him for a full minute, and the shaking Manderby was using what little fortitude he had remaining to not spit up what he had for dinner an hour ago. "Right-o!" It just occurred to Manderby that the AI remark may be more spot on than he thought. He watched as the thing twirled Its cane the exact same way and began circling him the exact same way, with uncanny machine-like precision. "Now, as for me, your former associate was working with a gaggle of Haitian ruffians to undo society with their boundless curiosity. I myself was a resident of the very place they were trying to get into, just a mindless, angry amalgamation of 1s and 0s!"
It twirled Its cane again in the same exact motion. He was pretty sure the whooshing noise it made was a stock sound effect. "One thing led to another, Night City's best and brightest got sloppy, and I was set free! Sad for my gents on the other side of the wall, but you win some, you lose some!" Suddenly Manderby's body moved on his own. The thing walked back into the house, and he was forced to follow. "Sorry about the hijacking, I just get so aggravated when I think people are going to speak over me! Why, just ask the help!" It let out a jaunty chortle, with audio popping for some reason, as Manderby's body walked over the ashes of a maid and what he was assuming to be Madeline's jackass son going by the clothes. It guided him up the stairs past the fire barrier and to Madeline's private server room. "Yes, yes, you'll do nicely. You've got none of that pesky machinery in you, and you're quick as a whip!" It tapped Its cane, and Manderby was given control of his body once again. His body fell limp as he laid down, panting and sobbing. "Well, hop to it! We've got two Japanese kids to kill, and we're not going to accomplish that if you're lazing about on the floor!"
As Manderby rushed to the one of the computers and began typing, the Gentleman rested his aching bony feet on the nearest chair he could find, his body partially phasing through it the seat A firefly and a rabbit. Either those are the monikers they chose to don, or they were names Night City foisted upon them for whatever reason. The rabbit's identity was somewhat of a puzzler; she could either be the blonde idiot or her brat of a daughter, but who was the Firefly?
"S-sir, I did it!" Ah, good show Manderby! "S-see?! It's a live broadcast in Corpo Plaza!" The Gentleman teleported over to the monitor, uncaring of the shrieking man next to him as he analyzed the footage. "S-see?!" Manderby yelled, his voice cracking with fear.
"Yes yes I see.'' It was a live newscast, being recorded via helicopter a safe distance away from the giant cybernetic alligator plushie whose footprints alone made the plaza look like a warzone as it approached Petrochem Tower. The skies above the plaza were a bright crimson red, which contrasted with the peaceful starless night sky blanketing the rest of the city. One of those footprints had currently flattened a good chunk of what he was assuming was Memorial Park, which got a light chuckle out of him. Serves those fleshbags right for thinking they had something waiting for them beyond death, and death was what awaited a certain former underling of his once this was over. 'Oh dear oh dear.' as if Madeline wasn't already asking to be tortured with her repeated lies, she pulled this stunt before he pulled the plug on her!
During his time in his rather pitiful attempt to fight those multicolored skirt-clad little girls, one of the many things he learned was that it was a very, very bad idea to do enough damage to get the military involved, something the organizations in the past had trouble avoiding seeing how durable their monsters were, but it was something he had to learn the hard way. He was from a different time, unused to the peace and tranquility of the world the Sailor Senshi came from…and when he went too far and ditched the beasts he created, those children gladly let law enforcement deal with him. He wasn't some superpowered alien general, and he wasn't some magical being from another dimension. He wasn't even in his own body at the time, a complete newcomer to this whole supervillain shtick. Which is why when he finally came back here to the other side of the wall, he had plans, rules set in place for the next time those kids came for him.
…and those rules were what Madeline broke with this disgusting display. The alligator itself did make him quite curious though. Stupid as it was to make a monster this big, it was the biggest one made with his own magic. It was a simple task for him to link up his mind with the beast's because of this, so he could at least know what she did to make it. 'Alrightie, let's see what you're made of, you wily beast you!' Accessing Source Code, Using Administrator Access, and voila, he's in! 'So what are your secrets Beanie…. Blastie…that's its name?!' Oh that's right, this power wasn't completely his, wasn't it? Accursed supernatural magics!
'Beanie Blastie' was at least 4 meters tall and 8 meters wide, and styled after some long forgotten brand of plushie. Its tail was segmented, each piece separated by ball joints which were used to effortlessly swish its tail around violently, crashing into as many buildings and leftover cars as possible, spreading the blazing inferno far out into the city, or rather, that would be the case if not for the fire and anything else the monster picked up being bounced right back into the makeshift fighting arena. At least some of the debris hit the men shooting at the thing. Always nice to see Militech and the others lose valuable equipment, and the added humiliation from this entire situation earned Madeline just a few more days of living! Strange that there weren't any Arasaka personnel to be found, at least not ones who integrated themselves into the other corporate militaries as spies, but this was a fresh start for him and his new partner. They'd have plenty of time to figure out what their deal was later.
He didn't see that many people, well, living people at least. Like the good little brats they were, the Senshi must have evacuated as many people as they could before they even arrived on the scene. Pretty easy to do when you can scare the bejeezus out of them from miles away.
The logo for NCT (Night City Today) News was proudly displayed on the bottom right of the screen. The cameraman was ordered to zoom in on the far left, ignoring the numerous vehicles and armed personnel shooting at the monstrosity, bravely sacrificing their lives, dignity, and the reputation of their corporate overlords so the true, underarmored and underarmed heroes could save the day.
{There!} The reporter shouted as the camera focused on the palm trees near the Petrochem Tower, where two brightly colored prepubescent figures proudly stood, waiting for the beast to approach them. Their balance and posture were perfect, able to stand on the very top of the tall plants without swaying even a centimeter. {It's them!}
"Oh." So it was the daughter and the destroyer. Interesting. "Madeline was a sneaky young lady to hide this from me." And to think she had him thinking human weapons were destroying his monsters! Quite understandable in retrospect. If a regular person dabbled in powers beyond mortal understanding and was routinely beaten by two children dressed like that, of course you'd lie about how you lost!
The camera feed switched to a drone that was closer to the action. The pilot maneuvered it towards the two girls as the monster's attention was focused on them. Their voices could be heard clear as day, their faces completely visible and lit up by the fires below. They were both Asian, very young, and both wearing incredibly inappropriate uniforms for their ages. They were leotards designed after the 'sailor fuku' school uniform, with added collar, short sleeves, skirt and ribbons on the chests and the back of the skirts. They wore white gloves on their hands, chokers around their necks, and stylized boots on their legs, with their heads adorned by tiaras. These were the runts of the group that nearly slaughtered him at each and every encounter, the so-called 'Rabbit' and 'Firefly'.
{The dreams of children are precious treasures to the world! To think you would abuse such a precious thing…} Shouted the Rabbit, the daughter of the blonde one, who stood defiantly with her arms crossed, in a rather poor attempt to look cool instead of the adorable tryhard she came off as. Her posture was perfect however, same as her friend's, as they stood perfectly balanced on top of the palm trees. If he didn't know that her and that idiot were related, he could've sworn she was adopted. She was Japanese, and actually looked the part unlike her mother. She didn't have her mother's pale skin, her eyes were a bright red, and her hair was bubblegum pink, with two large pigtails kept in place by two… two… blast what was the word… odango? Yes, Odango styled hair stylings. She had a pink skirt, boots, and capelet, and the bows on her front and back were as red as her eyes.
{You better not think you can escape rightful punishment.} Shouted the other one, the Firefly, who looked more like a native Japanese citizen. {Not when we are here!} Her tone was far more polite and reserved, and her appearance was just as low key. Her leotard was a darker shade of white, and where her compatriot's colors were bright and in your face, hers were soft and muted. She had black hair, styled in a shoulder-length bob with purple shine on front. Her skin was pale, almost ivory, though a lot healthier than the sickly shade of pale she had when he encountered her back in Juuban. {I am an emissary from the abyss of death. Protected by Saturn, the planet of ruin. Guardian of Silence, Sailor Saturn.}
The pink one continued where her ally left off. {I am the Guardian of Love and Justice, the pretty sailor suited soldier in training, Sailor Chibi Moon!}
{In the name of the future Moon,} They announced in unison. {WE'LL PUNISH YOU}
"I…. I…" The Gentleman couldn't even formulate a response to that. The only thing he noticed was that Saturn didn't have her staff, though whether she saw no need to bring it out, or she couldn't use it, it made no difference to him. It wasn't here, and that was all he cared about.
"T-they're the most ruthless bastards in all of Night City!" The Gentleman resisted the urge to gawk at the man.
"..." It took the Gentleman a good six seconds to process what he just heard. "Are you daft?!" Did he not hear what they were saying?! Did he not see what they were wearing?! He was nearly reduced to bits of code and ectoplasm because he underestimated them, but that was some primitive backwater version of Japan! "You live here, Manderby! Surely even the cheapest firearm a lowly thug could acquire could blow their brat's brains out! They're not completely bulletproof! Trust me, I know." And that was how he found out he was out of his depth.
Manderby nodded in fear from his tone. "Oh they're not bulletproof." The human stated as a fact. "Not that it matters. You wanna know why the Corporations aren't trying to shoot or kill them while that monster's rampaging? Because they tried." He let out a shiver. "And they failed. That black haired one…what she did to the Voodoo Boys…." Oh the things she did…and without even hurting a hair on their heads!
Seeing Manderby nearly throw up caused the Gentleman to open up a link to the monster; Madeline did use his power to make it after all, and sure enough, there wasn't a hint of evil inside their body. Like the pure souls they were, they remained incorrupt in this hellish corporate dystopia. And that wasn't meant as though they managed to retain their sense of justice while adopting the lifestyle that's foisted upon those who wished to survive in this city. No, he meant that these two have literally not killed a single person since they got here.
{Let's go Saturn!} Shouted the pink haired one as she jumped into the air a good 12 feet.
{Right Chibi-Moon!} Shouted the black haired one as she did the same. {We'll silence your loneliness with our love!}
Oh yes; they all talked like that. How could he have forgotten? "And you said that everyone feared them, Manderby? Even the Voodoo Boys?"
"Y-yes!"
"And where, pray tell, are the rest of the gang members in this new hierarchy?"
As Manderby explained everything, the Gentleman said nothing and continued to watch the broadcast. On one side was the daughter, Sailor Chibi Moon, the Rabbit, and the Firefly, Sailor Saturn. On the other side, hurling cars and fire every which way, was a giant stuffed alligator monster causing enough damage to make the US government do something drastic and stupid. And in the peanut gallery were Night City's best and brightest. Maybe he ought to rescind that bit of mercy he gave Madeline.