"The first time I saw his face, I just knew stress would be the end of me. Then, at our first meeting, he asked me what kind of poison I load into my teeth and I realized it would be much, much worse than that."
Ogata Kanna
"Cops have no sense of humor."
Johnny Silverhand
====
Yuuka stared transfixed at the burning cigarette, unable to look away. Or rather, she was unwilling to raise her head and meet Johnny's gaze. He could guess why: here was a man who offered a much-needed solution to bring back order to this troubled city, his words backed by a figure of authority. Not only that, despite not being (supposedly) indestructible like the residents of Kivotos he was still willing to walk through a city overrun by trigger-happy criminals in order to accomplish his goal.
And yet she still doubted his resolve to put his life on the line. Only to be told he lived a long time with the shadow of death hanging above him even before coming to Kivotos. The feeling of shame was likely strong, and by their expressions the others were on the same boat.
Exactly as Johnny intended. Alright, so it was petty but come on! 'Course a question like that would be patronizing as fuck to him! Who did they think he was, a newbie Merc? He was a Legend of Night City, the most violent town that ever existed! Plus, with no one in Kivotos ever dying from eating lead it was obvious those girls were not worried about civilian casualties, but rather property damage: why else would their schools choose a treasurer and a medic as representatives when asking the government to move their asses? It was all about the eddies!
So yes, Johnny was feeling very justified in delivering a little payback.
She's only worried about you, Johnny.
Well, she has no reason to. I can handle myself just fine.
She doesn't know that yet. Not truly. Besides, worrying about someone when they face potential danger is a natural consequence of caring about them.
Jesus Christ. Alright, alright, I'll be nicer to her! Fucking...
"Silverhand-sensei. Allow me to join you." Hasumi suddenly stepped forward, face expressing nothing but firm resolve as she brandished her sniper rifle with expert ease. "I am Hanekawa Hasumi of the Justice Task Force. Your commitment to your duty is praiseworthy, seeing that I cannot just stand aside doing nothing. My gun shall help bring back justice to the city."
Spoke like an idealistic badge. But better that than a corrupt one, and like Ward proved not every cop is a bastard. 'Course, there was a reason he got kicked out of the NCPD and it wasn't because the other cops were envious of his big muscles.
"T-Then, I'll come too!" Yuuka hastily added. She shot another glance at the Hand before nodding. "My name is Yuuka. Hayase Yuuka of Seminar, from Millennium Science School. Sensei, when this is over please come to our school: your prosthetic could be the key to several breakthroughs in robotics, medicine and many other fields!"
"Oh?" He smirked. "What about royalties?"
"Uh? Ah, uhm..." She fidgeted at the unexpected question. "I'm sure we can reach a satisfying agreement for all parties involved-"
"Relax, I'm joking. Now's not the time to talk about eddies." Johnny was not above getting paid but only for the fruits of his own efforts, like music and merc work. And besides, money's always been just a means to an end for him. He went back to smoking, leveling a side glance at the last girl. "And you?"
"Hinomiya Chinatsu, Medic of the Prefect Team, at your service." The bespectacled girl nodded before taking out her own iron: like Hasumi's it was retro-looking, a semi-auto with... a grip shaped like the handle of a broom? Now that was a great source of jokes about 'cleaning up trash'. "Fighting on the frontline is not my specialty, but the Head Prefect entrusted me with the task of acting in her stead during this crisis."
"Preem." With the addition of two Solo equivalents and a Medtech, now they looked a bit more like a proper Edgerunner team. Good thing Johnny can cover for the missing roles.
"Mmh, this is unexpected but not unwelcome." Rin hesitated for a few more moments before jumping on the train. The way she stared at the three Haloed girls, however, was the stuff of nightmares for those with a weak spirit. "It's so reassuring to have you trustworthy academy representatives here with us. Please Sensei, don't hesitate to make full use of them to bring peace back to Kivotos."
"Uh?! What do you mean by that?" Yuuka shouted.
"Nothing untoward, I assure you." The black-haired girl lied through her teeth with a smile, as if she wasn't planning to use them as lead-sponges. "Please follow me everyone, I shall lead you to our goal: the SCHALE building."
====
"Sensei, can I ask you a few questions?" Chinatsu spoke after a few minutes of trekking through the city. They had yet to encounter more gangoons but Johnny was positive it was only a matter of time.
Instead, he was far more interested in the commercial displays scattered around Kivotos. He didn't recognize the brands, but the most prominent ones all used the word 'Kaiser': PMC, Industries, Construction... those guys had their fingers in a lot of pies. Better to keep an eye on them in the future.
"Sure, Chinatsu. Shoot." His meat hand twitched, throat aching for another cig but Johnny knew that once he started chain-smoking he would be unlikely to stop anytime soon. Plus, he didn't want to lose a half-finished one because he suddenly had to worry about gonks shooting at him. One after the gig was over, plus a glass of tequila or another strong liquor that wasn't vodka, preem way to celebrate.
"Your arm, is that the only prosthetic you have?" She bit her bottom lip, briefly glancing down at his legs. "I don't want to assume..."
"Nah, those are Silverhand's Originals." He slapped his thigh with a grin. Then he raised the Hand and wriggled the metallic fingers. "The arm and shoulder are the only major replacements, plus a minor one, the rest of my Chrome is mostly add-ons."
It was not too much different compared to his old body, for a Merc V shoved a surprising amount of restraints when it came to chroming up. 'Better a few high-quality ones than becoming a Metalhead and go turbo C-psycho', they said. Smart kid. Sure the Neural Link was heavy-duty, borderline mil-specs compared to what Johnny had in the '23, but still surprisingly comfortable. Plus Subdermal Armor went from thick plates to ultra-thin sheets while remaining as strong as ever, that was Dynalar for you.
"Chrome?"
"How we call cybernetics." He rapped his meat knuckles on the Hand's forearm. "Because of the shiny plating many of them have."
"What's the minor replacement you mentioned?" Yuuka asked, doing nothing to hide her immense interest in the topic.
"That one?" He lowered the aviators and looked both Chinatsu and Yuuka in the eyes. A simple mental command and his Kiroshi light up in blue. "Three guesses, the first two don't count."
The girls pulled back in surprise, mouths open wide. Hasumi and Rin, who were following the conversation, had a similar reaction. "Y-Y-Your eyes?" The medic stammered. "Were, were they also... from the grenade...?"
"Nah, my eyes were fine." Johnny pushed back the aviators and resumed walking. "I just wanted better ones, so I had them replaced by my Ripperdoc."
He managed to take a few steps before realizing the only sound of feet hitting the ground was his own. Looking back he saw the girls have frozen, eyes wide and gaping at him. "What?"
"You... replaced your eyes, despite them being fine..." Chinatsu coughed out. "And it was done by a, a what?"
"My Ripperdoc." What did they call them before cybernetics got commercialized... right. "A back-alley doctor specialized in Chrome."
That was, for some strange reason, not the right answer before Chinatsu turned as red as her gloves and stockings. "A back-alley doctor. You had your eyes, an incredibly delicate organ, messed with by a back-alley doctor?!"
"Come on, what's the big deal?" Johnny spread his arms and shrugged. It was just optics, sure they were rare back in his days because Kiroshi dominated the market but by 2077 other models became relatively cheap. There were even contact lenses with most of the basic functions for those that wanted something quick and easy. "I went to someone with good rep, not a butcher. Half an hour under the knife, took some mild stims afterward and walked out better than ever."
"Do you have any idea how utterly ridiculous what you're saying is?!" Rin harshly pointed out, jabbing a finger at him.
Johnny wanted to reply 'Not a clue', if only to be an asshole. But thinking about the girls' reactions when Yuuka recognized the Hand's artificial nature, and what it could mean that his Chrome was such a huge surprise to them... it was easy to reach a conclusion. It just was, as Rin eloquently put it, utterly ridiculous. "Gotta ask: how advanced is the medical science available here in Kivotos?"
"Not as much as it apparently is in... Night City, was it?" He nodded at Hasumi's question. "Robots are a common sight here in Kivotos, but like Hayase said mechanical prosthetics like yours are unheard of. Even organ transplants, as far as I'm aware, remain a difficult procedure with a long recovery period."
Because, with the residents being so hard to kill in the first place, there never had been a need to invest in said technology. Unlike the boom in cyberware research caused by the First Central American War and the thousands of severely injured soldiers that returned from it. So those girls were not neo-luddites, they just never had access to cybernetics in the first place! "I'll be straight with ya, this is one hell of a weird-ass pill to swallow."
That some technologies were unavailable in certain places he could understand, Nomads make do with whatever they can salvage or klep and as long as a vehicle is physically capable of moving it's worth a treasure, no matter how outdated. But this wasn't the middle of the Badlands, this was a whole city that obviously had required heaps of eddies to build. Rin's tablet even had holotech, so it was not like they were stuck in the glorious '70. No matter how Johnny looked at it, the circumstances didn't add up and it stung his conspiracy radar somewhat fierce.
"For you? Think about us!" Despite her words Yuuka appeared even more excited than before. "Oooh, I know people back in Millennium who will go nuts over this! Sensei, how was your eye surgery done so quickly? Are they better or worse than normal eyes? Do they have extra functions?"
Look at her, as excited as a Maelstrom who managed to klep a whole cargo of hardware from a corpo-convoy. "Slow down, Yuuka. I'm not Tech, even if I dabble in it a bit, so I can't give you all the hard deets- hold on a sec."
There was a crossroad lined with shops up ahead, and above one of them was a camera. Turning up his Cyberdeck Johnny hit it with a Ping, then seeing the camera was connected to a wider network of similar devices he prepped the appropriate Daemon. "Got it. Watch my back for a minute chombatta." The upload barely took a second before Johnny's Kiroshi synchronized with the camera and switched view with it, the act of turning the device around as easy as moving his own neck. The Rockerboy never expected to one day do Netrunning shit, that was Alt's domain and joy: his old input never talked much about her work for ITS, confidentiality and all that, but after some beers she was capable of talking Johnny's ear off for hours about the intricacies of cyberspace and all the beautiful things Ihara-Grubb algorithms make possible. Just like he did the same to her about music and all the great musicians that came before him and Kerry. He didn't really get it, for Johnny real beauty could only be found in things you could touch with your own hands, but it made Alt happy so he did the proper output thing and paid a modicum of attention.
But after seeing V at work? Having a front seat of them weaving through security systems like a ghost and ruining the day of gonks who relied too much on Chrome rather than skills? Yeah, Netrunning had its preem uses. Like piggybacking through a network of security cameras to map the area ahead. And right on time, there was a group of twenty or so masked gangoons busy smashing shop windows and arguing about who was going to get the preem stuff. Same assortment of rifles and shotguns as before... Shit, were those multi-barreled LMGs? Same precision and dexterity of a Valentino during Saturday evening, but there were too many of them to risk turning into minced meat with a careless assault. No, this required some finesse.
"Sensei? Silverhand-sensei?" Rin's voice called out, so he cut off the connection. She and the other girls have gathered around him. "Sensei, what were you doing standing still?"
"Gathering intel." He pulled out the Malorian and used the barrel to gesture ahead. "Twenty gangoons busy looting a block from here, can't walk around so we gotta jump them."
"And you know, how?"
"What part of gathering intel you didn't get?"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up." Yuuka took out one SMG and tried to sprint ahead, only to come to an abrupt stop when Johnny grabbed the neck of her jacket and pulled back. "Wah?! Sensei?"
"They're armed with LMGs." He warned her. Freaking brats, all those fresh neurons and they never bother to use more than a handful of them. "I get you have faith in your Halo thing, but are you honestly telling me you can get showered in lead and then stand up afterward on your own?"
"LMGs? Oh, you mean miniguns? Yeah, that'd a bit too much..." The treasurer rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "But I have the solution!"
She took out a small rectangular object from her pocket and proudly presented it. "Ta-dah!"
Johnny stared at the touchscreen device. Rin, Chinatsu and Hasumi were likewise unsure of how to react. "What's that?"
The blue-haired girl grinned. "My personal scientific calculator!"
He nodded and turned to the others. "So, Yuuka's inability to make two plus two without assistance aside, we need to hit hard and fast-"
"I can do arithmetics just fine even without it!" Yuuka shrieked, face red. She ran in front of him and held up the calculator once again. "I modified it to add an extra function! That's what I was talking about!"
"Is it a Millennium prototype? Your school is renowned for its cutting-edge technology." Chinatsu pointed out with curiosity. "What does it do?"
"More like a personal project of mine. To cut it short, using the principles of quantum electrodynamics and a special battery it's capable of generating a spherical bubble of high-density electromagnetic fields." She explained with obvious pride. So, besides counting eddies she also ran double as a Tech? Good to know. "Those fields had been tuned to the metals that typically make up bullets, so any projectile hitting it will be robbed of much of its kinetic energy. Thus, I call it the [Q.E.D. Field]!"
"...It's an energy shield?"
"W-Well, the main function is to act as a barrier and it's made of energy..." Yuuka looked between them and the device a few times. "So... I guess so?"
Holy guacamole, this place had energy shields. Cybernetics blew their fucking minds, yet this slip of a girl managed to build something that would make any corporation on the planet start a war to get the schematics and the Trekkies to declare her their new god-queen or some similar scop.
In which Smash-addled mind was this supposed to make sense?! It was like a caveman coming up with guns before inventing the wheel!
...Fuck a dogball, she was another Rache Bartmoss. Just like him, while the rest of the world still played ping pong on their screens she was off building a whole new dimension inside the Net. At least Yuuka wasn't a shut-in like said Deckhead, Johnny was sure she and Murphy would have gotten along well.
"Strength, duration and cooldown if there's one. Now." Johnny snapped his meat fingers to get the girl's attention, gaze behind his aviators fixed solely on Yuuka. "I need the specifics."
"It can easily withstand even concentrated fire from multiple miniguns!" She puffed out her chest, a smile on her face. "The downside is the high energy cost, so it can only last for five, seven seconds before the battery needs to recharge. I tested it extensively, and the cooldown never went above fifteen seconds."
"Nova. Now, first things first." Johnny pointed his index meat finger at the girl. "Yuuka, you're the most important person in the world and I'll protect you with my life if necessary."
Because like fuck he was letting the various megacorporations hunt her down like a rabid dog. Bartmoss at least had the good sense to build a secret base and cover his tracks with the most vicious Daemons his perverted mind came up with, but a naive girl like Yuuka would be like a slab of raw RealMeat tossed in the middle of Jig-Jig Street! If anyone tried anything he was going to flatline them first!
"Eh...?" Yuuka blinked in confusion before her face lit up like a Christmas holo-tree. "Eeeehh?!"
"Second." He turned to the others, dismissing their various looks as them not understanding the enormity of Yuuka's accomplishment. "Here's how we're going to deal with those gonks..."
Instructions relayed, along with directions for each girl to reach their designed spot, the team began to move. Crouching down to decrease visibility, Johnny quickly approached the gangoons' location using the various covers available like cement barriers, cars and the occasional pile of car wheels. Being better at stealth than the others he was able to come much closer, to the point he stopped a few feet directly behind a pair of masked girls supposed to be standing guard. Supposed, because they were instead watching their chooms with boredom and envy, clearly too gonked in the head to understand it was everyone else they were supposed to keep an eye on. His Kiroshi, helpful little things that they were, tagged each gangoon in quick succession: tracking their locations, highlighting their silhouettes through obstacles and using predictive algorithms to calculate extent and width of their fields of vision in real-time. Not something Johnny truly needed, he fought through the South American jungles just fine without them, but it was a preem bonus.
Speed, surprise, and violence of action, as his bastard army instructors and a certain hard-boiled Solo were so fond of repeating. Speed: approach the target quickly so they don't react and get ready. Surprise: fire the first shots and kill or wound as many of them as possible before they can react to make your numbers count for more. And violence of action: once you commit to an attack, don’t leave anyone standing. Initiative was everything.
Hasumi demonstrated why when she peeked from behind her cover, a giant signboard that fell from the side of a building, and nailed one of the LMG-carrying gangoons with a powerful headshot. Her iron strong enough to knock out her target with a single shot. She managed to take down two more before the gangoons finally reacted to the sudden violence; they would have never lasted a week in Night City with such poor reflexes.
"What the hell?!" One of the two guards stammered, fumbling for her iron. Johnny stood up, Hand clenched into a chrome fist, and delivered a bone-shattering uppercut to the back of her head. It didn't feel like hitting flesh, more like a slab of equally dense metal, but the blow still managed to make her halo frizzle off as she was sent flying. His meat hand removed the Punknife hidden inside his sleeve, held it in a reverse grip and then slammed the blade straight into the second gangoon's throat. A second and third time and she was down for the count. Meanwhile Rin and Chinatsu emerged from cover and began firing into the horde, not just to thin it out but also to grab their attention. The gangoons, seeing a second threat, instinctively split their numbers in half to deal with both at the same time. That was when Yuuka also jumped out of cover, having hidden between them and Hasumi's position: SMG in hand she ran in the opposite direction, hosing lead into the masked girls as they sprinted past her.
Holding the tip of the Punknife between his meat fingers Johnny threw it at the closest gangoon, the blade bouncing off without cutting anything but still making her reel back as if shot point-blank. He whipped out the Malorian and, just like Yuuka, began to run around his half of the crowd while lining up headshots or aiming at their chests when not possible. First were the ones wielding LMGs, as they posed the biggest threat, followed by the girls with shotguns. The more adrenaline surged through his veins the faster Johnny moved, both military instincts and implants recognizing the only truth of survival: kill or be killed. That he was the only one truly at risk in case of a lucky shot, amusingly enough, made it even more thrilling. Take that, XBD-guzzlers: the real thing is always better!
When bullets began to fly around his ears he threw himself into a forward slide behind a concrete barrier, the synth-leather of his jeans skidding over the road's surface as Johnny ejected the Malorian's spent mag and slammed in a new one. Lacking both training and real-life experience the gangoons kept firing where he passed through inside of where he would go, utterly wasting their bullets as their irons ran dry. A mistake that Johnny punished mercilessly when he moved past the barrier and fired two shots from below before rolling into a one-knee crouched firing stance and pumping the rest full of lead.
Yuuka and the other three had not been idle: normally the treasurer, being alone and closer to the gangoons, would have quickly succumbed to sheer numbers. But Hasumi, Chinatsu and Rin laid suppressive fire into the horde every time they tried to focus on Yuuka, easing the pressure. Plus she had her trump card. "Think you're so tough, uh?! I'm sending you back home crying like a baby!" One of the remaining girls with an LMG jumped on top of a pile of rubble and pointed her weapon at Yuuka. Seeing it the twintailed girl came to a stop and took out her calculator, quickly punching in numbers: upon pressing the final button a bright blue light expanded outward from the device and encased her whole body inside a circular barrier. The barrage of bullets smashed into the luminous surface, either bouncing back or barely passing through before clattering harmlessly to the ground. Yuuka didn't have the same problem. Putting back the calculator she wielded both SMGs and set them at full auto: her bullets passed through the barrier as if it wasn't even there, some scientific mumbo-jumbo that Johnny dismissed as unimportant making so only stuff trying to get inside would be affected.
Her own barrage of lead and Hasumi's precise headshots made short work of the remaining gangoons. Silence returned to the district's corner as quickly as violence arrived, leaving behind a warzone and several unconscious gonks that, Johnny was sure, would wake up the next day with a nasty headache and an eclectic collection of bruises. A much kinder fate than the hordes of people both him and V flatlined. Still felt strange, using so much lead against real people and yet killing no one... strange, yes, but also a welcome change of pace.
"The battle went much better than I expected it to be." Rin was the first to speak as they regrouped. The bespectacled girl cast an appraising glance at Johnny. "I suppose we have you to thank for that, Silverhand-sensei."
"That's right! It went exactly as Sensei predicted!" Yuuka cheerfully exclaimed. "He calculated the best positions, optimal course of action and achieved the most efficient result. Amazing!"
"Something like that? Basic Street smarts plus experience. Easy-peasy." Johnny grinned. Well-deserved praise was always nice, even for something that would have been mildly challenging only if he was alone and without iron. "This is far from my first time leading a team. Plus, we're so far above those gonks it's not even funny."
"We were able to fight and pool our respective specialties together much more efficiently thanks to your instructions, Sensei." Hasumi smiled and offered Johnny a respectful nod. "Despite the rough edges of your personality, I can see why the General Student Council President chose you."
"Aww, but those are the best part of me." He removed his aviators, hooking them to his belt and winking at Hasumi. "Alright, go through the gangoons and take all the ammo that fit your irons. If you find grenades, take them too."
Chinatsu sighed in disappointment, and so did Rin. "Must we?"
"Do you want to run out of spares halfway to our target?"
"...Point taken." The two begrudgingly conceded before joining the others in going through the masked girls' pockets. "5.56... 5.56... Does anyone have 11 or 12x33mm?"
"Here, Hinomiya." Yuuka tossed the medic a couple of mags. "A few of them had sidearms."
"I still have plenty left, but if anyone finds 7.7x56mm or similar please let me know." Hasumi politely requested.
"Sniper rifle rounds? I'll tell you if I do." Rin opened another handbag and sneered. "Yet more cigarettes. Even if they're delinquents there must be a limit to it."
"Toss them here." Johnny called out.
"You already have enough!" The bespectacled girl swiveled around and angrily pointed at the quickly growing pile of cig-packs next to a crouching Johnny. Rin was about to start a tirade about the dangers of smoking when she noticed the many discarded mags all around him. She watched the Rockerboy pop the mags from both an assault rifle and a shotgun, shake his head and then dismissively toss them away. "Do you... require assistance?"
"Can't find the right caliber for my gun." The Malorian could accept a greater than average divergence, but even the shotgun shells were too small and weak. Fucking hell, most of the ammo owned by those gonks were even worse than those found within Slaught-O-Matics! Did they raid a forgotten First American weapon cache or what?
"Give me a bullet as an example, I'll help you search for similar ones." Johnny stopped to look over his shoulder at the request, Rin standing there with an outstretched hand. He grunted, might as well. The Rockerboy ejected the Malorian's magazine, removed a single round and threw it towards Rin with a flick of the Hand's chromed fingers, the movement making it twirl like a spinning top.
The GSC Vice-President caught the bullet with both hands, briefly surprised at the unexpected weight, opened them and stared. She remained like that for a solid ten seconds, barely breathing as her brain tried to metaphorically reboot. "Silverhand-sensei." She wheezed out at long last. "What is this?"
Johnny rolled his eyes. Of all the gonk-ass questions. "The stuff I shoot at people that piss me off. If you mean the specifics: 14x64mm, 96mm long, 750-grain, armor-piercing. Happy?"
"Sensei, this is an anti-materiel rifle round!" She screamed, holding out the monster of a bullet for all to see. Yuuka, Chinatsu and Hasumi stopped their activities to gawk. "You use a handgun!"
Oh, that was why? Now that Johnny thought about it, yes there was a time when the Malorian's ammo used to boggle people's minds. It happened until a few years before the Fourth Corporate War, which was why he didn't immediately remember. But the reply he always gave was crystal clear.
"What can I say?" He turned towards them with a smug, shit-eating grin on his lips. A single chrome finger spinning his gun around the trigger ring. "The Malorian Arms 3516 is just that special. Almost as much as me."
====
Afterward, upon learning exactly what kind of bullets Johnny had been using until then, Chinatsu insisted on double-checking the downed gangoons. Much to her evident relief she didn’t find anything truly threatening even on those who got shot in the head, judging it no worse than being directly hit by a rocket launcher.
Which said something alright. It told Johnny to forget Yuuka’s energy shield, those Haloes were the real bullshit deal: the only thing he could compare their durability to was a motherfucking MBT, he wasn't even joking. A MT-4 or a M-11, those beasts weren't totally immune to explosives but they could withstand a decent amount of hits. It made the prospect of facing the MA5 Crusader less daunting, though of their group only him at the moment had iron strong enough to damage an ACPA. One more reason to save ammo, leading Johnny to reluctantly leave the Malorian in its holster in favor of using guns pilfered from the gangoons they defeated: a shotgun as his main-to-go iron for most confrontations, and an assault rifle when he needed to lay suppressive fire. His Agent identified the shotgun as a Beretta 1301 Tactical and the assault rifle as a SIG SG550, barely decent specs that made downing enemies a much lengthier affair but at least ammo was in abundance.
And so were the gangoons that carried it. Rin's path to their destination more often than not had them running into roving bands of scavengers in search of juicy targets or just stealing anything shiny that wasn't nailed down hard enough. That was where Johnny's experience in urban warfare truly shone, allowing him to lead their group and execute effective alpha-strikes: Rin and the other girls had a basic understanding of tactics, especially Hasumi since she was part of her school's version of district police and so frequently engaged in combat, but their knowledge of fighting together as a coordinated team had been solely theoretical and thus woefully lacking. Thus Johnny naturally fell into the role of leader, making plans and giving orders to lead the crew to victory every single time.
An alert from Johnny's Agent appeared on his HUD as they rested within an abandoned building, hours of non-stop walking and intense bouts of violence taking their toll even on him. He had set it to prowl the available radio frequencies, scanning for any useful piece of data like the locations of large bands of gangoons, but so far it only confirmed to him how things in the rest of Kivotos were going FUBAR.
Radio Transmission detected
Source: Valkyrie Police Academy's forces
Distance from the origin: 493 meters
Nature of the Transmission: SOS, request for reinforcements
So the badges were getting their asses rammed, what a fucking surprise. But this was the first time that an Assault in Progress happened close to him, and Johnny could admit some curiosity about how things were done in Kivotos. After all, even he had to admit the NCPD were a special kind of fucked-up. He took out his Agent, the smartphone-size device fitting comfortably in his hand, and mentally ordered it to play the recording.
"This is Nakatsukasa Kirino from the Community Safety Bureau speaking! We're under heavy fire! Please send reinforcements!"
"Kirino, you know as well as I do that nobody's coming."
"You don't know that! Also could you please stop eating donuts and help us already?!"
"Sorry, while running here I dropped my magazines. No choice but to-"
"Don't worry Nemugaki, I noticed and picked them up. Here, have them back."
"...How lucky. Thank you so much, Morizuki. Now we can all happily go through our stocks while those criminals laugh at us from their well-defended positions."
No matter where you go, badges are a joke. That was the third constant of the universe, behind death and taxes.
"Wait, that was Suzumi's voice!" Hasumi abruptly stood up. "Is she in danger?"
"Choom of yours?"
"Morizuki Suzumi of the Trinity Vigilance Crew." The tall, black-haired beauty explained. "They help the Justice Task Force patrol Trinity Academy, we collaborated many times in the past."
Mmh, so something similar to Guardians: a rare sight in NC, but they were more common in other NUSA's cities.
"It appears she's fighting criminals alongside Valkyrie students and that their situation is dire." Rin hummed in though. "Sensei, while we must make haste I cannot in good conscience leave them behind. Can your smartphone pinpoint their location?"
His first, instinctual response was a wave of disgust at the idea of working with pigs. V had called it necessary in order to rebuild their shattered rep after the Kompeki Plaza's disaster. And maybe it was even true, almost all punk brats trying to make a name for themselves started their career by doing the countless poor-paying bounties around the city, hoping that one day a Fixer would contact them. But in Johnny's opinion doing Subcon work for the NCPD had always been just half a step away from selling yourself to corpos.
Then again, he had little qualms about collaborating with Militech if it meant sticking it to Arasaka.
Then again, here in Kivotos even badges were still student pups.
Christ on a ladle. If he takes no eddies it just means he's mocking the cops by doing their job better than they ever could, right?
"World's gone mad, I swear." He threw his arms up in defeat before standing up, the source of the transmission already marked on his HUD's minimap. "Follow me."
They heard the gangoons before seeing them, a mix of mocking laughter and deliberately exaggerated dramatic exclamations. Peeking from behind a corner the crew was met with a group of masked girls gathered in front of the entrance to a building that has been barricaded with furniture and sandbags. The majority were facing the entrance, while those on lookout duty were actually doing their job properly for once.
"Look at this! A deluxe chocolate cake, limited edition... that you will never eat!" A gangoon waved said piece of cake around before taking a bite. "Oh my! How delicious!"
"Isn't this jacket totally cute?" Another boasted while showing off said piece of clothing, a few others clapping their hands. "And it cost me literally nothing! Ah ah ah!"
Johnny had to give it to them, when it came to being petty as fuck this easily came up to his top twenty. The top ten however would forever be dominated by the antics of the Philharmonic Vampyres, no contest and no challenge.
While the gangoons were in the middle of laughing once more an object was tossed from behind the barricade, Johnny's Kiroshi slowing down his time perception to let him see what it was. "Flashbang. Close your eyes." He warned the girls with a whisper. Luckily for them they immediately followed his advice, while Johnny kept watching thanks to his optics' lumen resistance. Besides the flash light the device also released an extremely loud 'bang', stunning the gangoons too slow to protect their ears. While the latter howled in pain the rest opened fire against the barricade as an outlet for their impotent frustration.
"That was one of Suzumi's custom flashbangs, she always carries a lot of them with her," Hasumi explained.
"The other streets around are blocked, this time ambushing the targets will be difficult." No matter where Yuuka looked, there was only one path and it was guarded. "Sensei, what should we do?"
"Uhm..." The Rockerboy rubbed his chin, his attention moving to a large commercial wall-screen. "There's something I've been meaning to ask for a while. Hinomiya, your Halo protects you from physical damage, innit?"
"All currently known forms of it, correct." The Medic nodded. Considering he saw her using a syringe on Yuuka without issues Johnny wanted to ask how that worked, but now he needed another question answered.
"What about oxygen deprivation?"
Chinatsu blinked in befuddlement. "It... does nothing about it?"
"Nova." Firing up his Cyberdeck Johnny connected with the screen and injected it with a Daemon. An apparent malfunction would not be enough, he needed something more eye-catching: his Agent offered a suggestion and, seeing the title, he immediately ran with it.
"Your mistake was thinking you have a goddamn choice, choom!"
The screen suddenly coming to life took the gangoons by surprise, but when it started playing what looked like an extremely intense action movie none of them saw before they soon forgot about the boring siege. Even the guards were watching with rapt attention, allowing Johnny to leave his hiding place undetected and stealthy approach from behind a LMG-carrying gangoon standing next to a dumpster. Fast as a King Cobra Johnny stood up and wrapped his arms around the masked girl, the Hand blocking her arms and his meat forearm crushing her throat, then pulled her down. She wriggled impotently, failing to speak through a blocked windpipe until the lack of oxygen to the brain made her faint. Once he was sure she wasn't faking it Johnny dragged her to the dumpster and threw the body inside, hiding it from view.
Then he picked up the LMG and opened fire on the still distracted gangoons.
"...I know I already asked, but... Acting President, are you really sure he's a teacher?" An aghast Yuuka asked, she and the others having enjoyed a front-row seat to Johnny's actions.
"President, what were you thinking..." The bespectacled girl lamented, eyebrow twitching dangerously as admiration towards her superior warred against concern about said woman's questionable criteria for choosing educators.
"The cavalry's here!" Johnny cheerfully yelled after the last gangoons was buried in lead. He tossed the empty weapon aside and sat on a cement barrier, wall-screen playing Bushido 1 falling silent once more as the Daemon ran its course. "You all still alive over there?"
"Yes! Thank you so much, whoever you are!" Three girls crawled out from inside the barricaded building. The first one had white hair and red eyes like an albino, a single small wing on the left side of her head. Her uniform was grey with black stockings, a badge on the left arm containing a symbol identical to the one on Hasumi's rifle. Her Halo was a pale purple crosshair with arrows pointing outward along the edges.
Name: Morizuki Suzumi
Status: Second Year (16 years old)
Affiliation: Trinity Vigilante Crew (Trinity General School)
Cyberware Detected: None
The other two, instead, were dressed in female police officer's clothes, if customized to suit their individual styles and much more scuffed than Crosshair Halo. The first had white hair tied into two long braids, a belt with several canisters and her accessories were all colored a cool purple. The second wore her uniform much more casually, with the addition of a baggy overcoat with bright pink accessories and giant hot pink rubber shoes. Both of their Haloes were a mix of Celtic knots and hearts.
Name: Nakatsukasa Kirino
Status: First Year (15 years old)
Affiliation: Public Safety Bureau (Valkyrie Police Academy)
Cyberware Detected: None
Name: Nemugaki Fubuki
Status: First Year (15 years old)
Affiliation: Public Safety Bureau (Valkyrie Police Academy)
Cyberware Detected: None
Well, well, well. Weren't they the cutest badges Johnny ever saw?
"Captain Hasumi. Thank you for the save." Crosshair Halo immediately walked up to Hasumi and gave her a grateful nod, then did the same to the others. Her eyes lingered on Johnny with curiosity for a scant few moments before brushing it aside. She recognized they were still in the middle of the Sharp End and shelved questions for a more appropriate time, good instincts.
"Hey, hey hey hey! Isn't that... the GSC's Vice-Prez?!" The white-haired badge panicked before snapping into a textbook salute. "Ma'am! Nakatsukasa Kirino of the Public Safety Bureau, reporting for duty!"
"Nemugaki Fubuki. Same as Kirino." The salute of the girl with blue hair and pink accessories, on the other hand, was much more sloppy and earned her a harsh jab to the side by her choom.
"At ease. Now, give me a sitrep." Rin commanded. "What happened here, are there other injured Valkyrie students?"
"No Ma'am, it's only Fubuki and me." Kirino shook her head. "We were dispatched to apprehend the criminal Kosaka Wakamo after she escaped the Corrections Bureau-"
"Kosaka Wakamo of the Seven Prisoners? The 'Fox of Calamity'?!" Yuuka snapped. "And they sent Public Safety to catch her? But you guys..."
"Manage lost items and rescue cats from trees? Yeah." Fubuki shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Usually they send a squad from SRT Academy when one of the Seven or another A-Class Threat is on the loose, but virtually all of their students have their hands tied with other issues at the moment and can't spare none. So they tossed the hot potato to Valkyrie, who... could only send us."
"We were able to locate her, but... she was together with a very large group of criminals..." Kirino admitted with shame.
"Not like she needed their help to beat our asses. Then she continued on, citing the need to cause more anarchy, while a few stragglers from her band started chasing us for fun." So this Wakamo was the A-Class Threat Momoka mentioned, the one with a fucking ACPA. But while their names were similar, rather than the old bat from Jig-Jig Street this 'Fox' behaved more like a wannabe gang leader with dreams of grandeur in the head and Blue Glass in their veins.
Causing anarchy? Ah, what a fucking joke.
This was not anarchy.
"I was patrolling on my own, searching for civilians who had yet to evacuate, when I ran into Kirino and Fubuki." Suzumi continued. "They outnumbered us so I opted to retreat to a better location."
"This Wakamo. Did she say where she was headed?" Johnny asked next, standing up and coming closer to the three girls. "Gave any clue?"
"Uh, she mentioned the GSC a lot, along with the desire to blow up their stuff as revenge..." The white-haired badge answered instinctively. "Sorry, but who are you?"
"This is Johnny Silverhand-sensei." Rin replied in his stead. "He has been personally chosen by the GSC President to help us resolve the current crisis, and also to serve as the advisor for a new club created by the President herself: SCHALE."
"You know, Rin." Johnny drawled out with the kind of cadence reserved to discussing the number of cans of Scop in storage, knowing full well it would be the only thing he would eat for the next year. "Maybe it would help if you explain what, exactly, SCHALE is supposed to be. Or do."
"...I apologize, we were interrupted in the middle of my previous explanation and I never resumed it." Rin fixed her glasses, not quite meeting Johnny's eyes. "The Independent Federal Investigation Club: SCHALE. This isn't your average club, more like a type of extrajudicial organization. Since it's a federal club, you're allowed to recruit students from any of the academies in Kivotos and conduct operations in all districts without restrictions, along with the power to circumvent regulations as necessary."
"Wait a goddamn minute!" Johnny removed his aviators and stared at Rin as if she just popped open the side of her waist to reveal she replaced her liver with an automatic pasta cooker. Out of everything he heard and saw today, this both took the cake and set it on fire. "SCHALE is a motherfucking intelligence and law enforcement agency? Who does it report to?"
Rin hesitated for a few moments before answering. "Technically... you?"
"Mandate?"
"None at the moment."
The Hand moved as if choking someone. "Beside Kivotos, does its jurisdiction extend anywhere else?"
Even the others were now shooting Rin incredulous stares, causing her to start sweating. "By how it's worded in the documents... everywhere outside of Kivotos, no matter the distance."
Santa Muerte, give us enough bullets for all the gonks and corpos in the world! SCHALE was both the FBI and the CIA put together. Not even the corrupt old USA government went so far. Hell, Johnny doubted Arasaka had a department with so much autonomy. Something that answered only to Saburo, sure, but no amount of bribery could buy legal authority to operate outside the company when rival corpos would stonewall such an attempt at every turn.
And the client wanted him to lead this fascist monstrosity? Rogue and Mike were laughing at him all the way back from 2010, he just knew it.
"Woah! Hold on a minute! Miss Vice-Prez, ma'am!" Fubuki flailed her arms around. "Isn't that kind of federal authority already given to SRT? I mean, doesn't it create a conflict or something?"
"SRT Special Academy was given special authority by the GSC President to mobilize anywhere, at any time, to respond to crime. That is correct. It was done because Valkyrie Police Academy, while also able to operate in every district to an extent, is subject to many restrictions that prevent them from mobilizing completely due to many autonomous districts having their own policing forces." Rin began to explain. "Additionally, they are equally unable to act when dire situations happen, such as if a student from a school commits a crime in one district and then flees to another one."
"In other words, federal crimes." Having lost any fuck to give Johnny lit up a new cig, allowing the nicotine to calm his excited nerves. "Something like SCHALE, then would be partially reductant. If SRT deals with internal issues, why not just create an agency to deal with external ones and have them collaborate when necessary?"
"I have no idea how the President was able to create an organization with such power." Rin looked truly chagrined. "Nor do I know what went through her head. But what I understood is this: SCHALE was given authority equal to that of the GSC President, while SRT operated under her authority. Which means, with the President now missing SRT just lost all of their special privileges."
Naturally said declaration and the news about the GSC president's disappearance sent the two badges into an uproar. Johnny ignored the noise, focusing instead of processing the new deets and reconsidering his approach for the future.
Saving Kivotos by giving the badges the supplies they needed to suppress the gangs? That didn't change, normal people didn't have an unlimited amount of eddies to replace the stuff that was wrecked and insurance agencies were just as exploitative as corpos.
But regarding SCHALE? His client should have thought twice about ghosting immediately after Johnny agreed to be on board, because that gave him free reign to handle the gig as he saw fit.
"Like they said-" A truly nasty grin appeared on his lips as the framework of an idea formed within his mind, the last sight of many unlucky gonks. "The Devil is in the details."
====
After they learned of Johnny's ability to unlock Sanctum Tower both Suzumi and Kirino quickly volunteered their services, while Fubuki needed to be physically dragged along by her choom. Luckily they only had a few kilometers left to cover before reaching their destination, which Rin informed him was located on the outskirts of the Shared District of Utnapishtim. Weirdass name, did they pull it out at random from an itinerant monk's holy text?
"There it is, everyone. The SCHALE headquarters." It was a multi-story white building with many blue glass windows, the acronym S.C.H.A.L.E. displayed above the entrance and at least once for each wall. The bespectacled girl narrowed her eyes in distaste at the line of criminals assembled in front of it, blocking off access. "Reclaiming it will not be easy. Sensei, what do you suggest?"
"Rin? Chica, chombatta, sweetheart?" Johnny's response was to wrap his meat arm around her shoulder and, with a dry monotone, use the Hand to gesture at the gangoons. "What is that shit?"
She blushed at the sudden physical contact. "W-What is what?"
"That!" He jabbed a chromed finger at the incredibly outdated tank the gangoons were gathered around. "What is that piece of scrap? Where's the ACPA?!"
"I don't know what an ACPA is, Sensei, but that is a Crusader Mark 1 Tank. Trinity's tank regiments use the same model." Hasumi told him, Suzumi silently nodding next to her. "The criminals must have acquired it on the Black Market, truly disgraceful."
"That is what the Gremlin meant when she talked about a 'Crusader'?!" Johnny wanted to kick himself. Those girls didn't even consider cybernetics prosthetics real, how could they have access to a mil-spec Linear Frame? "How old is it even?"
"The first Crusader Tanks entered service in 1941." Suzumi informed Johnny.
Holy shit! Motherfucking Saburo Arasaka was getting shot at by those things during WW Two! That nobody managed to hit him was just another tragedy of that conflict.
And he has been worried about it?
"Hello, General Student Council. It's about time you came." Amplified by a megaphone, a sultry voice reached their position. The culprit was standing atop the tank, which spun around to point its cannon away from the SCHALE building. Turning the attackers into defenders as the gangoons copied their apparent leader. Johnny's Kiroshi zoomed in, allowing him to see the details: female, fox ears atop the head and fox tail behind her back, face covered by a traditional Japanese kitsune fox mask, a modified furisode with asymmetrical leggings and high-heeled boots. She wouldn't look out of place among the Tyger Claws, it was just the right mix of traditional Japanese aesthetics and modern American Kitsch. Her Halo was a black cherry blossom surrounded by, of all fucking things, a combined sniper sight and anarchy symbol.
This would not stand. Oh no, this would not stand at all.
Name: Kosaka Wakamo
Status: Suspended (18 years old)
Affiliation: Seven Prisoners (Current), Allied Hyakkiyako Academy (Previous)
Threat Class: A
Wanted For: Destruction of Private and Public Property, Civil Unrest, Resisting Arrest, Breaking out of Prison
Cyberware Detected: None
Weakness: Unknown
"I don't know what's in that building, but if it's important to the GSC... I'll just have to destroy it!" Wakamo giggled. "Why don't you try to stop me? I can't wait! Heeheehee~♡"
"...What rotten luck. The first girl who's legal, and she's this." Letting go of Rin Johnny fished out another cig. "Suzumi, do you have any flashbangs left?"
"Many." She boasted in a quiet way, using a sleight of hand to seemingly produce four flashbangs out of thin air, two for hand.
"And I have smoke grenades!" Kirino added in a hurry, pointing at the canisters hanging from her belt. "Can they be useful?"
"'Course they can. Everyone but Hasumi, grab at least one of each type." Johnny instructed. Reaching inside his duffel bag he took a certain something and put it into his jacket. "At my signal charge the gangoons, use the explosives to keep them stunned while you pump them full of lead. Double, no, triple tap them for good measure. This is the final sprint, give it everything you have."
"But Sensei, what about the tank?" Yuuka pointed. "It will surely start shooting the moment we reveal ourselves."
"I'll take care of that." He tapped the cig to make the ash fall. "And remember, the signal is 'rock and roll'."
Having said that, Johnny Silverhand stepped out of cover and calmly walked toward Wakamo's posse without a care in the world, as if taking a relaxing stroll during the evening.
"Sensei?! Come back, quickly!" Chinatsu cried out in alarm. She made to reach Johnny but was held back by Hanekawa. "Hasumi, what are you doing? We need to-"
"Have faith in Silverhand-sensei. Has he not always led us to victory so far?" The black-haired beauty pointed out. She raised her head and smiled. "Besides, look. The criminals are likewise confused."
Indeed, the sight of a sole person calmly walking towards them out in the open, his hands empty of weapons as if he feared nothing, shook the gangoons' confidence and made them hesitate. They were still pointing their guns at him, yet their fingers refused to touch the trigger. Even Wakamo didn't quite know how to react, a tilt of her head the only visible sign of her confusion. "My, how bold. You don't look like GSC, are you perhaps one of their little pu-"
"Poser."
Unbeknownst to all the fox girl blinked behind her mask. "...Excuse me?"
"I am calling you a fraud. A phony. A goddamn faker." Heat entered Johnny's voice, eyes ablaze behind his aviators. His whole presence demanded attention, denied Wakamo and the gangoons the choice to look away or cover their ears. "Causing havoc wherever you go, blowing up random stuff for shits and giggles, browbeating gangoons into obedience and sending them against anything you don't like. You call that anarchy? What a sick joke. Kosaka Wakamo! What is anarchy to you?"
"I-I... I..." Wakamo stammered, she tried to speak and yet each word felt like it was covered in thorns, lodged firmly inside her throat and refusing to come out.
"I'll tell you what anarchy is. It's not the freedom to do whatever the hell you want, uncaring of the consequences." Johnny kept approaching, the Hand making a sweeping gesture before clenching into a chromed fist, save for the extended index and pinky fingers. The Sign of the Horns, the symbol of heavy metal and chromatic rock. "Anarchy means freedom from the chains dragging you down! When others try to take away your choices, tell you that nothing you do will ever amount to anything unless it's done how they want... when they try to turn you into a slave! Then the only thing left to do is to raise your head and shout NO! I will not bow to you! I am my own person and will live my life however I see fit!"
The Hand was pointed at the gangoons, and they recoiled as if shot. Guns trembling in their grasp. "And you! What you have done today is nothing more than a temper tantrum. You're frustrated with your life, yet you don't know how to fix it. So you take the biggest iron you can find, pick on whoever you can be sure you can hit, laugh it away with your chooms afterward and think you made a damn difference. Well, bad news brats: you didn't! All you did was ruin someone else's day and make them just as frustrated and lost as you. Guess misery loves company, uh? Too bad, that feeling of vindication you may feel? It's empty. Always will be."
Every word set them more and more on edge, hitting true and painfully within unerring accuracy. Johnny was unarmed, surrounded by guns and had a cannon pointed straight at him, yet it was the gangoons who were scared shitless of him. Wakamo had turned still as a statue, rifle slowly slipping through suddenly sweaty palms. Johnny could tell they were a breeze away from tumbling over the edge, so he stopped and spread his arms. Cig held up by a large, mocking grin. "You want to shoot me? Go ahead. But mark my words: if you do, make damn sure you don’t miss. Because all you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer standing. Otherwise... I'll kick your ass before you can reload."
The butt of Wakamo's rifle hit the tank's plates, producing a soft metallic 'thud'.
She may as well have shot a revolver right next to the ears of every single gangoon present. It didn't matter who pressed the trigger first, if it was voluntary or their fingers spasming, once they did everyone else followed. Dozens of firearms, the tank's submachine guns and one cannon fired seemingly at the same time, unleashing their deadly payload. It was, for all intents and purposes, completely overkill.
Johnny turned on the Sandevistan, and the world slowed to a crawl. Pure electricity danced through his nerves, vision acquiring a blue tint and sounds taking on an echoing quality. He could see bullets emerge from the guns' barrels in slow motion, leaving behind glowing trails as his Kiroshi picked up the increase in temperature caused by friction with the air. The QianT Sandevistan Mk.4 may not have been the most powerful model available on the black market, that honor went to the QianT Mk.5 and the Militech 'Falcon', but it still rated third among them all. There was one reason and one reason only why V chose this model above the others, and it came down to a simple fact: among all the high-quality Sandevistans, the Mk.4 had the shorter cooldown. With the right complimentary Chrome like a Bioconductor? Said time of cooldown may as well be non-existent.
The true value of a Sadevistan, Johnny had to agree once V explained their reasoning, was not to go faster. It was to never stop being fast.
When the first bullets were about to reach him the Rockerboy simply bent his knees and lowered his upper body, letting them zoom above his head. A simple movement of his arms, and more missed. With the cannon shot he simply stood back up and ran around it before returning to his starting position once it passed. When the countdown for the Sandy's duration reached the halfway mark Johnny stepped back from a machine gun' burst, took out the Frag Grenade he put inside his jacket and threw it toward the tank's cannon. At three-fourths he did the same thing with his cig and with the Hand took out the Malorian. He kept his cyberarm parallel to his body, barrel pointed at the ground.
A few seconds from the end all gangoons' guns clicked empty. He mentally shut off the Sandy's time acceleration, and time resumed.
Johnny grinned at the stunned girls, eyes widening and faces going deadly pale from the kind of primordial terror that comes to prey realizing they're alone in the dark with a predator. The Hand rose, the aiming algorithms of his Kiroshi aiding Johnny in aligning the barrel with both the falling frag grenade and the cig. "Fucking told you to not miss, chooms."
He pulled the trigger. The superheated bullet’s tip cut through the cig, tobacco leaves spilling out before the temperature ignited both them and the paper. The projectile acquired a burning trail like a comet, visible even to those without thermal sight, continuing on its path and hitting the grenade right above the tank's cannon.
Boom.
The explosion tore through the tank's armor like it was made of wet noodles, tearing off the cannon and shredding the vehicle's machine guns. Demonstrating incredible reflexes for someone without Chrome Wakamo jumped away from the tank a few instants before the explosion occurred, mitigating the damage but not escaping it completely. The gangoons within the blast radius, on the other hand, were battered by the shockwave and pelted by a shower of shrapnel.
Johnny Silverhand laughed. It was chaos and carnage, and he never felt more alive. He dashed towards the enemies, firing his Malorian with wild abandon. "Let's Rock and Roll!"
====
Hayase Yuuka wasn’t quite sure yet what to make of her new Sensei. Johnny Silverhand didn't look like what she imagined an adult teacher would: his appearance was slightly unkempt, he dressed like a hooligan, smoked without a care, talked funny and even used swear words! Yes, totally unlike her previous mental image.
And yet he was reliable. Silverhand-sensei didn't hesitate to fight alongside Yuuka and the others even if he lacked a Halo, he c-cared about her-everyone's safety despite knowing they were much more durable than him and his tactics allowed them to win with little to no bruises even when their enemies severely outnumbered them. Not to mention the incredible technology he possessed! Like his cybernetic arm! Artificial eyes! A functional, hand-carried railgun made of titanium manufactured in space!
Yes, Johnny Silverhand was a confusing individual. But there was a single thing Yuuka knew for certain.
He was completely out of his mind!
"Holy cow!" One of the Public Safety girls, Fubuki she believed, gaped like a fish. Yuuka was sure there was an identical expression on her own face. "Is this what they mean by 'crazy enough to work'?"
"No, no!" The other Valkyrie shook her head. "It's 'if it works, then it's not crazy'!"
"Kirino, there is no way you can call what Sensei did anything but crazy!"
Reluctantly Yuuka had to agree: Sensei faced the Fox of Calamity and the other criminals alone, putting himself in unacceptable danger, then somehow dodged several seconds of concentrated gunfire before destroying the tank by shooting a grenade in midair above it. The latter had a rational explanation, if this Night City Sensei came from was so advanced they could perfectly replicate human body parts then making very powerful grenades was surely child's play. But the former left Yuuka stumped: the whole event had been hard to follow, one moment Sensei was in one place and then suddenly he wasn't. Nothing but a blur she barely managed to catch at the edges of her vision. Teleportation was out of the question, an optical illusion may work but it didn't really fit. Was it... speed?
Speed high enough to dodge bullets after they were fired instead of before? How did it work Yuuka needed to know!
"That's the signal! Don't waste the window of opportunity created by Sensei!" Hasumi yelled with a passionate tone. Having never doubted Sensei for even a second. She immediately started sniping the criminals further away from her, following Sensei's prior instructions to always prioritize those with heavy weapons and similar sniper rifles.
"That-that-that IDIOT!" Nanagami screamed, looking the angriest Yuuka ever witnessed the Acting President be. She jumped out of cover, gun held with both hands. Suzumi was next to her, flashbang ready to be thrown. "Valkyrie students, cover us!"
"Yes sir yes!" Kirino promptly replied, handgun in hand and a determined expression on her face.
"Ooh, why didn't I call in sick today..." Fubuki looked on the verge of crying, but she still took up her semi-automatic rifle and followed after Kirino.
Unacceptable! No way she was staying behind while Sensei risked his life to save Kivotos! Logic and Reason, her trusted SIG-Sauer MPX submachine guns, smoothly settled into her palms as she and Chinatsu joined the charge.
Sensei closed the remaining distance between himself and the criminals, those that were still standing either shocked by the explosion or frantically trying to reload. Rather than do the same he put his gun into his jacket, reached behind his back and took hold of the shotgun hanging from his duffel bag. It was big, ugly and for some inane reason painted a neon green with magenta stripes. Sensei never used it until now.
The reason became apparent when he braced it against his cybernetic shoulder, took aim at the criminals and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shotgun firing was almost as loud as the one made by the tank's cannon, more frightening than a weapon of that size had any right to be. The recoil pushed Sensei back a few steps, but the masked girls were sent flying as if hit by a truck going at full throttle. His next target was the tank itself, which had begun to move: the blast shattered the tracks on one side, pellets blowing holes through the vehicle's armor.
The damage output was incredible! Clearly it used special bullets and Sensei only had a few left, that was why he didn't use it until now!
Once in range Suzumi threw one of her flashbangs, followed more clumsily by Kirino with her smoke grenades. Everything after that descended into a chaotic mess as Yuuka dedicated all of her calculation abilities to the purpose of taking down as many criminals as possible. She and the others shot, threw more flashbangs or grenades when the criminals started to recover, and then shot again. She tried to keep track of Sensei, but he was moving around too much.
Until Kosaka Wakamo made her reappearance, black-red flames covering her limbs and part of her upper body. She fired a powerful shot at Nanagami, the Vice-President crying out in pain, then she had to leap away from Sensei's shotgun blast. With incredible speed she snapped her rifle toward him, but Sensei was even faster: turning into a blur he dodged the three-round burst and barreled into her. Yuuka had to look away to defend herself from a trio of criminals, and when she looked back both Sensei and Kosaka were on the ground, him standing above her and pressing a strange green knife against the bayonet previously attached to the Fox of Calamity's barrel and now held within her hands. For a few seconds they were locked in a stalemate, then Sensei raised his cybernetic arm and punched down. Kosaka turned her head to the side, the fist slamming into the street's surface and cracking it.
With a knee she pushed Sensei off her and rolled away, toward her discarded rifle. She grabbed it, then had to use her bayonet to deflect Sensei's throw knife. When Kosaka lowered her arm she found herself face to face with Sensei's handgun, weapons held with both hands and a light on the side blinking quickly. "I kept a couple of bullets in the mag just in case. Trust me, you can't dodge this shot." His grin was wild, almost savage. "Now be a good girl and surrender, Wacko-moe."
The sound of combat growing weaker around her, Yuuka waited with bated breath to see the infamous Fox of Calamity's next move. The fox girl didn't move for a short while, her mask's painted eyes staring straight at Sensei... then one of her ears started moving up and down repeatedly. It was quickly joined by the other one. Her tail began wagging like an excited dog. She hugged herself as powerful shudders traveled through her body, faster and faster before coming to an abrupt stop. Kosaka remained still for a few seconds, tail standing straight up, then seemingly melted into herself as her knees trembled.
...What was that? No, seriously, what was that?
Even Sensei looked like he had been taken completely by surprise. He removed one hand from the gun and used it to lower his red glasses. "...Really?" He asked in disbelief and a thin veil of amusement.
"...eeehEEEEEHH!" With a shrill scream the Fox of Calamity turned around and flew away at full speed, arms still hugging herself. "Excuse me excuse me EXCUSE MEEEE!!!"
Sensei didn't shoot her, he just followed Kosaka with his eyes until she disappeared from sight, then lowered his gun. "Eh. Kinky fox." He shook his head, grin wider than before.
"What do you mean... no, before that! Sensei, is it really fine to let Kosaka Wakamo go like that?" Yuuka pointed out.
"Oh, I have a feeling we'll meet again. In fact, I look forward to it." He started checking his surroundings. Following his gaze Yuuka saw all the criminals had been either shot down or forced to flee. Only Nanagami had difficulties standing up, but Chinatsu was already helping her.
Did they win? Really? They faced a Class-A Threat, a Crusader and who knows how many criminals and still emerged victorious? Just the eight of them?
"Preem work out there Yuuka." Sensei moved closer to her and tousled her hair. "Enjoy the rest, you more than earned it."
Yuuka pouted: she was not a child that needed coddling! Even if Sensei's big and warm hand rubbing her head felt very good...
====
"Sensei, are you coming or not?"
Rin glared at him, still angry about what she called 'needly putting yourself in danger' and yadda yadda yadda. He ignored her, meat hand checking for the fifth time in a row that his Chipware Sockets were both empty. He did the same after waking up in Kivotos, there was nothing, the Relic chip was gone.
Then why was he seeing the tarot card for the Fool next to the SCHALE building's entrance, occasionally glitching at the edges to reveal its illusory nature? It was the same as the one on the wall next to V's apartment, a yellow-clad punk walking on a rooftop with a dog by his side, one arm stretched in front of him and the other carrying a stick. This card and the others around Night City were supposed to be nothing more than random data generated by the Relic interacting with V's brain, at least according to Vik. Misty, who taught V all about tarots, had a different explanation about a sign from a higher force telling both V and Johnny to go on a journey of self-discovery, self-improving and other self-things that sound pretty and sometimes help you score a preem piece of ass.
If this was indeed a higher force's doing, they were so close to earning a rendezvous with the barrel of his Malorian.
Whatever, it was another thing for Future and Drunk Johnny to deal with. "Yeah, yeah." He cast a final glance at the abandoned music stage that someone set up nearby, with amps and everything, then followed Rin inside the building.
They met no one as they walked through dark halls where only emergency lights worked, the place as silent as a grave. Everything managed to look both brand new and abandoned for years. Glamorous like Westbrook and yet ominous like Pacifica, what a world this was. Despite everything Rin moved with the surety of someone who memorized the building's plans, leading Johnny down to the basement. It was a large area connected to several other doors, a hint the basement may extend farther than the building above. Bookshelves full of old-fashioned books and thin plastic cases, lockers, computer towers typically found within server rooms, chairs, a single desk with a terminal and a sofa in the corner.
Oh, and also a glowing pedestal with a stone floating above it. At first Johnny thought it was a hologram, but a second look revealed the stone was real. As ways to use anti-gravity technology went, it was very corpo and utterly wasteful. But Johnny didn't care beyond that, because his eyes were instead drawn to the desk and the open guitar case resting on it. No, what was inside the case.
He walked past Rin and made a beeline for the desk, where he took out the guitar from within the case. It was a DeLuze Orphean just like his old one, brand new but with the same painted parts and stickers. Turning it around Johnny saw a post-stick on the back.
It read: [It's just a copy, but I hope you like it Sensei].
What was this, a bribery attempt? Because it came very, very close to working. Good thing Johnny had such solid principles, lesser men would have capitulated already. "Your boss a rocker?" He picked a few strings, sound simply perfect. What a beauty.
"I... never saw the guitar case open before. Sometimes the President kept it in her office while working, but never explained its origin. Just saying it was a dear memento." Rin mused. "If she left it here within SCHALE that means she entrusted it to you, Sensei. There's something more important to do now."
Opening a drawer she started rummaging through it. Her face lit up in satisfaction. "Here it is. Thankfully, it doesn't have a single scratch."
Rin handed Johnny a white-framed tablet barely larger than his hand. "This is what the General Student Council President left for you: the Shittim Chest."
"Shitty chest?"
She was just standing, yet Rin still managed to stumble over thin air. "Wha-No! It's the Shittim Chest!" She half-shouted, face red.
"That's what I said." The grin on Johnny's lips had grown to epic proportions. "The Shitty Chest."
"You-you-you..." She shook a fist at him, then suddenly lost all energies. "It's protected by a password. Please unlock it and restore the GSC's access to the Sanctum Tower. Preferably today."
After that she ascended the stairs, shoulders slumped, and left the basement.
"Should not have made it so easy." Johnny chuckled under his breath. He walked up to the sofa and let himself fall on it, guitar resting next to him and ganic thumb pressing the single button on the tablet's bottom. The screen lit up with an azure background, a white 'S' made of triangles in the center and a touchscreen keyboard below it.
Connecting to the Shittm Chest...
Please enter the system password.
"Sorry, not a clue." Still grinning Johnny used the Hand to take out the Interface Plug from his right wrist and jack it into the tablet's sole socket. "Which means it's time to Breach-!"
Static filled his vision. Hot-white pain split his skull in half. Lightning shot through every single nerve of his body.
Fuck- the Relic- but it wasn't-
The Hand moved. Arm shaking violently as it rose before stilling, chromed fingers typing something on the tablet as if they were born to do that.
We thirst for the seven wailings.
We bear the koan of Jericho.
We live by our own code.
Password accepted. User identified as Johnny Silverhand. Confirmed.
Welcome to the Shittim Chest, Silverhand-sensei.
Converting to Operating System Arona for biological authentication and generation of verification certificate.
And then Johnny's world became light.
====
When the Rockerboy finally managed to push air into his lungs, he found himself not back in the basement. But witnessing an endless blue ocean, the likes of which have been lost long ago to the shortsighted greed of corporations and now existed only in fantasy. The day was bright, with only a few clouds scattered in the sky. No land in sight, yet Johnny was standing in the middle of a half-destroyed classroom, floor filled with a few inches of clear water and several desks carelessly piled together just outside the broken wall.
Before a very colorful stream of curses in several different languages could escape Johnny's lips a ring of purple light suddenly formed around him, radiating digital zeros and ones that quickly gathered together to form a floating figure. Every part of it was colored a shade of pink, from the very tight clothing to the long spiky hair and even the skin, looking like a busty, gorgeous girl. She looked around with a tense expression before relaxing and giving Johnny's two thumb-ups.
"Spinky?" Johnny addressed the Semi-AI Daemon V compiled with Alt's help. "But that means... this is cyberspace, isn't it?"
She crossed her arms, giving him the same look Spider Murphy used when she questioned his intelligence. The Semi-AI had the same face as the Netrunner's old Icon back in the day, which made it all the more nostalgic. Why V chose Bartmoss' last perverted joke of a program to compile it, and why Alt kept the construction file for fifty years, Johnny had no fucking idea. Even if it was funny as hell.
"Still, for everything to be so realistic..." He looked over his body, marveling at the extremely precise details. He truly couldn't tell the difference between it and meatspace! "Just how much processing power does it take?"
No way it was all inside that flimsy tablet, it must be connected to a much bigger data fortress.
Spinky nodded in agreement before her head snapped to the side, expression turning wary once more. Following her gaze Johny finally noticed the little girl sitting on a desk, head resting in her arms as she slept soundly. She had bright blue hair that were pink on the inside, her Halo a simple blue ring. Her clothes consisted of a blue and white school uniform, the edges shimmering slightly when the fabric directly reflected the sunlight, and resting against one side of the desk was a mix between a rifle and an umbrella. If Johnny remembered right Soviet secret agents used similar concealed weapons for a time before failing a gig and getting ridiculed by the screamsheets for years.
A dialogue box appeared next to Spinky, the words on it glowing a bright neon pink.
A.I. Detected
Type: Cannon Be Determined
Processing Power: Cannon Be Determined, Estimated To Be Higher Than Military-Grade
Estimated Threat Level: Very High You Gonk!
"You fucking serious Spinky?" Johnny pointed a chromed finger at the literal middle-schooler, only receiving a serious nod in response.
"Munya... Castalla cake... Banana milk... goes better than strawberry milk..."
They both stopped and looked at the potentially dangerous AI that just sleep-talked about food.
"Hehe... Pancakes, syrup, whipped cream... there's still so much left!" She giggled, drool escaping her mouth.
"No, but for real. You fucking with me Spinky?" The Rockerboy asked again, because holy shit he thought the situation with Delamain's divergent AIs was batshit insane but this took the cake. Even the Semi-AI was giving the girl in blue a queer look now, as if profoundly disturbed.
"Banana Grilled Cheese... Do you have cheesecake with marshmallows too?"
Alright, no. This had gone too far. "Trace the connection and get ready to yank me back to meatspace Spinky." He told the Daemon. Approaching the blue-haired girl he looked down at her small body, barely reaching his waist, then used one meat finger to poke her cheek.
"Hehe..." She giggled, mouth moving as if eating something. Johnny poked again, harder than before, and once more time for good measure. Finally stirring she groggily stood up with a loud yawn. Her eyes opened, revealing blue pupils the same color as the ocean. "Huh...? What's going on?"
"Oh you know, the usual: lots of questions and never enough people to give answers." Johnny drawled. "You the former or the latter?"
She craned her neck to look up at Johnny, eyes widening and cheeks blushing. Her Halo changed form, bursting out like water splashing on the floor. "Eh? Ehhhh?! S-Sensei?! If you're here, does that mean you're Silverhand Sensei?"
"The one and only. Even if the 'Sensei' part is a recent thing."
"So I was right! Wait, what time is it?! Don't tell me I overslept!" She waved her little arms in a panic, blush intensifying. Her Halo changed again, as if reflecting her emotional state.
Despite making no sound Pinky laughed merrily, doubling over as she floated around them. Even Johnny cracked a smile.
The little girl froze at the sight of the Daemon, then did the unexpected: she rushed up to Spinky, eyes sparkling with delight. "Woah! You're so pretty!"
The Semi-AI preened at the praise, because of course she did. "100% artificial, don't believe a word of it." Johnny joked, which made Spinky stick out her tongue at him.
"Are you an AI too? It's my first time meeting another one. Oh, that's right! I forgot to introduce myself!" The girl in blue took a deep breath to calm down. Putting her hands behind her back she gave a little bow and a radiant smile. "My name is Arona! I'm the system manager that lives inside the Shittim Chest. I serve as its main OS. Think of me as your trusty secretary, Sensei!"
"Truly? Never heard of trustworthy secretaries sleeping on the job, though." Johnny grinned, making Arona blush again in embarrassment at having been caught slacking off. Even if the concept of an AI sleeping was... Johnny wasn't an expert but that sounded way too strange. "Don't worry about it Arona. To answer your question, Spinky here is a Semi-AI: she's definitely advanced, but I don't have the hardware necessary to support a full AI."
Spinky looked away and pouted, arms crossed over her chest.
"Even if the difference is hard to spot."
"Eh? That's too bad. I never had a problem with my hardware..." Arona looked like she was trying to wrangle her head around the concept before looking at Johnny in confusion. "Uhm... I understand Miss Spinky, but how are you inside the Shittim Chest, Sensei?"
"That would be thanks to my Chrome." Seeing the AI's uncomprehending gaze Johnny groaned, lifting his hair to reveal part of the Neural Link on his back. "Brain-computer interface cybernetic implant, it allows me to project my mind directly into cyberspace."
"Oooh! Amazing! I didn't know such a thing existed!" Arona jumped up and down in excitement. "But wait, how did you bypass the firewall then?"
"Firewall? Oh, you mean your ICE. Good question." Johnny scratched his head, trying to remember what happened but coming up shortly. Did he complete a Breach Protocol on auto-pilot? He must have a real hidden talent for Netrunning. "Guess that's because I jacked in directly."
She froze at those words. "Jacked... in?"
"Yep." He showed her his Interface Plug. "With this."
The AI's face and Halo turned a neon red, hands over her mouth as she looked at him with a scandalized expression. "S-S-Sensei! How could you! P-Putting your plug into my s-socket without warning! What if... what if my data got corrupted?!"
A beat of silence. Johnny and Arona stared at each other, neither moving a muscle.
"...Pffh!" The little girl snorted.
"...Pffh!" The Rockerboy did the same.
The next moment both of them were howling in laughter. "Ah ah ah! 'what if my data got corrupted', nova! What about this?" With a wide grin Johnny pointed a meat finger at Arona. "Why is the color green always single? Because it’s too jaded!"
"Heehee! A good one!" Matching his grin she pointed both index fingers at him. "Why did the computer show up at work late? It had a hard drive!"
"I used to hate facial hair, but then it grew on me."
"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."
The two lost it and went back to laughing.
Spinky glared at them with deep, visceral disgust.
After Johnny and Arona finally managed to calm down, but not before making Spinky scrub her memory banks of the last minutes, the Rockerboy told the AI about the current situation. "Got it. A lot's been going on, hasn't it?" She nodded in understanding. "I can definitely help, but first I need to complete your biological authentication, Sensei."
So she needed his biometric data? Or did she already have it and merely needed to verify it matched? If the latter it begged the question of how she acquired it... or who gave it to her. "Arona, before that can you tell me about the General Student Council President?"
She looked regretful. "Sorry Sensei, I have lots of data on Kivotos but none about the President. Not even what she looks like."
"Go figure, would have been too easy." Johnny clicked his tongue in distaste. This was only a temporary setback, he was going to track down that chica and get his fucking answers. One way or another. "Alright then, go ahead."
"Uhm... this is a little embarrassing, but it's all part of the protocol. Would you mind bending down?" She raised the index finger of her right hand. "Then, place your fingertip against mine."
Johnny raised an eyebrow even as he did as instructed. "A fingerprint scan? Really?" He also used his right hand, the only one with fingerprints left.
"I told you Sensei, it's protocol. Protocol!" Arona tried to look angry but it was as threatening as a wet kitten. She then stared intensely at where their fingers were touching, so Johnny waited for her to finish.
And waited.
And waited.
The drumming of the Hand's fingers over his knee intensified. "Arona?"
"Almost done! I swear it!" She answered far too quickly for his tastes. Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "There's just so much extra data... and what's a 'Biomonitor'?"
"Subdermal implant to keep tracks of my vitals and other stuff." Johny groaned: was his Chrome messing with the scan? His eyes light up in blue. "Here, I'm granting you access to my Personal Link. Same thing, right?"
"Personal what-I see it now!" Red motes of data flowed out of Johnny's head and into Arona's, surfing through their connected arms. The AI's eyes glowed as a holographic download bar appeared and quickly filled above them.
She pulled back and began to do a cute little dance, as if she just received a shiny new gift. "Woah! This is everything I needed and more! Verification complete! Sensei, what now?"
Johnny stood up, Arona's name now figuring among his contacts even if she didn't have a personal icon yet. "Get Sanctum Tower up and running."
"Sure! Just let me restore the access permissions." She closed her eyes before opening them a few seconds later. "Admin permissions acquired! I've successfully regained control of Sanctum Tower. That means all of Kivotos is now in the palm of your hand, Sensei."
Was this a taste of absolute power? How truly disgusting. It was a miracle corpos don't spend all day puking their guts out. Must be because they never experienced what it's like being on the other side of the stick.
"I can transfer control of Sanctum Tower to the General Student Council with your approval, Sensei." Arona continued.
"Yeah?" Meat fingers tapping his chin, Johnny locked eyes with Spinky. The Daemon, sensing his intentions, replied with an OK gesture and a mischievous grin that he reciprocated. "Sure, you can do it... with conditions.”
And contingencies. And a backdoor access. None of which the GSC will know about or be able to spot.
Rin may have done right by him so far, but trusting the government? Ah ah ah!
Fuck that.
====
Johnny disconnected from cyberspace, Interface Plug popping out of the Shittim Chest's socket and rolling back into his right wrist. The basement was now brightly lit, computer towers and terminal on the desk thrumming with electronic life. Arona delivered everything he wanted, questioning the 'how' of his requests but never the 'why'. Sweet gal, if only all AIs were like her.
"Heehee! Thank you Sensei!" Arona appeared on the tablet's screen, looking up at Johnny as if peeking through a window of her digital classroom. A certain pink Semi-AI waved from behind her. "Is it truly alright for Miss Spinky to stay here with me?"
"Sure thing. Go on and become best chooms, I doubt I'll need her for now." He picked up the guitar and stood up from the sofa. The Shittim Chest was placed against his lower back, tucking the bottom edge partially into the waistband of his pants to secure it. "How it's going outside? Did the GSC manage to restore order?"
"They're in the middle of doing so, Sensei." Arona answered. "All the city's critical infrastructures that were shut down had been reactivated. Both Valkyrie Police Academy and SRT Special Academy gained access to the weapons and supplies inside Sanctum Tower, and are now swarming the city to suppress the delinquents."
"Badges doing their job properly for once. What's next, it’s raining vinyl records?" Chuckling he approached the stairs, planning to meet with Rin and ask where in the fuck he could find a bed because holy shitballs, he was tired. But stopped when the sound of several people moving and speaking all at the same time reached his ears through the ceiling. "A crowd?"
Booting up his Cyberdeck Johnny connected to the building's surveillance system. It was indeed a crowd, dozens of students wearing all manners of colorful uniforms, regular clothes and most importantly irons having gathered around the SCHALE headquarters and still growing. How curious, Johnny saw no adults among-
Wait a sec.
Were those dogs? Wearing clothes? Standing on two legs?!
Cats too! Some of them even had a regular-looking dog on a leash!
What the absolute fuck Johnny.
What the absolute fuck indeed, V.
There are robots too. With clothes and heads shaped like rugby balls.
After everything else that's not even a blip on my radar.
Fair. You dealing with it now or later?
Nope. Zero, zilch, zip, nada. Definitely later.
Drugs were out, tequila was nowhere in sight and cigs just weren’t cutting it. Better to treat everything like a hallucination, not the first time Johnny went on a night-long drunk rampage with a talking animal that only existed within his mind. Or an alien. Or an anime girl with big boobs that fired laser out of her eyes. Fuck, his head was a goddamn mess.
A van came to a screeching halt close to the crowd, rear doors opening to discharge a team of Media and old-fashioned cameramen. The apparent leader was a cute dark-skinned blonde with skin-tight pants and a half-undershirt that proudly put on display the lower part of her boobs.
Name: Kawaru Shinon
Status: Second Year (16 years old)
Affiliation: Kronos News Club (Kronos School of Journalism)
Occupation: Reporter
Cyberware Detected: None
She immediately made a beeline for Rin, who was talking to the crowd while Yuuka and the others stood nearby. A dirigible with a giant screen passed above the city, showing said bespectacled girl remaining stoic and composed despite the microphone thrust into her face and the sudden barrage of questions from an excited blonde
So, what appeared to be Kivotos' premier Mediacorp was holding a live TV interview?
Perfect.
Walking back Johnny took off the jacket and the bulletproof vest, leaving only his Samurai tank top, putting both them and the duffel bag on the sofa. DeLuze Orphean in his meat hand he left the basement, crossed the reception area and stepped out through the automatic doors.
The crowd reacted to his appearance with surprise and curiosity, but Johnny ignored both it and the girls calling for him to walk towards the abandoned music stage. With his Cyberdeck he activated the DeLuze's in-built wireless system and connected it to the stage's amps.
"Excuse me sir." Shinon ran up to him. "Are you the adult they said saved Kivotos today? Are you willing to answer some questions?"
"Oh, I'll do much better. Just tell your chooms to keep recording."
Leaving behind a puzzled blonde Johnny walked up the stage's stairs, reached the center and turned around to look at the crowd with his trademark grin. "Nice to meet you all. Some people are saying I saved this city today, and they're right. But not alone."
Johnny gestured to Rin and the others. "As I faced hundreds of gangoons to reach this place, those girls were there with me. Risking their necks to put an end to this crisis."
He let the crowd clap and cheer before continuing. "But I'm betting the biggest questions you have is this: who am I? My name is Johnny Silverhand, and I have been many things. I have been a sand-stained brat listening to music out of old radios and a truck's dingy speakers. A soldier. A deserter."
"Wait, what?" Rin, who had been looking at Johnny in grudging approval, muttered.
"I have been a Rockerboy. A merc. A Cyberpunk. A criminal. A terrorist."
"WAIT WHAT?!" This time the bespectacled girl yelled, her and everyone else's eyes bulging out in shock as they stared at Johnny.
"But no matter which labels others decided to slap on my back, there's only one that truly defines me." He raised the index finger of the Hand with a sharp gesture, silver chromed limb reflecting the sunlight. "I am a rebel."
Johnny's sheer force of personality kept everyone rooted on the spot. Just like with Wakamo and the gangoons, his presence had become a blazing inferno impossible to ignore. Through the channels of Kronos School of Journalism all of Kivotos head the Rockerboy's deep, charismatic voice. And listened.
"I saw corporations strip farmers of water and eventually of land. Saw them transform the world into a machine fueled by people's crushed spirits, broken dreams and emptied pockets. For so long scumbags ruled by unbridled greed have sought to control our lives, taking everything... even going after our souls!" Johnny shouted, familiar embers that never cooled turning into a bonfire. But this time it was not all-devouring hate, but tempering resolve. "This is what I've declared war on. Not because capitalism's a thorn in my side or outta nostalgia for something that probably never existed. This war is a people's war against a system that's spiraled outta control. It's a war against the fucking forces of entropy!"
The guitar's bottom rested on the stage, meat fingers holding onto the head. Johnny bent forward slightly, grin returning to his lips. "And for why I'm here now, in Kivotos? Tell me, have any of you ever looked at something wrong? Like gangoons ruining the place, or people abusing their authority? Then looked at the gun in your hands and wondered: 'ah, if only I was allowed to shoot the problem'?"
A horrible, horrible premonition seized Nanagami's heart. "I did." Which was only reinforced by Suzumi's calm declaration as she and Hasumi nodded, in perfect agreement to what Johnny was saying.
"In that case, I have good news: now you can!" He straightened up and spread his arms wide open. "Before the General Student Council President disappeared she arranged for me to come here, to act as the advisor and teacher of a new club: the Independent Federal Investigation Club, SCHALE. A club to which she entrusted her whole authority, so that its members could use it for the good of the people even in her absence. You have a problem no one can solve? Send it to SCHALE. You want to make a difference? Come join SCHALE! Any student of any academy can join, and since SCHALE is extrajudicial it can operate anywhere without needing to worry about regulations."
"No, no, no, no..." Rin desperately pleaded, face resting within her hands.
"Me? I'm but one member, the first of hopefully many. As an advisor it will be my job to show new members how to use their power responsibly, mediate internal disputes and how to kick the ass of any gonk standing between them and justice."
"Hey, when he put it like that SCHALE is basically a sanctioned and unaccountable for vigilante army!" Fubuki pointed out with an amused chuckle, turning Rin's muttered words into a high-pitched whine of despair.
"But you may ask: Johnny boy, that doesn't sound democratic at all! And you're right! That's why, as currently the only member of SCHALE, I'm declaring the first tenet of its new mandate: after one year of SCHALE's activity, and every year afterward, all of Kivotos will vote to decide if to shut down the club, limit its authority or keep the organization as it is. Because, if we abuse this power that should be used for your benefit? Then you have the right to kick our asses and take back what can only be given by you, for you!"
"That sounds fair." Yuuka and Chinatsu nodded, most of their earlier worries now put to rest.
"I am Johnny Silverhand. I am here to bring you a revolution..." He took off his aviators and picked up the DeLuze Orphean. "And good music."
The Rockerboy's fingers danced over the strings, glorious chromatic rock blasting out of the amps. Johnny stared straight into the eyes of the crowd and recalled all his memories of V.
Can you feel it?! Can you touch it?! Get ready 'cause here we go!
My soul invaded with vital force!
Won't spare what I'm hunting for!
It's the animal within my blood!
Wouldn't stop it, if I could!
About waking up in the kid's brain and trying to flatline them. Not his best moment, but to be fair they both were at the lowest points of their lives. Then they got up and soared higher than ever, and it was a goddamn miracle.
Seed is sown, I'm chippin' in!
Roll the bones, I'm chippin' in!
Embed that code, I'm chippin' in!
Mayhem flows!
Not backing down!
Never backing down!
Can you feel it?! Can you touch it?! Get ready cause here we go!
Yeah!
Following Evelyn Parker's trail. Facing off against the Voodoo Boys and Netwatch. Meeting the AI that called herself Alt Cunningham. Panam and the ambush to capture Hallman. Takemura and Hanako Arasaka.
Delamain. River Ward. Judy Alvarez. Vik. Misty. Mama Welles. Rogue. Kerry.
All the lives V touched and made brighter. Showing Johnny something priceless: proof that things, no matter how small the change, could get better.
Suits run when I come undone!
Can't kill me, I'm zero and one!
Add justice to the peoples' math!
Blaze your way down the rebel path!
Hear my call - I'm chippin' in!
Total war - I'm chippin' in!
Casings fall - I'm chippin' in!
Kill them all!
Not backing down!
I'm not backing down!
"Fubuki! What are you doing?" Kirino made a scandalized face when she noticed her partner was dancing to the music, arms pumping up and down.
"Hey, this is much better than the usual stuff on the radio. Besides, everyone's doing the same." The lazy Valkyrie pointed out. Indeed, though initially stunned the people in the crowd had been quickly captivated by Johnny's music and now were acting like galvanized fans. Chanting the lyrics, waving their arms and shooting their guns in the air. "Even you, Kirino."
"Uh?" The white-haired girl looked down at herself and realized she also dancing. "N-Nooo! My body has betrayed me!!"
Can you feel it?! Can you touch it?! Get ready cause here we go!
Can you feel it?! Can you touch it?! Get ready cause here we go!
"I'm chippin' in!" Johnny finished, the Hand raising high towards the sky to make the Sign of the Horns with chromed fingers.
"I'M CHIPPING' IN!!!" The crowd screamed as one, many hands raising to imitate Johnny's gesture.
"Hello Kivotos! You're breathtaking!" Johnny smiled, an honest and meaningful one. Finally, he was back to where he truly belonged. "This is my first lesson as your Sensei: be free, take control of your life and let no one tell you what you should believe in!"
If this was the start of a new and exciting chapter of his life, then he would be the best damn teacher in the whole world!
And besides, how hard could it be?