12 Lucy's Worry, David's Atonement.

As they pulled into the abandoned lot, he parked between some crates near the building where the jammer was, taking his rifle from Lucy he got out of the vehicle and so did she. ''Stay here, I'll check the building to make sure we're alone or aren't made.''

They couldn't pull up the Holo, whereas David technically could, it wouldn't help since no one else's neuralware was as powerful as David's.

He readied his rifle and began to advance on the building, only for a crash to be heard as he heard Lucy. ''DAVID BEHIND YOU!"

David didn't think, he suddenly rolled to the side and turned himself around, barely dodging out of the way as a mantis blade sunk into the ground next to him to his left, cursing under his breath he began to unload his rounds into the Tyger claw, the bullets bouncing off him as only a few landed across his abdomen and left arm that was flesh.

The man suddenly pulled a blade, aiming to stab down David as he began to reach for his underslung, nanowire suddenly spun up as Lucy caught the left arm and turned it into minced meat, only seeming to notice the mantis blade then as she tried reaching for her sidearm.

David's hand was on the underslung as he raised both his feet and kicked hard off the Tyger claw's chest, making him skid backward as he shifted to his knee and lifted the rifle. The mantis blade passed his head as the Tyger claw grinned down at him, only to notice the underslung shotgun as his eyes widened comically large before buckshot blew his face apart, scatting brain matter and skull fragments as the body dropped to the ground.

Once that finished David stayed on his knee, reloading both the rifle and underslung.

Suddenly he watched as Lucy pointed her gun at him, just as everyone began to pull up around them.

''Hold on Lucy, what's going o-'' Maine tried to speak before being interrupted by Lucy.

''Shut up!'' Lucy tightened her grip on the pistol as she kept it trained on his head, Rebecca had already wrapped a hand around her pistol. If Lucy put David in danger, she was ready to unload onto her. Already ready to ride or die with the person she's only known for barely a week.

''David, who are you, really?'' Lucy said, confusion flashing across the other's faces at this, even Kiwi seemed confused.

''You show up, mystically out of the blue while we're working for a big fish. You've got great skills in driving, shooting, hacking, and are able to keep a cool head even when in the middle of the shit!''

''For someone who had been a civilian, you know a lot to make yourself seem like a big fucking deal like someone sent you here to cozy up with us, become someone useful, the turnaround and backstab us!''

Everyone's gazes changed, Maine was going over their interactions, it was possible. David never knew them, as far as he knew Gloria never talked about them, but he talks to them as if he knew they existed.

Dorio is skeptical, having been through too many of these situations not to be.

Falco looked curious, but he was focused. Something about this didn't feel right, he just wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Rebecca looked ready to go to war over this, her hands clenching the grips of her pistol tightly, she may not know David on a personal level, but something in her heart told her she could trust him, which was funny because of her past, but he was different. There might be secrets or things he isn't saying, but there's no way he would betray them.

Kiwi looked impassive, she was the one who taught Lucy how to trust no one, and in fact? Was a little proud of this situation, even if it wasn't what it seemed.

''Did your mother even fucking die, was she another pl-''

''Don't you DARE bring my fucking mother into this Lucy.'' When David interrupted her, he spoke with such genuine anger, and venom it caused them all to blink, Lucy flinching.

They then saw David's hands move as the mag released from the Ajax, and he pulled the bolt to clear the chamber, doing the same with the tactician on the end before he tossed it to the side, along with pulling off his holster as a whole and tossing it further away, he then leaned down to pull the knife from his boot, something no one knew he had as he tossed it to the side as well, he then raised his arms outwards, showing how he was unarmed.

The entire time, Lucy had kept her pistol drawn on him, though her conviction in holding it straight wavered... That pure anger that came from mentioning his mom, was real.

''My Mother died that day, I watched as if in slow motion when a 5.56 passed through the side of her skull and I could do nothing about it. I couldn't even fight back, I watched as the Trauma team arrived, LOOKED AT HER, and then left her there because she wasn't the VIP.''

Everyone had different emotions, but most of them felt like shit. Especially Rebecca as she watched him, her face twisting a bit in emotion. She... Hated this part of life, everyone had a damn story... And she wanted to cry for every single one of them.

David's face, the anger and look of pain in his eyes, like he was right back in that upturned car, reliving the moment, again and again. Dorio's heart squeezed a little, remembering her own family.

Maine's face was serious as he watched, as long as no one was shooting at each other, this would be fine... It could be solved.

David took a breath, forgetting how... Naked, he felt without being armed

He had been avoiding talking about it, it hurt him a lot more than he liked to admit, the only thing that had kept it locked up so well was the fact he had memories of his past life, another David, a stronger, more in control David.

''I watched her bleed out, pinned beneath the car, barely any injuries but I couldn't do anything. Even after FOUR FUCKING HOURS WHEN I WATCHED SOMEONE TRY AND RAPE HER CORPSE, I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!''

Tears were starting to fall now, David's hands flexing and squeezing as he tried to keep at least a little control of himself.

Maine had a dark look on his face, as it started to settle onto him that, the kid had been suffering the entire time, of course, it wasn't his fault, or his problem, but wasn't the kid a part of his crew now? He should've at least asked...

Dorio's face was tight, a storm of emotion in her eyes as the story struck a bit too close to home as her hand tightened around Maine's.

Falco kept himself collected, but the look of rage burning in his eyes said a whole different story.

Kiwi's eyes closed as she let out a breath, she could feel the kid was... Real, only now did she feel the... The tiniest bit bad about being proud earlier... Not that she wasn't still, these kinds of questions go to the... Dark, raw part of humans, and it was hard to trust the ones you haven't seen that side into.

Rebecca was blinking away a few tears, keeping herself steady and focused.

Lucy looked, broken almost a few tears starting to fall herself, realizing she may have just ruined her chance at being friends with him... Going to the moon to spread his mother's ashes.

''But you know what? Turns out she was alive, in a trauma-induced coma. She had been alive the entire time... I felt like shit, but at least there was hope right? I took her to a doctor, and the fucking sham said the surgery was successful and she was recovering, I paid and everything.''

''Then I got to school, just to get my nose broken by some Saka dick squirt and then heard my Mother died, mysteriously.''

David opened his arms. ''You want to know why I can do the things I can? I practiced driving every day, it says so in my background, right? Because I know you all looked into my background. I learned I'm really good at it, I told Rebecca that I was a natural at shooting from day one when I learned from my now-dead father. But I never sought to apply these strengths, just wanting to make my mom happy with her dream of her son, her pride and joy, her eldest and only child to get into a suit job, get really nice, and cozy up some corpo's ass with the rest of them.''

''Ever since she died, it feels like I've been in a dream, with no strings attached to me, like my body is as weightless as it would be on the moon, you want to know why Lucy?''

He made sure to spread his arms and legs out, making himself a bigger target. ''Because I ain't got nothing left to lose, and when you lose that... Final thing you were fighting for? You stop thinking about the what ifs, you stop thinking about the blade that could have cleaved off your head, you stop thinking about the car that if you hit wrong could've flipped you, you just do it. So far I've just been rolling snake eyes...''

David took a breath, before letting his arms fall. ''So if you were to shoot me right now? It wouldn't bother Night City, it wouldn't bother the cops or the trauma teams, there are only a few people it may bother, and one is helping take care of one of them, and the rest are all right here, right now.''

David stood in silence, letting the few tears that came to his face fall freely, he felt... Like shit to show emotion like this in front of people, let alone people he barely knew, or fully understood yet ''You still don't believe me, or trust me, Lucy?''

He raised a hand, pointing to the jack in the side of his skull, showing it to her. ''Hard Jack me.''

Lucy's eyes went wide, as did everyone else's, even Kiwi's as they all knew what he meant by that.

Hard Jacking simply meant hacking someone's brain, it was possible with Neuralwear. Someone could get all their memories, all the juicy little secrets or details, like an extremely realistic BD of someone else's life.

Falco stepped forward, placing a hand over Lucy's pistol as he slowly pushed it down, Lucy not struggling at all as the gun was pushed down then away from her hands as she started to cry hard, falling to her knees, a lot of trauma showing itself right there and then.

Rebecca suddenly sprinted from around the car and threw herself into David, tackling him to the ground as she continued to cry into his chest, genuine sobs as she held tightly onto him.

It took a few moments for everyone to get themselves in order, David pulled himself together the fastest as he picked up Rebecca, carrying her as he began to get his stuff together along with his holster and the ammunition as he blew the dust out of it and loaded it all backup, once he got all his stuff together again, he carried Rebecca on his back, who was tightly wrapped around him, her legs around his waist as her arms stayed around his neck.

Walking over to Lucy, he offered her his hand.

She looked at him, unsure of what she should do before David spoke out loud. ''I can't promise that I'll just... Magically earn your trust, everyone here's got a story to tell, got a story to remember... But for now, can you just give me the chance?''

Lucy nodded instantly without thinking about it. ''Then take my hand, we need to get out of here, we can talk about apologies and everything else later when we're safe.''

She watched his hand a moment longer before she nodded, taking his hand as he helped her up, everyone began to quickly pack up, David taking Lucy and Rebecca in his car as Pilar put a hand on his shoulder before he left. ''Look, man...'

Pilar, in a strange moment of not being weird, or a pervert. Hugged David, it wasn't tight or anything, and it only lasted a second, but once Pilar pulled away, he gave David a nod before he went to the van with some of the others.

Looks like Pilar was just as bad at expressing his emotions as the rest of them.

Once he got into Bast, Rebecca now on his lap he began to drive, unsure of exactly when during the drive, Lucy sat in the passenger seat, holding her own hands as she tried to focus on something else than what just happened.

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Only the OG's will remember.