Chapter Text
The steel blade sliced through the air gracefully. Eyes blinked for one second, the katana was out of his peripheral. Pilar did not feel a thing at all. His feet were still planted on the ground. He felt lightheaded as if his head was grabbed and shaken roughly.
In V’s point of view, Akki was just there before he went lightspeed as if he avoided combat. The tip of the blade was wet and scarlet with blood that could be the crude comical techie. Two seconds later, Pilar’s head was separated from his neck cleanly. No amateur streetpunk could pull it off. A paste of brain, eyes, and all manners of teeth were against the wall. V could not understand everything it went down.
V was stiff frozen, petrified of the aftermath. The demon descended from the skies of hell to enact divine punishment. No, it had to be a dream. Akki was a ghost, not the real thing. The cyberpsycho showed its eyes that was replaced with a crude optic mount. Whatever parts of his humanity was nonexistent. A single red visor optic struck fear in V. Akki reversed his blade to V before he was shoved across the pavement by Dorio.
“Get your head in the game!” Dorio shouted. “This ain’t the time to freeze up!”
“sh*t! Pilar got iced!” Maine exclaimed, firing his Pozhar.
Kiwi groaned. “I just had my coat washed.”
In sheer fury, Rebecca pressed the trigger as she drove the Liberty at Akki. He deflected the bullets rapidly. He snarled at the tiny solo challenging him.
“You stole my f*cking kill!” Rebecca screamed, drawing her Unity to go akimbo. Akki dodged them easily, then swung his katana at the side of her head. Maine yanked her towards his large arms.
“Be subtle! You ain’t landing a shot on him like that.”
“Get off me!”
Rebecca did not listen to reason, forcibly breaking free his vise to fire Guts. Rebecca struck at thin air, Akki disappeared using optical camo and charged straight at the gremlin. Engaging his operating system, time slowed and gave him a wide range of vulnerable spots. Before Rebecca had the chance to turn around, Akki was already behind her. The steel blade glanced at her black high collar jacket, cutting open the solo’s left sleeve. Blood pouring out of her left forearm from the superficial wound before time reverted to normal. Akki materialized to let his integumentary system recharge.
“Aaaahhhh!” Rebecca howled, covering her wound.
Rebecca was in danger of being decapitated. Akki did not let up to press the attack to her exposed neck until Maine kicked his chest. Akki staggered from the brunt force. Annoyed at his larger opponent not giving him room to finish off Rebecca, Akki switched his katana for a TKI-20 Shingen. Rebecca retreated behind Dorio just in time. Caseless rounds could not lock on fast enough as it whizzed past their heads. V’s combat daemons tagged Akki. Burst of flames danced over Akki and he flinched. It did not inflict much damage on Akki, but it slowed him down temporarily. V’s G-58 chattered relentlessly.
The cybererpsycho street samurai did not counter. Instead, he released a flashbang to make a hasty escape. A bubble of white light exploded, blinding the crew. There’s no way Akki will get away with this. Once the crew regained their vision, they chased after the cyberpsycho. As Akki stopped to catch his breath, the crew caught up with their weapons trained. There was no room for escape this time.
A handful of rounds from the crew sent Akki slice and dice the bullets into pieces. His breathing seemed ragged, clutching his katana tightly to the point his knuckles turned white. His killing instinct did not waiver. David felt the fiery aura emitting from the cyberpsycho’s back as if he summoned a Shinigami. David will not lose to the psycho.
“Hey asshole!” David yelled, tripping his Sandevistan.
David leaped over Akki, flicked the Lexington’s fire selector to full auto and increased pressure on the trigger. Dozens of 9mm rounds slammed into Akki’s right arm. His subdermal armor deflected the bullets from puncturing his thoracic and humerus.
Time turned back to normal and to David’s surprise, Akki was still standing. He raised his sword at the ready. Lucy’s diagnostics registered a power surge in Akki’s Sandevistan. Just as he blitzed at David, Maine fired his PLS. Akki evaded the massive shock wave spewing chunks of concrete. Akki tried to activate his optical camo, only for his integumentary system to malfunction thanks to Kiwi’s daemons disabling his cyberwares.
Akki was paralyzed, trying to regain control of his cyberwares. Dorio charged to throw an upward punch, breaking the lower half of his helmet, followed by his jaw. The gore of flesh and sparks of cybernetic scattered and Akki fell to the floor limply. Dorio caught her breath, Rebecca was still angry, kicking Akki’s corpse before she sobbed in tears.
“I'm the only bitch what's mine to kill, you took that from me!”
“Rebecca, stop!” Maine ordered.
Rebecca glared at Maine intensely. Her lips quivered from the pent-up anger and sadness.
“Leave me alone!”
“Rebecca, wait!”
The gremlin took off hastily. Maine sighed at the gnarly aftermath. Rebecca was still bitter at Akki stealing her kill. She truly wanted to kill her older brother for many reasons. Being a hotheaded gonk with his annoying antics, that’s the reason she wanted him dead. V scavenged Akki’s body for evidence of how he went cyberpsycho. V’s deduction of Akki losing his marbles was correct, but he needed solid evidence to back up his case. He found two shards inside the jacket pockets.
V read the shards, and he shuddered. According to the archived conversations, Akki and his girlfriend, Julia Lee planned to leave once they were done with Tyger Claws. Norio had no kinship with them. Later, Julia was killed by his own gang, claiming it was an “accident” after his boss, Sota was killed. Akki experienced blackouts and gaps in his memory. Akki sought medications to cure his cyberpsychosis from Dr. Colin Thevenaz. Gradually, the meds stopped working. Followed by his addiction to testing his former gang’s sense of danger, his mind collapsed. Akki scored body counts indiscriminately from gangers and civilians alike.
David went through the trio of dead gangers’ corpses for clues. David picked up the first shard.
TAKI KAZO: I was collecting goods from the drop spot and think someone's out to ambush us.
MASAKI OSAWA: Only the supplier and us know about that spot, and he doesn't look the type to set up an ambush. So get a grip.
TAKI KAZO: I dunno... I got this feeling like someone was watching me, like something bad was gonna happen. When I stood in that dark tunnel I had this sudden feeling like someone was right behind me.
MASAKI OSAWA: It's in your head. You probably just heard your footsteps echoing and some scary shadows. Look, I get it. I'd be nervous too if I thought our spot was compromised.
TAKI KAZO: I checked and all I saw was Norio standing behind me. Didn't say anything, just looked. Then it was like he vanished into thin air.
Taking a breath, David shook his head. “Do I dare to read the next shard?”
“Might as well since we came this far,” Lucy replied.
MASAKI OSAWA: Someone zeroed Taki Kazo yesterday. First that accident with Julia, now this.
TAKEHIRO CHIBA: It all started after our boss Sota was killed. Think they're picking us off one by one?
MASAKI OSAWA: If they are it's by a trained hand. Taki's head was lopped clean off with a single slice. No spirit could do that, nor a dime-a-dozen streetpunk with a chipped second-hand katana.
TAKEHIRO CHIBA: So what are you suggesting - one of ours did it?
MASAKI OZAWA: Taki mentioned an ambush - swore that someone was hiding in a tunnel and watching him like a ghost. I told him it must be all in his head...
TAKEHIRO CHIBA: Goddamnit... and speaking of - where's Norio been lately? Don't think he was at Julia's funeral. Said it was an attack, said he doesn't believe it was an accident.
MASAKI OSAWA: I don't know. Last time I saw him, he said he had to meet with Yagyu Tajima-no-kami on a spring day among the cherry blossoms... Maybe the poor guy snapped. I mean, he had a real shock - lost the two people he cared about most at once.
TAKEHIRO CHIBA: No, no, he didn't go to any cherry blossom garden, those are some old samurai legends he tried to give me recently. He said I should read them and think about what they really mean. He said it was a matter of life and death, that he senses the sakki... Hm, maybe he has gone off in the head.
David almost felt bad for the poor soul that wanted to leave the failing gang. However, Tyger Claws snatched everything from him. In return, Akki transformed into an unpredictable killing machine. In the end, Night City always wins.
“Get out of here while you can,” Maine ordered. “Kiwi and me will stay behind ‘till the pigs show up.”
Worry was engraved deep on the crew’s faces, so Maine told them, “Pilar’s a thorn on my side, but someone must explain this sh*tshow. Once the badges arrive, we’ll tell exactly what went down. f*cker is chromed up to wazoo. It’ll be easy, zero questions to file on this cyberpsycho incident.”
The leader turned to David. “That’s what I call quick initiative, dawg. It's high time, you stop thinking like a rookie.”
The Phantom of Night City was complete, debunking the legend of a demon. However, losing Pilar turned their victory hollow. They have no techie, which could be a hinderance to their journey. They must either hire a replacement or learn how to mend equipment. The latter would be a waste of time.
The crew returned to the hideout, feeling dejected. Maine and Kiwi caught up after explaining the mess to NCPD. Kiwi lit a cigarette and blew smoke at the ceiling that smelled like real tobacco.
“Faraday’s probably done with us after our recent f*ck-up GPS heist,” Dorio lamented. “Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“The less you know, the less I risk,” Maine mocked Faraday’s condescending tone.
“That is how our business is done.”
“I’m the one that sees the larger picture. It is yours to listen, you will do as you are told.”
“Understand it fast. I’m the top fixer, you’re a mere merc.”
Maine crossed his arms. “Get the hell out with that bullsh*t when you keep us in the dark.”
“Driver was supposed to stay sh*t-faced until the bar closed.”
“Not like we have Tanaka’s f*cking diary.”
“Tanaka got spooked and beefed up his security. The GPS turned useless.”
“f*ck Faraday! He can kiss my black ass if he calls us again.”
Faraday was mad at them for not keeping it on the low-low. Maine was fed up with Faraday not giving them additional information. The crew could have done it better if Faraday kept them out of the shadow. Faraday might not hire them again unless he was desperate for another merc that would do anything. Better than trying to use the same mercs that failed to deliver.
To get Faraday off his mind, Maine laid on the bench to grab the barbell with weights at 275 lbs and slowly lifted the bar. He arched his back with the shoulder blades touching the bench. Maine focused on bulking to keep his large frame, which added the intensity of his workout. Maine took the heavy weighted barbell to do reps as his biceps and arms were engaged to support the weight. He lowered the bar until it touched his chest and pushed, forcing the muscle fibers of his chest to swell. He repeated the process 10 times before he racked the weights. He toweled himself off to cooldown for one minute before doing it again.
A Like Supreme by Samurai blasted on the stereo as motivation music to keep up his reps. Maine was a big fan of Samurai. It had the effect of making his muscles hard. After three sets of 10 with one more to go, Maine was already sweating heavily. He toweled off again, wiping down his chest, forehead, and arms. Each rep could feel the muscles straining as he wanted them but kept them in check. As a leader, Maine had to keep his form sharp to show who’s boss. Droplets of sweat drenched his white tank top. The barbell touched his pecs, and he pushed up until he finished his last set.
Maine relaxed on the syn-couch. “Nothing beats a good workout to exhale the bullsh*t.”
David held Pilar’s mecha gold hands with disinterest. “These techie mitts aren’t my style.”
“Even after Rebecca gave you the go, you just being picky, David.”
“I have my eyes set on something else.”
David stared at Maine’s PLS. The leader arched an eyebrow. “You batted your eyes on my Sandy you klepped. You want another piece of it?”
David’s smirk made Maine chuckle. “Ain’t that too big for your size?”
“I tamed the Apogee Sandy, then I should be able to handle your thermal missile launcher.”
Maine ruffled David’s hair. “Gives you enough time to bulk your body. Very well! Once my time expires, they’re yours.”
“All right, I’ll hold you to it.”
Maine’s casual tone and body language shifted to all somber. “This ain’t the same without Pilar. I failed to protect him from the skezzed out wacko.”
David chewed on ham and mushroom pizza. “It wasn’t your fault, nor was Pilar. We came at the wrong place, wrong time.”
“What I need is better chrome to not lose you guys.” Maine motioned to a TV with Karina Lee on Chip In showing the top-of-the-line Rara Avis.
David remembered Maine and Lucy’s advice to chip in a chrome or two to have the upper edge surviving. Maine and David watched the woman describing Rara Avis enthusiastically that increases armor by 40%. Highly recommended to protect vital organs with five out of five stars. The only downside was the expensive price for 70k eddies.
Trying to lighten the mood, David said, “I ought to get those to endure hits better.”
Maine noticed David being confident, which was unusual for him. “Davey, you don’t always look happy until now. You look different, I can tell.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Every time we go out, you mope around like an emo, killing the good vibes, our resident joykill.”
David sighed. “I ain’t different from yesterday.”
“No, something is.”
Maine leaned closer to his protégé with a huge grin. “You and Lucy did it, didn’t ya?”
David’s face went bright red. “I did not.”
“Ya did!”
“It’s not like I had a say!”
Maine laughed. “My clueless junior, I’m glad you grew balls to have an output you ogled. You blushing like a high school boy confessing love to his crush!”
“You started it…”
Maine patted David’s head hard. “Your poker face needs some work, dawg.”
V upgraded his Biotech cyberdeck and RAM Upgrade to Tier 2 with the scratch he earned. He also chipped in Ex-Disk to increase upload speed of his quickhack and additional RAM capacity. His go-to ripperdoc was Robert Rainwater because he proved to be reliable when it comes to picking the best gear. Despite his recent upgrade, V came out of the netrunner room with a look of disappointment.
“Kiwi, I can’t punch through Tanaka’s shields.”
“Let me give it a shot…”
“’Sup, V, got good news, dawg?” Maine asked.
“Tanaka’s ICE is too thick, I dispatched Kiwi to pick up the pieces.”
V hoped that Kiwi got something. Three minutes later, Kiwi emerged from the deep dive, not caring that she was in her birthday suit. Myriads of spider web tattoos decorated her body. David was enraptured by her beauty, notably her blue nipples. V kept his cool by whistling lowly. Kiwi smoked a cigarette in frustration.
“What you got, Kiwi?” Maine quipped.
Exhaling the smoke, Kiwi said, “I poked holes left and right, but I got zilch, no-go.”
Kiwi sat next to V, typing on her datapad. “The furthest I got was scratching the surface. Not even my upgraded deck can penetrate Tanaka’s protection.”
Maine’s index finger tapped on the table. “We be shooting peanuts in a gallery. I ain’t letting Faraday give us some traction for treating us like dogs. Rather have Regina or Padre as our new fixers. Hell, even Wakako fits too.”
“Tanaka?” David asked.
“You forgot your first grand theft auto? That was his limo. Why? Is that a problem?”
“It’s nothing.”
David did not want to remember his first gig that involved breaking numerous traffic laws and ruined the chance of earning 5k eddies if it weren’t for his horrendous driving. Not to mention, Tyger Claws nearly chopped him to pieces. Kiwi typed on her datapad nonstop.
“Speaking of Tanaka, you were classmates with his kid, Katsuo,” said V. “Heard you gave him a new nose job.”
David grimaced.
“No way! You was classmates with this punk kid too?” Maine asked, suddenly serious.
“I was a senior at that time when they were freshmen. So, yes, I was their classmates.”
“David is Arasaka Academy’s straight A dropout,” Kiwi said, looking out at the beautiful yet desolate city scenery. “He must be too cool for school.”
“I be damned! No wonder why your mom was always strapped for eds.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, David said, “There’s this thing called privacy. You guys ever heard of it?”
“Here? In Night City? The word ‘privacy’ does not exist,” V joked. “Big Brother’s watching you.”
David paused, ran out of rebuttals and changed subjects. “Kiwi, V, you two got nothing on Tanaka? Like what’s his favorite food?”
Seeing the conversation as an opportunity into David’s ambition, Kiwi ventured, “I didn’t find much interest in Tanaka’s personal drive. There were lots of trashy noise.”
V added, “The trashy noise was the only thing Kiwi dug up. As I said before, everything else was impenetrable.”
Maine tilted his head slightly. “Trash noise like…?”
“Tanaka’s viewing log of XBD and some Japanese p*rn.”
“Yo, wait up! The way I see, there’s good leverages.”
Kiwi rolled her eyes in disgust. “Fetishes like Tanaka are more gore over p*rn with some cyberpsychos too.”
“Tanaka’s recent log was Lt. Mower killing the Militech hit squad that was sent to terminate her instead of paramedics helping her,” V replied.
“Motoko Kusanagi called, she says Lt. Mower did not twist the hacker’s hand and judo flipped him.”
V chuckled at Maine’s remark as he did not expect him to reference Ghost in the Shell.
Maine frowned. “I ain’t surprised that suits have fetishes for creepy sh*t.”
“Lot of BDs tuned by a fellow named JK.”
“Wait! I know that guy! His name is Jimmy Kurosaki.”
David’s eyes practically bugged out of his head.
Kiwi smoked her cigarette. “Name ring a ding-ding?”
“Yeah! Jimmy Kurosaki is a top BD editor that rivals Judy Alvarez. All the snuff he gets turns them into gold. He’s the Midas of XBD. Dude has a huge fanbase. Sells them like hot cakes.”
Maine clapped his hands together. “I’ll be damned, dawg. Never knew you was a super freak connoisseur.”
“No! I just helped him sell his stuff to his customers.”
Kiwi sighed. “Cute stuff, but what makes it useful in the long run?”
“Jimmy does custom-made.”
“Enlighten us.”
V crossed his arms to let out a quiet grunt as he waited for David’s response.
“Those with deep pockets want prim high. He tailors them to their tastes like removing pain limiters, make their nose bleed.”
“And we care why…?” Maine’s voice trailed off. “I don’t f*ck with XBD if that’s what you want on my birthday.”
“Tanaka’s got to be there in person for his custom edit.”
“David’s right,” V affirmed. “Here’s the archived conversation between Tanaka and JK I retrieved.”
Tanaka: I’m waiting for my present to be finished.
JK: Relax, I’m wrapping up the final touches. I assure you it’ll be done tomorrow at 9pm.
Tanaka: I haven’t the patience to wait.
JK: Don’t you have to pick up your boy at the hospital?
Tanaka: He’s not of my concern.
Tanaka: I’m paying top eddies to get what I want.
Tanaka: I did not pay to play 21 questions.
JK: Just checking on your well-being.
JK: Northside dock, Longshore North.
JK: You know the drill.
Tanaka: I shall see you then.
“Those two went back and forth on finalizing the suit’s kinks,” said V.
Maine was skeptical. “How you figure out Tanaka goes alone? Don’t he have bodyguards around the clock?”
David said, “If you were his bodyguard, would you be comfortable with your boss’s fetish? I’m sure damn as hell would not.”
Kiwi exhaled. “You got a point, kiddo.”
“You getting sharp, though not surprised that you are a man!”
“A man? What did I miss?” Kiwi questioned.
“Nothing!”
Everyone, minus Rebecca still grieving for Pilar gathered in the living room. Maine stood proudly between his teammates. V was on the computer monitoring Arasaka traffic logs.
“Before I say, ‘f*ck Faraday’, he came through with the lead on Tanaka. Seems our favorite corpo usually ditches his security for Delamain.”
“Going off the grid, eh?” Dorio asked.
“Delamain’s airtight, can’t lock on his destination and position.”
Kiwi revealed a sample of BD. “I did some diggings into custom BDs. Fat cats with deep pockets like Tanaka are sought out. We’re talking gang bosses, high-rank execs, celebrities and so on. JK’s studio is invisible, referrals only. We have to meet him in person if we want to know more.”
“Yeah, but how?”
Maine showed off his garrote. “We nab his skinny ass. What more can you say?”
“That’ll be easy. He has a reservation at Embers tomorrow noon. Table for one.”
“What a sad sack.”
“Great and all, but Tanaka might not be able to meet at Jimmy’s studio,” V interjected.
“What do you mean?”
“According to Arasaka traffic log, there’s a meeting tomorrow night with mandatory security. Not even higher-ups can ditch security for safety being top priority.”
“What makes you so sure?”
V showed his datapad. “Read it for yourself.”
The traffic log detailed the list of Arasaka employees and security personnel for the meeting. Highlighted in bold red, security cannot be ditched.
“Ahh, that f*cking blows! You had to bring up the bad news.”
“I didn’t know they had a last minute mandatory meeting over something I could care less about.”
“How are you going to make Tanaka go to Jimmy’s studio?”
“I can force Tanaka to cancel the meeting under the pretense of sick leave or family emergency.”
Dorio furrowed her brow. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Companies can’t ignore family emergency and employees that called out sick. Would you rather have a sick man spreading his boogers to his cohorts or ignoring their emergencies that could wreck them mentally?”
Maine frowned and let out a quiet grunt as he sank into his thought. Then, he cracked his knuckles.
“Make it happen, V.” Maine turned to the team. “Storming the suit’s crib brings too much noise. Don’t get caught nabbing Tanaka is all I’m asking.”
V smiled to follow up. “Kiwi and I will tail Tanaka’s residence and corner him where he won’t expect. We’ll jam his panic button and seal off additional backup. Have him mention family emergency leave, they’ll back off without question. Obviously, Tanaka would call Delamain, but that’ll raise suspicions from higher-ups that like to control their subordinates’ spendings. Even if he expunged his records with Delamain, payment transactions in personal bank accounts don’t disappear in a flash. Once Kiwi and I take control, Tanaka’s driver will drive as usual until we arrive at Jimmy’s studio.”
Maine hated it when the plans did not come together. Especially when their favorite suit had to attend a mandatory meeting. V corrected it by forcing him out of hiding. Maine hoped that V and Kiwi can pull their weights up.
“Let’s get to it!” Maine’s voice resonated in their hearts.
Lucy spotted Jimmy walking down the stairs at Embers. The peaco*ck BD editor made his way to the parking garage. Maine hid behind the pilar. Dorio was in the customized Chevillon Emperor tracking Jimmy’s movements through the LED rear view mirror. David spotted his idol removing his aviator shades.
“Oh my god! Is that the Jimmy Kurosaki?” David asked enthusiastically.
“Who’s asking?”
“I knew it! I knew it was you. I’m a huge fan of your work, choomba.”
Jimmy’s stoic expression did not change at the fanboy.
“You know the ripperdoc from Arroyo that pushes XBDs? I part timed with him while selling your stuff.”
“Is that so?”
“Let me get an autograph!”
Jimmy waved his right hand.
“Sorry, I’m starstruck.”
“I have places to be, so please, move aside.”
On cue, Maine crept behind Jimmy. The cyberoptics hidden behind Jimmy’s head spotted Maine tightening his garrote. The BD editor’s self-defense tool, Shock-n-Awe released a large electroshock. Maine and David were zapped by the EMP blast. Dorio was also affected, albeit not badly compared to David and Maine.
Dorio rubbed her head from the aftershock as tears streamed down her face.
“Argh! Motherf*cker set off an EMP!”
Jimmy took off in his Rayfield Caliburn. Lucy noticed the neokitsch supercar at breakneck speed. Sensing something was off, the netrunner hurried to her crew. David and Maine were knocked out with their eyes rolled back and foams overflowing their mouths. This was not supposed to happen.
“Dorio! What happened?” Lucy asked frantically.
“That weasel used an EMP,” Dorio muttered.
“Get up, David!” Lucy shook his head rapidly.
“Come on, Maine, wake the f*ck up!” Dorio socked her output in the head.
Maine snapped out of his slumber. “Oh, sh*t!”
“You okay?”
Maine remembered how it went down. “…Son of a bitch pulled a Houdini.”
David regained consciousness, he facepalmed at the tire marks. “f*ck, f*ck, f*ck! I lost sight of Jimmy.”
“Our wheels won’t be fast enough to catch him.”
Lucy grabbed David’s shoulders firmly. “It’s you and me, David.”
“We’ll catch up later, now go!” Maine ordered.
Lucy spotted a sleek black and blue Rayfield Aerondight "Guinevere", the perfect car to chase Jimmy’s tail. Using her quick magic, the luxury sports car was unlocked. David hopped in the driver seat with Lucy riding shotgun. Pedal to the metal, David pushed the machine harder, redlining the limiter on the dashboard.
Lucy held tightly against the door handle. “Don’t crash like last time, turbo!”
“Kaoru Fujioka won’t mind buying another Aerondight we just klepped.”
The Aerondight caught up with three car lengths behind the Caliburn. Jimmy weaved in and out of traffic to lose his pursuer. David’s Apogee Sandevistan triggered, matching the BD editor move for move. Much to Lucy’s relief, David did not clip traffic or cause damage to property before his Sandy deactivated.
David growled. “The f*cker pulls off that EMP again…”
“He won’t pop sh*t once we zero his rainbow ass.”
Lucy transferred Jimmy’s location to Maine and Dorio as she saw David tighten his grip on the steering wheel. “You’re pissed, David.”
“Goddamn right I am. He’s lost one of his loyal fans.”
Kiwi and V were in the Hozuki MH1, parked across Tanaka’s luxury apartment at Charter Hill. Two black V5000 Valors were in the front and back of Tanaka’s car. V tapped the dashboard, figuring out how to nab Tanaka. V’s cyberware buzzed.
“Bad news, V, Kiwi,” Dorio said. “We’re chasing JK’s tail, he caught our whiff.”
“sh*t…do what you got to do. Remember, Maine wants him alive.”
Once Dorio hung up, Kiwi turned to the netrunner. “V, one of us has to separate Tanaka’s security away from him.”
“I’ll get him,” V said without hesitation.
V fired his ping daemons to highlight seven guards walking back and forth in the apartment at moderate pace. V climbed the ladder to sneak inside Tanaka’s room. He tampered with the alarms, printers, and coffee machines to distract Tanaka’s guards. V’s covert daemon baited the guard to his position without putting him in alerted state. V choked him from behind with vigor strength until he blacked out. V hid him inside the closet. Kiwi’s viruses jammed their radios and cyberwares, where they did not even notice their presence.
Tanaka’s driver, Vladimir, waited patiently in the obsidian black and red sports limo for Tanaka’s presence. Apparently, Tanaka fired Maxim because he was responsible for not protecting the GPS shard. Kiwi transmitted her virus to Vladimir. He seemed to be dizzy and slapped the side of his head to get rid of it. The driver’s HUD flashed a warning that there’s a netrunner trying to pry open his ICE. He conjured his counterbots to flush out the intruder, but they were no match, and his bots were destroyed into million pieces. Vladimir’s ICE was so weak that Kiwi didn’t have to use full power to pierce through. Vladimir panicked, trying to unlock the car. Just as things couldn’t get much worse, the car locked itself from the inside. The dashboard made a horrible scratching sound then the screen frizzled with red messages highlighted in yellow.
Vladimir, I uploaded a crippling virus inside your ICE. Don’t bother calling backup as they are rendered useless. The instructions are clear: drop Tanaka at JK’s studio. Make a sudden move, you will be fried on the spot.
Vladimir knew that the intruder was not bluffing as he saw the error message of the virus ready to kill him on the spot. The driver nodded his head frantically, trying to keep his cool.
Tanaka approached towards the Herrera Outlaw GTS, unknowingly being tailed by V. The moment he stepped into his limo they cornered him at gunpoint. Kiwi sat next to Vladimir, ready to snuff him.
“What is the meaning of this?” Tanaka questioned.
“This is a kidnap,” V replied. “You will do as what we demand.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, Tanaka. You’re the top dog on the Arasaka Academy.”
Tanaka took a closer look at the kidnapper. His eyes widened in dismay that it was V. The nerve of the former Arasaka to do something despicable.
“Foolish boy! You’re messing with Arasaka’s mightiest.”
“So what?”
“You have nowhere to run,” Kiwi warned.
Tanaka refused to give up, trying to summon his SOS signal. However, Kiwi had a jammer, rendering his backup useless. For additional measures, V slipped a GPS jammer into Tanaka’s personal socket.
V gave him a look of contempt. “I jammed your comms so you won’t pull a fast one.”
Tanaka frowned. “A thorough plan, I see.”
“Think I don’t know you’re Trauma Team platinum?”
Tanaka growled at V and Kiwi taking full control of him. He was in a tight spot. Tanaka was used to bossing people with his prestige status. Now, he was a hostage.
“Let your cohorts know that you have a family emergency leave. If I see a single shadow of your goons, I’ll pop you faster than you can call Trauma Team.”
“The arrogance of you two!”
“You better hurry, Tanaka, or else my finger might slip.”
V’s finger was on the trigger with the hammer co*cked. V and Kiwi did not trust Tanaka, fearing that he may break through their jammers. Kiwi override the suit’s ICE, thought-commanded to Arasaka suits that his son tripped and fell down the stairs that required family emergency leave. Vladimir drove calmly without a fuss. Kiwi’s threat kept him at bay. The destination will take a while, but V and Kiwi weren’t in a rush. Tanaka hated being played at by a disgruntled corpo employee that bear his fangs at him. V’s finger did not let go on the trigger.
David and Lucy spotted Jimmy’s Caliburn parked next to the entrance of the studio that was a Northside warehouse. It did not have a sign as it’s designed to be low profile. Anyone walking past by would dismiss it unsignificant. The couple opened the door cautiously with guns in their hands. The main floor was cluttered with typical machinery of all sorts. They searched high and low for Jimmy before the man himself appeared on the catwalk.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jimmy announced proudly, his narrow eyes shining. “Witness the genius create Edgerunners series #33. You don’t want to miss it.”
The holo-projection of Jimmy appeared briefly before it vanished. A shade emerald of light formed a rectangle from the ceiling. A single light bulb flickered irregularly. The yellow holographic aura subsided. Lines of red LED began to form horizontally and vertically, creating a dark stage of dead bodies. Stab wounds, bullet holes, shell casings, bits of organs spilled clumsily. The nauseating framework had to be Jimmy’s sick imagination.
David saw a figure emerging from the shadows. The fingers had red bloodstains, followed by a hand clutching what looked like a gunmetal grey rod. David peered his prone gaze at it. He saw that it was the searing barrel of a HJSH-18 Masamune.
The materialization had a logic of its own. It can’t be done by an AI. The arms were next until the torso was fully formed.
The result was a replica of David. Lucy was stunned, unable to utter a single word. However, it wasn’t exactly David because Jimmy imagined him. The faux David’s eyes were bloodshot, unhinged like a rabid animal. His body was swelled with huge muscles that rivaled Maine. Three badges surrounded ‘David’, firing their pistols that obliterated his armed left hand and torso. ‘David’ did not go down instantly. In a shocking twist, the left arm transformed into a plethora of gun barrels and scopes with ammunition belts dangling. Mass of metal writhed his entire left arm.
Lucy glanced at her input shocked at the abomination of the replica. The eerily colors of Jimmy’s creation heaved and turned towards the badges. Horrendous noise of gunshots echoed out into the imitated stage. Over 100 bullets flew up into the air at once. Screams rose from the badges.
David shuddered in fear. What was Jimmy’s accomplishment showing off his disgusting presentation he called art? The image slowly extended a right arm and extruded mantis blades. With vigorous, dreamlike deliberation, it tore more badges into ribbons that frantically radioed MaxTac. David caught a glimpse of cybernetics glowing his back. Lucy couldn’t handle the sickening show and vomited on the ground.
The terrible replica was met by MaxTac that turned him into swiss cheese. What Jimmy dreamed, that’s the result of his XBD in brainstorm phase. Something seemingly closed around his head like a vise. David shook his aching head, gagged, and puked his guts out.
“Prim high, huh?”
The strip of light came to life, and Jimmy stepped onto the stage. The framework disintegrated as he walked through it. Lucy approached Jimmy with her Unity at the ready and fired it without a moment’s hesitation. The bullet went through Jimmy’s holo-projection.
“What the f*ck was that?” David demanded.
“How does it feel to experience your own death?” Jimmy scoffed in amusem*nt.
“Are you kidding me?! You’re a f*cking psychopath!”
“David, he’s hiding somewhere,” Lucy warned.
“Jimmy” disappeared instantly. David and Lucy had their guns trained as they entered the room ahead of them. Instead of machines, it was a hall of mirrors found at amusem*nt parks. The background was pitch black. Red LED bars glow beneath the mirrors. David does not have time for silly games.
“You told me you were a loyal fan! Then again, most of them are nutjobs. The way I see it, you’re a real cyberpunk, aren't you? Trying to ambush me like that, what was it you’re after?”
“Give yourself up, Jimmy,” David answered. “Stop hiding like a coward.”
Jimmy’s creepy tone echoed through the loudspeakers. “Why would I do that when I have the upper edge?”
Jimmy appeared behind David, laughing evilly. The solo fired his Lexington, shattering the mirror as Jimmy giggled. Having trouble of what’s real and a reflection, David gritted his teeth. Even Lucy the cool-headed netrunner was starting to get ticked off. When it came to f*cking people’s minds, nobody could top off Jimmy.
“Or am I over here?”
David ran against the mirror, Jimmy laughed evilly. He enjoyed watching David go over the edge in a losing battle.
“Goddamn it, where the f*ck are you?”
Despite David’s angry bellow, Jimmy was hiding like a co*ckroach. Lucy wanted to put a bullet between his eyes badly.
“Does my ass look big in this chinchilla?”
The more Jimmy laughed David’s patience ran thin. David and Lucy searched frantically. Jimmy can do this all night to wreck their minds.
“Stop playing games, Carlo,” David said, deliberately getting his name wrong.
Jimmy appeared again in four mirrors facing David. “I’m certain that you’ve seen my other works perhaps. Say the Edgerunner series?”
“Seen most of your stuff.”
“Oh, stop! You’re making me blush! Has it ever tickled your curiosity wondering how I get my hands on so many cyberpsycho scrolls?”
“What?”
“All military prototypes come with a built-in braindance scroller. Some people are willing to pay through the nose for that kind of material.”
David can’t believe how dirty the military can be chipping BD scroller for the sake of profiting from war.
“Your Apogee Sandevistan, do you know who wore it originally?”
“Who?” David questioned.
“His name was James Norris. The body count was 27 until MaxTac stopped his kill streak permanently.”
David’s stomach churned at the thoughts of his Apogee Sandy originally worn by a serial killer. David can’t see himself being morphed into James’s successor.
“Oh, yes, take my word. It's not often you find someone who can stand on equal footing with Night City’s finest protector.”
Lucy was worried at her input shaking profusely. She wanted to protect him from the hands of evil doers that wanted a piece of him. Her advice of chipping some chrome was meant for him to stand toe-to-toe against rival edgerunners. However, Lucy feared that her advice would turn into a curse.
“Oh, my. What a gem! Truly one of the best I've seen in a long while. I have high expectations for you, David. And what a marvelous surprise that you haven't snapped already. Fight all you want, the Sandevistan will drive you mad eventually!”
David’s eyes went wide. “You’re not the judge of me!”
“I cannot wait to capture it.”
“I ain't gonna go psycho! No f*cking way!”
“A common belief that all chrome fiends hold on to desperately. They know they're sane until they're not.”
“No, not me!”
“Oh, yes, you too. Throw in 10 rounds with MaxTac and your brain will pop like a balloon.”
Jimmy wanted to watch David snap for his next Edgerunners series. This was how he finalized his product. Grab a sample of implants with BD scrollers, he can tune them to his liking. Lucy tightened the grip of her Unity until she saw a red door to the left.
“Over there, David.” Her voice boomed out. “Jimmy’s hiding in that room.”
Jimmy chuckled. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall…who’s the fairest of them-"
David found the door and kicked it, revealing the real Jimmy behind the desk. Shocked by his hiding hole exposed, the BD editor attempted to fire Shock-n-Awe. A gunshot split the air. David did not flinch when he yanked the trigger. The bullet sliced Jimmy’s cheek, puncturing into the concrete wall. Jimmy reeled from being grazed. Lucy’s daemon transmitted Jimmy’s remaining self-defense cyberware, sealing up his bag of tricks. When Lucy informed him that “Next one will permanently disable your optics,” his skinny body trembled fearfully.
“This can’t be…!”
“Hands up!”
The voice was Dorio’s. When they turned to look at her and Maine, she trained her Overture on Jimmy with both hands. Maine blocked the path, making a point that there’s no escape.
“Fine! I surrender, white flags and all.”
Her foot slammed into his back. “White flag my ass!”
Jimmy was face down on the ground. “I advise not zeroing me when I have a VIP coming in a couple of minutes.”
“Shut it! Prepare to breathe your last little sh*t stain.”
“Really, but I thought you have some questions for me.”
Dorio pistol whipped him. “Motherf*cker!”
Jimmy winced from the sting. “I'm willing to hear you out, but I prefer to use both ears.”
“One wrong move, I'll carve you myself,” Dorio warned.
“Hear me out for once.”
Maine checked the neokitsch BD editor’s jacket and pocket for hidden tricks. Empty. Jimmy was cornered, admitting that he never had die-hard fans after him. Jimmy was forcibly planted onto the chair as the crew surrounded him like a hound of hungry wolves.
Maine injected immunoblocker into his left bicep. “Aight, everyone know the plan?”
“Yes, captain,” Jimmy replied unenthusiastically.
Maine gestured to David. “I’ll be on the holo. Till then, you stay put, and don’t let him out of your sight.”
The rest of the crew spread out, leaving David and Jimmy alone. The BD editor’s room was stacked full of XBDs signed by his initials in neon green.
“I like to apologize for my…inappropriate behavior.”
David stared at him incredulously. “Like I give a sh*t. I didn’t really expect you to help.”
“I’m no gonk. I know how Edgerunners work. Guns pointed to my head, cyberwares disabled. I didn’t have much of a choice now, did I?”
“Obviously.”
“Re-lived that one too, did you?”
“Yeah.”
“Yet you installed the Sandy anyway? You’re either a loose cannon with nothing to lose or unhinged, which one are you?”
“I'm never gonna end up losing it like James did.”
“James was a soldier that had cyberware running in his veins. Even the best ones reached their peak and lose it all.”
He squinted at David. “What I want to know is what makes you think you're any different?”
David gave him a pointed look. “I don't know. Hard to say because it just...feels right. Like, the Apogee Sandy has been a part of me. I'm built different. I just am.”
“Do you believe yourself to be special?”
“Why not take the chance?”
“Over the years, I’ve witnessed many chrome jocks claim they never lose their minds. Some metal's simply not meant to mix with meat. Your 'ganic body is first to get pierced, then your soul gets pushed to the edge.”
His voice grew louder. “Teeters on the brink. And it always ends one of two ways. You either dive to the abyss with no return...or die! There’s no in-between.”
The last statement was not a joke. Jimmy’s expression seemed serious.
Minutes later, V and Kiwi arrived at Jimmy’s studio. Maine grinned at the duo netrunners bringing in Tanaka without heat. Jimmy was released to do his thing. V and Kiwi escorted Tanaka out of the car, holstering his Overture. Seeing no reason to hold him at gunpoint against a defenseless suit, V walked behind him. Vladimir was left alone in the car, still trembling from the threat.
“Hey, Mr. Tanaka. Come on in.”
Tanaka entered the door as V and Kiwi waited outside.
“You're ahead of schedule,” Tanaka said. “It's usually months before I get word of your next release.”
“Perceptive as always,” Jimmy remarked.
After a brief pause, he said, “Quality scrolls aren’t easy to come by. But see that's exactly what makes this one so special with my own blood, sweat, and tears. I assumed you want this baby tuned right away?”
“My son is being discharged from the hospital tonight. I’ll take standard edit as usual.”
“How unfortunate. I'm rather proud of how this one turned out. A true waste to settle for a standard. The sensitivity, the real feel...”
“Mr. Kurosaki! I’m not one for waiting.”
He was mad.
Jimmy snapped his mouth shut the moment he heard a metallic sound.
“I ought to thank you for making this job a whole lot easier with you chin deep with BD titt*es.” Maine smirked, pointing his Pozhar at Tanaka.
The high-rank exec’s expression froze. The crew emerged from the sides. Guns trained towards him. V and Kiwi appeared from behind with their respective smart weapons.
“Not once, but twice, I’ve been set up?”
“I apologize sincerely!” Jimmy raised his hands. “I also got nabbed by the balls.”
“You made a grave mistake going after me,” Tanaka hissed. “I’ll see to it that all of you die by my hands.”
Tanaka was cornered by the gang. Tanaka raised his hands in the air to surrender. Except Tanaka doesn't intend to follow their orders. His hands revealed sharp needles and fired. David disengaged his Sandy to save Jimmy from being caught in the crossfire. Myriads of needles flew indiscriminately, forcing everyone to take cover. Maine fired his Pozhar rapidly. Tanaka was too fast for him. His kung-fu chipware engaged, delivering blow after blow. Tanaka crouched for an uppercut. Big mistake. Maine pulled his left fist upwards behind his ear, launching downward toward Tanaka’s head. With extra weight added to the punch, the suit was knocked out, splitting the wooden table in halves. After regaining his composure, Maine cuffed Tanaka’s wrists and ankles and threw him in the trunk of their SUV.
The crew turned their attention to Jimmy. They wanted to squeeze him further for information he might have hidden.
“Who will be my next knight in shining armor?” Jimmy asked.
“No one,” David replied. “I want all of your eddies, XBD, and a techie you hired.”
“Hmm, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Time’s ticking!”
“Would you rather wipe my ass for me?”
Jimmy was iced by David himself for talking in circle. He was sick of the eccentric man spewing nonsense and the way he tried to turn him into a cyberpsycho. Two bullets pierced Jimmy’s chest into kingdom come. The last one went between his eyes. There’s no way Jimmy will live to see another day. David shook his head at the mess he caused. Maine patted his back, reassuring him that he would have done the same.
“sh*t! Jimmy is Trauma Team platinum!” V warned.
“You don’t mean…”
“Trauma Team’s incoming,” Kiwi added. “They are around the block.”
“This bitch is Trauma coverage?” Maine reasonably cried.
V did not waste a beat. “Let’s go before they zero us!”
The crew make a hasty getaway with their prize locked up. Vladimir lay unusually still, face down against the steering wheel. Smoke emitted from his neural socket.
Back at the hideout, Tanaka sat on the chair with his hands and feet bounded. His face was patched with a large band-aid and gauze tape to his left cheek. The patch up was half-baked, but enough to keep Tanaka still. The crew wanted to go Jack Bauer interrogation to get the info. V objected to it not because it was overkill. He wanted Tanaka to be compliant. Any harm done to him will make Tanaka resistant to talk. The crew reluctantly honored V’s request. With V in deep dive, Maine and David guard the room. Kiwi and Lucy are reserves in case V hit a snag. Dorio crossed her arms, hoping that V would make it out in one piece.
Virtual space overlapped reality. The giant shield stood proudly. No wonder Tanaka had fat layers of ICE to protect his personal data. CPU usage and temperature were at optimum capacity. The upgraded deck helped him tremendously to stay longer in virtual space. Reality went pitch black until the encryption lock disengaged.
White jigsaw puzzles materialized left and right. V’s upgraded deck ran smoothly. Plenty of RAM to use at his disposal. Five more puzzles to solve. A wave of numbers appeared. They were distractions to throw him out of his game. He chose the correct patterns to fill the blank spots, then the puzzle was complete. In virtual, he couldn’t feel his body entirely.
David and Maine lock and load their sidearms.
Maine grunted, brass checking his red Tsunami Nue with yellow accents. “If Tanaka don’t make it, we need a Plan B.”
“Plan A, B, or Z should have never come to this,” David sighed. “This was supposed to be an easy grab.”
“Long as Tanaka does not move an inch, we be fine.”
Good news, Faraday did not call Maine for data. Bad news, they will have to dispose Tanaka to cut their losses if sh*t hits the fan. Maine prayed to not use his iron. David felt the same for the leader. Kiwi tapped her foot while Lucy organized her daemons to remove potential Arasaka hunters.
The gates opened like a stack of dominoes. V has access to Tanaka’s domain. He investigated large stacks of videos, audio, and BD scrolls. V had to deal with the copy protection bot lurking. V summoned an attack bot, gave them the map and released them.
Standing on the crossbar switch, V found a red vase and unlocked it. A unique way to store sensitive files Tanaka does not reveal. An archived video showed David using Sandevistan. Another one revealed Lucy’s netrunning performance data. They were something worth keeping.
The construct found more files of cyberskeleton project, list of candidates and began to download. The smell of burning wires, hot metal made his body burn.
Downloading 26%
Tanaka’s avatar bore a resemblance to his world self. V turned around to see Tanaka’s construct.
V taunted. “Like father and son, you got your asses kicked. Looking for Round 2?”
“Most guests invading my datafort don’t last long. This was meant for need-to-know basis.”
“I did not come close to your datafort the first time. Seems that beating you up in reality made it easier.”
“You’re stealing my personal files. Shame of you falling this low.”
Tanaka waited for his copy protector daemon to destroy V’s attack bot. However…
“Out of protection for good, Tanaka,” V said. “My bot defeated your guardian. Why don’t we stop fighting like boys for once and talk like gentlemen?”
V’s little beast returned with the protector head chewed between a row of jagged teeth. His demonstration had turned the tables.
Tanaka frowned perpetually. “Very well, I will listen to what you have to say.”
With a snap of his finger, the attack bot disintegrated. Tanaka and V showed their hands that they were out of daemons.
“Tanaka, enlighten me on the Arasaka cyberskeleton project.”
“The Arasaka prototype cyberskeleton, codename Emperor Jimmu was originally made for Adam Smasher. However, we found potential candidates that can keep up the cyberskeleton’s high demands.”
Night City’s boogeyman. He does not need another skeleton to borg him. “Trying to dominate the ground with that hunk of junk? Don’t make me laugh.”
“It’s a failure Adam once stated. It relied on gravitational field generators to operate. Not to mention, it adds immense strain on the operator.”
“What I don’t understand is there are other candidates you could have nabbed, not David and Lucy.”
“Those two showed stellar results of cyberware tolerance. They are the shining light to pave Arasaka to glory.”
“Bring back Arasaka to its former prime? I think you should bow out gracefully.”
“Can’t you see, V? No one other than David can fire Sandevistan over nine times without going cyberpsychosis! This is the ideal candidate for Emperor Jimmu.”
“Is that the same for Lucy?”
“Indeed. She will be the spear to destroy the arrogance of Militech and those that did us wrong.”
The domain remained stable. V did his best to keep his cool from the high-rank exec raving like a messiah.
“It was you that revoked David’s expulsion,” V accused. “Over for kicking the sh*t out of your son.”
“I was the one that called David offering him a scholarship back to the Academy.”
“So you can strap him to your beloved toy…”
“Gather the data, and fine tune the cyberskeleton to not rely on gravitational field generators. Once that’s done, we will do the same to Lucy until mass production comes to fruition.”
V shook his head the more Tanaka was openly revealing Arasaka’s sinister plans. V expected him to be more resistant in cyberspace than reality. Was Tanaka really off his rocker just because he can’t be touched in virtual space?
Downloading 37%
V glanced at the progress. "I appreciate you for not going hostile on me, but I should have expected you to mislead information to cover your ass before you launch a counter strike.”
“What’s the point when I know that your ragtag of mercenaries will dispose me once I’m no longer useful?”
V can’t tell whether Tanaka was bluffing or not, but on the off chance he was not, which was a problem.
“Here’s a bigger picture. Faraday was not the only one that’s after David and Lucy-”
Tanaka gave him an icy look. “-Arthur also gave me the same assignment.”
V’s eyes went wide. “What the f*ck? Arthur?”
“Yes, your former boss has ascended to take over Susan Abernathy’s campaign to carry the legacy.”
“What’s going on?” V demanded.
“I don’t know.”
“Stop bullsh*tting.”
“It’s the truth!”
Tanaka feared for his own life. He has never tasted defeat until now.
“V, why must you get involved with edgerunners? I thought you knew better than running around with a gun in your hand.”
“Never again, will I slave away from the likes of you,” V hissed.
“You cannot escape Arasaka’s shadows.”
V did not care. In desperation, Tanaka pleaded. “V, you may have been expelled by Arasaka. Please, you don’t need to get your hands dirty with mercenaries. This madness needs to end with your own hands. I can forgive your misconducts to bring you back where you once belonged. Don’t throw your life away over this!”
Wait, is Tanaka trying to convince me to go back to Arasaka? This was not how he usually talks. “f*ck you and your offers, I’m not going back to Arasaka.”
“Wait, V!”
“Who else is involved with Arthur’s operations?”
“It’s-“
Out of nowhere, the domain began to frizzle. V’s cyberware screeched loudly with a giant warning flash. His download showed an error message of unable to continue at 58%.
“This can’t be possible!” Tanaka yelped.
The domain shook wildly akin to an 8.0 magnitude with bits of wall descending upon them.
“NO! NO! Please save me!” Tanaka screamed.
Tanaka’s virtual construct was frozen and was torn into shreds by an unknown deity. V frantically scoped Tanaka’s remaining files to deploy emergency evacuation. The unknown tried to take down V into oblivion before he made his way out of virtual reality.
Gasping for air, V returned to meatspace. Two large projectors flashed Tanaka struggling to break free. The high-rank executive was supposed to be out cold. Maine and David should be on guard duty. Wait, Maine was not at the entrance. Why was Tanaka alive when V was in the middle of a deep dive? Before V could recollect his bearings, a large metal fist met his jaw, knocking him out cold.
“Maine! What the hell did you do?” David asked.
The crew was shocked at the leader’s erratic behavior. Maine believed that an intruder made his way to the hideout to get his hands on the prize.
“Where's our goddamn data?” Maine asked.
“Maine! Stop! sh*t! What're you...HEY!”
A voice croaked weakly. “…Help me…!”
A single gunshot rang out, echoing the netrunner room. A shell casing bounced on the ground. Maine held up a semi-auto pistol next to Tanaka. The .45 tore between his eyes. Blood leaked like a faucet from the back of his head.
“V?” Maine tapped the unconscious netrunner. “You back with us?”
“Dorio?” Lucy muttered.
“sh*t...!” Dorio replied coldly.
“Did we get jumped?” Maine said, dumbfounded. “Was it ‘Tinos that fired a hack on us?”
Valentinos don't have netrunners to begin with. The crew was too stunned to utter a word.
“And what happened to V?” Maine asked.
V was face down on the ground. Maine was bewildered at the netrunner. Maine scratched his head, figuring out what went down.
Maine blinked. V got to his feet slowly like a zombie. The lead solo envisioned that V completed his deep dive to propel their status. How in the hell can he recover immediately from being knocked out after he ejected from his deep dive?
A left knuckle connected his nose. Maine reeled backward, feeling blood from his broken nostrils. His crew never dared to raise a fist against him.
“You ruined my dive!” V bellowed.
“What the f*ck was you thinking?” Maine roared.
“Tanaka kicked the bucket because of you!”
Maine shot him an indominable glare. “The f*ck did you say, asshole?!”
“Lost good chunks of info we could have leveraged against him.”
“Ain’t my fault that Tanaka woke up. Use your magic to go back to his head.”
“You shot Tanaka in the head!” V shouted. “Can’t deep dive on a dead man!”
Maine was enraged at the accusation V spat at him.
V angrily gestured at the injector stuck at Tanaka’s neck. “Who told you to use an adrenaline booster?”
“That’s a tranq, you blind asshole!”
“A tranquilizer sedates, not wake them up, you stupid fat f*ck!”
Maine raised his large fist in a practiced motion. “YOU SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!”
Adrenaline booster was written in blue on the injector. Maine mistakenly grabbed it for tranquilizer. V had every right to be pissed off. Even though V saved some data, the rest were scorched to hell. Maine and V were this close duking it out until Dorio and David restrained Maine from turning V’s head into tomato paste. Lucy and Kiwi pulled V back.
“Cool it, you two!” Dorio ordered.
“Maine, stop!” David pleaded.
Maine and V glared daggers at each other. The crew did not want another infight like last time. They were this close to losing each other permanently. V gritted his teeth at Tanaka flatlined. He kicked the overhead projector in frustration.
The computer flashed a red warning message.
“No! The jammer fried when Tanaka got zeroed.” Dorio announced. “Trauma Team caught the sig.”
“V! We ain’t done, you hear me?!” Maine howled. “Now help us dispose Tanaka.”
The nerve of Maine ordering V to clean up his mess. “f*ck you! I’m getting the hell out of here.”
The minimum contribution V made was snatching Tanaka’s expensive suit as last insult to injury. Maine tried to grab V for disobedience to discipline him. V was too fast for him and went out the window like a scurried rat.
The abduction of Tanaka was supposed to be a smooth day until Maine had to f*ck it all up. Maine’s bad call to get rid of Tanaka’s dead body nearly cost them their lives. The crew ended up abandoning their hideout with Tanaka all alone before Trauma Team showed up.
It’s been days since the crew went off the radar. No holo-calls, nothing. The crew must have done their own thing either solo or paired in partners to make some pocket eddies. V did everything he could to not think about the last f*ck up. He shopped for cheap, fashionable clothes. He wore a black striped button-up shirt, gray pleated pants, and black suede sneakers. V did not want to buy unnecessary expensive clothes when he can thrift shop that is respectable for dress casual. V took dress code to heart because outfits measure the person’s characteristics to an extent. The point is, wearing rip-off military clothes did not sit well to be mistaken as a scav.
Storing his D5 Copperhead and G-58 Dian onto the gun rack between the driver and passenger seat, V heaved his hatchback to drive. Some may say that he’s gone overboard the way he’s carrying bigger iron. For him, it’s one too many times he almost died both from virtual space and reality. Especially friendly fire by Maine.
On the freeway, V spotted a familiar car, the red Maimai P126 at Japantown Bridge – Corpo Plaza. V pulled alongside to investigate the abandoned car and found a shard.
Carter Smith: Your “Disciplinary actions” can't scare me.
Arthur Jenkins: Must I remind you what “firing” means in your case?
Arthur Jenkins: With the knowledge you have?
Arthur Jenkins: With your level of access to Arasaka intel? I guess your recent physical punishment didn’t go through that thick skull of yours.
Carter Smith: Are you threatening me?
Carter Smith: You will never take away my dignity or self-respect.
Arthur Jenkins: Self-respect? Dignity?
Arthur Jenkins: You're nothing but a sh*t stain to Arasaka.
Carter Smith: With all due respect, you are no different than Susan.
Arthur Jenkins: Ass kissing me won’t make a difference.
Carter Smith: Yes. I won't stoop to your level.
Arthur Jenkins: You think you're better than me, Carter?
Arthur Jenkins: After you tried to report to HR about my activities?
Arthur Jenkins: I will only say this once.
Arthur Jenkins: You are a spineless coward.
Arthur Jenkins: And you will die alone in a pitiful mudball.
Carter Smith: That's where you're wrong.
Arthur Jenkins: You'll scream and beg for mercy before this is over.
Arthur Jenkins: I can’t wait to see your pathetic face while you grovel like a little bitch.
Carter Smith: I’m afraid you'll be waiting a while, then.
Arthur Jenkins: Trying to be tough guy, huh?
Carter Smith: I won't give you the satisfaction.
Carter Smith: I'll do it myself.
Carter Smith: And you can't do a thing about it.
Arthur Jenkins: Fine.
Arthur Jenkins: Jump to your grave.
V can’t believe the audacious idea. Driving down the overpass, he saw Carter Smith’s corpse. Apparently, Carter tried to drown, but he tripped on the barrier fence, and he landed face first on the edge of the riverbank. The sight was gnarly as expected. V opened another shard.
Carter Smith: Hey mom, won't be able to come by this weekend after all.
Mary Smith: Work again?
Carter Smith: Yeah.
Carter Smith: Unfortunately.
Mary Smith: Don't say that, you should be happy!
Mary Smith: Other people can only dream of having a job like yours.
Carter Smith: Thanks for the support, mom.
Mary Smith: I mean it. Don't go feeling sorry for yourself.
Mary Smith: I mean, look at your sister, she has to work nights in that restaurant
Mary Smith: for peanuts
Mary Smith: and with a little one at home too
Mary Smith: and you're complaining?
Mary Smith: about a job at Arasaka?
Carter Smith: You don't even know the things they make me do.
Mary Smith: Come on, grow up. They're paying you for it, aren't they?
V never ordered Carter to take his own life, despite his constant screwups. That’s the line he never crossed. V covered his face in shame until his cyberware hummed.
“V, this is Frank from Arasaka, ‘member?”
“Frank?” V was surprised by his former coworker. “Never thought to live to see you’re alive.”
“I’m still here and breathing. Before I begin, check that you’re not being tailed.”
V did a full-360. “No one else but me. What’s up?”
“All right, nova. I can’t let no one else intercept our call.”
Frank’s head was on a swivel for spies lurking. He was paranoid, but he had reasons for it.
“I don’t know what happened to Susan, but Arthur has taken her throne. He’s shaking the workforce to weed out those that don’t make the cut. Arthur is on a goddamn war path! I was on his list. I have no idea why. I’m in the same boat as you, V. You know they don’t take prisoners nor dismissals.”
“sh*t…! How did you make it out of Arthur’s hunting party?”
“I went goose before they turned their sights on me. I’m okay for now, but I can’t stay in the line for too long.”
“Where are you, Frank?”
“Creek Loop at Kabuki. I’m finishing up the touches on my case I built up. Arthur thinks the world revolves around him. He will be dethroned once I release every dirty deed he’s done.”
Frank bit his lip in frustration. “If I don’t make it out alive, the messages and coords are there. V, you’re the only one I can trust. You’d know what to do.”
At Creek Loop, V saw a dumpster. The GPS indicated it was under, so he pushed it. V found the briefcase, but it was empty. V turned around to see a disgruntled Frank that got disposed of like trash.
“Good afternoon, V,” said Frank. “Man, time sure flies the last time we were under Arasaka.”
“Frank?” V noticed his disheveled appearance. “Man, you weren’t lying about Arthur scrubbing Arasaka to his liking.”
“Yeah,” Frank replied bitterly. “I bet you could’ve gone back to give Arthur a beating within an inch of his life.”
V nodded. “Inferred death just isn’t what is used to be.”
“Keyword – inferred. Arthur purged the department, including me. My house, implants, cars I worked hard for - all swiped in a flash. I’ve done nothing wrong to him, and I got the boot! I’ll show Arthur is wrong about me by shoving it deep in his eye sockets.”
V shot a probing stare at his counterpart. “So that’s how it’s going to be? Making your scheme to kill me so Arthur welcomes you? Expecting Arasaka to welcome you with confetti and party balloons with a bottle of champagne?”
Frank gave him a depraved smile. “That’s right. Be a good choom and die for me.”
Frank was desperate to get Arasaka’s good grace. V did whatever he could to deescalate the hostile situation. “Do you remember Joey Livani? Mergers and acquisitions dude? When he found out that Arasaka fired him, he peed himself. Cried so loud that guards dragged him out to the curb.”
“Why are you talking about him?”
“Joey was the most pathetic dude ever. Well, not so anymore. You took his title.”
“You taught me it’s a dog-eat-dog world, V. You vouched me to take his title because he was getting useless. I can’t believe you have gotten soft on me.”
“How would I know that Joey didn’t take his loss well and cried like a baby?”
“You used to be hardcore, keeping your team in check, passing with flying colors. Now, you are a shell of your former self. This is why you must die.”
“Frank, open your eyes! Arasaka does not give chances. You said it yourself too.”
Frank passionately continued asking his questions. “Lots of people have gone back. Would you have done the same if Arasaka gave you the open window?”
V tried so hard to convince Frank not to go through his hare-brained idea. “Fat chance. Sure, some return to Arasaka at the cost of their freedom to be a soulless cog with deep cleaning. Is this how you want to live your life slaving away without free will? You can do better, Frank.”
“Arasaka gave me the meaning of life. I’ll never go back being broke. f*ck sleeping on a dirty mattress with sh*t stains and eating half-eaten scop out of dumpsters.”
V shook his head feebly. “The book ends. Look around you, being a corpo in the long run is not good for your health. You can start a new life.”
“Before you go, I’ll tell you that Arthur is expanding his weapons smuggling here. Offshoring weapons to third-world countries for rebels and dictators.”
The news shocked V, but he did his best to keep his cool. “Why is Arthur interested in turning third-world countries into a hellhole?”
“I don’t know, I have nothing to start with, less!”
“You have a loaded gun and spare magazines. There’s plenty of opportunities to grow.”
A glance of confusion crossed Frank’s face. “No way, V, I’m a counterintelligence agent, not a f*cking merc!”
“Stop thinking about Arasaka for once,” V muttered curtly, trying to pacify the ex-corpo. “Killing me will not resolve your problems.”
Frank averted his gaze at the pile of worn furniture, his right hand reached for something behind his back. The hostile body language made V nervous. Frank itched to get the easy way out.
“Frank, show me your hands, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Frank gave him a gaunt frown. “All this talking is making me tired.”
V’s hands trembled with anxiety jolt. Panic wavered in his throat. “Come on, don’t do this…”
There was a grim light in Frank’s eyes as if he accepted his final verdict.
“Goddamn it, you’ll be a lot worse under Arthur than Susan!”
The world went in slow motion. V saw muzzle flash and the double blast of his former coworker’s compact pistol, Apparition. V did not feel any indication of being clipped. His Overture was away from his waist band to pivot towards Frank, and he fired two rounds. One of the rounds went through Frank’s chest and the second struck the stomach. Gravity sent him slumped to the dirty brown couch. Blood erupted from Frank’s mouth, gurgling from being mortally wounded. V’s right hand glid across his chest to form a two-handed grip as he pushed the revolver forward. V approached his assailant cautiously. Fear made his teeth ache, tightening the grip of his Overture.
Frank’s right-hand twitched like a dead bug. Still clutching his Apparition, Frank used every ounce of his strength to get the drop on V. Somehow, at two yards, he missed again. V recoiled from the thought of getting hit.
Rage flared behind V’s eyes. “You prick!”
The Overture roared four more times the instant that the front sight aligned his eyes. All four rounds found their mark on the ex-corpo’s lungs and pectorals until his whole torso painted red. Frank’s lifeless body lay on the couch in a rapidly expanding pool of blood.
V’s hands were shaking profusely from the adrenaline. V can feel cold sweat on his temple. Tears tried to pry their way up past his eyelids. A frown spread across V’s face. V felt guilty killing Frank. He did not deserve to die, even though Frank provoked him. Frank should have listened to V, not going back to Arasaka. A shame that Frank was too stubborn to give up his unrealistic dreams. To respect the fallen, V did not take Apparition nor scavenge his body for eddies. V walked away, not looking back.
“Lucy, I need your help,” David said.
“What is it, love?” Lucy asked.
“Maine and Dorio don’t care about our intentions. No one else needs to know. We’re going to pay my former classmate a reunion.”
Lucy caught on to her input’s true intention. “Which car are we driving?”
David and Lucy borrowed Maine’s purple vintage Quadra coupe to drive to Katsuo’s house. Located at North Oaks, which was typical for corpo kids. The couple popped open the trunk to retrieve glossy red ballistic masks to disguise their faces, electric baton beta and kanabo. Corporate security did not give them a second look. They were used to people wearing goofy clothes. Nor did they think the weapons were a serious threat. David wielded the studded two-handed war club. Lucy readied her baton with a flick of her wrist. Lucy transmitted her virus to disable Katsuo’s surveillance cameras. David pressed the intercom call button.
“Who is it?” Katsuo asked, getting off his chair.
“Your pizza has arrived,” David lied.
David’s mask muffled his voice, Katsuo did not recognize his former classmate. Katsuo did not recall ordering pizza, but he couldn’t help but check it out. The moment Katsuo opened the door, he was met with a face full of studs. Katsuo was stunned from the brunt impact, unable to trigger his kung-fu chipware. David and Lucy broke in with sheer force. Katsuo’s large sidekick reached for his lead spitter, but Lucy whipped his face with her electric baton. Each succession of swings paralyzed him. Katsuo and his choom got their ass kicked for 10 seconds. David dropped his war club to watch his school bully crumble like a ragdoll.
“Oh, that hurts, ain’t it?” David asked.
Katsuo rolled in pain, covering his nose the same way David kicked his ass at Arasaka Academy. David grabbed a beer bottle on the table to smash Katsuo’s head. Fragments of glass splintered his head. Lucy tilted her head at her input’s revenge, curious of the savagery.
“f*cking piece of sh*t!” David spat, jabbing the broken beer bottle to the back of the bully’s head.
Katsuo groaned as the glass threatened to pierce his skull. Full of anger at Katsuo bullying him from day one, David raised his kanabo and drove it down to the bully’s rib cage. Lucy heard the sickening thwack of the war club’s impact. Another swing might break his ribs. David reached for his jacket pocket to spill baggies of syn-co*ke.
“You shouldn’t be dealing drugs. Arasaka Academy taught you not to peddle drugs. sh*t f*cks your brain for good.”
Katsuo was too weak to wriggle free from the drugs spilt onto him. The only thing he could see was the blood red mask.
David pointed his war club. “Catch you dealing drugs again, I will beat you up harder.”
David turned around to leave until Lucy squatted next to Katsuo. “You made him very angry. I don’t like it.”
“What are you talking about?” Katsuo questioned.
“That was my input, what did you do to get him mad?”
“I-I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Getting nowhere at Katsuo playing dumb, Lucy drew her blue Unity close to his nose. “No? How about now?”
“Hey, hey, chill, chill!”
“Don’t tell me to f*cking chill! What did you do to him?”
“Please…I didn’t do anything…”
Katsuo’s claim was a lie. Lucy’s virus tagged his kung-fu chipware, frying it to hell. Katsuo’s eyes widened in fear at his pride being torn to shreds.
David glared at Lucy. “We haven’t the time to stay, let’s go!”
Katsuo yelled. “Do you know who my father is, you asshole?!”
If Katsuo really knew where his father was, then he would stop. His stress level spiked from fear of being shot. Lucy pulled the trigger without conscious thought. The .45 found its mark at the left kneecap, tearing through the femur.
“Haaaugh!” Katsuo yelled, covering his wounded knee.
“There goes your kung fu scholarship,” Lucy said.
David rolled his eyes in disgust at his output’s unnecessary beating. He did not come here to cripple or grease his former classmate. Lucy, on the other hand, had other ideas.
“Feeling like talking now?” Lucy demanded, jamming her Unity into his temple.
“No, no, please!” Katsuo pleaded. “What do you want? You want eds? I can give you assholes eds!”
“I’m not after your eddies. Better talk fast or your next knee shall have a sorrowful parting.”
“f*ck! Listen! Arthur is worried that Faraday is after his title.”
“Arthur?” David quipped. “What title do you mean?”
Katsuo glanced away, hesitating to answer. Katsuo was too scared to open his mouth.
“Answer the question,” Lucy snarled.
Her Unity barked, puncturing his right knee twice to keep things in perspective. Katsuo screamed louder than the last, reaching his pitch.
“Jesus! f*ck! It’s Arthur Jenkins, Director of Spec Ops! You see Konpeki Plaza at Arasaka Waterfront? He’s…he’s planning to expand his weapons smuggling racket to profit from third world conflicts.”
“Konpeki Plaza’s closed.”
“No sh*t! Arthur reopened Konpeki Plaza after the Relic theft went bust. I-I don’t know who the thief was because security zeroed him and the Relic is no longer at the hotel. Arthur is paying a lot of eddies to get them on his side.”
“Who else is involved?”
“I don’t know.”
Lucy was this close to putting a bullet between his eyes.
“I don’t know, I swear it!”
Katsuo whimpered from the immense pain he went through. He got a taste of his own medicine for what he did to David.
“Look…I told you what you wanted to know. Please get out of here.”
Lucy turned around and said, “You can call the badges, but remember, I’ve seen your face too.”
Lucy and David left the messy living room. Katsuo was in too much pain to get up.
Maine opened his eyes, staring at the night.
Burning from the acid rain
Memories remain in my brain
The prophet announces his guess
The afterlife is to the west
Come one, come all to the horizon
All I see is shades of death
Bits of what it used to be
