I Just watched the last two episodes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners…. Hoooooo boy… that was intense. Had my heart thumpin, waiting for the inevitable.

I knew what would happen, but it was still a ride. If I wasn't planning on writing this story, I am now. Shortly after that, I finished this chapter to cope. Enjoy!

Academics: Hostile, Friendly and O'Brian

Katsuo seethed as he scratched his bruised cheek where Martinez. He was sitting on one of the unused rooms in the school, waiting for one of his underlings to bring him the lackey he could use. Martinez was out of the school; but that wasn't enough for him. he needed to make him suffer. So what if his worthless mother was dead? As far as he was concerned, her life was worthless and so was Martinez.

'First I'll have to find the worthless shit, then Martinez will suffer for thinking himself better than me!' he raged in his head.'

His thoughts were interrupted by the opening door, and in walked O'Brian.

"O'Brian. Good, you've come."

The verdette flashed him a smile. "Well, you did ask for me, and who am I to say no to you?" His words were subservient, but his tone was not. O'Brian walked the fine line that way. As far as Katsuo understood him, O'Brian never had the balls to insult him to his face, but would gladly do so in private.

Katsuo gave a smile, pretending to be pleasant. "It's good that you know your place like the rest of the fodder, but I have a favor to ask of you." He used the term to imply that, if he didn't agree, Katsuo would make him regret it. He's done it before, and he'll do it again.

"Being?" the verdette asked. He wanted more info before he weighed his options. Either way, he'd leave after saying yes, but would decide how to proceed based on the task at hand.

Katsuo's eye twitched. 'The utter disrespect of this lowlife.' "I want you to head out to where that bastard Martinez lives. Find something to make him go after you, so I can arrange an ambush."

O'Brian, instead of agreeing imediately like a good dog, just sighed and asked questions. "How exactly? I've never even spoken to him. He has no reason to trust a single thing I say."

Katsuo just narrowed his eyes. 'How dare he!' "I don't care how you do it, make sure you get his attention and bring him back to the school!"

"You want to ambush him at school. You sure about that?" O'Brian shook his head. "Wouldn't that cause more problems for your reputation? That is, if people from the school board found out. Why not draw him to another part of the city, away from prying eyes."

Katsuo grit his teeth. Disrespectful bastard was right. "Fine. Bring him somewhere else. Get his attention, lure him somewhere secluded, contact me, and keep him there."

O'Brian crossed his arms and hummed, as if he was think about doing it. As far as Katsuo was concerned, he had no choice in the matter. He then shrugged. "Sure, I'll do it. I'll let you know when I have a meeting."

"Good." Katsuo replied before standing up and pulling up his sleeve. "One more thing we need to establish." he gave a feral grin.

O'Brian glanced back. "And that would be-" Katsuo decked him right in the face, knocking O'Brian flat on his back. Katsuo only had some light reinforcement in his arms, so it didn't knock him out. Still hurt though.

"Next time you show such disrespect, you'll be wasting what little eddies you have on your rehab. You're garbage that I tolerate because you're useful. Stop being useful, and I'll have you disposed of. Understood?"

"...Yeah." O'Brian picked himself up from the ground. "Yeah, I gotcha." he then turned around and walked out of the room. He only glanced at Katsuo as he grit his teeth in anger.

'Just for that, he should die with Martinez.' he thought as he made some calls. He decided to let trash dispose of other trash. Why should he lay a finger to deal with waste when it was their fault they didn't deserve to exist? That thought just made him smile as he wasted his breath and money on gang goons to get the task done.

_Elsewhere_

David crashed into the wall with a loud thud. He then picked himself up, grabbed the wooden sword - Regalla called it a Bokken right? - and charged at her again. Regalla deftly deflected the slash and struck his stomach. He fell back a bit, but bounced back to his feet rather quickly. Regalla smiled at that.

"Good, you're still conscious. You need to watch your opponent and dodge at the last second. Your speed is your one major advantage… USE IT!" she charged at him with a downward swing. He dodged it and moved to swing at her head. She deftly countered it, forcing him back again.

The two have been in this repeating pattern for hours, long since Igor's challenge. He thought fighting her would be easy with the Sandy, but that seemed like a dream after he was beaten into the ground… for the third time in a row a minute into the spar. He came to realize that, despite looking like a young punk girl, she seemed to have superhuman strength, speed and reflexes. No matter what angle he struck or trick he used, he couldn't hit her.

On the plus side, he was getting better at dodging her attacks. At first, he got hit within a minute of the fight. Now, an hour into the training, he lasted nearly 2 minutes without getting hit. It was small, but it was progress. Now he just needed to be able to hit back.

The student and instructor continued their matches for an hour more. David was getting better at dodging attacks. Soon, Regalla called an end to their match. "That's enough for now. Rest and recover, so we can proceed again another time."

David groaned as he got up on shaky legs. "You just wanna hit me again, don't you?"

Regalla just gave a feral grin in response.

David sighed and walked out of the training room to the main room. Igor sat at his desk as usual.

"I trust the training went well?"

Regalla gave a nod. "David is an utter weakling… but he can dodge, and improve." Her words were as brutal as the beating he put David through.

"You really don't mind if I stay here?" David asked, deciding to move past training.

Igor nodded. "I'd prefer it, honestly. You will need a secure place to rest and train." When David just kept looking at him before the elder elaborated. "Maine and his crew will be on the lookout for you. They will track you to your home. Until your debt is settled, you will rest here."

David huffed. "Afraid I'll run?"

Igor waved him off. "Not anymore. Either way," Igor snapped his fingers; in a swish of flames, a blue door appeared. It opened to reveal a bedroom, David's room if Igor was to be believed. David glanced at Igor, who nodded and gestured for him to see for himself. "The room should have everything you'll need."

The room was larger than his own bedroom, about twice the size of his old room. Bed was still a twin size, but he was cool with that. There was a nightstand, a few shelves to put in clothes and other things and a monitor, presumably for TV.

David's face brightened up at his accommodations. "Yeah. not like I had anything of worth in there. Except…" David's eyes fell. "My mother's ashes."

"... You should go retrieve it then. Bring it here." Igor said.

David thought twice about bringing it, but didn't want to leave it there. Any gonk could break in and mess up the apartment. He'd go through hell before any gonk tried to mess with his mama's remains... he didn't want to imagine it. "You sure it's fine if I crash here?"

Igor nodded. "I have permission from my superior to allow you to rest here for a time. Not permanently, mind you, just long enough to settle your business and find a new home." he snapped his fingers, and the same door to leave appeared behind him.

David was curious about his supposed superior' but saved that for another time. He turned to the door and walked out into the real world.

_Arroyo_

He ended up in a near empty street near his apartment building. He thought someone would notice him literally appear out of thin air; yet no one noticed. 'Magic I guess…? Whatever.'

David entered his apartment building and heads to the shaft on the side. he tried to go through the front door, but it was locked. The rent hasn't been paid since his mom died, so he's not getting through there. Considering he now has room and board with his… demon patron, he didn't need to worry about it. 'Weird to think of Igor like that, but he hasn't made it clear what he is.'

He entered the apartment and quickly grabbed his Mama's ashes. He considered taking it and going, but decided to… resolve something. For himself… and his mother. He set the ashes on the table and sat down, looking right at the canister as he spoke.

"Hey Mama. I'm not sure if you can hear me… but I gotta say it now."

"I… don't think I'll be going back to Arasaka Academy. I don't have a place there anymore. Don't know what I want to do now. But I'm gonna keep living okay? I'm… I'm gonna keep going."

"Gotta pay off Maine's debt, that's my goal for now. Seems like a Decent guy, 'cept that he wants my head for klepin' the Sandy. Can't worry 'bout anything else till that's settled."

"I hope you can forgive me. Love you."

David took a deep breath and let it out. It… felt good to say that, let things out. He relaxed himself, stood up and looked over the apartment.

'If I'm crashing at Igor's place - wherever that really is - then I don't need to worry about the apartment.' The apartment had nothing for him. Just a reminder of what he'd lost. "Then again… I might as well pack any other stuff I have."

He grabbed some bags his mother had and started going through the apartment. He cleaned out his drawers for hsi own clothes and other miscellaneous items. He wasn't sure about food, so just took some small things, like the ganic spices his mom had and his clothes. He didn't have much, but it was enough to fill two duffle bags. One of them was his mom's from work.

He also found her emergency stash of eddies: barely under 500 in hard cash. Still useful. 'Thanks mom.'

He's about to warp back to the Velvet room when he hears someone picking at the lock on his front door. He grabbed his bags and tucked them into the vent he entered his room in. He then hid from the door. With the time dilation, moving around to avoid getting spotted was child's play. So was grabbing his gear and warping back to Igor's place. Before that, he wanted to know what gonk was breaking in.

Seconds later, the door opened. It had to have been hacked in. David couldn't do it but a Netrunner or someone with basic Cyber hacks could.

Through the door walks a kid his age with green hair and wearing arasaka Academy duds. He had to be a classmate, but he doesn't recognize him. 'Probably from a different class.'

The teen in question, O'Brian, just looked around and sighed. What was he even doing here? 'Oh, yeah… trying to bait a Street Gonk to deal with a Corpo idiot. So the Idiot will target the gonk instead of him. Makes perfect sense!'

O'Brian started going through the apartment, noting how… unkempt it was. Given what happened, he figured David hadn't bothered to pick up. 'Couldn't blame him.'

Weirdly enough, when he turned around he felt a cool breeze… even when the windows didn't open. He didn't think much of it. "Probably nothin."

David now stood outside the apartment building, with two duffle bags over his shoulders. He decided not to engage the student: he didn't have any beef with him. Plus, he already got everything he wanted from the academy after decking Katsuo. No reason to waste anymore time. He walked to a spot with less people and warped back to the Velvet room, disappearing in a flash of blue fire.

Thus, O'Brian saw neither hide nor hair of his target, concluding that he made to exit after visiting his home. His task was a bust for now. Even when the landlord came by - for a surprise inspection for the Martinez families - and found O'Brian snooping around. It took a bit of sweet talking and bullshiting to convince him not to press charges for trespassing.

Either way, it's really not his night.

Not much happened in this chapter, but I'm alright with that. Mostly set up for what comes next. Look forward to more action in the next one.