Never Fade Away: Circus Minimus (ch. 47) (Patreon)

"....thing on? We live? Good.

Sorry for the interruption darlin's, had to fly the coop when the pigeons came across it. Don't worry - Nora's mobile now.

If you're going out to indulge in some pigeon-shooting, here's some advice - Smart Guns slip right past their personal force fields. Seems like slow and steady is the way to go after all, cuz Power and Tech Weapons ain't so effective.

Also got some intel that affects those of us best equipped to tar some feathers - if you got preem chrome and are thinking of making a stand, sorry to say but that dog won't hunt. The birds ain't playin' fair, and are calling in air support to blow any borged out badasses giving 'em trouble to smithereens. So, if you got sumthin' like a Sandy, use it to up sticks and kick up dust while you're kicking ass 'til this all blows over.

Which might not be long from now. Caught some scrambled transmissions from the Moon, and it seems that one of our own believes he is the equal of our foe and hoowee, he is actin' like it.

Here's the Ballad of the Alamo by Marty Robbins."

~

The alien ships had shields. Which is probably why the one that I klepped hadn’t been immediately destroyed when the aliens started firing on it. But, even then, I could feel the impact of the shots rattling the ship as the shield tried to maintain its form under the force. I quickly scanned my options, my OS bringing up files and information with but a thought to help me in my search -- weapons, defensive measures, evasive maneuvers. I soon found something of note.

“Evasive manuveres are highly recommended,” A… I wasn’t entirely sure what it was. At first glance, it almost seemed like an AI. Only if it was an AI, then it would have been impossible for me to actually hack the ship like I had. Upon a quick further examination, it was more of an advanced computer program -- A combat module that happened to have a language behavior subprogram for the sake of convenience. That program being limited to helping the pilots pilot the ship, only at the moment, they were kind of dead.

“Full speed ahead,” I decided, looking for the right input since it couldn’t understand a word I was saying. My attention was divided between a half dozen things, and all of them were pressing emergencies. The aliens on the ship had realized something was up and they were rushing here. It might have been a mistake to break through the doors, because they weren’t offering much in the way of resistance now. To that end, I had the microbots create a final barrier between the bridge and the rest of the ship.

To make matters worse, someone was trying to hack the ship back away from me. I had a pretty iron tight grip on the main systems, but the fringe systems were being taken back little by little. The Skeleton Key simply wasn’t suited to hacking these systems yet, and I was unfamiliar with the systems themselves.

Then there were those two ships that were currently hammering the shields. The ship shook violently as the Vereiean surged forward. At the very least, I was right about one thing -- the ship was fast. We blazed forward when I found the throttle and muted what I now saw was labeled as a 'VI'. The estimated arrival was eight minutes in comparison to eight hours. The only downside was that the ships following me were every bit as fast.

And, almost worst of all was the blowhard that I couldn’t mute. “Human, you are recklessly endangering wounded soldiers in addition to medical professionals. Cease immediately or you will be found guilty of violating the Council's rules of war.” He warned and he kept speaking like I could understand what he was saying. He seemed increasingly frustrated when I continued to ignore him.

Well, I suppose that wasn’t surprising -- if I could fly the ship, it reasoned that I could understand him. I just couldn’t reply.

The ship shook again as I started killing auxiliary systems to dedicate all power to the shields -- leaving only life support and the engines. The two ships firing at me seemed to be aiming at disabling the Vereiean rather than blowing us out of the sky. A muffled explosion came from the door, telling me that the soldiers were tying to get in- an alert was tripped. They were going for the engines too.

I typed out a message before forwarding it to the Admiral, my lips thinning. Seven minutes left.

The admiral read the message, alien or not, I knew annoyance when I saw it. “I see,” he replied, his tone decidedly neutral. “It changes nothing. Humanity has been found in violation of numerous Citadel laws -- from AI creation to activating no less than twenty Mass Relays. It is within my prerogative to bring your species to heel, which it so clearly needs." He replied, and Johnny flipped him off as the ship shuddered again. Evasive maneuvers might be necessary as I caught a warning that the shields were taking a beating.

I bought time to prevent the counter hack by interjecting the Skeleton Lock, and that stopped them cold as they had no way to get through it. Though, the ones that were physically prying the doors apart… they were going to get through. And soon.

"Does everyone with a scrap of authority fucking suck?" I asked Johnny out loud, not finding the reason for a wholescale invasion particularly compelling. Even if I did give more than half a shit about the law in general, invading someone because of laws that we didn't even know existed… kind of a dick move. Actually, there was no 'kinda' about it. It was just a dick move. Beyond that, it was also a dick move on the part of whoever activated twenty Mass Relays.

My thoughts jumped to one megacorporation in particular. The timing was just a little too convenient, wasn't it? Arasaka jumps ship a week before the aliens invade Earth? Because, for all of the damage that I did… Completely uprooting the company was a rather extreme reaction. But, if they saw this invasion coming… if they knew that Earth was about to get fucked in advance? Then it made more sense. And it could very well explain why the aliens' first reaction to humanity was subjugation when their first contact was with Arasaka.

"It is in your species interest to offer an unconditional surrender. Your space flight capabilities are primitive. You cannot win. You are a danger to yourselves, and with our firm hand guiding you, the Council shall lead you away from the self inflicted annihilation you are speeding towards." Why the fuck was he telling me that, I wondered as the admiral continued. Then it struck me -- he probably thought that I was someone important. A government agent, so to speak. "I understand that this is difficult to accept, but this is in your self interest. If we wanted you dead, we would simply need to stand back and do nothing as you destroy yourselves."

'I'm a freelance mercenary. I have no interest in fighting this war. Allow me to depart to Night City, where I will leave with my family, and I will not interfere with your invasion.' I sent the message with little hesitation as the ship shook again. Earth was slowly getting bigger, and the eta was four minutes. Johnny was behind me, sucking his teeth at that, but he said nothing.

The hologram of the admiral twitched ever so slightly. "This changes nothing," he informed me, his voice ice cold. He didn't think that I could change anything, I realized. To him, to all these aliens, I wasn't any kind of Legend, I was just another one of their Code Blacks -- who, I saw, were those that were equipped with 'threat level: hyper lethal' implants or weapons.

'Grant me safe passage or I ventilate the ship.' Was my swift reply. His mandibles twitched as the soldiers managed to pry open the doors of the engine. Fuck. Three minutes. We were almost in Earth's atmosphere.

"You would lose whatever leverage that you think you have," Admiral Taticus replied, not buying the threat. I was running out of time and another alert warned me that the shields were hovering at thirty percent. I could take a few more big hits before the hull started taking damage, and when it did, the entire ship would break apart.

So, I proved him wrong. I opened the path to the engines and the bridge, and unsealed the docking bay. The effects were immediate -- the soldiers had been prepared for the possibility, wearing helmets, but that didn't stop them from being sucked out of the ship. Magboots saved some, even if they did break their legs. My stomach clenched when I saw that one in the engine room had managed to survive the decompression, and was crawling forward with a grenade in hand.

Fuck. Fucking fuck.

Two minutes to landing… that would have to be close enough, I decided, gathering my microbots around me. They interlocked, surging forward to become an airtight barrier around my body as I hit a switch.

The one that triggered the ships self-destruction program. Which, ironically, was meant to prevent information or equipment from falling into enemy hands. The VI even helped me scramble every system on board the ship to destroy any trace of the Skeleton Lock or Key.

"Human… who are you?!" The Admiral snarled at me, as I braced for impact.

I didn't get the chance to answer as the ship exploded. The solid mass of microbots protected me from it as I used the thrust of the explosion to catapult me forward towards Earth. And to Night City, with a few adjustments with the T3 microbots that churned out orange sparks in my wake.

Seems that we were falling to Earth with some style.

…

Somehow, in some way, she was certain that this was L's fault, Becca thought to herself as her dual heavy machine guns rattled off hundreds of bullets a minute, reducing solid metal and concrete into scrap. All to get at the aliens that were using the previously solid walls as cover. Their funky energy shields allowed them to eat a few bullets, but with guns like the Mk. 31 HMG, you didn't hit anything with a few bullets. Especially when you were rockin' them dual style. After the shield failed, the armor put up as much resistance as the concrete did, and just like that you had chunks of alien in pools of blue spread out across the street.

Things had stopped being normal the moment that she met him.

"Move up!" Kaiden called out while Jack heaved, grabbing a car off the side of the street and pushed it on its side. With a terrible scream of metal on busted asphalt, the small crew advanced behind the car, using it as cover as more aliens shot down at them. One of those weird bullets struck the barricade that she was behind, tearing a chunk out if it, and in response, Becca unleashed on their position.

Night City was usually a step away from being a Combat Zone at any given moment. Chaos ruled the streets in general, but now it was essentially- no, literally a war zone. And Becca had absolutely no idea if they were winning or losing. The ships opened up by taking out the food, water, and electricity to the city with their opening salvo. And, before Becca had managed to register what the fuck was going on, armies were being airdropped into the city.

She wanted to say that they were winning by virtue of the fact that anyone who didn't already own a gun grabbed one from a vending machine to start shooting back. Night City wasn't a city of meek civilians. When push came to shove, when their backs were against the wall, any denizen of the city would fight and kill. If they wouldn't, they wouldn't have made it in the city at all. However, Becca found it  a little difficult to believe they were winning when she saw a missile slam into a hover car that was giving them some air support.

It veered into a building, tearing off a neon sign before it slammed into the ground and exploded a second later. It was just another burning vehicle in the busted streets. Another little slice of hell that had befallen the city, because the same scene could be seen everywhere. From the docks, to downtown, to Pacifica. Even Westbrooke seemed to be on fire, and it was a cold consolation that not even the super rich assholes had managed to escape unscathed.

And no sooner had the first missile struck, another came flying in, racing towards her position. Hefting her machine guns, Becca fired at the screeching missile, and while most of the bullets missed, enough hit to trigger an explosion midair. She felt the shockwave pass through her, but she was already on the move. She leaped over the barricade before breaking into a dead sprint when Kaiden shouted out the order to advance. Reaching where the massacred aliens were, she saw that there were plenty more where that came from.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw humans. People lined up against a wall and shot, their bodies laying where they fell. She recognized Valentino ink, which made sense since they were in Heywood. The gangs had, more or less, stepped up. It’d be a stretch to call it an alliance, but at the moment, the aliens were the common enemy. But, for now, it was enough. Becca saw beyond the executed gangsters was one of the aliens bases -- people had taken to calling them hives.

The aliens captured buildings and operated out of them, using them to take over surrounding buildings and blocks. It was a structured invasion. The old timers that saw action in the last Corpo War recognized the tactic back when the NUSA tried to take over Night City. Hell, that's why Dog Town was what it was. Becca saw that a landing pad had been established in the back of an auto shop, while around them, the buildings were being commandeered by the aliens.

"Jack! Tell them to get lost," Kaiden instructed, as Jack grabbed hold of the car she used as cover before flinging it into an alien mech before both exploded. The aliens were ready to dig in and fight. And it was their job to cut them out.

The street became filled with the familiar chaos of a gunfight. Around her were familiar faces -- Jackie, River, Kaiden, and Jack. Not to mention the odd assortment of chooms that were helping them. Cops, random citizens, a few gangoons, and even some of the kids. They pounded the position, working as a team, but the aliens were a stubborn lot that were giving as good as they got. Bullets slammed into her cover, knocking up plumes of dust and rubble. One struck her, skirting off her subdermal armor, but it was still enough to knock the air out of her lungs.

It was as she sucked in a deep breath that her phone rang. Her heart soared when she saw who it was. "L?" She questioned and as the call connected, she heard a lot of static. He was supposed to be on the moon, right? And she imagined things would be pretty busy up there.

Through the warbled static, she heard his voice. "I-I-I-I'm co-o-ming i-n h-hot," L informed her, the static lessening every passing second. "I-s it s-safe to land near you?"

It said some wild things about L that her very first thought was that he built a spaceship on the moon and was flying down. The second thought was that he stole one. "Kinda in the middle of a firefight, choomba. So, probably?" Becca hazard, shooting Kaiden a message as he advanced to a burnt out car that still smoldered with smoke and flames. "Where are you?"

"L-look up," L replied, and she did so, not entirely sure what she was looking for. But, in hindsight, it probably should have been a large ball of fire that was racing down towards their position. The asteroid left a trail of orange sparks and smoke in its wake, the surface absolutely scorched, and… 'coming in hot' couldn't begin to describe L's descent.

"Get behind something!" Becca shouted before following her own advice, and a few seconds later she heard the dull roar of the asteroid racing overhead a split second before the loudest explosion she ever heard echoed out. It was different from a bomb going off. It was more like a brick hitting the ground, only magnified by a million. A harsh wind swept by, the shockwave of the impact rushing through her. No sooner than it did, Becca was compelled to peek out behind her cover. Half terrified that L had managed to kill himself.

What she saw instead was a black mass in the form of a ball slowly start to break down, the melted surface cracking open like a shell. In the ruined building that once housed a platoon of aliens, L emerged from the asteroid, David's jacket hanging off of his shoulders and not even his baggy cargo shorts and flip-flops could diminish the haunting image as the dust settled.

His metallic arm shifted, blood red lasers firing out of it as he finished off the aliens that managed to survive before glancing over his shoulder at them.

Becca's heart just about skipped a beat and she found herself grinning, "You sure know how to make an entrance." She had to give him that much. Then something registered, "Did you fall from the moon?"

L dusted off David's jacket before he approached, and with his entrance, the chaotic streets fell silent out of awe. "Nah. I tried stealing a ship, but it got blown up halfway. Got to speak to the alien leader, though."

"He an asshole?" Becca ventured, earning a dangerous smile from L.

"Yeah. Grade A," L confirmed as he approached. As he neared, he ended the call, his blue optics returning to their normal shade and, outloud, he spoke. "It was bad on the moon. How bad is it here?" He asked them all, looking at Kaiden.

"Couldn't say one way or the other," Kaiden admitted and, off in the distance, they heard an explosion. "We're winning in some places, losing in others. Word is that the only safe places are Dog Town, and Santo Domingo because of 6th Street."

L nodded in acceptance before his gaze fell to one of the kids and, immediately, his gaze hardened. Something that little X-14 didn't fail to notice judging by the wince. "What are you doing out here?" L asked, his tone going all mother hen mode.

X-14 raised his hand as if to surrender, "L… I know you want us to be safe and all, but… we want to fight too. Against the corpos and the aliens. You… you helped us and now it's our turn to help you," X started heastaintky but picked up steam when he saw the approving gazes of the kids around him. "And there's nothing that you can do to stop us."

Ah, poor gonk.

"The fuck there isn't," L rebuked so bluntly that the fragile smile X and the kids wore abruptly shattered. "Even Militech and Arasaka have a cut off of fifteen years old for you to sign up for military service. You are out of your goddamn mind if you think you're going to fight in this mess." He reached out and flicked X on the forehead hard enough that he winced, "Don't you even think about it. I will smother you in bubble wrap and dump you in the darkest hole I can find and you won't see the light on day until you're thirty."

X wore the single most bitter expression that Becca had ever seen. "Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of rescuing us?"

"No. I got you out to protect you. And now I'm protecting you from yourselves," L replied, looking to Kaiden, whose lips thinned. Oh. He… "Let's fall back and regroup. It might take me a couple of days, but I can build us a ship to get out of here." The decision didn't come out of left field.

L wasn't the kind of guy who'd fight for Earth or for the sake of humanity. And, honestly, neither was Becca. Or half the people in Night City that were fighting. The world never gave a shit about them, so it was hard to give a shit about what happened to it.

However, Kaiden shook his head. "Before… we do that, I think you… we should have a talk with Rogue. The megacorps pulled out of Night City entirely… so she and the other Fixers are practically running things." That was a bit of an overstatement, but it wasn't wrong. The various gangs elected that their affiliated Fixers represent them, with the other big name Fixers piling together their mercs to muster up something that sorta resembled an army if you looked at it and squinted. Which was why they were here in the first place.

L's brow furrowed and Becca stepped up to the plate, "I'll take him. You lot keep doing what you're doing." Becca said, making L look at her with a small frown. He…

"Right," Kaiden replied stiffly, offering a small nod. The others grouped up, with Jack giving them a lingering look as Kaiden gave the kids orders to hold the position. L looked to her questioningly, clearly sensing that something was off and wanting an explanation.

That would need to come later. "We'll need to head by Afterlife. Still remember the way, right?" L responded by stopping her up, earning an indignant yelp of protest. And that was about the only warning that she got before they suddenly moved. It wasn't the first time that Becca had accompanied a trip with a Sandy, but she would never get used to the sensation of it. It felt like her heart hit the back of her ribs while her stomach was doing somersaults.

And, in that split second, Becca found herself standing in front of the Afterlife. It was pretty unrecognizable -- in a handful of hours, it went from a merc bar to the beating heart of the city. Wounded people were laid up on the parking lot while there was a bustling burst of activity from the various goons of all shapes, sizes, and creeds. Becca even saw Maelstrom running about, being… helpful. It was pretty weird.

"Holy shit," Becca heard someone mutter, looking directly at them. Or, rather, L, who pinched off a nosebleed as he walked by a member of his poser gang without a second look. "L wears aviators now? Fuck, I need to find a pair…"

Becca just sighed, following L as he descended into the Afterlife. People parted for him, his presence instantly being noticed. Becca could feel the change in those that looked upon him -- hope. After all, he had scared off Arasaka. It stood to reason that he could scare off an alien invasion. And every single one of them were oblivious to the fact that L couldn't give a shit about them.

As soon as they entered the crowded bar that held a number of familiar faces, the Queen of the Afterlife stepped forward to greet them. "Let's talk," Rogue said, tilting her head at L and gesturing to a private room.

"What's there to talk about?" L questioned, an edge entering his voice as they followed all the same. She wasn't looking forward to this. This… fuck.

"Water, food, and electricity have all been taken out. Yorinobu mentioned that you might have something for the latter, which will make the former manageable. These aliens have kinetic barriers, and I know you have laser and plasma based weaponry. I think we have a lot to talk about, L," Rogue said, leading them to the backroom. "Night City has been abandoned. Dog Town has curled up, so we can't rely on them either. If we have a hope in hell of turning the tide… we're going to need your help."

Becca's lips thinned as she caught a glimpse of it. The Afterlife used to be a morgue, so it had all the equipment even of it hadn't used it in a long while.

"I already promised that I'd give a GN Drive to the city, but I have my own priorities," L replied, his voice strangled as Rogue came to a stop in front of a wall lined where corpses would be kept. He was keeping himself calm, but he knew. Becca saw it in his eyes, he already knew.

"I thought you'd say that. Don't blame you, kid. I wouldn't want to get involved in this without good reason either… but I'm sorry to say, you do have a reason." Rogue continued, pulling back the door to reveal a body that was covered in a white sheet. Any and all emotion fell away from L's expression as he reached out with his prosthetic, and gently pulled the sheet back.

G-14. Gizmo

"The aliens landed outside of Night City. Near the Aldecaldoes, and they were the first ones hit by the attack," Rogue told him, her voice soft but firm. She wasn't hiding what this was. She was trying to weaponize his grief.

"How many?" L asked, his voice so calm it reminded her of the silence before a storm.

"Fifteen," Becca answered. Fifteen kids had died. And that was just the number the last time she checked. It could be higher by now. The aliens weren't too picky about who they killed.

Rogue was winding L up to set him down the path of vengeance… And she didn't know it yet, but it worked like a fucking charm.

"I… am going to burn this city to the fucking ground."