The formidable husk of the stadium towered over me like a great, slumbering beast, resting patiently behind its cement cage. And to think that less than a hundred meters from me rested countless buried and forgotten wartime stories, relics, bodies… So much blood was spilled for this one foothold, and now all that’s left is a combat zone and the bulwark dividing it from the rest of civilization. It was like a bubble that would never pop. And I had to find some way to get in.
One thing’s for sure – the front gate is out. Even if, by some miracle, I managed to circumvent BARGHEST’s presence here, there was no way on Heaven nor Earth to penetrate that wall. If a missile barrage wouldn’t do it, my sword certainly didn’t stand a chance either. And who knows what firepower Hansen’s still packing. Hell, the whole reason why we never got any supplies is because of his extensive network of surface-to-air missile batteries he put in place once he moved in. We couldn’t airlift anything for months, having to resort to convoy operations again… What a fucking mess…
This single point represented such a stain on both my personal history and the history of this city that it’s no wonder no one talks about it. I can’t even imagine what it must be like on the inside, either… Combat zones like these aren’t exactly popular holiday destinations for a reason. Sure, it’s not nearly as bad as Manhattan or Kamagasaki in terms of scale. But scale might as well have no meaning at all when the ruler has a wall like that.
“Heh, well this’s a first,” a BARGHEST soldier told me, walking up with his rifle nestled across his belly.
“Oh? Never seen a real-life woman before?” I grinned sarcastically, “This is the refugee camp, no?”
“Yeah. For refugees, bitch. Not soldiers.” Funny, I assumed this place was filled with soldiers…
“Nor Valentinos, I’m assuming?”
“What?” he said accusingly. The kid looked to be no older than eighteen or so, with a host of bruises plastered all over his face. Must be a regular occurrence here… Or he got in trouble somehow.
“Valentinos. Your ink. My adopted brother was one.”
“Hah, no shit!” he laughed, “Yeah, was a ‘Tino for ‘bout a year, myself.” Looks like that broke the ice. Now to crack it all the way open.
“Listen, I’m here to do one thing: trade. I heard that Dogtown’s the place to do that.”
“Mm. It is the place. But I gotta ask – what’s with the cannon?” he motioned to Yorinobu’s weapon. I raised it up beside my head to let him have a better look at the perplexing gun.
“Hunting.”
“Hunti-erm…” he looked at me like I was borderline insane, “Right, uh… Y’know what, I ain’t got time for this. Just… check in the weapons if you head in. Barracks’s over there, got some food. Otherwise, behave yourself, alright?”
“Always.” I walked past him with a jagged look on my face, scanning the crowd for any signs of a character seeming to be out-of-place.
“Never a dull day…” the poor kid muttered to himself. He was certainly right about that… Well, let’s hope it wasn’t too eventful. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, they say.
“Dumb question but how do we even know what this chick looks like?” Johnny asked as I paced around the camp. Several tents filled the parking lot, each housing a combination of goods and ad-hoc sleeping accommodations for the soldiers on duty. Didn’t look particularly cozy, but it was certainly better than many barracks I was posted in back in the day.
“That’s a good question. She’d want to make contact, but she’d want to stay mobile and unseen. So we should wait on her to find us,” I suggested. I propped up my backpack against a fence post, unloading my weapon’s magazine and stuffing it inside – a handy feature for something so compact. Seems like I won’t be needing it in the near-future, anyway, so that’s nice. At least, so long as this Songbird woman didn’t show up with an entire platoon’s worth of Arasaka’s finest. For all I knew, they were busy driving by on the highway right now. But I was safe from their clutches here – they wouldn’t dare get off at the Stadium exit. Not unless they wanted a rocket to the face.
Alright, backpack on, sword on the back as well. No more immediate danger, at least not right now. Might as well make myself comfortable and let her make the first move… What is she waiting for…
Exit strategies… Let’s see. I’m actually safest if I surrender myself to BARGHEST. Though it seems like you need someone on the inside to vouch for you, otherwise you’ll be out on the streets.
Second option… Any other way in? Mmh, nothing immediately obvious… Start a fight with the soldiers, maybe? See if I can make it a three-way, leave the city that way? Come back for the car later on. No one will fuck with Delamain. Actually what about Delamain…? No, no, it’d take too long to get here. Alright, well let’s have a look around–
“GGRRRBBBRRBRRGHH!!” WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?! My head – it feels like it’s on fire – LITERALLY, ON FIRE! The flames eating away at my flesh, bone, everything – MAKE IT STOP!! OH MY GOD!!
–
“…Mom?” I asked her hesitantly, “Do I have a kami?”
“What do you believe defines a kami?” Her powerful voice echoed through the picturesque landscape. Light taps of rain danced off the wooden beams of the pagoda, trickling down less than a meter from my face. A storm was coming…
“A kami is a spiritual entity. Some supernatural force imbuing an object, place, time, creature, myth… anything. They reside in the shinkai, only to be communed through intermediaries like–”
“Mm. Dictionary definitions,” she stopped me, “That is not what I asked. I asked you what you believe defines a kami.”
“But I don’t understand – why does it matter what I believe or not? Kami exist whether or not my beliefs do.” A clap of thunder startled me all of a sudden, making me jump and look over at the growing thunderstorm.
“Prove it.”
“Prove what… that kami exist?”
“No, that you believe they exist. Where do you feel them?”
“I… uhhm…” I stopped dead in my tracks, puzzled at how to answer, “I don’t know.” Another thunderclap… “Shouldn’t we go inside?”
“No,” she spoke definitively, “Get up.”
I did as she asked, albeit shakily, the lightning growing bolder and more threatening by the second. I’ve heard so many horror stories about these storms… People getting struck by lightning, thrown off their feet, screaming… And the rain really started pouring now… “Okay… now what?”
“You wanted to practice today, did you not?”
“I did… Why?” I looked at her with a perplexed expression.
“So go practice.”
“Erm… now?”
“I want you to step out, grasp your bokken, and close your eyes.” More thunder echoed through the valley behind us, punctuating her speech with a hard conclusion. Her eyes remained focused and unblinking through it all, not betraying any hint of emotion other than pure, utter commitment. It was terrifying… More terrifying, in that moment, than the storm.
I audibly swallowed and gently treaded outside, my bare feet muddied by the soft earth. The waterlogged bokken rested on the grass where I left it – I was surprised that Dad hadn’t scolded me for leaving it outside again… A simple shake was all it needed to get the errant mud off, yet the blades of grass clung onto the wood for dear life. “Okay… close your eyes…” I mumbled to myself over the deafening roar of the incoming storm.
“What do you see?” my mother asked me.
“I see… spots in my vision. Moving around like water– GHNN–!” another lightning bolt scared me, flashing a deep crimson red inside my eyelids…
“What you see is the world of the kami. Follow its motion with your cuts. Slowly.”
My eyes remained sealed tight, and I felt the grip of the shaped maple handle. Rain tickled the tip of my nose and draped my black hair in front of my face, like a blanket tightly enveloping me. I carefully raised the sword slightly into a side-on guard stance, slowly slashing a diagonal cut up to head-height. The waterlogged blade threw drops from its tip, staining the inside of our manor.
“Faster.”
I obeyed without question, following the patterns as they danced around my blank vision. Spinning, up, down, a hop and a flick… bringing the wooden sword around to my left hand, dancing with the weapon as if it was a being unto itself…
I laughed, sung, and kicked up mud onto my kimono without a care in the world…
Horizontal slash… Diagonal cut… Make it a game, S****… Cut the raindrops themselves.
I hope, one day, to handle a weapon that could strike so precisely… That my body could… That I could pick out a raindrop and strike it like lightning, turning one into two…
I fell down, thoroughly out of breath as the rain died down, finally opening my eyes. “Hahah! Mom, did you see that?!” I exclaimed with a massive grin on my face, looking around for her… And she wasn’t there anymore. I couldn’t see her… Where did she go…? “Mom…?”
–
“Gggrgh– What the FUC–GGHHAHH! Feels like someone shoved my head in a fuckin’ vice!!” Johnny screamed, our bodies both convulsing to absolute hell and back… I couldn’t control my hands… my legs… the muscles bent my fingers in impossible directions… GOD… IT HURTS!!
“V…” a woman spoke to me, standing between Johnny and I… the wailing screech of death drowned her voice to a mere whimper… I could feel blood trickling from my ears… “V, breathe… Take it easy. You’re having a panic attack.”
“A PANIC ATTACK?!”
Her face came into view… looked to be no older than mid-twenties. Asian… Song So Mi… That’s a Korean name, makes sense… denim jacket, pants, sneakers… and a calming face. Though it had little effect on me; I was too busy trying my best not to implode… “Keep calm. Breathe deep, count to ten, recite a mantra… whatever helps you relax. Your Relic is syncing with me, it’ll pass.” What was this… my vision… it's all glitched out… I can barely see…
“Mmmrrgh…” I grumbled, “I’ve been through worse…”
“Heh, I’m sure you have…” Songbird said with a slight smile. Her face cyberware gave her the appearance of permanently upturned eyebrows, almost looking like a soulful puppy begging its owner for attention… Cute, but I had no compunctions that she was plenty capable…
“You’ll h-have to forgive… my mistrust… But what are you doing… to me…”
“Piggybacking on the construct in your head,” she said calmly as I sat up, “Your nervous system took a big hit. Cold sweat, seizure… it’ll pass, don’t worry.”
“Couldn’t… have just used a phone like a normal person?!” I sneered at her, slowly pulling myself up on one of the concrete barriers, “Who are you?! What the HELL AM I DOING HERE?!” I could feel the heat of my sword even through the armored vest, reminding me to calm the fuck down before I cook myself like a syn-steak.
“All valid questions, and I promise I’ll answer them,” Songbird replied with a reassuring tone.
“Good, so answer them,” I interrupted.
“Okay – I know about the bomb tickin’ in your head. The Relic – it’s killing you. If I could disable it now, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“No, you wouldn’t… You want something from me. Don’t try and change the subject…” I told her flatly as Johnny recovered behind her.
“V, somethin’s wrong, she’s fuckin’ with the Relic–” he started before– wait, what’s she… “How in the…”
Songbird… just reached out and… touched Johnny?! His engram flickered, emanating some sort of horrifying, deep, resonant sound that impacted my inner ear like a hammer, forcing me back and making me wince with pain…
“All true, Johnny… But fret not, you’re both safe,” she said to him… the first person to directly speak to him… What the fuck is going on?!
“Naah, fuck off!” I’m on Johnny’s side here…
“Both of us on the biochip protocol at once can trigger shocks for V, like the one you just saw now–”
“What the FUCK?!” Johnny was… disappearing?! Maybe a more apt description was melting?! I could feel him rinsing off me like… like water… a jet engine in front of me, blowing hot water off me with its pulsating heat…
“Gotta cut you off, for your sake, for V’s sake–” GOD! MY HEAD!!
–
“Scream…”
Mom…? I’m scared…
–
He’s… he’s gone… Johnny’s gone…?! “Mmhhrgh… What have you DONE?!” I lashed back out at her, sending a punch through her head – directly through… An engram…
“He’s still here…” she continued as I fell back down onto the concrete barrier, “He’s just muted. Don’t worry. He hears you fine, just can’t talk back.”
“So… what, you just… muted him? Like a fucking television or something?”
“In layman’s terms, yeah,” she nodded.
“You mentioned finding me by triangulating my position, then piggybacking on the Relic…” I muttered out loud in my head – she can clearly hear me the same as I was speaking to Johnny. Interesting… “Which means that you’re a netrunner… or– or someone with a lot of experience in that field…”
Songbird smiled and made several little affirmative gestures. “Guilty. Hopped on the Relic’s cognitive protocol to dial in. I see and hear what you do, same as Johnny.”
“Then what are you… an AI?”
“Heh, no, I’m flesh and blood… well…” she said with a slightly lower tempo, “Anyway, you’re right – I do need you. Are you familiar with Rosalind Myers?”
My eyes narrowed, looking directly into her… she turned transparent, the light shining through her face. Yet I didn’t detect the slightest hint of humor – nor would she detect any from me. Name-dropping the President of the NUSA was kind of a bit deal to me, considering she was responsible for the deaths of God-knows how many people, many of whom were my friends-in-arms. I had no love for her… in fact I held nothing but a deep, seething hatred. She had just ripped open the bandage to a wound that’d only just started healing, taking chunks of skin with it, leaving the hole I’ve busted my ass to cover, now exposed to the open air. It was a pained name… a hated name…
“Seems like you know her better than most,” she continued, her voice more somber than before, “Got a history with her?” The fact that she even asked me that is ridiculous. Maybe she doesn’t know about my service, but I had to assume she did. She was just trying to get me to talk. Not gonna happen.
“Go on,” I said insistently.
“I’m sitting across from her, aboard Space Force One as we speak.” Well… that made my eyes widen out again…
“Yeah, and I’m marrying Jefferson Peralez…” I groaned, rolling my eyes at this newfound imaginary friend… Guess Rita was right. I am starting a collection of insane people in my head…
“V, this is serious,” she stopped me, reaching out her digitized hand and pretend-grasping mine, giving me that familiar tingle through my destroyed nerve endings, “The plane’s been hacked. Trajectory’s set to come down in Dogtown soon. Our comms are down – most likely jammed, hence why I couldn’t call you… V, your Relic was the only way I could communicate with the outside world. You’re literally my only lifeline.”
“But you can receive signals just fine,” I noted, “You had your flight plan hacked and you could still use the satellite array to triangulate me. You just can’t send anything?”
“Yep, that’s right.”
I shook my head at her, “Then your problem is up there, in the spacecraft. So figure it out.”
“I could. If I had 24 hours and a bottomless pot of coffee… neither of those are available just now.”
“And I am?” I retorted bluntly, “Look, to be invited on Space Force One takes a level of talent beyond mine. Which means you’re likely one of the best netrunners on the planet – or in space, for that matter. So either you have basically zero confidence in your own abilities, or your magic Eight Ball told you that you were gonna land here and there was nothing you can do about it – no manual control override, nothing. I don’t buy either story – so why don’t you tell me why you’re actually contacting me?”
Her grin turned into a frown about halfway through my statement, punctuating my last sentence with a heavy sigh. “Look, the truth? I need your help, V… And I’m willin’ to pay for it. Can I override it? No… I’ve tried. President’s sittin’ directly across from me. We’re waitin’ on your yes.”
“And if I say yes, then what, you give me some sort of magical cure for my Relic?” I said with a raised, skeptical eyebrow, “No offense, but you’re late to the party here. I’ve had a host of people try the same thing. No success.”
“I bet those people didn’t have access to the kinda soft I do,” she replied earnestly as I stepped away, stretching out my legs. I’ll admit that I was curious, though…
“Alright, I’ll bite. What exactly do you have in store for me?”
“Short answer? Something that’ll stall the Relic’s engine. Can unplug it whenever you want. But it’s a physical object, gotta get it first. And it’s biometrically-encoded to Myers and myself.”
“Figures…”
“But I do have something for you. Consider it an advance payment…” she grinned, leaning back on the barricade I was propping myself up on earlier– wait… Wait, what’s happening… What’s–GGNFF!!
“GRRrrgh… Mmh…” I groaned through clenched teeth, rising back up and– and my hands… what– what the fuck?! They were… I could feel something… Like water poured into cups… and it flowed out. It flowed out into arcs… massive, tremendous arcs…
Sparks danced off microscopic particles in the air as I raised my hand, electricity flowing through my fingers as effortlessly and painlessly as the blood in my veins… this was…
This was…
Horrifying.
“What… what have you done to me?!” My eyes couldn’t stop blinking, holding back tears as the electrical discharges danced around… I glared directly at her, baring my teeth… wishing to Hell and back that I could reach out and just strangle her until she fucking fixed this… Whatever it was…
“Nothing that hadn’t been done to you already, I swear,” her voice sounded frightened… it should… “All I did was clean up some garbage data on the Relic and streamline some redundant code in your batteries! Jailbreaking and removing limiters, that’s it!”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“And you didn’t think to ask me first?!” I growled, “I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING LAB EXPERIMENT!”
“Fuck, V, I– I’m sorry, I was just trying to help–”
“Is this what’ll happen when you give me your fucking miracle cure?!” I screamed at her, “I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS. I just want to be LEFT THE FUCK ALONE!!”
“A-And you can!” she stopped me again, “Please, it’s okay, V…”
“Like fuck it is… Don’t you dare tell me it’s okay…” I sneered back, “God… God…” I felt like a monster… Like a fucking monster…
“You– uhm… You want me to change it back?” she whimpered, looking up at me as I stopped the current with little more than a thought… Thank God I’d practiced beforehand…
“No… No, you’ve done enough damage already, thanks,” I responded curtly, getting up and walking away from her. She swiftly caught up using her feet as opposed to teleporting like Johnny normally does – nice to not be startled all the time.
“V, I’m so sorry. You’re right – I should’ve asked–”
“You said the President’s aboard?” I interrupted, stopping myself mid-stride, “Rescue her and I get this magical cure-all for the Relic, that’s the deal?”
“That’s it,” she nodded humbly, “Ship’s gonna land by sundown.”
“So why do you need me, where do I fit into all this?”
“Because you’re the only contact I have on the ground right now, and God forbid we landed inside Dogtown–”
“You’d need someone to escort you out,” I finished her statement, “Right…”
“You can bring whomever you think you’ll need–”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” I said flatly. I’m not about to risk anyone else’s life for this lunacy, certainly not with Arasaka potentially listening in… “Mmh… Okay, here’s what’ll happen. We do this as a team. If I’m going to trust you, then you need to trust me. Second, I’ll call the shots as far as the ground work is concerned, at least until I have Myers in-hand. Third, Myers defers to me with the extraction. Not to disrespect her field expertise, but I know the landscape intimately, she doesn’t. Just have some common sense, okay? No more surprises. I’m not in the mood to be backstabbed by anyone. Nor am I afraid to fight back if I sense something’s wrong. Lastly, Myers stays with me until I get this device. Deal?”
“Reasonable enough,” Songbird smiled, “Deal.”
She sounded less than convincing. But I guess Dogtown was as good a place to die as anywhere else… Maybe I’ll be buried in the same mass grave in the middle of the square that all my friends found themselves in… The same mass grave that Myers ordered to be populated by my friends. I might as well be pissing on it. What we would’ve given to have been locked in a room with the NUSA President… No better time for redemption than tonight…
“Pachamama…” I whispered out-loud as I silently opened the fence door leading to the automated parking lot… Four guards were patrolling outside. Not a problem…
–
“Whaddyou think’s behind that wall, anyway?” Scars asked me between bites.
“Heck if I know, Naira…” I took a seat beside her, propping up Shinden against the fence behind me and resting our unit’s M240 on my lap… Fucking rooks don’t know how to clean the goddamn thing properly… Sand kept getting in the feed pawls and ‘oh no, gun no worky.’ Yeah, no shit…
“Still workin’ on those piercings, I see?”
“Yeah, trying to get used to them,” I shrugged, fiddling with one of my earrings. Not exactly a fan of body modification, but Scars convinced me to at least try these out for a change.
“Well don’t fuck with ‘em too much, they’ll get infected,” she said frankly as she looked back up at the distant towers, “And to think that the fuckin’ assholes all pulled out their investments. Shit’s gonna look like that ‘til the end of time. Just watch.”
“At least until the next asshole comes along,” I finished her statement.
“Yeah, who knows when that’ll be…”
“When the war ends, I’m guessing.”
“Oh please. Look around you, Sarge. Place is a fuckin’ bucket. Hell, the only ‘liquid assets’ this place’ll ever see in our lifetimes’ll be comin’ outta my ass when the IBS hits. Now gimme your fucking lighter.”
I did as she asked, Scars loosely propping her arm on the barrel shield of the 240 like she didn’t give a rat’s ass. None of us really did anymore. Our company armorer was about 50 kilos south and 3 meters below ground right now. And this gun’s had it as well. But those cushy fucks won’t give us any gear we requisition because we’re ‘rear-line’ units. Fuck, I wonder how many rear-liners have a near-50 percent casualty list. “Yeah, but hey, gotta be somewhat optimistic about it. Maybe they don’t want to invest because we don’t have the cooler-looking tanks.”
“Hah! They just wanna look at the armor. Fuck who it belongs to,” she chuckled loudly, “Can’t say I blame ‘em. Our armor’s always been shit.”
“Yeah, well any armor’s better than no armor.”
“That’s true,” she nodded in agreement, taking a drag, “Did you know that this place used to have this giant underground parking lot, supposed to hold like 50 thousand cars or something?”
“Bullshit,” I said plainly.
“When have I ever lied to you, Sarge.” Okay, fair point. “Nah, supposedly there’s this whole underground restin’ just below everything. People turned it into smuggling routes, settlements, all that sorta shit. Could just klep some guns from there, no one’d miss ‘em.”
“Yeah, you also told me there was supposedly a huge bunker or whatever.”
“There is!” Scars sharply retaliated, “They say a whole-ass tribe just disappeared ‘thout a trace once, goin’ down there. Human experimentation, they say, some kinda new superweapon or whatever–”
“Yeah, I read that screamsheet too,” I groaned, “Look, how many people would die from the failing infrastructure alone in a shithole like that. Okay? They already disproven that, it’s a collapsed building.”
“Whatever,” she scoffed at me, “I like my version better.”
“Yeah, well your version’s bullshit.”
“You’re bullshit!” she hissed back, “…Sarge.”
“Heh…” I giggled a little, “Look, it’ll be just a bunch of old ruins. But you’re right about one thing – they might have some good weapons to go around.”
“Oakland Raid?” she raised an eyebrow.
“Oakland Raid,” I cheekily grinned in return.
“Alriiiight… I’ll go get Chief. He’s gettin’ a bit dusty, needs a brushing off.”
–
“This place isn’t exactly common knowledge,” Songbird said to me as I rolled under the garage door, propped open by a barrel wedged underneath, “How’d you find it?”
“Smugglers use it, it’s a fairly well-known route,” I told her as I scanned around – strange, there’s no light source… This whole area was well-lit the last time I was here… “How do you know about it?”
“Smugglers?” Songbird asked incredulously, “V, smugglers haven’t used the park in years. When were you– Ah, you’re a vet.”
“As are you, I imagine,” I thought out loud as I searched around for a power source… nothing. Best not turn on my flashlight… Who knows how many BARGHEST are lurking down here… I need to keep a low cover.
“I was. Joined up Militech when I was 19. Served under Myers since ‘65. You?”
“Heh, late-bloomer…” I muttered, pulling up a piece of corrugated sheet metal to expose one of the disused automated car carriers – a convenient way down. “I joined up when I was 17. 2064, got sent to the Free States as one of Arasaka’s ‘security advisors.’ Really we were just soldiers. Not great ones, at that.”
“Oh? Why do you say that?” she asked me as I jumped down onto the ledge below… Hm. Still no power. Might be a fuse box nearby.
“Simple. Because Myers got her wish…” I scanned the room, yet again finding not a single creature stirring. Not even the dust was disturbed… it’s like the whole place was utterly dead and forgotten… Scars would’ve a field day with this…
“What do you mean?” Songbird asked me as I slowly climbed down… Every single noise seemed to echo unnaturally…
“Stop talking…” I quickly said, focusing my eyes – sounded like a low hum just then… some sort of rumbling… No… No, there’s nothing… Or… Wait, no, it’s music from outside… “Sorry, I thought I heard something…”
This place was certainly eerie… It almost felt like a dream. Like I wasn’t really here. The walls pressed on me, staticky in the low light, like a TV with bad reception. A crimping feeling crept into my gut… Something telling me I shouldn’t be here. It was somehow forbidden.
Thankfully, even forbidden places had maps… “Hang on, let me get a picture of this…” I said, producing my phone, “Then we’ll look for a generator. See if we can get this transporter started.” I had an idea… use the transporter to move us to a designated spot. Should work fine, provided the equipment still functioned. Looks like 5B has an exit - okay, I can work with that.
“Can’t just use your eyes?” Songbird asked me, apparently perplexed, causing me to stop suddenly.
“Wait… How much do you know about me?” I asked her, genuinely confused.
“That you’re a vet from a young age, that you did the Konpeki job, that you have the Relic in your head,” she answered honestly, “Why, are– oh, you’re organic? Shit, no wonder I didn’t detect a cyberdeck…”
“I have an Agent, and my old squadmate’s modified external deck if need be,” I replied forwardly, “Just in case. I don’t believe in being handicapped by principles.”
“Fair enough, whatever works for you… And the sword?”
“What about it?”
“Read about it in the screamsheets. Said you used a katana in battle.”
“An okatana, actually,” I corrected her, “But no, that one is retired now. I have another weapon.” I slowly unsheathed Izanami, the custom black and white blade sparking to life in the dim red emergency lighting.
“Ah, an electric… Seen a few of those in my time,” she nodded, apparently interested in it, “Where’d you–”
“Wait…” I threw the sword up instinctively as a lone, errant metal can clattered somewhere in the distance… I froze in place, my body suddenly hyper-alert and sharp as a knife’s edge. There was something deeply unsettling about this place, but I couldn’t put my finger on it…
I drew Izanami and slowly headed down the stairs, my boots producing only the slightest of noises as I rounded the corner… There was not a sound. Nothing. An eerie, dead silence… I almost called out to Johnny, except… Well…
“What is it…?” Songbird finally asked me as I stood at the base of the stairs, still listening with absolute focus. “V…?”
“Mmh…” I mouthed, my eyes shifting around the room, locating nothing out of place, “Let’s find that generator and get the hell out of here…”
The generator rested behind some busted-up metal beams, apparently still with a bit of juice left in its power cells. All it took was a simple toggle to turn it on… Weird. Who turned it off, then? Whatever, fine… I’m just glad that there’s finally some light in here…
Fluorescent bulbs caught electricity for the first time in many years, most likely, flickering to life as if waking from a deep slumber, the crackling and buzzing echoing in my ears. I could finally head back up and turn this goddamn thing on… Alright…
Let’s see… Fuse box… fuse box… Ah, fuse box. “You do anything with this?” I asked Songbird, eyeballing the mechanism outside.
“Yeah, no problem,” she said confidently, “Plug me in.” Alright… Luckily this ancient piece of shit still had a functioning neuroport. Even more luckily, my jack was several generations out of date, syncing up with this thing perfectly. Excellent. “Let’s see…” Songbird muttered, supposedly analyzing the data.
“Anything?”
“Hmm… Ancient… no, proto-ancient protocols… before the Krash. Damn… Most of it’s corrupted. Hang on, let me ping one of my sats…”
“Sounds like you know what you’re doing.”
“People say I have a habit of boasting, heh,” she giggled, “Alright, let’s see what network in Dogtown this connects to… and… done.” The platform suddenly whirred to life, dropping down to our floor and lining up to receive a car – or a person, in this case. Its metal parts squeaked loudly against one another, parched for grease they haven’t enjoyed in many years. “Hop on,” she ushered me, reappearing with a distinctive red fade, contrasting Johnny’s blue… Strange…
The platform instantly took off as soon as I got on, likely talking directly to Songbird. “Whoa…” I muttered under my breath, not expecting the quick, disorienting acceleration.
“You okay?”
“Yeah… hang on, I have a question.”
“Shoot,” she replied openly.
“Let me get this straight. You figured out how to piggyback on the Relic and mute Johnny Silverhand, but you’re not Arasaka. You figured out how to get this platform started, this pre-Krash tech… And you’re sat next to the President of the NUSA. Who are you, exactly?”
She was pacing around and nodding at every answer I gave… “Alright, since you’ve been open with me… I’m an FIA intelligence analyst. Trained under the best peeps in the biz. Picked me up when I was 13 years old, after I got the local ‘ripper to sell me a deck. Barely left the Net since, and the rest is history.”
“Mm…” I focused in on her, “Not that open, I see.”
“Neither are you, what’s fair is fair. Yeah, there’s more to the story. Always is.”
Both of us were cut off when the garage door opened, revealing the massive, twisted ruin that lay beneath almost the entirety of Dogtown… the Park. I remember the first time I saw it… it looked just as massive. Just as jaw-dropping. And just as nauseating…
Fuck me, I hate heights… At least the sun was coming up and letting some light in. Not that that brought me any comfort when the mechanism transported me to a rickety ledge that suspended me over a 300-meter deep chasm. These people were not joking when they said it was a 50,000-car capacity…
“Welcome to the Park…” I whispered, kicking a loose rock over the side. It took a full nine seconds for me to hear any return… Christ, I hated this… “Used to be part of another stadium a long time ago.”
“Mm, Eagle Rock Stadium, Rancho Coronado,” Songbird noted as I carefully treaded down the metal pathway made of disused platforms and beams, “Place was a crime hub, so they say. So they tore it down. Then Petrochem built this one in its place in Pacifica.”
“Hah, I love the irony…” I laughed, “Talk about crawling out of one hole and into another. If they wanted to avoid crime, they came to the wrong place.”
Strange… Cars and platforms seemed to stir to life all on their own… and they gave off some sort of strange, red residue… It looked just like the residue that Songbird produced whenever she disappeared.
There it is again, on a moving platform… It was like a pair of hands guiding it down. I could hear some sort of faint buzzing sound… “What is that?” I asked her curiously, “That red stuff. I keep seeing it in my field of view, too.”
“Red stuff? What red stuff?” Songbird asked, clearly confused. I closed my left eye, the one affected by the Relic – and it disappeared… was it a Relic glitch, then? Strange that I never saw it with Johnny…
“I– nevermind,” I replied hesitantly, slowly stepping on – this time actually anticipating the movement shift beneath me for a change. It only dropped me to a lower level, as opposed to bringing me all the way down to my destination… Of course… “Can’t just carry me all the way there?”
“Nah, most of the tracks are broken,” Songbird answered, “Can fix lights, can’t fix infrastructure.”
“Mm, understandable–” GAH!
The fucking floor just collapsed from beneath me! I landed flat on my ass exactly one story down, immediately getting the overwhelming urge to soil myself.
“God… Fuck…” I muttered, leaning over and retching… “I hate heights…”
“Well you’re not dead, that’s a start,” Songbird joked… I was not in the mood…
“Hah-hah…” I grumbled, dusting myself off and checking my pack for anything damaged… Looked good to go. No wonder so many people went missing around here… The countless beds and hollowed-out vans told me all I needed to know. This place was absolutely lethal, in every sense of the word. It’s a miracle anyone made it through at all… Scars and I only did business right at the entrance. God only knows how smugglers actually made it from Point A to B without these fucking platforms…
Minutes went by as I scaled through derelict structures, cars, beams… anything with enough of a handhold. Yet every now and then, I encountered strange signs of life… Beds. Food. Even kids’ drawings… I imagined someone growing up down here, never once seeing the outside world until they were old enough to climb out themselves, like a bird flying from the nest…
“Forgive me for the query,” Songbird spoke hesitantly, “Konpeki Plaza… Risky as hell mission. Why’d you do it?”
“Simple…” I frowned, blindsided by the suddenness of the question, “For my brother.” I clutched onto the crucifix hidden beneath my shirt, a reminder that Jackie was still here… “The job was important to him, and…”
“And he was important to you…” she finished my sentence, “He didn’t make it?”
“He was betrayed… Executed.”
“V… I’m sorry,” she whimpered.
“Mmh… But the job is now a matter of public record. I assumed you looked it up already.”
“I did,” she said with a slight hesitation as I climbed through more rubble, “Want to know who I’m working with, you know how it is.”
“I do… Yet I find myself at a disadvantage.”
“Alright, well what do you wanna know?”
I thought for a bit as I walked through the massive environment, carefully selecting my path to avoid unnecessary risks. “Alright, well, you know I’m a mercenary, what I do for a living. So tell me – what does an FIA intelligence analyst do?”
“That’s… a… uh, complicated question.”
“I don’t see why,” I said frankly, “You work as an intelligence analyst. Someone who analyzes intelligence, unless I’m mistaken.”
“You’re not… But you also already know that isn’t the whole story.”
“No ‘analyst’ I’ve ever met could hack one of the most advanced devices that’s ever been created. From space.”
“Heh… Alright, you got me,” Songbird teased, “I’m a professional netrunner. Born in New York City. Brooklyn, specifically… showed my talent early on. Was given the best kit money could buy, some it couldn’t buy. FIA gave me direction, best way I could describe it.”
“Direction? What direction?”
“Ah-ah, my turn to ask the question,” she interrupted, moving a platform in range for me to do a running leap, “You’re surprisingly observant for a merc. And remarkably calm, considering you got a washed-out rockerboy in your head.”
“You have two questions in there–” Fuck… that was close…
“Heh, I do… Alright, what’s it like? To have Johnny Silverhand in there twenty-four seven?”
“Mmh…” I thought carefully, “I served with someone once, guy named Lance, but everyone called him ‘Tank.’ He was this huge, like, two-meter tall bastard. Ended up eating shrapnel from a Panzer shell that scarred his face. When you took a light to it, you could see all the little specks glimmer. Said it was painful for him to talk ever since. We couldn’t get it removed because there was this whole ‘war’ thing going on, but he told me later that he would’ve kept it anyway because it gave him ‘character…’ Just, when you have to live with something for a while, you either get used to it, or you spend the rest of your days resenting it for the pain it causes you. All I did was choose the former. Or I’m trying to, anyway.”
“Noble of you… But that’s not how everyone’s wired…” she said with a long, distinctive sigh, “You’re lucky.”
“Funny, sure doesn’t feel that way from where I’m standing…” I grinned sarcastically.
“Or where I’m sitting… Speaking of where I’m sitting, Myers wishes you the best of luck.”
“Heeeeh…” my grin turned more lighthearted – devilish, perhaps, “Tell her I’m looking forward to meeting her in-person.”
“Told her the details of our plan. ‘Keep me apprised,’ she said calmly. Typical Rosalind…” her voice sounded almost child-like right there… “Just sittin’ there, sippin’ her gin, checkin’ her agenda, postponin’ meets… Woman’s unshakeable.”
“You sound like you idolize her.” Jesus Christ, I will kiss the fucking ground when I’m out of this goddamn tomb…
“Idolize is a strong word… I’d say more like respect,” Songbird replied as I scaled my way right to the top of the whole structure… 6B. Nearing the exit, according to the map…
“I see,” I nodded in acknowledgement, admittedly slightly preoccupied with not dying at the last possible second…
“What about you? Did you respect Saburo Arasaka? Y’know, ‘fore all this happened?”
Her question harkened me back to my earlier years… Seeing his face at the shrine I visited. “We saw him as a god-incarnate. And it was easy to justify… Functionally immortal, might as well have had unlimited wealth, led Japan into a new golden age, then nearly to the brink, then back out of it again… Some said he was the spirit of Japan itself, imbued in human form.”
“And you?”
“I don’t think I’d have traveled from Japan to the Free States if I didn’t believe in him, once.”
“Once?”
“Oh no, it’s my turn to– oh thank God, the exit…” I breathed out with tremendous relief. It might’ve been just a service tunnel. But it was solid ground. I had never seen any service tunnel that was so beautiful in my whole life.
“Heh, you were sayin’?” Songbird laughed from the guardrail leading into the structure.
“I forgot…” I smiled, finally setting foot on something that didn’t feel like it was about to collapse at any moment, “Oh, right. Questions… How’d you start out? Not with the FIA, but netrunning.”
“Mmh, places just like these, actually,” she reminisced with a grin on her face, teleporting ahead of me as I walked down the tunnel, “Used to have plenty of these places underground in the City. I’d set up a power bypass, jack in, essentially hijack my way onto the Net.”
“Oh? Interesting,” I muttered, ushering her to continue.
“Yeah, used to work some real risky gigs. Figured, anything that could challenge me, I guess… Did all sorts of crazy shit back then. Learned a lot – usually the hard way. But I made a few coups as well.”
“Anything I’d read in the BBS screamsheets?”
“Mmh, let’s see…” she thought to herself, teleporting to an overhead balcony, “Ah, Biotechnica in ‘’63 or four. Fermentation facility in Oregon. Off-the-grid hack. Sound familiar?”
Umm, yeah, it does… They never caught the hacker… ‘An unprecedented act of bioterrorism,’ they called it. The whole state never recovered from the massive data breach. “Wait, that was you? I–I mean, that’s Spider Murphy, Bartmoss levels of impressive. How’s your name not ring a single bell for me?”
“Eh, if I wanted fame, I’da gone rockerchick,” she scoffed with a smile. Oh, Johnny’d love that comment…
“Hm… Looks like a control terminal,” I muttered as I opened the door on my right, “Place’s been lived in at some point, too.”
“Look,” she glanced over, drawing my attention to the left, “Sleeping bag.”
“Hm… NorCal emblem…” I observed, inspecting the dirty cloth. It was utterly caked with dust, but still serviceable.
“Doesn’t look like much here,” Songbird sounded a bit impatient. Wonder if my timetable’s getting sped up… But she said we had until the evening, so we should have more than enough time.
“Let’s check the computer…” I muttered, heading over to the terminal, “Hm… Yeah, place shut down in 2072… Damn, two years after my last visit. Didn’t think they lasted that long…”
“Took time for Hansen to build up his private army,” Songbird posited as I flipped through the various correspondences.
“Looks like this was the smugglers’ den… They found them, rounded them all up, kicked them all out… Or, more likely, threw them all off the balcony.”
“Prolly the latter…” Songbird stated rather morbidly, “C’mon. There’s another door on the other side of the platform.”
“Alright…” I nodded, heading back the way I came.
I swear, I’m getting PTSD from the mere act of stepping on a grate at this point… Feeling that sensation of some metal that could give at any second. Yeah, no thanks… “Alright, question for you,” Songbird continued, “Parents, what were they like?”
“Hah, talk about complicated,” I chuckled, opening the door and revealing a hallway on the other side, “My parents were… were…”
–
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–
I instantly froze in place… My hands grew clammy… sweaty… shaking…
Amaterasu… Guide me with your Heavenly light…
In him was life, and the life was the light in men… and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not…
“V? V, what’s wrong?”
My bones froze in-place, as if I was physically anchored to the ground… I dared not move a muscle…
The kami…
No… no…
“V…?”
“No…”
“What?”
“No.”
My hands shivered furiously… That hallway was… no.
Close the door, S****…
Close the door and walk away…
Scream…
“V, what’s the matter?!”
My teeth clattered as I closed the door, the ancient power-assist barely working… it only just closed… ever so slowly… Yet I could still see it… There was something down there… Just… Just go back. Go into the light… Go into the light…
“V?”
“No… I cannot go on.”
“What?! Why not?”
“I c– I can’t– I…”
“V, you have to, it’s the only way to reach the surface from here,” she pleaded with me…
No… no, I couldn’t… It didn’t matter what she said. I couldn’t describe it… But I saw s-some sort of… something… And I knew that I was going to die… I will die if I go down that hallway… In the worst way imaginable…
Something watches me… a shadow… a deep, black shadow…
Every hair on my body stood on-end. The electricity flowing through me generated sparks as I reversed back into the smugglers’ hideout, nearly tripping on the doorframe as I entered…
I could hear it…
A low, droning humming sound…
“Amaterasu… Help me… Bring your guidance and warmth to these darkest of places… Shield me from the overtaking of the unknowable…
“May the spirits of my ancestors watch over me…
“Mother… Father… I’m sorry…
“Jackie… Please…”
–
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–
“V…” Songbird whispered… I opened my eyes, finding myself on my knees, hands clasped in prayer… Yet I don’t remember how I got here…
How long was I here…?
My legs have fallen asleep…
I looked up to see… Nothing.
An open door leading to a hallway, bathed in red emergency lighting…
What did I see to cause me such turmoil…?
I… I don’t remember…
“No…” I gritted my teeth, removing my backpack and producing Yorinobu’s weapon, making absolutely certain it was loaded.
“V, what the fuck is that?” Songbird raised a quizzical eyebrow, staring at the strange firearm.
“No more questions…” I muttered, raising the weapon up and slowly walking up to the hallway… I got this eerie feeling from it… It almost looked like a painting of a hallway, but one I could reach out and touch… Strange…
Just… take a step.
Why was I so frightened…?
One step… Two steps.
Pick up the pace…
I can feel it…
What is this feeling… This… presence… Whatever it is…
I feel like I know this feeling from somewhere…
This sensation of someone resting, just out of sight…
Watching. Observing. Curious? Perhaps…
A spider crawling up my pant leg…
A rock loosely falling down a cliff…
A brewing station slowly dripping coffee…
A swing idly dancing in the breeze…
What are you looking for…
GAAH!– Fuck…
“Songbird…” I whispered, still shivering with fear, “You really need to warn me when you turn on a light…”
“Sorry, thought it’d help show you the way,” she said so nonchalantly… My heart felt like it was about to explode… I can’t stay down here…
I can’t stay down here…
I can’t stay…
I can’t…
No.
–
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–
“My parents were… complicated, that’s all I’ll say,” I finished my statement after a few moments of thought– What? Wh–What happened?!
“V…?” Songbird interrupted me, “You… uh…”
“Yeah… I think…” I lightly shook my head in disbelief… Wait, where am I again…?
“Okay, well, I’m sendin’ the elevator down now,” she warned me, the noise deafening against the pure silence of the corridor I stood in… That’s bizarre… What is this place… I was at the stadium… then the Park… erm…
I held up Yorinobu’s weapon against my shoulder, utterly perplexed as I looked back… Yet something in me told me to be on high-alert… As if I was expecting an enemy that wasn’t there… Something felt wrong. I can't place it…
Strange…
Whatever… Okay. Elevator’s here… Let’s get the fuck out before this whole place collapses in on itself…
