Chapter 2: Rebirth Pt 2
Bismarck looks at the records of the gladiators to see the newcomer Cortez Black. "Very interesting this one. He has a colorful record as a former Militech Cyber Commando. Those guys are a nasty bunch," he said.
"Yes sir, Militech drops them into an area with 1 to 3 to wipe out entire groups of enemy soldiers in warzone. Blazing gun and quick hack hellscape, it would be a nightmare fighting just one of them," the goon said.
"Oh, this will be boosting my ratings for sure. Keep me posted, the double teams will make this week very interesting," Bismarck said with a devilish smile.
Back with Cortez and Rebecca resting in their bunk beds. Cortez looks up into the ceiling thinking about how he is going to fight in the death games. "Yo Big guy," Rebecca said.
"What's up?" he asked.
"You said you were a former Militech right?' Rebecca said as she was quite curious about her new favorite guy.
"Yep. I went fucking AWOL because of all the nonsense they put me through. Murdering citizens is not my idea of fun but they see sickos get their kicks out of it. Move in some village in Central America and burn their houses to the ground to make way to some stupid complex for some Corpo smug bag," Cortez said.
"Why did you join up in the first place?" she asked.
'Well, I wanted to seek adventure, go see the world, and explore its wonders. I wanted to see if anywhere is better than the NUSA but I was dead wrong. Everyone is just like America, ruled by powerful uncaring rich folk and everyone else getting screwed in the ass," Cortez said.
"Sometimes bitter medicine is needed," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, I needed to. I wanted to make a difference to use my skills to help people but all my guys did was kill, rape, torture and steal anything from the citizens. It's a sick job about bringing America back from the brink but it's Corpo fascist nightmare," Cortez said.
"Well, you are working with V now. With people, you belong with," Rebecca said.
"Yeah. The clan is a rough bunch but once you gain their loyalty. They will stick their necks out for you, just like they did with me," Cortez said as he felt grateful for being a part of A
"How did you become a Heavy for V?" Rebecca asked curiously about this.
"When I came into the clan, it was the time of the Arasaka Raid to help V get his cure for the Relic but my real chance to shine was in the heist of special data on the Crystal Palace," Cortez said as Rebecca was quite shocked to hear.
"Wow, you raided the space station. Damn, Choom, takes serious balls to raid one of the most protected places around Earth," Rebecca said.
"We had to. Panam's contact Mr. Blue Eyes gave V the cure for his condition. It's a treatment called Enol which is a super expensive medicine only available to the ultra-wealthy and not on the mass market but if we do this last heist, V can be saved and live his life how he chooses," Cortez said.
"How was the heist? Did you cause the Crystal Palace to fall into the ocean?" Rebecca asked.
"No, that was Militech. Once they did their sabotage, everything went sideways and we had to fight our way. Tin Man was a great help and I proved myself by aiding V and Panam in their escape with the data, Afterwards, I became a Heavy since V can't be the Reaper anymore," Cortez said as Rebecca was saddened by this fact.
"Oh, he can't fight?" she asked.
"The treatment cured him of his brain decaying but it was left in a weakened state which can't allow to use high-grade cyberware anyway. He can fight like a badass but not like he used to, which is why we are going to pick up the slack for him," Cortez said.
"Damn, what a way to end a legend. Going on in to save your life to raid the fortress for the rich fuckers of this broken world. Going out with a bang and going into a whisper," Rebecca said as he hopped onto the floor to sit beside Rebecca to get close to her.
"Hey, it's the best deal. V isn't the same guy he was in the past. He found something more important than glory," Cortez said.
"What would that be?" Rebecca asked.
"A purpose, it's better if you speak with him about it. By the way, you got some pretty tattoos," Cortez said. Rebecca is happy to hear him say this.
"Oh really. Thank you, I put work into getting these done," Rebecca said.
"Do they have any meaning about them?" he asked as he spotted the girly skull with hair around her neck, a big ram skull on her tight stomach, and letters around her right thigh. "I know that tattoo is a Mox symbol.
"Oh yeah, I used to work for them. Was one of their sex workers at the club," Rebecca said.
Cortez looks at her only to see her wearing her underwear and hoodie-wearing it like a short dress. "Makes sense with your fashion sense or lack thereof," Cortez joked as Rebecca pouted at him.
"Hey I have style, I just keep it cute and simple," Rebecca feeling proud of herself.
"Whatever makes you feel better shortie," Cortez said as Rebecca showed off a cute pout which he finds adorable. "How did that turn out?" Cortez asked.
"It was cool but most of the time it involves lots of creeps and weirdos. They wanted to do some weird roleplay, it wasn't cool," Rebecca said.
"Did you like it?" Cortez asked.
"I did but it was getting boring. I needed the money so I kept it up for about 2 years," Rebecca said.
"When did you start working in the sex biz?" he asked.
"When I turned 16. I got booted out of my school due to my anger issues. So, my pervy teacher wanted to have a groping session and I broke his nuts in a fit of rage. The guy was a well-known teacher at the high school with a lot of connections. I was booted out to cover that pervy jackass and I was blacklisted in Night City schools. Afterward, I worked in Mox trying to make a living until I was 18 then I went to become an Edgerunner along with my brother," Rebecca said.
"I see, that is quite disgusting taking advantage of a teenage girl," Cortez said as Rebecca nodded her head.
"Yep but that is in the past now," Rebecca said.
"What about the leg tattoo?" he asked.
"This one is my favorite sci-fi writer. Phil K. Dick is his name and some of his works are just golden," Rebecca said as Cortez looks a bit confused. "What is wrong?" she asked.
"Never figure you being into reading old books," Cortez said as Rebecca felt offended by this.
"What being sucking dick men I can't enjoy a good book," she said as Cortez shakes his head.
"Not a lot. My favorite loudmouth gremlin likes to read books. Shows there is more to you than meets the eye," Cortez said.
"I used to read a lot when she was younger but things recently keep pushing me back from doing so. Once I am out of here, I will want to buy some e-books and audiobooks to read and listen to," Rebecca said.
'Got any recommendations?" Cortez asked.
"Oh, there is this book series called The Squirrel Girl and the Sword Warriors. She was a slave girl to an evil kingdom. She was dragged by her master and his group to seek a powerful magic sword. Then she falls in love with the spirit in the sword and wants him to bear her kids," Rebecca said as Cortez raised his eyebrows at this.
"Interesting," Cortez said not sure what to think about this weird story.
"It's a dark comedy/adventure story, it's freaking crazy and I love it. Always makes me laugh," Rebecca said.
"Oh, that makes sense with a crazy story like that. So, what about the goat skull on her stomach?" he asked.
"Oh, there is no greater meaning to it. It's just a cool tattoo I wanted," Rebecca said.
"Cool, it looks very striking on your body," he said.
"Thanks, the pink highlights well against my skin tone," Rebecca said.
"Oh, I want to check your cyberware and see what makes you tick on the battlefield," Cortez said.
"Oh, sure Choom, I think you will be impressed with my setup," Rebecca said as Cortez used his eyes to scan her body. "Don't look too hard now?" Rebecca flirted to shake her little breasts in her bra to make the shake making Cotez distracted.
"Damn so cute and perky. Very suckable too," Cortez keeps staring at her cute chest but he shakes his head. "Right, I need to check your cyberware," he said as he saw some interesting stuff. "Seems like you reinforced your body with metal-laced bones," he said.
"After what happened with Adam Smasher. I want to be as tanky as possible. I install a Berserk OS and Adrenaline Rush mod with a Second Heart Cyberware which makes me a mobile tank," Rebecca said.
"I see the second heart. Acts like a 1 UP in a video game," Cortez said.
"Yep, it's what saved me when Atom Smasher crushed the other side of my body before Trama Team saved me," Rebecca said.
"Lucky," Cortez said as Rebecca laughs at this.
"Yep dumb luck saved me that day," Rebecca said.
"This gives you super armor or hardens your body to damage from bullets and explosives. Even making you invulnerable for a few moments," Cortez said.
"Comes in handy in a pinch," Rebecca said as Cortez looked at her arms which are cybernetic to see Gorilla Arms installed.
"Got some nice arms," Cortez said.
"Thanks, I have stick arms but these gorilla arm even them out. Super Strength and being able to cave someone's head in is pretty handy," Rebecca said.
"Most indeed," he said as he looked at her legs to see how shapely and curvy they were.
"They look nice right?" she flirted as Cortez placed his hand on her thigh to feel how smooth her skin was.
"Sure does. Reinforced legs to allow double Jumping and reduce fall damage," Cortez said.
"I can do superhero landing too," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, you smartly thought out your loadout," Cortez said.
"Yep, I am a real wreaking ball," Rebecca said with an impish smile.
"More like a cluster bomb. When we get into the games, you will be the close-range gal and I will be backing you up with quick hacks and measured gunplay," Cortez said.
"Noted big guy," Rebecca said as she felt happy talking with someone since no one cared to talk with her here making her feel very lonely.
"Well, the time has come folk. Our next match is about to begin," the announcer said on the speakers. "Several teams will battle it out in a fight to the death," he said.
"That is our cue," Cortez said
"We need to arm up at the armory," she said as she put on her hoodie with the duo heading off.
They go into the armory to pick up their guns. "Seems like the midget got herself a big bulldog as a pet," one of the team members said.
"Bite me," Rebecca said as Cortez placed his hand on her shoulder.
"We got to play it cool. Tin Man still needs to work on his mojo," Cortez said as he felt Rebecca's shoulder relax.
"Yeah you are right, we are going to turn them into dog meat anyway," Rachel grabs a Lexington and Carnage. Cortez grabs an Overtune Revolver and a Masamune burst-fire assault rifle.
"This will do I guess," Cortez said as he looked through the short scope for them to get onto the platform to go into the combat zone.
"Well, folks time for another round of DreadZone. Our gladiators will be paired to fight to the death for your amusement. Let the games begin," the announcer said on the speaker.
Cortez and Rebecca are within the zone to see a ton of things Cortez can hack and use against their enemies. "Go nuts but stay close," Cortez said.
"You got it Choom, time to take out these Gonks and show them what we are made of," Rebecca said as she rushed in to meet the first group of two. They were firing at her but Rebecca got hit. She kept going to fire several shots into the first enemy to drop her dead.
Cortez uses a Quickhack to stun the second one leaving him vulnerable. Rebecca follows up with a shotgun blast to turn him into a pile of red gore. "Nice combo shortie," Cortez said as he disabled the enemies' Cyberware to stun them to be headshot by Cortez's Masamune
"Yeah, keep it up big guy," Rebecca said as she slid towards an enemy gladiator to blast them to bits. Rebecca bounces off the walls to pop the head of a contestant with Corte hacking a piece of wall to move in front of Rebecca to block a grenade.
"That was close," he said as he turned his left arm into a projectile launcher to lob a bunch of frag grenades to vaporize a group of enemies.
"Oh, you got your arm turned into a rocket launcher?" Rebecca is amused by this.
"Yep, pretty handy," Cortez said as he wielded his revolver to blow off the heads of nearby enemies. He looks up to see a crate hanging from the ceiling. He hacks the machine to make it drop onto a gladiator to crush them.
Rebecca jumped over the crate to go into a speeding tackle to tear up three enemies. "I am the juggernaut, bitches," Rebecca grabs the corpse and tosses it at high speed to slam into another enemy killing them on impact. "Big guy, look out," Rebecca said as Cortez was busy with two enemies with someone trying to snipe him in the head.
She pulls out her pistol to fire several shots to kill the sniper. "Good work partner," Cortez said as the duo used their abilities and gun skills to kill off most of the enemies beside one other team.
"Seems like there are two teams left," the voice said as there are 2 Cyberpsychos.
"Cyberpsycho," Rebecca said as Cortez is not afraid of this.
"I eat these fuckers for breakfast. How about you?" he asked.
"I killed my share here in the combat zone. Let's do this," Rebecca said as the two cyborgs were dashing around with Cortez disables one of the psychos with a strong quick hack. Rebecca rushes forward to fire a shotgun blast to send the psycho flying across the arena.
Her armored skin blocks most of the damage to wield her mantis blades to swing and slash at Rebecca. She gets cut a few times but manages to regain her ground. She fires her pistols into the cyberpsycho's legs to stun her and uses her Gorilla Arms to rapidly pound away at her chest until she shoves her hand into her chest to rip out her heart to crush it.
The Cyberpsycho dies on the spot as Cortez is impressed by her feat of strength and ruthlessness in combat. The second Cyberpsycho is heading for Cortez to fire his bullets at her but uses her sword to deflect most of his shots while tanking the rest still gunning for him.
"Oh no you don't," Rebecca rushes over as Cortez fires his gun but the Masamune jams. "Damn it," he said as he tosses the gun but the woman slices the gun in half. He pulls out his revolver to shoot her but she moves fast dodging his hits.
He is focusing his quickhack but he can't lock on due to the psycho tossing a smoke grenade to cover her tracks. He triggers an explosion to send the Cyberpsycho flying to slam into a wall.
"You will not let a hand on my partner!" Rebecca tries out her Berserk OS with her spine feeling very hot and her eyes glowing red. "Time to rip and tear," Rebecca said as she dashed towards the Cyberpsycho who was very afraid of Rebecca's crazed expression on her face.
The Cyberpsycho lunges at Rebecca and blocks the slash with her arm. She doesn't flinch and grabs her sword to snap it in half. She delivers a powerful punch to see the psycho spit up white blood onto the floor.
She slams her onto the floor and she grabs her leg to begin bashing her onto the floor like a makeshift hammer. She spins her around for a few moments and Rebecca tosses her into a pillar. The raw force of the impact violently splits the psycho in two with white cyborg blood and guts scattered everywhere.
"Damn I don't know if I such be horny or scared," Cortez said as Rebecca finds this amusing to deactivate her berserk state.
"I bet it's a bit of both," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, both indeed," Cortez said as Rebecca laughed at this.
"Seriously, are you okay?" she asked to be close with him to check him out.
"Yeah, thanks," Cortez said as the crowd went wild.
"Seems like the new duo are the winners. We will soon get into the next match with these later. A game of defense against a horde of machines. Stand tuned," the voice said on the loudspeakers.
"We got a short break, let's take it," Rebecca said as they went over to their room with Rebecca feeling tired.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked to hold her up.
"Yeah Berserk gets me winded but I will be okay," Rebecca said as they went into their room to rest for a moment. They get back inside to sit on Rebecca's bed. "Good work, your hacking is nova," she said.
'Thanks. I think are got a dynamic going on," Cortez said.
"The Knife and the Hammer," Rebecca said.
"Very observant," he said as Rebecca gave a toothy grin.
"I have my moments," Rebecca said.
"So, Rebecca. What was life like before you got here before Atom Smasher almost killed you?" Cortez asked as Rebecca looked deep into his eyes.
"Well, it was filled with drama, violence, and trauma but I still like those times. I made a lot of friends but now they are gone," Rebecca said.
"Once you get out of here, you can start fresh with us," Cortez said.
"What was your life like before you joined the nomads?" she asked.
"Pain and misery. Working with Militech was hell on earth. Doing all sorts of bad things while trying to aid the NUS government to keep their interest abound. I have done terrible things for Myers' madness," Cortez said.
"The president of the NUS. I heard about the whole terrorist attack on the spaceport in Night City. Fucking awful," Rebecca said.
"Yeah V was deeply involved with her. That is why she did that," Cortez said as Rebecca was shocked to hear this.
"V is connected to the NUS president?" she asked.
"It's a long painful story. V deny her something she wanted and now Myers has him on her shit list," Cortez said.
"Damn, V is a real legend. Able to piss off the president," Rebecca said.
"Rightfully so, Myers is a tyrant of the New United States. She can dress up her nonsense with the red, white, and blue but she is nothing more than a dictator who will sacrifice anyone or anything to get what she wants. She is just as bad as the Saburo Arasaka," Cortez shows pure contempt for the woman and Rebecca feels sorry for him.
"Sounds like a monster," Rebecca said.
"You don't know the half of it. V took care of Arasaka and now Militech/NUS military replaced them," Cortez said.
"We will do it together. Fight those fascist bastards and protect the clan," Rebecca said as Cortez smiled at this.
"Now you are sounding like a nomad," Cortez said.
"Well, I am going to be a part of the Aldecaldos soon. May as well embrace it," Rebecca said.
"Attagirl," Cortez said as Rebecca pouted at this.
"What am I a dog?" Rebecca asked dryly.
'Well, no but you are cuter than a dog," Cortez said.
"I hope so big guy, Want me to lick your balls?" she asked playfully.
"That would be lovely but we should be getting ready for the next event," Cortez said as Rebecca got rosy in the cheeks.
"Oh right, of course," Rebecca said. "Gee, he is so nice to me. No man cares about talking about my thoughts and feelings, treating me like a woman. They are only about fucking me or shooting me. I should treat him for being a good listener," she thought.
"Spitfire and Bald Guy, come to the stage. The event is ready to go," the speaker said as Cortez shook his head at the lazy name.
"Bald Guy really, they could come up with something more original," Cortez said to laugh at this.
"Yep, fits Bismarck to a T. Cheap and not giving a shit. Come on, let's put on a show for the crowd," Rebecca said as the duo grabbed their gear and headed onto the lift to go into the combat zone.
"Now folks, we for a defense round here. These two will defend this area from a swarm of drones and robots. They must hold it for 10 minutes, when the time runs out they win or if they die the game is over. Time for the show to begin," the voice said as flying drones and robot troopers gain up towards the guarded location.
Cortez can detect several turrets he needs to take control of. "Rebecca hold them off, I am going to turn on the turrets. Up our defenses," Cortez said as Rebecca was using her machine pistol to pop the heads of robots and knock drones out of the air.
"You got it, I will cover you," Rebecca said as she saw one of the turrets coming on online to begin knocking down drones from the air. She slams her fist into a robot's chest to send it flying into a wall.
She grabs a crate and tosses it into a crowd of robots to smash it up while blasting drones from getting too close to Cortez.
She peppers nearby robot troops with hails of bullets She tosses an EMP grenade to disable multiple bots. She lunges forward to charge up her fists to slam onto the floor to unleash a powerful shockwave that battered the enemies into a pile of scrap.
Cortez managed to convert half of the turrets to target the flying drones tearing them apart. "Keep going Rebecca," Cortez said as she mowed down rows of robot troopers.
"You got it, Big Guy," Rebecca said as she jumped onto a robot to put her legs around its head to use her auto pistol to blow away enemies. She twists the neck of the robot and tosses it into a group of machines. She tosses an EMP grenade to take them out at once.
She rushes in and drives her fist into the robot's chest takes out its guts and kicks it into a few robots to knock them down. She switches to her shotgun to blast them apart.
"Sweet," Cortez said as he took control of all the turrets with all of them focusing on the drones. "Now we focus on the ground forces," Cortez begins to use his Quickhacks to turn the robots against each other causing chaos among their own.
He managed to set some on fire by overheating their systems and overloading their systems to cause electric blasts taking out chunks of enemies. Rebecca looks on with awe and is amused to watch him work his cyber magic on the machines.
They kept going until the time went by. "Perfect it's done. Our dynamic duo has managed to win this match. Give a round of praise to Spitfire and the Bald Guy," the voice said as Cortez groaned at this.
"Let's get back. I need to check with Tin Man on his progress," Cortez said as the duo came out of the combat zone to get in contact with Tin Man.
"Cortez, meet me by the vent in the barracks," Tin Man said.
"Come on, my friend is waiting for us," Cortez said as they met up in the barracks where no one was there.
"Greetings, you two are tearing up the combat zone," Tin Man said hovering beside the vent. Rebeca looks to see the cute little drone.
"Oh, he is so cute," Rebecca said as she wanted to pet him.
"Thanks, Miss Rebecca. I managed to gain access to the mainframe and I am working on deactivating your bomb collars. Remove the signal and take it off your necks," Tin Man said.
"Nova, you kick ass little Choom," Rebecca said.
"I am doing my best," Tin Man said.
"So, I think it's best to give him a real name. Tin Man sounds like a nickname," Rebecca said.
'Okay, I tried and he didn't like the names I gave him," Cortez said.
"Just because they were not very good," Tin Man said.
"What is your real name?" she asked.
"My model ID is 456123," Tin Man said as Rebecca cringed at this.
"Well, I think Klunk would fit you best. It's simple and easy to understand," Rebecca said as Tin Man nodded his head happily.
"Yes Klunk is fine," Klunk said enjoying his new name.
"Anyway, Tin Man, when are we going to execute the plan?" Cortez asked.
"Tomorrow when the game starts. Everyone is distracted. That is when we strike and get out of here," Klunk said.
"Thank you two," Rebecca feels hope swelling this nightmare will be over soon.
"No problem, it would be a real shame to lose that pretty face of yours. Come on, let Tin Man cook and give us the word," Cortez said as Klunk went into the vents to hide. Rebecca feels grateful to them as her true rebirth is almost here.