Cyberpunk: Archangel

Chapter 9: The Tenth Plague

As Michael roared, all of his grief escaped his lungs, although he had no lungs. And that grief was replaced by something new: Rage. Animalistic, unwavering, unquenchable rage. He looked back at the torn up jacket, and slipped it on. Even in its ruined state, the jacket was able to barely fit. After putting the jacket on, Michael clenched his hands into fists. Arasaka had turned him into a weapon; a monster to butcher their enemies, no doubt. If those worthless pieces of Corpo meat wanted a monster, they would get a monster. Michael was now gone, killed by Arasaka seven years ago. All that was left was a feeling left caged at the back of his conscience, a feeling that had now clawed its way out. Michael died, and the Archangel took his place. He activated his rocket boots, and zoomed off at full-speed back towards Arasaka's HQ in Dogtown. If the Devil was going to keep him trapped, then he would tear Hell to pieces with his bare hands.

As Michael was flying towards Arasaka's HQ, Rogue ringed him up. After it rang a few times, he decided to humor her, and answered the call. "Michael?" Rogue asked with concern. "Where are you going?"

"I'm finding whoever killed Rebecca, and I'm tearing them to bloody pieces!" Michael snarled. "And then, I'm reducing Arasaka to fucking ashes!"

"Michael, you can't kill him on your own!" Rogue shouted in response. Falco then joined the call as well. "The man that killed Rebecca is Adam Smasher," Falco explained. "People don't call him Night City's Boogie Man for no reason. That same night, he flatlined the toughest Merc I've ever met. The shit you're about to pull is suicide."

"I don't care what he's done!" Michael roared in response. "I'll bring the building crumbling down on us both if I have to! And when we're both dead, I'll drag him down to Hell myself!"

Rogue sighed, sounding defeated. "Sounds like we can't stop you," she said. "But don't say we didn't warn you."

Both Rogue and Falco hung up as Michael approached the entrance to Dogtown. A member of Barghest was holding a blowtorch, appearing to be working on repairing the exit gate, and as he turned around, and saw Michael flying towards him, he dropped his blowtorch and dove out of the way as Michael crashed through the gate once again. As he flew right towards Arasaka's HQ, which had several people outside, fixing the glass which he had broken earlier. They all dropped their things and ran as Michael, shot a barrage of missiles at the front of the building, not slowing down. He flew through the building as the missiles tore a hole through the front of it. And without thinking twice, he unsheathed his rippers and zipped around the room, slashing, bludgeoning, and firing bullets and missiles at anyone who looked like they could even possibly be Corpos. The entire building devolved into chaos in an instant, with people running away, or attempting to neutralize Michael as he unleashed his wrath upon the building and everyone inside.

The lobby was now quiet, filled with bodies and rubble. Michael flew over to a nearby computer, and chipped himself in through some sort of attachment on his wrist. After searching for a short moment, he downloaded the schematics of the building, which dated back to about 2079. Arasaka had clearly only been set up in Dogtown for a short time, seeing as Militech completely kicked them out of NC from the looks of the rest of the city. Once the schematics were downloaded, he looked through the layout of the building, and saw that four large support beams ran all the way down to the bottom floor. If he knocked those down right at the bottom, the entire building would surely collapse. After learning what he needed, Michael flew over to an elevator, ripping the door open, and jumping down the elevator shaft. As he fell deeper and deeper into the building, he saw that an elevator was heading up, right towards him. He growled to himself, flipping upside down, and activating his rocket boots. Michael collided with the elevator, causing a loud boom to echo throughout the elevator shaft. He unsheathed his rippers, and slashed at the roof of the elevator repeatedly, until it created a hole large enough for him to crawl through. As whoever was inside the elevator screamed in panic, Michael shot a couple of missiles into the elevator, the explosion of which damaged the elevator enough to make it go careening down to the ground. Michael followed the elevator down, and as it crashed into the floor, he flew through the hole, and kicked the elevator doors with enough force to send them flying forward, into the room that awaited on that floor. As the metal door flew out, it slammed into an Arasaka guard, several platoons of which were prepped and waiting for Michael to enter. Michael flew straight towards them, unsheathing his rippers once more and spinning in the air. Most of the guards were sliced to ribbons, and Michael turned around and shot missiles at the ones who were still standing. With those obstacles out of his way, he continued on his way to the first of the four support beams. Michael slammed open the door which led to the first of the four support beams. A few guards were huddled up inside, and began to open fire. Michael flew over and grabbed the first guard, who yelped in pain as Michael tore them in half. He threw both halves of the man's body at two different guards, sending them sliding across the room. Michael punched the fourth guard in the head, and as they fell down, picked them up by the ankles. He swung the guard at the support beam, bludgeoning it over and over, and the center mass was exposed. Michael tossed the now blood-drenched and limp body into the wall, and flew backwards slightly, before propelling forward and slamming his shoulder into the support beam, causing it to crumble apart. The entire building shook as a result, and an alarm began to blare as Michael continued onto the next beam.

Michael repeated the process with the second and third beams, and was met with increasingly greater resistance as he went on. Most Arasaka personnel were making a run for it by this point, while a few particularly brave guards stayed behind in an attempt to neutralize the mechanical beast their bosses had created. Michael approached the fourth door, kicked the door off of its hinges, and walked inside. The room was quite large, and was surprisingly devoid of any guards. A lone Arasaka Agent with red hair, and some sort of red cyberoptics, was standing next to a monitor, desperately typing away. The monitor had several wires branching out of it, which were all connected to some sort of large machine in the back of the room. Several different large screens were attached to walls all throughout the room, displaying all sorts of data, along with what appeared to be blueprints for said device. Michael ignored what was on the monitors, and aggressively stomped towards the Agent. The closer Michael got, the more she desperately typed away, frantically looking up at him, and down at the monitor. She yelped in panic as Michael swatted the monitor out of the way, picked her up by the neck, and slammed her into the ground. "Where's Smasher!" Michael roared, causing the Agent to look away and flinch. "Why should I tell you anything?" The Agent retorted as she glared up at him. "Chances are, I'm dead either way."

Michael lifted her back into the air, and punched her in the side of the head. "Answer my question!" he snarled.

The Agent winced, and let out a sigh. "Adam Smasher stopped working for us around a year ago," she explained. "Once Arasaka started going under, he decided to abandon ship, told us he was gonna go work for a cause that found 'more agreeable'. Only time I ever talked with the guy was to lure some Merc to Arasaka tower back in 2076. Didn't speak to him much, so that's all I know."

After hearing her mention the "Merc", Michael paused for a moment. "What Merc?" He asked. "Think his name was David Martinez." the Agent answered. "Don't know why you care...."

Michael dropped the woman, and opened up the missile pod on his right arm, and aimed it at the strange machine in the back of the room. "No, don't!" the Agent pleaded in desperation. "First, I'm gonna make you watch your little project get blown to smithereens," Michael growled. "And then, you're next."

The Agent ran over and tugged at Michael's arm in desperation, and Michael shoved her back, causing her to fall down on her backside. He then aimed the missile pod at the machine, and shot a singular missile into what looked like the machine's core. The core exploded, and sent debris flying around the room. "You mindless brute!" The Agent screamed in anger, as well as what sounded like fear. "This device was the only thing keeping them from breaching the Blackwall! You've doomed us all! Nothing is left to stop them now...."

Michael lunged at the Agent, clocking her in the jaw with all of his strength. Her jaw instantly snapped off and flew across the room, and the Agent held her face and let out a muffled scream. Michael then unsheathed his rippers, and slashed at her torso, cutting the Agent in half and brutally putting her out of her misery.