Never Fade Away: What Life Was Missing (ch. 20) (Patreon)

"I see," I heard myself say, feeling like I had been punched in the gut by the news that Lucy had just delivered to me. She had just come out of the deep dive, spending a good fifteen minutes down there while we dealt with the reinforcements. My heart clenched, pure dread gripping it and giving it a savage squeeze that stole my breath away. I tried to form a response, but my brain wouldn't work. It was stuck replaying what Lucy said on a loop. Something that I feared. Something that I suspected. Something that I dreaded.

I pushed too far. Three times was a pattern -- it started with my escape. The first blemish on an otherwise sterling record. Dr. K's murder was the second blemish, but that was an otherwise internal issue. Escaping with Jack, however? Their prized asset? That was the third strike. A pattern. Worse, Jack was something that the megacorporations wanted. I thought it would take more time, another push, but I overestimated how much trust the megacorporations had in the Orphanage.

Their trust was broken and they were pulling out. It only made sense that they would take their 'product' with them.

I had run out of time.

I wasn't ready.

I was close. So very close. I had most of the money. I had most of the connections. I just needed a little more time -- another week. Another week, and I would be ready. My hands curled into fists, my head lowered as I glared through the floor. Anger swelled in my chest. Fury flowed through my veins. I thought I would be afraid or fall into despair if I heard this news, but instead I was pissed off. More than anything else, I was angry.

"This entire thing was a trap, L. Is a trap. There's no reason why the Tyger Claws would have that info. It's bait for you if you managed to reach it -- if the Tyger Claws hadn't killed you. We don't even know if it's true or not. It-" Lucy tried to reassure me, but it sounded like not even she believed that.

"It doesn't matter," I decided, my brain moving past the shock of the news. Now I focused on what I had to do about it. And I already knew. "They always knew I was coming. The only thing that has changed is now they know when I'm coming."

Lucy's lips thinned, glancing at David, who wore a severe expression. His foot began to bounce, a clear sign of nerves, right up until he swallowed them down. However, it was Jack that spoke. "We're going to bust them out? Fucking finally," Jack said with a savage smile. There was no doubt in her eyes. No hesitation. Becca shot me a double thumbs up while Kiwi lit a cigarette despite the enclosed space.

My gaze slid to David, a silent question in my eyes. And I saw the answer in his. I saw the hesitation and the doubt. He wanted to say no, I realized. I couldn't blame him for that. This was a bad idea to start with. Rushing into it when I- we weren't prepared? I understood why he wanted to say no.

But, bad idea or not… a suicide run or not, I had to do it. Alone, if I had to.

David closed his eyes for a moment and let out a soft sigh. "Any good ideas?" He asked, agreeing to go. I felt a surge of gratitude -- I wouldn't have blamed David if he refused, but I was happy that he agreed. Even if I knew that he probably shouldn't have. I was risking their lives because of my selfishness.

I offered a feeble smile.

"I have a couple of bad ones."

…

Shiro was a Tyger Claw lifer. He was brought up in the gang -- his father had been a member, and his grandfather was one of the originals. Or so he said. And, for the entirety of his thirty three years in Night City, as a Tyger Claw, he never had any doubts. Being a member made you respected. People stepped out of your way, they bowed their heads, and they spoke softly. Sure, it came with the risk of catching some flack by those Sixer ganggoons, or the Valentinos but that was just life in Night City.

However, as he sat in the back seat of a van that was packed with his fellow gang members, listening to some tunes on the radio… he was starting to have some doubts. "Bullshit," Shiro decided, his heart beating a few ticks faster. "There's no way. Ain't no way."

Shoto, his choom and sworn brother, gave him a nervous glance behind the wheel. "It's true, aniki. The HQ got hit. Got fucking massacred," he said in a low whisper. Not because he was trying to keep it a secret, but because he didn't want the words to be real.

"What the fuck did we do to piss this guy off?!" Shiro shouted, running a hand through his dark blue mohawk. L. The god damn terminator. For months, he had been butchering their guys on the street. He didn't even have the fucking decency to leave behind a body for their family to cremate. He flatlined every Tyger Claw he found, hunting them like they were a bunch of animals, and stole their rides and bodies to sell for parts.

Kabuki had been their kingdom. Even more so than Japantown. It was where their power and influence was at their greatest. Even the lowest of goons were treated like a fucking king in Kabuki.

Now, no goon went out unless they were strapped to the gills. L -- the fucking ghost that he was -- had struck fear into the hearts of the Tyger Claws and everyone smelled blood in the water. People were getting rowdy. Shops were thinking they didn't need to pay protection and bottom feeders thought they were weak enough to take a corner or a business. The whole fucking gang was out of whack because of one Scav with a vendetta.

"No point in thinking about that, aniki. What are we going to do about this?" Shoto asked, looking at him for answers. As if he had a

clue. The leadership was decapitated. The HQ was butchered to a man. There were still thousands of members in Night City, but they were directionless. They were in the same boat that he was -- panicking about what to do.

Then they received their answer.

"Yo, yo, yo -- let me tell you about this cat called L. He's been yanking on the Tyger Claw's tail for months now but he's gone and went above and beyond! Word on the streets is that he took out the Tyger Claw leadership solo. Then strolled right up to their base and wiped 'em out. A real cold blooded-" DJ Evans started, repeating the news that made the car fill with dread. However, he was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. "Erm… okay… it seems that we, uh, have an unexpected guest on the show today. Well, Night City, introducing a Deadman or a Legend in the making, I give you L!"

"What the FUCK?!" Shiro shouted, gaping at the radio.

"Thank you for having me?" L replied and for the first time, Shiro heard the voice of the boogeyman. He sounded young. A punk kid. This was the one that had the Tyger Claws by the balls? Everyone in the car went deathly silent, holding a collective breath. "And sorry for the interruption, but I had something I would like to say if it's no trouble."

"No trouble, man. No trouble at all!" DJ Evans replied, his voice clearly strained. L sounded polite. "Hell, man -- I'm glad you chose ShackRadio for this announcement! So, what would you like to tell the people of Night City? A lot of people have a lotta questions about you. Chief among them is what did the Tyger Claws do to piss you off so much?"

"I don't have it out for the Tyger Claws. I'm a Merc. I do the gigs that I get. If the Tyger Claws feel threatened, then maybe they should reconsider their business practices." L sounded mildly annoyed. Mildly. Like some gonk got his name wrong on his coffee instead of his fucking extermination of the Tyger Claws. Shiro's jaw dropped at the blatant disrespect. The fuckin balls on this guy.

This was insane. What was he even listening to right now?

DJ Evans took a moment to process that. "Well, I don't think I can argue with that. You might not have a vendetta against the Claws, but they sure have one against you."

"Yeah, I noticed. Which is what I wanted to talk about. Dealing with the attacks is tedious and annoying. I can't be bothered to deal with this for the next few months until they either all die or get the hint. So, I'm currently at Rocky Ridge just outside of the city. We can bury the hatchet and the bodies here," L said, throwing down the gauntlet. "I'll be waiting."

With that, the call ended and it was as if Night City fell into a stunned silence for the very first time since its inception.

"This. Fucking. Guy," Shiro stated, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Wow. Uh- yeah, wow. You know me dear listeners -- I always have something to say, but this is a first for me. L just called the Tyger Claws out. The whole damn gang. That's… I don't know what's about to happen today. But, I do know this -- live or die, L's going to earn himself a drink in the Afterlife-" Shiro slammed a hand on the radio, shutting it off.

"Aniki?" Shoto asked, his voice hesitant. All the while, Shiro's mind raced.

L was treating the Tyger Claws as an annoyance. Like they were a bitter pill that he was deciding to swallow whole rather than nibble at because he just wanted it over with. That was- that was kind of terrifying, to be honest. Still, L made a mistake. He had picked them off where he could before. He might have gotten them hard, even when they were expecting it, but he was completely underestimating just how many Tyger Claws there were in Night City.

There was a damn good reason why they were the kings of Night City. More than the Valentinos or the Sixers. They ran Night City. There were thousands of soldiers in Night City alone, and it seemed like it would be time that some of the goons on the streets earned some street cred.

"Leadership is dead. The homeland is going to try to send over talent to take the reins if someone doesn't step up," Shiro muttered, his foot bouncing and he started chewing on a nail. An old habit he fought to get rid of but now he needed to blow off the stress to think. "L's gonna be the kingmaker. Whoever zeros him is going to be king of Night City," he figured. It was simple. So damn simple that every officer and ambitious goon would have the same idea -- kill L for the clout. Which meant that he would be competing against his own gang as much as he would to kill L.

Shoto nodded, "So, we're going after him?" He sounded afraid. Like he wanted the answer to be no.

"Take us outside of Rocky Ridge. Let the chumps die to whatever L thinks is his ace up the sleeve, then we swoop in and take his head. Sound good boys?" Shiro asked, looking back at a van full of his enforcers. A good dozen of them were all armed to the teeth for the hunt. Only now their prey had revealed himself to them. He got a round of cheers for his plan, and he traded a nod with Shoto, who swallowed his doubts and drove on.

All the while, Shiro's phone was blowing up. Officers were reaching out to touch base with him, asking if he was competition or not. Goons reached out, looking for marching orders. He could see the Tyger Claws mobilizing too since it seemed like they were the only ones on the streets. In droves, they raced toward the city limits. Shoto took a back road -- one that wasn't marked on the GPS, and because of that, Shiro saw the long column of cars that were racing to Rocky Ridge. When those at the back felt like they were going to miss out, they went off road.

Within fifteen minutes of the call going out, it looked like half of the Tyger Claws in the city were pouring out. The half that remained were those that were hedging their bets. The ones that didn't want to risk what they had for more. Idiots, the lot of them. You couldn't be someone in Night City by playing it safe. Only by going big could you be immortalized -- life or death didn't matter. Life wasn't worth living as it was.

Shiro and his crew weren't the only ones who knew about the back road either. Other officers watched on as the gang rushed to the abandoned town that looked like it was half demolished already. "We wait up here," Shiro decided, the van coming to a stop at a hill that would lead them right into Rocky Ridge. "I'll tell you when to head in. Just wait for my mark-" Shiro was cut off by the sounds of explosions.

He flinched at the noise but he looked on in horror as the first wave of cars exploded, almost in unison. The engines just blew up, engulfing the cars in flames, killing everyone inside of them if they were lucky, and the burning carcasses of the vehicles became sudden obstacles for those behind them. Tyger Claws plowed through, or weaved around on motorbikes, but some were wrecked and caused a traffic jam as those behind them kept going.

"Fucking mines?" Shoto breathed, realizing that L had just killed at least a hundred of their brothers and sisters.

"Nah, that was net running," Shiro said with a smile. Meaning that L was hooked into the net. Nothing else could explain just how fast he had tapped into the vehicles subnets to upload some soft. That was perfect. Either L was in the town, his body limp as his consciousness was surfing the Net, or he was outside of Rocky Ridge entirely. So, he had to see where the defenses were at their thickest or follow whoever managed to figure out where L was.

That wasn't to say that L didn't have any mines. He did, as the first entries to the town soon learned. Their bikes or cars exploded, shrapnel tearing them to pieces. That prompted some members of the Claws to get out and dump the vehicles, thinking that they would have a better chance on foot. Only to soon learn that L had gun turrets set up that was reducing them to chunks of meat and chrome with explosive ammo. The interior of the buildings seemed to offer no more safety than the streets because Shiro watched one as it exploded outwards from a massive bomb that was planted in it.

It was a bloodbath. There was no other possible description.

The Tyger Claws were pushing into the town by sheer force of numbers, but they were paying for every foot with blood. Obvious cover was trapped with bombs that the Tyger Claws kept on missing. Turrets were placed behindcover or hidden by optic camo, so some walked right by them, completely unaware until they started shooting.

"Aniki… I think we should call this off," Shoto whispered, watching the butchery with obvious horror. The words echoed his own thoughts. The Tyger Claws were winning. They were taking the town. Traps could only be sprung once and the turrets were destroyed one by one. They were winning. For every one that died, two more took their place as the last of everyone that was coming arrived. It wasn't in any way an exaggeration to claim that there were thousands of Tyger Claws forcing their way through Rocky Ridge.

Shiro licked his lips, his gaze drawn to one building in particular. "That one," he said, ignoring Shoto. It was an old bar at the heart of the town that was outfitted to the gills. A clear stronghold. "Shoto? Drive," he ordered. Shoto was loyal. His blood brother. Despite all of the doubts he might have had, he swallowed them down and stomped on the gas. The vehicle lurched forward and headed straight into hell.

They drove over the remains of Tyger Claws, the way cleared by their brothers. From up top, the sight had been horrifying but at this level, it was hellish. The stench of blood permeated through the AC, and the sounds reminded Shiro of his war games -- screaming, crying, and gunfire. He gripped the door with white knuckles, his window going glassy as bullets smacked into it with enough force to rock the car. All the same, Shoto whipped the vehicle to a stop just in time for the last turret to be destroyed on the bar.

His adrenaline was up. To bump it up higher, he took a huff of Black Lace -- his veins became filled with adrenaline, his sense of pain turned off, and that part of the brain that increased aggression had a thumb pressed on it to secrete all those delicious hormones. With a savage smile, he kicked the door open and threw away the sheath of his katana. A declaration that he would be killing with this blade. His guys got ready to kick in the door.

They let him have the honors. Raising the katana up, he slashed at the old iron door, his weapon cleaving through it like butter, and it fell to pieces.

Revealing L. "Finally. I thought you would never arrive," he said. His face was a blur to his optic, but he kept an organic one for this exact scenario. L looked like a punk kid. Young. Not in an eighty trying to look twenty kind of young, but teenager kind of young. His eyes flashed red, and Shiro's heart leapt to his throat when his ICE alerted him to a security breach.

"No- NO! NONONONONO-" Shiro whipped his head around to see Shoto, his prosthetic arm working of its own accord to put a gun against his temple. His eyes met Shiro's and he responded instantly, lashing out with his katana. Even as the gunshots of his guns echoed out as one, Shoto was spared when his prosthetic hit the ground.

Shoto fell on his ass while Shiro pivoted, lunging into the building with his blade drawn. Only for his legs to give out underneath him as thousands of volts of electricity coursed through him. He lost all control over his muscles, his eye blacking out. The only reason he was still alive, Shiro knew, was because of the Black Lace. "Y-you…!" Shiro gasped out as L calmly approached, his expression completely indifferent even as his eyes flashed blue, telling Shiro that he was on a call.

"Yeah, it's going fine for me," L responded to a question, leveling a gun at Shoto, who stupidly rushed into the building. Shiro gasped in horror when a bullet tore through his brain. "I'm mopping them up now. Sent out a mass daemon. Your part of the plan go well?"

Shiro stared in horror at the corpse of Shoto. His blood brother. Tears leaked out of his organic eye, his forehead pressed to the floor as he tried to swallow a sob. He wouldn't die crying. He wouldn't die begging.

"Good," L said, evidently relieved and it took everything that Shiro had to push himself on his back to glare defiantly up at L. Who only just now seemed to notice that he was alive. "The distraction worked then. We're ready to hit them," L continued.

A distraction.

L had wiped out most of the Tyger Claws as a distraction.

That didn't matter. What mattered… was this.

He spat at L, mostly missing him but a little got on his shorts. "I c-can't be-believe your g-gonk ass is wearing… motherfuckin' flip-flops," Shiro rasped out, feeling his body shut down. He counted it as a win when L looked down at him with annoyance.

"Everyone's a critic," he sighed, leveling the gun at his head and pulling the trigger.

…

The Tyger Claws were done for, I observed, stepping out of the building and wincing at the latest afternoon sun glaring into my eyes. I glanced up at the sky to see that it was mostly blue and I felt a thrill rush through me at the sight of it. A smile tugging at my lips. "It's the sky," I muttered, having seen it only once. By the time I woke up from my body falling prey to Night City's diseases, I had been stuck with a ceiling of acidic clouds.

Having access to their subnet made it extremely easy to mass tap into the Tyger Claws systems. The idea was pretty simple -- let them send in the grunts, who I wouldn't have easy access to. Then send a Synapses Burnout or Suicide for all the ones that had access to the subnet. Pretty sure I wouldn't get all of them, but that was fine. This was never really about the Tyger Claws in the first place.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" I asked, speaking to no one and everyone all at once. My smile grew when I was answered. An alert filtered across my optics that the guests of the hour had arrived. I walked forward, stepping up the rubble of a building and climbing on a crumbling roof to see them incoming. They were streaking across the sky and driving over ground -- airships and ground vehicles. A good number of them too. Most were Arasaka, I noticed. Which made sense as this was their city.

Arasaka wanted me dead. They tried to trap me with the HQ. Then they tried to trap me by attacking the Orphanages so brazenly. However, I saw their trap. And I imagine they knew I would, but they believed me so desperate that I would walk into the belly of the beast anyway.

On that mark, they were completely correct.

The issue was that they underestimated me. They underestimated what I was capable of. They underestimated the friends I made. Even now, when they realized how dangerous I had become, mobilizing a large chunk of their forces within the city, they still underestimated me.

"We have the medicine," I mused, bringing up my quickhack menu. Kiwi, and Falco had just stolen a shipping containers worth of meds. David, Lucy, and Becca would be hitting the Wayward Home for Girls. Jack and I would be hitting the Wayward Home for Boys. All that was left was setting the stage and commencing the operations. "I have enough PYM Particles. It wasn't the plan but it's not bad, M... A... T… everyone…"

I selected my quickhack. One that I had held in reserve for this moment. Cyberpsychosis. A quickhack that would make the targets lash out in a violent manner at everyone around them. A deadly thing when they were grouped up and armed to the fucking teeth just to kill me. I inputted it just behind the Skeleton Key.

My Cyberdeck was monstrous, which was why I called it the Typhon series. All that processing power and storage space… the Arasaka ICE wasn't weak. It really wasn't. It was honestly pretty good for what it was. Arasaka took its cybersecurity extremely seriously and that attitude was reflected in its soldiers, because they put every stop gap and obstacle they could up to stop exactly what I was doing.

It just didn't matter.

The airships began to drop from the sky, the tanks and vehicles started to either shoot at each other or explode outright. The small army that was sent to kill me began to slaughter each other.

And still, I smiled.

"It's time I got you all out of that hell hole."