new 6

 Rogue 

After the lovebirds left the bar, Rogue stared after David's back as he left with an expression of flabbergasted amusement on her face to hide how rattled she was, if admittedly only for the sheer surprise he gave her. The best way to lie she found, whether with words or body language, was to hide one truth in another. In Night City, any form of perceived weakness no matter how minor in this den of vipers was dangerous, especially in the Afterlife bar. It was why she would silently put a hit out on anyone who so much as suggested she might be rattled if she didn't kill them herself outright. One had to maintain their reputation, after all. 

Rogue had an eye for talent, she had to if she was going to be a successful Fixer, much less the best one in Night City. With that being the case, she couldn't help but find the way David handled the summons rather amusing and somewhat frightening for someone so new. The way he brazenly walked up into her bar within the same hour of being called despite being injured and so confidently at that implied that he believed that he could fight his way out if things went bad. It implied a level of self-awareness that was unheard of in such a young, untested Cyberpunk. It also proved that he was willing to play ball to the other gangs while at the same time daring them to start something, while making her pay the price if she didn't keep them in line. The way he asked her to bench him in front of everyone before she could do so officially to make it seem as if it was something he wanted instead of a punishment she was giving him. Brazenly revealing that she potentially had a child, whether he knew it was true or not… then praising her ability as mother in the same breath to make it seem like a compliment rather than the veiled threat it was. That alone would force her to spend the majority of her attention and time securing her child in case anyone in the bar got any bright ideas while David recovered. It would prevent her from bringing her full force down on him while he was vulnerable, and implied that he thought anything less than that wouldn't be enough… 

No one knew how injured he was coming in here, but the fact that he walked into an ambush with over a hundred borged up and heavily armed gonks and was the only one to walk away... David's brazen but calm confidence unnerved everyone in the bar more than any amount of shouting or gun waving he possibly could've done. 

The way David so easily maneuvered the politics of the Bar despite this being the second time he came here spoke of extensive investigation. Something that her own investigations into David and his outputs disproved. Other than the brief time he was in her bar last time when he joined Maine's team there was no other point that he could have gained such detailed information on them. This then implied a monstrous ability to comprehend and understand how people thought and the sense of self-awareness needed to make use of it to this absurd degree. The only thing that made it believable at all was that he was previously and even though he seemed pretty focused on Maine's group, that didn't mean he couldn't do so discreetly. The thing that helped soothe her ire towards him was that from everything known about the incident and what her people found out in the intervening time, David was going there to save his output. The output who had her hands stripped off while she was still conscious… Well, he was already taking steps to mitigate the fallout, and it was something that someone like Silverhand wouldn't have bothered with. Honestly, it reminded her of a younger version of herself if she had been more empathic. She just didn't understand how someone so empathetic could not only survive but thrive in Night City, a city notorious for chewing up such people and either spitting them out or eating them alive. 

It was why she didn't push him to get more answers about what happened and why she let him go with a reward dressed up as a punishment. She didn't want to unduly antagonize someone like that, psychopaths and sociopaths were one thing, but if there was one thing she feared? It was the wrath of a patient and kind man. Those types who could survive in Night city tended to be legends… like Blackhand. 

The Boogeyman, what an unexpectedly fitting title in this case then. The little, charming rake of a character had the potential to go far. 

Still, the way that he carried himself and the look in his eyes, they just didn't add up with someone able to kill so many people. Maybe he had a bit of a psychotic break? It couldn't be Cyberpsychosis… though her people had revealed that Maine's group privately thought that he was a high functioning Cyberpsycho. It didn't make sense until further digging revealed that the Sandavistan David had installed was pulled from an actual Cyberpsycho and was one serious beastly piece of Cyberware. A Cyberware virgin like David taking it as the first piece, and from a notoriously sketchy ripper-doc that somehow hadn't been flatlined yet no less? Maine's theory that the Boogeyman was a high functioning Cyberpsycho made a disturbing amount of sense when viewed through that contect. 

So, a mix of jaded experience and painful naivety wrapped up in a core of psychotic hyper-violence… She wasn't entirely sure what she was looking at, which was probably intentional, or maybe it was the derangement of a sick mind turned to a horrible form of genius. It was rare for her to find something that left her feeling confused, it was generally an experience she didn't appreciate, mainly because it implied a fellow player in the game. 

As the Top Fixer and Queen of the Afterlife, Rogue preferred all the variables to be laid out, so she could plan and navigate the ocean of humanity and avoid the occasional iceberg like David. While she didn't have everything from the Boogeyman and got less from this meeting, his Outputs proved to be much less proficient in subterfuge. Or less insane, she still wasn't sure which one it was, or if it even made a difference. Either an oversight on his part, a part of some mad plan… or more likely an olive branch, letting her learn what she needed about him from his team, of course likely filtered by their biases or obfuscated by whatever madness gripped him. Especially the former Mox, Rebecca, who from all appearances and indications seemed to be genuinely falling in love with the gonk. She was a treasure trove of information since she paid such close attention to him, but also the one with the most warped perspective due to that same love. It was at once frustrating and a delight, actually having to apply her prodigious skills again for something so mysterious. 

"You're a lucky bastard." The Queen thought as she got up to head to her home above the Afterlife, "I'll be keeping a close eye on you, David Martinez. Prove you're not a gonk like every kid that jumps into this life, prove you can control your madness and that it doesn't control you, and I may even have some more work for you…" 

As she rode her elevator up to her floor, Rogue could not help letting an exasperated slight smile grace her face. "Auntie… You are an ass, Martinez." She said with a light chuckle despite herself. 

 Viktor "Vik" Vektor 

Vik had seen a lot of gonks in his time; both in the ring and as a Ripper Doc. He thought he'd seen everything, from the mundane to the unbelievable. None of it prepared him for David Martinez. A nice enough kid in Viks' opinion, if a bit too trusting for letting that lunatic ripperdoc work on him. Also a former chrome junkie given how he looked around but was rarely if ever surprised or asked questions about the chrome he had around. He'd seen other former chrome junkies and so far David was a surprisingly level headed one. Only got himself some optics, a smart link, and some scratchers for his new cyberhand, but a chrome junkie is still a junkie. Vik could tell he was itching to get some more but showed a surprising amount of discipline in not asking. Then Vik started to check out the Sandevistan on his back and realized what kind of freakish tolerance David had for chrome for the first time. How a gonk kid got ahold of a mil-spec piece of chrome Vik had no idea and didn't want to know, plausible deniability and all that. 

He learned the gonk actually had Doc Borg, the "Butcher of Arroyo", chip it in with nothing more than a fucking bite bar.Vik had to take his frustration out on a punching bag before he did anything drastic. Doc Borg did quality work, Vik was man enough to admit it, but the guy had a bad habit of taking shortcuts in his work and his bedside manner and patient aftercare left something to be desired. 

Honestly, Vik was considering putting out a hit on the fucker, Borg was a damn danger to everyone that needs a ripperdoc! However, the harsh truth was that Borg was better than most other ripper doc's in David's area. While he might charge exorbitant amounts, he wouldn't steal your kidney like some of the others, and took refuge in being the best of the garbage. The bastards secret to staying alive so long was that he was smart enough to be better the other guy. It was the same logic of not having to be the fastest in getting away from a tiger, you only had to be faster than the other guy. It was exactly the sort of thing Vik expected Borg to pull so he could get away with the shit he did. 

Ranting aside, Vik had to go in and do some serious cable management, the Sandevistan wasn't even properly synced up to his BIOMON! The fact that the kid could go out on jobs and succeed until now was nothing short of a damn miracle in his honest opinion. 

Now, he had the kid's Sandevistan, having fitted him with a cyberspine and firm orders for him to take the next month off and a prescription for the meds he gave him. Right away he could tell the beast wasn't just a standard model just frome the material it was made from, even mil-spec had ranges of quality. Without even jacking it into his terminal to examine the coding and data, he could tell it was definitely experimental and hideously over designed as a result. Too much power and not enough heat dispersion being the most glaring and obvious problem, but there were hundreds of similar problems that luckily hadn't had time to manifest. 

"Okay let's see the damage." Vik muttered as he proceeded to physically check the implant once more to see if it would explode before plugging it in to get some diagnostics. You would think that something like that wouldn't be a problem, well, for the more reputable Cyberware suppliers. But prototypes were that for a reason, their designers spent so long shoving as much shit in them as they could that they didn't consider whether they should. "There was an ancient dinosaur flick that had something about that, shame that quote is the only thing that survived the old net breaking." 

The entire 'internal' section of the implant was still warm to the touch, and he could still see bits of burnt tissue sticking to it. Upon closer inspection, some of the connections were damaged. In fact, after a few more seconds of careful study and diagnostics, Vik realized that this damaged bit was probably the only reason the kid wasn't aware that he was literally cooking himself alive! 

Hell, Vik still didn't understand how the gonk was still breathing in the first place! While he didn't know all the details of the 'Maelstrom Massacre' as underground channels are calling it, he knew enough that the stress he put on his system should've driven him deep into Cyberpsychosis or put him in a coma from his blood boiling! Death was an obvious possibility, but it appeared that in this case reality disagreed, since David was still very much alive. 

"Built Different or Built Plain Stupid?" Vik mused as he started plugging the Sandevistan up to his terminal to get a look inside, "Probably both really. And lucky too… Now that I think about it, too lucky. Something's going on here…" The Sandevistan sparked, shocking his hand and causing him to recoil and miss the fine dust that was drawn up by the movement that blew into his face. 

Cursing and coughing for a few minutes, Vik eventually recovered and refocused on what he was doing, confused about the dust since he was sure that it should've been fused to the chrome. Going back to work after using pressurized air to blow the Sandevistan down, like he should've done the first time, he blinked in surprise when not even a mote of dust blew off. From how even moving too fast kicked up a cloud, the air should've been filled with the stuff, but there was nothing. It was as if the Sandavistan had been cleaned and polished by the time he got done coughing. 

Narrowing his eyes Vik began to realize that there was something definitely going on here, but before he could begin investigating deeply his eyes glazed over a few seconds. When he returned to himself, he blinked as if waking from a dream. "Huh, what was I thinking about? Nevermind, got to focus on this, get your head in the game Vik!" He told himself, attempting to focus past the distraction, it wasn't important anyway. 

The camera Vik had in his shop recording what was happening glitched when some of the original 'dust' kicked off the Sandavistan touched it, carried by an invisible wind. 

Booting up his terminal gave Vik a few moments to think about the kid. It wasn't his place to ask, after all he ran a back alley Ripper Doc, not one of those clinics that are all above the board. While Vik might take his patients' health seriously, ultimately he can only make suggestions and hope they listen. 

The ping of a finished diagnostic from his terminal turned his attention to the screen, and though his eyes glazed over again, as he focused intently on the screen to do his job eventually it faded. With that, he whistled when he saw several indirect indicators of some kind of Bioware, but he couldn't tell what kind or if it was a false positive. But back to the kid, Vik thought he knew David didn't have any more chrome but this made him doubt that. Borg didn't do Biotech and didn't have the infrastructure to install it even if he did. It made Vik suspect the kid found some other ripper with access to Bioware and the tech to install it, but there was no one like that in David's area. Maybe he was expanding his social net? 

He himself never messed with the stuff, however he'd be a poor Ripper Doc if he couldn't at least identify the signatures of their existence, even indirectly. Though, if the kid is getting Bioware chipped in, it was clearly custom as nothing that matched what was available commercially. The only reason he suspected it was Bioware at all was that the scans picked up trace chemicals and engineered black boxed DNA. Then again the scans he used weren't perfect and False Positives were expected due the medical nanties used to help install Cyberware. 

"Eh, as long as he takes the month easy he'll be fine." Vik said as the terminal finally booted the next sequence of tests for the programing this time and he navigated to the specific interfacing program, "Now let's see what's going on…" 

A few minutes later… 

"Jesus Fucking Christ what the hell is going on with that kid!?" 

 Maine 

Despite what happened at the factory, Maine still liked David. Sure, he slipped and went psycho, but he didn't so much as look at the crew and stayed focused on his job. Other than killing the leader in an admitted savage fashion, and fucking up the gonks SIC, he got Rebecca out of the line of fire before he went off the deep end. That it was only then that he went all Ripperboy on the rest of the gang in the building was incidental to that. 

While Maine's primary focus was getting everyone out of there, he did catch a glimpse of the carnage David reaped… and honestly it kind of put him off Gore XBDs. The level of slaughter he caught a glimpse of suggested that David on the Cyberpsycho spectrum was at a high level. Normally, that would scare any Edgerunner, and they would ditch the psycho as fast as possible. However, in this case Maine found it oddly comforting in a way. 

How many crews can say they have a lucid high-functioning Cyberpsycho? And not have to worry about keeping their insides from becoming outsides like the Scavs? Besides, his crew liked the gonk; Pilar finally found someone to do techie shit with who could stand being around him, the gonk brought maternal instincts out of Dorio… who was also eager to teach him how to fist fight. Hell, since the kid joined the crew Maine had been feeling oddly paternal regarding David. He would never tell Pilar that his stupid jokes were right for once. 

Never mind Rebecca, Lucy, and Kiwi's opinion on the gonk. How he got through to Miss 'Trust No One' is a mystery that Maine wasn't all that interested in learning about. While the older Netrunner was still aloof, Maine figured it was only a matter of time before she opened up to the rest of the crew and not just Lucy, Rebecca, and David. Though, he did wonder what was holding her back, if it wasn't her 'Trust No One' philosophy. 

She'd eventually open up about it, though the fact that they were doing jobs for Regina Jones instead of Faraday seemed to make her relax. That implied to the giant chrome junkie that Kiwi and Faraday had some history with each other, and probably not the good kind either. 

 Hey bossman! Can you and the rest of the crew swing by David's apartment? Got some news to share! Rebecca messaged. 

Maine grunted for a moment and sent back, Sure, be there in a few hours. 

Gloria's, well, David's apartment was pretty well… It used to be bog-standard. It used to be just one room, but sometime in the past the wall separating it from another apartment was knocked down. Seeing as the Landlord didn't really want to buy the supplies to fix it, the man just had it turned into one massive apartment. At least that explained why the rent was higher than other apartments. 

So with Rebecca, her armory, and the adorable fixture that is Butterbean the entire place felt cozy. Even the addition of Lucy and Kiwi didn't make things awkward, much. But, that was neither here nor there. 

Currently, Maine was trying to figure out if he should laugh or punch David for being a gonk; Dorio and Pilar, however, were laughing hard at the story Rebecca shared. David looked mortified, apparently he didn't realize how everything looked at the time. On one hand… he was mad as hell because for the next month his crew will be denied the added security of having a lucid Cyberpsycho watching their backs, which is a double-edged sword in all honesty. 

On the other hand… Maine was impressed by the sheer testicular fortitude David showed! Honestly, he had the feeling the gonk might have a few shorts in his brain, newbie or not, you don't just walk into Afterlife and treat the fucking Queen like a choom or call her auntie! The fool was lucky Rogue didn't have him shot on sight for that! 

Though knowing Rebecca as good as he does, Maine just smirked at David, "Well son, I hope you're ready for what comes later." 

"Wait. What do you mean by that?" Maine just smirked, while Dorio laughed and Pilar snickered. 

Pilar walked over and ruffled Rebecca's hair, "Go forth! Make me an uncle!" He said with a cackle that not even a dick punch could fully stop. 

"Oh." David went red, making everyone laugh harder, "OH!" 

"Yeah D. As soon as Maine, Pilar, and Dorio leave Imma suck your soul out!" Rebecca said with absolutely zero shame or hesitation, "Lucy and Kiwi can watch or help me out! I don't care either way!" 

"I… need an adult…" David squeaked. 

Maine laughed, "Hey! Your Outputs are adults, so you're safe!" He teased with a grin, "Just don't put him in traction for longer, girls. Message me the deets on David-Watching duty, so we can work out a rotation for you three. Have fun, you four!" He added with another laugh as he, Pilar, and Dorio made their way out of the apartment. 

"Heh, I think we should get a drink." Maine said with a chuckle. 

"Sounds good bossman!" Pilar said with a cackle. 

Dorio just rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't say no to a few drinks." She said before giving Maine a sly smile, "Then later I intend to rock your world, Mr. Studd.~" 

Maine just gave a dopey grin as they all piled into the Quadra Type-66 and pulled out. 

 Rebecca 

After Maine, his Output, and her gonk of a brother left, Rebecca was more than ready to do what she said she was going to do. The sheer balls of what happened back in the Afterlife got her motor going in a way that she never experienced until she hooked up with David. However, she needed to address something before they moved on to more pleasurable activities. 

"Listen D." Rebecca tried to think of how to say it before going fuck it and decided to wing it, "We've all got secrets. But if you ever need to get something off your chest, I think I'm right to say we're willing to listen." 

"... I told you all my secrets." Kiwi said, rubbing her shoulder, "It's only fair we listen to yours. And… I owe you." 

Lucy, figuring out what Rebecca was doing, quickly joined in. 

"Though only when you're ready." Lucy said, "It's not easy to share secrets." 

"T-Thanks girls." David said, though Rebecca caught a quick flash of confusion followed by uncertainty that disappeared so fast she wasn't even sure she actually saw it, "I promise. It's hard, though, so just… give me some time. And I swear I'll tell you." 

"Good." Rebecca said with a smile, "Now that, that's outta the way… girls? Wanna help me suck his soul out!~" 

Lucy and Kiwi nodded slowly, with a look matching Rebecca's, a look that could only be described as hungry lust. 

 Maine 

Working out a schedule with Kiwi, Lucy, and Rebecca was easier than he expected. Personally, he felt it was a little overboard. But David was a few hacks short of a full cyberdeck, so it was warranted. If anything, he was proud of the boy. He wasn't sure if it was the Martinez charm David inherited from his mom or his own gonk charm, but the kid definitely had more game than he ever did. Especially at that age! 

"Heh, hope that kid enjoyed himself after we left." He thought with a snort. 

"You look like a Proud Papa." Dorio teased with a smile, making the chrome junkie scratch his cheek, "Not that I don't get it. The gonk certainly has a way of getting under your skin." She added with a fond smile. 

"Humph, you sound like Pilar when you talk like that. Anyway, his real dad either did a runner after getting Gloria pregnant or he died in a ditch somewhere, he has to learn to be a man from someone, or he's going to end up like Pilar." He said gruffly as he crossed his arms, awkwardly avoiding the topic of being a father himself, especially to David. 

Dorio just laughed in agreement, but didn't push. 

He always had a hard time with showing his emotions but with Dorio he knew he could be more open, but even with her there were limits. He was raised to believe that a Man should be a rock for others to lean on, someone that could be trusted to be reliable and strong even in the toughest of times. This was reinforced during his time as a soldier when he and unit worked together before he left Militech to be a Solo after a heated 'conversion' with his captain. He honestly forgot why he'd gotten so mad, but then again he was a gonk kid at the time, and he got to meet Dorio in the process, so it was fine. 

Honestly, he was still trying to come to terms with David being choomy with Rogue, of all people! Shaking his head, he checked to see what was on the agenda for the day, reaching over to a Datapad, he booted it up and started checking his planner. 

"Mmm, looks like we're mostly free today, outside some minor jobs from Regina and the one from Faraday. Need to get Lucy and Kiwi to look at the data, so we can plan how to nab this Tanaka guy." While initially hesitant to work for Regina Jones, Maine had warmed up to it. What really sold him was the fact that Regina actually gave them all the deets of whichever job they were running, and even paid extra when they did it clean with no casualties. Well, other than occasional idiot gangoons! 

While Faraday paid well and his bonuses were preem, the Fixer was cagey as hell with information, and stingy with his bonuses when things didn't go exactly as planned. But, when they did get those bonuses… well, it's hard to just drop the Corpo-wannabe. 

He heard Dorio move and glanced over his shoulder, "Looks like we're in the clear today." She said, "Say, you think those three are decent? We could go over and take Gloria clothes and stuff to charity or something." 

"Heh, and the crew thinks I'm the brains? Anyway, let's talk to the kid before we do that, he might want to hold on to that stuff for sentimental reasons or something." He advised with a chuckle. 

"I'm the power behind the throne." Dorio said with a cheeky smile as she gave the giant a kiss, "But you're the organizer and motivator. Now, go get a shower, I'll get us something from the vendor." 

"Sure." He said with a chuckle as he got up and went to take himself a shower. 

The drive to David's apartment was peaceful enough, well given the value of 'peaceful' in Night City, that is. At any rate, he didn't have to take any detours due to; gang fights, traffic accidents, or drivebys. So, all in all, he called that a win in his book. Though, he admitted to himself that it was somewhat boring. 

Though that was mostly a passing thought, he was primarily trying to keep up a brave front. He still couldn't believe the spitfire that never hesitated to give him sass or launch a damn slipper (or boot now that he thought about it) at his head was really dead. Even seeing the Urn with a picture of David and Gloria, a part of him wished it was just a terrible joke. Despite how their relationship ended, and all the arguing, he still loved her. He was still kicking himself for not trying to be there for her more. He knew she wouldn't let him, but he still should have tried, so she didn't have to fight life on her own. On some level, seeing how strong and mature David is, and knowing David is Gloria's son? It made him feel like he needed to be there for him more than David's gonk dad ever was, he owed that much to Gloria. 

Dorio easily saw past his facade but didn't comment, he knew Gloria and Dorio may not have known each other all that well. Despite Gloria being so secretive about her personal life, or the deets on the work she did, she and Dorio had chemistry. They were fast chooms from the moment they met, and it softened Dorio some from how she was when they first met. Sure, Gloria taught Dorio first aid and some more advanced care skills, but that aside? If it wasn't for Gloria and Sasha, him and Dorio may not have gotten together like they are now 

Even now, the thought of Sasha brought a surge of guilt and pain. He shouldn't have let her go solo, he should've known better… he knew the Netrunner had a grudge with Biotechnica, but he'd assumed she wouldn't let her emotions get the better of her! It was an old pain by now, and he took it as a lesson to never let another of his team go anywhere solo, they almost lost David the same way even! He was just glad he learned from that whole mess. 

"Heh, who would've thought an ex could be such a good wing woman?" Maine thought with a melancholy and nostalgic smile, "At least Dorio never picked up how to swing La Chanala as good as Gloria.". He'd much rather take her punches than those damn heat-seeking flying footwear! 

"You know I can do this." Dorio said, "I know how hard this is for you, there's no shame in it." 

"I know." He said gruffly to hide his feelings, mainly out of habit than actually trying to hide them, "But I have to. I owe it to Gloria, and… I need to make peace with her being gone. Actually… how bout sometime next week we all gather at the warehouse and have a wake for Gloria? Yeah, I think David would appreciate that." 

Dorio just smiled, "You're just a big softy under all that chrome, aren't ya?" She teased lightly, making the man bluster. 

He knew it was all a part of the game they played, but sometimes she did get under his skin with her little digs. 

When they arrived and entered the apartment, they both found themselves amused at the sight of Lucy smacking David upside the head and Kiwi just shaking her own head in amusement. 

Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, he chuckled as he asked with mirth heavy in his voice, "Do I even want to know?" 

"Gonk klept a terminal from a Netrunner den and brought it back." Kiwi said, "Must've been a talented runner, the ICE and other security measures were impressive for their age. Turns out it was filled with memes, cat videos, music, and porn. A lot of porn. Terabytes on top of terabytes of very raunchy ass porn." Kiwi grimaced at her comment on that last part. A traumatized expression glazing over her eyes. 

"And… Why is Luce hitting David?" Dorio asked with clear amusement in her eyes, "Where's the tiny terror anyway? I expected to hear her laughing bout now." 

"Eh, said something about a job from the Old Man." Kiwi said with a shrug, "She'll be gone for a few days, babysitting duty, but the eddies were too good to pass up apparently. As for Lucy hitting the gonk? In her words, 'You have three sexy outputs, why do you need so much porn!?' and this is where we are now." 

Kiwi then gave David a baleful glare, "I'm tempted to let Becca see that gonk!" She said with narrow eyes. 

Lucy smacked him again, "This is Becca, she might enjoy that." She snarked. 

"Heh… our little Boogeyman is a porn addict!" He teased. 

David huffed, but his eyes were sparkling with mirth, "As for why I have so much porn...you've got 5 petabytes of old net data, and you're fixated on the three terabytes of porn." David protested, wrapping his arms around Lucy's slender porcelain arms to prevent her hitting him anymore. 

Then David looked at him, then to Kiwi with a smirk, "Keys? Show him 2G1C…" He said with a hiss. 

Dorio caught the look in David's eye, there was a glimmer in it that suggested that his suggestion was not something for the faint-hearted. "Babe, I'm going to skip you watching 2G1C. You enjoy." 

"Eh, what's the worst that they could show?" He said with a shrug, "We've seen some pretty freaky stuff already." 

Dorio just decided to drag Lucy away and do some girl talk or something. 

He was confident that this 2G1C wasn't as bad as they made it out to be. 

"This shit… this shit deserves to be forgotten!" He cursed himself for his earlier confidence as he went to delete the abomination. 

Only for David to stop him with a devious gleam in his eye, "I have an idea." He said, "The crew is trying to find this guy Tanaka, right?" 

He nodded, "Yeah, but what's this abomination to do with it?" He asked as his stomach roiled just thinking about it. 

"You know how Lucy trolls Arasaka suits in her downtime?" David asked with a gleam in his eye. He nodded, you'd have to be blind and deaf to miss the massive grudge she had against that corporation, "What if… Lucy takes this and sends it to Tanaka's server with a virus? The virus deletes everything, including his BD's. Wouldn't that draw him out?" 

"Kid, shit like that's going to make me think you really are a psycho." He said shakily, unable to believe that someone would use this against anyone, "That's the most evil thing I've ever heard… and yet, I can't help but think Arasaka deserves it." 

"Also, Lucy told me he likes XBDs from JK." David said, "I've seen some of his stuff, can't really enjoy them anymore though, but that's not the point. Anyway, we find out where his studio is, and turn it into a haunt. Then just wait for the guy to come get his XBD fix." 

"What about the XBD freak?" He asked, looking interested if still a little queasy. 

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the freak had a TT plan, but given he's famous for making Cyberpsycho XBDs? I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to defend against people who might not like that. Maybe some sort of EMP, so… you'd have to bring him down with a tranq. Or, just take him anywhere else in the city and zero the fucker." 

He looked at David closely, but ultimately decided that David's reasons for wanting the freak dead weren't anything he should worry about. Instead, he slapped David's shoulder with a chuckle. 

"You're a devious little shit, aren't you?" He said, shaking his head in amusement, "Anyway, Dorio and I came over to help you with Gloria's stuff. We're going to have a wake for her as soon as I work things out at the warehouse." 

David just nodded, though Maine could tell he was trying not to get all emotional. 

"Son, it's okay." The former soldier whispered too low for anyone else but David to overhear, "Gloria's your mom. If you can't cry over her, then who can you cry over?" He added, patting his shoulder as he looked at Lucy, "Can you show us where Gloria's stuff is? Kiwi can keep David company while we get this stuff moved out." 

"Sure." Kiwi said as she moved and pulled David into a hug, which was enough to make him cry. He pretended he didn't see anything as he followed Lucy out of the room. 

 Dorio 

It was easy to forget that David was a kid with how responsible and reasonable he is, well, for the most part. It's so easy to see David as just another abnormally competent solo that's dancing on the edge of psychosis (he doesn't have enough chrome to call it Cyberpsychosis, but she was sure there were people that would disagree). Likewise, it's moments like these when she saw him break down that she saw the traumatized, broken, kid trying to cope with the hand he'd been dealt that brought everything back into focus. 

Not that she'd ever fallen under any misconceptions, she had the kid pegged that night in Afterlife when he and Maine came to an agreement. What the other's saw was one thing, but she saw a kid who was thrown into the deep end and was trying to swim. How much of his success was innate talent and dumb luck, she didn't really know, or care. 

All she saw was a kid that still hadn't fully processed that his mom was gone and never going to come back. 

"Come on Maine." She said as she dragged her input away and followed Lucy. 

"Yeah." Her giant gonk of an input said gruffly, making her roll her eyes as they followed Lucy. 

Turning her gaze to the pearlescent Netrunner, she smiled. David, for all his issues, was good for the young woman. Since she joined the crew with Kiwi, the young woman had either been indifferent, aloof, or apathetic to everything. She figured that was Kiwi's influence honestly, however since she met David she seemed more… lively for the lack of a better word. Like, she decided to stop being a passive observer, and decided to actually try living. 

"Besides." She thought, "The girl needs to do things other than mess with Arasaka suits. Just cause she hasn't been caught yet doesn't mean that one day they won't wise up." 

Lucy showed them where David kept everything before quickly returning to help Kiwi comfort their input. And that was still somewhat surreal for her. While she and Maine weren't against spicing things up occasionally, the notion of having two other women in their relationship on a permanent basis never even crossed their minds. There had to be a great deal of trust for that to even work, yet somehow, they were pulling it off without any sign of the usual tensions that would normally be showing by now. 

While she knew that Lucy trusted Rebecca and both trusted David, Kiwi was the odd woman out in her opinion. As she continued to ponder over the unlikely relationship, she started moving boxes to make things easier to deal with. All the while, Maine was dealing with various Dataslates that David seemed to have just put away without looking into them. Either because they were too painful or he couldn't guess the password. 

A password that Maine easily guessed judging by the look he was giving the slate, having been together for so long she'd learned how to read the gonk like an open book. The only one that was better was Gloria, and whatever Maine was reading was upsetting the gonk. Most wouldn't see it, but she could tell how he was subtly tensing up, like he was about to rip a gonk in half! She could only imagine what he was reading. 

Maine let out a sigh, but she could tell this was not his normal one, this was full of white-hot anger at what he had read. "Damn it Gloria…" It was all Maine said before lightly pounding his fist on the floor next to where he was sitting. 

Deciding the boxes could wait for the moment, she went over to Maine and forced him into a hug, "What is it?" She asked. 

"Gloria was raped, she couldn't bring herself to abort the baby." Maine said, "In her diary, she said it wasn't the baby's fault. Fuck, how did I not realize that? I would've fucking helped her! Is that why she broke up? Or is it because I was a fucking chrome junkie! Jesus Christ, how the hell do I tell David?" 

She considered it and agreed, the situation was fucked up. 

"I can't answer most of those." She said honestly, "But the last one? Does it matter? Let him believe whatever he believes. Who knows? Maybe the gonk actually died in a ditch already." 

Maine just clenched his hands, effortlessly crushing the slate. Normally, he'd be shaking, and she would ask him to take his meds, but she could tell this shaking was from pure cold anger. Anger at himself, anger at the bastard that raped Gloria, and anger at Gloria for being too stubborn to ask for help! She, hell the entire crew, honestly, would've done anything to help the woman! 

"The past is past." She finally decided to say, "Let's focus on the here and now, and look to the future." 

"Yeah, yeah. You're right." Maine said with a sigh, "Let's get this shit over with… I need a couple of drinks." 

"Agreed." She said, "Have you ever considered it, though?" She added as an afterthought, mostly to distract him from his rage before he did something foolish. 

"About what?" Maine asked. 

"Getting out of Edgerunning." She said, scratching her nose, "I've thought about it sometimes, leaving this city and joining a Nomad clan." 

"Honestly… that doesn't sound bad." Maine eventually muttered, "Helluva lifestyle change, though… I'd have to chrome down quite a bit." 

"Heh, it's just a thought." Dorio said before smacking his shoulder, "Come on, let's get this out of here." 

"You're right." Maine said, taking a few breaths to reel in his anger, "Though, I'm going to keep an eye out for the fucker. I will zero him." It was more of a promise than anything else. 

"Fair enough." She said, "Hell, I might take a few swings at him myself." 

"Heh. Come on." Maine said with a smile. 

"Say, what was the password?" She asked curiously, only to grin in amusement when the big chromed bear blushed! 

"Um, Big Bear… it was Gloria's pet name for me…" He mumbled. 

It took all her effort for her to keep from falling over from laughing. "Big Bear? Hehe… I can see it." She snickered. 

Maine just shook his head and grumbled. "Yeah, yeah… Laugh it up." 

She gave Maine a quick peck on the cheek. "It fits you. I like it." 

All Maine could do was smile that goofy smile of his. 

 ???? 

"Eh, talk about a blast from the past…" 

He didn't expect to ever see Martinez again, not after she spurned his advances after he went out of his way to pay off her debt. You'd think she would gladly accept his advances, after all, he got her out of debt from that Scav she owed. He recalled not taking her denial well after having an already rough month after he almost failed to hide evidence linking him to the latest victim, and being overcome with frustration. Then just taking her. He thought about killing her to silence her, but she didn't fit his taste in victims, not nearly enough Cyberware in the places that counted, which was why he approached her in the first place. It was rare to find a mostly organic woman in this city that he could tolerate and wasn't too poor. 

She'd been a Med student and was intelligent enough to catch his interest in the first place. It was just a shame it had to go the way it did, he really was interested in seeing what a relationship with her would be like… But, if he was going to lose her anyway, she couldn't complain if he had a taste in exchange for her debt being paid off, even if he only came up with the idea afterward. If she hadn't bought that load of bull, he would've had to kill her to keep his little misdeed quiet, no matter how beautifully organic she was. It made the effort and risk of altering her father's records after he died and pocketed the money he was saving to pay off his gambling debts to put Gloria into debt, so he could play knight in shining armor mute. 

A simple obfuscation that never had to be revealed, they could've lived happily together and even raised a family, and they clicked so well too. He still couldn't believe that the reason she turned him down was that she got a boyfriend the day after he finished investigating her and approached her after buying off her debt. 

He really thought he would never see her again after he forced himself on her, until a couple of weeks ago, when his team responded to a call out on the highway. They got there, and who did he see sprawled out on the tarmac? Gloria Fucking Martinez! He recalled crouching and 'checking' her, a part of him that still burned at her rejection rejoiced at her suffering, even as another part regretted that an organic woman like her had to die. The part of him that was still ruled by jealousy was only a whisper these days, after he took steps to alter his brain to gain better control of himself. That impulsive action had nearly ruined him, he was only saved because he didn't have to kill her back then after he was seen entering her home. The fact that her brat was screaming for them to help her made him glad that he never actually got into a relationship with her... Still, he cursed his younger self when his radio beeped and his partner informed him that her insurance expired, even though it had to be good when they left to pick her up. It was something he used to do to those that he didn't like, and what almost got him caught the month leading up to him forcing himself on Gloria. In Gloria's case, it was also so that if she ever got a Midnight Lady, he could stage an accident and 'collect' it to add to his extensive collection. 

It was with a sense of regret that he told his team to leave her for the Meat wagons, something he tried not to do with organic women. But, if he attempted to interfere, it would be suspicious enough that they might look into why her insurance failed when it did. He only got away with that beforehand because he set up cat paws ahead of time to take the blame, something he hadn't done in years since he stopped such visible stunts. 

Now, here he was at TT Debt Collections control center, trolling through the files to see if anyone had 'defaulted' on their coverage. Honestly, being in TT was essentially the same as being a Corp-Sanctioned Scav. We save the idiots with a plan, but if they don't have enough to cover their rescue, we're allowed to strip off their Cyberware until the debt is paid. We can't let them die, which is a shame. So, we had to fit them with the budget models and knock-offs of what we took, meaning less money from the collection. Even that said, the cut from the sales were still preem enough to make the hassle worth it. It was a shame Gloria was almost purely organic except for a few things, he was looking forward to having an excuse to 'salvage' her Midnight Lady if she had one to add to his collection. Still, it was his one regret that he let Gloria walk away with the information she held which she could possibly use to blackmail him, so hired a Netrunner to hack her life support. As far as the hospital was concerned, she died of natural causes. He was doing her a favor anyway, they were going to move her into 'a hospital' that he happened to know through his contacts was a Militech Asylum. An organic woman like Gloria didn't need that in her final days, it allowed him to soothe the part of him that rebelled at killing an organic woman by telling himself that it was a mercy. 

When he looked into her life after she died to see if she had some next of kin he could dump more debt on, he discovered her son, David Martinez. However, by the time he got around to checking, the boy had dropped off the radar. Probably getting killed chasing down the people who did his mom in, typical Latino, they were all easy to fool that he almost felt bad for doing it. His hopes to cleanse at least his and Gloria's child by adding his genes to it were stillborn due to her rejection, just proving that you couldn't help those kinds of people. He didn't care enough to look further into it to find out for sure, since that's when he was distracted by this whole Boogeyman nonsense and had to pull out his investments from the Scavs. 

He used to have a nice little side hustle with the street Scavs, but ever since the Boogieman began tearing them to pieces, he cut contact to avoid drawing any undue attention. His prudence turned out to be correct when the Scavs set an ambush for the psychopath with over 150 men, and all of them wound up dead. It was all over the news and had made top headlines for god's sake, and if rumor was to be believed, it had attracted the attention of one of the big names in Arasaka. Some rumors from the very top where he had ears even said that it was Adam Smasher that had taken a personal interest. That was enough to soothe the ruffled feathers in the international community and the various Big Tech heads. Now, while his gig with the local Scavs was just a sweet, sweet side bonus that put a little extra spending money in his wallet, it wasn't worth staying involved in that mess. The eddies he made with TT easily covered all his expenses and allowed him to enjoy life. Now, it was true that it was important to remember your roots, and in his case he would remember the Scavs fondly as they were murdered. Better them than him, after all. 

"Hmm, got some time off coming up in a month. I suppose I should visit the gang and see how they're doing. Maybe show them some of what I learned working for TT. Heh." Provided the Boogeyman doesn't get a short in his britches and decides to go on another spree. 

 Rebecca 

If there was one job-type she hated more than anything else, it was what she called 'babysitting'. She hated them because either nothing happened, the person she's watching was an insufferable pain in the ass, or she spent the whole time keyed up waiting for an attack. Due to the specifics of this job, she knew that it was more of the latter than the first or second, which was the worst kind of job. She couldn't just put on her BD wreath and watch movies to pass the time, like she could with the other two types of jobs! No, for this job, she had to be fully alert and aware. Which also meant being aware of the whining of the spoiled baby she was sitting on. Rebecca could not help but groan internally at this. 

Rebecca flexed the new hands Pilar gave to her. His old ones after he ordered a new pair a week ago, after getting Vik to thoroughly sanitize them before installing them, obviously. 

Rubbing her face with her brother's old hands, she cursed her luck. Of course, the solo job she'd taken from the Old Man to help pay the upkeep had to deal with both the waiting to be attacked version of the babysitting, and with an insufferable client. Grumbling, she decided to check her trunk, spotting her Gorilla hands safely tucked into their new case David made to make sure they weren't stolen. The beauty was that they were ready for her to hot-swap them out in, or if in an emergency just stick her current hands in the box they were in, to instantly install them. It would hurt like a bitch and probably destroy her current hands, but everyone decided they would rather her than a pair of hands after David explained how it worked. Just in case she needed to handle anything massive like a HMG in a hurry, or if she needed to give a bitch ass gonk a fisting if she lost her current hands! Vic even gave her the Boxer's discount for buying recoil compensators and extra synth muscle to deal with the recoil of firing her big guns or punching gonks. Probably Vik giving her some boxer's love; Rebecca couldn't resist a smirk at that thought. 

Her prized shotty Guts was waiting and eager, "Here's hoping this won't be an absolute bore before the action starts." She thought as she considered her heavily modified Carnage shotgun. David had really outdone himself with the modifications on this beast, he even designed a clip that held mass reactive explosive Thermite rounds in case she had to deal with a Borg! 

Bringing up the deets again, Rebecca decided to review them, figuring it would be a better use of her time than just sitting around bored. 

"Okay, Ivanka Akilisov… Russian native. Corpo brat… model… heir-apparent… great. Just what I needed. An entitled rich-bitch treating NC as a vacation…" Why so many gonks with more eddies than sense treated this hellhole as a vacation spot, Rebecca never understood! 

It couldn't be the excitement, she liked having a gunfight sometimes, but that didn't mean she went out looking for them! Well… most of the time anyway. 

Just as she finished reviewing the deets of the job, one of those high-end fancy cars pulled up. Rebecca didn't know the make or model, guns were more her speed, but the hoity-toity rich bitch who got out and looked at Rebecca with a disdainful sneer. 

"This is the one who's supposed to protect me?" She said with a derisive scoff that Rebecca easily ignored, "What? Too poor to actually look like a real woman? Or do you prefer looking like pedo-bait, plastic child? Are you just naturally short, or do you enjoy being child-sized?" She mocked. She noticed out of the corner of her the driver discretely lean against his seat, putting his frame out of view of the window and behind the likely bulletproof car's exterior. 

Rebecca narrowed her eyes, and the fact that the Corpo-brat flinched told her all she needed to know about the brat. She may act high and mighty, but she was just another limp wrist pussy that this city liked to eat alive like a fucking snack! Probably never even handled a real gun in her life, likely prefers techie magnet guns! 

But the plastic child comment deserved some clap back! 

"Listen here, you Corpo Slut, I can care less what you say about me, but never call me plastic. Unlike you bitch, all my curves are natural. Can you say the same? Skin job..." Rebecca retorted with narrow eyes, "So how about you just keep your opinion to your fucking self and let me do my goddamn job! Also, about size? Bitch, this city couldn't handle a full-sized me!" 

"Well!" The brat reared up as if to intimidate the 'lesser creature' or whatever helped Corpo's feel important. 

"Well, what?" Rebecca bounced back. "You didn't hire me to like you, you hired me to keep you from being grabbed or zeroed, so let's get this job started…" Many things could be said about Rebecca, diplomatic would never be one of them. 

The bitch made some complaints about her pay getting cut or something, but Rebecca was hardly listening, she wasn't worried honestly as the brat wasn't paying for the job in the first place. No doubt she was so self-assured in her superiority because she thought that no one would dare attempt to harm her. Honestly, if it wasn't for the massive payday the job promised, Rebecca would've loved disabusing her of this foolish notion that she was untouchable personally! But no, the eddies were too good and promised to cover the expenses for a while, at least until David finished his pro bono work for Rogue. 

Assuming he didn't get Gloria's workaholic tendencies, then everything was just synth-gravy! 

"Listen, if you wanna stay here sputtering and making limp wrist threats, then you do you. I'm still being paid either way." Rebecca bluntly stated, cutting the Corpo off, "But ain't you got some modeling shit to do or something?" 

The brat just got all huffy and went back to her car, "Just keep your distance, slutrat!" She spat. 

"Wish I could." Rebecca retorted, "But a job is a job. And your sugar daddy or whoever paid for it wants you protected. So, unless you wanna shill out more eddies than them, Imma be shadowing you." 

The brat seemed frustrated at that, not that Rebecca blamed her. She wasn't too excited about the arrangement herself, in all honesty. 

"So, you got two options." Rebecca said, "Either, let this 'street rat' do her fucking job, or not. I'll be honest, I couldn't give two shits if you got nabbed and taken to a Scav chop shop, if any of them survived the purge at least." 

"Fine!" The Corpo bitch snapped with a scowl, "Just… get whatever you need and get in…" Rebecca would deny it if asked, but a part of her really enjoyed how her face twisted in distaste. 

"Sure, give me a sec." Rebecca said as she walked to her MaiMai and opened the trunk to switch out her hands and get her duffle bag with her guns. Since it wasn't an emergency, she only had to open the box and switch hands one at a time. It was much slower, but also didn't risk destroying the hands Pilar gave her. 

Then, after locking the car up, she also sent a message to her gonk brother to pick up the MaiMai. He was the only other person that had the key to her car anyway, though if David finished his pro bono work soon, she'd probably give Pilar a loan, so he could get his own damn car! 

She may have her reasons for not liking the gonk, but he was still family, and she loved him. Even if he regularly pissed her off. 

"Alright, let's get this shitshow going." Rebecca said flippantly. 

The Corpo, however, stared, "Is that a Machine Gun in your bag!?" 

"Well, yeah, sometimes you need an HMG." Rebecca said with a shrug. "Sometimes you just need a big fucking gun. One that shoots a lot of big fucking bullets really fucking fast, just to tell the fucking fucks messing with you to fucking fuck off." Internally, Rebecca had to stop and count how many fucks she said out of mental curiosity. The look her statement garnered from her client made her want to laugh. 

"Just… just get in already." She said, clearly unnerved by the amount of firepower Rebecca had with her, and how unstable she seemed. She pointedly didn't mention the magazine of anti-Borg thermite rounds in her coat pocket, she didn't want to scare away the money, after all. 

Rebecca allowed herself a brief snicker as the two got into the car, thankfully it was roomy, so they weren't side by side. 

"Just, don't talk and watch." The brat said eventually. 

Rebecca just shrugged, "Easiest order I've ever had. God, these coming days are going to suck so bad… well, the food is preem at least?" 

The first stop in their 'tour' was a photo-op in Corpo Plaza that snowballed into a massive thing, honestly it bored Rebecca to tears, but she did her job and kept an eye on her ward… no matter how much she disliked the brat. Though Rebecca wouldn't deny that she appreciated the eye candy, for all her personality reminding Rebecca of a backed-up sewage line she looked damn good! 

Having stupid amounts of eddies and being able to afford the best Biosculptors must be hella nice. Still, thankfully the much anticipated after-party came, Rebecca didn't get it, but she wasn't going to complain as she got a chance to try the preem food the Corpos kept to themselves. Though, she would admit, Real Meat is a lot better than the vat-grown paste that's available to people on a budget. 

Overall? Rebecca gave it a five out of ten, fantastic, but overhyped and just made you hungrier. 

"Seriously, why the fuck are the portions so goddamn small? You can't even get full off these bite-sized snacks!" She knew she'd never understand, but the question still persisted. 

Then again, that just might be a strategy they use to make money. Rebecca honestly had no idea how these Corpo fucks worked. Anyway, she had resigned herself to vegging out on Corpo food. That and trying to figure out if she could get David to set up a saving for real sweets and actual meat for special occasions. While it was overhyped, it was actually good. 

"We should also find an apartment with an actual kitchen… but those would be high-end apartments for Corpos." Rebecca scratched her cheek in thought, "Maybe… we can find an abandoned building and claim it as our own? Between Luce and Kiwi, we can spoof the deed and everything. Honestly, David is a clean freak anyway, so yeah…" 

Honestly, the only other thing that'd make this party more tolerable would be if they played some real music! Not that Corpo sponsored shit, but some classic stuff like… anything from Samurais (though that probably won't happen with Johnny Silverhand being a domestic terrorist and everything) or some good hip-hop! But, none of that was likely to happen, so Rebecca resigned herself to suffering in silence. 

Though, she did occasionally stick her tongue out or flip off sneering Corpos that glanced her way. 

Then she heard it, the blessed sound of panicking Corpo pussies and gunfire! Finally, some action! 

With a grin that made more than a few Corpos nervous, she got her trusty Guts ready and ran towards the sounds of sweet, sweet gun play! Just as she turned the corner she saw some Maelstrom gangoons and her grin became painful with how wide it was now and just as she brought her heavily modded Carnage shotgun to bear the Maelstrom noticed her! 

"Shit! That's the Boogeyman's output! Let's get the fuck outta here!" Guts went limp in her hands, "I sure as shit don't want that fucker to go on a bigger spree! Lets delta!" 

Which they did, leaving Rebecca confused and horribly, terribly angry! 

She was twatswatted by her input's goddamn reputation! 

"MOTHERFUCKER! COME BACK HERE! SHOOT AT ME GODDAMMIT, I'M SO FUCKING BORED!!!" Rebecca didn't care if she sounded like a child denied a piece of synth-chocolate, she was angry. 

After venting for a few more minutes, literally hopping mad to get rid of some energy, she stomped back to the main party. Most of the suits had disappeared (she pinged her wards locator and found her hiding in a bathroom) so Rebecca helped herself to the snack bar, granted the food was far richer than her normal comfort food, but goddamn she needed this! 

Then, much to her displeasure, her ward came out of hiding like she wasn't just trying to hide herself in the bathroom like a bitch with one of those Omahas that Sasha favored. At least Sasha's was modded out to be a beast! Then, the bitch had the audacity to actually act like hot shit! 

"Ah! Those gangoons knew better than to come after me!" Rebecca just stared at the brat like she said something idiotic, which she did before sighing and decided to set the brat straight. The Maelstrom gonks had shouted why they ran to high heavens after all, and if they knew who she was, then there was no risk of letting this little Corpo doll know. 

"Shut up, you spoiled Corpo Baby Cunt, before I crush you with my Juicy Latina Ass. It will be like Adam Smasher himself landing on you after jumping from the top of Arasaka tower, and it will bring a whole new meaning to the term "Babysitting." Rebecca snapped, ignoring the odd feeling of grim déjà vu her words brought up. 

"You shut up, foul-mouthed slut!" The brat fired back, "At least I know what a real man is like! You probably only have toys or pedo-freaks!" 

Rebecca's eyes narrowed, and she briefly considered shooting the bitch before giving a smirk, "Lemme tell you something you Corpo Slut, I'm only doing this because the eddies your sugar daddy is offering is far too good to pas up. I'd rather be back home snuggled up with the Boogeyman… yes, I have the Boogeyman on speed dial… So let me do my job and protect your gonk plastic ass." 

The corpo blanched, as she should. After all, who hadn't heard of 'The Boogeyman'. The Boogeyman; the bane of Scavs and Maelstrom anywhere. Rebecca had heard an amusing rumor that he's the unholy lovechild of some unlucky woman and Adam Smasher. Though oddly enough, when Rebecca shared that one with David, he just looked disturbed. 

Rebecca just gave the stunned Baby Corpo a smug grin, "And yes, this pint-sized woman is regularly interfacing with him." She stated smugly. 

"Is there...is there any chance I might be able to hire the Boogeyman for close protection?" The Baby Corpo asked. 

Rebecca paused, on one hand… she really didn't want the slut near David. She could see the scheming look in her eyes, probably planning on trying to steal her input. Buuuut… 

"Not on his own. If you reach out to a Merc called Maine and offer him big eddies for his crew, whom Boogeyman is with, then quite possibly." Rebecca said, "Might as well give the crew some more work. Cause fuck Faraday…" She never liked the four-eyed corpo-wannabe, even more so now given what Kiwi shared with them! 

Honestly, if the bomb David made wasn't a Block Buster, she would've complained about him not using it to zero the fucker! 

However, Rebecca just loved the idea of David being hired by this trashy bitch, just so her attempts to steal him could come crashing down with him rejecting her. Rebecca knew David had standards, none of which this woman met. The only way the devastation of rejection could get better is if she had popcorn to eat while watching the show 

Still, deciding to leave the woman to her scheming, she decided to message Maine, at least to give him a heads-up on some potential work coming their way. 

 Hey choom! You ain't flatlining on the job, are you? 

Rebecca rolled her eyes as she ate before firing back, Nah, I ain't letting you guys off that easy. Besides, can you imagine the terror David would unleash if some gonk got a lucky shot off? Nah, I'm giving you a heads-up on some work that might be heading your way. 

 Oh? What's the deets? 

 Meh, Baby Corpo. She just learned my input is the Boogeyman and is interested in hiring him. But I told the bitch he doesn't do solo requests, so I told her about you. So, she'll be hiring the crew in hopes of meeting the Boogeyman and getting him to agree to be her personal bodyguard/joytoy. 

 And I suppose you wanna see the rejection in person? You know he won't be back until next month, right? 

 I know but I figure it'd be easy eddies, well relatively speaking. It might be easy honestly, a bunch of Maelstrom gonks saw me and took off running. Not wanting to set the Boogeyman off again. 

 Haha! Got twatswatted by your input's rep, huh? Well, he did put the fear of god into them. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up. 

 No sweat bossman. Take it easy! And with that, Rebecca ended the convo and focused on eating. 

 Rebecca 

Rebecca had gotten used to waking up with David, well, sometimes since the gonk is an early riser occasionally (heathen that he is). In this case, it was a good thing. While he directed the bitch to Maine, she still didn't want the woman near her David! Sure, he'd shoot her down, but still, the thought of letting the sleazy Corpse near her man left a very foul taste in her mouth. 

Grumbling, she rolled out of her surprisingly comfy bed. It would've been better if she had David with her, but she'd rather suffer than let the brat near him, she moved around the rented apartment, quickly getting herself some synth-coffee and a breakfast burrito from the convenient vendor, thankfully due to the contract all expenses were paid by the brat… not that a burrito was a huge expense or anything but still, it is what it is. 

Besides, it's not like Rebecca would be going to the nearest 2nd Amendment to actually make use of the little fact, sure if she had to restock on ammo then she'd try to get a few goodies on the side. But, given how the Maelstrom gonks acted yesterday? She doubted she even had to replace a single bullet! 

In fact, that the Maelstrom reacted like that still surprised her, sure David ripped apart a hundred-plus Maelstrom and former Ripper gonks but still! Maelstrom is a psychogang in the first place, all of them (for the most part) were a single step away from full-on Cyberpsychosis! The fact that the mooks of the Chrome Cultys even had self-preservation instincts alone surprised her! 

"Well, under all the chrome they're still human, no matter how much they deny it." Rebecca thought as she drank her coffee. 

After she finished her drink and ate her food, Rebecca decided to give Guts some maintenance, sure it didn't get any action, but habits are habits. The fact that David taught her how to do it when she was out on jobs like this made her smile, though now that she was thinking about the loveable gonk, she found it amusing how quickly he seemed to pick up things! 

"Heh, like one of those video games I see advertised from time to time." She mused with a smile, "Hmm, I hope everyone else is having a better day than me…" 

Grumbling to herself, Rebecca decided to just focus on her work, the brat would message her if she was heading out. 

 David 

"Morning." He said as he entered the Afterlife. 

"Fucking hell, do you ever sleep?" Clarie asked looking at him, "If you're wanting a drink, tough, I'm heading out." 

"That's fine, I'm just going to get back to work on the armory." He said with a smile, "Hey, is Nix still around or has he already disappeared?" 

"He's actually just about to leave." Clarie said with a shrug, "Head on back, you'll find him." 

Understanding that he wouldn't be getting any more information from the woman, David headed past the bar and deeper into the Afterlife. Like the last time he was at the Afterlife in the morning, the place was nearly dead. Oh, he still spotted the usual groups around the place, drinking RealWater or synth-coffee. Maybe eating some SCOP from a vendor. He was pretty sure he saw some fixers around as well, but he wasn't entirely certain. 

Shaking his head, he entered where Nix had his Netrunner set up and saw the man getting ready to head out. 

"Hey Nix, before you head out, interested in earning some quick eddies?" David asked. 

The Netrunner glanced at him, "Sure. Though I hope you ain't expecting me to do it now." He said as he crossed his arms. 

"Nah. It's not time sensitive or anything." David said as he pulled a datashard from his pocket, "You mind cracking this for five thousand?" 

"Ain't one of your outputs a Netrunner?" He asked as he took the shard. 

"Two of them, actually." David corrected, "Normally I'd agree, but I got this from some dumb Merc the Scavs hired. I don't know what sort of security is on it, so I didn't want to risk it. Besides, I figured you being a part of Rogue's crew could handle it easy." 

Nix snorted, "Fine, whatever. Easy eddies." He said as he pocketed the shard, "Payment after it's done?" 

"Yep. I'll throw in extra if you don't make a copy to sell or whatever." David said, "Let's say… two thousand?" 

"Make it three and I'll consider." Nix retorted. 

David shrugged and agreed; besides, it wasn't like he was hurting for eddies. Honestly, he could quit Edgerunning entirely and just work as a tech, not that he would. David had long since realized he was a thrill seeker. 

"I must have some kind of danger fetish…" David muttered to himself under his breath, snickering and shaking his head. 

With their business concluded David made his way to the armory, if he kept going at the pace, he had been he might finish before Rebecca got back! That way he can be free to show her some love she most likely will be needing. 

 Lucy 

Glancing over at her Kiwi, she considered what she was to her. At once a mentor, pseudo mother, and now fellow output, it was difficult to define their relationship these days. She didn't care though, to her Kiwi would be Kiwi and that was all she needed her to be, her role in her life didn't matter these days. She'd spent enough time around and with the older Netrunner to be able to somewhat read her with a degree of accuracy most others couldn't, despite her mask and emotional control. However, doing so was never easy and was more difficult on some days than others. Still, she was relatively sure about her conclusions that Kiwi was a thorough mix of bored, lonely, and horney. Mainly because the older Netrunner wasn't trying very hard to hide it. It was the fact that Kiwi was still instinctively hiding her emotions despite being somewhere she considered safe and relaxed enough to be bored that bothered her. Still, she was relatively sure about her conclusions, since Kiwi wasn't trying very hard to hide it. 

Maybe she should get Kiwi to join her in tormenting a few low-profile Saka suits? That'd certainly help Kiwi's feelings of loneliness since it was easy enough and low risk while still being good practice and a fun bonding exercise besides. Tormenting Arasaka was pretty cathartic for her, but she never figured out why it was so cathartic for Kiwi. Now that she thought about it, she always thought it was because everyone hated Arasaka, she hadn't ever really asked. It was best to leave that option then to avoid bringing up any trauma she may have with them so soon after she bore her heart to them. 

But the horniness… well, she knew that Kiwi was bisexual, even before she came out and told them all she was a former Corpo Joytoy, but she didn't really join any group activities. Well, outside of when they all tried to 'suck David's soul out' in Rebecca's words. 

"Hmm, well… I've been meaning to test this out anyway. And it has been a while since Kiwi, and I did anything together." Her plan slowly forming in her head, she wondered how to best broach the subject to Kiwi. 

If anything, now would be a perfect chance to offer the idea, a quick glance confirmed that Butterbean is dead asleep, and that David is out doing his biz in the Afterlife. Butterbean would be out for a bit so that point of interruption was out, she still hadn't quite forgiven Rebecca's cat for interrupting her private time with David, he'd been far too proud. That David had gone to play with the cat instead of her had been a blow to her pride as a woman, but she was too ashamed to have been beaten by a cat to mention it. The thought was something she still cringed thinking about it, how low could she be, being jealous of a cat that wasn't even theirs! 

That she might've only given the Butterbean half a bowl of food while she was taking care of him was immaterial. The fact that David had seen and wordlessly filled it the rest of the way while that insufferable cat watched would forever be ingrained in her memory, despite her best efforts. 

"Hey, Kiwi, I've been thinking about trying something out." She said, desperately trying to distract herself, "Wanna help out?" 

Kiwi looked away from the TV, it was droning off about some cyberlimbs or something, she wasn't paying attention. She primarily focused on Kiwi and trying to figure out a way to ask this and not make it awkward for the both of them. That it also let her distract herself from Butterbean was just bonus points. She knew Kiwi was still getting used to having people to actually trust, so she didn't want to spook her. 

"Sure, what do you have in mind?" Kiwi asked curiously. 

After a few moments of attempting to think of how to word it without sounding weird, Lucy decided to just say it, "Well, I was thinking about syncing up our sensory inputs. An experiment that we can surprise David with when Becca gets back." She said. 

Kiwi blinked before she started laughing lightly, "I was actually considering something similar." She said, "Just… didn't know how to bring it up." She added, sounding rather shy at the admission. 

"Great minds think alike, then." Lucy said with a smile, "So, you interested?" 

"Yeah." Kiwi said, "Just… It's been a long time. Since I was with another woman." She added. 

Lucy didn't comment, nor did she desire to bring the mood down. Instead, she just got up and motioned for Kiwi to follow. 

Leading the way to the bathroom, she spotted the white container of the inbuilt Ice Maker she asked David to install earlier that day before he left hung over the side of the Bathtub. An emergency measure in case she or Kiwi needed to cool off while Netrunning at his place. It gave her the inkling of an idea that germinated into a plan when merged with what she was thinking about doing. As she and Kiwi began undressing, she could feel a sense of bubbling excitement building in her as her plan developed into something workable as the various elements slotted into place. 

Once they took off their clothes she led Kiwi into the bath, but before she went in first to be the big spoon, Kiwi placed her hand on her shoulder silently asking her to wait. Curious where this was going, she was surprised when Kiwi decided to go first, and although she didn't say anything, she was a little miffed. This was supposed to be a reminder to herself that she wasn't a bottom after the whole Butterbean fiasco! Kiwi sat down in the tub, taking the big spoon spot and turned on the water with a quick hack even though she could've just reached over and turned the dial. With an internal huff, she was cautiously meticulous to keep strictly internal to not break the mood, she decided to lose with grace and got into the tub. Leaning against Kiwi with a sigh as the hot water slowly began filling the tub, she felt it as Kiwi began initiating a Brain Dance, waiting for her to accept. When she accepted, instead of being mentally transported to a BD, she felt the program she'd been working on for this activate and mesh with another similar program from Kiwi. 

While there was a moment of worry and consternation at two programs that hadn't been expressly designed to fit together interacting, it turned out to not be a problem. They knew each other well enough and the way they each approached software work that rather than get tangled up, the two programs meshed well, a bit too well in fact! 

They both shivered as they both felt what the other was feeling, but due to Kiwi's greater experience, she had the foresight to include a cutoff switch to avoid a feedback loop. Both of their programs were only supposed to let them both see and hear what the other did, but the way they meshed also let them feel what the other did. She had a passing thought about the nature of programs and that it wasn't how it worked before she was distracted. 

"This has potential," Kiwi whispered down to her, sending a shiver down her spine as she saw what Kiwi was imagining, felt her trepidation and excitement at allowing herself to open up like this. They glanced towards the Ice Holder off to the side of the tube on the wall. She nodded slightly, finally accepting that she wasn't going to be the top in this relationship. In her mind, she cursed Butterbean for causing this in the first place. Not too much, though, because the darn cat finally pushed her to go through with this. A hint of foreign curiosity trickled in her mind before a bloom of humor joined it, along with her very own sense of impending doom as she realized that their minds and emotions had also somehow become linked. 

"Oh, so I have Rebecca's cat to thank for this happening, then?" Kiwi whispered in her ear, causing her to remember that not only were their senses and emotions linked, but their minds as well. She forgot to suppress that thought as deeply as she did her others! "Oh, no… You can't David!" She silently screamed, trying to keep her voice down while also screaming, making her voice raise several octaves. 

Kiwi just smirked at her and reached out, embracing her with both hands as her hands began to play along her arms, leaving goosebumps where her delicate fingers lightly traced. She noticed with a mix of shameful lust and modification that the thought of being humiliated by someone she loved was turning her on. 

"There we go, you see, trust me," Kiwi whispered, causing her whimper as Kiwi began kissing the side of her neck, she realized what sort of monster she unwittingly unleashed. 

As Kiwi's hands moved to their sensitive breasts, a whimper of pleasure escaped them, even as she saw from Kiwi's point of view their left hand reaching for the ice holder. They felt the chill on their hands as Kiwi reached in and grasped a single piece of ice and brought it back, holding it in front of their faces to show them for what they both were in for. 

With that, Kiwi began toying with their body, what one felt the other experienced just as keenly. They lost count of the number of times they lost themselves in gentle orgasms of sensations of touch, mixed with the pleasantness of the water and the chill of the ice. The ice had to be replaced several times, but over that time Kiwi and her experienced what the other felt and slowly allowed both of them to experience the tragedies of the others. It allowed them to grieve for each other since neither could bring themselves to do so themselves, all the while being comforted and distracted, so they never lingered longer than they had to. 

By the end of it, both Kiwi and her were an emotional mess of tears, but the wounds they both had that had never been allowed to heal had finally been cleansed. It would take work, and it would be difficult, but the process of healing could finally begin. 

By the time the program that allowed them to share who they were ran its course, both of them felt cleaner than they had felt in a long time. But the thing was, as both of them went their separate ways to tinker, they would both discover that neither of their programs had the framework to do what happened. At least, not at first. They did discover that their programs had been heavily modified, but the tags in the programming indicated that the only ones who had access to them had been themselves. Although the time stamps did have something wired about them, rather than just a date and time, it had a third unknown indicator that neither recognized. In the end, they both concluded that the other had the better program, had installed an auto installer in case the other had one like it. They both decided to ask each other about it later, unaware of the hidden hands working behind the scenes that brought them to this point.