Episode 30: Bug Hunt
The pirate's main base of operations is within an island off the coast of the Seaside Ravine connected to the beach via a big bridge. There are a ton of people who are going to be sold off into human slavery. Hawk walks over to a bunch of people chained up to a pole. The cameraman was screaming in pain from the hole in his leg.
"Gee, relax. It will be over soon," Hawk said with a smile.
"Please stop," the cameraman begged.
"What was that?" Hawk pretended not to hear him.
"Please stop!" the cameraman screamed as Hawk was amused by his pain to press the barrel of his pistol on his wound making him cry harder. "Oh, you're stupid fucker," the cameraman said as Hawk cocks his gun.
"Poor choice of words," Hawk said as the gun was pressed against the wound.
"Please no, please I beg of you," the Cameraman begged as Hawk fired a bullet through his kneecap to pop it out. The man is helpless as pain echoes throughout his body with Hawk laughing at this.
Then he went from happy to vicious in an instant. "Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! I will kill you, drag you out of hell, and kill you again. Stop fucking crying," Hawk puts his hand over his mouth to see the cameraman is crying which amuses Hawk. "Such a pussy, we are going to give you a grand exit since you are not worth a lot to us anyway," Hawk said as his pirates grab the man to take him out into the forest to chain him to a large rock.
The cameraman is shaking and moving but unable to get out of his chains. "Stop crying, don't beg. All your choices lead up to this moment," Hawk grabs an RPG-A launcher to shoulder it. "Hey Choom, back away. The back blast is going to hit you," Hawk warned his pirate to make him back away.
The cameraman is betting for his life while weeping like a sick puppy. "Please stop, no!" the cameraman begs with Hawk enjoying his suffering.
"Gee Choom, fuck off. Let me focus," Hawk fires the rocket to vaporize his body only leaving his hands and feet behind still latched onto the chains. "Goodness, that was so fun. Looks like he was going to piss himself. Chooms clean up this mess," Hawk said as the pirates were setting up to get the ransoms.
Elsewhere Rebecca is on top of a wall holding onto a Copperhead assault rifle with an Optical Scope and a muzzle brake to see only a small Wraith group being curious and getting wiped out by mortar strikes.
"Seems we secured the area and only need to find the entrance of those bug freaks," Rebecca said as Cortez went up to meet with his girlfriend staring into the endless wasteland filled with broken homes and shrubs.
"See anything out there?' he asked as he was holding his Hercules smart LMG.
"Nope nothing, find anything about the bug's hideout?" Rebecca asked.
"Not yet but we will find it and wipe it out to secure the area," Cortez said.
"Nice place, too bad those pirates cleared it out," Rebecca said as she was still wearing the yellow armored jacket.
"You changing up your look?" he asked.
"I am just trying it out now. I will go back to my outfit. I want to use it on high-level missions. All I need is an M37A5 AICW to use. It was so much fun to use at the Bozo HQ," Rebecca said as she has a big smile on her face enjoying the carnage of wiping out those stupid clowns.
"I see, those plates from the helicopter will make good building materials," Cortez said.
"I know right, I want to break them down and make new weave into the jacket," Rebecca said as Cortez thought about it.
"Hey willing to talk about your time in the Mox. Like the first time you serviced someone," he said.
"Oh yeah, it sucked. I stole my virginity for 500 eddies," Rebecca feeling shameful about some creep took her first time.
"Was it worth it?" Cortez asked.
"Not really, the Mox took a cut of my money to help me stay in the graces of the boss," Rebecca said as Cortez felt this bad.
"They claim they are all about protecting sex workers but act like a business," Cortez said.
"Yeah, Suzie Q acts like a Corpo always thinking about the damn money. I wanted to help my brother pay for the rent which was going up every 6 months. Thankfully Rita was there to keep my spirits up, she was like a big sister," Rebecca said as she recalls her early days with the Mox.
-Flashback Begins-
Within the first week, Rebecca got her first client who wanted to enjoy a cute schoolgirl's company. Within 30 minutes, she serviced his needs with her naked covered up with a sheet. "Well missy, that was nice. Here is your fee," the older man with a nasty look gave her 500 eddies for her troubles.
"Bastard," Rebecca said feeling unclean from that sexual exchange as she noticed the 500 must reduce by 60% down to 200. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Rebecca wondered as the Mox wanted a cut for her to stay and perform her services with the clients.
"Hey Becca, are you alright?' Rita asked via Holo call.
"No, 300 eddies are gone," she said.
"Well, you better keep giving the goods," Rita said.
"Gee, I gave my virginity to some fucking creep," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, you will get over that. You are a Joy toy under the Mox and you need to keep up your quote to stay within the group. Keeping the eddies rolling," Rita said as Rebecca got out of bed to be within her outfit which is her old schoolgirl uniform fitting a type for her clients.
"I will try," Rebecca said.
"Good, I want you to go with me somewhere," Rita said as she came into the room to collect her.
"Like what?" Rebecca asked.
'The gun range, I am going to show you how to shoot," Rita said to grab Rebecca by her tiny hand to take her to the car outside.
"Shooting a gun?" Rebecca asked.
'Yep, all Mox need to know how to protect themselves. Sex Workers within this city are treated worse than shit. You need to get your own iron," Rita said as Rebecca nods her head.
"Interesting, I was always interested in shooting a gun. Never got the chance," Rebecca said as Rita smiled at this.
"Well good, I will teach you the ropes," Rita said as they went to the shooting ranges in Watson called Dead Aim to enter inside.
"Hello there Rita. Looking to buy some of my wares?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Nope, I am shadowing this little choom here. This is Rebecca," Rita said.
"Oh, this schoolgirl is your new member in the Mox?" the shopkeeper is amused by this adorable schoolgirl.
"I am trying my best here," Rebecca said.
"Well, I have a good selection of firearms you can use and try out," the shopkeeper said as they went to the gun range. Rebecca grabs a Unity pistol as Rita thinks it would be the easiest to use.
"Okay I will set up the course for you to shoot the targets," Rita said as she was at the panel to begin having the paper targets moving around the range. Rebecca holds onto her gun to begin shooting the targets. Rita is impressed by this.
"Wow, I got them," Rebecca said feeling happy about this.
"Damn, not bad," she said.
"I play a lot of VR shooters with my brother. This is fun," Rebecca is a natural with a gun to begin popping shots to take out targets. Getting a 150 out of 200 score.
"Preem, I want you to shoot as fast as you can before the timer runs out," Rita said as Rebecca raised her Unity pistol to pull the trigger to knock down all the threats without haste.
Rita looks on with awe to see Rebecca has a real talent for shooting. "Damn, not bad little choom," Rita said as Rebecca has a big smile on her face.
Within the hour, they kept practicing until they were finished. "I am impressed, Rebecca. You could be a solo for the Mox," Rita said.
"Really?" she asked.
"Yeah, we sometimes do some work. Make sure we don't get fucked with and send people a message. It is a fine line we need to step on or we can get overwhelmed," Rita said as they exited out of the shop with Rebecca holding onto her first pistol the Unity. "I am going to take you to dinner, my treat," Rita said.
"Oh, I am a bit hungry," Rebecca said as her stomach made noise. Rita laughs as the young woman is blushing from embarrassment.
"Alright, I know a pizza place we can go to," Rita said as they went to a diner not too far from there to head inside to get a booth.
"So, Rita. You want the usual?" the clerk asked.
"Yep. Zesty Cheese pizza, please. We are going to share the pie," Rita said as the clerk nodded his head.
The women see the TV on the corner to show a news report about the Unification war with Myer's forces pushing back against the Free States.
"That woman," Rebecca said.
"Fan of hers?' Rita asked dryly.
"Nope. Learned about her in school. Former Militech CEO becoming NUSA president. Full of shit," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, making America great once again. What a joke, chasing past glory is a good way of getting yourself killed," Rita said as they got a pizza on a large circular dish. "Thanks. Dig in little lady," Rita said as Rebecca smelled the pizza looked and smelled good.
"Damn, good stuff," she said to lick her lips to grab one of the 8 slices to bite into it. "Oh boy this tastes so good," Rebecca said.
"Indeed, I told you this was good," Rita said as they enjoyed themselves with them exchanging what they liked.
"Oh, you like to make clay statues?' Rebecca asked.
"I consider myself an artist. You have an artist's soul as well, it seems," Rita said as Rebecca talked about her love of reading singing, and poems.
"Yeah, it gives me peace of mind when I stress out," Rebecca said as they saw a bunch of gangsters coming in with guns.
"Okay fuckers this is a hold-up," the gangster said as there were 6 guys there.
"Oh boy, they got to ruin our lunch," Rita said as one of the gangsters pointed her head at Rita's head.
"What was that Mox whore," the woman said as Rita swiftly disarms him and snaps his neck using her superhuman strength from her cyber arms.
"Shoot the bitch," the gangoons begin firing at her with her subdermal armor blocking their shots as Rita draws her Overture revolver to swiftly put them down with single shots.
"Damn, that was cool," Rebecca said as one of the gangsters survives on the floor raising his gun at the back of Rita's head. "Look out," she draws her pistol to put a bullet in the skull of the wounded gangster killing him instantly. Rebecca felt a big rush when she took her first kill as Rita came over to check on her.
"Hey, you, okay?" Rita trying to see if Rebecca is okay.
"Yeah, I wanted to protect you," Rebecca said as Rita nodded her head.
"You did, good shot kiddo. How did it feel to get your first kill?" Rita asked.
"It's like a rush. My blood is pumping and my heart is racing. Is that bad?" Rebecca asked as Rita pats her on the back.
"It means you got what it takes to be a Solo. A real battle freak within you, Keep it up and you can be like me in the future," Rita said as Rebecca nodded her head to feel happy about it.
"I will do my best," Rebecca said as she felt uneasy but she wanted to please the Mox and find her place with them.
-Flashback Ends-
Rebecca recalls her first days with the Mox and the first time she killed someone. "Even then you were a killer at that age," Cortez said as Rebecca showed a cute smile.
"I was always a little psycho," Rebecca cutely.
"Yeah, you are. A real battle freak but those skills did come in handy in the end," Cortez said as Rebecca nodded her head.
"Yeah, it did. Rita teaches me how to fight and do jobs on the side from my sex work. It did give me extra funds, that was a plus," Rebecca said.
"You were one of the most experienced on your Edgerunner crew," Rebecca said.
"Yeah, it didn't help from the others getting killed. Now I know better and I will keep improving to have your back and protect the clan," Rebecca said as Cortez pressed his finger along her face.
"I know you will. Let's check the area," Cortez said as Rebecca nodded her head.
"Yeah," she said as she slung the rifle on her back along with her shotgun to go off the wall to go towards the medical area where the wounded are being treated. "Good thing we found this place to heal our wounded," she said as she saw their ripper doc Marie working on the patients.
"Hey there, you two. I am working on the patients," she said.
"Good to see you doc. You are a real doctor?" Rebecca asked as Marie found this amusing.
"I used to work for the Trauma Team and wanted to help out the weak," Marie said.
"Oh really?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes, I did but they cared more about making money than aiding the weak. I took my skills to the Aldecaldos and put my skills to good use here," Marie said as she was checking the status of the patient's heart rate.
"I see, for how long?" she asked.
"A month after V joined. I became the clan's Heavy Ripper doc since you two are the most combat-capable Solos we have. You need first-class aid to maintain your cyberware and make sure you don't go over the edge," Marie said.
"Thanks, I am grateful for you to work on me. I had bad ripper docs in the past, so it's Preem we have such a great doctor on our side," Rebecca said.
"Thank you, you will not be disappointed. V is calling for you two, to head over to the tall building over there. That is our HQ building in this place," Marie said.
"Okay, must be the bugs," Cortez said as they went into the building to see V and Panam talking with Mitch about the situation.
"Good timing, we managed to find the entrance to the nest of those buggers. We need you to go into the heart of the nest, drop these explosives, and collapse the cavern to end them here. I have no doubt there will be more out there," Panam said.
"Preem, show us the location and we will take care of it," Rebecca said as V gave them remote bombs to be used to collapse the cavern where the nest is located.
"Take these and bury those buggers in the dirt," V said as Cortez grabs the remote bombs to head over to the location to go into the truck to head over to the spot.
Rebecca cocks her rifle to see Creepers hovering about the hole where they are coming from. "Time to wipe them out," she said as she connected with the turret via neutral link. Rebecca fires the HMG turret on the truck's roof to take out the big bugs.
"No bugs here," Cortez said as he grabbed his Hercules smart machine gun to approach the hole to hear the buzzing of the Creepers down below. "Time to knock down the nest," Cortez said as he looked at it's a deep hole.
"Gee, it's pretty deep down there," Rebecca said not sure it's a good idea to just jump down.
"Sure does," Cortez said to look over to her to have a sly smile.
"No way Cortez," Rebecca said as Cortez grabbed her hand to brace to jump down.
"Way down we go," Cortez said as they took a leap of faith to jump down to crash onto a pile of sand.
"Oh boy, that was nits," Rebecca said as Cortez got up first to see Rebecca rubbing her ass.
"I knew you would be okay if you landed on your bubble butt," Cortez joked thinking Rebecca's big behind could be used like a cushion to soften her fall.
"Oh, fuck you," Rebecca laughs at this as Cortez offers his hand to get her on her feet. "That was fun," Rebecca said.
"Now, let's go deeper within these caverns," Cortez said as they went through the dim caves with her eyes adjusting to the little light inside.
"Pretty dark in here," Rebecca said as Cortez pulled out a flare to light the way.
"We can use these to mark our way back to the hole. We can climb up when we are done here," Cortez said.
"Clever," Rebecca gave praise as they found a bunch of dead Wraiths on the ground. "Those bastards didn't make it," she said not having empathy for these sick weirdos.
"Better them than us," Cortez said as he found a new weapon on one of the bandits. "Oh, a Warhammer bullpup shotgun," Cortez said as this sleek weapon is a modern version of the old 20th-century weapon prototype the Jackhammer auto shotgun.
"A treat of a find," Rebecca said impressed with the weapon. It has 18 rounds of 12-gauge shells in a drum magazine with a rapid 3-round burst fire.
"I will be keeping this," Cortez said to hold onto it to grab the other drum magazines to put in his backpack.
"Gee, hate those buzzing noises," Rebecca said holding onto her shotgun to see a few Creepers coming at them in the tight tunnels. "Oh fuck," she fires Guts to blast the head to see it disappear to flop onto the rocky floor lifelessly.
Cortez unleashes the rapid 3 round bursts to tear into the monsters with ease to reduce them to piles of gore. Nasty thing, I love it," Cortez said as Rebecca can relate.
"It's a deadly piece of kit. Lucky you found it," Rebecca said as more monsters tried to stop them from moving further into their hive. "Stupid bugs," she fires dragon breath rounds to set them ablaze hearing the creatures screaming in pain. "Good riddance," she said to cock her Guts to put in more shells.
Rebecca gets tackled by a Stealth Creeper cutting into her chest not able to do much against her armored jacket. Cortez fires three shots into the back of the Creepers killing it. "You, okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks baby," Rebecca said feeling nice to have someone watching her back.
"Always a pleasure," Cortez said as more camouflaged bugs tried to jump them but they managed to dodge and shoot them on sight. Blowing them to pieces or roasting them to death.
They go into the deeper part of the hive to begin seeing Armored Creepers trying to avoid them as best as possible to not waste too much ammo. "Okay them being here means we are close to the center of this hive. "Time to set up the bombs," Cortez said as Rebecca nodded her head.
"I got your back," Rebecca said as she pulled out her Overture revolver to look through the scope to see if the beast was heading their way. "You almost done?" she asked as the Armored Creeper spotted them to rushed towards them.
"Got it, let's go," Cortez said as he fired his machine gun to pepper the monster but its armored shell blocked this. Rebecca rushes towards the monster to hold onto a sticky grenade. She slides to dodge the pincers of the bug to latch the grenade onto its soft underbelly to appear behind the creature.
The sticky grenade goes off to split the creature in half with its blood and bits scattered onto the walls. "Gross, let's keep moving," Rebecca said as they kept going forward to set up the bombs while fighting off Creepers of the normal and Stealth types.
"I wonder where the queen is?" Cortez asked.
"They are bugs that make sense. I doubt she is here," she said.
"Yeah, she is somewhere in the wasteland here," Cortez places the final bomb to set up the trigger. "Come on, let's get out of here," Cortez said as several Creepers began to approach them. The duo rushes out of the tunnels dropping grenades to blast them apart.
Several Armored Creepers are on their tails as Rebecca and Cortez find the exit to climb upward. They go outside to trigger the bombs to collapse the caverns underneath crushing all the Creepers inside.
"No more bugs," Rebecca said as they called in their success. "Hey, we managed to destroy the bugs. The camp is secured," she said on the radio.
"Good work, you guys. Get back here and relax," Panam said as the duo headed back to the truck to go back to base to help secure the area.
Within the pirate's HQ, Hawk is sitting in his room sharpening his knife to just look out the window to see the clouds passing by in the night sky.
"So beautiful," Hawk said to feel calm at the sight of the moon shining its light onto the island base.
"Is it as beautiful as me?" a soft smooth voice said with concern as he turned around to see a naked tall, beautiful young man with long golden hair, fair skin tone, slender build, and bright yet sharp green eyes.
"By a mile Gene, come here," Hawk said with a rough voice.
"Damn, such a bad boy," Gene said crawling over in a seductive way to kiss him on his rough face to place his head on his broad shoulder. "Seems like the nomads are getting comfortable in their little hideout," Gene said.
"Yeah, there are so many fuckers in this place. Those Militech jarheads, that Arasaka agent moving around like a rat, and the Wraith forgetting who owns this place," Hawk said kissing his lover on the cheek. "I promise you, it's going to be one hell of a firework display," Hawk said as Gene rubbed his slender finger around his broad chest.
"Oh, I can't wait to see you work baby, you know how to get my dick going," Gene said as he felt Hawk slap him on the ass.
"I know that booty of yours gets me going," Hawk flirted as Gene laughed at this.
"Oh behave, big boy," Gene said.
"Can't help myself. How is your net running project?" Hawk asked as Gene got out of bed to be by the window to look up at the moon.
"It's going well. Militech is trying to pierce our defenses but I have countermeasures to ward them off," Gene said.
"Good. Maria needs to flex her muscles to take in that Arasaka Agent. I am going to have a lot of fun with that one," Hawk said as Gene is concerned for Maria.
"She seems very distant lately. You need to talk with her," Gene said.
"She is fine, she is always the cool type and does not talk much," Hawk said.
"I don't know," Gene said as Hawk put his hands tenderly on his face to look deep into his lovely eyes.
"Relax, we got this," Hawk said as Gene remembers seeing Maria looking very lonely lately.
"Anyway, any word from the big kingpin himself lately?" Gene asked.
"Vexx, too busy dealing with his drug empire in the Pacific. Cutting deals with the Soviet Union to get SovOil off his ass. The plan is not changing. Take in the fuckers, get the ransom money, and then ship them into the trafficking anyway," Hawk said as Gene shows him a big smile.
"You are such a devil, you know right?" Gene asked.
"Am I a stinker or what," Hawk said in a joking tone.
"Yes, you are," Gene said as Hawk got word about new meat coming into the camp.
"Well, seems like duty calls. Got to entertain the guests," Hawk said as he gave Gene a deep kiss to go off to torture the new meat.
"Maria, hope she is okay. After what happened a year ago. She seems so sad," Gene said going to his projects to help reinforce the island subnet against enemy cyber-attacks.