Chapter 94
My heart was suddenly beating in my ears. Teeth grinding. If I wasnt already a bit out of breath I was sure I would be screaming with every exhale.
MAELSTROM.
My hand instinctively already reaching for my Burya to put the monster down.
I snapped my eyes shut. Inhale. Exhale.
I opened my eyes feeling at least myself. I wasnt sure if that feeling had been from all the rage I had been pumping into myself, or just
Maelstrom.
But my hand fell away from my Burya. I didnt need to kill her. The girl was barely alive.
Broken. Ripped apart. White borg blood mixed with red real blood covered her. I was honestly shocked she was still alive considering how much blood was dripping from her onto the floor.
I stilled, everything that I was struggled with a decision.
On one hand, Maelstrom. Kill her. Painfully.
On the other, she was a victim of Scavs. No one deserved that. Funny how my two most hated enemies were responsible for this situation.
My eyes flickered as I scanned her. She had a rap sheet. I read it over still unsure what to do.
Natalie Desanto AKA GearSlot. I said finally my eyes bored into her optics. As if I could kill her by just glaring.
A-are you-*cough* D-did Kamhead send you? She asked, quietly a desperate hope in her voice.
The sound of it left my tongue tasting of ash, and a disgust welling up in me.
Its all fun and games to put people in a pit to fight for their life, but get put into a Scav den and suddenly they are the victim! I raged inside my mind. My hands gripped so hard I could feel the blood coating my palms run down my fingers. I shifted them, to keep from breaking something internally.
No, I was not sent here by some Maelstrom piece of shit! I happily kill you fucks whenever I get the chance after what you monsters did to me! I roared back, my voice throaty and raw. My insides were still not doing great. I should really stop and take some MaxDoc to heal up again, but my hands were struggling to do anything but grip my own arms now as I glared at the Maelstrom in front of me.
All I could see is those fucking optics staring at me.
Oh. She muttered a raspy sigh escaping her. Figures.
I stalked up to her. For the first time in a while my arms felt wrong. Like just being around some Maelstrom made my phantom limbs act up again, as if I had an extra set of limbs already reaching for her throat to throttle her to death.
My head felt quiet. The song ended so it was just me and her and the sound of dripping blood.
Just me, and her.
Her life in my hands. She was dying regardless. Body torn into by Scavs. Another victim of them just as I had been
I exhaled and it came out more like a growl. But the breath was ice cold on my tongue.
Suddenly I reached out and grabbed her face, uncaring about the blood I left there as I pushed her head to the side. She whimpered in fear and pain. As she knew a beast was here to kill her.
But I wasnt a mindless beast.
I pulled the shard that was in her neuroport.
Im not going to rescue you, but that should be what was blocking your agent. Call some of your chooms. If they care about you, maybe youll survive. I bit out crunching the shard in my hand. Fucking Scav shit made to shut down someone from being able to call for help.
Then I started walking away. I couldnt deal with this shit!
W-wait! W-where are we? I dont know where to tell-Tell them to go! She begged weakly, desperate.
My feet stomped into bloody flooring halting me cold.
Megabuilding H11 Floor 37. Tell them to get to the North West side. Should be obvious where to go. I ground behind clenched teeth, as I started taking another step away. I wanted to get out of here.
Then she was coughing, I could hear the blood in her synth-lungs. I had killed enough people to know what someone dying sounded like.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
I turned around and grabbed a medkit off a pile of bodies. Fucking Scavs. They obviously took care of each other in here when needed. They had a full medical kit all stocked up. I thrust a MaxDoc into her hand, which would help a little, but grabbed a canister of borg blood.
I jammed it into her, not caring to be gentle. She whimpered, but it obviously helped. Blood pressure surging back as her breathing evened out, even giving her the strength to take the MaxDoc.
There, thats all the mercy I have for someone in Maelstrom. I told her firmly. Slamming the medkit back onto the table beside her and storming off.
As I turned the corner I came across the dead Scavs, and remembered what I had been doing here.
I turned off the BD recorder, and grabbed a MaxDoc of my own.
I also needed to find a damn bathroom. Jun would freak if I came out this covered in my own blood like this.
My irritation spiked when I realized I would have to go hunt down my knife, I had dropped my Carnage somewhere as well.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.
Plus Ichi and Malcolm would be on their way soon, and so would a group of Maelstrom.
Fuck. Fuck!
I found a bathroom, but stopped before cleaning up. The sight of myself covered in blood gave me an idea. Instead I called Jun.
*Motoko! You okay? It went quiet!*
*Jun change of plans. I need you to stay up there Scavs had a victim in here they are fucked, They are calling for someone to get them out of here, but I dont want you to get involved.* I said ignoring his worried tone.
*Motoko? Whats going on I can come down to help if someone is dying. I know some first aid stuff.* Juns voice asked, obviously concerned.
*Maelstrom. The victim is a Maelstrom girl.* Considering how much I want to kill her, and her fucking friends, I doubted Jun was much more reasonable.
*Did you kill it?* Jun asked, suddenly his voice sounded a little dead.
*No, I didnt kill her! I just said She was already in pieces.* I told him, and dont think I didnt notice how you called her an it Jun. Thats rather telling Onii-chan. *Its ruined my mood though. Jun just let me handle this. Some of her chooms are going to come pick her up. That will be that.*
*No. If more Maelstrom are coming I should come down. Make sure they dont ever leave, we can-*
*Jun, if the Maelstrom find out you are here alone, they are going to send a hit squad to take you out. Just Stay hidden up there, Ill patch you into the cameras so you can keep watch, but I just want these fucks gone so Malcolm and Ichi can loot Please just stay cool. I know I know this isnt comforting. But I have an idea. Its not like I plan on being gentle with the fucks.*
*Its your gig.* He said suddenly just as flat as before, then the call ended.
Fuck.
--
I had called Ichi to let him know the situation, so he wouldnt park too close until I let him know it was clear. Then I waited. Forced to listen to the Maelstrom woman slowly die even with the blood injection and MaxDoc.
My foot was tapping in irritation when finally the elevator started up and three Maelstrom came stepping out carefully onto the floor with guns in hand.
No! You are injured, go to Viks! He demanded and I stalled which gave him all the time he needed to race inside.
Bastard! I yelled at him, but he just laughed as he raced inside.
I was going to powerbomb his ass the very next time I caught him sleeping. I decided, but it was with a much lighter feeling that I slipped back into the Quadra.
--
Thankfully Vik was able to take care of me. To my surprise he hadnt been in his clinic when I got there. I actually had to call him up.
Turns out Vik actually had a life outside of waiting around in his clinic for my gonk ass.
It gave me weird vibes, like meeting a teacher outside of school.
You have a fracture in your skull, and two of your ribs kid. Vik unfortunately hadnt been happy at me, when I explained that I was still feeling pain even after healing.
I figured. Broken bones dont tend to heal up without sleeping. I explained and he just sighed rubbing at his head with one hand not covered in Ripper needles.
Alright, kid. Im glad you came to me for me to check you out, so I wont yell at you too much. He offered with a warm hand on my shoulder as he thankfully let me off easy.
I hadnt actually told him just why I was a bit more beat up than normal. Hopefully he wont find out it was something I basically did to myself.
Well I want you to rest then, here, for observation. Head wounds like that Skull fractures are serious kid. So rest. Im going to make sure you dont have a brain hemorrhage in your sleep.
With those orders from Vik what else could I do? I leaned back and closed my eyes.
--
With a clean bill of health and skull back to how it should be I left Viks the next morning. intending to go see Judy to drop off the new BD. Unfortunately I was still kinda covered in blood. I had washed up a bit, but there was only so much I could do without a change of clothes and a shower.
So I went home instead. Did just that, and even took a few moments to get some food in me. Then I raced over to Lizzies.
I had cut out a bit of the BD already. Mostly just everything after meeting the Maelstrom victim. I didnt want anyone to see how rattled it had made me. I had kept a copy of me messing with the second Maelstrom group, but that wasnt going to be handed over to Judy. It wasnt good enough to really bother with.
Lizzies was quieter than normal, being so early in the morning when I pulled up. Rita wasnt even the one guarding the door, but another girl that I had seen around, but hadnt spoken with. I waved at her as I passed and got a nod in return.
The insides were still active, but slower than normal. People were mostly hanging around in little corners rather than packing up the place, but I moved through.
Judys realm was how it always was. Dark and hidden away, but to my surprise, Judy wasnt actually here.
Huh.
I shrugged, it would have been nice to talk to her, but it is what it is. I grabbed the shard with the virtu on it and placed it onto Judys desk. Knowing she would get it. I was a few steps away before I stopped and quickly picked it back up.
Etching the name of the BD onto the shard with a grin before putting it back nice and obvious on her computer there. Now she would know what to call the BD for Nox.
Showing my mature and reasonable mentality I also sent Judy a text letting her know it was on her desk, including that the BD was a bit more brutal than before so she should be ready. As tempting as it was to leave it as a surprise, that might not be an entirely nice thing to do for someone kinda doing me a favor by fixing up my virtu.
With that I headed back out of the club into the sunny California day.
I blinked at the sunny bright day, raising my hand over my eyes as I glared at it.
Nah fuck that. I grumbled heading to my car. I was going to go hide in the apartment Maybe get some Ramen first.
--
I was on the couch with a bowl of to go ramen in front of me as I looked through my system alerts.
Eighteen Scavs.
I hadnt actually counted last night.
I had brutally murdered eighteen Scavs.
Seventeen 500xp alerts, and one 1000xp alert was in the listing.
9500xp was nice on its own. The level up to level 12 was great.
But that wasnt even all that my system had given me. I had used skills I didnt often practice. I had fought in a way that I never had.
Street Brawler had leveled up, and considering how early I had got those alerts, I might have gotten a good way into the next level if it wasnt already maxed out with Body at 7.
But better than that, I leveled Annihilation! Annihilation 5 also unlocked a perk. I had to go back and check to even remember what perk I had picked before, and it was Recoil Reduction. One of the reasons I was able to even use my Burya without breaking my arm. I was a little hyped at wondering what I would pick next!
Quick Hacks 7. Also popped up in the list. I guess my rolling Weapon Glitch had been good for more than just giving me a brutal melee.
I had gained a lot from that fight.
I stretched as I considered what to do with my points.
Ill admit a big part of me was tempted to put the stat point into intelligence.
Just to see. What was 11 in a stat/skill? What did it mean?
But I shook off the temptation. Instead I went to my adaptation page and pushed another point into my arms.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 5/8*
I exhaled and I shrugged, and honestly. I couldnt even really feel the difference so much anymore. Sure they still gave weird signals sometimes. Falling asleep on my arm only to wake up and feel like someone else was touching my face was a weird recurring issue in the morning.
But it felt Normal.
I felt normal.
Well, I felt normal enough. Ignoring the slight itch of my Subdermal. The ache my ankles gave me in my calves as they forced bone and muscle to move in ways they wouldnt normally. Or the small minor things that I felt from time to time.
In the end. It was just me.
I smiled and nodded looking at my skill points.
Did I want to spend them?
I had two
Nah there wasnt anything that wasnt already close to max level that I couldnt level up pretty quick.
Rockerboy staring at me still at level 6 was tempting to actually grind out though.
I did finally finish my music box! I grinned as I stretched, wiggling my toes as I finished off the ramen.
Time to make some songs!
I reached over and plugged my personal link into the box humming as I started on a new track. I was thinking Samurai. I nodded, decision made. Lets see how I compare to Johnny.
