Chapter 21: Clowning Around
Rebecca, Klunk, and Cortez are on a mission to take down a convey of Wraith cars outside the city that are raiding conveys of supplies for the city.
"Hey Babe, I want to ask you something?" she asked.
'What's up?" Cortez asked.
"At that Trauma Team hospital, they have cloning vats for limbs and organs. Can we clone humans?" she asked.
"Yes, we can clone humans, but they are deeply illegal. Only wealthy people and powerful groups can get their hands on human clones," Cortez said.
"They are used by Biotechnia as test subjects, but only rogue researchers do this," Klunk said in air quotes.
"As you can see with the Creepers and other mutant monsters they sell to their clients, they don't care to break the government laws about cloning," Cortez said.
"Why do you ask this question?" Klunk asked curious.
"Well, I was thinking back at my time at a trauma team clinic. Bismarck wanted them to take blood and DNA samples of me for research purposes," Rebecca said as Cortez and Klunk were very suspicious of this.
"Really," Cortez said.
'Yeah, he was cloning you," Klunk said as Rebecca was stunned by this.
"That son of a bitch. He was cloning me why?" she asked.
"Replacements if you died in the medical ward. He can find replacements, but they would not be as good as the original due to your combat experience," Cortez said.
"Would you need scans of my brain?" she asked.
'It would help but they can create constructs by gathering data from any source. He was observing you before getting you onto DreadZone. Collecting notes of your personality would help create new ones for the clones of you," Klunk said.
"They can make rip-offs of your mind, but they can't copy the soul which comes from the collective experiences of the person morphing them into who they are. Even Soul Killer can't perfectly copy a person, it will never be the original. Just another version of the person," Cortez said.
"Which has made clones go mad in the past being unable to get under their original's shadow. Consumed with proving they are superior to the original," Klunk said.
"That's pretty sad," Rebecca said showing some empathy.
"Well after that mess we caused in DreadZone, I doubt those clones even survived all that nonsense," Cortez said.
"I see, I was just thinking about it," Rebecca said.
"Thinking you can bring back David through cloning?" Klunk asked.
"Oh no, Lucy thought about that idea in the past, but she went against it," Rebecca said.
"No point in chasing the past," Cortez said.
"You got to keep moving forward and push for a better future for yourselves. I learned that from firsthand experience," Rebecca said being happy with her current life. "I hope Lucy can see that she can have that too," she said.
"She will, she has deep scars and time will heal them. Make her feel better, she can find a new love like you did," Cortez said.
"Yes, I hope so too. Come on, let's take out those bandits," Rebecca getting excited for the action.
"That's my girl, get in the back. There is a Multishot grenade launcher with tons of ammo in the back," Cortez said as Rebecca climbs outside to be in the back of the truck to wield the pump action launcher to cock the grenade into the chamber.
"Let's do this," she said as they saw a large group of Wraiths in close groups roaming the dirt roads. "Hey there motherfuckers," she lobs a grenade to take out a car to see it in flames.
"Take control of the gun," Cortez said as Klunk connected with the HMG on top of the truck to begin picking off targets with explosive rounds turning them into burning heaps on the side of the road.
He drives to avoid gunfire and explosions. He uses his quickhacks to cause the vehicles to explode, crash into each other, or ram into big rocks.
"That big gun is coming in handy," Rebecca said.
"Eddies well spent," Cortez said as they destroyed cars with explosions leaving a lot of wreckage in their raid on the bandits.
Rebecca lobs the grenades to remove the remaining cars and wipe out the convoy. "Well shit Chooms, we did it," Rebecca said as her Multishot was empty with no more grenades to use. She climbs back onto the side seat for them to call in the mission.
"Mitch, we managed to destroy the convoy," Cortez said.
"Gee, they are like cockroaches out here. They just keep coming. Good work out there, transferring the funds into your accounts when it comes through," Mitch said as Rebecca spread out her limbs.
"A job well done, partner," she said to kiss him on the lips.
"I got the best chooms a guy could ask for," Cortez said.
"Glad to be of service Cortez," Klunk said.
"Always a pleasure, speaking of which. You were Nova last night, such a big boy for me," she said pressing her hand against his strong chest.
"Very easy to be like that when your cute body is in front of me," Cortez said as she pulled down her sports bra to reveal her perky tits and her pointy pale nipples.
"I know, you can't get enough of my petite figure," she said as Klunk did the Ai version of rolling his eyes.
"Get a room," Klunk said.
"We do, you live in it," Rebecca said cheeky as Klunk sighs.
"Miss Rebecca is quite the screamer. I deeply regret waking up that one time," Klunk caught a view of Rebecca's thick round behind.
"You can't find the pleasures of watching a perfect ass like mine," Rebecca said to pat her butt with a cheeky smile. "Always, I got a surprise coming up soon. I am getting new tattoos," Rebecca said.
"Oh really, inking up your body again?" he asked.
"Yep, a lot of things happened with my life recently. I need to reflect that on my body. I'm going to get five tattoos each for an important event in my life. I think you will like it," she said to give him a playful wink for them to head back. "Cortez, I will show you my deep love for you and let the whole world know how much I love you," she thought blushing at her own sweet thoughts.
Elsewhere V is talking with Ren via Holofeed. "So, it seems like the Zoo Keepers and Bozos are fighting over an old theme park that was decommissioned over a few years back on the outskirts of the city. I need you to get your heavies to clear it out. We want to remake the park to give it new life. We need the funds from people visiting here," Ren said.
"Okay, give the details and we will set it up," V said as a new mission was about to come up.
Within a few hours, Rebecca comes back from the tattoo shop in San Francisco to come into the trailer to see Cortez and Klunk watching a movie. "Hey there Spitfire, oh my," Cortez said as he spotted new bright pink tattoos on her white pale body.
"You see the new ink," she said to take off her jacket and hot pants to only be in her underwear to reveal all her new ink.
"Wow, impressive," Cortez said as he pointed to a new ring on her once bare thigh. "Just like the PR DICK tattoos but with different letters," he said as it reads R + S + L BFF along a pink bar.
"Rebecca + Stella + Lucy Best Friend Forever," she said as she took her new friendships with Lucy and Stella to heart.
"How about me?" Klunk asked as Rebecca pointed to a small disk with eyes above the R+S+L BFF band.
"I didn't forget about you my little choom, you are important too," Rebecca said as Klunk felt touched by this.
"Thank you, Miss Rebecca. A mention is nice," Klunk said as she turned around to lift her sports bra to show her back showing a pink skull of a horse.
"The symbol of the Aldecaldos is a bony horse," Cortez said.
"Yep, to show I am serious about my new family and clan. I got two special ones for you baby," Rebecca pulls her bra down a bit to see a demonic heart in the middle of her breasts showing R+C Forever written there. "It shows my love to you for the whole world to see. Open and willing," she said sweetly as Cortez felt his face getting red to see this is deeply personal for Rebecca to do.
"I feel honored, I will not betray your trust," Cortez said as Rebecca went up on her toes to gently rub his cheek.
"I know you wouldn't. Oh, I got another one for you, it's more intimate, you are the only man who can see it," Rebecca pulls down her hot pants and panties to show a triangle pointing to her pussy which says Cortez Only.
"Oh, that is more intimate," he said thinking about how sweet Rebecca can be.
"You not only stole my heart but my pussy as well. You were the first man who treated me like a woman who made me both his girlfriend/best friend. I am very grateful to you. You have made pussy only yearn for you. You wash away all those dirty men who used me and made my pussy only remember you. I will always be by your side to the very end," Rebecca said to go up to him and embrace him tenderly.
"You always wear your emotions on your shoulders. You are easy to read but have the emotional depths of an ocean. I am grateful for you to be by my side as well," he said to exchange a hug as well.
"Oh Cortez, I am an emotional person when I get attached. I don't let go so easily," Rebecca said to dig her face into his chest.
"Yeah, I know that too well. You are very honest about your feelings. One of the things I adore about you. Thanks for showing them off, they are very beautiful," Cortez said as they pulled away with them still holding hands.
"These tattoos are personal to me. Thanks," she said as she put on her clothing to get a call from V.
"Hey guys, we got another mission Ren is giving us. He wants you to take out the Bozos within the theme park Fun'o Land along with Zookeepers who are attacking it now. Kill two birds with one stone. Clear out the park and call when the job is done," V said.
"Cool," Rebecca said as they got ready for the mission. "So, we are fighting those clowns again," Rebecca said not liking the last time she fought against them.
"They are the biggest gang in the city. Dealing with them will make the city much safer," Klunk said as Cortez grabbed a Hercules 3AX smart machine gun and a Metel revolver.
Rebecca grabs her three signature weapons Guts, Blood, and Love to put them on her person along with Klunk clung on her back to head off to the truck to head for the abandoned theme park.
"Man, we should go to a theme park at some point," Rebecca said.
"There is a city that has a lot of entertainment. It's called Nexus the oasis in the middle of a desert in Nevada," Cortez said.
"There will be a pit stop on our journey to Panam's chosen location," Klunk said.
"There is another place called Haze which is a Biotechnia company town based on an island off the coast of California. Recently no one can contact them, it went silent a few days ago," Cortez said.
"Maybe monsters," Rebecca said.
"Most likely," Cortez said as they drove towards the looming theme park to see various rides on full display with a huge Ferris wheel in the middle of the park.
"Shame, those look pretty fun," Rebecca said to hear gunfire nearby. "Seems like the party is starting. Let's break it up," Rebecca said.
They park on the outskirts to approach the battlefield the park being the hideout of the Bozos. They were defending their place against the exotic thugs of the Zookeepers.
"Keep your positions here. Don't let those animal freaks go any further," Grace ordered in their radios.
"Yes madam," the Bozos are fighting the beastly people along with their canine friends.
"The pigs will be pushing us, don't let them freaks push us around," Grace said as the duo split up to begin to assault the firefight.
Rebecca jumps onto a building to overlook the fighting as Cortez begins locking onto targets to let the machine gun shoot out homing rounds to strike their targets to tear them up with explosive bullets.
"Shit ambush," a Zookeeper said as Rebeca leaps from the building to slam onto the ground to emit a shockwave killing anyone around her. She pulls out dual Crushers to unleash a wave of full auto fire to tear into several Zookeepers and Bozos.
"Shit, that loud bitch again. Kill her on sight and capture Cortez if he is nearby," Grace ordered as Rebecca blasted apart a cat Exotic seeing her severed head flop onto the ground. She tosses the empty guns at a Bozo as she fires her Guts to split him in half.
"Send in the Hellhounds," the bozo ordered as several cybernetic dogs appear to begin killing off the Zookeepers.
"Cyber dogs," Cortez said as he held onto the scope to lock onto the dog to pepper it with explosive rounds to turn it into dog meat.
"The Night City cops used to use them, but they slowly disappeared from the city," Rebecca wished she could own a dog, but the harshness of Night City made it impossible for dogs to live there unless you are stupidly rich.
The Hellhound opens its mouth to lob a fireball as Rebecca ducks under the fire attack. "Flamethrowers in the mouths," Cortez said as he peppered the enemies with explosive rounds to turn them into piles of gore.
"Poor things, these fucking freaks are going to pay for that," Rebecca said as it does hurt to see them looking like cybernetic monsters. She gets tackled to falls onto the ground as the cyber dog goes for Rebecca's throat. She managed to catch the dog on the head and twist its neck hard killing it instantly.
She fires Guts to vaporize the head of the Hellhound to put it down. She tosses a sticky grenade on a hellhound to see explode turning into a red mist. Cortez killed the rest of the Hellhounds as they got the area secured.
"I am detecting more enemies in the area that way," Klunk said as they went the other way.
"Oh Cortez, so good to see you here honey. How do you like how we run the place?" Grace said as she went into their comms.
"We are here to shut you down Grace, the mayor wants you gone here," Cortez said as Grace is laughing at him.
"That choom has no chill; we are having fun here. Also, you brought the whore with you here. I am going to enjoy my guys wiping that dirty smile off her face," Grace said.
"I will be the one to get rid of your stupid face. I am not going to let you take him away from me," Rebeca said as she is too attached to Cortez to let him be stolen by some crazy bitch.
They push forward to see Zookeepers trying to regain their ground to fight against them seeing dog and cat Exotics using Copperheads and Umbras trying to shoot at them.
"Gee dogs and cats trying to kill us," Rebecca said as she tossed a grenade to blast a group apart. She kicks a nearby Zookeeper to toss her into a wall to blast her with her shotgun.
She grabs a fallen Multishot to lob explosive grenades to destroy groups of enemies. Cortez fires a mini rocket from his PLS to kill off a bunch of thugs.
"Gee, got some fur on me," Rebecca said as she used her Revolver to blast Zookeepers in the head.
Then suddenly someone crashes through a building to see a huge man covered in cyberware and has rhino-like features. There is a big horn on his head. "Kill!" the Rhino man said as he charged at Cortez to knock him across the ground damaging his cyber arm.
"Babe," Rebecca said sounding concerned.
"I am fine, take him down," Cortez said as he aimed his arm launcher, but it freaked out due to getting hit hard. "Shit," he said as he wields his Metel to fire explosive rounds while using quickhacks to slow down the Rhino Man, but his ICE is blocking him. "You got to be kidding me," he said.
Rebecca dodges the tackle with a well-placed double jump to dash backward in mid-air to get back the beastly man to fire buck shots into his back to stun him. "He has chromed the hell out," Rebecca said as she tossed an EMP grenade to disable him for a moment. She fires her Love revolver to put shots into his eyes to blind him.
Cortez dumps Hercules's ammo into the body of the Rhino Man tearing into his body and showing bits of metal hearing the guy screaming in pain.
Rebecca grabs a red container to toss it at the Rhino Man to fire at it causing it to explode blowing off its left arm, but the Rhino Man doesn't flinch from this to keep trying to kill them.
She rushes at the monstrous man to leap on top of the chest of the Rhino Man. She shoves Guts into his mouth to fire the buckshot inside to destroy his head killing him instantly.
Cortez puts a Heath Booster into his damaged arm to have its nanobots heal up his cyber arm to get it back to normal and working. "Cortez, you, okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I got roughed up a bit," Cortez said as Grace was laughing on their feed.
"Good work, you did the job for me. Cortez, you are such a dear," Grace said.
"We are not done yet. I took out the Zookeepers and we are going to wipe out the Bozos here," Cortez said as a sniper hit Rebecca in the head, but her reinforced head blocked it, but she felt it sting hard.
"Fuck, sniper," Rebecca said as they take cover with Grace laughing at this.
"Good luck, don't die on me baby," Grace blows him a kiss to cut off the line. The Bozo sniper is wielding a MX1 Garand precision rifle with a long-range scope and a muzzle brake. She activates the Wyvern drones to draw them out of cover for her to shoot at them.
"Fucking drones," Rebecca uses her Lexington to shoot them out of the air while Cortez hacks a few of them to redirect them towards the sniper.
"Shit," the sniper is jumping away from the exploding drones to fire her rifle to hit Cortez in the helmet but thankfully it blocks it.
He aims his Metel to fire an explosive round to blow off her arm with blood leaking down her body. "You got that stupid clown," Rebecca said as she finished off the Wyverns to dash towards the fleeing snipers. "Not so fast bitch," she dashes forward to grab her neck to snap it hard killing her.
A big Bozo comes in with a MK 31 HMG to fire at Rebecca as she uses the dead sniper's body to block the shots. She tosses the dead woman at the gunner to knock him back a bit. She tosses a sticky grenade to latch onto the gunner to split him in half.
"I will be taking that," Rebecca takes the heavy machine gun to begin firing onto waves of Bozos to spread clown blood everywhere. "I fucking hate clowns," Rebecca said as she wipes out a group of Bozos to hear the machine gun is empty to drop it onto the ground.
"Then why do you look like one?" Grace mocks her on the comms.
"Bite me bitch," Rebecca snapped back as she slides towards her target to blast chunks of flesh from the Bozo with Guts. Blood got onto her jacket as she killed more guys, with Cortez disabling their limbs to make them vulnerable. He swiftly takes them down with his Metel to clear the way.
"Now my beauties guard the park and make sure Cortez is left alive," Grace said as her Hellhounds come out to engage with the duo.
"Not these doggies again," Rebecca dodges a lunging cyborg beast to blast it apart with her shotgun. She kicks a cyber dog to get it impaled on an exposed metal pipe. "Damn it," she said not liking the dog being speared like that.
Cortez is letting his Hercules lock on and shoot out smart rounds to tear into their heads making them pop like balloons. "So awful, killing all these dogs," Grace said.
"You made them do this," Rebecca said as she blasted a Hellhound in half with Guts.
"Get rid of them," Grace ordered as a few Bozos are left with the big guy using a Centaur exoskeleton armed with an arm-mounted Helix which is a 6-barreled Gatling shotgun that fires 10-gauge shells at 1300 rounds per minute.
"Oh, that is not good," Cortez said as the exosuit fired the Helix unleashing a wall of buckshot smashing everything in its path. Rebecca gets hit several times to the chest to send her flying across the area.
"Kill them off," the lead Bozo said as two Snipers and drones had his back.
"Rebecca," Cortez said as Rebecca got back onto her feet to jump on top of a building.
"I am fine, got shaken up a bit," Rebecca said as Cortez got pined down by a hail of buckshot. Rebecca loads up slugs to aim and kill off the snipers close by while Cortez hacks the Wyverns to make them crash into the Centaur to catch the Bozo off balance.
He fires several smart rounds, but the large riot shield blocks the bullets while pinning Cortez down with tons of buck shots
"I need a better angle," Rebecca leaps over buildings to get behind the ballistic shield. She aims and finds his blind spot. "Got you," she fires the slug which pierces his skill killing him instantly clearing out the Bozos from the theme park.
"Shit, fine. You can have it. We will meet again soon," Grace said to cut off the comms.
"What did you see in her?" Rebecca questioned.
"He has a type for cute violent chao gremlins," Klunk said.
"You got me there, but I am productive with my gunplay unlike her. Clown weirdo," Rebecca said.
"Also, you are quite nice and fun to be around unless Grace who is a control freak," Cortez said as Rebeca felt happy hearing that from him.
"Yeah, I do make your life more fun. Time to call the mayor and tell him we kick the circus out," Rebecca said as she sat down to relax.
"Was it like this in Night City?" Klunk asked.
"Yeah, but like every day and everywhere. San Francisco is way safer than Night City, but it still has dark sides to it," Rebecca said as she remembers going on missions as an Edgerunner dealing with the various gangs and PMC soldiers weekly.
"Well, we are getting the funds along with our cut. Let's get out of here, the police will handle this," Cortez said.
"So, Babe, do you have any other girlfriends in the past?" Rebecca is curious about this.
"Well, there was Grace and then there was Alice who I was close with but due to our paths going in different directions. We broke up on good terms, why?' Cortez asked.
"Oh, I see, you got some game huh?" Rebecca teased him.
"Well, I got you," he said as Rebecca blushed from this.
"Oh yeah, you did. I fall over the hill for you for your charms," Rebecca said as Cortez caressed her head.
"Relax, I am not going anyway," Cortez said as Rebecca kissed him on the cheek.
"Me either partner," Rebecca said as Klunk sighs at this.
"Gee, do you two always be so romantic after a bloodbath?" Klunk joked.
"It does get my blood going. Come on, let's get something to eat and then head back home," Rebecca said as they headed off with their mission completed.