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Night City Legends
Act 2: Running along the Edge
Chapter Fourteen: Add Justice to the People's Math
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Groaning, Naruto cracked his eyes open and once again found himself hating his own existence as the pain in his head went from a moderate five out of ten to an excruciating ten out of ten. 'Where the hell am I?' he squinted and looked around, fighting the urge to vomit as he took in his surroundings. 'Oh yeah, I stayed with the Nomads…' He wasn't exactly sure how he ended up on the ground, one leg on the overturned cot and half tangled up in a blanket but he was certain of one thing. "Mmm too early." He wasn't alone.
Laying on the ground next to him, hair a mess and half covered up with a sheet, he spotted Panam laying on her side facing away from him, her smooth tanned back marked with a trail of small bites leading from her neck and disappearing down to the small of her back underneath the sheet.
If he didn't feel like throwing up and dying all at once, he'd have enjoyed the view a lot more.
The woman groaned a bit and rolled over tossing the sheet aside as she sprawled out next to him with a snore, her arm flopping down and hitting him in the chest with her elbow. "Huh what the-" she grumbled in her drowsy state and turned to look at him, her puzzled eyes quickly focusing on him.
"Morning," he groaned, looking worse for wear in her eyes.
"Naruto?" she grumbled back, making him nod slowly. Panam looked down at her bare chest then over to him and smirked, "Looking a little worn out there hero, feeling a little sick are we?"
"How the," he stopped to fight back a wave of nausa, "How are you not-" he had to stop again and covered his mouth with a fist, "You drank just as much as me."
"I stuck to shots and brosephs. You downed shots of the old man's white-lightning then matched me drink for drink." The girl couldn't help but laugh at the end. "Also, pro tip. Drink some water before bed." she flopped back down next to him and huffed. "Not bad though, I haven't seen many gonks match Casidy like that before."
"Really?" he groaned out, pressing his forearm over his face.
"Yep," she scooted closer and patted him on his stomach laughing, "Good work,"
"How the hell does he do it?"
"Got himself some chrome a while back, all connected to his old army biomonitor and filters out the booze if he drinks too much," she told him, making him grumble about the old guy cheating. "Hehe it's not that bad, 'sides you were pretty preem last night."
"Huh?"
"Most guys get whisky dick after that much booze," she sighed. Naruto tensed when she reached down under the blanket and patted his crotch, "Nova work last night choom… you too Naruto."
He snorted, wincing as he did. "About that… I didn't say anything weird last night did I?"
"Hmm… just proclaiming you undying love to me and promising to make me an honest woman," she told him with a dreamy voice, which made him freeze. Feeling that she rolled over and draped herself over his chest, "Oh I can see it now, we'll have a good old fashioned Nomad ceremony and-" unable to hold it together she snickered and laughed, patting his chest. "Just fucking with you choom." He deflated with a sigh of relief, "Like I said, you're a nova lay but I'm not looking to settle down or anything."
The pair laid there for a while in the dim light of the tent, Naruto trying not to move his head while Panam enjoyed just laying half on his chest. "Actually, you told me to believe something last night… can't really remember what though."
His eyes widened and cheeks darkened a bit, "ah, beats me," he grumbled, playing dumb. "Ugh, what time is it?"
She shifted and checked her holo, "Still pretty early, around 3 almost 4. Camp won't be up and running for a couple hours at least." she readjusted herself and closed her eyes resting against him for a bit.
"Hey Naruto?"
"Hm?"
"Before everyone gets up, you wanna fuck one more time?"
He shifted and looked down at her, she pushed herself up on her arms and gave him a perfect view of her chest pressed against his. "Hell yeah," hangover or not he was still a man.
-xXx-
The Aldecaldo camp was a hive of activity when Naruto finally came crawling out of his tent, having taken much longer than normal to get dressed and fold the bedding so as not to be a rude guest. Panam had left him a couple hours or so back, having ridden him hard and hung him up wet with a grin and a skip to her step as she went.
"Mornin Naruto," the blond slowly turned to look at who called him and found Mitch and Scorpion passing by holding a couple crates loaded with bottles, the sound of the glass clinking together making him wince. "Hehehe, check it out Scorpion, looks like our guest hit the bottle a little too hard last night."
"Bottle wasn't the only thing he hit last night either," the hooded man mused with a smirk, making the blonde's face turn red as he tried to act like he didn't know what the man was talking about. Both men burst into laughter, "Choom if you're gonna deny it, you gotta hide the evidence," shifting the crate over, Scorpion tapped the side of his neck and motioned at the blond.
Looking around, Naruto stalked over to a nearby truck and looked in the mirror to see a purple and blue bruise with teeth marks on the side of his neck. The two laughed even harder when he covered it with his hand and looked sheepish. "Ah… about this," he stuttered out only for the pair to wave it off.
"Eh it's all good dude, we caught Panam slinking out earlier so we know what's up." Mitch shrugged, "And besides, y'all weren't exactly sneaky last night." Naruto wanted to disappear as his face glowed bright red. "I mean, I wouldn't be too surprised if the whole camp knows by now, you two were all over each other last night,"
Scorpion snickered and fixed the ninja with a smirk "Thought we might have to hose you two down when you were dancing,"
'Oh god just strike me down now,' he cried in his head. Embarrassed, head hurting, and dehydrated, Naruto didn't know how much more he could take.
"Anyway, we gotta delta choom. Got some warm food at the canteen if you want, Cassidy's working the flat top so you're in luck." the pair started to turn and walk off, "Oh and before I forget, those two lovebirds wanted to talk to you before you delta'd." Naruto nodded to the pair and gave them a little wave as they continued on.
Making his way through the camp, Naruto caught a few older nomads shooting him knowing looks, giving him the distinct impression that Mitch hadn't been messing with him earlier.
"Hey Ryan, got my shit all ready to go, you need a hand with yours?" he heard one woman ask as she approached a man busy taking down his tent. "I know that old frame gets wedged easily if you aint easy with it." Naruto felt pretty good seeing that, even after a night of partying, they were all still happy to lend a hand to each other and many were even cleaning up the mess they'd made, picking up any trash left from the night before.
"Oh Mr. Naruto!" He turned his head and saw Ameilia sitting on the steps of the large trailer topped with antennas and radar dishes with several murals painted along the metal sides with a sign reading 'The Doc is always in' hanging from a hook above her.
"Hey Ame, looks like you found some new threads," he chuckled, making her look down at herself with a small uncomfortable smile. Gone was her gray corpo blazer and skirt, replaced by a pair of brown leathers pants just a bit too big for her and a threadbare gray long sleeve shirt with a few holes here and there sporting the 'Ride and Shoot' logo many Aldecaldos liked to put on their stuff.
"It's definitely… different," she admitted, picking at a string she noticed dangling from the neck, "Not bad though, just different from what my father made me wear." looking up at him with a nervous little grin she asked, "How do I look?"
"You look like someone who'll be a lot happier now… Besides, you shouldn't give a rats ass what me or anyone else thinks right now," he shrugged making her look at him baffled, "You went against your father and took the steps to strike out on your own with the man you love… hell, you even had to escape the goons your old man sent after you, after doing all that I say the only thing that should matter is what you think… and Sid too."
She looked down with a little blush on her cheeks, "Yeah, you're right… Father never asked me what I wanted. He didn't care so long as I was his perfect daughter… but to think he'd send those… people to kill me." the girl sniffled a bit and looked down at her feet only to flinch when he patted her head.
"You don't have to worry about him anymore." The blonde told her with a smile on his face, one that didn't quite reach his eyes, "He'll be out of your life and you'll be able to live your life with Sid however you like from then on." looking around, he continued, "Speaking of… where is Sid?"
Sniffing, she wiped her eye and gave him a little smile, "He's up there," she motioned up the steps behind her, "The Doctor wanted to give him a quick checkup and replace the bandage on his leg before he got his gear put away for the trip. Head on up if you want, he'd really like to talk to you."
"You coming up too?"
She shook her head, "No… I don't have anything against the Doc but the antiseptic smell gets to me you know. I'll just wait right here."
He nodded and started up the steps, seeing the thick strips of plastic used to keep the docs trailed mostly cut off from the outside, "Hey Ame." she looked back at him over his shoulder to see him looking down at her, "I promise you won't have to worry about your dad after this,"
"Thanks Mr. Naruto, but I'm thinking about changing my name as soon as I get the chance… maybe It'll be Amy Garcia one day…" she blushed even harder when she said that, making him smile harder.
"I could see that," he took the next few steps up, "Talk to you later Ame." and returned the little wave she gave him before knocking on the metal support next to the 'door'
When he got the call to enter, he pushed past the plastic dividers and was hit with that antiseptic smell the girl had mentioned. There wasn't a ton of space inside but the man known only as 'the doc' had set it up as best as he could and honestly, Naruto could see himself getting some work done here if needed.
"Hey choom!" Sidney called out with a grin as he saw the blond walk in, "I'm glad you stuck around holmes. No offense to the Aldecaldos but knowing we had a chilled gato like you hanging out helped me sleep like a baby." he was sitting back on the reclined chair in his boxers and tank top.
"Yeah and the Roach definitely didn't have you drooling like an infant," the doc grumbled from beside him. The Doc was a pale bald man dressed in the standard nomad leathers and had some kind of chrome in his head as evidenced by the skull plate covering the top of his head with little metal spikes jutting from the top.. He looked to take cleanliness seriously as a medical practitioner and looked the new arrival up and down.
"So you're the outsider I've been hearing about…" the man seemed to be analyzing him by the way his eyes glowed behind his mirrored shades. "Nothing looks out of whack… feel free to chat but stay over there, don't need you tracking that dirt over here,"
Naruto looked down and grimaced at the dirt still stuck to his clothing, "Sorry about that doc… but wait… what do you mean a roach?"
Sid grinned and pointed at his bare leg, showing a small red patch stuck to his thigh that the blond could see had a small crude looking cockroach drawn on it. "A cockroach holmes, slap one of these on and damn if you don't feel better."
"The derm only lessens the pain," the doctor interjected, shooting the former Valentino a look which made him look away sheepishly, "Doesn't do anything else for the wound though," Naruto looked at the two and wondered what happened but didn't pry. "They're not exactly used by other professionals in the medical field but we have to make due out here."
Naruto could understand that. Nomads had it a lot rougher when it came to… well everything so they'd probably had to make do with a lot of different things over the years. "But why call 'em Cockroaches?"
"..."
"..."
The two shrugged.
"Hell if I know, before my time." the doc grumbled, finishing up the scan on Sid's thigh. "Looks like your leg is good enough to handle the trip, I'll grab some clean bandages and you'll be good to go."
Naruto stepped back and let the doctor pass to go into the other side of the trailer, where he started going through some boxes. "Hey Naruto," he turned back to Sid and found the man grinning at him. "Heard you hooked up last night choom."
"The fuck? Even you know!" he grumbled making the man laugh hard,
"No but I thought I saw you and Ms. Panam got pretty close last night, you just let me know I was right though." He continued to laugh a bit at the face Naruto made before calming down. "But listen, I know I told Cesar he could have all of my stuff but there's one thing he doesn't know about."
The man pointed to the folded pair of pants across the room from him next to the door, "Check my pocket, there should be an old key in it." Naruto did so and found it, holding it up, "Yeah that's the one." When the blond went to step over, holding it out to give to the man, Sid waved him off. "Nah Choom, I want you to have it. Goes to a old Harlon-Dawson Motorcycle my dad had, fuckers old as hell, made like 40 years or something but I've kept it in good shape."
"Why don't you keep it then?"
"Eh, not my style," he shrugged, "and Ame's afraid I'll break my neck on it but I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it yet…" Sid looked lost in thought for a minute then snapped out of it. "I want you to take it holmes,"
"Man you sure?" Naruto looked at the key then at him, "I mean it's your dads bike."
"Dad was a gonk son of a bitch" Sid replied as the doc returned and started removing the old bandage around his leg, "Giving you his bike would be the perfect slap in the face. Or he'll just sell it yourself, worth 20k at least."
"Wait then why don't you sell it?"
That got a shrug, "I just couldn't do it myself, hate the old man but couldn't just sell off the last thing I had from him. 'Sides… I did try and the collectors a son of a bitch, some corpo fucker and I'd rather it rust before letting his ass touch the antique leather seat."
Seeing how serious Sid looked, Naruto nodded and stuck the key in his pocket, "Alright dude, I'll take it, thanks."
"Bikes in a storage unit in Heywood," his eyes lit up and Naruto received a message from the man over his holo. "There's the address and my contact, if you feel like hitting me up sometime in the future." he said with a hopeful grin
"Yeah dude, I'll check in on you and Ame later… just know that if I don't hear from you after a while I'm coming to check on yall in person."
The doctor cleared his throat, getting both men to look at him, "As nice as it is to meet you outsider, I need a few minutes with my patient.
"Nothing serious eh doc?" Sid asked, a little apprehensive.
He shook his head at his patient's question, "No, just some standard health related questions I need to talk to you about and well, no disrespect to our guest here but he's not family to you so he's gotta delta."
"No problem doc," the blonde mused, setting Sid's pants back where he'd picked them up before, "send me a message whenever dude, I'm gonna go talk to some people." As he walked out, he heard the Doc mutter something that made Sid chuckle.
"Yeah Doc, I bet he's looking for her too."
-xXx-
Looking over the dataslate from his people, Faraday smirked as he read over the deets from his patsy on the hijacked Militech convoy. Three trucks loaded with some of the best tech all headed for the NUSA military missing without a trace and one Maredith Stout's name on the paperwork, making her responsible for its disappearance.
Damn it had been way too easy to set up. The bitch had already rubbed people the wrong way and he barely had to go a thing to get someone to act against her, namely one Anthony Gilchrist. The man had already reached out a few months back to get in contact with 6th street for his little coop against Morton so when he reached out to the man and mentioned how the man could get back at the woman, he snapped at the opportunity.
Gilchrist had reached out to Maelstrom and leaked the deets on the convoy and before they knew it, the chrome junky friends were chomping at the chrome for a chance to kelp some military grade Militech hardware. Sure they butchered the guards, drivers, and several unlucky bystanders but oh well, he got what he wanted.
Stout hadn't contacted him at all. The bitch was too busy trying not to get shitcanned by her own bosses for losing their biggest client's shipment and if Gilchrist was to be believed, he'd be taking her position soon enough. Oh he couldn't wait, maybe he'll even arrange a little meeting with her afterward to mock her before she was flatlined.
-xXx-
"Hey Outsider… Naruto right?"
Looking over, Naruto saw Saul stalking over to him and took a moment to study the man as he approached. Saul didn't look any different from before, still wearing his black and blue Nomad road leathers with several belts and the usual body harness that most Adlecaldo adults seemed to wear. The man didn't seem to be carrying a weapon of any sort either so hopefully he wasn't about to try and attack him for sleeping with Panam the night before.
He didn't know why but Saul gave off a weird father/brother vibe when it came to Panam from the few times he'd seen them talk last night.
"Yeah what's up Saul?" He took a few steps forward and met the approaching man.
"Walk with me," The ninja gave the man a look as he motioned for him to follow but did so. Hopefully the man wasn't leading him into an ambush of some sort. "Look, what you did yesterday, killing those Wraiths and keeping Panam safe, I can't say thanks enough. Me and that girl have our differences but she's family and I don't want anything to happen to my people." The two of them walked through the camp and Naruto took the time to notice that much of the camp was packed away now.
"Look, I don't take what you did lightly, the Aldecaldo's owe you a debt as far as I'm concerned. I just wish there was something we could do to make us even," the man then motioned around them, "We're heading to Nevada for now, if you want to join up, you're more than welcome."
That threw him for a loop and he didn't know what to say. The one night he'd been here had shown him just how much the Nomads cared about each other and it was like night and day when it came to the people of Night City who actively ignored any suffering so long as it wasn't their own. But could he just up and leave like that? He'd be leaving the people he knew pretty well for a group he barely knew at all… he'd be leaving Cami…
"I ah…" Naruto struggled with the thought and rubbed the back of his head with a grimace, "Saul I have to be honest, the offer sounds… really good… but I still have stuff to do in the city, still have people there."
He nodded, crossing his large arms. "Yeah I get that, figured I'd offer at least. But that brings me to my next point." Naruto internally worried what that might be. "I was speaking with Panam," he felt his heart speed up a bit and prepared for a threat of some sort, "She mentioned you had some decent connections in NC… something about getting an escort from 6th Street."
"I mean I know a few people," Naruto shrugged as they continued to walk, "Me and Morton have an understanding when it comes to 6th Street but I'm usually doing gigs in Heywood with the old man, I mean the Padre."
Saul got a look when Naruto mentioned those names casually, "Look, I'm gonna be real with you." he stopped and looked around before leaning in closer, "The shit with the Raffin yesterday, that wasn't the first time they pulled some shit on us and I'm afraid it's gonna get worse." They walked past a large tanker truck marked, 'Aldecaldo Fire water, not for drinking,' "We're only staying in Nevada for a couple months tops, then we're coming back… can we work out a deal for an introduction?"
"Huh, what do you mean?"
"We need connections in Night City," Saul grumbled, not liking having to admit it much less explain, "Most gonks in the city won't deal with us unless it's to do grunt work. Fixers don't know us so they don't trust us and as far as most gangoons go, they see us as rival gangers thanks to assholes like the Wraiths." He turned to face the blond and put his hands on his hips, looking Naruto straight in the eye, "So what'll it take for you to put in a good word and an intro?"
"Man if you want me to put in a good word then all you have to do is ask," Naruto laughed, surprising Saul, the look on his face making the blond snort, "I've only been here one night and I can already tell you guys are… What's the word, nova? Yeah, you guys are pretty nova compared to a lot of bastards in the city."
He grinned and mirrored Saul by butting his hands on his hips, "I'll talk to the old man and see if he'd be interested. I'll even send Morton a message when I get the chance."
"Morton?" the Aldecaldo patriarch asked, the name seemed familiar and he must have some high position in the gang if he could make a call about working with an outside group.
"Yeah, you know, Rick Morton?" Naruto asked, the name going over Sauls head at first. "He's the General of 6th Street." that made Saul freeze. "Oh and now that I think about it, maybe Gustavo would be interested too."
"Gustavo? He is a member of 6th Street too?"
Naruto snorted, "I wouldn't let him hear you say that," he snickered, already seeing the look Gustavo would make in his mind, "Nah, he's like one of the top guys with the Valentinos, I think him and his cousin Campos run things pretty much,"
Heywoods top fixer, the General of 6th Street, and one of the bosses on the Valentinos? What's next, would he offer to introduce him to the head of Arasaka next? "How the hell are you close to both the leaders of opposing gangs?" he had to ask.
"Oh long story there," Naruto laughed, putting his hands behind his head before looking down a bit as he thought about it again. "Morton pretty much owes me and Gustavo…" he looked thoughtful for a minute and gave the Nomad a sad smile, "Well… Gustavo… had things been different, we would've been brothers in law,"
-xXx-
When Naruto found Panam again, he found her standing on top of a large truck they called a hauler with her Thornton truck chained in place and several large parts of another truck loaded in the back of hers. The woman herself was grumbling and poking at several bullet holes in the side panel from what he could see.
"Was wondering where you got off too," she looked over her shoulder at him and huffed.
"Look at my baby Naruto," she groaned, motioning to all the damage it showed, "goddamn Wraiths are lucky you zeroed them, if I could just get my hands on them… " she growled and clinched her fist before sighing.
"Well at least you have some spare parts," he nodded towards the panels and parts nearby, making her laugh.
"Those are from the truck that hit me," she stood up and stepped off the back of the hauler, landing next to him. Naruto reached out and steadied her as she landed, keeping her from staggering forward. "Mmm, ever the gentlemen," he smiled back, "But lucky for me, the gonk that wrecked my Warhorse drove a slightly older model like mine. Couldn't salvage much but I can use these parts to get my baby up and running again… and check it out." she nodded to the panel closest to him. "New hood has an ungraded onboard cam, I could probably drive this baby remotely with it."
He didn't understand a bit of what she said. "Hear y'all are headed out pretty soon," he stated, changing the subject and making the woman nod.
"Yep, probably be a few hours at the most…" she trailed off and smirked at him, "Saul said he wanted to offer you the chance to join up, i'm guessing you said no?"
"You gonna miss me?" he joked.
Panam hummed to herself, looking thoughtful, "Hmm… maybe a little bit." The girl leaned in close and whispered, "A small, wet part of me," making him blush and laugh, "But seriously, you're a chill dude and I had a blast, might hit you up when we come back to NC." She nudged him with her elbow, "Oh speaking of the city, Scorpion's letting me borrow his ride to take you back."
"Wow, getting rid of me already," he gave her a look of mock hurt and got another elbow in return.
"You gonk," the woman shook her head with a little smirk, "I don't really have much to pack now," she motioned to her truck, "And since Saul wants me running lead on the trip this time I kinda need to get back here."
"Yeah sure, just let me say bye to folks."
She nodded, "I'll go grab the key…" then laughed, "And i'll get you a barf bad too,"
-xXx-
Strolling into the Coyote Cojo from the alley out back, Jackie hummed a tune as he stretched and looked around the empty bar to find his mother sitting on a stool going over her notebook and various paperwork. "mañana mamá" he called out before yawning as he headed over to her, wrapping an arm around her.
As he did, he spotted an old baseball bat laying just behind the bartop and whistled, "Already had to break out La Chancla this morning?"
Mama Welles leaned into his hug and gave him kiss on his forehead as he leaned down, "Good morning mijo," she snaked her arm around him and returned the hug before motioning behind her with a thumb, "Just the usual morning pests,"
Jackie turned to see a pair of gonks laid out in the middle of the floor and shook his head. "Want me to toss em out in the street?"
"No, it's ok mijo. They'll handle themselves once they wake up again, it's just Rubin and Sharky.
"Ah," They were regular old nomad barflies and had been old drinking buddies of his dads back in the day. He actually liked them back then because his old man acted like a decent human being when they were around, not wanting them to know what a burro he was to his wife and kids. He had only just recently found out why they'd stopped coming around his old man, apparently they were the ones that tried killing Raul when he beat his mother in the bar that day.
He'd bought them several beers after he learned that.
"They still drunk from last night?" he asked, walking over to them and staring down at the pair.
"You know how they are, woke up when I came in and started annoying me. Figured I'd give them a little more time to sleep it off." She sighed, returning to her work.
Jackie did know exactly how annoying the pair could be, he'd carted them out of the bar numerous times growing up and while they were mostly harmless, they were loving drunks to the max. He'd knocked them out a couple times himself when they got to be too much. "Hey mama… did you-"
"I sure did mijo," Looking at their turnt out pockets, Jackie chuckled and headed back to her, "Their stuff is behind the counter, don't give it back till they pay the tab." he leaned over to see what she'd taken from them and found a small pile of cards, cheap jewelry, their phones, and a pair of cheap pistols.
"Hehe, I love you mama" he grinned while shaking his head then started looking around a bit more.
She gave him a little smile and went back to her work, "I love you too mijo, what brought you here so early?"
"Nothing much, figured I'd come by and see you." She snorted as he lifted a few things "What's that about mama?"
"Oh nothing mijo, nothing at all… looking for something?" She put her pen down and watched as he tried to search for something without being too obvious. While he did, she reached into the pocket of her synth leather vest laying on the bar on her other side. "Something oh… like these?"
Hearing the sound of keys, Jackie winced and turned to see his mother giving him a innocent little smile while dangling the key to his garage/home, "Oh, that's where that got off too." he gave her a nervous little laugh and accepted them when she held it out, "Thanks mama."
"No problem mijo… so… who was she?"
Feeling a cold sweat, Jackie tried to play dumb, "What do you mean mama?" only for the woman to shake her head slowly, still smiling at him.
"Jackie… mi querido niño, you know you can't hide anything from me." closing her notebook, Mama Welles turned to face him fully and propped her head up on her palm. "You smell of a woman's perfume …so unless you're planning on telling me that I need to start calling you Jacqueline…" She trailed off as he grumbled, "Hm?"
"I stayed with Misty last night Mama," he finally admitted, already knowing that his mother didn't really like the other woman. "Went to Viks after I left here and kinda lost track of time…" as he said that he could see the disapproval in her eyes, "Mama, look Misty isn't bad people,"
"I didn't say anything mijo,"
"Yeah but I know you too mama," he gave her a look of his own which she returned with just as much sass. "Look, let's not get into this, ok?"
"Jackie, you're old enough to make your own choices," she mused, reopening her notebook while he rolled his eyes and muttered "No matter how much I disagree with them."
"Mama, please." he groaned, "Look, can we talk about this later? I really want to go and get changed out of these threads."
"Really? But you smell so nice…" she leaned forward and sniffed, "Oh, sweetpea? At least she's got good taste." seeing her son blush, she grinned, "Oh before I forget, have you spoken to Naruto yet?"
"Hm… No, not recently, not since he brought you some of Camilla's stuff… actually, now that you mention it… I haven't seen him in a while, wonder what he's up to?"
-xXx-
The ride back to Night City was much smoother this time around for him as the pair blazed down the hills towards the highway, leaving a huge trail of dust in their wake as Panam pushed Scorpions ride to the max. Turns out that being in the front seat didn't make him feel he was about to be sick so at least he knew that now.
"Not gonna spew this time are ya Naruto!?" Laughed the woman as she tore around a large rock while a whoop, glancing over to her passenger with a grin as he held on to the strap above the door so as not to be slung from his seat. "Feeling a little green again?"
He couldn't stop grinning as she shifted from her drift and spun donuts in the sand afterward, "Gonna take more than this to make me sick Panam!" he cheered, gripping the strap as she spun out and did a figure 8, "Since we're checking up on eachother, how's your ass? All this bouncing around has to be making it a little sore, especially after I almost broke it last night!" She snorted and burst into laughter, cheeks turning a little darker.
"Wow… You're lucky you're cute!" They went over a small hill and caught a second or two of airtime, "And I'll have you know, my rear is perfect and it'll take more than that to break me!"
"Oh I don't know about perfect, I seem to remember a nice little crack right down the middle," he joked before both snickered, "Although I was drinking quite a bit last night." Shifting in his seat, Naruto grinned at her, "I'd be happy to take another look if you want."
"Ha, I bet you'd love that." They climbed up a small ridge not too far from the ambush site and slowed down to take in the sight, "Hm, tempting though…" she mused with a thoughtful look on her face while looking down the hill.
Naruto looked at her then down to what she was staring at and found her looking at the remaining wrecks from the ambush. The other nomads had buried the Wraiths from the looks of things and salvaged what they could from the cars that wouldn't move, at most there was just a few skeleton-like supports and frames left to rust and a small line of burial mounds with simple posts marking them. He couldn't help but think that the Aldecaldos treated them a lot better than the Wraiths would've had the shoe been on the other foot.
"So what do you plan on doing when you're back in the city?"
Glancing over to the woman, who eased the car down the slope before speeding back up near the bottom, Naruto shrugged, "Sid gave me a bike that belonged to his old man, probably go take a look at it then go check on my place… maybe go shopping, my apartments pretty empty."
"Gonna get you some of those fake flowers to brighten up the place?" she chuckled before gunning the engine again, quickly tearing through the badlands towards the highway which could be seen in the distance.
"Actually, now that you mention it. I wonder if I can find a nice house plant… ooh, or maybe a tomato plant, eh if not I'm sure I can grow one.`` Panam looked at him like he'd grown a second head, "What?"
"You're just gonna go and try to find a real live houseplant?" she deadpanned, getting a nod and a half confused look. "Do you know someone or something? Damn things cost more than a luxury car and a real vegetable plant? Pff, you're gonna rob one of biotechnica's greenhouses?"
'Oh yeah,' he thought after a moment, real fruit and vegetables were a luxury only the richest could afford to eat, much less try to grow. Corporations like Biotechnica went out of their way to control all they could when it came to growing plants either through whatever means they wanted. Legal threats or outright murder, it didn't matter to them so long as they maintained their monopoly.
"I didn't think of it but now you've given me the idea," he smirked at her only to get an eyeroll, "But I'm serious about a houseplant if nothing else… I'm sure I can find something."
"Why do you want one? Those things are damn expensive to take care of, don't you need to find clean soil and shit for it right?"
"Well I don't know about shit, but I've taken care of plenty of plants before… Some I found out in the wild, grew some from seeds when I was young…" he got a far off look in his eye, "I kinda miss them to be honest, hell they were my best friends growing up."
"..." glancing over at him, Panam wasn't too sure what to say at the change of mood. The orange wearing man just looked downcast for a few moments.
"I was so proud of them, every time I saw one blossom and grow… it was like I had proof that I was doing something right, you know? Even if it was just a plant, it felt good to be needed by something. It couldn't abandon me or betray me… it couldn't yell or insult and make me feel like shit. They were there when I left in the morning and they were there when I came home at night."
Naruto sighed and leaned his arm against the door, "I guess I'm saying it's just nice to be needed…" He rested his head on his chrome knuckles, "Sorry about that… didn't mean to kill the mood."
"Nah… I didn't mean to sound like I thought it was stupid."
The highway was coming up but instead of slowing down she started speeding alongside it, following alongside a section of guardrail before coming up on a gap. "Hold on." he did so, not exactly sure what she was planning. "This is a little something I picked up from Cassidy!" The nomad laughed as she pulled the handbrake, had Naruto not been holding on to the strap once again, he'd have ended up face first in the windshield as she hit the break, but did end up kissing the window when she spun the car into a drift between the opening.
The moment the tires hit the blacktop, Naruto felt the entire car shudder as she once again whipped the car around, fishtailing a bit as the tires smoked and squealed. "Hahaha!" she giggled like a mad woman, "Scorpion's gonna be pissed i'm smoking his tires!" The smell of burning rubber filled their noses and soon, the pair were speeding down the highway, Panam grinning ear to ear while Naruto wiped the face print he left on the window. "Woo what a rush!"
She idly hoped that the adrenaline rush would make the blonde feel a bit better after the last bit of their convo, a wild ride always perked her up when she was feeling down.
-xXx-
Pulling up to his favorite Scop Shop, Jackie could already smell the BBQ flavoring wafting through the air as he backed his bike into a parking space near the door. He'd skipped breakfast earlier, only having snagged some of his mothers Synthcaff tea when she wasn't looking and the flickering neon lights of the sandwich shaped sign bearing the name, 'Chubby Buffalo's Bar-B-Q' called to him.
"Jackie!"
Hearing his name, he turned his head towards the call and grinned seeing his old choom, "Yo V!" He hit the switch and shut his bike off, kicking the stand out. "It's been forever, Hermana. Don't your corpo overlords ever let you leave?"
It was a rhetorical question and both knew it, the Redhead rolled her eyes as she walked over from where she parked her own ride, "If they could make me work from home without having to spend a ton on security, they'd have me going nonstop…" she looked thoughtful and grimaced, "Don't repeat that, can't give them any ideas,"
Jackie snickered, "I'll try not to," he then looked over her shoulder, "I see you're doing pretty well, new wheels huh?"
She turned slightly, her red trimmed black suit jacket folded neatly over her arm, "Eh kinda, company car."
Climbing off his bike, the larger man walked over to her ride with her next to him, "Archer Hella huh? Not bad, although they definitely don't make 'em like they used to." Outside of car-nuts and other gear heads, few people knew just how true that statement was. Back in 2023, the Archer company nearly drove itself into bankruptcy when they launched the first of their 'Hella' series, a car so reliable and generously affordable that those who bought them found themselves never looking for another car. Hell, even after more than fifty years those original Hellas could still be found going strong, if worn and rusty from age.
Jackie could tell that this wasn't one of those masterpieces but it was still a nice car, "They hooked you up with a company car?" he repeated after looking at the interior and snorting, "look at you, you'll be up high in that glass tower looking down on the rest of us in no time." Standing up, he turned to her and looked her over and frowned, "You good V? Looking a little rougher than before."
The Corpo fixed him with her usual deadpan stare, her red hair bobbing slightly as she tilted her head, "Eh where do I start…" she had dark circles around her eyes and looked a little paler than he remembered, "I don't know if my boss has it out for me or if I'm his favorite. Guy's a certified sociopath…"
Stepping up to her, Jackie chuckled and slapped her on the shoulder before pulling her into a friendly one armed hug, "How about we go grab some grub and you can tell your old choom all about it, my treat," he grinned at her and pointed his thumb at himself.
That got a raised eyebrow, "Jackie Welles offering to pay for lunch?" her voice was full of mock shock, "Oh my, what's the occasion…" she sniffed the air, "Wait a minute," she did so again before leaning closer to him, "Well Jackie, don't you smell pretty,"
The man pulled away from her as she tried not to laugh, "Mierda, I thought I washed it off." he grumbled, sniffing himself which only made V laugh harder, "Oh ha ha,"
She returned his earlier gesture and slapped him on the shoulder, "Come on choom, lets go order some grub… I'll tell you all about my woes and you can explain why you smell like…" she sniffed again, making him grumble, "that sweet pea?"
The pair made their way into Chubby Buffalos and found a seat in one of the booths. The scop shop was the same as always with a few customers seated around occupied with their own food and or convos. Several holo screens mounted to the wall showing various ads or news with the sound turned way down, no one really paying them any mind at all.
"So… wanna tell me what's been going on?" V started off with a innocent grin that Jackie knew was anything but, her tone almost sickeningly sweet, "You're either getting in touch with your feminine side or someones got a new output,"
The way she nearly sang that last part made Jackie nearly choke on his drink, "Damn girl, how the hell did you know?" he coughed, pounding his chest once while the redhead looked at him with a shiteating grin. "I know your job has you being all superspy and shit but there's no way you would've known…" The merc trailed off and looked thoughtful, "you and mama aren't spying on me are you?"
Unable to hold it, V laughed out loud which drew the attention of several other patrons who quickly lost interest, "Nah choom, I'm way too busy for that. Why do you think so?" She listened as he told her about his earlier convo with Mama Welles and how he'd started seeing Misty on a more personal level than before.
"Want me to look into her some?" she asked jokingly once he finished, making him roll his eyes, "Joking, i'm joking… but just so you know Jackie, all your mom had to do was look at you to know you were with someone last night,"
"Huh?"
The corpo smirked and pointed to her neck, just below her ear, "Looks like Misty marked her territory,"
Looking around, Jackie grabbed the napkin dispenser from the table and rubbed the shiny metal case on his shirt before holding it up to try and see what she was talking about. It took him a few tries and a couple different angles but there it was, a nice dark hickey… no, a couple of them on the side of his neck. Once the shock wore off he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face, "eso es caliente,"
"I'm happy for you choom," she continued, shaking her head at the look he had, "Congrats,"
"Hehe, thanks V. I've known her… shit we grew up on the same streets. Ran with different groups though, kinda wish I'd got to talking with her sooner." he shared a few small details, about how he started talking to her more when he started going to his Ripperdoc, how she'd helped him when he was in a darker mindset after splitting up with Camila and how they'd grown closer ever since.
"That's pretty much the gist of it, not to jinx it but I'm really hoping things keep going the way they are." By now their food had shown up and the pair started eating, "So, how's it going with you?"
"Oh yeah, that," V looked like she wanted to talk about anything other than that, looking around, she leaned closer to him and he did the same, knowing that she didn't want to be overheard, "Get this, my psycho boss calls me into his office and wants me to hire some muscle to put some guy in the ICU." that made Jackie blink, eyes wide, "Yeah, insane right? I don't know if he's setting me up to fail or testing me… or… I don't fucking know what his deal is."
Watching her angrily take a bite out of her sandwich, a CB classic BBQ ScopSandwich with extra BBQ flavoring sprinkled on top, Jackie whistled, "Damn chica, guys sounds like a great boss." sarcasm dripped from his words while he took another bite of his own, "Whatcha gonna do?"
"Hell if I know, I don't have the connections to get a meeting with any fixer this quick…" pausing mid bite, she looked at Jackie for a moment, "Hey, that guy you were telling me about, you think he's up for some work?"
"Who, Naruto?"
She nodded, looking a bit hopeful.
"Don't know, vatos been running gigs nonstop ever since Camila was zeroed," Jackie grumbled, "I think he's taking stims too… wont sure at first but he brought mama some of Camilla's stuff and I spotted a bottle of pills,"
"Well who could blame him," she shrugged which Jackie nodded to.
"Oh yeah, not saying I think bad of him for it. Shit, the vato nearly killed me when we first met and I consider him a choom now. But I looked at what was in the bottle and it looked like SIN,"
SIN was a popular yet highly illegal capsule that the cops hated. It was a powerful antidepressant, aphrodisiac, and an un-inhibitor that had the occasional side effect of sending its users into a psychotic killing frenzy, thus why the cops hated it and the drug remained highly illegal.
"But hey, he might not be interested but I know a guy who is." waiting until she motioned for him to spit it out, Jackie gave her a grin of his own and pointed at himself, "This guy!"
"You?"
"Oh yeah, your old choom Jackie has been doing some gigs of his own," he chuckled, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms with a smug little grin, "even did a few bigger gigs with Naruto and got some streetcred to my name. So tell me, who needs his teeth kicked in?"
-xXx-
"You sure this is the place?"
Glancing over to Panam from his spot in the passenger seat, Naruto shrugged, "I guess so,"
The place Sid's coordinates sent them to was pretty similar to his old storage unit/home, a poorly maintained self storage building with a couple dozen or so tiny units cramped together in Heywood. Several units looked like they'd been broken into and were being used as makeshift homes by downtrodden individuals and some seedy gonks.
"So which one is it?" the woman asked, looking down the row of units from over her steering wheel and eyeing several of the folks that lingered around and leered back. Panam had been interested upon hearing that Sid had given him a motorcycle and wanted to see it for herself after learning that it was over 40 years old.
Naruto fished around in his pocket and grabbed the key, "Unit 14." he read.
She drove down further and looped around to the back side, stopping as a dazed looking man staggered in front of them, slack jawed and twitching as he drooled on himself dressed in a filthy brown overcoat and a pair of ragged boots. "Ugh," she grimaced, looking away from the man as the coat shifted and exposed his nudity, "I did not need to see that,"
Snickering, Naruto looked away, "Kinda sums up Night City huh?"
She huffed and continued down the row once the man got out of the way, "16…15… here it is, unit 14."
Unlike the others that looked like they had been damaged in one way or another, these units were covered in Valentino graffiti and largely left alone. The markings probably acted as a warning that it belonged to gangoons so most gonks knew to leave them alone unless they wanted trouble.
As Naruto climbed out of the car, Panam following suit, he heard several loud clatters and turned to see that the guy from before had stumbled into several trash cans and was now clutching his head and shaking. "Hey Panam," he motioned for her to come over and nodded towards the guy as she did, "Might wanna keep an eye on that guy,"
"Looks like he's got the glitter shakes," she muttered to him after a moment, watching the guy while the blond started unlocking the unit, "Least I hope so, don't want to deal with some random gonk turning into a cyberpsycho," She nudged him as he squatted down to lift the door, "You carrying though?"
The rollers in the door squealed and clattered as he raised it, having to use extra force when one stuck, "Wouldn't really need it," he answered with a shrug, making her roll her eyes with a little smirk at his words, "You?"
"Nope, left it in the car," Naruto jumped when she suddenly slapped his ass with a laugh, "I'll just hide behind you if the gonk snaps."
Looking at her, Naruto shook his head, a small smile on his lips, "Fair enough, I don't mind you hiding behind me…" he stepped past her and into the tiny storage unit, stopping to lean a little closer to her, "after all, I spent plenty of time behind you last night,"
Her inhale let him know that she wasn't expecting him to say that and Panam punched him lightly in the arm, "You gonk, you're lucky you're cute."
"So you've told me,"
The unit itself was a little smaller than his old one, several old trash bags were piled up along one side with several pieces of clothing spilling out of one. An old mattress was sagging against the other wall, smelling strongly of old mothballs and chemicals that they were able to ignore after a few moments. But in the middle of it all, covered in a faded military green tarp was what had to be Sid's motorcycle.
"Oh hold on," Panam stopped him as he started to reach for the tarp, "Let me do it,"
Giving her a look, he shrugged as she walked forward and cocked her hip, "You ready to see your prize Mr. Hero?" she joked, making a little show of motioning to the bike and grabbing the cover.
"Woo!" he chuckled, clapping softly and playing along, "Show me, show me!"
"Are you sure?" she cooed, picking up part of it with two fingers teasingly, "Are you ready to see it?"
"Come on, take it off!" he fake cheered. As she lifted the tarp he grinned harder, "No, not that," he started making her look at him confused, "I meant your shirt, take it off woo!"
Face darkening just a bit, Panam clutched the tarp and slung it towards him with a laugh, "You gonk!" When it got caught on the handlebars of the bike she snatched it up with little difficulty and balled it up, once again throwing it towards him as he sidestepped it with a laugh.
Looking to toss something else at him, a smile of her own on her face, Panam looked down at the bike and her eyes lit up, "Woah."
The bike was nothing like the ones on the streets today. Whereas most were covered in plastic that shielded the engine and had the rider leaning forward, this old bike showed off all the chrome of its engine and pipes while the rider leaned back. "A Harlon-Dawson Cruiser," she whistled, running a hand over the tank as the blond walked over, "Damn I've only seen one of these in old mags." The once shiny chrome had lost its luster over time but it looked well maintained for the most part but the bike itself only needed a little TLC to make the reddish burnt orange tank and fender shine again.
Naruto threw one leg over it and sat down on the seat, getting a feel for it as he did. He had to admit that while he was certain he'd be able to run circles around this thing it looked fun as hell to drive. "This feels a lot nicer than the last bike I rode." he mused while taking the handlebars in hand as Panam watched. It felt a lot nicer sitting on this one compared to the one he drove the day before, probably because it didn't have all the boxes and tech strapped to it.
"Looking preem," the nomad told him with a low whistle, "May I?"
Giving her a confused look, Naruto wasn't ready for her to climb on much like him, scooting him back with her rear so she could sit in front while he sat bitch, "Hehe, this is nova as fuck," After a few moments, she had her fill and got back off the bike, weather or not she meant half sit in his lap he didn't know but wasn't planning on complaining. "Fire it up, let's hear this bad boy sing!"
"Alright let's see," he turned the key and kicked down on the lever to crank it. The first few times it struggled and after a quick tweak from Panam, he tried again and they both instantly regretted it as inside the tiny metal storage unit, the roar of the engine starting up deafened them.
-xXx-
Wincing David looked at himself in the reflection of his cracked bathroom mirror and cursed. Katsuo, that corpo asshole gonk fuck hadn't liked him snaping back and had cornered him after class had let out for the day. While he could normally hold his own in a scrap one on one, that asshole had a surprise in store for him this time and beat the shit out of him, boasting about a martial arts chip his dad bought him.
As far as his mom knew, he only had a black eye and a busted lip since he didn't want her to worry. But in reality Katsuo and his gonk friends kicked the shit out of him, leaving his chest and back pretty bruised but luckily nothing broken so that was it. Thankfully mom had left for work earlier and he didn't have class over the weekend so he could take the time to rest and heal up without the risk of her finding out just how bad it was.
"Hmm, I'm hungary," he grumbled under his breath, checking his holo to see how much he had on him, 'could go for some noodles,' he mused before standing up from the couch, turning the holoscreen off and starting the annoyingly painful process of getting dressed. 'Huh, Mom must've gotten a new detergent,' he thought while sniffing his shirt. He couldn't exactly name the smell but it was nice enough.
Wearing his street clothes, gray cropped sweatpants with a black tshirt and his white tennis shoes and of course, the gold chain with a cross that his mother had given him years ago, he left the apartment and locked up before wandering down the halls to head out and down the street where he knew a half decent vendor sold some pretty preem noodles.
Ignoring the usual piles of trash, gangoons, gonks, and the usual smells of filth and decay, David hopped the ledge and fell down the street level, instantly regretting it as he landed and pain shot through his body. 'God damn you Tanaka,' he cursed, gingerly rotating his arm. What he wouldn't do to be able to wipe that smirk off that gonks face.
It was a short trip, really it was only right around the building but with the amount of garbage and homeless people he had to weave through, it felt like more. An open cargo container that was left to rust next to the building had quickly become home to several random gonks, how they dealt with living in a metal can like that during the sweltering heat in summer he didn't know but suspected drugs had something to do with it. Several others set up tents or even just slept on ratty, filthy mattresses nearby but none of them ever made a move to harass him over the years, for some reason.
But what he was here for was the small street vendor set up in front of these people, a simple covered stall held together by old grease, tape and a dream. "Hey Aiko," he greeted, waving at the older asian man with a scruffy beard with a plain gray headband tied around his forehead, "let me get a bowl, spicy as you can make it," He called out, grinning at the vendor who looked up at him from his lawn chair.
"Eh Davy, it's been a while," Aiko greeted, fanning himself with a small cardboard fan, "Spicy noodles? That scops gonna burn out your guts kid." the man pulled himself up from his rusty chair and stretched, taking a good look at him, "fuck kid, you look like shit,"
"Eh, just some assholes at school." he rubbed the tender spot where his lip was split subconsciously.
The man went around to the back of his stall, which was surprisingly clean for being where it was and what shape it was in. "Oh yeah, you got into that fancy ass school."
David grimaced, "You ain't gonna give me shit about it too are you?" Several people around the Megabuilding had made comments about it, ranging from playful teasing from some to downright hateful comments about him trying to be better than he was.
"Me? Hell naw kid," Aiko snorted while heating up the small flattop, "I think it's a good thing for ya, hell, I went there for a little bit."
"You did?"
"Yep, before my parents disowned me. They made me go there just like my sister and brothers but well…" he flexed his arm and showed off a 'Burn Corpo Shit' tattoo down his forearm, "I wasn't exactly a good student, fought and got kicked out before the end of the year,"
"Damn sorry to hear that choom,"
The man waved it off, spraying something on the grill, "Meh it's all in the past, 'sides, I fucking hate my family. Getting disowned was about the best thing that could've happened to me." A rumbling sound caught the mans attention "Well fuck me," Aiko mused, letting out a low whistle looking at something behind the teen. Turning,
David spotted a familiar orange wearing blond grinning from ear to ear atop an old motorcycle while Aiko continued, "Haven't seen one of those old things in years." It didn't have any of the sharp edges or swoops like modern bikes did and from here, it didn't have any plastic guards to cover the motor, leaving it all exposed and shining for all to see as it rumbled.
"You know him?" David felt a bit hopeful when he asked, wanting to know more about the strange guy who helped him out the day before. From where he was standing, he could see the blond start to maneuver his bike towards the parking garage near the entrance, where he disappeared and the rumbling of the motor started to fade
Aiko nodded, then looked thoughtful, "Well kinda," he tossed a scoop of scop noodles on the flattop with several different processed ingredients. "Heard about him from some of the gangoons, apparently he's some hotshot Cyberpunk that's off limits." That made David's eyes widen, which the man saw and grinned, "I know right, hear the order came from pretty high too. Kinda want to know what he did but you know the saying, curiosity killed the cat."
Which was true, you didn't live long in this city by putting your nose in someone else's biz. But David still really wanted to know, maybe he'd get a chance to ask the man one day. The smell of spice started to fill his nose so David turned back to see Aiko working the grill, his noodles taking on a light red hue before being tossed into a bowl.
"Here you go Davy, one spicy noodle bowl." As always, the man seemed reluctant to hold the bowl due to the spice, "I swear I don't know how you eat that."
David had already taken a bite before he'd even finished talking, "I don't know what you're talking about, this stuff's nova!"
"Man, I tried some after you asked the first time and that scop nearly killed my ass." Aiko tossed some water on the grill to clean it, leaning away from the cloud of steam that wafted into the air. "Like literally, I thought I'd have to go to a ripper and get a chrome asshole or something," That made the teen nearly choke on his noodles.
"The hell is that smell!" they heard someone call out. Still holding his bowl and coughing, David turned to see Naruto walking around the corner, sniffing the air as he did. The blond locked eyes with him and grinned, "Hey, David right?" As he got closer, the blond noticed the bruises and frowned, "Hey those guys from 6th Street didn't hurt you did they?"
Aiko looked between the two of them and kept his head down, scrubbing the grill clean while subtly turning his head to listen in.
David didn't know why he felt ashamed, he'd gotten into fights before and used to wear the bruises like badges of honor but now, under this guy's gaze he felt like… like his mom was about to scold him or something. "No, ah…"
Hearing the kid grumble something, Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What was that, couldn't hear you man,"
"No, it wasn't them… it was some bullies as school,"
"Oh," Naruto nodded slowly, a look of understanding on his face, he hadn't expected to run into David again but seeing him bruised like this made him worry that those punks had come back for revenge while he was gone and while he was glad that wasn't the case, he understood how shitty school bullies were and could empathize with him.
"But hey, all they did was this," David quickly added, pointing to his face and ignoring the twinge in his chest and back. Why he was trying to downplay it he didn't understand.
David never had a male role model in his life as it was always just him and his mom and even then, she was almost always working to support him. Every time he had to deal with a bully growing up she wasn't really able to help except to give him a hug or try to soothe the pain but this guy had actually stood up for him, made those gonks back down. Even if he didn't know it or recognize it, he saw the blond as someone to be like.
"I see…" Dense he may be but Naruto could see how David wasn't trying to move his torso and could see more bruises peeking out from his shirtsleeve.
"Oh hey, you want to try some of Aiko's noodles?" the teen asked, making the vendors eyes widen as he'd been scrubbing the same spot mindlessly to listen in, quickly scrubbing the rest as not to look suspicious to the merc, "Choom cooks some preem stuff,"
Nodding, Naruto turned to the man, "Aiko right?" the vendor nodded. "I'll take a bowl too just…" he glanced at what David had and while it smelled nice, the spicy scent was a bit off putting, "not spicy please."
Nodding, the vendor finished clearing the flattop, "One normal bowl coming right up!"
Noticing another customer coming up, Naruto motioned for David to follow, then turned to the cook, "I'll be over here," to which the man gave a thumbs up. He led the teen over to a concrete barricade and leaned on it while waiting for his food. "You wanna talk about your bullies?"
"What do you mean?"
Seeing how the teen glanced away, Naruto shifted his weight and crossed his arms, "It's worse than you let on, I can tell." when David continued to play dumb, the blond huffed, "If you don't want to talk that's fine, but it's not just a black eye and a busted lip." he reached out and poked David's chest, making him wince, "You got the shit beat out of you didn't you?"
Face turning bright red at being called out, David grumbled some more and stuffed more noodles in his mouth.
"Hey it's nothing to be embarrassed about," he told the teen, "Hell I've got my ass handed to me more times than I can count and every time I did I came back stronger until I could beat them back."
"I wish I could beat that jackass," he grumbled again, this time around a mouthful of spicy noodles, "I used to be able to defend myself from him but he got some martial arts chip and I couldn't do anything."
"What do you mean?"
"His dad is some corpo asshat, spent a bunch of eddies on some chip that taught him some martial arts, one day he's just a pain in the ass. Then yesterday he and his gonk friends corner me and he's moving like he's in one of those kung fu BDs."
Naruto had heard of chips like that but from what he'd seen they were outrageously expensive, even second hand. Rico had an old NUSA army training shard which was basically just a target practice sim that he'd used a few times, just to learn how not to blow his own foot off. But it was still just a simulation, it gave you the knowledge not the experience.
"Why not practice and kick his ass?" He spotted Aiko waving him over and left to grab his own food, returning to his spot to dig in. "He wants to fight then give him a fight to remember,"
David scoffed, "Can't risk getting kicked out," he groaned, "Tanaka could get away with fighting but I'd get busted and land in a ton of trouble. Don't want my mom to have to deal with that."
Naruto tried a bite of his food and hummed, it wasn't raman but it was still pretty good. "Then don't fight,"
"What, just run away?" the young man scoffed again, "They already look down on me for being poor, I'd rather take a few hits than be mocked for being a pussy."
Shaking his head, Naruto finished the bite he took and turned towards David, resting the plastic bowl on top of the barricade they were leaning on, "No, I didn't say run, I said don't fight." Seeing the look he was getting, the ninja clarified "I've used one of those shards before, it only teaches you how to do things."
"Yeah, like how to kick someone's ass."
"True, but it doesn't mean his body can handle what his mind knows. Does he have the actual physical training and stamina to be pushing himself like that?"
David thought back and tried to remember. Tanaka wasn't physically active from what he knew, which wasn't too much to be fair but he remembered how sweaty he was after that first fury of blows. "Oh shit you're right," he gasped with wide eyes.
"He might know how to fight but it doesn't mean he can… and it probably wouldn't hurt for you to learn how to defend yourself either,"
"Too bad I can't afford lessons," the only other option was to just go out and pick fights and he wasn't gonna pull a gonk move like that, he'd end up dead in some alleyway or worse… facing his mother when she found out.
Naruto finished a few more bites of his food, looking thoughtful, "You know, I could teach you a few things." he stated looking around at the folks nearby before looking back over to David, the teen looking shocked and hopeful, "I mean, you won't be kicking ass and taking names but who knows, if your good maybe I'll teach you a few more things."
"Really?" the teen felt excitement welling up in his chest, grinning when the blond nodded.
"Excuse me, Mr. Uzumaki."
Both Naruto and David turned to look at who called the blonde out.
The man was taller than him by a bit dressed in what looked like an armored leather jacket with dark cargo pants and boots. He had a serious look on his face and stared down at him from behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses and rocked a crewcut, checking off many points from the 'how to look like someone's hustle' checklist. David got quiet as he felt the man look him up and down, letting out a breath as he turned back to Naruto.
"Hey Marcus," Greeted the orange clad ninja, "You here for some noodles? It's not ramen but they're pretty good!" he stated before giving the cook, who was still serving several construction workers a thumbs up.
Marcus looked at the bowl then to the cook before back to him, "No, maybe some other time."
Naruto slurped another few noodles up "Then what's up?" he asked with his mouth full. The man stepped to the side and motioned to a dark blue Villefort Cortes V5000 Valor parked a little ways down the street, making Naruto's eyes widen, "Little far from Heywood eh?"
The man nodded slowly, "I do not like it, but the Padre insisted on speaking with you in person."
That gave the blond pause, "Really?" Marcus nodded, "Hey David, give me a few minutes. I need to go talk to someone." he quickly shoved the remaining noodles into his mouth and followed the taller man back to the car.
David, who'd been quietly finishing his noodles while listening in, gave him a nod, "Ah, yeah sure… I'll be right here," This only added more questions to who his new neighbor was. Only a real gonk wouldn't know who the top fixer of Heywood was and somehow this guy had the Padre himself coming to meet him in person!? Not only that but the fixer came all the way from Heywood into Arroyo which was 6th Street territory to do so?
Watching the padre's hustle open the back door for the blond, David couldn't help but feel awed. This guy had already made members of 6th Street back down before but now he had the respect of the Padre!?
'Wait,' then it hit him again, he offered to teach him some things too! 'This is gonna be so fucking nova!'
As Marcus opened the door for him, Naruto leaned down and rested against the roof, "Hey Padre, never thought I'd see you here in Arroyo." The old man looked as dour as always, fixing him with a stern yet still gloomy looking stare from his seat. "Everything alright?"
"Get in Naruto, this is not a conversation I wish to be overheard," he told him, "You, me, and the almighty… that's as far as this shall go."
Frowning and feeling a bit apprehensive, Naruto ducked his head and climbed in, allowing Marcus to shut the door then stand with his back to the window, blocking his view and the door. "What's this about Padre?"
"Naruto, I'm only going to ask you this once," the man began, looking straight ahead while smoothing out his cardigan then resting his hands on his knees, "And I ask that you be truthful. The name you gave me… one Frances Bennett, that you wanted information on, what do you intend to do with it?"
Thinking back, Naruto crossed his arms "Amelia Bennett's father?"
The elderly fixer gave him a curt nod, "One in the same."
"Honestly… I don't know. The man sent killers after his daughter and from what she told me… he's not a good man. I wanna talk to him, I want to know what kind of man tries to kill his own child… and after that…" he trailed off but both of them knew how things might end.
Turning to fix the solo with a stern stare, the Padre locked eyes with the blonde for a few tense moments then nodded, "I see," he produced a single datashard from a small pocket on his shirt and held it out, "Here is all that I was able to gather for you. Just know that from here on, I will wash my hands of it and will not handle any more requests like this…"
Naruto took the shard and nodded slowly, "I got it." he would be able to handle it on his own from here anyway, all he really needed was a face and a general location to be brutally honest, everything else was just a bonus.
"I like you, Naruto but I want nothing more to do with this." the Padre continued, "going after someone with Arasaka is more trouble to me than it's worth." turning his head, he called for his driver who moved from his place in front of Naruto's door and opened it. "I wish you well Naruto… go with God."
Hearing the Padre's preferred way of saying to leave, Naruto nodded, "Thanks for the info-" he started as he climbed out, leaning down to look at the man as Marcus went around to the driver seat, "Catch you later, old man." he shut the door just as the fixer turned to him, grinning at the window with a little wave. "Later Marcus!"
-xXx-
As he climbed back into the driverseat and got back onto the road, Marcus glanced back at his employer who kept looking out his window. He'd been with the man for long enough to know that something was bothering him and had an inkling as to why but also knew better than to bring it up. "Sir?"
"I am fine Marcus," the padre's tone left no room for argument, his way of saying to leave it alone.
He nodded once and silently continued to drive.
"You must think I am a cruel man,"
Glancing back, the driver found his employer still facing his window but could see the man looking at him from the side of his eye, "I've been your driver for a long time sir. You are only cruel to those who deserve it, but…" he trailed off
"But?"
"If there were ever a man who deserved some cruelty, it would be that corpo."
The two fell into another silence as Marcus drove back into Heywood, taking the highway to be a bit quicker and avoid any 6th Street hotspots. The truce between 6th Street and the Valentinos may still be on but that didn't mean they trusted each other and while Sebastian Ibarra had been many things, a fool wasn't one of them.
"Francis Bennett signed his death warrant the moment he sent his people to kill my distant nephew," the man stated, face never changing, "that is the only reason I gathered such information and in doing so, I have put me and my people in enough danger as it is."
"And if someone could get to him…"
The man nodded at his driver's words, "It would be him."
-xXx-
Pocketing the datashard, Naruto returned to David who'd finished his own food and had tossed the plastic bowls into a nearby trash can, which was much better than what the others did, most just dropping them on the ground. "Sorry about the wait," he called out, looking around and noticing one homeless man had picked up a discarded bowl and was picking out some of the scraps.
"It's preem!" David grinned back, excited to have seen something like that. While he didn't know what was said, it was like watching one of those old vids or even being a part of a edgerunners team. "You said you'd teach me some stuff, can we start now?"
Naruto snickered, making David confused, "Sorry, didn't mean to laugh. How about we hold off on that for now." When the teen started to protest, the ninja poked his arm, getting another wince, "At least until you heal up some more." David grumbled some more so Naruto sighed, "But I can at least show you a few things, isn't there a small gym here?"
David nodded after a moment. "Yeah, it's in the common area."
"Alright let's go," the pair started to head inside but Naruto stopped, making David look confused, "Just a second," he walked over to Aiko, who'd just finished serving the last construction worker, "Hey man would you do me a favor?" When the cook gave him a curious look, his eyes lit up as Naruto once again transferred some eddies, "Feed these people will you?"
Several of the homeless heard him and shared looks of shock and hope, including both David and Aiko, "You sure choom?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, my treat."
Those around gave an excited little cheer and the man shrugged, getting back to cooking while Naruto returned to David and joined him at the steps heading up, "Why spend your eddies like that?"
"Everyone deserves a little help every now and then."
-xXx-
To be continued…
Coming soon:
Chapter 15: Blaze Your Way Down the Rebel Path.
-xXx-
Authors note: the bike Naruto's got now is one from the Cyberpunk RED book which is set in 2045. I don't plan on using too much from it but I'm just not a huge fan of the bikes available in Cyberpunk 2077 aside from Jackies. It's pretty much just a cruiser for fun. Harlon-Dawson lol. If you want a picture of it just search it, there's only one.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed the story guys, love ya!