Day 80.

  A quick stop at Vik’s and Misty’s saw me a hell of a lot better. They always knew how to cheer me up.

  Vik told me that Izanami’s true capabilities well exceeded what my implants were capable of, that apparently this thing requires the same power as an industrial generator, albeit for only two seconds, hence why those capacitors in its mune are so potent. This thing might as well be a lightning rod in that timeframe.

  In other news, Rogue kept her word and held Miyoko in the garage next to the Afterlife, where she normally keeps her own vehicle. She said she hadn’t driven a stick-shift in about 50 years. Personally I’m astonished that she went out of her way like that, to which she said that moving a car was far less painful than living with Johnny 24/7. I suppose she’s right about that.

  Vik gave me a haircut, got it all the way down to the roots to get all the bleach out, then gave me some more TechHair solution to help regrow it. Not a perfect solution; it’s a bit uneven and scraggly still, but it’s better than it was. Gods know why Johnny did that. I doubt even he knows. He’s not exactly one to think everything through.

  In the interest of not building up a tolerance to the blockers, I’ve gone back down to my normal dosage. Johnny returned, albeit more faintly than usual. I can still feel him crawling in the back of my mind, like a tree digging its roots into me, slowly driving me mad. I don’t really know how to play this. Whether he even realizes what he’s done or not. All I know is that I never want to see him or speak to him again. The only reason why I will is for this one mission – Adam Smasher.

  Johnny was wrong about many things. But he was not wrong about Smasher. That man was a living, breathing Panzer. If I could bring the fight to him, control the engagement before he has a chance to retaliate, all the more power to me, I figure. I studied more about my sword to try and harness its energy for when the time comes; I’ll need it, after all. Practicing getting it hot and cooling it off came remarkably intuitively, as easily as one moves their fingers. Of course, the problem is when one idly moves their fingers without thinking about it. Normally that doesn’t result in a metal rod becoming superheated in an instant and burning your hip or back.

  Rogue said she’d meet me at the Afterlife. And if we can get at Smasher, then hopefully none of this will matter. I’ll make sure he never hears me coming. And once he’s finished, the gateway to Mikoshi will be wide open for the taking. Then I can finally join Jackie in the Columbarium in peace.

  Let’s do this.

  –

  “Sup, V?” Johnny casually chimed in, appearing beside me as I walked down the stairs, “Ready for them big leagues?”

  I remained silent, looking off to my right and deliberately ignoring him.

  “Dunno about you, but I’m a giddy fuckin’ schoolgirl right now. Seein’ Smasher get put in the dirt’s gonna be so satisfying.”

  “You know why I’m here,” I nodded to the bouncer, taking one look at me and stepping aside. The Afterlife was still operating, people crowding around mostly because Rogue was there, I imagine. She has that effect.

  “Hey, V!” Claire shouted as I entered, “Feelin’ better, I see?”

  “Claire,” I smiled and waved, “Here to see Rogue. She in?”

  “Yeah, she’s over there, gonna have to wait a couple minutes for her to finish up,” she motioned to Rogue’s usual booth, “She’s meeting up with her bodyguard right now. Don’t worry, she sees ya, will call you over when she’s ready.”

  “Oh?” I asked her curiously, “Who’s the bodyguard?”

  “Crispin Weyland, son of a merc she used to run with, guy from Jamaica they called ‘Boa Boa.’ His father used to run for Petrochem, of all places. Had his own team and everything,” Claire said with a cheeky expression, looking over at Crispin, “Yeah, they were both built like tanks, apparently. I wouldn’t know, though – his father died around thirty-odd years ago. Anyway, want a drink?” Wait, that Weyland?! Damn, I read about his father while studying irregular warfare. Guy was textbook in insurgency operations.

  “Why not,” I shrugged with a smile, “You know what I like.”

  Claire went right for the top-shelf sake. “I do,” she said with a light-hearted tone, “Glad to see you’re in better spirits. Pun intended, heh.”

  “More or less… It’s… complicated,” I frowned a bit, “But I’m back to normal now.”

  “Mm. You left without paying your tab last time, by the way,” she noted, coming up and handing me a cup. I downed it all in one shot, ordering one more for the road with a hand gesture.

  “Sorry – uhm, how much is it?”

  “Too drunk to remember? Heh, doesn’t surprise me – don’t worry, Rogue picked it up,” she replied frankly, coming back over to me and pouring another cup.

  “What, really? Heh, guess I got another reason to thank her…”

  “Mm. You must’ve left quite the impression last time.”

  “How much? Out of curiosity.”

  “Oh, let’s see… um…” she pondered to herself, “Think it was about 5500 eddies?”

  “What?!”

  “See that shelf, babe?” Claire pointed over her left shoulder, “You cleaned that right the hell out. Hah, not that I mind! Never saw another ‘ganic hold their liquor like that before.”

  “Wow… uh…” I muttered, slightly astonished, “Well–”

  “V!” Rogue suddenly interrupted, waving me over.

  “Hah, duty calls,” I told Claire, getting up off the bar stool.

  “Be safe!” she shouted over the music as I headed over to Rogue.

  “V, glad you could join us,” Rogue said as I walked over, “This is Crispin Weyland. He’ll be helping us out with Smasher.” Johnny appeared in Rogue’s seat, lookin’ at me with this deathly scowl as if to say I couldn’t ignore him forever. The fuck. Doubt that he’d have the balls to sit in Rogue’s seat if anyone could actually see him.

  “I’ve heard of that last name,” I told him, extending my hand out. He readily accepted, giving me a bit of a death-grip to boot. Luckily my hand is numb anyway. “Weyland. The son of the Night City Legend?”

  “Aye,” he nodded, speaking in a thick Jamaican accent, “And you must be de infamous V. Samurai who took down de Voodoo Boys.”

  “Mm…” I mumbled quietly, “That felt like a long time ago.”

  “Not so long, girl,” Crispin cheered, “Pacifica still feeling de recoil of your actions. And now you’re hunting Smasher.”

  “I am. Are you coming with us?”

  “Nah, girl. I got de name, but I do not share me father’s aspirations. So me expect to live longer den he did.” Hah, that’s fair…

  “Don’t tell me you don’t wanna see Smasher dead,” Rogue interrupted as Johnny reappeared with us as a group.

  “I do, as do all de mercs in dis place,” Weyland continued, “But not so close. Unlike de old Andrew Boa Boa, I am not dat ambitious. De Smasher has a bad habit of coming back from de dead.”

  “True…” Rogue conceded, glaring over at me, “Real bastards always find a way…” She’s got that right. “So, we going?”

  “What’s the plan?” I asked her.

  “Tell you on the way. You look prime to get to killing right now. Could use some of that energy. All of it if we’re hopin’ to have a chance against Smasher, that’s for sure,” she said, fixing her jacket and throwing her hair back over her head. I couldn’t help but notice her subtle subdermal armor showing on her sternum. Looked like a whole artificial ribcage to my eye. I bet she’s packing plenty of heat.

  “Let’s delta, then,” I replied with determination, seeing the fire light up in her eyes once again. It might as well be a once-in-a-lifetime display. Given that the woman was in a severe car accident all those years ago and hasn’t soloed since, watching her move with this level of ferocity in her footsteps was dazzling. A true maestro at work, and we hadn’t even left the bar yet. One thing’s for sure – this woman does not walk like any 80-plus year old that I’ve ever seen, anti-ageing cyberware or not. She moves with purpose, as if the whole world wasn’t able to stop her.

  “Take off after I’m gone,” she told Claire, “Thanks for stayin’ up so late.”

  I caught up to Rogue as we headed through the doors, with the bouncer giving us both a silent nod as we walked past. “So what did Weyland do, exactly?” I asked her.

  “Jeremiah Grayson, guy we wanna take to get at Smasher. Weyland made sure he’ll be at home when we arrive.”

  “Mm, and Smasher?”

  “Fuck knows where he is,” she told me honestly, “We’ll stake the place out, see if he shows. If he doesn’t, then we’ll move in nice and quiet like.”

  “Sounds good.” We both headed up the stairs into the afternoon daylight, the humidity punishing me for wearing my bulletproof officer’s jacket.

  “We’ll take my car, faster if we need a quick getaway,” she pointed over to a souped-up Type 66, gorgeous muscle car if ever I saw one. And she was right – Miyoko would be flattened in a single shot by Smasher’s firepower. We need tools that can perform here, no compromises.

  “Sure,” I replied as I headed to the passenger seat, but Rogue suddenly stopped me.

  “Wait. Check the trunk.” Alright… Wait… What’s this? “Pick it up.”

  Is that…? “Johnny’s jacket?” I furrowed my brow. I didn’t realize he had something like this… Cool, to be sure, but wholly impractical for what we were about to do.

  “Not the real thing – that disintegrated into dust years ago. A replica, made to order,” Rogue replied as I held it up into the light, “Figured a samurai would appreciate it.” Heh, yeah, I see the pun.

  “Thanks,” I graciously said, my smile instantly ruined by Johnny showing up.

  “Put it on,” he said with a light-hearted tone. Well, I probably should at least see if the damn thing fits…

  I took off the Arasaka jacket for a second and slipped on this bastard – syn-leather. It creaked a bit as I wriggled my arms through the sleeves, themselves seemingly much too short for my taste. But the rest of the jacket was a nice, snug fit, and appeared to be a really high quality to boot.

  “Looks good on ya,” Rogue told me with a grin as I spun around a bit, showing off the fit. “Keep it, it’s yours.”

  “If it’s all the same, I’d prefer wearing my jacket,” I confessed, “It’s bulletproof and doesn’t have these light-up bits on the inside of the collar.”

  “Mm, suit yourself.”

  “Hah, just when you’re lookin’ good,” Johnny replied with a laugh, “Seriously. I know you ain’t talkin’, but my two cents would be to wear that.” Yeah, nobody asked you, Johnny…

  “Rogue,” I stopped her, before she got in the car, “You sure you want to do this?”

  “Just get in the fucking car, V,” she ordered… Alright, fine…

  My old Arasaka jacket fit me so much nicer than the Samurai jacket, though I’m sure it’d make a good wall hanger. Once I have my own place back, anyway. No guarantee when that’ll be… Probably never, at this rate. I picked Izanami back up and got into the passenger seat, the cloth interior sumptuous and fully-loaded as expected. Rogue was a woman who knew what she wanted and how to get it. I could certainly respect the hell out of that any day of the week. “Thanks for the ride,” I told her courteously as I got more comfortable.

  “What’d Johnny say about me?” Well, she certainly doesn’t like to waste time…

  “Um… A lot,” I told her straight.

  “A lot… Like what?” I sensed a deep-seated anger in her voice.

  “That you’re the best. You always were.”

  “The best… p-heh,” she scoffed at me, “The best came at a price he couldn’t pay.”

  “And that he’s sorry.”

  “Bullshit, he didn’t say that.”

  “Well… not in those words,” I said while stifling a bit of laughter.

  “Yeah, that’s better…” Her hands gripped the wheel incredibly tightly. I could tell she was forcing herself to do this. She was sawing through traffic like a woman possessed. Shouldn’t blame her at all, I’d be agitated and anxious as well.

  “Rogue,” I muttered under the sound of the howling V8, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Just… don’t want you to do this out of obligation,” I said sincerely, “Adam Smasher’s Johnny’s problem. Not yours.”

  “Oh, he tell you to say that too, huh?”

  “No… No, I’m just not in the business of fucking people over. He is.”

  “Look, you’re kind to care, V, but Johnny’s not the only one with an axe to grind about Smasher. Whole fuckin’ town would crawl hand-over-fist if it meant seeing his titanium-plated ass in the bay. This is personal, V, make no mistake about it.” Her brow furrowed and she wiped her nose, her eyes darting all over the place as she raced through midtown Watson.

  “He ever come on your radar before this op?”

  “Time to time… Take it you know we worked together?”

  “Johnny mentioned it, yeah.”

  “Mm, did a few gigs together. Long time ago,” she elaborated, “Don’t really like thinkin’ about that.” Can’t exactly blame her there. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be doin’ this if it wasn’t for Johnny. Him being back… changes things.”

  “Yeah… that it does…” I mumbled under my breath. That it does, indeed…

  –

  One hour later…

  “Might be our lucky day, drop Grayson and Smasher in one go…” Rogue trailed off, Johnny appearing beside the left fender of the car, “Where the hell’d you get that sword, anyway?”

  “Just an Arasaka standard issue, bit bigger than a regular one, but…” I lied to her, “To replace Shinden temporarily.”

  “Bullshit. You know your swords. And you hold that thing like it’s your old blade reincarnated.”

  “Heh, true…” I giggled a bit, “Yeah, it’s… uh, not… something you’re likely to find in a Claws den, is all I’ll say.”

  “Mm… fair enough…” she mulled as I looked back out the window. Still no signs of either of them. This is my favorite part of espionage – when you gotta hurry up and wait. “If you don’t mind me asking… How’d you get into this life, anyway?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Bein’ a merc. Not exactly somethin’ that people choose.”

  “Oh, um…” I pondered to myself a bit, “Heh, you know, a lot of people ask me that, and I really don’t have a good answer other than I just wanted to make a difference and help out my brother.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Yeah, Jackie. Jackie Welles.”

  “Jackie Welles… Hmph…” Rogue paused for a few seconds, “Name doesn’t ring a bell – oh, wait, the one who was with you during the heist?”

  “That’s the one…” I sighed.

  “Oh… I see…” she muttered quietly, “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Was a few months ago… I’m, uh, starting to get over it, I think…” I shrugged dismissively, “More or less, anyway.”

  “Yeah, shit like that takes a while to heal. And before all this you were, what, a soldier?”

  “Mhm. Arasaka Security Services.”

  “Not the JSDF, huh?”

  “We had an inside joke at Hokkaido in training,” I explained to her, “You join the JSDF to get job experience for working at Arasaka. Heh…”

  “Mmm, so you chose to skip to the front of the line, huh?”

  “Something like that… I probably would've been More like, I was 17 and kind of an idiot.”

  “Hah! Oh, we all think we’re invincible at that age, huh?” she laughed, “I saw my first Samurai concert ‘round then, actually.”

  “Oh, no kidding?” I raised an eyebrow, “How were they?”

  “They were… They were like the fast food of rock,” she said while stifling a chuckle, “Fuckin’ terrible, but they hit the spot for whatever reason.”

  “Pff,” I snickered back at her, “There’s a note to end on.”

  –

  Six hours later…

  “Alright, I’m callin’ it,” Rogue finally said to me, “No Smasher. Unless he’s in there somewhere.”

  “I doubt it…”

  “Oh? Why?”

  “Nobody’s shaking as they’re walking around. Dock hands, gangers, no one. If he was around, people wouldn’t be so lackadaisical.”

  “Hm… That’s… remarkably observant,” she noted, picking her weapon up off the dashboard, “Alright, let’s go bag us a Grayson.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I slung Izanami over my shoulder, the magnets immediately finding their place at the top of my spine, same mounting point as Shinden. I felt the sword as soon as it connected, as if my body suddenly grew a tail. God, that’s still so bizarre…

  “Maelstrom’s got the docks covered,” she mumbled, crouching down and palming her Liberty, “You’ll cover me. See what that sword of yours can do.”

  Alright, game-face on, V…

  One lone container vessel, the Ebunike. She’s flanked by two container unloading cranes and a storage yard. That means warehouses. Crates of valuables. Nothing is transported by ship anymore, not since the self-replicating mines took everything over. Whatever’s being loaded is probably important. And then there’s Maelstrom – why Maelstrom, of all gangs? Not the Tyger Claws or someone else affiliated with Arasaka, no – Maelstrom. I bet they’re worshipping Smasher as a god incarnate or something… that honestly wouldn’t surprise me.

  “Mmh, she’s tense…” Johnny said as I passed him, tailing Rogue to behind a barricade, “Watch her back just in case.”

  “Okay, got a few ‘Strommers guardian’ the gate…” Rogue whispered, “Should be easy pickings. But let’s do this right.”

  “Agreed. We flank around the left. Avoid bloodshed if we can. Last thing we need is to spook Grayson.”

  “Hah, see, now I know you’re not Johnny…” she grinned over her shoulder at me, “He never did anything stealthy.”

  The trek to the ship itself wasn’t particularly long, only about a couple hundred meters as the crow flies. And Maelstrom weren’t that big of an issue, either. I knew how to deal with them fairly easily.

  The real wildcard here was Smasher. Who knows what this man does in his spare time. If indeed he does anything other than slaughter. Somehow I doubt that he was the type to just sit around watching anime all night long. Though I did hear a rumor once that he apparently had an FBC modeled after Elvis Presley, of all people. There were also whispers that he hooked up with Michiko Arasaka, the late Kei Arasaka’s daughter. That must have been one hell of a sight to behold…

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Of course, I must not underestimate him in the slightest. This was a man absolutely and utterly obsessed with the slaughter, to the exclusion of everything else. I read in an article somewhere that he was a ‘high-functioning cyberpsycho,’ though I think it went a little beyond that. For someone to go cyberpsycho implies that they weren’t totally insane in the first place. He started off as a sadistic madman – the only thing cyberware did to him was make his job easier.

  Maelstrom did have an unusually high presence here, though. That boded well for us – it meant that either he wasn’t here at all, or he was distracted with his own issues. If it’s the latter, all the better for me – I’ll be happy to introduce him to my sword from the back. It’d be more mercy than he’d likely shown to countless innocent people.

  “Check the manifest,” she told me as we headed into a warehouse, “Maybe it says somethin’ about where Smasher could be hiding. I’ll keep a lookout for anyone comin' in from outside.”

  I doubt that, but the emails, maybe. “He’ll be on the ship, where else?” I insisted. Johnny appeared to my left just then. Nice of him to keep making his little appearances…

  “Nah, she knows exactly where she is,” he said with determination, “She’s just stallin’. She’s scared.” You don’t say…

  “Yeah…” I said quietly, “Grayson’s on-board. No word about Smasher.” Looks like he was finalizing some sort of drug deal with Maelstrom… Guess that explains all the bodies around here. Never a dull day in Northside…

  Several more Maelstromers stood between us and the Ebunike, though they were predictably quite absorbed in their own business. Most were on calls, some were sleeping or watching TV. A few were walking around, pretending to look busy in case the boss looked over the side of the railing, I’m assuming. Relatively straightforward. And if push came to shove, well, I held no compunctions about staining Izanami for the first time.

  “So what’s the story here?” I asked Rogue as we headed up the stairs and onto the main deck, “You didn’t have to come along, yet you did so readily, without a second’s hesitation.”

  “Mm… Let’s just say I got a score to settle,” she grumbled.

  “Johnny’s death?”

  “…That, too.”

  Looks like they were in the process of off-loading the merchandise. Half the containers were still aboard. If we had to go belowdecks, this would be a needle in a haystack. And every moment we delayed, we risked someone noticing us. And that’s the last thing we needed with Smasher on the premises. Supposedly, anyway. I should probably fit my mask on – last thing I need is some errant camera picking me up.

  “Fuck is that, a performance mask?” Rogue asked me as I retrieved it from the back end of my jacket.

  “Ballistic armor. And it confuses any cybereyes and drones that might see us.”

  “Mm, good thinking… I gotta get me one of those,” she complimented with a grin before heading down a flight of stairs and onto the top cargo deck.

  The ship was large, but not infinitely so. Only about 100 meters or thereabouts – shouldn’t be too much of an issue to find someone on the main deck. Especially if that someone’s with Maelstrom; they’re not exactly subtle. More good news, the more I looked around, the more signs pointed to Adam Smasher’s presence. Large metal bridges for holding his weight. Boxes that’d been forced open.

  Let’s see what’s in our first lucky container…

  Hm… What’s in those crates…

  “Shit… so that’s what happened to those…” Rogue said with a shocked expression, Johnny appearing on top of the pile.

  “You know these?”

  “679275-PN1H. Missing Kang Tao shipment from last month,” she recited by heart, “Sent out three crews to find it for the Chinese. Gotta admit, bastard’s good to hide ‘em here for this long. Whole fuckin’ city was after it.”

  “Yeah, real fuckin’ preem,” Johnny fired back, “Now we go catch the bad guy.”

  “What are they, though?” I asked her.

  “Just some smart sniper rifles. Good ones, too.” And I see Smasher has a good taste in liquor as well… Single-malt. Mmh… Might have to boost some more of his shit after the job’s done. I’m sure he won’t miss it if a few bottles got up and walked off…

  This whole place looks more like a house than a bunch of shipping containers, come to think of it. Weird… A multimedia center? Wait, does Smasher literally just watch anime when he’s not doing anything?! What the Hell?!

  Well, we have a kitchen – with weapons shipments. We have an entertainment room… And a bathroom. With a body in the shower.

  “Mmh… Executed Badlands-style…” I muttered as I ducked down beside the corpse. A corpo businesswoman of some description… “Mallory…” Hm. Militech, looks like, judging by the cut and colors of the suit.

  “Hollow-point bullets. Smasher’s got a style…” Johnny finished my thought as I ran my hand through a bullet hole in the floor. Strangulation marks, too… He had fun before he finished her off.

  “She was looking up when he shot her. She was looking at his face. And he shot her through the thorax – wouldn’t bleed out instantly. No, he wanted her to feel pain…” I frowned, “Rest in peace, Mallory…”

  Still didn’t hear anything from the outside. They were either further up the vessel or inside the bridge or cargo hold. The bridge would be relatively straightforward to clear. I’m certainly not out of practice with close quarters combat, despite not having done anything more than practice over this past week. My nodachi is quite heavy, though, have to get used to the weight. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.

  “Anything?” I whispered to Rogue as I headed back out.

  “Nobody fresh in the docks. Think we’re clear to move,” she replied softly while looking over the side of the ship.

  “Understood. Follow me.”

  “You got it.”

  Another computer? Hmm… Audio recordings on it. Doesn’t look like Smasher’s, either. I’m willing to bet that this is Grayson’s – Hell, probably means the guy lives here. What an existence, to be Smasher’s… what, personal assistant? Actually, yeah, what did this Grayson guy even do for Smasher in the first place? Part of me doesn’t really want to know…

  “There a fuckin’ point to this?” Johnny said, appearing in the seat beside the desk, “Just find the motherfucker and stab him.” He damn well knew there was. He doesn’t get to be in the brain of the Counterintelligence Division assistant head without knowing a thing or two about… well, counterintelligence.

  “No shit…” I muttered out loud, “It’s Anthony Gilchrist? I recognize that name…”

  “Oh? Who is he?” asked Rogue.

  “Some guy who worked for Night Corp. Was a mole planted inside Militech. He was the one who sold the Konpeki heist gear to Maelstrom, where Jackie and I found it… It’s complicated. Suffice it to say, guy was a traitor.” What the hell was he doing on this computer?

  I hit the play button, making sure the audio was turned down low.

  “–No idea who’s backing you, but if anything happens to Mallory–” Gilchrist’s voice immediately started playing.

  “You have 24 hours…” Smasher… What the fuck did he want with Gilchrist, with Night Corp?! “Fail to back out of the Night Corp deal by then, the girl dies.”

  “Fuck, don’t you understand?!” Gilchrist’s voice was panicky and hasty, “You can’t just blackmail the entire Militech board by kidnapping one–”

  “I know. I’m blackmailing you.”

  Well I guess we know who this mysterious Mallory was… Probably Gilchrist’s output. Maybe family. Regardless, someone important to him. So then Smasher… Hm…

  “That’s corpo life for you,” Rogue interrupted my train of thought, “Upstairs, got cushy board meetings. Downstairs, got Smasher pointin’ a gun to your head.”

  Alright, second file… Hm. Seemed to be between Smasher and Grayson this time…

  “How much’s left?” Grayson asked Smasher, presumably.

  “An hour. It’s not going to work. Like I said,” Smasher’s synthetic voice felt threatening even over a recorder.

  “So why all this? The girl–”

  “She dies in an hour. As ordered.”

  “Why’d he even record that?” Johnny asked as the file closed down, “Somethin’ spook him?”

  “I don’t know…” I thought to Johnny, his question being genuinely relevant for a change, “In either case, it doesn’t affect our mission. We go ahead.”

  “Mallory…” Rogue muttered, “Could be the girl in the bathroom?”

  “It is, I saw the nametag,” I confirmed, “But it doesn’t matter. Not our fight.”

  “You’re right. Just another day in the life for Smasher.” As hard a pill as that was to swallow, she was right. Mallory and Gilchrist, while tragic, wasn’t our problem. Finding Grayson was. And I had a feeling he was right up at the head of this ship, surrounded by Maelstrom goons. Not that they’d pose much of a problem.

  Rogue, meanwhile, seemed to have other ideas. In fact she straight-up blasted someone in the face after saying, “I’ve had enough of this shit, where the fuck is he?!” and left me behind. Got to love a master at work…

  It was immediately apparent that she did not need any help in the slightest. In fact she easily dispatched every single one of the people surrounding Grayson, with the gentleman not even getting so much as a shot-off by the time she held him at gunpoint. Looked like he had an injury to his shoulder… Rogue’s gunshots, I presume.

  “Wait, hold up,” Johnny suddenly stopped me as I approached, “On the floor. That’s my gun.”

  “What?! Are you sure?”

  “Yup, Malorian 3516. I’d know it anywhere.” I’ll be damned…

  I gingerly picked up and inspected the weapon… He was right. This was the Malorian 3516. Custom-made for Johnny. The frame was absolutely massive. It felt like I was holding a solid lump of iron, as opposed to a practical handgun. Granted, there was absolutely nothing practical about this thing whatsoever. The only .577 caliber handgun in the world, and this beast only carried four rounds. But no one needed more than one to take out – well, except Smasher. This man, Grayson, I can’t imagine there would be much left of his head after meeting with the business end of this fine product.

  “Don’t let it blow your hand off,” Rogue warned me, “Thing kicks like you’ve just been hit by a cinderblock.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind,” I nodded, looking back down at Grayson. I couldn’t believe that this rat-looking moron was Smasher’s assistant. Maybe Smasher just kept Grayson around for his own amusement or something…

  “Grayson, long time, no see,” Rogue said with an air of malice so thick I could cut it with Izanami.

  “Rogue… You an’ me not playin’ for the same team anymore? Heh,” he laughed, coughing up a bit of blood, “Guess I’m not surprised… mmh… seein’ as plantin’ shivs in the backs of your allies is becomin’ somethin’ of a specialty for you.”

  “Where’s Smasher?” she demanded, leveling her Liberty with his head.

  “Cute…” he scoffed at her before looking over to me, “And what the fuck’re you supposed to be? Honey, Halloween ain’t for another couple months– NNGH!” I gave him a swift slap to the face with the chunky handgun. Quite satisfying, I must say… “Toots, you got the wrong idea… I’m happy to talk. Talk about how Rogue survived the attack on the tower. How the hell d’you think no one hunted her down? Huh? Her alone, outta all that Atlantis trash. Cause I do… truly wonder how far she went to get her life set up so comfy… Who’d she fingerfuck? Huh?”

  “Right…” I sneered, taking off my mask and setting it down on the container next to me, along with the Malorian. “See, you must be a moron if you think you’re going to get me off-topic that easily. So let me tell you what I’ll do. Since you’re clearly stupid, I’ll treat you like you’re stupid by making this easy for you.”

  “Oh, I’m shaking in my boots–” he paused as I drew my sword, lightning immediately emanating from the blade as I slowly brought it around to him. “U-Uhhh…”

  “Jesus Christ…” Rogue said in a shocked whisper.

  Sparks and electrical arcs slowly danced along the length of Izanami, threatening to jump directly onto Grayson’s head. I looked at him dead in the eye as I gently teased the blade around. “I must confess, I’m not certain how well my weapon will react to sweat…” I said in a slow, deliberate tone, “Path of least resistance and everything. Though I am curious to know what it would be like to give someone electroconvulsive therapy with my sword… Would certainly be a new technique… Might make you more compliant, too.”

  “I-I don’t know! Okay?! I know-know as m-much as you do! Smasher joined up with Arasaka as the new head of security, hasn’t been back here for months, I swear!!”

  “Shit!” Rogue shouted, pacing around to air out her frustration for a bit. “Fuck… He’s never comin’ back, is he?!”

  “Far as I know, never,” Grayson quickly shouted as I returned Izanami to its sheath, “Fucking hell…” I growled, “And what, this guy just never leave the Tower, ever? What is he, Rapunzel?”

  “Look, I swear, that’s all I know…” he pleaded again… Guess I’m not getting much else. God dammit.

  The Malorian’s glistening finish reflected the light as I picked it back up, leveling it again with Grayson’s face. “Congratulations, you’ve just earned a quick death,” I told him flatly, “But before you depart, I want you to set up a meeting with Smasher.”

  “What? No-I, I mean, I can’t… he doesn’t trust me enough…” God dammit… I put my mask back on and carefully deliberated this. He must’ve only just been here the other day. Probably cleaning out his shit and doing… well, whatever he did with Yorinobu. Grayson wasn’t lying, then. At this point, Smasher has no reason to leave Arasaka Tower anymore. Nor should he, realistically – not as long as I’m still alive and Yorinobu’s still CEO, anyway.

  “Then I guess I have no more use for you–”

  “Wait!” Grayson shouted, pleading for his life, “Why do you want Smasher so badly? Maybe we can help each other!”

  I rolled my eyes behind my mask – might as well play his little game. Not like Smasher’s coming around anytime soon, anyway. “Fine, then let’s start with how you got Johnny Silverhand’s weapon.”

  “What? Johnny Silverhand? I– Smasher gifted it to me, didn’t say where it came from.”

  “Bullshit,” Rogue shot back.

  “Smasher gifted this to you?” I raised an eyebrow, “Why, what’d you do, suck him off or something? Look, I don’t have the energy for your fucking games.”

  “N-no, really! Even claimed to know where the body is! Badlands, up north in the oil fields. 101 northbound, right-hand side s-somewhere!”

  “Yeah, I know he’s been vaporized in the blast, look, I got places to be, so if you’re done trying to bullshit your way out of this…” I clutched the weapon with both hands in preparation for its immense recoil.

  “No! I-I got somethin’ of Silverhand’s! Give it to you if you let me go!!” he pleaded, whimpering and cowering in the corner.

  “Yeah, that’s cool,” I sneered as I– UNF… Jesus… Fucking hell, that thing hurts to shoot…

  The fireball emanating from the Malorian’s muzzle was enough to fully envelop the bastard’s head. The projectile itself seemed to be so powerful that it simply overpenetrated, driving a grapefruit-sized hole through his upper jaw and burying itself deep in the boxes behind him. The tremendous noise sounded like a high-powered sniper rifle going off, the massive .577 caliber casing flying out to the right after expending its payload with extreme prejudice. This thing wasn’t a handgun, it was a ferocious animal.

  Yeah, I’m never firing that thing again. That’s all Johnny and his artificial arm. I nearly broke my wrist…

  “God dammit…” Rogue said furiously, once again pacing around in circles out of pure frustration.

  “Hey,” I tried my best to stop her, reaching out to her shoulder. She wasn’t exactly receptive, completely ignoring me and wrapping herself up in her own little world.

  “Fuck… Pointless, this whole thing. And now we got no more leads…”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” I tried again, “Johnny’s got faith in you. We’ll get him.”

  “Oh yeah?” she rotated to face me on the spot, “Well tell Johnny t– fuck it… Can’t even have a normal conversation with him…”

  A few seconds went by, developing an awkward silence between us. “I-I mean, at least we know where Smasher–”

  “Fuck, don’t you get it?! This isn’t about Smasher!” she suddenly shouted, startling me, “He’s just the goddamn tip of the iceberg. An-and even if we do get him, then what?!”

  “Rogue…”

  She aggressively shook her head and let out a deep, long breath, taking one last look at Grayson’s mangled corpse before heading off. “Later, V.”

  “Uh–” I started before realizing it was inappropriate…

  “Leave her alone, V…” Johnny mumbled, reappearing on a set of crates beside me, “Times like this, she just wants to be left alone… Let’s go check out what Grayson’s got, then head out to the oil fields… Wanna see this place for myself, if you don’t mind…”

  “Yeah… sure, okay,” I reluctantly agreed, knowing damn well that we wouldn’t find anything physical. But maybe he’ll find some closure, a nice bookend to today…

  Hmmh… What do you have on your person… Platinum card, nice wad of cash, couple extra magazines for the Malorian – I bet these things are utterly unobtainable… Hang on, what’s this? A key…? Hm… ‘Loading Crane…’ Well, at least I know what it’s for…

  I waited for Rogue to depart, slowly walking down on my own and eyeballing one of the cranes immediately next to the Ebunike. Guess there’s no harm in trying… Heh, maybe I’ll lower this crate and inside’ll be Adam Smasher watching some anime. Wouldn’t even have to kill me, I’d die of laughter well before then…

  Sure enough, plugged the key into the control panel and the crate started lowering… the hell was he keeping in there that belonged to Johnny Silverhand…? Why was he keeping whatever the… whatever, it’s Smasher, dumb of me to even think of a why with this man… I’m not in the mood for a rabbit hole like that.

  Alright, let’s just climb down and see what’s… Wait, hang on. This is the same damn crate size as Miyoko when I had it shipped here…

  “Oh, fuck, think I know what it is!” Johnny said cheerfully as I approached it, “C’mon, let’s see it.”

  I had to admit, my stomach was certainly giddy with excitement as I cracked open the crate, left unlocked for whatever reason. And inside was the unmistakable silhouette of a classic. A Porsche… a beautiful one, at that. My mother had one just like it… a 1973 2.8 RS… This one looked to be a bit newer, by the bumper shape…

  “Lift that rag off it,” Johnny ordered with barely-contained eagerness. I can’t say I blame him… this felt like I was unearthing some sort of hidden ancient secret, long lost to the sands of time… in a way, I guess I was…

  “Mmmmmmh…” I grinned, licking my lips as I pulled the cover off, revealing an utterly immaculate 930 Turbo underneath. The clear-coated steel paintwork shimmered in the light, accenting every svelte line that the car brought to bear. It was simply gorgeous, in all the right ways. “Beautiful…”

  “Here, I’ll even let ya drive,” Johnny said with another laugh, reappearing in the passenger seat. Don’t mind if I do…

  I gingerly opened up the door, almost like I wasn’t trying to scare away the car’s kami that was hiding beneath the engine bay, just waiting for its moment to shine. The leather upholstery and filling in the seats was impeccable, as if the car had only just left the showroom floor. Whomever owned this piece of automotive history took extremely good care of it, that’s for sure…

  “1977,” Johnny said as I put the car in neutral and familiarized myself with the layout, “Car’s a hundred years old… heh, how ‘bout that… It’s a four-speed. Reverse is left and up.”

  “Left and up… Got it,” I nodded, “Key’s on the… uhm…”

  “Left side.”

  “Ah, thanks…” The car roared to life with a savage growl, firing on the very first throw. “Man, it wants to go…” I said gleefully, biting my lip in anticipation. “I used to have a Porsche back in the day, believe it or not. A 996 GT3. Never found out what happened to that car… Didn’t think I’d ever see another in my lifetime… this is incredible…”

  “Mm, like Miyoko, prolly only a handful of these left in the world,” Johnny nodded, “Now punch it. Let’s head up to those oil fields.”

  “With pleasure.”

  –

  It took us all of three minutes to make it out of the docks and onto the main highway, the howling flat-six screaming with joy at the revs. Its happy place seemed to be around 5,000 RPMs, judging by its response. Oh, I like this…

  “Here, pull in here,” Johnny directed me to the right. I obliged him, heading down a dirt trail that weaved its way through several disused derricks. This place was a mess… Appeared long-since abandoned, by my eye. I guess that’s not too surprising; oil isn’t exactly in demand anymore, except by psychos like me who still drive gasoline engines. But after the Mideast Meltdown, well, hardly any lubricant is even natural oil. Fucking impossible to find, I swear… “This should be good.”

  “What, right here?”

  “Yeah… good a spot as any…”

  “Johnny, I–”

  “I know, V. But it’s okay. Not like I’m expectin’ to find a body out here anyway. Let’s just get to it.” He disappeared, leaving me alone in the car. Even idling, this thing sounds monstrous. And I thought Miyoko was distinctive…

  I left the lights on, getting out and observing my surroundings… the fields themselves towered ominously over me, casting irregular shadows in the night.

  “Know what this place is?” Johnny asked as I took off my jacket and laid it down in the passenger seat, “A scar. One from when Night City was just a child… Was known as Morro Bay, back then. After the Massacre, with tens of thousands of Hell’s Angels and civilians dead in the streets, no one wanted a square-foot of land. People said it was cursed, all that bullshit. So, in comes Petrochem, diggin’ up the black gold you see here.”

  “Petrochem, huh?” I said as I sat down, ushering him to continue.

  “Yeah… them and another company called Prudhoe. Set up joint ventures in fields to the north just like this one. Helped fund Night City’s construction, bring in fresh bodies to fill the initial demand for housing…”

  “But?”

  “But after everyone switched over to CHOOH2, well… Guess no one gives a fuck about these fields anymore… Gives a fuck about me anymore…”

  “Ah, the enny drops…”

  “I don’t know what I was expecting to find out here… a… a marker… Anything…”

  “No… I know…” I sighed heavily, thinking back to my own event, “I suppose it’s better than a garbage dump…”

  “Heh, not by much, though…” Johnny chuckled a little, “But… fuck. I dunno… Feel like I should’ve seen this as a closed chapter or somethin’...”

  “But instead…?”

  “Instead… I feel numb… Nothin’... Like I never even was…” he took off his sunglasses, idly toying with them as he quietly spoke, his voice crackly and deep, “Feels like I might as well still be inside Mikoshi… Like nothing I did changed anything…”

  “Alright, then let’s change something,” I said with a slight smile, digging on the ground until I found a metal shard. The thin steel sheet I was sitting on provided the perfect little table on which to write, and I quickly but deliberately scrawled a little message… “JS 2023… There, happy?”

  Johnny stood up, glancing down at the text. “A bit… But, say it was a real headstone… what would you put on it? ‘Here lies Johnny Silverhand’…”

  “I–I don’t know, Johnny…” I stammered a little, “It’s been… well…”

  Johnny took a seat next to me. “Listen, I know I fucked up a lotta things… Either let down or used every last person who gave me their trust… selfish bastard I was…” he paused for a good couple of seconds, “But this… I managed this one thing… Not to fuck up what we have now.”

  Wow… he did not just say that… I could feel myself seething already… “Really? Is that what you want to call what you did?” I angrily retorted, “Johnny… I gave you control of my body and you gave me a fucking nicotine addiction and a tattoo and fucked random women without my consent. How can you sit there and say that it’s not a fuckup?”

  “No… You’re right… it was…” his head slowly sank between his legs, “Fuck knows why I do this to myself… Every single person I’ve ever known is either dead or hates my guts… Thought you didn’t… guess I was wrong…”

  “Johnny, don’t play the pity card with me,” I shot back, “You’re better than that. And you know I won’t fall for it in any case.”

  “That’s the thing, though. Am I better? Or did I just stop givin’ a fuck? How can I even tell the difference…”

  “I’d like to think you give a fuck. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “True…” he muttered, “Okay… I’m sorry, V.”

  “Oh?” my brow furrowed all of a sudden, “For what?”

  “I abused your trust. You’re right – you could’a done your own thing. Maybe figured out a solution. Instead I took over your body to go on a wild goose chase. And much more’n that…” his face almost looked like he was bawling… it actually genuinely startled me. “Truth is, you’re a good person. And I took advantage of that. Cheated on your girlfriends. Smoked when you told me not to. Loaded you up with hard drugs and tattoos and shit… All so we could–”

  “No, Johnny,” I interrupted, “Stop there. Just… stop there.” I sensed he was about to say something that’d nullify his point.

  “Mmh…” he thought to himself, taking a drag of his imaginary smoke, “Not too good at this. But I won’t make excuses. This is a two-way street, what we got. And I shouldn’t jeopardize that by breaking trust. It was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

  It wasn’t ideal. But I could tell he was finally being sincere for once. “…Alright, Johnny. Thank you.”

  “Yeah…” he sighed before picking up his head a little, “Thank you, V.”

  “For what?”

  “I dunno… For listening to me…”

  I took a deep breath and thought about what he was saying. No… no, I had to be honest with him. He’s had enough people stroke his ego. He needs someone he knows is trustworthy.

  “V…?”

  “Johnny…” I whispered, looking up at him, “Look, I, um… I’m not sure how to feel about this. I think you’re justifying taking over my body, getting bent the way you did… as just a means to an end. You know? Something you had to do to talk to Rogue, get her to believe it’s you, so she could take you to Smasher… But you still don’t take responsibility. I-I mean… you listed off everything you did. But then you were about to ruin it by saying something like, ‘all so we could find Smasher.’ As if I’d be okay with you doing all of that if we had somehow found the guy… Like, no, Johnny. Even if we caught him dead-asleep and assassinated him, that’s completely beside the point, okay? You broke my trust. You manipulated me, you used me, and you treated my body like garbage… Like– like, just… Why don’t I just go back to Arasaka at this point?!”

  “Oh c’mon, that’s not fair–”

  “No, it is!” I interrupted him, “I spent a decade of my life being loyal to this fucking company. A decade. And what did I get for that? The exact same goddamn thing. Manipulated, put in a helpless situation, and now I’m working for the guy whose hubris cost my brother his life…”

  “V, you know I would never–”

  “Johnny, do you remember what you said to me in the hotel? Your words to me were, ‘I will do you no wrong.’ Okay, how many days did you shave off the last remnants of my life with your actions? You’re already taking over my body, is that not enough?!”

  “V, I…” Johnny reappeared next to me. He took off his glasses again and wiped away some tears… I’d never seen him cry before… “I’m sorry… I’ve made a mistake…”

  “Yes, you have…” I looked at him and frowned.

  “And you know what… no… No, I’m going to own up to it. However long it takes. We’ll figure out a way to make it right… If you’ll let me…” he got up and walked over to a still burning oil well, staring at the fire as it danced in the night. “I know why you’re afraid of fire… It’s cause, for your whole life, you’ve only ever seen it destroy. Since you were a kid, watchin’ the cleaners down in the Concrete River with the flamethrowers… Watchin’ your best friend’s mother–”

  “Okay… Johnny…” I interrupted again, “Please…”

  “Sorry… Just… I don’t want to be another force of destruction… Not anymore…” Johnny tossed the cigarette he was holding into the fire, “I’m done… I can’t do this. Not after everything we’ve been through… the Voodoo Boys, Alt, the Aldecaldos, Arasaka, Takemura, Rogue… No one’s ever been by my side like you have… I’m with you whether I like it or not, all the time… And I don’t want to burn you anymore… It's not fair to either of us. You know it, I know it.”

  “Johnny, you–”

  “V,” he stopped me this time, “You gave me a new life when I didn’t deserve it. Let me make it up to you… Please.”

  I could tell he was being genuinely sincere here… Maybe for the first time in his life. If this is really him reaching out for help, then I could never live with myself if I turned that away. “Fine…” I conceded with a slight smile, “Thank you. For being honest. But this is the only second chance you’ll get.”

  Johnny’s grin lit up the night as he put his glasses back on and walked towards me, still speaking softly. “I won’t waste it.”

  If only he could’ve been this honest before… But I guess that’s not under my control. “Heh. You better,” I chuckled, “You have a bad habit of regressing at the worst possible times.”

  “Well, to be fair, you kinda deserved it,” he said cheekily, “Screams in the night, feelin’ sorry for yourself all the time, just goin’ through the motions like you’re filing taxes ‘til the day you keel over.”

  “As if you’re any better,” I retorted, “Raging on and on like some child. Begging me for smokes at 2 in the morning. Trying to convince me to kill myself… You know. Little things.”

  Johnny laughed a bit at that. “Hey, nobody’s perfect…” he sat down next to me again, this time with a light smile on his face. “It’s been a wild ride. Hasn’t it, V…”

  “Yeah… it has.”

  “Y’know. I could’ve been stuck in the head of some fuckin’ gonk,” he said quietly, “Instead I got put in the head of one of Arasaka’s top intelligence officers. Stroke of luck if you ask me…”

  “And I could’ve gotten stuck with Saburo Arasaka…” I visibly shuddered.

  “Yeah, let’s not go there… Hah…” Johnny chuckled, “Hope Rogue’ll be alright. She’s changed.”

  “Most people do over 50 years. But she’ll be fine. Not like Smasher’s going anywhere.”

  “True…” Johnny mulled while looking over at the city, "Man, I don't know…"

  "What?"

  "Remember when we were askin' about the differences between AI and humans, sayin' I was just a construct, no soul or anything?"

  "Sure… Why?"

  "Well…" his face sank again, "I've been thinking… How could someone with no soul feel like this…"

  His comment left me almost speechless… "I don't know…" I whispered to him, "I'm sorry this happened to you, Johnny…"

  "Yeah, me too…" his mouth shuffled around a bit as he thought to himself, "Well, guess there's nothing left for us here… Let's motivate."

  “Mm…” I nodded, “Should probably change the Porsche’s oil as well. God knows how stale it is…” And I could really use the distraction. It's been one hell of a past few days… All I need right now is some normalcy… Even for a little while…