It's About Saving Yourself Ch 28

Heyo, sorry for late post. Didn't get much of a chance to write during the week, so I spent all of yesterday and most of today writing, and just finished editing.

Oof, I am le tired. And I gotta go to work tomorrow. XD

BUT! The chapter is done, and I am very happy with it. Hopefully, you lot will find it entertaining and you will like it.

And if you don't...guess I'll just cry?

Ugly crying too. I don't have the pretty privilege to cry and get away with it.

Joking aside. Here is chapter 28, drop me a comment and let me know how I did!

=][=

Lucy stared at the corpse held in Alex’s right hand.

Each of its four eyes had, respectively, popped, burnt to a crisp, melted, and detonated. Blood streamed like tears from the two eye sockets that hadn’t been seared. Acrid smoke that stank of seared human and burnt plastic wafting out of its ears. Its tongue had swollen grotesquely. Blood and sweat pouring in rivulets out of its every pore.

“Huh, a deadman’s switch.” Alex said absently, tossing the corpse aside like so much trash.

“Didn’t think he had it in him.” Kiwi said absently. “Literally.”

“Me either.” Alex mumbled.

Except…except Alex would have caught that.

She received a text message from Al. It contained a single word that made shivers run down her spine.

“Anyone feel like looting the place? Cause I kinda wanna go home.” Alex said, yawning. “Also, Kiwi, no offense, but you drive like shit.”

“This thing isn’t a vehicle.” Kiwi retorted. “It’s a brick with wheels attached.”

Lucy stared at the corpse with greater scrutiny.

Apex had killed Faraday.

Alex’s little AI, his ‘Silica Anima.’ The vastly dangerous digital entity that created a new daemon for everything she needed done in the net, but would never willingly hurt a fly.

The little girl who had killed Faraday.

His death had not been easy. It had been fast, no doubt about that. But every sign on his body pointed to immense pain. The smoke from his ears in particular was telling. Apex hadn’t merely fried his brain, it was still burning, Synapse Burnout wasn’t that thorough. If she were to open him up, Lucy would bet that a lump of embers would greet her.

Lucy swallowed, she’d play it cool for now. It’s not like she could blame Apex for what she’d done, Faraday would not have survived the night.

Lucy twitched when she felt Alex’s hand pat her hip.

“Hey babe, we’re heading out.” He said, motioning to the truck. Kiwi had already clambered in and sprawled over the comparatively narrow back seat in the cabin.

“R-Right, sorry, I was, I was thinking.” Lucy said.

“I do love that big sexy brain of yours.” Alex said, and lightly slapped Lucy’s bottom, she growled and took a handful of his ass in retaliation, to which he chuckled, reciprocated, and pulled her into his huge chest.

Lucy felt her face turning hot as she reached for the seam of his mask.

“Hey! Make out later!” Kiwi’s voice brought Lucy back to reality. “That blocker shard will only work so long and Faraday had a Platinum Trauma Team subscription!”

“Right.” Alex sighed and gave Lucy’s bottom one last gentle squeeze before releasing her. “Let’s go. I’ll drop Kiwi off first. Then we can head over to one of my apartments.”

“R-Right.” Lucy said, feeling strangely disappointed as she followed her output to his truck and climbed in.

They drove in silence to Kiwi’s place, Kiwi sending both herself and Alex several thousand Eurodollars, their ‘cut’ of the con. Once they arrived, Lucy followed after her, Alex waiting in the car after she waved at him to stay.

“Say your peace, Luce.” Kiwi said as they arrived on her floor and she stepped out into her ‘penthouse’ apartment and walked to her window.

Lucy double-checked the ceiling turret wasn’t reading her as an enemy before following.

As Kiwi was fond of saying; ‘Never trust a soul in Night City.’

Except Lucy had found someone she could trust. They all had.

She mulled over her words for some time before saying. “You’ve changed, Kiwi.”

Kiwi paused in the act of bringing a cigarette up to her lips, before resolutely placing the cigarette on her mouth. “I have, huh?”

“Please wait until I leave.” Lucy said as Kiwi pulled out her lighter. “I’m…you know.”

“Right, how could I forget?” Kiwi said, taking out the cigarette and staring at it.

They fell quiet, neither comfortable with the presence of the other, both needing to say their minds, unable to figure out how or where to begin.

“I keep telling him not to trust anyone.” Kiwi said, looking down at the street. “I keep telling him that he cannot trust anyone in Night City…but he won’t listen.”

Lucy walked until she stood next to Kiwi and saw that she was staring at the top of Alex’s truck as it idled by the entrance to the building.

“Yeah.” Lucy said fondly. “He’s like that.”

“Infuriating man.” Kiwi murmured.

They fell into another uncomfortable silence, until this time, Lucy broke it. “Did you consider it?”

Kiwi worked her jaw, not taking her eyes off the truck, she considered the question for a long time before answering. “I did.”

Lucy nodded. “What decided you, one way or the other?”

Kiwi carefully pondered the query, absently playing with the cigarette on her fingers, before bringing it up to her lips. “I owe him too many favors, and I have one big favor from Redeye that I still need to cash. Nothing more.”

“If that’s the case.” Lucy said quietly. “Why did you push me to be with him?”

Kiwi stilled, before once again taking the cigarette out of her mouth and playing with it. She thought for a long time, before angrily hissing. “Because…Because maybe his stupid infected me.” She tossed the unlit cigarette to the ground and stomped on it. “Maybe…maybe sometimes I wondered what might have happened, if I’d had run into my own Alex, back when I needed one most.” Kiwi swallowed thickly. “Maybe…maybe I want to believe you can trust…a soul, in Night City.”

Lucy was unsure who was more surprised by the fact that she was hugging the older woman. She had it on good authority that Lucy herself was the more confused of the two, but it was likely a close thing.

Slowly, hesitantly, Kiwi returned the hug.

“He infected us all with his stupid.” Lucy said, resting her cheek on the other woman’s shoulder. “Except Rebecca, she was his kind of stupid from the start.”

Kiwi snorted, actually snorted, not the strange, staticky sound Lucy had gotten used to. “You got the worst infection of all. You’re bringing his genetically randomized clone into the world, an evolved kind of stupid.”

“Oh no, whatever shall we do?” Lucy asked with a chuckle, before tightening her hug. “Thank you, Kiwi. I…Thank you.”

Kiwi tightened her hold on Lucy, her shoulders sagging with relief, as if from a burden laid down. “Yeah.”

They stayed like that for some time, before Lucy let go and said her goodbyes. It wouldn’t do to keep Alex waiting too long, she didn’t want to sit through another lecture about CHOO2, CO2 emissions, and the imminent collapse of what remained of the planet’s biosphere, all so he could have the moral high ground while he bitched about spending too much on fuel.

She climbed back into the seat, and Alex took off sedately.

“Good talk with Kiwi?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Lucy answered.

“Cool.”

“Hey, think we can go to your place?” Lucy asked. “I…I need to ask Gloria something.”

“Sure!” He said and changed direction without complaint.

Lucy listened to the truck grumble and growl for a while before asking. “Have you uhh…have you talked to Apex?”

“Yep. Asked her to wait till I’m finished with the interrogation next time.” Alex said.

Lucy blinked. “That…that’s it?”

He grinned. “Lucy, I think I’d know if something was bothering Apex after what happened tonight. Besides, my daughter is quite the tough cookie.”

“I…I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“She knows she can talk to me about anything.” Alex said with a confident nod. “If anything is bothering her, she’ll tell me.”

In all honesty, Lucy wasn’t sure what to do either. Hence, her need to speak to Gloria. That friendly (but at times overbearing) woman had been at the whole ‘mother’ thing for…a lot longer than Lucy. And hey, she ended up making one of the strongest and most feared mercs in Night City, so clearly, she’d done something right.

Gloria would know what to do.

Lucy had to believe that.

Just to be on the safe side, she texted Apex, letting her know to bring her drone body to Alex’s home. Then spent the rest of the drive quietly thinking.

After he parked, she followed Alex to the elevator, then stepped into what was essentially her second home. The vast apartment making her feel strangely warm.

She allowed herself to bask in that feeling of warmth for a few moments before stepping forward as Alex turned toward his workshop.

“Hey, Al?”

He stopped and turned, though she’d long grown accustomed to how he looked when he donned the mask of Redeye, the hulking mercenary still gave her goosebumps, her body growing warm at the juxtaposition of the gentle Alex and the murderous Redeye.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He asked, his voice warm and welcoming, a tone that sounded utterly ridiculous coming from the heavily armed ghoul before her.

“I uhh, I’ll need some privacy, when I talk to mom.” She said, looking away and crossing her right arm in front of her chest and rubbing her left bicep. “It’s…it’s kind of personal, okay?”

He chuckled deep in his throat and she both heard and felt him get closer. When she turned to look up at him, he’d removed the mask. Alex smiled radiantly down at her and said. “Sure thing.”

He then pressed up on her chin with one of his fingers, tilted her head up, and leaned down to kiss her.

Lucy found herself pressing her body forward into his, sighing into his lips. She felt warm, but not the warmth that often preceded them tackling each other and tearing each other’s clothes off.

He broke the kiss and stepped back. Gave her a quick peck on the forehead and said. “I’ll be in my tinkering room. Shout if you need anything.”

Lucy gasped to catch her breath. “R-Right.”

With a wink and another kiss on her forehead, Alex turned around and left for his workshop.

Lucy gathered herself before searching for Gloria. The woman was not difficult to spot as she was seated on the couch watching TV.

Lucy walked up to the couch and hesitantly spoke. “H-Hey, Gloria? Can I uhh, talk to you?”

Gloria turned to Lucy and spoke with a tired smile and patted the couch next to herself. “Of course! What do you need, Lucy?”

Lucy took the offered seat. “Umm…I know Alex won’t listen in since I asked him not to but…”

Gloria sighed. “Don’t worry. David is at a friend’s house. A student at the academy. They’re hopefully working on a project he needs to turn in.”

“Okay good umm…h-how do you know? Last time uhh…”

“Last time he gave that excuse he joined a gang?” Gloria asked, and Lucy nodded. “Well, trust but verify.” She said, her eyes glowing blue. “The CitiNet-PS shows his Neuroport where it should be so…yeah.”

Lucy nodded. “Okay…okay good.”

She sat, fidgeted, and tried to speak.

Gloria remained seated with a patient smile on her face throughout.

“I…I have a teammate.” Lucy said. “When, when Edgerunning. I mean, not Kiwi or Rebecca, you uhh…you haven’t met her, I mean.”

“Oh, you mean the drone operator?” Gloria asked.

Lucy’s brain screeched to a halt. “Y-You know?”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out.” Gloria said with a light laugh. “Oh, here she comes. You know, I’d thought she was a girl, but I wasn’t sure. You know how kids are these days, talking about feminine boys. Back in my day we liked our men with some hair on their chest.”

Alex’s chest came to the forefront of Lucy’s mind, in particular, the way she liked to play with his sweaty chest hair when they lay together, sticky, sweaty, hot, his essence leaking out of her—

Firmly putting that in a mental box for later perusal, Lucy turned to see Apex come in through a hidden door that had been installed into the building. Her drone walked in with spidery precision.

Lucy sighed in relief. “I should have known he’d already told you he made her. He trusts you with everything.”

Lucy would later swear the temperature in the room fell to freezing. Gloria’s expression didn’t change, but she suddenly emanated a feeling of danger. Apex froze, halfway through having crawled through the gate that acted as an airlock.

“‘Made’ her, you say.” She asked, her voice light, kind, understanding.

Oddly terrifying.

“He made a girl? He made a girl? He made a girl? He made a girl?” Gloria murmured. “And of course he kept it secret, why would he tell me? Why would he inform his poor dear mother noooo. And he took her Edgerunning!?”

“W-Wait, mom, wait! You don’t understand!”

“ALEXANDER MARTINEZ YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!”

“David did it!” Came his reflexive response.

“LIKE HELL HE DID!” She shouted; a slipper having appeared in her hand as she stalked in the direction of Alex’s workshop.

Lucy’s extended hand fell to her side as the small woman went on the warpath. She tried to make herself follow, but found her feet rooted to the floor. Forced to listen.

“Oh god no, not la chancla!” Alex begged.

“Like hell huerco canijo!” [damn boy!]

“Ow! OW! Wait not th-OW!”

[How could you forget to tell me you had a baby girl!? How dare you take her for mercenary work!]

[But Apex is perfect for—!”

[What perfect nor eight quarters(?)! Stupid boy! You’re supposed to be the intelligent one!]

Gloria kept going, but Lucy’s translation software couldn’t keep up with the sheer speed with which she was chastising her son.

+Mom?+ Apex asked, having crawled next to her.

“Yes honey?” Lucy answered reflexively.

+I didn’t know grandma was scary.+

“Me either.”

Eventually, the screaming stopped, and Gloria walked back to the couch, dragging the bigger and much more massive form of Alex by his ear.

She pointed at the couch. “Sit!”

The tone alone made Lucy sit reflexively, Alex joined her a moment later.

Gloria stood in front of them, arms crossed. “Anything else you want to tell me before I dig into this mess?”

Alex shook his head violently, but Lucy sighed and raised her hand. “Umm…My cyberware messed up and uhh…I’m pregnant? And uhh, Alex is the father. And uhh…He went shopping for baby clothes even though I told him not to.”

Gloria remained rooted to the spot, unmoving, her expression as still and cold as a statue.

Then she had pulled Lucy to her feet and was jumping up and down and making a high-pitched sound that Lucy would swear climbed above the unaugmented human hearing range.

She was babbling, mixing Spanish and English so quickly that Lucy’s translator program couldn’t keep up with her.

She then stopped. “Wait…How long have you known you’re pregnant?”

Lucy blinked. “Uhh…a few weeks?”

Gloria let go and her eyes turned gold. She paced back and forth while her call connected. “Rogue? Yes, yes sorry to bother you…yes…I need to take my next shift off…I understand, but something important came up…My son’s input is pregnant with his child, and she’s still taking jobs Edgerunning…Yes…Yes…Oh I will…But three days are too many!...Okay fine!...Right, thank you.”

Her eyes turned brown again. She held up a slipper, which made Alex flinch, and a second one appeared on her off hand.

An instant later she was slapping Alex with them. “She’s pregnant and she’s still Edgerunning!? You stupid boy!”

“She insisted!” Alex whined.

Lucy found herself staring down the edge of a slipper. “And don’t you think you are getting away scot-free! The only reason you’re not getting the same, is that I might hurt the baby!”

Lucy paled and nodded. “Y-Yes, sorry.”

Gloria returned her attention to Alex. “Fevers can hurt a baby! She’s a Netrunner! That simulates a fever!” She screamed, punctuating every word with a slap from one of the slippers.

“Ow!”

“And what would you have done if she got shot!?”

“Ow!”

“I-ow!-Don’t let her leave the-ow!-Getaway van!”

“Ow!”

“And you!”

Lucy tensed.

“What were you thinking!?” Gloria demanded, making Lucy feel about three feet tall and as many years old. “You are no longer living for yourself, Lucy! You are living for the sake of the little life inside you! I could understand taking on more jobs if you were alone, but I know this idiot well enough to know he won’t do that to you!”

Lucy fidgeted and, unable to look Gloria in the eye, answered. “I…I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn’t…I didn’t want to be taken care of like some helpless damsel. I…I didn’t want to be lesser, to…to use this as an excuse not to do my part.”

“Oh honey.” Gloria said and lightly tapped the top of Lucy’s head with the slipper. “Lucy, sweety, my baby girl.” She hugged Lucy’s head and pulled her forward into her cleavage, rubbing gentle circles on the top of her head.

…

It was actually rather warm, and nice, and comforting. Now she could see why Alex had liked that so much.

“Honey, being all big and dependable when his lady is carrying his child is a man’s whole thing. He won’t think less of you for that. It’s okay to want to be strong and tough and independent, but let me tell you from firsthand experience, it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. And that’s before we go into all the ways Edgerunning could end up hurting your baby!” Lucy found herself returning the hug and squeezing the older woman, her eyes feeling prickly. “Which, considering that you could terminate the pregnancy at the mall, I’m assuming you want to keep?”

Lucy nodded her head as best she could under the circumstances.

“Then you need to think less about what you want, and more about what is best for your baby!” Gloria said. “So you will let yourself be pampered! I don’t wanna hear anything more about this Edgerunning craziness!”

“Okay.” Lucy muttered, squeezing her eyes tightly shut to fight whatever the feeling she had now was.

“Okay good.” Gloria said. “I swear, what would you do without me?”

“Cry.” Alex chortled.

“And where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

Lucy looked up at Gloria’s words, then followed the woman’s gaze to see Apex’s spidery drone, standing frozen on the way to Alex’s workshop.

“Yes, you.” Gloria said, smiling. “I’m not done talking yet, and I’ll be talking to you too.”

Apex began to move her manipulator mandibles with strangely jerky motions. +Beep boop. I’m a VI.+

“Oh honey. We both know I don’t know what ‘VI’ means.” Gloria said kindly.

Apex’s drone went fully still for several seconds, before sagging dramatically. +Drat!+