Cyberpunk: Asuka Vektor

Jackie's garage was a place of comfort—a messy but familiar spot where Jackie and Asuka often hung out, whether they were tinkering with Jackie’s ARCH Nazare, sharing drinks, or just shooting the breeze. The day was one of those quiet, sunny ones.

Asuka was sitting on an overturned crate, her fingers fiddling with a wrench, tossing it from one hand to the other as Jackie worked on his bike.

Suddenly, Asuka's HUD blinked with an incoming call. The name "Dino Dinovic" appeared, unfamiliar but intriguing. Asuka arched an eyebrow, glancing over at Jackie, who gave a nod of curiosity as he wiped his hands with a rag. With a flick of her eye, she accepted the call.

The face of Dino Dinovic filled her vision—a charismatic smile, slicked-back hair, and an energy that radiated both danger and charm. She recognized the name, even if they’d never spoken before. Dino was a fixer with a reputation, known across Downtown and Corpo Plaza, and also had a side gig as a rockerboy bassist in some notorious band called the Gloryhole Bandits. The kind of guy who seemed to have his hands in everything—from high-profile gigs to back-alley deals.

“Hey, is this Asuka Vektor?” Dino started, his voice smooth and confident. He gave a smile that seemed like it had gotten him out of a lot of trouble in life. “You don’t know me—yet. Name’s Dino Dinovic, and I’ve heard some pretty good things about you and your crew. Figured it was time I reached out.”

Asuka let her lips curve into a small smile, glancing at Jackie, who leaned over, trying to hear the conversation. “Dino the fixer, right?” she said. “Or should I call you the rockerboy? Heard you play a mean bass... even if no one’s actually heard it.”

Dino laughed, a loud, easygoing sound. “Ah, you know how it is, darling. Gotta keep some things mysterious.” He leaned closer to the camera, the background of his bar barely visible behind him. “Anyway, I’ve got a gig for you. And from what I’ve heard, you and your crew got a bit of a reputation. Reliable, effective... and, importantly, you got that big beast of a ride, Pink Kitty.”

Asuka’s grin widened, a glint of pride in her eyes. “Pink Kitty gets the job done, alright. So what’s the deal?”

“Here’s the sitch,” Dino said, his expression turning a bit more serious. “Target’s a corpo. The kind of prick who got too deep, killed some other corpo’s kid in some power play, and now he’s on the run. He knows he messed up, and now he’s hiding, only moving around in heavy armored convoys with a shit-ton of bodyguards.” Dino paused, raising an eyebrow. “Problem is, the guy who wants him dealt with... wants him alive.”

Jackie, who was half-listening, made a face, muttering under his breath, “Alive, huh? Ain’t that a pain in the ass.”

Asuka nodded, her smile shifting into something more thoughtful. “You’re asking us to extract this corpo, alive, out of a convoy protected by heavy-duty security?”

Dino nodded, his smile sly. “Exactly. And that’s why I need someone with a ride like Pink Kitty. You gotta have something that can match and overpower their defenses. Think you’re up for it?”

Asuka glanced over at Jackie, who gave her an encouraging nod, a grin forming on his lips. He loved a challenge, and Pink Kitty was perfect for a job like this. Asuka returned her attention to Dino, her grin back in place.

“Alright, Dino. You got our attention. Send us the details—location, schedule, whatever you got. We’ll take a look and see what we can do,” Asuka replied.

Dino's smile widened. “Now, that’s what I like to hear! I’ll send everything your way. You get this corpo to me, and there’s a fat stack of eddies in it for you and your crew. Make sure Pink Kitty is ready to roll. This ain’t gonna be a walk in the park.”

He gave them a nod before disconnecting, and the HUD flickered off, leaving Asuka and Jackie looking at each other.

Jackie let out a long whistle, leaning back on his workbench. “Heavy armored cars, convoy, and they want the guy alive? Man, I don’t know if I like that last part.”

Asuka tossed the wrench onto the table, her grin turning a bit mischievous. “Alive just makes it more fun. A little puzzle, ya know? And besides,” she patted Pink Kitty parked nearby, the big Militech Behemoth shining under the sunlight, “Pink Kitty's been waitin' for another big one. This’ll be a good test.”

Jackie laughed, shaking his head. “You always love making things interesting, don’t you? Alright, chica, looks like we got ourselves another big job. Let’s get Sasha in on it, figure out our plan. Hope this Dino guy knows what he's doing.”

Asuka shrugged, her eyes twinkling with excitement. “We’ll find out soon enough. Besides, there’s only one way to make a rep in Night City, right?”

“Damn right,” Jackie replied, clapping her on the shoulder. “Let’s get this corpo rat.”

Pink Kitty roared down the highway, her heavy tires eating up the cracked pavement as Jackie navigated through Heywood and into Santo Domingo. The chase was on—the target, a corpo rat on the run, was in a heavily armored truck with four escort vehicles, each fitted with turrets that spat lead in every direction. The air around them buzzed with gunfire, the bullets pinging harmlessly off Pink Kitty’s reinforced armor, but the intensity was building.

Sasha sat in the passenger seat, her eyes sharp as she tried to assess the situation. Jackie grit his teeth, gripping the wheel tighter as one of the armored cars swerved into their path, trying to block their advance. With a grunt, he slammed Pink Kitty into the side of the car, metal crunching and sparks flying as the smaller vehicle was pushed off course, ultimately veering into a ditch.

“That’s one down!” Jackie shouted, a grin flashing across his face, but his expression hardened almost immediately. The other three escort cars weren't giving them an inch, blocking Pink Kitty from getting too close to the target truck. The turrets on the cars were aimed directly at them, unloading round after round in an effort to disable them.

“Jackie, they’re not letting us through!” Sasha said, frustration creeping into her voice.

Asuka, sitting in the back of Pink Kitty, saw what was happening and knew they needed to change tactics. She glanced at her bike, secured in the back, and then at the backdoors of Pink Kitty. She flashed a grin to herself,

“I’m getting out,” Asuka announced. Before Jackie or Sasha could protest, she grabbed her bike, unlocking it and pushing it to the edge of the Pink Kitty’s open bay doors.

“Be careful, chica!” Jackie shouted, catching a glimpse of her through the rearview mirror.

Asuka gave a quick two-fingered salute, mounting her bike and speeding out of the back of Pink Kitty, hitting the road at a breakneck pace. The wind tore at her hair, her chrome limbs glinting under the midday sun as she rocketed down the road. She weaved through the gunfire, dodging the bullets aimed her way from the convoy’s turrets.

Getting close to one of the armored cars, Asuka took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing. She pulled her bike alongside it, using her Sandevistan, the world around her slowing. With precision, she jumped from her bike, landing on the turret-mounted vehicle in a swift, graceful arc. The turret was swiveling towards her, but she wasted no time—her Mantis Blades sprang out, stabbing into the turret’s mechanism, destroying it. In one fluid motion, she thrust her blades through the driver's side window, ending the driver instantly.

The car jerked to the side, veering off course, and Asuka leapt back onto her bike just in time as Pink Kitty slammed into another armored car, sending it careening off the road and into a barricade.

“That’s two down!” Jackie shouted through the comm, his voice full of adrenaline-fueled triumph.

Sasha’s voice came over the line, a note of urgency in her tone. “Last car’s turret is locking on to you, Asuka—make some distance, now!”

Without hesitation, Asuka swerved, her Sandevistan kicking in once again to push her out of the turret’s line of fire. As she veered away, she caught a glimpse of Sasha leaning out of Pink Kitty's window, holding a launcher. The next moment, a whoosh of fire shot past her, and she turned just in time to see the last armored car explode, flipping into the air and landing in a twisted wreckage on the pavement.

“That’s my girl!” Asuka shouted into the comm, her grin splitting her face.

With the escorts down, the target truck accelerated, trying to make a break for it towards Pacifica. Asuka gunned her bike, following close behind, and Pink Kitty rumbled in the distance, slowly closing the gap. The chase became a blur, the edges of the highway giving way to the broken, the new forgotten streets of Pacifica—a district that had seen better days, now filled with unfinished buildings and the hollow remnants of corporate dreams.

As Asuka and her crew tore into Pacifica, things went wrong—fast. The first warning was the distant, chilling whoosh echoing from the sky. Asuka's instincts kicked in, her Kiroshi optics flickering with warning alerts just as her eyes widened.

A missile, sleek and deathly, cut through the sky like a blade. It smashed into the target truck dead on. The resulting explosion was deafening, the shockwave a physical force that sent the truck’s reinforced body scattering in a blaze of flaming wreckage. Flames rolled into the sky, licking upwards like the fingers of some fiery beast.

The shockwave rippled out, smashing into Asuka’s bike, almost sending her careening off the cracked road. She gritted her teeth, gripping the handles tight, trying desperately to control her bike's violent skidding. Dust swirled around her, and her heart thumped like a war drum in her chest.

“Shit, Jackie! We need to get the hell outta here!” she shouted, her voice almost drowned out by the ringing in her ears and the roaring of her bike’s engine. She cut a sharp turn, her bike’s tires screeching against the asphalt.

Behind her, she could hear Jackie swear, followed by the distinct roar of Pink Kitty’s massive engine. The Militech Behemoth groaned in response, turning with a force that made the entire frame shudder. Jackie pushed the truck hard, desperately trying to bring it around while debris from the destroyed convoy truck still rained down around them.

Suddenly, another missile screamed out of the sky, the sharp, high-pitched whine tearing through the air. It landed mere feet from Asuka’s previous position, the blast a shockwave of heat and shrapnel that threw a section of road into the air. The world seemed to explode around her. Rocks and pieces of twisted metal flew in all directions, filling her vision with a cloud of dust and chaos.

Asuka gritted her teeth, her Sandevistan kicking in just enough for her perception to sharpen, the world slowing to give her precious seconds to react. She pushed the acceleration on her bike, leaping forward as the explosion flared behind her, debris narrowly missing her.

"They're targeting us!"Sasha's panicked voice blared in her ear, breaking through the chaos of the HUD messages flashing red on her optics. Asuka could almost see her friend in her mind—Sasha hunched over her cyberdeck, hands frantic as she tried to make sense of the situation and keep the team connected.

“Missiles coming from everywhere!” Jackie added, his voice filled with that same edge of adrenaline-fueled fear. “Gotta get outta here!”

Asuka leaned forward, her bike roaring as she weaved through the mess of rubble and shattered roadways, each twist of the handlebar as sharp as her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Her HUD was going wild, displaying threat indicators from all directions—more missile locks, multiple trajectories—but her focus was razor-thin.

The road twisted beneath her, a mess of abandoned vehicles, chunks of fallen buildings, and skeletal remains of unfinished construction projects. Pacifica was like a ghost town, each missile strike echoing hollowly off the vacant skyscrapers and fractured high-rises. The silence in between each missile whoosh seemed like a deafening scream, a reminder of just how quickly things had spiraled.

Up ahead, she saw Pink Kitty. Jackie had managed to maneuver the hulking truck onto a clear stretch of road, but even that path was littered with threats. The Kiroshi optics highlighted the flaming remains of the convoy, wreckage that had blocked their retreat route.

“Sasha! Hack those missile turrets, see if you can blind their targeting systems!” Asuka shouted. She dodged a large piece of concrete as she sped up, trying to make it out of the blast zone.

“Working on it!” Sasha's voice came back, filled with a mixture of panic and determination. “They’re not just targeting—they’re using precision locking, like they’re anticipating every move!”

Asuka grimaced, the implications hitting her hard. This wasn’t just a random strike—whoever was firing had Pacifica in a tight lockdown, and she and her crew had walked right into their sights. She swerved again, narrowly missing a burnt-out husk of a car, her Sandevistan still working to give her the crucial few milliseconds she needed to react.

Another missile whooshed overhead, this time narrowly missing Pink Kitty. The explosion rocked the ground, flames erupting as Jackie swerved the Behemoth, the armored body holding strong, though the windows cracked under the force.

Asuka could hear Jackie shouting curses through the call, his voice a mixture of frustration and fury. “The bastards don’t quit! Sasha, do something, chica!”

“I’m on it, I’m on it!” Sasha shouted back. There was a burst of static, and suddenly, the missile locks dropped from Asuka’s HUD, the threat indicators vanishing one by one.

“I’ve jammed their targeting systems!” Sasha said, her relief evident. “But it won’t last even 30 seconds, get out fast!”

Asuka didn’t need to be told twice. She accelerated, her bike shooting forward, the road blurring as she tore out of Pacifica, the wreckage and chaos fading behind her. The sharp edges of the district gave way to the outskirts of Night City, and as she crossed the line that separated Pacifica from the city proper, the missile barrages ceased.

Behind her, Pink Kitty rumbled across the border, the massive vehicle bruised but intact, Jackie’s exhausted face just visible through the cracked windows. He looked towards her, giving a shaky thumbs-up as the tension slowly began to ease.

As they caught their breath, Asuka’s HUD blinked with an incoming call. Dino Dinovic’s name appeared. She gritted her teeth, accepting it as she rode.

“What the hell happened, Asuka?” Dino’s voice barked in her ear, irritation clear. “You were supposed to get that corpo alive. Did the target get taken out?”

“Yeah, no shit!” Asuka snapped, weaving through the roads. “We were in Pacifica chasing his truck, and outta nowhere, there were missiles—took him out before we even got close.”

Dino let out a long sigh, and Asuka could almost hear him running a hand over his face. “Dammit... I was about to warn you right now, but looks like I called too late. Right now the news says that NUSA has occupied parts of Pacifica—it’s a full-on combat zone now. They’re shooting anything that moves, no questions asked.”

Asuka groaned, her eyes narrowing as she made the final turn away from Pacifica, seeing the welcoming, if grimy, streets of Night City. “Would’ve been nice to know a little earlier, Dino. We almost got toasted out there.”

“Yeah, well, now you know,” Dino said, his voice apologetic but also clearly frustrated. “Look, I’ll make it up to you, alright? Just—stay outta Pacifica for now. It’s too hot. I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead, and Asuka let out a slow breath. She looked over at Pink Kitty, Jackie and Sasha visible through the windows as they caught up with her, expressions a mix of relief and adrenaline.

“Pacifica's a no-go,” Asuka said over the comms. “NUSA's dug in deep. Looks like Night City really is becoming a battlefield.”