LunaWolve
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[ND] Chapter 146 - Conclusion
🕑 Added 2025-09-08 19:00:13 +0000 UTC---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Hello everyone, LunaWolve here!
Chapter 141 - Mixed Messages has just released on RR with no major changes.
For the Fixers, this chapter has seen no changes.
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We're finally back on regular schedule!
Today's chapter concludes the "Consequences" Arc. đ
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I'm looking forward to hearing your first impressions and opinions on this chapter. \o/
I hope you will enjoy it!
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-------------------- End of Pre-Chapter Author Note (Patreon-only) ------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the link to the chapter:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eo57qdLh7qHYP9Nz4i_ZXvUeRoB5Uuvz290iXhPBtp0/edit?usp=sharing
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Chapter 146 - Conclusion
Several moments passed while I stared at the blinking error window, my stomach sinking lower with every second.
The meaning was too obvious to ignore.
âHe died, didnât heâŠ?â
The alternativeâthat heâd just canceled my debt in the middle of a fightâwas so unlikely it bordered on laughable.
Mr. Stirling wasnât exactly the type to throw away leverage, especially not mid-combat.
What unsettled me even more, though, was the silence. Nyxstalker hadnât come back.
It had been nearly a full minute since the gunfire and explosions outside had died out, and still⊠nothing.
A soft whimper pulled me back.
My eyes dropped to Gabriel.
His gaze was unfocused, glassy, his pupils blown wide like he wasnât really here but couldnât fully slip under either. The drugsâprobably the same cocktail burning through my veinsâhad him caught in that cruel limbo.
âI wish I could help you, Gabe,â I whispered, stroking his hair with trembling fingers, hoping the small touch might anchor him. âJust a bit longer. Hold on for me, pleaseâŠâ
My own body was a furnace.
My neck still burned raw from [Venombite], but the same drugs keeping us conscious forced me to endure it. It wasnât as bad as that first cybernetic burnout Iâd suffered during the Cyberspace foray with Kill Joy, but the pounding headache was relentless, the droning inside my skull loud enough to drown out everything but my own ragged breathing.
Every now and then, one of Gabrielâs whimpers cut through, thin and fragile.
Iâd only marginally overheated my link this time with the use of [Venombite], not a full meltdown like last time around. That thought dragged my gaze across the room, toward where the netrunner still lay slumped.
Iâd nearly forgotten about him.
He was still there, twitching, drool spilling from his slack mouth and darkening our carpet. Barely holding himself together.
The sight gave me pause.
I hadnât expected [Venombite] to hit a corpo-level netrunner this hard.
But then again, stripped of ICE, it didnât matter who you wereâcorpo, ganger, scav.
Even Kill Joy himself would buckle under a raw offensive quick-hack if he went in completely unshielded, which this netrunner had basically done: Only 6% of the [Venombite]âs code had been caught by the last remnants of the netrunnerâs ICE after he had taken the full-force punch through of the PremMed signal.
Still, the twitching mess in the middle of the room wasnât finished.
The netrunner wasnât quite dealt withânot yet.
I forced myself upright, every muscle screaming, figuring I might as well take whatever slim window we had.
Nyxstalker still hadnât come backâwhatever kept him out there was clearly doing its job.
The netrunner was still twitching on the carpet like a broken puppet.
I moved over, dropped down onto him, and drove my knees into his shoulders to pin him.
Then I started swinging.
My fist cracked into his face, snapping his nose flat and shattering bone in his cheek.
ââughterâŠâ a faint, muffled sound drifted from somewhere, too faint to catch.
I didnât stop.
I pulled back and drove my other fist into the other side of his face, breaking more bone, folding in what little structure was left. Blood gushed down in thick streams, choking him as it filled his throat.
He sputtered, weakly thrashing under me, but there wasnât any strength behind it.
I raised my fist again, ready to keep going until he stopped movingâ
âSeraphine!â
The name cut through me like a blade, snapping me out of the haze.
Valeria had only called me that in one instance beforeâright before the NeuroCorpse dinner, when sheâd scolded me for my mistakes and then, almost as an afterthought, wished me a happy belated birthday.
Hearing it now, not âdaughterâ but Seraphine, somehow, cut straight through the noise in my skull.
I turned toward her voice.
Valeria was standingâbarely. She was lopsided, her entire right side dead weight, blood running down from wounds that shouldâve kept her on the ground.
But she was upright, a few meters away, and her eyes were locked on me.
âLeave him,â she said. Her voice was still cool, but frayed around the edges with exhaustion. âHe represents no actionable threat anymore. However, his retained informational data will prove strategically invaluable in our future actions against Nyxstalker. I will personally oversee the extraction process and guarantee that his information is leveraged to immediate operational effect.â
I glanced back at the netrunnerâs ruined face, blood bubbling at his lips with every shallow cough. My thoughts crawled through molasses, struggling to keep up through the fog of pain and drug haze.
I exhaled sharply and pushed off him, rising unsteadily to my feet.
He stayed where he was, choking on his own blood, cradling his face weakly.
âAssist me, Seraphine,â Valeria said. And her toneâstripped of its usual edgeâwas different. Undeniably exhausted and strangely⊠honest.
I met her eyes and realised that, for the first time, she wasnât speaking down to me.
She was asking. Genuinely asking for my help.
âWhat do you need?â I heard myself ask, my own voice sounding hollow in my ears.
Since patching Gabriel up, whatever focus Iâd had left was gone.
I was just running on fumes.
âI need a change of clothesâin my room. On the bed. Take any dress, it does not matter,â she said, steady but faint.
âA dress? Clothes?â My mind stumbled. âWhat the fuck is she on about?â
âAnd after,â she went on, gesturing toward what was left of the kitchen counter, rubble of marble and granite scattered like broken teeth around the ruined plinth, âyou will help me reach the counter. Then stand by my right side, covering it as best you can. It is imperative that we move quickly, Seraphine.â
Her eyes locked onto mine, sharp despite everything, cutting straight through the fog in my head.
Whatever she was planning, however insane it sounded, to her it was life or death.
And I let it happen.
The strange haze clouding my thoughts made it almost comforting to just⊠obey. Not having to think, not having to plan or weigh options, but simply act on instructionâit was easier.
Like sliding into warm water after drowning in ice cold water for the past minutes.
So I moved.
Valeriaâs and Oliverâs room felt utterly alien as I entered it, but I honestly barely even saw it.
My eyes scanned for the bed and found it instantly, the rest of the room blurring into nothing.
Dresses were spread across the covers like a showroom display, and I just grabbed the first that caught my handâa midnight-black oneâand turned back without pausing.
Back in the ruined apartment, I knelt to help Valeria.
Her old dress was nothing but shredded silk and blood, clinging to her like scraps of paper.
I peeled it all away, then slid the new fabric over her.
The change was instant and almost unreal in its entirety.
A minute ago sheâd looked half-deadâwounded, exhausted, slumped into herself. But in the clean lines of the black dress, she was transformed again, a figure of poise and authority.
She still leaned heavily, her right side slack and useless, but somehow she managed to wear it like a statement rather than a weakness.
I hooked my arm under her right side and helped her toward the counter, just as she had requested. Anxiety coiled tighter in my chest with every step closer to the kitchen breach, the jagged wound in the apartment wall yawning wide and silent.
Any second now, I expected Nyxstalker to stride through it, finishing what heâd started.
But somehow, he didnât.
We made it to the counter without any further sounds, explosions or people randomly appearing inside the ruined apartment or the floor beyond.
Valeria gave me a quick nod of approval as I shifted into position, covering her right side with my body. She leaned against the broken plinth, but not like someone about to collapse.
She made it look casual, almost deliberateâthough I knew damn well she needed it just to stay standing, judging by the sheer weight she had put on me on our way here.
Valeria adjusted her stance against the counter, her voice calm but carrying that clipped precision she never dropped, no matter how battered she looked. âI will handle all of the communication. You need only stand precisely where you are, Seraphine. Do not move until I signal otherwise, and everything will resolve appropriately from here onward.â
Then, softerâalmost unrecognizableâshe added, âI will take care of everything.â
A moment later, I felt itâa faint pressure against my cerebral link.
My body flinched on instinct, expecting another wave of pain, but instead the opposite happened.
The radiant fire and searing heat in my neck ebbed, cooling just enough to unclench my jaw.
I half-turned, confused, only to meet Valeriaâs eyes.
They were rimmed with exhaustion, her face pale and drawn, but the focus in them was sharp enough to pin me in place.
Her left arm was stretched out, fingers pressed against the implant at my neck.
âIs she siphoning some of the heatâŠ?â It was the only explanation that made sense.
And given it was her cybernetic armâthe same one sheâd used to strip bare flesh off of her right one to summon that impossible serpent earlierâit didnât feel far-fetched.
Neither of us spoke.
We just stood there, shoulder to shoulder, as the overload in my cerebral link slowly bled away. The searing heat cooled, dropping back down to levels that werenât cooking me alive from the inside.
Maybe it had already burned through all the surrounding tissueâmaybe there wasnât even anything left to hurtâbut for the first time since [Venombite] had gone off, I felt like I could actually breathe again.
Another minute dragged by in tense silence before I finally caught itâthe faint shuffle of boots and gear from the hallway.
My whole body went rigid, every muscle pulling tight like a bowstring and my hand instinctively trying to go for the knife at my back that wasnât there.
âItâs fine,â Valeria said quietly, her voice steady despite the exhaustion still evident on her face. âThey are EtherLabs.â
For a split second, I almost asked how she could possibly know that. Then it clicked.
The passive jam must have burned out by now. Comms would be live again.
Even without [Serenity], anyone could have pinged for updates by now, and Valeria always had her channels open.
Of course sheâd know if EtherLabs had finally sent reinforcements.
I let out a shaky breath I hadnât realized Iâd been clinging to since Nyxstalker had stormed out after Mr. Stirling. Part of me had been sure it was only a temporary pauseâthat heâd come back through the breach any second to finish what he started.
But this? This felt final.
With EtherLabs security sweeping the floor, even someone like him couldnât keep pushing.
There was a reason heâd been so desperate to break Valeria fast, why heâd rushed to torture Gabriel and me before the jam expired.
Still, my mind snagged on the gap in the story.
âWhat the hell happened out there?â The System had thrown an errorâclear as day, indicating that Mr. Stirling was goneâbut Nyxstalker hadnât returned either. âDid they kill each other? Or did he just vanish after realising his time was running shortâŠ?â
It was impossible to know from where I stood, staring out through the gaping kitchen breach.
The opposite wall of the hallway was scarred black with scorch marks, riddled with bullet holes, streaked with blood and chunks of debris.
A mural of past violence, but no real answers.
I was half-inclined to step outside and look for what had happened, but I knew better than to follow my own whim at this point in time.
Valeria knew how to handle EtherLabs personnel; I didnât.
The last thing I wanted was to be confused for one of the invaders and get shot wandering the hallways by the very security team meant to extract us.
The footsteps came firstâheavy boots grinding against rockcrete, growing louder as they closed in. Debris crunched and shifted in the hallway, the sound of order reclaiming ground from chaos.
Behind me, I felt Valeria straighten.
Even with her right side dead weight, she pulled herself tall, her presence snapping back into something controlled and deliberate. I adjusted immediately, shifting my stance so her entire right side was shielded by me, exactly as sheâd asked.
Moments later, they came through.
A squad of EtherLabs securityâarmoured head to toe, rifles and SMGs sweeping as they poured in through both the shattered doorway and the gaping wound in the kitchen wall.
They moved with textbook tactical precision, fanning out, clearing corners, barrels raised and ready to fire at a momentâs noticeâuntil they rounded the breach and their barrels landed on us.
They froze.
A low murmur of voices muffled by the helmets, before they continued.
They broke off around us, methodically clearing the wreckage of the apartment.
Every corner, every body, every room was called out and marked as clear.
And then, just as quickly, they withdrew again, boots carrying them back out into the hallway, leaving the ruined apartment oddly quiet once more.
A few more seconds passed before the next arrival stepped in through the kitchen breach.
He moved differentlyâstill like a soldier, but also more like a man who knew he didnât have to clear rooms himself anymore unless absolutely necessary. Flanking him were two others, even more heavily armoured than the first team, their weapons lowered but ready.
High-Tier protective gear covered his body, reinforced yet elegantly sleek, but he held his helmet tucked under one arm.
His blonde hair was slicked back, his face cut sharp with lines of age and a grim, yet focused look plastered on his face as his eyes scanned the room. He approached us directly, boots steady against the broken tiles, stepping over the dead bodies of the corpo agents.
His eyes flicked briefly over me before locking firmly onto Valeria.
âMiss Vildea,â he said, voice calm, authoritative, carrying the weight of someone used to being listened to. âItâs good to see youâre still in one piece.â
Valeria didnât miss a beat. Even battered and bloodied, her voice cut sharp as glass.
âCaptain Halveth,â she addressed him by name, like it was obvious she knew it. âYou may reserve your pleasantries. The fact that I am still breathing is no credit to EtherLabsâ security protocols. Quite the oppositeâI am markedly disappointed by the inadequacies demonstrated here tonight.â
The manâs jaw twitched, but he didnât flinch. âWith respect, maâam, this was an unprecedented breach. My men responded as soon asââ
âAs soon as the jamming was cleared,â Valeria interrupted smoothly, her tone slicing through his explanation. âDo not mistake my survival as a consequence of your response. The interval between the initial breach and your teamâs arrival was more than sufficient to annihilate not only myself but my entire family. That we are not dead is the result of my own intervention, not your departmentâs.â
Halvethâs lips pressed together, but he held steady. âIf I may, Miss Vildea, we need to establish precisely what transpired before further measures are taken. My men are still sweeping the floor, but your insightââ
âMy insight,â Valeria interrupted again, voice dropping into something almost predatory, âwill be shared on a strictly need-to-know basis. For now, you will concern yourself with the immediate, tangible priority: Securing a medical evac for my son. He is in critical condition, and unless EtherLabs intends to compound todayâs failures with outright negligence, that process should already be underway.â
Halvethâs eyes flicked past her to Gabriel, pale and trembling on the floor, then back.
His throat bobbed once before he answered. âWeâll have him evacuated immediately. Iâll transmit the request personally.â
Valeria gave a small nod, then continued without missing a beat. âGood. Once that is underway, you will also note this for your after-action report: The assailants were not a rogue element, not freelancers, but a coordinated strike team from OmniWare Inc.â
The name jolted something loose in my head.
âOmniWare, huh? So thatâs the enemy hereâŠâ
They werenât some small-time outfit.
OmniWare Inc. was one of the heavyweights in Neon Dragonsâ corporate ringâmajor players in bionics, and equally entrenched in the medical tooling and pharmaceuticals tied to implantation.
Direct and natural rivals to EtherLabsâ own pharmaceutical pursuits.
Iâd been turning over the question of who Nyxstalker had been working for inside my head, but now the pieces were at least starting to line up. It didnât make it simpleâif anything, it only opened more questionsâbut the picture was ever-so-slightly less murky than before.
âOmniWare?â Halveth echoed, disbelief sharpening his voice. His helmet dipped slightly in his hand. âYouâre certain of that?â
âDo not insult me by questioning my assessment,â Valeria said, her words cracking across the Captainâs face like a whip. âTheir squad composition, tactical doctrine, and most importantly, their commander, left little room for ambiguity. It was Nyxstalker himself.â
Halvethâs composure cracked for the first time, his brow rising sharply.
For just a moment, silence held.
âNyxstalkerâŠâ His voice trailed off, then steadied again, though quieter. âThat complicates matters.â
âComplications are your department, Captain,â Valeria pressed forward, never letting the silence grow into something that might undermine her. âMine, for now, is the survival of my family, whichâonce againâwas achieved not through EtherLabsâ intervention, but despite its absence. Ensure my sonâs survival with the efficiency and efficacy I had once assumed you to be capable of, and perhaps there will still be grounds to rebuild confidence in your division.â
Halveth stood his ground, even under the weight of her words.
âYou have my word, Miss Vildea,â he said, his tone firming. âYour son will be on the next med-evac out. And we will have full security control of this floor until the matter is resolved.â
âSee that you do,â she replied, folding the words like a closing document. âAfter that, we will address the evident failures that have been laid bare tonight.â
Captain Halveth gave one last nodâshort, clipped, all businessâbefore sliding his helmet back on. Without another word, he turned and left, his two armored escorts falling in behind him like shadows.
The moment they disappeared through the breach, I let out a breath I hadnât even realized Iâd been holding. My shoulders sagged, the tension bleeding out of me all at once.
Having Valeriaâs scalding words lashing past my ear wasnât something I ever wanted to experience again, but I couldnât deny it: She had been beyond impressive.
Even brutalized, bloodied and half-broken as she was, she had effortlessly seized the conversation and strangled it into her control.
Captain Halveth hadnât stood a chance.
Sheâd verbally dragged him face-first across the whole megabuilding, and in the process, secured Gabrielâs evac and medical assistance.
For that alone, I was grateful.
âSeraphine.â
Her voice, quiet now, came from just behind me. I turned to see her slumping harder against the shattered plinth, holding herself upright more through will than strength.
âI will require your assistance once more,â she continued, her tone still carrying that polished corporate cadence even through the exhaustion. âWe must relocate to an alternate locale. Once secure, we will address your injuries, after which you will rest while I manage the remaining elements of this situation.â
I opened my mouth, ready to protestâto say there was no way I was leaving Gabriel right now, no way I was just going to collapse into bed after thisâbut she simply raised her left hand, silencing me without effort.
âDonât argue with me tonight, Seraphine. Neither of us possesses the energy for it.â Her eyes, sharp even through the exhaustion, held mine. âGabriel will be cared for by EtherLabs. The security apparatus is clearly deficient, yesâbut pharmaceuticals and medical care are our core competency. He will receive the highest standard of treatment we can provide. I will personally ensure it.â
Her gaze softened then, just slightly, in a way that caught me completely off guard. âYou have done more than enough, Seraphine. You have done very well. Now allow me to do my part. My negligence has allowed this breach; it is my duty to rectify it.â
I froze, caught between the completely alien warmth in her voice, the unfamiliar weight of genuine praise, and the almost unnatural sound of her admitting fault.
Words failed me.
All I could do was nod, dazed, and slip an arm under her to help her move.
I had no idea what else to say or do.
Every step sent fresh waves of pain coursing through me, but I shoved it aside. As long as I kept moving, kept upright, I could keep going.
Valeria leaned into me as I guided her out through the kitchen breach, into the hallway.
We passed by the heaps of bodies sheâd left behindâblack-clad corpses sprawled where theyâd fallen, the stench of blood and scorched flesh thick in the airâand pushed forward into the wide T-intersection Iâd run through so many mornings for my Body grinds.
Then I stopped.
The hallway was a nightmare given form.
Absolute ruin stretched in both directionsâbodies scattered like discarded dolls, some still intact, others torn apart into pieces that barely resembled human forms. Bullet holes chewed into every surface, the walls and doors of neighboring apartments blown open, chunks of rockcrete and twisted metal jutting out where explosions had ripped entire sections apart.
Debris crunched underfoot with every step, the air thick with dust and the metallic sting of copper from all the blood.
But that wasnât what had made me freeze.
It was the claw marks.
Massive, jagged furrows carved deep into the walls, running along the length of the corridorâevidence of the Nyxstalker beastâs rampage. They dwarfed anything a man or weapon couldâve made, and the sight drove home the nightmare that had unfolded here.
Mr. Stirling and the handful of EtherLabs security heâd brought had fought that.
The floor was littered with the fallen from both sidesâblack-armored OmniWare operatives lying broken among EtherLabs corpses, their firefight etched into the walls in blood and fire.
My eyes snagged on a cluster of three EtherLabs officers near the far wall.
They stood silently, weapons lowered, holding vigil over the crumpled body at their feet.
Mr. Stirling.
His form was mangled almost beyond recognition.
His entire right side was goneâshorn away like something had taken a single, colossal bite out of him. Even the right half of his head was missing, leaving nothing but ruin.
And yet⊠there was a smile on what remained of his face.
A contentment that seemed impossible given the state of him, but there it was.
I almost couldnât look away. But when I finally did, I saw what the officers were there for.
They werenât just guarding his body.
They were carefully extracting something clutched tight in his remaining hand: A pitch-black cybernetic arm, its surface still slick with oil and blood.
Recognition hit me instantly.
âNyxstalkerâs armâŠ!â
So that was why he hadnât come back.
Stirling hadnât just stalled himâheâd seriously maimed him.
Ripped his arm clean off and wounded him enough that Nyxstalker hadnât even bothered to retrieve it after Mr. Stirlingâs death.
A quiet whisper left my lips before I could stop it. âThank you, Mr. Stirling.â
Then Valeria tugged at me, her directions pulling me forward, guiding us past the carnage and deeper into the floor.
I let her leadâI didnât have it in me to do anything else.
The next minutes passed in a blur.
We entered another apartment, one already stocked with medical supplies that had clearly been staged ahead of time. Valeria patched me up as best she could, her movements shaky but precise, while I swayed in place, barely upright.
âSleep,â she urged, guiding me to the single bed.
My thoughts spun wildly, chasing themselves in frantic circles, but I knew she was right.
I needed to stop. To rest.
So I pulled up the Rest Function, set it for a solid eight hours, and let it take me underâŠ
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Comments
Hangman13182
Ooh good one. Yeah that does sound better.
Hangman13182
Think they already new given her moms eather companion. She probably knows more about that stuff than her chef friend who taught her initially. Getting some new skills from mom or at the very least a new trainer. Valerie doesnât seem the type to leave skills untrained. Might get hacking help as well.
Brian
Suggestion: rename venombite to venombyte. Fits better with what the program is and plays on computer language, with small bytes of data sneaking past the ice
Gardor
Well...system's existence is out, huh? Seems like thats gonna have some pretty big impacts on the story going forward. Sorta hope if anything managed to slip by, it was manifestating that torch out of nowhere.
