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Its December 2024 and Lex had had a very bad day. Wannabe solos treading on her turf make her wanna kick some ass but instead she goes walk about and ends up on her old turf and has a score to settle but cannot deal with emotional onslaught and falls back into old habits.
A door slammed for unusual reasons. Instead of the trudge of hobnailed boots going into combat yet again or the softer stepping of people determined to approach sunrise thru a haze of the best alcohol an empty credchip can buy, it was what could only be described as a gait of someone who definitely did not want to be where she was. Unseen figures saw the figure stop just outside the house for a moment, looking back before spitting on the doorstep. They missed the snarled 'Peshka' mumbled just under audible range as the figure turned and walked off, huddling under her comfortably worn armored jacket.
Have you ever felt so angry that you just wanted to lash out and hit someone? Just wanted to plant your fist in their face? That's all very well with the random Pizda on the street but unless you are seriously deranged and have a death wish, you don't let your anger win when trying to face down a person who could wipe the floor with you, even if they are only a street samurai, a pretend solo, with delusions of grandeur. Even when thinking coherently is impossible, you should never stop listening to that last piece of sanity telling you to back down or be put down! That's one of the basic rules of survival in Night City.
(December, 2024) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
Alexa “Lex” Markov silently seethed with anger as she wandered down the street. Wandered was a good word for what she was doing because she had no conscious idea of where she was going and no time to get there. The only thing she knew was that she needed to get away from the place she lived. Previously it had been her home, but she could no longer think of it in that fashion. Home would mean that she felt some sort of mental comfort there, which was no longer the case. It was now a place where she spent time with a few friends and some other people who helped with the utilities.
Lex thought back to the first time that she had seen the people who had brought about this walkabout. A thought clicked in place from the many years she spent learning about other cultures and recent encounters brought it to mind. Aborigine's believed that the spirit could be misplaced and a person must walk until they recover it. Such is life. A person can be so sure of what their role in life is until it is taken away from them. If that happens then they either adapt or fall by the wayside. Lex realized that she had been feeling impotent in the group. She had been effectively pushed to a secondary position by the cheerful, bouncy, money grabbing, self-centered Sukka that had joined the group. It was hard for Lex to fit Vogue into any other mould barring the Mall-Plexer who hasn't given up daddy's Am Ex. Razz was another matter. If Rom had not been so important to the group and so loved, Razz would never have seen the couch let alone been able to bring back that Kitty to keep the house awake with her mewling.
Further thought provoked the realization that the group was not a group anymore. A schism had appeared shortly after replacements were recruited. It had gone unnoticed for a few weeks until the stress levels of every member of the group had finally caused the cracks to become visible. Last years groups had been forged in the fire of Shaitan's trials but this years group seemed to be more like the bundle of reeds tied with a frayed rope, one more pull in the wrong direction and snap, the group would break.
A gust of wind whipped down the street, catching Lex' hair and coat in its travel and sending both whipping out behind her like a spirit in a bad Manga movie. Lex looked up, looking at more than the ground passing below her feet for the first time in blocks. A broken dataterm, a shattered wall covered in steel gray and blue graffiti quickly told her exactly where she had wandered. If that wasn't enough, the two gangers standing off to the side with their colours visible quietly chatting would tell even the most oblivious person where they were. Their baggy skater wear could only be classified as fashion suicide in more affluent areas of Night City. Here the oversized denims with patches of dark blue and gray screamed they allegiances.
Lex runs a hand thru her hair suddenly remembering what she forgot. Reaching for her phone to call her best friend, she suddenly saw in her minds eye that she had left it beside her on the couch before she stormed off. Lex felt very bad for walking off without telling Sansygh where she was going or when she came back. Guilt paused her steps long enough for the gangers to take notice.
The two gangers slowly got up off the wall and started sauntering over to her, malicious glints in their eyes. Lex mentally kicked herself for stopping. Calmness spread thru her body as she weighted up her options. They were hardly more than boys, this should be a cakewalk. She smiled sweetly as they walked closer, dropping her arms to hug herself as if cold. They walked closer, exchanging glances.
“What you doing here, Choomba? Don't you know where you're walking? You think just anyone can walk thru Piranha territory?”
Lex said nothing, watching both of them carefully. To all outward appearances, she looked scared when they mentioned Piranhas. Inwardly, she knew that they had only just joined if they did not know who she was. They stopped in front of her. The guy who spoke obviously thought of himself as a leader. The other one looked less sure. Something rattled him about the situation. He leaned over and spoke softly to his friend. His friend replied in a voice that was not as hushed allowing Lex to overhear, giving her the confidence, which she had not been lacking.
“Don't worry, man, we can handle it!”
Looking back at Lex, he smiled, but the thin smile of someone who had already sized up the opposition in his head and declared himself a winner.
“I'm sure we can come to an … understanding. You be nice to us, and we'll be nice to you.”
His eyes did the slow crawl downwards; the look on his face betrayed his thoughts.
Lex looked him directly in the eye as soon as he had stopped looking her over and smiling said, “How bout you run home to your Mother? Shouldn't be running around the combat zone on your own at your age, might get hurt!”
The boy's expression changed from the thin smile to outright rage. He took a step closer and started to raise a fist. Lex took the opportunity to make her move. Drawing both guns from the holster she wore under her amour jacket, she aimed.
“I wouldn't even try it, if I were you…”
Lex let her statement hang as she gave the gangers time to sum up the situation. The guy who had been eyeing her up froze mid movement as he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his genitals. The second guy followed the line of sight of the second gun to find it pointed directly at his heart.
“How 'bout you both back off, right now and I leave you intact. I've had a very bad day and you don't even register as a blip on my radar screen, but I won't hesitate in blowing your balls off and then making you pick up the pieces.”
Lex listens carefully as she hears a soft noise. She looks down and spots the fabric darken in telltale marks down the ganger's leg. Stepping back, she rolls her eyes in disgust. Newbie street scum, she thinks. Even his mate is trying to not watch his friend empty his bladder on the street. He grabs his friend by the back of his scruffy denim jacket and pulls him out of the way. Lex re-holsters the two guns and straightens her coat over them. She looks back at the embarrassed boy who seemed to have lost about half a foot in height and about 3 years in age.
“Opezdal!” mutters Lex as she casts a final look at her would be assailant.
“Da!” replies his friend.
Lex nods slightly to her fellow countryman and starts back off on her journey, taking the shortest way out of Piranha territory. Dealing with stupidity was not high on her agenda.
The streets swam in decay and misuse. Dark alleyways stank of urine and fetid meat. Bullet holes punctuated the walls of this modern day hell! People scurried not checking faces, instead focusing on jacket pockets and trouser bands looking not for intent on faces but on whether they had the means to carry out what was surely written on their faces. Gang tags lined the street like multicolored tapestries of ownership. Welcome to Hell blazons a derelict building but goes unnoticed in a place where not even people are important.
She passes the last graffiti tag and is slightly relieved but of course would not admit it. Her thoughts returned to where they had been before her little 'encounter'. She spotted a dataterm on the corner of the street and slotted her credchip. Logging into her mail account, she tries to think of how to explain why she left to Sansygh. She opens a new mail message. Disengaging her brain, her fingers type a message out.
Sansygh,
Sorry I stormed out. I don't know when I will be back but don't worry!
Lex
p.s. I know how you felt when you had to get away from everyone.
p.p.s. Don't call the family!
Quickly entering Sansygh's email address, Lex sent the email, hoping it would be enough to make the pixie not worry about her too much. As soon as the sent message appeared on the screen, the mail client returned to the inbox. Sitting unread in the inbox was one email. It was from some Japanese name that she had never heard of. Curiosity took over and Lex opened the email. Scrolling to the bottom, she saw the standard Arasaka disclaimer. Breathing deeply, she forced herself to scroll up and read the rest of the message.
“… Press conference … Wednesday … EB2000 … Arasaka … Dress presentably …”
The words floated over her and she caught only a few but even they were too much for her to deal with right now. Visibly, Lex slumped against the dataterm. She didn't need to deal with this right now. Working on automatic, she forwards the mail to everyone else in the group. Depression starts to sink in as she realizes that there may be no way out of the situation that Arasaka enrolled them in. She looked around.
Across the street there was a bar. Lex knew she probably wouldn't fit in but right now, for the first time in a long time, she didn't care.
(December, 2024) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
A woman sat at the bar, hunched over a glass. A shaft of light hit her faded pink hair and died abruptly on the black leather jacket. One combat boot rested easily on the horizontal bar of the chair, the other on the floor. Anyone watching her would recognize the easy way she sat on the chair, it spoke of too many nights in a similar position in a different bar. It also spoke of someone who didn’t want to be disturbed.
Another glass of brown liquid was placed on the bar before her as she sat contemplating her fate. The credchip that she placed on the bar was removed and later replaced. That had happened quite a few times at this stage. She sat in the dingy, grimy bar with her back to the door, not caring about who came in or what they wanted. The barman went back to the time filling job that all barmen did, polishing glasses, not because it needed doing but because they could not be seen to be doing nothing. That was a rule that Lex had forgotten! In her line of work, it was almost death to not be doing a job or have several things on the go at once. No wonder people looked surprised to get a call from her in the past few weeks. Of course, she thought, that was only one of the reasons they looked surprised.
The second reason was something that Lex was still trying to come to terms with herself. They had somehow found themselves being blackmailed by one of the biggest corps in Night City, even the world. Arasaka, a curse word in it’s own right, had them under its thumb. They had even managed to get one of Night City’s infamous scream sheet reporters to do up an article on them and thrash their reputations. She knew in her heart that it was Arasaka framing them, but she couldn’t prove it. The bastard had gone underground again. Well, who could blame him? He had thrashed the reps of some of the best-known edgerunners in Night City. Everyone thought of their group as Arasaka’s personal pet edgerunning team, including Arasaka. And in a way, Lex thought, I suppose it was our own fault, we did take the money. However, even if we did not, the story would still have hit the scream sheets.
Lex picked up the glass, swirling the liquid slowly around the sides. It looks different without the nut in the bottom, she thought. Lifting the glass to her lips she could not help but inhale the smell of the liquid. It was acrid, blunt, and reminiscent of many nights spent in Crossroads or Ivory Coast. Closing her eyes, she knocked the glass back, swallowing quickly. It tasted terrible but the warm glow that she got when she finished swallowing the drink made up for it. It had become her habit long ago. The barman looked over again as the glass hit the counter again. His eyes questioned silently.
Lex smiled wryly, “Do you know how hard it is to get drunk with toxin binders?”
She laughed quietly to herself. Picking up her credchip, she checked the amount. She thought about pocketing it again and then decided against it, leaving it for the bartender. Lex got to her feet and ran a hand thru her hair, making sure everything was in place. She nodded to the bar tender and turned to leave. She was slightly surprised to find two other people in the bar but shrugged it off. They were probably just there for the same reason as she was.
Lex stepped out into the midday sun, squinting for a millisecond before the Anti-Dazzle she’d installed in her eyes, kicked in. The streets were still deserted. She looked in the direction in which she had just come and anger surged again. Maybe I had better wait a while, she thought. Turning to face in the opposite direction, she restarted her long walk.
Walking down the street, rubble piled along the side of the street, the stench was almost bad enough to make the most sturdy stomached person gag. Unfortunately that may have been the problem or at least part of it. Vomit mixed with piss mixed with the remains of whatever had been yesterday's single meal. Kibble was far beyond the reach of these people. Every so often a pile of rubbish moved showing its forgotten occupant. The scum, long forgotten by society pulls the plastic closer and holds his alcoholic lover tighter and returns to dreams of better times while selective amnesia erases societies memories of his existence again.
She was watching the pavement go by under her feet when she heard voices behind her, very faint.
“I told you in the bar, that’s her!”
“Couldn’t be, she wouldn’t come back here again, not after what she did…”
“Wouldn’t put it past her!”
Lex was wondering what they were on about. She was mentally trying to piece together who she could have pissed off in this neighborhood. She turned the corner, flattening herself against the wall. They followed and for a moment wondered where she was before realizing that she was onto them. Momentary panic crossed their faces before vanishing just as quickly. Both men simply kept walking, saying nothing. Lex took a step out in front of them. They stopped, looking at her. A realization crossed their faces as they grasped the fact that they had the wrong person. She could see them mentally going thru a list of things to say. Lex beat them to the punch.
“Who are you and why are you following me?”
Hostility was dripping from Lex’ voice, her eyes flashing as she barely kept her temper in check. Today was not a good day to pull this shit.
“Eh ..” the larger of the two began, frantically searching his limited intelligence, “We thought you were someone else?”
Lex’ patience snapped as she punched out. She hit him square in the solar plexus, causing him to double over in a mixture of shock and pain. She brought her hand up to catch the back of his head. Bringing her knee up, pushing down on the back of his head at the same time, she smashed his face off her armored knee. A crunch told her that she had broken his nose with her actions.
“I didn’t ask for excuses. Who are you?”
The shorter guy pulled back the sleeve of his jacket and showed her a tattoo. Ordinarily, to a general person on the street, it would not have meant much, but to Lex it meant everything. It was a modified ying yang symbol but instead of the black and white features, they were red and blue. Two words circled the tattoo, Kyr and Vikati, Blood and Tears. Lex could not help muttering the English translation under her breath. It was picked up by the unharmed guy. He seemed shocked that she knew what they meant. The questioning look on his face gave his shock away. Lex said nothing, just pulled up the sleeve of her armored jacket to reveal her own tattoo.
They seemed strangely relieved. The unharmed man held out his hand. Waiting for her to take his hand, he said, “Pieter”. She simply looked at his hand. It dropped after a few seconds.
“That’s Yuri,” pointing to his friend, who was now trying to stem the flow of blood from his damaged nostrils.
Yuri attempted a sneer but when holding his nose in one hand and rummaging for a tissue in the other, it didn’t quite work, all Lex got was the sight of some bloodstained teeth. Blood dripped over his top lip to his chin and from there to his faded green top making a strange brown colour and blending with the faded hammer and sickle pattern on the shirt. Unsuccessful in his hunt for a tissue, he tried wiping the line of clotting blood under his nose on his sleeve but this only resulted in leaving streaks on his cheek and his sleeve. Breaking her gaze with a look of disgust, she redirected her focus back to Pieter.
“You never answered my question. Why were you following me?” Lex persisted.
“What Yuri said was true, he thought you were someone else. Some blad that got kicked a few weeks ago for screwing over the gang.”
“Wouldn’t happen to be Tsarina by any chance would it?”
Shock filled his face yet again. Lex was starting to suspect that it was a common expression on his face.
“Eh, yeah! How’d you know?”
“Doesn’t matter. What were you gonna do to her if she did show up?”
“Show her who is boss round here. That she can’t get away with doing something like that to the Gang.”
Pride seemed to fill his voice as he talked about what he was going to do to Tsarina if she came back. That was all very well, but Lex definitely took this personally. After all, Tsarina was her sister. Lex sighed, falling back on too many years experience, changing from manual to autopilot as her brain switched off and her reflexes took over, finding her center.. She turned slightly and slid her hand under her coat. It reappeared holding a gun. In the split second that it took for Pieter to realise what was happening, Lex had pulled the trigger. Yuri watched thru watering eyes as Pieter toppled backwards to slam hard into the ground. A single trail of blood trickled from a single entry wound. His eyes stared at the sky unblinkingly.
Yuri looked back up to see the barrel of a gun pointed at him. He half turned to run but no matter how fast you are, you cannot outrun a bullet. Lex pulled the trigger again. But it was not as clean this time. She had aimed the shot at the same spot on Yuri’s forehead but he had turned at the last minute. The bullet entered just behind the ear and reappeared in a fountain of blood and gore from the back of his head. The effect was the same though. Yuri took another step and appeared to miss the ground as his foot went out from under him. His jaw bounced as it hit the ground before coming to a stop, never to move again.
Lex reholstered her gun for the second time that day. They had seen more action today than they had in the past year. She was glad that she had not mixed up her guns and picked the P.O.S. by mistake. It would have taken forever to kill them. Lex turned her back on the two corpses behind her and kept walking. This time she had a destination in mind. She was heading back to her old turf. She had a score to settle.
How do you find out where you are in the Combat Zone? Simply look at the tags. The walls around were plastered with them as she moved closer to the center of Blood and Tears territory. Looking at their setup, she wasn’t too surprised when she wasn’t stopped. A few people looked in her direction but were too used to the combat zone to do any more. Here looking too closely at someone could mean a 9mm bullet in a vital part of your body. People scampered when someone who looked more dangerous than themselves walked on the same street. Lex definitely fitted into that category.
She remembered her time with the gang well, the good times, the parties, the long nights and at the end, the betrayal by her family. It had been good at the time, until she made a mistake and followed her heart.
It was only when she actually tried to enter the building that the leader of Blood and Tears stayed that she was stopped. She mentally crossed her fingers and raised her sleeve, showing the tattoo that had marked her initiation into the gang. He seemed unsure. Her face wasn’t familiar but she had the tattoo. Lex started thinking.
“Got some info, he’ll need to hear it right now!”
“Info? On who?”
“Sharks.”
“We put them down. Why would he need to hear anything about them?”
“You didn’t put them down hard enough!”
Lex was trying to get a feel for the guard to couch her answers so that he would let her thru. Obviously she had hit a nerve.
Moving slightly, he allowed her to enter the dingy building. Stray strands of light guided her way as she wandered down the dark corridors. Occasionally stepping over people who were either dead or unconscious, Lex could not tell which and she was not getting any closer, she made her way forward. A figure in a doorway reached out for her and got rewarded with a swift kick, urging him to retract the appendage quickly. Walking thru the corridors, looking into rooms thru open doors she catches sight of some gangers trying to chase the buzz that they had felt last night, other gangers were still not awake from whatever had happened the night before. People had passed out on top of other people. Lex remembered too many nights that she had woken up in similar positions.
She came to a door at the end of a corridor. If memory served right, this was his room. The him in question was Mikhail Petrovich, otherwise known as “Dusk”. She braced herself against the opposite wall and lifted her leg. Drawing it back, she kicked in the door. As she stepped into the room she saw Dusk on top of some oriental girl.
“You know in my day, we only fucked our own!”
Dusk seemed to notice her for the first time. She grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out of bed. Drawing one of her guns, she pointed it at him.
“Put on some pants, we have business to take care of!”
Dusk grabbed some pants and hurriedly pulled them on. He didn’t notice Lex move closer and grab a handful of hair. She dragged him out the door and back the way that she had come. The guard backed out of the way when he saw her threatening Dusk. Lex finally deposited him in the street in front of the building with a vicious push, knocking him to the ground. Lex pointed her gun at Dusk and saw fear cross his face. She changed the aim at the last second and shot at the pavement just behind him. Then Lex started a waiting game. Dusk got to his feet, followed at every step by the barrel of a very large gun.
Lex stood relaxed in the street, taking in as much as possible without losing focus on her target. A burned out car still stood in the street. She still remembered when that had been done. The remains of a bonfire still smoldered, no doubt the result of some festivities last night. The way of life had not changed much since she left, the only stable thing in the 'Zone.
In small groups, people started to appear, woken by the sound of a gun firing. They had definitely not expected to find the sight before them. Their leader was standing in just a pair of combats in the middle of the street while a woman in hard armor stood beside him pointing a gun at him.
When enough people had emerged from their hiding holes, Lex made her move. She started to talk.
“A lot of you don’t know who I am and that’s not important. What is important is that you know my sister, Tsarina! She was kicked out of the gang, cause this double-crossing son of a bitch was using her in his little power struggle and then fucked her over.”
Lex surveyed the crowd.
“I came here to get retribution for my sister and to secure that she will not be harmed in the future.”
Lex lowered her gun and shucked off her armored jacket. She removed the other gun from the holster and placed everything on the ground.
“What I propose is a fight between Dusk and myself. If Dusk wins, Dusk can do whatever he wants with me, but my sister is not to be harmed ever again. If I win, my sister will be left alone and unharmed.” Lex looked at Dusk. “What do you say?”
Dusk sized her up and nodded.
“Its settled then!”
Lex looked away from Dusk, checking the crowd. The faces may have changed in the time she had been gone but a few faces looked familiar if you took in the effects that drugs, alcohol and too many fights had on already rough faces. The group seemed to be mostly women with a few men. Lex supposed that the men may have gone to help Mother Russia's beloved sons with the recent mob war, thinking themselves gangsters.
Lex looked back at Dusk but Dusk had already started. He lunged at he knocking her to the ground. Lex’ instincts took over as blows were traded. Dusk managed to punch Lex in the kidneys, causing her to bend backwards for a second. Dusk was back on his feet again. Lex rolled out of the way of his leg as he brought it crashing down, just missing her at the last minute. Lex flipped back up and they were face to face again. Lex blocked a few of Dusks punches and kicks and traded him blow for blow. Nothing existed outside the fight for the pair of them.
Watching on whatever vantage point they could manage, they watched as hit after hit connected. Blood ran from Dusk’s nose and mouth. Lex was limping thanks to a kick to the knee from Dusk. They made sympathetic sounds as they watched the combatants fight.
Lex finally saw and opening and managed to get her finger to hook over the top of Dusk’s ribcage. He dropped from the pain as she hit the pressure point. She followed him down, pushing him as he dropped. Finally, she dropped a knee on his throat cutting off his air.
“Do you surrender?”
For the longest time, Dusk didn’t make a move. The crowd was holding its breath. Finally, he nodded, at least as much as he could with a knee on his throat. Lex rose and turned to pick up her things. A gasp from the crowd told her that something else was happening. She dropped into a roll and came up holding a gun. As Dusk lunged again at her, she pulled the trigger. She shot Dusk in the shoulder but he didn’t drop. She noticed that he had something clear in his hand. It was a piece of glass. She had no idea where he had gotten it but he was still approaching her. She squeezed the trigger again. This time, a clear shot. The dropped to fall face down on the asphalt, dead.
The crowd was silent.
Lex bent down. She pulled a ring off of Dusk’s finger. It was his “badge of office”. Looking around, she tossed it to a young woman standing a few feet away, looking very scared.
“You’re in charge now. Remember our deal!”
The girl was shocked but nodded dumbly. Lex picked back up her other gun and slid both of them into their holsters. She put back on the coat, wincing with the pain. She nodded to the girl once more and said just one word.
“Remember!”
Limping very slightly and with a hand on her ribs, she walked out as easily as she walked in. She could hear the voices behind her trying to make sense of the afternoon’s happenings but didn’t listen to what they said.
She didn’t look back as she walked away.
Under her breath she murmured, “The score is settled … finally!”
(December, 2024) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
Some people call it America’s sewer. Some people think that it embodies the land of opportunity. Doesn’t really matter which side you’re on, the fact is that sooner or later, everybody ends up in there, the degenerates, the affluent, the criminals, the nobodies, the high rollers, America’s dispossessed. It’s Heaven, Hell, Elysium, Gehenna, Xanadu and Tartarus all wrapped up into one not so neat package. But where is this otherworldly place? It’s the west coast city of Night City, home to the biggest corps and the worst scum of America.
Kevin “Merc” Specter hurried down the filthy street, his eyes darting around, constantly watching. Crossing the street every time something suspicious appeared in front of him, he went about his business. A sound to his left attracted his attention. He glanced at his watch. Little early for the gangs, he thought to himself. Another sound caught his attention. Involuntarily turning to locate the source of the sound, he sees a woman rush around the corner, flinging herself flat against the wall.
He watched as the woman, dressed entirely in black, closed her eyes, breathing heavily. He paused. She put a hand to her ribs, wincing slightly. She opened her eyes again, looking around. His eyes locked with hers before they both moved off again in opposite directions.
Lex was moving down the street quickly, not quite running. Her mind was trying to focus on anything that wasn’t the pain in her knee and ribs. She had taken a few serious blows and was feeling the worst for wear. Her ribs ached as she breathed in and out, trying to take shallow breaths. She rounded a corner and pushed herself against a wall. Closing her eyes, she took account of her injuries. Dusk had gotten in a few punches during the fight. She figured that she had at least one broken rib maybe more and her knee was in agony.
A noise from across the street made her open her eyes again and look around. Her eyes stopped on a small, ratty man staring at her from the opposite side of the street. His unkempt, unwashed hair hung in strings over his eyes. His filthy clothing made Lex thankful that she wasn’t upwind of him. Lex quickly dismissed him. He wasn’t a threat. Lex looked away and kept up the fast pace that she had set for herself.
She made her way to the end of the street, looking behind her as she turned the corner. The street was now empty. That man must have gone back to whatever it was that he was doing. Lex started down the street, resuming her usual walking pace.
Lex’ mind wandered as she walked thru streets whose name were just beyond reach. Images came unbidden to her mind, unbanishable until they were relived.
Lex stood in front of Pieter, the cold metal of the gun she always carried but never drew caressing her hand. Humanity slid from her being as she fell into an uncaring state. The total absence of emotion showed on her face as she lined up the gun sight with Pieter’s forehead. Her focus shifted momentarily to Pieter’s face. His smile slowly slipping as realization set in. Momentary questioning setting in before acceptance dawned . His mouth opening in exclamation. Lex’ finger muscles tense. A loud sound echoes in her ears. She watches as the bullet hits him between the eyes. Pieter’s body is slammed back and seems to hang in the air for a second before starting to fall. He hits the ground again and bounces once, coming to a stop, forever. His eyes open. A small stream of blood follows the bridge of his nose, leaving a trail to just under his unfocused eye, stopping as its momentum dies out, leaving a totally still corpse to add to the rubbish on the trash-filled street.
Corner after corner, street after street, Lex tried to lose herself in the spider web that was the Combat Zone. Trying with each turn, to get farther away from these unwanted memories.
Lex looked away from what used to be Pieter and focuses on Yuri. Shock is evident on his face, however, realization takes it place almost instantly. He starts to turn as the barrel of Lex’ gun lines up with the bridge of his nose. Yuri’s whole body starts to turn as he tries to escape a fate that is already inevitable. Lex’ finger flexes again, another bullet leaving the Colt AMT handgun. It just misses his ear lobe, entering the exposed skin behind the ear. A crack signals the bone breaking as the bullet penetrated it. A spray of gore accompanies the bullet as it reemerges and crashes into the street behind Yuri. Yuri doesn’t seem to realize what has happened. He finished the turn and tried to take a step. His foot kept on running even though it had not been put on the ground. His knee hit the ground. Yuri made no effort to break his fall. His chin hit the ground, bouncing once before coming to its final rest, side by side with someone he considered family.
People passed, time passed. All unnoticed as she fought the memories, the horrific memories, that were brought to mind.
A strike to Dusk’s chin with her hand caused Dusk’s head to snap around. A combination of the blood dripping from his nose and the saliva forced out by this hit flew in an arc with only slightly more momentum than his head. Dusk brought his head back to its original position, using a hand to wipe at his mouth and then spitting a glob of spit and blood onto the asphalt. His eyes were hard with hate. He lifted his arm to take a punch but Lex got in with a jab to his solar plexus. He folded over, arm dropping and picking you speed on its decent, hitting Lex in the side. Lex bent over slightly with the force of the punch. She brought her hands together and locked them together. Taking a deep breath, she aimed. Her arms circled up until they found their target. She hit him full force with her locked hands in the Adam’s apple. Dusk took an involuntary step backwards, followed by another one. His face went from slightly flushed to purple as he gasped for breath. Lex stood back, taking a moment to survey the crowd and drop into a fighting stance.
The slow motion video that was her minds eye, stuck on repeat forced her to watch the images again and again, adding increasingly impossible detail to each image.
Lex squeezed the trigger. Dusk’s shoulder snapped back but didn’t affect him too much. Dusk kept coming, the glass shard still in his raised hand. He lunged forward. Lex lined up the gun sight with his head and squeezed the cold metal. Her arm jolted again and the shot left the barrel. She could see herself reflected in Dusk’s eyes. The gun out in front of her. The cold look in her own eyes. The sneer on her hardened features. The contempt that she felt towards Dusk shone in her eyes. The image was getting closer and closer until it was cut off abruptly as Dusk came to rest on the ground. As she looked around again, she saw hate-filled faces condemning her for what she had done.
A sound invaded Lex’ consciousness. She tried to focus on the sound. It sounded like footsteps on the steps behind her. She looked back over her shoulder. There were two men on the road behind her. They were talking quietly to each other, but their eyes never left her. Lex looked back to the path in front of her. Picking up her pace she started to walk a little faster. She listened carefully to the footsteps behind her. They started walking faster, keeping pace with her. Lex started jogging along. Over her heart beating in her ears, she heard them jogging after her.
Blind panic overtook Lex for the first time of the day and she started running. The two men behind her ran too. Lex sped down the streets, the coat trailing out behind her as the wind caught it. Lex turned randomly down streets trying to lose her twin tails.
Alley faded into alley, street into street as Lex ran, her heart pounding in her ears. Randomly turning corners in hopes to outfox her pursuers, she kept going. She risked a glance behind her as she turned a corner. They were still there and gaining on her. Her body cried out for oxygen. Turning her head back, to look for the next turn, she found a fatal flaw in her plan. She had turned into a dead end. Brick walls enclosed her on three sides. She turned to run out again to see the two men turn the corner and pull themselves up just inside the alleyway’s entrance.
Lex looked around frantically for some point of escape but nothing presented itself. She took a deep breath, followed by another, giving her body the oxygen it had been wanting, also trying to calm herself.
It’s okay, she thought, been thru worse than this today. But she knew she hadn’t. The piranhas wanted to intimidate her, not necessarily kill her, but they had just been kids anyway. The two gangers, Yuri and Pieter hadn’t known it was coming. Dusk had been a fair fight. These two had chased her down with the sole purpose of killing her, she could see that in their eyes. You can’t reason with unreasonable men.
Lex took her stance and ducked one hand under her coat. As she withdrew it, she saw a flash of reflected light, followed closely by a sharp pain in her hand. The shock made her drop the gun she had been pulling. She brought her hand up to look at it. Embedded thru her hand was a knife. It’s point just breaching her palm. She noted detachedly that it wasn’t bleeding, it wasn’t even that painful. She grabbed the knife in her other hand and pulled it out. Her hand was starting to throb now, blood trickling from the injury.
Keeping the knife in one hand, she retook her fighting stance. If they want it the hard way, they are going to get it, she thought to herself. No one is going to take me down without a fight.
With her bleeding hand, she beckoned them closer. The alley was just narrow enough that they approached one after the other.
When the first was close enough, Lex used the hand with the knife in it to make a punch at his jaw. He saw it coming and ducked back slightly. He dropped, swinging a leg as he did. Lex jumped over his leg, landing on one leg and bringing the other down on his knee. He howled in pain as it cracked. Lex used the same foot to kick his jaw. She sent him flying backwards, skidding slightly as he landed on plastic packaging lying around the alleyway.v
His friend took the opportunity to grab hold of Lex’ leg. He had a firm grip on her ankle. Lex hopped, trying to keep her balance. Using his hold as a steady point, she jumped, kicking out at her assailants crotch with her free foot. She watched his face as his eyes crossed and he dropped her leg as his hands flew to cradle his injured parts. Lex fell but rolled immediately, flipping back up to a standing position. She kicked out at his chin, connecting harshly with it. He fell backwards. Lex wasted no time in slamming her foot down on his throat.
Lex looked at his friend, her disorganized hair falling over her face. Keeping eye contact, she twisted her foot.
SNAP!
Both realized what had been done. With that simple twist, she had snapped her attackers neck.
“Leave now and you live.” Lex spat out the words, using her bloody hand to move the hair from her face.
Her words and actions seemed to drive the remaining attacker into a frenzy. He ran at Lex, cursing her with every word he knew. She side stepped his attack and slammed an elbow into his kidneys as he passed her, pushing him forward further. He turned for another attack, Lex punched out at him. It was only when she saw the line of blood running down his face that she remembered that the knife was in her hand. He put his hand up to his face, it came away stained with his blood. He ran towards her again. Again she sidestepped, this time wrapping an arm around his neck as he passed.
The force nearly knocked him off his feet as he came to an abrupt stop. He felt a tickle along his throat as he was turned. Thru foggy eyes, he saw a fountain of blood sweep in an arc. It sprayed over Lex. Her black armor shiny with the black liquid. Her face spattered with red. Her faded pink hair, red in spots. As he hit the ground, he realized what must have happened.
“Na Panele…” The last words he speaks as his head drops for the last time.
The blood covered knife drops from Lex’ trembling hand as she watches him fall. She looks at her hands, covered in blood, blood that is not hers. She drops to her knees in the alleyway. Tears running down her cheeks, causing streaks on her blood spattered cheeks. The back of her throat starts to burn as bile rises from her stomach. She bends over, her hands supporting her as her stomach empties its contents onto the cold, hard ground. The only thing she can smell is the irony smell of fresh, spilt blood.
It is after dark before Lex can force herself out of that alleyway, crawling until she is past the bodies and then very slowly getting to her feet. She holds the wall as her knees won’t support her. She stays close to the wall as she turns the corner, putting some distance between herself and the site of her atrocity.
She walks for hours, taking no notice of where she is going, just going. She avoids the prying eyes of the people she passes. She walks as straight as possible, showing no weakness, even though there is nothing but weakness in her spirit. She cannot show weakness. She was convinced that if she showed weakness that evolutionary ideals would invade the people she passed and she would be culled from the herd. She wondered if that was a bad idea, dismissing the thought just as quickly as it had arrived in her head.
Buildings faded into each other as she passed them. Instinct was drawing her somewhere, guiding her steps. It also told her when to stop. She had knocked on the door before she had realized it. She did not have the energy to figure out where she was. She heard a latch being unlocked and drawn back. The door slowly opened.
At the door, a man appeared. He was tall, blond hair, broad shoulders, in one hand was a raised katana. The other hand was holding up a towel. It struck Lex as hilarious but before she could do more than smile, she started to fall forward. Her world was fading to black. She heard the katana hit the floor and a hand under her torso, catching her, before the darkness claimed her.
(December, 2024) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
Soft rain gently falling on her face. A warm shower tenderly caressing her. A soft finger brushing an errant strand of hair from her face. A warm face looking down at her as she opened her eyes. Soft brown eyes tinted with concern, warmth and at least friendship looked down at her. A warm haze wrapped around her consciousness left her clueless to what had happened, what she had done, and why the eyes looking down at her were filled with concern.
Lex slowly opened her eyes, finding herself looking into a familiar face. The brown eyes and blond hair brought her back to a time that she had forgotten, a time when life wasn't as rosy. She wondered how she had come to be looking into those eyes again. No reason came immediately to mind. She was being cradled under a spray of hot water, half propped against his knee. She tried to move, but sudden pain shot thru her body. With that hot flash of pain everything came back to her, the death, the horrific murders that had been committed by her hands. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she was pulled closer to the comfort offered by this face from her past.
Brian Wu, originally Brian Hanran, had been surprised to see Alexa turn up on the doorstep in the middle of the night. He had been even more surprised to see her faint towards him as soon as he opened the door. As he dropped his katana to catch her, he noticed an unusual feeling to the leather of her armor jacket. He picked her up and walked into the main room, kicking the door shut again behind him. He was about to place her on the couch when he realized what the strange texture was. It was dried blood, and she seemed to be caked in it. He carried her instead to the bathroom. Awkwardly holding her, he stripped off her leather jacket and turned on the shower, not too warm but not cold either. He lifted her and gently held her, cradling her in one arm and using his free hand to wash the blood off of her face and try to get some of the caked blood out of her hair. He wondered what had happened, why she had returned? It must have been bad if she came back again. He knew that she thought of this place as a sanctuary. He sighed, brushing a hair from her face. I'm sure she will tell me when she is ready, he thought. He watched her face, his eyes never leaving her features, until her eyes started to flicker open. She looked at him, a little lost. Horror spread across her features. Brian misunderstood the expression for a second thinking it was at seeing him, but when she buried her face in his chest, crying, that he understood just how badly Alexa needed sanctuary.
Lex finally got control of herself again and with an accepting look from Brian, he helped her out of the shower. He put her on a small bench beside the shower and excused himself for a second. When he returned, he had several towels with him. He had also changed into a pair of loose fitting pants, replacing the towel that Lex had seen when he answered the door to her. He gathered Lex up in the biggest towel he had, drying her, armor and all. The towel, previously white, was now stained red as he wiped down her armor. Lex could not bear to look at the towel, a brutal reminder to what she had done that day. The cold, wet leather pressed against her skin and she shivered.
Brian handed Lex a box, urging her to change into it and out of the wet leathers. She nodded dumbly. Unclicking the catches of her vest top, she attempts to slide it off, but the wet leather catches, rubbing along her skin the whole way down her arms. It drops to the floor with a heavy, sodden thump. She looks at Brian, finding him with his back to her. She smiled inwardly. He never changed, she thought. She slid down her armor trousers, finding them clingy like a used wetsuit. She opened the box.
Inside was a silk Yakuta, an informal kimono for everyday use. It was red with a black sash. On the back, a design of a dragon hiding among chrysanthemums. Lex could not help but smile at the image. How apt, the dragon of Arasaka was hiding between the bushes. Lex wondered how long it would be until they stopped hiding and took a bite. Brushing thoughts like that aside, she put on the dragon kimono.
“It’s okay now, I’m decent!” Lex told Brian.
Brian smiled, “I don’t think you were ever decent, Alexa.”
“You may be right on that note,” Lex answered, looking down.
“Put my foot in it again, didn’t I?” Brian looked at Lex sheepishly.
Brian brought out a first aid box and patched up Lex’ hand, wrapping it in white bandages after sterilizing it. The rest could heal on its own, but the hand would be open to infection.
He wandered into another room, calling back to Lex that he was making tea and that she should make herself comfortable. She followed him into the living room and sat on the couch, curling her feel under her on the couch. After a few minutes, Brian reemerged carrying to large cups of tea. He settled beside her on the couch, handing her the tea. Lex wrapped her hands around the cup, absorbing the warmth of the cup thru her hands.
“I suppose you’re wondering why I showed up today…” Lex started.
“Only if you want to tell me.”
“I lost control today, I killed people.” Lex stared into the cup, afraid to make eye contact.
Brian said nothing, waiting for Lex to tell him more. She went thru the events of the day and more. She started with Arasaka’s campaign against them, Vogue usurping her position, feeling useless, walking off, intimidating the piranha’s, the murders… Lex laid out everything that was happening in her life, all her fears, all her worries, everything.
By the time she finished, her tea, untouched, had long since gone cold. Brian had not said a word thru the whole outburst. He still stayed quiet. She looked over at him. He was simply watching her. Lex was starting to get very nervous. For what seemed the longest time, Brian said nothing. Finally, he leaned forward.
“The piranha’s … You really didn’t do anything to them, just added a bit of encouragement to make them get out of your way, Right?”
“I suppose so …” Lex began.
Brian cut her off. “The Blood and Tears members, that was slightly different. You were defending your honor and preserving your family. Lexa, I don’t have magic words to tell you to make you feel better, but you yourself know that one day you will.”
He leaned forward, towards her, taking her hands in his.
“With the Arasaka thing, it sounds like you have come to a decision, now you just have to wait, as the Mongoose waits for the snake’s strike before killing it. Yuro, from what you have told me is clouded with vengeance and as is always the case, it will be his undoing. But for now, I would suggest that you stay silent and be the best you can be, get back into life and stop dwelling on what you do not know yet. That is your only way forward.”
Looking into her eyes, he added, “And remember, if you need me, I am here for you.”
Before she knew it, their lips had met, their hands still joined between them. A kiss, a touch, a whimper, and time fell away to leave two completely different people in a completely different time, untouched by anything this harsh world had to throw at them. Passion ignited as old habits took over, guiding their hands and mouths to the places long ago discovered but never forgotten. Eventually exhaustion took them over and a feeling of peace descended on the lovers.
***
Lex awoke the next morning alone in a large bed. She was lost for a second, as anyone is who does not awake to their own familiar surroundings. She looked around and recognized Brian’s bedroom. He must have carried her in here after she fell asleep last night. She looked around again. Not a sign of him. She found one of his shirts and put it on. It swam on her, and that was saying something. She wandered out of the room and into the living room. She walked around checking each room. Eventually she found him training in his dojo.
His dojo was his business. He was a Kung-Fu teacher by trade. He had been Lex’ sensai many years before, just after she had been caught trying to steal his katana. Instead of reporting her to the police he made her sit down and talk about it. He gave her a second chance, got her out of the gutter and when she felt ready, he gave her enough money to keep her going for a while, until she got her feet under her. She had only been back once before, and that was to give Brian a present on his birthday the same year. It had been a small jade dragon, all she could afford at the time. Things got so mixed up last year, that she didn’t want to put him in danger when the Shaitan thing was happening. She still loved him, but she didn’t want him mixed up in what was happening.
She watched his movements as he effortlessly went thru a kata again and again. His eyes were closed, focusing totally on the movements. Lex was surprised when, without pausing, he told her that there was a pair of pants and a t-shirt on the bench for her if she wanted. She slipped them on and waited on the edge of the mat until he invited her. She watched as he went thru the movements with her. Each of the movements had meaning. Brian worked thru them with her until she was able to remember them for herself.
Closing her eyes and taking her stance, she started.
U, being. Lex raised her arm to block an imaginary opponent.
Mu, non being. Just as quickly the arm was reversed to block an imaginary kick.
Suigetsu, moonlight on water. A quick strike to the center.
Jo, inner serenity. Bringing the hand up to strike under the chin.
Shin, master of the mind. Bringing the hand back down to block again.
Sen, thought proceeds action. Her hand coming up again, taking a step forward.
Shimyoken, where the sword tip settles. Reversing and striking the opponent behind her.
Kara, the void. Another strike to the center.
Zero, where the way has no power. Reversing again and returning to stance.
Lex went thru the kata so many times that she lost count. The movements floated over her, the words settling in her mind. She retreated within, focusing on the words. Time lost all meaning as she stood there, completely focused.
She jumped when Brian touched her arm. She had been so deep into the meditation that the kata provided that she had lost track of everything. Brian had prepared her some food. They sat, talking about the old times and how good they were. Lex was putting off the inevitable and Brian knew it, but neither would say it. Laughter fell to silence as parting entered their minds.
Brian got up suddenly, telling Lex to stay for a second. He came back with the kimono that Lex wore last night, so that she could change into something vaguely civilized before leaving. In his hands, he had another box. He presented it to her.
“You forgot this when you left last time, Lexa.”
Lex opened the box and took out the contents. It was a snow white oriental style dress, slit up both sides to the middle of the thigh. She remembered it now. It was one of those modern style Japanese outfits that tied to the side of the neck with golden clasps. Golden beading ran across the seams.
“You can wear this to your press conference if you go.”
“But white is the color of mourning …”
“I know, mourn Tomobiki Yuro’s career. It was dead the day he crossed you and yours, Lexa.”
Lex smiled, thinking that it would be fitting attire seeing as she did plan to see him in ruins, one way or another.
“Now you better leave, Lexa, your pixie friend will be wondering what happened to you.”
“You’re right, but I have a feeling that she is not going to be home…”
Unwhispered declarations of love and denial passed between their eyes as Lex picked up her clothes, said goodbye and left.
***
A few minutes later, she was speeding home in a combat cab, dressed in a kimono, her armor in a bag at her feet and a strange kata going around her mind, ‘What am I going to tell the pix?!’