Chapter 94

My heart was suddenly beating in my ears. Teeth grinding. If I wasn’t already a bit out of breath I was sure I would be screaming with every exhale.

 

MAELSTROM.

 

My hand instinctively already reaching for my Burya to put the monster down.

 

I snapped my eyes shut. Inhale. Exhale.

 

I opened my eyes feeling at least myself. I wasn’t sure if that feeling had been from all the rage I had been pumping into myself, or just…

 

Maelstrom.

 

But my hand fell away from my Burya. I didn’t need to kill her. The girl was barely alive.

 

Broken. Ripped apart. White borg blood mixed with red real blood covered her. I was honestly shocked she was still alive considering how much blood was dripping from her onto the floor.

 

I stilled, everything that I was struggled with a decision.

 

On one hand, Maelstrom. Kill her. Painfully.

 

On the other, she was a victim of Scavs. No one deserved that. Funny how my two most hated enemies were responsible for this situation.

 

My eyes flickered as I scanned her. She had a rap sheet. I read it over still unsure what to do.

 

“Natalie Desanto AKA GearSlot.” I said finally my eyes bored into her optics. As if I could kill her by just glaring.

 

“A-are you-*cough* D-did Kamhead send you?” She asked, quietly a desperate hope in her voice.

 

The sound of it left my tongue tasting of ash, and a disgust welling up in me.

 

It’s all fun and games to put people in a pit to fight for their life, but get put into a Scav den and suddenly they are the victim! I raged inside my mind. My hands gripped so hard I could feel the blood coating my palms run down my fingers. I shifted them, to keep from breaking something internally.

 

“No, I was not sent here by some Maelstrom piece of shit! I happily kill you fucks whenever I get the chance after what you monsters did to me!” I roared back, my voice throaty and raw. My insides were still not doing great. I should really stop and take some MaxDoc to heal up again, but my hands were struggling to do anything but grip my own arms now as I glared at the Maelstrom in front of me.

 

All I could see is those fucking optics staring at me.

 

“Oh.” She muttered a raspy sigh escaping her. “Figures.”

 

I stalked up to her. For the first time in a while my arms felt wrong. Like just being around some Maelstrom made my phantom limbs act up again, as if I had an extra set of limbs already reaching for her throat to throttle her to death.

 

My head felt quiet. The song ended so it was just me and her and the sound of dripping blood.

 

Just me, and her.

 

Her life in my hands. She was dying regardless. Body torn into by Scavs. Another victim of them just as I had been…

 

I exhaled and it came out more like a growl. But the breath was ice cold on my tongue.

 

Suddenly I reached out and grabbed her face, uncaring about the blood I left there as I pushed her head to the side. She whimpered in fear and pain. As she knew a beast was here to kill her.

 

But I wasn’t a mindless beast.

 

I pulled the shard that was in her neuroport.

 

“I’m not going to rescue you, but that should be what was blocking your agent. Call some of your chooms. If they care about you, maybe you’ll survive.” I bit out crunching the shard in my hand. Fucking Scav shit made to shut down someone from being able to call for help.

 

Then I started walking away. I couldn’t deal with this shit!

 

“W-wait! W-where are we? I don’t know where to tell-Tell them to go!” She begged weakly, desperate.

 

My feet stomped into bloody flooring halting me cold.

 

“Megabuilding H11 Floor 37. Tell them to get to the North West side. Should be obvious where to go.” I ground behind clenched teeth, as I started taking another step away. I wanted to get out of here.

 

Then she was coughing, I could hear the blood in her synth-lungs. I had killed enough people to know what someone dying sounded like.

 

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!

 

I turned around and grabbed a medkit off a pile of bodies. Fucking Scavs. They obviously took care of each other in here when needed. They had a full medical kit all stocked up. I thrust a MaxDoc into her hand, which would help a little, but grabbed a canister of borg blood.

 

I jammed it into her, not caring to be gentle. She whimpered, but it obviously helped. Blood pressure surging back as her breathing evened out, even giving her the strength to take the MaxDoc.

 

“There, that’s all the mercy I have for someone in Maelstrom.” I told her firmly. Slamming the medkit back onto the table beside her and storming off.

 

As I turned the corner I came across the dead Scavs, and remembered what I had been doing here.

 

I turned off the BD recorder, and grabbed a MaxDoc of my own.

 

I also needed to find a damn bathroom. Jun would freak if I came out this covered in my own blood like this.

 

My irritation spiked when I realized I would have to go hunt down my knife, I had dropped my Carnage somewhere as well.

 

Plus Ichi and Malcolm would be on their way soon, and so would a group of Maelstrom.

 

Fuck. Fuck!

 

I found a bathroom, but stopped before cleaning up. The sight of myself covered in blood gave me an idea. Instead I called Jun.

 

*Motoko! You okay? It went quiet!*

 

*Jun change of plans. I need you to stay up there… Scavs had a victim in here they are fucked, They are calling for someone to get them out of here, but I don’t want you to get involved.* I said ignoring his worried tone.

 

*Motoko? What’s going on I can come down to help if someone is dying. I know some first aid stuff.* Jun’s voice asked, obviously concerned.

 

*Maelstrom. The victim is a Maelstrom girl.* Considering how much I want to kill her, and her fucking friends, I doubted Jun was much more reasonable.

 

*Did you kill it?* Jun asked, suddenly his voice sounded a little dead.

 

*No, I didn’t kill her! I just said… She was already in pieces.* I told him, and don’t think I didn’t notice how you called her an it Jun. That’s rather telling Onii-chan. *It’s ruined my mood though. Jun just let me handle this. Some of her chooms are going to come pick her up. That will be that.*

 

*No. If more Maelstrom are coming I should come down. Make sure they don’t ever leave, we can-*

 

*Jun, if the Maelstrom find out you are here alone, they are going to send a hit squad to take you out. Just… Stay hidden up there, I’ll patch you into the cameras so you can keep watch, but I just want these fucks gone so Malcolm and Ichi can loot… Please just stay cool. I know… I know this isn’t comforting. But I have an idea. It’s not like I plan on being gentle with the fucks.*

 

*It’s your gig.* He said suddenly just as flat as before, then the call ended.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

 

Fuck.

 

—–

 

I had called Ichi to let him know the situation, so he wouldn’t park too close until I let him know it was clear. Then I waited. Forced to listen to the Maelstrom woman slowly die even with the blood injection and MaxDoc.

 

My foot was tapping in irritation when finally the elevator started up and three Maelstrom came stepping out carefully onto the floor with guns in hand.

 

Of course I let them approach.

 

Let them find the broken open entrance door.

 

I stalked them. My silent steps more than capable of bypassing their chrome audio equipment. The fact I had access to all the cameras meant I could stay around the corner always completely hidden from their stupid Optics which were difficult to get around.

 

“Fuckin’ hell this really is a Scav den! I guess GearSlot was right. Think she was actually klepped, or she just leading us into a trap?” One of them asked suddenly.

 

“Fuck off, she was legit, now find her!” The other growled out and the first made a motion that I knew he was rolling his nonexistent eyes.

 

“Just cause you fuck her sometimes…”

“No! Because she is one of us, and we don’t let Maelstrom get fucked by Scavs.” He grumbled as they stepped into the first rooms.

 

“Fuck, look at that scop!” The first Maelstrom whistled as they came across the first body I had left, head bashed in across the table.

 

“Guess Gearslot was right. Some solo came through here, wiped them out. C’mon!”

 

While I followed them along. I was recording. The moment the elevator rose to the top I had started recording again.

 

The Only Thing They Fear is You 2 Electric Boogaloo.

 

I waited for them to find their choom. Unfortunately for the Maelstrom, each had already had their security breached through as I tracked them.

 

I was now in control.

 

“Fuck Gearslot you look like some truly rusty shit.” The guy that sounded actually worried about her muttered when they found her.

 

“Fuck you.” She wheezed but she sounded relieved. “Now get me… Get me out of here.” She begged and the big guy nodded, already reaching down to pick her up.

 

“Hell no! Look around, look at all this chrome!” The stupid fuck said.

 

That’s it. Can’t allow them to even consider that.

 

The stereo that the Scavs were so fond of started up with a thought from where I was hiding, literally crawling among the corpse of the Scav ripper doc I had murdered before.

 

The first guitar riff echoed through the room.

 

“The fuck? Where’s that song coming from?”

“What song is that?” The third asked looking around more in interest at the notes.

“I think… I think the girl, the solo wants us to leave.” Gearslot muttered quietly in the big Maelstroms arms.

 

“What? Fuck that! This is our territory! It’s our chrome! Some Fleshy cunt can-”

That was when I dropped the darkness on them.

 

For stupid worthless chrome junkies their optics were usually high end, giving them vision way better than a normal person could have.

 

Even if the chrome was a disgusting mess.

 

But it was still just chrome.

 

Still able to be shut down.

 

Two of them instantly lost sight.