Chapter 36: Cavernous Detour
Rebecca gets out of bed still naked to be in her boyfriend's tight embrace. "So cute," Rebecca rubbed his bald head to kiss him on the lips. She takes her underwear to place in a clothing bin to go into the shower to wash herself.
"Morning Rebecca," Lucy said within her holo.
"Morning choom got a good night's sleep," Rebecca said washing over her body to put soap into her long green hair.
"Yes, I did, it has been stressful. I have been working to clean up the MT-5's network and found Militech's HQ in the region. Which is in an old base in the mountain some ways from our location. One of the keycards is located there," Lucy said.
"That would be tough with all that firepower there," Rebecca said.
"Panam is coming up with a plan to do this but we should seek out the other keys being easier to find. Speaking of which, the next one is based in a cavern covered with pirates and monsters," Lucy said.
"Nothing we can't handle," Rebecca said.
"I wanted to come over last night but from all that noise. You were very busy," Lucy said as she remembered Rebecca moaning like crazy while having sex with Cortez to give them some space.
"Oh, my bad Lucy, I was getting into it," Rebecca said feeling embarrassed about this.
"It's nice to know you are loved by someone. I am happy for you," Lucy said.
"Thanks, I should be able to get ready and head for the caves with Cortez to get the third keycard," Rebecca said as she finished her shower to dry her skin with a towel.
"Good luck out there," Lucy said to cut off the line.
Rebecca felt her ass getting patted to make her jump. "Morning baby," she said.
"Ditto, we are going on a new quest for the legendary keycards," Cortez said lightly.
"Yep, we are going to some cave where the pirates made it into a base," Rebecca said as she kissed him on the lips to put on some underwear to put on her short shorts and crop jacket. She taps her sneakers to grab her weapons to put them on her person.
"Let's get this over with and get the third keycard," Cortez said to get into his nomad combat armor while getting his weapons. He got a Satrich SDMR Precision Rifle, a Warhammer burst fire shotgun, and a Nue pistol.
"Hello Rebecca," Michiko said on the holo.
"Granny Arasaka, been a while. How are you doing?" Rebecca asked.
"Not bad, I heard you are having problems on the coastline. I would help but I need to set some things up in Nexus. My Uncle has a lot of influence, and there is someone of interest that will motivate you to get there," Michiko shows off an image of a red-headed woman.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"This is Kate, she is an Arasaka Security agent who was responsible for the death of David and the hell you went through to save Lucy in 2076," Michiko said as this got Rebecca's full attention.
"Go on," she said.
"Well, she was the one who schemed your crew's destruction. Kiwi's backstabbing, Lucy's capture, and David put on the linear frame. Even sending Adam Smasher against you was due to her orders. Faradays was nothing more than a pawn to her scheme to use David as a Guinea pig for their prototype," Michiko said.
"You got to be shitting me, a stupid agent did that to us?" Rebecca asked.
"Yep, she has gotten comfortable with my uncle. A little too much, she is leading his operations within Nexus. Yorinobu has deeper connections to those events than you think," Michiko said as Rebecca was confused by this.
"What do you mean? There is more?" Rebecca asked.
"I am sorry Rebecca, on that day when David was using the prototype. The thing was rigged at the highest level. Yorinobu let David alive long enough to ruin the company's reputation," Michiko said as Rebecca was getting more upset.
"Explain?" she asked plainly.
"There was a sniper on a hill away from the battlefield. He was wielding a Nekomata tech rifle which would easily pierce through David and end the threat right there. Yorinobu said to stand down and was staging the whole event from the shadows. Even Adam Smasher was taking direct orders from Yorinobu. Faraday and Kate were pawns to the greater game as well to Yorinobu's quest to destroy Arasaka," Michiko said as this was overwhelming to Rebecca.
"So, we were part of some stage play the whole time, we never stood a chance," Rebecca said.
"But now you do. To break this cycle of insanity," Michiko said as Rebecca was confused by this term.
"What does that mean?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh right, the cycle of insanity is when you repeat the same mistake again and again to expect something different to happen. Does that sound familiar?" Michiko asked as Rebecca could see Maine and David flashing in her mind.
"Yes, I do," Rebecca said.
"As you can see, this cycle of insanity is why the world is the way it is. People cling to past mistakes and are dammed to repeat them like a broken record. Broken people with power or not trying to gain control but are trapped by their demons making the world worse. Night City is the microcosm of this cycle and people are consumed by this destroying them," Michiko said.
"How can you stop this?" Rebecca asked as this state of mind sounded very bleak.
"It's simple yet hard to do at the same time. We need to hold onto new ideas and build upon them instead of clinging to the past which led us to this ruined world. My grandfather and Myers are key figures in this cycle of insanity dragging out the past and all the baggage that comes with it," Michiko said.
"V managed to get out of it," Rebecca said.
"He did, he learned and pushed forward without looking back. Able to find himself and find his path. You have managed as well. I must leave, I am rambling," Michiko said.
"No worries granny, you shared a lot of things. Things I will think about, and thanks for the compliment," Rebecca said feeling happy to get praised.
"Thank you for humoring an old lady like me. I will keep in touch with the Nomads to keep them updated on Nexus. Talk with you later," Michiko said to cut off the holo call.
"Okay, I am set up. Time to get moving," Cortez said to have his helmet on his head.
"Okay," she said they got outside with Klunk on her back to get into his truck to drive off to the location of the third keycard.
They drive up to the cavern of interest to see a set of pirates safeguarding the entrance. "Pretty basic setup. Turrets and guards along with Hellhound cyber dogs," Cortez said using his helmet zoom function to see the defenses there.
"Give me cover," Rebecca said to rush in as Cortez pulled out her Satrich to begin popping heads of the pirates. He quickhacks the turrets to shoot at the cyber dogs as Rebecca slides in to use Guts to split a pirate in half. Blood and guts are scattered onto the sands as Rebecca fires a slug into the head of a Hellhound to kill it.
"Sir, they are here," one of the pirates said as Hawk and Maria were further down in the caves.
"Time to give them the golden treatment. All yours little sis," Hawk said as Maria cocks her gun to be ready.
"I am on it," Maria rushes at unseen speed to seek out her targets. "I will not fail again like last time," Maria said as Hawk was hyped for his new guests to entertain him.
"Time to give my guest the red carpet," Hawk said to link up with the loudspeakers within the caverns.
Rebecca and Cortez breach the entrance to see a couple of Minotaurs blocking their path wielding dual AGL 40s to pepper them with grenades.
"Welcome you two desert rats to my humble little cave base. Looking for the third keycard, come and take it," Hawk mocks them as the robots walk towards the duo.
"Blasted robots," Cortez stuns them with quickhacks and follows up with a mini rocket from his PLS to take out the first Minotaur. Rebecca fires a frag slug to blast off the AGL 40 from the left side of the robot to knock it onto the ground and finish it off.
She grabs the auto grenade launcher to see a bunch of pirates and Griffins blast them apart with a barrage of frag grenades. "That takes care of that," Rebecca tosses the empty weapon onto the ground. "Gee, these look very pretty," she said to see crystals hanging from the ceiling.
"Yeah, they do. They match the colors of your pretty eyes," Cortez said being smooth as Rebecca felt her heart beating and her face getting rosy.
"Oh thanks, baby. Come on, let's find that keycard," she said as they went further with Cortez thinking about giving Rebecca something nice later.
A pirate armed with an RPG-A fires a rocket at them. "Rebecca," Cortez knocks her out of the way as the rocket slams onto the floor to open a hole which makes Cortez slip into the darkness below.
"Baby, no!" Rebecca asked as she raised her shotgun to fire a slug to nail the target in the head destroying her whole head. "Shit," she thought as she gets hit in the head by a pirate marksman wielding a scoped MX Garand trying to hit her again. "Jackass," she pulls out her scoped revolver to pop him in the head to kill him off.
"Oh, seems like your meat tank slipped into the under levels. We keep the creepers down there, nice and fed," Hawk said on the loudspeakers.
"Fuck, you better hope he stays alive or I am going to rip you a new one. Asshole," Rebecca said as she can't follow due to the hole being closed by rubble. "Babe, stay safe," she said.
"Don't worry, I can detect his life signs," Klunk said as the duo kept going forward.
Cortez lands on a pile of sand to be within a damp cavern. "Oh man, that smarts. Gee, low change in looks," Cortez pulls out his Warhammer to begin moving to find the keycard to hear a buzzing noise. "Here they come," Cortez fires three round bursts as the Creepers try to swarm him but blast them to pieces.
He lobs a mini rocket from his PLS to destroy a section of rock to make it fall and crush incoming Creepers to block their path. One of the Creeps spits acid as Cortez rolls away from the attack. He draws his pistol to shoot it in the head seeing it dropping onto the floor.
He keeps walking to see a small building which is brightened up by lights to enter inside to see the keycard there. "Nice," Cortez to grabbing the keycard to put it in his bag as well as finding something else there. "Oh shit, a PAL. I can fight my way out with this," Cortez said to prepare to use the mech walker to get out of there.
Rebecca keeps her going as Klunk pulls her back from more sniper shots. Rebecca uses her Love revolver to take out the nearby snipers to drop their rifles.
Rebecca grabs MX Garand to see if it has a long-range scope to see a huge open space and several snipers wielding Grad sniper rifles. "Those guns can clip my head off," Rebecca said as he looked through the scope to spot 7 snipers on towers. "Fuck off," she fires a bullet to clip one in the head to drop her.
She dashed and jumped through volleys of precise shots to hit her a few times. She felt painful stings with blood being drawn from her wounds but her hardened skin dampened the damage. She fires back to take out two more snipers.
"You are wounded," Klunk sounding concerned.
"I am fine, I have health boosters," Rebecca said as she felt her wounds healing due to her quick healing factor via her advanced Bioware. She pops out of cover to fire at the snipers to nail them in the head killing two more.
"Two more left," Klunk scanned the area to see another one. "This is familiar," Klunk said as Rebecca killed the last two snipers to toss the empty rifle onto the ground.
"There you are," Maria said as Rebecca could see the preteen once again wearing a simple white dress holding onto her combo gun. "You will not get away from me this time," Maria said.
"Hey Kid, what is your deal?" Rebecca wondered about seeing her as a danger with Klunk scanning her body.
"She is a full borg, be careful," Klunk said as Maria unloaded her bullets at Rebecca. She takes a few shots to get into cover to use a flashbang to blind her. She rushes in to tackle Maria to knock her into a crate.
"I am here to protect my brother and you are a threat to him simple as that," Maria said as the two girls were shooting back while dodging incoming fire.
"It's weird to have a little girl wearing so much chrome. Is there a reason?" Rebecca became curious about this.
Maria is confused by her curiosity. She leaps high into the air to bounce off the rocky pillars to avoid incoming slugs from Rebecca's Guts. Maria closes the gap to leap behind her to kick the shotgun out of her hands.
Rebecca is trying to hit her but the little girl sees her fists coming at her very slowly. Maria uses her rippers to make her nails long and sharp to slash into Rebecca's body leaving behind bloody cuts on her stomach and thighs.
"Shit," Rebecca slams her fists onto the ground to let out a shockwave to push Maria back. Rebecca draws her Lexington to fire rapid shots of 9mm trying to hit her. Maria dodges all her shots to deliver several blows while aiming for her eyes.
Rebecca backflips away as Klunk dashes her backward to avoid a slashing lunge.
"Why do you care about my condition?" Maria asked as no one had asked about this before.
"Your condition. Now I am curious," Rebecca said as she shot a red container to unleash a blast to knock her into a rocky pillar.
"I was put into this body due to an illness. Our boss put up the money for this and I work for them. I want to make my brother happy," Maria said as Rebecca and Klunk pieced it together.
"I see, she is sick, put into a full borg body, and is used as a weapon for the crime lord," Klunk said as Rebecca nodded her head with empathy and pity.
"Damn, that is rough. I am sorry, your future was stolen from you. I know that feeling too well," Rebecca tosses a Homing grenade to lock onto Maria's heat signal to fly towards there.
"Oh no," Maria is rushing away from the grenade still following her as Rebecca is shooting at her trying to disable her. "You do?" she asked.
Rebecca snaps her fingers to make the grenade airburst to knock Maria into a crate. Rebecca delivers a powerful punch onto her stomach making her feel intense pain. Rebecca kicks Maria across the room.
"Yes, I do, I have a rough life and my dream never came true. But then a door closes, another one opens," Rebecca said as she rushed at the little girl. She activates her Berserk state as she takes a few mini grenades without flinching to let out several blows to strike Maria to disarm her M31A5 AICW. Her increased speed can keep up with Maria's enhanced reflexes with both girls getting into fierce hand-to-hand combat. Rebecca is dodging and weaving her Rippers while using her hands to deflect her blows.
"You know you remind me of my brother. What he used to be," Maria said sounding sad as Rebecca was a bit shocked by this to run out of her Berserk state. At this moment, Maria slashes across Rebecca's face to destroy her left cyber optic seeing it's not red and green anymore it's dead grey now.
"Fuck," Rebecca said.
"Miss Rebecca, are you okay?" Klunk asked sounding concerned.
"Yeah, but health boosters will not fix this," Rebecca grabs her fallen shotgun to fire a slug to strike her shoulder to get a clean hit. The wound has no blood showing her body is made of syntenic parts. "You are comparing me with that guy," Rebecca not liking that.
"Big brother doesn't talk to me as much anymore. The violence and drugs twisted his mind and now he is like this. Seeing you trying to talk to me, makes me happy," Maria said as the two girls made some sort of connection.
"Kid," Rebecca said.
"Rebecca, I found the keycard. Get to the lower levels," Cortez on the radio.
"Baby, are you?" Rebecca asked sounding happy to hear her voice.
"Yeah, there are Creepers down here. The pirates set up defenses to hold them back but they have been destroyed," Cortez said as Rebecca could see a hole leading downward.
"Bye," Rebecca hops down into the hole to toss a grenade to it and close the hole. She slides down the hole and is in the lower levels to see a bunch of Creepers coming at her. "Not these guys again," Rebecca wields her Lexington but they get gunned down by a hail of gunfire.
"Yo Spitfire, look what I found," Cortez said as he was piloting a large nonhumanoid mech called the PAL aka Power Armored Leviathan which stands 10 feet tall and has a boxy cockpit module with two digitigrade legs. It has two miniguns on either side of the main body, an autocannon on top, and a missile pod in the back along with an AVLW (Anti Vehicle Laser Weapon) built in the middle of the face of the PAL.
"One hell of a beast," Rebecca said.
"Shit, you look bad. Get into the storage section. Lay flat and you will fit," Cortez said to drop the hatch allowing Rebecca to slip inside being comfortable.
"AC, nice," Rebecca said to be in the lit-up space.
"This mech is insane. Hold on tight, we going in rough," Cortez pushes forward to go at over 50 MPH to bash through the hordes of monster bugs with his miniguns tearing through hordes of Creepers. Several stealth Creepers jump on top of the mech to get blasted by the autocannon and missiles peppering a bunch of beasts turning them into messes of gore everywhere.
"Dead in," Klunk said to scan the area to see no more tunnel to go through.
"I can fix that," Cortez charges up the laser cannon to then fire a big beam of energy to tear through the rocks to crave up a path into the main pirate base.
"Holy Shit, like a mining laser," Rebecca said as the mech is tearing out the enemies with Creepers leaking into the pirate base overwhelming it.
"Brother, the Creepers are coming into the cavern base," Maria said via holo call.
"Shit, not going to plan. You didn't kill the woman?" Hawk asked.
"She got away," Maria said as Hawk groaned at this.
"Okay, okay. You did your best. Get rid of these bugs," Hawk said as Maria could sense his disappointment.
"Oh brother," Maria thinks about the woman she just met. "Rebecca, I wonder," Maria thought to begin cleaning up the caves.
The trio got out of the caverns to see the mech had run out of power being unable to move. "That was crazy, come on Spitfire. We are by the truck,' Cortez said to unlock the hatch to see Rebecca come out.
"Alright, that was nuts. Let's go home," Rebecca said as they went into the truck to speed off into the desert with the third keycard in hand with 5 more to go.