"Look mom... I'm here... very top of Arasaka Tower! Just like you said I would be..."

It felt so unreal. David finally made it. Standing over the city that doubted him, the city that took so much from him. But now he was standing tall over all of it with his mom's smile cheering him on. It had cost him so much, but he knew he was always special. He knew he could make it.

David closed his eyes and let the wind blow over his exposed torso, the only part of his body that wasn't covered by the cybersuit. He was more metal than meat at this point but it didn't matter. When he opened his eyes he was face to face with a sinister half face of Night City's very own boogeyman: Adam Smasher.

"You just look like another piece of fuckable meat." The robotic monotone sneered at David.

"I'm sure you'd like to try." David activated his Sandevistan and flew at Smasher who activated his own.

The two fired off bullets, rockets, gravitational pulses and threw fists as they flew through the air, smashing the building around them until nothing remained and the air was filled with a powder so fine it looked like concrete snow. The ground under them was pulverized and every second a new explosion turned something else into a font of flames.

As they fell, David could feel Smasher pulling apart his arms, his legs, his wires and servos. Until at the very end, he was just a bloody torso on the ground, in a graveyard of twisted metal and rock.

"Guess I had some fun after all. Maybe you could be an interesting construct." Smasher loomed over David taller than any tower but David just laughed.

"Whatever, choom. Like I give a fuck." David smiled but his eyes went out of focus, going blurry until not even the imposing shape of Smasher was visible. All he could see was a great big, beautiful moon behind him, full of hopes and dreams and promises.

"Shame." Smasher raised a rifle at David's smiling face and pulled the trigger.

BLAM.

David Martinez woke to the sound of thunder roar and lightning clapping. Bolting out of bed in a cold sweat, adrenaline pumped through his veins as he felt the ground around him. It wasn't hard concrete or cold metal, it was a soft bed and a warm blanket.

"David? Darling?. What are you doing so early?" A familiar voice was at David's side, a chromatic white bob cut, flattened and scattered by bed head turned to become the beautiful face of the woman he knew well and fell in love with. A woman who stuck by him for all everything and the one who had a matching ring on her finger: Lucy Martinez.

"Sorry... just some nightmares." David checked the time. Was just past 5:30 AM and the weather was looking rough with heavy drops of rain pounding against the penthouse's huge windows.

"Same one?" Lucy lifted herself out of the blankets and put a hand around David.

"Yeah. The one with Smasher..." David's voice trailed off as he sensed movement.

Years of being a cyberpunk had honed his senses to incredible levels, even without cyberware. There was the flash of lightning and David unconsciously went for the pistol in the night stand before his brain kicked in and deciphered what the two small figures peaking on either edge of the now open door was.

"Mommy? Is daddy okay?" The voice of a little boy asked while it was the footsteps of a little girl getting close to the foot of the bed that made David reach for the light instead.

"Daddy is okay, just have some bad dreams." David reached out over the bed to pick up the little girl.

Luna had always been more proactive than her brother, Apollo, even if she inherited David's brown hair. The two fraternal twins climbed up on to their parents bed, Luna in David's arms and Lucy petting the top of Apollo's head as he laid half on the bed and half off.

"What are you two doing up so early?" Lucy ran her fingers through Apollo's hair, just slightly less white than her own but also much less shiny.

"Luna got scared and I got hungry." Apollo looked up.

"Did not! You got scared because of the thunder and woke me up!" Luna snapped back with a pettiness that only children could reach.

"Hey, hey... Mija... Mijo." David looked at both of his kids with a well practice paternal smile, "No fighting in the house. Not while me and mommy are still around, eh? How about we get some food together downstairs and then put you two trouble makers back to bed?"

"Can we watch the holo instead? Pleeeeaaasssseeeee!" The two of them pleaded in perfect sync.

"If you watch too much it'll make you go blind and then you'll have to get cyber-eyes." Lucy chuckled as she got out of bed, "Plus you two need as much sleep as possible."

Luna turned to her father with a very familiar set of puppy eyes to silently beg.

"You can watch all the holo you want..." David said to the cheer of his twins, "After you get back from school." The twins' mood then turned as they started sulking.

Still, they followed their parents out. Apollo held his mom's hand while Luna was still in David's arm, cuddled up against his chest. As the family walked down the steps of their penthouse, David could see the storm starting to lighten up at least a little bit. His mind wandered to how many nights he drove through heavy rains and how many times he confused thunder for gunfire during firefights as an edgerunner.

The penthouse mostly had an open floor plan, a loft balcony and wide open spaces in a neo-kitsch style, free of constraining walls and boasting floor to ceiling windows that would normally let in a vast amount of natural light under better weather. It wasn't unlike the pad that Lucy and David shared during their younger years, only now it was larger and a little bit cleaner.

The two kids took their seats at the island bar, climbing on to high stools and watching their parents. Lucy walked over to a vending machine embedded in the wall and punched in some numbers to get some kid friendly juices boxes (now containing 4% real fruit juice!) while David brought out a pot and put it on the stove. As Apollo and Luna opened up their juice bottles, Lucy opened up the cupboard and pulled out a packet of pre-sweetened oatmeal gruel, throwing it to David who caught it while still looking for the burner's switches without even turning his head.

Thunder, rain and lightning continued to assault the windows, but they held strong as the family had a quiet, early morning meal. Neither David or Lucy were exactly great cooks, but they could follow pre-written instructions well enough. The couple made a point to try and get some non-vending machine food into them and their kids' diets whenever possible. Even if they did slip up because of just how convenient having a vending machine in your home was.

Lucy sat down next to David and rested her head on his shoulder, watching their children eat. The two had picked up all kinds of small mannerisms from their parents that were fascinating to watch from their point of view as parents. Luna was quick to bring the bowl up to her face while Apollo blew on each spoonful of oatmeal before eating it.

"I think she gets it from you." Lucy whispered, directing David's attention to Luna who was already a third of the way through her bowl.

"Nah, think it's from you." David chuckled as Lucy pinched his arm.

Luna unsurprisingly finished first, causing her brother to try and wolf down the rest of his food and causing a small mess that David took it upon himself to clean up. Without a word, Lucy took the two bowls with their spoons to the sink and nodded her head upstairs, telling David to put the kids back to bed.

"Come on you two, up to bed again now that you're fully. Looks like the storm is letting up too." David reached out and got two small hands in his own palms, pulling them upstairs and back to the kid's room. It was a decently sized room, split nicely down the middle with the messier side being Luna's and the cleaner being Apollo's with a carousel of kid-friendly holo-ads above both.

"Dad, are there implants that let you just not sleep?" Luna asked as she got into bed and put on her eye mask.

"I'm sure there are but it's best not to try and use all cyberware just because you can." He put hand on his daughter's forehead, "You should do your best to keep your fleshy bits strong first mija."

"One day I wanna get cyber stuff that's just like your's dad!" Apollo piped up from under his covers.

"Hold your engines mijo, don't chrome yourself out too fast." David leaned in to kiss Apollo's forehead and put on his eye mask before getting up to leave the room, "Now both of you get some sleep. And I better not see either of you sneaking BDs or I'm taking them for a week!"

"Yes dad." Was the last thing David heard before closing the door and turning to see Lucy standing by the window, cigarette in hand, watching the rain run down the glass. He made his way down the stairs once more and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Boo~" He whispered into Lucy's ear before going in for a quick nibble causing the woman to flinch a little and laugh, "Kiddos are asleep. Want to go back to bed?"

"Naaahhhh..." Lucy took a long drag of her smoke and rolled her head closer to David's, pressing her temple against his as he came over her shoulder, "Too awake for it now."

"To think we used to go to sleep at this time is kind of crazy isn't it?" David closed his eyes and felt Lucy nod.

He looked at their reflections in the windows as they stood side by side. When he first met Lucy as a new edgerunner after his mom died and everything was falling apart around him, she was taller than him. But then after some time in the business, and then especially after Maine died, David just kept packing on more and more chrome. He felt like he had to in order to keep up with all of the responsibilities to lead the old crew. More and more implants and cyberware until he stood almost a head taller than Lucy. Looking back on it, it was almost frightening how addicted he was to it, how he thought he could just keep adding more and more. He and Lucy had a messy fight about it one night and while it put a huge strain on their relationship at the time, David was glad it happened nonetheless since its what finally made him realize what he was actually doing to his body and mind.

Nowadays he made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of cyberware in his system, or at least find less intensive implants. He even had his body mods replaced so he was longer the six-packed hunk that he once did years ago with high end limbs and hidden weapons. Now it was a more modest piece, with much less defined muscles combined with lighter limbs that had softer synth-skin. Although Lucy did admit she missed the old chest, she and David were now finally at the same height, eye to eye together.

"Want to take this to the couch?" David tilted his head to the living room space that was sunk into the ground facing the TV.

"Sure." Lucy whisked herself out of David's embrace and put her arms behind her as she walked, hips swaying as one of her hands beckoned for David to follow in a very familiar posture.

With a smile, David followed right behind her and didn't wait for her to grab his hand, instead grabbing her hand first instead as they jumped over the back of the couch and sank into its cushions. Giggling, they went in for another hug with Lucy snuggling into David's chest and David wrapping one arm around her as the two turned on the TV for some background noise. What they weren't expecting was the news story that came on a few minutes later while they were mid-cuddle.

"BREAKING NEWS: High Ranking Arasaka Manager found dead. Victim identified as G. Faraday, whom police say accidently fell out of a 73rd story window early this morning. Arasaka is expected to give a statement shortly."

David and Lucy looked awestruck at the TV for a minute before turning to each other. Their shock slowly slipped and cracked into laughs as they turned to the window and wondered how many stories their own penthouse was, all the way at the top.

"Took that bastard this long to die, huh?" David chuckled.

"Accidentally fell my ass." Lucy snarked, "I'm sure he accidently left his door open, accidently kept his window open and accidentally shot himself twice in the back of the head too."

Both of them had lived in Night City long enough to know the truth behind these headlines but at the moment, neither one of them cared. Faraday was a lifetime ago and it felt karmic for him to get turned into a paste by falling out of a tower he spent most of his life trying to climb.

"Didn't he try to get you on some secret heist or something?" Lucy said as he put her hands on David's shoulder.

"Yeah. Some complicated things about Arasaka and Mil-Tech and a... convoy? Some 'special package' too. Don't know, it's honestly been a while since I even thought about it." David rested his head on Lucy's just as an old name appeared in his vision calling him.

"Holy shit." David cursed, straightening his posture.

"What is it?" Lucy brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"It's a call from Kiwi." David picked up the call and added Lucy to it, "Hey! Kiwi!"

"Hey guys." Kiwi's voice was as identifiable as ever, even if it was slightly garbled, "Did you get the news?"

"About Faraday?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah. And his flight of a lifetime." Kiwi scoffed, causing the couple to crack up, "You know that gonk actually tried to pay me to double cross you two years ago?"

"What? Really?" Both Lucy and David were in shock.

"Don't worry, I ended up turning him down. Honestly, I don't regret it either." Kiwi sighed, "I know I told Luce to not trust anyone in Night City and well... I didn't trust Faraday."

David looked down at Lucy and held her closer.

"Talk about a surprise." David tried his best to relax, "How are you and Falco nowadays?"

"Let me hook you guys up with some pictures." A series of images then flashed before David and Lucy's eyes.

Both of them gasped, they could recognize that landscape from anywhere. Pure white cratered ground on a pure black background, domed habitats and golden panels. Followed by pictures of Kiwi and Falco in space suits on a rocket transport, then a picture of the two floating upside down and finally two short videos. One was Falco struggling to put on an EVA suit in an airlock, cursing in Spanish with Kiwi cackling so hard she started snorting in the background as he managed to put his helmet on backwards.

The second was from Kiwi's perspective as she stood on some floating platform as moon rovers raced below. While sound was limited, the energy of the crowd was infectious as they cheered on the racers. The three at the front were neck and neck, kicking up huge plumes of moon dust as they tried to wrestle each other out.

"Come on babe!" They heard Kiwi shouting into her radio, cheering for Falco who David and Lucy could only assume was one of the three rovers at the front of the pack battling for first place.

Suddenly as the rovers banked on a steep curve, two blasted way ahead of the third and over the finish line as the platform shook with the cheering crowd. The camera jumped out and onto the lunar surface as all the rovers crossed the finish line and stopped as Kiwi bounced her way towards Falco.

"Dammit." The voice of Falco echoed inside the helmet as his face (well, mostly his mustache) was just barely visible through the helmet visor of the approaching astronaut, "Though I had them on that last curve. Rovers don't drive anything like cars on Earth."

"Hey, I still trust you to drive us out of a police barricade over any of these gonks." Kiwi reassured Falco with a very awkward space suit hug.

"Wait, is this why you didn't tell us where you two were going for your anniversary?" David questioned.

"You bitch..." Lucy balled up her fist and hit the cushions, trying to suppress a smile.

"Haha. Don't trust anyone in Night City Luce." Kiwi's smugness was practically dripping through the call even from the moon, "Anyways, gotta go. Tell the kiddos auntie Kiwi and uncle Falco say hi."

"Sure thing." David ended the call with a smile before turning to Lucy, "Fuck. I can't believe they beat us to the moon... Gahhh... Sorry I never managed to get that trip to the moon."

"That's fine." Lucy sighed as she curled up in David's lap, "I found something better."

The two locked eyes and got lost in their memories. Their first braindance on the moon, their first nighttime runs, and their first kiss in front of a full moon with a rocket launching in the distance. They weren't free from Night City, nobody can be. But at least now they weren't bound to it. And they found something worth living for.

David leaned in for a kiss and Lucy met him halfway, locking lips as David pushed forward until he was on top of Lucy. His hands felt up her body, even more beautiful after having Apollo and Luna. Their legs mixed together, Lucy's wrapping around David's. He wanted to go further but Lucy put a finger up to his lips.

"Not while the twins are home." She breathlessly mouthed.

David sighed and accepted one last kiss before getting up and helping his wife up too.

"Think we should take the twins to the moon?" David asked, looking up at the night sky, the rain now just pattering off the glass, "Or at least have a family moon BD?"

"That sounds nice." Lucy closed her eyes and just leaned on David for a few quiet, calm, intimate minutes. David did likewise. Their lives had become a lot calmer since they stepped way from edgerunning all the time. The days of Lucy highjacking wheeled stretchers and dodging in and out of traffic with David strapped to it was long over. Such high octane excitement was replaced with more heartfelt moments like these where they could just enjoy each other's energy. If there was one good thing to come out of David downgrading in Lucy's mind, it was the fact she could hear his heart so much more clearly now.

"I'm going to go and get a headstart on netrunning." Lucy finally got up after an eternity that felt all too short, heading towards the cryotub room that was hidden behind a false wall. The days of dingy bathtubs filled with ice in dirty bathrooms was definitely something both of them were happy to move past.

David just nodded as he watched Lucy punch in the code that opened the wall and stripped naked, dropping her bedwear.

"Hey, no free shows perv~" Lucy laughed as she closed the door behind her as David laughed as well.

Finally alone in his home, the former edgerunner got up and approached an old metal canister. The label on it had been scratched up but it was otherwise in perfect condition, testament to David's care. The name "Gloria Martinez" was still as visible as ever as David picked it up and carried it to the window.

"Look mom... I'm finally here." He stared out to the city below. It was a hellish place sometimes but even he had to admit, the lights sure made it beautiful to look at. "It's not the top of Arasaka Tower... but I think I prefer this. I'm finally at the top, just like you said I always would be..."

David did his best to hold back tears but stopped trying after a few seconds. His mom had given up so much for him and she had given up her life too. The boy in David looked up at the stars and wondered which one was his mom looking down and smiling upon him. He thought about all of the impossible odds and probabilities, all of the trials and triumphs that lead him here, holding his mother's urn at the top of a penthouse condo.

Putting the urn back, David swung his familiar yellow jacket over his back to put it on and went to his own work station, a second lofted level that had three tables filled with computers, displays, communication equipment and files. After finding out that Lucy was pregnant, David realized that edgerunning wasn't a job he wanted to hold down as a father. Netrunning could be a safer job on paper, at least one that didn't require as dramatic a shift as edgerunning. So David moved away from frontline work and more and more towards being a fixer, leveraging his reputation and name to get a headstart. Sure he wasn't going to have a drink named after him in Afterlife but he was okay with that. More than okay actually, because he had two wonderful kids named after him instead.

An hour flew by of David staring at screens and organizing missions and taking SOS calls. It wasn't the same as being shot at, but managing this mess of a network felt just as stressful sometimes. He was glad when he heard an alarm go off from upstairs because it gave him a reason to take a step back.

Carrying himself back up the stairs, David opened up the door to the kid's room and knocked on the wall, "Wakey wakey. Time to get up."

The twins yawned. Luna flipped on her side. Apollo pulled the covers over his head. David just laughed, "You're going to be late for school if you sleep in."

"Five more minutes daaad..." Luna moaned.

"Make it 10 please..." Apollo groaned.

"Don't make me pull you out of your sheets and dangle you over the balcony!" David teasingly threatened as he started yanking on blankets.

The kids screamed but eventually gave in, even if they were zombie-like in their speed. With enough prodding, David managed to get the kids dressed and eating breakfast. Luna in a smooth purple dress with a small white cardigan while Apollo was sporting a green shirt with a dark yellow jacket. Neither parent could remember whose idea it was to do this kind of color coordination but both agreed it was an excellent and adorable thing to have done, their kids wearing each other's colors.

As Apollo and Luna were having breakfast, there was a knock on the door that got everyone's attention. David went to open it, not seeing anyone at first before looking down a little to see a very familiar short teal woman.

"Sup choom?" Rebecca looked up, holding up her oversized red hand for a high five.

"Hola Becca." David met her hand with his own and invited her in as the kids cheered "Auntie Bec!"

"Hey kids!" Rebecca put one of her massive hands on each of the kids' noggins and ruffled their hair, "Got anything for me David?"

"Unfortunately these little ones already ate it all." David shrugged apologetically.

"No prob, I'll just get something from the vending machine. You guys get a pretty good selection." Rebecca walked over and started punching buttons into the interface. She had been around so often that David and Lucy just added her to the family account, "Where's Luce?"

"Netrunning." David said, "She'll probably be out in an hour or so for a break."

"Which is still too late for me to see." Rebecca's sigh was met by yet another shrug from David.

"Thanks again for doing this. I can't thank you enough."

"Don't sweat. It's what chooms do for each other right?"

"Why does Auntie Bec or mommy drive us to school dad?" Apollo chirped up.

Before David could open his mouth, Rebecca was already half way through her own sentence.

"It's cuz your daddy can't drive! The first time he got in a car, he almost crashed it! Had to use his Sandy to around traffic and the other time he almost turned a gas station into a bomb!" Rebecca's over exaggerated explosion hand gestures held the twin's attention better than any bedtime story David ever told them.

"Rebecca." David looked at the teal woman who in turn gave him a shrug.

"Don't hate me cuz it's true chooms. You almost drove into the middle of a 'saka convoy once on the road a year ago with me and Lucy in tow, didn't you? Pulled guns out and everything."

David could feel himself blush a little from that rather embarrassing memory. That day he ended up going over the same bridge twice in his attempt to drive around Night City. And that was before the convoy incident. And also excluding the fact he ended up asking the same NCPD officer for directions twice. Definitely not one of his proudest moments.

"Whatever choom. Like I give a fuck." David tried his best not to swear in front of the kids but Rebecca's aura of gremlin energy was always enough to make him go from dad to edgeruner in no time flat, "Probably want to get a move on if you want to beat the morning rush. Kids, go grab your stuff and get ready to go after you put your plates in the sink."

With cute little nods, the Martinez twins did exactly that, reappearing with matching purple and green bags. David got a certain sense of satisfaction from seeing his kids not in preppy academy uniforms. With both of them by his side, he crouched down and looked both of them in the eye.

"Have a good day you two and do your best. If anyone tries to mess with you, just tell 'em who your dad is." David gave both of them a wide grin and patted them on the back as they left.

"Hell yeah! Auntie Bec can give any stupid gonkbrains a word too!" Rebecca said as she pulled out a shotgun hidden somewhere in her oversized poofy jacket.

"Please try not to get pulled over with my kids in your car." David said with only the slightest hint of worry.

"Wouldn't dream of it chooms!" Rebecca lead the twins out of the door towards her car.

"Auntie Becca." Apollo looked up.

"Yes honey?" Rebecca looked down.

"Will I grow to be as tall as you one day?"

This time, David got the first word in, "Don't worry Appy, you'll be taller than her in a week!"

Rebecca huffed and gave David the finger as she closed the door which David responded in kind as he leaned against the kitchen island before letting out a sigh. Becca never changed.

A few minutes later, another door opened, this time it was the fake wall to Lucy's cryotub. The white-haired woman walked out still covered in fluid with a towel in hand, her nude beauty catching the sun's light in all the best ways as she walked over.

"Where's the kids?" She wiped herself down with the towel.

"Becca just took them to school." David didn't even try to keep his eyes off of his wife, enjoying the private show.

Lucy smiled as she waltzed over to the radio in long, graceful motion and turned it on. A lo-fi version of I Really Want to Stay at Your House came on mixed with an even older song called Fly Me to the Moon. David could recognize the tune from anywhere, it played during both their street wedding and their actual wedding. And now Lucy was once again inviting him to dance.

Being the gentleman that he was, he walked over and took Lucy's hand and the two began to dance. Stepping and turning and swirling around their penthouse as the sun kissed both of them. Lucy stretched out her arm and David followed it with his hand. Months of dance class had paid off as Lucy no longer had three left feet when it came to dancing. For as graceful as she was with a monowire, she had never learned how to dance unlike David who learned from his mom.

As the sun rose and the song looped, David spotted the Sandevistan hung up against the wall like an art piece. The thing that started all of this. That led him meeting Maine, Pilar, Rebecca, Kiwi, Falco, Dorio and of course, Lucy. So much from an implant that literally fell into his lap after his mom died. He had it removed ages ago, replaced with a more mundane cybernetic spine, but something in the back of his head wanted to install again just so he could slow time and spend more of it with Lucy in this precious moment.

No, David thought to himself as his dance with Lucy came to its end and he leaned forward, catching Lucy as a rocket took off in the background against the rising sun.

I don't need cyberware to make this moment any better.