CHAPTER 3

"So, my world is a fabrication of a video game?"

[Correct.]

"Yet, simultaneously, my universe is completely separated from the video game-like reality?"

[Yep.]

After Mamma and Jackie left my apartment, my new roommate Elisabeth, or Elisa for short, sent me to want could be the equivalent of a nuclear warhead of information to smash against my brain. Sighing, I absentmindedly combed my fingers through my hair, my palm meeting against my forehead as I gently tried to massage a minor headache that was forming above my eyebrow. The forming headache spread into my temples as I reached around to push my digits against the space.

"Damnit, Jackie."

It wasn't pleasant to witness the death of someone I considered a friend, and it made it worse knowing how devasted Mamma Welles must have been when she found out about Jackie. Yet, it wasn't just Jackie. Dozens of images and events flashed through my head. Each comprises people I've never seen before, while others I've known via rumor. I grimaced as a picture of a short girl with grayish-white skin smashed underneath the hulking metal form of Adam Smasher. The image vanished with another, a pixie-bob-haired girl who jumped out a hundred-story window, a small smile on her face as she fell to her death.

I sighed again, falling backward, so my back hit the soft mattress of my bed as I stared blankly at the dark ceiling. I pulled my hands from my head and placed them over my heart. My body seemed to relax underneath the rhythmical beat of my heart, and the organ itself resonated within my eardrums as a deep feeling of peace washed over me. I lay in silence; my body shivered as a phantom sensation of delicate hands seemed to comb my hair gently.

"Elisabeth?"

[Shh, relax and go to sleep.]

I sighed contently.

My body seemed to melt underneath the gentle ministrations, and I was drifting off to sleep in just a moment.

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My eyes snapped open, fully aware, as I gently pushed myself up. The hairs on my neck stood on end as I glanced around at my quiet apartment. I slowly reached underneath the mattress I sat upon, my fingers grazing against my Nue pistol, as my eyes remained firmly locked on every shadow. Once my fingers firmly grasped the gun handle, I felt a tingling sensation around my head, almost like tiny fingers were prodding and packing at me in a specific direction. Pistol in hand, I spun around as I aimed the barrel end towards my front door. Someone smashed my door inward, the already dented metal screeching as it toppled over and struck my apartment floor.

I aimed, my sights automatically locking onto a glowing face. The person behind my door seemed to jump in surprise before my finger squeezed the trigger and sent his head snapping back, blood spewing from a new hole in his forehead. My senses tingled again, and I launched myself behind my couch. At the same time, two glowing masked figures with crude luminous expressions ambled into sight and started blasting assault rifles into the room.

I landed awkwardly behind the couch, the bullets from the assault rifles rending through the fabric of my sofa. I cursed as a searing hot pain erupted from my abdomen. I grimaced and reached down with one hand to tug up my shirt.

(Fuck me.)

[Looks like you got shot?]

(Yeah, and it hurts like a bitch!)

It was a pretty fair size hole in my navel. The size of a quarter, the flesh around the wound charred, and bright red blood rapidly seeped from the gunshot hole.

(Damnit, if I don't get this treated soon, I will fucking bleed out on my apartment floor.)

[I wouldn't worry about that~.]

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice muffled in front of the gunshots; a bell-like giggle was my only response. I blinked in confusion but quickly gasped as a prickling and jittering sensation emerged from my injury. I glimpsed down, my eyes enlarging in disbelief as the flesh around the damage appeared to come alive. Tendrils of flesh squirmed to life as they all strained to patch the gaping hole together. I continued to stare in morbid fascination; the sounds of gunfire seemed to dim around me as my sole focus was on my stomach. A grunt escaped my lips as the muscles within my abdomen seemed to involuntary spasm and flex. Slowly, bits and pieces of brass bullet shrapnel pushed themselves out of my wound.

Gingerly, I used my hand to brush away the brass flakes and blood. As my fingers gently pushed against the quickly fading pink scar, the sound of footfalls snapped me from my daze. A faint chuckle escaped my lips, tearing my focus away from my perfectly mended stomach; I slowly peered around the edge of my ruined couch. Both of the men were walking past my kitchen island. Assailant 1 was a lanky-looking fellow with baggy black pants and a red baggy t-shirt. Behind his neon-glowing mask, I saw a bald head adorned with graffiti-like tattoos. Assailant 2 was a buffer man; he wore a black leather jacket with leather pants and spiked-tread combat boots. A pair of cybernetic blue, glowing horns implanted into his temple and a 666 tattoo on his jugular.

"C'mon out, shitstain!" Assailant two sneered; heaving his assault rifle against his shoulder, he cackled, "I just want to riddle you with bullets!" Assailant 2 chuckled darkly, his assault rifle aimed at my location as he growled, "I promise I won't make it too painful, well, maybe just a little bit painful." I frown, my vision gravitating between the two before Elisabeth whispers in my ear.

[What's your plan?]

(Should I just run and gun? I have instant regeneration; only it will hurt like a son-of-a-bitch getting riddle full of brass.)

[You could run and gun or listen to my suggestion~?]

(What's your suggestion?)

[Use the Force.]

I raised an eyebrow before a tingling sensation prickled against my brain, and I ducked behind the couch as a bullet whizzed past my head.

"Fuck! I almost had him!"

I ignored the cursing from Assialant 1 and focused my attention back on Elisabeth's words. (How do I use the Force?) Elisabeth replied in my ear, [Focus on your target, imagine yourself having a third limb, and focus on that feeling.] I chewed the side of my cheek in thought before I sighed and peered back around the couch. The two had passed my kitchen and quickly made their way toward me.

"Well, here goes nothing."

Staring at the leather-clad shooter, I slowly raised a hand and imagined an almost invisible force wrapping around his body. To my and his buddy's surprise, the leather-clad man froze, and a startled grunt escaped from his mask as his gun fell from his limp fingers. The rifle hitting the ground seemed to shake the skinny man out of his stupor as he cried out, "Frank! What's wrong, buddy!" Frank, the leather-clad man, gave off a strangled whimper, "I-I can't m-move!"

[Good, now use the power of the dark side, MHAHAHA!]

I felt the corner of my lip curl upwards.

Twisting my hand around, I raised it and watched in fascination as Frank rose. The skinny man stumbled back, tripping over his feet, before falling on his ass. I slowly stood up, my hand still outstretched towards Frank, as I raised my pistol towards the lanky man on the ground.

"W-Wait-!"

I pulled the trigger and silenced him forever.

"T-Terry!" Frank strangled out, his body twitching as he tried to wiggle out of my Force's grasp. I sighed, gesturing my hand, and watched as Frank slowly floated to me.

(This is fucking cool.)

[Hell yeah, it is.]

I stopped Frank a foot away from me and asked with a gentle smile, "Where is the landlord?" Frank whimpered behind his mask, but even under the strain of my Force, he still gasped out, "H-He's i-in t-the park-parking lot!" I nodded before squeezing my hand into a fist. Franks' entire body seemed to cave inward; flesh ripping and bones snapping filled my room, along with the silent cries of pain coming from his dying body. I relaxed my hand, watching as Frank, or what was once Frank, fell in a bloody heap upon my apartment floor.

Now, it's about time I visited my landlord.

Walking over the crumpled heap of Frank and passing the downed form of Terry, I exited my apartment and accidentally kicked the first dead man's body on the way out. Outside, a few doors were open, curious glances peeking from around the corners before they all ducked back inside with the doors closing behind them. I ignored them and continued onward; occasionally, I would find a few men and women sitting in vacant corners, plugged into BDs and all sorts of whacked-up cybernetic shit. I rounded a corner and took the flight of stairs steadily. A few people mingled about but just gave me glances or plained ignored me as I continued my trek down the eleven flights of stairs.

[What are your plans for dealing with the landlord?]

(I was thinking about using the Force to toss his happy ass around the parking lot like a bowling ball.)

[Or?]

(I could shoot him.)

[That's very anticlimactic.]

I chuckled as I grabbed hold of the side railing, launched myself over, and fell down the last five flights of stairs. When I hit the solid concrete ground, the impact was null, as I steadily got back onto my feet and made my way towards an exit door leading to the car park. I raised a foot and delivered a solid front kick at the metal door. I was expecting it to fly open.

I wasn't expecting it to cave inward with a screech before flying across the car park and into a black Archer Quartz EC, the metal embedding in the car's hood and shattering the glass window.

(Yeah, Super Strength.)

Sighing, I walked through the open doorway and peered around the car park. Thankfully, spotting my landlord's all-around figure didn't take long. The man was frantically climbing into a Thorton Mackinaw Larimore. I slowly walked toward him at a slow pace, passing several middle to lower vehicles as my gaze remained firmly on the landlord's panic-stricken features. He peered at me briefly with a wicked grin before the tires of his truck sped out, and he suddenly started driving toward me.

The engine roared as he sped towards me at increasing speeds.

"Are you fucking for real?"

I stopped, my feet firmly planted on the ground as I watched the grill of his truck fastly approaching. Flipping the safety on my pistol, I holstered it in the waistband of my jeans as I raised my hand towards the wheeled metal of death. I smiled as the landlord, whose face was once filled with glee and malicious intent, now stared at me in terror and disbelief as I levitated the car off the ground and threw it against the concrete wall to my left. The car's hood caved inward, glass shattered, and an ear-piercing cry of pain echoed within the metal cocoon. I yanked the truck away from the wall, bits and pieces of metal falling onto the paved floor as I maneuvered the vehicle to float before me. I gaze inside the shattered front window, my eyes landing on the landlord's disfigured face. The shards of glass lacerated his face, blood oozed from deep cuts, and the metal roof had sunken the right side of his skull; the eyeball, and optics hung from the socket.

Bloody tears streaked down his cheeks as he tried to speak, but only blood flowed between his lips.

"You know, I don't like killing."

The landlord only gargled in response.

"Alas, when someone tries to send people out to kill me, I enjoy ending a life a tad bit."

The man whimpered, his other eye rolling into the back of his head.

"So, with that being said," I swung my hand towards my left and watched as the truck flew at incredible speeds before smashing through the concrete wall and into the Night City streets. An explosion vibrated the ground, followed by a flash of orange outside, but I merely turned around and began the trek back to my apartment.

"Au revoir."

[What was that guy's name anyway?]

(I don't know, I'm more worried about finding someone to bunk with the night.)

[What about Mamma?]

(Nah, I don't want to bother her with my problems.)

[We both know she would take you in a heartbeat.]

(I know she would, but I know the perfect person now.)

Finishing my thoughts with Elisabeth, I fished for my phone in my pocket before flipping the screen open and dialing a number. I waited in anticipation, and before long, the call answered. I felt myself smirk from the annoyed looks a particular brown-haired kid was giving me.

"David, ma lad!"

"Ugh, what do you want."

"Listen, do you mind doing me a solid."

"Yes, yes, I do mind."

"Great, can I stay at your place for a bit?"

"No."

"Awesome, see ya in a little bit."

"Wait! I fucking said n-"

"Alrighty, love ya, boo bear!"

I ended the call with relief, "Such a kind soul," I said, wiping an imaginative tear from my eye, "He's what the world truly needs."

[Yes, a kind soul whose life will turn upside down soon.]

I winced at an image of a grief-stricken David desperately reaching out to what I only could assume was his mother, Gloria.

(Lets...Let's leave that for later, alright.)

[Okay.]

A/N: I may start posting on weekends; classes are killer

BTW: I probably will post another one tomorrow.