Night City Legends

by DrunkenFicker

2074, Naruto awakens to find himself in a world much stranger than his own. One with no place for heroes, only dead legends. He'll find his place among the city and carve out a path of his own to become Night City's own living Legend... that is, so long as he doesn't go screaming over the edge. Story will cover Edgerunners Anime and Cyberpunk2077 Act 1 Complete. Act 2 in progress.

19. C19: Seed is Sown - I'm Chippin in!

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Night City Legends

Act 2: Running along the Edge

Chapter Nineteen: Seed is Sown - I'm Chippin In!

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AN: Normally I keep these at the end of the chapter but I feel like this needs to go up here. 'Input' originally meant girlfriend but its meaning changed to boyfriend by '77 and the same goes for 'Output' . I'm gonna go on and apologize for getting them mixed up sometime.

-xXx-

Two Weeks Later…

-xXx-

Walking back to the Mega building, Naruto snickered and sheepishly scratched his cheek while Gloria giggled at the story of his childhood, or more specifically the antics he used to get up to. "Yeah I was a little shit back then… hmm pretty sure I was the reason gramps took up smoking again,". He narrowed his eyes, 'although, thinking back… the smell didn't match up to what Asuma-sensei and later Shikamaru smoked. The idea of the old man getting stoned put another grin on his face. As always, the construction lot across from the building was alive with activity yet somehow not getting much done at all but there was a particular hammering noise that was starting to get annoying.

Over the past two weeks, they had gone out on a handful of 'Dates' whenever they both had free time, usually after she'd gotten off from work and while David was at school. Nothing fancy, just talking over drinks or food, sharing past stories or talking about anything interesting that had gone on the previous days, within reason of course. Gloria didn't exactly know how to explain that just a few hours prior she had klepped some poor gonks brand new Kiroshi Optics when she had to bag his corpse. Just as Naruto wasn't sure how to explain some of the gigs he had to handle, such as having to 'repo' some gangoons shiny new chrome arm when the gonk skipped out on repaying Wakako.

"I've never had the time to go out and have fun, much less date," she told him with a small shrug as they climbed the stairs up to their floor, "Not that I'm complaining… with the way the world is I'm happy with what I have." Despite her saying that Naruto could see the way she deflated ever so slightly as they got to her and Davids apartment door, "I had a really preem time today Naruto,"

"Yeah me too," he grinned in response and was a bit surprised when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, which he mirrored and held her in response. The embrace lasted a bit longer than he expected but he wasn't going to complain, especially with how nice she smelled, 'smells like… oranges,' he thought, unconsciously resting his cheek against her head and noticing that the top of her ear was red.

"Ah? E-excuse me… M-Mr. Naruto," Turning his head, Naruto spotted Randel and some of his chooms standing there carrying something large. They were looking at them with various knowing grins and little smirks which made Gloria blush harder, "I'm sorry b-but you and your o-outputs kinda blocking the hall," he trailed off while a few snickered in the background behind him.

The pair separated quickly, Naruto laughing it off while Gloria looked away from the group with her face still bright red, "Sorry guys," he told them while they started lifting the object again, "But it's not like that, we're just friends," The group gave him another round of knowing looks as they started passing by, a couple of them snorted and gave him disbelieving hums as they passed, revealing that they were carrying a pretty large couch down the hall.

The pair stood there for a moment as the others made their way down to the corner of the hall where they slept. "I'm ah… sorry about that," he chuckled sheepishly while ducking his head and rubbing the back of his head, feeling bad about her getting embarrassed.

She looked back at him and waved it off with a little smile of her own, "No… Its nova, wasn't your fault…" Gloria met his eyes and smiled back at him, "I really did have a nova time with you today, probably best date ever, but I should head on in, David will be home soon. You two have fun out there on your run ok?"

The blond grinned, "Yeah, I promised to run with him after school, and don't worry, I'll keep him safe."

"You better," she joked with a playful poke to his chest, "Just don't let him stay out too late, he's got class tomorrow."

"You got it Gloria, I'll message you later ok?"

"I'll be looking forward to it," she answered as he started to turn and make his way back towards his own apartment around the corner, "actually, one last thing!"

Turning, Naruto was surprised when she leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek and leaned back down, her face instantly turning two shades redder than before, "This was probably the best date I've ever had… See you later Naruto," she turned and hightailed it to her apartment door leaving him half stunned standing in the hall as she entered, giving him another bashful look before the door shut. Left standing in the hallway, Naruto blinked for a moment and grinned like an idiot before turning to head to his own apartment. As he did, he caught several grinning faces looking his way as Randel and his chooms had set the couch down in the corner of the hall and had been watching them, making no moves to hide the fact whatsoever. In fact, as he passed them the gonks started snickering themselves before bursting out into full on laughter after one cracked a joke

But he had something else on his mind at the moment, little did Gloria know, but when she told Naruto that their date had been the best one she'd ever had, he'd been struck by a thought. All they had done was grab some food and chat over a few drinks and this was what she considered the best date ever? Don't get him wrong, he had a great time himself but the thought that the redheaded woman had never had one better than this bothered him.

He wanted to change that.

And he had a plan but it might take some time to set up… so he'd need help.

-xXx-

Leaning against the graffiti covered wall under what little shade he could find, David felt his body tremble as he gasped for breath, his heart pounding against his chest. Several strangers gave him odd or suspicious looks as they passed by but quickly lost interest in the teenager who focused on catching his breath and tried not to collapse. 'Oh fuck what was I thinking?' he cursed, willing his knees not to give out on him, 'I definitely wasn't ready for this,'

There was a small breeze that felt absolutely amazing against his skin in the blistering sun beating down on him, so good in fact that he took a moment to raise his head to the sky and let it brush over his neck and face for a few moments before it faded. 'Wonder how much longer I have to rest…' he thought to himself with a grimace as he pushed himself up off of the brick, grimacing at just how little he'd recoperated in that time. While doing so, he looked around at the old buildings and took a look at the wall he'd been leaning on where a massive mural of a skeleton in a fancy robe was holding out a shotgun to a half dozen different grasping hands took up most of the wall while a large V surrounded by roses was sprayed on the wall further down.

'Never been this far into Heywood before.' the teen thought to himself while looking around, most of the time he'd pass through on the NCART headed to class or back home. Mom had always warned him to try and stay out of gang territory but both knew that the only way that would be possible was to leave NC entirely and neither could afford to do that. He'd always done his best to do so but here he was, deep in one of the oldest parts of the district and in the heart of Valentino territory.

"Hey check it out, Hermanos, it's a lost little boy," cooed a woman's voice from behind him, making the teen turn to see three Valentinos eyeing him as they approached. Leading the small group was a woman with the sides and back of her head shaved with the top combed back and dyed pink. She wore white pants and had on an expensive looking red and black floral shirt with a sharp white collar with a gold chain that matched her aviator sunglasses and her chrome arms. The guys following here must've been lower in 'rank' because while they wore similar clothing it didn't look as flashy or expensive and neither of them had gold plated chrome.

"Ah… hey there," he spoke awkwardly with a little wave, not sure of what exactly to say to the gangers that approached him but not wanting to 'disrespect' them and get in to any shit. As they neared him, David found himself with his back against the wall as they looked him over and nervously asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, some little shit hanging out near one of our places? You tell me kid, is something wrong?" The woman in front of him was a good foot taller than him and put her arm against the wall next to him and smirked at the uncomfortable look he gave her, "Nice necklace you got there," She snagged the gold plated cross his mother had given him between two gold plated chromed fingers and played with it smirking at his uncomfortable look.

Just a few yards from where they stood, the door to the building they were in front of swung open harshly, a little metal bell hanging from a string clattering against the frame, "Hey!" David and the three Valentinos turned sharply towards the harsh yell and the teen let out a breath he'd been holding as Naruto stormed out of the building and made a beeline straight to them, "Back the fuck up if you know what's good for you!" The three looked at the sweating blond and snorted at his threat, he was in a simple pair of shorts and a tshirt much like the teen and unarmed to boot, unless he was packing some hidden weapon in that cyberlimb of his then the gonk looked like he was about the bite off more than he could chew.

The woman grinned at him and pushed off the wall, "And what if I don't?" she mocked, leaning once again and placing her elbow on David's shoulder while the two gonks following her flashed their iron. From where he was, David could see the razor sharp looking blades slide out of an opening at the tip of each of her fingers which he would've thought was pretty nova in any other situation.

Once again the door opened with a clatter, making everyone except for the blond look as another Valentino stormed out looking over towards them with wide eyes, "Hey, enough! Back off the kid, it's all nova," David wasn't exactly thrilled to be called a kid but he wasn't going to say anything all things considered, but he did take a quick moment to look at the new arrival following behind the blond.

He had the same hairstyle and shirt as the woman, minus the beads of sweat dripping from his face but had a large golden lapel pin on each end of his collar in the shape of a Valentino V. "Gustavo?" the woman gasped in shock, instantly sheathing the claws in her fingertips in a flash. From the way the woman reacted, David knew that this guy had to be a big shot and wondered how Naruto knew them as the man.

"I said back the fuck off now!" the gangoon boss barked, yelling at the woman who quickly snatched away from David like he'd just burst into flames.

Naruto stormed his way over while the gangers backed off, glaring at them as he did before looking at the teen apologetically "You ok David?" he asked, his voice a lot calmer than before yet still promising a brutal retaliation on his behalf should he say no. Gustavo stormed past the pair and dragged the three gangers further away, snapping at them under his breath as not to be overheard by the few people brave enough to pass nearby.

He nodded, "Yeah I'm nova, they didn't do anything," when Naruto slowly started to relax and the tension wasn't as thick, the young man gave a nervous little chuckle, "You did say that today's run would be a lot tougher if I tagged along,"

Naruto knew he was trying to lighten the mood a bit but when he spotted the three surrounding David through the window, he was ready to rip them all to shreds if they'd hurt him. He liked the kid and had promised to keep him safe, how the hell would he explain it to Gloria if he got hurt? "I guess I did, but I meant the run itself."

"That the guy you needed to talk to?" The blond looked back at him for a moment before snorting, "what's so funny, who is he?"

Naruto chuckled for bit and shook his head, "Sorry I won't laughing at you or anything but he's definitely not who I came to talk to, just kinda ran into him today. As for who he is… uh," the blond cringed a bit and looked at him sheepishly while lowering his voice, "Look don't tell Gloria but that's Gustavo Orta. He's the-"

"Oh I… I know that name," the sweating teen quickly cut it, eyes a bit wide at hearing who the gangoon was. Forget bigshot, this guy was one of 'The' Bigshots. Megabuilding H4 wasn't too far from Heywood and plenty of 6th Street gangers had made bets on who would kill the man and later cursed the man as the violence skyrocketed with Valentino retaliation. It wasn't the first time he'd seen a gang war break out but it was the quickest he'd ever seen one end, "wait, then who are-"

Naruto glanced over the teens shoulder, making him stop short, "Young man you left your things," David turned at the voice behind him and spotted an elderly woman coming out of the building. She was hunched over and leaning heavily against the door handle, holding a plastic bag in her other hand as she looked over towards, "What happened? You and Gustavo rushed out so fast, is everything ok?" From the way she strained, David got the impression that she couldn't see too well as he followed Naruto over.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about a thing Abuela," the word sounded odd coming from the blonds mouth but David ignored it as he neared the half open door and felt waves of heat just rolling out through the doorway which stopped him in his tracks as the blond took the offered bag from her, "I was coming back for this, you didn't have to come out here. Why don't you go sit down, don't want to throw your back out… again,"

She narrowed her eyes and wagged her finger in his direction, "Now don't you start that again you little shit unless you wanna catch these hands." The elderly woman raised her fist at the blond, making David bite his lip to not laugh. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that Gustavo was furiously pointing at the three gangoons and saying something he couldn't quite hear before pointing away down the street, making the three run off like their lives depended on it. "And just so you know I didn't throw out my back cause I'm old!" The woman's tone made him look back to see her looking pleased with herself, "I threw it out gettin some strange!"

"Jesus mother fucking christ!" They heard a yell from behind and turned to see a mortified looking Gustavo covering his face, "Abuela you shouldn't say shit like that, it's not right!,"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh grow up Gusto, you're old abuela gets some every now and then. Get over it." the man cursed and groaned under his breath as she gave the ganger a smirk then locked her eyes on the sweat covered teen, "And who's this?" Her gaze was a lot sharper than he first thought as she hummed and studied him, "what's your name niño?

The teen stepped forward and once again felt the heat pouring out from the open doorway, "I'm ah… David Ma'am,"

She must have taken his hesitation as nervousness and gave him a sweet smile, "Such a polite young man," then shot the men an annoyed look, "Unlike some gonks,"

Naruto blinked at the look he was given, "hey what'd I do?" When she looked away from him, he looked back to Gustavo who only sighed and pulled a cloth from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his face.

She returned her attention to the teen next to him and ignored the blond, "Don't worry David, if these two pick on you just let me know and I'll knock some sense into them." Opening the door a little wider, he couldn't help but lean back slowly as more heat poured out onto the street, "what don't you come on in and get you something cold to drink," If there was something cold past that doorway, David has no intention of finding out but at the same time was afraid to refuse seeing as the woman seemed to be related to the ganger boss.

"Actually Abuela I got him something already," he held up the bag she'd given him earlier, "and we gotta get going anyway," Naruto quickly interjected, coming to the teens rescue and half stepping in front of him, bringing her attention back to him, "If we don't get moving he's not gonna make it home before his curfew," as he said this, David saw Naruto turn to face him with a look that screamed, 'play along!'. "Right David?"

"Ah yeah, I promised Mom I'd be home early since I have class tomorrow," he half lied going along with the blond.

"Oh? Polite and responsible." She seemed at him then shot Gustavo a dirty look, "I used to have to threaten that boy right there just to go to Sunday school. Him and that choom of his back in the day." She held out her arm to the blond who stepped forward and hugged the smaller woman, "You two stay outta trouble you hear?"

"I'll try,"

"I'll have the girls whip up your order in time," she told him after breaking the hug, "and feel free to come visit anytime," with that, the elderly woman gave David another kind smile and returned to her building, shutting the door softly behind her. With the door shut, there was a noticeable change in temperature. It was still hot outside but the scorching heat from inside was once again trapped on the other side.

"Ok I have to ask," the teen stated after a moment and turning to the two adults, "whats up with the heat blasting outta there?"

Naruto snorted as Gustavo grumbled, still patting his face with the cloth. The Valentino looked at the teen then to the blond with a questioning look, nodding towards the student, "David's nova, I trust him not to say anything," The simple admission made the teen blink, hearing Naruto say that he trusts him made him feel an odd sense of acceptance that he'd never really felt before.

"Alright, if you trust 'em then he's good with me. You can tell 'em if you want, I gotta get back in there," the normally intense looking gangoon looked like he was walking towards a firing squad as he stepped around them and grabbed the handle, "You know, if there was ever a time you planned on zeroing me, now would be great."

"Not on your life choom," He replied with a smirk, making the man's shoulders sag a bit, "I do that and I'd have to take your place,"

"Ugh," Gustavo hung his head a bit, "Fine… catch you later 'mano," he then nodded to the teen, "and hey nova meeting you David," the teen nodded as he watched the man brace himself and open the door, another blast of hot air roasting all three of them before he headed inside, closing the door behind him and leaving the pair outside, one looking amused while the other perplexed.

"Come on David, let's get moving," the blond said after a moment then held up the bag, "Oh and I got you a drink too," he dug through the flimsy plastic and pulled out a pair of frost covered bottles of water. The pair started down the sidewalk ignoring the random strangers they passed while enjoying the cold water, "So you remember a while back when the city shut down a bunch of ScopKitchens?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I saw it on the news. Some corpo dickhead said they were operating illegally or something," he remembered the curses that a lot of his neighbors hurled at the holos that day. The city had increased the price for getting a permit to operate a place like that and most scopkitchens were free or only charged a few eddies to cover basic things. Most had been shut down and the few that remained were overwhelmed with hungry homeless and poor families that were already struggling to eat.

"Well, inside that building there's probably two or three dozen burners and stoves cooking meals, that's kinda the reason I said you should wait outside, didn't want you to suffer that kinda heat," he took a sip of his own water, "You think it was bad at the door it's worse inside… but Abuela can't stand the idea of kids going to bed hungry and honestly, I feel the same." Naruto told him with a shrug while David blinked, imagining the sheer amount of cooking going on in that building to have it feel like that. "A bunch of Gustavo's crew have families that used to rely on the kitchens every now and then so they pitch in to help whenever they can. Can't do it all the time but she makes sure that a bunch of families can have at least one good meal a week."

Looking back, David remembered waiting in line at such a place more than one time with his mother. She made sure he had enough and always made the best of things but he clearly remembered the look she had on her face whenever she thought he wasn't looking, like she was about to burst into tears… he never wanted to see her look like that again. "You help out too?"

"In a way," he answered, grinning at the teen mischievously, "but not today. A choom of mine is planning a party pretty soon, I asked Abuela if she'd make a cake for me a while back and figured I'd ask her to add another one to the order too."

Despite the time he had to rest, David's legs felt like paste as they walked but he refused to act like it bothered him. Naruto warned him that he planned on running a long way but he'd assured him that he could handle it. He didn't want to look like a gonk in front of him by admitting that he couldn't handle it.

"You ok David?" he didn't hide it well enough as Naruto had noticed it a long time ago and shook his head when the teen tried to hide his exhaustion. He was honestly impressed that he'd ran for as long as he did, granted this was nothing more than a stroll around the block for him but for David this had to be hell. The fifteen year old in question nodded, but Naruto could see the way he moved, he was worn out so be took it easy on him, "Well good, looks like I won't have to carry you to the NCART station,"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you did good David, you impressed me making it this far but I'm not trying to make you kill over from exhaustion." A sense of pride filled the teens face at his words, "besides it'll be quicker and I'd rather get you back to Gloria before nightfall," the blond chuckled.

"If you're sure, I mean your legs must be tried after all," Naruto chuckled at his attempt to joke on him, "I could probably keep going for a while longer but I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself,"

"Keep thinking that but you wanna know a little secret David?" When the teen shot him a questioning glance he was smirking back, "you know how your legs feel now? They're gonna ache just as much tomorrow at school," a look of horrified realization crossed Davids eyes, making him grin in return.

Luckily, the NCART station wasn't too far away away, just a few blocks in fact but with how his legs felt the distance might as well have been tripled. "Hey Naruto?" The blond in question turned his head towards him, finishing off the last of his water as he did so, "Will you teach me how to fight like you?"

"Like me?"

David nodded, remembering how easily the man had handled the muscle headed Bess a while back. He'd scrolled the net for a while trying to find anything that matches the mercs style but just couldn't seem to find anything that matched, "Yeah, like you. I tried finding some vids to see if I could try it but nothing really matches your style."

Naruto frowned a bit, "It's not exactly something I can just teach you," he admitted with a shrug, continuing before the teen could speak, "I've had several different senseis that taught me over the years so it's not really a set of moves I can just teach. It's pretty much just a collection of things I picked up on and added to the more I fought."

Konoha's academy did teach a basic taijutsu kata but he didn't exactly get the best education back then until Iruka-sensei started teaching and the basic academy taught style was far from the best so most genin would pick up whatever their Jonin sensei used or find their own way of fighting and that's what he did. It wasn't until a year or so into his training trip with Pervy Sage did he learn his greatest lesson from the man.

'there's no such thing as a fair fight and there's no honor in losing, so fight dirty.' A lesson that the old man taught him by kicking him in the balls during their next spar.

"Well can you teach me some of it?" He questioned, breaking him out of his memory of trying to burn the old pervs prized notebook when he woke back up.

"What brought this up David?" Naruto had to ask, he was willing to teach him what he could but he had to know what was going on. The NCART station was in view now and from the looks of things it was pretty busy with people waiting for it to show up, "You trying to get even with that guy at school or something?"

He shook his head at the question, "No, nothing like that. I mean I'd love to punch that gonk in the face for the shit he's done but I don't want to cause mom any trouble."

"Ok, well…" he thought about it for a moment and stopped, bringing David to a stop as well, looking at the blond in confusion, "Before I answer you, David I want to ask you a question. you don't have to answer me right now so take as much time as you need, ok?" When he nodded, Naruto continued and simply asked, "Why do you want to fight?"

-xXx-

The question seemed so simple, 'why do you want to fight?' but the way he asked it made him think that a simple answer just wouldn't fly with him. The rest of the walk to the NCART station was quiet between the two with him mentally looking at the question from all angles. Why did he want to fight? Well… he did want to pay back Katsuo and knock his teeth out but he could already see his mom charging at him with la chancla at the ready after dealing with the fallout at 'Saka academy.

They had missed the train by a few minutes and had decided to wait for the next one scheduled to arrive in about half an hour. Unlucky on their part since now they would have to wait but on the other hand, the crowd that had been here before was mostly gone and they could easily find a spot to sit down and wait.

Seeing the look of concentration on the teens face Naruto leaned back and left him to his thoughts while scanning the platform around them. He wasn't carrying his pistol like usual and wanted to keep an eye out just in case some dumbass decided that they looked like easy prey. Turns out that just having a weapon on you made all but the most brazen or stupid gonks think twice about fucking around and finding out. Just listening to the jumbled mess of noise around him, Naruto could make out several conversations and listened in just to pass the time, someone was talking rather loudly about dinner plans over the holo and didn't care about how loud he was, another was arranging to meet someone in secret, two other teens were talking about some new VR game that actually sounded kinda neat.

Spotting a vending machine, Naruto looked over to David, "This heat sucks, gonna go grab another drink, you want one?" But he didn't seem to hear him and the look of concentration never faded, making the blond roll his eyes before smirking. Asking one last time, he got up and walked over to the machines without the other noticing.

"Hey I grabbed you this,"

The teen was ripped out of his thoughts when something cold was stuck to the back of his neck, making him jolt forward with a yelp before turning to see a grinning Naruto holding red and green can innocently, "What was that for?" There were a few others nearby waiting for the next ride as well, some of them looked over when he yelped but went back to ignoring them when they saw that it wasn't anything interesting.

"You're thinking about it way too hard David," Naruto told him, once again offering the canned drink, "I mean, I asked you twice if you wanted a drink but you were stuck in your own head."

"Oh sorry," the teen took the offered can with an embarrassed grin and looked it over "Tiancha Pomegranate?" He read which made Naruto shrug, "Not bad,"

"Yeah, it was the only thing the machine had that wasn't carbonated," Naruto held up his own can and moved to sit down next to him on the bench. On his other side, an old man in a cheap wrinkled business suit yawned and leaned back with a pair of headphones around his neck, clutching his briefcase and trying to stay awake. "It's fizzy drinks you don't like right?" He got a nod from the teen.

The afternoon skyline that he could see though the cracks between the towering megastructures was starting to turn a fiery orange with the setting sun… either that or some gonk ass set the landfill outside the city on fire again. AVs shot through the sky in the distance and if it wasn't for the ache settling into his legs and the numerous honking horns on the streets below, David would say that it was pretty peaceful. "Why do you fight?"

"Me?" David nodded, making a sad smile cross the blonds face which the teen thought made him look like an old man for a moment, "I'll tell you what, when you decide on yours I'll tell you mine, deal?" Naruto raised the can and after a moment, David raised his own tapping them together.

"Deal… old man."

Naruto froze, holding the can halfway to his lips with wide eyes. Slowly, almost mechanically, he turned to the teen who was looking ahead of him with a smirk on his face and stared for a moment before shaking his head, but then he froze again.

Back before he joined Konoha's Ninja Academy, when he spent most of his days pranking and being a menace, a week couldn't go by without him being hauled into the old mans office by one of the village Shinobi, he was pretty sure it became an unofficial mission at some point. Funnily enough, it started out with unlucky chunin chasing him, then Jonin, they were good but he quickly started picking up on their methods and soon, the old man sent an Aubu. But no matter what, every time he was matched, carried, or dragged into the old Hokage's office he would greet him with the same 'Hey old man!'.

He'd never forget his little chuckle, the little twinkle in his eye would change depending on the level of chaos he had unleashed but the old monkey always replied with the same, 'You little brat,' every single time.

'Hmm… So this is what he felt like,' Naruto mused as he took a sip of the canned juice, kinda weird but not bad at least. Taking a breath he just gave a little laugh and shook his head again, "You little brat,"

-xXx-

"What the hell do you mean Otto?" She hissed at the doc with her new optics adjusting as he stepped in front of her reading from a dataslate connected to the diagnostic term she was linked in. Zaria Huges stared at her ripper, a surprisingly normal 'ganic man wearing scrubs and a white surgical mask bunched up around his neck. One wouldn't think that a legit ripper with his own clinic would willingly have a maelstrom client but this was a man she'd known for years growing up, he didn't like the path she took but took care of her saying that if she was going to overdo the chrome he might as well make sure it was done right, take the time to ensure there wasn't any avoidable negative issues with incompatible soft.

"Switched out your optics twice, ran a full scan and zapped anything that didn't belong, scrubbed a few little critters hiding in your leg's soft but there wasn't anything fuckin with your optical hardware or soft." He mused before pulling one of those high end nicosticks from his pocket and sticking it to his lips where the other end started glowing red.

"I know what I saw," her body trembled, the skin on her mostly 'ganic torso tingling as she thought about it. "Something has to be up with it, I keep seeing the same glitch,"

"Don't know what to tell ya Zaria," her old childhood choom told her while disconnecting the jack from her personal link, "Your ICE nearly killed my soft when it tried to read ya. If ya hadn't stopped it my damn scanner woulda fried, so I really doubt anyone hacking you, maybe you've finally started to fuckin lose it."

"I'm not psycho!" She snapped, hitting the arm of the chair she was in with her fist, "I know what I'm talking about, whenever I dive it's all fine! It's gotta be something with my chrome! When I'm back in meat space that's when I see him!" The woman glared hard at him before covering her face with her hands and crying "I'm not psycho, I'm not psycho, please… I'm not…"

Looking around the clinic, the ripper groaned uncomfortably and stepped over to a cabinet on the wall, discarding his gloves on a nearby sink as he did, "I ain't drunk enough to deal with a crying Zaria," he muttered under his breath while opening the door, pulling out a metal cup and a deep blue colored glass bottle with an electric green scowling punks face etched onto the side. "Hello BlueGrass, didn't think I'd be seeing you so soon." With practiced ease, Otto unscrewed the lid with his thumb and poured himself a drink and looked back at the girl, sighed, and pulled another cup from the cabinet to pour another, "Zaria look, I'm no head doctor but maybe your problem isn't software or hardware, maybe it's your wetware, something in your head." Then something hit him, "wait, you said it was a glitch before but right then you said ,'I see him' what are you-"

"No!" She snapped out, making him flinch as his chair once again rattled as she jerked back sharply. He turned around and saw that she was shaking, pressing herself back against the backrest as hard as she could and trembling hard. The two cups bounced off the steel flooring with a loud clatter as he rushed over, fearing that she was seizing or suffering a software malfunction due to her extensive 'upgrades'.

"Zaria, don't worry you'll be ok!" He didn't know if she could hear him or not but he said it anyway as he moved to try and scan her, "shit, I need to connect to her personal link. Hey choom, come give me a hand!"

"NOOO!"

-xXx-

Covering her face with her hands, Zaria felt all of her fears bubbling up at once, "I'm not psycho, I'm not psycho, please… I'm not…" she shook her head trying to dislodge the thought. Going over the edge was her greatest fear but the allure of her chrome kept her in a constant balancing act between her addiction to chroming up and her worries.

Agonizing over the thoughts she just cried her frustrations out into the palms of her chrome hands as her chooms spoke."Zaria look, I'm no head doctor but maybe your problem isn't software or hardware, maybe it's your wetware, something in your head." Maybe it was? maybe she was finally going insane? Rubbing her face. She looked up at him and felt all the warmth leave her body. "wait, you said it was a glitch before, but right then you said ,'I see him' what are you-"

It was him, the demon… that masked demon. The one who's been taunting her, hiding in the shadows and waiting, watching her. He followed her everywhere, even into her dreams and now he was here to finish what he started. Every muscle in her body tightened, the chair below her rattles she shook so hard.

Then he was on her. Burning red eyes seared into her soul through the eye holes of the mask that hid the face of a monster, laughing as he looked over her. She felt like a child again, small, weak, unable to do anything as his clawed hands reached for her, to hurt her, to punish her for what she had done. The painted animal mask he wore bore no expression but the eyes glaring into her own held nothing but hatred and pain.

"NOOO!" Zaria finally found her voice and screamed as loud as her chromed throat would allow, "AHHH" newly installed military grade monowires shot from her wrist and sailed through the air in a glowing arc as she swiped her arms to the side.

Something wet and warm covered her face but she didn't pay it any mind as another demon appeared next to her, nearly wrapping his arms around her to rip her in half. The chrome junky ganger screamed again as she fell to the side and off the ripper chair, the demon grabbing her arm and getting pulled down along with her. Her head bounced off the floor as she landed but the monster still had a grip on her cyberarm by the wrist and was groaning as he laid half across the chair above her

"No, get away!" Zaria screamed, kicking her feet at him, the stiletto-like pointed tips of her cyberlegs stabbing into his body ruthlessly at high speed. They were made for speed and maneuverability, originally she got them to help her escape the monster but it seems like they were just as good as killing it too. The rush of excitement and euphoria as she killed the demon hunting her left her laying on the steel panel floor giggling madly. "I did it!" The girl cried, her hands once again clutching her face as her entire body seemed to vibrate in excitement, "I did it! Otto I did it! I-"

Uncovering her optics, a cold wave washed over her at the sight before her. Otto's choom, a heavyset man that worked the front receptionist desk was laying across the chair she'd fallen from, face contorted and covered in blood with large gouges ripped from his flesh. "W-what?" Zaria pushed herself away, her chrome scraping the floor as she scrambled back, "wait… no no no,"

In her scrambling, she bumped into something else and to her horror, turned to see her childhood choom staring up at her with blank, unseeing eyes, torso severed into three pieces with blood slowly covering most of the floor around her "Otto? No… no. No please it wasn't me! Oh God I'm so sorry, it wasn't me. It was him! It was the demon." She had to find a way to get away somewhere that the demon couldn't find her again, where it couldn't kill anymore of her friends, where she could finally rest and stop looking over her shoulders.

Scrambling to her feet, Zaria caught her reflection in a mirror Otto had hanging on the wall and shuddered. Her glowing main optics stared back at her, the six secondary visual processors cycling through different vision modes to give her the best chance of not being caught off guard again. "I'm sorry Otto, I never should've come around, I did this, I brought the Shino here, I'm so sorry."

-xXx-

Lounging back on the surprisingly unsticky dingy blue bench seat next to the door, the drowsy little old man seated across from him looked like he was about to fall fast asleep clutching his briefcase… wait, nope, he was out. Naruto decided that he would at least keep an eye on the poor dude while he slept and wake the guy up near the next stop.

"Hey David, not to be nosey or anything but I remember you saying you went to an academy, what's your school like?"

Blinking at the question, David groaned and looked thoughtful, "Its… " he frowned, not really wanting to say just how much he hated it since his mother worked so hard to get him there but his first year so far sucked. "The academy itself is fine, everything is taught through wreath and VR so I guess that part's actually kinda nova." Having the oldest wreath in the class made him a target for that gonk Katsuo but if it wasn't that the asshole would find something else about him to mock. "Most of my classes are pretty easy,"

The door at the end of the car opened up and a few teens came walking in, laughing and shoving each other as they headed towards them. They seemed to be talking about an upcoming tour of some singer… Wizzy something or another and didn't look like trouble so he didn't pay them much mind as they passed but did notice a young woman slip past the closing door.

'she looks familiar,' he mused, missing part of what David was telling him while looking at the girl from the corner of his eye. White hair dyed with a few pastel rainbow colors in a bob cut, cropped white jacket and what looked like a netrunners bodysuit with a pair of short white shorts. The girl seemed to check out the rest of the passengers and took a spot near the door, holding one of the straps and looking bored.

David was about to ask the blond a question when he cut himself off, his eyes lit up with a message, "Ah, just a second…"

"Get a text from a cute chick?" Naruto questioned jokingly as he seemed to lock onto something in front of him, "Don't mind me, just don't send any unsolicited dickpics,"

"It's my mom," he snapped out scandalized.

"Oh… tell her I said hey!" Naruto laughed which made the other male roll his eyes when suddenly, he snapped out and swatted at something next to him. "Ugh annoying ass little gnat," he snapped out with an annoyed and angry glare as he held out his fist from trying to catch and kill the pest, "Try it again and see what happens!"

David shifted slightly away from the man as he drew in several annoyed or amused looks from other passengers by making a scenes."Little gonk, I'm gonna swat the shit out of it," he continued with a glare before turning back to face the teen with a sheepish grin, "sorry about that David, I couldn't stand it anymore."

"Ah yeah it's nova choom," he shrugged off the scene he'd just witnessed and went back to sending his mom a message, letting her know they were headed home and the Naruto said hi.

Turning to the dozing old man next to him, Naruto learned over and gently shook his shoulder, "Hey old man," the man mumbled something for a moment before his face twisted into a tired frown as he woke up. "Sorry to wake you up but I think you dropped this," holding out his hand to show him a datashard sitting between his fingers, "Saw it on the seat next to you."

Only half paying attention to what was going on as he read his mothers reply asking about their run, David didn't remember the man next to him moving but decided to ignore it. He needed to think of his reply without saying he met a gangoon boss and his grandmother today.

"Huh… my…" the elderly suit sat up straight with a groggy groan and patted the side of his head confused, fingers searching his neural ports, "oh God damn," his eyes went wide with shock and relief as he realized his shard was gone and an actual honest fucking stranger had returned it instead of kelp it. "Thank you so much sir, you don't know how glad I am. If I'd lost this I would've be been kicked out of my home."

'It must've been his rent chit or something,' David mused. He knew that look and feeling well, he'd seen several people panic over the rent before, his mother in particular, though she tried her best to hide it.

"It's no problem at all old man, but you might wanna stay awake, were almost at the next station."

-xXx-

Since the new soft updates hit the markets, her own shard exploit needed some upgrades of it's own and now was her time to test them out. Things had been going well, she'd hit three Arasaka employees and had just found a fourth. Kiwi warned her not to overdo it and Lucy had to admit to herself that she might have been pushing it but her new hack was making it almost too easy. Using her newly upgraded scripts and hacks to remotely eject shards then removing them with her monowire with them none the wiser. Risky considering all it took was for one gonk to make a wrong move and mess it up but she liked the thrill and got a little revenge too

But then some random gonk snatched the shard from her monowire faster than she could react. How he managed it without cutting himself on the wire she just couldn't understand, anyone touching it could easily slice themselves open without the right protection and as fast as he moved the last gonk should've lost some fingers.

"Annoying ass little gnat!" He had been staring right at her when he said that, looking directly at her as he held the shard between his fingers, "Try it again and see what happens," he threatened her and she felt an icy cold pang of fear run up her spine. For a moment she was back in that place, shifting through the old net just a terrified child. She didn't move as he stared at her and felt a wave of relief wash over her when he looked away, speaking to his choom before returning the shard to the old Arasaka employee. He played it off and didn't bust her so there was that, but Lucy just couldn't shake that anxious feeling in her gut. She'd already pushed her luck today, time to cut her losses and put some distance between her and them.

-xXx-

After returning the shard to the man, Naruto shot another warning look at the girl he'd caught trying to steal the old geezers shard, he remembered seeing it happen before and had always kept an eye out when he was anywhere near the NCART. He just couldn't let the guy get taken advantage of like that, he was old and tired, just leave the poor gonk be so he can get home and rest, don't take advantage of him for fucks sake.

'Att..tion,' they heard the automated VI announce, sounding partially distorted and popping as it did, 'Now a..roaching… ation'

"Well this is us,"

David smirked at Naruto as the NCART slowed to a stop, the breaking mechanism above them squealing as they stood up, "Race you back to the Mega building?"

The blond smirked back at him and laughed, "not too long ago your legs were about to collapse out from under you, now you wanna race?" He glanced back and saw that the white haired girl had left, through the glass he just could spot a flash of white further down in the next car and let her go.

The teen hummed, "yeah but now that I had some time to rest I think I can handle it." He mused with a thoughtful tone before shrugging, "But hey, if you're not feeling up to it there ain't no reason to push yourself… I don't need you having a heart attack on me or anything."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "I'll have you know I'm not even…" he had to think about it for a moment, to remember what was put on his fake NC ID a while back. "Fuck I can't remember… 25? Yeah 25." His little slip of the mind only made the teen smirk more which made his eye twitch, "alright then you're on, wanna make a bet too while we're at it."

"I'm listening."

"Winner gets to make the loser do one thing of their choice, within reason of course."

As the NCART stopped fully and the doors to the station opened with the other gonks around them pouting out to get to wherever they were going, both Naruto and David followed suit and stepped out onto the station platform. The teen looked thoughtful and they stepped aside to let the others exit while some pushed and shoved their way onto the car at the same time. He seemed to be thinking hard about it too but Naruto didn't mind waiting, in fact it kinda impressed him that the teen wasn't blindly rushing into an unwinnable bet, after all he could run a lap around Night City before David made it to their mega building.

"Alright, you got a deal,"

Well he might not have rushed into the deal but he still fell for it, 'wonder what I'll make him do?' the blond thought with a grin as David held out a hand to shake on it. "So do you want to start on the count of three or something?"," he asked not wanting the teen to turn around later and say he cheated or anything, "Maybe we can-" but David stepped forward and shoved him back, catching him off guard and making him stumble back into the now closing NCART, "what the fuck?" He grunted, looking at the teen in shock as the glass doors closed between them "You little shit,"

"Sorry choom, but I ain't taking a chance." David apologized while rubbing the back of his head as the NCART started moving to leave the station, "I won't make you do anything too embarrassing, promise!" 'Atten..on ..ow lea..ing … stat..n,' the speakers warbled between them as he waved at the blond through the window, watching as the NCART started moving again. "See you back home choom!" and started heading towards the station exit.

Naruto stood there frozen for a moment as the NCART built up speed and couldn't help but start laughing which made several people look at him strangely. He couldn't even be upset, if David could play dirty like this then maybe teaching him how to fight would be easy, it seems like he already had a grasp of one of the first things he wanted to teach.

Never fight fair.

-xXx-

Chipping in was considered the quickest way to give yourself an edge when you lived on the edge. Need to boost your strength, get yourself a pair of quality Gorilla arms and some synthmuscles to go with it. Need to be faster? Get a Reflex tuner or a Sandevastan if you got the eddies to burn. Most chrome can even be modded to boost it's overall performance but if you really want an edge you had to get creative.

Standing up from the rippers chair, Maine smirked at his newly installed chrome and enjoyed the thrill he felt watching his newly obtained Projectile Launch System deploy from it's hidden panel just behind his wrist. Once he save up some scratch he'd upgrade his smartlink to use it's auto aiming capability but for now it was just a point and blast weapon.

"Remember choom, dat thing is second hand so get used to it before bettin ya life on it," Doc Borg was a son of a bitch but he didn't give a shit how much you chipped or where it came from so long as you paid the price. Biz in Santo was slow for the ripper so he had to made his dues one way or another and moonlighting as a black market ripper paid a lot more than his day job as a legitimate one.

"Yeah yeah ain't my first rodeo," the much larger Merc waved off the warning and retracted the barrel, concealing it within his massive arm before opening and aiming it again, "you do something to the internal housing?" He asked, he wasn't a pro but he could tell something was different.

"Dat model isn't made to fit ya arm, had to adjust it to keep it from rattling around its housing. If ya switched to the correct model limb it wouldn't be an issue but since ya insist on using those, I had to get creative." The man came out from the room he'd been poking around looking at a pair of inhalers in each hand.

Doc Borg was a thin man with white hair, a matching soul patch and some extensive internal chrome of his own. Synthmuscle implants gave him some bulk, but Maine doubted that the man knew how to use it. The only thing visual he could see was the dermal plating he had covering his chest but the freak had bragged about his new Mr. Stud a while back and once again, Maine doubted that he knew how to actually use it, seeing how he was plugged into that suck machine watching XBDs whenever he had a free minute.

"Ya good to go, if ya need anything else just gave us a call over ya holo. I'ma get back to what ta what I was doing." Maine rolled his eyes as the man took his place on the chair and didn't even wait for him to leave before moving his self pleasure machine back over the rippers chair.

The Merc shook his head and left before the gonk could pull his cock out, sending Dorio a message as he did to let her know he was done he didn't exactly tell her he was going here but he already knew what she'd say and he didn't feel like hearing it. They needed to step up their game, ever since that beatdown from the Shino that's all he could think about. He needed to be stronger and faster to keep shit like that from happening again, how would he make a name for himself in this city if he couldn't keep up?

Memories of that skinny little twerp he used to be flashed in his mind's eye, making him shake his head like it would somehow make him forget his past. That ragged little gonk running around his old man's failing farm, asthma kicking his ass as he looked out into the barren fields with nothing but dry cracked landscape as far as his worthless ganics eyes could see. Best thing the NUSA military ever did for him was let him sign up for the limb replacement. They tacked on more time for his enlistment but his new chrome made up for it. The new cyberlungs he got gave him the edge to destroy the military pt drinks they inflicted on him.

He needed to be better…

-xXx-

"Oh David!"

Over the sounds of passing vehicles on the road and the chattering crowds around him, David swore he could hear Naruto calling his name in a singsong manner, making his eyes widen. 'No way he caught up this fast!' he thought while glancing behind him, trying to see where the blond was without running full tilt into anyone ahead of him. He only had a few blocks left and just could see the entrance of his mega building but from his quick glance, he didn't see the blond so was he just hearing things?

"Over here Davy!" He heard again followed by a whistle to his left, making him look towards the road full of speeding traffic where he saw something he truly never expected. There was Naruto, laying on his side atop one of Night City's MT28 Coachs, his orange shorts sticking out against the gray corrugated metal sides and blue tail end of the bus while he waved at the teen, "Looking a little tired there choom," The fully autonomous MT28 Coach wasn't the fastest vehicle but it could easily outpace the already tired teen who couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Hey, that's cheating!" he yelled, their antics getting more and more attention as they continued. As he was yelling over the noise, David grunted as he ran shoulder first into a man who was equally distracted and stumbled, catching himself against an old streetlight pole, "Sorry choomba!" The man yelled something back but David was already several paces away trying to keep up with the blond.

"So was pushing me back in the NCART but I'm not gonna complain!" the ninja yelled back as the bus slowly started to get ahead of the teen, sitting up he got to his feet and moved to the rear of the bus where he stood over the edge, "But don't quit yet, come on Davy you can do it!" he called out while laughing as the teen flipped him off.

"Hey… Naruto!" The teen called out with a sudden grin which Naruto just could make out over the honking horn from a nearby hatchback trying to merge behind the bus he sat on, "Heads up!" he gave him a confused look until David raised a shaking hand ahead of him, pointing at something.

"Hm?" turning, Naruto yelped as the bus started turning at an intersection with a traffic light nearly slamming into his head had he not ducked underneath it in time as the bus crossed the intersection. "Haha, that almost got-" *thud* David couldn't help but wince as he dodged the first traffic light only to get hit by a old low hanging advertising banner for the 'Three mouths, One desire; the Sasha Devon Experience' BD that came out a while back. From where he was, David could just make out the sight of the blond crouching by the edge and rubbing the back of his head vigorously. There was no way he'd lose now.

'ha tough luck old man!' he smirked as he retook the lead and saw the building coming closer. The sounds of construction work still going on as he neared the lot across from his apartment building quickly overtook the sound of cars and waiting for a gap in traffic, the teen sprinted across the road and all but collapsed on the bottom step with a breathless cheer. "Hahaha," he laughed with a little wheeze, sitting down and leaning on the rail next to him to catch his breath. David could tell that he was getting better with the conditioning Naruto was putting him through and was honestly excited by the improvement. 'Maybe I'll ask him to start teaching me sooner when he finally gets here,' "Take that… old man,"

"Who're you calling old man?"

Eyes going wide, David spun around and saw Naruto walking down the steps with his hands in his pockets with a massive grin across his face, "Hey David, 'bout time you showed up. I was about to come and find you," David stared at him trying to process what he was seeing, there was just no way that he could beat him here. "Might wanna close your mouth before you catch a fly."

The joke made him close his mouth with a click of his teeth, "Just… how did you," he stuttered, looking out at the road and back while trying to think of a way that this was possible, did he have some kind of speedware? If so, that was preem as hell! "How did you do that!?"

The blond only chuckled and looked pleased with himself as he walked down and sat down next to him on the steps, "Years of training David," he grinned then stuck out his tongue, "gonna take more than that to beat me brat but I'll admit, you got me good earlier, wasn't expecting you to push me back onto the NCART like that," his statement made the teen roll his eyes at the first part then grimace.

"Yeah ah… about that, I figured I needed a edge to win… sorry about pushing you and-"

Naruto patted the teen on the back then leaned back on the stairs, "Nah it's fine David. You didn't overestimate yourself and even tried giving yourself the best shot at winning…" he took a moment to laugh, "to tell you the truth… I'm actually proud of you for that." David's eyes widened again at hearing those words, something his mother alway told him but he'd never heard from anyone else before, he opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words as Naruto continued to speak, "And speaking of… since I won the race back I think it's time for your deal right? 'Winner gets to make the loser do one thing of his choice' right?"

David sighed and nodded, "Within reason."

"Within reason of course." He repeated while making a show of looking thoughtful, "Hmm, I guess I could make you do something super embarrassing," David grimaced at the evil grin Naruto was sporting and began dreading what would happen next, "On second thought, I want you to make me a promise."

"A promise?"

Naruto nodded, standing up from the stairs and stepping off onto the sidewalk, "Yep, a promise." he turned and stood in front of the teen with a little grin on his face, "I've decided to teach you what I know," as David's eyes widened in excitement and as he went to speak, Naruto held up a hand to stop him, "I still expect you to tell me why you want to fight but before any of that, I want a promise from you." he waited a moment to let it sink in and continued, "What I'll teach you can kill someone David and you have to promise me that if you ever have to use it, you will not be the aggressor." Naruto couldn't help but see the hypocrisy of what he was asking, but he wanted David to know the seriousness of what he was asking to be taught. If he went out picking fights then he could just as easily murder someone by accident, he already had enough on his conscience and didn't want David murdering some dumbass kid to be added to it. "I trust you David, so if you make me that promise I'll take your word for it… but just know that if you break that promise not only will you have your mother to deal with, but me too,"

He let the teen soak in his words and watched the emotions flicker through his eyes. Worry, shock, excitement, confusion, contemplation, pride, then worry again, probably at the thought of his mother coming after him more so than the blond. After a minute, the teen nodded once and looked up, locking eyes with him before the blond held out a hand to help him up.

David stood up, still feeling the aches of his workout but stood strong as he nodded and gave his answer, mind whirling with different emotions. "I promise… ol- Naruto,"

"I'll hold you to it brat," the blond lightly smacked David on his shoulder and faced the stairs with a smirk, "guess we'll start your training in a couple days," when the teen started to protest, wanting to start sooner, Naruto snickered "Seriously David rest up, you think they hurt now just wait till your legs ache tomorrow,

-xXx-

"Nova interview today Lizzy, the announcement for your upcoming tour was nothing short of a masterpiece, this is gonna be all over the scream sheets within the hour," the singer half listened to Liam's PA rattle on about her interview with Ziggy Q, it had been a spur of the moment idea and she had to call in a favor or two but she snagged herself a surprise guest appearance on tonight's show, taking the spot originally allotted for a NCPD spokesperson. She was painfully green, a freshly promoted newbie clearly not ready to handle the likes of Ziggy and Lizzy had to admit that seeing the man get flustered at the sudden change was quite a treat.

They paced through the halls of the studio, passing several shocked and starstruck crew members who she smiled at enjoying their genuine shock. They had no clue that she would be here… in fact as of three hours ago she had no idea that she'd be here, that was how sudden she made this plan.

"Is Liam still on the holo?" She questioned with a bit of a sigh behind her words, taking a turn where one of Liam's newly hired security gonks was waiting, holding her little white fluff ball of a dog and looking stone faced but she knew his circs were heated, "Hello Bonkers," she took the now excited fluff ball and it quickly got settled into her arms while the star actively ignored the gonk standing there.

Behind her, the PA grimaced. Lizzy had been spotted by a kid out on the street when they were headed inside. While they were trying to sidestep any half assed culture vultures until the interview aired, Lizzy wasn't going to run the kid off or ignore her young fan. The guard followed the proper company protocol and held the approaching 'unknown individual' at gunpoint. Of course, Lizzy had been mortified, even more so when the child ran away crying. Did that gonk brained meathead not know how this would make her look? She may change her style and evolve her art but her reputation of decency to her fans never changed. She's always had security sure, but these gonks that Liam hired were a bunch of uptight assholes and that's coming from someone who worked in the music industry.

"Ah, yeah… Mr. Northam has been… speaking with various reps about the unfortunate accident that befell his collection."

'Unfortunate accident' she thought derisively while hiding any negative expression as they continued down the hallway with a few more of tagging along as they left. That was what he was framing it as, just an unfortunate accident as if the entire building didn't already know that someone assaulted the security and drove a motorcycle through the front door, leading NCPD on a merry chase through the city streets.

She almost felt bad for Liam but truthfully… she felt he got off lucky. Sure some of his bikes were destroyed and he's been having several long and annoying convos with insurance, turns out they don't want to payout and are fighting him tooth and chrome… go figure. But hey, he was alive right? Naruto could've killed him after all…

'Speaking of, I wonder what he's up to? Maybe I'll send him a message later on,' she thought with a smile as she rubbed Bonkers head softly, the little dog wagging its tail happily at her attention, 'I wonder if he's figured out who I am yet?' she wished she could see his face when he did, 'I bet it looks adorable with those whiskers of his,'

-xXx-

A Few Days Later…

-xXx-

"Hey Gloria, are you listening to me?"

[G: shoot, gotta get back to work. I'll message you in a while ok, bye Naruto!] Quickly snapping off that quick message, the redhead closed her chat and turned to her partner "Yeah I heard you Danny." The man gave her an unconvinced hmm from the driver seat, "I did,"

"I'm sure you did," he mused as she reached for her soda from lunch and brought the straw to her lips and smirked, "Sorry Gloria I just thought you'd have something to say about it you know? I mean he's always assumed who the top was but but my outputs dad walked in on his son wearing a maids outfit while I railed him." The woman choked on her drink and nearly inhaled the straw as well as he laughed, "ha, I knew your ass wasn't listening,"

She made a rude gesture that made him snort and grabbed some leftover napkins from their lunch, "Sorry Danny, I was sending a message," she apologized after clearing her throat and soaking up some of the mess on her coat, "good thing this doesn't absorb shit,"

"Eh it's all good choomba, just felt like messing with ya. Go on and finish I can wait." He waved it off and grabbed his own cup, leaning back as they enjoyed some downtime. They had recently helped clear the scene of a three car pile up just over the bridge into Watson, dropping some low level Corpo gonk off at the MedCenter with some broken ribs. The guy was a pain in the ass but with him safely in the hands of the medtechs at the ER, they had some time to grab some chow from a nearby scopstand.

Gloria shook her head, eyes glowing as she reopened her messages and found a response from Naruto. [N: It's all good, I gotta go talk to some chooms anyway, bye Gloria, talk soon! Oh and tell Danny I said hi].

He noisily drank from the straw, shaking the ice around when he noticed it was empty, "David sending you a text or was it some hot gonk you haven't told me about yet?" Danny couldn't help but chuckle a bit at in-joke between them, she had asked him the same thing after he started seeing his lovely output. He didn't exactly hide it from her but she caught on to the signs that he was seeing someone pretty quick and asked that same question.

Glancing over, he spotted the flash of shock that she tried to hide and suddenly sat up straight, "No way!" Scooting around, he sat sideways across the seat and grinned at her, "I saw that look girl, spill."

"Damn Kiroshi optics," the redhead cursed, making him smirk, the damn things were expensive but worth every ennie with the enhanced sight. "Well Danny… I've been kinda… seeing a guy, every now and then." Gloria blushed a bit, never having imagined saying that again after so long, "he's…" she trailed off as she thought about him with a genuine smile on her face, "... A really nova guy," when she looked back up at her choom, she saw that he was motioning for her to continue, "What?"

"Oh come on Gloria, you know I'm not gonna just drop it." Placing an elbow on one knee, he leaned forward and rested his chin against his fist with a curious twinkle in his Kiroshis, "Now spill. How'd you meet him?" The redhead said something but it was half mumbled, making him strain his ears for a moment before deadpanning, "gonna have to speak up choom, I got nova vision not ears."

She took a breath and decided to just tell him, knowing that he would be insufferable if she didn't, "His name's Naruto," he gave her a curious expression and looked thoughtful, "he moved into an apartment down the hall from mine."

"The name seems familiar…" Her choom mused while scratching his chin in contemplation as she grumbled something else, " Seriously choomba, can't hear what you're mumbling over there,"

She could already hear the shit he was gonna say when she told him who she was seeing, when they had dropped the blond Merc off in Heywood months back, Danny had joked that she needed to call him up and have a little fun. He finished by admitting that if he wasn't already serious with his own mainline he'd do it himself, wondering if the blond was a top or a bottom.

Ugh, she can already hear the jokes. The 'I told you so's and shit.

"Thats… because you met him… twice…" she finally admitted, explaining what she meant to him when he once again gave her a confused expression.

"Ooooh," Danny called out like a child with a massive smirk across his face, "Gloria's finally gotta input!"

He repeated it like a schoolyard gonk and Gloria felt her face heat up, "It's nothing like that you ass! We're just talking over drinks, that's it!" She denied while looking away from the man and his shit eating grin.

"But do you wanna be his output?" He questioned and she didn't even have to look at him to know he was eagerly waiting to hear her response.

Did she? If she was being completely honest, Gloria could easily imagine herself in a relationship with Naruto. He was… a good man to put it simply. David really looked up to him and even though the man was one of the many edgerunners in NC her son could have definitely chosen a worse role model… like that chrome junkie…

"I'm not against the idea but… ugh I don't know," she finally admitted after a few moments of contemplation, finally turning back to her choom in the driver seat and rolling her eyes at his expression, "Yeah yeah go on and make your joke, come on I know you wanna say it."

Danny shook his head, "I'll wait till later." His grin quickly changed to a concerned frown at her earlier statement, "What's stopping you?"

"Well…" leaning back in her seat, Gloria leaned on the armrest and took a breath, "I don't want to put more stress on David, he's already having a tough time with his classmates," he tried to hide it but she could tell when he had a rough day at school and she knew it wasn't his classwork, she got plenty of updates from the academy concerning his grades.

"Does David like him?"

She snorted at that and laughed a bit, "David looks up to him, he's been going to the gym and running with him whenever he gets the chance." Gloria felt something bounce off her hair and saw a tiny wad of rolled up paper from their straws land in her lap, "what's that for?"

When she looked back at Danny she saw him frowning at her, "You gonk, do you know how long it took my boy to accept that his old man was gay, much less my new output?" Gloria idly played with the paper and nodded, having been his metaphorical shoulder to cry on back then, "if David already likes him then you shouldn't have to worry about it too much. Hell choom, he might even call him dad one day…" Gloria imagined it, the three of them as a family, only for Danny to ruin it, "I mean with what he's packing you'll already be calling him daddy by then, but-"

She turned and threw the little wad back at him, "how would you know!"

"Remember when we scanned him in the back when he was hurt?" He ignored the trash she threw at him and laughed at her scandalized look while brushing his own EMT jacket off.

"Oh my God!" Gloria gasped, unable to believe what he was saying, "you said you didn't scan his-"

"I lied!" He roared with laughter at the look she gave him and had to take a moment to calm down, "You wanna see it?"

"You still have the scans!?"

"Nope, just curious to see if you wanted a sneak peek of his cock or not!" He had to shield himself as she started swatting at him with a burning blush on her face. After a moment she sat back down with an embarrassed groan and covered her face while he continued to laugh,"Trust your choom when I say that you definitely won't be disappointed!" Removing her hands from her face, Gloria looked back over only to look straight ahead when she saw him guesstimating the blonds size with his hands from memory.

"Unit 12, got a call from NCPD. They have a fight in progress and need EMS on scene for the victim. Young female, late teens, possible concussion, sending you the location."

Never before had she been so grateful to have a call over the radio in her career, "Unit 12 on route. Let's get moving Danny,"

-xXx-

[G: shoot, gotta get back to work. I'll message you in a while ok, bye Naruto!] Naruto read her message and gave a little pout. He'd been enjoying their chat but duty calls, he wouldn't distract her from work and get her in trouble.

Landing on top of a rumbling air conditioning unit on the roof of the Coyote Cojo, Naruto grimaced as it groaned and shifted a bit before quickly stepping off, hoping he didn't damage it too much as he looked around for any witnesses, fucking with the AC was a death sentance in the streets these days with the heatwave and Mama Welles didn't play that game when it came to keeping her bar comfortable.

[N: It's all good, I gotta go talk to some chooms anyway, bye Gloria, talk soon! Oh and tell Danny I said hi] He sent back, sighing in relief when the unit next to him continued to hum. At least he wouldn't have to fear Mama Welle's La Chancla… whatever it was, he really needed to look into that.

Stepping off the edge, he fell down to the alleyway behind the bar and looked around. He already knew that there wasn't any security cameras around so upon seeing no one else, the blond took out his makeshift storage scroll and unsealed its contents with a grin before heading inside with yell of, "Guess who's here!"

"Naruto mano, glad you could make it! Not that I'm complaining but you're kinda early ain't you?" The blond grinned as he walked futher into the Coyote Cojo and spotted both Jackie and Pepe lowering the bars pool table down in the corner in front of a roach race arcade machine.

Jackie grunted as the table was finally set in place, "if we'd known you were coming so early we coulda waited to move the pool table," he mused while standing up straight and cracking his back, "I swear the damn thing gets heavier every time we move it."

Pepe chuckled and slapped him on the back as he walked by, "Your just getting old Jaquito," the man joked, making the man squawk out a denial, "soon you'll be cursing at the gonks around here for playing their music loud,"

"Old!? I'm the picture of youth and vitality!" Naruto chuckled as Jackie flexed a few times and walked over to the pair, who quickly zeroed in on the items he carried. "Whatcha got there 'mano?" Jackie questioned looking at the boxes he carried. The first was a decent sized white cardboard box but what really got their attention was the larger crate under it marked with a large Militech logo with 'NUSA Govt. Property' stenciled across the side.

"Can't have a birthday without a cake right?" He spoke while walking over, setting the crate down on the pool table and getting a look from the pair, "what?"

"I think he means the crate 'mano,"

Naruto laughed at Pepe's deadpanned reaction, "Yeah I know, just a little entertainment for later," picking the smaller box up off the top, he held it out to the bartender who took it happily, "Hope you guys like it," while Pepe set the box down and opened it carefully to take a look with Jackie stepping over for a peek as well, Naruto looked around the bar and smiled, "Mama Welles help with the decorations?" There were streamers with small bunches of balloons wrapped around the railing above them and a small banner reading happy birthday hanging above the bar.

"Nope this is all Jaquitos doing," Pepe laughed while Jackie grinned, "had to stop him from going all out before we had a band and everything,"

Seeing Naruto's surprised look, Jackie shrugged as Pepe finished opening the box, "What can I say, I love a good fiesta," his eyes widened when he looked inside, "Santa mierda! And I go overboard?"

Sitting pretty inside the box was a large white cake topped with chocolate and strawberries, "are those real strawberries?" The oldest of the tree choked out, looking up and over to the blond who grinned and nodded, "Choom, how the… how much did this cost?" Real fruit was already ridiculously expensive, even cloned fruit while more available and comparatively cheaper was still expensive.

Naruto gave them a sheepish grin, "Me? Not a thing!" He scratched the back of his head and gave them a little smirk, "I just so happened to be taking a walk through one of Biotechnica's green houses and decided to snag a few… hundred or so… I asked Abuela if she'd make one for me." Not many knew it but biotechnica did have growing operations other than their protein farms, which was a topic he didn't care to think about. They were rare but they existed, he came to find out while on a gig for Regina. She had him breaking into a building out in the Biotechnica flats to steal some paydata, he stumbled upon the plants too and may have gotten a bit carried away.

"Dios mío," Pepe laughed, shaking his head as he closed the box, "Thank you Naruto, my dear Cynthia will love it," he gave the blond a grin of his own, "but what kinda entertainment are you talking about? You manage to get a hold of those fireworks you mentioned before?"

Naruto grunted with a small frown, "I wish, I asked a choom to look into it though," he'd refused to explain why he wanted them and gave anyone who asked a grin as he changed the subject. "This however, is a gift for someone. Just a little something to show my appreciation and show just what I think of them," The way he said it made them think that the person he intended to give it to wouldnt think too highly of his gift, "ooh! Speaking of which, remember the gonks I told you about that stole my bike?"

The two larger men nodded, smirking at each other which made Naruto roll his eyes, they'd cracked jokes on him non stop after he told them the story in person, "Well I'm gonna have them hand deliver it to the gonk and I have a guy inside that's gonna scroll the entire thing," he then pointed to a nearby holoscreen by the bar and started laughing as he imagined what would happen, "I even got a choom to set it up so I can jack in and we can watch it live."

"Damn 'mano, remind me not to piss you off, eh. This gonna be worse than what you did to Kirk?"

Naruto looked thoughtful for a second and shrugged, "Maybe, depends on who gets to witness it," he then got another thoughtful look on his face while Pepe stepped away to put the cake away, "Huh, you know now that I think about it… I've pissed off three outta five fixers so far,"

"Damn, you're working with that many fixers Holmes?" Jackie exclaimed looking both impressed and a bit annoyed. It was hard to get noticed and build up a solid rep, fixers wouldn't just hand out gigs to a new solo without any weight to their name. They had a vested interest in making sure that the clients gigs went well and tended to work with trusted crews over new and untested solos, He then shook his head, "Wait why did you think of pissing off fixers… wait is this for one of them?" The man looked at the Militech crate like it was a live bomb and grimaced, "Anyone I know?"

"Rogue Amendiares."

"Rogue Amendiares?" Jackie stated, making Naruto nod, "Like 'The' Rogue," once again Naruto nodded, "Queen of the Fixers,"

"Yeah Jackie, the old hag of the Afterlife, I don't see why you want to go there or do gigs for her, she's kind of a bitch." Jackie could only stare at him and Naruto huffed, already knowing what he was about to ask, "She 'summoned' me there to bitch about crashing a gig of hers, I had to get her clients safely out of the city and she didn't arrange protection. Apparently it made her look bad because the Padre stepped in and asked me to handle it."

Jackie deflated a bit at his words and grumbled, "I guess if you put it like that she does seem like a puta, but all the legends run there Holmes, the Afterlife is like the holy land of mercs. And you got the skills to be major league choom." They'd had this little back and forth before, Jackie couldn't believe that Naruto wasn't impressed by what the Afterlife represented to a solo. It was a sure sign that they were moving up and working their way to the big leagues.

"I don't want to be a legend Jackie," this was always his response to that but this time his voice felt a lot heavier as he trailed off, which made the other man wince. The last time he'd said that, it had been with a grin, "Jackie, I don't want to be a legend. I'd rather have a family and just be happy," Jackie suspected that the blond was still dealing with trauma and depression. Naruto hid it so well that it was kinda scary but every now and then he'd get a far away look in his eye before covering it up with a laugh or a joke.

"So wait… if Rogue's one of the ones pissed at you, who's the other? I assume Kirks is the second." Kirk may be afraid of him but that didn't mean he wasn't pissy with him like a child that didn't get his way.

"Well you remember that gig I did for Kirk? The output that went missing on Jigjig?"

"The one Kirk tried to fuck you outta the eddies for?" Naruto could see the gears turning in the mans head and waited for the look of realization, "No way, the Lady of Westbrook?,"

Naruto nodded once and crossed his arms, "Yep, but I wouldn't exactly say it's official or anything, I kinda fucked up a Tygerclaw that was beating up that same Joytoy… turns out that gonk was her grandson… and I kinda broke a bunch of stuff in her Pachinko parlor… with his face." he gave the gaping man a sheepish chuckle as he admitted to it.

Jackie knew about the gig in question but hadn't heard anything about that part before. "Well shit Naruto, I'm surprised that she didn't try to flatline you. She's zeroed gonks for less shit in the past, how the hell'd you manage to get her to throw some gigs your way."

Naruto shrugged, "I agreed to work a couple gigs for her to repay the damages. Already handled one but after the next two I don't know if she'll be offering gigs anymore." he stopped and checked the time on a nearby clock, "The guys delivering this should be coming by in a few to pick this up, told them to meet me in the alley out back to make this as sketchy as possible, you wanna come with? " the solo tapped the Militech crate with a smirk. "You can be my hustle and we can make them worry about what's inside."

If Jackie enjoyed anything it was a good joke but messing with Rogue? He had to think about it for an extra second or two while looking between the blond and the crate, "Only if you show me what's inside." Naruto gave him a toothy grin and unlatched the lid, opening it for Jackie to peek inside, "Seriously?" he deadpanned only to get a childish look in return, "there's got to be more to it."

"Oh trust me Jackie, there is."

"Come on holmes, I gotta know,"

Jackie stopped short when he spotted Naruto's eye light up from his holo and felt sorry for them as Naruto grinned "Looks like my delivery gonks are close!" The larger of the two reached over and pulled the Militech crate to him earning a questioning look from the blond.

"Well since I'm playing the hustle, figured I should act the part at least." He shrugged before lifting it with ease, "want me to mean mug them too while I'm at it?" The little smirk he had turned cold and was instantly morphed into a mean, 'try me' stare that made the blond bite his lip.

"If you want to," Naruto gave him a little shrug and tried not to laugh. To anyone else Jackie's expression would probably be quite intimidating with his size but to Naruto, it was more amusing than anything, not that he would tell his friend that.

"Hey Pepe!" Jackie called out, heading to the back door with Naruto, "be back in a few!" Pepe yelled back to let them know he heard and the two continued out "They got any idea of what's in here?"

"Nope!"

The alley behind the Coyote Cojo was the same as ever, he hadn't really taken the time to look around earlier but now he was giving it a good look. "Jackie really choom?" He questioned while looking at the small pile of trash bags that had been stacked in the corner next to the door. "The dumpsters right over there,"

The man grumbled as he pointed to not one but four graffiti covered dumpsters less than 20 feet ahead of them, "Hey it wasn't me, ever since you started bitching at me I toss 'em in there," little did the blond know it was most likely Mama Welles that put it there.

"No really!" He exclaimed while the blond narrowed his eyes with a disbelieving gaze.

For whatever reason, Naruto had gotten a stick up his ass about the trash in the alleyway and low and behold, one morning his mama called asking if he had anything to do with the place being straightened up. Trash in the dumpster and pushed back inplace. The empty beer kegs from the bar neatly stacked on a pallet awaiting pickup, hell he half expected to show up on day to find all the Valentinos murals and graffiti gone.

Naruto huffed and snatched the trash bags up off the ground, it wasn't many so he grabbed all four of them in one go and stepped over to toss them each into the nearest open dumpster.

"We probably got a couple minutes before they show up." The blond mused while unthinkingly brushing off his hands on each pants leg, "It's been a while since we hung out Jackie, how's life been? Anything new going on?" He stepped back over and leaned on the wall not too far from the door as Jackie set the crate down gently on top of some milk crates.

The man shrugged, crossing his arms and joining him, "eh you know how it is Holmes, pick up a gig or two here and there, help mama out here when she needs it, oh yeah I took Misty out for a ride around the city the other day,"

"You two have fun?"

"I did but Misty… eh well she didn't exactly say it but I don't think she liked it too much." Jackie winced a bit and scratched the tip of his nose for a moment, "how about you 'mano? Got anything new going on ?"

"Actually yeah," Naruto got a slightly sheepish look on his face that made the other man raise an eyebrow, "I don't really want to put it out there too soon and get ahead of myself but… I kinda met someone,"

"Well I-" the bull of a solo stopped for a moment as he processed the blond's words and looked genuinely surprised, "you did?" It had been a while since Camilla flatlined and in all honesty, Jackie didn't think that his choom would ever be able to move on, after all it wasn't just Camilla that he'd lost. He couldn't wait to tell his mother, maybe she'd ease up and stop worrying about the blonds' depression as much as she did, "who is she, someone I know? No, how'd you meet her?

"Her name's Gloria, she's an EMT." Jackie watched the grin on the blonds face widen and grinned as his chooms continued, "She patched me up after what happened at H6 and it turns out that she lives in the same building I moved into. Took her out for drinks as my way of saying thanks and it just kinda snowballed from there."

"She good looking?"

Naruto snorted, shaking his head, "What would Misty think if she knew you were asking about other women?"

"She knows I'm loyal," the man returned with a little grin of his own, then thought about it after a moment and winced, "although she'd probably tell Mama and both of them would whoop my ass good with la chancla."

"Misty would?" Naruto didn't know Misty had that side to her, she always looked harmless even with the spiked bracelets and choker she wore.

"Oh yeah, Misty might look chill and laid back but get her riled up and she'll be the first to throw fists,"

"But to answer your question Jackie, yeah… I think she's beautiful," The growl of a motor echoed down the alley much louder than usual, "that might be them," Naruto hummed before his eye lit up again with a messages, his holo pinging with a notification

*BEEP*

[M: We're here] Short and to the point.

Naruto had to admit that he'd gotten the distinct impression that Maine was less than pleased to be playing delivery boy when he last spoke to the man. 'He'll probably change his tune when I tell him where he's going,' he mused to himself. What made the Afterlife so amazing to edgerunners he'd never really understand.

"Alright Jackie, you ready?"

The man nodded once and made sure his stuff was in order, "how's this?" He put on his best mean face that he nearly snorted at, "going for that Morgan Blackhand stare,"

"I can see it," the blond appraised, nodding his head as he looked at the expression on his chooms face. He had heard the name before but thats all he really knew and had no idea what he looked like, so Jackie looked more like he smelled something offensive rather than intimidating to him.

The pair made their way down the alley behind the neighboring buildings, passing several filthy armchairs that looked like they were still being used despite being thrown out. Someone had set a few boxes next to them and were using them as tables to eat and drink on.

Passing by a few gates and twice as many vending machines, they stepped out into the parking lot where several familiar cars and bikes were parked with an unfamiliar purple Quadra 66 backed into a parking spot, probably for a quick getaway if needed. "Quadra 66 huh? Not bad, with some tuning that beast can outrun most NCPD rigs," Jackie muttered before noticing several Valentinos hanging out nearby, obviously having noticed the car and not recognizing it.

"Hey Jackie, mi amigo!" one of them called out as the two of them came walking around the corner. It took Jackie a second but he recognized the gangoon from his own time with the gang, "Chooms of yours?"

"Es bueno," he called out, "they're guests," that got the gangers to visibly relax as the pair headed towards the car in question. The doors opened up and Jackie couldn't help but let out a little hum as he saw the two mercs, "Damn 'mano, they're big," followed by the gremlin. "Is that a-"

"I wouldn't call her that to her face dude," Naruto cut him off with a laugh, remembering how she instantly tried to shoot him when he called her the same thing before.

-xXx-

I can't sleep, everytime I close my eyes it's there… watching me, mocking me, reminding

me that it's coming to finish the job, to punish me for what I've done. Started using stims to stay awake, I can't even find a moment of peace in my dreams… no matter what I always end up back there, in that room with him looming over me, that damned mask staring at me. The only place I can find peace is NetSpace, when I deepdive the demon can't follow, maybe it's afraid? I'm spending more and more of my time there now, I'm starting to see him out of the corner of my eye, watching me from the shadows. They tell me that it's not real, that the demon is just a man but they didn't see what I did, I know what I saw.

The Shino is a demon and he's coming to kill me… he's coming to kill us all

-xXx-

Despite the bar being closed for the party Pepe and Mama Welles were throwing for Cynthia, the bar had quite a few people show up to celebrate. If he had known that this many people would come he would have asked Abuela to bake a few more cakes since he certainly had enough strawberries for it left over. The birthday girl and her chooms were gushing over it and from the grin Pepe had on his face Naruto was pretty sure that the man would be in for a wild night later on.

"Naruto, what are you doing hiding up here?" Leaning against the railing and looking down at the party going on below, Naruto turned his head to see Mama Welles walking over from the stairs with a bottle in her hand, "everything alright?" She stepped over to him and looked him over with concerned eyes that made him feel a bit bad for worrying her, "You not enjoying the party?"

He shook his head, "No it's nothing like that, the party's great," he nodded down to the party below where a Pepes young son and two of his chooms were running around, "Just hiding from the kids down there, told Pepe I'd keep an eye on em for a little while and they wanted to play hide and seek."

"I see you've recruited Jackie to play too," she smiled as the man was poorly hidden behind the pool table and was soon caught and dogpiled by the children. The man collapsed to the ground dramatically as they tackled him, getting little laughs from the nearby adults including Misty who had been shocked to get the invite, "Jackie was always a big child at heart…" they watched for a moment before the woman turned to him, "I hear your seeing someone again,"

He shook his head and laughed a bit, "Jackie tell you?"

"Naruto, I've raised three boys and not a single one could hide something from me if they tried," she smiled while patting him on the shoulder, "he told me because I worry for you." she backed off and held out the bottle she carried to him. It was slightly dusty and the label was faded and rippled from age, "I've been meaning to open this and I really wanted you to be the one to try it with me first,"

He took the bottle and turned it over in his hands a few times, looking it over, "Ba-al-bek A-rak?" he read, making the woman hide a small laugh as he butchered the name.

"It's pronounced Baalbek Arek," she corrected

The blond nodded, looking a bit bashful at his piss poor pronunciation. "Oh sorry," she waved it off, "But why do you want me to try it first?" He really doubted that there was anything nefarious going on but couldn't help but be curious.

"A few years ago, Camilla gave this bottle to me. No reason why, just popped up one day and told me that she wanted me to have it." hearing where it came from, Naruto held the bottle much more securely as he looked at it. "I planned to share it with her one day and… " she slowed down for a moment, contemplating if she should continue but pushed on at seeing that she now had his full undivided attention, "Well I can't think of anyone else I'd rather try it with first," She wouldn't tell him that she had planned to break it out not long after Cami gave birth to his son, that in another life they would all be drinking to the life of his newborn child around this time instead.

"I… ah…" Naruto was at a loss for words as he switched between looking at her and the bottle. She brought up him dating again and then this so he was starting to feel guilty, was this her way of saying that he moved on too fast or something?

"Naruto," she got his attention by covering his hands with her own, "I will be honest, I was so afraid for you. I could see you slipping more and more into a dark place, the liquor and pills you were taking just to put on that happy face for us." when he went to open his mouth she shushed him, "there were days no one knew where you were and we didn't hear from you. Dios mío there were days I half expected to get a call saying that you'd hurt yourself… or worse."

If Naruto was honest with himself, there had been more than one occasion where he came pretty close to doing more than just hurting himself.

"But then you showed up one day, you weren't drinking, you threw yourself into work but I could tell something changed and you were healing. You opening yourself up and dating again is proof of that, Cami would be happy for you and I am too." Mama Welles gently tugged the bottle from his grasp and turned to one of the tables where several boxes of stuff that Jackie had moved from downstairs for the party were stacked. "I knew these were in here," she mused after fishing out two thick square glass tumblers.

The blond joined her next to the table as she broke the seal and poured some into the glass, "I'm sorry for worrying you like that," he winced, rubbing the back of his head as he did so. "Things were… rough."

"It's alright dear boy." the woman gave him a kind smile and picked up both glasses, handing him one, "After all… worrying about her boys is what a madre does," Accepting the glass, Naruto looked at the liquor for a moment as he smiled at her words and took a sip along with Mama Welles, the alcohol burning on its way down his throat but surprisingly smooth. The older woman didn't even flinch as she downed hers and watched him with an amused look as he took a few more sips to finish it off when his eyes suddenly widened, "You ok?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto gave a little cough and grinned at her, "Gotta get down stairs, it's time for the entertainment!" putting the cap back onto the bottle, the woman smiled and shook her head as she followed him down the stairs.

"There he is!" cried one of the kids moments after he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Get 'em!"

"Huh?" Naruto suddenly found his legs trapped as three children latched onto him in an attempt to drag him to the ground, "You little munchkins are gonna have to try harder than that to bring me down!" he laughed while slowly lifting his leg and walking further away from the steps, carrying/ dragging three children who laughed and giggled,

"Uncle Jackie help!" Pepe's son suddenly called out, making Naruto laugh even more and continue with a cartoonishly dramatic voice.

"Uncle Jackie cant help you, he's my choom and wouldn't betray me!" hearing heavy footsteps, Naruto turned and saw Jackie grinning as he started picking up speed across the barroom floor, "Jackie, you wouldn't! Jackie no! AHH!" covering his face, Naruto screamed as Jackie leaped onto him and brought everyone down to the floor in a laughing, giggling pile of limbs.

-xXx-

While he had no idea exactly how it worked, connecting his personal link to the screen hanging beside the bar allowed him to broadcast the signal from his holo to it so that everyone could see. "So what exactly are we watching again?" one of Cyntia's work friends asked as she enjoyed one of the last remaining pieces of cake with her young daughter, who was too young to be running around like the others had been earlier.

Naruto glanced back to where most of the remaining party goers had crowded around the bar and we're waiting to see what would happen, "Just a little something I've been cooking up for a while." He answered with another villainous overdramatic chuckle that made the kids laugh.

"Daddy your choom is funny," Pepe son giggled before being scooped by his dad who held him to his chest.

"He is huh?" Naruto couldn't help but smile as the other kids yelled out in agreement, "Well who's the most nova? Naruto or your old man?" The dad asked with a smirk while walking over to his wife and leaning on the bar next to her, wrapping an arm around the birthday girl who leaned back against him.

"You are!" The boy cheered much to the bartender's amusement before finishing, "cause Naruto squeals like a little girl!"

"W-what!" Sputtered the blond, "no I don't!" But his denial was drowned out by a chorus of children crying out that he did, much to everyone else's amusement as the solo crossed his arms and pouted comically for them.

Jackie who had been fiddling with the holo to get it going finished laughing and wiped a tear from his eye, "you have to admit 'mano, that scream you let out was a bit-," he twitched as Naruto turned and tossed balled up napkin at him, which bounced off his shoulder.

Their friendly banter was cut short as the screen connected via Naruto's personal link flashed, a notification window appeared in His vision warning him about the connection which he was waiting for and allowing it which made the screen flicker and pop on.

"So this is the inside of the Afterlife huh?" It was easy to see just how excited Jackie was to get a live view of the bar even if it was over a video feed, "The heart of Night City," he said it so quietly that Naruto was sure he was probably the only one to hear it being right next to the guy. The look on his face as he looked at the live footage shocked the blond, a mixture of awe and maybe a bit of jealousy.

'Maybe I'll try and help Jackie get in there when things cool down… doubt I'll be welcome in there at all after today though,' Naruto mused as he grinned and joined the the others and leaned on the bar next to Pepe, sticking his tongue out at the man's son who started making faces at him. 'I bet no one else will have a banning story quite like this, oh and I have to send Sid and Ami a copy of this.'

"Oh man that's 'the' Rogue, wow isn't she supposed to be like 70 something," one of Cynthia's work chooms asked, sitting with her own child fast asleep in her arms after he'd run himself ragged playing.

"I told you Bebe, those skin revitalizing treatments work miracles," Cynthia joked, holding Pepe's hand as she leaned against him. "Hmm if she can burn the eddies for those, you'd think she would try to wear something a little more… neokitsch, girls rocking gray hair and dressed like she still sneaks out to go to parties."

"Hm I was thinking the same thing… and what about-" Naruto had no idea what neokitsch was but to hear the two women start ruthlessly pick at the fixers style just tickled him, but her comment on the skin revitalizing treatments reminded him of something that he'd nearly forgotten. He told Pepe that he would help him out with the eddies to take her to some high end spa as a gift and he'd nearly forgotten to give it to him.

"Choom how in the hell did you get someone this close to beam a live feed to you?" Jackie had to ask, from what they were seeing, whoever was scrolling stood right next to the doorway looking into where Rouge and her gonks sat.

"I'll tell you about that later Jackie," when the man turned and shot him a confused look, Naruto nodded towards the kid and shook his head. It probably wasn't the best story to tell kids after all and besides, telling the story would be admitting to several crimes in front of several people he didn't know at all. Jackie nodded and went back to watching what was happening while Naruto reached into his orange vest and took out an envelope from an inner pocket, it wasn't exactly a small amount but years of budgeting growing up made him a master of finding extra eddies when he needed.

Naruto nudged Pepe in the side and the man turned his head with a questioning look. He inconspicuously wiggled the envelope and mouthed the word 'spa' which the larger man looked shocked, then relieved before giving him a grateful nod. He went to take it but with his son in one arm and his wife holding the other, Pepe couldn't exactly take it covertly.

"Wait a minute… Naruto, did you really send Rogue a cake?" Mama Welles questioned as a puzzled looking fixer lifted a familiar white box out of the Militech crate, one that looked exactly like the one he'd brought the strawberry cake in that was sitting empty on the bar. Everyone looked at him for a moment as he grinned and nodded, "You did something to it didn't you?" she accused with a knowing look, getting an even more devious grin than the last, "How much trouble did you go through to do this?"

"More than it's worth i'm sure," he admitted with a shrug before nodding to the screen, "But sometimes you just have to make a statement," his nodding towards the screen made everyone look back to it as not to miss what would happen and slipped the envelope into Pepe's vest pocket without anyone noticing, even Pepe.

"Ah 'mano is that…" Pepe started before Naruto held up his chrome hand giving a peace sign and nodding. The guy recording leaned forward to look inside the now open box and indeed there was a cake in the shape of a hand giving a peace sign, they couldn't read what was written in icing on top but it read, 'Thanks for the heads up on Militech! PS…'

"I don't get it," Cynthia hummed with a puzzled look on her face, adjusting her long blond ponytail, "whats the joke supposed to-" the recorder jerked as the pointer finger suddenly popped, leaving a cake in the shape of a middle finger staring the fixer queen in the face with little bits covering her as she was the closest. There was a stunned silence as Naruto snickered in the background, even the person with the camera seemed to be shaking and trying not to laugh.

"That… wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be," Jackie mused while sounding somewhat relieved before stopping and turning to the blond, "Wait was that-" he stopped himself at the now devilish grin the solo wore and turned back to the screen just as Rogue started to speak. They all kinda wanted to know what she was saying but the vid feed was visual only, but whatever she was about to say ended with a flash of orange as the center of the offensive cake burst with a flash of orange.

Now Naruto couldn't hold it in, he tried not to wake up the sleeping boy so he bit his knuckle to try and keep it quieter but the sight of Rogue standing in shock partially covered in splotches of orange food coloring was one of the greatest sights he'd seen in forever. Cynthia and her chooms snickered and laughed at the sight, Pepe chuckled and shook his head, their son thought it was the funnest thing he'd ever seen and was laughing while clapping his hands. Jackie, while amused, was speechless along with Misty who covered her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater next to Mama Welles who shook her head while trying not to show a grin of her own.

"Naruto, do I want to know the reason why?" the Welles matriarch asked once the screen flashed and disconnected, leaving the crowd to turn their attention to the blond who blushed a bit and looked sheepish.

"No… not really," he mused, after all how could he explain that the only reason he pranked her was because she insulted him and the way he dressed.

-xXx-

Sprinting through the halls of the dark and dilapidated building as fast as the bullet in her leg would allow, Taiyana whimpered and gasped as she nearly collapsed while slamming her shoulder into a filthy metal gate covering an old wooden door, "open up, please open up! She screamed while pounding a bloody fist against the metal that rattled noisily in its frame, "for fucks sake open up you glupaya suka!" Each hit left a small wet spot on the rusted metal but she didn't care, and continued pounding on the gate frantically.

Gunshots could be heard further down from where she came making her more frantic than before, "Open the fuckin door, I know your in there! Open up!" A scream from down the hall made her freeze and look back to see one of her chooms stagger out from the stairway she'd just ran down, one of his arms a bloody stump that her enhanced optics could see perfectly.

"Please!" She could hear the man gasp out, as he staggered against the wall, holding onto the stump with his remaining arm as he saw her down the hall, "Taiyana, lyubov'... Please don't leave me here!" The woman looked down the hall in the opposite direction and glanced back at him, "Taiyana please!"

She continued to hesitate and after a minute, turned to try and help her lover but stopped short as another figure through the doorway to the stairs they'd just exited themselves, "oh God," she stumbled back, using the wall to keep steady, "izvini," she choked out as the figure stood behind her lover, following his every step as the man started to franticly try to limp away and towards her.

The man gasped and groaned with each uneasy step, leaving a long trail of blood in his wake and smeared along the wall where he tried to drag himself away. But the figure followed him, never out of arm's reach and listening to the man's panicked gasps and calls, "Taiyana!" The figure reached out and grabbed him by the hair, jerking him back which caused his injured leg to give out, "No! Please!" He screamed on his knees, reaching out to the woman and trying to scream her name.

There was a flash and Tatyana watched her mainlines arm fall limply to his side, his body falling forward in a slump while the figure held his head by its hair, a long blood covered mantis blade unfolded from its left arm. With a careless toss, the killer threw her inputs severed head down the hall, where it landed with a dull thump on the floor and rolled over several pieces of trash, stopping a few yards from her feet.

"You're the last," the extended mantis blade retracted but didn't fold back into his arm as the figure started walking towards her, like one of those old nature vids of an animal playing with its food. "Filthy… fuckin… scav bitch," he hissed out the closer he got. Turning, she tried to run but the man quickly raised a VST-37 Pozhar shotgun hanging from his side and fired a few rounds. The first couple were low, sending shrapnel and trash flying as the shot hit the floor but the next couple shredded her legs and sent her crashing into the ground with a scream.

A rough kick to her side rolled her over onto her back and Tatyana stared fearfully up at the man getting her first clear look at the guy who attacked her and her crew, "who the fuck are you?" She sobbed, her legs a mangled mess as she looked up at him. He wore mostly black with some dirty combat gear, a vest and pads over a hoodie that helped hide his face, several areas were ripped and torn from the fight and his subdermal armor could be seen under the remnants of his remaining synth skin.

"Just a guy who's had enough of people like you," he raised the shotgun once again, "a father whose little girl was butchered by animals like you," she cried, begging for her life, but he only glared down at her with military grade optics that recorded it all."And he wouldn't let you go so why should I?"

"W-who?"

He stepped forward once more and she just could see him wearing a dark red tygerclaw mask under the hood, "The Shino," the shotgun fired again and the woman's head was reduced to chucks that spattered the floor where her cybernetic limbs twitched once and went still.

-xXx-

Early 2075…

-xXx-

"Naruto not to say I don't trust you but isn't Pacifica kinda…" Gloria trailed off and picked a loose thread from her black t-shirt as they passed by several rusted junk cars sitting on the side of the road, "Well… dangerous?" as if to prove her point a nearby electrical panel with a rats nest of cables and wires haphazardly connected to it shorted, sending sparks shooting through the air which made the lights on a nearby building flicker and dim before powering back up as they passed by.

When he excitedly asked to take her out for the night Gloria had expected another enjoyable dinner and drinks but to her surprise the blond had other plans, something amazing he promised her. They still went out to grab a quick dinner but Naruto had arranged for them to be picked up by a rather feral looking choom of his with red tattoos on his face that looked like fangs driving a gray Archer Hella.

"Hey don't worry about it, everythings been taken care of," the driver smirked, showing his fangs as he cruised down the road, going around an overturned dumpster that was partially on the road, while reaching up and tapping a old bobblehead of a white cartoon dog with brown ears. "Just pretend like I'm not even here and enjoy the ride," the bobble head seemed to nod in agreement while Naruto grinned.

"Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I don't trust you, it's just you hear stories about Pacifica at night," Between the Scavs, Animals, and the Voodoo boys that claim most of the area, Pacifica was all but abandoned by the rest of Night City.

During the Unification War sometime between 2069 and 2070, Corporate investors began to fear that the New United States would invade Night City from Southern California, which could turn what was supposed to be the planned corpo playground of Pacifica into a battlefield. Rumor and speculation kicked off a race between corpos and other investors to pull their funding from Pacifica in a bid to save their funding, not caring in the slightest about the hundreds of thousands that suddenly found themselves jobless and with Night City's economy already on a downturn, the outcome was disastrous for the district. Large parts of Pacifica that were still under development were left unfinished with towering skeletal husks of concrete and steel left towering over the abandoned area and naturally, with Corpo interest and security gone the NCPD quickly ignored the area letting the homeless and gangoons take over with ease.

Naturally, the district was overrun by poverty and crime. Scavengers and other criminal gangs plagued the district, many unfortunate gonks caught there were targeted by scavs who saw the area as a preem hunting ground for klepping valuable chrome or vital organs with relative ease. That was until The Voodoo Boys; a techno-mystical group of netrunners, made the district the base of their operations, originating from the Haitian community that settled in Night City after their country was ravaged by climate disaster. They weren't good people but they took it upon themselves to protect the local community when NCPD ran away.

At least that was the gist of the deets he got from Regina and the Padre.

"Gloria if you're not comfortable just say the word and we'll head back," The blond told her, holding out his hand to her, "but I promise everythings gonna be fine," he winked at her and she intertwined her fingers with his.

"No, it's ok I trust you," she replied, squeezing his hand and scooting just a little closer to him in the back seat, "although I would like to know where we're going," he only gave her a little wink in response and kissed the back of her hand.

"That's the surprise,"

Soon the car reached its destination and hopped the curb, driving past several concrete barricades and parking outside of the old Eden Beach Mega Ride amusement park just outside of the massive Grand Imperial Mall that was once supposed to be the crown jewel of Pacifica. "Ah…" Gloria gave him a look of confusion as she turned from the dark amusement park, he only chuckled and opened his door, stepping out with her hesitantly joining him after a moment.

"I know it's not much right now but just wait." Holding out his hand again, she took it and he led her a few steps closer and stood in front of the large neon sign that the pair could just make out from the street light by the street. "Don't blink,"

She started to ask what he meant but saw him bring his fingers up to his lips, letting out a shrill whistle that seemed to echo out across the darkened amusement park before them. A few more moments passed and just before she asked what was happening, Gloria heard a low hum that she just could hear over the sound of the rest of the district behind them. It started with some old advertising signs near the entrance, the old holographic projection panels starting to glow before projecting several ads for shows that hadn't been scrolled over the networks for nearly five years. Then the neon signs above the entrance started glowing, several of the letters were busted but they weren't all that important honestly, she was just shocked that they still work.

"Naruto… what is this?" She asked breathlessly, eyes wide as she watched more and more lights start to pop on or power up one by one. The once dark amusement park was being revealed more and more as the lights came on and she began to feel like a little girl looking at something magical again.

Naruto stepped around her and smiled at the look of wonder in her eyes, "a couple months back you said that our date was the best one you ever had," she was a bit distracted but she nodded, Gloria remembered it because that was the first time she'd kissed him on the cheek, "Well," he stepped to the side and motioned to the amusement park, "I kinda got carried away, but I wanted to do something special," he laughed sheepishly just as the bars of the ferris wheel started lighting up one by one, flashing and pulsing in a nearly hypnotic pattern that took her breath away.

"Shall we?" Gloria looked at Naruto, offering his hand to her with a grin and felt her cheeks heat up as she nodded, any and all worries the woman had about being in Pacifica were drowned out by the excitement and wonder. This was the first time she'd ever been inside an amusement park, growing up no one could really afford it so all she ever really saw was the commercials that advertised it.

-xXx-

Naruto could see how amazed Gloria was and grinned at the way her face lit up at seeing the lights. Coming here just after sunset hadn't originally been the plan but some last minute pest control had been needed before he brought her anywhere near this place. It seemed to work out better though since the amusement park wasn't exactly in the greatest shape due to years of neglect. Eden Beach Mega Ride was a stupid name anyway, Rust World fit the bill much better.

Walking hand in hand between a small cluster of kiosks and stands, some of which were still barricaded shut, the redhead continued to look around in wonder, "Naruto this is… amazing," she couldn't help but laugh as she looked at the different lights and displays surrounding them, one of the stands had speakers playing some cheesy carnival music that she just loved, "How did you manage to get things working?"

"Well I didn't do it alone," he chuckled, scaring the back of his head, "I had to ask some chooms for a favor or two with some of the electronics," he had several painful memories of touching the wrong wires that ended with a bright flash of light and a lot more smoke and damage than he fixed. Thank God for shadow clones. "But I did manage to figure something out while I was here," he nudged her to follow him to a nearby stand. She gave him an odd look as he slid over the counter disappearing behind it and reappearing seconds later with a little paper hat with the Eden Beach logo printed on the front."Well how do I look?"

She covered her mouth and laughed as he leaned against the counter with a little smirk on his face, the hat was far too small and he had to adjust it whenever he moved too fast, "Hmm like the cutest employee at the park," she mused, instantly turning red as she realized what she said which made the blond beam.

-xXx-

"Oh my fucking God." Inside the Grand Imperial Mall a short ways away from the amusement park outside, deep within the service tunnels and restricted areas where the the maintenance areas for the parks subsystems were hidden, Rico looked over to where his output was staring wide eyed at the suevalence term, "this motherfucker is the cheesiest gonk I've ever seen,"

The man snorted and double checked the readings from another terminal, "His date plans not doing too preem?" Making sure that the grid wasn't getting overloaded, he nodded and slid over to her to peek as well and saw Naruto leaning against the counter to one of the park's stands.

"Oh no, from what I'm scoping he's definitely getting his dick sucked tonight if nothing else," the burned woman fiddled with the controls and zoomed in on the redheads face after the kid handed her a paper cone with a lopsided puff of cotton candy, "look at her, shes giving off those fuck me vibes… I wonder who she is."

"Don't do it," Rico grumbled, making her look at him with a pout, "were already on VD turf, let's not fuck around and ping ourselves on their subnet,"

The techie blew a raspberry and pulled her feet up into the office chair, arranging herself into a lotus position, "love, they already know we're here," she smirked at the half panicked look he gave her and gave him a quick kiss, "Don't let it bother you though, loverboy did something so they aren't trying anything. Probably a few curious gonks wondering why the lights popped back on,"

"Ortiz, I've been here about to shit a brick about the Voodoo boys hacking us and you're just now telling me that the kid already took care of that?"

Grabbing the edge of the desk, she spun herself around to face him, nearly knocking her holovisor off the desk as she did, "just keeping that ticker pumping old man,"

He stood up and towered over her, "you're asking for a spanking if you keep it up Ortiz," he grumbled again but the look on his face betrayed him, he pinned one of her arms to the armrest by the wrist with his hand and leaned in close. "And if you have to know, her name is Gloria Martinez,"

"Hmm so the Shino likes himself some spicy latinas huh?" She joked remembering his last mainline when he leaned her back suddenly which got a yelp followed by another pout when he stopped just out of range for a kiss "meanie," her eyes suddenly widened, a strange mix of a gasp and a moan coming from her mouth as his other hand rubbed her through the thin polymer shorts she wore, "Rico?"

"The kid isn't the only one," she loved it when he initiated and bit her lip as her sitting like this gave him open access to her, which he took advantage of. His fingers quickly slid up the leg of her shorts, making her grip the arm of the chair as he knew just where to touch. But all too suddenly, he pulled away and watched the little moans stop and be replaced with a lost confusion as the pleasure stopped. "We can play later, we got work to do."

Wet and frustrated now, she looked at the security feeds from around the park and mall, spotting several animal gangoons heading through the mall's rear exit towards the park. "Fucking clam jamming pricks," snatching up a old radio she pressed the button and raged, "Hey you got some Animals from the mall headed loverboys way, get over there and fuck em up!" Then tossed it back onto the table.

"Do what?" Rico glanced at the com and felt a chill run down his spine, those masked runners the kid ran with freaked him out, it seemed like they could pop up anywhere at any time and be gone just as fast. He used to think they could give those 'saka gonks a run for their cred but now though… With them at his back, he just didn't know why the kid didn't just say fuck it and stake his own claim on whatever district he wanted.

Stopping half way, Ortiz turned back and snatched the com up once again "Just fucking kill them!" And threw it back down before spinning back around to Rico, untangling her legs to stand up, "oh we ain't stopping like that,"

"Damn someone pissed in her sybthcoff this morning,"

"Couldn't be the old dude then, she'd probably like that,"

-xXx-

His lopsided grin was infectious and gave her butterflies the longer she looked at it. Naruto had taken her all around the park and it seemed like they had spent hours playing the little carnival games that still worked… well mostly worked anyway. The only thing she didn't like about it was the rollercoaster, the redhead had never been on one before and after the first drop decided that she never wanted to try it again. But now their date was winding down and coming to an end. He'd promised to have her home before it was too late and had told her that he wanted to show her one last thing and took her up on the ferris wheel.

"Oh my god," she couldn't help but gasp as they stopped at the top, the little round pod they were in swayed lightly as they came to a stop giving them a perfect view of Night City. From so far away the megastructures that filled the air with their streams of neon lights looked amazing, a preverbal sirens song to anyone who didn't know better that those dazzling lights hid an ugly truth. "Wellsprings look so beautiful like this," she continued, stepping closer to the curved glass behind the bench seat in awe. He had to agree, the beachside district's lights reflected off the water, making the polluted waters shimmer while the even larger buildings further back really lit up the sky with unrecognizable ads and tiny flickering AV lights as they zoomed through the air.

"I love you,"

Her dark brown eyes widened hearing those words but before she could turn around to face him, Naruto gently wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest. "Naruto, I-" The blond started to ramble a bit, showing her just how nervous he was compared to his usual confident demeanor and she felt the same. He was amazing, after all that he's done for her and David over the months they've known each other she would be lying to herself if she said that she didn't feel the same. "Naruto," he froze at her stern voice before she continued softly "Let me go,"

"I'm sorry," The blond did, slowly letting her go before she spun around and captured his lips, his shock quickly faded and he once again wrapped his arms around her, his hands caressing her back while her own hands cupped his face. A few moments passed before his tongue hesitantly swiped her bottom lip and they deepened the kiss.

Like a primal dance their tongues met, back and forth they explored each other before Gloria had to back off for breath, "does this mean you feel the same?" He couldn't help but ask after a moment only to see her looking at him with half lidded eyes.

"I love you too," her heart was racing. Gloria had fantasized more than once about being in a relationship with the blond but had been too nervous to make the first move herself. She felt foolish but there was always that little voice saying what if he didn't feel the same, she didn't want to make things weird between them if that was the case.

They stared at each other breathlessly for a moment, her thumb stroking one of his whisker marks on his cheek while his hands slid down her waist where he lightly touched her sides, "It's getting kinda late," he whispered not wanting to push her any further despite how much he wanted her, "We can head on-"

Surging forward, Gloria once again pressed her lips to his, silencing him. But their sudden movement made the pod sway and both froze, body's pressed together intimately as the ferris wheel groaned and creaked lightly.

After a second they looked at each other and laughed when their eyes met. Tugging on his arm, Gloria pulled him over and sat him down on the white, sun bleached bench seat. "Just sit right there ok?" She told him with a wink which made him grin as she took his hands, hesitating for only a moment before planting his hands on her ass. Naruto happily followed her lead and gave her a squeeze which earned him a little eep.

"Sorry, couldn't resist."

"Mmm don't be surprised when I get you back later," she hummed, feeling a lot more confident with the initial nervousness wearing down. Using his shoulder to steady herself, Gloria straddled his lap and brought their lips back together for another kiss, moaning as one of his hands slid up her shirt, the cool sensation of his chrome fingers sending shivers up her spine. His 'ganic hand didn't stay idle either, squeezing her ass through the thin material of her synthetic jeans then sliding up and down her thigh.

"Mmm," she let out a little moan into their kiss and ever so slowly started to move as he slipped away, eagerly turning her head for him while he lightly kissed her neck. "That feels good," Gloria bit her lip and let him continue as he pleased, grinding herself back and forth in his lap. After a bit, she felt his hand creep up her back again bringing the hem of her shirt.

She let him and leaned back just long enough to pull her black t-shirt off over her head, messing her hair up a bit and causing loose strands of her crimson hair to frame her face while he held her steady and took in the amazing sight.

"Gloria," Naruto stopped to plant a kiss on her collarbone, lightly nipping at the flesh which earned him a sharp inhale, "you don't know how much I want you,"

"Mmm," she continued to grind, her hips swaying back and forth against him, "I want you too," they stared at each other for another moment before she slid his vest off and grabbed the hem of his shirt, tugging it upwards.

"Hold on…" he grunted, their position making it tough to take his shirt off, "Stand up," she quickly slid off of him and he stood, pulling his shirt over his head while she reached back and unhooked her bra, leaving both in just their pants.

'Oh God those muscles are all 'ganic,' she thought, biting her lip as he pulled his shirt off, and saw no trace of the telling signs of implants. Her eyes followed him as he raised the shirt higher and over his head but lingered on the pale flesh below his ribs and once again on the scar over the center of his chest. His shirt joined hers in a pile with his orange vest and both just stared at each other, taking in every little detail all at once. Naruto could see her looking at the scars he bore from a lifetime of fighting, some of which faded with time and barely more than a memory… others were a bit fresher, a physical reminder of the things he did.

"Do they hurt?" She asked after a moment, stepping closer and reaching out to touch them lightly. He shook his head and reached up, pressing her hand to the scar Sasuke had left all those years ago.

"Only the memories," he let her explore to her hearts content then reached out as well, catching sight of several scars of her own. He lightly traced one a little groove left across her shoulder

Her fingers traced the scar for a moment, switching to the one left behind by Gunner, the scar left behind from the second time she patched him up. "You healed nicely," she couldn't help but muse, remembering how badly he'd been hurt before he cupped her cheek and kissed her deeply.

"I had an amazing EMT patch me up," he whispered, breaking the kiss with their noses still touching, she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and leaned into him her chest pressing against his, "One i've been in love with for a while,"

She blushed again, "I love you too Naruto," she couldn't exactly pinpoint the moment these feelings bloomed but hearing him reciprocate her unspoken feelings had brought out an unexpected explosion of joy deep within her, "I'm all yours,"

"And I'm all yours," his hand slipped between them and she smiled, leaning back just enough let him easily rub her breast with one hand.

"Do you like them?" She giggled when he nodded then gasped slightly as he pinched and played with her nipple, "Mmm," but when he stopped after a few seconds, she opened her eyes to see him grinning and felt his hand traveling downward. His fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her pants, the synthetic material stretching slightly. Gloria made little noises as he slowly played with her slit, the fabric of her panties keeping him from rubbing her directly. "Oh God… Naruto, please…" she laid her head against his chest and looked down at where he was playing with her, legs starting to quiver as he rubbed her clit, "oh fuck! Please don't… tease me," She struggled to get the last words out as he focused on that spot, holding her steady with his right arm and listening to her quickening breaths.

"I got you," he whispered, feeling her shiver and twitch in his arm, her arms slipping from around his neck and latched on his shoulders, fingernails digging into his flesh. She whined and looked up at him with a frantic expression when he stopped but before she could ask why, he slipped beneath her panties and started rubbing her directly.

"Naruto!" She panted, looking up into his eyes, "please, I'm so close," He nodded and increased his ministrations, his finger sliding back and forth over her slit, entering her, and rubbing her clit in a maddeningly unpredictable pattern that forced each breath out in little gasps before her eyes shot open, "oh fuck!"

"Just let it go, I got you," he held her up as she started to cum, body tensing up as she clinched her legs and trapped his fingers inside her. The redhead gasped, body quivering while holding onto him desperately, she had dug her nails deep into the flesh of his shoulders when she came nearly to the point of drawing blood.

"Oh God," she gasped into his chest, "I've never… cum like that before," Gloria slowly raised her half lidded gaze to meet his and took a few more seconds to catch her breath. When she got herself back together, Gloria reached down and rubbed his hardened length through his pants, looking at him with eyes full of lust and a hint of meekness, "Can I?"

He wanted nothing more but her asking kind of threw him for a loop. He recovered quickly though and nodded once, "it's all yours baby," she leaned in and kissed him once, lowering herself down to her knees while trailing kisses down his chest and abs before looking up at him. Naruto gave her a hand by unbuckling his belt but she took over from there and unbuttoned his pants, lowering them just enough to free his member that sprang up to greet her.

It had been a while since she did something like this and her heart was pounding with excitement… and nervousness too but she wrapped her fingers around his length and pumped him a few times before licking the tip "do you like that?"

Naruto nodded and took a breath, "oh yeah," he groaned as she continued stroking him, stopping just to lick the head a few times before taking it into her mouth. Slowly, she started bobbing her head back and forth, taking more of his length into her mouth with each attempt. Feeling his hand on top of her head, fingers lightly gripping her messy bun, Gloria hummed and looked up into his eyes before going back down on him and earning a groan for her efforts. "Damn that feels good, keep going."

Doing as he said, she took more of him into her mouth, bobbing her head faster. His grip on her hair tightened making her hum in approval which made him breathe a bit heavier before she pulled off of him with a pop but continued to stroke him, "sit down, let me take care of you,"

Stepping back, he sat back down on the bench, taking a moment to pull his vest out from underneath him and tossed it to the side before taking in the sight of her crawling towards him slowly on her knees, "like what you see?" She asked with a shy wink, hands going to her bare chest as she settled in-between his legs, taking his cock in hand and stroking it.

"Loving what I see," he adjusted himself a bit and stared at her perky chest. Without even thinking, he reached out and caressed her cheek which she leaned into while still stroking him slowly, his thumb tracing the two exposed red nodes of her cosmetic EMP threading. To her enjoyment, Naruto reached back a bit more and pulled her back down, guiding his cock back into her mouth and wordlessly commanding her to get back to sucking.

-xXx-

"Ahhh…" Ortiz sighed as she plopped back down in the chair in front of the screens bonelessly, throwing her leg up over the armrest and not even bothering to pull her shorts back on, "nothing like a little on the job interfacing to get the juices flowing," the room absolutely reeked now though neither she nor Rico, who looked much more worn out than her at the moment, really noticed.

"Damn straight," Rico murmured, a lit cigarette bobbing between his lips as he took the time to button his pants back up, thankful that she didn't ripp the damn button off again… like last time, "anything new on cams?"

She hummed and rolled around to check, one hand at the keys while the other played with her dripping slit. "Blondies gonks gave the animals a beating…"

"No surprise there,"

"Hmm let's see…" her eyes started to widen as she flipped through each cam, unable to find the blond or his output. "Oh shit, I can't find him." Rico shot her a look and Ortiz stopped playing with herself to tap away at the terminal. If something happened… she didn't want to think about what Naruto might do in turn.

"Use the com," Rico told her, nodding towards the discarded radio unit she tossed down earlyer before they slipped away to fuck around, "ask his crew," she looked back at him like he was crazy but he ignored it and picked up her discarded panties from the floor along with his pistol that had fallen out while railing her against a server.

"And let 'em know we were slacking off,"

"The system glitched," he supplied with a shrug, they didn't have to admit to it, "tell 'em that and we just got the terminal back up,"

she nodded after moment and did as he said, "hey chooms, the security term glitched and rebooted, just got cams and coms back going, can't find loverboy on screen any ideas?"

The radio was silent for a moment before they heard snickers, "radios were down huh?" One of the masked runners mused from the other side with a tone that made them glance at one another, "well the boss is a little busy."

"Yeah fixing his own 'coms issue'," another joked in the background "didn't know you could fix tech by making someone else scream at it,"

Oh fuck, they knew.

"Next time you guys wanna fuck around make sure the radios not transmitting the entire time… although I am curious, what was that you said about wanting him to-" Ortiz quickly pressed the button and ended the question before he could finish.

-xXx-

Gloria hummed, smiling inwardly at the little groan she got with her lips wrapped around his shaft, she knew he was getting close from the way he gripped her hair and started moving in time with each of her moves. She couldn't take it all in without gagging but that didn't stop her from trying several times much to his pleasure and she couldn't wait to…

His hand clinched, gripping her bun tightly with a strangled gasp as she felt him erupt, his cock pulsing between her lips as he came in her mouth, "goddamn that felt good," he sighed out while loosening his grip but keeping his hand on her head. He twitched in her mouth a few times as she slowly raised off of his lap, looking him in the eye and swallowing with her lips still wrapped around the tip.

"Did you like that?" She asked softly, leaning down to lick him slowly while looking up at him. He nodded slowly and she rubbed her thighs together slowly while playing with him, "wanna keep going?"

"Do you?" This time she nodded and quickly stood up, her breasts giving him a little bounce much to his enjoyment. Gloria looked at him slyly and backed off, slowly teasing him as she unzipped her pants and started to lower them. "Oh you tease," he groaned when she stopped and turned away but perked up when she instead bent over and wiggled her now bare ass at him while sliding both her pants and panties down.

She got about mid thigh when he told her to stop, "stay just like that," bent over at the waist, she blushed even harder when she realized that he could see everything she had and looked back at him shyly while he stood up and stopped right behind her.

"Tell me where you want it," he whispered, one hand on the small of her back while the other pumped himself slowly. But just as she went to answer, the hand on her back slid down her backside and his finger entered her again, "do you want it here?" His finger worked it's magic again pumping in and out of her, "or do you want it here?"

Her eyes widened when he stopped fingering her and pressed his thumb against her other hole, "Not there!" She pouted with a little whine, but at the same time she wasn't quite ready for that. He got fully behind her and the feeling of his cock rubbing against her lower lips earned him sharp intake as she looked other her shoulder at him and bit her lip. "Fuck your big," her hips swayed back softly as he eased himself into her completely slowly, "please give me a second baby," she closed her eyes, "it's just been me and my fingers for a long time,"

He did as she asked and squeezed ass lightly, "Just let me know when your ready," she only needed a few seconds and soon, turned back to him with a needy expression on her face.

"I'm ready baby, fuck me." He withdrew himself almost completely out of her folds then eased himself back in with a little more force. "Oh fuck! Harder!" Naruto listened and gripped her by the waist, grinning at the noises she made with every thrust. "Please spank me!"

*Smack*

"Oh God yes, just like that!" She reached back and grabbed his wrist with her hand, "that's right baby, fuck me!" He pulled his wrist out of her grasp and grabbed both of her arms, using them to slam into her harder until she could only cry out and moan in time with each thrust. "Feels. So. Good!" Gloria could nearly lose herself in the ecstasy and pushed herself back to meet his thrusts but when he suddenly pulled out, she frantically looked back at him, "what's wrong?"

Naruto shook his head, face flushed just like hers, "come on, lay down on the seat,"

With her pants and panties bunched up around her calves, Gloria obeyed and quickly sat down where he'd been sitting earlier and had just enough time to kick her pants off before he laid her across the white bench and put her legs on his shoulders. "Your so tight," he grunted, his cock slamming deep into her core and nearly knocking breath out of her.

"It's all yours Naruto," she cried out, wrapping one of her arms around the backrest while the other desperately searched for something to grab as he continued to pummel her womanhood with his cock, "my pussy's all yours!" Any noises the ride made from their movements now we're ignored completely, for now they could only focus on each other.

"Baby I'm cumming!"

"Me too!" He grunted as she told him that but didn't slow down, as the wave of her release crashed into her, Gloria felt every bit of her body tense and cry out as he pushed her over the edge.

"Cum with me!" She begged, "I want it deep in my pussy!"

His thrusts slowed but the force behind the doubled, if he hadn't been holding her in place as he fucked her, she wouldn't have been shocked to find herself pinned against the wall as well. "Fuck!" Naruto cried out and buried himself to the hilt inside her, her body doubled over beneath him, her knees against her chest as he came deep inside her.

-xXx-

To be continued…

-xXx-

If this doesn't make the pairing clear then I don't know what will.

Anyway I'm so sorry about the wait, I wish I could spend everyday writing but sadly I can't, I really hope this chapter is worth the wait.

I know I didn't add Maine and the crew meeting Jackie or Rogues reaction but I'm planning for that to be in the next chapter.

As always, I love you all.

And here's a little sneak peek at the next chapter!

-xXx-

Stepping over to the pair of them, David caught the tail end of the blonds convo, gritting his teeth but his it behind a grin when Naruto looked over to hide his true feelings, "I'll catch up with you later choom, I really need to talk to-" he didn't give the blond a chance to finish his apology, he'd only get one good shot at this and needed to strike when the blonds guard was down.

Randel froze, staring on in a stunned daze as the teen leapt forward and punched the blond full tilt in the nose, snapping his head back, "You…" David clinched his fist, searching for the right word as he gave the blond the angriest glare he could muster. Naruto reached up and grabbed his nose instinctively, checking for blood then he turned his gaze back to David, oddly calm for a man whose just been sucker punched full force. "You… Motherfucker!,"

Naruto's steely gaze darkened a bit then cracked as he looked thoughtful then amused, the punch was one thing but thinking about it, 'I guess technically I am a motherfucker,' he mused. Randel and a few of his chooms hanging back looked on at a loss, unsure of what to do. Had it been someone else, they might've rushed the gonk that assaulted their choomba in front of them, Narutos been going out of his way for months helping them and while they weren't fighters by any means, they'd be damned before they didn't try to help him out. Except… the one who threw the punch was his outputs teenage son.

"So I guess you didn't take the news quite as well as your mother thought huh?" Naruto sighed, rubbing his nose one last time while David visibly grit his teeth.

"You've been sleeping with my mom!" He accused with a growl, she had only admitted to dating him for a while but David just knew there was more to it and when Naruto didn't immediately deny it, he had his proof.

"Randel, you mind? Me and David need to have a conversation," was all the blond said just before David lashed out again, only for his fist to be caught well before it reached its target, "I'll let you get away with that first punch David, I deserved that one-"

"You deserve more than just one," the teen snapped, snatching his fist back only for Narutos grip to tighten. After another couple of tries, Naruto just sighed again and let him go, "you lied to me,"

"It's not like that David… well I guess it was a lie of omission," the blond looked genuinely remorseful to the teen but the maelstrom of emotions whirling inside of him had the younger man itching for a fight. His choomba, the man he looked up to, the guy he wanted to be like was sneaking around with his mom behind his back!? Not even really thinking about it, David slowly raised his fists to fight and positioned himself just like the blond had taught him, "David, please don't do this,"