(CP Fic) View to a Kill 1.1
Okay, I suppose that I should make some disclaimers and ownership thingies.
There are three characters that are (c) Alarielle and one that is (c) Thurifuge so watch for them.
Part 1: Between the Shades, Assassination Standing Still
(August 13th, 2016) 'Kyr i Vikati' Turf, Combat Zone, Night City, California
THUD!
The sound echoed around the room, a sense of finality in that single sound. Another battle lost, another bruise to her pride and her body. But still she tried, getting up time after time, determination making her grit her teeth and ignore her body screaming at her to stop. She couldn't deny that every time she went down, it was that bit harder to get up but she couldn't, wouldn't give up.
Alexa took her stance again, her face a mask of hate as she tried to focus on the hands and body of her attacker. Looking him directly in the eye, she waits for his next move. Before she realises it, he is moving. A fist is flying towards her solar plexus. She blocks the fist, moving out of the way. He follows up with punch after punch, trying to land a strike on any part of her body that he could. Time slowed for her as she watched herself dodge attack after attack. But something was wrong. The scene was changing too fast. A nerve at the back of her ankle screamed and she was no longer looking at her opponent. She saw the wall change into ceiling as she went down yet another time. She had failed again, and it had been going to well. She landed hard again, breath knocked out of her body. Her muscles burned as lactic acid flared. She was tired, drained. Panting, she stayed down this time, closing her eyes, mentally banishing the pain. When she opened them, Rage was standing above her, offering her a hand.
"Not bad."
She took his hand, all the time examining his face for traces of a lie. It had become standard for her to do it and to be honest she kind of regretted the fact that she now did it almost subconsciously. At least this time there was nothing but sincerity in Rage's face. She smiled, her chest heaving a little too much to force out the words to thank him. Taking Rage's hand he helped her to her feet, making sure she was okay before beckoning for the next sparring partner.
She passed Kern as she made her way to the bench. Sitting down, she watched Kern limber up, swinging his shoulders, twisting this way and that before cracking his neck. Rage watched with an amused expression on his face.
"You know that's not going to help, little brother!"
"You won't be laughing when I knock you on your ass, big brother!"
The testosterone could have been cut with a knife. She looked over to Hope, to see her rolling her eyes at the male bonding and macho attitudes of the two guys. Both guys were circling each other, watching for who was going to make the first move. Rage feinted, but Kern didn't rise to the bait. A quick shot was deftly parried and the circling continued. Alexa just wanted to shout at them to start the match already. Kern feinted, but unknowingly left himself open for an attack. Rage took the opportunity and went for the kidney shot. Kern realised at the last second and dodged, barely. Punch after punch, strike after strike was parried, blocked or dodged. They were evenly matched, or so it seemed. She suspected that Rage was holding back, letting his little brother think that he was better than he was. Rage tried to sweep Kern's foot out from under him but Kern jumped out of the way, using the opportunity to use a roundhouse kick against his opponent. Rage saw it coming and ducked, grabbing the foot and driving a punch into the nerve cluster of Kern's thigh. Rage pushed Kern using the captured foot. Kern lost his balance and skidded across the wooden floor on his ass. Spinning he back flipped up to his feet again, or tried to. The leg that Rage had hit went down leaving Kern on one knee. Pushing up, Kern gets to his feet, one leg slightly off the ground and rubbing the sore spot. Rage takes advantage of the momentary distraction and launches an attack. Kern had been counting on that and dropped ducking under the flying kick that Rage had been planning and coming up with lightening speed behind Rage. He got in two quick kidney strikes and was going for a throat strike as soon as Rage turned. Rage spun around so fast, one leg extended slightly and hooked Kern's leg. Kern hit the ground before he realised that he was falling. Rage grabbed one of Kern's arms and put it in a lock while simultaneously placing a foot on his chest. Kern was beaten and he knew it. Alexa saw his face and the look of intense disappointment that was written clearly on it. Rage was good, very good. She wondered if Kern would ever beat his brother. After all, Rage was a soldier, trained and tested in the fires of the SouthAm war, whereas Kern had grown up on the streets of Night City picking his fights carefully. Rage helped Kern to his feet, slapping him on the back, telling him that it had been a good fight and that he had almost gotten him with the final move. Kern seemed to forget all the hurt feelings and wounded pride and took the compliment for what it was.
He was limping slightly as he walked over to the bench where Alexa was sitting. Alexa gave him a comforting hug as he sat down beside her. Kern wrapped his arm around her and gave her a quick kiss. It had surprised Alexa when she realised that she had fallen in love with Kern without noticing. Ever since she had come to this Godforsaken city, he had been there, always close in case she needed him. At first she thought that it was because she was alone and in need of a friend but when she thought about it, she was feeling much the same range of feelings that she had felt when she started going out with Luka, except it was stronger with Kern. It had been a natural progression from friend to lovers for the pair and neither were looking back. It was hard to find someone you could rely on in Night City, let alone someone who wouldn't throw in the towel when the shit hit the fan. She knew she was lucky and she wasn't going to let him get away.
She sat leaning against him, thinking, as Hope got to her feet. Alexa was looking forward to this fight. While Kern could only be classed as a Street-Samurai, a militarily untrained street fighter, Hope was a soldier, just like Rage. What Rage made up in strength, Hope made up in agility. The winner in these fights was never clear until one was on the ground and forced to concede.
Hope was stripping off her jogging pants and sweatshirt, leaving her only in black spandex training gear. She was stretching slightly she turned to her audience and smiled. She walked, catlike, out to the training area. Without warning, she leaped at Rage. Rage was knocked him to the ground. Hoped landed on him, but rolled off quickly. She spun to face him. She saw that he had moved. She kicked out at him. Nothing but air. Rage lashed out. He was ready to hit her but she dodged. She was moving closer and locking his arm before he realised it. She elbowed him in the throat, forcing him backwards. She lashed out at his knee and hit him just below it.
Rage was going down. Hope watched. She was moving even before he fell face first to the ground. As the floor came closer and closer, Rage spun, breaking his fall.
Without looking, he struck out with a foot. Hope back flipped away. She landed in a perfect fighting stance. Rage spun, rolling to protect anything that may be vulnerable while taking stock of the situation. Hope was out of range. He flipped to his feet, taking a mirrored fighting stance. Both combatants were smiling ferally, waiting for the other to make a move.
Then, as if some agreed upon signal had been sounded, they both launched themselves at each other. Punches! Strikes! Blocks! Parries! Each move was made with lightning speed. They put everything they had into the fight.
They may have been married, but that never stopped them during practice. The speed of the attacks was incredible. The movements barely started before they were blocked.
Then, suddenly, instead of blocking, Hope ducked. She swept Rage's leg. Rage overbalanced. He had not expected the move. Hope caught him. Throwing him, he went sailing over her head to land on the ground. Hope back flipped. She landing with a foot on his throat. Rage caught her foot, pushing it away. Hope toppled.
The only landing spot available was on top of Rage. Both of them lay there for a second, panting hard, Hope lying on top of Rage. Rage moved to caress her but she caught the arm and locked it so he couldn't move. The other arm whipped around Rage's throat. Rage struggled but she used her weight to keep him down and immobilized until he hit her arm twice in submission, to be released from her hold. She placed a kiss on the tip of his nose before getting up, releasing her opponent.
She helped Rage to his feet, pulling him into a steamy embrace once he was standing. Alexa could tell that their adrenalin levels were still high and guessed how they were going to solve the problem. She also knew that if she and Kern didn't leave now, they would more than likely be treated to a show that she didn't particularly want to see. Nudging Kern she nodded towards the door and silently they made their exit, leaving the over-sexed pair to whatever they were going to do.
"Did you see how she took him down, that was magnificent. I could never get away with that, he'd see it coming a mile off, but she did it."
Kern kept talking about the fight, revelling in the fact that his brother got taken down by Hope in a move that Rage himself often uses. Alexa knew that Kern wanted to be as hard, as tough as his brother but there was 8 years in age and 2 years hard combat experience in the difference, which Kern knew, but didn't accept fully. She knew it wouldn't do Kern any good to dwell on it. She knew he stood in his brothers shadow, but she was afraid that he would do something one day to get out of it, something dangerous that would get him killed. Planning her action carefully, she pushed him back against the wall and distracted him with a kiss. Just as she suspected, it worked. Turning she walked down the corridor. Like a tame puppy, Kern followed hoping for more. Hope is a great teacher, Alexa reflected, entering the apartment she shared with Kern. Almost before the door closed, passion and adrenalin took over, painting the world with a rosy tint.
...
Alexa lay in bed, the warm arm of her lover wrapped around her, his warm body at her back. She listened to the sound of his regular breathing. Nothing else stirred in the small apartment. Voices occasionally travelled in from the street but she could not make out what they were saying. She often lay awake long after Kern had fallen asleep, using the time to think, reflect. A whirlwind of thoughts spun in her mind, hopes, dreams, memories all cluttered together, mingling into one another until they were impossible to untangle. She couldn't help but think back over the past few months and reflect on what had brought her to this place, to this moment in time.
She had wanted to make things easier on her parents and decided to go to the big city to stay with her big sister, Ana, but things had turned nasty when Dusk, her sister's boyfriend decided that having one submissive sister was not enough. She had fought him but was losing until someone had distracted Dusk allowing her to strike a final blow that knocked him out before fainting herself. She had awoken in the apartment of the gang leader and his wife. She confronted her sister about her boyfriend but Ana ran rather than face up to it. Alexa had offered her a chance to get out of it and Rage, the leader of Kyr i Vikati, a russian gang had backed her up, but in the end, she had opted to go with Dusk, turning her back on her sister. So with no friends, no family and no where to go, she took the one offer of help that was extended to her. Kern, little brother of Rage, offered her a place to sleep for the night. She had been miserable for the next few days, focusing only on how Ana had turned her back on her but Kern stayed beside her. She had felt guilty that she hadn't noticed Kern during her confrontation with Dusk, even though he had been standing beside Rage, or when she woke up after the fight. The first time that she had noticed him was when he put himself between Dusk and herself when Dusk came to demand what he thought was rightfully his. He had been knocked out when Dusk pushed him aside. She felt terrible about that. She had determined that night to make it up to him, but had found herself sinking into depression as she thought more about her predicament. It had been Kern again who saved her, distracting her from her life, showing her around Night City. He showed her all the sights, Corp Plaza where the money lived, Shopping Malls the like of which she had never seen, the seedier underbelly of Night City that kept the shinier public side working, local hotspots, clubs, everything. It was a totally different world than what she had been expecting but it was fascinating. As time went on, she thought less about Ana only thinking about it when she saw her on the street, or when Dusk had business with Rage.
She thought back to the first trip that Kern had taken her on.
(July 1st, 2016) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
It was an underworld bring and buy sale of everything the other side of legal and the place to go if you were looking for something. She remembered him dragging her down an unending maze of streets, turning this way and that down streets that looked the same, occasionally backtracking when he made a wrong turn. Eventually they turned out into the ruins of an abandoned shopping mall. Looking around, Alexa made out some old brand labels still advertising products long gone off the market. Half the mall was collapsed in on itself, leaving some half standing rooms filled with rubble. Some kids had gotten in and spray-painted the sides of the building, long lines of tags running along the crumbling concrete structure in purples, golds and blues. Names and gang tags decorated the inside of the defunct shopping mall as well as the outside, Alexa noticed as Kern led her into the building. As they walked down the entry corridor, she noticed a lot of people standing around watching everyone that was going by. Kern had nodded to one of the big guys propped against the wall and walked forward. They had only just left the corridor when they had heard noises behind them. Turning she had seen a small, ratty looking man being thrown out of the building. Kern had not registered any surprise at their actions so Alexa masked her feelings with an impassive face. Showing anything was a sign of weakness in this city. Kern touched her arm and she followed him into the building, watching him nod or swap polite small talk to the people here.
Alexa was so busy looking around her that she had not noticed that she was about to walk into someone until it was too late. She came to a sudden stop, stumbling back a few steps to regain her balance. Shivers ran down her spine as she looked at the woman standing in front of her. She had been a few inches taller than Alexa's own 6 foot. Long, black hair flowed down her back, whipping around as she turned to look at Alexa. The woman was wearing a PVC cat suit that covered her from her neck to her feet, melding into six-inch stiletto boots seamlessly. Although it covered everything, the suit left little to the imagination. Looking up, Alexa stared into her face. The coldest smile she had ever seen sat on that face, as the woman sized her up. Alexa felt like she was being weighed up like spice in a market. Kern wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a little comfort.
"Nikki, nice to see you again!" Kern said, making Nikki break her eye contact with Alexa.
"Kern ... Nice girl you got there," she said smiling. "I'll give you EB500 for her, I got a client into that country girl look!"
Kern seemed to consider this before saying, "Nah, I think I'll keep this one. I kinda like her!"
"Well, you know where to come if you change your mind, honey!"
With that, she turned and walked away flawlessly on what Alexa considered impossibly high shoes. Eyes blazing, she turned to face Kern and have a talk to him about considering to sell her.
"She liked you!" Kern said, watching Nikki leave.
"What? And how could you think of selling me to that ... that ..."
"Pleasure Slave trader?!" Kern filled in the blank. "You know she usually doesn't pay for her girls. She must have really liked you, or me, but more likely you."
Kern was rambling on a little as he started off again, bringing Alexa with him. Alexa was speechless. She had realised what the woman probably was, but it was another thing actually finding out that she was right. Questions tripped over each other in a rush to get asked but would not form an orderly queue. She put them off until later, still shocked at what had happened. They walked deeper into the Bizarre until they found one of the stalls that they were looking for. Kern had spend the whole time pointing out people and telling Alexa who they were, showing her who to avoid and who could be useful if the need arose. They had entered another wing of the building, passing some security guards on the way and were now surrounded on all sides by guns, knives and exotic looking weapons. Kern seemed to be looking for someone in particular and once he spotted him, he walked slowly over, pretending that he didn't want to see him. To Alexa and probably anyone else watching, he was totally transparent. She hung back, checking out a nearby stand and listening in on the conversation.
"Heya Mike!" He started off cordially.
"Do I know you kid?" The guy, Mike, seemed unimpressed.
"No, but if you play your cards right, this could be a very profitable day for you."
Mike looked around, laughing, "See all these people? This is already a profitable day for me! Shove off, kid, I got work to do?"
"I'm looking for some Militech Ronin's." Kern persisted, picking up one of the guns from the stand.
Mike turned to face Kern, sizing him up, "I can't sell you them, kid, you'd probably blow your foot off."
"I could beat you in a gun fight any day!"
"Who taught you how to fire a gun, son." Mike asked, not quite sure of what to make of the smart assed kid.
"The USMC, down in SouthAm."
Alexa sighed, thinking 'Why the hell did he say something like that. Back away from it Kern, drop it now, while you still can.'
"You, in SouthAm? What did you do, lie about your age when you were 10?" Mike couldn't stop laughing at the idea.
Kern could not let this drop. "Yeah, I was in the front of the battle for Casa del Rei Ridge."
Mike stopped laughing abruptly, "I had friends that died in that battle, fuck off before I show you what these guns can really do!"
"But ..."
Mike took out a bit of paper and wrote on it, handing it over to Kern. Smiling he added, "Here ya go kid, they will sell you the guns."
Kern looked at it, "Go to hell!"
He crumpled up the paper and threw it back at the guy.
He stormed out past the security guards, cursing loudly. Alexa waited for a minute and then followed him. When she found him, he was trying to kick his way through a concrete block, cursing his own stupidity. Alexa sat down, nearby and waits for him to stop. It took a few minutes but finally he stopped calling himself an idiot and sat down beside her.
"What the hell am I gonna do now, Lex? I said I would get the guns!" Kern looked miserable.
"Give me the money and five minutes to set up and I'll see what I can do?"
Kern handed over the money and wondered what she was going to do as he watched her wander off in the opposite direction. Alexa sneaked past him on the way back. Her hair was now different as was her makeup. She wore different clothes, a mixture of greys and oranges bought for a few dollars at a different stall. She walked slowly and deliberately around the stalls, before finally walking back over to Mike. She listened for a few minutes, pretending to check out the merchandise.
"I don't care about the reliability rating, the blasted thing blew up in my hand!" The guy with Bon-Jovi style hair and a bandaged hand was ranting at Mike.
"Look, mate, this is a COLT AMT, these do not blow up! But I'll tell you what, John, how about I give you another one?" Mike was trying to appease the irate customer.
"Okay, I guess that would be okay!"
When he was done, Alexa moved closer to Mike, getting his attention and whispered in his ear, with a thick Spanish accent, that she needed to obtain some guns for her gang. Mike nodded, looking her up and down as she pretended not to notice the pig-like eyes running over her body.
"So what will you be needing?"
"I heard a guy in here earlier was looking for Ronins. He is really for a rival gang and if they are buying them, we want them too."
"Okay, seems fair enough! You wanna inspect the merchandise?"
"Si, that would be good!"
Mike brought her to the back of the stall and opened various boxes, closing them again, until he found the right one. He lifted out the rifle and handed it to her. Thanks to the bit of training that Kern had given her, she made it look like she knew what she was doing. She ran her eyes over its hard black curves, checking out every inch. Suddenly, she started screaming in Spanish, cursing Mike for his treachery. He looked taken aback but a crowd was gathering. Alexa played to the audience.
"This bastard wants to trick me into buying guns with the serial number still attached!" She shared with the crowd and showing them the gun so they could examine it with their own eyes.
"Their must have been some mistake ..." Mike started to splutter out excuses. "I didn't ..."
"As soon as I handed over the money, he probably would have the pigs following me and take me in. They would probably pay him a reward too ... Bastard is getting paid twice and he probably gets them back to sell them again." Alexa spat in his general direction.
Under her breath, she whispered, "How much for the guns?"
Mike looked shocked but managed to stammer out, "EB300 each".
"You can do better than that!" Alexa muttered before raising her voice to denounce his motives again.
"Okay, EB150 each! Just make this go away!"
"EB125 and you got a deal!"
"Fine, but make it go away!"
Alexa nodded and smiled. "I say we examine the rest of his stuff and see what else is coded!"
A few members of the crowd came forward and looked in some of the boxes looking for more with serial numbers. They came up empty.
Turning to the crowd, she said, "Maybe I was too quick to judge, but when it comes to family one can't be too careful."
Nods and ascents came from the crowd. She walked over to him and publically apologised asking his forgiveness for such a harsh statement, leaving him in a position that he could do nothing else. The crowd slowly started to disappate as Alexa handed over the money and dragged the case of guns after her.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Mike!" she said, still in a Spanish accent.
"What's your name girl?" Mike asked, he was trying for casual but failed miserably.
"Theresa Miguel, of the Sharks!"
Alexa turned quickly hiding a smile as she walked out of the crowded collection of stalls, with money still in her pocket. She passed the last of the security guards and saw Kern sitting on the bench where he had been. He took no notice of her until she is standing right in front of him. Suddenly, he realized that it was Alexa standing in front of him.
"Wait here!" she said, leaving him with the box of guns, rushing off.
A few minutes later, she had returned and was wearing what she had come in with. She looked a totally different person to the woman he had seen a few minutes ago.
"How? Why? Huh?!" Kern looked confused.
"I'll tell you later. Here's the money thats left over," she said handing back a cred chip.
Kern continued to be confused for a second until she started off again. He noticed that her manner had changed, it was becoming more confident, more at ease with this place. He wondered how she had managed to get the guns, but on another level he didn't care really. They had them and that was the important thing. He mentally checked them off his list before deciding where to go next. Grabbing Alexa's hand, he led her to the next stall. They had to get some tech stuff for the guys at home. Kern had no idea what the stuff was but, he figured that while they were here, he might as well pick it up. Spotting someone he knew, he wandered over.
Alexa looked around, still excited about her dealings a few minutes ago. She had been good. She was glad that she had remembered a trick that her father used long ago. She had slipped the product registration barcode stickers into her pocket before she had left this morning, just in case they had been stopped on the way home so that they could pretend that they were simply couriers transporting legal guns. But when she had examined the gun, she slipped one onto it in the right place and kicked up a storm. She was almost high on her success, but forced herself to calm down and watch how Kern was handling the negotiations for spare parts. She recognized some of them from the warehouse, but he seemed to be dealing with it okay. She looked around, taking in everything. Something unusual caught her attention.
She blinked, trying to figure out if she really saw what she thought she saw. A black tail whipped angrily from side to side of the feline. This would not have been unusual except if you consider that this feline was over six feet tall and standing on two feet. She was dressed in little more than straps covering the essentials. Beside her was a huge guy, from the look of him, a techie. They were arguing with a guy. She listened in. They were talking about payment.
"Come on, I did that job fair and square, now pay up!" The man smiled, even though she was sure that he didn't feel like smiling.
"Well, you see, after you left we found a problem with it. The whole thing came crashing down."
"Bullshit!"
Alexa tuned the conversation out. Her eye caught a flicker of purple movement. Turning she saw a small child wandering among stalls. She thought it very strange that a child would be in such a place. The child picked up one or two pieces from a stall, before settling down under the table. She took a few tools out from the pockets of her clothing and started working on something. Alexa watched her work, oblivious to everything around her. The child looked carefully at each part of the device she created and seemingly happy, pulled a battery out of her pocket and slotted it into place. The device started to glow with a small purple light, twinkling in various patterns. She started to place it back on the table. The stall owner reached out to take the piece from her but she dropped it before he came near, cowering away from the contact. She wandered on again.
Alexa heard rather than saw a commotion where the large cat had been. Both the cat and the guy with her, were searching for something. The techie seemed to be going frantic calling for someone at the top of his lungs. The cat, on the other hand, was silent. Alexa saw her stalking through the crowd, as if hunting.
"SANSYGH!"
The kid turned around as if looking for the voice in the crowd. Alexa watched a figure come up behind the kid and snatch her up, looking around. The man looked arabic in his appearance. Alexa elbowed Kern and pointed to where the Arab was backing away from the crowd.
"We gotta stop him!" Alexa said.
"Shit!" Kern spat out the curse, his face betraying the fact that he recognized the child.
Kern ran towards the Arab and his captured prize, changing course at the last minute. He was going to end up behind the kidnapper. Alexa ran, playing a hunch. She ran to the cat and pointed towards the direction the man was taking the child.
"She's over there!"
The feline nodded and stalked off in the direction that Alexa had sent her. When Alexa looked back, the would-be kidnapper was on the ground and Kern was cradling his hand. The child was curled up on the floor. Alexa watched as the concerned techie scooped her up and turned her so she wasn't looking at her kidnapper any more. He was quietly soothing her, walking away from the scene. As soon as the Arab was on his feet, the cat aimed a savage kick at his throat. Alexa hadn't noticed before but the heels of her boots actually had knives embedded in them. The guys throat was ripped open and blood sprayed the wall behind him. Not a drop touched the cat. She dropped, taking in the whole scene before getting up and walking over to her partner and the recovered child.
"I'll take her home now, finish up here. If he won't pay up, give me a call and I will finish the negotiations."
With that the cat took the small girl from the techie and walked off towards the exit. The techie turned and looked over at Kern and Alexa, now standing side by side and nodded his thanks before going back to conclude his business dealings.
“Who are they?” Alexa asked, looking at the dead Arabian kidnapper being pulled away by two other men in a similar style of dress, his friends she assumed, as they did not look like Bizarre security.
“Dunno,” answered Kern, “But they picked on the wrong people.”
Alexa nodded as her eyes rested on the streak of blood leading off to a hidden section of the shopping mall. She still could not understand why they had brought a child to the Bizarre, a place where they had to know that the scum of the earth visited on a regular basis. But adopting the Night City mentality, she thought to herself,None of my business! and continued picking up items needed by the gang, filing the whole encounter away as yet another dark reminder of how brutal and deadly this city of living nightmares could be.
Alexa turned in the bed, facing Kern's sleeping face and kissed him gently on the lips before closing her eyes and letting sleep capture her and the cluttered web of dreams, showing what should have been, take her away from the harsh realm of reality. As Night City released them from its tight grip, their bodies moved closer echoing the closeness that they felt for each other.
There are three characters that are (c) Alarielle and one that is (c) Thurifuge so watch for them.
Part 1: Between the Shades, Assassination Standing Still
(August 13th, 2016) 'Kyr i Vikati' Turf, Combat Zone, Night City, California
THUD!
The sound echoed around the room, a sense of finality in that single sound. Another battle lost, another bruise to her pride and her body. But still she tried, getting up time after time, determination making her grit her teeth and ignore her body screaming at her to stop. She couldn't deny that every time she went down, it was that bit harder to get up but she couldn't, wouldn't give up.
Alexa took her stance again, her face a mask of hate as she tried to focus on the hands and body of her attacker. Looking him directly in the eye, she waits for his next move. Before she realises it, he is moving. A fist is flying towards her solar plexus. She blocks the fist, moving out of the way. He follows up with punch after punch, trying to land a strike on any part of her body that he could. Time slowed for her as she watched herself dodge attack after attack. But something was wrong. The scene was changing too fast. A nerve at the back of her ankle screamed and she was no longer looking at her opponent. She saw the wall change into ceiling as she went down yet another time. She had failed again, and it had been going to well. She landed hard again, breath knocked out of her body. Her muscles burned as lactic acid flared. She was tired, drained. Panting, she stayed down this time, closing her eyes, mentally banishing the pain. When she opened them, Rage was standing above her, offering her a hand.
"Not bad."
She took his hand, all the time examining his face for traces of a lie. It had become standard for her to do it and to be honest she kind of regretted the fact that she now did it almost subconsciously. At least this time there was nothing but sincerity in Rage's face. She smiled, her chest heaving a little too much to force out the words to thank him. Taking Rage's hand he helped her to her feet, making sure she was okay before beckoning for the next sparring partner.
She passed Kern as she made her way to the bench. Sitting down, she watched Kern limber up, swinging his shoulders, twisting this way and that before cracking his neck. Rage watched with an amused expression on his face.
"You know that's not going to help, little brother!"
"You won't be laughing when I knock you on your ass, big brother!"
The testosterone could have been cut with a knife. She looked over to Hope, to see her rolling her eyes at the male bonding and macho attitudes of the two guys. Both guys were circling each other, watching for who was going to make the first move. Rage feinted, but Kern didn't rise to the bait. A quick shot was deftly parried and the circling continued. Alexa just wanted to shout at them to start the match already. Kern feinted, but unknowingly left himself open for an attack. Rage took the opportunity and went for the kidney shot. Kern realised at the last second and dodged, barely. Punch after punch, strike after strike was parried, blocked or dodged. They were evenly matched, or so it seemed. She suspected that Rage was holding back, letting his little brother think that he was better than he was. Rage tried to sweep Kern's foot out from under him but Kern jumped out of the way, using the opportunity to use a roundhouse kick against his opponent. Rage saw it coming and ducked, grabbing the foot and driving a punch into the nerve cluster of Kern's thigh. Rage pushed Kern using the captured foot. Kern lost his balance and skidded across the wooden floor on his ass. Spinning he back flipped up to his feet again, or tried to. The leg that Rage had hit went down leaving Kern on one knee. Pushing up, Kern gets to his feet, one leg slightly off the ground and rubbing the sore spot. Rage takes advantage of the momentary distraction and launches an attack. Kern had been counting on that and dropped ducking under the flying kick that Rage had been planning and coming up with lightening speed behind Rage. He got in two quick kidney strikes and was going for a throat strike as soon as Rage turned. Rage spun around so fast, one leg extended slightly and hooked Kern's leg. Kern hit the ground before he realised that he was falling. Rage grabbed one of Kern's arms and put it in a lock while simultaneously placing a foot on his chest. Kern was beaten and he knew it. Alexa saw his face and the look of intense disappointment that was written clearly on it. Rage was good, very good. She wondered if Kern would ever beat his brother. After all, Rage was a soldier, trained and tested in the fires of the SouthAm war, whereas Kern had grown up on the streets of Night City picking his fights carefully. Rage helped Kern to his feet, slapping him on the back, telling him that it had been a good fight and that he had almost gotten him with the final move. Kern seemed to forget all the hurt feelings and wounded pride and took the compliment for what it was.
He was limping slightly as he walked over to the bench where Alexa was sitting. Alexa gave him a comforting hug as he sat down beside her. Kern wrapped his arm around her and gave her a quick kiss. It had surprised Alexa when she realised that she had fallen in love with Kern without noticing. Ever since she had come to this Godforsaken city, he had been there, always close in case she needed him. At first she thought that it was because she was alone and in need of a friend but when she thought about it, she was feeling much the same range of feelings that she had felt when she started going out with Luka, except it was stronger with Kern. It had been a natural progression from friend to lovers for the pair and neither were looking back. It was hard to find someone you could rely on in Night City, let alone someone who wouldn't throw in the towel when the shit hit the fan. She knew she was lucky and she wasn't going to let him get away.
She sat leaning against him, thinking, as Hope got to her feet. Alexa was looking forward to this fight. While Kern could only be classed as a Street-Samurai, a militarily untrained street fighter, Hope was a soldier, just like Rage. What Rage made up in strength, Hope made up in agility. The winner in these fights was never clear until one was on the ground and forced to concede.
Hope was stripping off her jogging pants and sweatshirt, leaving her only in black spandex training gear. She was stretching slightly she turned to her audience and smiled. She walked, catlike, out to the training area. Without warning, she leaped at Rage. Rage was knocked him to the ground. Hoped landed on him, but rolled off quickly. She spun to face him. She saw that he had moved. She kicked out at him. Nothing but air. Rage lashed out. He was ready to hit her but she dodged. She was moving closer and locking his arm before he realised it. She elbowed him in the throat, forcing him backwards. She lashed out at his knee and hit him just below it.
Rage was going down. Hope watched. She was moving even before he fell face first to the ground. As the floor came closer and closer, Rage spun, breaking his fall.
Without looking, he struck out with a foot. Hope back flipped away. She landed in a perfect fighting stance. Rage spun, rolling to protect anything that may be vulnerable while taking stock of the situation. Hope was out of range. He flipped to his feet, taking a mirrored fighting stance. Both combatants were smiling ferally, waiting for the other to make a move.
Then, as if some agreed upon signal had been sounded, they both launched themselves at each other. Punches! Strikes! Blocks! Parries! Each move was made with lightning speed. They put everything they had into the fight.
They may have been married, but that never stopped them during practice. The speed of the attacks was incredible. The movements barely started before they were blocked.
Then, suddenly, instead of blocking, Hope ducked. She swept Rage's leg. Rage overbalanced. He had not expected the move. Hope caught him. Throwing him, he went sailing over her head to land on the ground. Hope back flipped. She landing with a foot on his throat. Rage caught her foot, pushing it away. Hope toppled.
The only landing spot available was on top of Rage. Both of them lay there for a second, panting hard, Hope lying on top of Rage. Rage moved to caress her but she caught the arm and locked it so he couldn't move. The other arm whipped around Rage's throat. Rage struggled but she used her weight to keep him down and immobilized until he hit her arm twice in submission, to be released from her hold. She placed a kiss on the tip of his nose before getting up, releasing her opponent.
She helped Rage to his feet, pulling him into a steamy embrace once he was standing. Alexa could tell that their adrenalin levels were still high and guessed how they were going to solve the problem. She also knew that if she and Kern didn't leave now, they would more than likely be treated to a show that she didn't particularly want to see. Nudging Kern she nodded towards the door and silently they made their exit, leaving the over-sexed pair to whatever they were going to do.
"Did you see how she took him down, that was magnificent. I could never get away with that, he'd see it coming a mile off, but she did it."
Kern kept talking about the fight, revelling in the fact that his brother got taken down by Hope in a move that Rage himself often uses. Alexa knew that Kern wanted to be as hard, as tough as his brother but there was 8 years in age and 2 years hard combat experience in the difference, which Kern knew, but didn't accept fully. She knew it wouldn't do Kern any good to dwell on it. She knew he stood in his brothers shadow, but she was afraid that he would do something one day to get out of it, something dangerous that would get him killed. Planning her action carefully, she pushed him back against the wall and distracted him with a kiss. Just as she suspected, it worked. Turning she walked down the corridor. Like a tame puppy, Kern followed hoping for more. Hope is a great teacher, Alexa reflected, entering the apartment she shared with Kern. Almost before the door closed, passion and adrenalin took over, painting the world with a rosy tint.
...
Alexa lay in bed, the warm arm of her lover wrapped around her, his warm body at her back. She listened to the sound of his regular breathing. Nothing else stirred in the small apartment. Voices occasionally travelled in from the street but she could not make out what they were saying. She often lay awake long after Kern had fallen asleep, using the time to think, reflect. A whirlwind of thoughts spun in her mind, hopes, dreams, memories all cluttered together, mingling into one another until they were impossible to untangle. She couldn't help but think back over the past few months and reflect on what had brought her to this place, to this moment in time.
She had wanted to make things easier on her parents and decided to go to the big city to stay with her big sister, Ana, but things had turned nasty when Dusk, her sister's boyfriend decided that having one submissive sister was not enough. She had fought him but was losing until someone had distracted Dusk allowing her to strike a final blow that knocked him out before fainting herself. She had awoken in the apartment of the gang leader and his wife. She confronted her sister about her boyfriend but Ana ran rather than face up to it. Alexa had offered her a chance to get out of it and Rage, the leader of Kyr i Vikati, a russian gang had backed her up, but in the end, she had opted to go with Dusk, turning her back on her sister. So with no friends, no family and no where to go, she took the one offer of help that was extended to her. Kern, little brother of Rage, offered her a place to sleep for the night. She had been miserable for the next few days, focusing only on how Ana had turned her back on her but Kern stayed beside her. She had felt guilty that she hadn't noticed Kern during her confrontation with Dusk, even though he had been standing beside Rage, or when she woke up after the fight. The first time that she had noticed him was when he put himself between Dusk and herself when Dusk came to demand what he thought was rightfully his. He had been knocked out when Dusk pushed him aside. She felt terrible about that. She had determined that night to make it up to him, but had found herself sinking into depression as she thought more about her predicament. It had been Kern again who saved her, distracting her from her life, showing her around Night City. He showed her all the sights, Corp Plaza where the money lived, Shopping Malls the like of which she had never seen, the seedier underbelly of Night City that kept the shinier public side working, local hotspots, clubs, everything. It was a totally different world than what she had been expecting but it was fascinating. As time went on, she thought less about Ana only thinking about it when she saw her on the street, or when Dusk had business with Rage.
She thought back to the first trip that Kern had taken her on.
(July 1st, 2016) Unknown, Combat Zone, Night City, California
It was an underworld bring and buy sale of everything the other side of legal and the place to go if you were looking for something. She remembered him dragging her down an unending maze of streets, turning this way and that down streets that looked the same, occasionally backtracking when he made a wrong turn. Eventually they turned out into the ruins of an abandoned shopping mall. Looking around, Alexa made out some old brand labels still advertising products long gone off the market. Half the mall was collapsed in on itself, leaving some half standing rooms filled with rubble. Some kids had gotten in and spray-painted the sides of the building, long lines of tags running along the crumbling concrete structure in purples, golds and blues. Names and gang tags decorated the inside of the defunct shopping mall as well as the outside, Alexa noticed as Kern led her into the building. As they walked down the entry corridor, she noticed a lot of people standing around watching everyone that was going by. Kern had nodded to one of the big guys propped against the wall and walked forward. They had only just left the corridor when they had heard noises behind them. Turning she had seen a small, ratty looking man being thrown out of the building. Kern had not registered any surprise at their actions so Alexa masked her feelings with an impassive face. Showing anything was a sign of weakness in this city. Kern touched her arm and she followed him into the building, watching him nod or swap polite small talk to the people here.
Alexa was so busy looking around her that she had not noticed that she was about to walk into someone until it was too late. She came to a sudden stop, stumbling back a few steps to regain her balance. Shivers ran down her spine as she looked at the woman standing in front of her. She had been a few inches taller than Alexa's own 6 foot. Long, black hair flowed down her back, whipping around as she turned to look at Alexa. The woman was wearing a PVC cat suit that covered her from her neck to her feet, melding into six-inch stiletto boots seamlessly. Although it covered everything, the suit left little to the imagination. Looking up, Alexa stared into her face. The coldest smile she had ever seen sat on that face, as the woman sized her up. Alexa felt like she was being weighed up like spice in a market. Kern wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a little comfort.
"Nikki, nice to see you again!" Kern said, making Nikki break her eye contact with Alexa.
"Kern ... Nice girl you got there," she said smiling. "I'll give you EB500 for her, I got a client into that country girl look!"
Kern seemed to consider this before saying, "Nah, I think I'll keep this one. I kinda like her!"
"Well, you know where to come if you change your mind, honey!"
With that, she turned and walked away flawlessly on what Alexa considered impossibly high shoes. Eyes blazing, she turned to face Kern and have a talk to him about considering to sell her.
"She liked you!" Kern said, watching Nikki leave.
"What? And how could you think of selling me to that ... that ..."
"Pleasure Slave trader?!" Kern filled in the blank. "You know she usually doesn't pay for her girls. She must have really liked you, or me, but more likely you."
Kern was rambling on a little as he started off again, bringing Alexa with him. Alexa was speechless. She had realised what the woman probably was, but it was another thing actually finding out that she was right. Questions tripped over each other in a rush to get asked but would not form an orderly queue. She put them off until later, still shocked at what had happened. They walked deeper into the Bizarre until they found one of the stalls that they were looking for. Kern had spend the whole time pointing out people and telling Alexa who they were, showing her who to avoid and who could be useful if the need arose. They had entered another wing of the building, passing some security guards on the way and were now surrounded on all sides by guns, knives and exotic looking weapons. Kern seemed to be looking for someone in particular and once he spotted him, he walked slowly over, pretending that he didn't want to see him. To Alexa and probably anyone else watching, he was totally transparent. She hung back, checking out a nearby stand and listening in on the conversation.
"Heya Mike!" He started off cordially.
"Do I know you kid?" The guy, Mike, seemed unimpressed.
"No, but if you play your cards right, this could be a very profitable day for you."
Mike looked around, laughing, "See all these people? This is already a profitable day for me! Shove off, kid, I got work to do?"
"I'm looking for some Militech Ronin's." Kern persisted, picking up one of the guns from the stand.
Mike turned to face Kern, sizing him up, "I can't sell you them, kid, you'd probably blow your foot off."
"I could beat you in a gun fight any day!"
"Who taught you how to fire a gun, son." Mike asked, not quite sure of what to make of the smart assed kid.
"The USMC, down in SouthAm."
Alexa sighed, thinking 'Why the hell did he say something like that. Back away from it Kern, drop it now, while you still can.'
"You, in SouthAm? What did you do, lie about your age when you were 10?" Mike couldn't stop laughing at the idea.
Kern could not let this drop. "Yeah, I was in the front of the battle for Casa del Rei Ridge."
Mike stopped laughing abruptly, "I had friends that died in that battle, fuck off before I show you what these guns can really do!"
"But ..."
Mike took out a bit of paper and wrote on it, handing it over to Kern. Smiling he added, "Here ya go kid, they will sell you the guns."
Kern looked at it, "Go to hell!"
He crumpled up the paper and threw it back at the guy.
He stormed out past the security guards, cursing loudly. Alexa waited for a minute and then followed him. When she found him, he was trying to kick his way through a concrete block, cursing his own stupidity. Alexa sat down, nearby and waits for him to stop. It took a few minutes but finally he stopped calling himself an idiot and sat down beside her.
"What the hell am I gonna do now, Lex? I said I would get the guns!" Kern looked miserable.
"Give me the money and five minutes to set up and I'll see what I can do?"
Kern handed over the money and wondered what she was going to do as he watched her wander off in the opposite direction. Alexa sneaked past him on the way back. Her hair was now different as was her makeup. She wore different clothes, a mixture of greys and oranges bought for a few dollars at a different stall. She walked slowly and deliberately around the stalls, before finally walking back over to Mike. She listened for a few minutes, pretending to check out the merchandise.
"I don't care about the reliability rating, the blasted thing blew up in my hand!" The guy with Bon-Jovi style hair and a bandaged hand was ranting at Mike.
"Look, mate, this is a COLT AMT, these do not blow up! But I'll tell you what, John, how about I give you another one?" Mike was trying to appease the irate customer.
"Okay, I guess that would be okay!"
When he was done, Alexa moved closer to Mike, getting his attention and whispered in his ear, with a thick Spanish accent, that she needed to obtain some guns for her gang. Mike nodded, looking her up and down as she pretended not to notice the pig-like eyes running over her body.
"So what will you be needing?"
"I heard a guy in here earlier was looking for Ronins. He is really for a rival gang and if they are buying them, we want them too."
"Okay, seems fair enough! You wanna inspect the merchandise?"
"Si, that would be good!"
Mike brought her to the back of the stall and opened various boxes, closing them again, until he found the right one. He lifted out the rifle and handed it to her. Thanks to the bit of training that Kern had given her, she made it look like she knew what she was doing. She ran her eyes over its hard black curves, checking out every inch. Suddenly, she started screaming in Spanish, cursing Mike for his treachery. He looked taken aback but a crowd was gathering. Alexa played to the audience.
"This bastard wants to trick me into buying guns with the serial number still attached!" She shared with the crowd and showing them the gun so they could examine it with their own eyes.
"Their must have been some mistake ..." Mike started to splutter out excuses. "I didn't ..."
"As soon as I handed over the money, he probably would have the pigs following me and take me in. They would probably pay him a reward too ... Bastard is getting paid twice and he probably gets them back to sell them again." Alexa spat in his general direction.
Under her breath, she whispered, "How much for the guns?"
Mike looked shocked but managed to stammer out, "EB300 each".
"You can do better than that!" Alexa muttered before raising her voice to denounce his motives again.
"Okay, EB150 each! Just make this go away!"
"EB125 and you got a deal!"
"Fine, but make it go away!"
Alexa nodded and smiled. "I say we examine the rest of his stuff and see what else is coded!"
A few members of the crowd came forward and looked in some of the boxes looking for more with serial numbers. They came up empty.
Turning to the crowd, she said, "Maybe I was too quick to judge, but when it comes to family one can't be too careful."
Nods and ascents came from the crowd. She walked over to him and publically apologised asking his forgiveness for such a harsh statement, leaving him in a position that he could do nothing else. The crowd slowly started to disappate as Alexa handed over the money and dragged the case of guns after her.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Mike!" she said, still in a Spanish accent.
"What's your name girl?" Mike asked, he was trying for casual but failed miserably.
"Theresa Miguel, of the Sharks!"
Alexa turned quickly hiding a smile as she walked out of the crowded collection of stalls, with money still in her pocket. She passed the last of the security guards and saw Kern sitting on the bench where he had been. He took no notice of her until she is standing right in front of him. Suddenly, he realized that it was Alexa standing in front of him.
"Wait here!" she said, leaving him with the box of guns, rushing off.
A few minutes later, she had returned and was wearing what she had come in with. She looked a totally different person to the woman he had seen a few minutes ago.
"How? Why? Huh?!" Kern looked confused.
"I'll tell you later. Here's the money thats left over," she said handing back a cred chip.
Kern continued to be confused for a second until she started off again. He noticed that her manner had changed, it was becoming more confident, more at ease with this place. He wondered how she had managed to get the guns, but on another level he didn't care really. They had them and that was the important thing. He mentally checked them off his list before deciding where to go next. Grabbing Alexa's hand, he led her to the next stall. They had to get some tech stuff for the guys at home. Kern had no idea what the stuff was but, he figured that while they were here, he might as well pick it up. Spotting someone he knew, he wandered over.
Alexa looked around, still excited about her dealings a few minutes ago. She had been good. She was glad that she had remembered a trick that her father used long ago. She had slipped the product registration barcode stickers into her pocket before she had left this morning, just in case they had been stopped on the way home so that they could pretend that they were simply couriers transporting legal guns. But when she had examined the gun, she slipped one onto it in the right place and kicked up a storm. She was almost high on her success, but forced herself to calm down and watch how Kern was handling the negotiations for spare parts. She recognized some of them from the warehouse, but he seemed to be dealing with it okay. She looked around, taking in everything. Something unusual caught her attention.
She blinked, trying to figure out if she really saw what she thought she saw. A black tail whipped angrily from side to side of the feline. This would not have been unusual except if you consider that this feline was over six feet tall and standing on two feet. She was dressed in little more than straps covering the essentials. Beside her was a huge guy, from the look of him, a techie. They were arguing with a guy. She listened in. They were talking about payment.
"Come on, I did that job fair and square, now pay up!" The man smiled, even though she was sure that he didn't feel like smiling.
"Well, you see, after you left we found a problem with it. The whole thing came crashing down."
"Bullshit!"
Alexa tuned the conversation out. Her eye caught a flicker of purple movement. Turning she saw a small child wandering among stalls. She thought it very strange that a child would be in such a place. The child picked up one or two pieces from a stall, before settling down under the table. She took a few tools out from the pockets of her clothing and started working on something. Alexa watched her work, oblivious to everything around her. The child looked carefully at each part of the device she created and seemingly happy, pulled a battery out of her pocket and slotted it into place. The device started to glow with a small purple light, twinkling in various patterns. She started to place it back on the table. The stall owner reached out to take the piece from her but she dropped it before he came near, cowering away from the contact. She wandered on again.
Alexa heard rather than saw a commotion where the large cat had been. Both the cat and the guy with her, were searching for something. The techie seemed to be going frantic calling for someone at the top of his lungs. The cat, on the other hand, was silent. Alexa saw her stalking through the crowd, as if hunting.
"SANSYGH!"
The kid turned around as if looking for the voice in the crowd. Alexa watched a figure come up behind the kid and snatch her up, looking around. The man looked arabic in his appearance. Alexa elbowed Kern and pointed to where the Arab was backing away from the crowd.
"We gotta stop him!" Alexa said.
"Shit!" Kern spat out the curse, his face betraying the fact that he recognized the child.
Kern ran towards the Arab and his captured prize, changing course at the last minute. He was going to end up behind the kidnapper. Alexa ran, playing a hunch. She ran to the cat and pointed towards the direction the man was taking the child.
"She's over there!"
The feline nodded and stalked off in the direction that Alexa had sent her. When Alexa looked back, the would-be kidnapper was on the ground and Kern was cradling his hand. The child was curled up on the floor. Alexa watched as the concerned techie scooped her up and turned her so she wasn't looking at her kidnapper any more. He was quietly soothing her, walking away from the scene. As soon as the Arab was on his feet, the cat aimed a savage kick at his throat. Alexa hadn't noticed before but the heels of her boots actually had knives embedded in them. The guys throat was ripped open and blood sprayed the wall behind him. Not a drop touched the cat. She dropped, taking in the whole scene before getting up and walking over to her partner and the recovered child.
"I'll take her home now, finish up here. If he won't pay up, give me a call and I will finish the negotiations."
With that the cat took the small girl from the techie and walked off towards the exit. The techie turned and looked over at Kern and Alexa, now standing side by side and nodded his thanks before going back to conclude his business dealings.
“Who are they?” Alexa asked, looking at the dead Arabian kidnapper being pulled away by two other men in a similar style of dress, his friends she assumed, as they did not look like Bizarre security.
“Dunno,” answered Kern, “But they picked on the wrong people.”
Alexa nodded as her eyes rested on the streak of blood leading off to a hidden section of the shopping mall. She still could not understand why they had brought a child to the Bizarre, a place where they had to know that the scum of the earth visited on a regular basis. But adopting the Night City mentality, she thought to herself,None of my business! and continued picking up items needed by the gang, filing the whole encounter away as yet another dark reminder of how brutal and deadly this city of living nightmares could be.
Alexa turned in the bed, facing Kern's sleeping face and kissed him gently on the lips before closing her eyes and letting sleep capture her and the cluttered web of dreams, showing what should have been, take her away from the harsh realm of reality. As Night City released them from its tight grip, their bodies moved closer echoing the closeness that they felt for each other.