Night City, a city of dreams. Or is it nightmares? Regardless, this place has no stories to tell, only legends. One in particular had changed it forever, which is why you're here. Apparently the city's top fixer, Rogue Amendiares has decided to enlist our services. Yes, hire us. Not regulate a contract to Biotechnica, if we were interested, on behalf of someone else. But 'interested', we certainly are. She's her own client this time, so you know something big is brewing in that cesspool. Especially so, since she, a well known anti-corporate reprobate, came to us.
Good luck, Gabriel. We will be watching.
...
The field looked like bandages on a vast, dead, corpse. Or rather, Gabriel March decided as he stood at the top of the 'Biotechnica 1' sign, an arid lot of a thousand white sarcophagi.
"So," Hoyt Khvicha's remark shattered the silence. His fingers fiddled with cables and other innards of the busted fuse-box that controlled the sign's lighting.
Gabriel, who had been blankly looking off into the distance, burning cigarette in hand, waited for his best friend to continue.
"You finally decided to hop the pond, and experience what is left of the American dream."
Gabriel took another drag of his cigarette, tasting the strawberry flavor, saying nothing as his eyes locked with that damned eyesore that was Night City. From the many, many, stories of the City of Dreams he had heard, he saw the skyscrapers as nothing more than devil horns jutting out of the crusted, dead earth. He closed his eyes as he let out a long slow breath of smoke, contemplating how to answer. He then felt Hoyt's fist lightly punch him in the calf.
"Ey, Gabe," the older techie said, grime smeared over his grinning face as the two exchanged looks. "Yeah, you're taking it all in by the looks of it."
Gabriel sighed before letting out a faint smile as he looked back to the city. "Just another job, as usual," he finally answered, tossing the half-finished cig over the railing.
He heard Hoyt let out a burst of sarcastic laughter as the latter continued working on the circuitry. "Good to know you're still a horrible fucking liar, Gabe."
Gabriel looked over his shoulder, eyebrow raised.
"My Kiroshi tagged you as a 'Prospektor' when you arrived, along with the usual Biotechnica markers," Hyot continued, his head buried behind the wires. "And you better believe the rumor mill runs like clock-work in this town." He popped his head out, a genuine, warm, smile gleamed in the afternoon sun. "Never misses a beat."
Gabriel felt a hot-cold sensation go through his head and neck. He quickly took out another cigarette from the pack and lit it. The packaging in his hand, reading 'Fields of Green', had been crushed hours earlier, with only three or four sticks left inside. To think, he had just bought the damned thing not sooner than morning!
"Mind if I klep one off of ya?" Hyot asked before closing the fuse-box and standing up straight.
Gabriel nodded as he gave one.
"Muchas gracias." Hoyt used the internal lighter in his left cybernetic arm's thumb before taking a deep long drag and joining the young German at the railings.
The two said nothing as the winds blew across their faces, small dust clouds skirting the asphalt on the ground below, and the monolithic adverts ascended from Night City into the heavens.
"Looks like my fellow conspiracy theorists were right," Hoyt finally spoke, breaking the silence like he always does. "Biotechnica really is trying to expand their portfolio." He took another drag before tapping off the burnt end.
"Isn't everyone?" Gabriel asked, pressing his arms onto the railing, interlacing his fingers.
"Sure," Hoyt replied. "But to create a whole new class of agent?" He glanced at the medtech. "BT is taking that mission pretty seriously."
"You know I can't talk about it," Gabriel muttered.
"And you know I won't push."
The two paused their conversation as they continued watching the world around them.
"When I got the assignment to Night City," Gabriel finally spoke up, "first thing I wanted to do was come visit. Have a familiar face and someone I can trust while here."
Hoyt grinned. "Well, I'm touched." He then giggled for a bit before his smile died. "But seriously, it was thoughtful of you. Just please be careful, man, this fucking city will either eat you up, or spit you out in a bodybag."
Gabriel said nothing, his expression gloom as he nodded and taking another drag. "And it's a long way from home too."
Hoyt hummed an agreeing tone.
"Hey, watch out!" Someone from below shouted. "Stop the fucking truck!"
The two leaned over the railing, observing the commotion below with great interest. Just in time, as they saw one of their Behemoth vehicles swerve out of the way of something before gently hitting a pole.
"Was zur Hölle?" Gabriel asked out loud.
Hoyt grabbed his radio from his vest. "Yo, what the hell's going on down there?" He asked for anyone to answer.
"You guys ain't gonna believe this!" One of the 'farmers' shouted up to them. "A fucking iguana!"
The mention of fauna made Gabriel's head recoil. He turned to Hoyt, eyebrow raised. "I thought animals went extinct," he remarked.
Hoyt's eyes squinted, still fixed on the commotion on the road. "For the most part," he replied. He led Gabriel to the ladder. "Let's get down there."
The two got to ground level within a minute, and already a small crowd was forming. Gently pushing their way forward, they saw one of the other 'farmers' crouching with his arms wide, slowly stepping side to side as if to intercept it.
Looking over the man's shoulder, Gabriel noticed the tropic green reptilian that looked right out of the pre-historic age. It was flicking its head left and right, eyeing all the giant humans surrounding it.
Gabriel had never seen such a giant critter before, and it made him pause as he stared at the creature.
"C'mere ya little fuck bunny," the man in front of Gabriel muttered, his arms still wide. He then lunged at the iguana. "C'mere!"
The iguana, with elegant grace, dodged the man and immediately made a run for it. So much so that it got on its hind legs as it made its escape.
Gabriel could hear some of the guys laughing their asses off as the man on the ground grumbled.
"Somebody get that thing!" One of the other farmers shouted, laughing.
Gabriel wasn't sure why he didn't hesitate when his legs started moving him forward, leading him after this rare creature.
Gabriel felt his feet pound on the asphalt and sand as he made chase. He watched the iguana run through several farmers, some of whom quickly stepped aside from both of them. As Gabriel continued, he watched it get on all fours and slither past a moving forklift. His instincts taking over, Gabriel quickly jumped over the truck's fork. He could hear the driver shouting to him, asking what the hell.
The iguana made a sharp turn around the corner to one of the large farm tents, Gabriel still not letting up.
The German medtech made the same turn just in time to see the iguana barge into the tent itself and Gabriel followed. He chased the large reptile across the soil that was home to thousands upon thousands of little worms meant for processing, so caught up in his chase that he didn't even hear the framers shouting at him asking what the hell he was doing.
He was so close now, Gabriel thought, reaching his hand out to the reptilian that was just out of reach. He then dove, reaching for the exotic animal, barely grabbing its wildly wagging tail with one hand and rolled over to his back, getting his radio with the other. "I got it!" He shouted into the radio, not feeling the grin grow on his face. "Holy crap, I got it!"
Then the weight of the reptilian's pull ceased after a single tug.
Gabriel looked forward, his grin wiped away, replaced with wide eyes and a growing expression of horror as he stood up.
The iguana had turned around, staring up at the monstrous human looking down at it. The tail had been detached.
Looking down at his fist, Gabriel stared at the tail left in his hand, before looking at the iguana, their eyes locking. For a split second, everything was still. Then, the iguana took one glance at its tail left behind with the human and almost seamlessly, slipped away, running off to the exit on the opposite end. The tail was still wagging by itself as the iguana made its great escape.
Gabriel's eyes locked onto the tail, his breaths deepened and his heart beat faster.
It stared at its own tail, he thought. It saw the death of its own limb, its own flesh and blood.
Flesh and blood.
The smell of both returned to his nostrils. He found himself there, back in Frankfurt, on a late Friday night at the end of 2076. The call to scramble, save the client, kill everyone in the way. It was just that, even if it came with the job, his twin brother shouldn't have died to Arasaka agents just so some corpo would live.
"Damn you, Gabriel…" David's voice rang in his head once more. "Only one of us has to get out alive!"
Gabriel didn't feel the tail getting squeezed in his tightened fist as he remembered how it all went down.
'Seven minutes, or a refund'. What a fucking joke that turned out to be for people like Gabriel and his twin.
"Gabriel!" Someone's shout ripped him from the inside his mind. It was Hoyt. "Gabe! You alright, man?"
By the time Gabriel came back to his senses, the iguana was long gone, the crushed tail being the sole reminder of its existence.
Hoyt and some of the other farmers had finally caught up with him, most of them sweating and exhausted.
"You get the sonofabitch?" One of the farmers asked, panting.
Gabriel said nothing, only staring down at the tail in his hand, the detached appendage no longer twitching between his fingers. He finally looked back to the others, seeing most of them disappointed or even straight up angry.
"Well that's just fucking preem," one of the farmers muttered.
"What the hell happened?" Another asked as he approached.
"The fucking gonk here let the thing escape!"
"You kidding?!"
"Does this Eurotrash have any fucking idea how much a live animal is worth these days?!"
"Man, I just wanted to try some real meat for once, ya know?"
The farmers were all still grumbling amongst themselves, disappointed to no end as they exited the tent.
Hoyt stayed behind with Gabriel. Placing his hand on the German's shoulder, Hoyt gestured towards the doors as they too left.
"Don't mind 'em," the techie said to Gabriel while they walked. "Iguana was probably just some lab-grown gomi."
Gabriel said nothing, keeping his head down, when they got to the one of the main roads.
"Ah fuck!" Someone called out, pointing at the sky.
Everyone looked up to see a corporate AV with the Biotechnica seal gleaming on the side. Once it landed, a small squad of plain-suit corporate security personnel got out and approached Gabriel. The one leading the squad, a tall buff man in his early forties quickly made his way to the German.
Face to face with the man, Gabriel couldn't help but feel intimidated as the security officer towered over him.
"Prospektor March!" The man said, his voice raised over the sound of the running AV engines. "Director Ashford has ordered for your immediate dispatch into Night City. She wants to see you."
Gabriel could only look at the man, feeling the gust of wind being blown his direction from the engines. He then felt a gentle nudge coming from Hoyt.
The techie walked around him, keeping their glances exchanged. "C'mon, choom, best not to keep Assford waiting."
Gabriel finally nodded and followed the security team into the AV, seeing the angered or worried expressions of the farms as he did. As they AV took off, Gabriel took one more look out into the Biotechnica Flats before the cityscape became all consuming.