[X] (Justice)There is no need to meddle, she seems to have things well in hand.
You reach out to grant her a blessing before you abort the motion with a second thought and instead look on as the woman continues to chase after the fleeing gangoon with surprising vigor despite her less than ideal physique. Her floral dress fluttered in the breeze as she yelled obscenities at his retreating back.
Nearby pedestrians quickly made way for the fleeing thug, years of living in Night City has a way of instilling quick reaction times and rapid situational awareness on the streets. Many were amused by the thug's high pitched shrieking as he ran for his very life from a woman who looked more at home in a small home, fanning herself with a paper fan while sitting in a comfy rocking chair while she smoked the day away rather than on the streets of Night City brandishing a Carnage and chasing after a rangoon for trying to rob her.
To the thug's horror, she was closing in on him.
"For Christ's sake lady! I'm sorry!" He screeched, running as fast as his organic legs could carry him and a deafening bang, followed by the sudden explosion of the sidewalk just inches away to his left. "Oh god!"
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it, gonk! I'll have your fucking head mounted on a pike over my store!" Hm, that was a rather alarming statement but you feel like she would let him go soon, barring a few injuries to teach him a lesson.
Yes, the woman seems to have everything handled.
You think.
[X] (Jack) Track Her Down: Lead Jack to her exact location (-5 Faith)
CW: Scavs and associated Body Horror.
With a flex of your divine will, a golden ribbon appears before Jack's eyes, going from his heart and curling through the air towards one of the nearby buildings.
"Hurry," you urge him.
Already taking off, he asks, "Is she in danger?"
"Worse. I can't see clearly, but..."
"Understood," Jack interrupts, clearly asking for silence as he slows his walk and moves casually around the building, keeping his eyes on the subtle cameras around the entrance.
A sort of virtual spell from him makes him, and through him you, aware of all the different cameras around the building. Jack takes note of them and moves around until he finds a small blind spot, through which he suddenly charges at the wall and runs up it, his mechanical toes digging into the surface until he gets a handhold right above where cameras are places, letting him crawl across the side of the building towards a window.
Jack then gave his Mantis Blade a bit of a mundane use by jimmying it between the window and frame, then using the blade as a leverage to open it and thus enter an empty room. Once inside, the weapon goes back into the arm and he takes a second to catch his breath.
The golden ribbon leads him through a door and up some stairs. He watches it, then uses the same virtual spell -- Ping, he called it a Ping -- to give himself a view of where everyone is in the building.
Something in the pattern of people, machines, and how both groups are clustered together seems to spark off a realization in Jack, as he barely holds back a cuss.
"What is it?"
Jack looks at you, then crouches to draw a single word on the dust and filth carpeting the floor.
SCAVS.
"You're sure?"
Jack nods.
"... hurry."
Jack nods again and runs up the stairs, confident that he is unobserved. Between the silence of his artificial footsteps, his awareness of everyone around him and his high adaptability, Jack moves like a wraith across architecture without ever being perceived.
At one point he walked behind a man in clinical blue clothes, mere inches separating them, without the Scav ever realizing it. At another point, he ran over the head of two men speaking in Russian with each other, feet quickly leaving marks on the wall above them, and they never even noticed.
Jack, you realize, is what people mean when they refer to someone as a "ninja".
But all the dexterity in the world doesn't serve anyone when they get there too late.
Following the golden ribbon, Jack found a surgery room with the only on-duty butcher -- for they make a mockery of surgeons like your Tano Asa and are undeserving of the word -- taking his smoke break out the door by a window and watching something on his external agent, making him easy to sneak up on and choke out.
Inside the room, there was a metal table. Bare and cold, with a body in the same conditions atop it.
Joyce was in pain. In fact, to your divine senses it would be easier to say that Joyce was in pain, because there was little else left of her on a physical or spiritual level.
She'd had a lot of implants. Most of them quality-of-life improvements, things for her work; little stim-packs under her artificial eyes to keep her awake on long hours, a Midnight Lady, immune system boosters spread throughout her body. All four of her limbs were cybernetic, as was her lower face. A hundred more little things had also been integrated, because she'd had a strong resistance for cyberware.
All of it had been removed.
Cut open, her entrails exposed to the musty air of the room, she'd been reduced to a hollowed out torso and a ravaged head. All four limb ports were empty and with the skin around them peeled for easier removal later. Her scalp was scraped bare in the removal of her tech-hair, and in the removal eyes and stimpack two holes leaking blood like tears were left. Her mouth and nose were removed, leaving a plug for interchangeable lower-faces like some Joytoy's favored. The skin around it was peeled as well.
Her chest had been cut open like an autopsy in a Y pattern, and you can see her accursed synth-lungs had yet to be removed and were the only thing keeping her alive. The cavity went down to the crotch in removal of her Midnight Lady, and you discovered that human entrails move inside the body even as they're still.
Jack gagged. Had you had a digestive system, you would have too.
"She's awake," Jack whispered, making Joyce twitch in response to a new voice. "Dear God, she's awake."
They never gave her anesthetics.
The face port started sputtering with air, like she was trying to speak. Hard, without the voice-box, which you could see stacked with other machinery on a nearby trolley.
You didn't need words to understand what she wanted.
Death.
"Jack... I can't fix this."
You let your words be heard by both, which made Joyce flinch again, but it was Jack who whirled to stare at you with betrayed eyes.
"What?" he asked, fury shining in his eyes. "B-But, Asa said you helped her!"
"I helped, yes. She had the ability needed, she just needed time and speed. I could give that. I can't... this is beyond what I am capable of, right now."
"But that's not fair!"
The words stabbed at the heart of you, the accusation aimed right at the core of your existence.
"... I know," you confessed. "But, without a doctor, this is beyond us."
"So go get a doctor! Get Asa here, so she can save her!"
You thought about it. It could work, but...
"It would take a lot of power to just make her appear here," You said. "If I do that, I may not be able to help her save Joyce, or help all three of you escape."
"I'm not escaping shit," Jack said, baring his teeth like a lion. "These motherfuckers have to pay."
Well. You can work with that. You're beyond the jurisdiction of your first followers, but...
"How many Scavs in the building?"
Your follower blinks, but dutifully replies, "At least eighteen, but I'm not sure. I only saw silhouettes, it could be as many as twenty-three."
"Then here's what we do..."
[] Empower Jack, Call Tano Asa: Use your power to give Jack the edge he needs to take out a building full of Scavs, then manually call Tano Asa over. Joyce might die in the meanwhile, but you'll have enough left over to help Tano Asa if she arrives in time, and Jack will definitely win. (-15 Faith)
[] Empower Jack and Joyce, Call Tano Asa: Distribute your power to give Jack some help, while doing your best to keep Joyce alive. Joyce will last until Tano Asa arrives, but Jack will need to be extremely careful while dealing with Scavs, and you won't have much power left for Tano Asa. (-30 Faith)
[] Bring Tano Asa: Spend nearly all your remaining Faith on summoning Tano Asa. This will leave her with only her hard-won skills to save Joyce, while Jack will have to face the Scavs on his own. (-40 Faith)
[X] (Supernatural) Officers have been receiving calls about a suspicious lady in white wandering around Kabuki in the middle of the night.
09:03 PM July 03, 2075
Tanner Montoya
Night City, Watson, Kabuki
"This seems to be the place." Tanner said mostly to himself as he stood at a street corner. Several reports have claimed to see a strange woman in white around this area at night and oddly enough, it was only when the streets were practically empty! Not only that, an unexpected fog had rolled in and he could barely see anything past five feet of him.
He took a quick look around and there was indeed, barely a soul on the streets tonight, which was quite odd considering it was only 9 PM in Kabuki. Usually the streets are a little more busy at this time of night, but then again with this fog, he'd understand that no one wanted to risk getting mugged or yanked off the streets by Scavs. Only the foolhardy, the brave, the suicidal, the dangerous or some combination of those things were out on the streets and Tanner was very sure he was two of those things.
"I'm pretty sure dangerous is not one of them." He mumbles before pausing for a moment and sighs as he realizes he was basically talking to himself right now. "Right, Aves is with Jack right now." He had gotten used to having the Eldritch-like being of Justice hovering over his shoulder.
To be honest, he kind of missed hearing the rattling of his chains, and now here he was pining after his god like some love sick teenager and he had to suppress a shudder. He was already a teenager once, he didn't want to go through those hormonal thoughts again!
"Watch out Choom. Better go inside tonight." A voice threw him out of his thoughts and the detective turned to look at a man who has lived and is still living in rough times. He had one organic eye and arm, the prosthetic cyberware was downright skeletal in nature. The cheapest and lowest grade stuff anyone could ever afford. His clothes were dirty and ragged and the man looked as if he hadn't showered in days. Homeless. Tanner's brain uselessly supplied. It was an obvious conclusion at a glance.
"You don't wanna be out here these nights. 'Specially this'un." He worriedly looked around in the fog.
"You know something?" Tanner turned to fully look at him, eyes lighting up as he quickly wired a few dozen eddies his way, paying for information and hopefully enough to get him a couple of meals for the next few days.
The camera-like optic that stuck out from where his eye used to be lit up as he got the eddies and the man could only shrug. "Weird things happenin' all over town. Weird lights, weird noises." He then leaned forward with a harsh whisper, "Unnatural it all is."
Well, this definitely sounds promising.
"Heard anything about a lady in white?" Tanner pulled open his coat to flash his badge. "Got a lot of people claiming to see here around these parts."
Recognition lit up in the man's eyes and his shoulders stiffened with tension as he nodded stiffly. "Yeah… heard about 'er. Just about anyone in these parts don' go out no more cause o'her. 'Cept of us folk on the streets. We don' go out no more either." He didn't say more, clearly there was something more to this.
"Anything you can tell me?" He sent a few more eddies the man's way to loosen his tongue and it apparently did the trick as the bum, with some initial hesitation, eventually told him everything he knew about her.
"She started comin' around about a week or two ago." He crossed his arms to stick his hands into his pits to warm them up. Defensive measure, the Detective part of his brain interpreted, Nervous. Anxious. "Thought nothin' bout her at first. People always comin' and goin' in Kabuki. Got our fair share o' weirdo's too."
The nervous look about him grew slightly more anxious the more he spoke. "Was normal at first. Folks only saw her at night. She'd be walking down the street or standing at a corner like this'un." He gestured to where they stood. "Then things started gettin' weird, man. People here started hearing things and I don't mean the usual noise from th' city!" He protested.
"What were people hearing?" Tanner was taking mental notes of everything.
"Believe it or not, singin'." The man answered, "Always the same song too, sounds really familiar but no one can put a name to it. Always sounded like it was coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. Put people on edge. Got worse some nights ago when one of the locals started seeing her almost every night."
"Every night?" The detective prodded, he was starting to get a little worried, so far everything the man said had been in line with the reports. Weird sightings, strange noises…
"Yeah," He nods, "Said that he's been seein' her every night on the street on his way home. Saw her on the corner like this'un, waiting to cross the street. Fella thought he'd let her pass first but she wouldn't budge." The man started to look scared as he recalled the story. "Light turned green, he drove ahead, then she threw herself right in front o' his truck 'cept, she went right through it! Spooked jus' bout everyone when I sa-story started to spread."
He immediately picked up on the slip. "You saw it happen? You were there?"
The homeless man went pale, he opened his mouth to try to deny it but thought better and quickly nodded his head, fear apparent in his eyes. "Weren't anything I've ever seen! I know cyberware that lets you walk on walls and go invisible, but never heard of anythin' that lets you go through shit!"
"Did anything else happen? Anything other than these sightings?" Tanner had to make sure, since solving her murder, Hannah Ray hadn't moved on and stuck around. She usually stayed with her family, watching over them but she'd occasionally visit the precinct. He saw the things Hannah could do in her spectral form and whoever this mystery woman was, was apparently in the same boat as her.
Damnit, is Night City going to become the haunted capital of the world? Now he really wished Aves was here. Maybe Salem could come help him?
"Can't tell you, choom." The man shook his head as he shivered, "'sides from what I jus' told ya, I know nuttin' else. Don't stay outside." Before Tanner could stop him, the man turned and disappeared into the fog, his footsteps echoing into the night.
Wait a minute. Echoing?
The streets had become entirely silent. Where were the scripted lines of nonstop advertisements? The beeping of the crosswalk? The background noise of Night City? It slowly dawned on the detective that the entire street had gone quiet while he was gathering information.
He was a fan of the occasional peace and quiet of slow days at the precinct and the occasional day where there was literally zero crime in the city, it was extremely rare but it happens but even then Night City, even a single street, should not be this quiet.
As he kept walking, looking around, even the sound of his footsteps became muffled. Being a native to the southwest coast, Tanner had no reference for this, but it was akin to how snow-covered surroundings ate noise. The echoing dissipated, leaving only the sound of grit and discarded drug vials crackling under his feet as he advanced.
He couldn't tell where the fog came from or even when it appeared. One moment he was looking up, trying to spot a distant advertisement that shone silently, then he looked back down and realized he couldn't see his own feet through the thick mists that covered the floor.
Finally, his footsteps became fully silent. The air was dead around him, so much so that the sound of his own heartbeat and increasingly heavy breathing were all that filled his ears.
Turning a corner, Tanner found himself at the mouth of a street market, the sidewalk lined with stalls with grills and baubles, none of them shining. A few of them had screens for advertisements, and they were all covered in black and white fuzz like the dead channels of old.
She stood on the other end of the market, draped in white from her feet hidden under the fraying hem of her dusty dress, to the veil covering her face. Long gloves covered her arms up to her forearms, but even in the thin sliver of skin visible between shoulder-lines and glove cuffs, dead skin was visible, as was the rattiness and cobwebs covering her hair.
One step forward, and Tanner gasped and drew his weapon when she suddenly stood in front of him, the screens screeching with malformed audio in her passing. In his shock, the detective stumbled back and fell on his ass, but he kept the gun trained on her even if she was indifferent to it.
"Not normal," she said, looking at him behind her veil. "Not human. Curious."
How shall Tanner respond to the spirit?
[ ] With caution. The spirit does not show any hostility or malice but it's best to err on the side of caution.
[ ] With aggression. The dead should stay dead, they have no business among the living and move on.
[ ] With compassion. Spirits don't just linger for no apparent reason. How can he help?
A/N: Huh, this update came sooner than expected! But anyway, hope you all enjoy it! Many thanks to my amazing0 Co-QM, Dr. Heaven for helping me out! Also, Happy Halloween everyone!
