Teo ran, a desperate, scramble through the towering canyons of illicit goods. The Maelstromers, though crude, were numerous and relentless. Their heavy, augmented footsteps pounded on the metal floor, a jarring symphony of steel on concrete, their guttural shouts echoing, closing in.
He launched Short Circuits at the automated forklifts, sending them careening wildly, their spiked frames scraping against metal, hoping to create diversions or block pathways.
He triggered Overloads on stacks of unstable containers, sending them toppling with a deafening, metallic crash that briefly shook the very foundations of the warehouse.
He passed an aisle of large, rusted boxes, the scent of gunpowder and old steel thick in the air, large caliber rounds hanging from exposed racks. He found three Maelstroms checking the boxes, their red optics glinting in the dim light.
Teo moved like a wraith, silent and fast, he ran up to the Maelstrom holding a clipboard, a flicker of boredom in his cyber eyes. Before the goon could even register the chill of the air beside him, Teo's left hand unhooked his boot knife, a glint of polished chrome.
He jammed it under the exposed chin of the Maelstromer, the blade finding the soft spot beneath the hardened synth skin. With a brutal twist of his wrist, Teo turned the blade and slashed down into the throat, opening a gaping wound.
Hot, sticky blood, thick and metallic smelling, sprayed his face. He whipped around, using the dying goon as a shield, and flung the knife. It twirled end over end, burying itself hilt deep into the shoulder of a Maelstromer who was trying to aim his SMG at Teo, making him scream.
The third Maelstrom, a behemoth with a heavy sledgehammer, roared. He took a wide, horizontal swing, a whistling arc of bludgeoning force aimed at Teo's head. Teo, moving on instinct, wove under the hammer, using the momentum of the goon against him. He slammed his foot into the Maelstromer's swinging arm, pushing with all his might.
The goon's own hammer, thrown off course, slammed into his comrade's face with a sickening crunch. Blood, brain matter, and shards of chrome sprayed, as the hammer became grotesquely stuck in the Maelstromer's skull, the body collapsing in a heap.
The remaining Maelstromer, his face contorted in a silent scream of fury, lunged. Teo met him, a blur of motion. He brought his fist down on the goon's face with a sickening Slam!, the impact making the Maelstromer reel back, clutching his shattered nose.
Teo followed up with a brutal front kick to the man's groin, watching him double over with a guttural gasp. Teo didn't hesitate. He raised his foot again and slammed it down on the back of the Maelstromer's metal neck, smashing him against the concrete floor.
With a wet crunch, the man's windpipe closed, and his head bashed against the ground with a nasty thud. Teo barely glanced at the twitching form before beginning his trek past the three crumpled, bloody bodies.
He checked his localized map, displayed across his optics, and came across a well guarded steel door. Two Maelstroms stood sentinel, their heavy assault rifles aimed high, their cyber optics scanning the dark warehouse as if waiting.
Teo took cover next to a towering stack of crates, the stale air thick with the smell of old oil and cheap plasti steel. He peeked over the top. His optics flared, and he sent a Suicide quickhack to the Maelstromer on the left.
Three… The code flew towards the Maelstrom, an invisible digital predator. Two… The code hit, burrowing deep. And one. The Maelstromer suddenly lowered his own heavy rifle, stuffed the barrel into his mouth, and pulled the trigger. His head exploded in a gruesome mist of blood, bone, and brain matter that splattered the wall behind him, painting a grisly abstract.
The other Maelstromer spun, his red eyes wide with shock and horror as he stared at his comrade's obliterated form. But before he could utter a word, a shot rang out. VROOM POW! Bon Bon Mark 2's tech bullet, fired expertly from Teo's right hand, the bullet impacted the metal with a sickening dent, and inside the goon's skull, his brain imploded. His eyeballs bled and his nose dripped dark blood as he fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Some heavy plating on the head," Teo remarked dryly. He moved quickly, running over to the heavy steel door. He jacked in, his shard port sliding into the console's interface. The security systems of the building were already a heaping mess of stranded code and a green ghost, Fucker's cat avatar, moving about in the digital cyberspace. 'Fucker, interface with the cams, buy me some time, use quickhacks if needed,' Teo said, his fingers dancing through the breach protocol of the door, seemingly unharmed by the digital chaos of his previous virus.
"Got it, boss! Interfacing with local feed now. Expanding current operational parameters!" Fucker's voice rang out in Teo's head, crackling with excitement as he worked. Fucker flipped through the feeds, watching as patrols of Maelstrom goons, alerted by the gunfire, started making their way towards the outpost cache Teo was trying to breach.
Fucker made chaos. Sparking explosions from gas canisters, sending arcs of blue electricity ripping through exposed wiring, causing electrical boxes and other electrical components to erupt in flames. A parked buggy in the warehouse near a patrol of eight Maelstroms suddenly detonated in a fiery blossom, engulfing the goons in a blaze.
Twenty five Maelstroms fell by the unseen hand of Fucker. Fucker also created fiery paths, igniting spills of volatile chemicals, buying as much time for Teo as needed.
Fucker switched to a final camera, showing the Militech Agent staring up at the lens, his heavy exosuit poised, arm raised, barrel pointed. CRACK! KRSHHHH! Fucker's feed fell silent as the AI returned to Teo, a sudden, sharp disconnect. "Goons down, choom! Lots of dangerous doohickeys exploded in here! Bought you as much time as I could for a slip in, slip out!" Fucker said, with an audible smile heard over the distant roar of the warehouse inferno.
Teo nodded as he fit the last number and letter combination, breaching the door protocol, watching as the heavy, steel reinforced door slid open, revealing the vast wealth inside. He gazed upon rows and rows of heavy military grade weaponry, gleaming in the flickering emergency lights. All prepped. "Looks like they're preparing for something," Teo muttered, his voice barely audible above the rising crackle of flames as he moved inside.
He scanned around for the package. It was small, a metal ornate box, six inches tall, three inches thick, tucked away in a specialized, cooled compartment. He quickly surfed through a desk in the center of the room, throwing open a drawer.
'Come on!' He thought, stressing about the Agent who was closing in. In the center drawer, he found it, along with a shard container. He picked up the box and stuffed it into an inside pocket of his jacket.
He grabbed the shard container. Each shard within glowed with different, vibrant colors, data shining with a digital life. These… these look expensive, he thought with a grim smile, slipping the small container into his pockets. 'Got it. Let's get the fuck outta here,' Teo said, turning around and walking out the heavy door.
He looked around. Fire was spreading among the wooden containers containing ammo and other combustible items, making pops and bangs in the distance, a raging inferno growing with every passing second. He smirked. 'Fucking meatbags. Maelstroms were scum that needed to be burned out of Night City.'
He began to walk towards the opening he came in, but when he turned down a long, smoke filled aisle, he saw it. The heavy plating of the exosuit glowed a faint white, illuminated by the spreading flames, and the intimidating hum of the tech inside made an ominous, mechanical sound.
The helmet's red glowing optics pierced through the darkness, staring right at him. Teo's breath hitched, sweat pouring from his brow, cold despite the heat of the fire. Now he was out of his depth.
Fucker's voice rang in his head, a frantic, desperate warning. "Teo! Careful! He's armed to the teeth with cyberware and Militech military grade weapons! Avoid confrontation! WE need to escape, choom! Now!" Teo winced at Fucker's tone, a raw desperation in the AI's perfectly articulated words. He had seen these emotions from Fucker a couple of days ago, thought nothing of it. But now, Fucker was genuinely concerned for Teo. Fucker felt... human.
A voice, synthesized and cold, rang out, shaking him from his thoughts. "My, my… Little fishy did a number on my operation. You shouldn't have stuck your nose where it doesn't belong." The Agent's voice hit Teo like a truck, its augmented, robotic sound somehow making the malice colder.
'Fucker, prepare operations, I'll try to stall,' Teo thought, knowing it was a fool's errand, but buying time was all he had. He spoke up, his voice surprisingly steady. "Didn't know Militech was running ops with Maelstroms? Quite low, no, hermano."
The whirring of the exosuit started to get louder, a low growl of activated servos. He heard a robotic chuckle. "Heh. Well, it wasn't my choice to come to this shithole. Doesn't matter. You heard some info that can't get out. Not sure if that was your goal or not, but you gotta die anyway." The Agent stated, before raising its right arm cannon weapon and firing at Teo.
Teo, not expecting the sudden shot, barely had time to react before his Kerenzikov Reflex Implant activated, giving him the split second of time to roll to the ground and launch an Overheat at the Agent.
The quickhack slammed into a digital barrier, the Agent's sophisticated corpo ICE. The launched code dissipated against the barrier, like water against rock. He scrambled back, firing Bon Bon Mark 2 blindly with his left hand, the tech rounds impacting the Militech Agent's heavy metal plating with dull thuds.
The bullets merely ricocheted off the armor, making the Agent stagger slightly, making dents in the plating. Teo rolled behind a concrete pillar, crouching low, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
'Fuck! Fucker, control those cameras again and work at his ICE!' he growled out, as he flicked a switch on the grip of Bon Bon Mark 2, watching as the green pulse intensified and the subtle whirring noise inside the weapon increased.
The Agent's bullets started again, the high caliber rounds tearing the concrete from the pillar, spraying Teo with dust and grit. He counted, six shots fired already. Crack!… Crack!… Crack! Semi automatic.
The pattern continued, more concrete ripped from the pillar, chewing more and more off. Twenty five rounds, then a sharp click! The gun choked, running out of ammo. The Agent walked closer, ten measured paces. He raised his arm, watching as the automatic reload system on the exosuit slammed a new clip into the weapon.
As soon as the Agent's gun choked, Teo ducked out of cover from the pillar. He raised Bon Bon Mark 2, bracing the weapon with both hands as best he could. The weapon spat bullets in a rapid fire motion. VVVTPPPPPPPPP!
The tech rounds tore into the Agent, making him stagger back, armor plating ripping off the exosuit and through the combat bodysuit, denting into the Agent's subdermal armor. The Agent instinctively raised his arm, blocking the bullets from reaching his helmet.
At the same time, Fucker, sensing the critical opening, breached the Agent's corpo ICE, forcing it down for just a split second. "ICE DOWN! SHORT CIRCUIT PREPPED!" Teo heard Fucker's triumphant shout, and launched a Short Circuit at the Agent.
The Agent's cyberware failed, and electricity violently shook his massive form, melting synth skin over his subdermal armor. Teo gained more distance as he spat more bullets.
"GRAHH!" the Agent roared, a sound of raw, pained fury, as he forced through the pain and raised his arm cannon and fired at Teo. A bullet smacked Teo in the shoulder, another in his chest. The impact sent him flying back towards some metal shelves. He impacted the shelves with a jarring crash and rolled out of the way of bullets that ripped the floor apart where he just was. He scampered behind a fallen metal shelf.
The Agent barked out a laugh, a distorted, mechanical sound. "HEH! You're good! It's been a while since someone pushed me this far! But it's futile. Give up now and I'll take you under my wing." He shouted, his voice full of cruel lies and false promises.
Teo chuckled, a bloody cough shaking his body. "Yeah right, choom. I've heard better promises from joytoys on Jig Jig Street." He said, trying to sit up against the metal shelf. He pulled out a medical stim.
He observed his wound on his shoulder, a deep, ragged gash that was spewing blood. The chest wound was absorbed by his weave. He jammed the stim into his shoulder wound, grunting as the nanites went to work. The wound instantly clotted and stopped bleeding.
Then he felt it, the familiar headache of his brain implants, his neural pathways whirling and starting to stress. He gripped his head as he felt the familiar voice of Fucker, distorted, but screaming. "ATTACKING! He's vulnerable! I'm going for the deep breach!"
The Agent clutched his chest, the melted synth skin gooped against his hand. Just then, his ICE suddenly failed, his eyes widening under his helmet as he desperately tried to re arm his defenses.
Then a green wisp, Fucker's furious digital form, slammed into his form in cyberspace. An overcharged OVERHEAT surged through his cyberwares. He screamed as his body lit aflame, raw power coursing through his internal systems. His synth skin began to bubble and melt, his subdermal armor glowed cherry red as the heat started to singe at his delicate internal cyberware.
He roared, staggering backwards, "GRAHH!" he screamed and flailed, trying to extinguish the inferno. He reached down to his forearm exosuit part, pulled a tab, and wet, cold foam shot out, covering his body, extinguishing the flames with a hiss of steam.
Teo, hearing the scream and the hiss, loaded another magazine into Bon Bon Mark 2. He flipped the switch back to power mode. He launched from cover, running closer to the man who was now covered in foam.
He took aim. VROOM CRACK! VROOM CRACK! Like miniature bolts of lightning, Teo unloaded a full clip into the Agent. The Agent's subdermal armor tanked most rounds, but some bullets found purchase. A bullet tore through his left arm, launching him back a step. Another drilled into his lung, making him cough out blood inside his helmet.
The Agent roared again, using the momentum of being lurched backwards. "GRAHHHHH!" he screamed as a metal plate slid down from his right arm, revealing a hidden compartment. A red glowing, superheated monowire whipped out with a crack!
He swung his arm down, the red glowing monowire a terrifying blur. It wrapped around Teo's upper right arm, just below the shoulder. The wire dug deep, drawing blood and searing his flesh instantly.
The Agent shot his arm back and twisted the wire, the superheated monowire digging viciously into Teo's flesh, through muscle, then bone, as his arm sliced clean off and flung back towards the Agent. The wound cauterized on the spot from the wire's heat, the stump smoking.
Teo fell on one knee, gripping his burnt, gushing stump with his left hand. "AHH FUCK!" he screamed, his voice raw, pain flaring hotter than any digital inferno. The severed arm flew back and landed directly in the Agent's outstretched hand, still clutching Bon Bon Mark 2. "Little fishy, got caught on a hook!" the Agent shouted, pounding his chest with his free arm, and started to stride towards Teo's downed, crippled form.
Fucker screamed at Teo in his head, a broken, desperate wail of warnings and system failures, but Teo couldn't hear the AI. His heart pounded in his chest, all he heard was the deafening thump-thump-thump! of his own blood.
The Agent's slow, heavy footsteps seemed to move in slow motion, an inevitable march towards death. Teo's face contorted from pain, to fear, then to pure, blinding rage. He screamed, a guttural roar, using his cyberware to full capacity.
He looked up, his green optic eyes slitted and dilated, burning with fury. He sent a Cripple Movement quickhack. Fucker, sensing Teo's intentions, quickly worked to down the Agent's ICE once again. The digital field fell, and the quickhack sent shocks down the Agent's body.
His body seized, stuck, rigid in place mid stride. "THE FUCK!" the Agent yelled, his exosuit screaming in protest as he stood, frozen, just ten feet from Teo. Teo launched from the floor, using his left hand to unholster his extra knife. He jammed the knife into the Agent's left leg, forcing him to fall to one knee, a shocked grunt escaping him.
Teo pulled the knife out and shoved it into the gap between the broken armor plates on the chest. The knife connected, jabbing into the man's other lung. The man coughed up a lot more blood, thick and dark, filling his helmet. His broken voice wheezed through the robotic compensator.
Teo twisted the knife, then punched the handle deeper and deeper with his left fist, making sickening pounding noises of metal on bone and tearing flesh. He let go of the knife and grabbed the helmet with his bloodied left hand, ripping it off the Agent's face.
The Agent's face was scarred, pale synthcskin drawn tight over chrome. His deep crimson eyes, utterly devoid of humanity, stared into Teo's slitted green eyes. The man's hair was a dark, greasy black, like shadows. He grinned, a horrific, blood filled rictus, grabbing Teo's remaining arm with a crushing grip.
Blood spewed out from his mouth. "Fuck… HAHAHA!" he laughed, laughed in the face of death, a grotesque sound that echoed in the burning warehouse. The Agent stopped laughing, his smile still there, fixed in death. "Go on, kill me. Claim your hard earned prize!" he said, his voice a strained whisper as he gripped Teo's arm harder.
Teo's eyes widened, his breath panting, his entire body trembling from the exertion and agony. "What's… what's your name?" Teo said, ripping the knife out of the Agent's chest, and putting it to the man's exposed throat.
The man smiled, closing his eyes, "Finally…" He said with relief, strange for a man about to die. The man's grin grew wider till it was damn near splitting his face. "Guy… My name is Pilot Guy." he whispered, then Teo nodded, slicing the man's exposed throat. Blood sprayed his face as the body hit the ground with a large thud.
Teo tumbled to the ground, lying on his back beside the dead Agent, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The fire in the warehouse grew, surrounding them, orange and red light bathing the carnage.
He stared at the ceiling, his face streaked with blood, the orange glow from the inferno hitting him like a physical warmth. The noise of the burning warehouse, the crackling flames, the distant screams, all faded into a profound, ringing silence in his mind.
Silence that soothed his brain.
A/N: This took some time, fat fingered my f11 key and close my tab like twice. COMMENT AND REVIEW! We striding lowkey 90k views and almost five hunded collections, somethin aint addin up here boys and gals. Anyway thanks alot.