Friday Night Fire Fight

by GeoTheDude1

Summary:

This story takes place roughly 3 years after the events of Cyberpunk Edgerunners and 2 years after V’s death in my previous story “Let it Burn”. During this time period Lucy has enjoyed a relatively quiet life on the Moon. Though things might start to change as the consequences from V’s infamous data heist on the Crystal Palace start to become apparent. During this uncertain time period, she meets someone new. With a dark mysterious past.

 Title song for this story:

Friday Night Fire Fight

This story will feature a new original character that I created. The new character will be featured in illustrations that will be added to this story later on. This will be an ongoing story and will be updated when completed.

Chapter 1: Neighbors

Lucy wakes up in her new bed she recently bought for her Lunar apartment. Satisfied with the nights sleep she had gotten, she gets up and once again begins her daily routine. She heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth and fix up her hair before warming up breakfast.

 

She opens her fridge and grabs a package of syth eggs and bacon, unseals the packaging and then tosses it into the microwave. While she waits she decides to scroll through her messages to see if she missed anything. Couple of messages from Falco, checking in to see how she’s doing, good ole Falco, some usual spam, and not much else. She quickly sends a response to Falco’s message before finally the microwave finishes her meal. She plops down on her couch and watches the news while she eats. Nothing good happening as usual, Militech absorbed whatever was left of Arasaka, usual gang violence, politics, and an uptick in violence in the Lunar settlements due to some wealthy folks having their data stolen thanks to V’s heist on the Crystal Palace years ago, good amount of people from the Crystal Palace smuggled themselves to the Moon after the incident, many of the fat cats lost not only their data, but their wealth too, for some really unlucky ones, they lost more than that. So now the two Lunar settlements saw an uptick in population, and crime.

 

Lucy finishes her breakfast before putting on her running outfit and does her run on the treadmill for her usual thirty minute workout. After that, she grabs a beer from her fridge and gets changed into her usual outfit to go do her errands. After she steps out her apartment she notices some movers setting down a stack of boxes in front of one of the apartments down the hall from her, guess someone new is moving in, not thinking much else about it she heads out to get her usual supplies.

Sometime later she returns to her apartment from her errand run, she purchased more beer, cigarettes, food for dinner, and more of her medications, some anti-depressants and anxiety meds as well as various vitamins. She puts her groceries away and then relaxes for a few hours looking out her window taking in the views of the Lunar surface.

The following morning Lucy awakens to do her usual routine ritual. As she steps out she notices the boxes and moving crates outside the apartment down the hallway were gone, she assumes whomever her new neighbor is moved them inside. Lucy is very curious about who this new neighbor of hers is. Putting it aside in her mind she continues on with her day. She stops by a clothing store on her return to peruse through the wares, debating on whether or not she should try out a new look. Undecided she leaves the store, choosing to leave that decision for another day. Upon returning home to her apartment she notices a young man leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette next to the apartment where she noticed those boxes belonging to her new neighbor. Lucy wasn’t going to kid herself, she did find the guy attractive, he had scarlet red hair with a long strand of it dyed white on the side, decent muscle tone, and wore a sleeveless black tank top with two dog tags hanging around his neck, one of them noticeably cut in half. The guy couldn’t be more than in his mid twenties, not much older than Lucy.

Damn, that’s my new neighbor?

Putting the thoughts of her attraction towards him deep in the back of her mind she enters into her apartment. The next morning Lucy is back at it again though this time she’s rocking her usual purple and neon green jogging outfit as she goes out for a run around the neighborhood. She jogs along passing through crowds of people, shopping areas and food vendors, she heads towards the nearby park so she could enjoy a better view while she jogs along. The park is artificial of course, fake grass, fake rocks but real trees though. Close enough to the real thing as she can get on the Moon. She jogs along the winding cobblestone pathway at a brisk pace exhaling steadily. She comes to a large clearing where there is a large patch of fake grass with an artificial lake nearby. She glaces over towards the people lounging there and catches a glimpse of the guy she saw yesterday, her new neighbor, he’s sitting on a rolled out mattress with his legs crossed and his arms resting on his knees, in meditation. Lucy loses focus on where she’s going and she bumps into someone.

[Pedestrian]: “Hey! Watch where your going!”

[Lucy]: “S-sorry, my bad.”

Lucy pauses for a moment to catch her breath before resuming her jog. She jogs around the bend to catch a better look and notices that his eyes are closed.

Yup he’s meditating, he some kind of martial artist or something?

Whatever the case may be she continues jogging and heads for the exit out of the park back towards her apartment. On her jog back home she notices a pair of goons ogling her with their creepy smirks, grossed out and paying them no mind she continues her way back home. She approaches her apartment and scans her surroundings thoroughly to make sure those creeps didn’t follow, satisfied the coast is clear she enters into her apartment. She pulls a beer from her fridge and drinks it down, cooling herself off after a lengthy run. She sits down on her couch and kicks her feet up on her living room table. She flicks open her messages to see if she missed anything. Usual spam and surprisingly no check in from Falco yet today. Concerned, she decides to give Falco a call to make sure things are going okay.

[Lucy]: “Falco? Hey! Just checking in to see how you’re doing?”

[Falco]: “Ah ya know, im doing alright how about yourself?”

[Lucy]: “Pretty good so far no complaints, had a couple of creeps staring at me during my jog, other than that no issues.”

[Falco]: “Be careful out there Lucy, I been hearing things getting rowdy up there.”

[Lucy]: “Don’t worry about me Falco I’ll be alright.”

[Falco]: “First sign of trouble I want you on the first shuttle outta there ya hear?”

[Lucy]: “I hear ya, anything interesting happening lately?”

[Falco]: “Nah not really, haven’t really been keeping up with my new contacts lately, Reyes got flatlined recently so information has been tricky to come by.”

[Lucy]: “Damn.”

[Falco]: “Aside from that been working on the ride lately, got ‘er lots of fancy new upgrades, wait till ya hear this kitten purr.”

Lucy giggles.

[Lucy]: “We’ll take her out for a spin when I come visit!”

[Falco]: “I’ll hold ya to it!”

[Lucy]: “You bet! Take care Falco!”

[Falco]: “You too Lucy, be safe.”

She ends the holo call, she’s relieved to hear Falco is doing okay. Since V passed away two years ago Lucy doesn’t really have many friends aside from Falco. Ever since losing David and the other’s in the crew she’s been hesitant on making new attachments. She occasionally texts Misty, to discuss Tarot related topics, but she doesn’t really consider her a friend, not like Falco or V. While it is nice to have had these few years of peace and quiet, which has helped her quite a bit mentally, she can’t deny the fact that it does get lonely at times. She misses the days when she would go out on gigs with Maines crew, grabbing drinks at the Afterlife, the after parties after each successful gig, those were the days, she misses them terribly, she would pay any amount of money to have those days back, even after knowing how everything would turn out. Just having people around she could talk to, she misses it.

dammit, there I go again, reminiscing on the past…

Lucy let’s out a long frustrated sigh. She leans back on the couch and shuts her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 2: The Stranger

Lucy awakens on her couch, she stretches, yawns, rubs her eyes and takes a glance at one of her computer terminals to check the time. She notices she’s been asleep for over nine hours.

Damn, I was knocked out for that long?

She stands up and does another stretch, before heading towards the bathroom to take a shower. Lucy undresses herself and tosses her clothes in the washing machine, turns on the shower and steps in, as she’s washing herself she can’t help but think back to the thoughts she had last night before she knocked out. While she has enjoyed the past few years of quiet she does miss having people around in her life. Falco is the only connection she has left with David’s former crew, and V, in the short time she knew him before he passed away, quickly became a close friend, she was upset when he passed, and she dreads the thought of losing someone close again. She begins having an internal debate in her mind over the issue.

I can’t help shake this feeling of loneliness, but at the same time I’m sacred of losing someone else I care about, but, I don’t want to be alone forever, David was right in a way, this place did become a prison, locking myself away, out of fear, fear of losing anyone else, fear of falling for someone again…

The beeping sound from her washing machine snaps her out of the thoughts she was buried in, she turns off the shower and dries herself off before putting her clothes in the dryer, she walks over to the kitchen to grab food for breakfast. She opens her fridge to see what she’s got, stacks of containers of synth eggs and bacon, some cartons of Ramen noodles, boring.

uhhh, years of this same old mundane routine, need to try something different for a change.

She ends up settling for the synth eggs and bacon for the time being and tosses it in the microwave, she sets the timer and leans in against the counter while she waits.

maybe I should go say hi to the new neighbor? Ugh but what if he’s a creep? What if he worked at Arasaka? That just won’t do, I don’t know should I even say anything?

The microwave beeps, she pops it open and removes her meal from it and walks over to the window to look out across the moon while she eats. She watches as the various shuttles arrive and depart from the spaceport. The internal debate she’s having in her mind is driving her crazy, she needs a distraction. She grabs her runner outfit from the dryer and gets herself dressed as she heads outside for another jog, she starts jogging over to the park again.

hmmm maybe I’ll catch the neighbor there again?

She jogs along the cobblestone path once again and she looks around at the park where she saw her neighbor yesterday, he wasn’t there. Lucy jogs another lap around the park before deciding to head for home. As she heads back she notices out of her periphery that she’s being tailed, she looks around at her surroundings.

can’t deal with ‘em here, too many eyes around, don’t want to draw attention to myself.

She notes a nearby alleyway and decides to lure them there, she’ll make short work of the dumb gonks and go about her day, simple. She heads down the ally as the two goons follow her.

[Goon 1]: “Well well look what have here, little lady lost her way hmmm?”

Lucy readies her monowires.

[Lucy]: “Get lost creep, before you do something your gonna regret.”

[Goon 2]: “Ohhh this one’s fiesty isn’t she.”

Lucy prepares to activate her monowires to make these two idiots nothing more then diced meat, till suddenly she notices that there’s a shadowy figure standing behind them at the end of allyway, the two goons notice she’s looking at something behind them and turn around.

[Goon 1]: “Hey! Get lost pal this ain’t your business!”

[Stranger]: “Hmph, too bad, because im making it my business.”

Lucy notes this stranger speaks in a cool monotone voice.

[Goon 2]: “You looking to start something mister hot shot?!”

The stranger pulls up both his sleeves revealing the tell tale cyberware markings of someone equipped with Mantis Blades.

[Stranger]: “I might be, why don’t you gentlemen get lost, I’d really hate to make a mess in front of the lady.”

The two goons immediately notice this guy ain’t messing around.

[Goon 1]: “pfft, come on choom let’s delta, these two ain’t worth our time.”

The stranger eyes them to make sure they leave, once clear he turns towards Lucy and walks towards her.

[Stranger]: “Saw those two creeps tailing you, thought you might be in trouble, figured I’d lend a hand.”

As the stranger steps into the light it is revealed that the stranger is actually the guy who moved into the apartment a few doors down from where Lucy lives. Lucy approaches him.

[Lucy]: “Appreciate the assist, but I could have handled them.”

[Stranger]: “Say, you look sorta familiar, you wouldn’t happen to be the woman who lives a few doors down from me would ya?”

[Lucy]: “I am yeah.”

[Stranger]: “Hah, preem! Suppose that makes us neighbors!”

The stranger reaches out his hand.

[James]: “Im James.”

[Lucy]: “Lucy.”

Lucy grasps his hand and they shake.

[James]: “Lucy, i’ll remember that, pleasure to meet you Lucy.”

Lucy nods her head in return.

[James]: “Well uh, guess i’ll get going, nice meetin ya.”

James waves farewell as he walks away.

Lucy turns around and heads for home. She enters back into her apartment and heads to her kitchen to see if there’s anything she can whip up to give to James as a token of her appreciation. She delves through her cubbards, moving things around until she finds a box of cupcake batter.

yeah, cupcakes, that should be good, can’t go wrong with cupcakes.

She grabs the box and a bag of synth chocolate chips and whips out a cupcake tray and gets to work on the baking. After a couple hours she pulls the cupcakes out of the oven, satisfied that these should be good, she puts them into a tinfoil tray and puts a cover on it. She cleans herself up, then heads next door down to where James lives. She buzzes his doorbell and after a brief moment he answers the door.

[James]: “Huh, oh hey Lucy, everything alright?”

Lucy doesn’t respond right away as she is distracted that he’s not wearing a shirt and she takes a glimpse at his abs.

[Lucy]: “Um I uh, I made you a little something as thanks for earlier umm sorry is this a bad time?”

[James]: “No not at all.”

Lucy hands James the tray of cupcakes.

[James]: “Wow, thanks! That’s really nice of you, you didn’t have to do that.”

[Lucy]: “Your…your welcome!”

[James]: “You uh, you wanna come in?”

[Lucy]: “Huh? Oh no no it’s alright I don’t wish to intrude.”

[James]: “Not at all, come on in neighbor!”

Lucy hesitates initially but her curiosity gets the better of her so she enters into his apartment. James places the cupcake tin on his counter and walks over to his couch to get his shirt, Lucy looks around a moment but notices that James has scarres all over his back, she looks away as he slides his shirt on. She notices that there is a mattress in the middle of his living room for meditation and scattered around the room are incense and candles as well as various picture frames, trophies and medals.

[James]: “Made good timing, was just about to finish cooking dinner, you hungry?”

Lucy shakes her head.

[Lucy]: “No no im good.”

Lucy remembers she hasn’t eaten anything since this morning and it’s already evening.

[Lucy]: “Well…maybe a little hungry.”

[James]: “Preem! I’ll make you a plate, plenty enough for two here.”

Lucy notes he has a pleasant demeanor about him. James sets out two plates of food for the two of them. Veggies with rice, carrots, string beans, better than the usual grub she eats for dinner. As James sits down Lucy notices a tattoo on his left tricep, it says “Max” on it, it’s a cut off of the Maxtac logo, Lucy’s eyes widen.

Holy shit, this guy is Maxtac? What the hell is Maxtac doing here on the Moon?

Immensely curious, Lucy feels compelled to inquire about his Maxtac tattoo.

[Lucy]: “Is that uh, sorry, but is that a Maxtac tattoo?”

James looks at the tattoo and sighs

[James]: “Ah, yeah, I used to be part of Maxtac, but…I left a couple months ago, not with them anymore.”

Lucy is now even more curious and also now slightly concerned.

[Lucy]: “Really? Why’d you leave?”

[James]: “It’s uh, it’s a long story.”

Now this is a story Lucy would most definitely like to hear about.

[Lucy]: “I’d be interested in hearing about it if you don’t mind sharing.”

[James]: “Maybe another time, we’ve only just met and…well, I don’t want you to judge me too harshly, im not the same person I was all those years ago.”

damn, was hoping he’d spill, will have to try again another time, if there is one.

[Lucy]: “Fair enough.”

Lucy continues eating, he’s not a bad cook at least, she attempts to change the subject.

[Lucy]: “So um, nice digs, some serious zen vibes in here.”

[James]: “You like? Meditation helps clear my mind, keeps me focused, helps me with my anxiety and PTSD, found it works better than meds.”

[Lucy]: “Oh im…sorry to hear that.”

[James]: “No apologies needed, you didn’t know.”

James looks at Lucy’s plate and notices that she’s finished the food already.

[James]: “Wow, finished already? You must have been starving huh.”

Lucy let’s out a light chuckle.

[Lucy]: “Yeah, guess I was wasn’t I, listen uh…it’s getting late, getting a bit tired, thinking it’s time to head to bed.”

[James]: “Sure no problem, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for the cupcakes!”

[Lucy]: “Your welcome! It was the least I could do. Have a good night!”

[James]: “You too, oh and uh Lucy?”

[Lucy]: “Huh?”

[James]: “Here.”

James retinas flash as he sends Lucy his holo ID.

[James]: “There’s my number, if you ever find yourself in a pinch give me a ring.”

[Lucy]: “Oh, thanks! Much appreciated James, we’ll be in touch!”

James nods his head as Lucy turns and heads out towards her apartment. She returns home and heads towards her bed, throwing herself onto it.

’course, the cute new guy who moves next door just happens to be ex-Maxtac, fan-fucking-tastic.

Lucy snarls in frustration as she kicks off her boots and pulls her bedsheet up to her chest. She’s curious to learn more about this James and what his past is about. Maybe she will find out more tomorrow. Her eye lids feel heavy as she slowly drifts away to sleep.

Chapter 3: Hangout

Lucy wakes up the following morning. She looks around her apartment and then checks the time. She stretches and yawns as she slowly gets herself up to go take a shower. After her shower she heads to her kitchen and opens her fridge to try and make breakfast. She sees the stack of synth eggs and bacon, groans, then closes her fridge again, not in the mood to be eating that again. She decides she’s probably gonna go out to eat breakfast this morning. After she gets dressed back into her non-jogging clothes she checks over her messages. Falco sent her a picture of the upgrades he made to the truck, still sporting Davids Edgerunner logo too, she also notices she got a text message from James while she was sleeping, it reads:

Cupcakes were delicious! Thanks again! :)

Lucy smiles softly, she’s glad he enjoyed them. But still can’t figure out what to make of him. MaxTac folks don’t exactly have the best reputation, and they aren’t exactly known for being nice people, so she is hopeful to learn more about his past at some point, why he’s now an ex-MaxTac agent. With his demeanor and mannerisms she wouldn’t have pegged him as being apart of MaxTac, so maybe something didn’t jive? At any rate, she’s proceeding with caution with this one, it could all be a front, if he tries anything suspicious, she’s out, won’t speak to him again. She heads out to one of the local food vendors to grab breakfast.

As Lucy walks around through the shopping and food district she keeps her head on a swivel, just incase those creeps from yesterday try to get the jump on her. She looks around at the various street vendors to see what she’s in the mood for eating. She finds a vendor selling Gojilla and decides she’ll have that to eat, it’s pricey but atleast it’ll taste good. She orders a plate and grabs a seat on the stool. As she’s eating she notices a pop up that she’s received a new message. It’s from James, she opens it to see what it’s about:

if your interested in doing something exciting, meet me here, i’ll be waiting!

Exciting huh? Lucy’s not exactly sure about what he means by that but she is definitely curious, cautious, but curious. She sends a response message.

Uh sure, see you there.

She promptly receives a response.

Preem! See you in a few! I’ll be waiting!

She finishes up her meal and heads out to the marked location of where James wants to meet, she’s curious as to what this could be about, she’ll have her guard up just incase. As she approaches the location she notices a large sign that reads “Vehicle Bay 015” on the wall, below the sign is a door, with James leaning against the wall next to it. She walks up to James.

[Lucy]: “Hey there.”

[James]: “Oh hey Lucy, glad you came, something I wanted to show you.”

[Lucy]: “So um, what’s this all about?”

[James]: “You’ll see, it’s a surprise, you seemed kinda tense last night, thought it might be nice to do something fun.”

Tense?

James kneels down and pops open the circuit panel for the door controls, he then starts fidgeting with the wiring.

[Lucy]: “ummm, what are you doing?”

[James]: “There’s this trick I learned in the academy…should just…damn thing.”

Lucy shakes her head.

[Lucy]: “Hmmm.”

Lucy flashes her retinas and after a brief few seconds she quickhacks the door controls and the door slides open.

[James]: “Huh? How’d you…?”

Lucy whistles as she walks into the facility first.

[James]: “Pfft, show off.”

James follows in after Lucy as they both head inside.

[Lucy]: “I get the feeling that we’re probably not supposed to be in here.”

[James]: “Nope, but that’s what makes it exciting!”

[Lucy]: “Uh huh.”

The two of them navigate down a few hallways where they enter into a room, on either side of the room are racks holding EVA suits.

[Lucy]: “Spacesuits?”

[James]: “Here put this on.”

Lucy turns as James tosses her a spacesuit, she manages to catch it just in time without dropping it. She notices James has already started putting on his spacesuit.

[Lucy]: “Wait, we’re putting these on?”

we going for a moonwalk?

Lucy is starting to get a bit excited, she hasn’t walked the surface of the moon since she first arrived three years ago after David’s death, and moonwalk sessions are pretty expensive. She also finds the idea a bit romantic too.

[James]: “‘Course we are, it’s part of the surprise.”

Lucy starts putting on the bodysuit, then she puts on the bottom half of the suit and turns the locking mechanism to seal it in place, she then takes the upper torso section and slides it on, and turns the locking ring to seal the upper half to the lower. She’s still surprised she remembers how to put these on after all these years. Finally she grabs the helmet and locks it into place, she checks the oxygen tank readings and HUD displays to make sure everything is in working order.

[James]: “Alright suit check. Sorry just gotta, ya know.”

James comes around behind Lucy to do a suit check to make sure everything is connected and working properly and that the oxygen pack is secured. Lucy smiles slightly as she looks around the room while James looks her over, recognizing that this must be pretty awkward.

[James]: “Alrighty, your all set everything is looking good, me next.”

James turns around as Lucy turns to check James over to make sure he’s assembled his suit properly, she checks his oxygen tank, his suit connections, everything looks to be in good order.

[Lucy]: “Looks good on my end.”

James gives the thumbs up.

[James]: “Nova, follow me, this way.”

James approaches the nearby airlock and turns the locking mechanism to open it. He pulls the hatch open revealing a large hanger area where a pair of moon buggies are being kept. The lights to the hanger flicker to life as they both enter. Lucy remembers these buggies well from her Moon BD back in Night City, but she’s never actually driven one before, she feels herself smiling a big smile, something she hasn’t done in a long time. She is starting to put the pieces together on what this surprise is about.

[James]: “Ever driven one of these things before?”

[Lucy]: “No, can’t say I have.”

Lucy knows that isn’t true but she just wants to lure him into thinking that she doesn’t know.

[James]: “Want me to go over the controls with you?”

[Lucy]: “I’ll figure it out how hard can it be?”

Lucy slips into the driver’s seat and looks over the control panels and steering, yup, exactly like how she remembers from her BD.

[James]: “Alright then!”

James settles into the driver’s seat of his buggy, giving the controls a quick look over, and activates the engine. Lucy activates the engine on her buggy as well.

[James]: “Alright let’s get some tunes going in here.”

James turns on the radio and a song starts playing over both James and Lucy’s headsets, it’s:

Friday Night Fire Fight

[James]: “Alright Lucy, here’s the sitch, one lap around the settlement, first one to make it back here wins, loser buy’s dinner. You ready?”

[Lucy]: “Hah, ready!”

[James]: “I’ll mark!”

Lucy and James start revving the engines of their buggies. The hanger doors start opening as an automated voice announces:

[Announcer]: “Hanger depressurization in progress…Stand Clear…Stand Clear.”

[James]: “3…2…1…GO!”

Both buggies roar out of the hanger, the race is on as the two of them blaze across the Lunar surface, avoiding rocks and impact craters as each of them tries to overtake the other. James’s buggy starts to inch out ahead, Lucy and James drift around obstacles and solar arrays and communications equipment scattered around the lunar landscape, they both come upon a small group of Militech engineers in EVA suits, who notice them approaching, as they both drift around the edge of a impact crater Lucy drifts closer towards them kicking up moon dust and debris blanketing them, Lucy giggling as she continues focusing on trying to overtake James.

[James]: “Hah, sorry Lucy, but it looks like dinner will be on you tonight!”

[Lucy]: “Hmph that’s what you think!”

Lucy notices an impact crater coming up alongside James’s buggy with a gentle gradient that she’ll be able to drive down into, which she does, James notices out his rearview mirror that Lucy’s buggy is gone, confused he looks around, not realizing that Lucy is down in the nearby crater, planning to use it as a ramp to get out ahead, Lucy punches the buggy’s overdrive as she comes up the incline which sends her buggy soaring over James’s buggy, James is shocked as the gentle low gravity of the moon gives her extended airtime and as she gently lands on the surface the race turns in her favor, James tries to catch up but Lucy is too far out ahead, Lucy is giggling the whole time as they maneuver around various obstacles and drift around bends and impact craters, finally they see the hanger up ahead. As the hanger inches closer she starts slowing down as she enters the hanger with James following shortly behind. Lucy is the winner. The hanger doors begin closing as James and Lucy both exit their buggies.

[Lucy]: “You were right, that was pretty fun!”

huge understatement, that was the most fun I’ve had in the three years I’ve lived here!

Lucy can still feel the adrenaline surging through her veins, the thrill of racing across the lunar surface for real and not in a BD, Lucy is super amped, she definitely had a great time.

[James]: “Thought you said you never driven a moonbuggy before?”

[Lucy]: “Might’ve driven one in a BD once or twice.”

[James]: “Riiight.”

Lucy lets out a loud giggle.

The two of them make their way to the airlock to remove their spacesuits.

[Lucy]: “So, looks like dinner is on you tonight huh.”

[James]: “Looks that way yeah, fortunately for you I found a nice place we could go.”

[Lucy]: “Oh?”

[James]: “Follow me.”

Lucy and James exit the vehicle bay area and head out to go get dinner. So far today has been a great day, this guy definitely doesn’t behave like someone who’s been apart of MaxTac, Lucy still has her reservations, but James is starting to grow on her. Hopefully she can learn more during the dinner.

Chapter 4: The Dinner

Lucy and James are walking along towards one of the downtown districts to where James knows a place where he will buy dinner for Lucy. The streets illuminated with neon lights and the sounds of various radio stations playing music and advertisements, various street vendors selling their wares. The walk along is quiet for awhile, Lucy occasionally glancing over at James to see if he’s going to say something but he just seems to be off in his own thoughts, till finally she decides to break the silence.

[Lucy]: “So um, what brought you all the way to the moon?”

[James]: “hmm? Oh uh, I always wanted to go to the moon.”

Lucy perks up a little bit.

[Lucy]: “Really?”

[James]: “Really really, believe it or not I was actually a bit of a nerd when I was a kid, was always fascinated with the moon, parents bought me a telescope and everything.”

[Lucy]: “That’s really cool!”

[James]: “When I finally left MaxTac, I…just needed to get away, away from Night City, fortunately, MaxTac pays pretty handsomely, and you get a preem pension to boot, was able to afford a one way ticket and buy an apartment here.”

[Lucy]: “Hmmm.”

[James]: “How ‘bout you? What brought you here to the moon?”

[Lucy]: “Same reasons, just needed to get away.”

not entirely the exact reason, but he doesn’t need to know about that

[James]: “That so? Oh hey where here!”

James and Lucy arrive in front of a fancy Japanese style restaurant, they both go inside and James approaches the greeter and books a table for two. The greeter walks the two of them over to the table where they would be sitting. James and Lucy take a seat. James flicks open the holo menu to figure out what to order.

[James]: “So, any ideas on what you might want to order?”

[Lucy]: “Hmmmm…surprise me.”

I honestly have no idea what I would want to eat here.

James smiles softly.

[James]: “Hmm, I know just the thing.”

James hails a waiter who walks over to take their order.

[James]: “Two plates of Sushi please.”

[Waiter]: “Coming right up sir.”

[Lucy]: “Sushi?”

[James]: “Mhmm, ever have?”

[Lucy]: “Too expensive.”

James spots the waiter bringing out their food dishes.

[James]: “Well your in for a treat then, it’s really good!”

The waiter approaches the table and sets down their two plates of sushi.

[Waiter]: “Here you are, two plates of sushi, enjoy!”

As the waiter walks away James nods towards Lucy to try the sushi, Lucy splits the chopsticks and grabs the sushi, smells it, then takes a bite, her eyes widen as she perks up.

[Lucy]: “Woah, this is really good!

[James]: “Haha I knew you’d like it!”

Both Lucy and James continue eating their food, James finishes his meal first as Lucy takes her time to savor every bite as who knows how long it will be before she tastes sushi again. Lucy takes a glance up at James and notices that he is looking at her.

[Lucy]: “hm? Everything alright?”

[James]: “Have you ever tried meditating before?”

[Lucy]: “Not really, why?”

[James]: “I can see it in your face, your eyes, meditation might do you some good.”

[Lucy]: “What’s in my face?”

[James]: “Stress, anxiety, depression, sadness, you’ve lost people you care about haven’t you?”

whoah what the hell? How’d he figure that out?

[Lucy]: “Something like that.”

[James]: “It’s alright, I’ve been where you are, it’s how I could tell, I lost people I care about too.”

[Lucy]: “Really?”

[James]: “Mhm, so willing to give it a shot?”

honestly, why not? Worth a try at least, those meds ain’t cheap anyway.

[Lucy]: “Uh, sure, yeah i’ll give it a try.”

[James]: “Alright! Preem, we’ll head back to my place and i’ll show you the ropes!”

Lucy finishes up her sushi, James pays the tab and they both leave the restaurant and head out to James’s apartment so that he can teach her how to meditate, to try and help her with her anxiety and depression. As they walk along they have a chat.

[Lucy]: “Say um, I wanted to say thanks, I had a really good time today, and the dinner was, wonderful, I really appreciate it.”

[James]: “Don’t mention it, glad you had a good time, I don’t really know anyone here on the moon but, im sure glad we met.”

Lucy starts feeling an all too familiar fluttering sensation in her heart.

dammit Lucy, not again, ughhh

[Lucy]: “Me too, I uh, don’t really know anyone round here either, it’s…it’s nice having someone to hang out with.”

[James]: “I second that!”

he genuinely seems like such a nice guy, how the hell did he get mixed up with MaxTac? I don’t get it…

They finally make it back to James’s apartment, James goes into his closet and pulls out another meditation mattress and walks over to the middle of his apartment and slides the other one over to make room. He unfurls the mattress and sets it down across from the other one.

[James]: “Alright, so uh have a seat let’s get started.”

James sits on his mat cross legged, sitting upright, hand’s resting on his knees, Lucy sits opposite of him emulating his sitting pose and posture, James then leans in and lights a match on the incense candle in between them.

[James]: “Alright, now close your eyes, take deep breaths, inhale and exhale…”

Lucy does as he says, closing her eyes and taking deep long breaths in and out. She takes in the delightful calming smell of the lavender incense.

[James]: “Clear your mind, imagine yourself in an open, grassy field, think of the warm sunshine kissing your skin, the gentle breeze of the morning air, think about nothing else but that place…”

Lucy imagines herself in that place, peaceful, serene, she can feel the warm sun on her skin, the cool breeze in her hair, she runs her hands through the blades of grass, nothing but…green everywhere she looks up, a pale blue sky above her head, and not a single building or tower or slab of concrete in sight, it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, she wants to stay here forever, she feels all her worries, her stress, anxiety, she feels all of it melting away from her.

[James]: “Just take deep breaths, in and out, in and out.”

Lucy continues following his instructions, maintaining her composure, taking long deep breaths and long exhales, this is the most relaxed she’s felt probably ever in her life, this is exactly what she needed. She feels at peace, like she’s found her own piece of paradise. After almost a half hour, of quiet, peaceful meditation, James speaks.

[James]: “So, what you think?”

[Lucy]: “That was, wonderful, it made me feel so much better!”

[James]: “I can tell, your mood seems to have definitely improved!”

[Lucy]: “James, thank you for this, it…it helped me a lot.”

[James]: “Happy to help!”

[Lucy]: “It’s uh, it’s getting late, should probably get going but, can we do this again tomorrow?”

[James]: “For sure! Tomorrow it is then!”

[Lucy]: “Great! Um, see you tomorrow then kay? Have a good night!”

[James]: “Have a good night Lucy, take care!”

James watches as Lucy leaves his apartment before returning to his meditation. Lucy returns home to her apartment and undresses herself. She lays down in her bed under the blanket with the biggest smile on her face, she has a warm fuzzy feeling swelling within her, something she hasn’t felt since she was with David. She rolls to her side and closes her eyes, looking forward to spending more time with James tomorrow.

Chapter 5: The Meditation

James wakes up in his bed, removes his crimson colored bedsheet that was covering him and stretches as he gets out of bed. He showers and brushes his teeth as he gets ready to do another meditation session with Lucy. He’s really starting to dig her. He’s never really had anyone in his life before, some childhood crushes when he was in school sure, but never something serious, something real. He could tell just from looking at her that she has a past, and not a pretty one, much like himself. He keeps thinking in his mind of how to best tell Lucy about his past, and hopes she won’t judge him too harshly for it. He puts his tank top on and his black denim jeans. He hears his doorbell ring, Lucy’s up bright and early. He grabs two meditation mats and goes to answer the door.

[Lucy]: “Good mornin James, ready for more meditation?”

James chuckles, he can tell right away yesterday’s meditation has already had an effect on her, she seems to be in a much better mood than before.

[James]: “Sure am, though we’re going to have a change of scenery this time.”

[Lucy]: “Oh?”

[James]: “Comon, we’re going to the park for today’s session.”

James hands Lucy a rolled meditation mattress as they both head out to the park. They walk along the cobblestone path as they come to the clearing with the large patch of artificial grass and the fake pond nearby. Both James and Lucy unfurl ther mats and assume the same posture they were in yesterday.

[James]: “Alright, for today’s lesson, I want you to just focus on the meditation, clear your mind, ignore the hustle and bustle of the city, the crowds, the people, and just focus.”

Lucy straightens up and closes her eyes taking deep breaths as she attempts to focus.

[James]: “I want you to picture that your in a forest. There is a pond nearby, with a waterfall emptying into it, focus in on the sound of that waterfall, the calming ripples of the water. The birds chirping, the wind rustling leaves in the trees, focus on those sounds.”

James opens his eyes to see how Lucy is doing, she appears to be completely relaxed, in the moment, absorbing the meditation she is in, shes a quick learner. The two take deep breaths in steady repetition, after about a half hour, James sets a new scene for the meditation.

[James]: “For the next meditation, I want you to imagine that you are soaring in the clouds, your body, your soul, feels light, unburdened, free. Free of all the concerns and worries that weigh you down. Free of the limitations of your body and flesh, you are like the wind, dancing across the sky.”

They keep this meditation going for another half hour, once again taking steady breaths in and out. Finally the meditation ends.

[James]: “Very good, your learning fast. How are you feeling?”

[Lucy]: “I feel…great, I feel…lighter, like a burden has been lifted off me.”

[James]: “Now your getting it! How about we meet here again tomorrow? See if you can do a meditation on your own?”

[Lucy]: “Sure yeah! Sounds like a plan.”

[James]: “Haha preem, come on let’s take a walk, you know what today is don’t ya?”

[Lucy]: “No, why what’s today?”

[James]: “It’s the Lunar New Year! There’s a big festival downtown.”

[Lucy]: “Really? That’s a thing here?”

[James]: “You didn’t know?”

Lucy scratches the back of her head.

[Lucy]: “I uh, don’t really get out too much…”

[James]: “Well we’re out now, let’s go take a walk and check it out, it’ll be my first year checking it out too!”

Lucy and James head to downtown Copernicus, where the festivities are being held, Chinese themed music being loudly played, giant holograms of Chinese dragons dancing around overhead, the smell of food being cooked in the open air. James and Lucy navigate among the dense crowds of people, until James notices a booth where you can compete for prizes.

[James]: “Lucy check this out!”

James grabs Lucy’s hand as he leads her over to the booth, Lucy looks down at his hand as he leads her along weaving through the crowds blushing slightly.

[James]: “Here look! Ever play a game of holo darts before?”

Lucy lets out a light giggle.

[Lucy]: “Nope, can’t say that I have.”

[James]: “Uh huh, just like you never drove a moonbuggy before.”

James says teasingly.

[Lucy]: “I swear I haven’t!”

[James]: “Well in that case, i’ll try and win you something.”

[Lucy]: “I’ll be rootin for ya!”

James picks up a holo dart and takes aim at the target, he has three attempts, if he lands three bullseyes he will win a large teddy bear with the astronaut helmet, he’s sure Lucy would love that. He steadily aims the holo dart at the target and throws, James found his mark, a bullseye! He readies another throw, he found he was a little bit off the mark but close enough to the center, he attempts his final toss, bullseye again! The vendor hands James his prize, a medium sized teddy bear with a neon pink astronaut helmet, not the size he would have wanted but it would have to do. He turns around and hands it off to Lucy. She smiles a big smile as she holds it and gives James a big hug.

 

[Lucy]: “James…thank you, that’s really sweet of you, I love it!”

[James]: “Not exactly the size I was going for but im glad you like it!”

[Lucy]: “I really do, that was really nice of you!”

[James]: “Come on, fireworks show starts soon, we can see see it out the viewport.”

James leads Lucy over to the city large panoramic viewports so that they can watch the fireworks show outside. Lucy and James find a good spot to sit while they watch the colorful explosions outside.

[Lucy]: “So um, James?”

[James]: “Yeah?”

[Lucy]: “Where’d you learn how to meditate?”

[James]: “Woman named Sarah taught me.”

[Lucy]: “Sarah?”

[James]: “Mhm, she was a MaxTac officer, she’s the one who got me in, she rescued me in a sense.”

[Lucy]: “What happened?”

Sigh, might as well tell her at this point

[James]: “It all started couple years ago, back when I was 18, my parents they…took me to get my first car, was supposed to be a graduation present for finishing school, group of Maelstrom goons were roaming around looking to start trouble, they started kidnapping people at random, killing them when they didn’t get what they wanted, soon as the shots ran out I hid under one of cars, I couldn’t see where my parents were, by the time NCPD finally showed, the damage had already been done, I looked everywhere for my parents, when I finally found them, they were gone…”

Lucy listens closely and carefully, saddened by what she’s hearing. James continues his story.

[James]: “…and just like that, my life was flipped upside down, my parents were gone, I was an only child, I had nobody else, I felt like my life ended with them. I was sad, angry, confused, why did something like that have to happen to me? I wanted to get even, avenge my parents. I tapped into my parents savings and visited a ripper clinic, had him install the lastest cyberware he had, then, I set out to go avenge my parents, I stumbled across a Maelstrom den, didn’t know if they were the ones responsible for what happened but I didn’t care, I just wanted them to pay, so I walked in, my anger got the better of me, I killed them, I killed them all. Next thing I remember was wondering the streets, soaked in Maelstrom blood, I thought killing them would make me feel better, but it didn’t, just made me feel…empty. I wondered into a nearby dive, grabbed a drink thinking I could drink all my problems away. One guy in the bar was drunk, getting on my nerves, then suddenly I just snapped, lost control…I went cyberpsycho…”

Lucy is starting to get an idea of where this story might be headed.

[James]: “By the time I snapped out of it, it was too late, I looked around, saw dead bodies everywhere…innocent people, I was horrified, scared about what was happening to me, then suddenly a woman came up to me, wearing a MaxTac uniform, I thought I was done for, but she jabbed me in the neck with a sedative. Next thing I remember, I was laying on a table, with a splitting headache, but I was alive, and most of my cyberware was removed, except for these.”

James lifts his sleeves showing his Mantis Blades, one of the few things he was allowed to keep.

[James]: “That’s when Sarah approached me, said I was a part of MaxTac now. I felt like I owed her one, that she saved my life, so I agreed. She was like a surrogate mother to me, and for a lot of the other MaxTac agents she saved, she rehabilitated me, trained me, taught me everything I know, even how to meditate. I accompanied her on a few assignments, she was showing me the ropes, but this one assignment, is when everything changed.”

[Lucy]: “What happened?”

[James]: “Got a call about a Cyberpsycho attack over in Santo Domingo, NCPD squad was wiped out, Sarah asked me to go with her to try and subdue him before the other MaxTac agents arrived to deal with it, so I went, when we got there, bodies were everywhere, the guy was already on the ground, spazzed out, scared, Sarah went to go approach him, jab him with a sedative, I hung back just in case, when Sarah approached him, he got angry, lashed out, before I could even react, it was too late, the psycho cut her to pieces right in front of me, he had Mantis Blades, before I could even get a shot off he knocked me to the ground, he was so fast, he went to take a stab at me, I managed to grab a ballistic shield off of one of the NCPD corpses and blocked it, but his Mantis Blades where thermals, cut right through the shield like it was nothing, damn near almost lost my eye.”

James points to the scar across his left eye.

[James]: “Before he could finish me off, I did a sweeping kick at his feet, knocked him down, I used the half piece of the shield and impaled him with it, killing him. I ran over to Sarah, weeping, I took her dog tag, to remember her by.”

He shows Lucy the dogtag that is missing it’s lower half

[James]: “The other MaxTac agents showed up, saw me laying there, holding what was left of her in my arms, the other’s…they blamed me for not being quick enough to save her, for not recognizing the danger, taking precautions, I couldn’t stay with them any longer…so I left.”

Lucy stays quiet, taking a moment to process everything she just learned.

[James]: “I hope…I hope you won’t hold my past against me…im done with that life.”

Unexpectedly, Lucy gives him a hug. James wraps his arms around her.

[Lucy]: “I won’t hold your past against you James, your not that person anymore, and you shouldn’t be blamed for what happened, wasn’t your fault.”

[James]: “If only the others saw things that way, thank you Lucy, for listening, I haven’t told anyone about my past before now.”

Lucy puts her arm around James in reassurance, as they both look out and continue to watch the fireworks.

Chapter 6: Circumstances

The following morning, James wakes up early to go get a gift for Lucy before their next meditation at the park. He was super grateful to her for listening about his past, for not forsaking him because of his past deeds, he didn’t want to kill all those innocent people, he wasn’t himself, wasn’t in control, the rehabilitation took years, but he finally recovered, wanted to be a better person. Joining MaxTac he thought he could try to save others, but things didn’t turn out that way. He walks along the market district, looking for a good vendor that would sell something Lucy might like. He checks the clock, he’s been walking around for too long, he doesn’t want to keep Lucy waiting. He does feel himself starting to develop feelings for her, but he’s unsure if she would feel the same way.

there’s gotta be something around here I could get her, I don’t want to be late.

He decides to look around for just a bit more before he calls it quits and heads to the park. After walking around a bit further he notices a small florist store down the end of an alleyway.

flowers! She’d love some flowers right? Surely!

He heads over to the store, and decides to buy her a bouquet of roses, a bit pricey, but seeing Lucy smile would make it worth it, no matter the price.

I hope she likes roses, these smell so good!

Satisfied with his purchase he grabs the bouquet and leaves the store. As he walks out he notices a suspicious group of hooded men scattered about the alleyway.

strange, these guys weren’t there a moment ago.

James puts himself on alert just in case. Suddenly, one of the hooded men walks out in front of him to try and block his way out of the alley.

[James]: “You got a circ loose pal? Your in my way!”

The stranger stays silent a moment before retracting his hood.

[Goon 1]: “Well well, if it isn’t mister hot shot. Those for me? You shouldn’t have! I think I might blush.”

The goon gestures to the roses James is carrying. The other hooded figures in the alleyway begin to close in to flank him.

[James]: “hmph, so you needed to grab your buddies ‘cause you couldn’t take me on earlier.”

The others begin to slowly move closer, James gently sets down the bouquet and tightly clenches his fists.

[James]: “Last chance to get out of the way, this won’t be pleasant for you.”

Come Close

[Goon 1]: “We’ll see about that hot shot.”

One of the goons makes the first move, lunging at James, James immediately blocking his attack, hits his attacker with an open hand jab at his jugular followed up with a quick, sharp jab to the abdomen. Another swings a blunt weapon, James dodging the swing, the attacker goes for another swing, James grabs the wrist of his attacker holding the blunt weapon, kicking in his kneecaps, bone splintering through the skin as his opponent collapses screaming in pain. Finally the others decide to attack as a group. James fights off several more before he starts to get overwhelmed, one of the goons hits him in the back with a steel pipe, knocking the wind out of him, James collapses to the ground.

[James]: “Arghh, cheap shot!”

James attempts to get back on his feet before one of them kicks his face in, knocking him back to ground. The other goons grab him by his arms and drags him across the floor.

[Goon 1]: “Pin him up against the wall.”

A pair of goons pins James against the wall, the one with the steel pipe hits him again but this time in his abdomen, James spits up blood.

[Goon 1]: “Not talking a big game now are ya?”

[James]: “Hah! Tell your goons to let me go and I’ll show you.”

[Goon 1]: “Hmph, I don’t think so.”

The head of the group of attackers motions to the goon with the pipe to finish James off. James closes his eyes as it would seem his fate is sealed.

sorry Lucy, guess this is the end of the line for me.

 

As the goon winds up for the strike, a female voice cries out.

[Lucy]: “Hey! Assholes!”

The group of attackers turn around.

[Goon 1]: “How sweet, your girlfriend came to the rescue, grab her too!”

[James]: “Lucy! Run!”

Lucy continues to stand her ground as the some of the goons runs towards Lucy, Lucy whips out her monowires and promptly dices the poor fools into slabs of human meat. While the others are in shock, James kicks out the knee of one of the goons pinning him to the wall and wrestles free of the other, he punches the guy with the pipe in the face knocking him out, picks up his pipe and hits the group leader in the abdomen and finishes with a blow to the back, knocking him out. James stumbles over to grab the bouquet of roses he bought for Lucy before collapsing to the ground. Lucy makes sure the area is clear before running over to James, putting her arms around him.

[Lucy]: “James! It’s okay im here!”

James groans as he looks at Lucy, face is bruised and swollen with blood running down his face and cheeks.

[James]: “Lu…Lucy, how did you find me.”

[Lucy]: “When you didn’t show up at the park I was headed back to your place thinking you might have overslept, then I heard a commotion and came over to investigate.”

James slowly hands Lucy the bouquet. Some of the roses are damaged.

[James]: “I uh…bought these for you, heh.”

Lucy smiles. She gives James a hug.

[James]: “Ow!”

[Lucy]: “Oops! Right, sorry, come on let’s get you out of here.”

Lucy puts James’s arm over her shoulder and helps him back into his apartment. Once inside Lucy sets the bouquet on the kitchen counter as she goes to lay James down on the couch.

[James]: “Ughhh, first aids…in the bathroom on the wall.”

Lucy runs over to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit. She opens it and injects a MaxDoc into James’s arm as he exhales a sigh of relief. She grabs some bandages and some disinfecting spray and cleans his wounds and wipes the blood from his face and around his eyes. She then places the bandages on the gashes on his face and forehead. James looks up at her, not taking his eyes away.

[James]: “Thank you Lucy, if you hadn’t shown up i’d be-“

[Lucy]: “Shhh, your injured, rest now, there’s time for talk later when your better.”

[James]: “Right.”

[Lucy]: “If…it’s alright with you im gonna jack into your neck port to check your vitals.”

James nods his head in approval. Lucy opens her palm and pulls out the wire and connects it to James’s neck. James retinas flash as a diagnostic menu pops up as Lucy checks his vitals and the condition of his cyberware. James notes the diagnostic also searching through all the old cyberware that he no longer has.

[Lucy]: “Everything checks out.”

[James]: “Heh, preem.”

Lucy gets up and grabs a towel cloth from the counter, then Lucy goes into his freezer to grab a handful of ice cubes from his ice tray and puts it in the cloth before rolling it into a ball. She walks over to James and places it on his head. James hisses as it’s really cold and his head is really sore.

[Lucy]: “This should help with the swelling.”

this girl…she’s the real deal

[Lucy]: “Get some sleep okay?”

James mumbles a response as he slowly closes his eye. Not exactly what he had planned for today but he can definitely feel his bond with Lucy growing. He’s really starting to like her. Finally his mind quiets as he drifts away into sleep.

Chapter 7: The Day After

James slowly opens his eyes, still laying on his couch, he rubs his forehead feeling a sharp headache pang him. He looks around his apartment and sees Lucy asleep on one of the other chairs, covering herself with a blanket. She stood by his side the whole night. James smiles, thankful that she stood with him to make sure he was okay. He slowly gets up and walks over towards Lucy to adjust the blanket covering her so that she’s comfortable before walking over to the bathroom. He opens one of the cabinets a takes out some painkillers to help ease his splitting headache. He opens the case and downs two pills before putting them away. He closes the cabinet and looks at himself in the bathroom mirror. Looking at how bruised and beaten he looks. Running his fingers along the swollen surface of his face.

geez, got messed up good didn’t ya James.

James turns on the faucet and runs some water on his face to wash himself. He hears Lucy groaning as she’s starting to wake up.

[Lucy]: “Huh, James where’d you go?”

[James]: “In here, the bathroom, just washing up.”

James moves and stands in the doorway of the bathroom.

[James]: “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up.”

[Lucy]: “No no you didn’t your fine.”

James walks over and squats opposite of Lucy as she is rubbing her eyes as she wakes up.

[James]: “Listen um, thanks…thanks for being by my side, means a lot.”

Lucy smiles.

[Lucy]: “You’d have done the same for me.”

James returns Lucy’s smile.

[James]: “Damn right I would have.”

James stands up and walks over to sit back down on his couch.

[Lucy]: “How are you feeling James?”

James chuckles lightly.

[James]: “Heh, like I got my ass kicked.”

Lucy softly smiles and looks at James’s forearms knowing that he has Mantis Blades, but didn’t use them.

[Lucy]: “James?”

[James]: “Yeah?”

[Lucy]: “I hope you don’t mind my asking but…your Mantis Blades? Why didn’t you use them? You could have dealt with those goons easily?”

[James]: “I took too many innocent lives with these things Lucy, it’s not who I am anymore.”

[Lucy]: “Why didn’t you have them removed?”

[James]: “Fair question, but…guess you could say they remind me of what I was…that I need to be better, better than just another killing machine.”

[Lucy]: “James…you could have died back there…”

[James]: “Truth is Lucy, I was ready to die back in that bar all those years ago, but Sarah…instead of giving me a bullet, she gave me a second chance, but if fate meant for me to die in that alleyway, then I was ready…”

James looks up and notices that Lucy is visibly upset. He can tell Lucy is trying to fight back the tears from rolling down her face.

[Lucy]: “Im um…im gonna head home alright, just…get well soon alright.”

[James]: “I understand, take care Lucy.”

Lucy gets up and leaves James’s apartment.

I hope she’s not mad at me

James let’s out a long sigh before undressing himself to take a shower. He opens his phone menu and shoots Lucy a text message before hopping in the shower.

Hey, sorry if I upset you, didn’t mean to, im here if you need to talk.

He steps in the shower and starts washing himself, he scrubs off the dried blood still caked on his skin and cleans the gashes on his face and body. After he steps out he opens his bathroom cabinet to grab the medical kit and opens a new set of bandages to replace the old ones. He goes to lay down on his couch, he opens his messages to see if he received a response from Lucy, nothing. He turns to his side and shuts his eyes to return to sleep.

The following morning James wakes up and realizes he blew a whole day sleeping. He heads to towards the bathroom and looks into the mirror, his wounds are slowly starting to heal and the swelling in his face has diminished. After showering and eating breakfast he sits on his meditation mat and checks for any new messages, and notes that Lucy hasn’t responded to his previous message from yesterday.

Did I say something wrong?

He closes out his messages and then goes about his meditation. Few minutes into his meditation he starts thinking about what he said last night, trying to understand why Lucy would have been upset. Unable to concentrate on meditating, he gets up and puts his leather coat on and decides to go for a walk. As he steps out he looks over towards Lucy’s apartment, debating whether or not he should go check on her, ultimately he decides against it choosing to leave her be and he continues on with his walk. As he walks along he makes sure to be mindful of his surroundings, making sure those goons don’t come around again. While walking around, attempting to clear his mind he replays yesterday’s conversation in his mind, thinking about what Lucy said. James huffs in frustration as he is unable to figure out why she might be upset.

Chapter 8: A Promise

Lucy lays on her couch staring at the stuffed bear she placed on her living room table that James won for her that night when they went out and played holo darts. Next to the stuffed bear is Gloria’s ash urn and the holo image of David in his school uniform next to his mom. Lucy stares at each of them, with tears gently streaming down her face as she remembers the promise David had made to her that night, promising her that he wouldn’t die. Now she’s developing feelings towards James and now she learns he seemingly had a death wish too, that he’s not afraid to die. Lucy starts to doubt her feelings towards James. She doesn’t want to go through that pain again. Is she cursed to be alone? Lucy starts to sob as the thought crosses her mind. She doesn’t want to be alone forever and she doesn’t want to get close to someone only to get hurt again.

this fucking sucks, why Lucy, why always the ones that have a death wish…

Lucy is conflicted with the emotions she’s dealing with and it’s driving her crazy. She wants to be with James, but at the same time she doesn’t, she’s scared of letting anyone else in. Promises didn’t work the last time, so what can she do now to make things different this time? She struggles to find an answer to this question.

Suddenly she hears her doorbell ring. She stands up, wiping away the tears from her eyes and heads to the door, she thinks to herself about what she is going to say to James. When she opens the door she doesn’t see James standing there, she looks down, and sees another bouquet of roses on ground in a vase. She picks them up and brings them inside, she opens the tag that’s attached, which reads:

call me when you’re feeling better okay? :)

She sets the vase down on her counter and sits on the stool, staring at them. She contemplates about calling James. Instead, she opts to text him.

[Lucy]: “Hey, got the roses, really appreciate it <3.”

James replies promptly.

[James]: “Don’t mention it, hope you feel better!”

[Lucy]: “Thanks, you available for some meditation tomorrow? Your place?”

[James]: “Sure, stop by anytime!”

[Lucy]: “Preem, see you tomorrow.”

She closes out her messenger and continues staring at the bouquet of roses. She will have some things to discuss with James tomorrow. She doesn’t want to lose anyone else, she hopes to convince him to be more careful and if he really wants to not hurt anyone, then he shouldn’t go out alone. After a moment Lucy receives a call from Falco on the holo, she hasn’t spoken to him in awhile.

[Falco]: “Lucy, howdy, it’s been awhile!”

[Lucy]: “Hey Falco, sorry I haven’t responded back to you for awhile, been caught up lately.”

[Falco]: “Everything alright Lucy?”

[Lucy]: “Been touch and go lately but…well, im also kinda talking to someone.”

[Falco]: “Well, that certainly explains things, he been treating you right?”

[Lucy]: “He’s been great, just…you know, worried about going through that again…”

[Falco]: “I know…at any rate I’m glad you found someone, you deserve to be happy, don’t want ya spending your days moping around up there alone.”

[Lucy]: “I know…”

[Falco]: “Im a call away if you ever need an ear, just glad to hear you’re doing okay, and good luck, both of you, you deserve this!”

[Lucy]: “Your the best Falco, as always, thank you, I’ll try to keep in touch more often!”

The call ends, she heads over towards her bed and undresses herself to get comfortable. She lays down and pulls the sheets over her as she stares up at the ceiling. Hearing from Falco again cheered her up a bit, now she just needs some rest for tomorrow, she suspects that it will be an eventful one.

The following afternoon, Lucy stands outside James’s apartment, holding the meditation mat he gave her, contemplating a moment before ringing the bell. After a brief wait James answers the door.

[James]: “Lucy! Good to see you come in!”

Lucy enters into James’s apartment.

[Lucy]: “Good to see you too James, you seem to be healing well.”

Lucy notes the bandages on James’s face and that the swelling and bruises have gone away considerably since she last saw him.

[James]: “Yeah, give it a few more days and ill be right as rain.”

Lucy walks over towards the center of the living room and sets down her meditation mat across from where James set up his. She then kneels down on the mat in a meditation pose.

[James]: “Eager to get started already are we?”

James teases as he walks over towards his mat at takes a seat across from Lucy. He lights a match and sets it on the incense candle in the middle.

[James]: “Listen…about yesterday…I hope I didn’t offend you.”

[Lucy]: “You didn’t…it’s just, some bad memories resurfaced.”

 

[James]: “I see, sorry to hear that…so uh, right, anyways let’s get started shall we?”

James closes his eyes and begins going through the scene describing the meditation, but Lucy can’t concentrate, she keeps staring at James, suddenly, she leans in grabbing his cheeks and pulls him in for a kiss. James, shocked, muffles a response.

[James]: “Umm Lucy?…You alr-“

Lucy finally releases his lips.

[Lucy]: “I don’t want you to die James!”

[James]: “Huh Wha-?“

[Lucy]: “I don’t want to lose you, I don’t want to see you get yourself killed! I don’t want to lose anyone else!”

Lucy starts sobbing, James, still slightly confused by what happened leans in to give her a hug, Lucy embraces him tightly.

[Lucy]: “Please James…I don’t want to lose anyone else I care about…please don’t go and get yourself killed.”

[James]: “So that’s what this is about…from when I got jumped the other day?”

[Lucy]: “Seeing you in rough shape like that…”

James leans back and looks into Lucy’s eyes.

[James]: “Listen Lucy, I can’t make any promises but…I’ll try and be more careful next time alright?”

Not exactly the response Lucy was hoping to hear, but atleast it wasn’t like the promise David had made, the promise that he wouldn’t die on her. James knew better than to make a promise he couldn’t guarantee that he would keep. James and Lucy embrace each other again, holding each other tight.

Chapter 9: The Day After

James wakes up in his bed and as his vision slowly becomes clearer he sees Lucy laying in front of him wrapped in his arms. James slowly moves his arm away from Lucy so as to not disturb her sleeping. He then slowly gets up out of bed and stretches as he heads to the bathroom to wash up.

hmmm…maybe ill go out and grab some breakfast this morning, something she might like.

James steps out of the bathroom and puts his black sleeveless shirt on and throws on his black leather jacket over it. He heads towards the door and looks back towards Lucy, still sleeping soundly, he smiles softly as he quietly exits his apartment.

James heads towards this food joint he knows out in downtown Copernicus to go and pick up breakfast for both him and Lucy. The events that transpired the night before still replaying in his mind. He enters into the restaurant and orders the meal he wanted. Some synth eggs, synth bacon, waffles, and synth sausages.

man this smells good, hope Lucy is hungry.

Satisfied with his meal choice he heads back towards his apartment, suddenly out of the corner of his peripheral vision he notices a figure wearing a long coat tailing him at a distance. He tucks his meal under his jacket as he suspects that it may be the same goons from before, but this one is alone this time.

 

just one? I can deal with one, easy.

 

He turns down towards an allyway looking to see if his tail follows, which he does. James abruptly turns around to confront him.

 

[James]: “So, came back for more huh? Didn’t learn from last time?”

 

[Stranger] “More? Hmph I think you might have me confused with someone else old friend.”

The shadowy figure steps towards the light, revealing an old colleague whom James knew while he was still working for MaxTac. James could recognize that deep groveling voice anywhere.

 

[James]: “Marcus? What the hell you doing all the way out here?”

 

[Marcus]: “You really thought it would be that easy did you? That everything would just be forgotten after what happened? Just like that?”

 

[James]: “I told you before, it wasn’t my fault Sarah is gone, the Psycho killed her before I could even react.”

[Marcus]: “There in lies the problem doesn’t it? You were too slow, you weren’t fast enough, Sarah might still be here if anyone but you had been on that assignment.”

[James]: “You really came all this way to track me down just to berate me on what ifs and what could have been’s? Im not having this conversation with you again, Sarah’s killer is gone, I killed him, im moving on and so should you, we can’t change the past, Sarah was as important to me as she was for you, you being there wouldn’t have made a difference and you know it, your just looking at for someone to blame.”

[Marcus]: “You have no idea what Sarah meant to me, to us, all of us, and the one assignment she goes on with you she dies, your damn right im blaming you. I told her you weren’t ready!”

[James]: “Enough! Im tired of going over this, your clearly too thick skulled to get it that it wasn’t my fault. Im done with this conversation.”

James turns to walk away, but not before Marcus gets a final word in.

[Marcus]: “Well im not done yet with you James! I’ll be seeing you again!”

[James]: “Don’t count on it!”

He loudly replies.

As James approaches his apartment he glances around to make sure Marcus wasn’t following, as he doesn’t wish for him to know where he lives. Satisfied that the coast is clear be enters into his apartment. As he steps in he sees Lucy just starting to wake up.

[Lucy]: “James? Was wondering where you were. Everything alright?”

[James]: “Everything is fine, here, grabbed us some breakfast.”

James holds up the paper bag containing the breakfast he bought for the two of them. Lucy smiles as she rubs her eyes and gets out of bed, still in the nude, and walks over towards James.

[Lucy]: “Good, im starving.”

Lucy leans in a gives James a kiss on the cheek before she sits at the table. James sets the paper bag down on the table and takes out the food plates. Lucy’s nostrils flare up as she inhales the smell of the food.

[Lucy]: “mmmmm smells delicious!”

[James]: “Haha I figured you might like it!”

James sits down opposite of Lucy and opens up the plate as the two of them begin eating their breakfast. Lucy looks up towards James while he is eating and notices he seems bothered.

[Lucy]: “You alright James?”

 

[James]: “Hm? No everything is fine just uh…thinking about what we are going to do today is all.”

[Lucy]: “Ah, have anything in mind?”

[James]:”Haven’t decided yet, could do more meditations today?”

[Lucy]: “We don’t…have to do anything really, can just hang out, just the two of us?”

[James]: “I suppose we can do that too, if…if that’s what you want?”

[Lucy]: “Yeah, let’s just take it easy today, you still have some healing to do anyways.”

Lucy and James would later find themselves laying down by the window of James’s apartment after their breakfast, spending time together at home, looking out across the moonscape. James still thinking about his encounter with Marcus, his old colleague from MaxTec, hoping that would be the last he would see of him. James can’t help but shake the feeling that as much as he wishes to escape his past, it always finds a way to catch up with him.