Many years ago, in a faraway land…
There are no happy endings in this world. That does not mean I shouldn't fight for my children to have a better life than I.
The man looked down at the small babe in his arms and couldn't hold back a smile as he saw the innocent expression on her face. Her eyes were watery, her crying having only stopped moments ago when her mother had returned.
The two older parents looked down into her pale blue eyes, and she returned the stare back into their old and weary faces. As the man peered down at his final child, he felt that he could see the very essence of her soul.
So happy, so curious, and still full of wonder for the world around her. I also see her hope, her desire to seek out the good things in life that are yet to come. I wish with all my heart that she never loses that part of her. This world would be too dark without it.
Gunshots rang out from the floor below as their family's guards engaged their attackers. The man closed his eyes and wished a silent prayer that they be given quick deaths. They had served him for many years and were laying down their lives to protect his family, despite knowing fully well that there was no way to win this fight.
The parents had known this day would come eventually, but they had held out hope that they could keep her away from their clutches. Today was actually the child's first birthday, but all hope at a celebration ceremony had been dashed that morning when the guards had spotted a convoy of dull gray trucks crossing the horizon, an emblem of white on their side.
The child began to cry again as the loud bangs filled her ears, but then silence abruptly returned less than a minute later. The remaining guards had been wiped out. The last line of defense between those soulless abductors and their room was gone.
The parents spent their final moments with their daughter, coddling her on the bed, as the black and red enforcers blasted down the door. Wooden splinters flew out as the soldiers stormed in, yelling commands and sweeping the room for hostiles.
They didn't find any. Only two parents with tears streaming down their faces while holding their infant daughter.
The father saw the remains of his family's crest lying in the remains on the floor. A golden emblem of two dragons battling for control of a single blade, each end of the weapon held by their teeth. In the past, that symbol had been a sign of comfort for him, of tradition and solidarity. Today it was only a grim reminder of what- no, who he had to give up in order to keep his family safe.
One of the armored soldiers came up to the parents and pushed them aside, grabbing the screaming child. The father looked into her teary eyes for the last time. That's when he saw one last part of her soul that he hadn't noticed before.
Determination. Burning within her like a raging inferno. A blaze so strong that it will never be snuffed out.
It gave him hope that one day she would be free from the pain that this cursed world caused. Perhaps not free enough to get a truly happy ending, if there ever was one, but free enough to fight for one.
And somehow I know that she will fight for that life no matter who or what gets in her way.
The man smiled as the world around him became dark.
July 20th, 2076 Kabuki District Rooftops, Night City
A fire raged behind Lucy's eyes as she stared out over the dark horizon of the night sky, the moon shining a dim light onto the dirty streets below her. The Kabuki slums were not the kind of place to hang around, especially at night, but she wasn't planning on staying for long. She had only a single target tonight, a lone 'saka netrunner, the last she needed to take care of before David would be safe. The stench of the slums filled her nose and the music of its stores drowned out everything else, but she didn't care as she made her way to a discreet warehouse structure on the outskirts of the slum. The Arasaka netrunner was already set up inside, plugged into the net, making him an easy mark for the experienced deckhead.
She gained entrance to the rear of the building, disabling the cameras and slowly making her way to the 'runner's chair. Her monowire extended from her hand like a garrote wire before she carefully placed it in the center of the corpo's neck. Her mind was racing with a thousand different thoughts, but all of them were pushed aside when the man's form morphed into that of a silver-skinned thug.
Realization swelled in her just as she felt agony shoot up her spine and into the back of her head. She felt her chrome getting fried, and was attempting to fight back and get her systems running again, to no avail. Whoever was in her code was good, very good in fact, especially considering she hadn't even noticed them breaching her defenses.
She hit the ground hard, collapsing into a heap and convulsing as her entire body screamed in anguish. Her mind was far too overwhelmed with pain to form any coherent thought as to how to get out of her situation. Through sheer willpower, she forced herself to glance upwards. Standing there were a group of thugs that looked similar to the one she'd seen on the table, and her suspicions of whom they belonged to were confirmed as she looked to her left and saw a man with four eyes and a red suit staring back.
"So simple," came Faraday's smug voice, "And here, I expected fireworks."
She also saw another shadow standing behind Faraday, but couldn't quite make out who it was beyond assuming that it must've been the runner frying her circs. Lucy barely managed to keep her eyes open to see a grate in the ceiling on the second floor of the warehouse retract and a figure fall down from it.
The thugs turned at the sound of the unknown individual leaping over the railing on the second floor and landing on the ground in front of them in a kneeling position. The stranger's entire body was covered by a metallic and cloth suit of a design Lucy had never seen before, even in corpo security ads. It was mostly black with small accents of silver throughout, utilizing a very utilitarian aesthetic with no flashy colors or extravagant details visible anywhere. The one exception to this was the helmet. It looked like it was made out of dark black metal and vaguely resembled the visage of an ancient medieval knight, a blue glow emanating from the helmet's visor. A large sword was sheathed on the stranger's left hip, and in the middle of the lower torso were two rows of three small knives each, but Lucy saw no actual iron holstered anywhere.
The thugs quickly drew their own firepower and aimed squarely at the stranger's head, waiting to see who would make the first move. Faraday was the first to comment, naturally going for the usual antagonistic route.
"Who the hell are you? You know who I am?"
The modulated voice of a man came back through the helmet as it turned to glare toward Faraday,
"I do. The girl comes with me. If you think you can stop me from achieving that goal tonight, you are more than welcome to try."
Everyone else in the room was equally surprised by the stranger's brazen demands as the goons all glanced at each other in confusion. Lucy's first thought was that this was an Arasaka cyber-ninja sent to flatline all of them, and out of desperation to see if she was right, she used the last of her strength to send out a ping quickhack that would tell her how much chrome he was packing. Nothing came back. Not just as if he wasn't chromed, but her scan literally didn't pick up that he was even there.
Whoever the hell this was, they were either really good at hiding their presence in the net or an actual damn ghost. Her thoughts were interrupted as one of the guards began to counter the ghost's threat with one of his own.
"Ya? You lookin' to die tonight, gonk? We'll zero your a-"
His words were cut short as the stranger grabbed the sword from its sheath and removed the thug's head from his body before Lucy could blink, not that she could anyways at the moment. This only meant she had a better view as the other goons tried to put down the stranger for good, spewing hot lead from their irons as fast as they could. It wasn't enough.
Most of the fight was a blur to Lucy, her mind in far too much pain to really focus on anything, but by the time she regained some sense of control the fight was already over. The armored man had thrown the shadowy figure in the back of the room to the ground, finished off the remaining muscle, and had Faraday pinned to the wall with a sword to his neck.
"I was considering just slicing your torso open and being done with it, but I don't think you deserve such a quick end. But I also can't let you just walk away," the stranger spoke with a hint of sarcasm and disgust.
The man took a step back and sliced low, disconnecting everything from the knee down from the rest of Faraday's body, his torso then collapsing onto the ground. Faraday cried out in pain and started to make more threats, but he didn't get very far as the stranger's boot came down hard on his head, a satisfying crack coming out as his jaw was entirely dislocated, finally shutting him up for once. Lucy would've smiled if she could. Her eyelids felt heavy as her strength finally ran out, and the last thing she saw was the stranger making his way over to her and kneeling down just as the world became dark.
Fifteen Minutes Later
Cherry Blossom Market, Japantown
Cars were roaring down the street, music was playing nearby from one of the many street musicians that littered the city, and the late night scene of Japantown was bright, vibrant, and alive. David didn't give a damn about any of it.
His mind was stuck in deep thought as he kept walking through the dark streets of the night back to their-
He stopped himself for a moment. He wasn't sure whether it was their apartment anymore after that night after Lucy had run off without an explanation beyond saying that she 'had something to do'. The thought that she had just left him, had lied to him once again, crossed his mind and started to take hold.
She lied to me before about her being into me. Maybe… maybe she did it again.
He did his best to push that thought out of his mind, not wanting to consider the possibility that he'd lost her forever. Somewhere deep inside there were multiple battles going on between his body, mind, and chrome fighting for control. Not to mention that he couldn't stop himself from worrying about the job tomorrow, and now Lucy too.
He kept walking through the busy streets with his head turned down, eyes on the pavement as he heard a familiar ringing in the back of his head, and ignored it. Not a few seconds later, he heard it again and checked to see that he was getting called by an unknown number. Not in the mood for some random small-time gig or to chat, he declined the call this time. Only for the call to pop up again immediately.
Emotionally stressed to nearly his breaking point tonight, David answered the call, deciding that the unknown caller would be his outlet to vent his frustration tonight.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!", he yelled into the call, his outburst getting him a strange look from a passerby.
"David, how soon can you get yourself and your crew down to the Kabuki slums?" came the response on the other end of the line, the voice sounding more modulated than normal.
"Wha-who the hell is this?" David asked, bewildered at the absolute gonk-brain response.
"Do you want Lucy to die or not?"
David stopped walking entirely, jaw clenching and his fist tightly clenching the bags of immunosuppressants in his right hand. His first thought was that Lucy had been taken, kidnapped maybe, perhaps someone wanted to ransom her off to him. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened either, Maelstrom tried that a while back with Becca, which didn't end up working out for those chromers in the end. Imagining his love being in the same situation, possibly having her implants ripped out or having more shoved into her, shook him to his core.
"Where is she!? What have you done to her?!"
"As I said, Kabuki slums, and I haven't done anything aside from rescuing her from an ambush."
David's rage turned to confusion for a moment before the unknown caller continued, all while David had already begun thinking of the best way to get there.
"She got her circs' fried pretty bad, and I needed to move her to an alley next to the on-ramp for the highway. Looks like her ambushers were able to put out a hit on her because there are Tyger Claws everywhere. They're holding back for the moment since Trauma's here moving one of the wounded, but as soon as that AV is in the air, they're gonna start scouring the area for her. And I don't have a ride to get her out of here safely."
He didn't trust this stranger. Living in NC for this long makes that second nature, but the slightest possibility that Lucy was in danger won out over his caution. He reluctantly responded.
"Dammnit, fine, I'll be there as soon as I can with a ride. I swear, though, if you've harmed her in any way, I'l-"
"Blow my head off, beat me to death, stomp me into the ground, all of the above? Yeah, I get it, now hurry the fuck over here and get your output."
The call dropped as the caller ended it from their side, leaving David almost stupefied for a second. He quickly regained his composure, calling up the only man he knew who could get there fast enough and could get out before any Tyger's bumped them off the road.
"David, what's up?" a classic southern voice said, "Odd time of the night to call."
"Falco, Lucy's in trouble, how fast can you get your car and pick me and 'becca up and then take us to the Kabuki slums?" David asked the ex-nomad.
"If you and Rebecca are in the same spot, I can get you n' be down there before the damn midnight BD clubs open up."
"Nova, I'll grab 'becca and send you our coords."
"On my way boss."
David ended the call as he started running to Rebecca's apartment, not caring when passersby yelled at him when he had to push them aside. One of the men he pushed started to turn and say something, but the look David gave him over his shoulder as he ran past shut the smaller man's mouth quickly. David correctly guessed that Rebecca was still awake at this hour and with only the briefest explanation of, "Lucy's in trouble in Tyger Claw territory", the maniacal goblin had already thrown on her jacket and grabbed her duffle bag of guns.
The deep roar of an engine could be heard around the corner as David and Rebecca made their way outside, Falco's car pulling up to meet them at the curb in record time. They wasted no time in climbing aboard, and Falco put his foot down hard on the accelerator before the door was even shut.
"How'd you know Luce' was in the shit?" Rebecca asked as the car weaved in and out of traffic.
David regaled his call with the unknown stranger, Falco taking a turn onto the interstate and making the tires squeal as Night City flew past them in a blur.
"Dude sounds like a dick," Rebecca responded when David was done explaining.
"And he seems to already know who we are and a good bit about us, you sure this isn't an ambush itself bossman?" Falco questioned.
"Nope," David answered, staring coldly out the windshield.
Falco and Rebecca shared an uneasy look as the car neared the slums, 'becca grabbed her signature customized Carnage shotgun and looked out the side window as the car went into a sharp turn, down the on-ramp, and pulled into the parking lot. David's eyes widened slightly as he looked out to see that out in front of the alleyway lay at least four dead Tyger Claws who'd been cut into pieces, severed limbs littering the ground around them.
Out of the alley came another gangoon, seemingly running away from something as a rope came flying out of the dark, the knife-tipped end of it sticking into her back. As Falco brought the car to a stop, the poor bastard was yanked backwards by the rope dart, before a man wearing black armor closelined her as she went past with a right hook to the back of the head. She tried to get up, but just as she did a heavy boot stomped down onto her head and met little resistance as everything that was inside her skull a moment ago scattered across the pavement.
David and Rebecca quickly climbed out of the car and saw another gang member attempt to jump on the armored man's back from the roof above. Just before the thug made contact, he was grabbed and had his momentum used against him as the stranger forced him to the ground. Before the Tyger Claw realized what was happening, a knife went through the back of his head, the tip of it impacting the concrete below. The armored man withdrew the bloodied blade and stood up, cleaning it off on his arm as he glanced up to see David and Rebecca's confused faces staring back.
"Took you long enough, she's in the back of the alley," the man said nonchalantly, nodding his head towards the alley he had just come from.
"Show me. Becca, stay here and blast any gonks that try to get close, will ya?" David requested, pushing any questions he had to the back of his mind for the time being.
"It'd be my fuckin pleasure!", Rebecca responded with a wicked grin.
David followed the man down the alley, taking note of his armor, weapons and overall size. The man wasn't overly bulky, but was almost just as tall as David was. Due to the armor covering up almost all of his body, David couldn't make out any obvious cybernetics but figured the man had to have at least some. Someone didn't kill six tyger claws with very little visible effort without packing at least some chrome, and nobody with 'ganic parts could yank someone through the air and then crush their skull like that.
They arrived at a small corner where the alley ended, and leaned up against the wall was the unconscious body of Lucy. David immediately brushed past the stranger and kneeled down, checking her for any visible wounds. His hands brushed a lock hair out of her face as he looked at her for a moment that felt like it stretched out into infinity.
Who did this to you Lucy? Does this have to do with why you ran away? Why couldn't I have protected you?
David focused as he realized that he couldn't waste any more time in getting her to safety. He picked Lucy up and was about to use his sandevistan to get her out as fast as possible when the armored stranger spoke up.
"Don't use the sandy. I did not come all the way out here just for you to go fucking psycho on me."
Surprised once again by this man, David tried to respond, "Ho-how do you know about that? Who are you?"
"I will gladly explain everything later, right now focus on getting her to safety, understand?"
David wanted to protest further, but his rationality kicked back in and he begrudgingly nodded, moving Lucy back to the car. He didn't have time to get into a debate about whether he could handle the sandevistan or not, plus considering they still had a job tomorrow and he had a limited supply of those meds, it was still best to hold off on using it regardless unless they absolutely needed it.
Rebecca was just finishing blasting a pair of Tyger Claws into mush, cackling all the while, as David and the stranger emerged from the alley. The stranger went and got Rebecca, urging her back to the car as David gently laid Lucy down in the back. David hopped aboard and held her head in his lap as Rebecca got in as well, followed by their new 'acquaintance'.
"Woah woah, who said you could tag a fuckin' ride?" Rebecca commented as the stranger sat down.
"Nobody, why who's asking?" he responded, although with a stronger hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Oh, I swear to fucking god-"
"You probably would try and fuck god, with everything I've heard about you Rebecca."
For possibly the first time in her life, Rebecca was actually silenced by someone else's words for longer than ten seconds in a conversation. She seemed to be mentally considering either shooting the stranger or giving him a high-five.
"All in?" interjected Falco.
"Yes, delta the fuck outta here," David answered, cutting off whatever response 'becca had decided on.
The car roared to life and backed out before Falco threw the car into gear, speeding up the on-ramp and onto the freeway. There was a brief moment of calm before their driver looked in the side mirror and saw a few highly colorized thugs on motorbikes speeding after them.
"Tygers at our rear!", he reported.
The rest of them looked through the rear window and saw at least five bikes screaming down the road behind them. David moved over in the seat slightly, setting Lucy's head down on the bench and grabbing his Unity pistol, double-checking it was loaded. He started to get up, deciding that the only safe way to deal with them all was to use the sandy, it would be rough, but it was fast enough that he could put a bullet in the head of each of the riders' heads before they even got close.
"I said don't do it," the stranger interrupted.
"Got no other choice, I can handle it," David stubbornly retorted.
" Maybe , but you don't have to anyways. Yo", the stranger turned his attention to Falco, "take us up north, to the industrial area."
"Into Maelstrom turf?" Falco asked.
Their crew had a bad history with Maelstrom. Aside from kidnapping Rebecca before, the job that they'd pulled for Wakako recently was at one of their hideouts, and that's not even mentioning that they were in maelstrom territory when that cyberpsycho had zeroed Pilar.
"Tyger Claws won't follow us that far into Maelstrom territory," the stranger answered.
"Won't they just shoot at us too?" David asked, still preparing to use the sandy anyways.
"Maelstrom doesn't do hits where they can't kill or keep the target for themselves," the stranger said coldly.
The armored man then turned to David and looked him in the eyes as he spoke again.
"You agreed with me before that your job right now is to keep her safe. So sit your ass back down in that damn seat, or I'll make you sit."
For the third time tonight, David was dumbfounded at the stranger's words, not sure how or why this unknown man was so committed to not letting him or Lucy get harmed. He at first had assumed that this was some other random merc who had heard of David's crew at the Afterlife and just wanted to make some eddies. Now though, it was clear there was a very different motivation behind his actions, one that ran much deeper than just some extra scratch. David begrudgingly sat back down on the bench, still glaring at the stranger regardless.
"Damn dude, where the hell have you been? Only person to ever make David that pussy-whipped is Lucy!", Rebecca commented, clearly beginning to warm up to the stranger.
The armored man didn't respond to her comment, only standing up and opening the roof hatch of the car as the Tyger Claws started to open fire. They didn't bring enough firepower to really damage the car that much, but all of them firing together would eventually break through.
"I'll thin the herd, should make things easier," the stranger said, clambering out of the car and closing the hatch.
David and Rebecca both looked out the rear window to see him leap off of the roof and land on top of the closest bike, snapping the driver's neck before tossing the lifeless corpse onto the road and taking control of the tricked-out ride.
"Oh fuck no, I am not missing this!", Rebecca said, moving to the rear ramp door and opening it.
She pulled out her signature buckshot-thrower and fired at the other closest Tyger Claw, the bike and rider disappearing in a cloud of sparks and red mist. The corpse, or what was left of it, fell off and rolled on the ground, another rider in the rear having to rapidly move his bike and narrowly miss the body of his comrade. The Yakuza wannabes adjusted their fire towards Becca, their rounds bouncing around and narrowly missing her and David in the back. David moved and shielded Lucy's body with his own, confident that his subdermal armor could take a couple hits.
The stranger suddenly braked on the bike he had taken, pulling up alongside one of the other Tyger Claws and discreetly pulling out a knife into his right hand.
"How ya' doin?" he joked to the confused goon.
He held the knife backward in his hand and slashed across the other man's throat, blood spraying out onto the leather seat, as another blade was stabbed into the goon's back. The stranger slammed the now dead Tyger Claw's head onto the handlebars of the bike before throwing the other end of the rope dart, which was now anchored in the corpse's back, towards another one of the riders. The blade made a deep impact into the other rider's abdomen, the tips of the blade actually anchoring on the man's lower ribcage.
The stranger then reached over to the bike he was still next to and pulled hard on the brakes, causing the bike and dead goon to pull back on the now doomed rider. The dead weight on the dead goon's bike caused it to wobble and fall to the ground, its metal carcass getting dragged by the rope dart.
The goon tried to keep driving straight, but the added weight, combined with the fact that his ribcage was getting ripped in half by the rope dart, meant that there was no saving it. He screamed as he felt his torso split, the rope dart pulling him and his bike sideways before his face hit the pavement at 90 miles an hour. After the debris had dragged the goon back into the distance, there wasn't much left of him other than a long red streak on the road.
"Holy shit! The fuck was that ninja shit?!", Becca yelled as she returned fire at the few remaining Tyger Claws.
Their little pursuit was now well into Maelstrom territory as the car passed through a hallmark of the area: a line of burning cars, probably from random civilians that the chrome jock freaks had captured. The Tyger Claws clearly recognized this too as they began to peel off and abandon the chase.
The stranger accelerated the bike he was on until he was back behind the car, jumping to his feet on top of the seat and then leaping onto the lowered ramp. The bike he had been on lost control and tumbled to the ground, likely to be scavenged for parts within the hour at the latest.
Rebecca and the stranger started to climb back up into the car when David heard another bike engine, one last ambitious Tyger not having given up the chase.
The lone goon actually got close enough to jump onto the ramp of the car while Becca and the stranger had their backs turned. David's wasn't. Just as a set of Wolvers extended from the overachieving thug's arm, a round from David's sidearm punched straight through the fucker's head. Becca and the stranger turned backwards at the noise, seeing the now lifeless thug fall backwards and roll on the pavement behind them. They both then turned towards David, with the newcomer actually getting the first comment out.
"Alright, not bad."
Rebecca nodded in agreement before closing the rear door, David turning to Falco and asking to drive them to his and Lucy's apartment. He wasn't sure if the Tyger Claws knew where his crew's hideout was, but he didn't want to risk it, so the apartment was a safer bet for now. Falco nodded in the rearview mirror and started making his way there as they all fell into silence for the remainder of the ride.
It wasn't long before they arrived and Falco parked the car in the underground garage of the building. Neither Rebecca or Falco felt safe leaving David alone right now, due to mainly the still unknown man accompanying them, but also because of the clear trauma David's mind was going through as he watched Lucy's unconscious form in his arms.
Rebecca felt the most afflicted by David's sour face, her heart desperately wanting to go up and comfort him, but her mind telling her that the best she could do was to just be there for him. That, and make sure this random ninja that had supposedly rescued Lucy didn't stab him in his sleep. None of them spoke as the elevator slowly rose to the top floor.
"Alright, metalhead", Rebecca asked the stranger, "Who the hell are you, why are you here, and how do you know so much about us?"
All of them were gathered around what could be vaguely described as the spacious apartment's "living room", which was really just a small couch with a coffee table and TV. They'd pulled up some more chairs from elsewhere in the apartment, with David sitting on the couch and Lucy laid down across it, her head in his lap. Falco and Becca sat closest to David, whereas the stranger sat the farthest away, leaned back in a chair with his arms comfortably crossed behind his head. At Rebecca's insistence he had removed all of his weapons, the sword and knives sitting on the table, whereas 'Becca had her shotgun laying in her lap, ready to blow the mystery gonk's brains out if he tried anything other than answering her questions.
"That is a long story", the stranger began, "but I'll try to make it brief. My name is Faolan, and I was hired a very long time ago to find and protect Lucy. I was only recently able to actually locate her, and on my journey here I did a significant amount of research into her life here, which led me to all of you. I continued digging when I found evidence of her ambush tonight, and I think you can put the pieces together from there. Alright, actually it was a pretty short story."
Falco's head perked up and asked, "Who ambushed her anyways?"
"Faraday."
Each of the crew responded to this revelation in varying degrees of anger.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" Rebecca calmly said.
"That bastard! I'll fuckin kill him!", David vocalized in a 'moderately' loud voice.
"Woah hold on, why the hell would our own fixer ambush one of us?" Falco questioned sincerely.
"Because your job tomorrow is a setup," Faolan answered.
"Explain," David said as the urge to run outside and hunt the traitorous fixer down himself grew stronger in his mind.
"He's working with Arasaka. The cargo you're supposed to klep tomorrow is a highly experimental exoskeleton, called the cyberskeleton."
"Wait, you mean the thing Maine was trying to get all that time is a prototype 'saka weapon?" David asked.
Faolan nodded.
"They wanted to coax David into installing it so they could conduct a 'field test' with their new toy. I believe that is partially why they had Faraday capture Lucy, as I expect she would've never allowed you to put that thing on. Either that, or they wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any loose ends."
Rebecca shook her head, "That's batshit crazy, you're making that up."
Faolan sighed and stood up, walking to the window of the apartment and looking out to the dark city below.
"I wish I was. I can show you the evidence if you really want," he said.
The crew looked amongst themselves as the rain began to pour outside, the droplets pattering the window and making a tapping sound that only added to the sullen nature of the conversation. David tried to make sense of the situation, to try and connect the dots himself.
Some of it did make sense, the job tomorrow was unusually risky for such a small crew to pull off, and the classified 'saka prototype would explain why that wannabe corpo never told him or Maine anything about it. But he still didn't want to believe it. The idea that he'd been strung along all this time, that he was planned to be used like some test dummy for fucking Arasaka, made his blood boil. He was missing something that would make it all work, some last strand that'd complete the puzzle.
"Show us," David said.
Faolan walked back to the center of the room and set down a dozen or so shards on the table before sitting down, leaning back comfortably in the chair again.
"Why so many?" Becca asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Didn't know how many of you would actually show up, alright?" Faolan countered.
Becca shook her head in annoyance and slotted one of the shards as David and Falco did the same. Faolan continued his explanation as the files and details of the plan were brought up on their optical feed.
"Faraday's usual client is actually Militech, but a while ago Arasaka noticed you, David, actually back when you were at their Academy, where their footage showed you using the sandy during a fight in class."
A video was brought up of David trouncing that rat Katsuo, a slight smile returning to his lips as he saw the dick's body slam into the wall again. That seemed so long ago now that David had honestly forgotten he'd even done that. In retrospect, using a military-grade implant just to punch a snotty kid might've been a bit overkill, not to mention that he could've just waited until school was out to do it. He'd actually never actually stopped to think about the fact that of course he was being watched by Arasaka while using a sandevistan in their own building .
Is that why they kept wanting me to come back and get that scholarship? So they could use me like a lab rat?
"Considering your age and how little strain you showed when using it, they surmised that you had a very high tolerance for cyberware. Since the cyberskeleton requires someone with an absurd aptitude for chrome, they needed you to get their precious combat data. Faraday just got lucky that he was already looking for the damn thing when Arasaka Counter-Intel gave him a call."
So that's a yes, then. Fucking corpo scum.
David felt his jaw muscles tighten as he thought of a hundred different ways to crush Faraday into a bloody puddle.
"Their plan was to lure you into capturing the van that holds the cyberskeleton through a phony job of raiding that convoy. After which an entire Militech battalion would've been deployed to take it from you, thanks to Faraday lying to them as well. Then you would've been forced to put on the cyberskeleton to fight them, probably by using Lucy, maybe copying her voice once they'd captured her and using it to tell you to put it on. Which would've killed you."
David shook his head and countered angrily, "Bullshit. I could've taken it. I should still klep the damn thing and use it to flatten their sparkly fuckin' tower!"
Faolan's attitude abruptly changed, leaning forward in his chair and resting his elbows on his knees, the blank expression of his helmet adding to the intensity of the glare that he was giving David.
The younger merc stared back defiantly, wanting to prove to this newcomer that he could handle himself, that he wasn't just some punk kid off the street. He had been through so much and had witnessed so much pain, but had fought through all of it. David knew he was special, and the idea that this random merc didn't give a damn about any of the struggles he went through made his rage rise up deep within him. Faolan brought him out of it with five words.
"Look at your left hand."
David's eyes went wide when he saw the pistol.
His whole left arm was shaking erratically like it was about to rip itself apart, the handgun he was grasping clattering against his leg over and over. The small sidearm's metal was about to buckle under the strain of David's grip, his thumb had at some point taken the safety off, and his finger was already lightly pressing down on the trigger. He didn't even remember moving his hand to the holster.
When did I do that? Was it just now, or have I been holding it for a while? Was I planning on shooting one of them?
A part of him certainly felt like it wanted to, and it pounded on the bars of the mental cage David had constructed for it, demanding to be let loose. Demanding that he succumb to his anger and just demonstrate his strength to the world with a show of force. It came with the overwhelming urge to kill and destroy anyone or anything in his path that would harm those he cared about.
His memory returned to the XBD that he'd been forced to endure from Kurosaki, visualizing the image of his new chromed-out body actually fulfilling that cyberpsycho nightmare. Then he was back in an abandoned apartment, with Maine standing next to him and Dorio's body lying on a pile of explosives. She'd been shot in the back, clearly not by Maine himself, and David knew that she'd never turn her back in a fight like that. Which means she must've died while trying to save the big man from going psycho, taken out by shots not even meant for her.
A new nightmare consumed him then.
It was a vision of Lucy doing the exact same thing for him, of her getting gunned down by 'Saka guards and being torn to pieces while trying to save him from himself. Her glossy, dead eyes staring up at him as blood poured out of a dozen different wounds. He saw himself holding the only one he'd ever truly loved in his arms as she died, and he swore he could feel her breathing stop and skin grow cold despite it not being real.
He'd never been more scared in his entire life.
As David did his best to relax his hand and flick the pistol's safety back on, he realized the silent message Faolan was trying to give him.
No, you can't take it. Not because it'll kill you, but because going down that path will kill both of you.
David slowly put the pistol back in its holster and stared at his now empty hand for a long moment before returning his attention back to Lucy. He put his hand on her shoulder and slowly kneaded his fingers into her skin, feeling the warmth radiating out from it. He could feel the slight imperfections in her skin, places where microscopic ridges and valleys formed when old and dead cells were replaced with newer ones, or where past wounds had been treated and left a tiny patch of toughened flesh.
Imperfections that don't exist when you replace your entire body with synthskinn and metal.
He realized that Lucy might have been right, that he was pushing it too far. He was so ready to rush out and die for her no matter the reason, but he had never stopped to consider how much of his humanity he had really sacrificed in pursuit of that goal.
Does she even see me as human anymore?
David sat there in sorrow contemplation, rubbing Lucy's shoulder as a quiet stillness filled the room. David stayed like that for what felt like days, despite the clock on the wall saying only a couple minutes had passed by the time Falco's voice broke the silence.
"Ok, so we know that the job tomorrow is a setup, what do we do about it?"
Falco had directed the question at David, but after he didn't even acknowledge the question and continued looking downtrodden, Faolan spoke up instead.
"I've got a few ideas, but I don't think it's best for any of you to be worrying about that right now. Not like Faraday's gonna be there to make sure it happens tomorrow anyways."
"Fuck did you do to him anyways?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh, I cut his legs in half and broke his jaw," Faolan said, sounding pleased with himself.
David rejoined the conversation, "Wait, you didn't zero him?"
Faolan stood up and started moving toward the kitchen, explaining himself as he walked.
"No, for two reasons. First, slimy fucker deserves worse than the sweet release of death."
David had to agree with that.
"Second, if I had killed him Arasaka would've learned from the Trauma Team reports that he was dead. And if they knew that, they likely would've gone through his data and traced it back to you, Lucy or the rest of your crew, and I don't think any of you want to be hunted down by 'Saka ninjas for the rest of your lives. Currently all the scene looks like is a bunch of goons that got cut up by Tyger Claws for getting on their turf. Right now Faraday's just with Trauma getting treated, and probably bribing them to wipe the records of his visit too," Faolan said.
He opened the fridge and asked, "You don't mind if I grab a drink, do you David? I haven't had anything since I left Brazil."
"Yeah, sure," David answered, not really paying attention as he focused on Lucy once again.
"Wait, Brazil? As in South America?" Rebecca asked dumbfoundedly.
"Yes, Brazil. Don't visit there this time of year, or really just don't visit it at all. If you think violence in NC is bad, you haven't seen the favelas yet," he reached into the fridge and grabbed an old-looking bottle of some kind, "Ah ha! Figured she'd have one here."
Faolan retrieved the large bottle from the fridge and shut the door before turning and looking for some glasses to use.
"So who do you work for? I mean, why would some gonk from Brazil want to protect Lucy?" Falco asked.
"Two things, first, do any of you want a glass as well?"
"You better pour all of us a damn drink after this fucked up night," Rebecca answered indignantly.
Faolan nodded and continued, "Second, I never said my client was from Brazil either. 'Fraid I can't tell you who I work for, work with, or why I'm doing the work until she ", he nodded his head towards the still unconscious Lucy, "says I can. Until then, all I can say is that my client has ample reason to ensure her safety, and doesn't have any ulterior motives for wanting her alive. I wouldn't take the job if they did."
Faolan uncorked the dirty bottle and poured four glasses of clear liquid as Falco and 'Becca gave up, having exhausted all the questions they could think of at the moment that the merc would actually answer. It was quiet as Faolan walked back over with all four glasses, setting three of them on the table and keeping one for himself.
As he sat down a hissing sound was heard from his helmet as three distinct seam lines appeared, forming a sort of T shape as the helmet began to separate into three parts. The top of the helmet folded backward on itself several times, eventually collapsing behind Faolan's head while the lower faceplate split in half, the two halves then moving back and down against the side of his jaw.
This revealed a face of pale complexion and deep green eyes that told the story of a man that'd experienced far more conflict than someone of his age should have. His hair was a deep gray, and he had a large scar going across his right cheek, crossing his nose, and reaching the edges of his forehead.
"Enjoy, although I warn you that sakè isn't for everyone, especially without any koji to back it up," he said.
Falco and Rebecca each grabbed a glass, as David only glanced at it for a moment before looking away again. Feeling confident from all the drinks they'd had at Turbo's or the Afterlife, Falco and Rebecca both took large swallows of their glasses at the same time. Barely a moment later both were coughing and visibly cringing as Faolan just laughed in response.
"Ah, the fuck is in that? Pure goddamn ethanol?" Rebecca asked, as she put the glass back down on the table.
"I haven't had something taste like that since my uncle's moonshine when I was a kid, shit," Falco commented. He kept holding onto the glass, but didn't take another sip as he seemed to be contemplating what to do with it.
"Like I said, without koji to back it up it can be pretty rough the first time. Doubt Lucy drinks it that much, but I figured she'd have some genuine stuff and not that processed shit you get at bars in Japantown here. Just not the same," he then downed his entire glass in one go and placed it upside-down on the table. Rebecca scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"How'd you figure that?" Falco asked, deciding that he didn't want to burn his esophagus tonight and placing his drink on the table as well.
"No matter where someone lives, they'll almost always tend to prefer the food and drink of their heritage," Faolan responded.
Before any of them could follow that line of questioning, Lucy's eyes began to flutter open.
Lucy awoke to the dark interior of her and David's apartment, with first the drowsy sound of rain filling her ears before she heard a far more comforting noise: her gonk input's ecstatic voice.
"She's waking up!"
She slowly rose up from where she was laying and looked up to see the chrome-jock and the rest of the crew, with the exception of Kiwi, sitting around their living room. As well as a man bearing the same armor that the man from the warehouse was wearing. She looked to her left to see David's face staring back at her, his eyes full of hope and relief, but behind that a deep look of sadness. Lucy's mind reignited then, remembering all that had happened that night, and in a state of near absolute emotional breakdown she did the only thing she could think of and wrapped her arms around David, hugging him tight.
"David!", she exclaimed, her voice shaking as she felt like she was about to cry.
David hugged her back tightly, and the two embraced for several long moments as they both felt a wave of emotions swell and overtake them. Faolan took the opportunity to grab the empty glasses from the table and take them back to the kitchen, leaving David's untouched glass there, while Rebecca and Falco gave each other a knowing look.
Falco was the first to stand up, making David raise his head and glance at the ex-nomad, who just nodded back and silently made his way to the elevator, understanding that right now the two lovebirds needed time to be alone.
Rebecca was further hesitant, but upon seeing the broken and hurt look on David's face, she cringed and held back her own tears. She hated seeing the adorable gonk like this, but knew that she wasn't the one he needed right now, that he needed to get himself set straight. And the only one who can help him do that is the damn 'runner he's holding onto so tightly. She'd be there for him whenever he needed, no matter what, but it just wasn't that time right now.
She still didn't feel entirely safe leaving them with their new jackass acquaintance, but based on what she'd seen earlier on the freeway, if he really wanted to hurt any of them he'd have done it already. Besides, with Lucy awake, she doubted there was anyone that could actually match up to the dynamic duo of an emotionally unstable prodigy netrunner and her psycho chrome-jock boyfriend that was more protective than a 'saka drone.
"I'll delta too", she said before turning and looking Lucy in her teary eyes as the netrunner glanced up, "I'm glad you're safe. For David's sake I mean."
Lucy couldn't hold back the smile on her face as the shortstack merc used her oversized hands to clamber into the elevator.
"And Faolan, if you hurt either of them I swear that I'll crush your goddamn balls like grapes!", Becca yelled out as the elevator door shut.
The sound of rain overtook the apartment once again, and Lucy pulled back from the embrace and looked up at the one she cared about more than anything else.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yeah.. yeah I think so."
A small smile spread across his face as they stared at each other, the world around them seeming unimportant until Faolan sat back down in his chair and abruptly brought them back to reality.
"If you two are gonna fuck, please let me know so I can get out as well."
David just flipped him the bird in response, to which the armored solo just chuckled and shook his head. Lucy turned and looked at Faolan, studying his facial features and seeing the remnants of his helmet being tucked away around his head.
This has to be the guy that kicked Faraday's ass back at the warehouse. I'll have to thank him for that later.
"You're the one from the warehouse. Who are you? Did you bring me back here?" she asked.
"No", David answered for him, "Faolan here called me up and said you were hurt and needed extraction, so I got the crew and we got you out."
"That still doesn't explain why he rescued me."
Faolan nodded, "I explained the basics to David and your friends earlier, but you deserve the whole truth."
Faolan stood and got on one knee in front of the couch, confusing the two edgerunners momentarily until their bewilderment hit its zenith when he bowed his head and continued talking in a surprisingly formal voice.
"Miss Lucyna Kushinada, last daughter of the Kushinada family, it is an honor to meet you at last."
Lucy's eyes turned into saucers then, not having heard her full name since she was a child. She had used it for a time when she had initially escaped Arasaka, but many of the locals she met would make comments or jokes about it, or not take her as seriously because of how 'odd' it sounded. So when she came to NC she shortened it to Lucy, and besides, it's not like anybody in this city really cared what your full name was as long as they had something to call you when they needed a job done. She'd even heard of some mercs that are so paranoid about it that they just go by a single letter apparently.
She glanced up at David, whose face was one of mild surprise as he returned her gaze, and she was sure he was going to make some comment about it just like everyone else always had.
"That's your full name?" he asked.
She nodded sheepishly. He smiled.
"I like it. Sounds… comforting."
Her heart positively soared then as she looked back up at him in surprise for a brief moment before quickly kissing him as she couldn't resist the adorable look on his face. They returned their look to Faolan and gestured for him to continue.
"I was hired about 15 years ago to find and protect you by your father, head of the Kushinada family, and quite sadly I was never able to locate you until recently."
"Wait... my father? I was born in an Arasaka facility, why would some corpo doctor want to protect me?"
"Figured that's what they told you," Faolan said as he sat back down in his seat and leaned forward.
"In truth, you were born to the Kushinada family at their Family Estate on the island of Kyushu in Japan, to a Polish mother and Japanese father, which was forced on them by Arasaka."
Lucy's heart began to beat harder, her mind already started to race with questions and possibilities, when she felt David's hand intertwine with hers. The silent message he gave her was clear.
I'm here for you.
She squeezed his hand.
Thank you.
Her body and mind relaxed as she kept listening to Faolan's explanation.
"Before Arasaka began their plans to use goddamn kids to scour the old net, they did some large genetic test of a huge swath of different bloodlines to find those families who would have a 'high genetic predisposition' to netrunning. Just so happened that your family was one of them, and Arasaka informed your parents that either they were to 'create' you and give you to them, or they would kill their other children and anyone else in their family."
Lucy shook her head quickly in surprise and said, "Wait, other children?"
"Yes. You're the last of four, two brothers, one sister."
She slumped back on the couch, not sure how to process the mere idea of having siblings , let alone three of them. The most companionship she'd ever experienced as a child was with the other netrunner kids, but even then she can't remember any fun, fond memories with any of them that didn't involve working to help Arasaka. She visibly cringed at the memory, causing David to put his arm around her and hold her closer to him.
Faolan continued, "Without any other options your parents conceded, and about nine months later you were born. I gotta give your folks props though, because they actually managed to conceal you from Arasaka for a whole year. I'm told the day that the Arasaka enforcers came to finally take you was actually your first birthday. I doubt you remember any of that though, you were far too young and I expect Arasaka would've worked hard to wipe that from your memories as best they could."
Lucy couldn't think of any memory that fit, trying to dig deep in her mind to find anything like that. There was a hint of something , but it was like the memory was trying to shy away from her for some reason. Nothing distinct, but she had vague feelings of some long ago time, of pain, confusion and most of all, fear. Then again, she felt all of those same emotions while she was raised at the mountain facility as well, so she couldn't be quite sure if she really remembered anything, or if she was just tricking herself into thinking she did.
"Anyways, your parents never actually did learn why Arasaka wanted you, but when they discovered that children from other families had also been taken, they did some digging. When they uncovered plans about the mountain facility and using the children as 'runners beyond the blackwall, they collected funds from a few of the other families and contracted me and my team to locate and rescue the abducted children before returning them to their families."
"Team?" David asked.
"Yes, I have a team, you'll meet them later, can we stick to the important details right now?" Faolan countered indignantly.
David rolled his eyes and shook his head, which Faolan ignored as he continued.
"Obviously we didn't find the mountain facility before you and the other kids broke out of it. The day we arrived, Arasaka was still putting out some of the smoldering flames and dragging bodies out. We found all of the children dead, with the exception of you, and none of the guards or doctors we interrogated gave us any solid leads on where you might've gone. When we left, we made sure you wouldn't be followed in the event you had survived that slaughter."
Lucy shuddered at the memory of that day, the screams and sounds of bullets flying past her filling her memories as they had so many times before. David rubbed her shoulder reassuringly, deciding to ask his own question as she did her best to push the nightmare away.
"How? Arasaka's pretty damn resourceful."
"We placed two thousand pounds of explosives on the support columns underground and dropped the damn mountain on top of the entire base."
David had to admit, even if he wouldn't say it out loud, that sounded like it would've been fuckin' nova to see.
"Arasaka might be resourceful, but even they wouldn't have been able to recover anything from that rubble," Faolan finished.
"Thank you," Lucy said quietly while wiping away a stray tear.
She was genuinely glad to hear that the facility was truly gone. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a fear had always lingered of being dragged back there, of being plugged into some chair and forced to scour the old net for those corpo bastards again. Knowing that the place was nothing but ash and rock wouldn't get rid of her nightmares, but it did release a weight off her shoulders she hadn't realized she even had.
"Honestly, it's probably the reason they never found you until just recently. Arasaka likely didn't know what had happened to the facility since all of the guards and personnel were gone, and the on-site data was destroyed, so they likely just assumed you were dead. In their minds, either you died in the rubble or died out in the desert on your own. Clearly, they didn't take into account that stubbornness runs in your family," Faolan joked.
Lucy raised an eyebrow at that comment, deciding to store it away and question him on it later. David saw her look and got excited that she might tear into the jackass solo, but Faolan's face showed that even he knew her look meant to change topics rapidly.
"Anyways," he continued, "I then spent the last 13 years doing my best to track you down, despite my team telling me it was a dead end, until one of the deckheads I work with spotted you digging around in the Arasaka network. My team didn't know who you were at first, but I recognized your eyes immediately from the photo your pa' had shown me," he said.
"Wait, when you were in the central Arasaka 'net?" David asked, glancing down at Lucy with a look of confusion plastered on his face.
Lucy shunned away, a tear returning to her eye as she realized that this is exactly what had caused her to run from him earlier that night. She felt terrible not telling him what was going on, but if he knew he'd likely try and get involved, which would only make Arasaka come after him even more. Then again, clearly they already were planning to come after David since they knew she was coming after one of their 'runners, probably were the ones to send Faraday after her too. Maybe they had planned to use her to get to him? Her thoughts were interrupted by Faolan's voice.
"Lucy, David knows about Arasaka wanting him for their experiments."
Her head shot up and stared back at the pale man with a glare that was half shock and half anger. Faolan just shrugged in response and leaned back in his chair.
"I'm sure he can explain to you later as to why I had to tell him, I'd rather not rehash the story, but it ain't my job to settle your relationship drama," Faolan said back.
Couldn't they have hired someone who wasn't such a jackass?
"Lucy?" David asked again, looking at her now sullen expression.
She hesitated for a long moment, unsure of what to do. She was terrified of how David would react to the truth, but was also concerned that holding back anything at this point would only make their situation worse. After all, hiding things from one another is how they'd gotten into the mess they're in right now.
"I… I was trying to make sure Arasaka couldn't find you. When I jacked into Tanaka, there truly wasn't any important data like we were lookin' for, but I found files… recordings of you using the sandy back at the academy and how Arasaka thought they might need you to run tests on some new cyberware prototypes…", Lucy explained dejectedly.
She looked up at David as her vision began to get clouded from tears welling up in her eyes.
"I couldn't let what happened to me happen to you. You deserve so much more, so much better than that, I just wouldn't let that happen."
"So you went into the Arasaka 'net to try and remove their files on me… is that why you've been staying here so much?" his head gesturing to the apartment as a whole.
Lucy nodded. She knew what was coming next, the scolding or demanding that she should've told him, that he could've helped or that she shouldn't have risked herself. It was her choice dammit, he shouldn-
"I would've done the same for you."
She glanced back up at him in confusion, "You're… you're not upset at me?"
David wrapped his arms around her and hugged tight, an act that made Lucy's emotions break free as she finally felt the tears stream down her face in droves.
David was upset at first, his instincts screaming at him that she should've let him help, that she put herself in too much danger. But then the events of today ran through his mind again, and he realized how much of a hypocrite he'd be if he got mad over her sacrificing herself for him. He had already sacrificed nearly all of his body, his life and dreams, to ensure that her dreams became reality, that she did make it to the moon. He wasn't regretful he had done any of that obviously, his main dream in life was to make her dreams real anyways, but that didn't change the truth of it.
Not to mention the fact that he had only learned today that he didn't have long to live until he went full psycho, and that his big final gig was all a setup to make him a corposlave. If Lucy had been taken and he had gone through with the job tomorrow, he knew for a fact that he would have put on that cyberskeleton, all just to save her.
And despite not wanting to vindicate him, somewhere deep down he knew that Faolan was right, that if he had gone through with that he wouldn't have survived. That some part of him would finally die when he put that suit on, after which he'd have totally lost it. He would sacrifice everything for Lucy, and here she was, doing the exact same damn thing for him. What kind of gonk would he be to get mad at her over that?
He had once promised her that he would take her to the moon himself , not let her go while he was flatlined by MaxTac in the street. He intended to keep that promise.
None of these words were said aloud by either of the two lovers, their silent embrace getting the message along clearly enough. Lucy felt as if another huge weight had been lifted off of her and shut her eyes for a long moment. Eventually, the two finally broke apart and stared at each other.
"Seriously, if you two are gonna go at it, I'd really prefer not to be here," Faolan interrupted again.
This time Lucy turned and shot back, "Go eat a dick."
Faolan just laughed, "Ha! Sorry David, but I like her comebacks more."
Lucy and David moved back to sitting shoulder to shoulder, their hands intertwined. Lucy nodded to Faolan, after which he began to finish his story.
"Well, like I was saying, when I saw you in their network I figured you weren't in Japan, your family would've found you by now if so, which made me look elsewhere. The only other place in the world where 'saka has that big of a presence for someone to directly interface with their 'net is this lovely city. On my way here I did more research into you, David, and everyone else in your little clique and found plans for your ambush tonight, so I made my way there as fast as I could. Sorry I couldn't get there earlier to stop them from shortin' you out though."
"I've had worse experiences," Lucy responded honestly.
She remembered the rogue AI's beyond the blackwall that she encountered as a child, the memories of how they would send pain straight to her deep-dive port forever etched deep into her brain. Her eyes fell to the floor for a moment at the thought, but then her love's hand gripped hers tighter. She smiled and gripped back. The past was full of pain and misery, but right now, in the present, she had a glimmer of light in her shitty life. Lucy decided then that she would do everything in her power to make sure that she never leaves that light again.
"Well, that's pretty much the whole story," Faolan finished, "I'm sure I could bore you both to death with the details, but that's basically it. Any questions?"
David shook his head no, but Lucy did have one last dangling thread in her mind.
"When you first said what your mission was, it was to find and protect me specifically. But then you said your job at the 'saka facility was to rescue all of the kids and return them. Why the change?"
Faolan nodded in understanding, "After we found out all the other children hadn't made it, and we couldn't find concrete information as to whether you did or didn't survive, the collective group of families that had contracted us closed said contract. However, afterwards your father contacted me directly. He is one stubborn old man, he said he knew that you were still out there somewhere, so he gave me a new job. I was to find and protect you, or at least ensure your safety as best I could, until you had made your decision."
"Decision?" Lucy asked.
"Oh shit, I almost forgot. One second," Faolan said as he stood and walked to the kitchen again.
Lucy gave David a questioning look and he just shrugged in response, neither of them sure of what to expect at this point. Faolan retrieved an ornate box of some kind from the counter, that somehow neither of them had noticed before, and walked back over to where he placed it in front of them on the table.
It was about the size of a large shoe box, and it looked like it was made out of genuine wood, red in hue, with gold trim around the edges. Displayed on the top of the box was an embedded visage of two golden dragons holding a sword between their mouths. It somehow looked old and brand new at the same time, as if it had been ripped straight out of some history book and put on their coffee table.
David looked confused and asked, "Wait, when did you bring this into the apartment? I didn't see it with you on the elevator. Or when we picked you up for that matter."
Faolan explained, "Dropped it off while I was on my way to help Lucy, just told the building staff to leave it in the kitchen. Receptionist looked confused as shit though."
David nodded.
"Inside of it is a letter from your father," Faolan explained, "I actually don't know what it says, I was directly told not to read it, but apparently there is a decision of some sort that's presented to you within it. I wouldn't recommend reading it right this second though."
Lucy just ran her hand along the golden dragon crest, a faint tickle in the back of her mind making her feel.. remorseful? No, that wasn't it, it was more like… familiarity, as if something about that symbol made her feel at home.
"Why?" David asked.
"Because I've got one last thing to talk about, and this time it's about you David."
Faolan reached behind his back and pulled out a silver canister that was hooked onto his belt, a glass window on the side of it showing a dark blue liquid of some kind. It vaguely resembled the vials that 'doc had given David earlier that day, but larger in size and with no distinct logos or markings on it anywhere. Faolan handed the canister over to David, who weighed it in his hand as he inspected the liquid inside.
"Immunosuppressant," Faolan explained.
David shook his head and gestured to the bags next to the couch that he'd brought up as well, "I'm already on military-grade meds, got them this morn-"
"Yeah, I fuckin' know," Faolan interrupted, "Despite what cyberware corps and weapon manufacturers would have you believe, 'military grade' only means that the product is sturdy, fairly reliable, easily mass-produced, and simple enough to use so they can give it to the lowest peon of a fighting force. Do you really think that's the best that medicine gets?"
David relaxed his shoulders in reluctant acceptance as he glanced back down at the liquid in the tube. He wanted to put up some sort of protest, to retaliate back at Faolan's attitude, but he knew that it wasn't the time or place for that. Besides, he had a point. Surely at some point a rich corpo's kid had gone psycho, and David highly doubted that kid got the same meds he'd get from Doc.
"So how strong is that stuff?" Lucy asked curiously.
"It'll keep him entirely sane and in control for 24 hours per dose."
David perked up, "Holy shit, really? Nova! How much is a single dose?"
"Ten milliliters, no more, no less. Take more than one dose at a time and you'll be a spasming mass on the floor with froth coming out of your mouth in a few minutes, so don't try it."
"Uh, you sure it's safe?" Lucy questioned as she saw David's worried look.
"Absolutely. Just uh… just make sure to drink plenty of water. And eat. Like, a lot," Faolan stood up and reattached his weapons to his armor, "And do NOT use your sandevistan or add any more goddamn chrome to your body, or it won't work. I hope Lucy can keep you in check with that shit."
"I will, don't worry," Lucy responded, lightly punching David in the arm as he rolled his eyes, with a smile on his face.
Faolan nodded just before his helmet suddenly reactivated and began reassembling itself, the pieces shifting around to reform into one solid shape. The seam lines between the parts began to simply disappear as they snapped into place, the central thin visor lighting up that same dull blue once it had all assembled. The entire process took barely a second.
"Tomorrow we'll discuss what to do next about the convoy gig, but for now I'll take my leave. I won't be far, so if anything does come up don't hesitate to call, but you should be safe tonight," Faolan's now modulated voice said as he walked toward the elevator door. He pressed the call button and turned back around, leaning against the wall.
"Thank you Faolan, for keeping her safe," David said, his voice wavering as his thoughts drifted to what might've happened if tonight had gone just a little differently.
"Thanks for actually answering the damn call," Faolan sarcastically responded as the elevator doors opened. He stepped inside, and the two lovers looked back at each other for only the briefest of moments before Faolan once again interrupted them.
"By the way, you're free to bone each other to your heart's content now!"
"Fuck off!", they both yelled back in unison.
Faolan laughed as the elevator door shut, finally leaving the two of them alone in the dim apartment. They returned their gazes back at each other, their faces showing their disdain for their new 'guardian angel', before both of them broke out in mild laughter.
"Did you have to get saved by that prick?" David joked.
She just shrugged and said, "Didn't have a whole lot of choices, ya know?"
She smiled back at him as he shook his head. Neither knew what to do next as they looked at each other, the night having taken its toll on both of them. Lucy's curiosity over the box won out, however, as she glanced back at it and considered the emblem on the top again for a long moment. David could tell she was in deep thought and just quietly waited for her to speak.
"I know it.," she said, breaking the silence.
"What?"
"The crest, on the box… I feel like I can remember it. Everything he said was honestly crazy and I don't know if I want to believe all of it, but… it does all make sense. Arasaka wouldn't just have some of their people make kids for them, they'd try and find the best kids for the job, even if they didn't exist yet."
Lucy ran her hand along the golden metal again.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I'd have to agree. All of it does line up, and no way Faraday actually thought I'd be able to take out an Arasaka convoy with just a few other mercs…", David responded.
Faraday had him doing WHAT?
"Wait, what?" Lucy asked, not actually having heard the details of their gig tomorrow.
As David filled her in on what Faolan had revealed to him earlier, she could only picture the nightmares she would have experienced if David had fallen for their trap. She could almost picture it, David in the cyberskeleton ripping through the streets of NC in a rampage just to get back to her. It was an image she was determined to never let become reality.
"Fucking four-eyed bastard, I'll zero him the first damn chance I get," Lucy commented once David was finished.
"You'll have to get in line, cuz' I'm calling first dibs."
She nodded in response, her anger slowly subsiding as her mind wandered back to the box, her thoughts entirely focused on it for a long moment.
"Why not open it?" David asked, bringing Lucy out of her trance.
Lucy had been contemplating that exact question ever since the box had been placed on the table, and as much as a part of her wanted to open it and devour whatever was inside that thing, she also just felt exhausted . From dealing with David's encroaching cyberpsychosis, to their argument by the river, then her ambush by Faraday, and now having just learnt her family was not only alive, but had sent a mercenary to protect her, Lucy was beyond overwhelmed.
"I don't know if I'm ready for whatever is in there," she turned to look back at David, "We've already had to deal with enough shit tonight, I think I want to wait until I feel more comfortable with all of this to look inside."
"Entirely your choice, and I'll support you no matter what it says."
She smiled back at him and leaned in closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder like she had done a few nights ago outside of the city on the rocks. Tonight had been a crazy experience, one that neither of them had anticipated, but in that moment they both mentally knew one truth. That no matter what, they'd stick together through anything that came their way, and that nothing would ever force them apart again. Some time passed before either of them moved, neither wanting to disturb the peaceful warmth that was deep in their chests.
Lucy's attention was eventually drawn to a glass full of clear liquid that was sitting on the table, one she had seen when she had first woken up but hadn't paid much attention to. Realizing just how badly she needed a drink just then, she grabbed the glass and downed it in one go, recognizing the familiar sting.
Sakè? Almost forgot I even had this stuff, I'm surprised David even knew it was in there.
She put the empty glass back on the table upside down when David began to chuckle to himself.
"What's so funny, gonk?" she asked quizzically.
"Nothin'. Just somethin' I can't wait to tease Becca about."
Lucy decided it wasn't worth her time to even ask what that meant and just leaned back against David, the pair of them watching out the large window as the sound of slowly falling rain filled the room once more. Her eyes drifted to the immunosuppressant canister on the table and David followed her gaze, to which she just looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, alright I'll take it," David relinquished, to which she giggled. He really was whipped.
David grabbed the canister, making sure the nozzle was still set to ten milliliters, before injecting it into his left arm like he always had, just like Maine had. The feeling was similar to that of the other suppressants David had taken before, at least initially, but then everything just became… clear. It was like a fog had been ripped from his mind like his neurons were firing twenty times faster, but not chaotically, it felt like he was just… in control. His left hand relaxed for what felt like the first time in weeks, and he exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in.
"Well?" Lucy questioned when she saw David's relieved expression.
"I'm good. Feel a lot better now, actually," he responded as he put the canister back on the table.
"You better be."
Much like her emotional state, Lucy's body was beyond exhaustion at this point and the only thing she could think of was sleep. She would've normally moved to their bed upstairs, but right now she felt like it'd ruin the moment they were having. Lucy leaned back and laid down on the couch, yawning and already feeling sleep beginning to encroach upon her.
"As long as you're here", David began as he laid down and put his arm around her, "how could I not?."
"You're such a sappy gonk," she said as she cuddled up to him and smiled.
He kissed her forehead and said, "And you wouldn't have it any other way."
Damn right.
"Just go to sleep, lover boy," she joked and closed her eyes, resting her head against his chest.
She felt David's oversized hand start to lightly pet her hair, something he hadn't done in… well, the last time she could remember was right before Maine had passed. He didn't even seem to be doing it consciously, she had already felt his breathing slow as the big gonk fell asleep, but he was still rubbing her scalp regardless. She snuggled into his touch as sleep overtook her as well.