Arasaka tower/City Centre/ 19:00 03/09/2078

The atrocities were old. I had seen it before, videos from the last war, bombings and dead bodies. It was pictures, videos that would make a mother cry and soldier vomit. I had the same feeling first time. This was not my first time. News clipping of cyberpsycho attacks rarely included the aftermath, I had the same. There were scraps of camera footage of Adam smasher tearing and Anti-grav device up. I wasn't allowed to close my eyes, unable to look away or move my vison was forced to watch as the sound of crying was blasted through my ears mixed with gunshots. It was sensory death my overexposure, images flashed in a second and my heightened senses were forced to take in each one. The Okada's voice echoed over the crying plea.
"There is a child stuck on train tracks. You can push the old man onto the tracks to stop it or do nothing."
"I push the old man."
"Why?"
"He's older, possibly retired. The child has more value."
"You're driving an Arasaka employee in the back, their rapidly losing blood, a pedestrian is hit on your drive. There is no one else to call for help. You may take the time to call for trauma team, but this will mean that the Arasaka employee loses more blood and may perish."
"I continue driving." The light came on, it was an all-white room, the projections stopped. I raised my hands as movement returned to them, throwing a fist forwards. Okada stepped in front.
"A few emotional spikes, but nothing too serious. We'll be giving you an extra ten percent bonus on jobs for the next month after your performance with Four."
"Is Sam. Is Four going to be alright?"
"We're mining his memories to make a B.D out of it. We'll do a mental diagnosis, provide stronger meds." They'd replaced my arm while I was out, I was lucky to get the same face. I flexed my fingers a small test. "We've taken repairs out of your account. Next time don't be so risky, until then give your head a rest. Take tomorrow off."
"Yes Ma'am." I got up and took the long walk home. It was I checked my account, back in quadruple, only needed digits, two more zero's and I might have a hope of owning myself. It made the walk home even longer. I felt the people brush up against me and didn't even want to smack them. All I wanted was my room. It was occupied as I entered my code.

Jade was welcoming herself to my table, eating take out. She held the bag with incorrect mandarin on its exterior
"I got you some. Figured you'd need it after, well after everything."
"I don't eat."
"Sorry. Axle's in your shower, I told him not to but, well."
"I don't need it." The lights were on, my room had changed. It was small, by my desk as I stood up. It was a bobblehead of a Samurai.
"It's nothing big, that'll come later when we start work. Figured you Arasaka types like Japanese stuff, right?" I flicked the bobble head and just watched it, simply move its head.
"Is this a gift?"
"I erm, I guess? It's not much."
"I was told gifts don't have to be. Thank you." I picked up the bobble head and placed it atop my charging station. I spent more time charging than at my desk. I sat down and stared at Jade eating her food, slower this time. She covered her mouth.
"So er, how do you stay alive if you don't eat?"
"A mix of nutrient fluid and every few months a purging and replacement of fluids in my cerebral container."
"Tasty."
"It's a sense I'm glad I'm lacking. The fluids rather thick." I watched Jade shudder at the thought.
"Swallowed too many of those to know it's not great tasting."
"Why do you…oh." I looked away eyes wide she was rather open compared to the others at Arasaka, my reaction clearly something she gleaned enjoyment out of it with a small laugh. The bathroom door slid open with Axle scrubbing his head, eyes meeting me.
"Balls. Look. I needed a wash."
"Fine. I never used it anyway."
"Needed to relax after today. Jade and I were going to the afterlife, she's pinched a few cred chips for a good time. Look like you need it pal. Drink and Drugs are on me, considering I used your water. Didn't take the piss though." Axle looked at himself in the mirror. Jade waited in the doorway. I needed to take my mind off Four. Sam his state was it her state? I stared at my feet, hearing the noises of a gunshot outside when Axle opened the door. "Right, no longer your choice bud. I can't make you but c'mon. You need it." I nodded and made sure that I went out with a loaded weapon.

The afterlife was filled with mercenaries at night Axle was first to the bar.
"One Jackie Welles and a David Martinez." IBDY's here's a thought added to the atmosphere. A fight broke out over a game of pool, it stuck to fists anymore and the muscles would have to step in. Axle clinked his glass with Jade and downed his drink, slamming it on the bar upside down. Jade drank what appeared like Nicola with quite a bit of Vodka.
"Celebrating already?" I sat between the two.
"We got that little thing you gave us safe from your benefactors don't worry. You just fought and killed a full borg psycho." Axle wrapped his arm around me and practically announced to the room. "Here that. My choom Six here's a psycho killer." A few people twisted their heads and the bartender paused for a second before going back to serving drinks. I had things to fixate on. The multi coloured drinks, weapons under jackets. My hand never drifted more than thirty centre metres from my holster. Jade was hunched over her drink at the bar, whenever she wasn't drinking, she kept her hand over the glass, smart. Especially since eyes were now on me. It was hard to keep a secret in Night City. Arasaka tried but it couldn't plug a leak. Silencing enough people made it clear that anyone who knew would keep quiet though, I didn't have that option. My skills were known. I looked up to the board as my name was moved up above a guy named Oklahoma, not my choice of Alias.
"So Six right? Got your deets?" The bartender focussed on me?
"Deets?" Jade gave her number. She was aware of what would work and what wouldn't
"In case any fixers want to grab you. Heard Regina jones is interested in people able to take out psychos?"
"Why?"
"Still?" Jade shook her head. "Doll lost it in clouds, we managed to subdue her…She actually paid clouds for her body alive, can you believe that?"
"It's crazy." Axle was already on his second drink. "Ain't no way of saving them." I turned to Jade.
"Where?"
"Yaiba tower, close to Lizzie's."
"Let's go." I wasn't going to wait for Axle to finish his drink as I looked for Yaiba tower, it was in Watson, a few hours walk, it was easy. I could cover it in less than half if I ran. Jade followed me out.
"Watson's not exactly safe." Her voice was softer than expected fear? "They're not a fan of Saka either, after the corp chased every business out. I'll have to do the talking, tomorrow. You need a rest."
"My body doesn't get tired like yours, it won't grow fatigued, like yours. I'm able to carry on, I don't need much. I need Axle to drive me, and you too talk." Axle walked out with two glasses, a straw in each one and both in his mouth. He'd caught just enough.
"I'll be honest. I'm not safe."
"Taxi." I searched the net, Delamain was fully booked, and the excelsior package was out of my price range. Axle handed a glass; I had crushed it in my hand.
"Wasted a good drink, just chill?" Axle muttered, as Jade had to walk back to the bar with him.
"Because while we chill Four, I mean Sam had something happen to her and if there's a cure, I'll look into it." I began to walk away hearing Jade behind me, prattling something I didn't want to hear. I had to find Yaiba tower.

I'd seen Watson before, but only from the inside of an armoured truck and Konpeki plaza, seeing it when it wasn't racing by at ground level was revealing. The streets were littered with the jobless huddling around trash fire's, wearing all the tattered clothes that they could take with them. A few knife tears in the clothes for extra padding? It was protection, as a dirty kid lifted her mother's coat to see. The infants hidden from the world, an attempt to protect them. Scans revealed a few Ex-Arasaka, If City Centre was where a corporate worker lived, Watson was where they died. I heard gunshots and the sound of mechanical laughter, a red and black vehicle screeched around the corner. I had to hide down an alley and watch a body dragged by its neck, long dead now used as a soft wrecking ball swung through the streets taking out a jobless' footing. The metallic head with spider legs sprayed on the side of the vehicle, Maelstrom. It was a band with third grade implants on a fifth-rate body, more likely to go Psycho. Frothing at the mouth and then perish on the floor. It was embarrassing to die to them. The fool being dragged around was lucky they couldn't see how their body was treated, slain by a gang more known for stealing vehicles. Maxtac, N.C legends, dying to them was at least dignified, putting up a good fight to taking as many people as you could. Parading the body was wrong, it wasn't a trophy, killing, that meat wasn't difficult, and meat was useless after its expiration. Watson was Maelstrom, I had to move through back alleys as the cops had to try and keep up with all the gang's crimes around the district only to arrive late. I had Yaiba Tower in reach at the base when I heard my ears ring. The identification was Regina Jones.
"I don't work with Corpses." I turned around, the voice played with my audio receptors.
"How did you get my number?"
"A good media never reveals their sources." It was a leak in Arasaka, usually was. I wasn't sent to silence anyone possibly being a netrunner finding camera footage from the A.V.
"I can offer my services."
"I heard, took down a Samson model. I also know of your other exploits; I still think you should get lost." They were classified, only the higher ups knew what was going on, the chip, and that info had gotten out…Tanaka? Yaiba tower's entrance was between a small alley, hard to tell it even led up. I forced my way in, the door's sparked as light popped out from the control panel. My advance was paused. A red circle with a line through it flickered into being I took a step back. I tried to lift my foot, I had managed to raise it to a ninety-degree angle. I was just unable to press it down anywhere beyond the invisible wall I could feel my rotors spin and motors push me forwards, but the signal was changed through my wires somewhere, making it only possible to walk backwards. I placed my foot down, and I had made it outside to the main street. I was left staring at where I had once been, it wasn't Arasaka meddling. Okada would have warned me, was Tanaka still in control? No it couldn't be him, Four had that chip. Tanaka made me, he wouldn't unmake me. It was someone was toying with me. I bared my teeth and struck the brick wall, sending shards of concrete flying across the street. I had to think, my room was quiet.

It was, then I let the meat stay there. I didn't get tired. I was something else, not angry, or annoyed but my head was foggy. I felt a pressure on my temples, this pressure was pushing my head low, staring at the floor of my apartment. Jade had already made it home, watching a movie with wide eyes, Axle was being irritating with his snoring. He didn't wake when I poked him. It was beneficial when I picked the man up and shoved him on my desk. Jade turned from the credits to me.
"Howd it go?" Her eyes turned to me."
"She doesn't work with Arasaka."
"I could try, tomorrow?"
"We can do it today. You're wasting time"
"I'm watching Bushido nine, Daggers in the dark, not wasting time." It appeared my option was to hurry up and wait. All ten movies were on Axle's profile for Netwatch's streaming service, Confusingly called Netwatch. Jade pressed the play button as I folded my arms to watch what humans did for fun, watching things…Things I wanted to do. Live fast, Die never. Jake went through the whole movie driving fast cars going up ramps and fighting the other with chrome five times their size. It made no logical sense, it was stupid. It was all I wanted. Fast cars without cops saying I was over the speed limit, The movie ended, and I was hunched over staring at the ending title, I muttered under my breath.
"Any news on bushido eleven?"
"Last one, Jake rides off into the sunset."
"That's… he can't do that, that's boring?"
"Boring?"
"He's a legend. He's Jake Canon, he singlehandedly brought down the shadow illuminati, he can't just stop."
"How'd you end the movie?"
"Jake would die, blaze of glory."
"Aren't you all sunshine and rainbow's, what if he wants a family a wife?"
"He can try. Family's nothing compared to fighting atop a crane with fiery death below. People like that, they can't stop."
"You're overthinking it, it's an action movie…Still, good to see you can enjoy stuff." She grinned and tossed me the remote. "You choose something." I was left, staring at the screen, there were so many movies and genres. Western, fantasy, action, science fiction, science fantasy. I froze. My internal processor had to decide. Jade's hand stole my attention, as I focussed my lens on the waving fingers.
"You, ok?"
"Just…deciding."
"What do you like?" I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn't a question I was used to, what did I like? I scrolled, scrolled and scrolled. Jade watched. "You liked bushido, maybe another action movie. A comedy. It was too much and I switched the T.V off, seeing the reflection off the window.
"I want to watch the sunrise." Jade yawned, she was tired, but still got up, heading over with me, leaning against the door for support.
"Do I get to sleep in if I watch it with you?"
"You don't have to."
"I want to. It's…been a while since I've seen a sunrise. Views are meant to be great vie atop a mega structure. I nodded and let Jade walk past, she wasn't too drunk so that she stumbled through, but her moves were sluggish. She let out a yelp as I picked her up, throwing her over my shoulder. Her hands smacked my back, her blows no more than the sensation of a fly landing on skin.
"Treat all people like this?"
"Only the slow one's." I dropped Jade on the floor, watching her stumble.
"And you never slow down?"
"No. To be slow is to open yourself to gunfire, to waste time when you have a purpose."
"I don't got one. Not anymore." She hiccupped and the elevator ascended to the balcony.

It was a legal requirement, for a building over a certain height to have a balcony, less for smoking inside a megabuilding being illegal, and a balcony every few floor's made it easier for humans to decrease the length of their already barely single century lives in the best case, it was also a requirement for A.V's to offer evacuations in case of fire. Trauma team may be bought but night city saw the benefit's of not having to pay to avoid burning to death. After all, a megabuilding burning down would lead to Arasaka being short staffed for weeks, especially in the centre. My sensory receptors told my brain that the feeling running through my hands was cold and dry. A desert's chill. Jade was shaking, her pumps crushed the already spent cigarettes on the floor with every step. Aside from the floor of cigarette's the decorations were numbers for Night City's suicide hotline slapped in bright green against a grey background. I leaned over the balcony, The city Centre megabuilding was blessed with cracks through the sky scrapers, where I would be able to see a sliver of Orange.
"Cold." Jade made an obvious statement. "You feel it?"
"Kind of."
"Kind of?" She tilted her head still shivering, I could watch her teeth chatter, the increase in temperature since two centuries ago had made the days unbearable and NC was ever freezing, rarely it dropped to early to mid-forties Fahrenheit (single digit Celsius.) Jade had never experienced the chill of anywhere truly cold.
"It's not real, I know it's real, but it's not how I remember it. It's different."
"You still feel right?"
"Yeah. It's not…It's second-hand feeling. My brain is making me feel cold, because my sensor in my body force it. I grab something I'm tod I'm holding it, finer details like rough course, I know what they feel like but whether it's sandpaper It may as well be the same thing, I can only tell the difference because I can see."
"Cold isn't as bad then."
"You can go inside."
"Leave you on your own? You pulled my ass outta some perv's bed, after a year well. You're the only choom I got." Quick search on the net revealed what a choom was, like Four I threw my coat at her.
"If we are, you don't need to do this."
"That's what chooms do, we hang out. Axle's already passed out."
"You're just lonely."
"And you're not?"
"I am. I don't rely on others just to make myself feel better."
"You rely on me to talk to Regina? Are you gonna walk back and try and storm the castle? I'm sure she'll give you a job after shooting the place up." I had to remind myself I couldn't throw Jade over the edge. I envisioned it, a prophetic vision I could make happen. My knee jerked up, planting into the concrete, cracking the wall, I couldn't hit her, I needed her. My arms sparked, I reached into my pocket, another dose through my tubes as the limbic brain reacted with relief. I dropped hypostim, watching it break on the ground. "Get some rest I need you for tomorrow." It took a second for her to speak, I watched her hand reach out in the corner of my eye before retreating, her body was against the door.
"Sure. I know a really good spot if we ever have time to watch the sunset." I waited for her to close the door, my eyes on my arms, when had I opened them? I could see my reflection in the sharp metal half propped out. I didn't remember activating my mantis blades. I shut them tight, not wanting to see my refection of skin ending at my neck, skin that wasn't mine, with a sensation of cold touching my ears, unable to turn red. I touched my ears, they didn't have my perceived warmth rushing to them, a memory of a cold day, I just didn't know where that day was or when. I had the likeness but it wasn't right, the memory was off somehow, my brain flawed, where if I had a camera I wouldn't have such an issue, removing the weak meat. I doubled my medication's dosage. My head became cloudy. It was hard to think of my body, it went numb instead I was left staring at the gap between the two skyscrapers, seeing at the very base, a sliver of orange creep between them. My thoughts were not on anything but the present as I understood how pretty the light was. A small blotch ruined my head's bliss though. It was a prevailing thought that would not be silence by the low hum of the A.V's starting their morning flying across town, or the gunshots from some random skirmish. I knew Four would have enjoyed this moment.

So I decided I wanted to try to develop my characters a bit more because I know who they are, but I need to make sure my readers do, even if it's just something simple like enjoying an action film, or what they consider fun. This is also me getting my cyberpunk 2077 references out, because Recently tried Phantom Liberty and WOW It just reminds you how depressing Cyberpunk is. Then again, you can't have sad moments without happy moments so here's a chapter to kick your feet up.