Northside

April 18th

2069

Sophie slowed her breathing as she steadied herself on the crossbeam, perched above her completely oblivious prey. Below her, the scav near the staircase paced back and forth, muttering to himself. He was alone, separated from the others by the distance of the room. Faint sounds of conversation drifted from the far side of the building, where the other scavs were gathered behind a dividing wall.

Her eyes narrowed, as she unsheathed her katana, feeling the intense heat even as she held it in her chrome hand. She shifted her grip slightly, holding the blade in a reverse grip. She redistributed her weight a bit, her boots pressing against the beam as she prepared to descend.

With a silent leap, she dropped down towards the scav. As she fell, the tip of her blade aimed directly at the man’s shoulder. She barely felt any resistance as the thermal edge pierced straight into his body, puncturing the scav’s heart. The momentum of her jump crashed into the man, flattening him to the ground.

A strangled, bloody cough escaped his lips as the blade burned through flesh and bone, searing the wound shut as quickly as it opened. With cold anger, born from a true disgust of the people she was fighting, Sophie didn’t retrieve her blade in the normal, sensible way. Instead, she ripped the blade out of the man’s body, cutting through more flesh and tearing his torso apart.

The sound produced by the assassination wasn’t loud, but it was enough to draw attention.

“Oi! You hear that?” The female scav near the entrance called out. Sophie cursed under her breath as the woman began to turn toward her direction.

With no time to think, her left hand dropped to her hip and she drew one of her silenced pistols in a fluid motion. She fired and the bullet found its mark, punching into the woman’s upper arm and causing her to yelp in pain. My left hand’s aim needs some work, huh. However, there was no time for further reflection. The woman’s shotgun slipped slightly from her grip, but she fought through the injury, raising it toward Sophie.

The merc didn’t hesitate. She charged across the room, her boots pounding against the concrete floor while holstering both the thermal blade she still held and the Nue in her hand. The scav managed to level the shotgun, but Sophie slammed into her with enough force to knock the weapon from her hands.

They tumbled to the ground in a heap, and Sophie wasted no time. Pinning the scav down, she drew one of her knives and plunged it into her side. The blade sank deep, and the scav howled in pain, but it wasn’t enough to finish her.

Fueled by adrenaline and pain, the woman twisted and shoved Sophie off with a surprising burst of strength. She staggered to her feet, clutching the knife still embedded in her side. Before Sophie could regain her footing, the scav slammed her into the wall, eliciting a groan.

Sophie gritted her teeth, her chrome hand reaching for her remaining pistol. The scav reached for the knife, but before she could act, Sophie managed to raise the weapon and fire. Three bullets punched into the woman’s chest, the force of the shots forcing her to stumble back a step. A final shot hit her square in the head, and she dropped to the floor, lifeless.

The noise of the conflict had shattered any hope of stealth. The door to the back room burst open, and the first scav emerged, his rifle raised. Sophie reacted on instinct, firing her Nue in a tight cluster. Three rounds struck his chest, staggering him, before a final shot ended him with a clean hit to the head.

As the man fell, the teen noted that one of her new ideas had worked perfectly. Her realisation that she was following a similar combat style to Batman, aside from the killing aspect, had dredged up another figure from her memory. To be precise, the Mozambique Drill that the deadly assassin, John Wick, utilised to devastating effect.

The only issue, as Sophie was currently experiencing, was how bullet-hungry the style was. With the additional protection most clothes offered, not to mention the defensive capabilities cyberware provided, she needed even more bullets than the typical three used in the Mozambique Drill.

Her pistol’s magazine clicked empty. Sophie let the weapon fall, her hand already reaching for her second Nue.

The next scav emerged, shouting something unintelligible, likely in Russian, as he raised his weapon. Sophie fired, but her shots missed as the man ducked back behind the door frame.

A sudden burst of gunfire erupted, shredding through the thin wall and forcing Sophie to dive for cover behind an overturned table. The bullets peppered the room, and she felt the sting of two impacts. One glanced off her cyberarm harmlessly, but the other punched through one of the recently ‘repaired’ holes in her netrunner suit, puncturing into the flesh of her stomach and lodging itself there.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She hissed in pain but didn’t stop moving, leaning out from cover to return fire. Her shots forced the scav to retreat deeper into the room, giving her a moment to breathe.

That moment didn’t last.

The third scav charged into the room, wielding a vicious machete-like cleaver. His eyes were wild, and his augmented arms bulged with unnatural strength. He closed the distance faster than Sophie anticipated, forcing her to abandon her pistol in favor of her katana.

The thermal blade ignited as she brought it up to meet his attack. The cleaver came down in a brutal arc, meeting her weapon. The severe heat of the katana cut through the cleaver, sending half of it flying in her direction. Fortunately, Sophie was already moving. She sidestepped and her katana slashed through the air. The heated blade bit into his arm, severing it at the elbow.

The scav howled in pain but didn’t stop, swinging wildly with his remaining hand. Sophie ducked under the swing and drove her katana upward, the blade piercing through the bottom of his skull.

She withdrew the blade quickly, letting him begin to collapse. But even in death, he had one last use.

The final scav emerged once more, his rifle raised and ready. Sophie grabbed the dead man in front of her, using his body as a shield. The rifle barked, and the bullets tore into the scav’s back, sparing Sophie from harm.

With her free hand, she summoned her Copperhead. As it appeared in her hands, she raised it, stepping out from behind her human shield.

The final scav barely had time to react. Sophie’s finger squeezed the trigger, and the rifle bucked against her shoulder. A burst of bullets struck the man, each one hitting its mark.

He collapsed in a heap, his weapon falling from lifeless fingers.

The room fell silent except for the faint hum of her katana still lodged in the man beside her and the echo of fading gunfire. Sophie stood amidst the carnage, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath.

She retrieved and deactivated her katana, sheathing it carefully before picking her pistols up from the floor. Her side ached, and blood seeped through the tear in her suit, but the pain was manageable. “I’ll need to pull this bullet out soon.”

Her gaze swept over the room, ensuring no one else was left standing. The scavs were dead, but Sophie’s work wasn’t finished. Rita and her backup would arrive soon, and she needed to ensure there were no more surprises waiting for them.

She moved toward the back room, keeping her rifle at the ready. She entered and, as she had assumed, found no more enemies. She did, however, find a laptop. Cracking it open revealed a login screen. A further search of the room found nothing that looked like a password, so she left it alone.

“Hah…Motherfucker! I thought I’d be able to flatline them all with ease after all those skill upgrades.” She stood there, thinking about the fight. She was fully aware that Stealth was her greatest asset, yet there was a feeling that she wasn’t utilising it properly. “Is it just that I’m taking on more targets than I can handle? Or is there something else that I’m missing?” No answer arrived quickly, so she settled in to wait after double checking there were no survivors.

The next 15 minutes or so passed quickly as she waited for Rita to arrive. She managed to finish looting the place just as she heard a car pull up outside. Quickly, she bunkered down behind one of the inner room’s walls for cover, keeping her eyes on the door.

The Mox bouncer walked in, pistol ready. She paused at the sight of the violently dispatched scav corpses before settling on Sophie herself, who had come out after identifying Rita.

“Well,” she started, lowering her pistol. “I see I wasn’t needed after all.”

“I’m not a baby, Rita. I can handle myself.” The snarky comment received a pointed stare at the chrome arm she now carried and Sophie found herself thankful for the menpo that covered her embarrassment.

“Right…Well, did you find anything here? Any clues as to what they were up to?”

“I found a laptop but that’s it. Couldn’t find a password for it, but I figured you’d know someone that can get in.”

“That’s a start,” Rita said, gesturing outside. Sophie followed as the older woman continued. “You’ve done a good job here, Soph. And I’m glad you’re not…hurt.” She trailed off after finally noticing the still bleeding bullet wound. “Sophie! You’ve been shot!”

“Yeah? It’s not that bad.”

“You! Ugh! Go get that sorted out! You have a ripper, right? Or do you need to see ours?” Sophie could hear a mixture of exasperation and anger in Rita’s voice. She decided not to push her buttons any further.

“It’s alright, Rita. I’ll get it sorted. But let me know if anything happens with the laptop. If more scavs need to die, give me a buzz.”

“Yeah yeah, I will. Go on, get yourself sorted. I’ll wait here for the others that are coming.”

With a wave, Sophie wandered off to her bike. She got on while figuring out where to go. “Should I go see Vik?” She murmured to herself. “No…I don’t want to bother him with something so small. And he’d probably be upset with me for getting hurt so quickly after telling me to take it easy. I’ll just deal with it at home.”

With that, Sophie sped off, heading deeper into the city, towards her home. Today was a good day, I think. That thought appeared as she looked at her stats and the levels she’d gained.

Huntress Level +1

Stealth Proficiency +1

Stealth [13/100]

Investigation Proficiency +2

Investigation [13/100]

Basic Gun Combat Proficiency +1

Basic Gun Combat [21/100]

Basic Bladed Combat Proficiency +1

Basic Bladed Combat [14/100]

Parkour Proficiency +1

Parkour [18/100]

Ambidextrous Proficiency +1

Ambidextrous [6/100]

A mission that she didn’t recall receiving had also been completed.

Mission Complete

Locate and eliminate the scavs.

Difficulty: Medium

Rewards: 1000 L-Coins, 1500 Eurodollars

All of those changes left her status looking fairly good, in her opinion.

Name: Sophie Morrin

Age: 14

Class: Huntress [11/100]

Passives

Iron Will [35/100], Flexibility [30/100], Parkour [18/100], Ambidextrous [6/100]

Skills

Stealth [13/100], Basic Gun Combat [21/100], Investigation [13/100], Basic Bladed Combat [14/100], Basic Unarmed Combat [2/100]

Cyberware

Basic Cyberoptics (Common)

Basic Subdermal Armour (Common)

Basic Wrist Reinforcement (Common)

MoorE Basic Cyberarm (Common)

Store: Available

L-Coins: 12,750

Eurodollars: 19,010

Inventory: 1m x 1m x 1m

“Heh. Looking good. I better keep it up.”