Chapter 16: Hong Kong Sunrise Pt 1
After returning from their two-day vacation, they are back at the Sacramento penthouse with Ayaka fixing up some fruit salad for them to eat. "Hey Vincent," she said as he watched TV news to kiss him on the lips.
"Looking cute today," V said, wearing a purple top and white jeans fitting her body quite well.
"Your eyes betray your intents," she said slyly to caress his cheek with her tiny hands.
"Guilty," V said sad Ayaka showed a gentle smile to watch the news about Night City's reforms under Mayor Jefferson after Night Corp went defunct after being exposed for their AI brainwashing by V, Ayaka, and Sandra.
"Want some fruit? Fresh from the farms," Ayaka said as real fruit is quite pricey but it was worth it.
"Thanks," he said grabbing onto some grapes and mango pieces to feel refreshing in his mouth. "Tasty," he said.
"Thanks, come on. I got a few movies we can look over together," Ayaka said to look over an old flat movie called Furious 8.
"What is this?" he asked.
"It's a romantic action series. Where the main couple goes on crazy adventures together," Ayaka said.
"Hey that sounds like us," he said lightly.
"I can relate with the women on screen. She and her lover side by side, to take on the world and open new opportunities," Ayaka felt a blush coming onto her pale face.
"Indeed, sounds about right," V said as they sat together to enjoy the movie together.
Later on, Ayaka is getting word from Michiko. "So how was the meeting with the mayor?' she asked.
"It went well. We got all the Arasaka assets in Night City. All Dove controlled,"
"How are the board of directors?" Ayaka asked.
"I am getting there. Our faction is getting support within the company. They used to see us as a joke but now we are getting some steam here. Soon enough, it will be under my direct control," Michiko said.
"Baby steps, we got a long way to go until we can overthrow your grandfather," Ayaka said.
"Right, we got hired by China on a big mission. I need you and V on top of this," Michiko said.
V is playing his Venus VR console in their room with Ayaka sitting beside him. "Hey, Michiko is going to do something big. Hong Kong is going to be of special interest to her," Ayaka said as she pulled out a tablet to show the region on the map. V pulls off the headshot to look at her funny.
"Why there, that got hit by a bio plague in the Fourth Corporate War. Militech managed to kill over 10 million people there, the whole region is empty," V said.
"You are right but there is life there of sorts. Your friend Alt managed to create a haven for soul-killed AI called the Ghost World. The emptiness was perfect for hiding the AI from human eyes. Alt managed about a Rouge AI who took control of the ghost world and managed to take control of the robotic forces within the region," Ayaka said.
"Seriously?" V asked.
"Yes, Alt has been busy since the 2020s. Setting up safe havens for Ais in remote places still connected to the old net. Hong Kong has a 100-foot wall blocking all from land to keep the plague out but now recently it's all gone leaving it open to be taken back. The Ghost World has a new master, a Rouge AI called Delta who has absorbed Ais to become more powerful. Now it has control over a robot factory and using stolen designs to make an army to conquer China," Ayaka said.
"Sounds serious," V said.
"Yes, China can't mount an attack because of tensions with the Soviet Union. So, the CCP hired us to deal with this problem, We killed the leader of the robot army allowing the CCP to give the Dove faction total control of the Hong Kong region in exchange for an arms deal that both the Soviet Union and China wanted to tip the balance of power between them," Ayaka explaining the situation.
"That will put a target on my back from the Soviet Union and SovOil," V said.
"We will deal with it. Besides the Soviet Union has its problems at home to deal with," Ayaka said.
"When will we be going?" he asked.
"Within a few hours, Hawkeye will pick us up. Time to get ready, we are going to take a trip to Hong Kong," she said with a sweet smile.
They got their combat gear on to go into the armory to grab their weapons. V is using a G-58 Dian Smart SMG and Silver Talon Magnum pistol. Ayaka takes a Masamune assault rifle and a Tamayura 10mm pistol along with her Mist Slicer on her back.
They wait outside to see Hawkeye in a stealth AV to get inside. "Time to go across the ocean and head for Hong Kong City," Hawkeye said as they sped off to leave Northern California and go across the ocean towards the Chinese mainland.
V checked his Smart gun to see if his smart link was working. "So, you have been to Hong Kong back in the day," V asked curiously.
"Oh yes, very lovely region. A good blend of Western and Chinese influences there. A rich culture wiped out by overreaching ambition. The Fourth Corporate War was a mistake," Ayaka said.
"In the end, it was two big egos clashing and killing hundreds of millions in the process," V said.
"Yes, Saburo and Donald who is the former CEO of Militech. They were both clinging to the past and that led to the Fourth Corporate War killing so many people due to their shortsighted egos. Donald is dead and Saburo will be next," Ayaka said to cock the gun to make her Masamune rifle ready to be used.
Within a few hours, they were along the coast of China with the military there letting them pass through via the CCP's orders. "The Chinese government is giving us the clear," Hawkeye said as V can see a massive 100-foot wall sealing the connection between Hong Kong and Mainland China.
"Fuck me," V said as it looks very odd to see rows of buildings and cities looking dead from a distance.
"The best place to land is the old Arasaka HQ building within Hong Kong City. V, I hope you love the lovely sights," Ayaka said as they came up to see the island of Hong Kong to see a vast city forgotten from time to see nature has overtaken the abandoned city.
"So eerie. Greenery mixed with metal," V said as broken skyscrapers were filled with grass, moss, and vines.
"It's what they said. No signs of the plague but I am detecting a lot of robots and drones. I will drop you off and I will head back to the mainland until you need a pickup,"
"Thanks, Hawkeye," Ayaka said as they approached the old Arasaka tower standing there looking rustic and broken left to die in this lonely place. They hover above the roof to leap down to see birds flying in the distance to see them get shot down by an unknown robot.
"Good luck you two," Hawkeye said flying away in stealth mode to not get shot down.
"Okay, what's the plan to get to the robot factory?" V asked to wield his G-58 Dian to shoulder the gun.
"Well, the easiest way is through the subway tunnels. It will take us there. We are in Delta's lands now. His robotic forces are everywhere," Ayaka said as they began to scale the old tower to see moss and green everywhere.
"This place has seen better days," V said.
"Once we take control of this place. We will renew it and make it better than ever," Ayaka said as she found this painful to see the city is in poor shape. "Along with the rest of this region," she said like a gentle promise to go through the office spaces to see robot troopers patrolling the area.
"Those are current-gen robot troopers. Main forces, right?" V asked.
"Yes, Delta has access to all sorts of robot and drone designs," Ayaka fires her Masamune to land three shots into the body of the machine to knock it down.
"Humans detected, kill on sight," the robotic troopers open fire with their Nowaki assault rifles trying to hit them. Several robots overloaded from Short Circuit with V using his smart gun to lock onto their bodies to pepper them with smart rounds tearing into their bodies.
One of the robots rushes in and punches V to knock him into a pillar. "Vincent," Ayaka said as she saw it was a Robot Brawler with powerful arms rushing towards V ready to punch his head off.
She draws her 10mm pistol to shoot it while stunning it with quickhacks. She swoops in and uses her katana to crave the robot in half.
"Honey, are you okay?" Ayaka asked sounding concerned.
"Yeah, it sucker punched me," V said as more robot troopers and brawlers appear trying to stop them from leaving the tower.
"Interesting. More humans have come here to suffer a painful fate," a digital voice said as V was chilled by that cold different voice.
"Delta," V said as he used his arm blades to slice up the Brawlers while Ayaka was deflecting shots with her sword back at the bots to take them out.
"So many weak humans have tried to come into my kingdom and failed horribly. You two will be no different," Delta said to cut the audio from one of the bots.
"Used one of the bots as an avatar. He loves to hear himself talk," V said as he kicked a Brawler into a pillar to split the bot into pieces. He locks on targets and lets his bullets fly into the robots to take them out.
"All cleared out," Ayaka said as they kept pushing downward with the elevators having no power. "Over 50 years of neglect. Got to get our exercise by powering through the stairs," she said as they saw a heavy aerial drone Octant flying outside to pepper through the open glass walls tearing into the office level.
"Speaking of which," V said as the couple were running through the tower to fire at the drone to see a bunch of Wyvern drones backing up the bigger drone. They shoot their guns to blast them out of the sky with Ayaka taking a few shots which isn't stopping her from knocking down a Wyvern.
V reloads a magazine filled with electro rounds to begin locking onto the big drone with the electric rounds shocking it and seeing it explode falling into the streets below. V takes down the remaining drones, seeing them falling as well.
"That AI is not going to make this easy," Ayaka said as they kept moving to see there was a bunch of dead bodies they found on the floor. "Oh my," she said as V scans the bodies to see they are recently killed.
"Fresh, people get sent here," he said.
"Yes, Edgerunners are being sent here to recover lost data or tech. This place is connected to the old net after all," Ayaka said as they looted the bodies to find ammo, C5 explosives, and a weapon.
"It's the Diplomat a select fire variant of the Tactician. Taking a lot of notes from the 20th century SPAS-12," V said as the shotgun can switch between pump action and semi-auto with a press of a button under the handguard. "Pump action for low-power shells and semi-auto for high-power shells," V said slinging it on his back along with buckshots and electro slugs.
"Good find honey," she said as they kept going down the stairs to be halfway through the broken tower.
"Not any closer," Delta speaks through a LAW robot with a minigun on top.
"Oh shit," V gets hit by a wave of rapid-fire to send him flying through the window falling out of the building.
"No!" Ayaka said as V used his Apogee Sandy to regain his balance to grab onto an exposed pole to use it to swing back into the building barely escaping from his dreadful fate. She fires her PLS to blast it with a mini rocket to damage it but gets hit with bullets to launch her across the floor.
She backflips onto her feet to use her speed to avoid the wave of bullets. She tosses her blade to slice off the minigun and impale onto the side of a pillar.
She fired another mini rocket to damage the drone further. V swings back inside to go into a slide to toss C5 onto the bot to see it blown to pieces. "Honey are you okay?" she asked, sounding concerned.
"Yep, got winded," V said.
"Thank goodness, we are almost to the bottom levels," Ayaka said as they kept going with a drone helicopter tracking them outside.
"You got to be fucking kidding me," V cursed as they begin to run with the Valgus firing its 30mm chain gun to unleash heavy bullets to tear through the old tower's walls blasting them apart.
"We can't get hit by that. Our armored skin can't block that," Ayaka said as they shot their weapons while running but nothing is working against it. Ayaka fires the mini rocket but it does little damage.
The drone helicopter is peppering the floor with explosive rounds while firing rockets from its pods to blast the old tower apart knocking the two onto the floor. Ayaka drops her rifle to be destroyed by the blast rounds as V loads electro slugs to strike the rocket pod to make the weapons explode knocking the drone around a bit.
He sees the opening to pull out his C5 to use his Apogee to speed up and leap out of the building to land on the side of the tumbling air drone to place the C5 on it. He jumps off the drone to use his arm blades to latch onto the side of the building.
He triggers a C5 to blow up the drone helicopter becoming a big fireball and crashing down below.
"V that was crazy," she said sounding breathless from his gutsy move.
"You got to make an opening count," he said as he climbed up to get back inside to scale down the stairs managing to get to the old lobby of the broken Arasaka Hong Kong HQ building.
"Finally, we touch the ground. V, welcome to Hong Kong or what's left of it," she said as they were within a massive megacity filled with aging buildings, broken skyscrapers, and empty shops covered in nature.
"The place trapped in time," V said, awestruck by the eerie beauty of the place. "Post-apocalyptic with robots," he said.
"Quite fitting," Ayaka can zoom in with her eyes to see rows of robot troopers coming down the streets. "Lots of them, we need to head into the building. We need to move our way to the train station which will be our ticket to the robot factory Delta is using," Ayaka said as they leap through a broken window to hide from over 1000 robot troopers.
"Gee, how many of them?" V wondered.
"From satellite images, there could be over 5 million within the region. 500,000 in Hong Kong City alone," Ayaka said.
"Fuck, we need to be smart and not fight a whole ass army,
"Agreed," Ayaka pulls out her Tamayura pistol.
"Where is your rifle?" he asked.
"It got destroyed in the fight with the drone gunship. I just got my pistol and sword," she said as they kept going through the shops to have a nasty smell hit their noses.
"Fuck what is that," V said as there is a little camp within a building to see several people were wiped out by the AI's robot forces.
"More Edgerunners here. The promises of old tech and weapons were too much for these fools," Ayaka said as she searched their bodies for anything useful. "Oh, a Quasar. Can go for full auto when charged. This will be handy," she said to put the gun on her thigh to gain another sidearm.
V is wielding his shotgun to go to the pot where the smell is coming from to see their food is beyond spoiled. "Goodness, makes me want to hold my nose," he said.
"I doubt anything is worth eating here. Damn, I remember them making some great street food here. Fish balls, Egg Waffles, tofu pudding, and stinky tofu," Ayaka said her mouth watering just thinking about those delicious foods.
"Stinky Tofu, that stuff smells like garbage," V said.
"Well, it is required taste. It's a lot like blue cheese," Ayaka said as V scowled at the mention of blue cheese.
"Fewer reasons for me to eat it," V said as they found a few robot troopers patrolling the building. "Well crap, better make this quick," V uses his Sandevistan to use his arm blades and speed to swiftly take them out without much fuss.
Ayaka uses her new tech revolver to put down the last robot trooper. "You missed one," she said lightly. They go up the stairs to see more robots coming into the lower level.
"You got lucky escaping that tower. I have a whole army looking for you. I doubt you can reach the factory," Delta said through the robot as V tosses an EMP grenade to disable them with Ayaka finishing them off with a PLS.
"Keep talking. We going to rip you out of that factory myself," V said as the house shook to see an 8-wheeled armored drone smash through the wall. "Shit Rhino," he said as the robot has a 30mm autocannon and 50 BMG caliber gun built into its turret on top of its hull.
"We can't fight that or we will be turned into Swiss cheese," Ayaka said as the turrets aimed upward to fire 50 BMG rounds to rip up the second floor. "Jump," they leap out the window to get into another building to avoid getting blown to bits by explosive rounds.
The Rhino smashes through the building to still tag them and fire onto them. Ayaka fires her mini rocket but it doesn't hurt it at all. She uses quickhacks but its powerful ICE blocks her and she can't focus on breaking its ICE with all the gunfire and explosions.
"Got one C5, I need to time this right," V drops the C5 through a hole in the floor to land on the ground. The Rhino drives over it and gets hit with a big explosion destroying it.
"Found you," Delta said in a weird digital voice with a mission blowing up the house they were in. The explosion knocks them into the streets.
"Shit," V said as two Rhinos appear along with a Valgus drone gunship backing them up. V grabs onto Ayaka to use his Sandy to speed away from the machines to get sniped by a Robot Scout with a Kolac Precision Rifle fitted with explosive 50 BMG rounds.
"Die," Delta said as the Scout fired the rounds with the blasts knocking V and Ayaka into a cellar to crash inside. Ayaka used her hardened skin to soften the damage and close the door to lock them inside. She looks down to see her bodysuit is torn up.
"Damn it, that was rough out there," she said.
"Yeah, it is. We need to rest here and wait until they go back to patrol," V said as Ayaka nodded her head to hide down in the cellar until the situation calmed down before heading off to the underground robot factory with the mission getting even more insane than they thought.