Reunion

Two days had passed when Cat finally woke up, the groggy girl remembered almost nothing about her rescue, apart from Ori apparently being present. She immediately broke into sobs when she saw Bats, hugging him like a lifeline for a full hour before finally letting him go.

Then, without even acknowledging the existence of the unconscious Fujino on the table beside her, she asked for Ori. Needless to say, Bats didn't have an answer.

Ori had thrown himself into work the morning after everything, despite having his brain blown out the day prior. Rebecca and Sasha accompanied him of course, especially now that the three of them were the entire team.

Even with Ori acting like an emo douchebag fifty percent of the time, they weren't going to let him die... Or resurrect? Whatever you call his stupid powerful Cyberware that made him unkillable. That's not to say that he wasn't getting better but, it was a slow process.

Bats sat with Cat and went over everything, the massacre at Casinha, Ori becoming a mercenary, and the things they'd been doing since her capture and until her rescue. He wasn't surprised at how shocked expression when he'd told her of Ori's new occupation.

Her brother had never been the 'violent' sort, not compared to other people in Night City at least. And the fact that he'd lasted so long meant he must've been pretty good at it, which was backed up by him apparently rescuing her.

The news of her father's death sent her into another mini-breakdown, but Bats knew it was just something she'd have to get out of her system... He'd gone through it, and so had Ori.

He tried to probe about her experiences, but she shut down that line of discussion instantly, refusing to say anything on the matter. Even her 'relationship' with Fujino was off limits, confusing Bats due to what he'd already heard from Ori and the others.

"Where is Ori! Why isn't he here!? Why won't you tell me!?" she impatiently asks him after hours of watching the front door of the apartment.

"I told you Cat, he's working..." Bats quietly replies, he'd had to quit his own job to look after her, since his boss wasn't all that empathetic on matters concerning family...

"I don't care! Call him! Let me call him if you won't! I want to see him!"

"He's busy! Just wait and he'll be back, so calm down-" he starts, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly slaps away.

"Don't tell me to calm down! He's my brother! I want to see him! He should want to see me!" she shouts, her voice becoming hoarse.

Bats awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "Well, see, he does b-"

*Click!*

"Oh thank god." Bats whispers under his breath as Ori steps through the door, clothes ragged and covered in blood.

"ORI!" Cat yells, running over and launching herself at him. He reaches for his revolver in surprise, only to pause when he spots her.

"You're okay, you're really okay! Ori! Dad, he..." she cries into his shirt, becoming a blubbering mess as he stands there, frozen.

He simply couldn't muster up any words for her, his guilt for this being the first time he'd laid eyes on her since the rescue only exacerbated his hesitation. Eventually, he relented and forced himself to reciprocate the hug, attempting to listen to her muffled rambling sobs.

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

Another hour passes, and Ori found himself on the couch, still in his bloody clothes as Cat hugged his arm with the strength of a roided-up ape.

"Ori... Are you mad with me...?" she asks, apparently noticing his silence until now.

...

"No, I love you, and what happened wasn't your fault." he says, tone neutral.

"Okay... Can you tell me what you've been doing?" she quietly asks.

"Hasn't Bats told you?" he asks, glancing at the man who'd been chewing his nails watching them.

"I need to hear it from you..."

...

"Alright... I guess."

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

The rest of the day quickly passed, Bats ordering food as Ori gave his own account of things. He left out some parts of course, his murders, the nanites, and anything else that'd worry her. She'd been through enough, she didn't need more shit to stress about.

Unfortunately, Bats also brought up Rebecca, causing his sister's eyes to widen.

"You have a girlfriend? How is she? Is she cute? Nice? What do you like about her?"

"Yes, fine, yes, kinda, a lot." he speeds through his answers while glaring at Bats. The past couple of days had been a bit rocky between him and Rebecca, primarily on his end for obvious reasons. Sasha eventually had to lock them in a room to talk about shit, which they did... He'd ended up accidentally promising to bring her on a date tomorrow too, all under Sasha's scheming he assumed.

Bats just sends a smile at him, "You want to see some pictures? I did take a few while they weren't looking."

"Really!?"

He grins and links with the TV, showing a photo of a groggy-looking Rebecca and Ori as they forced breakfast down their throats... Yeah, neither of them were morning people...

"Em, why is she..." she trails off, "Pale...?"

"She modded herself to look that way." he responds, he knew she'd rather people think it was intentional than a side-effect. Made her feel more in control of it... "Cute, right?"

"Err, yeah. Totally..." she answers without conviction. She chews the inside of her cheek and looks at him, "Ori, could you... Cut my hair?" she asks, tugging at her long, semi-matted black locks.

"You sure? If you washed I think it'd suit you."

She gives a firm nod, "I want it short." she states with certainty, her brows wrinkling minutely into a frown. "I need it short..."

"Alright... I'm not as good as Dad though, we can take you to a shop to get it cu-"

"No!... I want you to do it..."