Not Quite Back to the Future

“Helen was pissed; her stealth op had been ruined, and she had actually been forced to improvise, going from stealth to sending a message… Yet some of those god damn office goons were packing some serious heat. Her brief saunter through the Miliatech offices had gone loud. Going loud sucked, although she had left it was not without causing great losses to the national conglomerate.

 

That was how she found herself here, staring into the mirror with a red-hot butter knife in her left hand and a half-dollar-sized hole in her upper right pectoral.

 

Helen hissed in pain as she deftly moved the knife, seemingly with practiced skill, fishing the bullet right out.

 

“I still can’t believe you actually got hurt,” Nyx said, sitting on the countertop.

 

“I can’t believe one of them had a Mosin Nagant. That thing went straight through my subdermal weave. Where the fuck did he fit the damn thing,” Helen retorts as her left hand skillfully stitched up the hole.

 

“You seem rather practiced at that,” Nyx observed.

 

Memories from both lives flashed through Helen’s eyes as she remembered a panicked girl learning to stitch for the first time to stop her mother from bleeding to death. In another life, it was a scout troop sitting at a chapel, taking turns practicing over and over again.

 

“Yeah, and I was supposed to be on a multiversal adventure with a harem, but instead I’m here,” Helen stated sarcastically.

 

“You with a harem!?” Nyx shouted, before his voice replicator glitched from laughing too hard.

 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Instead, I’ve got a magical girl’s pet and am stuck in Night City. Where are all the pretty girls all I see are fakes and plastic,” Helen muttered.

 

Nyx decided smartly to ignore that line of thought.

 

“Time to go home?” Helen asked.

 

“That group is still at your apartment… probably waiting for you,” Nyx stated.

 

Suddenly, the holo started to ring; the caller ID said Ethan.

 

“Hey, how’s it going, Ethan?” Helen asked.

 

“How’s it going? HOW’S IT GOING!? YOU TELL ME HOW IT’S GOING, HELEN WICK!” Ethan shouted.

 

“Ah, I guess they called Max Tac, huh? I would’ve thought they wanted to handle it in-house,” Helen said.

 

Ethan just stared at her silently for a minute or two.

 

“You good, Ethan?”

 

“Y-yeah, sorry. I had to get that off my chest. We were worried you had gone psycho… the footage we saw on the security cameras wasn’t exactly good,” Ethan stated.

 

“Ah, yeah, I hacked the cameras and was heavily editing the feed,” Helen said, glancing at Nyx, who nodded in response.

 

“Right… Anyway, Alex was wondering if you hadn’t gone insane and if you were up for a repeat performance for training purposes?” Ethan asked.

 

“Sure, I think I could do that, Make any money off of the stock drop?”Helen can’t help but ask.

 

“Yeah, I made quite a killing, though not literally like you.” Ethan says with a shark like grin. 

 

Helen chuckles a little before hanging up the call.

 

“Why the fuck is everyone so greedy. He cared more about money than human lives.” Helen mutters

 

“You’re the one that killed the people.” Nyx responds to the unasked question

 

“They wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone. Need to teach a lesson.” Helen states 

 

“Good point. So, why didn’t you level the building again?” Nyx asks

 

“Because I didn’t feel like facing off against an army?” Helen states 

 

There was a moment of silence as she inspects her suture.

 

"A fucken Mosin… who the fuck is using that pre First World War relic, and why in the fuck did they have the armor piercing rounds? What a nuisance," she muttered to herself, rolling her shoulder to try and help the sore muscles.

 

Nyx projected a concerned expression, or what was probably one for a cat… it’s hard to tell sometimes.. "You should get that checked out, Helen. It could get infected."

 

"Nah, ill die when I die. Something like this can’t kill me," Helen replied, brushing off the concern. "Right now, we've got other problems."

 

“Yeah, the crew is still at your apartment.” Nyx says stating the most current and obvious concern.

 

Helen stared into the mirror thinking when before she could formulate her next move, the holo rang once more, displaying Viktor Vektor's caller ID.

 

"What now?" Helen sighed, answering the call.

 

"Helen, I need your help," Viktor's voice crackled through the line.”well, I have a job for you.” Vik reiterates.

 

"What's the problem, Viktor?" Helen asked, she was under the impression Vik was scared of her.

 

"It's a mess here. Someone's tampered with the cyberware shipments, an all my equipment is compromised. I need someone discreet, someone I trust," Viktor explained, his voice strained.

 

"Alright, I'll be there," Helen confirmed before ending the call.

 

“Well, it looks like we can avoid the crew at my house a bit longer.” Helen states walking away from the mirror.

 

"More trouble?" Nyx inquired, 

 

"Yeah, it seems like everyone's in a bind today," Helen replied, grabbing her gear. 

 

“How many of those binds did you inadvertently cause with your most recent enthusiastic walk?” Nyx asks

 

“Well, I don’t see how that my problem. Come, Vik called for help.” Helen states throwing on her jacket.