A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope all of you have had a good Christmas, mine's been fine, as I've been able to prep three stories to be updated besides this one. Those being The Divide, a Blue Archive and Division crossover, and El Tigre Del Norte, a Girls' Frontline and mainly Cyberpunk Red crossover. Go check those out if you like things like them.
Please, leave a review if you enjoy it, there aren't any reviews that aren't probably a bot or a scam, so leave one with your thoughts if you enjoy it. If there's anything that seems out of place, some characters aren't acting exactly right…
Well, my beta reader gave the green light and they're far more knowledgeable on Arknights, and the Operators. Still, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
With that, onto the show!
Like one would expect, the moment Josue got an identity and a solid address to live in, the police were on his ass faster than the IRS. Which… is impressive, admittedly, means that they at least cared more than normal. Bad news: the police were at his door.
The good news, no one looks at the roof. Or roofs from other buildings as he looks at the list of people who need the help of...someone. He knew why they needed him, according to Scarp they needed appliances fixed and didn't have the money to hire someone reliable. So, he now has to blindly make his way through it just like he did back when he was in his Family. Unlike then, he doesn't have an unreliable uncle to teach him the ropes or throw random problems his way with little explanation.
So, with an M1911 on his hip, M-2012 on his back, and Malorian on his shoulder, Josue makes his way down the list.
Ch'en stared down the old Forte as he sipped his tea. "Mr.-."
"Scarp, " he interjected politely, Ch'en's brow twitching as she hissed. We have a warrant for Josue 'Tiger' Mondragon's arrest. If you impede that process, we have every right to arrest you."
"What makes you think I'm lying?" Scarp asked, his green eyes looking at her as if they were the picture of innocence. "I'm simply an old man managing his business in the corpse of a long-forgotten dream. At no time did I spot anyone named 'Josue' or 'Tiger' in here." He looked behind her to look at Swire. "I can see a tiger. That's about it."
Ch'en had to stop herself from sniping at Swire since they were on official business, in front of a 'civilian', no less, they knew when they were younger who was once attached to a certain rat she knew. "Regardless, we have evidence that Josue is in this building, or that you at least know where he is."
"Show it then." Scarp challenged them with a calm demeanor, bereft of the stereotypical image of a Forte but one Ch'en is more familiar with. "Because then I feel like we'd have another problem because I was asleep all night, and if someone stepped out of this building looking like me? Well, I'd believe you're too obsessed with horror stories." He joked as Swire scoffed, also having to stop herself from sniping at Ch'en.
Thankfully, someone did interject before anyone said anything else, "Well, here I was, hoping I could get some parts for my bike." Hoshiguma noted, to Swire and Ch'en's confusion. Scarp raised his brow, recognizing the Oni for who she was, but not pointing her out.
"It's a scrapyard." Scarp pointed out, "Once upon a time, someone would be in the auto shop, using this crap, melting it down and turning it into something else. But he's not here anymore, so most of what's here isn't worth anything and will only worsen whatever you have."
"So…" Hoshiguma trailed off as Scarp raised a brow.
"I run a business, as long as you tell me what and pay, anything more is beyond my scope of understanding or care." He waved her off while Hoshiguma nodded with a small smile.
"Of course, thank you, Scarp," Hoshiguma said before she made her way outside, Ch'en and Swire followed her.
"Hoshiguma, what are you doing?" Ch'en asked, confused and a bit frustrated while her partner looked through the various rusted or broken down vehicles and scrap within the yard. "We're on the clock."
"I know, I know." Hoshiguma assured Ch'en, "But if he was hiding Josue, Scarp, and many others, won't say anything to the Guard Department. It's how it is around here. You know this." Hoshiguma noted, her eyes catching something as she crouched down. "We can find evidence though." Hoshiguma said, dragging a finger over vague marks, "These look like the marks left by his bike."
"So he's sheltering him?" Swire pointed out.
"Or he's here and Scarp doesn't know." Ch'en grimaced lightly, "And we can't exactly perform an inspection without a warrant."
"Which is gonna be hard." Hoshiguma pointed out. "Scarp is the private type, he'll let people see but never do more than that."
"Damn." Ch'en cursed with a grimace before sighing. "Nothing we can do about it, let's go home, set up some surveillance, and then-."
"What are these tracks?" Swire asked, pointing at the floor away from the area in front of the auto shop. "They don't look like any of the tracks of any of the cars here."
"No. Heavier." Hoshiguma noted. "Looks like a… semi-truck?" She said, a bit surprised before leaning slightly and trying to get a good look inside the closed gates of the auto shop. "Can't see anything though."
"So he has a different vehicle," Ch'en noted, frowning, if he had a motorcycle that could outspeed Hoshiguma's, who knows what else he had? "What is he planning?"
Ch'en has met many people, but Josue's countenance was always one of calm amusement as if it's all expected and he's just laughing inwardly. However, his eyes always seemed to look straight through her, as if he was sizing her up before returning to being relaxed.
Maybe it was experience or the various times he escaped, but Ch'en felt that, under the relaxed stance, something was waiting to attack. Something that wouldn't hesitate to attack.
What could a person as dangerous as that be doing at the moment?
"Right, yeah, like that," Josue said, bobbing his head at the young man in front of him using sticks to hit his drum set, a steady rhythm as Josue bobbed his head. "That's a good rhythm. Preem."
"'Preem'?" Oscar asked, raising a brow, "The hell is that?"
"Premium." Josue elaborated, his hands deep in the guts of the machinery found inside an oven within Terra belonging to the third person he was supposed to help as their son let him in.
Oscar, a young Lupo with a father who worked in an office, and a mother that worked as a nurse, has black hair cut short and blue eyes, a small scar on one of his ears while wearing a sweater over a black shirt, and ripped jeans. He's a smart kid with a rough tongue and a love for his drum set. If he wasn't part of the slums, he might have been capable of enrolling into a pretty good school, but 'pretty good' doesn't justify offering scholarships to a kid from an area where Infected are seen.
"Thanks." He said, "Your advice was useful, old timer."
"Watch it." Josue warned, pointing a finger at him while he peered out of the oven, "I'm not much older than you are. You'll be an old timer too before you know it."
The Lupo rolled his blue eyes as he looked at his drum set. "You play an instrument?"
"Electric guitar, violin, harmonica, piano," he listed, "but why?"
"You…" he trailed off, almost anxiously, "you wouldn't happen to need a drummer, would you?"
"I don't play in nice places." Josue admitted, "Bars, and the like, or much at all, you still sure?"
"Yeah." He said, confidently. "I-I need to start somewhere." He answered while Josue huffed, a bit of amusement in his voice while he closed the oven.
"If you can find somewhere to play," he started, leaving a small paper on the table, "call me. We can practice there."
"Right," Oscar said and Josue waved while going to the door.
"Your oven's done, see ya later." He said, finishing up his last errand for the day as he had nothing else to do, other than… well, not much, admittedly.
He moved through the apartments, which were maintained but not exactly to the best standard, similar to the Megabuildings constructed back in Night City. He should look for some bars, somewhere to perform, and make some cash on the side.
He walked through the roads of the border between the slums and the middle-class area of Lungmen. Unlike the rest of Lungmen, it was far calmer, more of an area for people to live in rather than the business-centered city it is. Each step left him to his thoughts as he brought a hand to his chin. He, admittedly, doesn't know much, so maybe he should check out the library. It'd be useful, if anything else, to learn the history of Terra in its entirety.
"Damn it." Someone grumbled inside an alley, to Josue's vague interest as he looked inside. Within the passage, a suited man inspected the engine of a car, the other scanned the area, his eyes landing on Josue where they narrowed in suspicion.
Well, they locked eyes, now Josue can't be an asshole and just walk away. "… Need some help?"
"N-No." The man said, extracting his hands from the engine to wipe the sweat off his forehead, "I-It's fine, just-."
"I think you rigged it to explode by accident," Josue noted, to the man's shock as he leaped away from the car.
"N-No way!" He squeaked out loud, the Perro palling visibly as his partner, a Zalak, edged away as Josue inspected the engine.
"Well, explosive in that the Originium you're using as fuel would spark and burst from within," he pointed out, inspecting the engine for a while longer, "which would mess up the AC that's still running inside and probably worsen the day of whoever's inside." He noted while he patted the car, "Hey, turn that off! I don't wanna lose a finger doing this."
There was no answer until the Perro moved, opening the door and ending the humming of the car and Josue leaned on the hood. "Thank you." He thanked the man, after all, Josue realized what he had just done.
In Night City, and the NUSA proper, there are three types of people you don't fuck with unless you have a good reason and a fully-armed team or a perfect plan. These are Fixers, Corpos, and Nomads.
At this exact moment, Josue is dealing with a-no, if the stares aimed at his back are any evidence, THE Fixer of either the area or all of Lungmen. Because he could feel it, eyes on his back as he looked at the engine and even more ahead.
Would he do it again even if he knew this beforehand? Yeah.
Inspecting the car further, he began to note a few things, "How old is this thing?" He asked while the Perro turned to him.
"We've had it for a year." The man said as Josue turned to them, face twisted in confusion.
"Who's been modifying this shitbox?" He asked, almost in disbelief. "Half of the parts don't even fit in a car like this, hell, I think they welded some of the parts together." He noted, reaching in and wiggling a part as he could see some cables were cut. "Fuck, no wonder, didn't even tape it right." He noted, reaching for his bag and grabbing some tools, "He cut off some wires, probably looking to redirect energy to more necessary systems, but the wires are still connected, so the sparks are messing with it, headlights probably aren't as strong as before, going over speed bumps is probably a nightmare since the shocks aren't working right…" He trailed off, muttering as he found more and more problems.
"… If you can identify them, can you fix them?" The Perro asked as Josue raised a brow.
"I can perform maintenance, jury-rigg a few things, and get it up and running how it should, but the guy who maintained this car needs to be replaced. I'd suggest either selling it for scrap or sending it back to the manufacturer, telling them to give you a new one." He admitted honestly. "But right now? No."
"That's fine." The Zalak interjected, "Just get it in working condition."
"Sure, but you'll have to pay." He said, returning to the car as he ignored any other words and returned to his usual work. As usual, it was the simple thing of identifying parts of a car and connecting them in his mind, using his knowledge of Science, Tech, and more to connect the rest of the pieces.
The whole process took all of one hour as he had to move around a bit as he shimmied out from under the car. "Right, go ahead, let's see if it works."
The Perro inserted the key and turned it, the car sputtered for a long while until the gentle hum of the engine came to life. "There it is."
The Zalak sighed, "Thank you, sir, we truly appreciate this."
"Hey, no problem, like I said, as long as you pay, it'll all be fine." Josue reminded them as the Zalak nodded before turning to the vehicle.
For a second no one said anything before turning to Josue, "Please," he began, opening the door, his expression now blank and intense, "enter."
Josue hesitated for a second before doing so, after all, he does need a source of income besides his small gigs even if he has no problem doing it for free on occasion, but that's not important. The stares on him were back, it'd be stupid beyond all belief to refuse.
Slowly, Josue made his way into the car and he found himself face-to-face with a rat.
An honest-to-goodness rat wearing a suit and a nice white coat over it. "Nice coat." He pointed out, getting comfortable as the Zalak chuckles.
"Thank you, yours isn't too bad either." The rat acknowledged before continuing, "Where are my manners, forgive me, my memory isn't what it used to be Josue, my name escapes me at the moment."
"Yet, you know mine." Josue noted with a roll of his eyes, "If I wanted to enter a dick-measuring contest, I'd have become a politician or Exec. Sadly, I'm a Tech, a Nomad." Josue said bluntly, "I have very few skills normal people would be interested in, much less aware of."
There was a second as the Zalak and Josue stared each other down, neither side saying anything as the car smoothly continued on its way until the Zalak's face fell, to Josue's confusion. "Kids these days can't even let us old timers have their fun." He said, Josue, muffling a scoff at that while relaxing slightly. "Fine, within Lungmen, I'm known as the Rat King. Please, refer to me as such."
"Tiger." Josue responded, extending a hand, "Nomad, Tech, and merc. Do you need something that has to do with tech or vehicles? I'm your guy." He said, the Rat King extending his hand and grasping it around Josue's, tightening it as the two shook.
"Well met." The man, or rat, said while leaning back against the seat. "Scarp has informed me of your circumstances." He said, leaning on his cane, his eyes glinting. "It seems like you have gotten into a bit of trouble with the LGD."
Josue raised both hands, "It wasn't my fault." He said before shrugging, "Mostly."
The Rat King chuckled, leaning forward, "W also had a lot of good things to say about you." Josue's expression shifted into one of distaste as the Rat King raised a brow, "Not a fan of the Sarkaz?"
"More of W herself." He scoffed, leaning back, "Why? I work with tech, not people. Sure, I can patch people up and even help them, but if you are injured, take them to a clinic or something! It's the fucking principle!" Josue ranted before huffing. "No, nothing against Sarkaz, just W being stubborn for some reason."
The Rat King huffed, "That is what most people think of when they meet her. She also had a lot to say about your weapons."
Josue didn't answer for a second, their eyes locking as the Rat King had to hide the instinctive twitch of his hands at the malice and suspicion being sent his way from his look alone. His eyes were empty, Josue knew that if he drew his weapon to 'silence' him, he might not come out alive. Despite this, the Rat King can see him resolve himself.
"W," he started, cautiously, "is a merc. Her word is as good as the money given to her, but so are the consequences," he said, drawing the gun at his waist and pulling the slide, letting Rat King see the details of the gun and find himself unsure of its model as a bullet flew out of the gap in the gun as he catches it, "of her words." He finished, showing the round as Rat King couldn't recognize the style of the bullet or see any Originium as he nodded.
If something like this got out…
He removed the magazine, inserting the bullet back into the magazine before inserting the magazine and slipping the gun back into his holster. "My weapons are like anyone's. Meant to do its users' bidding." He answered as the Rat King nodded.
"Of course." The Rat King nodded, letting the subject drop as the atmosphere in the car eased greatly. "And what would you do with such weapons?"
"Dunno," Josue admitted, shrugging. "I'm a Tech, mostly." He said, to the Rat King's amusement. "I just like messing with vehicles, modifying them. Things like that."
"You wouldn't pick them up?" The Rat King asked as Josue raised a brow.
"The life of a mercenary isn't one you abandon completely." Josue pointed out, "Besides," he added with a small grin, "a bit of a workout never hurt anyone."
The Rat King chuckled while Josue eased, his grin becoming a simple upturn of his lips as the Rat King continued, "What about outside of jobs?"
"I'm no saint," Josue admitted openly, "but I've got skills I can use outside of combat." He continued, mind going back to his more charitable actions in Night City, "Ma didn't raise a bitch, and she sure as hell didn't raise a selfish bastard."
For a second, neither said anything before the Rat King huffed in amusement. He reaches for the folds of his suit and brings out a communicator. "Then, say I had a job for you, what would you say?" He asked as Josue glanced at the communicator and scoffed.
Reaching for his bag, he brought out a different phone and showed it to him. "Use this one." Josue insisted, "A burner, the only number on it is mine and impossible to track." He said, the Rat King holding it gently as he inspected it. Glancing at Josue, he makes a motion of his hand, flicking his hand outward along with his thumb. Mimicking the action, the Rat King unfurled the burner as Josue nodded, the screen displaying a single name. Tiger.
"Interesting…" The Rat King noted with interest. "You say you work with technology?"
"While we're here," Josue continued, "let's talk about the job." He said, leaning forward in interest. "Tell me the deets."
The Rat King sighed, shaking his head before divulging the details.
Seems like some anti-Infected civilians were getting a bit too close to the Slums, even attacking some of the citizens who live in it when they tried to leave. It's more that they were beating normal people rather than the Infected, but harming anyone in the slums is not something you do without repercussions.
"Do you want them dead?" Josue asked as the Rat King shook his head.
"It hasn't escalated to that point." The Rat King assured him before adding, "Yet."
"Right, rough 'em up?" He asked as the Rat King nodded, "Simple enough. Sure, I'll take it."
"Good." The Rat King nodded, "In return for fixing up this 'shitbox' as you call it, I'll get the LGD off your back this time."
"Think you can add in a few manuals of vehicles in Terra?" He asked as the Rat King nodded.
"Simple enough. Then I guess that means we're even?" The Rat King noted as Josue nodded.
"Don't see how we can't be. I'll call you once it's done. It's only one group, right?" He asked as the Rat King shook his head.
"It's many." The Rat King said as Josue had an idea pop up in his mind, humming as he brought a hand to his chin. "Three in particular."
"Where are they usually around?" Josue asked, the Rat King gave him vague directions about where the attacks had taken place. "Right, hold off on clearing my name for now until after the job is done. Take some of my pay while you're at it if you need to."
"If you're sure." The Rat King conceded, a bit confused but slowly painting a picture, "But, why?"
"You'll see," Josue assured him while looking out the window. "Right here is fine." He noted, the Rat King telling the driver to stop as he made his way out into a random corner of the Slums. "Thanks for the drive, I'll call once the job is done." He said, closing the door behind him. He went to an alleyway and grabbed a pipe, spinning it idly, and made his way in a random direction.
The light of Lungmen died as the neon lined the streets, the citizens made their way home or wherever they rest. Maybe it's home with a loving family waiting and some find themselves within the alleyways of the city of commerce.
Others snickered, wielding bats, pipes, swords, and knives looking to cause trouble. Josue watched from a building, right by the border that separates the slums from the lower-middle class area. The area had already been cleared of people, Infected or otherwise, as he waited.
He'd been stalking the group for hours, but no one noticed as he made no sound, alternating constantly and using his limbs to make leaps easier. Leaps that the people of Terra would be able to do easily but he had to have his legs replaced to even reach.
Thankfully, the people of the Slums were a lot more accepting of him, mostly. He was able to get some information from the people in return for fixing appliances. Getting names, appearances, vague routes, and more from them as he used this information to trace it back to the origin. Coincidentally, it led to one of the higher-quality, but still seedy, bars as he could hear them talking with the other groups as he went to track them down.
It took the rest of his day, but he knows who's where and with what as his plan continues to pan out.
It was familiar, neon lighting the streets, suspicious people being followed, and more as he removed his clothes.
Gone were the jeans, shirt, vest, and jacket; instead, they were replaced by a tank top and some jeans. Make it obvious that not only is he not Infected, but he's the one who did this—not the Infected.
He brandished a detonator and pressed it. Nearby, a car went up in smoke, doing no damage beyond smoke, interrupting the people's sleep, and destroying its innards. The group whirled around to look in the general direction as Josue lowered himself down the building, hanging off as he jumped off and landed on the back of one of them, grunting as the wind was knocked out of them while Josue placed a pipe against the back of their neck. "Afternoon, gentlemen, what brings you here?"
"You-." One of them started, a mask on their face as he brandished a knife, "You're not Infected? What are you doing stopping us then?"
"I'm not." Josue confirmed, looking at all of them, derision on his face, "Must be easy to tell them apart, with how many you left injured. You and your cronies have been causing problems, and someone doesn't like that."
"The Rat King," one of the thugs said, scoffing, "what can he do? If he tries anything, the LGD will be on his ass!" They yelled, causing the others to nod and rally as Josue nodded.
"True, true," Josue admitted, wrenching the pipe deeper into his victim's back as they tried to get up. "But when did I say the Rat King would be displeased, not that he wouldn't," Josue added as he stepped on the back of the man's head, wrenching it onto the pavement. "See, I don't like what you're doing." He noted while stepping away.
The man he was on tried to stand up before Josue swung the pipe straight into his leg, the man yelling and falling to his knees. The others surged back in surprise as he grabbed a phone and began calling a number.
"This is the Lungmen Guard Department," said a familiar voice, Swire, so most of the attendants were either doing something else or busy and she was the only one who could answer, "Swire speaking, how may I help you?"
"This is Josue 'Tiger' Mondragon," Josue said, kicking the man holding his shin on the side, hard enough to send him flying a short distance and make an audible sound. "Send…" He paused, counting out the people audibly as he finished, and nodded, "Seven ambulances at these locations." He began listing off some streets, the first being recognizable to the thugs as the one they were on. "Thank you and goodbye." He says, hanging up as he turns to them.
Twirling the pipe, the men stumbled back as some pointed their weapons forward, "He's one guy, we can overwhelm him!"
"Whoa~!" Josue started, leaning back, "Watch whatcha say choom, I might get a bit," he paused, brandishing his M1911, cocking back the hammer as the people recognized the weapon, "scared." He finished, making dramatic jerks as his entire body shook, the thugs a lot more unwilling to move forward. At some point, he began to shake in a way that resembled dance before laughing.
"Yeah, I'm fucking with ya." He admitted, throwing the gun to the side as it clatters on the ground. "I don't need that, one at a time or all at once, you can't call your buddies." He said, walking forward with the pipe in hand, their reluctance being replaced by outrage. "C'mon, you're man enough to beat up someone who can't fight back. You can gang up on one guy~." He mocked one of them finally having enough as he roared and charged forward.
Grabbing the pipe with both hands at both ends, he blocked the bat, redirecting it and using the base to smack them in the mask, sending them stumbling back. Josue swung his pipe at his shoulder, the thug yelling as he held his arm before falling to his knees from a spinning back kick.
Two more charged as he weaved the swing of an axe and used his pipe to stop the charge of a thug with a knife, resting the end of the pipe against the solar plexus before grabbing a part of the other end and jerking it upward into his chin, sending him reeling back as Josue's anger flares.
In Night City, Nomads were seen as 'outsiders', usually discriminated against due to being too 'innocent' and taken advantage of. While the reason might be different, this entire event is sending a fire through Josue's body.
The man with the axe swung again and Josue swung as well, hitting the ribs as the man grunted, the blade missing before Josue hit the shoulder and then the thigh as he fell, Josue kicking his face and knocking him out.
The man with the knife tried to step back, but Josue swung at his stomach before swinging at his shin, sending him to a knee before using an elbow to knock him out.
The last two tried to scamper back, but Josue threw the pipe, nailing one in the head as he used his Grapple Hand to latch onto the foot of the other before pulling him in as he tried to drag himself away. "Not so fun now, is it?" He hissed, pulling him in as Josue strides forward and grabs the back of his shirt, using it to pull him up and then slamming his head on the floor.
A click rang out, one Josue was familiar with as the man he knocked down first crawled to his gun and tried to shoot him with it, unaware that the safety was on. He tried again, his eyes widening at the ensuing click as Josue made his way over, wrenching the gun from his hand and slamming it down onto his head, the steel frame heavy and knocking him out as Josue scoffed.
"What a gonk."
With all of them down, Josue made his way into an alleyway as he made his way to the next group, the hum of an engine ringing out as he used a bike he 'requisitioned' from a 'generous donor' to make his way to the next location.
AKA, he klepped the thing from some corpo. He'll give it back, don't worry, it's a good bike though.
However, he does make a stop to leave his gun with Scarp.
Beating up civilians wasn't a good way to get a reputation, any Nomad knows this, and not every Edgerunner subscribes to this, but there are exceptions.
Josue waited, having corralled the final group after they were called by the second group in the street he asked for the ambulances to be in. It's been a while, and if he's right…
The familiar hum of an engine rang out as he sat on the motorcycle. Slightly bloody pipe by his side and lit a cigarette in between his lips as he waited, spotting some Medias following, some of them having already been recording as he gave an anonymous 'tip' to some.
A few seconds later, Hoshiguma cruised in, her motorcycle purring as her expression was a complicated one, "Tiger…"
"Josue." He corrected her, nodding at her, "How's the weather, Hoshiguma?"
"Could be better." She admitted, getting off her bike with a sigh and an almost regretful look. "Did you attack this group and the other ones?"
"All of 'em. Hope they got a concussion at least. I went easy on 'em though." He admitted as Hoshiguma made her way to him.
"Josue Mondragon, you're officially under arrest by the Lungmen Guard Department, please drop all your weapons and submit yourself to our authority." She declared solidly, the sound of sirens following it, her large shield glinting under the light as his cigarette shifted from one side to the other.
For a beat, Josue didn't do anything, instead, he threw his pipe to the side. The sound broke the silence as he stepped away from the bike and spread his arms. "That's it, I'm unarmed."
Hoshiguma couldn't believe that, after all, he had three different firearms, a bevy of explosives, and a knife the last time he was in the Lungmen Guard Department building. Beyond that, there was something else…
Unbeknownst to many, everyone has a sort of… 'aura' to them, usually taking the form of a creature or other. It's more visible to the elites, people like Hoshiguma, and is easier to generate by people like, again, Hoshiguma.
So, she was surprised as, for a second, the lights of the neon streets seemed to light up behind him, showing a knight with twisted armor reflecting off his body reminiscent of modern body armor with a mechanical nature to it. Its helmet, instead of a classic helmet, was a set of aviators with a featureless face except for a bandanna around his neck.
Slowly, he stepped forward, the vague image, or was she looking at him? Is she tired enough to imagine what she just saw?
Regardless, her skin crawled as she looked at the exposed skin of his left arm and legs, the feeling of wrongness coursing through her as he stopped in front of her. He extended both arms, a satisfied but savage grin in place. "Take me away, officer."
Slowly, Hoshiguma put him in handcuffs, waiting for the cruisers to come as she wondered why he did this. One option was the Rat King, but to make it such a public affair? To get arrested? Why?
Josue was painting the target on his back. He beat up all these people going after the Infected. He leaked their conversations online and to news outlets. He came out here and single-handedly stopped them from hurting other Infected.
The cameras are all aimed at his face as the cruisers begin to appear, ambulances follow as they begin setting up a perimeter and Josue feels like he's at the top of the world. The Infected are feared, for a reason too, if his conversations with some of the people he helped in the morning were any evidence, but they suffer for it too.
He doesn't care about tomorrow, about yesterday, or even right now. The world could die for all he cares, he has his problems to deal with. This world might end, but he's still alive, and while he won't mind dying, he's not looking to do so immediately.
Grinning, he winked at the camera, the officers at each side, stuffing him into a cruiser. Night City ground dreams and ideals into nothing, the world already does so and Josue survived Night City, he escaped with his morals and his ideals mostly intact. He escaped as 'himself', a Night City Legend.
Changed, but unbroken.
This world? Let it grind him to dust. He'll do as he has, do what he wants, and live as he has.
Style over substance.
Attitude is everything.
Live on the Edge.
And finally, his personal favorite.
Break the rules.
Once more, he's in an interrogation room, hands still cuffed and connected to the table with Ch'en glaring down at him as he hums in boredom.
"So-."
"Yes," Josue interjected, rolling his eyes. "I plead guilty, I pummeled them because they were beating up the Infected, I got pissed, and decided to beat them up because I don't like other people getting hurt."
Ch'en's brow twitched as she slammed her hands on the table, glaring at him, "Quiet!"
"No." Josue retorted, to her visible frustration, "It was self-defense anyway. No one died, what more is there to learn? You know why I did it, send me to a holding cell, hang me, fucking strip me and parade me around the city, but at this point, it's just bothersome."
As much as Ch'en hated to admit it, he was right. He gave them everything, he admitted to attacking all three groups, to have called for the ambulances, and set up the car bomb, he gave a motive and they even have the weapon, a pipe. No guns.
What's more was the mercy he hit them with, leaving them with bruises and pain but not dead. Broken bones, but Ch'en wasn't satisfied.
It was… unsatisfying. He didn't lie, his only crime was protecting those which the city refuses to acknowledge as people. It was why Hoshiguma wasn't smiling when she escorted him in, it was why Swire, the first one to interrogate him, left with a sour frown.
Any more and it'll simply be a repetition of everyone else who entered behind her. She sighed, taking a deep breath and leaning away, about to do her job before a knock rang out. Ch'en frowns and makes her way to the door, spotting Hoshiguma waiting outside. "Hoshiguma."
"Ch'en," she started, taking a deep breath as she continued, "the charges have been dropped, we've been told to let him go."
"What? Who-?" Ch'en interjected as the pieces began to connect and Hoshiguma nodded.
"Yeah, he isn't exactly the type to let things like this slide easily," Hoshiguma says, though there's a bit of respect in her voice along with it. Something that brought Ch'en no short amount of headaches as she turned to Josue.
"So, I'm free to go? Preem." He said, removing his hands from the handcuffs and standing up, rubbing his wrist as he made his way over to them, to Ch'en's frustration.
"Yes… You are." She relented before sighing, "Please, follow us, we'll escort you out of here."
"Thanks." He says, following Ch'en as they made their way to the front of the building at the reception area.
"Here it is, now stay out of trouble Josue." Ch'en reminded him as Josue gave her a look.
"As long as you're the one arresting me, oh trouble's gonna have a hard time letting me go." He said with a coy grin, to Hoshiguma's amusement and Ch'en's frustration and slight embarrassment as she glared at the man.
"Go." She ordered as he brought up both hands and walked off.
As he was about to make his way outside, he snapped his fingers and turned to them, a regretful expression on his face. "I don't like Lawmen, but I hate bothering good people. So, for what it's worth," he said, shrugging, "sorry for being a pain in your ass for a long time." He finished before bringing up two fingers to his temple and flaring them out, "Catch ya later, drinks are on me if we see each other again."
The two watch him go, his clothes reminiscent of a thug, a cholo if Josue was there, but despite that, he walked with a certain bearing. Confident, relaxed, and, most of all, unbothered. Shaking her head, Ch'en makes her way back into the department.
"Come on, we still have work to do."
"Aye, Ch'en." Hoshiguma agreed, "Think we should try and figure out what bar he frequents?"
Ch'en scoffed, "Please," she started before sighing heavily, "he reminds me of someone I've known before."
"Oh?" Hoshiguma started, leaning forward in interest, aware of who she was talking about, "Do tell?"
"Let's just say there's a higher chance we'll see him in that same room before we see him at a bar." Ch'en started, chuckling as Hoshiguma's brow twitched before huffing in amusement.
It's fifty-fifty. "Wanna bet?"
"Sure." Ch'en said confidently, "Wanna try and guess what charge it'll be too?"
While the two joked for a bit, Josue made his way around the city of Lungmen, looking around as he could see some snippets of news on the newspapers, screamsheets, or TVs, and bigger screens. While his face was blacked out, he was still wearing the same clothes.
As such…
Hoshiguma was in shambles, this isn't how it's supposed to go!
The confident superior should be humbled, they'd go out to a bar, get a drink, have Josue wave them over and then they'd get free drinks and Hoshiguma would be a few LMD richer. She didn't expect…
"So, you were assaulted in broad daylight," Ch'en started, brandishing the voice recorder in her hand, "took a recording of the conversation, warned them, they continued, attacked you, and the only evidence we have is this voice recording because the cameras there are broken?"
Ch'en's amusement was palpable, especially after she saw how sheepish he looked while being escorted by an officer. "Eyewitnesses too…" He trailed off, vaguely capable of hearing Swire laughing her ass off in the other room as he joined her and so did Ch'en.
"J-Just go." She said through her laughter, waving him off, "Four days…" She shook her head before muttering, "You were arrested six times in four days."
"By a different officer each time." He pointed out, Ch'en bringing a hand up and pointing at the door as he stood up, making his way out, coming face-to-face with an amused Hoshiguma and a crying Swire.
"Watch your mouth," he said, talking to Swire as she bent over, holding her stomach from her guffaws, "a fly might amble in." He said, making his way to the receptionist, already familiar with the way after his six escapes.
Well, it's gonna be an amusing story.
"Pfff…" The Rat King sputtered, "You stepped out for ten minutes, got into a fight, and were arrested a few minutes after being assaulted again."
From the other end of the phone call, Josue rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, tragedy, whatever, whatnot. But yeah, now the people have something else to worry about if they want to go to the slums."
"That they do." The Rat King conceded, "Was that your plan all along? Becoming an integral part of the Lungmen slums and the people?"
"Not really," Josue said, seated at a ramen stand by Scarp's place, already changed into his normal clothing and using some of the cash the Rat King gave him to pay for the food, non-synthetic too. "See, if I did it all subtle-like, hid in the shadows and whatnot, they'd have had ammunition to blame the Infected or the people in the slums for attacking them. If I tried to hide my identity, it'd be way easier to accuse me of being Infected since, well, it's the Slums. Not many people care about it much," he added, dissatisfied before continuing, "so, if I went out in fairly light clothing and made sure they knew they had a target, they could see the consequences of messing with that target, non-lethally anyway."
For a second, the Rat King didn't say anything before huffing. "That is correct. Well done, with this, your job is done, I'll let you enjoy your food. Before I forget," he added, before continuing, "your identity has been set up, but do you want anything added in particular?"
"Just be honest." Josue said, leaning back, "I appeared a few days back and don't remember much."
There was a beat of silence as the Rat King seemed confused. "Amnesia?" He asked and Josue snorted.
"No, I remember everything except for anything that happened four, or five, days ago and a few months or so ago," Josue admitted, which bothered him.
He remembered leaving Night City in his kombi, finding a place to set up shop and a roof garden. He remembered getting customers, some interested in his time in Night City and some fellow Nomads, or as much as they saw him as a Nomad due to his time in Night City. He remembered going out on a short drive to get rid of the wanderlust in his body.
What happened after gets… blurry. He knows he fought for a stretch of that time and did some talking, but then five days ago he appeared in Lungmen.
"So…" The Rat King started, "no background, nothing, just that you...appeared in Lungmen?" The Rat King asked, Josue's hum was enough of a response as he sighed, chuckling softly, "Well if you're sure. I'll make the changes."
"Thanks. If you've got any more jobs, send 'em my way and I'll take care of them." He said, hanging up as he closed the burner he was using and stowed it away.
"Interesting conversation." Someone spoke gruffly as Josue sighed, a group of men circling him as he turned, about to tell the chef to pack up his food to go.
"Yeah, really interesting." Ch'en started, dipping in as the small group paused, followed by Hoshiguma and Swire.
"Hey, Boss." Hoshiguma started, "Bring out the good stuff, we're doing some drinking tonight!"
"On my dime." Josue reminded them with a sigh. "I knew I should've kept my mouth shut."
"Then you should stay out of trouble," Swire said, hers, Ch'en's, and Hoshiguma's eyes all whirling to the group as they stepped back. "You all should too. It's getting late, and there are better things to do with one's time than to bother someone while they're trying to eat." Swire pointed out, that Ch'en's expression was one of suspicion and Hoshiguma just smiled.
"But, ma'am, he assaulted Lungmen citizens for-." He started, glancing at Josue as he shifted his jacket, causing them to freeze.
There, on his shoulder holster, was a gun, one eye glowing in the shadow cast by the light of the stand, as the EMP Threading around his eyes seemed to pop out in what little light was cast, giving him an inhuman look to him. "Violence is not the answer," he started, a click ringing out as their eyes went to the hand on his thigh, a different gun in his hand while he disengaged the safety, "but I'm more than willing to show you why it's the solution."
The group swallowed, slowly stepping back as they receded, letting Josue engage the safety, slipping the M1911 to his waist as he turned to the one manning the stall. "Sorry about that." He said, the man waving it away as he turned to the others.
"You should be careful waving that around." Ch'en pointed out, already having made her order, a beer in hand as she popped the tap. "I've heard of a few incidents where the gun went off without an order by some idiot with too much money. Which makes it a miracle that you haven't done so Missy." She started, immediately whirling to Swire, seated on his other side.
The catgirl's veins twitched as she leaned against the counter to rant at Ch'en, "Please, like I'd be caught dead with that. Do you know how many hoops I'd have to go over to get one, much less how much it costs? I'm surprised someone like him has one without being a Sankta."
"Calling me broke?" He asked as Hoshigma laughed, a beer in hand.
"Let's just say Missy here is very capable." The Oni suggested as Josue let it drop.
"Speaking of," Swire started, turning to him with a brow, "we got a report of the modifications you made to our vehicles. Somehow, they're running better than before, how'd you do that?" She asked, the other two turning at him with interest.
Josue grimaced, reaching for his can of beer and downing half of it.
If he was going to rant about the vehicles here, he's not gonna do it sober. Also, new beer.
"It's a fucking mess is how." He practically growled, "Honestly, I'm not the picture of ethics, but c'mon! The material used for the car might as well be aluminum, the various systems all run off of one thing that has been proven to be dangerous, even the AC. That things break down, you're getting a faceful of that thing. Not to mention how redundant the systems are, it's like the designers wanted to make sure it works, but at the cost of being unreliable."
"How would that work?" Hoshiguma asked Ch'en in the middle of his rant.
"I don't know," Ch'en answered, not very interested in the subject, but just finding herself increasingly confused at some of the terms.
"It's simple logic." Josue explained, "Cars are meant to be a faster, cleaner, and safer alternative to fucking… horses or some shit." He elaborated, swinging an arm. "They should be able to crash and keep the passengers alive. If those pieces of shit crashed, it'd be like fucking… Carbon Plague 2.0 or some shit."
Swire tilts her head, "Don't you mean Oripathy?"
"No, completely different, gooification." He elaborated, taking a sip, the words sending shivers up the spines of those listening. "At least, that's what I've heard, some people say that they got powers from it. Which…" he trailed off as he looked away, his eyes blank as he nodded, "Suddenly, that makes sense."
"That?" Swire asked as he seemed to realize what he said before grimacing, bringing up a hand to make a 'so-so' gesture.
"It's nothing." Josue waved it off. He sipped his bottle before adding, "Just remembering my time as a Nomad. Where I learned all about cars and vehicles in general."
"'Nomad'?" Ch'en said, looking Josue over before scoffing, "I'm sorry, I-I just don't see you as someone who'd go around on a burdenbeast braving the land."
"Burdenbeast?" Josue asked, giving her a strange look. "That like a cow or something?" While the trio sent each other strange looks, Swire answered.
"Aren't you a Nomad? How can you not know what a burdenbeast is?" Swire pointed out, sipping from her bottle. "As a matter of fact, how does being a Nomad and the knowledge of a car fit together?"
Josue gave her a strange look. "It's how we traveled. We'd get some cars, drive off, upgrade them, and then just continue on the Open Road."
"What, did you connect them and turn them into small Nomadic Cities?" Hoshiguma joked and Josue's head whirled to her.
"Wait, hold on," he started, his hands waving as he leaned on a knee, "You're telling me the city we're on is moving?"
Now the trio sent him strange looks. "Well, yeah," Swire said like it was the most obvious thing. "How else would we evade Catastrophes?"
Josue's eyes widened, looking at the ground while his mind flinched at the revelation. "That explains so much."
Hoshiguma turned to him in interest, "Well, what did you do as a Nomad?"
"Well…" he trailed off, placing the edge of his beer against his lips and letting it rest, not taking a sip as he thought about the legality of it all. Well, they're not on duty, it's literally midnight and they're drinking, a bad choice, but Ch'en's already finished her can while Swire is ordering a second round.
"Well…" he trailed off, placing the edge of his beer against his lips and letting it rest, not taking a sip as he thought about the legality of it all. Well, they're not on duty, it's literally midnight and they're drinking, a bad choice, but Ch'en's already finished her can while Swire is ordering a second round.
"Just so you know," Ch'en added, her stern countenance returning, "If it is connected to a crime, we will have to take you in… Again."
"Please don't." Hoshiguma started, chuckling airily, "I don't mind working late nights, but it'll be hard to keep a straight face in the interrogation."
"It doesn't, it doesn't." He assured them before shrugging, well, it's a good story. "Right, so, I should tell you beforehand, I only remember what happened after Ch'en met me."
There was a beat of silence as he let them chew on his words. "Wait, so you have amnesia?" Swire asked before Josue shook his head.
"No, but, for some reason, there's a time, maybe a month or a few before I met Ch'en, where I just… don't remember what happened clearly, but anything before that? I remember it… well enough." He added, after all, he doesn't have photographic memory.
They nod along, understanding it, letting him tell his story. "So, during my time in Night City-."
"Wait," Swire interrupted, "Night City? Where is this city?"
"Well, it's on the East Coast of the NUSA." He said, furthering their confusion. "Irrelevant to the story-."
"No, this is pretty important." Ch'en said, narrowing her eyes, "Josue, Terra is the only landmass we know of, so for you to come out and say that you came from a different landmass is..."
"C'mon," Hoshiguma interrupts, an easy smile on her face, "let him tell his story. We'll have questions regardless, so we might as well leave the questions until he's done."
"Tomorrow," Swire interjected.
"Tomorrow. Or, in the morning." Hoshiguma agreed as Swire nodded, leaving Ch'en to sigh.
"Fine," she says, taking a slurp from her ramen as Josue does the same, "please, continue."
"Right, so, do you know who the Deepdowners are?"
Already, the trio was confused, something Josue noticed as he elaborated, "They're a sort of… people who work in domes at the bottom of the ocean, mining oil and other stuff for the corpos before the Corpo War, where they cut contact and only recently started interacting with Nomads for trade."
Corpo? War? Se-.
"Oh!" Hoshiguma said, smiling easily, "So you're an Aegir! No wonder you don't have any visible racial features."
Ch'en's eyes widened as she nodded, "Makes sense."
"No wonder you're so mysterious," Swire noted out loud before they were interrupted.
"I'm not." He pointed out, their confusion visible as they looked at him. "I've seen people with gills, fins, horns, fur, teeth, and animal features, but none of them were born with them."
There was a beat of silence as his words registered in their minds. "You…" Ch'en couldn't find the words as he continued.
"Anyway." He continued, "By around 2045, probably later," Ch'en looked like she wanted to comment on that but managed to restrain herself, "most Deepdowns were already accounted for, participating in trade with the rest of the world with the help of the Drift Nations, all of them having disavowed the Corporations they originally belonged to, except for one."
"Wait, there were multiple of them? And what's a 'Drift Nation?" Swire asked this time, curious.
"Think a floating country and you've got the gist of it." He explained, but that didn't seem to satisfy Swire, her eyes looking out to the direction of the nearest body of water to imagine a floating landmass in the middle
"We were just off a small job, or a small series of jobs. Weirdly enough, each one had to do with underwater exploration, where I got my sea feet for the first time." He elaborated, "Ships, submarines, speedboats, all of them, and these jobs made me pretty good at it. The job before this one had me looking through possible locations for this Deepdown by the name of Suburbia. The thing is that Deepdowns? They're fucking hidden, having developed their cloaking technology to hide from the Corpos and their war. They also don't trust anybody, so it was a pain in the ass, but I had a way around it."
"The dome that is used as the Deepdown is hidden, but it also hides what's behind it at certain angles. Radio transmissions, people, anything to an extent. It's how I found Suburbia." He explained as they nodded. "So, I went, reported to the Fixer, got paid, and went home, a bit wobbly since being in a submarine is very different from being in a car."
"Duh," Swire noted before returning to the story.
"So, a few days ago there was this huge cache of data that was up for auction. A local corporation got a hold of some of it, I don't know what it was exactly, but it was important enough for three different Corporations to begin a race for it." He elaborated, his hand swinging as he paused to eat for a second, the others doing the same as they were embroiled in the story. "So, my Fixer called me up, said he wanted me on a job with an Exec, a representative of the local corporation. I accepted since the cash was pretty good, even if she did have a stick up her ass as we met in the Afterlife, a morgue turned bar as we were given the details of the gig."
"What was the job?" Ch'en asked as Josue rolled his eyes.
"What else, gold, weapons, tech, and data." He pointed out, "Seems like Suburbia was part of a system of Deepdowns meant to simulate a 'living' environment. The Corporation that made them was called… Fuck, I can't remember the name, but I think it was DayTech? Back when they were still in business, they worked in appliances, tools, and more, things you'd find in a home or out in the garage. They're also some of the first to propose the idea of Deepdown, I've heard. Originally using it as a testing ground for experimental weapons using the materials they dug up. Once they began to fail though, they moved all their assets, like gold and such, to this dome."
"That…" Ch'en started before holding a hand to her chin, "It makes a lot of sense." If Aegirs and their homes are similar, it can explain why they're so strong if they have access to things only found at the bottom of the ocean.
"Right, so, after they were actually given clearance to build it, they expanded, turning it into its little city, building over the ones that were already made without authorization. Then, the Corpo War happened, a lot of these were lost but not all of them. That's what I found, one of the domes that wasn't crushed by its pressure or through the bombs. That was our target. Our job was simply to go in, find out what's happening, and leave for another day to plan better." He said before sighing, the memory causing him to smile wryly. "As you can guess, it wasn't that simple."
"Was it the other Corporations?" Swire asked, already familiar as he nodded.
"Yup, we were lucky, our little corporation managed to decrypt the data they got at the auction pretty quickly, but it was unfinished, so a lot of details were left out. Like the fact after Daytech went out of business, Nihil Industries, a subsidiary of Millitech, the biggest military corporation in the world and the NUSA's army, bought it out before it went public and hushed up the fact that what was left was soon used to hold political prisoners, war criminals, people who should not see the light of day. Then," he continued, "one of those prisoners was the son of JayTon Industries, who's been missing for ten years. Now, remember how I said they sent assets to Suburbia?" They nodded, remembering as he continued, "Well, 'family' and 'workers' counted as assets." He added as Swire seemed disgusted and Ch'en glared while Hoshiguma frowned.
"Suburbia? It was the testing site for DayTech's secret weapon program, then, over it, was the original Deepdown dome as the net expanded until DayTech went under, where it became a treasure chest so the authorities couldn't get their assets, turning it into their little utopia. Then they began to send criminals, prisoners, to rot and well…" He trailed off, exhaustion in his eyes as he sighed. "We came along, as it all burst."
They listened with rapt attention as he began.
A/N: Next chapter is the beginning of the job, or at least how I'd see one. I hope you'll enjoy it regardless.