Cyberpunk: XYZ

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Chapter 27: Blood On Metal III

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At that same moment, X let go of the knife lodged deep in the Maelstrom's skull, allowing him to finally grip his revolver rightly.

[X, change of plans. This Maelstrom reacted too fast. He must have a Reflex Tuner. We have to get him first!!]

He fully trusted the judgment of Z as he fired the first shot before spinning around, kicking the quickly dying Maelstrom before him to push himself toward that specific Maelstrom, the mouthless one.

The purpose of the first shot was simply to interrupt the mouthless Maelstrom's actions, forcing him to reach ridiculously quickly and use his metallic arms as a shield.

He is the one who has the Reflex Tuner implant, a cyberware that in the user's eyes appears to slow down time.

What the Reflex Tuner does is act as a neural booster.

It deploys advanced neurostimulants, direct neural stimulation, and enhanced sensory processing to temporarily increase response times and reflexes.

Because this sort of boost is very taxing, the Reflex Tuner only works briefly.

Constant high-speed neural firing could risk overheating neurons, potentially causing permanent damage if left on too long.

[The one on the right's weapon is his claw-like hands. He seems to have activated some kind of Adrenaline Booster. He can be ignored for now]

So many words would've taken a bit to be spoken, but fortunately, they weren't spoken.

It was just as if Z transferred the information to his brain, instantly comprehending what it entails.

Thus, while X was in the air, he aimed his revolver at the Maelstrom with the Reflex Tuner.

The assault rifle he took from the previous Maelstrom, on the other hand, was aimed at the Maelstrom to the left who was the slowest to reach.

X pulled the trigger, the assault rifle in his left hand raining bullet, and even as he moved in the air, he kept his aim somewhat stead.

That, however, wasn't the most important trigger he pulled as the revolver contributed the most to his survival.

The bullet that flew from the revolver traveled a very very short distance to reach the mouthless Maelstrom's hand, which was grasping what seemed to be a shotgun.

That shot was very vital in basically forcing the Maelstrom to miss as by the time X pulled the trigger of his revolver, the Maelstrom was also on the verge of pulling the trigger of his shotgun, all while stepping back.

The perfect illustration of the mouthless Maelstrom's reflexes was how despite the bullet accurately hitting his dominant hand, he was still able to almost instantly regain his stability.

Shotguns require a firm grip and two-handed stability, so hitting his dominant arm was supposed to make him loosen his hold on the weapon.

That's why X specifically fired at a relatively weak area of the cyber arm, yet the Maelstrom reacted quickly, seemingly switching his dominant hand to his left hand... Must be a cyber arms feature.

It was, however, too late for the mouthless Maelstrom to fire again as his quick reaction time allowed him to clearly see that X could pull the trigger of his revolver faster.

Moreover, X's revolver is aimed directly at the Maelstrom's head, ready to pull the trigger, irrelevant of how much damage that would actually do.

The mouthless Maelstrom's head is entirely chromed up, basically a plate of bullet resistant metal.

There are weak points though, exactly what X is aiming at, those red flashing cyber eyes.

Two things happened in what seemed to be an instant, X missed his shot, or rather, the Maelstrom overloaded himself, using his full force to hit the revolver out of X's hands.

The other thing that happened was X falling upon the mouthless Maelstrom, forcing him to the ground.

Strangely, that was exactly what the mouthless Maelstrom wanted as an eerie giggle escaped his throat.

The revolver was out of X's hands, and as far as the Maelstrom could see, X had little to no implant.

Moreover, he was certain that X has no cyberarms, or any hand implants for that matter.

When he slapped the gun out of X's hand, he felt it, the touch of flesh and bones cracking upon meeting the force of his cyberarms.

Not only that, the mouthless Maelstrom was chromed up to the Tee, weighing several hundreds of pounds of pure metal.

X also completely emptied the assault rifle on the other Maelstrom, seemingly leaving him cornered.

"AKhhhgh," However, the mouthless Maelstrom found himself letting out a noise other than giggling, feeling his neural network overloading.

X had spun around him, letting go of his assault rifle mid-air and bringing out one of his knives before hitting the mouthless Maelstrom directly in the sensory cortex part of his head, again and again.

The reflex tuner is a dual placement implant, installed in the motor cortex and sensory cortex, X being a new Ripperdoc knows that.

He also knows that he can interfere with the implant if he applies just enough force, giving him time to pull out his second revolver and... Bam!!!

X would've shot again, but he couldn't, keenly capturing from the corner of his eyes the last Maelstrom leaping toward him.

He almost instantly aimed at him and fired, only being able to fire twice before the Maelstrom's claw reached him, or rather, reached his hands, almost slicing them entirely if X didn't let go and roll backward.

Much to the Maelstrom's dismay, X brought out another revolver from his gunbelt, leaving him speechless.

The sound of unending gunfire reverberated throughout the alleyway, till the clawed Maelstrom fell to the ground.

Without wasting any time, X pulled out two more knives, not wasting any time reloading his gun.

Instead, he hurdled toward the mouthless Maelstrom, the latter still dizzy from the gunshot.

X didn't give him the opportunity to regain his composure as he rained his knives upon him, targetting each and every weak point.

X didn't let out a sigh of relief just yet as he reached out for the Maelstrom's shotgun by the side before releasing two pumps, deleting the man's cyber head.

He then quickly reloaded his revolver, but before unloading it all in the heads of the remaining Maelstroms, just in case.

X came prepared with a duffel bag, throwing most of the guns inside, leaving in his belt just one revolver and his knives.

He also quickly searched the bodies and threw anything of value into the bag before bringing out a bottle from the bag's side pocket.

[Change your gloves. They're completely sliced off. Use the others to block your blood from dripping everywhere]

[Here, your blood here]

[Here also]

[Drops of your blood here]

[The claws of this Maelstrom]

X sprayed the liquid everywhere Y and Z pointed out, cleaning his traces to the best of his abilities.

The bottle is a product called TraceEater – A spray that "eats" organic residues like DNA and blood, using catalytic micro-organisms and chemical agents.

[The claw Maelstrom managed to reach one of your ulnar arteries. It isn't too severe, so you should have an hour or two]

X was reminded to quicken his pace as he threw a few bags of garbage on top of the bodies before lighting the place aflame.

The entire incident took no more than a minute and a half. He had to be quick because the response time of the Maelstroms will be very quick.

He only vanished into the distance after picking up his phone which he set up a bit away to record the entire incident... For some reason?

X made his way through the alleyways, taking a few seconds to turn his coat upside down and tighten it up before picking his bag back up and moving on.

He only moved through areas lacking surveillance, changing his appearance on the way, from taking off his brown wigg to changing his mask, and even his pants.

It seemed that he came prepared with clothes in his bag. Hell, he even had a duffel bag crumped in this particular duffel bag.

The goal was, of course, to use the new different bag and hide the old one in the new one, and finally, he looked entirely different.

X felt dizzy and a bit unsteady, his hands still bleeding profusely. Fortunately, his gloves managed to hold back the blood.

He seemed dazed and muddled as if he had overloaded his brain by using it too much.

He couldn't take the Metro System back to the clinic, having to walk there.

At least, Northside is part of Watson, the same district his destination, Little China, belongs to.

Therefore, it wasn't that much of a walk, soon being able to see the neon-filled streets of Little China and hear the sound of sirens as well as some familiar cries, right by the clinic... He saw Blood On Metal.