Chapter 12: Earthquake
Review Replies
Hayane234: Jesus Christ, I wish I didn't eat before reading this chapter... man that is fucked... but damn was it well written showing the darker side of things that you really don't see.
ThermalsniperN7: Good. That was the reaction we were hoping for.
Dragon Emperor0: Glad to see the execution matched the intent.
-Sunset Hotel, North Cal, Badlands-
V sighed as he sat up in bed after falling asleep in the same room as Panam, but soon saw that she was nowhere to be seen.
The nomad cracked his neck from side to side, looking down at a new car key he got from Nash's hideout.
(Flashback)
After loading Nash and his crew into their cars, V saw a storage unit towards the back of the cave that caught his eye.
"Hm…" He hummed before he decided to check it out.
"What are you doing?" Panam questioned, catching up with him.
"Just seeing what Nash had stored away in that storage unit." V replied. "Wanna join?" He offered.
"Lootin' Nash's shit? Fuck yeah." The woman grinned.
Then the two walked in and found… A car. It wasn't your average car, though.
It was a jet black Rayfield Caliburn that looked factory new.
V let out a whistle as he examined the car.
"Hello gorgeous. This thing must be factory new." The man smiled as he got in. "… Holy shit!" He exclaimed as side turrets popped out from under the door sides and the car turned invisible.
"Okay, this has "vigilante" written all over it and I love it!" Panam exclaimed with a laugh.
"I'm keeping this baby." He grinned, stepping out and walking over to a locker. "Utility belt, state of the art Militech Kevlar and carbon fiber nanotube armor, and…" He listed as he looked through, and took out a weapon.
The first was an unusual silver colored auto rifle that seemed incomplete, having a hollow space with some tubes. The second he touched it, however, a silver liquid-like material formed with a spike-like tip and encompassed the tubes. It also had a foregrip that, according to V's scans, served a different purpose than stability.
"Holy shit! Is that what I think it is?!" Panam exclaimed in shock.
"The Malorian Arms 1776-0 "Storm" model 2 of their Quicksilver line. Circuit 2013." V nodded, holding up the weapon. "Issued to the NUSA during the Second Central American War." He continued. "I thought Malorian discontinued these things years ago. As far as I'm aware, there's only like 100 still out there, at least that we know about." He added, looking through the scope.
The second thing in the locker looked to be another relic from one of the many conflicts that sprung up—that being a set of mantis blade replacements capable of generating localized EMPs.
As well as…
"No. Fucking. Way." Panam gasped.
"Is that… Is that a fucking Jetpack?" David questioned, looking over V's shoulder.
The jetpack in question was silver in color and had three engines. The center had what looked like a small reactor, and there were two other engines that would extend once the jetpack was activated. Attached was a small pair of machine guns.
"What. The. Fuck?!" V gasped in shock. "I thought these things were all scrapped!" He exclaimed.
"What model is this?! I-I don't recognize it!" Panam stammered slightly, her eyes wide.
"This is a "Dark Void" assault jetpack. Militech was said to have made them with the intent of deploying aerial attackers to ambush enemy targets. These things were going to be used during the first Central American war, to fly over areas and blow napalm, but only five were built!" V explained in reply. "Four were destroyed, which means we just found the last one on the planet!" He continued.
"Whoever had this must've been lucky as hell." Panam grinned.
"Now we are!" V grinned as he picked it up and put it in the trunk. "Man, Val is gonna flip when she sees this!" He said almost giddily.
(End flashback)
"Hey, Panam." V said as he entered a garage. "Getting some last minute work done?" He noted, seeing her working on her Thornton.
"Yep. We're gonna need my Thornton in good shape for this." The woman replied as she worked on the underside of the car. "You sleep okay?" She asked.
"Like a rock. You?" The nomad asked.
"Same." The Nomad woman replied as she slid out from under her ride.
"So, you got a plan for us today?" The man asked.
"Well, aside from using the satnav power station to generate an EMP. I got a rocket launcher in case that doesn't work well enough." Panam told him.
"That just depends on the EMP's strength." V told her with a shrug. "Which I think my Tremor gauntlets will probably make a massive difference in." He noted, flexing his hands.
"I should hope so." Panam chuckled.
"Alright. You ready to go?" The nomad man questioned.
"Yep." The woman nodded before they got in the Thornton and left for their destination.
"So is this Gov or Corp we're hitting?" V asked.
"Is there any difference?" Panam questioned.
"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure I know whose toes we're about to step all over." The man said.
"V, it is simple. Everything is owned by a corporation." The woman told him.
"So you like to mess with the Corp, huh?" V grinned.
"Indeed, and I can tell by the gleam in your eyes that you do, too." Panam remarked with a smirk.
"Wait, scratch that." V hummed. "Rogue, Nash, Saul, the Raffens…" He listed.
"You're on thin ice, V." Panam warned.
"You just like messing with everybody." He surmised.
"Good thing I'm on your side then, huh?" The woman remarked, causing V to hum a bit.
There was a beat of silence before the man spoke again.
"Okay, now for something completely different: the weirdest thing you ever transported–go." He prompted.
"Really? OK." The woman nodded. "The prime minister of Kaukaz." She listed.
"That's chauffeuring." The man stated.
"Flatlined. In the trunk." The nomad elaborated as she drove the truck onto a bridge.
"Okay." V nodded. "For me it was a Lesser Antillean Iguana meant originally for Saburo Arasaka." He stated.
"Holy shit, you robbed the emperor himself?!" Panam guffawed in amazement. "Oh wow, that is magnificent! I can only imagine how pissed he was about it!" She exclaimed with a smile. "What'd you do with it?" She questioned.
"Jackie's got him. We decided to keep him. Gave him the name Manny." V explained. "And Val happened to clep another iguana from Yorinobu Arasaka during our Konpeki Heist, specifically an egg." He added.
"Damn, you guys don't fuck around when it comes to pissing off corps." Panam whistled in appreciation. Then she pulled over to the left side of the bridge. "Okay, let's stop here and get you calibrated for the turret. I want you to use the gun, too, in case things get hairy." She told him as she tapped a few buttons.
"Honestly, I kinda wish I brought the jetpack, just in case." V remarked
"I doubt we'd need it." The woman shrugged as V jacked in. "Shit, it keeps giving me an error." She cursed as David appeared in the backseat.
"Ladies and gentlemen, David Martinez coming to you live from the middle of bumfuck nowhere!" The engram quipped. "Preem work, V." He added with a grin.
"Heh. Funny." V chuckled mentally.
"The error seems to be coming from that sande of yours. Not sure why, though." The woman noted in confusion.
"There's a… couple extra features on my Sande. BD recording software, immuno blocker auto injection ports, and a biochip slot. The error's probably coming from one of those." The man replied. "That or it could be residual damage to the system from its two previous owners." He hummed.
"Why?" Panam questioned as she attempted a workaround.
"Both of them went Cyberpsycho." The nomad replied.
"Ooh. Yeah, that'll do it." The Nomad woman winced as she got some extra security for her ride's systems up. "Okay, you should be good now." She told him as V started seeing through the turret's cameras.
"Yep, it's working." He confirmed.
"Alright, let's get you calibrated." Panam nodded.
"Sabotaging a Corpo power station. Taking down a Corpo AV. Kidnapping a Corpo suit…" David listed as V blasted several targets all to hell to calibrate.
"Are you trying to say something, or is this just a plug for the word "corpo"?" The man questioned.
"Ya know what? You're starting to remind me of me, two years back." The street kid stated. "Minus the street cred, and impressive cock." He quipped.
"Says the man whose girlfriend left to go to the moon, while I at least got a kid out of the deal." The Nomad shot back.
"Fuck you, man. That was a low blow." David retorted, flipping V off before he vanished.
"Talk shit, get hit, Martinez." V shrugged.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, in another part of the badlands, Val was sleeping in a hammock she tied between two Spanish dagger cactus, completely conked out.
As she slept, she was blissfully unaware of the being stalking toward her.
It was a woman… But there was something extremely wrong with her.
She appeared to be wearing a white dress, but her body was gaunt to the point she shouldn't even be walking and yet she was. Her skin was white as a corpse's, and her hair was just as white.
Her eyes, though, were a haunting black, completely devoid of anything indicative of life.
When the 'woman' was right next to Val, she took a deep breath and…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She shrieked, causing Val to scream in fright and fall out of her hammock.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" She yelled, scrambling to her feet. Then she saw the culprit and froze in terror.
"Hey, what's all the– SON OF A BITCH!" Drifter started to say before cursing in fear as he looked at the gaunt entity.
"Okay, what's–" Johnny started to say as he appeared before noticing the new being. "... Oh fuck." He gulped, looking visibly frightened.
"Th-Th-Th-The B-B-Badlands B-B-B-B-B-Banshee…!" Val whimpered in complete fear, taking several steps back from the supposed folklore creature.
(Elsewhere)
-With V and Panam, a few moments earlier-
As Panam drove them to a cliff that overlooked the power plant she and V were targeting…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A piercing shriek tore through the air, startling Panam and causing her to swerve the truck in shock before she slammed on the brakes.
"What the actual fuck was that?!" She shouted, trying to calm her racing heart.
"I don't fucking know!" V replied as he breathed rapidly, his heart racing as well.
"That is the scariest thing I've ever heard!" David exclaimed, eyes wide.
(Elsewhere)
-Back with Val and Drifter, present time-
Upon seeing the creature that started her, Val reflexively moved her arm up and deployed her sniper arm cyberware, aiming it right at the banshee.
"D-D-D-Don't come closer! I'll b-blow your fucking head off!" She warned, but it would've sounded better if she was so terrified right now.
The Banshee took a step closer, prompting Val to fire at her in a panic…
But the bullet went right through her! It was like she wasn't even there!
"Uh, okay– Fuck this shit! We need to get out of here!" Johnny exclaimed in fear.
"I hate it when you're right!" Val exclaimed mentally as she rushed for the Derelict, where Drifter had managed to get the engine going just in time as Val got in the passenger seat. "GUN IT!" She yelled in fear.
"GUNNING IT!" Drifter yelled in equal fear as he floored it, uneven terrain be damned.
Their folklore haunter did not pursue them. Instead, she merely smiled at her handiwork before she faded away into the wind, leaving no evidence of her existence.
(Later)
After driving for a good ten minutes, Drifter parked the Derelict, allowing himself and Val to catch their breaths. Even Johnny was doing it despite not needing to.
"I thought… The… Badlands Banshee… Was a folktale…!" The assassin panted, the adrenaline from her fright wearing off.
"That's what I… Thought too… Sister…" Drifter breathed as his own adrenaline subsided.
"Let's just delta the fuck outta here!" The woman sighed as they kept driving.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back with V and Panam, they decided to book it to the power station after hearing the scream, deciding they weren't gonna sit around and find out what caused it like a pair of gonks.
Once they were at the cliff they needed, they saw their target sitting nice and pretty.
"Okay, there's the power plant." Panam said as she parked her ride.
"Jacking into the turret now." V nodded as he looked around. "No drones so far." He noted.
"Good. That'll make getting in easier." The woman nodded. "They'll probably come at us after we ram through the gate." She added.
"So, just bust in, overclock everything and fall back?" V deduced.
"Yep." The fiery Nomad nodded in reply as she started driving again.
"Perfect." The man nodded as he disconnected from the turret, right as the truck slammed through the gates.
Immediately, drones started swarming them, prompting V to quickly reconnect to the turret and shoot them down. Once that was done, Panam rammed through the gate to the control room.
"Alright, start overclocking everything! I want this place lit up like a Christmas tree!" Panam barked as she got out and dashed to a panel, V doing the same.
"On it!" V exclaimed as he set everything on one panel to maximum. However, this had the adverse effect of his vision glitching. "Agh! The fuck?!" He cursed before his vision cleared up.
"What's wrong?" Panam asked as she worked on another panel.
"This place is causing me some problems! The high power is fucking with my implants!" The man replied, getting to another panel and repeating the process. "GAH! Oooh! Oh!" He gasped as he fell to the ground before limping off to the car.
"Okay, we're good!" Panam exclaimed as she hopped in the driver's seat, immediately noticing V's current state. "Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to rest when we're clear." She told him as she started driving away from the power plant.
"Gah! Fuckin' hell, V!" David gasped as he approached. "Get us outta here before something happens to the core of the Sande!" He groaned.
"We're already on our way away from the power plant, buddy." V told his 'roommate.' Seconds later he disappeared. "David? David?!" He questioned.
"Ooh. OK… it's… I'm okay." David sighed as he reappeared. "Just… Delta the fuck out!" He hissed.
After a bit, Panam brought them back to the cliff they were at earlier and parked.
"Now all we need to do is wait." The woman told him.
"Good. I'm gonna get some shuteye." V groaned as he closed his eyes for a brief nap.
(Elsewhere)
"Everything okay back there?" Drifter called as Val finished the call she'd gotten from Regina Jones not long after they'd packed up camp to get ready for the AV.
"Yeah. I'm good." Val nodded in reply.
"Good. Now let's–" Drifter started to say before there was a small tremor, and he saw the power plant sink into the ground, sending a potent EMP blast out. The end result was several AVs falling from the sky. "That's our cue! Time to move!" He exclaimed.
"Drive, Drifter! Just fucking drive!" The woman yelled as she hopped in the passenger seat and buckled up. "I see our AV! It's following a similar flight path to a KangTao AV!" She added, looking at an on hand radar her optics had.
"Screw the KangTao AV! We know what we're goin' after!" The lone Nomad exclaimed as he focused on their target.
It was at that point some drones appeared and started shooting at them.
"Fuck! I thought the EMP would knock those things out!" Val cursed as she jacked into the Derelict's turret.
"Must be shielded! With the fact that Biotechnica is in bed with Arasaka, I'm not all that surprised!" The nomad barked. "The turret has a setting that can fire heat seeking grenade rounds! Try those!" He added.
"Got it!" The assassin responded as she activated the setting and started shooting, the grenades seeking out their targets and taking them out with ease, only taking one grenade each. "Woo! That rocks!" She cheered with a grin.
"Coming up on the AV now! Think you can, what the—?!" The man said, right as he suddenly skid to a halt, causing Val to see what he was looking at.
It was Nash and his gang. They were all taking shelter in a desert canopy along with their cars—but they were all handcuffed, and devoid of weapons… and clothes.
"... What in the actual fuck?" Val blinked in bewilderment.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'." Johnny agreed.
"… Let's go. The AV's about to crash." Drifter said as they kept driving, causing the radio to come on, and they could hear both Aldecaldos, Biotechnica… and Raffens.
"Oh great, Raffens are getting involved now…" Val groaned.
"We got plenty of firepower, we should be fine." Drifter told her as they came up on the crash site in question. "Okay, looks like we beat the Raffens to the punch. Same with the Aldecaldos. I'll hang back here while you go get your guys outta there." He told his associate.
"Alright." The Widowmaker nodded as she activated her optical camouflage and snuck up to a ledge where she could see what was around the AV through her Elbow rifle scope.
She could make out a light security detail, including a few robots, that were surrounding the AV.
Well, those robots were about to be hers.
Smirking, Val decided it was time to put her robot quickhacks to use. Looking at each robot, she uploaded a reprograming code to all of them, causing them to turn and start shooting up the live organic security on the detail, effectively clearing her path.
She then had the robots shut down the AV's security systems and then move onto marching around the crash site, keeping an eye out for the Raffen and Aldecaldos.
With all of the distractions out of the way, she simply just walked up to AV, knocked on the door, and raised her Achilles model rifle right where her targets would be—her spider-like visor down.
Seconds later, a pair of women could be seen cowering behind the seats of the AV while the Alarms and lights were going haywire.
"Doesn't look like they'll be going anywhere with that attitude of theirs." Johnny remarked.
"I know how to fix that." The assassin told her 'roommate.' "Alright, ladies. Get your hands in the air, and step slowly outside the AV towards me." She told the two.
"O-Okay…" One of them gulped, not wanting to but also had no choice. With great reluctance, the two women walked toward Val.
One was a brunette with green eyes and fair skin while the other was darker complected with blue eyes and blonde hair.
"Sarah Kinney and Debra Risman, heads of Biotechnica's research into human cloning and personality transfer into new bodies, correct?" The Widowmaker questioned.
"Um… Y-Yes?" Debra gulped.
Val then lowered her weapon and retracted her visor. "At ease, ladies. I'm here to help you get to safety." The woman told them.
"I hope that's true, because we really don't want to be here if scavengers show up." Sarah sighed.
"Don't worry, my associate has a heavily armored vehicle just over the ridge. We should be fine." The woman told them as the Derelict came into view. "Speak of the devil." She uttered.
"Come on, Val! I just got word on the radio that the Aldecaldos are making a beeline in your bro's location!" The lone Nomad exclaimed.
"And the Raffens?!" Val questioned as she had her targets board the vehicle.
"Closing in quick, I just heard them ambush another group!" The man replied.
"Shit! Move it, ladies!" The Widowmaker cursed as she ushered the two women into the Nomad truck. Once they were secured, Val addressed her associate. "Drifter, drive!" She barked.
"On it!" The man exclaimed as he floored it.
(Elsewhere)
-V and Panam, same time-
Right after Panam and V had managed to get through the power station and got a safe enough distance from the range of the EMP radius, the nomad was now stepping out of the truck and flicking his wrists, causing his gauntlets to glow a bright white, activated.
"Think your arms can handle those things? Tectonic forces are serious stuff." David questioned, standing next to V.
"Only one way to find out." V replied as he waited for Panam's signal.
"Okay…" The woman nodded as the AV was coming in range. "Alright! Now V!" She called.
The Nomad let out a yell as he punched the ground in the direction of the station, causing the ground to quake instantly and start to collapse under the building itself, like the entire foundation had been broken.
An explosion occurred as well, sending out an EMP that hit their target AV with a potent blast, causing it to slowly start losing altitude.
"Hell yeah, it worked!" Panam cheered. "V, let's get moving!" The woman exclaimed, dashing to her ride and hopping in the driver's seat, V hopping in the passenger seat at the same time.
"Gun it!" The man barked, and Panam did so.
It was then that the radios started coming to life with communications being broadcast from frequencies that Panam was apparently connected to.
"Hey, you see that?" The voice of Mitch questioned through radio static.
"Yeah. I saw that power plant sink and send out an EMP. I count two AVs going down." Scorpion responded.
"Two?" V blinked before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. Let's just focus on Hellman." He said.
"Got eyes on our KangTao AV. There's a BioTechnica AV passing by it." Panam noted.
"Ignore it. We have our target." V told her.
"Which one should we go after?" Mitch questioned.
"Not sure. Both look civilian." Scorpion replied, causing alarm bells to ring in Panam's head at this.
"Shit, they don't know one of them is KangTao!" She cursed before picking up her radio mic. "Scorpion, Mitch! One of the AVs belongs to KangTao! Don't go after it!" She exclaimed urgently.
There was no response, just static on the line, things were still jammed.
"Damn it! The signal is jammed! They don't even know that it's corporate!" She cursed.
"Fuck! Can this ride go any faster?!" V cursed as well.
"Oh, I fucking wish!" Panam groaned.
"Drive, Panam, just drive!" David shouted.
"Not helping, Martinez!" V snapped.
As the Thornton sped along in pursuit of the KangTao AV, a bunch of drones started flying over their heads and harassing them. V cursed as he grabbed his jack.
"Jacking in!" He exclaimed as he linked to the ride's turret and started shooting the drones out of the air. However, as he went about it, the gun abruptly jammed. "Shit, the gun jammed!" The man reported.
"Must be the pivot point!" The nomad woman growled as she activated the auto drive function leaned out of the roof hatch to fix the gun, only for a ricochet bullet to hit her.
"Panam!" V gasped in concern.
"I-I'm alright!" The woman grunted as she got back into the driver's seat. "The gun is working again! Start shooting!" She told him with a groan as she applied a medical stim to her wound.
"You'd think these things would be useless after that EMP!" V cursed as he blasted the drones.
"Some of their drones must have proper shielding! I doubt the others will though—knowing KangTao, they wouldn't want to pay the extra eddies!" The woman nodded.
"Things should be clear after these idiots are dealt with, then!" The Night sibling nodded as he shot down the last drone. Then he watched the KangTao AV through the turret as it lost altitude before it vanished behind a hill, a small explosion going off a moment later. "It went down just over that hill!" He told his fellow Nomad.
"We need to hurry before Mitch and Scorpion can get into anything stupid, or they're mincemeat!" Panam exclaimed.
"I know! I don't want two of my dad's war buddies getting killed because they were stupid!" V exclaimed in agreement as the Thornton sped toward the crash site.
Upon reaching the site, V hopped out of the truck and bounded over the hill and checked, he didn't see any signs of Mitch or Scorpion.
"Okay, that's good. Now I can take these guys out quickly and quietly." He hummed.
Activating his sandevistan, he dashed toward the AV and took out the security detail along with the automated proximity security system. This took only five seconds for him to do.
Forcing the door open, he look around to try and find Hellman—but only found that the AV was open.
"Shit!" V cursed, right as he heard the sound of motorcycles, causing him to pull out his pistols and turn around.
Then he saw it was just Mitch and Scorpion, causing him to let out a breath and lower his guns.
"V? What are you doing here?" The former of the two questioned.
"I was after a VIP who was in this AV." The man explained. "What were you doing? This thing was a KangTao AV." He told the two.
"Ah, shit." Scorpion cursed as he looked at the side of the AV and spotted KangTao's name on it. "Probably for the best that you beat us here. We would've been killed." He sighed.
"You need help?" Mitch questioned.
"No, I'll be fine. But Panam's injured. Go check on her." V told them.
"Got it." Mitch nodded.
"If you need a ride to catch your VIP, take my Apollo. I don't mind loaning it to you." Scorpion told the son of his war buddy as he walked toward Mitch's motorcycle and got on it.
"Thanks Scorpion, I'll be sure to be careful with it." V nodded as he mounted the bike and sped off east, following the tire tracks that could be seen, probably after the corps managed to hijack some cars.
After a bit, he tracked them to a gas station and found it was crawling with KangTao security. Hellman was definitely here.
"Alright, what to do..." V hummed as he took note of his surroundings, and then had an idea. Drawing satori from its sheath, he activated his Sande and zipped around all of the mechanical drones and disabling them, before charging up his Tremor fists up… and slamming them at his sides.
This caused all of the actual people on the security detail to stagger and fall to the ground, losing their grip on their guns as they did. They tried to regain their bearings, but none of them had a clue as to what just happened.
"Hostile!" One of the KangTao soldiers yelled as he drew his sidearm to fire on V, when the Nomad charged his gauntlets again and punched the ground and caused another quake.
"Listen, assclowns! I know you have Anders Hellman here! Make this easy, and hand him over to me!" V demanded, slamming his gauntlets together.
When the soldiers tried to attack him again, he sent them flying with another quake punch, before he made his way to the main garage.
After searching around, he found the owner of the place who happened to be an old man.
"Whoa! Easy, kid! I'm unarmed!" He exclaimed, his hands in the air.
"Well obviously you're not KangTao." The Nomad noted. "Listen, I'm looking for a guy these guys have with 'em, you seen him?" He asked.
"Yeah. They got him holed upstairs." The man replied, getting a pleased nod from V.
"Thanks for the tip." The Nomad nodded before he left. "Alright. Time to get this guy." He nodded as he busted down a couple doors and found a man with a KangTao interpreter. "'scuse me." He said as he knocked out the interpreter and stood right in front of Hellman.
"What the—Who sent you?!" The ex-Arasaka employee gasped in surprise.
"Corpo rat's got nowhere to turn, doesn't know whether to be more scared of you or Arasaka." David noted, leaning against a wall.
"No shit." V agreed mentally. "Nobody sent me. My sister has need of your expertise." He told the man.
"What do you—?" The man questioned before V knocked him out.
"Sorry, don't have time to chit chat." The nomad said as he picked his quarry up.
"So do we wanna call Takemura before or after we get four eyes over here to the Sunset motel?" David asked.
"Now seems as good a time as any." V shrugged as he called Takemura on the holo.
"I hope you have a good reason for calling, V." The ex-bodyguard commented upon answering.
"I do. I managed to get Hellman. Meet me and my sis at the Sunset Motel." V told him in response.
"Understood. It will take me some time to reach that place, so question him on whatever you need answers for." Takemura nodded before hanging up.
As V made his way outside, he saw that the entire Aldecaldo clan had rushed to catch up with him, Panam at the front. As if that wasn't a big enough surprise, Val was there with Drifter too.
"V! Are you alright?!" Panam asked as she rushed up to him.
"KangTao isn't remotely tough enough to get the drop on me." V chuckled in reply.
"I should hope so. I'd kick your ass otherwise." Val remarked as she walked up to her brother. "I managed to get my two BioTechnica VIPs. There were… Some complications, though." She added with a shiver, which made V raise an eyebrow as Johnny appeared in V's vision via engram link.
"Ask later. Trust me." He told him with his own shiver.
"That guy looks heavy, why don't you toss him in the Derelict? We'll ride together." Drifter offered.
"I'll take you up on that offer." V nodded as he went and put Hellman in the modified behemoth.
"Not gonna lie, V, seeing those gauntlets of yours in action made me think about the ones Willie used in his time." Panam remarked with a smile after the man came back out.
"I bet. The manufacturers really learned from what my old man did with his." V chuckled in agreement. "I'm sure my old man would've been proud of that destruction." He added wistfully.
It was then that Saul came up to them.
"Saul…" Panam growled.
"Everything's done here. We'd do better not to linger." The man said, turning to the Night twins. "I heard that you're the cause of all this commotion." He noted as Drifter locked the back of the Derelict.
"So what? Our dad caused many a bigger ruckus in his time." Val shrugged.
"I'm aware of who your old man is. Mitch and Scorpion shared stories about Willie." Saul acknowledged with a nod. "But sinking an electrocorp powerplant? That's excessive." He added.
"It got the job done. Besides, I've never cared much about the needs of the corpos anyway." V shrugged.
"I tried to keep everyone away from the crash sites, Saul. But they wouldn't listen." Panam chimed in.
"Something happen?" V asked Val.
"Biotechnica attack drones ended up killing a few Aldecaldos who chased the crash. It turned into a total cluster fuck from there." Val sighed.
"Fuck… Didn't expect that." The male sibling cursed.
Saul didn't say anything and simply turned the opposite direction to face the clan, which ended up infuriating Panam.
"Are you seriously going to ignore that?!" She questioned with a glare. "It wasn't my fault, Saul! I would've tried to stop them but I couldn't!" She continued but got no response. "Okay, sure. Turn around and let it all be damned. You're good at that." She spat, causing the man to face her.
"Look, it really wasn't Panam's fault." Val tried to explain.
"Hey, we're not buddy buddy here. Besides, no one's blaming anybody here, yet." The man cut off.
"Sure." Panam scoffed.
"Watch it." V warned. "No one talks to my sister like that." He hissed. "Besides, Panam was just helping me." He added.
"And I was just piggybacking on my bro's plan on the advice of my partner, Drifter over there." Val nodded, jabbing a thumb at the nomad, who was leaning against his truck with a cup of coffee in his hand and idly flipping his coin in the other, whistling a tune.
"Being a Nomad, and an Aldecaldo especially, means being responsible for the wellbeing of the clan, regardless of circumstances. That's something Panam would understand if she was still an Aldecaldo." Saul stated firmly.
"Are you insinuating that you're exiling her?" V questioned dangerously. "Cuz that's a slippery slope, Saul, exiling those who have different opinions and methods than you." He continued.
"It makes you look like a weak leader." Val nodded. "Take it from two nomads who were in a clan with pretty weak leadership." She added.
"After our parents died, the new Bakker leadership chose to join up with Snake Nation, which is what one of said clan's traitors wanted." The male sibling elaborated. "They didn't have the strength to even try and stay independent. That, among other things, is why we left." He added.
"Careful. You shouldn't comment on things you know nothing about." Saul warned.
"You mean like leaders who act without council? Who punish dissenters? Who can't take criticism or hold their people to impossibly high standards?" V questioned, getting in the man's face. "Seems I know what I'm talking about to me." He added.
The two continued to glare at each other before both Mitch and Scorpion decided to break them up.
"That's enough on that topic." Mitch said, as he placed a hand on V's shoulder.
"We should get ready to move." Scorpion nodded.
The two men parted ways before Panam sighed.
"You didn't have to do that, I don't give a damn what Saul thinks." She told V.
"But he gives a damn about you." Mitch told her. "When Saul heard that you might be in trouble, he told us to follow you." He added.
"Seriously?" Val blinked in surprise at that tidbit.
"I know the tension is high, but you are family, Panam, and Saul will do anything for family." Mitch stated.
Panam, with mixed emotions, could only let out a sigh at that. Mitch spotted her mental state and decided to let her be.
"Take your time, kid." He told her.
"Hey, we got corpos headed our way! Looks like Kangtao!" Another Nomad exclaimed.
"We better get a move on." V nodded as Val went to the Derelict. "Listen, Panam. If you need anything, just give me a call. I'll help as soon as I can." He told the woman.
"... Thanks." The fiery energy gremlin uttered with a small smile.
"Okay, do you see the chemistry between those two?" Johnny asked Val, who glanced back at her brother and Panam.
"Oh yeah. The chemistry is very much present." The assassin mentally replied in agreement.
(Later)
V and Val were now sitting in a room at the Sunset Motel with their respective targets, intent on questioning them. After a lengthy morning chasing them down, it was time to get what they wanted.
SLAP!
"Wake that ass up!" V barked, slapping Hellman awake.
"Wha–?! Where am I?!" The man yelped as he looked around rapidly.
"Hotel in the middle of bumfuck nowhere." Val chimed in.
"Cuz we have some things we need from each of you." V added.
"What would that be?" Sarah questioned.
"I'll let my brother start things off." The assassin shrugged in reply.
"Hellman, you used to work for Arasaka's Secure Your Soul program. We're aware you worked on the biochip." V stated, looking at the whistleblower across from him.
"Yes, but that was the prototype. Why are you bringing that up?" Hellman questioned in slight confusion.
"I have the misfortune of being the one to bear it after me and my bro over here took part in a heist to steal it. Then I died with it in me, and now it's slowly killing me." Val explained. "Which is where you two come in." She added, looking at the two BioTechnica workers.
"Meaning…?" Debra questioned.
"We need you to clone me a new body so that I can transfer my psyche into it in case the chip makes it where I can't keep it and then have to give it to the engram I'm currently sharing my head with." Val explained.
"And what engram is this?" Hellman questioned.
"Johnny Silverhand." The Nomad woman replied.
"What?! But he died decades ago!" Sarah exclaimed in disbelief.
"Ask Hellman, it's his old bosses that turned him into an engram." V stated, gesturing to the man. "Along with the engram that's stuck on my Sande. The one of David Martinez." He added.
"Regardless, you have to get me a way to get Johnny's engram separated from me." Val stated, facing Hellman.
"It's not that simple." The man told her.
"The fuck's that mean? You designed it, so what do you mean by it not being that simple?" The woman questioned with a frown.
"If what you're saying is true then you slotted in an experimental version of the chip." The Arasaka corpo explained. "As for your brother's Sandevistan, I believe it gained its engram after we attempted to extract Martinez from his body through the Cyberskeleton, during his battle with Smasher—but instead got an extremely psychologically unstable copy that was barely coherent." He noted as well.
"Son of a bitch, so that's how they did it." David cursed as he and Johnny appeared.
"Told ya, bastard's got no respect." Johnny nodded, lighting a cigarette.
"If I may ask, what are the engrams doing with you both?" The rogue Arasaka employee questioned.
"I can see and talk to Johnny, but that's about it." Val replied with a shrug.
"Same with me and David, but we were able to figure out a way to mimic Cyberpsychosis without losing my mind." V chipped in.
"Really? Fascinating." The man nodded with intrigue.
"But what's so different about this chip? Different Engram? Something more…" The woman questioned.
"Aware?" Johnny offered.
"Aggressive?" David suggested.
"Sentient?" Val finished.
"That is not quite exact, but it is close enough. The Chip is what's unique, not the engram. When I left Arasaka the program was still in the trial phase." The blonde man mused. "If I may, I would like to take a look at the chip." He requested.
"... No funny business." Val sighed as she took a seat and let Hellman jack into her neuroport.
"Unbelievable…" He muttered as he took a look.
"Can't believe this suit's gonna help us." Johnny uttered in surprise.
"I hear you." David nodded agreement.
"What a shame I won't be able to examine it in full." Hellman sighed as he removed his personal link. "Well… That was interesting…" He sighed to himself.
"What?" The assassin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The chip is overwriting your DNA with Johnny Silverhand's own, trying to make your body suitable for him, but it is moving at a snail's pace. I estimate approximately six months before you reach a critical stage in this conversion." Hellman explained. "At this moment, a minor amount of DNA is Silverhand's while the majority is still your own. If you act now, you should be able to get these two to make a new body for you." He added further, gesturing to the two BioTechnica specialists.
"So basically exactly what we originally thought." V nodded, before looking at the two scientists. "Question is how willingly they'll cooperate." He nodded.
"I'll see if I can let you speak in private…" Hellman nodded as he got up, before V led him to the door… where Takamura was waiting on the other side. "T-Takemura?!" The ex Arasaka worker gasped in surprise.
"Do whatever you need with him. My sis got what we needed from him already." V told the man.
"Thank you, V." The former bodyguard nodded as he led Hellman away.
"You okay here, Val? I gotta head back home, BJ's probably missing me something awful." The male Night twin questioned.
"Actually… I need to talk to you about something that happened with me and Drifter out in the Badlands. Something scary that shouldn't have happened." Val told him with a shiver as they stepped outside for a moment.
"What happened?" V questioned with a frown as they sat down on a bench.
"While we were sleeping, and I guess waiting on you to hit the power plant, I got jumped by something. It wasn't a coyote." The assassin told him.
"What did you get jumped by?" Her brother wondered, causing her to gulp.
"It was… It was the B-B-Badlands Banshee." Val stuttered in fear, causing V to jolt in shock.
"Wait, that's where that ungodly shriek came from?!" He gasped. "That scared the shit outta me, Panam and David!" He admitted.
"Yeah, I woulda shit my pants if I could." David nodded.
"Pretty sure I almost fizzled out." Johnny hummed.
"I tried to shoot the bitch, but the bullet went right through her. It was like she wasn't there at all." Val shivered fearfully, recalling the experience. "Me and Drifter hightailed it out of there. We counted our lucky stars that she let us go." She added.
V immediately pulled his sister into a hug, Val hugging back instinctively.
"I'm just glad you're alive." He sighed in relief.
"Yeah." The woman nodded. "Well, I gotta get these two over a barrel. See you later?" She asked.
"Yeah." The man nodded as his sister went back into the hotel while he called his new Caliburn and hopped in.
"Aw yeah, now this is more like it." David smiled, laying back in the passenger seat.
"Fuckin' right it is." V smirked as he started driving, enjoying how smooth the Caliburn performed at high speeds.
(Elsewhere)
Back with Val…
"Alright, ladies. Here's the deal." The woman said as she sat down. "You just heard my dilemma, so now you're going to help me with it." She told them.
"Woo hoo! It's bargaining time!" Johnny exclaimed unenthusiastically as he laid out on a bed.
"Why should we? You're the one who chased our AV down. As far as we're concerned we have no reason to help." Sarah stated.
"Unless you have something to offer?" Debra questioned.
"How about me not blabbing about the hucow farm BioTechnica is running out in the flats? Or the fact you're experimenting on the Red Ocher clan? Or the fact you're turning them and the hucows who have 'outlived their usefulness' into Scop?" Val shot back with narrowed eyes, causing them to recoil. "Yeah, you heard me, I know about it all. What in the actual fuck is the matter with you sick bastards, running that thing in Night City?!" She hissed.
"We have nothing to do with that." Debra stated.
"And even then, the Nomads you're talking about are helping us develop revolutionary new cures so that we can fight disease, cancers, and even create vaccines for animal viruses so we can bring back animal populations. Heal the planet." Sarah told her. "And as for the farms… the majority of those turned are either human clones or men and women who willingly signed up to live out a personal fetish fantasy. Those individuals are usually released as either exotic pets for those able to afford them, surrogate broodmares for couples who can't have children with their partners or simply partners who will love them unconditionally and produce plenty of offspring for them or help them do so in the case of women." She continued. "And I should clarify, it's only the clones that we 'process' as you say. Not the individuals who sign up." She added.
"That doesn't make the fact that you're feeding said clones into the city's food line any less sickening. Do you have any idea what that makes the city itself look like?" Val questioned.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Miss Night. You of all people should know that." The brunette stated.
"Yeah, but I draw the line at cannibalism." The assassin deadpanned. "Honestly, if Richard Night himself isn't rolling in his grave at what his city's turned into, he definitely is now." She sighed. "But back to business. How long would it take to grow a new body for me?" She questioned.
"If we could be allowed to go back to our labs post haste? I'd estimate a little more than three months." Sarah replied.
"Good. That's what I was hoping for." Vall nodded before she took out a syringe. "I assume you'll need a DNA sample from me?" She questioned.
"Correct." She nodded. "… Pardon my asking. But your name. You wouldn't happen to be related to a William Night, would you?" She asked.
"I'm his daughter. Why?" Val questioned in reply with a raised eyebrow.
"It's just that he came to us at Biotechnica some years back and asked us to do a few DNA tests for him to trace back his lineage." Sarah responded.
"But he never came to retrieve them. And all of the digital copies were lost during the data crash." Debra nodded. "But…" She then pulled out a shard." A few hard copies were made." She added.
"Why do you have this with you?" Val asked.
"We were tasked with supplying it and the DNA samples we had on file to an organization that had previously purchased them about two weeks before the incident at Konpeki Plaza." Sarah replied.
"Who purchased them?" Val questioned.
"Night Corp." The woman replied.
"Ah hell. That's gonna be a problem." Val cursed. "Give them to me. I have a few things I'd like to square with Night Corp myself." She told them. "I'll drop them off and you can go back to your jobs. Consider it me doing you a favor by not dangling another conspiracy over your head." She added.
"Understood." Sarah nodded, relieved at the lack of yet another conspiracy being averted.
"Will you need me to drop you guys off at a BioTechnica facility, or will you two be fine?" The assassin questioned.
"We can get another AV called." The two women told her as they left the hotel room, with Val following later… Until the relic started acting up.
"Gah! Fuck!" Val hissed as she fell to her knees.
Stumbling over to the same bench, Johnny appeared again.
"Look at that, you see that?" The Engram Rockerboy questioned as he sat down, pointing at a poster with Corporate propaganda on it. "Sons a bitches…" He cursed.
"What about it?" Val questioned as she worked on getting back in control of herself.
"I've been trying to figure you out. See what I'm dealing with. And I think I finally know what your problem is." The man stated. "You're a Nomad who left her clan because she got stabbed in the back after her dad went down fighting Adam Smasher. Now she's in Night City on a revenge gig." He rambled. "But what's there beyond that? Got any ideas?" He questioned.
"No idea presently." The woman replied. "You seem to know a lot about my past." She noted.
"Seen flashes like you have of mine." Johnny nodded.
"So? What's it like living under my skin, then?" She questioned.
"I feel like I might have to get a new body from you, but with the chromosomes inverted. Not sure I can handle walking around in a woman's body." The engram replied with a shrug. "Most things are either too big or too small. And then there's the clusterfuck that are your hormones." He began. "Then there's the lag between senses. Like when you're eating pizza, it takes an hour before I realize you've burned the roof of your mouth. Or gotten nauseous. Infuriating." He continued. "And normally I'd have a fresh cig in my hand after five minutes, now I'm itching for nicotine." He added.
"Yeah, no. Fuck that." Val deadpanned.
"Getting used to it, but it's no fucking picnic." The rockerboy sighed.
"Honestly? I'm scared about seeing your memories as my own." Val admitted, seeing no reason to lie to the engram since he'd been nothing but trustful to her so far.
"Shit, if it's a two way street that means I'll have to live with the fact that I let DeShawn beat me. Fuck me over." Johnny spat.
"And also the fact that DeShawn got his just desserts from my brother." Val pointed out with a chuckle.
"That, too." Johnny conceded since that was satisfying to know.
"Will I even notice it? If things don't pan out I mean." She questioned.
"Worst thing you can do to a person is rip their identity out like stuffing out of a stuffed animal. That's all I know." The man muttered.
"How about you just tell me what you want? And I mean for real." The woman sighed.
"Help me settle my score against Arasaka. That's it." Johnny replied, folding his arms.
"So you wanna bury Arasaka, straight-up demolish it. Mine is to get a new body and stay above ground. Those line up pretty good." Val remarked.
"Yeah they do. You'll probably need Mikoshi to help get to your new body, and when that's done, I can smash it." The engram nodded.
"There's the crusade." Val sighed. "Well, not like I got room to talk." She mused.
"You wanna know why I hate Arasaka? Hate the mega corps so much?" Johnny questioned, his neck snapping to face the nomad. "I'll tell you. But only once, got it?" He added.
"Fine. Talk away." Val prompted.
"I've seen corps strip farmers of water, and eventually their land." The engram began. "I've seen them turn Night City into a giant machine fueled by the crushed spirits, broken dreams and emptied pockets of the people." He continued, getting up to walk around a bit. "Corp's have long controlled our lives, taken lots… Now? Now they're after our souls!" He exclaimed angrily.
"It definitely feels that way." Val agreed.
"Val, I've declared war not because capitalism is a thorn in my side or for the nostalgia of an America gone by." The Engram sighed. "It's a people's war! A war against a system that's fallen so far out of our control! A system that's taken so much from all of us. Your parents, your home, my friends, Alt, Kerry, Rogue, Shaytan, Morgan, Murphy. All of them are gone. And it's the fault of all this corporate greed! It's the forces of entropy I'm at war with, do you understand?!" He added, arms flailing.
"... Yeah. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I think I do." Val replied after a moment of thought. "Come on. Let's get outta here. We've had enough emotional trauma for today." She sighed, her hand drifting to a cigarette box that she bought without really thinking about it—before she lit one with a sigh, taking a puff for the first time in nearly a decade.
"Yeah. Let's go." Johnny nodded as Val called her car and drove off towards NC, her Rockerboy companion in the passenger seat with her.
It was time that she took a moment to unwind with some… Simpler jobs.
Dragon Emperor0: Hey guys. Well, here it is. The first main job out of the way, meaning that now we can focus on showing smaller side jobs and gigs to allow us time to plan the next main job, as well as introducing some brand new characters and tying up some lingering plot threads left unresolved from Act 1.
ThermalsniperN7: That's gonna take a few chapters. But hey, it gives us content at least. Anyway… Val just got the ultimate jumpscare via the Badlands Banshee. A folk creature appearing was actually the last thing you'd expect to happen in a Cyberpunk story.
Dragon Emperor0: Especially given that it's not the kind of thing you'd expect in a sci-fi setting like this. Also, I wonder what this whole business with Willie, Biotechnica and Night Corp is all about? This seems kinda fishy to me.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. That looks sus. Why did Willie leave some stuff on him with BioTechnica? Was he planning on cloning himself or was he trying to prove his relation to Richard Night? Looks like we'll have to wait before we know for sure. Anyway, see you guys next time.