"Rise and shine, buddy."

Squirming, David shielded his eyes as the lights in the room turned on. "Bwuh- Where…" The dusty sand-colored walls and aged furnishings of Jackie's living room came into focus, and he remembered where he was.

As his brain dragged itself out of the dumpster of interrupted sleep, Jackie snorted and passed him a mug of synth-caf. Taking a swig, he sat up and rubbed his head, yawning and looking around.

After the mess in the bar last night, Lucy had apologized for trying to sell him out to Maine. She had assumed he had stolen the Sandevistan, and there was a bounty out for information on it. He hadn't really been pleased with it, but it was hard to stay mad at her. To be honest, as he had awkwardly admitted, he might have done the same thing. Wasn't like he was a stranger to being desperate for eddies. Just the day before, he had been frantically trying to figure out how to afford his mom's surgery, then not having enough to afford anything better than a cremation vending machine for her body once she left it behind. He had been left to try and figure out how to cover rent and food on his own. Plus, it turned out she ran with that Maine guy and his crew. Hard to fault her for loyalty to her friends over him, given they had met a few hours before and she thought he had robbed his mom. She said she wanted to show him something later as an apology, and gave him an address to come by the next day.

Taking another sip, he managed to catch his jacket out of the air as Jackie tossed it over. "Come on, get dressed and let's get some food in ya. We gotta go out soon."

"Huh? Go out? Where?"

"Well, couple'a things. One, we need to get your stuff from your apartment. Ain't no way that landlord is gonna keep it long, and we got a spare room for you. Unless you wanna try to keep up the rent for uh… sentimental reasons, yeah?" Jackie said, handing over a plate bearing a couple of empanadas.

He actually considered it for a moment. He had lived there with his mom for years, and while it had been tough, that was supposed to be home. It had been home for so long. But… no. That time was over, and he'd just spend the nights alone half-expecting to hear his mom come back through the door. Screwing up his face for a moment, he exhaled sharply, then shook his head. "Nah, I… it's okay. Would be a waste of cash. I got other things to strive for now. I wanna be an edgerunner."

Grinning, Jackie offered a fistbump. "Sounds like a plan, eh? Just uh… Don't think that bein' an edgerunner means forgetting those who are there for you, or who were. If you forget where you came from, one day you'll find yourself lookin' back and seeing nothing and no-one behind you."

Eyes widening a bit, David's fingers tightened on the fabric of his jacket. The jacket his mother used to wear. Smiling softly after a second, he nodded, taking a bite of the empanada. "Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks Uncle Jackie."

"Heh. Uncle, still like the sound of that. Right, I'll be downstairs. Borrowed a car, my bike ain't gonna be big enough. We also got a friend who's gonna take a look at ya. Vik's a good guy, you can trust him with your tech."

"Oh, uh… I mean, I had Doc, Doc Borge put it in, seemed to work fine." David said awkwardly, patting his back. Snorting an unimpressed snort, Jackie shook his head.

"Maybe so, but I trust Vik, and a lotta ripperdocs will put shit in you messy and cutting corners. Something that preem, I don't trust it till I had someone I trust make sure. You trust this Doc? He a clean operator?"

"Uh…" was the articulate response, as the teen recalled walking in on Doc watching porn in his chair, the weird BDs he sold, his attempted scam with the price of the Sandevistan, the general filth and creepy demeanor of the man, and so on. "Point… taken. Alright, let's see this Vik."

Nodding approvingly, Jackie got up and headed out. "Come find me when you're ready to go, aight?" As he left, he glanced over his shoulder for a moment and gave an encouraging smile. David grinned, and began to wolf down his breakfast.


The dull tap-tap-tap of their finger against the desk echoing between the dull black walls of their office, V glowered at their screen in the dim lighting from their screen and the wall lights. Fuck. FUCK. Jackie wasn't being unreasonable, not at all. His nephew was wanted by Arasaka for something. The more they examined the data they had been sent by this Tanaka, the more they didn't like the implications. From the look of it, the kid this David had beat the shit out of was his son. By all indications, he should be furious. Yet this didn't smack of revenge.

No, this felt like something far more dangerous. Ambition. He didn't want the kid because of the attack. He wanted him because somehow, this scrawny teen had managed to fire up what appeared to be something on par with a Militech "Falcon" model or better. Notes were saying this had been snatched off the body of that soldier who went psycho in the Plaza not long ago.

Blinking, the reverie was interrupted by a message from the boss. 'My office. Now.' Ah, come on, what now. Did Jenkins think his chair didn't feel enough like lips and needed a flunky to kiss his ass instead? Gritting their teeth, V got up and headed out of the room, rubbing their jaw and trying to control their cortisol levels. No sense in letting the boss see them off-balance.

When they entered, Jenkins was staring out the wall to wall window, the lights of the city duller and less impressive in the daytime. As they stepped forwards across the unnecessarily large office, he glanced over his shoulder. "Anything to say for yourself?"

"... I don't quite understand." The only response was a disgusted grimace and a swig of the glass in his hand, half-full with some liquor that probably cost more than it was worth.

"I'm tooth and nail with that bitch Abernathy, and I check the workflow logs to find out you're off-task for some random motherfucker on the Academy Board? Are you trying to fuck me on purpose, or is this just a happy accident?" Fucksake. This was what this was about?

Arasaka execs had the ability to call on Counter Intel for stuff like this. Had Tanaka just selected someone at random and passed on an order, bypassing the chain of command? Technically that wasn't against the rules, but it was more common for things to be sent to team leaders and redirected. The only reason it'd be sent directly was if Tanaka was trying to keep things quiet.

Why would he be trying to keep the acquisition of a potential asset quiet? Unless he had competition for the target, that is. Jenkins wouldn't care, it wasn't his area of expertise. "Sir, I'm still working on my usual tasks, and-"

"Then focus on those, not whatever bullshit you got? You hear me? I don't want to find out Abernathy got the promotion to Director over me because my team's falling behind. The bosses are already breathing down my neck after that mess with Norris, christ…" Gulping the rest of his drink, he took a bottle from his desk and refilled his glass, setting it down before running his hand through his hair.

Norris… why would Jenkins care about that? He was a military former officer who went haywire. It was sad, but the sociopath wouldn't give a fuck unless it hurt him somehow. He hadn't been anywhere near the attack… which meant it was a failure on his part somehow.

And then pieces clicked together, and it took every ounce of cool V had not to swear out loud or let their expression change. A bead of sweat rolled down the nape of their neck and they had to force themselves to keep their breathing regular. Norris hadn't just been some psycho. Norris had been a test subject, and he had gone publicly rogue. Now, Jenkins was in hot water over it, and had been bypassed by this Tanaka. The same person who was after a teen who clearly had an abnormal tolerance for cyberware. A potential replacement.

This was an absolute shitshow. If they didn't get the info Tanaka wanted, they'd probably be sidelined just like Jenkins. Maybe worse. If they didn't keep Jenkins off their back, they'd be cut as a potential threat. Should they try and get Abernathy on side? No, that was just adding a third side to this fuckin' bear trap of a situation.

"Understood, sir. I'll get back to work then." V said, nodding stiffly and turning around, leaving the office and trying not to grimace. As they left, they could feel Jenkins eyes on their back.

Once V had left the office, Jenkins waited a minute, then dialed a number. Looking back out at the city below, he scowled. "Hey, I need a tail on a member of Counter-Intel. Lemme know if they go anywhere odd, do anything strange." After listening for a moment, he snorted, lifting another drink to his lips. "Could be a Militech mole, could be incompetent. I'll send the file over. I'm on crunch time right now, and I don't care if they're a traitor to the company or just shirking overtime to fuck some whore who caught their attention. Either way, a little decimation ought to light a fire under some asses. Need proof first though."

Listening for a moment, he sighed. "Yeah, after work tomorrow is fine." Hanging up, he finished his drink, then sat back down at his desk. No waste, no mistakes, no traitors.


"What'd you say this Doc's name was? Borge?" The lights of the underground surgical suite were low, except for the single bright light the doctor was using to examine the implant on David's back. Over by the metal gate that led into the tiled room, Jackie was leaning against the wall and glancing around in apparent boredom.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" David asked, trying to resist the urge to look back as Vik, the ripperdoc that Jackie had brought him to poked around with his spine. Face down on the operating chair, he was facing the floor and not seeing much of interest as the doctor worked except for the small mirror that gave him a view of Vik's face. The cleancut man shook his head, scowling.

"Fuckin' coked out hack. Never met him personally but word gets around. Gonna have to put you under, redo half the linkages at least. What kinda meds did he give you?"

"Uh, usual anesthetic I think? It still hurts a lot." There was a clink behind him, and then Vik's chair rolled around.

"So, one, that's not supposed to happen. Two… I mean what meds did he give you for adjusting to the Sandevistan? Something that grade, you're gonna need to be taking something solid for at least a while to get used to it, even if it was installed well and you took it easy on it. Which, from the sounds of it, you definitely didn't." Pausing as David winced, Vik's eyes narrowed and then he spat. "The fucker didn't give you any meds, did he."

"Uh, no sir."

"It's Vik; 'Sir' makes me feel like a grandpa. Shit, alright. First off, let's get you set up with that, then I'll see about adjusting the install. Glad you brought him here Jackie." Heading over to the cabinets, he began putting pills into bottles, muttering to himself.

Wincing, David glanced up at Jackie. "I kinda get why you were so mad in the car earlier. This is pretty different from Doc's place. Cleaner for one thing." As he said that, Vik choked on his own spit, glanced back, and then began adding some antibiotics to the prescription. Trying to cover up a laugh, Jackie patted David carefully on the shoulder before sitting down on a seat. As Vik came back, and began filling a syringe, David noticed Jackie's eyes glow for a sec. Then he noticed how his vision was going black, and then he stopped noticing things.

As the surgery began, Jackie leaned back in his chair. He hadn't been expecting V to call back so soon. Hopefully it wasn't a problem with David, but that seemed like a bet that would lose him some eddies. "V. What's up, Choom?"

On the other end of the line, V let out a long slow sigh. "Hey, I need some help. You know how you always said work was going to fuck me over one day? If I'm lucky, that day will be tomorrow and not earlier. I need you to get me in contact with a good Netrunner who knows Arasaka systems…"

Nodding speculatively, Jackie tapped his head. "Yaknow, funny thing. I just so happened to come across one picksocketing Arasaka people last night. I might need my nephew to make the introductions though. Not a lotta people are real happy to see Arasaka suits."

"This is just going to be a bundle of fun, isn't it. Fuck, alright. Can I come meet you somewhere?"

"Yeah, we're at Vik's at the moment. It'll be a while, just meet us here."

"Right, you're fumbling your way through a conversation with Misty again. Understood." Hanging up before he could respond, Jackie drew back, letting his mouth hang open in outrage and amusement for a moment before shaking his head.

"Sassy motherfucker." He couldn't stop his eyes from glancing towards the stairs for a moment though. It would take V a bit to get here, maybe he could see how Misty was doin'. It had been a good few years, and they only ran into each other again recently. Plus, he and Camilla weren't a thing no more…


As David came out of the anesthetic coma, groggily rubbing his eyes and letting the world come back into focus, he saw another person standing next to Uncle Jackie.

About 6 foot, and fairly slim, they had shoulder-length black hair which turned red partway down and had been tied back in a tight braid. Their solemn, brown eyes were focused on Jackie, one framed by a partly-visible scar. They had a winding tattoo of a snake coming up one arm and going across their chest, partially hidden by the undershirt. Rather than the brawler build Maine or Uncle Jackie had, theirs was a wiry, toned build.

That wasn't quite what caused him to sit up though. It was the shiny material of the pants and the faint glint of the red and black suit jacket they had folded over one arm. Arasaka. Shit, they found him! Leaping to his feet, he dove off the chair, yelling out "Shit! Arasaka! Uncle Jackie, run!" And activated the Sandevistan.

Time stubbornly decided it was continuing on at the same pace, and the Corpo-Rat sidestepped his blow and slid a foot under his rushing feet. From nearby, he heard Vik sigh. "Haven't turned the damn thing back on, kid. Christ, you're gonna burn your neurons out using it at every moment like that." Shaking his head, the doc went back to cleaning his tools as a clatter rang through the basement.

As David struggled with the mighty grip of the chair he had just crashed into, groaning and reeking of the lunch he had just spewed all over the floor after trying to start a fight while still shaking off the meds, the suit looked back at his uncle. "Yeah, this is definitely your Nephew, Jackie. So, you must be David."

Reaching down and helping him to his feet, they continued in a desert-dry tone. "I'm Corporate Satan, here to collect on your Uncle's soul and force him into uniform clothes, trendy haircuts, endless board meetings and regular wages. Or you can call me V if that's easier."

Blinking, David just stared at them for a moment, then turned to Jackie for an explanation. Rolling his eyes, the big man slapped V's shoulder. "V's an old friend. Known each other since well before they went into the family business and joined the big Corpo Rat-race. Asked 'em about you, and turns out they need some help as well. So, nephew, this is your first lesson in bein' an edgerunner."

His teeth split into a wide grin, and David immediately felt that he was going to hate this plan. His uncle's next words only confirmed this suspicion. "You get to broker a deal between two people who don't trust each other."


When he knocked on the door, he was nervous for more than a few reasons. Lucy could probably tell, as she seemed amused when she opened the door. "Come on in, sit down. Beer?" Walking across the darkened apartment, he looked around. Holo-TV, couch, and mostly empty otherwise. Looked like most apartments in the city. There were a few personal touches however, like a poster advertising moon tours on one wall.

"Uh, sure." Second time couldn't be as bad, right? Shaking her head, she tossed him a bottle as she strolled over to the window, flicking her lighter. Wincing, he leaned away from the cloud of smoke, waiting to take a sip until it had passed. As she raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. "Fizzy drinks, smokes. Both of them make me cough. It's fine if you want to, just… yeah." She nodded, aiming the cig a bit away from him, and poked at his jacket curiously.

"So, things are going well with your Uncle so far?"

Putting down the bottle, he nodded. "Yeah, he's… nice. Got me a room, discussing getting some jobs together, including some with Maine's crew so we can pay him back. So uh… guess we'll be working together."

She nodded, giving him a smile. "Yeah, Maine asked me to take charge of getting you ready. Said something about 'it's your stray, you make sure he's not gonna get zeroed.'

"Gee, what a swell guy." David groused, before taking another sip of the beer. It was growing on him, honestly. As he did, he mulled over what the suit, V, had told him and Jackie. It sounded nuts, but…

"So, your dream is to be an edgerunner?"

"Huh?" Broken from his reverie, he tilted his head back to look at Lucy, who was raising an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah. JK's Edgerunner series. Got me hooked on the idea, but… My mom always wanted me to get an education, go corpo. It feels wrong to say this, but… now that I can't disappoint her… I wanna try giving it a shot."

In the silence, he cast his gaze around the room, before finally settling on a question of his own.

"What about you? What's your dream?"

She was silent in return, before getting up, and grabbing his collar. "Come on."

"Whoa, what are-"
"Just come on, David."

He nearly had a heart attack when she led him into the bedroom, until she grabbed a BD Wreath.

A few moments later, and he was staring, mouth agape, as they looked up together at the furious gleam of the sun, the silent geography of the moon all around them. White dust, craters, and an eerie silence that was stiller and more calm than any place he had ever seen in his life.

"Whoa… check out this resolution! I can feel the fuckin' sun!"

Smirking, Lucy watched as he looked around in awe at the lunar landscape, and patted his shoulder. "I could give you an explanation, but… I get the feeling there's something you want to talk about. Come on, this way."

She began to hop, soaring through the air for dozens of feet before coming back down. Following her, it took a few moments for David to adjust, but then he was nearly flying as well. A massive smile on his face, he looked over at Lucy, her hair illuminated by the bright light and dark backdrop until it almost resembled a flower, petals dancing in the airless void. "This is so nova! I feel like there's nothing holding me back!"

As they landed, settling down into a more comfortable walk, he screwed up his courage. He had Uncle Jackie, he had a plan… and then his self-talk was busted slightly as he noticed her flexing her fingers invitingly.

What was he getting so worked up about? It was just holding hands, after all. Yet… for some reason, after the porn BDs, the prostitutes on the corner, all the sex and sleeze that was packaged and sold every day in this city… the simple act of holding Lucy's hand while walking on the moon seemed too pure and simple to be real.

As her hand began to swing back, he set his jaw and grasped her hand, and together they leapt upwards, soaring across the sky together.

For an untold amount of time, they messed about in the sim, enjoying the feeling of almost null gravity, driving the moon rovers, trying on the astronaut helmets, and leaving their worries back on the distant terra firma. Finally, they settled on a boulder and stared upwards, watching the earth spin far above. A comfortable silence fell over them, until finally Lucy broke it. "I've never shown anyone this. You're the first."

"Really? Why'd you show me?"

"I dunno. I guess it just felt easier to show you my dream rather than tell you. Feel like you would have made fun of me if I pointed at the poster on my wall."

Rubbing his head, David winced. "Probably true. Listen, Lucy…" She turned to look inquisitively. Worrying his lip for a moment, David winced and turned to look at her, causing a slight chuckle. "Listen… Uncle Jackie has a corpo friend who wants your help to get out of Arasaka in exchange for helping cover up my file and fucking them over."

Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped slightly. "Wait, I thought you were about to- Nevermind. Did you say a Corpo wants to meet me?"


A very awkward half-hour later found four people sitting at a table at the Welles house, Gloria Martinez's ashes sitting on the counter as if watching the tense meeting. Around a circular kitchen table, cheap but sturdy, sat four people.

V was on one side of the table, with David on their right and Jackie on their left. Jackie was sitting there working his way through a bottle of some unlabeled hooch, and David was glancing between V and Lucy, who was sitting with arms crossed as she glared in undisguised hostility at the Corporate employee.

"So. Explain exactly why I shouldn't just fry your implants and improve the world by removing one corpo-rat from it?" Lucy spat.

V scratched their face for a moment, before glancing sideways at Jackie. "Cause Jackie would kill you?"

Jackie took a swig, and shrugged. "I would have to, but that'd make David sad. I think he likes this chica." David immediately blushed and began stammering, but Lucy just snorted.

"Well, god forbid we make David sad. Guess you can't kill me."

"Guess you can't kill me then, cause then Jackie would have to kill you." V said, shrugging. "We could try killing each other at the same time, but then I think they'd both be sad."

A slight twitch graced the corner of Lucy's mouth, but the scowl remained at 98% capacity. "Doesn't seem like an improvement, no. I'm not killing David either, before you suggest that out of some demented corporate urge to complete this geometric pattern."

"Good, cause I wouldn't kill Jackie, and I'm hoping neither of them would want to kill each other. Thus, we are at an impasse. So, can I explain what I want now, or are we going to continue determining how sad people would be if one of us died?" V said, shrugging slightly and sliding a cheap tablet across the table.

Lucy picked it up, shaking her head. "Really? This the best Arasaka could afford?"

"If I had handed you a shard, would you have really trusted me enough to slot it?"

"Point taken." Flicking it on, Lucy scrolled through, brow furrowing as she considered the data being passed over.

"Basically, my boss fucked up, and a test subject went psycho. Turns out, a medic snagged his Cyberware, and took it home. You know what happened next to that. Thing is, David went and punched a kid at his school. Dunno why. Apparently, the kid's dad was impressed with the usage of mil-spec hardware, and wants David as a replacement subject. However, because my boss fucked up, he bypassed him and tasked me with this specifically."

V ran a hand through their hair, and growled slightly, before looking up. "Now my boss is on me because I'm working for someone else, and he's convinced I'm going to sell him out. If I don't do this task, I'm screwed. If I do, I'm screwed. So, I need an out, and I don't have the skills to set up what I want in order to make sure this isn't a fatal firing."

Lucy glanced up, eyes flicking to David and Jackie for a moment. "This looks legit. So you can get some worthwhile data, and you can pay. But explain why I shouldn't just say no and leave you to pick up your own mess. You're Counterintel. This could be a trap, this could be just what you're owed for working for those bastards."

For a long moment, V didn't respond. Then, they leveled a gaze at Lucy, and spoke. Their voice was steady and level, but raw and heavy in a way that it hadn't been at any point prior.

"I was born into a Corpo family. Went to a Corpo School, ate food and saw everything made by Arasaka. It was my dream to follow in my parent's footsteps. To join them in the Arasaka Empire, the people who made the world move. It got me through the sleepless nights, the cutthroat competition for open positions, the weeks where I wouldn't see my family once because they slept at the office. It got me through my dad getting zeroed by a ganger on his way to work, and my mom collapsing from stress and not making it to a hospital because her boss had been embezzling the funds for the Trauma Team insurance. I never even questioned what my life would be like." Their eyes were distant, as they spoke, remembering the bitter climb to where they were.

Lucy had gone quiet, barely breathing, eyes wide as she listened.

"I was 18 and cutting through an alley to get to a meeting for an internship when some Valentino thugs jumped me. Knife to my throat, jeering about sticking a Corpo-pig, when someone yells at them to cut the shit. Jackie Motherfuckin' Welles, striding in like he owned the god-damn place, and basically threatened to fight all three of them. They roughed him up pretty good, but between the two of us, we managed to get the hell out of there." V shot a grateful look at Jackie, before looking back to Lucy.

"He's helped me out more times than I can count. Even though I watched my other friends turn their back on me, or die to some stupid internal power struggle. Even when I finally realized that the paradise I had burned my soul to get to was just a facade, and the only thing waiting for me was dust and neon." Tears were leaking from V's eyes now, sightlessly staring past Lucy.

"And now… now I'm being told I have to turn Judas on my best friend's nephew, because some higher-up wants to use him for product testing? No. Fuck that. I want out, and I'm willing to trust you to do it. You could easily get me killed over this, but I'm on the chopping block anyway. I might as well try and repay a favor while I'm at it."

Jackie hesitantly put a hand on V's arm, but both of them snapped their heads over when Lucy finally spoke.

"Alright. I'll help. What did you have in mind?" Her voice was dull, and much like V, her eyes were a thousand miles away. Seeing steel walls, hearing gunshots, and feeling her legs burn as she ran for her life. "What's the plan?"

"File marked 'Tagging Out'." V said, wiping their eyes as they slumped back in the chair. Opening the file, Lucy plugged in her link for the first time, quickly ingesting the explanation. When her eyes stopped glowing, she turned to look at V, and smiled for the first time since she had entered the room with the Arasaka Counterintelligence Agent.

"You're not as straight-laced as you look, V. I think I can make this work."

(A/N: Thanks to Malix from Toybox for Betaing for me, Golden_ for editing)