Not Quite Back to the Future

Ring Ring Ring

Ring Ring Ring

Helen's eyes shot open as the shrill sound of her phone pierced the early morning silence.

“Answer,” Helen mumbles with a groan.

“You alright Helen? You didn’t come home last night.” Nyx the favorite cat asks

“I didn’t?” Helen mumbled to herself looking around the bright room only making her hangover worse as she tried to get her bearings.

It was the Max Tac bunk room.

“Yeah, Nyx, I'm... I'm alright. Just got caught up in… something?" Helen says wondering why she woke up at work.

“Hey Boys! Sleeping Beauty is awake!” A voice shouts causing Helen to wince.

“Keep it down please, my head is fucking killing me.” Helen whispers holding her forehead.

“Yeah, makes sense considering how we picked you up.” Ethan says

“Ah… What did I do while drunk?” Helen asks

“You killed Lieutenant Colonel James Norris,” Ethan states unamused

“I killed a person?” Helen asks

“Yeah…. Well let's go ahead and tell you what happened.” Ethan says
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The night was alive with the wail of sirens and the flashing lights of NCPD patrol cars. Chaos had descended upon the city, and in the heart of the turmoil stood a cyberpsycho, a figure clad in ominous black, his cyberware gleaming menacingly under the neon glow.

It had all started when Lieutenant Colonel James Norris went cyberpsycho and shot an NCPD officer point blank with a sawed-off double barrel.

Poor bastard didn’t even know how unlucky he was. For he did not know the danger lurking nearby.
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Helen found herself in a hazy world, leaning against a filthy dumpster, her senses dulled by the alcohol coursing through her veins. Neon lights painted the streets in surreal colors, and the distant wail of sirens was a mere background melody to her intoxicated mind. I mean one doesn’t drive home when your internal systems have a BAC of .12. Although Night City almost seemed peaceful like this.

“Agh, set a reminder. Do not drink alcohol in the future.” Helen mutters moving her body to a more comfortable position in the corner. Her head was pounding yet everything felt so light.

Amidst the cacophony of chaos, a deafening gunshot echoed through the night, causing Helen's already pounding head to throb in protest. She blinked away the alcohol-induced haze, her eyes locking onto the source of the disturbance.

Her bleary eyes struggled to focus as they locked onto the source of the commotion, a figure darting through chaos…

MAN THAT BOY COULD RUN.

“RUN BOY, RUN!” Helen cheers in a shout.

The crazed figure, previously engrossed in his own rampage, turned toward Helen's direction. His eyes, filled with a manic glint, locked onto her with a newfound interest.

The Psycho blurred only for Helen to activate her own cyberware, a Sandevistan, and the world around her seemed to slow to a crawl. The once-blurred figure of the cyberpsycho now moved at a pace that seemed slow to Helen.

Time seemed to stretch, and Helen watched with heightened senses as the cyberpsycho's massive form lunged toward her. His gorilla arms, a deadly weapon that could easily decapitate a person, swung through the air with terrifying force.

Helen waited until the very last second, her body swaying with the distorted passage of time. With a graceful, almost dance-like move, she dodged the lethal punch, narrowly avoiding a troubling annoyance. .

The shock on the psycho's face was rather hard to read given the psychosis however it was there. Helen a smirk on her face took a graceful, swaying step, nearly instantly closing the distance between herself and the cyberpsycho.

Helen’s responding kick was a blur of motion, aimed straight for the cyberpsycho's midsection. In his slowed perception, he saw her foot coming, but her sandevistan was faster than his.

The impact landed with a satisfying thud, and the cyberpsycho was sent hurtling backward, crashing into a police cruiser and knocking the front end of the vehicle back by a foot or two.

Helen stood her ground, her victorious smirk widening as she struck a karate pose in her drunken stupor.

“Isssss sat all you hav runer boy?” Helen slurs.

As the cyberpsycho struggled to regain his footing, the night took a sudden, brutal turn. A sharp gunshot barked through the chaos, and a high-velocity round struck the cyberpsycho in the back of the head with deadly precision. His cyberware-augmented skull offered no protection at the back of the head.

The result was instantaneous and gruesome. The cyberpsycho's head exploded like an egg thrown against a wall. It was a complete and total mess, bits of bone and brain matter spraying forward towards Helen hitting her with drops of blood and brain matter. His lifeless body crumpled to the ground, his cyber-enhanced reflexes unable to save him from a surprise attack.

There behind the police cruiser stood Detective Ward. Poor guy had likely been using the car for cover. A grim expression on his face. In his hand, he held the unmistakable Malorian Overture, probably the legendary one from the game too…

Helen dropped her victorious karate pose, her triumphant smirk replaced by a pout of disappointment. She had been in the midst of a thrilling brawl, relishing the adrenaline and alcohol. Yet it was for naught, for Detective Ward of the NCPD had ruined it.

“Why did you have to go and do that?” Helen slurs with a pout.

Detective Ward watched Helen with a mix of curiosity and caution. Her slurred words and erratic behavior left him bewildered, and wary. He couldn't help but wonder who this woman was and how she had managed to get the upper hand on the psycho.

He holstered the Malorian Overture and approached her cautiously, not entirely sure how she would react. "Look, lady," he began, his tone stern but not unkind, "I don't know what you were thinking, but this is no place for civilians, especially drunk ones. You could've gotten yourself killed."

“Ssiis finne, I work for the MAXIMUM tac,” Helen says triumphantly still clearly drunk.

Detective Ward's eyes widened in surprise at Helen's claim. "MAX-TAC?" he repeated, skepticism evident in his voice. "You? Working for MAX-TAC?"

Helen grinned widely, her drunken state making her seem even more unpredictable. "Yup! That's me, Helen Wick, the MAXIMUM tac extraordinaire."

Detective Ward exchanged a puzzled glance with Helen, still struggling to reconcile her drunken demeanor with the reputation of MAX-TAC. He knew that MAX-TAC operatives were some of the toughest and most unhinged individuals in Night City. They had to be crazy to handle the most dangerous situations in the city. Rumor had it a handful of them were borderline cyberpsychos. The idea that one of them was swaying unsteadily in front of him, slurring her words, seemed almost absurd, yet it put him on edge. Who knew if she would go psycho next?

As the distant sound of approaching sirens grew louder, Detective Ward realized that MAX-TAC was indeed still en route. He sighed, relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with this peculiar situation alone.

"Alright, Helen Wick," he said, leaning against the patrol car which still had the dead body wedged into it, "I'll let MAX-TAC sort this out. But you and I will be having a little chat with them when they arrive. Maybe you can explain why you're out here like this."
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Helen winced, her hand pressed against her temple as if to ease the throbbing ache. "My head's pounding... I think the last thing I remember was being in some bookstore."

Ethan's response was less than convinced as he replied with a curt, "Yes, of course."

Helen's remorse was evident in her voice as she assured her handler, "I won't let it happen again."

Ethan remained skeptical but decided to offer a solution the boss recommended, saying, "If you ever feel the need to unwind like this again, the boss recommends heading to Dog Town in the Combat Zone. It's a less glamorous spot but less likely to end up in a public cyberpsycho brawl.”

Helen winced at the suggestion, her voice laden with regret. "I said it wouldn't happen again."

Before Helen could further dwell on her throbbing headache and the consequences of her actions, Ethan interjected with another piece of information. "Also, Detective Ward with the NCPD wishes to meet with you."