Time passed and 2069 came to an end. The Unification War continued to intensify and Sophie decided to take advantage of the brief time period before Kurt Hansen’s arrival. Thus, the young mercenary was travelling through the nearly abandoned area of Pacifica that would soon become home to Barghest.
It was completely lawless, even more so than the rest of Pacifica and was perfect for Sophie’s current needs. She was using the various criminal groups in the area as targets for her Markswoman class, which she was fairly close to finishing.
She was stalking a group of human traffickers, wanting to find their base of operations. It would be her third similar group in the last couple of days. After nearly an hour, her targets returned to their base.
It was a long abandoned storefront and if not for the fact she followed them there, she would never have believed a trafficking organisation had set up shop there.
Impatient after the long wait, Sophie burst straight in, catching them with their pants down. Quite literally in one case. Her DB-2 Satara shotgun discharged, the thunderous noise deafening those in the building. Two traffickers fell in a spray of blood. She turned to the door on her left and fired preemptively. Another fell, chest riddled with holes. She dropped the shotgun back into her inventory, pulling a Nue out. The pistol dropped another criminal. The area quietened, only the faint sounds of nervous breathing telling Sophie there were still people to take care of.
Shattering the quiet, a man burst through the walls, instantly catching sight of Sophie. He charged and flicked his arms out, revealing a pair of mantis blades. They swung at her neck, intent on removing her skull.
“Die bitch!” He screamed. Then he screamed some more. The blades broke on her Adamantium arms and her hand closed around the fool’s neck.
“Go to hell!” Her words were accompanied by multiple shots from her Nue, all pumped directly into the man’s chest. He collapsed to the ground, coughing blood. She hunted down a few stragglers, those that had hidden away in the hopes their boss would save them. Unfortunately, their boss had choked to death on his own blood.
She searched the base, hoping to find any leads on other criminal groups in the area that she could target. As she left the base, she checked her system notifications from her past couple of days hunting down scavengers and other scum.
Markswoman has reached level 94!
…
Markswoman has reached level 96!
…
Markswoman has reached level 98!
She was very close to finishing it. In fact, it would likely be within the next couple of days. The thought brought a smile to her face. She checked the time and decided there was enough to go on a final hunt. Maybe it would even earn her an extra level.
She set off in the direction of the Black Sapphire hotel, the place that would eventually become the HQ of Barghest. It was a massive hotel, easily of a similar size to the ones in the centre of Night City. Sadly, it had been abandoned and was now occupied by various groups, all of whom ran a number of disgusting businesses.
Overhead, a number of loud noises reached Sophie’s ears however she didn’t think much of it. After all, there was constant air traffic in and around Night City. It was probably some high ranking corpo arriving with their retinue or something. However, when the sound didn’t stop and in fact became more intense, Sophie looked up. Filling the airspace around her current location was a massive fleet of AV’s. An estimate suggested there were at least 200 of them and Sophie quickly spotted the Militech logo on them. The blood rushed out of her face.
Militech, one of the only groups in the world capable of dispatching so many aerial craft, had done so during the Unification War. The fact they had arrived in Night City confirmed Sophie’s thoughts.
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“Motherfucker! I didn’t think Hansen would show up for a few more weeks at least!” The young girl ran. She had to get out of the area before it devolved into a combat zone. The locals wouldn’t let go of their criminal stronghold so easily.
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She didn’t make it. Hansen’s troops were able to drop in and secure a basic perimeter far before Sophie could even get close to escaping. Already the merc could hear gunfire as the elite unit began cleaning out the area. Before she could spiral into a panic, her mind lit up. Her current skills were very good. Against regular people and gangers she could even be considered a master. But her abilities didn’t reach the level of Hansen’s soldiers. So, she would have to reach that level.
She made her way to the nearest gun fight she could hear, quickly finding a vantage point within a half built apartment complex. Below her, a group of Barghest soldiers rained bullets upon a group of scavengers. Admittedly, the locals of Night City’s underbelly put up a fierce fight, not through skill but sheer determination. Although, Sophie did catch a few running away with their tails tucked between their legs.
Metal spikes pierced through their backs courtesy of Sophie’s Nekomata though it went unnoticed by all except the Barghest troops. They likely thought it was one of theirs. Quickly, she turned her attention back to the chaos below. She trained her sights on Hansen’s troops, specifically those closer to the back of the squad.
She only managed to take out two of the twenty man squad before they realised they were being targeted. Half of the Militech troops smoothly broke away from the battle, beginning to hunt for the elusive sniper in the abandoned building.
Sophie didn’t give them a chance. Activating Ghost for the first time in a long time, the girl attacked. She didn’t hold back either, using her Talons to get the job done as swiftly as possible.
Ambush tactics ended up working surprisingly well. However, even though they weren’t able to see her and she was ambushing them, they were still a pain to take down. They could clearly figure out her general position every time she fired simply based on the way their teammate collapsed. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to get rid of her. Invisibility to technology really is way too powerful in this world.
By the time she finished her battle, the gun fight between the Barghest troops and the locals was over. Only six of the original twenty remained, all of whom were cautiously approaching the building that had swallowed their comrades.
As they entered, they were greeted by two charged shots from Sophie’s Talons, blasting through the high tech armour they wore with ease before punching through their bodies, even with the significant amount of chrome they possessed.
Markswoman has reached level 99!
The girl grinned and left the area, eager to hunt down anyone she could in order to progress her class.
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“You’re telling me two entire squads have vanished?”
“Yes sir. We’ve had no contact from them for nearly five hours. We assume they have either been captured or eliminated. We are currently unsure who it may have been.”
“I see. Tell our men to be more careful. If there’s a group lurking in the shadows hunting us we must be on guard against them. Also, increase the regularity at which the squads are checking in.” Colonel Kurt Hansen spoke to one of his aides who quickly ran off. He looked at the battlefield map from his makeshift command centre curiously, thoughts unknown.
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While Hansen and his troops were feeling a deep sense of unease, the person responsible was groaning against a wall.
Markswoman has reached level 100!
Class: Markswoman has reached maximum level.
Markswoman Trait: Precision Shooting has been unlocked
New Class available!
She had received a new mission after finishing her class as well, one that concerned her deeply.
New Mission
You are trapped in the Night City combat zone as Colonel Kurt Hansen establishes a forward operating base. Escape before his troops find and capture you.
Difficulty: Hell
Rewards: Unknown
Sophie had never seen a ‘hell’ difficulty before. Clearly though, it meant her escape from the area would be incredibly difficult. She couldn’t even spare the energy to worry over the unknown rewards.
Closer examination of the quest suggested however, that she simply needed to escape and avoid capture. With an available class, she quickly selected the evolution of Master Thief.
Class selected: Queen of Thieves
Skills Unlocked: Thief’s Hand, Parkour (Advanced), Stealth (Advanced), Thievery (Advanced)
Sleight of Hand: Lvl.10 → Thief's Hand: Lvl.1
Thief’s Hand: Lvl.1
The Art of Stealing Things
Parkour (Intermediate): Lvl.10 → Parkour (Advanced): Lvl.1
Parkour (Advanced): Lvl.1
Grants advanced knowledge of Parkour.
Stealth (Intermediate): Lvl.10 → Stealth (Advanced): Lvl.1
Stealth (Advanced): Lvl.1
Grants advanced knowledge of Stealth.
Thievery (Intermediate): Lvl.10 → Thievery (Advanced): Lvl.1
Thievery (Advanced): Lvl.1
Grants advanced knowledge of Thievery.
The immense knowledge that came from the advanced skills had caused Sophie to groan out and collapse in pain. There was just so, so much. However, it was one skill in particular that the young thief desired. Her newly upgraded Stealth skill, now at the advanced level, would hopefully provide Sophie with the ability to escape her current predicament unharmed.