Underwater home

"Left! Left! Left!" Ares yelled in my head as I swerved onto a side road.

"Whoever designed the road system of this city was a complete moron!" I said through clenched teeth as I gripped the wheel in a death grip.

"Actually, it's quite well designed and efficient. The roads you were used to were the ones that sucked." Ares said sarcastically.

"Why? Because we didn't have flashing lights to tell us we are heading in the right direction?" I asked, also sarcastically.

"Well, that would have been helpful," Ares replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. "But no, it's not just about the flashing lights. The road system here is designed to optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion."

"You're joking, right?"

Ares scoffed.

"We have been driving for what. An hour now?" Ares said.

"And not once have you been stopped in traffic or at a stop light longer than twenty seconds."

I rolled my eyes.

"It still feels like a three year old designed it." I said disgruntled, not wanting to give Ares the final word.

Ignoring the heavy sigh from Ares, I fell into deep thought as I mindlessly followed the directions Ares was giving me.

The drive through this city was quite the revelation to me, showing how much had changed in the years I had been gone.

When I left for the corpo boot camp, Night City was still in its construction phase, being funded by some rich gazillionaire visionary who wanted to build a utopia.

But as I quickly saw, his plans didn't come to fruition.

The streets might have been nice, but everything else seemed to be falling apart and decrepit.

Literal piles of trash were stacked on the side of the road in heaps while people simply walked by like it was normal.

Which I guess it was.

Most people I saw looked just as run down as the city itselself.

At least that's what I first thought.

The farther I went into the city, the real divide among this city showed itself.

In what I guessed was the center of Night city where the Corporations had their headquarters, I saw the people walking around in nice clothes and looking well groomed.

Stores that were clearly high end lined the roads, with clean sidewalks without the slightest piece of trash in sight.

It honestly surprised me that not even a hundred years had passed with all I saw.

But low and behold, this city still held more surprises for me.

After crossing a bridge from the center of Night city, it was as if I had driven into a war zone.

Walls to businesses and apartments were marked by gunshots, the walls were graffitied with random tags and nonsense.

"Well Toto. It doesn't look like we're in Kansas anymore." I remembered saying as I looked around conspicuously.

My heart started to race slightly as we neared my home.

Rock formations on the steep cliffs by the road flashed memories in my head, hoping me the way.

But as we neared, something caught my attention.

"What the hell is that?" I asked as he rumbled up a small hill in the road.

"Hmmm. From the look of it, it's a water dam." Ares said curiously.

"A dam?" I thought to myself outloud.

"It must be what's powering Night city." Ares said nonchalantly.

"But from what I'm seeing, the dam would be right up to Laguna Bend."

"It would seem so, yes." Ares said.

A sinking feeling started to form itself in my chest.

'There's no way Laguna could still stand with a construction so big next to it' I thought in a panic as I started along the road again, faster than I had before.

As I drove, I started to see light reflections from something shining onto the close by rocky ledges.

It became clear what it was when I screeched to a halt, avoiding driving straight into a massive lake.

I couldn't speak as it became clear what this lake was.

My grip on the steering wheel made the plastic under my grip creak and groan from the force I used.

"Oh hell." Ares said, knowing what was about to happen.

Which he was right about.

Rage filled me as I quickly opened the car door, stepping out like a man with a mission.

I strode forward to the very edge of the water, looking around.

"Fuck!" I yelled out loud, looking up at the massive dam then back down at the lake.

But just before I fell into a pit of rage and started to dismantle the car piece by piece with my bare hands until my hanger subsided, an idea entered my head.

"I can still breathe under water right?" I asked.

"No, you moron." he said chidingly.

My brows creased.

"No?" I asked surprised and angry again.

"'you' couldn't 'breath' under water to begin with. It was my nanobots that created oxygen in your bloodstream which allowed you to survive underwater without the need to breathe at all. You're not a fish, you know." Ares said sarcastically.

I leaned my head back, biting my tongue to stop my retort from coming out which would have probably just made him go on some rant or decide not to help me.

"Fine!" I said with a puff of air.

"Can I still survive underwater with the help of the nanobots?" I asked in a strained voice.

"Of course you can, dummy." Ares said with a laugh.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"What did I do to deserve this?" I asked myself out loud.

"I suppose it was just sheer luck." Ares said, apparently not understanding I wasn't talking to him.

"Riight." I said sardonically with the shake of my head.

Looking around, I saw there was nothing more for me to do, then to do.

So, taking the steps forward, I plunged myself into the somewhat cold water.

Using my new legs, I propelled myself through the water.

"Changing to night vision…now." Ares said, as the familiar itchy feeling flooded my eyes for a brief second before the dark depth of the large lake lit up with detail.

In an instant the sight of my old town brought back countless memories of my younger years.

For a town submerged under water, there wasn't a single building missing or collapsed.

It was just as I had left it.

Swimming along the main street of the town, I looked all around me at the familiar buildings.

The gas station, the church, and the only diner in town, Flo's.

But one building stood out more than any other.

My home.

Swimming through the water like a fish, I quickly made it to the front door.

Taking a moment I looked around.

'It still looks like it did before I left.' I thought.

'Hmm, poor choice of location." Ares said. "The water really must have been an inconvenience."

I rolled my eyes.

Pushing myself forward I looked at the closed front door.

'Do you think there is anything inside that might tell me where they went?' I asked Ares in my head.

'Well, since there are still cars in the middle of the road and trash in dumpsters, It seems probable that the residents didn't have much time or choice to leave. Sooo, most likely." Ares said.

'Good point.' I thought, looking around at all of the debris.

Turning back to the soft blue automatic door, I looked for any way for me to open it.

But there was no crack or opening in the door to give me leverage to open it.

Deciding it didn't matter much, I held onto the frame of the door, while using my legs to kick the door open, sending it slowly crashing to the ground of my old home.

Using the door frame, I pushed myself inside.

Looking around, I couldn't stop the smile that sprung to life on my lips.

'This…this brings back memories." I said turning in all directions to soak everything in.

The floor to the living room, which was the first room you entered in the house, had ugly yellowish mustard colored shag carpet on the floor, and wood paneled walls with small picture frames still on them.

Going forward, I tried to look at some of the pictures, but they were too worn and disfigured from the water to be able to see.

A sad smile came to my face.

Turning, I headed down the single hallway of the house where three rooms were.

Looking into the first room, which used to be my sister's.

I looked around, and saw it was in a simple state.

Only a bed filled the room with a small desk along one wall, instead of the posters on the walls and girlish things that used to alway clutter the room.

I was slightly confused but figured things had probably changed since I had left.

So, pushing myself out of the room, I made my way to the next room, my room.

Looking in, I was amazed to see that my room was now full of girlish things.

Pushing myself in, I looked at the cluttered mess that covered the ground.

All of it were items a kid would have, not a teenage girl like my sister.

Like small shirts with childish desighns, toys, and teddy bears that were bright colors.

Looking around again, I looked for anything that might have belonged to me, but found nothing.

Going to the next room which belonged to my mother, I saw this room held more than the other rooms.

Floating to a dresser on one wall, I searched through some of the drawers, tossing articles of clothes as I went.

In the second to last drawer, I found an old photo binder that looked to be in good condition.

Tucking it under my arm, I opened the last drawer, and found a small treasure trove.

To my amazement, the first thing I saw was a gun.

Grabbing it, I looked it over.

It was a M-10AF Lexington.

'What the fuck?' I thought curiously, as I never imagined my mom as someone who would pack a gun.

The pistol was in rough shape and had clearly sat here for some time, as rust could be easily seen on some of the mechanisms.

Putting it in my free hand with the binder, I continued to look through the drawer.

I ended up finding an extra mag for the Lexington, and an old looking file drive.

"I can probably still access the information on that drive." Ares said excitedly in my head.

I looked the file drive over.

'Really?' I asked, surprised.

"Just because it's been sitting in water for who knows how long doesn't mean the information on it is gone." Ares said.

'And how would you access it?' I asked. 'I don't think you built a port in my legs?' I asked sarcastically.

"Of course I didn't." Ares scoffed.

"My nanobots can access and then download the files into themselves before coming back and into you, allowing me to access them to go through the files." Ares said.

'Fine. We can do all that when we resurface.' I thought to Ares before I started the long journey up.