Chapter 97

V

 

V sighed grimacing at the feeling of her insides swirling and shifting. Fucking BioMon was doing it’s best to keep her stress down, but Jackie just had to call at the worst fuckin’ time.

 

Jenkins was going to kill her when he found out she wasn’t following up on the new Militech Prototype Sandy, and instead was out trying to help out a non affiliate.

 

She exhaled, giving herself a moment to just breathe as the hacking shard downloaded everything it could from the Kang Tao system. Maybe this data would balance things out? It wasn’t like even someone in Counter-Intel got access to a unit database like this.

 

Fuck that had impressed her. A fourteen year old kid broke through Kang Tao security, without even jacking in? What the hell had she even done? Probably some netrunner wizard shit.

 

V shook her head, she never could wrap her head around high level netrunning. Sure she knew how to ping a system, and do some data breaches, but any good ICE would keep her right out.

 

The shard pinged as the laptop suddenly froze and shut down.

 

“Looks like they finally noticed.” She grabbed the shard out of the laptop and tucked it away. Patting it for a bit of comfort. Please be enough for Jenkins.

 

“Alright Jackie I’m good, you took care of that boo boo?” She demanded as she walked out, of the little warehouse backroom. Noticing that the kid was gone. Good. She hadn’t liked that smirk the kid had sent her. Brats like that always wanted to poke their nose into shit.

 

V slipped into the Kang Tao Van Jackie was already idling for them.

 

“I’m bandaged up, C’mon V don’t baby me. Where’s Motoko?”

“Don’t know, told her to split.”

“V! Motoko’s a good shooter. Hell girl is sneaky as shit. We could have used her.”

“I don’t bring along people I don’t know, Jack. Besides, she’s just a kid. I don’t want some street brat getting in the way.” Jackie sent her a look telling her he was about to argue, but she sent him a glare instead and he backed down. Instead the Van started moving. Heading towards their destination.

 

Good. She was already on borrowed time and didn’t have the desire to deal with any more bullshit from Jackie right now…

 

No. She shouldn’t think like that. Jackie was a choom, maybe the only one she had. And he had saved her fuckin’ life. He had proven to be trustworthy, the only person in her life that was. She shouldn’t think like that at him.

 

Her life in Counter-intel was making her twitchy about everyone. She let her implants calm her down even more. She needed a clear head and she relaxed a bit as the rush of chemicals hit her blood.

 

Quantified Satori was going to harp at her for overuse again.

 

Dammit.

 

She put her life coach out of her mind. She had Kang Tao to annihilate. The idea almost got her excited. She had been behind a desk for too long.

 

“Jackie, you got anything bigger than that peashooter you run with?”

“I don’t need anything but my baby, you know that V!” He practically squawked at her in outrage.

 

“Jackie for fuck sake. Get a bigger iron! At least a Yukimura if you have to have a damn handgun.” She snapped at him, her Biomon beeping at her about her blood pressure.

 

Fucking piece of shit, the Biomons job was to control her blood pressure not hers!

“Buy the top of the line Arasaka stuff huh? Can’t take the corp out of the woman eh?” Jackie teased and V just huffed cause he was sort of right, but then the thought hit her.

 

She shouldn’t have snapped at him. He didn’t deserve that. Even if she had yelled at him so many times about how his low firepower was going to get him killed…

 

He should get a fucking Overture or something. Brawly fuck!

 

She took a breath and let it out. She had to say something. She had been quiet for too long. He might think she was actually angry at him. Or he might be angry himself. He wasn’t saying shit. Fuck. C’mon V, you stupid bitch. Say something to break the tension…

 

“Oh but I don’t like revolvers Chica I always run out of ammo.” She mocks in his voice, literally as she used her chrome to emulate him for a second. Jackie looked to her for a second and then started laughing. Long and loud Jackie broke into near giggles at her. She felt herself relax.. She hadn’t pushed too hard. Hadn’t pissed him off for the last time leaving her alone.

 

It was okay. She hadn’t messed up the one good relationship she still had.

 

“We’re here Chica. You ready?” He called suddenly and she realized they were.

 

“Always.” She rolled her eyes, pulling out her Shingen and linking in. Immediately the reticle followed her eye. Smart system ready. But she also pulled her sidearm. The Kenshin with the big silencer just like she enjoyed. “Just roll up on the entrance. I’ll get us access.” She said knowing Jackie would know what she meant.

 

They had pulled this maneuver back on the border. Hell it was how they had gotten out of that mess.

 

“You still using that overdesigned piece of scop? Should get a real pistol. Nue are good.” Jackie teased and V seriously considered beating him over the head with her extremely expensive, Arasaka Handgun.

 

“It’s still the best handgun on the market!” She hissed quietly at him, as they were getting close.

“Maybe if you want an ugly piece of shit.” He argued practically giggling. Fucker was riling her, but it… Well it felt good. You didn’t have these sorts of conversations with people during an Arasaka Op.

 

She was either in charge so they shut their fucking mouth and did what she said, or she was being ordered around by Jenkins or someone even higher up, so V kept her mouth shut.

 

Fuck she missed doing work with Jackie.

 

She sometimes worked with other mercs, but they were either intimidated by her. The black suited Arasaka enforcer. Like they should be.

 

Or they were assholes treating her like corpo scum. Jackie might rag on Arasaka, but when he laughed he was laughing with you.

 

She closed her eyes and opened them. Dropping her emotions a bit more.

 

It had been a long time since she felt this happy.

 

As the van pulled up to the checkpoint of the old Kang Tao warehouse, which in reality was just one of their drop off points. One of the few places Arasaka weren’t bullying them like the helpless bitches they were, out of. Kang Tao were so far down the totem pole, they had to operate out of a fucking ‘abandoned’ warehouse for their more black op pickups.

 

It was time. The Van stopped at the guard entrance, and V was ready. Crawling across Jackies stupid lap. Pistol right up against the glass.

 

Jackie waited for her nod, and rolled the window down. Letting her send four silenced rounds with unerring aim into the Kang Tao guards face. After a few seconds she matched Jackies growing smile as no alert came out. The Kang Tao vans tinted scan proof windows protecting them from the security even noticing the shots as V shot still within the cab.

 

“Give me a second to turn the damn turrets and Cameras off.” She said as she peaked out of her side window at a security camera through a tiny gap, her eyes scanning, and she activated the security system Daemon she had.

 

She had no idea how it worked.

 

She had no idea what it did exactly. But it turned off cameras and turrets on a network without her having to do anything herself, which was by definition the best Quick Hack she could ever have. One that didn’t need her to sit there and beat her head against ICE.

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Fucking puzzles gave her a headache. Sure it was expensive, but being part of Arasaka meant she got the best goodies.

 

After a few minutes the camera system at the checkpoint powered down as did the turrets.

 

“Good work Chica.” Jackie offered as he slipped out of the van and nearly crawled into the guards window looking for the switch to open up the dividing bar blocking them.

 

V snorted at the sight of her big chooms ass shaking around barely held in by his jeans as he struggled to find the right switch. Jackie was practically crawling into the little window.

 

“Jack. We gotta get you into the gym more choom.” She whispered to him teasing.

 

“Hey! You know the chica’s love a little- Oh, hold up. Found it!” He grunted a bit as he finally got himself out of the window as the bar rose up and slipped into the truck to drive onto the property.

 

“Alright Jack, it’s real now. So watch your shots, and your head. Let’s try to get through quiet at first then fast. Maybe we can get in and out before the snipers they probably have set up get us.”

 

“I remember that plan V. We tried that plan last time. It didn’t go so well Hermana.” Jackie teased, even if he was in game face.

 

But V couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed even through the biomon dampening everything.

 

“The garbage chute worked!” She hissed back.

 

He turned to look at her just as he was about to slide out of the van, having parked in a shadowy corner of the lot where a few other vans were parked out.

 

Not a good sign, but Jackies look took all of her attention. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.

 

“Not a word!” She told him with a glare. Sure leaping into a trash chute hadn’t been her greatest plan, but it had worked!

 

“Heh. You pulled that out of a movie. Still can’t believe we survived. I swear I still got bumps on my ass from the landing.”

 

“You landed on me.” She reminded him. As they both gathered together at the side of the warehouse checking around to make sure no one was there.

 

“Yeah, but Hermana, you’re all chrome! You broke my ass!”

 

“I’ll break your ass alright choom. Now shut up.” She demanded as they moved. Jackie easily fell into lockstep. The two had only been on a few gigs together, but honestly that’s all it took. She knew his tells by now. He knew hers.

 

And she trusted him.

 

They went into the warehouse unlike the one they were in a half hour ago it was brightly lit, a few men in Kang Tao uniforms or armor hanging around, all of them helmets off relaxing, joking, and drinking from vending machines or office coffee.

 

Jackie was behind her. So V was the tip. Jackie would cover up the slack. Helmets off? Stupid mistake.

 

The Kenshin came up first. She charged the shot letting the capacitors reach their limit before firing the first time, then swiveled perfectly on target, body and aim exactly where she wanted it to land. Robotic.

 

She used to like firing guns. Had been damn good at it. But the Arasaka chrome used a skill chip integration. It wasn’t as good in all circumstances, but it could load up a set of moves and perform them perfectly in a blur.

 

For an operative that was too useful to pass up. Not that she had a choice. Everyone got the standard package after all.

 

Now it was just targeting, and letting the chrome work. Bodies started dropping, but it took a moment before the Kang Tao noticed. A moment longer than they had, because the second one of them did notice her Shingen came up. The reason she used smart weapons. The skill chipped chrome was good, but unable to adapt.