"Haha. Apex Predator. It's time to celebrate! Kairi is bringing the snacks and I'm bringing the booty. I'm not missing that for the world, no matter how far I rise." Loba cheered to herself, happy that she is finally acknowledged among the best of the best.
But she could become better. She has a few limitations with her gear. She'd already improved her staff and fan, they'd be shocked when they see what it could do. Now it's just the jump drive.
If she could remove the anchor functions, or increase the range she could take her team mates with her. If they were injured she could Jump them away. It would be amazing and it wouldn't be too hard.
Now what about removing it entirely? Having no anchor. It would be next to impossible but perhaps she could attune the crystals frequencies so that warp speed can shift directions. If she could do that that means she could change the game entirely.
Oh what fun it would be. To be able to steal anything she wanted without anyone being the wiser…
'I just need to-'
*KRrrrr* *BAAMH*
...
"Loba! I brought the snacks AND the drinks! Loba? Where are you? Loooooba! This isn't funny! Did she run off again? No she said we'd celebrate this time..." Kairi entered the lab only to see destruction everywhere. Not a single place was untouched. She picked up the only thing intact.
Loba's gun, her Ivory fang. Something that she never left without.
"Loba...?"
...
[Elsewhere ???]
'Ugh… My head… Why does it feel like 90% of the water in my body has been replaced with tequila?"
Loba found herself stranded on top of a skyrise building. What the hell happened? Oh right… She was tweaking the stabilizers for the crystals and then she felt as if she was being pushed back, pulled forwards and somehow being sucked through a tiny straw all at the same time.
Everything around her was covered in metal and circuitry, looking far more advanced than anything else in her lifetime. And despite that It all looked so... dull. It looked as if someone drew up a picture of what they thought a dystopian future would be.
And it was also so very cliché.
What other Sci-Fi city could look so.... utterly generic?
At least that's what it appeared to be.
Regardless of how unfitting this place may have been, she still took joy in its beauty. It was nothing compared to where she was from, no matter the place her home was like a beautifully decorated painting. Those sorts of sights always managed to relax her.
"I suppose these things have a charm of their own." Loba sighed as she sat on the edge of the building. No matter how long she spent there she couldn't calm down her racing heart.
'It won't take me long to fix the jump drive but it's hard to concentrate on anything at all with this putrid air'
The air made her want to vomit her lungs. It felt like she was breathing in pure metal and plastic. Even the scents around her were unpleasant, the smell of dirt and metal clinging to everything in this city.
Her brows furrowed together. Who would bother living here? She had no idea if she was even on her own planet anymore. She was accustomed to unusual places, the Apex games took individuals from many different planets.
However she had certainly never seen a city like this.
That's what she gets for messing with experimental equipment. Maybe Valk will find her first?
Despite knowing how her Jump Drive functions, she herself didn't originally create it. She just learned from the one who had so that if she had to, she could perform maintenance when needed.
Problem with that is that she only learned that, only barely enough. Clearly.
Her Jump drive works purely because of her crystals. They act as anchor points and as the power source. It allows her to move from one location to the next at almost light speed. The crystals themselves generates as much energy as a miniature fusion reactor.
Her staff is an extension on this effect, instead using magnet forces to pull metal items towards her. The crystal injunction with the other tech allows it to move at lightspeed whilst also vibrating it at certain frequencies to move through objects... It also allows her to do the opposite and push objects away.
There was no point crying over spilt milk. At least her inventions weren't completely ruined. That much she was glad about. She only needed to fix the stabilisers for her Jump Drive.
That plan was still in progress and in order to achieve her goal she would need to replace the stabilizers keeping the crystal in place. If she was in her workshop and had Kairi with her, it would be easier and much more entertaining.
She also had to make sure she doesn't accidently lose her crystals, if that happens...
"Estou fodido" [I'm fucked] Loba muttered, unaware of the approaching threat. It's eyes narrowed as it locked onto the woman sat on the building's edge.
"So you're the one who broke in on my watch... Huh... Well, don't you look like a cut of fuckable meat" Loba jumped at the voice, quickly turning and slashing upwards with her fan, only for her arm to be twisted painfully.
[I don't want to remember this part... Maybe in the future.]
[... Oh god, Nothing like that! Levas um estalo, e nem sabes de que terra és!]
...
[1 week later.]
"So Carol was it? Want to tell us how you ended up in our part of the Badlands?"
'I am not admitting I ran away from the human tank... It'd be different if I actually had a gun.'
"Hmm... I was apart of a research team studying warping technology in Europe. Unfortunately I was involved in an accident, sending me into Night City. Of all the places to land, it has to be the place where I am utterly useless."
"How so?" Saul's eyes narrow looking over Loba for any signs of deceit.
"Where I come from, we rely a lot less on cybernetics. We believe that cybernetics corrupts the mind. Safe to say when you have no cybernetics in a city full of technology, it becomes difficult to survive. I can't get in contact with my institute because they have no contacts within America due to the recent wars and I couldn't get a job in Night City because most places require basic cybernetics and I wasn't about to chip in just for a part time job at a gas station.
So I came out to the Badlands for a breath of fresh air. Hell, I bet I was warped away because someone sabotaged my equipment. Corporate politics besteira and all that."
'If I see another fucking Borg, I'm going to dismantle it, throw into a meat grinder and make sure there's nothing left but paste. Adam Smasher? Can't believe within the few minutes in Night city I had the displeasure of meeting with that asshole.'
'Cut of fuckable meat... If he still has that organ, I'll take a page out of Ash's book and dismember him, if you catch my drift.'
"Someone wants you gone then?" Saul leaned backwards, trying to act nonchalant and casual but my answer could very well keep me from entering the camp.
"Gone less, dead more. Our project was in the experimental phases, just ideas on a canvas the fact that it even worked is completely surprising. They intended to kill me not send me away and with my disappearance they'd presume I would have died."
It was in it's experimental phase. Because I'd started messing with it. The concept works and actually allows me to carry multiple people even though the crystals on my ring and bracelet should be the only anchors. It was only because I wanted No anchors that I'm even here in the first place.
"Any chance of tracking you back to us?"
"None. I know the facility I was in. It doesn't even have any contacts in America."
The chances of getting home without an anchor point or coordinates is incredibly low. This planet doesn't have much in the way of space travel either. Only chance I get back is if someone on Psamathe actually decides to look for me.
Kairi…
"That's all I needed to hear. We'll let you into our camp but you will be monitored for a while until you can be trusted. Any problems with that?"
"Nope, also who was that beautiful woman that brought me in? I'd like to enjoy more of her company."
If I'm going to be stuck here, I'm going to enjoy myself. A little flirting never hurt anyone.
"You mean Panam?"