Kabuki
Tubio crosses the bridge again and leaves the streets of Japantown to enter those of Kabuki. A suburb of Watson, Kabuki was deserted after Arasaka finished dominating the market and eradicating the other corporations. Pushing the businesses and wealthy families out of the area.
Taking advantage of this, a new poorer population invaded the place.
Transforming the district into the poorest one just behind pacifica. Today the alleyways and buildings are the refuge of the best black markets. The whole in the Chinese style that the old buildings still display. From the cellars to the terraces, this whole place has become a breeding ground for large and small illegal bargains. Cheap make-up, sensory dance, drugs, steroids, cybernetic prototypes that charcudocs will be ready to install in your body.
In this climate you would think that the whole area would be crowded, it is, except for a part in the north occupied by gangs.
But today no one can break the control that the Mox's have, this gang has taken total control of the suburb, even with the presence of the Tiger claws gang and the maelstrom around.
Their creation story in itself carries to the level of night city legend.
Lizzie's Bar, a once cheap strip club that became one of the most popular sensory dance clubs and brothels in Kabuki, is under their jurisdiction.
These simulations allow a user to relive the memories of a person while also providing all sense and emotions. The owner of the bar was Elizabeth “Lizzie” Borden.
She was a former sex worker who also owned a strip club at one point before operating at Lizzie’s. It is said that she was a hard-working owner who defended her employees and wanted nothing but the best for them. She died on May 13, 2067, after being murdered by three Tyger Claws gang members who were attempting to rape an employee of the bar, so she stepped in to protect them. The bar is later taken over by the Moxes consisting of sex workers, anarchists, and bystanders to protect it.
After that the racket of the Tiger Claws and the attacks of the members of the maelstroms found themselves confronted with a large part of Kabuki. The Moxes act as protectors of the businesses and the humble worker.
Arriving at Sutter Street and Lizzie's Bar, the Maelstroms' cars parked in the entrance to the parking lot and street. Blocking anyone who wanted to enter. With the reputation they had, no one wanted to pass by the maelstrom in such large numbers. The bouncers of the club soon came out of the club, the members of the Moxes in front of the entrance who had initially come in with bladed weapons came out with firearms when they saw the red. Cyclop himself came out. Tubio, Boris and the others came out with weapons but without being aggressive. For them.
More people came out of the club entrance armed with bats and machine guns.
Where the maelstrom presented itself in the metallic form of chrome, not hesitating to sometimes grab limbs to install prostheses. The Moxes did not have their fanaticism for chrome and even if the members were installed new cybernetics they had more to do with the traditional aesthetics of beauty. Where the Moxes would see beauty, some maelstroms would call them a meat lover for looking natural. But the tastes of the maelstroms are always rather doubtful.
A woman in a long coat with a shotgun came out and made way around her. She had nothing on but a crop top, a bikini underneath with thigh-high boots and suspenders, showing her tattoos and scars. Not an outfit for a street fight but with the gun in front of her this woman was clearly ready to shoot first. she turned to Cyclops who had stepped forward.
-What do you want freaks?
To which Cyclop getting closer to her pulled out the folded photo found in Prina's apartment with the words. “I just want to talk, information for remuneration” marked on the back with contact infos.
In the most total incomprehension the woman took the picture by reflex. Spike was sitting by his car. He started to giggle, joined by the one next to him, before the laughter spread to all the members of the maelstrom.
Cyclop got back into his car and drove off, followed without incident by the other cars behind him. The Moxes looked at each other completely lost.
-What the fuck just happen?
to which the others shrugged their shoulders.
******
Once back on the road, the cars dispersed. Before Boris turned to Cyclop in panic.
-Some guys are attacking the club!
-Who, how many? We'll tell Spike and the others to hurry over there, we'll meet them there.
-Otis... It's cut off. He said the bouncers were dead and that shots were coming from the stairs.
-You heard Tubio, foot to the floor!
The car passed in traffic. Passing and taking the shortest route to the club. Suddenly the impact. None of them had seen it.
The impact came from Boris passenger side. The impact was so violent that Tubio nearly lost control. He could feel the car start to roll over. The car squealed as a truck dragged it against the concrete railing of the road. Cyclop, who was not hooked, was thrown onto the side of the car while Tubio hit his head on the window. Tubio tried to continue driving, the car coming out of the truck's grip only to be shot at. The car couldn't even make a few moves as a second vehicle hit them.
The car was in bad shape, bullets had gone through the body, shattering the windows and scattering shards of glass everywhere. As they tried to gain more speed. The second car had pushed them off the road onto the pavement hitting it at high speed. The car was now immobile. Stuck sideway to the road in facing a the wall, their assailant's cars arriving on the co-driver's side. Boris tried to get out but his body and door were blocked by the deformed door. Planting his fist in the broken windshield and window, he pulled out his pistol before shooting at the cars outside by the windows
Cyclop came out the other side of the shots visibly groggy as he pulled out his mantis blades. He tore off his sweater and revealed a tight-fitting hooded outfit. This time the red eye was fully revealed, steel plates served as his shoulders while a leather jacket covered his body. Once out he turned his gaze towards his attackers.
Tubio had managed to steer the car into a dead end with a possible escape on foot. All the assailants were in front of him. Their cars parked in an arc around as theirs crashed into the wall. Getting out of three vehicles, 12 armed men started to point their group.
Time seemed to slow down for Cyclops as he engaged his quick hacks.
From the right, the first four came out with assault rifles. One of them lunged at Cyclops with a sword but, short circuit, he convulsed as his cybernetics failed him, sending him crashing to the ground not even half way from him.
Turning his gaze to the second car, he saw a grenade on the dashboard of the car. Grenade detonation. The grenade began to beep. Alarming some of the enemies at the car, but not all of them.
The ones in the third car had just gotten out when Boris shot one of them in the arm, knocking him backwards.
The quick hacking of, Defective Weapons, thrown by cyclops corrupted the assault rifle of the driver of the first car and spread to the other two and as they tried to aim their weapons, Cyclops was already on them. Using the momentum of his augmented legs, he jumped on the driver's torso who tried to draw his revolver, planting his mantis blades into his body wasting no time. The second passenger behind the driver already had his revolver on Cyclops and was shooting at him. Dashing forward, Cyclops raised the blade of his right arm in an arc, cutting both arms of his enemy, before slicing his head with his left arm in a horizontal movement.
The last survivor of the car, on the other side, tried to shoot through the car windows, with no effect, before Cyclops tried to shoot him with the corpse's weapon.
At the same time, the grenade in the second car exploded, sending two of the attackers flying, one burned by the blast and the other flat on his back, crawling for cover.
Coming out of the third car was a heavy machine gun. He then started to shoot at Boris and Tubio without aiming. Turning the car into a sieve. Tubio finally opened his door to take cover behind the front wheels.
Cyclops and the last one alive in the first car were in the same situation when Cyclops saw a soda machine next to them. Until the quick hack, Ping, a digital line floated across the car in his field of vision, pointing to differents possibles connections points like his attacker hiding on the other side of the vehicle. Overloading his energy pistol he fired a concentrated energy shot through the car to hit his enemy through the metal. The scream he gave told Cyclop to get up and run around. The man in combat gear was holding his chest as Cyclop shot him repeatedly to death.
Boris had stopped shooting and the survivors of the third and second cars were turning toward him.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
-Don't let him rest!
The machine gun fired indiscriminately as his allies and enemies rushed out of the fire zone. Cyclop jumped back to his previous cover as the bullets passed through the corpse of the man he had just executed.
Becoming the center of their formation, two of them ran around the burning hull of the second car. The last survivor of this one crawled out of sight behind a low wall.
Tubio, on the other hand, took advantage of the absence of bullets whistling in his direction to see Boris bending over to crawl towards the back seat of the car. The movement attracted the attention of the two closest enemies. Tubio plucked up courage and crouched down on the hood of the car to shoot at them. Making them back up behind the heavy machine gunner who decided to shoot alternately at Tubio and Cyclops.
Cyclops retrieved the assault rifle from one of the corpses, repairing the shooting incident. He used Ping again. The lines of code flew in his field of vision towards his enemies. Creating red silhouettes. He could see Tubio and Boris. Both were still moving.
Boris was badly injured. Having used his arm as a shield, he had protected his head from the bullets, but the heavy machine gun had gone through his chrome. He lifted the back seat to get out a shotgun and crawled through the back door that Cyclop had left open. Tubio went to him and helped him out.
Cyclops searched the two bodies next to him to retrieve their equipment. But the cry "GRENADE" made him stand up. One of the two who had contorted the flaming wreckage had thrown a grenade. Once again time seemed to slow down for Cyclops. His cooldown for his quick hacks was not over yet so he used, Contagion. This hack spreads rapidly through the victim's cybernetic systems to the next closest host. Each cybernetic possesses toxic fluid in the subject's body. Normally under control. Contagion leaks them into the host's system.
In less than a second the one who had just thrown the grenade was seized by an uncontrollable urge to vomit. As soon as the liquid came out of his lips, his friend put a knee on the ground. The arm still stretched out firing as he could towards Cyclops. The drawback of this quick hack is that it is very rarely lethal. The security protocols on cybernetics are not taken lightly.
Returning fire he managed to hit several times the two enemies who took cover behind the flaming vehicle.
Contagion continued to spread among the three others aggressors. With his vision, Cyclops could see the locations of the downloads. Even as Ping disappeared, the only flaw in this hack. It doesn't last long enough. Time resumed and the grenade fell on the trunk of the car where he was hiding.
Tubio on the other hand pulled Boris by the rear wheel, he was too heavy for him. Looking through the back door, under the banquet where Boris had recovered his shotgun. He saw the healing injectors. He took one and injected it into Boris's thigh who inhaled quickly, his breathing was rapid as the adrenaline cocktail coursed through his veins, his eyes even though they were made up of two metal protuberances with red glass, betrayed his confusion. His beard was now filled with blood. He looked at Tubio before grabbing his arm.
-Tubio. This is the most crappy augmentation I've ever seen for a face.
Tubio had the lowest rate of augmentation a member of the Maelstrom could have, one. Tubio had fine black hair pulled back. Clearly showing Tubio's augmentation of his face, it was a mix between a respiratory mask and red goggles, all of which went behind his ears like glasses with steel along is face. He didn't look like he was augmented. The glass of his glasses was red and gave off the presence of the maelstrom. But the rest of him looked like he'd just had the piece glued to his face. Anyone with a single brain cell could see the truth.
Tubio stopped what he was doing looking at Boris. His right arm had been pierced by a large number of bullets and blood was flowing from his body like piss.
-Cyclops is a good person who grew up in this world. You, you shouldn't be one of us, if I've been hard on you it's to get you to leave.
Tubio followed his gaze and a staircase disappearing under the city was behind them.
-You have to get away. We're about to be wiped out for good. You can survive.
-Not even in dreams we will survive and... and...
-And nothing. The doc knew this was coming. I have been called for help from a dozen of us, I should have been more vigilant.
The bullets continued to hit the car when another explosion sounded.
He looked up and saw Cyclop's vehicle back go up in flames from the explosion. Taking the rifle from Boris' hands he pointed it at the two men covering the heavy machine gunner. With a snap he fired, hitting and killing one of them before he had to duck down to get another slug into the barrel. He could hear the heavy machine gunner as he was shooting him.
-There are only two of them and you can't kill them? Kill these rats!
A few seconds earlier. When the grenade fell on the trunk of the car. Cyclops threw himself to the ground using the nearest corpse as a protective layer. The flames roared around him fortunately the grenade had stayed on the trunk and not fallen to the ground. Otherwise he would have had to run into the open.
The deflagration did not hit him directly beyond the vehicle, contrary to the other one, it did not explode itself completely. However, the fire had started inside the vehicle and would eventually have the same effect. Still groaning, Cyclops pushed the body covered in shards of glass and burns back onto its legs, and saw huge pieces of steel in its arm. Like an electroshock. He wanted to scream in pain, but his helmet implant prevented the sound from leaving him, contorting himself on the ground in pain, he got up on his knees, catching his breath. At the boundary between his arm and his shoulder a piece bigger than the others prevented him from moving his arm, he left the pieces inside. He will have to fight without his left arm.
Fortunately, all these twists allowed him to gain time to prepare his next quick hacks. Executing Ping once again. The lines led to his enemies. The heavy shooter plus one, on Tubio and Boris as the last two ran towards him.
Now that the explosion had taken place, the two who had suffered Contagion first found themselves running towards Cyclops' vehicle, one with an energy pump shotgun, the other with an assault rifle.
Unfortunately for them, Cyclops followed their progress with Ping. Just as they were about to pass the car, Cyclops fired a burst of his weapon into the first one before executing, short circuit.
The first one fell under the volley of bullets, the other only took a moment to feel his cybernetics break down.
-Why can’t you fucking die!
The heavy shooter began to lose patience as he continued to waste his ammunition on Tubio, Cyclops used, Reboot Optics. And in an instant the shooter’s eyes overloaded, bringing him a peak of pain screaming at his ally what was happening to him. The latter used a grenade towards Tubio’s car before turning to fire on Cyclop while his comrade’s optics were rebooting.
The grenade bounces off the roof before falling between Boris and Tubio. Tubio dropped his shotgun and grabbed the grenade before throwing it back across the car.
The grenade exploded in mid-air destabilizing the last two assailants. Both retreated, while Cyclop tried his luck. Raising his weapon, he fired a burst at the two before using Overheat, causing their cybernetics to overheat. Missing his target miserably with his gun. Cyclops throws it away and continues to run to execute the two with his mantis blade. Cyclops was in bad shape and his running was hazardous, he didn't even use his augmented legs to close the distance faster.
Tubio tried to cover his approach with an extra shot from his rifle but instead of hitting, the blind gunman once again fired in his direction. Only this time he was hit. Tubio fell backwards and Cyclops arrived for the kill.
Finally arriving at the level of the crazy shooter Cyclops planted the mantis blade up and down in his neck with the blade going down into the chest of the victim. The victim fell to his knees, crushed by his own weight and his weapon, before just collapsing to the ground. The last survivor swung his weapon at him but Overheat had burned his arms and hands. With a fluid stroke, Cyclop struck the weapon raised towards him, knocking it out of his hands before slitting his throat. He went down with a bloody gurgle.
As he finally caught his breath, Cyclops heard a clicking sound at his feet. A grenade.
With a bang, the EMP grenade exploded with an electric blue glow, and in a flash a wave passed through the surrounding objects, including Cyclops, who began to convulse violently as he fell to the ground.
From behind his cover, the survivor of the second car who had hide for his life came out of his hiding place. Laughing at the incredible situation.
-I got him. I fucking got him!
He got up, but before he could even get close, Cyclops' head turned towards him. His hand with his gun went up to his head and his screaming stopped with a bang.
Cyclops let his head fall back to the ground, his body was in agony, the EMP was the last straw. For a long time Cyclops could only stay on his back. Breathing in great gulps of air. He could feel the movement of the metal pieces in his arm, the pain of the bullets ricocheting off his chrome, the blast of the grenades, the heat of the flames.
After what seemed like an eternity, he could finally move his arm. One hand crawling on the ground. He rolled over onto his stomach and tried to get up. Without success, he approached the third car, the last one still standing. He could feel the weight of his body preventing him from moving forward. His legs stubbornly refused to move after the EMP.
while he was doing his best to sit against the car or to pull himself up on his legs, he heard a roar behind him, coming on him... Pulling on his mechanical arm, he managed to pull himself up onto his legs.
The truck from their chase that had let the other three cars launch the assault had just hit Cyclop as he pulled himself up onto the hood of the car.
-I told them! Fuck, the bounty for living is shit, I might as well kill him and pocket the bounty. Look where it got you, you morons, that's what you get for not taking the boss seriously. You my guy! Stay the fuck inside.
Getting out of the vehicle he looked at the mess his men had made. Killing him and collecting for the corpse. But no, they had to try to strip him down to get a little money to spend in their graves. When you don't have the ability, you just need to get the easy way. Kill, question later.
Looking around he saw that Cyclop had survived the impact. At least the upper part of his body. Crushed between the two vehicles, Cyclop's legs had been destroyed. Twisted as he was his legs were not in the wrong direction, the all the way kind.
-This guy is a fucking Marie sue, he doesn't know when to die... At least he will be less heavy to carry. Up there! Make yourself useful and take off the brake, it's stuck.
A bang was heard and the leader of the group raised his weapon. Going around once more with the gun raised he made it to his lifeless partner with his hands on the brake between the seats. But as he turned to point around him, searching for a target, a thing moving caught his eye under the wide wheels of the truck. The barrel of a shotgun exploded in the face of the chief, who nearly took off from the ground a fraction of a second before falling back in a flop.
Trembling, Tubio climbed out from under the vehicle, dropped both weapons and went to release the handbrake. The truck backed up slightly as he went over to Cycolps. His lifeless body crumpled to the ground, his metal limbs in pieces. He picked up his head in his hands. Trying to get at least his lice, he could not remove the protective plates. When he finally found a button where an ear should be, part of Cyclops' mask came off, but not much for the face plate to drop. Reaching out his ear, Tubio heard a faint breathing. That was enough for him.
Recovering what he could from his attackers, he picked up his weapon and ammunition before lifting Cyclops and carrying him. A blanket made of a leftover blankets from trash, covered Cyclops, the material he was carrying and himself.
Leaving the bodies and the scene of war behind, he walked to his car. Having served as a shield, it was unrecognizable. It was a miracle that Boris had made it this far. Moving to the other side, to the stairs leading in the darks streets, he looked at Boris' lifeless body sitting against the car in silence. Soon the sirens of the NCPD came in the distance. Reassuring his grip, he put on a holo.
-¿Mi hijo? ¿Qué está pasando?
-Madre, te necesito. Si no me ayudas mi amigo morirá.
-Dime dónde estás.