Old Friends

*CLANK!*

The cell door shuts closed behind David, leaving him in the small prison room. In one corner was a dirty-looking toilet, next to it was a somehow even dirtier sink, and on the other side of the room was a bunkbed...

He itches his collar and opens a small wooden drawer, revealing two single pieces of toilet paper... "This better not be all we get for the day, I know for a fact they limit the water you get and I'm not living life with shitty fingers." he slams it closed and grumbles to himself.

A couple seconds later his cell door opens and another prisoner steps in, dressed in the same grey jumpsuit David had been forced to wear. "Hey, Cellie' just gonna say we got some ground rules-" he starts but trails off when he lays eyes on David's face.

"Lil' Mohawk?"

"Mohawk?...?" David blinks, "Wait, Leo?" he asks, remembering the last person who called him that. They'd lived on the same block of the Megabuilding in the past but they'd lost contact when he'd joined the Academy...

"Haha! I knew it was you! Davey Martinez, how've you been doing choom!" Leo steps forwards and hugs him with a laugh. "Why the fuck're you locked up here? I thought you were making it big in that fancy school of yours!?"

David gives a low chuckle, "Just some small shit, y'know. Whatever they could pin on me." he says to the short mouse-like man.

"Yeah, I'll buy that with you looking like some fuckin' terminator. I mean jesus, I know you didn't grow like that naturally, so either you're on some serious chems or 'dem some hot chrome."

"It's chrome, not like it matters now... What were you saying earlier?"

"Ah, this you're first time here ain't it? My last cellie decided to join the drapes hang around, so they lumped me here with you. Want me to catch you up?"

"On what? Where to buy more fuckin' toilet paper?"

"Heh, actually yeah, stingy fucks make us pay to be imprisoned. You work or you get bare minimum SCOP, bare minimum water, shit, we need to pay to wash our clothes! But ignore all that, you need to know who's what here. You may know about the gangs out there, but in here you talk to the wrong guy and you're gettin' shanked in the shower."

David sighs, "Yeah? Well, it ain't like we're going anywhere." he says, hoping Tanaka would visit relatively soon.

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

In the underground courtyard of the prison, David and Leo leant against a wall as the latter pointed out the various gangs around. Apparently, most were sub-groups from larger gangs outside, hell, the Tyger Claws even had some loyal members left in here, which were all easy to identify given their many glowing tattoos.

"The folks you gotta watch out for are them," he gestures at a group of small and skinny men sitting in the corner playing cards. "Yeah, I know, they don't look like much but you touch one of 'em and you're getting torn apart that night... Look at their hands."

David does so and lets out a breath as he sees it. While the collars may block your Cyberware from activating, it apparently hadn't stopped these people from filing down their fingers into bloody metallic claws, like Rippers but less elegant. "How's that allowed...?"

He leans in and whispers, "They're the warden's boys, he gets annoyed at something and they see what they can do. They get free shit, quicker stints, and leeway with the guards. They call themselves the Live-Ins, y'know, since most of 'em would rather live here than outside." Leo pulls down his shirt to reveal some deep slash scars near his ribs, "Trust me, leave them alone and show enough respect, I ain't cleaning up the bits of you they cut up from our cell."

"I'll keep it in mind..."

Leo nods and folds his arms, "So, what really have you been up to? I know it was somethin' big because the fuckin' badges were talkin' like they'd captured the Anti-Christ."

"I went against the Corps, what else? May have 'bombed' Las Vegas and killed some suits, or at least that's what they're trying to pin on me." he shrugs.

"Ahaha, nice. That'll buy you a lot of props with the others guys here. No one likes the Corpos, no one but the rats."

"What about you? Why're you in here?"

Leo grins, "You remember that schizo family that lives a floor down from us?"

David nods, "Yeah, played crazy-loud music on Monday nights, got the whole row locked down because of cockroaches, the dad had a half-naked fist-fight in the street..."

"Well, their punk kid decided not to pay for some pills, I broke down their door and kicked the shit outta him, but when I turned I got jumped by badges. Fuckers set me up!"

"I mean, what did you expect? I'm surprised those idiots didn't forget how to breathe."

Leo shrugs, "Well, that was my first time, the second is when I went back and cut their motherfuckin' heads off! And guess what!? The boys in blue were waiting for me to do something as soon as I got out! Bam! Right back in the shitter, I got fifty-two years left on my sentence!"

David snorts, "Not bad, but once I'm finished with my contempt of court charge they'll probably lock me up for a thousand or whatever the final number adds up to..." they both laugh at that.

"Hey, what would you do if you managed to break out?" David questions, wondering if he should take Leo out after they flatline Tanaka. The guy seems to be on the level, and would be loyal enough given his long ass sentence, plus, they were old friends...

"What would I do? No idea, don't even dream of it anymore, to be honest... Nah, actually, I'd head straight to a Dollshop, get my dick wet for the first time in years."