Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena Pov.
"So, who sculpted your body?" Rebecca asked as she drove toward Santo Domingo. I looked at her, confused.
"Excuse me?" I asked, not knowing what he meant.
"Your body, your face, who sculpted them? Your body is too sexy to be natural; you must have had some biosculpture done." Rebecca repeated, and I snorted.
"Sexy? Were you sizing me up? " I asked playfully, Rebecca shrugged.
"Of course, you're sexy. You're tall but not skinny or lanky, you have flesh in all the right places, a narrow waist, curvy hips, and legs to die for. Let's not even talk about your face, too perfect, completely symmetrical, without any blemishes or marks, shiny and smooth."
"I really want to send a thank you to whoever did their work on your body," Rebecca said with a flirtatious, cocky smile as she looked at me. I burst out laughing.
"Flirting? Even when I'm married? " I asked playfully. Rebecca shrugged, still smiling arrogantly.
"Hey, I'm not jealous. I know how to share. And besides, you said your Mainline eats organic food regularly. You have to take responsibility for saying something like that to a girl." Rebecca mocked. I laughed lightly.
"Ah, I see how it is, you're looking for my food, not me, I'm hurt." I mocked lightly, and Rebecca laughed.
"Well, I'm sure I can find ways to make you feel better," Rebecca said, winking suggestively at me. "After you make dinner, obviously," she added. I chuckled.
"Keep driving, Shortstack." I said, amusedly, with a slight smile.
" Hey! I'm fun-sized! " Rebecca complained, pouting as she looked at me before looking back at the road. "Not all of us can have legs for days," Rebecca complained. I burst out laughing again. "But seriously, whoever worked on your body did an excellent job." I snorted in amusement.
"I'll be sure to text my mom and my lousy excuse for a dad in the afterlife when I can," I said playfully.
"Were your parents ripperdocs?" Rebecca asked curiously. I snorted.
"Of course not. My father was a horrendous excuse for a man who took his problems out on my mother and me. My mother… wasn't much better." I said with an almost contemptuous sneer. "I meant I was born this way." I clarified. Rebecca's head swiveled around completely to look at me once more, not caring about the road or other drivers.
"Wait, your body is completely natural?! Your face? Your body? Everything!?" Rebecca asked loudly, an equal mix of incredulity and offense. I burst out laughing.
"Of course I am." I scoffed playfully. Well, it was now. I'm sure Body Tune-up, my status as a demon/succubus, and other things influencing it had changed my DNA enough for this to be my new normal. I was even sure my children wouldn't inherit the aquiline nose I originally had.
"Damn, some people have all the luck in the genetic lottery," Rebecca complained as she turned her gaze back to the road, and I laughed lightly.
"Now, now, don't pout." I said with a shit-eating grin, Rebecca just glared at me, slightly blushing.
"I'm not pouting," she complained through gritted teeth. I chuckled.
"For what it's worth, I think you're sexy too," I said playfully. Rebecca's demeanor immediately changed, seeming to warm to the compliment as she straightened up.
"Of course I am. There's no doubt about it," Rebecca said haughtily, and I laughed out loud. "Well, we're here!" Rebecca said kindly as she stopped dead in her tracks. I looked around.
We were at the beginning of what looked like a small promenade, or perhaps the docks, as I saw several shops and businesses along it.
"Are we there yet? How far away would we be? " I asked curiously. Rebecca leaned against the handlebars of her vehicle and lazily pointed in one direction.
"That way, almost at the end of the pier," Rebecca said simply, and I nodded. I remembered that Doc's clinic could be visited in the game. But obviously, Doc wasn't there anymore; there was another Ripperdoc in his place.
Something must have happened between the few months between David's death and V's becoming a Solo. But that wasn't important; Doc should be around right now, in 2075, so I just had to go there and get what I needed.
"So, what's the plan? You want a distraction? I'm sure I can get everyone off the dock in 10 seconds!" Rebecca said with a sadistic, excited smile. I laughed lightly.
"No need, I'll just walk." I said as I got out of the vehicle.
"What?! Again?! Are you going to use that hack again? We're more outdoorsy than with Fingers' Gonk!" Rebecca exclaimed incredulously, I just smiled at her and ignored her as I started walking. "Wait! Damn you, Gonk-head!" Rebecca growled from her vehicle.
I laughed lightly as I walked along the boardwalk. Rebecca was right. Despite being next to a horribly polluted river with zero visual appeal, there were dozens of people walking all over the place.
I started walking, ignoring everyone else, until I reached the halfway point, where I could finally see the clinic I was looking for. I smiled slightly as I began to weave my magic.
Even from a distance, it was easy to quickly place a Muggle-Repelling Charm. It worked like a charm. It was much more subtle than the Confundus, much more natural, and they seemed less drunk or drugged. They would simply start avoiding and moving away from the place as if it were their own decision, continuing to walk and do their thing as if it were perfectly natural.
By the time I finally arrived at the clinic, everyone had already moved quite far away from the location. I looked around and didn't see any cameras nearby; even so, I hit Aria, who quickly covered me with her invisibility, and I entered the clinic with ease.
I wasn't really worried about being seen by making myself invisible; optical camouflage was a thing, so it didn't bother me. Besides, no one seemed to pay attention to me.
Once inside, I undid my invisibility, looked around, and grimaced in disgust as I saw Doc, on top of the chair, while he thrashed and moaned like a dog in heat; on his head was the neuro dance crown.
The Doc took it out of his eyes and looked at me boredly.
"A client? What can -"
" Imperio. " I quickly subdued him. Like Fingers, he had no mental defenses strong enough to fight my commands. A time bubble later, I had a Coppermind full of memories of a Ripperdoc.
The Ripperdoc was in ashes, most of his tools looted, and the rest traced. So I made myself invisible again and appeared near Rebecca's Maimai. I looked inside the car with amusement to see Rebecca with her hands tightly gripped on the handlebars as she stared toward the dock.
I became visible once more and knocked on the vehicle's window. Rebecca jumped, pulled a gun from somewhere, and pointed it at me again. I could almost see her about to pull the trigger when she stopped. I was genuinely impressed by her level of reaction.
"Fuck, Gonkhead! How did you get in there?! " Rebecca growled as she lowered her gun and opened my door. I chuckled and got into the vehicle.
"Magic." I said playfully, Rebecca glared at me.
"Die, Gonk," Rebecca growled as she started the car. "So, it's done?" Rebecca asked, immediately losing her caustic tone and sounding much more curious. I snorted.
"It was too easy." I said simply.
"Easy." Rebecca snorted. "Don't think I didn't notice how everyone moved in the opposite direction of Doc's clinic. Really, what kind of netrunners are you working with? There were like 20 people there, and none of them looked hacked or anything." Rebecca asked. I shrugged.
"I'm just good at what I do," I said vaguely. Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"All right, keep your secrets, Starry Eyes, but someday I'll get them out of you," Rebecca said playfully.
"Are you already planning more dates? I don't even remember agreeing to one." I teased her, and Rebecca smiled at me.
"And what do you think we're doing? Eating and killing gonks sounds like a date," Rebecca said with a wide smile. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm sure I'm paying you for this; that makes you a Joytoy." I said playfully, Rebecca snorted.
"You wish, you couldn't pay me," Rebecca said haughtily. I looked her up and down carefully, before smiling discreetly and shrugging my shoulders as I looked away.
"Meh, I've seen better." I said almost dismissively, I could hear Rebecca's downright indignant gasp as the vehicle swerved off the road.
"Excuse me?! What did you just say, Gonk head!? You'd be lucky to pay me! I'm way better than any Joytoy you've ever met! " Rebecca retorted, and I burst out laughing.
"Mmmm...I don't know, you're shorter than all of them." I said mockingly, Rebecca She gritted her teeth; I could see veins growing on her temples. She somehow managed to move her body to the side, leaned her sword against the door, and began trying to kick me.
"Say that again, gonk!" Rebecca growled as she continued to kick me, and somehow, kept driving well enough to keep us on the road. I burst out laughing as she did.
"Okay, okay, you're right, you're amazing." I said playfully as I gave up. Rebecca snorted and sat back in her seat.
"Good, and you better remember that." She snorted, and I shook my head in amusement. "Now, where are we going?" she asked with a smile. I hummed.
"Well, Shortstack, -"
"Don't call me that." She growled. I raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"Literally, I don't even know your name," I said, amusedly. Rebecca opened her mouth, then closed it, looking terribly confused.
"Oh, right..." Rebecca said, as if just realizing we hadn't even introduced ourselves. She simply shrugged. "Rebecca, at your service," she introduced herself. I nodded.
"Serena Prince, a pleasure." I said with a smile, Rebecca snorted.
"Prince? Is that really a last name? " Rebecca asked, laughing, and I shrugged.
"Yes, it is, on my mother's side, it's a pretty old surname, it can be traced back at least 800 years," I said distractedly while humming.
"800 years old!? What, you're from one of those super old, aristocratic families in Europe? That would explain a lot so far!" Rebecca said incredulously. I chuckled.
"Maybe yes, maybe not. You'll find out someday." I said playfully, Rebecca, just grunted.
"Fine, keep keeping your secrets," Rebecca growled. "Now tell me where to go."
"As I was saying, my wife wants to be a Ripperdoc, and she knows everything she needs to know, theoretically, so I was looking for some… not-so-willing patients to practice on." I said slowly, Rebecca frowned and looked at me cautiously.
"Are you a Scavver?" Rebecca asked with a grimace of disgust. I snorted.
"Of course not," I said dismissively. "But from what I've been finding out in this city, I'm pretty sure there's no one who would be surprised if a few Maelstroms went missing." I said with an almost sadistic smile. Rebecca's expression changed immediately, lighting up entirely with a huge grin.
"Now you're speaking my language, Choom!" Rebecca laughed happily. "You're right! No one will miss those metal heads!" I know some places they hang out in Watson! Let's go!" Rebecca laughed happily as she floored the gas pedal, swerved, and took the right turns. I laughed lightly.
I wasn't sure if there were any laws or vehicle regulations, but Rebecca was completely breaking them all with the speed and abruptness with which she was driving. Honestly, I didn't even know a Maimai could go that fast.
In no time, we were on the other side of town. The drive from Santo Domingo to Watson was halfway across town; once we got into what I thought was Northside, Rebecca finally slowed down.
"Okay, we're 5 minutes away. What's the plan?" Rebecca asked, bouncing with excitement.
"We go in and kill them all," I said with a shrug. "I'll leave some of them alive if possible, too. Try to minimize as much damage as possible." I added with a hum. Rebecca snorted.
"They're Maelstroms, Gonk head. It's safe to assume they have redundant systems to keep themselves alive, even if you blow up their heart. The only way to put them to Zero is to put a projectile between their metal heads." Rebecca said simply. I hummed lightly.
"Then just kill as many of them as you can. Any broken pieces or cyberware they leave behind will also help. I'll take care of keeping some of them alive." I said simply.
"Nova." Rebecca said with a wide smile as she stopped the vehicle. "Here we are!" Rebecca said as she excitedly got out of the car. I got out more slowly and watched in amusement as Rebecca began to take out and equip her weapons.
Once she finishes placing about six weapons on her body, she finally aims at one of the buildings a dozen meters away.
Maelstrom lair, my crew and I discovered it on a previous job. It's a shame our job didn't have us fight them directly, but I can't let it go now; it's been a while since a Maelstrom head exploded." Rebecca said excitedly with a wild smile.
I snorted, actually. She reminded me of Bella with her bloodthirsty look as she talked about killing others. They really would get along. I chuckled as I unsheathed a pair of Kanshou and Bakuya, twirling them lightly in my hands.
"Will you be okay with just that? I can lend you an iron if you want." Rebecca said as she handed me one of her weapons. I smiled at her.
"Nah, I'm fine." I said as I raised my swords. Rebecca shrugged.
"If you say so, Gonkhead," Rebecca said casually, though I could easily detect a hint of concern. I smiled more gently. She didn't really seem like a girl who cared about others, but I guess that was a good thing. Generally, in Night City, that was almost certainly a detriment.
"You know what? How many do you think there are?" I asked curiously while humming.
"I don't know? Like two or three dozen, I think. It's an established hideout, a gathering place, not a safe house or temporary home where they come and go. So it's probably full of them," Rebecca said easily, and I nodded.
"Very well then, how about a bet?" I smirked at her. "Whoever takes down the most Maelstroms wins," I said, amusedly. Rebecca's head whipped around, and she looked at me in surprise before blushing slightly and smiling widely.
"Ha! Very well, choom! Let's kill Maelstroms! " Rebecca shouted excitedly before running off towards the building. I chuckled before quickly following her.
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