Ghost in the City: Early Chapter 125 (Patreon)

Panam

“Sure could use a rocket launcher right about now, don’t you think?” The girl teased with a big smile that did not fit the circumstances.

“Oh shut up.” She snapped and grumbled even if Motoko was right… Sorta.

Half way through the morning a group of Raffen Shiv had started trailing them. Panam had hoped with how dangerous her baby looked to the average gonk that it would keep them away, but as the first hour passed being trailed more Raffen had joined up shadowing their route.

Looking at the horizon she grimaced. She recognized the trap that was coming. It wouldn’t be long now.

Panam put the pedal down, hoping the terrain and her suspension would get them away.

It hadn’t.

“Want me to take the turret?” Motoko asked suddenly, as she took a hard turn around a bend on the mix of desert and hills they were running through.

“No. They aren’t in range. It would be a waste of ammunition.”

“If we don’t have a choice but to fight, then we should find a flat ground. I’ll be able to help more then.” Motoko offered and Panam rolled her eyes, hitting the gas again to try and get some speed on this old dirt path.

“They are faster than us. Flat means they catch up.” She snapped, eyes looking up into the cameras to see how close they were getting.

Closer now.

“Yeah, but I can’t shoot them like this. Get us flat. I’ll let them know we have some fangs.” Panam looked over at the girl and instantly turned back to the road.

That smile was a little too bloodthirsty for a teenager.

“Stupid idea… Fine.” She growled. It wasn’t like she had a better one. She jerked her wheel, starting to climb up the dirt hill, her truck roaring as she felt the tires spin but eventually she got the traction and she managed to ford sideways up the hill.

Then she hit the top of the hill, and it flattened out as she turned off. She wasn’t going in the right direction anymore, but at least this area was flatter. Old roads criss-crossed this region. Most didn’t go anywhere anymore, but she landed on top of one, the slightly bumpy road not something her warhorse gave a shit about.

She gunned it. And from behind she watched one two, three. Then another three vehicles all come roaring over the same edge.

Looks like now that she wasn’t on the rocky twisting lower road it was time.

“They are coming for us now.”

“Yeah, finally.” The girl said, suddenly pulling her seatbelt as she started pulling the entire belt out of the system. Then she stilled, grabbing her Nekomata and seemingly taking a moment to figure something out and then she wrapped the seatbelt around her shoulder.

“What are you?” Panam managed before Motoko flashed her a smiled and  pushed open the passenger door. The flare of dust and grime was instant, and already making Panam want to kick the girl out the damn truck, but then she disappeared.

Panam’s jaw dropped, she looked over, seeing the girls chrome hand had grabbed onto the top door jam and remained latched onto the roof even if her hand was backwards.

“Motoko?” She asked as she heard the thump of the girl moving around on the roof of her baby.

“Scorpion what the fuck.” She hissed focusing back on the road now that her passenger could very easily be thrown off.

How was she even staying up there!?

A shot echoed from above and Panam felt her heart beating staccato actually picking up.

This kid…This kid was crazy! No wonder Scorpion liked her so much! Panam realized she had brought in someone truly out of their mind.

But she looked in her rear view. Where a Mizutani Shion with a hole in the Crystal Dome, was veering off, not quite losing control, but seemingly done with their pursuit.

Another shot and Panam watched another Raffen realize they might not have the range to hit us, but we could poke them just fine apparently.

The second car broke off, and then to her relief more and more cars broke, no more shots came. Instead a few moments after all of the Raffen broke off Motoko knocked on the roof and Panam realized that the passenger door being almost entirely closed had locked her out. Rolling her eyes, she let off the gas slowly, so the kid could get back inside without killing herself.

Reaching over once we slowed down to a more safe speed, she reached over and popped the passenger door open and managed to kick it all the way open, and then Motoko came rolling back inside. Face and hair covered in dust and grime from being up top, mouth closed, to hide the tooth filled smile she had before.

But the brat was still smirking.

“That was insane!”

“Eh. I’d give it like a solid eight on the cool shit I’ve done meter.” Was her reply. Panam looked over and then back to the road. She couldn’t help it. She snorted out an aborted laugh and just shook her head.

At least the insane kid was on her side.

—--

That night we were once again camping. Panam complaining about me jumping out of the cab had eventually died off and instead been replaced with a quiet sort of melancholy.

I was on the other hand pretty hyped up. The only thing that could have made that cooler was if I had my HMG. Nekomata was cool, but when it came to vehicle combat, stepping out with an HMG was on another level.

Despite the fire. Panam wasn’t cooking travel chili tonight. Just pulling out something prepackaged and eating it down once it was warmed on the fire.

Which meant I had to do the same with an XXL.

I sighed as I pulled the burrito off the pan and sniffed at it, nose crinkling at the rather unappetizing smell.

“Why bring so many if you don’t like them?” She asked and I just scoffed.

“My brother loves them, and we had a ton of them already. I didn’t have a lot of time to get food for the journey. Kinda glad I brought them. I would have brought a lot less food if I had to actually buy stuff, and I might be going hungry by now.”

“Nomad rules. Always bring way more food than you expect to eat.” She said before digging into the bag of steaming…

Nope. I don’t want to know.

That looked like bugs.

“Should get there sometimes tomorrow afternoon, unless we get chased again.”

“Think that’s going to happen?” I asked in turn, we hadn’t seen any sign of the Raffen once we sent them packing, but that didn’t mean everything.

“Maybe. They don’t like to go after difficult targets just like anyone but sometimes they might have to. Keep their group together, prove they are the strongest. That kind of shit.” Panam explained around a big crunchy bite of nope.

“Hmm.” I grumbled as I bit into my burrito. “I’ll keep watch tonight then. No, don't argue with me. I can stay up for days at a time if I have to without any issue. Sleep well, and I’ll make sure we don’t get snuck up on.”

Panam bit into her… nope. Yeah bag of nope that’s all I was going to process from that.

“Fine.” She grumbled and I nodded. Not long after as she squirmed into the tent I settled on top of the trucks roof and kept an eye and ear out.

—--

We made much better time the next day. The roads were still more guidelines than anything, but more and more of the spider web of roads were actually semi still together giving us longer and longer stretches where the Warhorse could really let loose.

“We should be there before the sun sets. Unless we make camp early.” Panam offered but the way we were both checking the horizon had already confirmed what the plan would be.

Twice we had seen nomad or Raffen vehicles on the horizon.

They could be following us, and we weren’t going to let them ambush us if that was the case.

I was doubly glad that my stats let me go without boredom because there wasn’t much to look at. Trees sometimes. Dirt sometimes.

Playing Eye Spy while traveling would just start with brown on every question.

It was that bad. It was almost heartbreaking to see the world so devastated. Fucking Cyberpunk. Bio Plagues and shit ruining everything.

I sighed a bit but kept lookout. Nothing I could do about it.

“And there she is.” Panam muttered and I looked away from the horizon around us to see the beginnings of Seattle out in the distance.

It wasn’t quite as flashy and full of lights as Night City. No massive advertisements in the sky, but it was a city.

“Finally.” I muttered a little sullenly. I was so ready for a shower. I had dirt and dust in places I didn’t want to think about. Anakin had it right. Fuck sand.

“It’s not so bad. You can’t be a nomad without enjoying the camping life.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t want to be a nomad then.” I grumbled at her, but I shook the irritation away. We weren’t out of danger yet. I pushed myself back into focus.

—--

“Yes we are here on business.” Panam repeated for the tenth time to the bored customs agent. We had been stopped on the highway into Seattle at a border checkpoint.

The fact the border was just a city border and yet was treated as important as a country border told me a lot about how Seattle saw itself within the ‘Free’ state.

I was bored. It wasn’t like I was the one in charge here. Looking around the dark barely air conditioned room, I noticed the most interesting thing was the flags painted on the wall.

First was the Pacific Northwest free state flag. It had faded over the years, but was still there.

Then in much fresher paint was the NUSA flag. Something they probably added after the Unification war ended.

Not that it had really done as it was stated. The Free States were still basically free just gave lip reading to the NUSA as their federal government.

And because of it Arasaka was back in Night City. Which had seceded from California entirely to become its own little city state.

As if Arasaka didn’t rule Night City.

I noted Panam adding some bills to her papers almost in aggravation and a moment later those bills were pocketed and we were sent on our way.

“Fucker.” She hissed as she finally climbed back into the Warhorse.

“Let’s be honest. A bribe was always going to be our path in.”

“Fucking bitch said the papers would get me in without trouble.” Panam argued as she slammed a fist into the steering wheel to let out some irritation before hitting the gas as we got the green light to leave the border and be allowed into Seattle.

Ice covered mountains, and large buildings. It was just like NC in a way. The same food, the same malaise.

I shrugged. Glad we were through, now we just had to drop off our delivery and our gig was complete.

“I’m going to find a motel to stay at.” Panam offered and I perked up instantly.

“Yes please!”

She laughed at me a bit as we drove in between the first of the big buildings. I could really use that shower.

—--

The motel we found was the same as every motel I had seen in Night City. Really there just wasn’t much difference. A bored attendant at the door, overpriced payment for basic things that we didn’t need. And thankfully a warm shower, if it wasn’t the cleanest place I’d ever been in.

After using up all the hot water I could and finally feeling sand free, I slipped into some fresh clothes, loaded up on my normal outfit, and headed over to Panam’s room.

“Hey I’m going to explore for a bit.” I called out after I knocked. I heard some thumping and Panam appeared at the door wearing basically the same thing I was, only she still had a towel in her hair.

She opened her mouth probably to argue but after a moment she stopped herself. “Be careful. This isn’t Night City. Things aren’t done the same way here.”

“I’m just going to wander around a bit. Maybe find a club and meet some locals. I’ve never been to Seattle before.”

“Like I said. This isn’t Night City. Police, gangs, everything is different.” She warned but I just nodded happily.

“I know! Exciting isn’t it?” I asked with a smirk that had her scoffing but she nodded.

“Be back tomorrow morning. We will have our drop off around noon.”

I just nodded as I walked away and then out of the motel, onto the mean streets of Seattle.

I took a moment as I hit the street level to just look around. First thing first. The entire city was less populated than Night City. Not by a huge degree. I mean there were quiet spots in Night city as well, but having spent so long in one city almost completely overpopulated you got a feel for it.

I turned and walked down the street. Street level wasn’t quite as bad as Night City with how many adverts were around, but it was still pretty bad. Very few sections of the street were dark. Leaving the whole place a diorama of neon lights on concrete.

Yet it was less populated. Instead of pushing through a horde of people moving one way or the other depending on the time of day. I only had a few people wandering past me.

My goal really was just to look around. As I wandered I realized that moving around a city without a car was kind of a pain in the ass. The side eye I gave a parked car only lasted a moment before I shook it off.

Casual theft was kinda rude. I preferred looting…

Ah, it would be hard to find some scavs or something here.

I groaned as I continued walking, just going down the street and seeing what was here. The whole city was laid bare. Surely something was happening around here?

—--

Liam Tremblay

“I already told you. We aren’t working for the rats. Put it out of your head.” He snapped at the continued questioning.

“C’mon Leem, Think of the edd’s!” Maria begged as she followed after him out onto the street from Habblock P10.

“Not going to happen Mary. The Rats are scum suckers. We won’t see nary a touch of the edd’s.”

“Uuuugh. They can’t betray everyone that wants to work for them Leem, if they do, then none will even want to!”

“I’m pretty sure they do betray everyone that wants to work with them. That’s why they are the rats.” Liam argued with a sigh running a hand through his barely styled hair. He had been up for hours trying to keep his little gang from going into the Rats.

“Piece of shit!” A voice cursed out as a loud thawk echoed through the alley and they both looked over to see a teen neither had ever seen before kicking the shit out of one of the drink vending machines for a moment. “Never should have given it any eddies!” The girl snapped as she continued to kick the ever living shit out of the machine.

“Who the fuck? Some outsider?” Mary asked and Liam shrugged. Definitely not a local. Her accent was all off, and she wasn’t anyone he had seen before.

She was armed though. A pistol on her back, and a knife. Chrome arms, fully on display, which was definitely a choice.

“Hey! Outsider bitch! Stop kicking our shit before I kick the shit out of you!” Mary called out as she stomped over. His red haired friend as always, quick to jump into shit at a moment's notice.

“Huh? Oh… Yeah, probably pointless.” She agreed and stepped back from her attack. “Hiya.”

“Yeah hiya ya too fucking-”

“Mary, let it go, she stopped.” Liam cut in, trying to keep Mary from picking another pointless fight. “Hey. This is Cougar Claw terf. I don’t know you, so you better clear off. Stop smacking up our shit.”

“Pfft.” The girl, despite keeping a flat face that was reddening a little let out the noise of a tire letting out air before faux coughing and shaking herself a little.

Was she fucking laughing at them? Liam felt his own quick temper lighting up. At the thought.

“The fuck you laughing at?”

“Sorry sorry! It’s just Cougar is slang where I come from… You know Cougars? Like older women that prey on-Yeah you don’t care, I just had that thought and it made me laugh a bit. Sorry. I’m sure your gang is preem. Don’t mind me.”

“I’ll show you just how much I mind!” Mary looked like she was going to start swinging but Liam quickly grabbed her.

“Let it go Mary. Let’s go, we have to deal with the Rats, don’t have time to deal with some random gonk.”

The girl wasn’t looking at Mary or Liam, he suddenly realized her high end optics were looking behind him. Kiroshi? He thought pointlessly as he turned and stopped cold. At the end of the street was a Villefort Alvarado. But that wasn’t what made Liam realize something was up.

Because the tags on the car were little cartoon rats.

The Rats were here.

“Fuck, Mary!” He demanded and she turned and noticed the same thing. The door opened and Boss Franco stepped out. A moment later one of the gonks stepped out and threw a long coat over his shoulders.

Of course he just had it thrown over and didn’t actually put his arms in. It was meant to hide his hands behind his back so he could shoot you without warning.

“Well well! If it isn’t Kitty Claw Liam! Come on boy. We got some chatting to do!” The older teenager called out and Liam felt frozen.

The only reason the Rats would be here is if someone from the gang had ratted Liam out. That he was going to refuse to be part of the Rats little gang group.

“Liam!”

“Get out of here Mary.” He whispered to her quietly, realizing what was about to go down.

“Fuck dat! I’m not gonna be a fucking Rat!” She snapped and Liam wanted to argue that running to save your life didn’t make you a rat. Especially when they were fucked.

He adjusted his jacket, loosening up so the holster of his Unity would be free. Hopefully…

Hopefully he could draw faster than Rat Bastard Franco. Fuck, even if he did that meant the SPD would be on his tail after. He didn’t have the eddies to make them stop caring like Franco did.

“I feel like a tumbleweed is about to cross over.” A voice behind him muttered and he scowled at the distraction but ignored it. He didn’t have time for the gonk outsider. Much less one that was likely about to be silenced after he was killed too.

He took four steps forward and stopped, putting the entrance to his block to his right, as the Rat continued sauntering over.

“I heard you ain’t happy with my offer! Now what part about it made you think it was something you could refuse in the first place?” Franco asked as he stopped a few feet away. His goons, all had shooters. All were ready for war, and here Liam was with just a pistol and Mary who didn’t even carry Iron.

Just a knife.

“What are you doing here Franco. It’s only been a couple hours, your message said we had a few days to discuss your offer.”

“That was before I heard you cut off your crew and told them you were refusing. Bad move little cat. See I want all of Ten to listen when I say something. That doesn’t mean some cats can tell me no.”

“The Cougar Claws are sti-”

“Pfft.” The noise of air escaping a tire came again from behind him, and he noticed that Franco wasn’t happy about it either. The man's eyes narrowed as he looked behind them.

Then he heard the sound of a can popping open.

He looked back and the girl was popping open a can of Orange Cybershock that she had gotten from the Vending machine.

Wasn’t that machine broken?

Once she took a sip she cleared her throat. “Sorry, don't mind me.”

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Some rando.” He responded back, but he knew Rat wouldn’t let it get away. So he didn’t say anything. Watching as Franco obviously considered how he was going to murder the girl.

“That’s a nasty glare there pal. You might want to put that away.” The girl said suddenly her own eyes locked onto the Rats.

This of course only sealed her fate.

“Yeah? You think some jumped up nobody bitch, has the right to tell me where I place my optics? How about I-”

“Bored now.” And Liam gasped, as within a single moment she had a gun in her hand. A Lexington, and despite Franco’s attempts to dodge she pulled the trigger and gun fire echoed through the alley.

Liam leapt away. The Rats guards would retaliate and they tried. He hit the ground hard and looked up in time to see the two men that had followed Franco into the alley raise their weapons only for them to click without any bang.

Then they were gunned down casually, with almost disinterest, the girl wandered over and put a few more bullets into them. Seemingly to make sure.

“Hey, you know of any Ramen joints around here?” He blinked as she walked over to him and kneeled down. Squating right in front of his face without seemingly a care in the world.

“Uh… huh?”

“Raaamen. Ramen. Noodles in broth. Tasty shit. You know of any places around here?”

“Umm. Yeah?”

“Great send me the deets ya?”

He scrambled to do so. He honestly wasn’t sure if she was threatening him with the way she was tapping the pistol on her knee, but he wasn’t going to find out.

“Hmm. That’s kinda far… Oh hey! New car!” She chirped as she walked over to the men, and pulled the car keys off the guard that drove Franco around.

He watched her go for a while. Bloody foot prints leading out of the alley with every step.

“H-hey!” Mary called out startling Liam as he noticed she had jumped into a bunch of trash to avoid getting shot too.

“Huh?” The girl called out turning.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before!”

“Yeah I’m just visiting, I’m from Night City!” She called out with a guileless smile as she waved a chrome arm over her head and turned back towards Franco’s car.

Which she promptly stole. Driving off.

“I’ve heard rumors about people from Night City.” Mary said, looking to Liam, and he just nodded.

If that was the level of Night City teens, he was suddenly feeling even less confident than before.