Gina's impact on cold steel caves in the hood of a busted Archer EC-D missing its windows and wheels. A heavy landing in shadows she emerges from, in full focus headed to her destination. Its late… but the streets are more active than ever... deep in lively Japantown, Kashuu Hanten is the target. She makes her way down a littered sidewalk… the pace of a busy corpo no doubt… its a hard one to hide. Music blasts from cars with roaring engines.. laughs and shouts ring out alongside conflict and tension not too far away.
She catches heavy looks from common civs on a wild night out giving her a wide birth. Even at a high energy, drunken glance, those not in the life can see she means business. A merc? edgerunner? corpo assassin? Tyger Claw enforcer? To them there was no telling… only an instinctual reaction to get well out of her way.
She reaches Kashuu Hanten… it's Tyger Claw night. Place has been well emptied before packed with a whose who of some of the Tyger's staunchest chrome jocks. Two sumo sized huscle waiting at the door glance down at her petite figure as she approaches… giving her a look of familiarity, they step aside letting her in.
A wave of heat and mellow music floods out past her as she enters the dimly lit bar… a tense energy drapes itself down her shoulders and back. Billiard balls clack… lighters flicker… mumbles and whispers permeate through the place at sit downs and business deals… puffed smoke wisps through the air she walks steadily through. A claw covered in neon tats with his entire chest flowered open watches her slowly pass by, as a street certified ripperdoc with a beaming, focused light works her magic off the books. Giggling dolls and joytoys work the floor serving drinks and sitting the laps of bosses and professional street toughs. Her mind instinctually looks for the blades… a sheath here, a blade in the hands of an impressed joytoy on the lap of some ganger over there. She can't help it.
She takes her required timeout at the bar and enjoys a drink… ensuring shes seen by all in attendance. Shes learned the hard way by now... making moves before presence… before staying a while stands out in all the wrong ways. Eyes watching for all the wrong reasons... with all the wrong intentions eventually settle down and ease back in this… unspoken mind game the streets play. Its a dance… a flow… one learned a misstep at a time.
Halfway through sipping, a soft, gentle hand caresses Gina's leather shoulder.. she glances back as an entire arm comes draping over it. The beautiful invader smells heavenly... a mixture of amaretto and cinnamon. She ensures her silky soft skin glides across the back of Gina's warm, tense neck... sneaking past the leather… and that precious Aikuchi katana hilt... just enough weight on it to feel where Gina's mind is at.
"He'll see you now baby." The ruby red lips of the beautiful dame tenderly whispers at the back of Gina's ear… finishing with the gentlest exhale of a breath into it… sending a tingle through Gina's body.
The woman giggles with a pearly white smile.. leaving Gina's neck, back to the void of the room.
The door to the back office slides closed as Gina makes her way past a couple claws standing guard to a chair in front of the desk.
"WELL WELL!! Look who's it! WELCOME BACK LITTLE TIGRESS!! Hahaaa!!" A rough voice that gargles rocks shouts out through cigar smoke in broken English. The first thing you see on this shirtless hunk of fat is the ink. Tyger claw's always have a way with colors and dragons… 'Yokozuna' tattooed across his belly like some sick joke. The idle buzz of an automated tattoo needle working steadily away on his back from a tripod fills the room as he takes another puff and watches her sit down.
She plants a datashard on the desk… crossing her arms and legs with back rested in her seat as if routine.
With a puff he looks down at the shard with raised eyebrows.. genuinely surprised. Unable to believe she actually did it… but an expert at masking being impressed. He reaches over with a grin and casually slots it… Kiroshis flicker blue as he gazes up at the ceiling looking over the goods.
"Hahahahaa!!!" He laughs with joy scrolling the data with another puff of his stogie as she impatiently waits… taking a glance back at the gangers standing on guard.
"GOOD!!! VERY VERY GOOD LITTLE TIGRESS!! HAHAHAAA!!" His rocky voice belts out as he pulls the shard from his head. "Years of chasing… hiding behind UNIFORM.. over now thanks to you….. tell me little tigress… did he beg..?"
She breaks eye contact.. rolling her eyes.
"AAHAHAHAAA!!!" He laughs… his voice like nails on a chalkboard to her. His fat, out of shape breath, beaten down by tobacco, barely held together by overworked medical implants. A coughing fit the only thing that stops him.
He sets the stogie down in a metal ashtray during a pause. Finally engaging.
"Okay little tigress… what is it I can do for you… huh…. what is it that you can need from me and-"
"-Deets." She belts with force.
"Haha.. deets.. DEETS… what deets do I have for your beautiful huh-"
She doesn't respond. He breaks eye contact with a deep breath before looking back at her.
"Gina… GINA.. the sacred eight is corpo fairytale… you know wells I do. Made… born in some underground lab in Arasaka HQ unlimited years ago I hear. You don't find… the sacred eight… in the street. They live normal. At.. computer desks and... construction sites. They're NOT street. The street won't KNOW-"
"-Then who WOULD know Kahuna." Her voice raised in exhale frustrated.
He casually re-lights his stogie… taking his sweet time in the pause… reveling in his leverage.
He smirks.
"A package I have here needs to go to-"
The legs of her chair skid sharply as she promptly gets up to storm out of the room… causing Kahuna's fatass to get up faster than it has in decades. Feeling that leverage quickly yanked out of his hands.
"Gina…. GINA!!" He shouts… his grating voice vibrating the walls. She stops in front of his guards to look back at him over her shoulder.
"You walk... out the door... you're done here.... understand?"
Gina looks deep into his eyes during an intense silence… the muffled music on the other side of the door takes over.
She turns and pushes past one of his door guards with a shoulder check… exiting the room.
A serious look of anger washes over Kahuna's face with another heavy drag of his stogie.
Gina walks half the sidewalk at a steady pace weaving through foot traffic. Sure enough, her name is shouted.. ringing out behind her as she looks back sharply.
"GINAAA!!! WHERE YA GOIN' MY LOVE!!! C'MERE!!"
The head of a pack of Tyger Claws shouts with a huge smile on his face in pursuit. Raking back his short, green, highlighted hair. The twisted look of a face scarred psycho who's been waiting for this moment.
She takes off up the street at full speed.
"AWWW!! COME ON BABY!! DON'T RUN FROM MEEE!! YOU KNOW I'M FASTER!" With gritted teeth, he takes off after in a sprint with his crew in tow.
She skid slides on pavement, slowing her momentum to turn and cut down a narrow alley.
Halfway through, the gang in pursuit turns the corner gaining on her… she takes another look back hearing their shouts in Japanese. She weaves through shredded furniture and debris.. vaulting over trash bins and sending crashing glass scattering. The crew chasing her does the same… sending booming rounds down the narrow straight, tagging obstacles she's vaulting over with near misses. She cuts another corner.
The leader increases his speed, pulling away from the pack… an uncontrollable desire to get his hands on her sends him forward with lust... and the full capacity of his implants.
He skids around the corner and is met by steel. With a tight swing… his head is severed… sent flying back from behind the corner for the rest of the pursuing gang to see. They stop in their tracks with a gasp at the sight… immediately sprinting forward and turning the corner after her.
They turn to find her at a dead end. In stance… with blade ready. Her petite frame engulfed in dim, stray lighting from building windows. They look down in unison at their beheaded choomba, before a sharp look back at her as they approach… pistols, blackjacks, a sledgehammer… even a blade held by one of them stonefaced.
One steps forward ahead of the rest… the loud, metal racking of his twelve gauge echoes through the dark spacious alleyway. He points it at her, bracing for kickback… she gasps… instinctually bracing her blade to hopelessly defend.
A sharp, heavy whistle screams through the air… impacting the back of his head as he pulls the trigger. The scattered shot makes his crew jolt as he faceplants… slammed down with incredible force kicking up trash and debris.
When the trash settles, they look to see TuckTuck… frantically ripping away at their choom's skull.. digging into brain and flinging it out behind him.
"NEE-QUE!!!!" Gina screams. TuckTuck stops his frenzy and gets moving… rolling out of the way and barely dodging the heavy swing of the sledgehammer splattering the rest of the head of this dead shotgunner. He leaps into the air in a ball and slams into his face before he can even lift the sledge again, sending him staggering back. Gina engages with the blade.. a quick series of parries tink and clang in the alley combined with wild pistol gunfire frantically trying to track and tag TuckTuck. Several rounds catch him… effortlessly deflected by his chrome carapace as he yanks and rips at the eyes of the sledger getting lit up by the rest of the bullets. Gina finishes the blade with a sharp pivot and deep slash across his torso, dropping him. She looks up to see iron pointed at her a few yards away. Two loud booms send lead through her torso… she screams... spinning on impact, dropping to the street. TuckTuck slams into the shooter's hand, yanking the follow up shots sent to finish her just off target. His weight clinging to the gunhand spins the ganger hard before yanking him down to his knees. His iron skids across the pavement as he screams wildly in pain.. instinctually punching and yanking at TuckTuck desperate to get him off his hand. TuckTuck squeezes… breaking fingers and ripping off nails… gnawing on the goon in a frenzy. The building pressure and pain he endures is given mercy… as Gina staggers to her feet and slowly inserts her blade into the back of his neck… showering TuckTuck's back in a faucet of blood.
Silence re-introduces itself to the alley… she drops to her knees with a heavy breath… posting all of her weight on her katana with both hands. With her short hair wild from the scrap… she feels the heat of the iron begin to take course.
With eyes closed… surrounded by a litter of mangled Tygers pooling blood... she breaths slowly in and out with head down. TuckTuck gently climbing her back... carefully sniffing at her bullet wounds with concerned squeaks.
As soon as the pain begins to overwhelm and drive her to the pavement. A sudden noise re-surges her adrenaline instantly... a subtle scuffling in the dark turns her and TuckTuck's full attention toward it.
The first thing her eyes are able to see approaching...….. a yellow hoodie.
She quickly rises to her feet.. blade pointed and ready.. her eyes widen feral as she starts to make her move.
"No no no! Wait-Wait! Don't!" Netty shouts with palms out towards her yards away. She stops in her tracks, giving her a clear look at the figure. His look and height don't really match that voice… some young street punk... not a claw.
In the intense pause... her intuition kicks in. She looks into the eyes of this kid.
She sees fear… but… it's off… doesn't quite look like fear of her… more like fear for her… looking at her as if shes headed toward the edge of a cliff.
She hears another step behind, quickly turning her around. An even taller, lankier man is circling to the weak side... an age much further away from the kid's… white widow's peak… and an even more imposing trench coat of a silhouette. No blade.. no drawn iron… not a tyger.
Before able to get a good luck at him, she hears a giggle… turning her again toward the sound off in the darkness. TuckTuck clings to her tightly with angst.
A deep, gruff voice sounding like it belongs to Night City itself causes her to gasp with a flinch.
"Breakin' bread with Tyger Claw no-necks huh." Brian scoffs with a smirk, stepping forward out of the shadows with BugBear at his side. The sight of him grips her core… another trench... this guy's huge… how many implants…?... his imposing build leaves no mistakes for her to perceive… whatever this is… it won't be something shes just walking away from.
"Heh… guessin' you must've took a dive in the-" His eyes catch something. The severed head just lying their in its draining blood. "-Are you fuckin kidding m- No! NOO!!!" He shouts stooping down over toward it, flinching Gina and TuckTuck. The crews chaotic conversation bounces around.
"This her?" Carter mutters eyeing her.
"Yeah.. she was in there." Beatrice confirms dressed in her sexiest joytoy roleplay. She triggers her kiroshis for a scan. "Gina Hanaki. Tyger Claw affiliate. No jacket….. merc?-"
"-GOD DAMNIT!!!" Brian's gruff voice screams pacing by BugBear.
Carter giggles with a light head shake. "Fuckin rookie."
TuckTuck turns his attention to him, catching Carter's eye. "Haha.. the fuck's that?" He giggles.
Netty triggers his kiroshis.. those yellow oracles as preemwave as ever. He tries to get a scan on TuckTuck.
A sharp twinge hits the back of his head, throwing him off. "What the-" He refocuses for another.. getting a brief glimpse at a distorted data output before an even stronger shock snaps his head forward with a wincing stab of pain. TuckTuck glances over at him briefly before back at Carter… leaving Netty puzzled. "The fuck kinda ice is this…?" He thinks.
"Merc with no jacket… hm… Tygers must've had this little claw under the table… one of their favorites maybe?" Beatrice ponders.
"Yeah or a fuckin' guppy in a forty foot swell-" Carter grunts.
"-Do you see this head?! Huh!? this… ASSHOLE right here!?" Brian rants fueled by adrenaline... holding up the severed head dripping blood. "Name's Ichiro... he's got a brother…. One on the straight and narrow at that- Doin' pretty well for himself!" He nods sarcastically with wide eyes. "And you see this!? HUH!? This head!? This was the ONLY!! HEAD-!!!" Brian suddenly flings the head at Gina with serious speed.
She slices the head flipping toward her in half cleanly.. sending its remaining blood and brains flying.
Carter sharply draws his iron at the move… pointing right at her. Beatrice and Netty don't budge.
"-THAT KNEW!! WHERE THE FUCK TO FIND HIM!!" Brian yells.
"Dunno about that choom." Netty casually mutters to Carter deeply. "Saw the work she just put in..? Can't even get a scan on her… little thing here-"
"-Tch.. by the hair of a corpos ass… look at her… chicks barely standin'." Beatrice sneers aggressively.
"FUCK!!!" Brian shouts again to the black night sky, pacing.
"Drop the fuckin' blade." Carter grumbles baring teeth with raised eyebrows... an intense look into her eyes.
She doesn't budge… blade pointed at Carter and ready to go.
Blood loss blurs her vision… the blade slowly succumbing to gravity against her will… her breathing heavier….. she finally speaks.
"Th…. th-the head." They hear her voice for the first time drawing everyone's attention. She nods her head down in submit. "I… Ikn-knew that fuckin' head…. a-and… and I… I know his brother's." She nods in exhale… giving way to the pain of her wounds… Brian quickly looks over at her.
She falls back to her knees… passing out from blood loss as she loses her grip on the blade… the steel clanking to the street with a scrape. TuckTuck panics… ready to protect at all costs… readying himself to fight to the death while still trying to check on her.
Gina's head starts to spin…
"N-no no-… TuckTuck… thay-thay… thay-thay TuckTuck… ar-oss… ar-oss.." She whimpers desperately in exhale to him… numbing pain coursing through her body as she clutches him with the last of her strength.
TuckTuck curls in tightly hugging her… cybernetic squeaks... desperately trying to track all of the hazards posed by the crew… they can see he's frantic... scared… but ready.
Gravity takes her trying to cradle TuckTuck… hearing the frantic muffling of the crew's back and forth before everything fades black.