Japantown

April 6th

2069

The world seemed to slow as Sophie tracked the grenade through the air. It was still a fair distance away, which was a positive. Her Copperhead came up and she squeezed off a few shots.

As she fired, Sophie realised how stupid that kind of decision was. Why did I do that!? My aim sucks! All of her shots missed and she had to make a split-second decision about what to do, before she was blown up by the grenade.

She threw herself to the side, rolling and tumbling away. However, she had clearly underestimated the power of a Cyberpunk grenade. The blast erupted in a small ball of flames, releasing shrapnel and a significant shockwave. She was blown even further away before smashing into a concrete bench, landing in a crumpled heap.

Her head was ringing and memories of the time she was blown up by a mine flashed before her. I’m still fucking weak! Why!? Her eyes looked around, catching sight of the corpses scattered across the ground. The people who had been peacefully living their lives until the Tygers showed up. This shitty fucking world!

The anger that she’d been keeping inside erupted and she mentally reached into her inventory for a Maxdoc. She hoped it would help her push through and flatline all of the Tygers. The injector appeared in her hand and she quickly stabbed it into her neck, above the near-bulletproof materials of her clothes.

Her groan as the injection entered her bloodstream was cut short when a stray bullet ricocheted off a nearby metal table and punctured through her netrunner suit, burying itself in her left thigh. She screamed, a mixture of anger, frustration and pain. She frantically looked around and spotted her Copperhead a few metres away.

Pushing through the sharp pain in her leg and the general aches across her body, Sophie crawled over to the rifle. Once she had it in hand, she staggered up into a crouch, behind one of the damaged stalls in the marketplace.

She peered over her cover, quickly locating each of the Tygers that were still advancing on her position. Her eyes locked onto the man she’d used as a human shield, who was the furthest enemy on her left. He was still alive, though clearly wounded.

She shuffled over to the left side of the broken stall and took aim. The lull caused by the grenade was shattered as she fired half her magazine at the wounded Tyger. There was no chance for him to do anything as the bullets ripped into him, shredding apart his body armour and the soft internals it protected. He crumpled and at the same time, the katana wielding lady that had first spotted her screamed.

“Kaito! You fucking bitch!” With all subtlety gone, the woman disappeared in a flash. At the same time, Sophie felt a distinct sense of danger appear. She folded herself in half, immensely thankful for the abilities provided by Flexibility. A katana flashed through the space she had occupied mere moments before. Sandy!

Sophie was in luck though, as the woman didn’t reactivate the military grade cyberware. Whatever model the woman was using, it clearly wasn’t the best. Or she didn’t have good compatibility with it.

While the lack of sandevistan was good, the woman was incredibly close and wielding a katana.

Still in an awkward position from her dodge, Sophie decisively threw her rifle at the woman’s face. It didn’t do much damage, as expected, but it did force the Tyger to abandon the slash she had just begun.

Sophie decisively dropped her rifle, drawing one of her knives instead. Still in an awkward position from her dodge, she lashed out with the knife. It missed, as expected, but also forced the Tyger to abandon the slash she had begun.

With that opening, Sophie took a few quick steps away, putting distance between them and drawing one of her knives. For a moment, they stared at each other. Both women had rage burning in their eyes, one for the innocents killed that night and the other for a friend or partner that had fallen.

The stillness was broken when a burst of gunfire erupted from one of the other Tygers. Sophie felt a bullet slam into her side and another graze her cheek. At the same time, the katana wielding woman stepped forward with a sweeping slash. The teen tried to step back but found the path blocked by more gunfire.

She abandoned her retreat and instead moved in the same direction as the slash. It landed on her stomach but it was already at the end of its arc, meaning it lacked sufficient force to cut all the way through her armour.

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Sophie took advantage of the situation, spinning her knife into a reverse grip before plunging it into the woman’s forearm. She screeched in pain and staggered back but her small attacker didn’t relent.

With as much force as she could muster, Sophie slammed straight into the woman, toppling her to the ground. She immediately straddled her and brought her blade down into the Tyger’s jugular. Blood sprayed out, once more drenching the teen as the katana lady died.

She wasn’t given a break though as the big sumo fucker appeared out of nowhere. His fist grew larger in Sophie’s vision and only at the last second did she move to dodge. In the same movement, she raised her arms to protect herself.

The punch didn’t land properly but it glanced off her arms. The instant sharp pain in her right arm made her suspect it was fractured but she had a bigger problem to worry about. Namely, the fact she’d been sent flying by the attack.

She crashed into something and her knife slipped from her hand. However, she quickly retrieved the Satara from her inventory. Panicking, she fumbled a shell into the shotgun just in time for the sumo guy to appear in front of her once more.

She held the trigger briefly, then let go. The man’s torso was instantly riddled with holes, but he seemed intent on killing her before going down. A Nue appeared in her hand and she fired until the magazine was empty, as was the sumo’s head.

Sophie breathed a quick sigh of relief before hardening her gaze. Everything hurt and she had taken significant damage. In fact, the only reason she wasn’t dead was the investment she’d made by buying the armoured clothing.

However, she still had four opponents left. Luckily, the adrenaline and rage in her system, along with an ironclad refusal to go down, meant she could wring out the last bit of energy in her body.

A loud roar interrupted her thoughts. “Why won’t you die!? You little whore!” Sophie looked in the voice’s direction, identifying the leader of the Tyger group. He had his chrome arm raised and a small barrel on top of it. Her eyes widened as she recognised what it was.

She scrambled to her feet and dashed away, disregarding the gunfire that followed her. The sound of a rocket filled the air and she dove behind a large piece of concrete just before the explosion erupted. It was smaller than the grenade, so it had mostly missed aside from a few new pieces of shrapnel getting stuck in her chestplate.

Sophie glanced at the man, watching him trying to load another rocket into his Projectile Launch System. “Absolutely not!” She hissed quietly before retrieving her Saratoga. The other Tygers were all in a poor position to target her, so she bolted straight for the leader. As she got closer, a dense spray of bullets flew towards him.

They crashed into his chest, making him drop the explosive he had been trying to load. However, it wasn’t enough to put him down. As she stepped in close, he swung a hook, trying to take her head clean off.

An easy duck under the attack found Sophie directly against his chest, SMG barrel pressed into his guts. She pulled the trigger and he immediately spasmed as most of his innards were replaced with lead.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted one of the remaining Tygers to her right, gaping at her. She had no idea why but she wouldn’t refuse a stationary target. Sophie charged at him, pulling a spare knife from her inventory.

Only once she got close did the man try to do anything. “Please! Let me gOoo…!” He was shown no mercy as Sophie leapt at him, driving her blade straight into the side of his skull before violently wrenching it out as his words died in his mouth.

A bullet slammed into her back and she turned, instantly spotting her next target. She dropped to the ground, sheathing her knife and scooping up the pistol belonging to her previous kill. She dove into a roll until she was behind a barrier then leaned over it, aiming at the shooter.

He popped up from behind his cover and Sophie immediately fired. By some miracle, her first shot punched straight through the man’s optics. One left. Then I can rest. But where are they? She slowly stood and began searching the trashed marketplace.

Only once she had her back turned to the entrance did she hear footsteps. Sophie spun and her expression turned weird. “Running? Really?” He got about half way before she caught up to him, driving her knife through his spine to cripple him, then stabbing through the back of his neck.

With her final enemy down, she staggered to her feet. As she stood, the newly killed Tyger partially rolled over. Her eyes widened at the man-no, the boy’s youth. “Fuck me…” He couldn’t have been more than 18. She hurriedly moved between all of the corpses, checking their faces. Around half of them were young, not even in their twenties.

“No wonder I was able to beat them all. Half of them were rookies…Fresh off the streets. This fucking city.” For a minute, she faltered. Subconsciously, she had been baffled at the fact she actually survived the battle.

With half of her opponents still carrying baby fat and her gear advantages, it was no wonder she’d beaten them. The only people that gave her a challenge were the older Claws and she’d taken them out mostly through trickery and sheer force of will. Hiding a bunch of weapons in her inventory had provided the advantage she needed to take them down.

She looked around the market, her eyes catching on the corpse of the Tyger that had tried to beg for mercy. Right next to him however, was a young girl, not even ten years old. Beaten black and blue, her neck was bent at a strange angle. Sophie’s heart hardened. Just because they were young, doesn’t excuse what they’ve done. They were monsters, even if they just stood by while it happened.

Assuring herself that her actions weren’t those of an indiscriminate killer, Sophie set about cleaning up the battlefield, despite her exhaustion. She collected and reloaded all of her personal weapons, along with as many of the guns and blades she could loot from the dead Tygers. The group’s leader even had an extra frag grenade, which she sent straight into her inventory.

Once she was done, she sat for a moment on the ground. The system store appeared in front of her and she quickly made a purchase. A small syringe holding a bright yellow liquid appeared in her hand, which she immediately jabbed into her neck.

Instantly, a rush of energy flushed through her body. It didn’t heal any of her wounds but it replenished half of her emptied energy reserves. All for 2,000 L-Coins. The only downside was that she couldn’t use another one for a week at least.

Groaning, she hauled herself up. More Tygers would absolutely arrive as reinforcements and Sophie had no desire to remain when they did. As she walked out the entrance though, the world threw a final ‘fuck you’ at her.

A car, covered in Tyger Claw decal, arrived. The girl had no desire to have another firefight so she resolutely summoned her recently looted grenade. She pulled the pin and chucked it under the car. Just as the doors opened, it exploded. The two Tygers in the front died instantly while one of the backseat passengers was blown away, clearly disoriented.

The last of the four, who had exited the car just before it blew up, received a spray of bullets from Sophie’s Nue. He spasmed and dropped to the ground. The disoriented Claw received a bullet to the skull as well. Finally, let’s go home. As she took a step, a familiar sound appeared.

“Fuck you world. Fuck you.” She spoke, turning and jogging back into the market as a group of Yaiba Kusanagi's, all carrying a Tyger, appeared.