Hello there again!
Yeah, another story… again.
I know, I am the worst!
Always haunted by new ideas, but struggling to continue old ones (beat me please!)
This is a story I whipped out while playing Cyberpunk 2077, and watched Danmachi again.
They inspired an idea that didn't let me sleep until I had written it!
I hope this 'small' snippet of the story will be a satisfactory and fun read.
If I continue, or let it as the base, as a one-shot, I will decide later! :P (depend on my mood, and how popular it gets)
Now, please enjoy it and have fun!
Written by oblivon2991
Thank you for reading my fanfic and for giving me a chance.
My mother language is not English, so please be patient about the grammatical issues.
I don't own Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? novel and anime series written by Fujino Omori
I do not own Cyberpunk 2077, developed by CD PROJEKT RED
Please read the story at your own leisure, and have fun!
If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask! 😀
Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Did you ever wake up, face down in a puddle of someone else's blood, stomach still doing that funky tango from a bad hangover, and the first thing that hits your brain is: 'Well, this is a new low. But hey, at least it's different, right?' Yeah, didn't think so. But guess what? You're not lying in some stinkin' alley in Night City anymore, surrounded by neon and the hum of corporate drones with their shiny little secrets. No, none of that here. Instead, you've found yourself in a place that's just weird enough to make you question if your brain's been fried one too many times.
Now, don't get me wrong—this ain't some ultra-dystopian hellhole, but it's damn close. No noise. No screams of joy or pain. Just an eerie silence that wraps around your skull like a too-tight helmet. The kind of silence that makes your gut tighten up, like you're being watched by something big and nasty, but you can't figure out where or who it is. It's like you fell down a rabbit hole and came out on the other side of reality, where the rules you thought you knew got kicked to the curb like a busted-up old junker.
Here's the kicker, though! This place? It doesn't care about who you are or where you came from. You don't get the luxury of sitting around thinking, 'Oh, I'm a badass merc from Night City, I can handle this.' No. Here, you're just a freakin' lost soul in a world that doesn't give two shits about you, and luck's the only thing that's gonna pull your ass outta the fire. But spoiler alert: You ain't exactly in the best company to bet on luck. No neon lights guiding your way, no corpos paying you to play hero. It's just you. And the question you're gonna ask yourself, about a hundred times: 'How the hell did I get here?' You think you're gonna get an answer, sweetheart? Nah. Not so easy…
The first thing she registered was the cold. Not the kind of cold from AC vents in a high-rise apartment or the cheap underground bars she sometimes crashed in, but real, bone-deep cold. Damp. Ancient. The kind that seeped in through your skin like it belonged there.
Her body ached, and the metallic taste of her own blood filled her mouth, but she had worse. Waking up battered and bruised? It was nothing new for a reckless merc like her. Par for the course in Night City. Just an average day, for a legend like her — or people assumed so.
Only, this isn't Night City. Or, rather, it did not look like it. Maybe some kind of high immersive braindance game — meshed and mixed together with some deep drive drug? A real kick in the head, that's for sure!
"Wake the fuck up, Samurai! We have a city to burn!"
"Fuck! Fuck me sideways…!" That annoying voice echoed in her head, while she groaned and tried to regain her posture. Her own voice thick and heavy, as her hand comes up to clutch her forehead — hammering it like a drugged junkie.
The migraine's a bastard. It feels like someone's taken a sledgehammer to the inside of her skull, each pulse of pain sharp and deep, as if her brain's trying to break free from the prison of her skull. It's a brutal, relentless ache—like it's trying to split her head right down the middle.
She ground her teeth, forcing herself to sit up. Her fingers scraped against cold, gritty ground—dirt? Stone? She's not sure. Everything felt too blurry, but oddly real. Her senses are out of whack, like she's trying to tune into a signal that's all static and no sound.
For a second, she pondered if she was plugged into a braindance—but then the vertigo hits harder, and she realizes the world around her isn't just immersive. It's real. No way. No fucking way!
The last time she felt something like this was when she dove into that hell of a trip near the Blackwall—a twisted space where reality and cyberspace collided so much it felt like she could reach out and grab a handful of the universe. But that had been different. It had been controlled. This? This feels like a raw rupture in the fabric of what she knows. A rip straight through reality. Like some spiked up XBD experience!
Hitting her head to alleviate her throbbing nob, her Kiroshi optics flickered, her HUD stuttering in and out like a bad signal. No network detected. No GPS. No messages. No flashing red warning screaming about cyberware failures. Just… static.
"Oh, fuck me," She muttered, shaking her head, trying to clear the fog. Her vision slowly focuses, the world still feeling like it's slipping between dimensions.
"Where the hell am I…?"
Her senses started to clear, and the fog started to disappear. But that damn clobbering in her head —that still pulsed like some cyberpsycho clattering through a shop full of fragile wares.
Something's wrong, she felt it. The air was too heavy, too thick, almost suffocating in its stillness. There's no hum of cyberware, no vibration from her senses, no buzz of city life she was used to.
Just... dead silence, with some odd humm, like the world's holding its breath. Not like the electric noise of Night City. No! It was different, something alive, like the whole place breathed in her ear.
The pain in her skull is only getting worse, like something's trying to claw its way out of her head.
Her hands pressed against the ground, the dirt felt wrong—too solid, too real. "Alright, alright," she muttered to herself, closing her neon green eyes. "Stay calm, V. Stay calm." She's been in worse situations—hell, she's had her brain fried by glitching BD data more times than she can count—but this? This is something new. Something she can't even begin to process.
"Okay... where the fuck I am?"
The first sign of something ain't right? It's too damn quiet. Yes, if nothing else, if her surroundings lacked that buzzing feeling, then something awful was gonna happen.
She felt it in her gut. And turning her head to the side, she already spotted the raw remnants of her hastily consumed lunch. Some Burrito XXL — if the undigested bits present in the spew can be believed.
No sirens. No car engines thrumming. No distant thump of bass from a club that never closes. Just the low drip of water somewhere in the distance, the slow hiss of her own breath, and the weight of something unseen pressing down on the air.
"Fucking hell," She growled under her breath, pushing herself upright with a grunt, her body stiff and her balance wobbly. "Did I fuck up so bad I'm in some kind of hell now?"
What was her last memory? Ah! Yes! A gig… which went horribly wrong.
The silence presses in on her like a weight, making the splitting headache seem even worse. The world was dimm, but it was still too damn bright! Too sharp for his adjusting senses, and her body felt… wrong. Like her skin's too tight and her bones are made of glass.
She reached for her gun, fingers brushing against the familiar grip—thank God, it's still here.
"Now then… don't let me down, eh?" she muttered, flicking the safety off with a sharp click.
Her fingers brushed against the worn leather of the grip, feeling the rough edges from years of use. It was like the weight of its original owner himself. Wrapped up in that damn thing—heavy, unmistakable, like a damn anchor. The revolver felt solid in her hand, almost like it had been made for her, even though she had no damn idea how she ended up with it in the first place.
But it was more than just a tool; it was a symbol. She could almost hear that damn voice in her head, that familiar, sarcastic smirk lingering as he told her to 'make a stand or die in the dirt.'
"Oh, just shut up…"
She muttered, almost like she spoke with someone or something invisible. A ghost from the past that still haunted her existence.
Her head throbbed again, a pain so intense she had to bite down hard, grinding her teeth. Staggering forward, she tried to make sense of her surroundings—there's no digital clutter, no sense of the urban sprawl, no neon jungle or dangerous alleyways.
It was neither a sewer left behind by the old world after the collapse. Neither some underground damp tunnel she crawled her way through too many damn times to avoid unecesary firefights.
Instead, the air smelt damp, like wet stone and moss, and the place around her felt... ancient. Old and oddly natural. It doesn't make sense. Just where the hell was she?
"Okay, V. Get a grip." She muttered to herself, trying to center her thoughts.
"Alright, no time to panic. Focus." Her voice was rough, but it steadied her thoughts as she closed her eyes, trying to fight through the crushing headache.
She pushed through the pain and tried to force her mind into her implants—the ones that were supposed to make the world around her clearer, sharper, and in many ways, more controllable. Nothing. No immediate response. Shit.
Instead, she mentally opened up her system's internal interface, trying to access any relevant data on her status. The usual stream of familiar diagnostics was a mess of static jumble, like something was actively blocking her connection to the Net. "Not good."
"Netrunner, my ass. Come on…" She clenched her fists, her headache flaring with the attempt, but she forced her focus back to her cyberware. "Diagnostic!"
[Visual Augments: Running at 38% capacity—high error rate detected. Recalibration required. Auditory Enhancements: Functional but distorted. External noise interference detected. Pain Blockers: Offline. Pain threshold critical. Please administer emergency pain relief.]
She gritted her teeth. Pain relief? Hell, she needed answers, not a damn band-aid.
Before her implants, a glitching storm of data condensed, clearing up and being organized by the integrated subroutines a moment later.
[Diagnostic complete.] The system voice chimed, sounding strangely foreign, like it had been infected with static noise. [Reality check—confirming physical presence: stable. No immediate signs of VR immersion detected. Memory data—nonexistent. ]
"Right, at least I am not in some freaky BD porn. What else?"
/ SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC REPORT – POST-BLAST ASSESSMENT /
Status: Alive. System functionality at 39% of optimal performance. Running full scan…
/ BIOLOGICAL STATUS /
Injury Detected: Severe impact trauma. Fragmentation trauma—shrapnel penetration localized. No immediate fatal damage.
Pain Level: Critical. Pain suppressors offline—unregulated neural response detected.
Blood Pressure: Elevated. Adrenaline response in overdrive. Risk of system fatigue.
Muscle & Bone Integrity: Microfractures detected. Bruising extensive. Nanite repair engaged—operating at 26% efficiency.
Internal Bleeding: Detected. Source unknown. Clotting assistance activated—repair at 14% effectiveness.
Tissue Integrity: Multiple punctures detected. Foreign metallic fragments neutralized—toxicity scan clear. Clotting agent dispersing—effectiveness at 42%.
Cognitive Function: Impaired. Mild concussion. Short-term memory fragmentation. Neural processing operating at 28% of baseline speed.
[Expand]
/ CYBERWARE STATUS /
Optical Enhancements: 34% functionality. Severe flickering, color distortion. Auto-recalibration in progress. Depth perception compromised.
Auditory Enhancements: 18% efficiency. Muffled input, tinnitus and eardrum rupture detected. No external noise isolation available.
Motor Systems: 41% efficiency. Neural desync detected—delayed limb response by 0.9 seconds. Adjusting…
Subdermal Armor: 58% integrity. Shock absorption reduced by 42%. Nanite reinforcement engaged—limited effectiveness due to material degradation.
Neural Interface: Unstable. External interference is disrupting system synchronization. Foreign signal detected—unknown origin.
Reflex Boosters: Partially operational. Coordination below combat readiness threshold. Estimated delay: 0.5 seconds.
Pain Suppressors: Offline. Manual override required.
Tactile Response System: 32% efficiency. Decreased limb feedback. Fine motor control degraded.
Blood Oxygenation Implant: Struggling to compensate. Mild hypoxia detected.
Network Connectivity: ERROR—No known signals detected. Searching for local grid… No connection available.
External Mapping System: Disabled—Cannot establish GPS or local network sync. Changing to internal mapping — Data collection in progress.
[Expand]
/ ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS /
Surrounding Area: Unknown. No digital infrastructure detected. No wireless signals, satellites, or recognizable data points.
Material Composition: Walls and floor composed of unknown organic-mineral hybrid. Possible biological properties detected.
Energy Readings: Anomalous signatures present. Localized fluctuations detected—no matching data in system archives.
Threat Assessment: Indeterminate. Biological and environmental factors outside database parameters.
Potential Hazard: Unstable energy detected. Source unknown. Caution advised.
[Expand]
/ SELF-REPAIR STATUS /
Overall System Efficiency: 39% of peak performance.
Nanite Regeneration: Active, but repair rate reduced by 52% due to unknown environmental interference.
Estimated Recovery Time: Indeterminate. Rate fluctuating based on environmental conditions.
[Expand]
/ RECOMMENDED ACTIONS /
System Reboot: Partial restart successful. Some subsystems remain locked.
Environmental Scan: Ongoing. No external data available. Manual reconnaissance required. Data collection advised.
Medical Attention: Automated aid unavailable. Manual intervention required—seek immediate stabilizing measures.
Threat Assessment: Unknown. Defensive measures recommended.
/ FINAL ALERT /
Unrecognized environment detected.
No external connections available.
No mapped data on record.
System stability compromised.
Recommend immediate situational assessment and adaptive response.
"Okay, okay, this is fine. I can work with this. I got out of worse situations before."
A slow, shuddering breath dragged through her lungs as the diagnostic results scrolled across her internal HUD.
The cold, clinical readout confirmed what she already suspected—she was in deep shit. No positive outlook and thinking can change that.
Her head pounded like some cyberpsycho had taken a sledgehammer to her skull, each pulse of pain sending nausea rolling through her gut. Severe impact trauma. Internal bleeding. Cyberware at 39% efficiency. No GPS. No network. No way to sync with the grid.
She groaned, pressing a hand against her temple, fingers digging into her scalp. Pain suppressors offline.
"Figures. The one time I actually need them. Alright, where the hell are we?"
Crouching, her fingers brushed against the cold, uneven ground beneath her. Not concrete. Not steel. Not even broken asphalt. It was rough in some places, unnaturally smooth in others, like stone that had been alive once and decided to fossilize overnight.
Her optics flickered, recalibrating—failing. The color was off. The light was wrong. Her auditory implants crackled, struggling to pick up ambient noise, but all she heard was… silence and that annoying ring —A thick, pressing void.
She flexed her hands, feeling the sluggish response from her damaged motor systems. No lag, no BD desync. Just pain. Raw, unfiltered pain.
Not a simulation. Not a drug trip. Not some corpo-run net ambush.
This was real.
A sharp, wet click echoed through the cavernous space.
She froze! Something approaching!
"I really hope it is not a lobotome freak escaped from some lab."
Another click. Then another, layered under something deeper. A growl—low, guttural, something alive shifting in the darkness.
Her stomach turned as she exhaled slowly. Focus. Prioritize!
What was the last thing she remembered? Ah! Yes! That Arasaka black lab. A raid. Some experimental tech. A portal—some corpo's wet dream of instant transport. Then—explosion.
And now?
The growling deepened, joined by the scratch of something sharp against stone.
Her heart rate spiked. Her cyberware tried to sync threat data!
/ ERROR: No database match! /
The system couldn't classify what was out there. But she didn't need a damn scanner to know when something was sizing her up in the darkness.
A shape moved at the edge of her failing optics—then another. Walls that weren't walls shifted, things crawling free from them like shadows peeling away. Eyes—too many, too bright—lit up in the dark.
It was like they were sizing her up! Measuring her meat before making a move.
Her fingers curled around the grip of her Malorian Arms 3516, its smart-link scrambling to connect. Didn't matter. At this range, she wouldn't need it.
"Yeah," she muttered, voice hoarse as she staggered to her feet, keeping her back to the rock. "This either some twisted corpo experiment, or I had landed farther than I can imagine."
A hiss, sharp as a blade and the first monster emerged from the dark!
"Okay buddy, easy there…"
Her heart skipped a beat as a hound emerged from the shadows, then another, until a whole pack arrived. Their glowing eyes burning with fiery malice. Sleek bodies rippling with power, their snarls echoed through the place as they bared their teeth, flames flickering in their jaws.
Definitely not the usual mutts roamed through the slums of Night City.
"Well, V, look at that! Aren't these pups the cutest?" A flickering ghost appeared nearby.
A hardened man. A rocker. An anarchist. Yeah, that was the best way to describe him.
A mess of black, slightly graying hair framed his sharp features, and the telltale silver arm gleamed under the dim lights, a constant reminder of the man's rebellious spirit. His face was weathered, marked by the years of war and defiance, but those piercing, cynical eyes never lost their fire. The black leather jacket he wore hung loose, a stark contrast to the polished chrome that made up half of his body, giving him the air of a man caught between two worlds.
"Great, and you're still here. And when I hoped I would leave you behind."
"Oh come on, V! You would miss me!" He teased her, flickering beside her and throwing his metal hand over her slumped shoulder.
"Maybe a little." She admitted sourly, glancing at the digitalized man.
"That's what I like to hear." He clapped her shoulder, and it reflexively moved.
She shrugged, while her flickering vision returned to the mutts before her.
"What are these freaks? They are huge! Some genetic experiment?" she guessed. Judging their size, there is no way they were bred naturally. And those glowing eyes? Natural bioluminescence? Or some cybernetic augmentation?
"The hell I know! My advice: don't let them close. They look nasty — like my last dog. That damn mutt!"
A bit of good advice, so bad she already figured that out.
"Well, aren't you just the cutest puppies?" she muttered, trying to keep her cool. But before she could blink, one of them opened its maw and blasted a stream of fire straight at her.
"Shit!" She dove to the side, barely avoiding the flames that scorched the ground where she'd been standing. The pack circled, growling and snapping, their fiery breath threatening to roast her alive.
Another snarl, and they lunged.
"Guess you're not getting a treat, huh?" V cursed, raising her Malorian and taking a shot, dropping one of the hounds in a single, precise hit.
"Bullseye!" Her eternal companion chimed, forming guns with his fingers.
One down, many remain. No time to rest! Cripled and dizzy, she knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight.
And to think her day started so simply? Just another gig. Her fixer said it will be simple and easy! Yeah, right! Because that's how things go when you deal with the rotting corpse of freaking Arasaka.
Maybe she was too hopeful, grabbing some easy eddies and some tasty intel for a simple work.
She should have learned and listened to her instinct! But no! She went against her gut! One of her many mistakes.
Because if it comes to Mr Blue Eyes, nothing is ever simple!
While she dodged the approaching streams of fire that licked the edge of her senses, her mind uninvitedly recalled how she got in this mess.
...
Something was off from the start.
I've done my fair share of gigs—dirty jobs, high-risk infiltrations, corpo raids that should've left me bleeding out in some back alley. They all had one thing in common: getting in was never easy.
Except this time, it was. Too easy.
My fixer had sent over the job deets like usual—unnamed client, big payout, simple break-in at an old research site. The target? Some classified data. No specifics. Just a "get in, grab the intel, and walk out" kind of deal.
A simple gig, my fixer said. Quick in-and-out job, my fixer said. Steal some data from a forgotten site. Payout's big, but risk's low. The client wanted me specifically. Offering intel related to my condition.
That alone should've raised alarms in my head. No gig was ever that clean. If someone wanted you for the job, that should be suspicious enough.
Yet, I went along regardless. I had nothing to lose, I needed the eddies and the intel this job offered — even if it proved to be a ruse at the end.
Thus, I prepared, like usual. Made my homework before approaching the site.
The real kicker? Everything was going too smoothly.
That last part should've been the first red flag. No risk? Infiltrating some suspiciously abandoned site — which was oddly inhabited when I arrived? That's like saying a cyberpsycho's just 'a little on edge.'
The credentials my contact provided worked flawlessly. The security codes? Accepted without hesitation. My fake ID? Not even a flicker of suspicion from the gate scanners.
Even the guards—usual corpo goons, decked out in high-tier optics and cyberware—barely gave me a second glance as I strolled through the front entrance under a false name.
That should've been my first clue that something wasn't right.
Instead, I let myself believe—for just a second—that for once, luck was on my side. That this was a payday, and I wouldn't have to claw my way out when things went south.
Fucking idiot!
It was all too easy.
Gigs never go like this.
After each step forward, the little voice in my head got louder: This is wrong. This is wrong.
But creds were creds, and I was already inside. And the intel offered for this job? I needed more than anything!
So I kept walking.
It wasn't until I passed the first few security checkpoints that the place started feeling wrong.
At first, it was just little things. The air—too cold, too sterile, the kind of artificial chill that sinks into your bones. The halls—too quiet, even for a black-site.
And then! The deeper I went, the worse it got.
Past the main lab sections, past the generic Arasaka-branded hallways, I found myself in a part of the facility that wasn't supposed to exist. Hidden behind a false wall, concealed by layers of security measures that even I had to burn through.
This wasn't just a data lab.
This was something else.
Rows of containment tanks lined the walls, glowing with a sickly blue light. At first glance, I thought they were holding cybernetically modified test subjects—black-market chrome jobs, experimental human augments.
But they weren't people.
Not anymore.
The first tank held what might've once been human—a gaunt, hollowed-out frame, its skin stretched tight over a body half-replaced by biomechanical plating. Its mouth was sealed shut, fused over by synthetic tissue. Its eyes, sunken deep, flickered with the dull red glow of malfunctioning optics.
The second tank? Worse.
Something tall. Wrong. A skeletal figure, its limbs too long, too sharp—like it had been stretched past what a body was supposed to be. Eyes black, empty voids, moving beneath the liquid as though it could see me.
A low hum filled the air.
Then!
Movement.
A containment pod to my left—something inside twitched. A flash of horns, muscle, a towering form pressed against reinforced glass. A creature straight out of some pre-collapse fairy tale—a minotaur, or, it looked like that. But not just myth. No, this was real. Augmented. Spliced with something. Tubes ran from its arms, feeding it chemicals, its body suspended in thick, viscous fluid.
My breath hitched.
This wasn't just an Arasaka test facility hidden from the public.
This was a graveyard of things that shouldn't exist.
A figure flickered into view beside me, Johnny Silverhand… the hitchhiker of my brain! The ever ominous memento that I am running on fumes, on borrowed time.
"Told you, V. No such thing as a simple job." The anarchist digital ghost was pacing like a caged animal, inspecting the abomination of flesh and metal.
"Yeah. Getting that now." I swallowed hard. No one saw him. No one heard him, only me. But I still picked up the bad habit of speaking with his ghost.
"Hey, Johnny," I murmured. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"No. And I've seen some shit." He was quiet for a second, eyes narrowing at the tanks. "Burn it down V! All of it! Let the abomination turn to dust."
I grimaced, shaking my head. No matter! Focus! You had a job to do.
I don't know which was more disturbing. The staff's lack of response to these things, or the abominations themselves. Maybe both. How long do you have to work here to get used to these things? The hell I know! No, rather don't wanna know.
I swallowed my unease, and I kept moving. The sooner I get out, the sooner I can forget this place.
That's where I made my second mistake. The moment I saw those things, I should have turned heel and walked out. Too late, I guess.
One mistake… that's all it took. A simple misstep, my body stiffening and a patrolling guard asking questions. Then, hell got loose!
Now here I was, pressed up against a security console, my heart pounding in my ears, emergency lights flashing a blood-red pulse across cold steel walls.
The gig had gone sideways fast.
What was supposed to be a simple data extraction had turned into a corpo hellscape out of my worst nightmares.
The lab wasn't just some dusty old Arasaka storage facility. Not even a simple data lab. No, this was something else. Something alive. A nightmare factory would better fit.
Rows of glowing containment tanks stretched across the vast chambers, filled with bodies. Cold metallic tables with expired abominations everywhere — cut open for further inspection.
Not cyber-augmented soldiers, not meatbag netrunners strapped into ICE rigs — Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics. These things… these creatures, looked like they belonged in a horror flick or some fairy tale gone wrong.
And the deeper I went, the more disturbing things turned.
More goons arrived, more emerged from secret tunnels like this place had grown them in tubes —wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. They were not just your typical decked-out enforcers, but top-grade augmented super soldiers —more chrome than meat in every way!
The best Arasaka can offer. Additional robots and drones with reinforced chassis and custom ICE escorting them. All of which made things far more difficult than I expected.
Under a few minutes, I've already flatlined at least fifty of them. Just how many of these things are out there?
My stomach twisted.
I thought Arasaka was on its last legs. After we raided their HQ and wrecked Mikoshi, freeing the countless minds trapped in that abominable machine, things seemed to take a turn—just not in Arasaka's favor.
Blood was in the water after the news of our raid spread, and corporate sharks were already circling, eager to tear a grand chunk from the wounded beast.
I should have known it wasn't over. That Arasaka was far from defeated. Even as a dying animal, on its last legs, that damned corporation still had its fangs, claws, and the resources to hold its ground against the competition. We chopped off one head, but the rest remain—like an injured hydra. A predator that was more dangerous when wounded than when healthy and content.
"What, you really think Arasaka just forgot how to lock their doors?" Johnny's flickering ghost materialized beside me, arms crossed, his digital face twisted in amusement. "Knew this was too easy, and you walked right into it. Good job!" he muttered, clapping his hands with an almost entertained smirk.
I exhaled, slow and controlled. "Would've been nice." Yeah, one easy job. Is it wrong to ask for a simple gig? Maybe it was. Maybe the world existed just to spite me, to make sure I couldn't catch a break.
"Box her!" I overheard their internal communication. Their ICE was strong, but not perfect. I could still steal glimpses from their network.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to position myself and avoid certain death.
"I should thank So Mi for her small gift…" Decisions always had consequences. I learned it the hard way. Most of them were negative, but some had a positive outcome. I'd learned that firsthand by working with so many people.
Choosing the hidden path sometimes paid out in the end, sometimes it just made things worse. You had to be on your toes all the damn time!
My neural link pulsed, the local map flickered with signal at the corner of my eye! Poor choom, just in the right position.
I checked my grip on Skippy. His familiar, cold frame was comforting.
"Alright, Skippy, switch to Stone Cold Killer mode. You know the drill—headshots only. We're not here to play with them."
[Stone Cold Killer mode? Oh, great!] Skippy snarked, his voice oozing with mechanical sarcasm. [Because nothing says 'we're professionals' like going for the head. You sure? I mean, come on, user, why not just give me a targeting sight for the heart? Nah, that's too soft for you, huh?]
The snarkiness of this smartgun… maybe I made a mistake not removing the voice modulator from its frame.
"Don't start, Skippy. I don't have time for your shit today." I could feel my patience starting to wear thin, but I was more focused on the immediate danger. The guards were closing in fast.
I moved from cover to cover, heart pounding in my chest as I kept an eye on my surroundings. There were a lot of them. And if Skippy wasn't in the mood for my usual violent tendencies, well, tough shit. I already regretted upgrading his OS for a more 'refined' one.
"Ready?" I asked, and as always, the smartgun answered with his usual happy tone.
[Give the mark, dear user!]
"Great!"
[Breach Protocol Engaged.] [Contagion Uploading]
I worked fast, fingers skimming across my wrist cyberdeck. The lab's security systems crumbled like wet paper before my attack. Cameras went blind. Comms flooded with static. And I moved with precision and speed while my quickhacks wreaked havoc amongst these freaks!
[Well, look at you, running around like a psychopath again. You know, most mercs would consider a non-lethal approach, but not you, huh? Straight for the head. Makes sense. Who needs subtlety when you've got a death wish?]
I rolled my eyes, ducking behind a pillar as one of the guards moved into view, rifle raised, scanning the area. Reinforced helmet, heavy subdermal plating, probably had a few upgrades to his skull as well.
[Oh, joy, here's Mr. All-Steel-and-Cybernetics. Bet you anything he's got a skull made of titanium. Maybe you'll need a couple more shots for this one. After all, you're really good at this, right?]
"I'll show you good," I muttered under my breath, changing to alternate fire mode. Lucky me, I upgraded Skippy to higher caliber. Perfect against cyberfreaks like these guys, armed and armored to the teeth.
"Only headshots, Skippy. Let's see how many rounds it takes." I flicked Skippy's settings again.
[Oh, sure, headshots it is. I'm thrilled. You know, if I had a bit more say in how things go, maybe I'd suggest a few shots to the legs, maybe the arms... no? Right, I forgot. You just love a good head splatter.]
With a quick motion, I popped out from behind cover, aiming at the gap between the guard's helmet and his collar. The shot rang out, and the bastard suddenly accelerated! Almost like he stepped out to another dimension, he lunged towards me!
"Shit! Scandevistan!" I swore, releasing more shots. A shower of metal, all avoided by unnatural ease, speed and agility, like the world moved in slow space for this bastard.
"Freaking ninja monkey!"
Like a silent killer, the sleek frame of the freak blurred, twisted in the air, avoiding the shower of metal like his body defied the very laws of gravity and the world itself, answering in kind with his sidearm!
The 'thing' crawled up the walls, then the ceiling, jumping across space like he owned it! Pulling his katana, cutting a path through the storm of bullets midair! With each moment, he got closer, and I was forced to dodge and change position!
But my bullets did not just follow a straight path. No! Each turned with unnatural grace and speed! Each aimed at the ninja freak's head! The ones he avoided instead of cutting down, turned back and aimed at his skull.
It was only a matter of time before he would get in a position for a lucky hit!
And after wasting my ammo seemingly without effect, the first hit found its mark!
Pop!
The black dog stumbled for a moment before three more exploding smart bullets penetrated the same exact place. One misstep, one missed bullet, all it took, and the corpo soldier, dizzy, stumbled.
The chrome monstrosity tried to raise his sword for one last dash, his augmentations did their best to compensate for his mushy brain, before his system failed and dropped instantly, his body going slack, blood splattering across the floor. His reinforced skull couldn't take it.
[Oh, wow. That was beautiful, user,] Skippy drawled, his voice oozing mock admiration. [That was totally unexpected. You really don't waste any time or bullet, do you? Just go straight for the skull, like you're some sort of headshot artist.]
"Shut up, Skippy," I hissed, keeping my eyes on the next group of guards approaching. There were more coming. Always more.
I didn't have time to deal with his sarcasm. But then, of course, he had to keep going.
[I don't know, user. It's almost like you enjoy this. All that violence. It's like you live for the moment a head explodes. You're like a serial killer with a license to kill—wait, no. You are a serial killer. Right, my bad.]
"Enough," I growled. I swear, I will modify him once we get out! If we get out…
The next guard rounded the corner, his reinforced helmet gleaming in the lights. He had the posture of someone who knew exactly how tough he was. I knew what was coming next—another shot that would test just how durable Arasaka's finest were. His armor was better than the first one… no! It was rather more tanky, designed like some walking tank.
He might be a tougher target, but I didn't give a shit. At least he did not blur like the other freak. Like some freaking bullet timer spider monkey pumped full with drugs. I hate them with all my being!
[Oh, look at this guy. Bet his head's lined with platinum. How many rounds you think it's gonna take before you mush that thing? Five? Ten? Maybe you can make a game out of it. You know, count how many shots it takes to crack open a skull made of industrial-grade alloys.]
I didn't even flinch. I shifted my stance, aimed at the gap where his neck met his shoulder, and squeezed the trigger.
Pop… Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
The rapidfire echoed through the lab, bullets adaptively following the target like they had their own mind! This hulking corpo was fast, but not fast enough! For any onlooker, he might be a blur of metal and meat! His speed was completely nonsensical considering his weight and sheer size. But for me, he was not fast enough.
The helmet cracked open under the pressure, the continuous swarm of armor piercing bullets grinding through the reinforced helmet and skull one after other. He jerked, his body spasming briefly before falling.
[Impressive, user. Really impressive. That helmet didn't even know what hit it. What's next, huh? You gonna make a new trophy collection? Maybe get a skull on your mantle?]
I could feel my jaw clenching.
"Are you done? I'm trying to work here," I snapped, getting into position for the next wave of guards.
I could feel Skippy's smugness through the interface as the next guard came into view. They just kept coming. No matter how many times I dropped them, more guards appeared, like they were waiting for me to get tired. But that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't going to get tired or run out of ammunition. Yeah, they dropped plenty enough for me to continue this game.
[Oh, sure. Keep shooting them in the head, user. Perfect strategy. You really are a textbook case of brain damage. I mean, hell, I'm impressed. I've seen some mercs, but you're a whole different breed. A killing machine with no patience for anything except turning people's skulls into pulp.]
I finally couldn't hold back the frustration.
"Alright, that's it. I get it, Skippy. You've got a thing about my 'violent tendencies.'"
[Violent? I prefer the term efficient,] he shot back, clearly enjoying himself. Or it was just his general personality construct? The hell I knew! It was a mistake installing that shady OS upgrade Rogue got me through her contacts.
She was one of the best fixers in Night City! But hell, she loved to take her small revenge against Johnny, which meant I was in the crossfire.
Bet that smug ghost laughing his ass off while I got more frustrated after each comment. But hey, at least his efficiency greatly increased. Less lag, more penetration, more precise shots. The chance of jamming greatly decreased. If you are unlucky like me, you learn to see the good side of things, the bitter irony of your life.
[But hey, no one's stopping you from going full-on psycho. You're obviously in your element. I bet if I had a body, I'd need a cigarette after watching this. You're a walking murder spree, user. And I, for one, love it.]
"Right, you're welcome," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
Another guard rounded the corner, his bulky form clanking with reinforced armor. I knew the deal—just more shiny chrome in the way. More targets for me to turn into scrap.
Without hesitation, I aimed for the head, letting the gun do its thing.
Pop… Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Like usual, he dodged a few shots until my quickhacks broke his ICE and made him glitch. Another one added to the pile. Blood and synthetic liquid from who knows what systems splattered across the pristine floors, a small victory in the chaos.
[Another head, another mess,] Skippy commented dryly. [User, I gotta say, you've really got style—if that's what you want to call it. It's like a slaughterhouse in here. Think they'll put up a memorial for you after all this? Maybe with your name on it—'V, the Headshot Queen.']
I sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm glad I convinced Regina to give you to me. You're a real treat."
[Oh, believe me, I'm thrilled to be working with you, user. Thrilled. Honestly, I think we make a great team—you do the killing, and I provide the unwanted commentary.]
I didn't respond. I had no time. The lab was still a warzone. The data was almost there. I had more heads to crack before I could make my escape.
[But hey, if it makes you feel better, user, we could try something different next time. Maybe less headshots. Or maybe you could aim for hearts? The crotch? Nah, too soft for you. Too brutal. My bad.]
I took a deep breath, ignoring his banter. It didn't matter. All that mattered was getting through this and making it out alive.
Then my HUD flashed red.
[ERROR – Hostile Breach Detected.]
A counterhack.
My pulse spiked. Shit.
Before I could even pull back, new alarms screamed through the lab.
The doors slammed open.
More guards—at least a dozen of them, weapons raised, cybernetic eyes cutting through the dim lighting. No hesitation. No barking orders to surrender. Just shoot to kill.
"Well, kid, more sacrifice for the blood god." Johnny let out a sharp laugh while I dashed forward.
I didn't wait.
My Kerenzikov implant triggered, and the world slowed.
I moved first, and closed the gap on the nearest guard under less than a breath! My Scandevistan activated, and the world came to crawl.
Time fractured around me as the effect kicked in, the chaos of the battlefield slowing to a crawl. The air thickened, every movement stretched and exaggerated—firefights turned into distant echoes, muzzle flashes like frozen lightning. The augmented super-soldiers ahead barely had time to register what I was up to.
My hand shot to my back, fingers closing around the grip of my custom nanite-alloy blade—a curved beast of a katana, its surface shimmering as its high-frequency oscillation. The edge burned white-hot, a violent hum filling the air as the blade vibrated at impossible speeds, severing molecular bonds before metal, bone, or armor even knew what hit them.
I blurred past them in a blink—not running, not dodging, just moving through the battlefield like a whisper of death. The first soldier barely had time to turn his cybernetic eyes toward me before my katana passed through his reinforced plating like it was paper, the nanite edge carving straight through his alloy-lined ribs and spinal column. His upper half separated mid-motion, frozen in a moment of sheer disbelief before gravity caught up.
The next went down just as fast—a flash of red, a streak of glowing steel, and his reinforced skull split open with a sound like shattering glass.
Another lunged—military-grade reflex boosters firing in desperation—but he was too slow. I twisted, blade flicking up in a tight arc, and his entire cybernetic arm came clean off, the wound cauterized instantly. He didn't even get a chance to scream before I pivoted, the katana carving upward through his chest, slicing heart, lungs, spine—all in a single, fluid motion.
They fell behind me in neatly severed pieces, their bodies collapsing long after I had already moved on.
The blade dimmed, cooling as I exhaled, standing amidst the wreckage I'd left behind. The effect faded, time resuming its normal pace—and with it, the delayed realization from the surviving enemies that their squad had just been erased in the span of a single heartbeat came crashing down.
Another one rushed forth, I felt my blade carve through his throat before he even registered I was there. The second turned his rifle on me—too slow. A quickhack surged through his cyberware.
[Contagion Uploaded.]
A sickly green virus spread across his augments, overloading their systems before he could realize what happened. His body seized, limbs spasming uncontrollably. Before he could recover, I emptied a clip into his chest, then a few more to his skull — just to be sure.
Two more flanked me. I vaulted over a console, twisting midair, my pistol barking three rapid shots—one to the head, two to the gut.
Bodies hit the floor. Blood slicked the pristine lab tiles.
More alarms blared, drowning out the heavy breathing in my ears.
"Really making a name for yourself. Corpo boogeyman. I like it." Johnny's flickering form appeared beside me, grinning like a bastard.
"Not what I was going for," I muttered, reloading, catching my breath in the lesser carnage around me. How much I killed until now? A hundred? Or more? The hell I know. My only goal was to finish my job and get out.
Just like that, I scoured the place! Cutting, shooting and breaching my bloody path through this dark maze. Each room contained more and different horror than the previous. Each corridor is filled with guards, mechs, and turrets. A closed door cutting my path? I found a point to breach, and I opened it with my tech skills. My opponents created a choke point? Too bad! I went around, the ventilation system was not rigged enough to stop me. So damn predictable.
At some point, I found the hidden room where the local netrunners operated.
Poor chooms, immersed in their deep dive. Annoying bastards. They tryed to fry my cyberware and slow me down too many damn times! Last mistake. They realized too late that I was there. I ended their career with a well-aimed shot in their cranium before they could raise their pampered bottom from their Netrunner rigs.
Afterwards, my job became a lot easier as I cut through more and more rooms.
In the deepest part of this facility of this abominous horror show, my gaze flicked toward the real target—the secured terminal at the far end of the room. Right next to a swirling, unstable mass of energy.
A portal —or, it looked like that. I had no real comparison, my mind just clicked at spat out that exact word.
Anchored by heavy machinery, the thing pulsed like a living wound in reality. Its surface rippled, distorted, flashing images of places that didn't belong in this world.
Every instinct screamed at me to turn around and walk the fuck away.
But I'd come too far. The job needs to be finished.
Dashing into the room, I finished the last few corporate goons who were in my way, leaving the defenseless staff alone.
It was odd, though… they stayed, why? I can't help but it bugged me. Why stay when all others had left, fleeing the moment I passed them?
"Stop! You don't know what you're doing."
A man stood near the singularity, still typing on the console nearby. He did not even bother to turn to me.
High-collared coat, silver-framed glasses, a pistol resting inches away on the table. A scientist, maybe. But the way he held himself—calm, composed, too sure—told me he was something more.
"This experiment—this technology—it's bigger than Arasaka," he said. "Bigger than you."
The remained scientist tried to reach for their sidearm, but my hand jerked towards them reflexively.
"Bad idea, buddy. What about escaping, like the rest of your fellows?" The staff hesitated. Seeing my handiwork on the chromed enforcers. It may have made them realize not to mess with me.
I was many things: killer, cheater, even gun for hire. I had seen my fair share of messed-up things. But even I had my code of conduct. Killing clearly frightened, defenseless people was not amongst my preferred pastimes.
"Stop! Remain in your place! Back to your workstations! If we don't stabilize the anchors…" The head scientist snapped at his subordinates, clearly frustrated about the disturbance.
Strangely, the staff returned to their interfaces after some audible gulp and mutter, plugging themselves in and continuing their work.
"Buddy, I've heard this speech before. Always ends the same way." I sighed, shifting my weight. "Look, I only came for the data. Let me get it, and everyone walks away alive. Deal?"
"No. It is too dangerous. In the wrong hands, the consequences may grow out of control."
"Because Arasaka wouldn't use something like this for something nasty…" I muttered clearly bitter. After cutting through this place, I was confident that this data was in better hands anywhere but Arasaka.
"You have no idea what is at stake. Back off!" He warned once again, only giving me a glimpse over his shoulder.
"Haah, it is the hard way then." I started my steady march towards the man.
Menacing and threatening, my steps were heavy — Just enough for anyone who sees me to change their mind and not try anything funny. I had no time for diplomacy when at any moment more of those chromed bastards might flood the place.
It usually works. After all, when a chromed and jacked merc like me starts to walk towards you — even if I was rather short — you usually reconsider trying anything funny. It is more effective against civilians, scientists, or other less-trained people who break under pressure.
The problem comes when your target of intimidation is too dutiful, or doesn't care about their life. I admit, maybe I miscalculated the man's resolve, because in the next moment, his fingers twitched toward the gun.
I shot first, pulling my trusty Malorian heavy pistol!
A single round to the chest fired from the hip. He staggered, gasped, and crumpled while a hole the size of a fist opened on his chest. Blood spread in a dark pool beneath him, his damaged heart slowly giving its last beats.
Then, the room shook.
"I-It's destabilizing!"
"Compensate! Compensate!"
"It is too late!" The frightened roars of the scientists around blared, trying their best to curb the sudden instability.
The terminal flickered. A pulse of energy surged through the air.
And the portal? That damn thing destabilized!
The heavy machinery anchoring it sparked wildly, electricity arcing across the lab. The swirling mass of energy twisted, unraveled, its surface warping violently.
Containment tanks cracked.
Thick liquid spilled onto the floor. The creatures inside twitched.
"Aaaand there it is. You just had to press the big red button, huh?" Johnny let out a low whistle, clearly not approving of my hasty action.
"Shit!"
I ran to the dead scientist and grabbed his access shard! Inserting it into the slot in my neck, I jacked into the nearby console and started downloading whatever information I could find.
"Run! Evacuate! It is too late!"
That should have been the steady signal to pack my stuff and leave. A scientist screaming something similar to this is the dead giveaway to pack your stuff, turn around and run as fast as your legs can carry you before the whole place blows sky high! But the intel was still out of my reach.
"Come on! You piece of shit! Come on!" I adjusted my cyberdeck, and the console was left wide open for me to tamper with. It flared in life like a drug-addled cyberpsycho.
The download rate has increased drastically! The client can deal with the description, the hell I care! I will just copy whatever data they have here and upload a virus to erase everything—Just to be sure.
"V! We need to move! Now!"
"Almost… I almost got it." I muttered, ignoring Johnny's urging voice. The whole place shook, explosions shattering the wall panels and containers around me.
Then… The overhead system blared!
[WARNING: FACILITY COLLAPSE IMMINENT. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.]
The walls groaned, metal buckling under the force of the destabilizing singularity. Debris crashed down around me.
"Got it!"
I turned, ready to bolt!
Only one problem…
"Fuck!" The exit was gone, and debris fell, blocking my only way out. Collapsed under a mass of steel and broken tech.
"Told you to go, what now? You greedy genius!" The former rocker's sarcastic comment did not help. I needed a way out, and fast!
I had no mood to die with the last thing echoing in my head being Johnny's snarky huff.
"I guess I had no choice." Truth to be told, back then, I played a few Braindance games with a fantasy and sci-fi setting. All of them had one thing in common! Portals always led somewhere.
"V, you cannot seriously…!"
"You had other ideas?" I scoffed, not because I was annoyed — tough, I can't deny I was pissed about my lack of self preservation instinct —but because he was right.
It was a stupid idea. I knew it well! Yet, it was probably infinitely better than standing here and waiting until the whole place crashed on our heads!
Only one way to find out.
"V, don't. You don't know where that thing leads." Johnny's voice cut through the chaos.
"I only know it's not here." The lab trembled. The portal pulsed, I tore out my plug from the console before it went into sizzling flames, and darted towards the flickering 'door'.
"Through the rabbit hole then, you crazy bastard!" I ran, leaving behind Johnny's flickering ghost while he shook his head mildly disaproving.
The lab was coming down around me, walls cracking, alarms blaring, and the ground trembling beneath my feet. But I didn't have time for panic. Nor to think! I needed to move faster!
Reacting to my mental command, the LEDs along my metal spine cracked to life, my Sandevistan activated! The world around me instantly slowed to a crawl. The flames flickered like frozen lightning, debris hung in mid-air, and the trapped Arasaka staff crawled into weird statues, their movements frozen and awkward.
My heart pounded, but everything else was still. The chaos was reduced to nothing but background noise. Time was my ally now, and I was going to use it!
The portal flickered in the distance, unstable and crackling with dangerous energy. I didn't have a choice—it was the only way out. My boots hit the ground like a whisper, leaving dents on the metal floor from the sheer force! Every step calculated, every movement precise. The ceiling collapsed above me, but I weaved through it, dodging debris like it was nothing more than leaves stopped midair.
The portal grew closer. I could see the flickering light, feel the pull of it, and I knew there was no turning back.
And then I dove! Just in the moment the shockwave of a humongous explosion reached my back, accelerating my already terrifying speed further!
Blinding light swallowed me whole, and like a helpless doll, I was propelled through the singularity.
It hurt! My body engulfed in heat and pressure! My eardrums ruptured. My pain suppressors flickered and malfunctioned from the sheer shock! My synthetic lungs gasped for air in the chaos as my enhanced body flipped through like some junk tossed uncaringly into the gaping hole! My chromed body strained beyond the allowed parameters.
Darkness followed afterward…
...
A searing pain in her thigh wrenched her back to reality. No time to think, no time to reflect on how she got here—just the now.
Live or die.
A sharp, bitter taste of iron filled her mouth. She spat blood onto the cavern floor, staggering slightly.
Her legs felt like lead. Her head pounded like someone had jammed a malfunctioning Sandevistan into her skull and cranked it to max. Her ribs? Hell, she could feel them grinding against each other with every breath. The nanites in her bloodstream were working overtime, trying to patch her up, but it wasn't fast enough.
No time to grab a maxdoc! She needed to take care of the mutts first!
Her lungs burned, her skin was slick with sweat, and a dull, gnawing nausea twisted in her gut like she'd been gut-punched by a cyberpsycho in chrome max-mode. Every time she moved, she could feel the fractures in her ribs shifting, grinding together like shattered glass.
And yet—she was still standing.
She forced herself to breathe, dragging air into her lungs despite the sharp, stabbing pain lancing through her side. The stench of burning fur and scorched stone mixed with the thick, metallic tang of her own blood.
She was in bad shape. And the mutts around knew it.
A pack of seven circled her, molten eyes flickering in the dim cavern light, bodies low and tense. Predatory. Calculating. Steam hissed between their fangs, their breath carrying the stench of burning meat.
V exhaled slowly, tightening her grip on the hilt of her blade.
The nanite alloy hummed, vibrating at a frequency too high for the human ear to catch, but she felt it, and with each swing, it whistled the sound of death and destruction!
A pulse, a barely perceptible tremor running through the weapon as it oscillated fast enough to weaken molecular bonds, which sliced through every known material.
These things were tough, no doubt. But nothing resisted the high frequency of her blade forever.
Her other hand rested on the grip of her Malorian Arms 3516. Loaded with armor-piercing rounds, the heavy-caliber pistol was as much of a statement as it was a weapon. She didn't need to rapid-fire. One shot, one kill.
That was the plan.
Not that plans ever worked out. For her, nothing ever works out. Almost like some cosmic force threw a wrench each time she came up with a sensible plan.
The biggest hound snarled—a deep, guttural sound, a warning that the pack was about to move. Its veins pulsed with molten heat beneath the deceivingly furry surface.
Then—they lunged, and she moved on instinct.
Her Malorian barked, the gunfire deafening in the enclosed space. The shot slammed into the skull of the nearest hound, blowing out the back of its head in a spray of burning ichor and shattered bone.
Six left.
No time to line up another shot, the next beast was too close.
She twisted, bringing her blade up.
Metal met flesh.
Her katana passed through it like butter.
The oscillating edge tore straight through the beast's forelimb, the molecular bonds of muscle, bone, and sinew unraveling in an instant. The severed part hit the ground, but the hound wasn't dead yet. It screeched, lunging with its remaining strength.
V put a bullet through its eye.
Five left.
The next two hit her like a freight train.
One slammed into her injured ribs, and a fresh explosion of pain ripped through her torso.
"Guah!"
She hit the ground hard, rolling on instinct just as the second beast's fangs snapped shut where her throat had been.
Too close. Way too close!
She fired wildly, one-handed, her Malorian bucking against her grip.
The first round shattered a hound's shoulder, sending it crashing into the cavern wall with a pained yelp. The second ripped through another's hind leg, crippling it.
Not kills, but they were out of the fight.
Three left.
V's vision swam. Her hands trembled from blood loss, nausea, and raw adrenaline. She needed to end this fast.
The alpha beast roared—then breathed fire.
V threw herself sideways, gritting her teeth as the heat singed her arm. The gouged-out cavern floor where she had just stood was still smoldering.
No dodging that twice. She didn't give it a chance to line up another blast!
Her Kerenzikov implant flared by a simple mental command. Glitching, stuttering under the immense strain her implants experienced, but it held!
The world slowed to a crawl.
The air shimmered around her while she slid forward, warping as her cyberware overclocked her nervous system, forcing her perception of time into overdrive.
She closed the gap in an instant.
The alpha barely registered what was happening before a bullet penetrated its skull, and her blade sliced upward, cutting straight through its throat.
The oscillating metal severed tissue, muscle, and bone before the beast could even feel pain.
By the time its severed head hit the ground, V had already turned on the last two.
They hesitated. Good! As expected, beasts like these usually reconsider their approach once their alpha has been eliminated.
Bad move, for them.
Her Malorian roared. One took a bullet through the skull.
The last tried to flee, but she was faster.
One final arc of her blade, and the last hound collapsed in two halves, its body still twitching.
Silence. The fight was over.
"Fuck, I will feel this tomorrow."
She staggered, barely catching herself, holding her side in pain. Her breath was ragged, her vision flickering at the edges. She was bleeding too much.
Johnny materialized beside her, arms crossed. "That was a shitshow."
"You think?" She let out a dry, humorless laugh. Of course, the ever optimist.
She needed a minute to recover.
She didn't get one.
The ground shook.
A new presence.
A deep, guttural growl.
A massive shadow loomed at the far end of the cavern, appearing from behind her back.
"Shit!? What more?"
She squared her stance.
No rest for the wicked.
She staggered back as the ground beneath her rumbled. She could barely focus—her vision blurred, her body aching with every breath. She had barely made it through the pack, and now this new threat was coming at her with unrelenting speed and strength.
Rumbling through the cave like some unrelenting force, a towering ape-like creature approached. A massive, hulking beast, standing nearly 4 meters tall. Its fur, a dirty mix of white and grey, bristled with every step it took, and its immense muscles rippled under its skin with terrifying power.
"Great, and when I thought it can't get any better… another freak shows up."
The air seemed to crackle with tension as it approached, its eyes locked on her with an unnerving, primal intensity. There was no hesitation in its movements, just pure, unfiltered aggression. This was a monster born to crush, to destroy.
"Okay, big guy. If you want to dance, let's dance."
She gripped her blade, the high-frequency edge still humming faintly, ready to slice through whatever came her way. Her Malorian heavy pistol was already holstered, but she knew better than to rely on a gun against something that powerful and big.
Even despite the high caliber of the firearm, it might be like throwing pebbles against a giant, and she had no ammo to waste. Not while her systems glitched. Not while her vision blurred, and she couldn't aim properly. Despite its size, this thing was deceivingly fast; wasting ammo on it without certainty was a foolish step.
One lucky shot might be enough, but she wasn't confident she could line it up. And she couldn't use Skippy to 'cheat' her way to victory while her smart link was down.
By all means, she had no time for fancy tricks. This was going to be up close and personal—if she was going to survive this, she'd have to put her skills to the test.
Her side was throbbing in pain from the earlier blows she'd taken, and every step made her head spin. She was nauseous, dizzy, her body barely holding together from the earlier blast that had hurled her through the portal. Internal injuries made every movement a struggle. She might be in a state that is little better than a barely augmented human. But she wasn't going down here—not like this. She fought and endured too much to just give up!
"Don't let that thing get close, V. It's not gonna play nice." Johnny's voice suddenly cut through the haze of pain. His tone, sharp as ever. The man didn't offer much in the way of encouragement, but a simple, raw piece of advice that she didn't need to be told.
The towering ape bellowed, shaking the ground with its powerful stride, and suddenly, it was charging. The beast's immense arms swung forward! Each swipe was capable of smashing through rock or steel, and its heavy feet pounded the earth like a sledgehammer.
"Shit!" She gritted her teeth, adrenaline rushing through her veins as she sprinted to the side, narrowly avoiding the first swing of the creature's massive arm, using the wall to jump over the strike. The ground where she'd been standing exploded with a deafening crash, sending dirt and rocks flying in all directions.
"Well, that was too close for comfort, huh?" Johnny's voice mocked her in her head, his sarcasm as biting as ever. "You're not dead yet, but you will be if you don't act fast. This isn't some little lap dog, V. This thing will end you with one swing if you're not careful."
She didn't need to hear that twice. She rushed forward, ducking under the beast's next swing, and brought her alloy blade up in a vicious arc, aiming for its exposed side. The blade hummed, the high-frequency oscillations vibrating in the air. She felt it sink into the beast's flesh with a satisfying ripping sound, cutting through the tough skin and fur, though not as easily as she had hoped. She really is starting to lose her edge, her exhaustion catching up to her.
The beast roared in pain, a guttural, bone-chilling sound, but it didn't stop. It didn't even hesitate.
"Oh, come on! That should've been a kill!" Johnny cursed, almost as frustrated as his companion and host was. "You've gotta be quicker than that, kid. Look at those arms! Get out of the way!"
The beast swung again, faster this time. She barely managed to dodge, twisting to the side in an unnatural motion, but its fist grazed her shoulder, sending her flying back. She hit the ground hard, her ribs protesting as she struggled to stay conscious. Blood dripped from her mouth, the pain almost overwhelming.
"Not a chance…"
She forced herself to her feet, her body screaming at her to just lie down and rest. Give up! But she couldn't afford that. She had one chance. One moment before this thing crushed her like a bug.
"V, don't you dare quit now!" Johnny's voice echoed through her head, leaning in her dimming vision. "Come on, you've got the blade. You've got the speed. Just keep moving!"
The thing was charging again. She didn't wait. She rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding its next blow, then pushed off the ground, surging forward with every ounce of strength she could muster. She'd been in worse situations, but this was different. This thing had the power to crush her skull with a single blow. She could feel the fear in the back of her mind, but she shoved it aside, focusing solely on survival.
The beast was fast, but it wasn't invincible. Her blade was sharp, and she could use its size against it. She needed to keep her distance, to wear it down. She wasn't going to be able to defeat it in a single blow, not with its size and strength, but if she could find the right opening, she could strike deep!
She changed tactics, taking a deep breath, trying to steady her hands as she swung her blade once more. This time, she aimed for the beast's thigh, cutting deep into the muscle and bone while she dashed past it. It howled, its body jerking, but it didn't stop. It roared in fury and swung its massive fists once again.
"C'mon, V! Use your damn head!" Johnny shouted in her mind. "You can't just keep dodging and slashing. You need to get creative! Crawl into its face! Cut it deep where it hurts! Don't just tickle the damn ape!"
V gritted her teeth, her body screaming for her to rest. But she couldn't stop. She had to keep going. She couldn't give this beast the chance to finish her off. Her mind raced, calculating, searching for a way to outmaneuver it.
And then it hit her. The blind spots.
The thing charged again, and she followed suit! Accelerating herself against it. Then, she slid under the beast before it could grab her, slicing through both of its legs. The thing roared in rage and pain as it stumbled, losing its footing before its massive arms could have landed where she had been standing.
She was fast—faster than it anticipated. She wasted no time, and with everything she had left, she drove the nanite blade into the soft flesh of the creature's lower back, forcing her sizzling katana through the hardened fur and flesh of the thing.
The high-frequency oscillations in the blade worked like a charm, cutting through muscle and sinew with terrifying ease. The beast screamed, stumbling while its body ruptured, and the wound just as fast cauterized. She twisted the blade deeper, feeling the resistance weaken as the being's body began to shudder and stagger.
"That's it, V! Keep pushing!" Johnny shouted. "That thing's on its last legs! Don't let up now!"
With one final, desperate surge of strength, V drove the blade forward one last time. Like a true master of the sword, her katana moved, her senses focused to the absolute limit. Dodging the swipe like water flowing through your hands, she effortlessly sliced through the beast's massive arms, then its throat. Then another strike, followed by another! Like a blur of metal and will, mercy was not an option anymore!
"It is done…" She stopped, sheathing the katana to the magnetic clamps of her jacket. The thing tried to reach out for her one last time. Its massive body trembled and twitched, almost like even in death it tried to grab her. Then, it started to fall apart!
Unnaturally smooth lines drawn across the towering muscled body, before the massive chunks of meat slid down one after another. Meat and muscle cauterized, bone melted through, plopped to the ground with a satisfied squelch.
Like an unstable construct, the mangled thing fell to the ground with an earth-shaking thud. The cavern seemed to hold its breath before the dust settled.
V stood over the fallen beast, panting heavily, the adrenaline slowly draining from her system. Her body screamed in protest as she took in the sight of the beast, now motionless, sliced into pieces on the floor. It was rough, but she had made it. She had survived.
Blood was dripping from her wounds, and her vision swam in and out of focus, but she couldn't help but let out a shaky laugh. "Well, that was one hell of a fight," she muttered to herself, her voice barely a whisper.
"Told you, you had it in you," Johnny's voice chimed, ever the cynic, though there was a hint of approval in his tone. "But maybe next time, you let me take the heavy hitters, yeah?"
She didn't respond. She was too tired to argue, too drained to do anything but wobble there for a moment, letting the weight of the fight wash over her.
One thing was certain—this wasn't over. And if there was one thing she knew, it was that there would always be another fight waiting for her in the next corner.
"Fuck my life…" After making sure no other freaks were around, she couldn't help but let her legs give in. Finally, some relief! Falling to her bottom, she reached for her belt pouch.
Her limbs were trembling, bruised, and bloodied—her body a collection of aches and raw, torn muscle. She didn't have time to marvel at the fact that she was still alive. Not with the pain searing through her chest and ribs, the way she could barely breathe without a fresh burst of agony. Thus, with a shaking motion, she recovered a small vial with a cap fixed at its end.
It was a compact, sleek little thing, barely more than a few inches long, but it held the potential to be the difference between life and death. She had seen enough of these to know exactly what they could do, but she'd never been so grateful for one as she was right now.
Her fingers fumbled for a second as she retrieved it, a soft metallic clink of the glass against her skin, and she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to focus through the lingering dizziness. She had been through hell in the last few minutes—fighting, bleeding, dying, barely able to breathe—but the MaxDoc would help her regain just enough strength to keep pushing forward.
The vial was small, only a few inches long, but packed with enough concentrated nanotech to heal the worst of injuries—at least temporarily. Her vision wavered as she struggled to peel the cap off with one hand, the metal stinging her fingertips, but she finally managed.
The needle gleamed under the flickering light of the cave.
She pressed it against the meaty part of her thigh, steadying herself as best as she could for the rushing feeling. These things always made her nauseous, at first! She would rather not use them if she can help it. But she had no other option.
The first touch of the needle was a sharp reminder of just how much damage she'd taken; the pinch of the cold tip was an agonizing contrast to the fire already burning through her veins. Then she pushed the plunger in one go.
The MaxDoc worked quickly, its icy liquid flooding her bloodstream, sending a tingle through her veins, a brief moment of chilled numbness spreading out from where the needle had pierced her skin.
The feeling was almost immediate, even nauseous. Her muscles, still aching, began to loosen, the pressure in her chest easing a fraction as the nanobots worked to patch the worst of her wounds. She was not fully healed, but definitely functional.
She pulled the syringe free, dropping it onto the floor with a metallic clink, and let her back rest against the cold rock wall. Now, she just needs to give time for these small bastards to do their job.
"Haah, better, I guess…"
For a few moments, she caught her breath, letting the MaxDoc work its magic. The dizziness was still there, but the sharp pain had dulled to a manageable throb. She had a second chance—for now, but that was all she needed.
Her thoughts were fuzzy with fatigue and the effects of the leaving adrenaline. Her gaze lingered on the beasts she'd just defeated. Watching the now lifeless cooked meat in front of her. Her breath came out in slow, steady gasps as she peeled her eyes away from the thing's massive carcass, trying to focus on the next steps.
That's when she saw it from the corner of her eye. It was just a glint amidst the sprawling remains of the creature's body; something strange gleamed in the dim light. Forcing her body to move, she crouched down, muscles aching, and reached for the odd object half-buried beneath the beast's torn flesh.
It was a stone. Smooth, almost glossy, and faintly glowing with a strange energy in the dim light. At first, she thought it was some sort of tech or artifact, but as her hand closed around it, she felt something... wrong. It didn't make any sense.
"That's new," Johnny's voice slid into her mind, dripping with sarcasm. His voice echoing in the hollow silence around her, his ghost crouching near her. "You're collecting trinkets now? Maybe you'll get lucky and find a magic rock that gets us out of here."
V gave a bitter laugh, ignoring him as she lifted the stone, carefully, inspecting it. The glow pulsed weakly beneath its surface, and though her implants immediately kicked in to analyze it, the results were confusing.
Nothing.
No data, or nothing she or her implants could properly interpret.
Her eyes narrowed as she rotated the crystal, trying to get a better look, but nothing came up. It didn't make sense. There was no signature, no readable tech, nothing her gear could recognize. She cursed softly under her breath, clearly irritated.
"You sure that thing's worth your time?" Johnny asked, his tone suddenly less amused. "Could be just some rock, V. I mean, look at it. Doesn't even have the decency to be useful."
But she wasn't ready to drop it. There was something strange about it. She could feel the faint buzz of energy running through her fingertips. The same energy that lingered after the ape's death. Her implants couldn't decipher it, yet, but her gut told her this stone was important—whether she understood it or not.
Without warning, the carcass nearby seemed to shrivel, pulling inward, its surface cracking, as if all the life inside it was being drained away, then, turned to dust like it was cremated rapidly.
"What the hell…?" V muttered, watching in disbelief as the corpse began to decay, crumbling into a fine dust that slipped through the air like sand. The towering beast with enough meat to feed a bunch of people disappeared, leaving only the remains of what had once been solid.
"Well, that was underwhelming. Big bad monkey, turned into dust. Is that your luck, or just another case of bad decisions? I wonder…" Johnny's voice, still dripping with his trademark snark, floated through.
She glanced down at the stone in her hand, her mind racing. Whatever this thing is, it must be connected to that ape thing. Maybe some core that provided energy? Were these freaks really some bioengineered experiments? Is that 'portal' led her to some twisted Arasaka test site? The hell she knew! The possibility was there.
"Fuck it!" It didn't really matter. There had to be a reason it was here. Some connection to the beasts, to this place, or even to why she was dragged into this mess in the first place.
She stood up slowly, a dull ache still lingering in her side, pocketing the stone like some cheap junk.
"Well then, let's figure out how deep shit we gotten ourselves into," she muttered, her gaze hardening while she cracked her neck. The fight with the beast had nearly killed her, and the strange stone stubbornly held its secrets—for now, just another dead end. But it didn't matter.
She needed to keep moving. She refused to die here!
The cave, the creatures, the strange phenomenon— it all made no sense! Regardless, she had to find a way out, a way back. And if there was something else waiting for her, some way to solve this bizarre puzzle, she'd find it. But first, she had to survive.
"Let's go," she grunted, picking her way carefully past the remains of the dead hounds, ignoring the shifting pain in her body as she pushed forward, ever determined.
"Look at us, V! Stuck in some godforsaken hellhole, with monsters on the prowl and no exit in sight. Ain't this just a cozy little fairytale?" Johnny chuckled, his voice laced with irony. "But hey, you're a pro at getting out of sticky situations, right? If anyone can find a way out of this weird-ass maze, it's you. But no pressure. Just... don't take too long. You know, 'cause death's got a nasty habit of showing up uninvited. Regardless, it will be a hell of an adventure. I can't seem to catch a breath with you, huh?"
She didn't bother answering. She was already on the move, ignoring the jolt of pain that throbbed through her body. She couldn't afford to waste time on Johnny's bullshit.
But his words hung in the air, a sharp reminder of their new reality—this wasn't just another gig. It was a trap, a puzzle she wasn't sure she could solve.
And yet, she pushed forward. Not only out of need, but out of sheer spite and defiance that got her through too many impossible jobs.
It was time to find her way out of this twisted nightmare. She had a job to do! A reputation to uphold! A problem to solve!
A/N:
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