Phoenix Rising

     The situation is as dire as these two could imagine. So Mi is dying fast although by inches at a time, she feels her life slipping by. 'V' is dying by the Relic chip poaching her brain, the nanites following their programming and excising her mind to make way for Johnny's. Although that path is not as far along as So Mi's, 'V's concern is just now showing its face. As they crouch in the NCX Spaceport Control's main shuttle tower, watching the first of the NUSA operatives along with Militech's soldiers start pouring in to the holding area to stop 'V' from getting So Mi to the Lunar shuttle waiting for her. 'V' feels her anger and rage rise as So Mi's hopes of getting to the shuttle plummet. 'V' feels the waves of despair flowing off of So Mi. Since they first met, they have both felt something building between them. At first they just thought it was 'friendship of shared circumstance', now So Mi realizes it is something more and fear begins take hold of her. Fear that she could lose 'V' to the soldiers, to Myers locking up her in a black site prison, or to the 'secret' she has kept from 'V', the secret that the 'cure' she holds will only work for one of them.

     'V' grabs hold of So Mi's hands, "I am going out there, keep these doors locked until the tram gets here." "NO! Please, don't go out there, they will kill you and if they do, I do not want to live without you!" So Mi almost screams these words, only her fading strength lets them come out just above a cracked whisper. 'V' tells her, "I have to, we both be dead for certain if I do not. Do not worry for me, If I could take out that Chimera mech after you were yanked out of it, I can take these clowns. Besides, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve that I believe they are really not ready for. Watch if you can, then you will see what I have been doing in that isolated training yard. Just be ready for me when that tram gets here." 'V' pulls the iconic katana called 'Black Unicorn' from its sheath and looks over it. From the first time she got her hands on it, she has worked to upgrade it, enhance it. She feels like she has put a part of her soul into it, for she swears she can hear it sing to her, and the song it sings is one of blood and death. She stands and goes to one of the two doors, and slips it open just enough for her to slip out, as she goes she turns her head to So Mi, still sitting on the floor, barely holding on to what life she has left and vows that she is coming back, "Remember, close and lock this door. I will keep our comms open, tell me when the tram is entering the area." She is gone as So Mi, with tears beginning to run down her face whispers to 'V's retreating back, "I love you, 'V'. And I am sorry for what I did to you."

     'V' looks at the grouping of the soldiers and operatives, noting what types and the weapons they carry. She activates certain implants in her body, ones that give healing when she sprints, another that seriously reduces damage taken when she is dashing to and fro on the ground, and allows her to take no damage if she is mid-air dashing, and utilizing a 'power' attack when she is in the air. This action will pull her to her target, help her overcome obstacles in her way. But she knows if she is high enough when she triggers it, well, her target is likely to lose their head as she reaches them, setting her up for the next one. And so she chooses the toughest opponents to target this way, taking them out in a single hit, when otherwise it would take several. The lesser ones she knows she can kill as she ducks and weaves between and around them. Her implants feeding her stamina as she runs. Putting all of this together to synergize with her needs and style of combat was not easy or cheap. Her 'Ripperdoc' Vic was of tremendous help, letting her use credit to get started, she then quickly earned enough to pay him back and continued then to buy from him when she had the funds to do so.  

     The combat was going well, 'V' was able to make them keep their distance from the control room with So Mi locked inside. Occasionally running back up the bridge across the tram tracks and around the control room at the top of the arc, clearing the operatives who snuck around as the others were dying to give them a chance. Then a huge armored and armed helicopter unleashes its heavy guns and 'V' runs for the control room. Once inside, the two takes stock of the situation. 

     So Mi: "What are we going to do, 'V'? Only channeling the 'Black Wall' can help us now and I am too weak."

     'V': "Then I will hook into you with my neural link, share my strength with you."

     So Mi: "Yes, that could work, can always use a proxy. But 'V', prepare yourself, this is going to be bad." 'V' shrugs it off, "Do it."

     With the link connected, 'V' looks out at some operatives outside the windows, trying hard to break them down and get inside. 'V' hears So Mi in her head, "Reach out and release the 'Black Wall'." 'V' takes her free hand and reaches out with it, fingers curled as if grasping something. Then she lets it go in a throwing gesture. What she feels of the power flowing through her is indescribable. She can feel it as it burns its way through her and out from her hand controlling the targeting. Those close by but outside the window are covered in some form of 'black' energy, shot through with vertical streaks of red. She swears she can hear echoes of pain filled cries as if they came from the depths of some distant hell. But she also feels something like emotion on another level of the energy flow, and it echoes her anger and rage. The energy tracks her victims neural paths as it shorts and burns them, even as she can hear their mortal cries of agony, and see the twisting, contortions of their bodies as they fall in their tracks, dead before they hit the ground. She then looks to the helicopter, still firing heavy rounds at them. She gathers another burst and releases it at the helicopter. A part of her marvels as the metal of it twists and bends, then it loses its thrust keeping it aloft and it tilts and shoots forward, turning toward one side as the blades impact the concrete and break apart. A scant few seconds later the helicopter impacts the control room as 'V' grabs So Mi and drops to the floor.

      The helicopter crashes and breaks into the control room, the blades narrowly missing 'V' and So Mi laying flat on the floor. 'V' rouses herself first, moving debris to free her body to look to So Mi. "So Mi!", she cries out, "Are you alright?" as she removes the debris covering her. "I understand now, what you went through in your missions for Myers to the 'Blackwall'. Damn her to the depths of all the Hells for doing this to you! And now hunting you like prey because you could not take it any longer!" 'V' looks at So Mi, seeing now the full extent of the damage her excursions to the 'Blackwall' did to her, The efforts of the NUSA technicians in replacing the damaged organs and tissue with cybernetic prothesis to keep her alive and functional for yet more missions. She estimates nearly half of So Mi's body is prosthetic from the back of her skull, down her back and spine. Seeing this, her rage is supplanted with tears of deep sorrow, both combining, backed by the remnants of the 'Blackwall' power still coursing through her, seeking release to yet kill and destroy more, MORE, MORE! Now she joins the ranks of the very few to truly understand why Rache Bartmoss caused the 'Datakrash' so many years ago. And the thought races through her mind of all that she has read and heard of why he did it, realizing that all of it is wrong. That despite what came after, the way the corps have usurped what he intended, turned him into the ultimate scapegoat, made him a hunted man in every country on this world. A man who. like a vampire, placed himself in an ice filled freezer to wait out time and return when people knew the true reason why he did what he did. Only he did not allow sufficient time to pass, and when the contract supplying power to his self-made prison expired fifty years later. It was disconnected, and tossed in the local landfill for 'V' to discover his body, two years later. And so the perhaps one of the most important of this world's saviors, passed into the forgetfulness of time and history. The truth of him and what he did lost except for a very few, now one more added to their number.

     'V' knows they must get moving, so she picks up So Mi, still connected by her neural link, she feels the near constant pain So Mi is feeling. "Hurts, so much.". So Mi mutters as she feels herself rising in 'V's arms.  "Sorry to cause you pain, but we must get moving. Your shuttle will not wait all night." As they start to move to the tram, now sitting on the rails beneath what remains of the control room, more operatives move in to stop and take them. 'V' gestures once more and the 'Blackwall' power reaches out to snuff yet more lives it considers to be insignificant. This time, 'V' feels more confident in using it and increases the range to reach all the way to the end of the tram, to kill a fresh team rounding the end to come at them. Now there seems to be a break, or Myers has so few troops left she cannot afford to waste them. 'V' continues with So Mi in her arms, entering one of the tram's cars and gently placing So Mi in one of the seats, leaning her against the window. As the tram begins to move to the launch pad, 'V' does her best to keep So Mi awake, fearing if she slips off into sleep it will be permanent.  Along the way So Mi remembers? relives? confesses? "I have hurt so many, betrayed so many, Alex, Sol, you." 'V' looks concerned for So Mi, is she mixing up her memories, and with a growing sense of unease in her soul, "How have you hurt me, So Mi?" Then she gets the answer she feared most but buried away as deep as she could. "I lied to you. The 'cure' can only be used once. The AI will die and fade away when it is released." 'V' feels her heart clench in a vice, what does she do? So many possibilities, and their consequences. She remembers what Misty counseled her with regard to what the Tarot was trying to tell her. And then the memory of when the Zen Master answered her question when she asked why he was training her in how to meditate. "I do this, so that you may make the right choice when you must decide your path." The questions that sprang up then went until now unanswered, when the full reality of it all is laid out for her to make her choice. Then she shuts out all of the conflicting choices, and listens to her heart, in whatever ending comes her way, to be true to herself. Then she makes her choice.

     So Mi's presence weakens as her end nears and Johnny appears giving his take on all of this. He seems to be impressed and respectful of how much she managed to outwit everyone involved in this fiasco, and bring it all together to a close, but 'V' also sees another side to this sordid story of pain and betrayal. She sees that So Mi cares for her now. Why else would she, here, now, so close to the end of this road, finally telling 'V' the truth and putting her fate in 'V's hands. The trust it shows is not logical, cannot be calculated in analyzing who makes what decisions in this situation. And this is what tells 'V', So Mi is telling her the truth, and the hidden gem of incalculable value in this sparks something 'V's mother once, long ago told her. "If you want to know if a love you have is meant to be, let it go free. If it comes back to you, then it is meant to be. If it does not, you will know you did right to let it go." This tilts the scales in 'V's heart, mind, and soul, and lets her make the decision she must now make. 

     Carrying an almost comatose So Mi, she makes it about half way to her goal, the small access way to the shuttle's hatch is in sight when a figure steps out, Solomon Reed. 'V 'had hoped against hope that this confrontation was not going to happen, for she knew only one was going to walk away from it. She felt sadness in this, for she liked Reed, even respected him, but was in no way going to let him have So Mi. For she and So Mi had earlier in the maintenance tunnels, overheard the conversation Myers had with him as they met on the spaceport landing complex. It was not hard to see and understand that even though Myers couched her wishes as what was best for the NUSA, both 'V' and So Mi, knew she had put them all in this position for her own personal goals. That Reed was the only one going along with this for 'duty' and 'country' was not lost on 'V', So Mi having some time ago lost that foundation and the 'house of cards' that was her life in the FIA came tumbling down. And 'V', viewed herself as only owing So Mi in this, since it was she who hired her for this job, not Myers, and she turned down giving oath to the NUSA for that reason and also that she did not believe in it.

     When Sol began threatening to shoot, 'V' carefully put So Mi down on the concrete floor and backed away a few steps so they could talk. As she raised back up, So Mi's eyes looking at her for reassurance, noted that 'V' had palmed a revolver and kept it hidden by half turning her body away from Sol. Sol had a few things to say about the situation, nothing that 'V' had not already heard, but thought at the time it was not the right time to voice her opinion on them, now however was. When Sol pressed for why 'V' was doing this, referring it to treason against the NUSA. 'V' strongly replies, "And breaking international treaties by sending So Mi on missions to the 'Blackwall' seeking a way through it is not treason against the NUSA? And don't say she was only doing this to strengthen the NUSA, to give it an 'edge'. We both know it was for 'her' that this was done. And as for 'treason', it is only treason if I took the 'oath'. As I was hired for the job by So Mi, I could not take that 'oath' for it would cause divided loyalties for me between the NUSA and my client. You certainly cannot expect us to believe a word of what you say about wanting to help us, about standing between us and Myers." Sol realizes they know more than he first thought, "You heard our conversation earlier." 'V' nods her head, "Every word of it." Sol comes back, "Then you know that we will find you in the end. You both need help to survive." 'V' spits out, "And the NUSA is going to help? How about another one while you are at it. Getting medical help only to spend the rest of your life in a 'black' prison cell is not life, Sol, it is 'hell'. No matter what you say, Myers is not going to allow us a chance to live, you know that and I know that.

     But I also know a few things from my own research and contacts, the NUSA knows a lot of things that is true, but they know nothing of the kind of care I need. One I can find to deal with the Relic, there are a few really good ones and the NUSA has no sway with them. I do, for I have something they want. And for the second, they also have a sister clinic that can take care of the other half of my problem. And with my reputation, I would not mind doing a few jobs for them if I needed to. So you and Myers need to see that you are not the only options out there. In fact, you are not even the best options I have found. But in the end, it really does not matter, not for you anyway, for I am not letting go of So Mi. Not to you, not to Myers, not to anyone." And with that, 'V' eyes are locked on her target point, never wavering, she raises the revolver she had palmed and kept hidden, then planted two shots, into the base of his neck. As he dropped to his knees and before he died, 'V' heard him say, "We will still find you." To which 'V' replied to his departing soul, "Let her try it, I will be ready for her."

     'V' then returns to So Mi, "Come on, let me get you to that shuttle. I have not brought you this far to have you die on me." She looks at So Mi's nearly closed eyes and feels her heartbeat, weak but still there. "Come on, my love. There I said it, and I hope you remember that while you are on the moon, that someone down here still loves you." Tears begin running down 'V's face as she puts So Mi in a passenger seat and connects her to 'life support'. She listens as the system diagnoses So Mi and begins treatment as it is able. "You did not have to lie to me, I still would have helped you. But considering what your life was like as a FIA agent, I can understand. And because I love you, there will always be forgiveness for you. I give you my 'heart' and maybe one day it will find its way back to me."

     'V' makes her way back down to the observation deck to watch the launch. While she waits, she asks Johnny, "Have you ever launched a shuttle before?" He replies, "No, that I have never done." A few more seconds of silence and he says, "You know 'V', she made it. She showed them all up that tried to stop her. She had that something that I lacked, whatever it took to never give up, to go the distance, to keep fighting to the very end. You can disagree with all that she did in her life, but you have to respect this. You did the right thing, 'V' putting her in that shuttle. Now she has escaped, I hope she makes it. But I gotta ask, why send her on that shuttle? You had every right to put a bullet in her head, or give her over to Reed for what she did to you." 'V' thinks for a few seconds and tells him, "Sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if you risk everything to do it." and she gives an almost inaudible whisper, "And sometimes you do it to prove your love for someone, and pray they come back to you." She looks to Johnny and says, "Come on, we are back to square one, but we still have each other for a while longer and we still got places to trash."