26 THANKFUL

"HANDS UP THIS IS NCPD! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FUCKING BRATS!"

Tch in my mind when I heard that phrase.

I put on my T-shirt while keeping my back to the Ncpd who were about to arrest us, as I watched, Jud get angry at me as she raised her hands in the air.

Before I lift mine up and turn around, I called back to Jud's IDn.

[Jud I'm going first, follow me-]

[TO Jail!, of course!]

[Hehe, that was funny]

[No, Sora, stop it, we tried and got caught, I don't want you to say or do any of your nonsense that ends with Ncpd shooting you, do you hear me?}

[Tch, so early in our relationship and you're already telling me what to do, but I meant be cautious, its not that I'm going to do anything, but with Ncpd, we have to be careful, we don't know what kind of cops these two are, so listen to me and follow me closely .... to jail! Hehe]

I finally raised my hands, turning to look at the cops, as I looked up at the sky to think.

Where?... where I had screwed up? to end up with a `busted´, coming to a sad conclusion that `Fuck, I shouldn't have yelled so much about the stripties thing'. It was obvious that the Ncpd were going to be looking for us on the shores, I should have gone more carefully.... Shit

When I turned around I could see two cops pointing their Lexington pistols at us, That they looked familiar, one had a mustache and the other one didnt.

"We got them, HA so you guys, you're the brats in the truck Hey!...you know what you've messed up, with your stupid JOKE!...how are the damn streets because of your jackassery!!!, a lot of the gangs have taken this as a challenge. Brats and there are riots in 3 of the 6 districts..... "

Said the cop who didn't have a mustache as he put the gun back in his holster when we raised our hands.

When I hear what he said. I could only think that `PAPA JOHN`s would be proud´.

"Mr. Officer, I think there is a misunderstanding, we don't know anything about what you are talking sir. I-I'm just a shy Asian guy going to a math class, when I heard this young lady calling for help while drowning apparently, she was trying do sub-" I said when a shout interrupted me.

"YOU THINK WE'RE FUCKING IDIOTS?, YOU!, think you're funny? LITTLE SHIT!" shouted the other cop who had a mustache.

To which I wanted to answer shouting 'YES', to both questions to the cop who interrupted me, how rude!.

But something pinching my back, when I was opening my mouth, it was Jud, who had lowered a hand behind me, to pinch me with it, to make me shut up, making me stop my answer to the rhetorical question of the whiskers.

While the same cop, Mendez turned to his partner to yell in his face, making you think; `what's wrong with this guy?´

"JOKE? BARRY, really? THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK HAS HAPPENED, A JOKE?. This little SHIT is a FUCKING CRIMINAL. Barry don't treat him like he's a fucking toddler who painted a car patrol, he's a CRIMINAL. You know Petrova, got her arm dislocated because of the jackassery! as you call it from for this FUCKING LITTLE SHIT!"

Mendez said, still at gunpoint with his gun waving his arm nervously as he spoke shouting in parts, giving a weird vibe of this guy. `is he on to something?´ It's not that it bothers me that he insults me, I really don't care, it's his right to do so. Just like me, that I don't give a fuck what he say.

"Come on Mendez, Relax, WILL YOU?, they're just teenagers who have crossed the line, but, there was no real damage to ours, just a couple of bruises or minor injuries, so cool off a while, okay? you're getting too nervous pal."

Said Barry, undeterred by the aggressive attitude of Mendez who had shouted in his face.

When he said Petrova's name, I recognized who these guys are, Barry is the Ex-cop who was V's neighbor in the game. Having a small mission in which you learned, that Barry is one of the few good guys inside Ncpd and Mendez is one of the many assholes inside Ncpd.

I then turned to Jud who I thought would be a little scared seeing how Medez was behaving, only to see her looking at him, serious with sharp eyes, making me amused at the almost defiant attitude Jud had towards the cop who was insulting me and spoke again.

"IF I hadn't had the bad LUCK today to have you assigned as a partner on this shift, YOU a fucking softie, I would have loved teach to this FUCKING SHIT a lesson that the WHORE of his MOTHER never taught him, Tch you should be THANKFUL kiddo, today you were saved from getting the beating of your life. "

When I heard everything Mendez said, I couldn't react as I froze for a few seconds to process what he had said...

'Thankful', that damn word. When I heard it, it transported me back to that white room with the smell of disinfectant empty and cold. It took me to that moment when I was just a few days away from my death, with pain coursing through every inch of my body, even the parts I couldn't feel.

And how could he call my MOTHER...?

He called her a whore! My mother, whom I barely knew apart from a few text messages, but from those messages, I could sense an almost infinite affection and concern for me. Along with a great desire to get to know me better and an underlying feeling of remorse or guilt.

In addition to insulting the person who gave me life in this world, in THIS world where I have my grandparents, in THIS world where I have a woman I love by my side, in THIS world where I possess a healthy body, and in this world where I couldn't be happier...

When I thought all of that, I felt a 'Clink!' in my mind, causing me to react once more. Raising my head and ignoring the sudden burning sensation in my eyes, along with Judy tugging at my shirt. 'I'm sorry, Judy, but I can't. I thought before I said;

"FUCK YOU!" Surprising the two cops when they looked at me and my burning eyes. Before adding "TRY IT! Teach me a lesson!! MOTHERFUCKER!"

I also unleashed all my desire to kill Mendez, who filled his mouth calling my mother a 'WHORE.' I stared at him with my eyes, now burning more than ever, but I still didn't care. 

Barry and Medez reacted differently before my sudden outburst. Barry was surprised, raising a hand to the pistol he had holstered a short time ago.

While... Mendez, that wretch, was frightened by taking a step back, and raising his gun to use it without hesitation with his cowed look. If it weren't for Barry, who was by his side, gripping Mendez's arm, most likely preventing him from opening fire

"MENDEZ what the FUCK are you doing!! Put your gun down! You've already gone crazy from the painkillers you've been taking or what man? Get your shit together, or do you want to get kicked off the force for killing two unarmed teenagers?, the kid just has his eyes with some cyberware there´s nothing lethal. CHILL THE HELL OUT!"

Without giving a shit what Barry said about my eyes. I focused on Mendez who was still trying to raise his arm to point it at us. When suddenly, something changed in his behavior.

As he acted stranger than before, his eyes seemed, as if they were out of focus for a few moments, as he moved his head in small and intense movements, as if he was getting little jolts..... remembering me a Evelyn when she get hacked. In the game

"Mendez! Are you all right?" said Barry as he noticed the change in his partner who had changed from aggressive to absent. Seeing the change in Mendez's behavior, I had a bad feeling.

Which made something inside me whisper CAUTION in some form of warn. Making me also warn Jud that something was going to happen,

[Jud, something's wrong with the mustache, so stay close to me, do you hear me?]

[... Okay, but Sora ..... be careful, okey?]

In response to her words of concern, I smiled briefly at her as I affirmed, before turning my attention back to Mendez.

Who, as he grabbed his head with the gun still in his hand, said; "I-I, Barrrry.....hel-p..... " before he started screaming in pain. Attracting the attention of people walking down the street, who had not seen them until now.

I don't know what happened, but something changed while Mendez was screaming like a pig. The lights illuminating the area began to flicker, breaking in the process as if they were overloaded. Giving the impression that something was invading Medez making him scream in pain in the process.

As I slowly moved one hand to the back of my hip. making me hold on tight the tanto and I get ready

When Barry approached Mendez, even with his back to us. Mendez stopped screaming and lowered his hands as if his psychotic attack had suddenly disappeared, as if all his strange behavior had not occurred.

When he opened his eyes, seemed to have a..... green glow on them

Making me SHIT myself, for what implied and what could be taking control of Mendez, reminding me of the Peralez mission, causing the part of me that whispered CAUTION change to scream DANGER, making my whole body tense up itching and my heart pounding in preparation for what was about to happen.

He looked at me expressionless for a few seconds, ignoring Barry who had him by the shoulders, not looking at Medez's green lit eyes, when all of a sudden.

Mendez? gave him a butt with the gun at the head of Barry making him collapse to the ground, while generating one of the creepiest smiles I have ever seen in my life, which seemed incapable for a human, making me doubt if this was NC and if this cop was not the Joker himself who had grown a pornstar moustache.

I even noticed Jud who was behind me grabbing my shirt, freaking out of fear for laugh on Mendez face.

When he/it said

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FOUND YOUUUUUUUUUUU"