Chapter 4

Being an ordinary citizen in Night City was tough, but taking care of someone else made it even harder.

Gloria Martinez knew this all too well. She was a single mother and an EMT for Night City healthcare, barely scraping by to provide for her and her son. Long hours and night shifts were the norm. She came home exhausted every day, but she kept going. She was determined to make a better life for David.

But despite all of the work she had done, her salary barely covered the essentials. She had to put away her morals. To make ends meet, she discreetly sold high-priced, rare cyberware taken off corpses and injured patients to mercenaries. And just recently she had scored big yesterday.

It had been the easiest job she had to do in a while as well. Not much mess to clean, just two bodies. The cyberpsycho and the officer.

Though Gloria found it unfortunate, she had long grown accustomed to the sight of death. She had seen far worse things than this, things no one should ever have to witness. But she had to keep working for her son's sake.

David was smart, a straight-A student. He had a bright future and could live a better life than she had. He couldn't end up like her. Unfortunately, he had a knack for getting into trouble.

Just as she was about to contact the buyer for the cyberware she recently acquired, a ping echoed in her head. She opened the message via thought command, and a translucent screen popped up in her vision: "Ms. Martinez, we need to discuss concerns regarding David. Please come to the school at your earliest convenience."

Gloria sighed, seeing the message from the principal of Arasaka Academy. "Oh god, what did you do this time, David?" she quietly muttered to herself, a mix of frustration and worry bubbling up inside her.

She quickly grabbed her keys and headed out the door. Her car, a battered yet reliable vehicle, waited in the dimly lit parking garage. As she slid into the driver's seat, the familiar scent of worn leather and engine oil surrounded her. She keyed the ignition, and the engine roared to life.

She began navigating the chaotic streets of Night City. The neon signs and towering skyscrapers blurred past as she drove, her mind racing with thoughts of what awaited her at the school.

After a while, she found a parking spot around Arasaka Academy. She parked her car and made her way to the entrance, but on the way there, she saw a student beating three other students in an alleyway. She stopped walking, but not because she wanted to stop the fight or anything like that.

Rather, she had recognized the student. The young man was David's only friend at the school. "Lucas? What are you doing?"

Lucas, mid-swing, dropped Katsuo to the ground and looked over to see who had called out to him. "Just messing around, Ms. Martinez. Right, guys?" He smiled and turned to Katsuo and his lackeys, whose faces were a mess, bruised and swollen beyond recognition.

Katsuo and his lackeys were unsure what to say, their eyes darting nervously. Seeing their hesitation, Lucas maintained his smile but narrowed his eyes. "Right?" he repeated.

Katsuo and his lackeys gulped and nodded quickly.

Satisfied, Lucas wiped a bit of blood from his knuckles. He then waved them off dismissively. "Alright, you guys can go."

Katsuo and his lackeys didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet and limped away, casting fearful glances over their shoulders.

Gloria looked at them curiously, clearly not buying Lucas's explanation. She was about to ask more when Lucas spoke up, "Don't worry about them. Those guys are the ones who usually try to bully your son and me. Anyway, Mrs. Martinez, you must be here for David."

Gloria sighed, deciding not to inquire further. "Yes, I got a message from the school. Do you know what he did this time?"

Lucas nodded. "The update he installed on his headset managed to shut down the entire class AI system with a virus. The principal was not pleased."

"That boy... I swear, he's going to be the death of me." Gloria shook her head in exasperation. "Well, I'd better go see what the damage is."

"Alright, take care, Ms. Martinez." replied Lucas.

"You too," Gloria gave him a nod before continuing her way to the entrance of the school. Lucas watched her for a moment, then decided it was time to head home and made his way to the nearest NCART station.

Although there was still a lot of the day left, the past hour had been more eventful than he had bargained for. He had even fought a mercenary—a pretty tough one at that.

Yeah, definitely better keep that to himself and not let his parents find out. Now, he just wanted to go home and relax. Maybe grab something to eat on the way, blow a load or two if no one was home. Nah, that last one probably wasn't going to happen.

Lucas knew better. There were cameras in the house, and he didn't want to risk it… and you know, talk to his parents about it.

"I think I'll just chill at Rita's. Hope she's awake," he muttered to himself as the train pulled into his stop. Getting off, he made his way back home and texted Rita on the way. "Hey, you up? Mind if I crash at your place for a bit? I'll bring some food over."

"Don't you have school? Or is it that you just couldn't wait until the weekend to see me?" she replied almost instantly.

"The second…" Lucas quickly erased what he wrote and changed his reply. "I did have school. Thanks to a choom of mine, I got the day off."

"Sweet, yeah, come over. Bring something good. I'm starving."

"Be there soon." Lucas quickly typed back while smile ear to ear.

He then made his way to a nearby food stall, picking up some of Rita's favorites—food they used to enjoy together when life was much less hectic for both of them. Back when life was simpler and the biggest worry they had was beating the next boss in their favorite video game.

A chill day with Rita was exactly what he needed after such a chaotic morning…