The Night Life
2070
Yang screamed out of her nightmare. Fist swung at the air as she rose from her bed, eyes opening to the comforting daylight peering through the apartment. She stood there, panting in terror as the memories of the dream started to fade from her consciousness. She wasn't being chased in Watson; she was still in the same crappy apartment in Wellsprings.
She immediately turned to look around her bed, noticing that her sister was not on the other side of it. Yang would've been driven to a frenzy looking for Ruby if not for the muffled sound of a news report being heard from another room. She rushed out of the bed, poking her head out to the source.
"Morning Yang!" her sister exclaimed
Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Ruby was alive. A relief from the nightmares. The mess of gun parts on the kitchen table, however, was quite the opposite of a relief.
"Ruby," She started, "When will the day come where I don't have to worry about choking on a gun part at breakfast?"
"Sorry, Yang!" Ruby shrugged. "But I've been trying to give Crescent Rose a fine tuning."
"Really?"
Her sister raised the rifle; it was a black and red Frankenstein-ish fusion of a sniper rifle and a scythe, which reflected Ruby's own choice of colors on her clothes. Ruby pressed a button on its side, causing the rifle to fold back into its' non-combative suitcase form.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
Yang raised an eyebrow. "If you wanted to be stealthy, you should've gotten a pistol."
"A weapon's like cyberware! It's meant to a reflection of who we are."
"Really? So how does a sniper rifle reflect on you?"
"Well," Ruby bit her lip. "I can hit hard and fast in scythe mode… then shoot people from a distance in sniper mode… and I'd be able to do it all very fast so no one can… see me?"
Yang gave her a knowing grin. "Talking gives you anxiety, huh?"
Ruby scowled at her sister, putting the encased rifle aside.
"Screw you, Yang!
Yang chuckled, deciding to check the fridge. The only things inside were a frozen synthburger, an open can of Nikola-Soda, and 4 other cans of expired beer. She always thought about getting groceries, but the money wasn't coming fast enough and the kind of vehicle she rode wasn't conducive for delivery work that would help pay the bills.
"Hey sis, wanna take a ride town?"
"Should we? I mean… I thought we could sit here and just… watch some cartoons or…?" Ruby tried to add another option but her sister didn't want to hear any more excuses.
"Come on!" Yang exclaimed as she made her way to the shut windows.
She hit the switch on the side, watching as the metallic shutters unfolded; Ruby had to look on in awe of Pacifica in its' unfinished totality, the half-finished Megabuilding contrasting with the beautiful beach.
"This is our playground, Ruby." Yang grinned. "We can go anywhere. Do anything! What do you say?"
Yang watch her sister contemplate the idea. It was annoying to have Ruby contemplate these decisions. It was better to be out in the streets than to be trapped in a Megabuilding.
"Well…" Ruby answered "I really like going to to the park in Glennwood… And Japantown's mall is pretty cool."
"Pirogi's in Little China!"
"Ew, No!" Ruby frowned
But Yang let out her best devious smile "um, I think you mean YUM! Come on, It beats staying indoors when nothing's on."
In a few moments, Ruby took the Concussive ammo for the Crescent Rose, while Yang picked up her gauntlets. She only paid half of her attention to the news but she read the tagline under the reporter.
"Night City secedes from America."
"What does it mean to secede?" Ruby asked.
"It means that we're no longer Americans." Yang replied. "At least we no longer have to recite the Constitution.'
"Maybe it won't be so bad? Who'd want to live in America anymore?"
Yang didn't have an answer for that.
The Branwen Shivs never left the desert valley of California; Her mother- Raven, Yang remembered her disowning her- once said that the desert was the only home with worth to the Shivs. Anything else is a trap ready to drain the strength of those drawn to empty promises of success and opportunity.
'Were they?' Yang thought. 'Maybe Raven didn't know shit.'
"Stupid bucket of bolts!" Yang kicked the elevator door in frustration.
The elevator was evidently NOT a part of the playground Yang was talking about. Surely an apartment complex like this would have SOME standards, especially with the population it was housing, but the repair staff didn't bother to finish fixing the thing.
"Hey Ruby," She turned to her sister. "You think you can use your big brain to jump start this bitch?"
Ruby nodded. She went to the control panel, ripping it open, then playing around with the cables inside. Yang decided to step In front of her, making sure that no cops were on the floor to tell them not to. Their floor was the nearly empty one, a rare sight for a megabuilding. She wondered if everyone was off work, staying in or just plain homeless. She didn't want to think about the last part, she didn't want to imagine having Ruby out in the streets.
'They'll eat her whole'
"So… you're good at this sort of thing?" Yang asked, trying to bring some life into the silence.
"I'm not just a weapons nut you know! I got experience with all sorts of tech… I usually practiced after school…"
"Away from people?"
"Shut up, Yang." Ruby elbowed her sister.
The elevator lights chimed on as it arrived to the six floor and greeted the two. Yang ruffled her sister's hair, thankful for the little Tech gremlin as they both walked in.
"Maybe we can still make this work." Yang pressed the lobby button. "Let's see…"
"Hold that door!"
A blond-haired boy slammed his foot between the doors, yelping in pain before they receded. Ruby and Yang raised an eyebrow at the newcomer, unsure of him. He was a lanky, almost dweebish fellow, who looked like any moment he would vomit on their shoes; if that did happen then they'd both attack him, and it would start a whole mess that Yang would need to "take care of."
"Sorry!" The boy nervously chuckled, feeling the intense glare Yang gave him. "Is this elevator going up or down?"
"Yes?" Ruby replied. "We were heading there right now."
"Oh, cool cool!"
The boy nodded along, taking his spot on the opposite side of the elevator. Both siblings kept quiet as the lift descended. Yang really hoped he wouldn't start making small talk.
"Uhh… I'm Jaune Arc by the way!" He did so, thoroughly annoying her. "I moved into the 521 a couple of weeks ago. Gotta say, when they told me Peach Tree had more breathing room, they meant it. The last place I used to live in was Texas… And despite the moniker, not everything was bigger in Texas."
"Really?" Ruby pouted. "I thought they'd at least have bigger weapons."
"Oh they do! Sometimes my sisters brought 'em home and I'd start panicking over what they could do or get into a gun fight."
"It's not a good Friday night if there isn't a fire fight." Yang chimed in.
"Geez, I think you and Carmine would get along super well. If you met. Which is probably… never…"
Yang interrupted. "Hey uh, Jaune is it?"
"Yeah?"
"It's not that I don't like hearing your lifes story but… We really don't care."
The elevator doors opened, the young adults having arrived at their destination. The ground floor of Peach Tree was crowded, everyone seemed to be moving one place to the next. It was crazy.
"Okay…" Jaune said dejectedly, "Have a nice day."
"You too!" Ruby replied, "Tell me more about Texas weaponry next time!"
Bless her sister. Yang "Yang was never the type to be polite, but Ruby just is. If she applied this more often maybe she could have friends. Just so long as it's not Jaune. Because he's a loser..
"Jaune's not a loser just because you don't like him." Ruby could tell just from reading Yang's face what she was thinking. "You didn't have to be so mean!"
"Ruby, that's the kind of guy's trying too hard to be friendly." Yang retorted. "Friendlies like that usually want one thing."
"You?"
"Oh ha ha. I'm serious, Ruby."
"Maybe you're too paranoid."
"Maybe you're too soft, sis…" Yang sarcastically responded. "But you'll learn some day."
The air smelled of hard toiled industry, filling the sisters' lungs with a putrid atmosphere while everyone else went about their day. Evidently, the people were more used to it than they were.
"Gross! Yuck!" Ruby gagged. Even though she's lived here longer than Yang, Ruby never could stand the smell. Not like her sister.
"Scent of Heywood" Yang comment "Breakfast Burrito?"
"Hmhm, Yaaaaaang this tastes so good!" Ruby exclaimed to her sister as she scarfed that burrito down like it was the first breakfast she had in years.
"Rubes, you're getting the burrito all over your mouth." Yang exclaimed to her sister as she put the burrito down.
"You gotta try iiiiit."
"Ruby."
"Pleeeaaaasseeeeeeee!"
"I will, but you gotta clean your mouth."
Yang had to roll her eyes at her sister, trying to talk while chomping down on the burrito she held. Yang couldn't stay too mad, but Ruby could be so thoughtless at times. Even years after they found each other in Tai's broken home, Ruby kept that childish streak.
It made Yang happy and envious. She never had much of a childhood thanks to Raven, but she worked to make sure Ruby had a decent childhood… well, about as decent as you can get in Night City.
Night City was a strange beast. While Yang knew why it was called Night City (Ruby said that it was because of some rich jackass who bought the property around California), but there was a deeper understanding of the place she had come to realize: Night City was a large concrete jungle surrounded by neon lights and large looming buildings. One could barely even know if the sun was out unless they reach the edges of the town, or it was already noon.
Nobody in the city notice it, either due to long shift the companies had them work or they were blitzed out on something to keep them up all night.
She never went to intervene herself. Much too risky. Yang was already in deep shit as is with the Valentinos. She didn't need any more heat from them or the beat cops.
"So where are you taking me, Yang? You said it was some place cool on the way here."
"My old stomping grounds." Yang smirked. "I fought in the ring for a man named Davi and won. He always said I was his prized fighter, even offered me a job. But the pay ain't good enough. Also you're spilling the food again."
"WOOP!" Ruby kept as much of the burrito as she could, but it was unfortunately torn apart. "Nooooooo…"
"Just throw it away, you'll get another one later."
Ruby threw hers into a trash can. "Sorry. Anyway, were you any good at fighting? Wouldn't they have said something about the… ummm…"
Yang brought up her mechanical arm. "Nah. The kind of matches I had… they're not strictly legal."
"Oh."
"Hey they allowed people with cyberware in there. I still won."
"So… I guess there wasn't any other way, huh?"
"Not at the time. But right now, things are good. We just need a few Eddies and-"
"AAAHHH!"
They heard a yell. The sisters ran down an alleyway to find the source. It was a bunch of thugs- Yang recognized three of them being from the Valentino's – wailing on a familiar blond figure.
"You don't have to do this…" Jaune spat blood out. "Look, Cardin cheated me. I paid him to fight and he just…"
"Deja de mierdas." One of the gang members exclaimed with a kick. "Padre wants his money. So pay 'im back!"
"But can't you just give me an extra day?!" Jaune shouted out, almost as if he was fighting past the pain.
"Hey hold on!" Another gang member spoke up, "Let me beat him a bit! I hate the sound of his voice."
"Dale." One of them, probably the leader, ordered his buddy to stepped aside as his the third one went in for another kick.
Friendly and shady. Yang's opinion of the man went lower.
"Okay Rubes, it's just Jaune. We'll be on our way and leave him… Ruby?"
She turned to find her sister was gone. Instead, Yang spotted Ruby whipping out her Crescent Rose briefcase towards the gang.
"You leave him alone!" Ruby called out. "He did nothing to deserve this."
Jaune looked up to his savior, only for his eyes to widen in horror. "No… no please, back away…"
"Oh so ya know her?" Head honcho pulled out a knife. "Stand back or get chopped! Scavs could use the kidneys."
Ruby activated the case, turning Crescent Rose into its Sniper mode and firing into the air. That shut them up REAL good, forcing other gang members to move back.
"You were saying?" Ruby smirked. "Leave him alone, and you get to walk away without broken legs."
This forced the head honcho to put his knife back, his other friend standing back in fear. Unfortunately for the third guy, he wasn't getting the memo.
"Lindo Jugete!" he spoke, raising the machete up at them, "Let's Dance, Bichita!"
The lone idiot rushed Ruby, who turned Crescent Rose into its scythe form and swiped at him, knocking the machete wielder around several places. It was a miracle that the scythe didn't even KILL him, just striking his side with the blunt head of Crescent.
From behind the fight, one of the idiot's companions decided that he hated seeing his buddy getting humiliated and pulled out their pistol.
Yang scowled. She hated when she was put into these kinds of situations.
"Okay fine." She muttered as she activated her own weapons.
Ember and Celica, Ruby helped fine tune these babies for any dangers Yang might face out in the city. Right now, Ruby needed her. No killing, that'd be too far. But…
As one of the gang members tried to rush her, Yang snuck from behind and blew his legs wide open with a mixture of a slug and buckshot. He dropped to the floor, grabbing at his missing legs while catching the attention of Ruby and her assailant.
"You try cutting my sister up" Yang said, cocking her gauntlets. "Not a fucking chance."
The beaten-up head honcho got up, looking to his injured buddy. He looked back to Yang, giving a death glare for added effect. Head Honcho decided
Ruby flinched at the injured gangster. She shook her head and focused on helping Jaune up, who had seen better days. He was exhausted from the beatings.
"Hey…" Jaune said. "Sorry for all this, I didn't…"
Ruby put a hand over his forehead. "You don't need to say anything. You're safe."
"No. Padre's going to gun for me."
"He'll be gunning for both of us." Yang chimed in, looking back at the guy who was crawling out into the street before turning back to the injured blond Texan.
"Why do you Padre so much money?"
Jaune looked away, he seemed embarrassed to even admit to his mistake. But his sigh pushed him on.
"When I first moved in here… I didn't think the rent cost would be THAT tight." He explained.
"You're renting out in Heywood. What did you think was gonna happen?" Yang chided but Ruby elbowed her, wanting her older sister to be a bit more respect for the plight.
"I just wanted cash." Jaune teared up. "I thought If could bet on Cardin to win, I'd be able to pay em back and stay with a bit of it! but he intentionally lost! He traded that money to the guy running the match. Davi."
Yang frowned. It was one thing to see a poor shmuck get caught up with gangsters but to find out that the guy who had trained you and paid you for these fights was screwing people over like this didn't sit right with her.
"How did you know he intentionally lost?" Ruby asked.
"I was gonna go into the back to argue with Carding but I heard him talk about how hard it was to fake a natural failure…" Jaune explained back, "the bastard… Who knows how long they've been doing this!"
'Yeah, I wonder…' Yang thought as she gave Jaune a hand standing up.
"Don't worry, golden boy. You won't go unrewarded."
"WELL, WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT! KOVAKS IS TAKING A LEAD, BUT RYDER'S NOT DOWN FOR THE COUNT!"
The crowd went wild as the fight between the two contestants raged on.
This boxing match had been going on for an hour. The two contestants, Ryder, augmented freak from the Black Lagoon, and Kovaks, the naive Newbie wanting to hit the big time, traded blows in the picture of a fight to the death. For most folks in Night City, this was entertainment at its finest.
For Davi the Hawaiian, it was just a smoke of the cigar as he waited to count the cash.
Normally, Davi wouldn't stake high bets on such an uneven match up; these kinds of things had a clear winner and loser. On any other day, Ryder would be the obvious victor. However, lots of folks don't realize Kovaks' dirty little secret: just a few months ago, Kovaks' had some minor augmented wetware implanted on him.
"WOW KOVAKS IS GIVING RYDER NO TIME TO REACT!" The announcer did his job. "HE'S KNOCKING HIM DOWN, OH NO! HE'S LOSING!"
Reflex boosters for faster reaction time and neuron dampeners to numb the pain. As soon as Kovaks' wins the match, Davi would make like a bandit with the eddies from those who thought Ryder would be the champ of the hour.
He could be on his way to doing that, but as soon as Davi heard the door to his suite open, he knew today wasn't going to be perfect.
"Just put it next to my table sweetheart." Davi tried to tell the fucker to sod off in the nicest way possible. "You'll get the tip later."
"Sir?"
That wasn't the maid. It was a harsher, more practiced voice from one of the goons.
"You got two visitors wanting to see you."
'Here? Now? Come the fuck on'
Davi frowned, deciding to reply. "Tell'em to meet me after the match."
"They insisted on wanting to meet with you."
Davi sighed deeply, getting up from his seat to turn to his lackey.
"And who are these eager sons of bitches?"
"She said it was Burning Dragon."
Davi's mood relaxed a bit, remembering her. It was annoying but the idea of one of his previous, precious fighters coming up to visit him was a hell of a good time. He waved at the goon.
"Send her up!"
The lackey nodded, his eyes glowing red, going to another room to order Burning Dragon inside. Davi smirked, going to light up another cigar. That stupid bitch was just a lanky kid with a jersey and a Copperhead rifle slung to his side. The kid would have been dead meat in another gang. Here? He's what passedfor an elite guard. Heh, Davi chuckled to himself about considering any part of this operation higher than a prostitution ring. It was all about selling bodies, just trade sex for violence. Or wrestling.
"That stuff will kill you some day."
Davi smiled at the familiar, almost husky voice. "Nice to hear from you again, Xiao-Long."
Yang Xiao Long stepped to the VIP lounge. Next to her was a small young woman carrying a red briefcase.
'She did mention a sister. Ruby… Rose. Yeah that's gotta be it!'
Davi forced a smile as he allowed them to get near him.
"Burning Dragon! Been a while since I've seen you out in the neck of the woods!" He greeted, "How's it been? Still punching teeth out?"
"Few matches out in the streets." Yang replied. "Might take a job as the Tooth Fairy, gather those little things in a horde. Maybe I'm the Tooth Dragon."
That got a loud, forced cackle out of Davi. Neither sister bought it.
"Still the fighter at heart, I see." He approached Ruby as she stared blankly at him. "I don't think we ever met, did we? I'm your sister's coach basically."
Ruby said nothing as she only looked towards Yang instead.
"Hey Burning Dragon, What's the deal with yer sister? She doing alright?" he asked but he noticed she wasn't paying attention.
Yang looked out to the fight, watching as Kovaks escorted Ryder from the ring, the next round about to begin. She could see a bit of herself into Kovaks, how she started off in a similar ring facing off against similar odds.
"Ah this? This is a shit show." Davi exclaimed as he walked next to her, "The guys they bring here? Just a buncha mutants! No soul, just wetware or cyberware. They didn't have what you got!"
"And that was?"
"FURY!" He emphasized, "You gave boxing life, Yang! And sports with life and vigor… it's a cocktail for success."
Yang smirked. She didn't bother wondering if Davi was full of shit or if he was telling the truth, so she simply stared at the next round. Kovaks was at it again, giving Ryder a ride for his money as he punched with such speed and ferocity.. Did they even know he had wetware? Would they even care?
She turned back to Davi. "Who you bettin' on?"
"Me?" Davi scoffed, "I got my money on the fleshy one! Kovaks."
Yang looked to the fight, seeing Kovaks already on top of his augmented competitor like a ferocious beast. She smirked again.
"Huh, no wetware on 'em?" She prodded.
"What can I say Yang? I got a soft spot for Underdogs. Like you!" He flashed his best smile, despite the fact she wasn't even looking his direction.
She turned to him, her face quietly conveying Is that right? as he walked up close.
"So… what brought you here?" he asked, looking back to her sister who looked over the balcony to see the fight rage on. "You uhh… Looking for a comeback?"
"Well… I came here because a little birdie whispered to my ear about my good "friend" Davi and a very… Very bad bet."
His smiled disappeared. "Is that so? You should be careful with such things. Little birds will sing anything so long as they get their tiny worms in the morning."
"I think this one was telling the truth. See, he's new in town and already being chummy with the Valentinos but he owed them money. With the little money he had, he thought about betting on this one match to be his chance to make enough money to pay em back but he lost the bet. No harm no foul right? Eddies went to your pocket and everything goes business as usual… But then the birdie wants to go to their fighter, and he figured something out."
"That he's a sucker?"
"Yeah, if only 'cause he didn't check on his fighter. See, this boxer… he was being paid to lose. By you."
Davi's hand slipped to his pocket.
"Yang… These sound like some pretty serious accusations."
"I know Davi." Yang brought a hand up. "But hearing these kinds of things that makes one think."
"I bet it does."
Davi's hand found the gun, but his accuser was faster on the draw. Her Ember turned his Unity handgun into a shredded piece in his hand.
"Look Yang," Davi went with bargaining. "I get it, I hurt ya friend but Come ON! You can't be this heartless! Sure, I may have fixed a couple a fights, It's my job! Do you know how many gangs would be pissed off if I didn't let their prized guy win. But YOU? Everything that happened in the ring was ALL YOU! Ya hear me?"
Yang was quiet, Davi was beginning to realize he might not make it out of this one.
"Come on, Burning Dragon… You're like a daughter to me." He tried to get close to her, hoping his words will win him any favors.
"Hm. Can't say I call you my Dad." She shot back.
Davi flinched, the emotional gut punch reeling him back. He thought if nothing else Yang would respect him enough to live.
"You hurt my feelings, Yang." He replied, the hurt sliding out from his voice.
"Just give Jaune his money, or else I'll hurt a lot more than your feelings." She threatened, raising Celica to emphasize it.
It was the prelude to true madness. His once prized fighter came blow his face off for some punk AND steal his fortune. He can't tell what hurt most. But he lead Yang to the safe. After entering the combinations of the vault, he opened it to reveal rolls of eddies stacked on top of each other.
"This is from the last four months."
He explained, hoping Yang wouldn't take to killing him off. Yang was in the middle of being convinced by the Eddies. It was, indeed, the right amount of eddies to pay off Jaune, maybe even their RENT!
"Alright, this seems good enough." She spoke as she tried to pocket the cash.
Davi kicked Yang back, taking a few roll of the Eddies from his former prized fighter before she lunged at him.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
Yang screamed out as she wrestled him down. A mere fight fixer wasn't a match for a brawler, so she started knocking his face in with her fist. Some teeth even flew out, his eyes growing purple. She could have finished this guy off then and there-
"Yang!"
Thankfully, Ruby screamed out and prevented Yang from killing Davi. The guard from before walked up to the VIP lounge, noticing his boss was covered in bruises by his former fighter.
"What the hell!" he shouted as he tried to pull out a machine pistol from his pockets.
Immediately, Ruby flicked a switch, allowing Crescent Rose to quickly change forms in her hands, firing a shot directly at the gang member The concussion blast throwing him into the lounge's wall, dropping him to the ground as he groaned in pain.
Davi punched Yang in the gut, Taking a large Wad of Eddies before he jumped out from the lounge's balcony. She wanted to run after him so bad, to break his face but she didn't wanted to leave Ruby to fend off Davi's goons, even if she knew how well she could handle herself.
"Ruby, try getting him from the window!" Yang exclaimed as she pulled readied her weapons, "I'll deal with everyone at the door."
Ruby ran to her sister's position while Yang ran ahead, stepping over the groaning guard Ruby had put down before opening the door. She threw her metal fist into the next gonk to walk into the door, a surge of speed allowing her to slam him into the wall before turning Celica to the hall and firing off at several of Davi's guards hiding behind the door.
"Ready any time, Ruby!"
She heard Crescent Rose go off once, followed by the sound of shattering of glass, which caused Yang to go back to the room. Ruby stood behind cover of the balcony with a bewildered expression.
"You get him?"
"He went out the window." Ruby replied, the machine gun fire ripped chunks off the balcony. Yang cursed under her breath as she considered running down the stairs.
The machine gun fire stopped. Both sisters looked up to see their assailant, a fat idiot with a camo jacket and glasses, trying to unjam his weapon. Ruby didn't waste time as she raised her Crescent Rose, holding the trigger tightly as the rifle hummed as electricity crackled before Unleashing a thunderous blast at him.
The Camo gunner was blasted off the bleachers, a loud scream followed as he fell to the ground in pain.
"Nice shot!" Yang complimented.
Ruby could only look back and give a half smile. Yang could tell she didn't feel right about the shot but before she could even comfort her sister, someone had creeped into the room with a Crusher shotgun. Before Ruby could even point Crescent Rose at him, Yang gave him a taste of Ember, the buckshot peppering his chest in a crimson shower before he dropped back.
"Time to go!" Yang exclaimed before Ruby could even complain about the lethal use of self-defense. The sisters escaped through the same balcony, escaping from assault rifle blast.
Damnit Damnit DAMNIT! Yang thought as she ran away. Now they both needed to get out of there, grab Davi and take the Eddies from him. Bullets whizzed by her, the bullets coming directly from the balcony.
Raising Celica, Yang delivered a clean headshot to the balcony shooter. More gang members started to rush out like a swarm of angry chromed bees having their hive kicked. Ruby switched to the Rifle conversion of Crescent Rose, her Concussive rounds giving four poor gonks the most painful non-lethal mercy she could provide for them.
Yang however, was more direct with her methods. She used her boxing skills to take down those who thought it was a good idea to run at a Solo with a bat, resisting the urge to use Ember's Buckshot or Celica's Slugs to just get these fights over with. Her biggest challenge came with one of the boxers, a member of the Animals judging by how jacked he was, rushed to her.
Yang fired off Ember, the pellets bounced off the hulking mass as he elbowed her in chest. Yang was nearly thrown out of balance, but she wasn't going to let this lug head best her. She threw the first punch, the impact feeling like she just punched a tank, but it registered as a hit as he staggered back. They traded their blows, Yang punching back but using Celica's slugs to make sure that her punches felt HARDER on his skin. It was almost doing the
She could finished this fight, thrusting her next punch forward but the boxer blocking the attack before grabbing her by the face and kneeing her face in.
"Not so tough now, are you?!" He bellowed as he approached her, she raised Ember to him but he kicked her down, fresh blood pouring out of her nose.
"YANG!" Ruby shouted out as she rushed to her sister, converting the rifle into the scythe as she buried the scythe into his arm. The boxer moved back, gripping the injury as he turned to the girl with the scythe standing there to defend her sister. Yang got up, pointing Ember and Celica together as she aimed for the face. Both of her armcannons landed a hit on his face as he crashed back into the bleachers like a human shaped bag of bricks.
Ruby turned back to Yang, helping her up. The boxing ring was still, the only sound being people groaning from concussive rounds or maybe Yang's gauntlets missing vital organs.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked her sister.
"I'm fine." She answered back, her attention to the doors, ignoring Ruby's question about why couldn't she let her knock down the boxer.
The outside of the boxing ring, the slums of Ibuki, look and felt nothing like Night City. It was like walking into a slice of the old world, one that tried to emulate the feeling of being in Japan or China or… Whatever the corporate gonks thought would be appropriate for both Arasaka or Night City's Asian demographic.
"FUCK!" Yang cursed out to the sky, the realization that they just lost the guy they were hunting.
"We could ask around the neighborhood, see if anyone seen anything?" Ruby suggested.
"He's probably out of Watson by now, It be a miracle to even find him right now!"
Suddenly, almost by divine intervention, she heard a car crash up on the road. Both sisters stepped out into the streets to see the one of the drivers shout at the driver of a flimsy junk car. The driver of said junk car flunged himself out, ignoring the man verbally tearing into him before he looked around.
"DAVIIIII!" Yang screamed out, pumping her gauntlets with intent
From a distance, she heard Davi scream out 'oh shit' before he pulled out a submachine gun from the car. The little green lead spitter fired at their directions, scaring away everyone from the scene of the accident. Both sisters jumped away, trying to find cover as the rounds either whizzed past them or bounced out the concrete. Yang fired a buckshot from Ember, which caused Davi to stop firing and flee from the scene.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU SLEAZY FUCK!" Yang screamed out as she ran for him.
Sliding over the cars hood, she pursued Davi down the streets. He turned back, submachine gun pointed at her direction as it only fired a single bullet. He tossed the weapon aside, cursing as his former fighter was catching up to him.
She brought Celica to her sights and fired. The slug pierced Davi's legs, his screams echoing all over Kabuki as he hopped on one leg before falling face first into the concrete.
'Alone at last.' She thought as he turned to her, his face fighting back against the pain.
"Crazy fucking bitch…" Davi exclaimed, "I gave you a purpose! I let you into my fights when I'm the reason you're even alive in the firs-"
She kicked his mouth shut, he groaned out in pain as she kept the gauntlets trained to his face.
"Shoulda thought about that before pulling a piece on me, you fucking lying motherfucker." She hissed back, she made sure to point Ember at her face.
"YANG!"
She turned away to her sister, the crescent rose turned back into a portable case.
"That's enough! We got the Eddies!"
"Ruby, this guy is trash." Yang said. "He used me and would have killed us the moment we tried to step out."
"Only because we were stealing. Let's just go."
"Come on Burning Dragon, just do what your sister says and-"
"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Yang ordered, Ember clicking back. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR ANOTHER THING FROM YOU."
The urge to shoot his face off was more tempting by the moment.
"That's enough, Yang." Ruby put a hand to Yang's shoulder. "We need to run."
"I can't. He's caused a lot of harm."
"So will you if you keep acting like this. I'll run."
"Where to, Dakota?! You won't last a day."
"I might. Might not. But I would rather not stay under the same roof of with a psycho!" Ruby exclaimed back.
Yang stopped to stare at her sister. It was one thing to get a glare from an psycho or some asshole trying to kill you. But Ruby… when she glared, you can feel the disappointed. That was enough of a deterrent for Yang.
"You're lucky she's got a heart." Yang pulled the gauntlets away.
She picked up some loose eddies from her pockets, she didn't bother checking how much, and tossed it at Davi's face.
"Get the fuck out of Night City." She ordered, "Don't ever let me see you again."
The next detour on their trip was to the Valentinos spot.
It would've been a lot easier to hand Jaune the money and let him pay for his own mistakes but Yang knew Ruby wouldn't appreciate it.
She knew where they had to go: Just south of The Glen, on some basketball courtyard. Yang remembered hearing about how the Padre used to belong to the Valentino's and how, despite his fixer status making him a neutral party for the Valentino's and the Sixth Street gang, he was still considered a respected member of the community. So much so that he attends basketball games to show his support for the people he had looked out for.
And that love was repaid with a few toughed out members surrounding him as if he was the pope. She couldn't pull her usual "charm" incase things got hairy, she needed to be quick.
She walked into the courtyard. The game started to slowdown as the few residents of the Glen looked at her as if she was a walking cyberpsycho.
From the benches, Padre looked to yang's direction. His entourages frown at the sight of Yang while he only gave her a small smirk.
"Mira que cosa, Quite the surprise to see you back in the Glen." He spoke in his calm professional tone.
Yang raised up the wad of eddies, tossing it to him. He caught it in his hands, looking through all of it before looking back at her.
"What's this?" He gestured to the wad.
"On behalf of Jaune Arc" She replied, "This is his final pay for you."
She would've just turned around and left, but then she saw one of Jaune's tormentors, makeshift prosthetics. A part of her wanted to walk out, to think that he had it coming for trying to kill her sister and that's it.
But then, she didn't know why, she felt a small shred of guilt. Almost as if a part of ruby (or perhaps a part of herself) told her to atleast try and ease the tension between her and the Valentinos.
She walked back to the Padre, the surrounding Valentinos almost getting ready to jump her when Yang put her hands on her pockets only to reveal the extra wad of Eddies.
"That's for his legs." Yang explained.
The padre took the extra eddies, carefully counting them while the other Valentinos kept close to him. She was wondering whether even giving this money was a good idea, considering what she did to their former boxing champion.
But in the rarest of circumstances, Padre looked up to Yang and gave her a small smile.
"El camino hacia la redención es uno pavimentado en la oscuridad." He spoke up, putting away the eddies in his pockets. "But this is a good start for your redemption."
The padre's entourages slowly drew back as Yang only gave him a nod before walking away.
"Vaya con Dios, Xiao Long."
"Here's the Eddies, Mr Polik."
The landlord was surprised to get a bag of money inside. He grinned, however, as he counted away at the wads.
"Not bad, Miss Xiao-Long. Not bad. Maybe you can stay for another… week perhaps?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Just deal with it."
The sisters went back to their humble abode, another day on this miserable rock. Yang pulled out the chopsticks and ate their vender bought ramen. She glanced up only once to hear her sister fiddling around with her plate.
"Hey, you hadn't touched your noodles."
Ruby kept still, not eating.
"I used the Eddies to give us this. You should be a little bit grateful, eat!" Yang insisted.
"Why do you have to kill people?" Ruby asked
Now wasn't that a subject to sour the mood? Yang didn't hesitate to give her sister the answer.
"Because they were trying to kill us."
"Davi didn't look like he was trying to kill you back there…"
"He did try to get us killed. Trust me, he's a corrupt enough bastard that I can see it happening."
"But we already had him! I don't think we needed to blow his face off while he's down."
Yang just sucked on the noodles in her bowl. "Can't we discuss this another time?"
"Why can't we just do a job where people have to get killed? Why can't we just talk things out?"
"It's not how the world works, Ruby."
"The killing it's… too much… I mean, Gangoons kill people. Cops kill people. Corps kill people."
"It's the way things are, Rubes. Strong eat the strong. Same as the desert."
In that startling moment, Yang started to see how Raven developed her point of view. It came to inform so much about her tribe. It was like a quiet whisper, to do whatever it took to survive…
"But do we have to? Really?" Ruby interrupted that. "We may be trying to live, but that doesn't mean we have to become like them. They already took a lot from us. We don't need to let them take our humanity as well. Please, Yang… Maybe we won't always be able to help it, but can we try to find a peaceful way first?"
She didn't know how to answer that at first.
"Yang?"
"… Sure Ruby. Sure."
Yang understood her mother. But she isn't her. She left the tribe because she wasn't satisfied with the way life worked in the desert. In here? Night City was a place of rebirth as much as it was about survival. She will try, if only for Ruby's sake.
"Now eat your food, Ruby." Yang grinned. "You'll need strength to be as tall and strong as I am."
"Whatever Yang." Ruby rolled her eyes lovingly. She went to touch the soup. "OH GOD! There's a grub in my soup!"
"Extra protein." Yang joked as she sucked in more noodles. "You'll need it."
"Gross…"
Ruby felt sick to her stomach as Yang laughed at her own noodles.
Author's Notes: Hi.
I've been gone for a long while. I need to explain…
Why did I go for a whole year with no Chapter 3? The answer: Everything. I am not going to sugar coat it, this chapter went through four iterations, extensive rewrites and my college semester and personal life has gotten so overbearing that I have come close to abandoning this fanfic. Thankfully, I reached out to my good friend GainaxVelo03 to help me finish the story, and it was his additions and a bit of the tweaking sessions with the document that was bringing back the Fun of writing this fic.
So a huge thanks to GainaxVel03 on this regard (Go Check out his Fanfics, he puts a lot of love and passion in them)
Now the question is: Will I come back to it?
I have no answer. I just wanted to deliver a third chapter I wanted to deliver but had been putting off and re editing like crazy. Maybe Chapter 4 won't take AS long as before but…
Im sorry for leaving this project in the dust and I hope that I had atleast finished a chapter into a project I was passionate about.