Edge of Cryses 2 - (Cyberpunk x Crysis)
David Martinez was not sure on how he was supposed to handle the third element inside the small flat he lived with his mother.
Mr. 'Alcatraz' looked like some tough guy, but there was something within his chest that truly disliked the man. Not because he was annoying or anything, but rather because he was a man. And he was around his mother's age. David was not an idiot in regards to the fact his mother was a well-meaning but lonely woman, but even then he was less inclined to accept that the guy was just someone that 'was a friend of his father'.
He didn't believe it, not when his name never came up to his ears any time the woman mentioned his dad. What if the guy was his dad? No, Alcatraz did seem to have a few features David shared, but they wouldn't play it as if he was just a friend. It wouldn't be right, or... fair.
Nonetheless, David was also aware that Mr. Alcatraz had brought to the flat a new source of income. In two months, it was easier for his mother to not be as needing of overtime working to pay the rent. Hell, they had started to pay regularly now much to the landlord's 'relief'. The threat of being kicked out had been looming on their heads for a while, but Mr. Alcatraz had started to be around and... work.
What did he do in his free time? David had no clue. All he knew was that the guy wore some strange chrome-not-chrome suit and a jacket over it. Mom had shaved him a bit, the mess had been fixed after a few tries, but the man looked a bit better to wear.
Now, the current reason he was thinking of him was about the current dilemma at hand: should he still go on to try and sell the illegal Braindances chips he got from Doc? The point of going through that shady business was to make a lot of eddies and help his mother, but he had been missing that point since Alcatraz came along.
The money he was making seemed legit enough to make taking chances with the gonks at school not worthy the risk. Hell, he had been warned by Doc that his wreath would mess up the chips so... yeah, perhaps it was best to not tackle that hassle. While more money was better than no money, David had been given enough reprimands from his mother about focusing on school.
It was pissing enough that Tanaka was a whining bitch over the fact 'the classroom was tainted by lessers', referring to him, so it was perhaps for the best to not be too on the nose. He had grades to improve, and expectations to match with some of the bastard teachers he was stuck with.
So, here he was, pushing the chips aside and doing his homework. Will to live? Low. Interest to be productive? Even lower.
But I am not getting something good for my birthday if I bitch some more...
So, David continued to huff in peace in his room, ignoring that things were soon going to get extremely different than usual.
Especially since fate had already turned to give him a happier ending.
This place is crazy, and Alcatraz was almost regretting not having to fight the Ceph.
Night City was the quintessential 'nightmare' that some people in the internet had even when he was just a teen: corpos take over people's lives, making everything priced and turning society into something fitting of an AnCap worshiper. The technological advances were impressive, but the decline in morality and the collapse of the national authority sure felt like a cost well beyond what he could see and deal with.
Alcatraz was surprised to learn he could fit in this dystopic scenario because no one questioned his choice of wearing the nanosuit since... no one thought it was weird. Hell, he had the chance to see weirder during the little tour Gloria gave him of the district they were living in: it was by far worse than a wartorn urban area if discounting the 'peaceful' status quo in the streets.
Still, his current state of things was far from orderly. Starting with his current state of being. He had been tempted to remove the Nanosuit- being that his body seemed to be healthier than how things had been a while ago, and while he had been nervous to do so, Alcatraz managed to do it. He removed the suit, put it to the side, stared at the reflection of his body and... took a shower.
He took a shower after so long and he felt at ease in his own skin. While the Nanosuit was still his only key to survival, he couldn't help but realize that the reason he was well was the suit itself: browsing into the datalog presented by the AI gave him answers on how it was possible he was well- the Suit had 'fixed' his internal damage and improved his body. Hell, some of the nanomachines were still in his body, keeping him connected to the suit and providing him with a 'updated service over current human advances'.
This summarized in his capacity to access to 'data' being stored within the nanomachines in his body. He was tougher, faster, and even smarter as his mind was 'fixed' with some brain-restoration process. Despite all those nice things, he still wore the suit as his primary outfit.
His memory over the explanation provided by Hargrave over the Nanosuit's constant evolution through the Ceph Technology was now applied to this Ceph-less world. And he was planning to make use of it as it became imperative he started to do shit around the house.
Gloria may have given him a place where to stay, but she admitted that he couldn't stay there for free and he had to find a job. She then directed him to his current source of jobs, 'Afterlife'. The place was once a morgue that had been turned into a pub and one that was owned by the most famous fixer, Rogue, and he had been able to secure a few tasks that were well-paid through the pub.
He had to pay a fee to enter all the time after the first time, but he started to get more accustomed to the environment. The nanosuit made him a 'stealthy demon' due to his capacity to enter facilities, steal data, and get out of the place without having to worry of being caught. There had been rare times he was almost noticed, but he never got caught by the security available...
Well, 'almost' never as there had been indeed a time where he did get caught, but he did so willingly to save someone. He was still a good guy despite what he went through but-
"JIMMY~!"
He was regretting doing that good deed. Especially when this triggered one of the few reasons he tended to avoid the place unless he needed to work.
Without hesitation and yet with uttermost delight, a certain black-haired netrunner bolted towards him and gave him a big hug from behind. Introducing Sasha Yakovleva, the one unlucky woman that got lucky enough to be rescued by Alcatraz.
He didn't have the specifics behind the situation that saw someone like Sasha get put in a position of almost dying considering she should have bailed before dealing with too much if her job had been to just get some easy data from a terminal in the Biotechnica HQ in Night City.
Alcatraz had been hired to get some data too, but he had to work at the lower level before get to the upper floors. And as he was trying to get more data that could be sold, he was surprised to find Sasha in a tight spot. He had seen enough in those terminals to know that Biotechnica deserved to be robbed over and over again, making it almost imperative to help anyone that was stuck in any bad spot so... Alcatraz tried to help.
And while he managed to wreck the robot giving Sasha grief, he had to also rush out of the window to catch the girl as she jumped moments away a bomb detonated. At that height, the girl would have died upon impact, but Alcatraz shifted fast and used his own body to sponge the descent onto one of the cars at the lower grounds.
Sasha lived, she was shocked of being alive and... Alcatraz just left. No introduction, no explanation- he thought that would have been a 'one-time' meeting. He was then surprised when he stumbled on her at Afterlife. Then again, and again.
One would think that someone was planning those ambushes, but the girl just so happened to 'feel' when he was around and she easily 'warmed up to him' faster than he warmed up to her. The reason she knew his real name was, however, a personal decision to introduce himself not with his other name.
It was one out of fear that someone could track where he lived- if Gloria only knew him as Alcatraz, there was no way someone was just going to see he was also 'James'. Not when the Nanosuit made him immune to most hackers around.
"Sasha, I am busy-"
"With looking for a job, yep. I saw your post opening and I was like- man, wouldn't it be good to go on another duo mission? I hack, you break."
"I usually do both," Alcatraz argued flatly, causing the girl to sit beside him. "So?"
"So, I am not hearing a 'no', choomba," The young woman answered giddily, turning to the bartender. "Oh, Claire, I need something light so I don't mess up those hacking."
"Considering how obsessed you are with James, I think even giving you water would be mercy, girl."
The netrunner huffed. "Come on, you know you want me to C-YA you all night long."
Streetslang was also troublesome to learn, but the Nanosuit had found something of a list around. C-YA was the acronym for 'Cover your ass', which was twisted by Sasha as wanting to ogle at his butt.
"If I do a mission with you, you need to at least drop the horny-talk."
She perked up. "Deal, but you tell me I am the best Deckhead you know."
"...Sasha, you're the only netrunner I know."
"Duh, that's why I am the best, choom!"
Was this real normal? To be targeted by a strange girl whose main purpose was to hack things?
Alcatraz was not fully sure but... a job was a job. And usually the jobs Sasha picked were quite well-paying despite having to split eddies with her.
"So?"
He sighed, knowing that the choice had been made for him but... at least, it didn't involve him sacrificing his body to someone in the literal way of the phrasing.
AN
Sasha lives, D-boy is not setting himself up to lose his mom, and Gloria may have competition. Cougar vs Kitty, how will it end? (In bed, it will end in bed.)