It's About Saving Yourself Ch 34

Good evening y'all.

Sorry for the late post. But I will be super busy tomorrow, so it's best to do it now and make sure y'all will get an update.

Thank you lot so much for your continued support. Surprise expenses are no joke.

Originally the chapter was going to be longer, but it got to about 3500 words and reached a good stopping point, where I to push and keep writing, the next part of the story might well double the length of this chapter or more, so for pacing reasons, I think it best to stop this chapter here.

Lemme know your thoughts on a comment! Or don't.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

=][=

I sat on the plane, silently yawning in the privacy of my gasmask. I turned my head, stretching out my neck and emitting several loud ‘pops!’ from it, the movement causing the bunch of kitschily dressed biosculpted glittery men in the private jet tense up so much I could almost visibly see their blood pressure rising.

I looked out the window and saw the familiar skyscrapers of Night City.

“Faaaaan-fucking-tastic, we’re back here again.” I muttered, some of the men who were ‘guarding’ me flinching at the sound of my voice.

‘You’re not happy to be back, dad?’ Apex asked in my head.

‘I’m happy to finally see Lucy and mom again.’ I answered, the little box in my pocket feeling oddly heavy.

That stupid thing cost more than every enny I’ve spent to buy everything I need to get off-world.

Which is why I hadn’t paid for it.

My client probably wouldn’t even notice it went missing, the entitled shit had had several tons of gold and assorted jewelry just laying around.

…Maybe I should buy flowers?

No, stupid, where would I even find flowers in Night City?

I turned to one of the ‘men’ in the jet with me. “Excuse me.”

He flinched hard. “YE~s?” He asked, his voice cracking from fear as he trembled so hard his chiseled chin looked to be in danger of popping off. A valid concern to have, the universal plug for his chin selection never really sat right after the first time I tore it off and beat him over the head with it.

That it had to happen numerous times before he got the message was entirely his own fault.

“May I have some water?” I asked.

“Yes Redeye! At once Redeye!” He said, jumping to his feet and running off fast enough to convincingly pass off that he might have a low-end Sandevistan, and came back with a sealed RealWater™ bottle.

I grunted my thanks as I took the bottle, twisted the top open, and extruded my mask’s induction port, also known as a straw, and sipped the water and put up with the metallic aftertaste. Seriously, was it really so hard to get plain water right?

I sat bored through the plane landing, then quite happily left the glitter infested aircraft.

I considered calling Lucy for a pickup, but I wanted to surprise her…maybe I should get those flowers? There were plenty of fake flowers for sale, would it be bad to show up with those? Yes, it would be bad, because they aren’t real flowers.

I muttered to myself as I paid for a shuttle ride to city center so I could get on the metro, Apex chattering away in my head all the while.

I felt so tired.

I’d essentially lived in my gasmask for the last several months, any time I took it off, a sickening mélange of seemingly every perfume in the planet assaulted my senses. I’d ended up getting into a number of shouting matches with the client because I was being ‘boring’ when I refused to take drugs or join the parties she threw as anything other than a bodyguard.

The dumbass that told me that it would be perfectly fine for me to ‘play the field’ because my girl was on the other side of the ocean and she would never know, was found dead after his disappearance and a two-week-long search.

Or well, what someone left of him for them to find anyway.

I hadn’t bothered to read the police reports, but the rest of the jackasses and my client behaved themselves after that.

I’d made a number of contacts that would be very useful if I weren’t fully planning to leave this shitpit behind forever. And now I was finally home.

I got off the Metro at Westbrook and walked to her apartment building, my heart starting to race as butterflies began to twist my stomach into a knot.

Would she like it? Maybe I should go get those fake flowers…or one of those flower-looking arrangements made of various brands of candy?

But no, she was probably watching her diet because she’s pregnant. Can pregnant women eat a lot of sugar? I’d ask mom, but she’d set her Agent to ‘at work’ meaning it was her shift at the Afterlife and I’d rather not bother her.

I stopped at the entrance to the apartment building, checked that the box was still in my pocket for the nth time, took a deep breath, and stepped inside filled with more nerves than any time I walked into a gang den.

When I saw the explosive residue on what remained on the door, my heart stopped even as my body rushed forward into the room, my Nue in my hand.

The apartment had minimal damage and I didn’t see any blood. The fat man the apartment building belonged to was muttering under his breath as he went through Lucy’s stuff.

The Sandevistan plunged me into the world of stopped time with a roar, before a rational thought could form in my mind, I’d already slammed the bastard going through my girl’s things against the wall, the pistol shoved hard under his chin.

I forced myself out of the world of stopped time.

“What the fuck!?” He wheezed, the impact having driven the air out of him.

“Where is she?” I asked, my voice the type of calm that can only be reached through overwhelming rage.

The landlord was intelligent enough to understand the threat implied in my tone. “I dunno! Some corpos came in last night! They took her away! I’m just cleaning up!”

“You let them take her away.” I said.

“No no wai—!” He didn’t finish as my Metal Hand squeezed the trigger, spattering my mask with his blood and brain matter.

Someone had taken my Lucy.

I had to find her.

I was going to kill anything and everything that threatened my Lucy.

I—

+It’s all my fault.+ Apex said, the heartbreak in her voice halting my spiraling thoughts.

“How?” I asked roughly, her body flinched, but I couldn’t make my tone better than that right now.

+I could have partitioned myself, left a part of me here, to watch over mom.+ Apex confessed.

“Why didn’t you?” I asked.

+Because, after that long time separated, I wouldn’t be able to recombine. I’d be two Apexes, not…not me. And I was afraid.+ Apex said.

Inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four.

“It’s not your fault, Apex.” I said.

+But mom’s gone!+ Apex wailed, holding one of my shirts that Lucy had claimed as sleepwear.

“I will get your mother back.” I growled, turning for the door. “Right now. Come.”

+Yes, dad!+ Apex said, the skittering of her chassis serving to center me.

The Metal Hand put away my gun and balled up into a fist.

I called Ciri’s Agent. She picked up after two rings. [Hey, Al, it’s been a—]

“Put anything and everything that’s arrived into the Behemoth and be ready to go to another world, we have to leave.” I interrupted. “This is not optional, something or someone has targeted me, the city will become too hostile to survive.”

[When will you be here?] She asked, her tone turning to all business.

“As soon as I can, I need to find someone first.”

[We’ll be ready.] Ciri said and cut off the call.

Inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four.

I was going to start turning rocks over until whoever did this learned they fucked with the wrong people. I would kill every single man, woman, and child in this cesspit, until my Lucy was returned to me.

=][=

Rogue leaned back, pretending to listen to the well-dressed leech. She didn’t know what internal struggle Millitech had, and she largely didn’t care, but she had to pretend.

Once the corpo rat stopped speaking, she said. “Look, Anthony, I feel for you, I really do.” She said, making it obvious she was lying. “But I don’t deal in promises, and Millitech stock is just not worth what it used to. So—”

“Rogue.”

She paused, surprised enough at the fact that someone would have the balls to interrupt her that she actually stopped speaking. She turned and saw Redeye standing at the entrance to her booth.

“We need to talk.” He said, his voice weirdly robotic. His eponymous eye glowing red.

“Go have a drink.” She said nonplussed. “I’m busy.”

The obsequious corpo had a seizure, his nose running with a torrent of blood, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, and acrid smoke wafted out of his ears.

“Your schedule just opened up.” Redeye growled, his voice dripping with menace.

“The fuck do you think—!?”  There was a crunching sound, and he was pressing the muzzle of the handcannon she concealed in a hidden panel behind her into the bottom of her chin. He’d moved so quickly that her kerenzikov hadn’t even twitched.

“Do. Not. Play. Games. With. Me.” He snarled.

She looked at Nox to see what the hell he thought he was doing, and saw her Netrunner, one of the best in the biz, sitting with his eyes glowing and his mouth hanging open, drool falling from his lower lip.

Looking outside her booth, she saw that every single Merc in the Afterlife had their gun out and shoved firmly in their mouth.

It would appear that Onryō had been holding back all along.

“I’m not playing games, Redeye.” She said, judging her chances of making a move and not losing her head, and the calculus did not end in her favor. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

Redeye’s mask got so close it almost squished her nose, so close she could see the manic glint in his eyes through his visor.

“Who was it?” He demanded. “Who paid you? What did you gain for betraying us!?”

“What are you talking about?” She ground out.

He shoved the gun harder under her chin. “Where is she!? Who took her!? Where is my wife!?”

Well…those would be very happy news under different circumstances. “Red-Alex, I swear, I had nothing to do with this.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” He snarled, the mania in his eyes growing. “You sent me away! You made her vulnerable! Where is she!? Who took her!?”

Rogue felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck but kept her face carefully neutral. She’d seen plenty of men in the state of mind Alex was in, logic would not work.

Clearly, his ice queen had been targeted, and he assumed Rogue had something to do with it. Under different circumstances, not a bad assumption to make all things considered. Granted, Rogue would have ensured to neutralize Alex first before ordering the move on Lucy.

She’d thought she’d known the extent of his abilities, but her current circumstances were proving that her assessment had been erroneous.

“I can look into it, Al.” She said softly. “I just need you to.” Don’t say calm down, don’t say calm down. “Give me some time. I’ll hit up my contacts an—”

Her own hand rose and squeezed down on her throat, cutting her off with a gurgle.

Her blood ran cold, and she once again reassessed Onryō’s capabilities. Her system hadn’t so much as flickered.

“If you won’t tell me where she is.” Alex growled, Rogue’s hand squeezing harder. “Then you will die. Last chance Rogue. Where. Is. My. Wife.”

She tried to go for her gun, but her arm didn’t listen to her.

Of all the ways she figured she’d die, this one came as a legitimate surprise.

Sure, it wasn’t quite as stupid as Johnny. But she’d always figured it would be with a little bit more pizzazz.

Of all the ways she might have gotten zeroed, she’d never have thought it would be for something she didn’t even do.

“Alex?” Said a voice that made Rogue feel a glimmer of hope. “Alex, what’s going on?”

It took several seconds, but her hand relented, allowing her a ragged breath and a cough.

“She betrayed us.” Alex hissed, not turning to look at his mother. “She betrayed us, and now someone has taken Lucy!”

“Alex.” Gloria said, stepping forward and very slowly placing a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Alex, let her go.”

Again, admirable instincts. And under different circumstances he’ be entirely correct. But…She swallowed and was able to rasp. “Kid, I don’t know who took her.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Alex snarled, his finger twitching on the trigger.

“Alex!” Gloria snapped. “Please, let her go.”

He waited a long time, before growling and pushing Rogue roughly at her seat. He threw her gun aside as if it were trash and walked out, dragging his mother by the hand.

“We are leaving. Right now.” He said.

“Wait! I need to check on her! Alex! I need to make sure she isn’t hurt!” Gloria protested, but there was nothing she could do to stop her son.

Rogue rubbed at her throat. It took two minutes after Alex and his mother had left before everyone in the club fell to the ground, panting.

“What…The fuck?” Nox asked, sitting up and rubbing his head. “Whatsoever, in shit, the fuck, Rogue?”

“Guess he’s quitting.” Rogue rasped, chuckling and taking a swig from her glass.

“We can’t let this insult stand.” Nox muttered. “But I don’t think anyone can do anything to him.”

“Why? What happened with Onryō?” She asked.

Nox shuddered. “I will never look at a bar of soap the same way again.”

=][=

David walked around Arasaka tower, looking in awe.

He’d come dressed in his school uniform, by far the fanciest clothes he owned. And he still felt severely underdressed. He was pretty sure that most people present were wearing suits that cost more than his mother made in a year.

“Here is where the procedure will take place.” The lady following him around was saying. “I’m told that today we’ll only be swapping out the cyber-ware you have for Arasaka brand cyber-ware, it should work better together. Over the next several weeks you’ll receive other upgrades that will allow you to interface with the prototypes you’ll be testing.”

“Right, right.” David said, pretending to pay attention. He found himself somewhat overwhelmed. He wasn’t exactly at the top of Arasaka tower, what with the elevator saying he’d been taken underground but…

The lady kept talking, about the amount of changes that would be made to him. He’d receive a very good salary, as well as extra credit and private tutoring thanks to his new position. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about all the changes the lady was talking about, but like hell he’d back out.

David was special. This proved it.

A group of people walked by, and David stopped and stared.

Alex’s input was on a wheelchair, her eyes glowing blue, she’d been drooling into a hospital gown. She was also visibly very pregnant.

“The hell?” He asked.

The lady leading him around turned. “Ah, the runaway, she was the talk of the RealWater™ cooler for a while. An Arasaka Netrunner that managed to give the corporation the slip for years. She’s finally been reclaimed.”

David nodded. “Why was she uhh…drooling?”

“Apparently her father wants to keep the kid.” She answered, her eyes glowing blue. “He’s important enough that his wishes are being honored. There was some concern she’d hurt herself or hold the fetus hostage, so I imagine they put a blocker shard in her system. She’s still in there, she just doesn’t have permission to move her limbs. Looks like they just finished some tests to check on the health of the fetus.”

“I…I see, that’s interesting. What umm…what will happen with her?” David asked.

The lady shrugged. “The same thing that happens to all runaways. She’ll get arm and leg joints installed, and with good conduct, she might even get arms and legs installed for her to walk around while she serves the rest of her contract and the penalties.”

She sounded…so matter of fact, almost bored, except for the slightest pinch of ‘girls at school gossiping’ on her tone.

“I…I see.” He said and put the matter out of mind. It was none of his business.

“Right, enough with distractions.” The lady said, waving for him to follow her. “Next, this is the rehab center, you’ll probably spend a good amount of time here—”

It was none of his business. None of his fucking business.

He couldn’t afford to lose this opportunity.

It was once in a lifetime. Someone had finally seen that David was special. Someone was finally willing to take a chance on him.

He could not afford to fuck this up!

But…But he was going to be an uncle.

David swallowed a snarl, navigated his settings until he could turn the call indicator of his eyes off, and went to his contacts.

As he highlighted his brother and saw that he hadn’t called Alex in over half a year, he hesitated. After all, this could well result in David losing the opportunity forever.

But he was going to be an uncle.

He called.

And after a long-time ringing, it went to voicemail.

Motherfucker.

He called again.

And again.

And again.

=][=

Ichida Marcus tried to ignore the warnings about the severity of his injuries and stared at the monster before him in absolute confusion.

“What?” He asked, truly not understanding the question.

Redeye’s metal fist crashed into his right clavicle, which broke with a crunching snap, his eyes whited out from pain.

“Don’t try to play coy you bastard!” Redeye snarled, backhanding Marcus so hard he saw a few of his teeth fly off. “I asked you a question!”

Marcus tried to blink the spots out of his eyes, his jaw throbbing as he dragged his eyes over his office on their way back to Redeye.

Azegami Jun gurgled from his spot in the wall. He was currently missing both legs at the knee, and both arms at the shoulder. He was held in place by his own katana, which had been driven into the wall through his shoulder. The lavishly furnished room was spattered floor to ceiling in bright crimson blood and white bioplastic blood.

None of the blood belonged to Redeye, every drop had come from the twenty bodyguards that Marcus once had. The twenty men equipped with a few hundred thousand Eurodollars worth of chrome and weapons.

Each.

He felt a crushing grip take hold of his chin and pulled his face up to stare at the oni before him.

“I will not ask you again.” The red-eyed oni rumbled. “Where. Is. My. Wife?”

Had one of his men unknowingly kidnapped Redeye’s wife for use in their brothels? Is that why Redeye had massacred over fifty men?

“I…Was not aware you were married.” He said when he spent too long quiet and was afraid Redeye was going to hit him again.

Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say, as Redeye gripped his hair and brought his face down onto his knee, Marcus’ nose giving way with a crunch.

He instinctively tried to activate his Sandevistan to fight back, but Onryō’s hold over Marcus’ cyber-ware remained ironclad, and the very expensive implant in his back did nothing.

“She was taken in your territory. I personally paid your protection fees to make certain there would be no trouble or misunderstandings.” Redeye said, the sheer calm in his voice making Marcus’ blood run cold. “She was taken from her apartment; in the very Streets you claim to police. I am holding you accountable to your promises you worthless parasite! Promises you broke! So you will tell me who took her, or I will hang you up by your entrails!”

“I…I’ll.” Marcus began, not knowing how to answer the question without getting hit again, or worse, dying.

The color of Redye’s eye changed to gold.

“Be silent.” Redeye hissed, then tilted his head slightly. “Mother, I am busy.”

The fuck?

“Oh?” Redeye continued. “What did he say?...I see.”

Redeye let go of Marcus and walked out of the office without so much as a by-your-leave.

Marcus sat back and all but melted into his chair in relief.

Jun gurgled.

“I will be with you as soon as I can Jun.” Marcus said apologetically. “My spine is literally not working at the moment.”