The wind was howling, whips of air brushing through my hair and face as I plummeted down from the bright eye in the sky.
It disappeared right at that moment, though.
Gone like a blip in my memory.
I flipped, spreading my arms and legs out as I tried to grasp at the wind for some kind of deceleration.
My teeth were clenched so tight, I could feel the coiled strings of muscles in my jaw.
Life is such a bitch. One moment you're talking and enjoying tea, the next you're diving headfirst through the sea of clouds.
"The fuck does he expect me to do?!" I ground out. Patting my body to find no supplies or equipment.
I hadn't even begun to acclimate myself to the new environment.
[Initiating...]
A gentle prod, like a tap on my shoulder, pulled at my attention.
For a moment I allowed myself to be distracted from my ensuing fate of becoming a puddle and pulled on it. More so focusing on the metaphysical connection, trying to grab at it like a drowning woman in turbulent waters.
It responded instantly, appearing as a rectangular hologram in front of me.
[Welcome to your initiation test, recruit Scarlet.
Here is your first tasks:
1. Familiarize yourself with your new abilities. (0/1)
2. Don't die. (0/1)
Reward: Life, and your next task.]
The texts flashed white and pulsed before settling in front of me. Wind rushing and gushing through the thing like it isn't even there.
Still and unmovingly smug.
I see, so this is all just a game to them, huh?
Just another recruit to laugh at? Or they don't care at all?
Perhaps they truly thought I could do it?
I scoffed. Look at me trying to understand the thoughts of beings older than time itself.
If they thought I could do it, who am I to deny them, right?
I grunted, trying to force myself to look down at the ground through the fear and panic. The only thing that greeted me back was clouds and skyscrapers.
Good, would be bad if they put me too far from my comfort zone in the first test.
Could you imagine me, a 21st century gal, in a medieval setting? Trying to talk someone with values so far removed from mine own?
Don't think so.
But at the rate that I'm falling, we may have a few minutes left until I hit the ground.
I focused again on that connection.
During the time Creed was still explaining things, he did explain how agents of the company organize their stuff and themselves.
"Status!" I screamed, I didn't have to but I did, maybe I thought it wouldn't be able to hear my intent through the hundreds of million thoughts occupying my mind trying to make sense of it all.
It was a system, the kind that doesn't give much benefits other than giving an pocket dimension inventory, monitoring your status, and issuing tasks and rewards. And it answered nonetheless, the shimmering dark blue surface with white text.
[Name: Scarlet.
Sex: Female.
Age: 23.
Status: Fine, sustaining no physical damage.
Awakened ability:
• Seer | 0/100 exp
—> Description: for each mission world, you can ask 5 questions, and each question can only be asked once. The Seer ability will give you the answers to it in the form of hints ranging from: The tomato; to: kill X to achieve Y.
Notice: During trials, recuit will be unable to access their status and any of the system's functions other than seeing their task. This will disappear immediately after you reading it.]
The short status report stilled in front of me, this time showering my face with its oh-so-radiant glow.
I was only given a bit to read it before another box appeared, whisking away the first.
[Good luck, recruit.]
The hologram dissolved into motes of pale light, carried away by the wind like smoke from a cigarette. I blinked slowly, letting the meaning of it all seep into my skull.
Well, well, well...
The Seer, huh?
Five questions and I don't even have a guarantee that it'll be easy to decipher?
They didn't even give me equipment, and they just practically told me to leave my fate to chances!
I can't even store and retrieve stuff!
I tried calming my nerves, letting the ugly indignation air out into the passing wind.
"Alright, then…" I muttered, squinting into the musky clouds below. The city had begun to show itself, unfurling in patchy glimpses as I fell, first was the tower in the distance, the Arasaka logo looming through the clouds.
Below it was hordes of smaller towers, home and nest to creatures of greed whose hunger couldn't be quenched.
Skyscrapers of all sizes poke through the smog-infested clouds, showing off their logo like it isn't made on the backs of their fellow man.
I could see the veins of vertical traffic, stacks of lanes in the sky between the highrises—most of them automated transports, but a few privately owned AVs gliding stuck out to me.
Because I know where this is...
Isn't this Cyberpunk?
And in Night City?
People who don't watch these series often don't understand the future it represents. They think flying cars and holograms are so cool, they think bullets curving through the air is great.
But cyberpunk is different.
Even to those who've followed it. They only see the through rose-tinted glass that the superpowered OCs in the fanfic that they read, or through the eyes of a cheater like V.
The one I'm going to is the real kind. The corp kind. Where the cops weren't cops but MaxTac and didn't protect people, only assets. Where someone like me—falling with no ID, no augments, and no credits—might as well be trash waiting to splatter against a sidewalk.
More so when I only have an unreliable ability to leech off of.
The Seer buzzed in the back of my head, like a quiet pressure building behind my temples.
I only scoffed a little, 'let's at least try this before I judged.'
I thought the question clearly.
'How do I survive this fall?'
The answer didn't come in text on a box. It came in a foreign knowing—data unpacking itself like a blooming flower made of heatmaps and physics calculations. The Seer was putting knowledge straight into my brain, and before I even had time to process all of it. My body was already trying to execute the first step:
[AV, 50 meters away. Tuck yourself in a fetal position and protect your head.]
I did exactly that, only having a moment to peek out at the incoming vehicle before I tucked my head in between my knees and arms. I didn't even have time to admire the fact that it's giving me actual instructions.
My eyes locked onto it as it sliced between buildings—a squat, matte black corporate model, its ID tag blinking with some minor corp's logo I didn't recognize. It was flying just low enough, just fast enough for me to intercept.
I couldn't think, my brain was filled with instructions as I did micro adjustments and aimed directly at its open side window, on the driver's side. And I smashed into the AV like a meteor.
The glass buckled but held, just for a moment before something broke and it shattered into a million shards. Something snapped in my side—hot, insidious magma flowed through my veins at my ribs. My entire body spun as I entered the AV, my left shoulder catching the windowframe and leaving a small gash. Then—impact.
The pilot didn't even see me coming. My entire weight slammed into his head, driving him forward into the console with a wet crack. The vehicle jerked, and dipped hard. Someone screamed behind me. It sounded like a women, maybe two and they were shouting in a some kind of mandarin as another body lurched in the rear of the cabin.
But I was too busy heaving to notice. Because when I came to, my left arm which I caught on the console was already broken.
The AV was nosediving, but that was expected.
Sparks burst from the panel. The world tilted as alarms screamed and the floor rushed up to meet us. My vision tunneled, the edges going white as we careened toward a glittering megabuilding
The Seer pulsed once more.
[Duck, hide under the pilot's corpse.]
I threw myself under the pilot's cold body, pulling his twitching limbs and torso over me like a bad blanket. Just in time for the crash.
The AV collided with the building like a fist through a mirror, causing everything to go sideways.
———————
When I came to, the air was full of smoke and heat and broken circuitry. The entire front of the vehicle was gone, reduced to a shredded sculpture of metal and meat. Someone's leg was pinned between two rows of seats. Blood dripped from the ceiling like it was part of the design.
I rolled out from under the dead pilot, coughing, arm limp and ribs crackling with every breath. Not broken all the way through, but definitely cracked. I couldn't raise my left side without nausea screaming up my spine.
[Proceed to the next objective, take the handgun from the bodyguard in the inner left pocket.]
The Seer didn't even ask how I felt. Fuck ass powers...
But it seems I survived, and my powers actually giving detailed instructions for the first question ever. Let's hope it keeps this up.
I pulled myself to my feet and scavenged what I could from the wreckage. The bodyguard's smart handgun was still in its holster, his head turned a full 180 degrees from the rest of his body. I took the pistol. These type usually needed hardware to sync with to actually use it's homing capability.
"Heh..." tough luck for me I guess. Just old-fashioned aim and shoot.
The Seer pinged again.
[Exit. Corridor northwest. Take service access.]
I limped out into the building—a wide, polished corridor lined with wall-length displays of nature scenes too high-res to be real. The hallway stank of disinfectant and melted wiring. Emergency lights flickered. Somewhere, security bots were calling in damage reports.
I could hear faint noises of boots hitting the ground, rhythmically coming towards me.
Is that supposed to be security? Or NCPD? How the hell were they so fast?!
I moved quickly, as fast as my body would let me. Each step down the corridor echoed with the rhythmic metallic slam of boots—not mine.
NCPD, fuck me sideways.
Or some variant of them. Corp security in matte blue armor, moving in squads of three. I ducked into a maintenance hallway before they turned the corner, pressing myself into the shadows as the Seer fed me motion estimates, patrol timings, and camera blindspots like I had a full-on tactical AI in my skull.
But I didn't, it was just the Seer. Who didn't even have user safety concerns by the way.
By the time I reached the loading docks at the building's lower tier, I was soaked in sweat and bleeding from a dozen cuts I didn't remember getting. A shipping lift groaned as I rode it down into the undercity—where the neon faded and the world turned feral. This was the street level.
The Seer's map flickered in my thoughts. A route through the maze appears highlighted in green.
At least there isn't anything else to worry about...
"Path: Vicktor Vektor's clinic. ETA: 10 minutes."
And I ran, faster than I ever ran.
The streets were alive with neon, lights, and shouting. Rain slicked the pavement. Cables hung overhead like vines. Some kind of borg clinked with metal as he moved. Nobody looked twice at a limping, half-burned woman holding a pistol—it was just another Tuesday in Night City.
But it only got worse.
I was two alleys from Vick's place when the Seer suddenly snapped producing a sharp flash in my skull. An emergency ping.
[Threat detected. Seer range exceeded. Hostiles incoming.]
I turned my head just in time to see three gangers stepping into the alley.
No visible chrome, Synth leather jackets the screams outdated. Tattoos on their arms moved like parasites on their skin, just like they do on the streets.
It was a trio, one short and stout, a pipe in his hands, another skinny with a limp Mohawk.
The final was a big man, who would've guessed, right?
Just my luck. The Seer pinged again.
[Shoot, 4 o'clock at 200° from your regular arm's resting position.]
Immediately, they noticed me and a grin split their face.
I didn't let it grow any bigger though, my right came up from holding my left and aimed it just shy of where the Seer pointed, making the shoot blow the leader's left cheek off instead of his head.
"Gah! Fucking bitch!" I heard him scream, his two lackeys raising their own weapons. But I'm already behind cover at that point.
[Shoot, over the dumpster at 11 o'clock]
I took a shaky breath to center myself as I turned, peeking up and aiming my gun over the stinking metal.
*BAM*
The bullet exploded from its muzzle and impacted the lanky goon's head. Opening a crimson portal to his thoughts.
[Step back and duck, below your waistline.]
The pipe the stout guy holding swished over my head, screeching as it impacted the dumpster. My gun leveling at his head and blowing his mind away immediately.
But that's where I messed up, before I could even take the next step, pain exploded in my left shoulder as it took a bullet.
I staggered backward, the world dimming, and felt heat bloom across my arm. I looked down and saw the hole—clean and small and terrifying in its precision. I didn't feel the pain right away. Just the cold.
[Shoot, 12 o'clock]
The invisible point jolted me from my thoughts, ignoring my pain, I could finally see the panicked and angry expression of the leader.
He only got to look as a bullet flew from my muzzle to his forehead.
"Haah..." I let out a sigh and gritted my teeth, trying not to pass out.
I pushed open the gate, stumbling pass the two crackheads dancing in front of the barrel fire.
It was horrible, trying to fight through the pain sloshing it's way through my veins and head as I made my way to the familiar red glow.
Before I could even knock. My legs gave out, smashing my face on the pavement in front of his clinic.
"Guh..." I grunted, scraping my strength together and pushing myself up. I made it this far, hadn't I? I can't back down now.
Who would I be then? What would I tell Alicia in heaven?
But it seems like for the first time since forever, life gave me a sign.
The rattling grew and the gates swung open, and there stood the man in his sunglasses.
I only let out a sigh in relief, head slumping back down the ground.
"Goddamn freelancers," he muttered, dragging me inside. "Every time, it's always 'my name's Blah Blah' and you people come in looking like you survived a car crash and a no seatbelt roller-coaster."
You couldn't even describe the immense relief I felt when I heard his grumbling. The thought of actually surviving this hit me like a truck.
My eyelids slowly knit together, and my mind ease.
Then, unconscious greeted me again.