Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga (Russian: Ба́ба-Яга́)  is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed or ferocious-looking old woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs. Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out and may play a maternal role and has associations with forest wildlife. Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor, villain, or may be altogether ambiguous.

Baba Yaga is "enigmatic" and often exhibits "striking ambiguity." "a many-faceted figure, capable of inspiring researchers to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, phallic mother, or archetypal image".

## **History**

Baba Yaga is believed to have been born around 75 B.C.E. and gained immortality at the age of 102(*Pathfinder*).

Baba Yaga frequently bears the epithet "bony leg" (*Baba Iaga kostianaia noga*), and when inside of her dwelling, she may be found stretched out over the stove, reaching from one corner of the hut to another. Baba Yaga may sense and mention the "Russian scent" (*russkim dukhom*) of those that visit her. Her nose may stick into the ceiling. Particular emphasis may be placed by some on the repulsiveness of her nose, breasts, buttocks, or vagina.

In some tales a trio of Baba Yagas appear as sisters, all sharing the same name. For example, in a version of "The Maiden Tsar" collected in the 19th century by Alexander Afanasyev, Ivan, a handsome merchant's son, makes his way to the home of one of three Baba Yagas:

He journeyed onwards, straight ahead [...] and finally came to a little hut; it stood in the open field, turning on chicken legs. He entered and found Baba Yaga the Bony-legged. "Fie, fie," she said, "the Russian smell was never heard of nor caught sight of here, but it has come by itself. Are you here of your own free will or by compulsion, my good youth?" "Largely of my own free will, and twice as much by compulsion! Do you know, Baba Yaga, where lies the thrice tenth kingdom?" "No, I do not," she said, and told him to go to her second sister; she might know.

Ivan walks for some time before encountering a small hut identical to the first. This Baba Yaga makes the same comments and asks the same question as the first, and Ivan asks the same question. This second Baba Yaga does not know either and directs him to the third, but says that if she gets angry with him "and wants to devour you, take three horns from her and ask her permission to blow them; blow the first one softly, the second one louder, and third still louder." Ivan thanks her and continues on his journey.

After walking for some time, Ivan eventually finds the chicken-legged hut of the youngest of the three sisters turning in an open field. This third and youngest of the Baba Yagas makes the same comment about "the Russian smell" before running to whet her teeth and consume Ivan. Ivan begs her to give him three horns and she does so. The first he blows softly, the second louder, and the third louder yet. This causes birds of all sorts to arrive and swarm the hut. One of the birds is the firebird, which tells him to hop on its back or Baba Yaga will eat him. He does so and the Baba Yaga rushes him and grabs the firebird by its tail. The firebird leaves with Ivan, leaving Baba Yaga behind with a fist full of firebird feathers.

### **Koschei the Deathless**

Ages ago Baba Yaga took advantage of Koschei's fear of losing his soul. She told him that even though the path he took was dark and bloody, he could still be redeemed.[2] The witch sent him on a quest to slay the last breeding pair of dragons and their hatchlings in Russia so that the mankind may be spared. However, in doing so he murdered the family of his adoptive father. Baba Yaga would later help Ivan the Fool defeat Koschei in revenge.

Baba Yaga also appears in "The Magic Swan Geese", "Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek", "By Command of the Prince Daniel", "Vasilisa the Fair", "Marya Moryevna", "Realms of Copper, Silver, and Gold", "The Sea Tsar and Vasilisa the Wise", and "Legless Knight and Blind Knight" (English titles from Magnus's translation).

### **The Magic Swan Geese**

Once there was a couple who had both a daughter and a son. They left their daughter in charge of her younger brother, but one day she lost track of him and the magic swan geese snatched him away. The daughter chased after him and came upon an oven that offered to tell her if she ate its rye buns; she scorned them, saying she doesn't even eat wheat buns. She also scorned similar offers from an apple tree, and a river of milk. She came across a little hut built on a hen's foot, in which she found Baba Yaga with her brother; Baba Yaga sent her to spin flax and left. A mouse scurried out and said it would tell her what she needed to know if she gave it porridge; she did, and it told her that Baba Yaga was heating the bath house to steam her, then she would cook her. The mouse took over her spinning, and the girl took her brother and fled.

Baba Yaga sent the swan geese after her. She begged the river for aid, and it insisted she drink some of it first; she did, and it sheltered her. When she ran on, the swan geese followed again, and the same happened with the apple tree and the oven. Then she reached home safely.

### **Vasilisa the Beautfiul**

By his first wife, a merchant had a single daughter, who was known as Vasilisa the Beautiful. When the girl was eight years old, her mother died. On her deathbed, she gave Vasilisa a tiny wooden doll with instructions to give it a little to eat and a little to drink if she were in need, and then it would help her. As soon as her mother died, Vasilisa gave it a little to drink and a little to eat, and it comforted her.

After a time, her father remarried; the new wife was a woman with two daughters. Vasilisa's stepmother was very cruel to her, but with the help of the doll, she was able to perform all the tasks imposed on her. When young men came wooing, the stepmother rejected them all because it was not proper for the younger to marry before the older, and none of the suitors wished to marry Vasilisa's stepsisters.

One day the merchant had to embark on a journey. His wife sold the house and moved them all to a gloomy hut by the forest. One day she gave each of the girls a task and put out all the fires except a single candle. Her older daughter then put out the candle, whereupon they sent Vasilisa to fetch light from Baba Yaga's hut. The doll advised her to go, and she went. While she was walking, a mysterious man rode by her in the hours before dawn, dressed in white, riding a white horse whose equipment was all white; then a similar rider in red. She came to a house that stood on chicken legs and was walled by a fence made of human bones. A black rider, like the white and red riders, rode past her, and night fell, whereupon the eye sockets of the skulls began to glow. Vasilisa was too frightened to run away, and so Baba Yaga found her when she arrived in her mortar.

Baba Yaga said that Vasilisa must perform tasks to earn the fire, or be killed. She was to clean the house and yard, wash Baba Yaga's laundry, and cook her a meal. She was also required to separate grains of rotten corn from sound corn, and separate poppy seeds from grains of soil. Baba Yaga left, and Vasilisa despaired, as she worked herself into exhaustion. When all hope of completing the tasks seemed lost, the doll whispered that she would complete the tasks for Vasilisa, and that the girl should sleep.

At dawn, the white rider passed; at or before noon, the red. As the black rider rode past, Baba Yaga returned and could complain of nothing. She bade three pairs of disembodied hands seize the corn to squeeze the oil from it, then asked Vasilisa if she had any questions.

Vasilisa asked about the riders's identities and was told that the white one was Day, the red one the Sun, and the black one Night. But when Vasilisa thought of asking about the disembodied hands, the doll quivered in her pocket. Vasilisa realized she should not ask, and told Baba Yaga she had no further questions. In return, Baba Yaga enquired as to the cause of Vasilisa's success. On hearing the answer "by my mother's blessing", Baba Yaga, who wanted nobody with any kind of blessing in her presence, threw Vasilisa out of her house, and sent her home with a skull-lantern full of burning coals, to provide light for her step-family.

Upon her return, Vasilisa found that, since sending her out on her task, her step-family had been unable to light any candles or fire in their home. Even lamps and candles that might be brought in from outside were useless for the purpose, as all were snuffed out the second they were carried over the threshold. The coals brought in the skull-lantern burned Vasilisa's stepmother and stepsisters to ashes, and Vasilisa buried the skull according to its instructions, so no person would ever be harmed by it.

Later, Vasilisa became an assistant to a maker of cloth in Russia's capital city, where she became so skilled at her work that the Tsar himself noticed her skill; he later married Vasilisa.

Being immortal, Baba Yaga had good relations with Leaders such as Ivan the Terrible (who in his youth was Ivan the Fool and had assisted her many times and she had assisted him(1530-1584). Baba Yaga was accused of kidnapping Ivan Romanov but the toon bat Bartok the magnificent discovered her innocence. Peter the Great (1682-1725) persecuted old believers and so he and his wife Catherine I (empress of Russia from 1724-1727) were considered Baba Yaga's enemies. Artistic depictions from this time show Baba Yaga battling things such as a man with bagpipes and a crocodile that are believed to have been creatures of individuals that kill witches that were sent after her.

### **1812**

Baba Yaga was an enemy of the Wallachian/Romanian vampire soldier Constanta, who was turned by a witch coven allied to the Russian witch. Aside from her chicken-leg house, she also has a skeleton army at her beck and call and total control over the elements. Although Constanta did manage to wound her, their fight ended in a draw.

### **1895**

In 1895 prior to the downfall of the Romanov's rule in Russia, Baba Yaga contacted a young Grigori Rastov Rasputin. She told the monk that the fates had chosen him to be their agent of change, father of the new millennium. To ensure that Rasputin's spirit always be safe, the Baba Yaga placed half of it within the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree. Baba Yaga and Rasputin gained a strong bond after this, with Rasputin going so far as to call Baba Yaga "grandmother" afterwards.

Hellboy mentioned at one point that Baba Yaga had helped Stalin (in the Russia source for this the name "Hynkel" is said instead).

### **Meeting Hellboy: 1964**

In March 1964, Hellboy first encountered Baba Yaga while investigating a string of children disappearing. The disappearances were Baba Yaga's doing as she kidnapped the children to satisfy her cannibalistic hunger. When Baba Yaga was counting the fingers of the dead in a cemetery, she attempted to use a skull (that once belonged to a former devotee named Katayev) to lead her to the Sabbath. Then she was ambushed by Hellboy who leaped onto her in a sudden attack. During the scuffle, Baba Yaga's left eye was shot out, and she retaliated by attacking Hellboy with the graveyard's tombstones. As a result of her defeat at Hellboy's hands, she placed a curse on the village of Bereznik: there would be no spring that year, and every baby born there would be blind in one eye. Baba Yaga's diminished power causes her to disappear from the world and reside in a pocket dimension created in the image of her Russia as it appeared long ago. On occasion, however, if needed, Baba Yaga can briefly return to the real world.

However, powerful sorcerers attempted to lift the curse once Hellboy shared his knowledge of it. They were partial successful. The result was that only one child would be blind in one eye (though it would not be visible this was the case). That child was named Jardani Jovonovich.

### **Wake the Devil: 1997**

After having her servant Koku presented an iron maiden to Rasputin in his failed attempt to ensure Ilsa Haupstein's survival in the coming apocalypse, Baba Yaga observed Hellboy being cast into the darkness by Hecate alongside Dagda and Edward Grey. During Hellboy's struggles, Baba Yaga believed that he would eventually succumb and destroy the world. She faced disbelief when he did not. Soon after, Baba Yaga met with Rasputin at Yggdrasil where she tried to convince him to stay with her in her realm to no avail. Though Rasputin declined her offer, Baba Yaga collected what remained of his soul after he was dispatched by Hecate in the aftermath of the Conqueror Worm.

### **Yama-Uba**

Two of the Baba Yaga's sisters would leave Russia. One of them would settle in Japan, taking the name Yama-uba(which sometime became "Yu Baba". She would have many children, one a week. She would often abduct children and raise them for awhile before devouring them. One child however she raised as her own and spoiled. This child became known as Kintarō, sometimes called Boh(The Janji for Boy). Yama-uba, now embracing the name Yu Baba, would open a bathhouse for Sprits.

Another Baba sister took the name Zeniba and lived a peaceful life in Japan. The Dragon spirit Haku stole from her and was cursed. In 2001, the young girl Chihiro Ogino was separated from her parents when they were magically turned into pigs. Haku saved her but she was forced to work at the spirit bathhouse. Zeniba would assault Haku and this would lead to Chihiro leaving to apologize for Haku after he was seriously injured in his dragon form. Haku in turn took her back to complete a test from Yu Baba. She passed the test and was allowed to return to her restored parents as they left.

### **Battle of Fabletown: 2002**

Baba Yaga had become the ruler of the Rus in the otherworldly plane of Everealm. She was one of the main generals of the Adversaries's forces.

One of the Adversary's most powerful sorceresses, Baba Yaga arrived in Fabletown, a hideout for Everealm refugees after taking the form of Red Riding Hood. In this disguise, she seduced, interrogated and tortured Boy Blue, and then led an army of wooden soldiers to attack Fabletown. She was defeated in a magical battle with Frau Totenkinder(the closest on the roof of the main Fabletown building where Totenkinder had spent years laying down protective spells, giving her the advantage. The rest of Fabletown believed Baba Yaga died in this battle; however, Bigby and Totenkinder kept her alive and restrained, regularly drained of magical power, in a secret prison cell in order to extract information from her.

Her legendary chicken-legged hut was sent to the mundane world during the battle between Baba Yaga and the Boxers, an elite team of sorcerers whose mission was to seal away "Great old powers". To detain the witch, they had to remove her hut, as it protected her from the Boxer's lures. A conjured Field Gate was set up to send the hut to a random world, which turned out to be the mundane world, leaving Baba Yaga behind. Without the hut's protection, she was quickly captured. After fifty years of being "boxed away" she struck a deal with the Empire to serve it instead of being trapped forever.

The hut was stored at the Farm, kept under tight magical control. It awoke during the Baba Yaga's mission, broke through the controlling spells and went on a rampage when Baba Yaga came through in disguise, providing Frau Totenkinder with a clue to her true identity. It was shown tied down on the Farm shortly after Baba Yaga's escape.

Baba Yaga is served by the three demigod knights of the Rus, Bright Day, Radiant Sun and Dark Night, who rank among the most formidable warriors in the Empire. All three faced and were defeated by Boy Blue during his return to the Homelands, but due to their irrevocable bond with Baba Yaga, none of the three were able to die. Bright Day represented his mistress at the Imperial conference, appearing only as a head.

Later, after Mr. Dark was released and unbound the various enchantments that had drawn on his power, including those holding her, Baba Yaga escaped from her cell, only to find herself trapped in the labyrinth rubble. She summons her knights, fully reformed, and made her escape.

### **Darkness Calls: 2006**

After refusing to be their queen after Hecate was disposed of, Baba Yaga asked the witches to give her Hellboy so she can exact her revenge within her world. After the intervention of the Leshii, who offered Hellboy a one night sanctum in his woods, Baba Yaga summoned her greatest servant Koschei the Deathless to hunt down Hellboy and bring her his head, or eye, with the promise to release Koschei from his cursed immortality. Baba Yaga killed Perun for his interference in impeding Koschei's progress. After Vasilisa the Beautiful showed Hellboy the way back to his world while providing him gifts to hinder Koschei, Baba Yaga resorted to infusing her champion with thousands of souls from her collection of skulls and then a fragment of her own soul to take control of Koschei's body.

Drained of almost all her power as Koschei was defeated, Baba Yaga attempted to use Rasputin's soul before a fearful Koku snatched the acorn that contained the evil monk away from her and cast it through the roots of the World Tree into Hell. In a last ditch effort, Baba Yaga ordered Koschei to throw his dagger into Hellboy's back as he ascended to the exit of her world. But the last attempt on Hellboy's life failed as a weakened Baba Yaga was calmly derided by the ghost in black as she was told that Hellboy must give her his eye willingly.

### **The Storm and The Fury: 2009**

Baba Yaga later appeared before Hellboy, offering to aid him in reaching Nimue's tower on the condition that he give her his eye as payment for taking out her original eye, which Hellboy did. After Hellboy's death in the aftermath of his victory against the Queen of Blood, Baba Yaga was approached by Edward Grey to be sent into the Abyss to find Hellboy. Though she advised against it, Baba Yaga granted Grey's request.

In 2016, Baba Yaga accepted a terminally ill man's soul in exchange for killing the men who murdered his family and make him watch... Except the man had already sold his soul to the devil for the same service and made the deal with her because the devil had decided to kill them right before he died so he couldn't enjoy his revenge, leading to a conflict between the two.

## **Jardani Jovonich**

The child Jardani Jovonovich, born in former Soviet Russia to parents who were of Romani, Russian, Ukrainian and Koryo saram descent and cursed by Baba Yaga to be blind in one eye, but have that eye appear fine, was orphaned at a young age for unknown reasons before being taken in by his father's old friend, who would eventually become his mentor. He was adopted by the Ruska Roma organization from Belarus and raised by their leader *The Director* in their New York headquarters. Under the supervision of The Director, Jardani was trained as an assassin; he learned multiple skills including martial arts, firearms, edged weapons, improvised weapons, tactical driving, infiltration, escapology and more. Because of his partial blindness he was trained in style carried over by blind masters such as the Samurai Zatoichi and the martial artist 'Stick" or I-Ching. At some point Jardani took the name "John Wick" and left the Ruska Roma. He became a feared and ruthless hitman his targets would call him "Baba Yaga" because of his origins and connection to the Witch, leading to the speculation that Wick WAS Baba Yaga in human form, this corresponding with the fact that Baba Yaga was not seen publicly since 1964, the year of John's birth. In an attempt to find an English Equivalent for Wick's Russian nickname, he became known as "The Boogeyman" in hopes the name of that entity would provoke the same level of fear as Baba Yaga did. Wick attempted to dissuade the notion that he was the Baba Yaga, claiming that he would kill Baba Yaga if he ever met her. This ended up being twisted in the rumor mill and Wick gained a nickname which contradicted the first. He became known as both "The Boogeyman" and "The Man you hire to kill the Boogeyman".

Wick was noted for his great focus and determination; his fighting prowess was such that he once single-handedly killed three men with a pencil. It is speculated he could kill the likes of James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Borne, some of the deadliest known government agents. Eventually John met a woman named Helen and fell in love. Hoping to leave his past as a contract killer behind him and pursue a normal life, John met with crime boss Viggo Tarasov, who agreed to grant him his wish if he could accomplish a task described as "impossible" by others. In order to accomplish this task John required assistance from Camorra member Santino D'Antonio and subsequently ended up owing a blood debt to him. Viggo Tarasov said the killings Wick performed laid the foundations for what his criminal organization became, implying Wick eliminated all his major rivals for him. Wick had assistance from Matt Murdock in taking down the gangs (without killing most of them which was a challenge that helped to make it seem impossible). He also received training for Murdock and the brilliant but mentally impaired designer Melvin Potter (who had built both Daredevil's costume and Fisk's armor like suit) also built a bulletproof coat for Wick, though the impact of the bullet could still stun him. After completing his "impossible task," John Wick retired as an assassin and settled down with his wife Helen.

Following his wife's death from a terminal illness, John preferred to remain isolated from society. He spent his days driving his prized car — a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 — and caring for his new dog, Daisy, the last gift from his dearly departed wife. This changed in 2014 when Iosef Tarasov, son of Viggo Tarasov, who was unaware of who John was and assumed simply because of his status that he could steal his car and face no legal punishment, assaulted John, stole his car and killed Daisy. This set John on a rampage of slaughter and vengeance. Attempting to protect his son from John's rampage, Viggo sent assassins to stop John, but all were killed. Eventually John took his revenge, killing both Iosef and Viggo. After he did this, John rescued a pitbull puppy scheduled to be euthanized from an animal shelter and walked it home.

After enacting his vengeance on the Tarasovs, John retrieved his prized car from Abram Tarasov and formed a truce with him allowing him to live. John hoped to return to retirement but this was interrupted by Santino D'Antonio, who asked for him to complete his blood oath and assassinate his sister, Gianna, allowing Santino to have a seat at The High Table. Wick reluctantly travelled to Rome to fulfill the task, only to realize that he would be Santino's next target for eliminating a member of The High Table. Santino sent his bodyguard Ares and Gianna's former bodyguard Cassian after Wick but both ultimately failed. Santino placed a $7 million bounty on Wick's head, after which Wick enlisted assistance from The Bowery King, who supplied him with a gun that carried only 7 bullets and information of Santino's location. John eventually found Santino in the safe grounds of The Continental, a hotel for Assassins that forbade "Business"(i.e.killing) from being conducted on its grounds. Santino taunted John as The Continental Owner, Winston, advised John to walk away before he broke the laws of The Continental. Despite this, John still assassinated Santino, leaving John to be declared "excommunicado" for conducting business on Continental Grounds. Winston allowed John one hour to escape before the contract was doubled and his status was rescinded from all service.

Excommunicated, exhausted, and injured, John spent his one-hour head start preparing to flee from New York, as assassins gathered and heard word of the bounty on John for killing a member of the High Table. John escaped to Morocco, met with former ally Sofia, and called in a favor to be brought to the Elder, a man above the High Table, who could clear the bounty. John travelled the desert to the point of collapse in order for The Elder to find him. The Elder agreed to grant him forgiveness from the bounty in return for killing Winston and serving the High Table for the rest of his life; John severed his ring finger and offered his wedding ring to The Elder to show his commitment. John returned to New York and was pursued by assassins until he reached the safe haven of the Continental. John reunited with Winston but decided not to kill him. Instead John and the hotel's concierge Charon made a stand against the High Table and their enforcers. Successfully defeating waves of attackers, Winston and High Table representative The Adjudicator parleyed on the hotel roof. Ultimately, Winston shot John to restore his standing with the High Table and John tumbled from the roof into the street. The Bowery King, recovering from grave wounds inflicted by The Adjudicator's assassin, collected the badly injured John and brought him to his hideout, where he told John he intended to rise up against the High Table. John agreed with this.

What happened next is still unknown, our researcher Stahelski is working on it.

A book, *Baba Yaga: Rise and Fall of the Tarasov crime family* was written by Laura Hellis. As the title suggests, the book chronicles the family's rise to power. John Wick is not mentioned by name but is referred to as Baba Yaga, making the title literal.

### **Johnny Mnemonic**

At some point, John Wick had his memories stolen and gained the new name of Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny was of course a corruption of his first name and Mnemonic was not a name but a word meaning the retrieval of memories, which, given the time period, taking a last name that reflected the company you worked for was common, no one batted an eye out.

"Johnny Mnemonic" was a data trafficker who has undergone cybernetic surgery to have a data storage system implanted in his head. The system allowed him to store digital data too sensitive to risk transmission on computer networks. To keep the cargo secure, the data was locked by a password known only to the intended recipient. Johnny entered a trance-like state while the data was being transferred or the password was being set, making him unaware of the contents and unable to retrieve them. He made a modest living in the Sprawl by physically transporting sensitive information for corporations, underworld crime rings or wealthy individuals.

Johnny had arranged to meet with his most recent customer, Ralfi Face, at the Drome bar. Ralfi was overdue to retrieve the hundreds of megabytes of data he has stored in Johnny's head. To add to his troubles, Johnny had learned that Ralfi had placed a contract on him, although the reasons were unclear. Johnny found Ralfi at his usual table, accompanied by his bodyguard Lewis. Johnny threatened them with a sawed-off shotgun in his bag, but Lewis incapacitated him with a neural disruption device hidden under the table. Ralfi revealed that the data was, unknown to him at the time, stolen from the Yakuza, who were very interested in ensuring it was not revealed.

Johnny was rescued by Molly, a "Razorgirl" who had undergone extensive body modifications, most notably razor-sharp blades under her fingers. She joined the action at the table, looking for a job. When Lewis tries to attack her, she cut his wrist tendons and took the incapacitating control device from him. Ralfi offered to pay her off, but she turned off the device and freed Johnny. Johnny immediately offered a higher bid to hire her as a bodyguard. Johnny and Molly take Ralfi as they exited the bar, but a Yakuza assassin waiting outside cut Ralfi to pieces with a monomolecular wire hidden in a prosthetic thumb. Johnny fired his shotgun at the assassin but missed due to the man's enhanced reflexes. Molly was delighted to be facing another professional.

Johnny decided that the only way to save himself from the same fate as Ralfi was to get the data out of his head, which could be done only by using a SQUID to retrieve the password. Molly took him to an amusement park to meet Jones, a cybernetically enhanced dolphin retired from Navy service. Jones' previous assignment was to locate and hack into enemy mines using the SQUID and other sensors implanted in his skull(This is hardly surprising as we all know Dolphins are one of the most intelligent animals on Earth as per *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*). Since he is now addicted to heroin, the result of the Navy's efforts to keep its dolphins loyal, Molly traded him a batch in exchange for finding the password. Johnny then had Molly read it out so he could enter his retrieval trance, with recorded, capturing all the data. They uploaded a snippet to a Yakuza communications satellite and threatened to release the rest unless Johnny is left alone.

To deal with the Yakuza assassin, who was still following them, Molly lead Johnny to the Lo Teks, a group of anti-technology outcasts who lived in a suspended hideout near the top of the geodesic domes covering the Sprawl. At Molly's request, the Lo Teks allowed the assassin to climb up so she could face him on the "Killing Floor," a sprung-floor arena wired to synthesizers and amplifiers. Molly danced around the assassin, causing discordant noise to blare from the sound system. She eventually tricks him into slicing off his own hand with his thumb wire. Overwhelmed by the noise and the strange environment, he jumped through a hole in the floor and fell to his death.

nearly a year later,Johnny was living among the Lo Teks. He and Molly had gone into business for themselves, using Jones' SQUID to retrieve traces of all the data he had ever carried and blackmailing former clients with it. This was until Johnny discovered that among the data was a cure for a plague and set out with Molly to release this information, this inadvertently released Johnny's original memories of being John Wick and of his original family.

Eventually, a Yakuza assassin attempted to kill Johnny but he survived and faked his death. He and Molly went separate ways.

John Wick's memories would later be transferred to his descendant Thomas Anderson, also known as Neo in order to make him a more proficient fighter.

## **Author's Note**

- I merged John Wick and Johnny Mnemonic because why not, giving an explanation for why he took the name Mnemonic and taking advantage of Jonny Mnemonic not remembering his past. To clarify, this is mostly taken from the original Short Story as the film version did not do well though yes, Johnny does look like Keanu Reeves in this version. Molly mentions in a Sequel book *Neuromancer* that Johnny was killed by Yakuza assassins, this is retconned away, not because its a downer ending and nullifies the original book, but because given this new context Johnny Mnemonic DID die, but John Wick was reborn.

-Cyberpunk 2077 isn't out yet but you're damn sure I'm going to try to fold it into this. I've already folded two Keanu Reeves characters into one, let's see if I can get three.