4 Trashed

"Why don't you put that down old-timer? You'll live another couple of years that way."

The old man slowly raises his hands above his head, wide, shocked eyes blinking rapidly, "S-stop this... You don't know what you're doing... T-this-" he shakes the strange knife slightly, "Isn't worth anything!-NOTHING!"

Ori shakes his head "I'll be the judge of that, now hand it over."

...

The old man's face twitches as he stays planted where is here, not moving.

"Are you listening!? I'll blow a fuckin' hole in your head if you don't hand that-Arrgh!" Ori exclaims as he instantly feels the intrusion through his interface, the only fucking Cyberware he actually had! His vision crackles with static as the link to his brain is fucked with, he bites his cheek hard and refocuses on reality instead of the random letters and symbols spotting his vision, allowing him to notice the old man who was now charging at him.

Fucker was a Netrunner! One of those geek-assholes who could enter the Net and manipulate tech around them, must've hacked his shit!

Ori instantly pulls the trigger to try and shoot the guy dead, but a holographic image appears above the gun.

[Smart Link required to operate.]

"What the!?-FUCK!" he shouts, throwing the useless gun at the old man who just slaps it out of the air and continues, sending a punch right into Ori's chest.

*Crack!-Crash!*

Ribs crack under the Cybernetically enhanced punch, and Ori slams into the same fridge from earlier, the wind knocked out of him. He looks up and spots the old man still comin', looking ready to stomp his skull into mulch.

"I'm not going down so easily you old bastard!" he shouts, pulling his crappy Budget Arms pistol from where he'd been hiding it.

*DAGAGAGAGA!*

He fires off a spray knowing that SOMETHING was bound to hit at this range, but the old man weathers it all, blocking some with his arms while some others deflect off of the guy's forehead. This guy was a total chrome-junkie! Was his entire body metal or something!?

The old man tries to rip the gun out of Ori's grip, but he grabs hold of it with both hands. While he was far weaker, he was wrestling two hands against one, since the old man refused to relinquish his hold on that strange knife...

"I-I'm going to strip yo-ur body cl-ean you ba-stard." Ori growls as he strains against the man for ownership of the gun.

Unfortunately, even with both arms, he was losing the struggle... Thus, Ori tried unconventional tactics... He lunges forwards and tries to tear out the man's throat with his teeth. Only to find even the guy's neck had been replaced with some strong silica-based material... It was like biting into a tire!

Regardless, he presses, biting harder and shaking his head like a rabid dog, eventually managing to draw blood.

"G-get off you animal!" the old man screeches, seemingly unacquainted with pain.

"GOU GIRST!" Ori growls, still biting down.

The old man tries to shift his grip on his gun but accidentally pulls the trigger, causing the thing to spray a burst of bullets into the air, surprising him enough to cause him to tumble backwards.

"HAARGH!" Ori shouts, wrenching the gun out of the man's grip, only to pause when the man stills... He looks down and feels his breath hitch, the strange knife had been stabbed up to the handle in his chest, directly in his heart... "Y-you..."

His eyes roll up and he falls backwards, blood pooling beneath him from the lethal wound. He tries to raise the gun one last time to make things mutual, but doesn't have the strength to raise his arm...

"N-no... No-no-no-no-no!" the old man babbles as he forcefully pulls the knife out of his chest, causing blood to spatter against his face.

"T-this can be fixed..." he looks over the knife, wiping the blood off with his coat, "U-undamaged! Thank god!"

Shaking his head, he quickly flees the scene, unwilling to stay any longer after the racket he and the thief had just made.

This is the last thing Ori sees before his vision blackens, sending him into unconsciousness.

----------------------------

...

...

...

"HHHHAAAAA!!!..." Ori gasps as his body jolts awake, the sound of moving scrap forcing him awake...

He blinks blearily at the sky for a couple seconds, quickly realising that it'd turned morning... Memories of earlier shoot back, causing him to gasp once more as he sits up, patting his chest over.

His ratty shirt was covered in dried blood, the hole of the knife still there... He strips off and looks at his chest, pausing again at the strange sight. It'd healed over and scarred, but the wound didn't look anything like that knife...

It was strange, gross even, looking like someone had tried to shove a handheld blender through him(Like Jiraiya's chest scar). The most confusing thing was how the hell he'd survived it, he'd been stabbed in the heart, he knew that well...

Had he died? No... There was no way, he wasn't some protagonist outta a bourgie rom-com 'A kiss and he will awaken'. In real life people didn't get second chances, so something was definitely up. He needed to see a Doc asap.

He grimaces slightly, his ribs still apparently broken. "Ugh... Don't know if I should be upset or glad that I'm still alive." he groans to himself... He shakes his head and lets out a sigh and starts lighting a cig.

The smart gun was on the floor not far from him, so at least he hadn't lost everything... Not managing to klep that knife though, he'd probably have nightmares about it for years to come. He could ignore his brush with death, shit like that is to be expected in Night City, but the loss of Eddies? That'd sting.

He still wasn't even sure if everything he saw was real... He got hacked so there was a high chance that the fight went differently than he thought. Hell, the guy may have just made him shoot himself!

He tries to take a puff of his cig, but accidentally drops it on the ground... "Piece of shit." he grumbles, lightning up a second.

When he brings it to his mouth his hand literally flings it across the clearing, leaving Ori blinking dumbly at it.

"What... What the fuck is going on...?" he grits his teeth and pulls out the entire pack, "Fucker must've left a virus. You hear me, old man? Think this is funny!? Virus or not I'm smoking this!" he angrily shouts but catches his arm as it tries to throw the entire pack away.

"Not this time-" he starts, only to then lose control of both arms! They twist the pack of cigs before slamming it down on the ground, completely ruining them!

"Mother fucker! Don't think I won't beat the shit out of you!" he angrily shouts at his arms.

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