A/N: Merry Christmas everyone. I hope all of you have had a good Christmas and that all of you CN players managed to survive Frankfurt, all Global players evaded spoilers, and that you managed to get Suomi or Ulrid (because I did not). Because it is Christmas, I managed to prep three stories to be updated once on this day, those being this one, Neon Knights, an Arknights and mainly Cyberpunk RED crossover, and The Divide a Division 2 and Blue Archive crossover.
Go check them out if you're interested, for now, onto responses.
Dasgun:...
MEleeSmasher: I'm glad you're enjoying this. And don't worry, I will.
Now, onto the story, I hope you enjoy it.
Levi, Dimitry, and Pavel followed the strange Yank as he hummed a song or another, despite the apprehension they felt the further away they got from their village. Of course, he doesn't act or look like your average Yank, and the weapon he has on hand…
None of them are very ballistically literate, but they'd have recognized a gun like that. The trio of childhood friends are usually in charge of interacting with any T-Dolls near their village and trading, or fighting should the need arise. Even with their lack of experience in live combat, they couldn't recognize his weapons immediately. "Tell me," Levi asks his brother, Pavel, "You think he's gonna rob us?"
"Look at the armor under his jacket," Pavel answers, noticing the burned jacket and the strange material under it. "That armor doesn't seem to belong to a man desperate enough to rob us."
"He seems like a good man." Dimitry points out as the other two send him a flat look, "What? You saw what he was capable of, the sound of those gunshots, he'd have killed us already if he wanted to."
"Still," Levi began, the sound of gunfire startling them as the yank turned in that direction, his right brown eye glowing blue for a second too long to be a trick of the light before it returned to normal.
"Gunfire. Shouldn't be Sangvis." Their guide assures them even if he reaches into his bag. "Just to be sure, here." He says, tossing something as they catch it. "Airhypo. Just jab 'em and squeeze, you'll be fine in a few."
"What's in them?" Levi asks, suspiciously.
"The usual." He answers, listing off some medicine they have trouble understanding. "Send them to someone who knows more, they might be able to confirm it."
"How much are they?" Pavel asks, almost anxious as Josue sighs out for a long second as if what he's about to say will be painful.
"You're helping me, so think about it as insurance, make sure that you can continue doing so if you get injured." He says, looking away to hide the grimace, after all, he knows he's not in his world anymore, so he can jack up the price as much as he wants and no one can say otherwise. Still, practically wringing people dry of valuables when they barely have any is a stupid thing to do. Waiting until they're fat and assholes is better.
The two look at him in suspicion as Dimitry pockets it, "Thank you, friend."
"Don't get me wrong." He cuts through them, turning to them as his eyes look them over coldly. "It's business. Nothing more, nothing less. But," he adds, his eyes softening, not to fondness, but to amusement, "you can't exactly perform business on your own, much less expect payment from people who can't pay it back."
"That's quite a rude thing to assume." Dimitry retorts as he laughs. "Though you're not too far off."
"I've dealt with many people." Josue answers, "I'd like to think I've gotten good at reading them."
"Didn't you call yourself a Nomad?" Pavel asks as Josue turns to him.
"I am, at the moment, but the term 'Fixer', works better." He answers, "I used to be the guy you went to if you wanted anything for any reason. Weapons, skills, and information, I dealt with it all and was practically a king." He practically preached, an almost mad glint in his eyes as he grinned, shivers running at the expression before it disappeared a second later. "Well, 'was'. Packed up and left before the City could take me after I kicked its shit in."
"City?" Dimitry asked, "You speak as if it's alive?"
Josue didn't answer, simply sending him a wry grin before shaking his head. "My base is coming up, I'll drive you to your home once we drop it off."
They look at each other before shrugging as they follow him, indulging in small talk if small talk involves a lot of very obvious questions to the siblings and many revelations for Josue. Finally, they come across a row of dilapidated buildings as they enter the first one.
They pause and gape at his kombi while it disengaged its camouflage, Russian obscenities coming from them as they look around, noticing the various other vehicles inside, some of them outfitted with weapons while others simply seemed expensive enough to be worth an entire life. The only exception is an expensive bike that seems well-worn, and old despite the sheen on it, practically glowing.
"This is my little base, at the moment." He says opening a sliding door to his kombi, the DNA lock unlocking at his fingerprint. "Here, pass them over." He says as they file in and pass the weapons to him. He sets them down and nods. "Right, payment…" He trails off as he looks into the living space as the trio of Russians try to peek in, only for the door to close with a hiss.
For a second, the trio didn't say anything until Levi spoke, "I thought he was lying."
"Me too."
"...No comment." Dimitry said, the other two turning to him as he looks back, "What? He's a good man, but even then, calling himself the King of a City is still a bit…"
"Doesn't seem too far-fetched," Pavel notes as he inspects the vehicles. "Think he'll accept it if we ask for one of these?"
Dimitry and Levi inspect other cars, each one weathered and battered in its way, some have the tell-tale sign of battle on them, while others were cleaner, meant for racing rather than enduring long treks, then there were the cars meant simply for pride.
"...I don't think he would," Levi answers, noticing something. "Pavel, what's this say?"
"Hmm?" Pavel hums as he goes to the bike he's inspecting. "What am I looking at?"
"This." He says, pointing to a set of words, "What's it say?"
"I don't know." Pavel admits, "Looks like Spanish, but...I think it says Northern Tigers?"
"Los Tigres del Norte." Josue answers, stepping out of the kombi as the trio practically runs away from the vehicle, to Josue's visible amusement. "They were a band when it all went to shit, they tried to help the immigrants but… well, it didn't end well. One of them barely survived and because of that, gathered people and made the Northern Tigers. A tribe of Nomads simply trying to live."
A group nearly as well-known and hated by Corpos as Johnny Silverhand. A group that helped instead of destroying, who sang about the injustices immigrants faced in America. "But, that's not important. I don't have a way to pay you at the moment. So," he starts, waving his hand as he moves, the others glancing at each other before following.
Josue knew the vehicle in front of him, it was one of many from his Family. An Archer Quartz 'Sidewinder' modified by Nomads and Josue himself. The car itself isn't what interested him, but the trunk as he opens it and lets the Russians look in.
Ammunition, and not the caseless ammunition used in the Malorian or his M-2012, but old ammunition for the weapons they have in their hands. "This good enough?"
"Yeah…" Dimitry says, "Even half would be fine…" Levi says, swatting his arm as he looks almost embarrassed while Levi glares at him.
"I can give you all of it. I still have some more stowed away." An old habit of his, even if he never needed it. "On one condition."
"What is it?" Pavel asks, suspicious.
Josue taps the car before sighing, "Call me if you ever need a driver."
The three look at him in confusion, "That's it?" Levi asks and Josue rolls his eyes.
"No, I'm going to ask you for your firstborn, your soul, and your lovers." He retorts before continuing, "No one knows my name, I need to change that. Start small and work my way up. In return, you'll pay me, give me food, and people should I ever need it."
"Why people?" Dimitry asks. Josue raises a brow at the question.
"Well, some jobs aren't worth my time, might as well have someone else do it," Josue says and they nod, somewhat understanding. "So, I'll send them your way and pay you after getting my cut."
"There it is…" Levi trails off with a huff, going to the veritable stockpile before turning back to Josue. "Will people die?"
"People will always die, only an idiot believes that they know everything and a bigger idiot doesn't take steps to ensure that should anything go wrong, those in the field can't make it out," Josue grumbles, his mind going to the various gigs he performed for Fixers before he became one and then some of the gigs he organized himself that went tits up.
Sometimes, they'd rat him out and he'd have to run from the law, others would simply try to corral him into an ambush. Rarely did a Fixer ever do anything more than the bare minimum, which is what made Josue popular. He had reliable information, gave discounts on products for Edgerunners on particularly dangerous gigs or heists, and always tried to work with the mercs he gave jobs.
Sure, payment is already given before the gig was put out and Fixers take their cut then, but Josue was known as a Tiger for a reason, the gigs he got and gave out were always varying. In a heartless city like Night City, a bit of heart goes a long way, with a lot of strength and damn good accuracy.
Levi huffs, "The honesty is appreciated." He says as they think about it. "How would you use us, if we accepted?"
"Scouts, overwatch, information gathering, occasionally assaulting places, things like that." Josue admits, "Not that many either, around...eight, maybe nine gigs we can drop the whole manpower thing, and just keep it to trading. So, do we have a deal or do I have to meet someone else?"
The three glance at each other, before turning to him with a slight grimace, "Well, we don't have that many people who can move easily. We're some of the few who can." He reveals to Josue while he shrugs.
"That's fine. So," he starts, his eyes flashing dangerously, "wanna see what this baby can do?"
Josue looks back, waving at the trio of Russians in their small village, Dimitry laughing his heart out and doing the same, Pavel and Levi seated before flashing a very rude sign in his direction, the Sidewinder now lighter after being rid of a lot of its ammunition.
"Chi." He starts, and his Agent comes to life in its cell phone-like form.
"Yes?" It, or she, asked, unlike Tlaloc who keeps stock of his vehicles, weapons, radio, and ammunition amongst other things, Chi acted more like a mundane Agent, keeping a schedule, answering calls, and monitoring other things.
Her name is also a shortening of Chihuahua, since her previous personality was fairly feisty, not that it still isn't. "Have you finished connecting my Chrome to the local NET?"
"I did it the moment you jacked in." Chi answers, her eyes narrowing, "Or do you think those 'Dolls' can somehow do it better than I can?"
Josue doesn't rise to it, instead, he continues, "I don't think those Dolls can do what I can. Jesus, Max would be unstoppable here."
"Well, there are a lot of differences between the America that's here and Night City, still, it seems like this one got the stiffer end of the deal," Chi says while she explains the history and how different it is.
It's...different, but it's also familiar in a way that's not good. Not at all.
Griffin and Kryuger, Sangvis Ferri, and KCCO, all of it paint a familiar picture for any Night City native. ELID, a zombie-making disease, A-Dolls, T-Dolls…
So much, but… so similar.
"Chi." He starts, his Agent looking up, "Work with Tlaloc to find any Sangvis Outposts and any nearby villages. Griffin...can be ignored at the moment. Scour the NET for anything that's...strange but doable. No assassinations."
"Right." Chi starts as she disappears a second later, leaving Josue on his own as he drives to his home.
Well, at least he can put off eating his MREs and Kibble during actual emergencies.
He has meat now. Like genuine meat and not the synth stuff.
Fear.
Run.
Complete the mission!
She drags herself against the ground, Black Box in hand, her Echelon already ripped to pieces by the Sangvis forces, tears fell freely at the thought of never seeing them again as she choked down a sob and forced herself against a wall.
Her gun was already discarded, a melted heap that took a shot from the opposing Sangvis as she leaped to evade the next rounds. That single stroke of luck left her the only one capable of completing the mission, the others incapable of moving as well as she could, even if a chunk was burnt out of her leg.
She ran again, this time hobbling as more gunfire hit her, her digimind incapable of feeling the pain as she tumbled down the stairs, coolant falling from her injuries until she dragged herself up and spotted a door.
A few seconds later, the Sangvis Ferri barged in, looking into the room to see white drapes splayed on the floor, splotches of red painting it and directing them to the window.
With this information, they left, believing that she jumped out of the window to go and pursue.
Within the room, a sob was heard, followed by shakes as one of these shivers pushed the door, revealing a bundle as the sobs continued, the drape over her form like a veil falling to reveal G36C, crying and sobbing in relief at the stupid idea that worked. "G36… G36… Sister." She cried, curling in on herself. "Please, help me."
"So, urgent?" Josue asks Chi, jacking out of his Zonda Parallax and powering it down as he's wearing a leather coat, bearing the insignia of his family, a Tiger on the back, a Mexican flag on the right sleeve, and a light armorjack vest under his jacket. On his back is his M-2012, the Errata, and Malorian under his shoulder holster. "What did they need?"
"The client is looking for books, the older the better," Chi explains while he continues making his way through the rubble and ruined buildings. "Seems like he's the curator of a museum."
"Got it." Josue says, making his way down the street, looking at the buildings, "...Jesus."
There was no life in the area, it was so...empty, at least when he was a Nomad, people were squatting in the buildings of ruined towns. Not always kind, but simply make what they can of what they have. Even if it was supposed to be empty, there was always something.
So the fact that he can genuinely hear nothing was terrifying.
He reaches into his bag, bringing up his Sangvis Scanner and activating it, frowning at the information.
Sangvis, and close too.
Deactivating the Scanner, he stows it away, grabbing his M-2012 and disengaging the safety as he jogs to the library.
It wasn't just any library, it was on the outskirts of a university, fairly small, but that didn't matter. He might be able to get some extra things if he sticks around.
His expression scrunches at the smell of old books, decaying paper, and glue as he wonders if anything even survived and if it'll survive the way back to the location of the client.
First, he goes through the main lobby, spotting how empty everything is as he frowns. "...There's gotta be a server around here, the books are gone."
Some were taken, some simply decayed, and some might have been used as kindling, not that he'd judge. A little bit. Still, Universities have shops, if he can jack into a computer or tablet, he can probably find the inventory. Some poor kid might have ordered something for his next year, or first year, in University and died instead.
Morbid thoughts aside, Josue jumps over the front desk and makes his way to the back, opening it as he finds a few books.
Gently, he grabs them, the faded words hard to discern, but it's a book. Placing it in a bag, he stows it away, continuing his search until he stops in front of the desk with a monitor connected to a case under the desk. He taps the mouse a few times before it powers up and he smiles. "Good."
Removing his plug from his wrist, he jacks in, breaching the security easily, he looks through the various files until the last.
Bingo. A receipt for textbooks.
Jacking out, he begins his jog to the location of the store, excitement bubbling up from within.
He pauses mid-stride, the barest of sobs filtering into his ear as he looks up at the building in front of him, his curiosity flaring up while he audibly swallows in an attempt to push down the anxiety crawling up at the feeling he gets. Instinct honed from years and near-constant combat in and out of Night City warned him, hesitation coursing through him for a long beat of silence.
A sound caught his attention, the rustling of bushes to the side, his steps becoming silent while he moved to the side by one of the dilapidated constructs leading to the building that might have been a marble square for decoration. Leaning against it, he peeks around, spotting a familiar aesthetic, moving before they could see him.
Well, it seems like his decision was made. Slowly, quietly, and subtly, he makes his way into the building. As one would expect, it's filled to the brim with Russian and various other languages similar to it, resembling some old universities he crawled into when he was younger to look for old CDs, memory chips, or tech. Lecture halls, classrooms, bathrooms, and more were in his immediate line of sight.
Still, he lowers his M-2012 and takes a deep breath before releasing it. Like his Family would say, 'One thing at a time'. With those words, he makes his way through the first floor of the building and scans the rooms.
Occasionally, a textbook caught his attention as he stowed it away, one for every three rooms he inspected, before making his way upstairs and stopping before he could make it all the way upstairs and crouching low, hands on the stairs while narrowing his eyes.
A squad of Sangvis Dolls at the end of the hall. They seem to be looking for something. He can't let them get it, it might be worth some money.
Extending his left arm, his Grapple Hand launches, grasping a Doll's legs as he jumps back, pulling the Doll as her allies aim. He uses his other hand to fire his M-2012, rounds piercing the Dolls, scattering them, and forcing them to cover while his hand reconnects to his wrist, still grasping the Doll's legs.
Raising a leg, he stomps on the head of the doll, her skull giving way against the edge of the stairs as he fires into her head a few more times. Grasping the corpse, he pulls her up, using her as a shield as the lasers from the Dolls hit her ally without remorse. He fires back, hitting two of them as he jacks into the weapon of the Doll he's using as a human shield and pierces the security installed.
A second later, he jacks out, standing as he throws the Doll in the direction of reinforcements, aka the stairs going up the floor as he leaps and takes cover.
The Doll's energy core goes haywire, bypassing any safeguards as it explodes in a burst of plasma, taking the stairs and going up a floor with her and some of her allies.
That's not going to last, so he stands up, blindly firing in the direction of the original Dolls to keep them pinned and storms into a room-
Beautiful, that is the word that courses through Josue's mind as he looks at the Doll, red coolant dripping from her injuries, almost identical to a human, streaks of tears on her face with misty brown eyes and silver hair with a beret on top of it and military fatigues.
She, on the other hand, gasps as her eyes widen in horror and fear as she tries to move back only for her leg to give in. Josue's eyes glanced as he did the single thing that made sense.
He leaps at her and struggles as he jacks into the Doll, uploading a Program that causes her eyes to roll up and she passes out. He sighs in relief, thankful that his Programs are still working, he'll need to modify them once he gets back to his kombi.
The sound of feet startles Josue as he grabs the Doll, heaving as he pulls her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry as he flicks his left arm out.
A Popup shield unfurls, capable of taking energy and ballistics with ease as he twirls the Malorian and aims at the door.
They pause, but that doesn't save them, a quick scan outlines their forms as he fires through the wall. The percussive sound of the shot ringing out and nailing one before hitting the second with another round, the frame in his arm locking to mitigate the recoil of the modified Malorian as they scamper back and he surges forward.
He slides on the floor, the third hitting the Doll in the head, red splattering the wall behind her as he switches firing mode, the next bullet ricocheting off the wall and hitting a Doll hiding by the staircase as he runs, leaping over the corpse. "Chi, how are we looking on enemies?"
"Too many to count," Chi answers from his Agent connected to an earpiece, Chyron displays a map with enemies all over as their forms are outlined, disorienting him for a second as only half of his line of sight has the enemies outlined. "You can either leave the books-."
"Fuck that!" Josue yells as he leaps down the stairs, his Cyberlegs taking the impact with ease as he does the same until he's at the ground floor. "I'm getting paid, or I'm dying."
Chi sighs, already used to this as she sends Chyron more information on enemies, outlining them and their capabilities as he thanks her and holsters the Malorian and brings out the Errata.
For a second, he reaches for an airhypo but pauses, after all, he's used it a few times, and like Stim, it keeps him up but also makes him stronger, and faster, but also tends to make him fall into habit. Which just so happens to be solving problems with violence rather than diplomacy, otherwise known as guns and swords.
Well…
As most decisions that usually end up being bad on Josue's part start like this, he's starting to worry that the lack of pressure is causing him to fall back on old habits. Or maybe it's because of the power that he's being particularly reckless.
He stows away the airhypo and slows down as he leans against the wall, grabbing his M-2012 after sheathing the Errata and preparing to fire as his Popup shield folds into his arm and he goes back to holding the girl. It's gonna be a bit difficult, like the time he helped rob Biotechnica and the CHOOH2 recipe along with some of their bioengineered wheat.
Speaking of, he should see if he can find someone to clone the wheat. His cars do run off the thing.
Slowly, he makes his way through the hall to the other end, cloaking himself from their scans when he needs to as he passes by unabated. Makes him wonder how advanced technology is. Sure, the Dolls are wonders, from their AI and their body, but they just seem so...lacking in comparison to Night City.
It's like night and day, part of the same thing, but so starkly different.
Finally, he opens a back window and makes his way out, running in the direction of the shop as he scrambles to stay hidden.
Through luck, grit, and a few snapped necks and curb stomping (turns out, that snapping a Doll's head doesn't completely kill them), he makes his way to the store, jumping in through a broken window as everything is practically torn apart. "C'mon…" he mutters, looking around. "There's gotta be something-there!" He starts excitedly at the closed door as he tries to open it and he frowns when it doesn't open. "Locked." Normal lock too.
Not that big of a problem, crouching down and grabbing his lockpicking set, after a few clicks, the door is opened as he makes his way through.
He whistles, "Now that's the motherload."
Textbook after textbook line the backroom, reserved for students to rent out or buy for their next year, all down the drain because of one company.
Hopes, dreams, and families were all crushed under Sangvis Ferri, and why? Even before that, how many of these students were drafted into one war or another?
A conspiracy, as always, not one Josue is very interested in unraveling, that'd be too much of a problem, but one that has him glaring forward. Still, these books won't be packed by themselves.
He runs around, grabbing as many as he can and grabbing a Radio Communicator in the form of a handheld radio with a Scrambler. "Hey Tlaloc, think you can get the Parallax back, send in the Bear." The Bear is a Thorton Mackinaw fitted with a heavy bulletproof frame and a turret at the top, the box having enough space for a few pallets of these books.
"Negative. There are people around the Parallax." Tlaloc reports, that Josue's heart dropping faster than orbital payloads.
"Ah, nah." He starts, shoving the books into his bag as he makes his way out.
Someone is here. Now who is the real question?
"How much do you think this is worth?" A twin-tailed girl asks, circling the red bike and running a finger over the armored chassis among other bells and whistles they have trouble nailing down immediately.
"Something like that?" A different girl starts a brunette with a scar over her eye, before scoffing "Probably some dummkompf from a Green Zone who thought going into a Yellow Zone would be easy. Let's leave it, not part of the job anyway."
The silver-haired woman carrying a bundle over her shoulder, looking at the bike before clicking her tongue, roughly depositing the lazy woman on the ground. The bundle releases an 'oomph' before the woman towering over the bundle slings her weapon, an HK416, and inspects it. "So, where's the target?"
"The target should be in that building." The brunette says, inspecting her UMP9, "Though, I'm not sure how probable that is at the moment."
"Mmh. Lots of bullet holes, a lot of activity, more than there should be." The bundle on the floor, which is a girl holding a G11, notes as she frowns. The only one who noticed it was HK416 as she looked at the university from their position, not seeing anything wrong immediately.
"Right." UMP9 starts while scanning the area. "416, G11, you two stay up here and make sure 45 or I have a way out."
HK416 nods and G11 simply leans against the stock of her gun, already half asleep until HK416 reaches over and clamps her hand over her head, the young sniper reaching for her head as the pair of siblings move.
Already, UMP9 was over the moon with their recent mission to investigate what is known as the 'Hellhound Incident', a long-term contract that'd give them some leeway in getting supplies and a fat payout once they report. But then a simple (on paper) mission to recover a Black Box with important information dropped on their lap before being approached by one of the Dolls on the base, asking them to recover her sister, in return, allowing them to take some 'misplaced' or 'lost' supplies if they even bring back some information.
She and her sister enter through a side entrance before going up the stairs as she and her sister pause at the destruction wrought. From broken fragments of a set of stairs and Sangvis Dolls corpses scattered about, making their way to the floor where the target was last located.
There were holes in the walls and splattered corpses of Sangvis Dolls lying around as they inspected the holes. They were unimaginably thick, almost the size of an anti-tank round, so clearly, they have to have a cartridge to match, right?
A check of the room revealed a drape that was painted red and no spent cartridges, which was impossible. All of their weapons were designed and manufactured mainly between the 1900s and the twenty-first century. In that time frame, hell, even during WWIII and on, to this day, weapons using cased ammunition were still widely used, the only ones who didn't were Sangvis, but the holes on the wall don't have the telltale smoke left by lasers.
There's only one gun that she knows that does something similar. The caliber is off though.
Then, they heard it, explosions going off on the opposite side as everyone else noticed it. "416?"
"G11 and I are repositioning. We're circling the outside and will check in once we-move it!" HK416 stops to yell at G11 before sighing, "We'll find a high position in the area, hopefully, we can get a good look at what's happening."
"Alright, 9 and I will cut through the buildings, and get a closer look." UMP 45 says, cutting the comms as she and her sister glance at each other and make their way there. Unbeknownst to them, the bike they were previously positioned near purrs to life and drives itself away.
The sprinklers turn on a second after the explosion, books on fire as Josue's popup shield folds back into his arm, leaving him groaning as he stands up, the girl still on her shoulder. "Right, distraction made."
He shifts the girl over his shoulder and begins running to the exit of the shop while looking around. "Chi, think you can show me a route that won't get me killed?"
For a second, Chi doesn't answer until a map appears, "Tlaloc is moving the Parallax to that location. I suggest you hurry before more SF forces find you."
"Right." He answers, grabbing Errata as he makes his way out the opposite end he came from towards the parking lot, sticking low. Hiding from SF Dolls and scans while making his way to the building as something pricks at the back of his neck, his nerves sending him warnings.
He turns, instincts yelling at him while his eyes search for the source while he brings Errata up in an arc, something colliding with the edge three times. The bullets cut in half land on both sides of him and he makes a mad dash to the lot as he can hear the bike's roar as he finds cover behind a building.
The Parallax moves as he hops on, revving it as he drives away from the sound of gunfire as he jacks in, the bike speeding up as he weaves in and out of the gunfire, none of it hitting him as he and the bike become one. Any action performed on the bike to move is simply muscle memory rather than an actual need to do so.
Once the gunfire stops, and the chaos dies down, he checks his bag to see it's still in good condition as he sighs in relief. "Good, Chi, lead me to the client. I think he'll be happy with the haul."
"Damn it!" HK416 rages, punching the floor beside G11, who was frowning similarly as her digimind tries to comprehend what she saw.
He cut through her bullets, one clean slash like some anime character or Hunter, even then Hunter wasn't capable of cutting bullets constantly.
Grumbling, HK416 contacted UMP 9 and 45, "We had a visual on the target, she was being carried by a scavenger. He managed to escape." HK416 doesn't speak, a vein pulsing as she roars, "He cut the bullets, I don't know what to-you fucking-!"
G11 sighs, slumping as she is on the verge of sleeping before HK416 shakes her awake, "Dummkompf, 9 is asking if you know any other Dolls with caseless ammunition the size of an anti-tank round."
G11 pauses and turns to HK416 in confusion before answering, "Are you an idiot?" She says, HK416's brow twitching at the irony while G11 continues, "The G11's magazine overheats and has a habit of misfiring because of the caseless ammunition. Not only did the scavenger we saw not have a rifle capable of that, and even if he did, the chance of something like that misfiring would be lethal, for a human especially." She noted, aware of her own weapons limits.
After a long pause, HK416 practically growled, "Of course he was human, Dolls aren't male for a reason. I'll send you the data."
After a few minutes, HK416 yells, "What do you mean the face is blurred out!?"
From atop the museum, his bag lighter than before as the curator paid him a fair price for his effort, he looks at the so-called Green Zone, made after the population was practically halved overnight because of the ELID and other factors.
Slowly, his eyes go down to the people living their lives, people going shopping, maybe going to work while safe behind walls as he can't help but see the similarities to Night City. Sure, its white makes it look like a utopia that was thought up all those decades ago, but Josue was the Fixer in Night City for a while. For a while, he knew everything, who was doing what, why, and where, which Joytoy the CEO was fucking, the inevitable trouble that'll come once that man's son goes psycho, why certain areas weren't getting food as quickly, and he could do it all.
He didn't start that way though, at first he gathered the information, made the connections, and trained, he's better at seeing cracks than most thought he would be. This 'Green Zone'? It was cracking. Not because of drugs, but…
He glances as a certain girl is lured into an alleyway and he narrows his eyes.
What he knew as Exotics or borgs this world knew as 'Dolls', throwing them at their problems in the hopes that they'll come back successful or dead.
With the population as low as it is, the creation of A-Dolls, attractive and efficient, took care of the jobs that needed doing that wasn't desirable for humans. Unlike borgs, these girls were programs, AI similar to his Agents.
His hands interlock, his mind catching minute differences between the two, his left arm replaced by a cyberarm after his run-in with Smasher, originally being somewhat meat and bones with the only difference being the wrist where he turned his arm into a grapple arm that helped him a lot. Until Adam came in and crushed his arm like a grape before he forced the Night City Legend to run after he was forced to use his right arm, Errata, and his meager Netrunning skills to damage him enough to force him to run.
He has always been proud of not needing chrome to make him stronger, smarter, or quicker, the trend continued even once he got the cyberarm with the shield, grapple hand, and the simple frame he installed into his other arm to fire the Malorian, one of many commissioned by Johnny Silverhand and probably one of the later models considering that when he first fired it at Adam, he nearly broke his arm if it wasn't for his strength and the round blew off a chunk from the borg's face.
As such, his mind knew that his left arm was Realskinn even if it felt real, while his other arm was normal, simply backed up by a body he honed and a frame that kept it in place when he fired the Malorian.
"Ah, Josue." The curator says as he flashes some cash in his direction. "Here, thank you very much."
"No problem at all sir. Just doing my job." He says, quickly counting it as he notes out loud. "Seems like there's some extra."
"Well, you did bring more than I asked for. So I thought some extra was needed." He says with a satisfied smile. "With how much you brought, I feel guilty only giving you that much."
"Help!" The Doll yelped, running out of the alley, getting attention as she continued, "Their phones exploded!"
A clamor and a crowd began to circle the area, the distant sound of sirens slowly closing in as the man frowned. "How did…?"
He circles Josue to get a closer look, missing Josue's satisfied smirk as he turns. "We agreed on the payment, it's just a matter of ability. The job went off fine, if you do want to pay me back, call me if you need anything, or if you want to know something or need someone. I've got a very…" He trails off, winking with a roguish grin, "varied skill set."
The man blinks before glancing at his gun, "Yes, I...can see that."
"When's this place opening anyway?" He asks, looking at the building filled with art pieces and other things.
"Oh, are you interested?" The man starts, almost excited as Josue hums.
"I'm curious." He admits before shrugging. "Sadly, I still have things to do." He adds, stepping away as he waves. "Don't be a stranger, call if you need anything."
"I will. I'll say the same to those I know!" The curator says as Josue's hand curls into a fist as he walks away from the museum.
First job, completed. What a sense of accomplishment.
"According to Tlaloc." Chi pipes up as he brings his Agen out, "Seems like our guest woke up."
"Good. I've got some questions I need answers for." He says, sitting on his bike as he revs it and drives off in the direction of his kombi. Stopping as he sees the men who tried to assault the Doll being put into stretchers, one of them catches his eye.
Smirking, he flipped him off and drove off, looking to meet his new tenant and the interesting object she had with her.
The DNA Lock of his kombi opened as he stepped in, peering in to see his new...guest. She was in a bad state, that's for sure. She froze up, red eyes wide in horror and fear as she tried to scamper back until Josue pointed the Malorian right at her.
She froze again, causing Josue to softly speak, his voice carrying threats, assurances, and more all at once. "Listen," he starts, "I don't want this to be anything more than it already is. So I will ask, and you will answer. Understood, Miss…?"
She doesn't answer for a second, Josue slowly lowering the Malorian until it is pointed to the ground. "G-G36C."
"Thank you," Josue says, voice still as soft as before but with a lot more relief in it as he places the Malorian to the side on the desk, letting his bag fall along with the M-2012 and placing it inside the gun locker found in the kombi. "I can't tell you my name, but just call me Tiger." He says, walking past her as he sits down on the bed set up in the living area as she looks around in curiosity and to evade Josue's eyes.
"U-Um." She starts, still shaking like a leaf as she continues, "W-Where… Where are we?"
He stood up, surprising her as he walked past her to the kitchenette, "Before I answer that, I must inform you of your situation, miss." He continues, setting an electric kettle before grabbing a small jar. "Forgive me, but I went into your head for a bit."
She freezes up, her digimind running a mile a minute with self-diagnostics as he continues. "Your… Zener Network. It's remarkable, sadly, you are cut off from it at the moment. Our location is within a Yellow Zone and within this vehicle, only certain types of communication are allowed and monitored."
He lets her stew in this, his face blank as G36C looks at him with desperate eyes…
It cracks minutely, just the barest of frowns, the softening of eyes, and that's enough for G36C to understand. To understand the slight roughness in his voice, the frown, the inability to stay still.
It was regret, not pity for a T-Doll, but regret that it had to come to this. That they were in this situation and that he had to do this.
Slowly, the fear began to recede but not completely. Underneath the poker face is kindness, but there's also steel only seen in people like Kryuger from what she's seen. A willingness to fight.
Then her digimind froze. What did he mean by 'inside her brain' and how does he know about the Zener Network?
"Of course," he cuts through her internal musings, "what's in the Box?" He asks, looking at the Black Box, resting against the table as G36C stiffens.
"I…" She starts, looking away, "I don't know, my Echelon and I were tasked with bringing the data, we don't know what's in it."
Josue looks at her for a long second, his eyes shifting colors, becoming blue for a second, to her confusion, before he nods. "Alright." He says after the silence, a second later, he taps his computer, the monitors showing a camera all flashed a map with one particular point standing out. "We're here."
She gapes, her hands falling as she realizes how far she is from her base. "T-That's…"
"I said I disabled your connection to the Network, but it's not like you'd be able to do much anyway." He answers with a shrug, "Your legs are a mess." He says, pointing at her legs as she looks down, "And I don't have the expertise or the money to pay for the expensive repairs."
"Umm…" G36C starts, "Can't you...call the Base I'm a part of?"
"Not really." He admits, taking a sip from his mug and sighing as he sets the cup down gently. "That's a mess I'm not willing to touch. So, you have a few options." He starts, holding a finger up, "You can try and brave the wilderness," G36C already did not like the sound of that, "or you can stick around and work off the cost of finding someone who can repair you and have you on your way."
G36C pauses at that, looking into his eyes as she does the same before looking away, unable to hold his gaze for too long out of fear as she considers it all. It's not like she's good at much, but…
It's the only way she can get back to her older sister.
"So?" He asks, raising a brow as she nods.
"A-Alright. I'll help however I can." She answers as Josue smiles, warm enough for all the danger to seemingly melt off of him as he sighs in relief.
"That's good. Here, let me get you out of that." He answers, untying her as she brings her hands in front of her to see while he leans against the wall. "Now," he starts, crouching down on one knee as he pats his knee, "leg. Let's see if I can figure out how to get you on your feet."
Slowly, G36C nods, blushing as she puts a leg on his knee and he grabs it gently, pausing as he feels the skin. "Huh?"
"I-Is something wrong?" G36C asks, as Josue runs his hand across her calf, her pain sensors cut off but she can still feel it to an extent, it's pretty embarrassing.
"No, just…" He trails off before looking at her seriously, "You've got some nice legs for a borg. Thought it'd be Chrome or something."
"'Chrome'?" She asks as he stops running his hand across the fleshy calf in his inspection.
"Yeah. Chrome. Metal. Cyberware. Y'know." He lists, his left hand extending before, with a hiss, it flies out, connected to a cable. She yelps in surprise and it grabs something before returning to his arm to reveal the Techscanner he grabbed. "Thought it was like Realskinn, but it's almost like actual skin."
Meanwhile, G36C watches with bated breath while he uses the scanner to look her over as he grimaces. "I-Is it bad?"
"No. Your frame's still intact. A bit busted, but nothing a bit of spit and shine won't buff out. It's more…" He trails off, looking at the injuries, "everything else." He elaborates as he stands up and reaches to the side, a monitor connected to the wall under the other monitors he turns it to her and she scoots forward. With a few taps, he shows two images among other things as he explains it. "See, while I was in your head for a bit," oh yeah, that worrying tidbit, "don't worry, I left it untouched with a few...extra details," that's even more worrying, "I got a status report of your body and its programs. Soft-wise, you're straight. No problems, the problems start everywhere else."
"What do you mean?" She asks as he sighs.
"Well…" he trails off before shrugging, "you're human in all the ways that matter. In other words, I have no idea what coolant, what materials, much less have the money to get them." He starts, scratching his head. "I asked around from what little I knew, but I've heard Griffin's got their Repair Station, the problem is, there were some people sent to recover this," he says, jerking his head to the Black Box, "and I'm probably on a hit list somewhere because they saw me carrying you."
"Oh…" G36C trails off before Josue adds.
"Besides, it does get pretty lonely out here. I do talk to people," he admits, "but sometimes, opportunities like this are hard to pass by, eh?"
Slowly, G36C turned to him as he smiled almost mischievously. Did-Did he entrap her so he'd have someone to talk to?
While she's ruminating on the information, something goes off as he looks away, his eyes glowing blue for a second as he hums. "...Alright. Well, it's getting pretty late," he admits as he looks around to bring out a small bed and place it on the floor. "Here, sleep here." He suggests while helping her onto the bed, causing a blush to bloom on her cheeks from the close contact and the embarrassment. "For now, we'll wrap up the injuries, you should be capable of walking, but better we find a Tech sooner rather than later."
Slowly, while he does so, G36C begins to drift off, unbelievably feeling...safe by Tiger's side. He didn't see her as a T-Doll, something strange, or even something to be pitied. He looked at her as an equal, while still being greedy, but still, an equal.
Slowly, she went to sleep as Josue followed, falling on his bed and letting sleep take him.
Wakako Okada was a tough woman, wife of the leader of the Tyger Claws, by the time she first met him, he was already shaping up to be a proper Fixer with a multitude of jobs and missions under his belt. She supervised as he spoke with the leader of the Tyger Claws, the man that killed her husband as he spoke with a surprisingly young man, the young man chuckling while even the leader occasionally had to keep a smile down as the members pulled out bike after bike.
Wakako first met Josue during a job, the young Fixer looking to make cash while her husband saw it as a way to throw his dirty work onto the foreigner.
He nearly haggled them out of one of their subsidiaries with the amount of tricks he pulled. Using every trick for every injury he had, all the while making connections with the various members of the Tyger Claws.
She didn't expect to hear from him when the bikes from Tyger Claws were seized, much less that he managed to get them all back in good condition.
A good act in hopes of building a bridge for future interactions.
More like indebting the Tyger Claws to him, and them as well. A status quo neither liked due to their upbringing, so they tried to switch it, but regularly had it turned in one way or another. Soon, they were paying him for information as he politely welcomed them in their native tongue every time.
Within the gangs and corpos of Night City, all of them found themselves entrapped within Josue's humanity, kindly offering more and more before pulling, forcing them on even footing on the belief that they were taking from him while the lower ranks benefited from his kindness further.
Anyone who tried to fight him on his turf tended to regret it afterward once they were left for dead.
Tiger...it was one title that many in the Tyger Claws abhorred rested on the shoulders of someone like Josue, but Wakako didn't mind. They never saw him haggle, resembling a tiger rather than a man as he closed them in with pure charisma and interactions.
No one hates Josue because they can't afford to. When the Mongoose disappeared overnight and the Aldecaldos got new members? No one batted an eye. Not like many liked the Mongooses, Scavs had more dignity than them on a good day.
For many, Josue's title of 'Tiger' was always seen as undeserved. A Tiger's only equal is a Dragon, after all, what strength has he shown to be worthy of the title?
The man who said that was later attacked and it was only because Josue footed the bills that he was alive. As it turns out, people don't like it when the man who helped them is insulted.
She watches as the final bike leaves the truck, a Nomad vehicle belonging to the now-endangered Northern Tigers. After all, she was looking at the only surviving member.
As she left, she wondered if she should try taking his empire for herself. He's intelligent, observant, and doesn't flash any obvious Chrome, so it should be easy, right?
Well, she never tried, especially after hearing a certain rumor.
Josue and Sergeant look at the old radio crackling and breaking glancing at each other until Josue grabs the communicator. He signals for Sergeant to bring him a Datapad as he answers, "So...what's up choom?"
There was silence for a second as a grizzled voice rang out on the other side, "Who the hell is that? Isn't this a military frequency?"
"Well, this is a military radio you're speaking through. What's up?" He asks, flinching as the sound of gunfire rings out.
"Get someone on the line who knows what they're doing, kid!" He yells and Josue's brow twitches.
"Well, you have them on the line, what the hell's the situation?" He asks as he uses his Agent to send a few messages and Sergeant listens in.
"I can't believe-. Fuck it. We're pinned down by forces, they look like...Arasaka, for some reason. Me and my soldiers are trying to fight our way through, but we can't break through." He explains as Josue nods.
"Got it." he starts, looking through the datapad as a video feed goes through from one of Arasaka's drones. "I see you. Just…" He bites his lip as he narrows his eyes. "Got it, head East, they'll try to cut you off, but they'll be slowed down by a storm settling in. There should be an abandoned town, maybe with some ammunition and food to let you rest, but it's a passing storm, unless you don't move now you'll be stuck in it."
The man seems to think before hissing, "If this doesn't work, I'll hunt you down, kid."
"If this doesn't work, the man who taught me tactics will kill me." He says, glancing at Sergeant as he nods in agreement. Soon, the forces begin to move as he's forced out of the system he checks the datapad, satellite imagery showing the forces as he reads through another file.
The Mad Company, a group of Solo veterans who stuck around with quite a few other people joining, seems like they bit off more than they could chew tangling with Arasaka. Josue relaxes, taking a sip from his drink as he waits for a report despite the anxiety in his chest.
Now that he's involved, these people now die or live by his order. He can't make a mistake.
So, swallowing his spit, the radio crackles to life, "We're on the way, we can see the storm and so can Arasaka, but they'll be slower since we're by a street and they've gotta go through the rough terrain."
"Good, good, gimme a headcount and your supply situation," Josue asks, listening to gunfire and the man's voice as he explains the situation.
Seems like they were returning from a mission for Militech before being ambushed by Arasaka for some information, and now they're running. Seems like they have ammunition, some explosives, and more as he rattles on.
"Right, right…" Josue trails off, "Let's see…" He can't trick them, this is Arasaka, you'll need some serious skills to do it, but the terrain…
That sparks an idea as he looks through old plans and smiles. "Right, once the storm dies down, send some men ahead to set up explosives."
"Where?"
"They'll know where." He answers. "Now, some of you will have to stay back."
"Excuse me?" The man asks as Josue elaborates. The line goes silent until the man sighs, "Sounds as good as any plan. Let's get to it."
The line cuts, occasionally coming to life at small but very important changes as Josue looks at his datapad, Sergeant looking over his shoulder but saying nothing.
From his pad, he sees Arasaka change directions, heading to the smoother road rather than the rocky and unpredictable ground as the vehicles slow down except for two, slipping into alleys and such before losing the signal a second later.
Then, as the Arasaka agents split, half of them stop by the small town, with a tower, and the other half chase the vehicles.
For a second, the two split forces moved as predicted, with the Agents spreading out even if there was a storm passing by, none of them were tempted to go inside any buildings where the soldiers were holed up. The other half of the Bad Company begins to approach a cave as they go off-road, the Arasaka agents following them splitting in two. It was a small cave, one entrance, one exit, and if Josue is correct-.
The Arasaka agents start falling, the tower in the town with them as the vehicles they're hiding in crumple from the tower on top of them before they can drive away, the soldiers poking out from the house they're hiding in and firing at the agents on lower ground. Meanwhile, the soldiers managed to set up the explosions in the cave with barely any time, setting them off behind them and causing a cave-in, trapping Arasaka agents and their heavy vehicles under it.
Seeing no reason to stay in an area and being chased by more Arasaka agents, they turn and head back to assist their fellows despite the storm as they drive through it. However, these are just predictions rather than reliable imagery. What little the man reports seems to line up so he doesn't see any reason to doubt it.
He finishes his next message as the radio comes to life. "...Well…" The man on the line trailed off, as if in disbelief, "I did not think that was going to work." He admits as he can hear the cheering of his fellow soldiers.
Josue slumps in relief, his mouth curling into a smile as Sergeant's does too, gently patting the young man's shoulder. "Good, that's good. I already sent some people to pick you and yours up. They'll administer First Aid to those that need it and you can meet the man who hired you here, in Night City."
"Wait, but...that's not where it's supposed to be." The man notes as Josue sighs, a wry smile in place.
"Well…" He trails off, "Nearly sold my firstborn son, but hey, Corpos, am I right?"
The soldier barks out a laugh, "Damn straight son. What's your name?"
"Josue Mondragon." He answers as the man hums.
"You wouldn't happen to know anyone looking for a company of veterans with enough mental problems to put Smasher to shame?" He asks as Josue sighs, looking through his contacts with a huff of amusement.
"Well, I do have a few clients lined up." Josue starts as he begins the process of absorbing a group of chromed-up veterans under his name. The group was slightly less traumatized by the end of the year due to Josue talking with each of them and helping them through their problems when he could along with other things.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed, don't forget to leave a review. Also, Merry Christmas!