Chapter 26: A Woman's Scorn
It's just days until the nomads leave the San Francisco area with Cortez going on a mission within an old gold mine to seek out a missing person. "Gee, this place gives me the creeps," he said deep within a cave filled with abandoned mining equipment rusting away.
"Hello my love, you are not going anywhere," Grace sends out sleeping gas which fills up the area to put him fast asleep.
At the nomad camp, V goes to Lucy's tent to talk with her. "Lucy, you got a minute?" V asked.
'Of course, no problem," Lucy said as V took a chair to sit next to you.
"How are you feeling about being in the nomads?" V asked.
"I am getting used to it. This warmth and closeness are something I am not used to. Where are we going?" Lucy asked.
'We are going to Nexus but we need to go along the coastline which is controlled by a pirate group called the Red Tide led by the pirate leader Hawk. We need to keep fast and quiet to avoid fighting them," V said.
"Sounds good to me," Lucy said as V noticed something was bothering her.
"Something wrong?" V asked.
"It's nothing, I thought I saw a ghost," Lucy said.
"It happens. You know I used to have a best friend back in Night City. Jackie Wells who was an ex-Valentino and Edgerunner, met him when I came to Night City to get away from my former Nomad clan. He and I became partners taking on Night City together," V said as Lucy could tell this was personal to it.
"That sounds nice, to have someone you can truly trust," Lucy said.
"Yeah. He always wanted to be a NC Legend and we went on a mission to go to Konpeki Plaza to steal the Relic but everything went wrong. That got my best friend killed," V said as he still thinks about him from time to time.
"I heard about that; I am sorry. I can relate to that," Lucy said to see people she cares about going on missions and getting killed.
"He did become one but he will be forgotten and no one would care about the person he was," V said.
"Yes, David has become a NC Legend but they don't care about him as a person. They care about his suicidal fight at Arasaka Tower," Lucy said feeling a bit angry at this.
"Yeah. All we can do is keep them in our memory and live for them," V said trying to connect with Lucy to help her move on with her life to truly move forward like he did with Jackie.
Lucy is quite surprised to see that V the Reaper who was known to be vicious in combat was able to show remarkable empathy to his friends and allies. "Thank you for telling me and I will try," she said.
"By the way, did you find his corpse?" V asked.
"Nope, it would be suicide to go collect Rebecca's and David's bodies from Corpo Plaza. I check in with a drone to find no traces of them there. I just assumed that the Scavs got to them but with Rebecca alive now. I started to wonder where David's body was, it was confirmed that Adam Smasher killed him," Lucy said.
"Yeah, you only put mementos within their boxes," V said.
"Yes, anyway thanks for checking on me," Lucy said.
"No problem," V said as Lucy smiled.
"Falco is right, you and David are quite similar," Lucy said.
"I will take that as a compliment. Well, I need to go, I need to check on Cortez," V said, and got out of Lucy's tent to have thoughts swimming in her mind.
"David, where are you?" she asked.
Elsewhere Rebecca is watching a movie but Cortez is not getting her calls. "Where is he?" she wondered as V contacted her.
"Rebecca, it's been a few hours. He is not contacting us. I need you to go and find where he is," V said.
"Okay, I will get over there," Rebeca said as his last location is within an old mine. She grabs her weapons to sling Klunk onto her back to go outside to get onto a bike.
"I hope he is okay," Klunk said.
"We will get him back safe and we can leave all this behind us," Rebecca said as they arrived at the location to see a truck nearby which Cortez's vehicle had not been touched.
"Very odd, this truck has been offline for some time now," Klunk said as Rebecca got off her bike to wield her shotgun to enter the mouth of the cavern.
"Gee, so dark in here," Rebecca said as her cyber eyes could barely pick up light inside. She noticed they were within a mine shaft.
"Must be from old Corpo mining operations here," Klunk said as he detected something to be hit by a powerful EMP device to knock them out.
"Shit," Rebecca throws up onto the dirt with her cyberware disabled with Klunk knocked out.
"Hello whore, I heard about you leaving. You are in my hands now," Grace said in her jester costume wielding a stun baton to strike her head to emit tons of shock into her body until she blacked out. "Time to play with you," she said as she had her henchmen dragging her into the depths of her HQ within the underground caverns.
Hours passed as Rebecca did not come back with her stuck deep within the bowels of Grace's HQ building. "Oh fuck, my head," she said as she got onto her feet to see her jacket and hot pants are gone with only her black sports bra and black panties. "Damn it, they took my clothing. They better not have done anything pervy when I was knocked out," she said feeling pissed at this.
"Hello there whore, you are down in the basement of my HQ. I have a bunch of pets down there who are very hungry and they would love to meet you, especially my pet spider Mr. Fang. Be gentle with you, will you?" she said.
"Where the hell is Cortez, where is he?" she asked.
"Oh, he is here with me where he belongs. You will die a pathetic death like the slut you are. Die please," Grace said turning off the loudspeakers while checking out her status via cameras in the walls. "Time to watch and see how she will fail," Grace said as Cortez was asleep in her room on her bed. "Once she is dead, I will claim him once again," Grace said.
Rebecca can see all her cyberware is activated to punch the wall to leave a small dent. "Good, I will be going to rub her ego right into her face. Cortez, I am going for you. Just like you did for me," she thought as she walked through the basement to hear buzzing sounds which are quite familiar.
"Oh no, the Creepers are here," Rebecca said as she looked over to see a corpse who was killed by a Creeper via acid bath. "Not good," she said to see an Omaha tech pistol and cock the gun. "This will do for now until I can find my weapons here," she said to keep moving to put on a pistol holster on her thigh to hold pistol magazines.
She moves through the underground maze to see the humanoid bugs stalking her. "Goody, these things again," she said dryly as the Creeper spat a blob of acid trying to hit her but she managed to slide under the acid attack. She charges up her pistol to let out a powerful shot to strike it in the head.
The charge shot sliced through its skull killing it instantly as several more Creepers showed up flying towards her trying to grab her. She is dodging and weaving their attacks and grabs but she gets shoved into a wall. The Creeper is going to slash her throat with its sickle-like claws but Rebecca ducks and fires a few shots into its chest to put it down.
Blood spreads across the walls as Rebecca takes them down one by one. "Goodness, they smell nasty." She thought as her nose was cringing from the horrible odor.
"How are you liking the snacks? You are going to enjoy the main course soon," Grace said.
"Why do this? Are you insane?' Rebecca questioned.
"Insanely in love with him. I had his back throughout his dark times years ago. He owns me his love," Grace said.
"You don't own his love. He said you were controlling over him," Rebecca said as she reloaded her Omama pistol.
"He is just saying things like that. He doesn't understand how much I gave up for him. He is everything to me," Grace said.
"I will not be losing him to your crazy ass," Rebecca sees more bugs flying towards her to take them out with charged shots to the head to clear them out. She punches a nearby Creeper to knock it onto a wall. She jumps over a Creeper and stomps onto the bug with her cyber feet to crush it with her raw strength.
She grabs a Creeper to rip its head off to toss it into the last Creeper to stun it. She delivers a flying mule kick to take it out.
"Well, time for the main course. Mr. Fang rips her to pieces," Grace said as Rebecca reloads her gun to see an armored spider as big as a horse appear.
"Oh shit!" she is surprised by its raw size as Grace laughs at this.
"You like him, I got him from Biotechnica. In one of their failed experiments, I saved him and gave him a home here. He has been eating my enemies, you included," Grace said as the armored spider let out a scream to rush at her.
She fired a charged shot but it didn't do enough damage to keep rushing at her. "Damn it," she said as she sees the beast lunged at her. She leaps above it to slam down her fist to crack its armored shell.
The spider spits a sticky web to disable her as it knocks into Rebecca to send her flying onto the floor. It flings itself at Rebecca to bare its fangs ready to tear into her body.
She hardens her skin to tank the hit and punch the fang off its maul. She takes it and drives it into its head to run away to gain some distance.
"Mr. Fang, get her now," Grace ordered as the armored spider began to chase Rebecca.
"I need something to give me the edge," Rebecca finds a bunch of shock grenades off a dead Bozo. "Perfect," she said tossing them to give the beast a painful shock hearing screams in agony.
She finds a Multishot pump action grenade launcher of a dead Bozo loaded with three sticky grenades. The beast got close as Rebeca fired a grenade to latch onto its armored body to blast it causing a lot of damage.
She pumps the gun again to lob the sticky grenade to destroy two of its legs. She lobs the last one to take out two of the other legs making it crash onto the floor.
Rebecca jumps towards the monster to slam her fist onto its impaled fang on its head to push it further into its head. She tosses a grenade into its mouth to jump away. The monster explodes with blood scattering everywhere.
"Fuck you, you little whore. Seems like we need to deal with you ourselves," Grace ordered her Bozos to reinforce the building to prepare for Rebecca to raid the building.
"Finally, I can get out of the basement," Rebecca said to find a door to go up the stairs to be within a warehouse filled with goods. She finds her guns and Klunk on a crate.
"Miss Rebecca, thank goodness you are okay," Klunk said as she strapped him onto her back. She tosses her pistol to put her Love and Blood onto her new thigh holsters along with ammo.
"My clothing is nowhere to be found," she said as she slung Guts onto her back to find something interesting. "Oh, this is a M31A5 AICW. So cool," Rebecca said as the assault rifle/grenade launcher combo weapon was a powerful tool to save Cortez.
"That will be useful," Klunk said as Rebecca's ammo pouches to put on her person to hold onto her new weapon.
"Momma likes this a lot," Rebecca slides 4 mini grenades into the pump action grenade launcher underneath and 150 rounds of a top-loading magazine.
"Ready to go?' Klunk asked as Rebecca nodded her head to go through the door to begin scaling up the building to see out the window to see they were underground.
"What the hell, looks like an HQ for a supervillain in a comic book," Rebecca said.
"We are deeper within the gold mine. I am detecting Bozos coming your way," Klunk said to transfer data into Rebecca's eyes about the area.
"That shit isn't going to stop me," she bashes through the door to open fire with rows of rounds taking out several Bozos. She lobs a grenade to blast apart a group of enemies to pump the underslung GL.
The 4.5 mm rounds chew through enemies with ease and the mini grenades sporting enough explosive punch to kill out groups of Bozos. "Feeling like Ripley now?" Klunk joked.
"Hell yeah, Cortez. Stay put, I am going to kill every fucker in this building. I am not leaving you, just like you did for me," Rebecca said as the little lady was tearing into her enemies. She shoves a Bozo onto a wall and kicks him in the head crushing it.
She tosses a flashbang to blind the Bozos as she comes in punching and crushing their heads in with mighty blows. She switches to Guts to let out a powerful blast to split gangoons in half.
"That bitch is here, seek and kill her," he said as she throws another flashbang to blind them to blast them apart.
She moves away from them to get to a better angle. "Not today, Choom," she lobs another mini grenade to kill off a group of Bozos with their guts and blood painted on the walls.
"Take her out," the Bozo move in on Rebecca's position for she is shooting rounds from her combo gun at the Bozos to drop them. More gangsters are coming into the room and Rebecca slips into a small opening to flank around the gangoons.
She gets behind them as she tosses another flashbang distracting a group of enemies in a bright explosion. She gets behind cover to avoid their gaze as she sneaks behind a crate to pop them in the head with rapid-fire shots.
"I got a good position, time to go crazy on these guys," she thought as she was pouring bullets down the room to kill off squads of enemies to fall into their pools of blood. She drops a magazine and draws another one to slide it into the M31A5. "150 rounds of terror," she thought.
She lobs a mini grenade from her launcher to take out a big chunk of Bozos as Rebecca manages to drop the rest of the enemies to clear up the area. "Lots of guys here," Rebecca said as she goes up the stairs to see more Bozos but she places precise shots from her AICW to drop them and roll down the stairs.
The duo goes forward for the Bozos noticed radio silence within the lower level. "What the hell, Boss, she keeps going upward," a Bozo said on the radio.
"Keep sending guys, don't let her at the top," Grace said.
"Yes madam," the Bozos keep throwing bodies at Rebecca but she takes them down. Several Hellhounds show up trying to tackle and bite her but using her strength and combo gun she manages to wipe them out.
"Hush Puppies," she fires a bullet into the last cyber dog's head to keep going upward.
Several Heavies were wielding HMGs to fire at her several times to knock her away. She leaps up above the hail of fire and slams onto the floor to unleash a shockwave to knock them off balance. She draws out her M31A5 to put several rounds into their heads to drop them onto the floor.
She tosses a mine grenade onto the floor to trigger an explosion to send several Bozos falling to lower levels and being crushed by rubble. "Dumb fucks," Rebecca is peppering rapid-fire bullets to tear into the Bozos.
"Send in the Berserkers now, slow her down," Grace said as four Berserkers aka Bozo Cyberpsychos appear to laugh at her to rush at her with mantis blades.
"No time for you," Rebecca is dodging and shoving them away. She tanks their hits as she fires her Guts to let her 4-gauge slug destroy the head of the first Cyberpsycho.
The Berserkers are bouncing off the walls and pillars trying to get an angle on Rebecca. She tosses a flashbang to blind them as she fires another slug to blow up the head of the second Berserker. She dashes forward and drives her fist into the chest of the third Berserker ripping his heart out and killing him instantly.
She lobs the mini grenade into the Berserker's mouth to see her head explode. "I remember a time when Cyberpsychos were a pain in the ass," Rebecca said.
"Yes, you have fought worse. You have come a long way, Miss Rebecca. Cortez couldn't ask for a better partner," Klunk said as she blushed from his words of praise.
"Yeah, but let's pat ourselves on the back when we save the big guy," Rebecca keeps going up to see Wyverns and Minotaurs blocking her path. "Get out of my way, you bucket brains," she lobs an EMP grenade to knock out the Wyverns and disable the Minotaurs.
She fires mini acid grenades to strike her targets, weakening them, and peppering them with rounds until they are destroyed. "Goons, Cyberpsychos, and drones. Nothing you throw at me will stop me from rescuing my man," Rebecca screamed upward.
Grace is beyond pissed that her forces are not picking up the pace. "Damn it, I have to do everything myself," Grace goes over to her bedroom to see Cortez in a simple bathrobe. She kisses him on the cheek. "Don't worry, my love. I will take care of her and then after I will make sure you will forget her, thinking only of me," Grace said to activate her power armor and her cyberware.
"These are better be worth it," Grace said as she entered the Power Armor for her final battle with Rebecca over Cortez's fate.
Rebecca has managed to reach the top of the tower to leave behind a trail of dead bodies and broken robots in her wake. "That is about 100 of those guys," Klunk said as Rebecca caught her breath. She sees the M31A5 is empty with no ammo left to toss it aside for it served its purpose.
"Yeah, but we need to confront Grace and get Cortez out of here," Rebecca said as she approached the door. It burst open violently knocking Rebecca into a wall to see a large power armor looming down on her. "Oh shit, she has power armor," she said.
"That model is the Militech War Commando. It's a bit older but it's very formidable," Klunk scanned the power armor has various weapons on it like flamethrowers in the feet, monoblade in each wrist, a missile pod on the left shoulder, and a photon laser cannon on the torso while holding a Tempest Heavy Combat Rifle chambered for 14.5 x 114 mm with 50 rounds in an ammo box.
"That looks nasty," Rebecca said seeing that huge rifle that the power armor is wielding.
"That Tempest HCR is made for Borgs and Power Armor exclusively. As a reminder, your Dragon Silk Skin weave can block up to .50 BMG. 14.5 x 114mm makes .50 BMG a baby round," Klunk said as Rebecca was a bit worried.
"Now time to die, little whore," Grace unloads a wave of heavy rounds which tears up the room as Rebecca goes back out into the hall. "Come back, where is your courage?' Grace mocks her.
"I am controlling the field. Controlled Chaos," Rebecca said remembering all of V's combat footage and how he controlled and sheered the battle in his favor. She looks behind her to see the large Power Armor rushing at her with surprising speed firing the giant combat rifle like it was nothing with the giant rounds tearing into the environment.
Rebecca felt a bullet strike her back but she felt terrible pain. "Damn that smarts," she hardens her skin to take a few more hits but this was pushing it. She felt a sharp sting and blood leaking down her back. "Fuck," she said as she tosses a flashbang to blind Grace for a moment to rush into a huge area.
"Can't hide from me, little bitch," Grace said to smash through the wall to unleash rows of missiles. The blast knocks Rebecca into a pillar as Grace closes in to punch her. Rebecca catches the big fist to redirect it away to toss a sticky grenade onto the torso to leave little damage.
She noticed her punch damage the pillar as she used her raw strength to push the broken pillar to slam into the power armor. "Clever, but that is not enough," Grace stomps onto the floor to emit flames trying to catch Rebecca on fire.
Rebecca is dashing around the area to avoid the barrage of missiles and heavy rounds. "Get vaporized," she fires off a focused beam of light to barely miss Rebecca. The laser beam rips into everything it touches and goes out of the building.
She grabs a red container to toss it at the power armor to crash and explode doing some damage to it. She aims her shotgun to fire a slug to strike the missile pod destroying it and making it useless. "That means nothing, I will still crush you," Grace said as Klunk got off Rebecca's back.
"I will aid you by hacking the building's network. Hold on and don't get crushed by falling metal," Klunk said jokily.
"Nice one Buckethead," Rebecca said not amused with this to dodge incoming bullets and laser beams. The War Commando rushes in with twin wrist monoblades trying to slice Rebecca into bloody ribbons.
"Hold still," she said as Rebecca knocked the blades away while dodging her slashes.
"Make me," Rebecca dared her as she kicked a red container to shoot it to blow up and damage the power armor. She sees the laser cannon about to fire away but she fires a slug into it causing it to backfire and explode greatly damaging the power armor.
"Damn it," Grace got hurt in the blast as well. She opens fires at Rebecca trying to kill her off. She took more hits but she managed to escape she felt blood coming from her wounds. She sticks her Health Booster into her body to let nanobots fix up her wounds and ease her pain.
"This is annoying," Rebecca thought as she tossed a riot grenade to emit sticky foam to hold the power armor's legs in place.
"This foam will not stop me," Grace uses her PA's feet flamethrowers to burn away the foam freeing herself. Rebecca finds an Assault Cannon loaded with 12 mini rockets. She jumps on top of a crate to begin firing several rockets to blast into the hull of the PA to begin wearing it down.
"Hull strength at 50 percent," the computer said as Grace started to become worried about the fight.
"I don't believe it, she is overpowering me," she said as she fired her Tempest HCR with Rebecca gaining on her.
"Rebecca, I gain control of the systems of the building," Klunk said on her commlink.
"Good work, give me a hand," Rebecca said as Klunk hacked a turret to begin to fire onto the Power Armor.
"Damn it," Grace said as Rebecca reloads her gun to hop onto another crate to fire more rockets at the Power Armor weakening it further. She fires onto a pillar to make it fall towards the top of the Power Armor.
"Hull Strength at 25 percent. Leave the vehicle at once," the computer said. Klunk fires onto a set of red containers near the War Commando to set up a chain of explosions gravely damaging the PA.
"Shit," she escapes the suit before it falls apart and falls onto the floor.
"Are you done yet?" Rebecca asked as Grace was not done yet. She turns her arm into a cannon to fire a streak of lighting which has destroyed Rebecca's left arm feeling intense burning from the attack.
"What the fuck?" Rebecca questioned Grace has a crazed look in her eyes.
"I am not done yet," Grace said as she rushed at her with swift speed. Rebecca is stunned and gets shoved into a crate. "How cute, these tattoos must be new," Grace said in a mocking tone. She is holding onto Rebecca's throat to see all the pink tattoos on her pale white skin.
"Those are special like you understand that," Rebecca said as she drew her revolver to pop her eye destroying it.
"Fuck, you bitch," Grace tosses Rebecca across the room as the turret fires at Grace to distract her. "Screw off," she fires her lightning gun arm to vaporize the turret.
"Miss Rebecca, "Klunk swings a crane in the area to swing a crate to smash into Grace to send her flying into a wall leaving a small dent and hurting her back.
"Thanks for the save," she said as she rushed up and stomped onto the wounded clown lady. She grabs onto her lighting gun arm to tear it off her shoulder. She dismembers her limbs with her bare hand leaving her with only her head and torso.
"Damn it, why. Why go this further for him?" she said.
"He has given me new life and taken my heart. He has changed my life for the better in more ways than one. He gave me a new purpose when I was lost not too long ago. I feel happy when I am in his presence, he completes me. I will not let him go and you will not get in our way," Rebecca pulls out her revolver Love aims at her skull to pierce right through it killing her instantly finishing the battle.
"Very poetic Miss Rebecca," Klunk said to appear within the huge room.
"Thanks, Klunk, come on. Cortez awaits us," Rebecca said as she went back up the tower to be in Grace's bedroom to see Cortez wearing a bathrobe. "Thank goodness, babe. Wake up," she said as he was deep asleep.
"Maybe the princess should kiss her prince to wake him up," Klunk joked.
"What is this a fairy tale but this story does feel like one. I was at my lowest point in DreadZone and then a handsome demon came in to save me from a ticking clock. I am forever grateful to him," she said, only having sweet thoughts about him. She went this far killing everyone in this building to save her one and only love. "What the hell," Rebecca reaches over to kiss him on the lips wanting him to wake up.
"Oh my, what a lovely sight," Cortez said as Rebecca was so happy to use her one arm to hug him tight.
"Thank goodness, I thought that clown freak did something to you," Rebecca said.
"No, thank you for the save," Cortez said.
"We are my partners in battle and life," Rebecca said as Cortez looked at her severed arm slot.
"Rebecca, you hurt," he said sounding concerned.
"Don't worry, I will get it fixed up when I get back home. Can you walk?" she asked.
"Yeah," Cortez said as he gets up to see his robe unveil his penis with Rebecca blushing at the sight of it.
"Oh, the big boy wants to come out. So happy to see me," Rebecca said in a teasing tone.
"Yeah, it does," he said to fix himself to head down the stairs to see all the destruction Rebecca caused. "You did all this?" he asked.
"Yep, you're my man. I can't just leave you in that clown's hands," Rebecca said.
"You know you are a crazed murder princess. I wouldn't have it any other way," Cortez said as Rebecca is blushing at his sweet words.
"Oh, baby. I make killing an art form. I am so lucky to have you," she hops up and kisses him on the lips. "Come on, let's get out of here," Rebecca said as they went outside to get into their vehicles to head back home.
Within the day, Panam and V were happy to hear Cortez was recovered by Rebecca who wiped out the leadership of the Bozo crippling them in the region. "Well, it seems like you got rid of another problem in San Francisco. We are in debt to you. I will put in good work with the shadow president you can be trusted," Ren said.
"You have a president?' Panam asked.
"Of course, but due to our commitments to the NUSA government, we can't officially have our own President but the tides are coming. We need to prepare to split and become our nation. The Nomads will play a big role in keeping the roads of our new nation nice and safe," Ren said.
"Happy to help. We managed to collect a bunch of gear there including that broken Power Armor Rebecca crippled. I will find this very useful," V said as he was thinking about piloting it.
"Well, good luck out there. Be wary of Nexus, Arasaka has a big influence there, watch the shadows," Ren said as the day came for the Aldecaldos, leaving San Francisco behind.
Rebecca has had her arm repaired to be within the trailer with Klunk wirelessly linking the truck attached to their trailer. "It's time," Rebecca said as she was talking with Stella and Lucy via holo call.
"Indeed, going into the wastelands. It's going to be rough," Stella said.
'We can do this when we are together in this," Lucy said.
"Yeah, we are one hell of a team. We can make it to Montana," Rebecca said as her boyfriend checked everything.
"Okay, time to say goodbye to this place and move to Nexus," Cortez said.
"Yeah, time to keep moving forward," Rebecca said as the Nomads began to move on the road to head off to go deeper within the wasteland to be far away from civilization.